Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 3-1

[Ziggdiezan]

Hopefully Thornton missing some time will end this experiment with Vesey and Jumbo in the top 6. I know they want to have a good 3rd checking like but if you neuter the offense of the top 6 in doing so it really isn't worth it.

Time to go to something like:

Hyman/Mikheyev-Matthews-Marner
Mikheyev/Hyman-JT-Nylander
Vesey-Kerfoot-Simmonds(?)

Seeing Vesey in the top 6 is just hard to watch.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

I think he's fine on the third line. He can't finish for shit, but he seems to drive play really well against pretty good players. I sure as hell don't want him on the Tavares line like some people say, but he's enough of a net positive that he's fine on the third IMO. To my eyes, he's pretty much a direct Kapanen replacement, but just hasn't figured out the scoring part yet.

I'd say that getting better wingers than Jumbo and Vesey (grrr) for the top6 is orders of magnitude more important than Mikheyev on the third or fourth.

Would you rather have Mikheyev or Vesey with JT/Nylander? Personally I would much rather have Mikheyev speed and transitioning ability than Vesey's nothingness

 

[Bluelines]

Me too!

With injuries, I wouldn't mind giving him some PP2 time, and maybe the odd shift in the top 6. Between him and Lehtonen, I hope their limited use was an "easing in" process and not what we plan to do all season.

Mikko is a stud that looks indecisive. They need to give him more minutes. You cant figure out your game with 3 min a period ATOI.

 

[srnd9399]

In peace here. Im not gonna harp on your forward, we have enough problems in Edmonton. I would seriously think about trading Marner. I think he makes way too much money for what he brings. If he wasn't there , Im sure there would of been enough cash for AP

believe me its been talked about on these boards! I like Marner and what he brings most nights, but he is vastly overpaid

 

[Oilers in NS]

believe me its been talked about on these boards! I like Marner and what he brings most nights, but he is vastly overpaid

I just don’t think he is worth anything over 7. He is suppose to be a Denis Savard type player

 

[BertCorbeau]

It was pretty sad to watch our highly touted offence almost completely shut down by one of the worst defences in the NHL. On the bright side, Andersen had a good game so focus on that I guess.

Meh, the Oilers did a good job clogging up the lanes/middle of the ice but the Leafs were really off on their passes and bobbling pucks. We know they're better than that. If they were able to thread a few more needles, it would have opened some things up. Particularly Marner/Matthews. They were really off a lot of the night which is super uncharacteristic.

My guess is that the Leafs weren't mentally prepped for the Oilers to focus so much on defensive play, and the Leafs struggled to adjusted.

It was evident that the Oilers sacrificed their offense more than the Leafs' did to play stronger defense.

I think Friday will be return to the norm. But the Leafs do need to find a way to get more 5 on 5 goals.

 

[LeafGrief]

Would you rather have Mikheyev or Vesey with JT/Nylander? Personally I would much rather have Mikheyev speed and transitioning ability than Vesey's nothingness

If I had to pick one of the two, I'd pick Mikheyev. But I'd rather try a whole host of other guys there first. Mikheyev does a lot of really good things, but he's a lot like Kapanen in that he does well carrying the puck down the ice and then shooting it at the goalie's chest. That's a great thing from a third liner, but it actively detracts from a line with stars like JT or Nylander who are better with the puck on their sticks. That line needs a guy who's smart off the puck and has a bit of finishing/playmaking ability. They don't need a lot of, they can just leech off the stars, but they need to be compatible.

 

[TheShape]

When teams clamp down we don’t really have a way through 5 on 5. Same issue as last year where I find the forwards are boxed out too easily, too perimeter. The book is out on how to play the Leafs

 

[Cor]

Once again. After sleeping on it;

- It’s hard to assess this game. When we look at the goals against, there was a fluke own goal, a powerplay goal against on a absolute joke of a call, and then an empty netter.

- At the same time, we didn’t exactly play inspired hockey after the first period. We didn’t deserve to win that game, not the Oilers necessarily did either.

- Freddy was good when he needed to be. He probably deserved better.

- Nice to see Matthews get a goal. He finished with 6 shots and 6 hits as well. I’ll be curious to see if Hyman is moved up permanently if Thornton is out long-term.

- If Thornton is out, and Hyman moved up, I wouldn’t mind seeing Joey Anderson given a shot on that third line.


And that’s about it. It was a weird game tbh. Try not to read to much into it.

 

[Mess]

Leafs are living off their specialty teams both PP (6 goals on 16 PPO with a 37.5% success rate) and PK for their early season success..

