Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 2-0 To Pittsburgh

[ShaneFalco]

Which begs the question if Marner & Tavares work and Nylander & Matthews work then why does the coach play right into the opposition's game plan to shutdown Marner and Matthews when played together?

To keep them happy

 

[BallardEra]

Any idea why Keefe didn’t call a time out when the Leafs got that 5 on 3? I started watching the game in the third period so I apologize if the Leafs had already used up the time out.

If not, would have been the perfect time to go over a play or two.

 

[RaFe]

Can't win em all. Still won 10 of last 12

You are right - we are doing great at the moment

 

[Bluelines]

Bluelines, that is a very interesting post, I am not able to give it a l...e because, I am in the penalty box.

Friend of mine, who has this uncanny knowledge of hockey and who was ranked behind only lemieux and craig redmond, when he was 13, agrees with you...

His father enrolled him in another sport which I was coaching, and he fell in love with the sport and dropped hockey, his dad, who had gotten him to that number three spot, almost had a stroke lol...

I was a pro, and by the time he was 14, he was coaching me and took my game to a way higher level, than I ever thought possible.

I watched last nights game and it seemed like we played reasonably well , but Pittsburgh seemed to know every move we were either making or about to make.. We made them look like Cup contenders..


Keefe can still be retained, I suppose, but he needs an assistant who is a strategy genius, to prevent me having to watch, what I saw last night...

The Jays have something similar in Montoya imo, a guy who needs someone he can tap and go, what thee hcck can I do here..

This stuff in a lot of cases has to be on the spot, for adjustments...So yes, your lead manager or coach, really should have this skill, or a headset to the guy perhaps in seats who can get him making the right situatons happen..



I used to know every player in the NHL, AHL, heck every league in north america and many in Europe, I don't have that level of passion any more, other stuff to do...

But knowing the personnel is one thing, how to employ them in the conflict, is more important.

Very good post sir..

In closing, I will say that we have also have had bizarre bad luck offensively...posts, cross bars, pucks swirling around the goaline but never quite crossing it, never seen so much volume of bad puck luck.

I think the personnel for a strong performance in the playoffs is there... Maxing that personnels performance is paramount..

Final comment, love this Kase and Kampf duo... I think those two are better than having Hyman, great signings from Dubas...

Heck, Ritchie threw one of the cleanest yet most dangerous body checks I have seen a Leaf forward make in years...I am amazed the guy he hit didn't go down, and stay down, it was a massive thump...

That hit, is the reason people are still hiring this guy, cause if anyone could get him to do that with some scoring he would be a Neely lite...

Thanks... your probably in a time out because you had an interaction with one of the Troll Stopmer feeders, there are about 3 guys on this forum that will report you for wearing the wrong color socks and there is no way to challenge it, I got a warning for telling someone they ended glasses.... yep... that is apparently an infraction. Lesson learned just don't interact with those posters.

 

[Bluelines]

If Keefe is so easy to figure out, why have only 2 teams in the last 12 games done it?

The fact is, we’re seeing a team show up more often than not, which is refreshingly new and hasn’t been the case since the Quinn era.

Lots of reason, teams playing b2b, teams with injured key players, weak goals, long road trips, tons of reasons why, varying coaching skills.

 

[Bluelines]

They need the $40 million gang to produce to the level of their paycheques.

If we look at goals alone that would mean Marner, Matthews and Tavares would need to score 40-ish+ goals each per year.

 

[Bluelines]

When is Marner going to win a Selke?

 

[ShaneFalco]

Thanks... your probably in a time out because you had an interaction with one of the Troll Stopmer feeders, there are about 3 guys on this forum that will report you for wearing the wrong color socks and there is no way to, I got a warning for telling someone they ended glasses.... yep... that is apparently an infraction. Lesson learned just don't interact with those posters.

One of them is everywhere

 

[Zybalto]

Pretty even game and a solid road game played by the Pens. The lack of goals is concerning of course but the chances remain there (how many posts did we hit?).

Try to get back on the winning track against the Isles tonight. 3rd game in 4 nights and Woll in net against one of the most desperate teams in the league? Would be awesome to get the win here.

Despite the teams finishing issues 5v5, special team have been among the best in hockey and the Leafs have been dominating 5v5 underlying stats the last month which is a testament to just how well Keefe has been coaching (pretty much from the time he took over actually). I know they really want Ritchie to work on the top line but I just don't think he's well suited as they continue to try and shoehorn him in. I wanna see "Hyman lite" Bunting in place of Hyman. Makes sense no?

