Post-Game Talk: Leafs Hold On | 6-4 Win Over Panthers

[Captain Crunch]

Keefe almost coached himself to a loss. Truly baffling how bad he is at his job at times.

Also our Power Play is the worst it has ever been but they refuse to make changes. This is by far the biggest problem going into the playoffs.

Our PP in the playoffs has always been a problem! At some point the blame needs to be on the coach, if not higher up.

 

[666]

4th line gets 8 minutes.
PK + PP = 10 minutes. Marner, Nylander & Matthews take 6 min. each.
Remaining 42 split between 3 lines = 14 minutes per line
6 + 14 minutes = 20 minutes each subject to adjustments for which line(s) are playing better.

That's not how it's done. M&M need to be closer to 16 minutes and guys like McMann, Robertson, Dewar, Kamf, Knives closer to 10 or 11 or else their going to find themselves in over their head.

 

[JL17]

At what stage does the captain realize he need to stop passing the puck blindly in his own end and stop passing it to the opposing players in general? This needs to stop he does it every game and multiple times a game.

 

[ToneDog]

I think a better idea is:

Bert - Matty - Domi
McMann - Willy - Mitch
Holmberg - JT - ?

JT is slowing down and seems to do better as 3C. Willy needs players who can keep up.

Top two lines get equal minutes, third gets less.

Three best players get the most ice time.

To me that's the logical solution, but I doubt Keefe will even considered it.

Clear to me 88 is not playing C any time soon. Tried it for one game in pre season and abandoned the project. They need to find 88 a C this summer.

 

[thewave]

That 3rd period gives me a sinking feeling if this team has to play Florida in the first round. Maurice will motivate his team for the entire playoffs the way he did for the 3rd period so that's the team to expect, not the one in the first two periods. And then the 2nd most likely option is Boston. Nothing will be easy for the Leafs in 3 weeks.

We could rip apart Keefe for the absolutely braindead management of that period. The guy does not get it and the special teams is among the worst in the league. How??

Honestly how is it possible?

Clear to me 88 is nor playing C any time soon. Tried it for one game in pre season and abandoned the project. They need to find 88 a C this summer.

1 game is not enough time. Keefe has an ADHD thinking style and it does not work. We win despite Keefe.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Clear to me 88 is nor playing C any time soon. Tried it for one game in pre season and abandoned the project. They need to find 88 a C this summer.

Obviously not with Keefe around - hopefully he's gone this summer.

Willy looked pretty good in the couple of games there, and his defensive play has certainly improved this year. I'd much rather have him at 2C than JT.

 

[Evilhomer]

That 3rd period gives me a sinking feeling if this team has to play Florida in the first round. Maurice will motivate his team for the entire playoffs the way he did for the 3rd period so that's the team to expect, not the one in the first two periods. And then the 2nd most likely option is Boston. Nothing will be easy for the Leafs in 3 weeks.

I think some people are exaggerating the impact of the third period, and others are exaggerating the impact of the first two periods. Just like the two losses earlier to Boston, I'm pretty firmly convinced that virtually nothing that happens in regular season games can be used as a predictor of playoff outcomes. I think Florida's potential for success is almost completely tied to Bob repeating his performance from rounds two and three last year, and I think that is extremely unlikely. If Florida gets first round Bob or Cup final Bob, they are in trouble.

For the Leafs, they can't count on teams playing slow in the playoffs, especially in the later games of a round, the way Florida did in the first period. As always, Toronto's potential for success will be whether its star players can perform in the later games of a series. If they can, it won't matter who the opponent is, just as if Florida gets second or third round Bob, it won't matter who their opponent is.

 

[PanniniClaus]

I just read that Brodie got a belt after the game last night.. That pass must have carried enough weight to erase all the wrongs.

 

[banks]

Here's what FLA fans are saying now:

"The Panthers poured it on in the 3rd at least, but it was too little too late. You can't sit back and let Toronto get that much of a lead, especially with their goalie on a hot streak. And you definitely can't wait until the last 5 minutes to win a faceoff.