Their 5v5 play in this game and others have not produced much offense, but a few periodical pressure with puck possession.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Based on last night, I'd say the team is trying to find a balance between our more normal good offensive production and playing a responsible defensive game. Doesn't look like we've mastered the balancing act, at least based on last nights results. I'm hoping that game was an aberration. It might be and we'll find out of course over time.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

OMG OMG OMG thank god I did not pay for my seats last night ... I was watching game and after 5 minutes I am like what are Oilers doing .. then camera spans bench and i see Tipper ... instantly i get it ... wow da Edmonton Centre Ice Trappers ... now makes sense when ur are outgunned on talent play it as hard as you can ... but I was expecting a high flying McJesus game of up/down ice rushes and chances ... ok so 1st period ends and I think well Keefer will explain to boys what is going on here and how to beat it ... but NO same old lets try to pass our way through it BS repeats itself ... and of course no change in 3rd either which was just bad coaching .. da vet coach outsmarted da rook coach

OMG Kerfoot and Vesey boys you need a hockey 101 course ASAP ... Kerfoot when you go back in ur own end and Euro to try to regain position please please please do not pass puck away behind ur net ever again ... no one was forechecking you then you keep puck urself and take it up ice ... a nowhere pass to nobody and then 2nd error once u have done that move never box yourself out behind your net ... u need to pick up a man and play him 1 on 1 until play dies ... and Vesey OMG when you have a loose puck on ur stick in front of net #1 rule is to dump it back in corner farthest away from net so as to not have it cross in traffic in front of net ... ie backhand it into corner and make safe play ... you never ever ever pass puck through your crease when there is traffic there ... bad things always happen ... these 2 kids need hockey 101 training they have no hockey sense ... they have speed but they have no game sense at all and lack sufficient training

Now Keefer when game starts Friday night a few steps to fix this here ... start by giving Jumbo and Spezz da game off ... you need more legs up front so go back to 12 and 6 ... insert some speed and size in ur wingers ... go Zack JT and Simmonds then Mik Matty and Andersen/Barabanov ... drop Kerfoot Willy Mitch to 3rd or 4th line ... then instruct guys to carry over red line and slapper high and hard on glass and ring it around glass to other side of ice where Zach and Andersen can take defender and centre takes loose puck hard to net ... no passy passy passy strategies here ... 3rd winger plays centre if puck gets turned over ... all pucks go hard to net and jam it ... rinse and repeat until we score a couple ... when Oilers change out system then go back to ur program

All that said common REF what was that ... you were right there so you must have made that call on purpose ... Oiler got pulled down tripped by stick on his own teammate ... absolutely ridiculous to give Oilers an extra point for something like that ... there needs to be a coach challenge for egregious errors ... but it should never have got to that point anywho ... terrible coaching

Only bright spot was Matty he never gave up and executed a forecheck on his own with no help from anyone else and drove puck hard to net ... it works ... and it will again in that type of game ... but we can't be playing a 1 man game out there ...

 

[dangomon]

Once again. After sleeping on it;

- It’s hard to assess this game. When we look at the goals against, there was a fluke own goal, a powerplay goal against on a absolute joke of a call, and then an empty netter.

- At the same time, we didn’t exactly play inspired hockey after the first period. We didn’t deserve to win that game, not the Oilers necessarily did either.

- Freddy was good when he needed to be. He probably deserved better.

- Nice to see Matthews get a goal. He finished with 6 shots and 6 hits as well. I’ll be curious to see if Hyman is moved up permanently if Thornton is out long-term.

- If Thornton is out, and Hyman moved up, I wouldn’t mind seeing Joey Anderson given a shot on that third line.


And that’s about it. It was a weird game tbh. Try not to read to much into it.

I'd rather give Barabanov a shot on the third line next game. At some point the Leafs need to know what they have in him outside of 5 mins TOI per game. Give him a 1 or couple game leash and see what he has.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Meh, the Oilers did a good job clogging up the lanes/middle of the ice but the Leafs were really off on their passes and bobbling pucks. We know they're better than that. If they were able to thread a few more needles, it would have opened some things up. Particularly Marner/Matthews. They were really off a lot of the night which is super uncharacteristic.

My guess is that the Leafs weren't mentally prepped for the Oilers to focus so much on defensive play, and the Leafs struggled to adjusted.

It was evident that the Oilers sacrificed their offense more than the Leafs' did to play stronger defense.

I think Friday will be return to the norm. But the Leafs do need to find a way to get more 5 on 5 goals.

Yeah, all this seems reasonable. Bottom line, we were off like you said and played a crappy game. It happens, shouldn't happen often though. Bounce back with a convincing victory like we did against OTT and everything will be fine. If we play poorly and lose again though, meh, I don't even wanna go there.

GLG!!