Once Mikheyev is better, these are my lineups:

Bunting/Matthews/Marner
Mikheyev/Tavares/Nylander
Kerfoot/Kampf/Kase
Ritchie/ Spezza/Simmonds

Mikheyev gets his shot but can also switch with Kerfoot (who I thought was excellent as a second-line fill-in last year) if he proves ineffective.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Not our best game by any stretch, but I still thought we deserved a better fate last night if not for some unusually bad puck luck.

 

[ACC1224]

How many games in a row has Sandin played? He was terrible

 

[Jojalu]

Who are the 10? I count 8 of 19.

8 Play-off Teams (New York, Carolina, Vegas, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Calgary, Nashville, New York)
11 Non Play-off Teams (Montreal, Ottawa, Ottawa, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Pittsburgh)

That's not a good schedule.

I had Pitt as playoff so you are correct. Where this is misleading is that is everyone's schedule. 32 teams, 16 make the playoffs. 50/50 that you will play a team that won't make the playoffs on amy given night

 

[Gallagbi]

How many games in a row has Sandin played? He was terrible

Didn't watch last night, but I was thinking he should probably have a game off given the rotation. Back to back, insert Lilj and potentially split up Holl/Muzzin for a better balance of foot speed.

Holl and Dermott have played together often and Muzzin could use some foot speed and puck handling help

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

Sheldon Keefe = JOKE of a coach

Cant score goals and he doesn't even get Tavares-Marner and Matthews-Nylander for even one shift to get some offense going.

Absolute JOKE of a coach.

Thats it!

Love the overreactions… NOT

 

[therealkoho]

I would say Matthew’s is worth his, Tavares and Marner are not however.

Not to compare but the guy is making a couple of eyelashes less than McJeebuzz so I kind of want that kind of production and to be fair 15 points less a season would be OK but the closest he's ever gotten is 17 points away and playing 6 more games. Maybe McJeebuzz would be a stretch, but how about at least leading the Leafs in scoring which he hasn't yet done.

I don't get why everyone gives the golden boy a pass, he hasn't produced as yet commensurate with his contract

 

[Mess]

How many games in a row has Sandin played? He was terrible

What I noticed is that he continues to make the same rookie mistakes and bad reads consistently, as opposed to learning from them. Jake Guentzel moved into the slot off the rush, stepped right past Sandin and opened up the scoring fooling him on the play and Campbell on the backhand.

Holl and Muzzin completely messed up that 2nd goal against by getting beaten to lose the puck in the Dzone, and giving Jeff Carter an open net on poor defensive coverage also, as Holl got beaten by Zucker to the puck in the Leafs zone, feeding Carter standing alone in slot beating Muzzin to the front of the net.

Jack Campbell this year has been outstanding and covering up these cracks in Leafs defensive play but certainly couldn't be faulted for those to plays that resulted in goals.

 

[therealkoho]

Matthews is an interesting case right now. He's taken a couple of those vintage Matthews shots that beat a goalie clean. The shot against Saros and a wrister on the powerplay earlier in the season. I think that's encouraging and we see it come back full steam soon.

I think the bigger issue, which you noted, is that teams seem to have dialed in on how to defend Mitch and Matthews after the MTL series. All they do is send one guy after them to hound them relentlessly when they have the puck while the rest of the team collapses to the middle of the ice. These players love to hang on to the puck and teams know it. Watch other elite players and you'll see them make that quick pass more often than not when looking at that kind of defensive pressure/structure. Matthews and Marner still try to play like the Globetrotters... sometimes it works, most often it doesn't.

They have to use their teammates and find open ice. Teams learned how to contain Ovi by his 8th season or so, and he in turn learned how to disappear on the ice. Teams figure this stuff out a lot quicker these days with all the video work and prep, so unless you're McDavid with the cheatcodes or Draisaitl facing QoC below his pay grade you've got to adjust. Matthews and Marner become easy to defend by simply having the puck too often. It sounds weird but it seems to me that's what's happening. No Hyman on the wing to grind out their turnovers and steal some attention doesn't help. They're going to have to dig deep.

Keefe need's to split them up is what needs to happen, JT and Marner have some kind of great chemistry, they've both had their career high years together, when he split them up, Matty hammered home the Rocket but JT fell off 20 goals and Mitch's production fell off as well although he still won the team points title. In a weird twist Nylander also seems to have better production with JT as well?

There's a lesson in there somewhere that either Keefe isn't paying attention to, or somebody is putting his own needs ahead of the teams and Keefe can't do anything about it.

 

[therealkoho]

What I noticed is that he continues to make the same rookie mistakes and bad reads consistently, as opposed to learning from them. Jake Guentzel moved into the slot off the rush, stepped right past Sandin and opened up the scoring fooling him on the play and Campbell on the backhand.