And they put that many goals on the board without Marner. Even with Tarasenko, the Leafs just have more goal scoring and forward talent. We better start on time and find a way to stop Matthews in the playoffs, or it'll be one-and-done!"

 

[PROUD PAPA]

I'll take the W but the 3rd period seems more indicative of how Florida will be playing in the playoffs.

We enabled them. Our passive forecheck and poor neutral zone coverage played right into their hands. When your employing a passive forecheck you should own the neutral zone and odd man rushes against should have been nothing more than a fantasy. I was okay with attempting to go into a prevent mode but once it became obvious it wasn't an effective strategy Keefe needed to adjust to gain more o-zone time.
Live and learn, hopefully.

 

[bax]

I just read that Brodie got a belt after the game last night.. That pass must have carried enough weight to erase all the wrongs.

You’re probably right. it was matthews who gave it to him so that play to get him 61 had to have been the reason. Otherwise they had far more impactful players imo

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think some people are exaggerating the impact of the third period, and others are exaggerating the impact of the first two periods. Just like the two losses earlier to Boston, I'm pretty firmly convinced that virtually nothing that happens in regular season games can be used as a predictor of playoff outcomes. I think Florida's potential for success is almost completely tied to Bob repeating his performance from rounds two and three last year, and I think that is extremely unlikely. If Florida gets first round Bob or Cup final Bob, they are in trouble.

For the Leafs, they can't count on teams playing slow in the playoffs, especially in the later games of a round, the way Florida did in the first period. As always, Toronto's potential for success will be whether its star players can perform in the later games of a series. If they can, it won't matter who the opponent is, just as if Florida gets second or third round Bob, it won't matter who their opponent is.

+1

Even more than "pretty firmly" in my case. Both series against Boston is a prime example - both series we lost in game 7, even though one regular season we swept them, and the other they swept us. There's a reason they call the playoff "a new season".

 

[81Leafs50]

It would be interesting to know the Leafs record with Reilly NOT in the lineup.

Just a side note. If he plays with emotion, he can do his job with authority.

record is very good. its good without Matthews. its good without Tavares. They are a good team that does not rely on one guy

 

[Lightsol]

Reaves pasted a guy early and that seemed to get the team and building into it.

I expect if Reaves plays in the playoffs we'll see a repeat of the Clifford situation a few years ago. The second he plays rough, game misconduct followed by the NHL dropping not-subtle hints they want him OUT of the lineup...

 

[ACC1224]

I expect if Reaves plays in the playoffs we'll see a repeat of the Clifford situation a few years ago. The second he plays rough, game misconduct followed by the NHL dropping not-subtle hints they want him OUT of the lineup...

If Reaves runs a guy like Clifford did than I would expect him to be tossed.

 

[Evilhomer]

+1

Even more than "pretty firmly" in my case. Both series against Boston is a prime example - both series we lost in game 7, even though one regular season we swept them, and the other they swept us. There's a reason they call the playoff "a new season".

And like usual, a team that no one expects will end up making the conference final or cup final. It's just a matter of which team gets hot at the right time.

 

[Gary Nylund]

And like usual, a team that no one expects will end up making the conference final or cup final. It's just a matter of which team gets hot at the right time.

I wouldn't say "as usual". TB was expected to win when they won and while the favorites are never a good bet against "the field", they do tend to get there more often than the other teams who aren't favorites.

It's wide open this year so there's no real reason to "expect" anyone to win in the East anyway. That's the one reason I can at least pretend to be optimistic about our chances - there may be like 4 teams who's chances are objectively better than ours, but they're not that much better so we've got a 10-15% chance or whatever to take the East and probably no team is better than 20%. JMHO.

Those numbers are very rough after 10 seconds of thought before anyone starts picking at them. LOL.

 

[Liga]

Unexpected victory.

 

[Ports]

That's not how it's done. M&M need to be closer to 16 minutes and guys like McMann, Robertson, Dewar, Kamf, Knives closer to 10 or 11 or else their going to find themselves in over their head.

Thanks Sheldon. Because the “way it’s done” worked so well last year against the Panthers. 7 games in a row scoring two goals or less. Too easy to shutdown.