 

[sparxx87]

i agree with you on how teams create their own luck, this was a horrible example of this. Edmonton played an equally poor game as well. the generated next to no chances as well, and were extremely fortunate to have gotten 2 points. As would have the Leafs if they would have won. neither team came out to win the game, both sat back trying to defend, and both teams did that very well actually. yamamoto winning a one on one battle in behind the net and throwing it aimlessly in front of our net to vesey, who then fires it off his own teammate into the net is hardly how I classify making your own luck. Not to mention the leafs PK was excellent prior to draisatl's goal. I am not sure the completed more than 3 passes in the offensive zone that whole powerplay, yet the initial shot deflects to Leon in stride with an open net. I am not trying to say the Leafs deserved better, but i will not say the Oilers wanted it more, or made their own luck. The leafs had tape to tape passes explode off their blades all game. It was like they were playing on concrete. For as bad they played offensively, their D was really good in my mind. contained the 2 stars quite well. Really should have been a W

I think I agree with most of this.

I’m saying the game could have gone either way. Yamamoto created an opportunity to get lucky by winning the puck from Holl and Kerfoot and throwing it in front. Oilers created a PP by getting a step on Muzzin. Obviously it was a bad call after review, but it looked like Muzzin got beat and tripped his man from the referees perspective. Whoever that Oiler player was, he created that lucky power play with hustle.

On the other side, Matthews created his own luck by winning a puck from Kassian and throwing it on the net of a very bad goalie The rest of the team needs to do a better job getting the puck to the net against bad goalies for more chances at ‘lucky’ goals. They have a tendency to be too cute and over-pass... We’ve seen a number of teams just clog up the middle against them and make it very tough. They need to create their own luck in these games and they didn’t do enough of it last night.


On the plus side, they did very well containing McDavid and Draisaitl. I only recall one play where 97 was able to wind up through the neutral zone and I think it was on the heels of a line change. Great job taking away his time and space. He ended up taking a dumb penalty hooking Rielly later on. Always a good night if you can shut down and frustrate a player like that.

 

[Stephen]

Van/Wpg both carry quality players that can smoke the Leafs if they aren't ready. There is no game that the Leafs should be taking for granted

I think the first week should teach us each team in the Canadian Division is a wildcard.

 

[IPS]

Our bottom-6 continues to be very underwhelming and it's going to be even more underwhelming now that Hyman needs to be back on the top line.

Where is this alleged change in direction that Dubas promised in this regard? There's nothing different.

 

[Trapper]

Leafs are living off their specialty teams both PP (6 goals on 16 PPO with a 37.5% success rate) and PK for their early season success..

Their 5v5 play in this game and others have not produced much offense, but a few periodical pressure with puck possession.

This team for its talent and salary commitment should easily be the top of this new COVID division.

This year is unlike any other. 56 games to stay fresh. No Tampa,Boston,etc. in our way.

Half the teams Ottawa,Edmonton,Vancouver,Montreal have been rebuilding (retooling) since forever (or are rebuilding).

Calgary,Winnipeg should be the most “together” competition we face.

I’ll take whatever regular season with a grain of salt but failure to win a round or emerge from this division is total failure. There is no better opportunity, setup than now.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

just a boring hockey game all around. Reminded me of Devils trap era hockey.

yep

 

[ShaneFalco]

I’ll take whatever regular season with a grain of salt but failure to win a round or emerge from this division is total failure. There is no better opportunity, setup than now.

If they bow out again early, it's time to look at the core (mainly Marner and Nylander)

 

[JT AM da real deal]

We pretty clearly outplayed Montreal in the opener.

All this tells us is not to read so much into one game.

It wasn’t fun but come on, we’re still the best of the North division.

We got massively outplayed but won on skill and PP ... it was classic what we have done for years

 

[GoonieFace]

Our bottom-6 continues to be very underwhelming and it's going to be even more underwhelming now that Hyman needs to be back on the top line.

Where is this alleged change in direction that Dubas promised in this regard? There's nothing different.

he dropped the ball once again. Although I like Simmonds, not sure that was the answer either. He is too slow to be effective 5 on 5. Kerfoot/Spezza/mikheyev/ etc, these guys don’t strike me as guys that are hard to play against, which what the bottom 6 should be.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

McDavid wasn’t very noticeable outside of a few 1 on 1 rushes. Thankfully the Leafs have Holl and his long body and strong skating defending against him.

McJesus bought into Tipper Edmonton Centre Ice Trappers game plan perfectly ... i think he knows he can't win a gun slinging game by himself now ... but OMG what sh*t hockey ... if that went US national OMG what crap

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I'd rather let McDavid get a few points, and we play our game and win 6-2 instead of playing right into their crap trap and neutering the offense.

I wasn't impressed with Keefe's coaching tonight.

You saw it ... most can't here ... but you are 100% right it was lost by coaching pure and simple

 

[Mess]

Montreal just beat Edmonton 3-1, and 5-1 previous to Leafs game here, so this loss hurts in that respect.