Holl and Muzzin completely messed up that 2nd goal against by getting beaten to lose the puck in the Dzone, and giving Jeff Carter an open net on poor defensive coverage also, as Holl got beaten by Zucker to the puck in the Leafs zone, feeding Carter standing alone in slot beating Muzzin to the front of the net.

Jack Campbell this year has been outstanding and covering up these cracks in Leafs defensive play but certainly couldn't be faulted for those to plays that resulted in goals.

not exactly but I'll give you style points for consistency

Holl was where he should of been in line to inetrcept, the puck took a weird bounce and went over his stick and landed on Zucker's blade, what I didn't get was Muzzin hardly making the effort to slow Carter down or even to try and tie his stick up, all he did was a light stick tap on the outside leg. What he needed to do was take that extra hard stride and tie Carter up but he didn't and allowed Carter a tap in. I guess he figured that Holl was going to retrieve and so didn't need to go hard. It's not a mental or physical error it's lackadaisical play which he's been guilty of far too often this year. Muzzin is just about as steady as hey come but something is off with him, I don't know if it's physical, a team issue or an off ice thing, but his head doesn't seem to be in it 100 percent.

 

[Varan]

I think the bigger issue, which you noted, is that teams seem to have dialed in on how to defend Mitch and Matthews after the MTL series. All they do is send one guy after them to hound them relentlessly when they have the puck while the rest of the team collapses to the middle of the ice. These players love to hang on to the puck and teams know it. Watch other elite players and you'll see them make that quick pass more often than not when looking at that kind of defensive pressure/structure. Matthews and Marner still try to play like the Globetrotters... sometimes it works, most often it doesn't.

They have to use their teammates and find open ice. Teams learned how to contain Ovi by his 8th season or so, and he in turn learned how to disappear on the ice. Teams figure this stuff out a lot quicker these days with all the video work and prep, so unless you're McDavid with the cheatcodes or Draisaitl facing QoC below his pay grade you've got to adjust. Matthews and Marner become easy to defend by simply having the puck too often. It sounds weird but it seems to me that's what's happening. No Hyman on the wing to grind out their turnovers and steal some attention doesn't help. They're going to have to dig deep.

Not saying that it can't be done, but it's hard changing your play-style after years of doing it one way. It is muscle memory at this point.

It's the same issue with James Harden. The NBA brought in new rules on foul calls and he has suffered the most through it, he doesn't even look like James Harden. Because of this, fans have been questioning his career accomplishments. He's a foul merchant as it is engrained in his soul.

That is to say that it's hard changing how you play.

 

[Judas Tavares]

Last night wasn't great. Bad 1st period overall. And the goals against were problematic. The pp was sloppy, though when they managed to get stuff through, Jarry and his posts shut things down. The team played better the rest of the way after the 1st, but it was not enough.

BUT. I can't complain winning 10 of 12. That loss was coming, you just can't continually win 10 of 11. The goals are coming. The sh% is low and they are still creating high danger chances. Me thinks another Buffalo type offensive game is coming where the shots will go in. Honestly think the team is due for a small run of that.

While the defence was exposed last game, they've been good over the stretch.

There. I was able to have both sides of the coin. I pointed out the negatives. But didn't overreact. Even brought up some positives. Maybe too many....

But it can be done. Shocking. Also. If tonight's game is an indication that for example Sandin will be useless come playoff time. Well guess what. I'll worry about it then. No sense in worrying now. Nothing you can do other than make your fandom even more of a burden.

I enjoy hockey. I enjoy the Leafs. I like when they have success, even if its small and meaningless. I think that makes being a fan fun. When they lose in the playoffs, I can be all sad in the fetal position just like last year. And the year before. But I won't do it now. No point. That's not fun.

 

[Gabriel426]

I really think the lack of goals from the Leafs this season had a lot to do with a lack of Finish players on the team.
At least last year, we got two finished players in Vesey and Jumbo but this year we don’t have any Finish or Finished players, lol.

 

[kb]

They have played 10. More than half their schedule.

Yup. lol Let's not let facts get in the way of his point.

 

[justashadowof]

Good NHL defensemen should not make that mistake Sandin made on Pittsburgh's 1st goal. He was cheating to protect against the lower percentage play of Guentzel powering around the outside. There's a little too much gambling in Sandin's game.

 

[Bluelines]

Love the overreactions… NOT

It's just a general statement of what we already know, he's in over his head.

 

[Bluelines]

Good NHL defensemen should not make that mistake Sandin made on Pittsburgh's 1st goal. He was cheating to protect against the lower percentage play of Guentzel powering around the outside. There's a little too much gambling in Sandin's game.

Yeah there are some blemishes to his game, I still think he has a lot of upside. The first goal was in excusable for a NHL d-man.