Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 3-1

[francis246]

Great teams (which is what Toronto strives to be) aren't consistently in a position to lose anytime the calls and bounces aren't going their way. They have a winning standard, that holds up a lot of nights. Even when things aren't entirely going their way.

The margin for error is too slim for Toronto because they don't consistantly display winning habits and they are still prone to losing ones.

"They" say that you don't start winning until you learn to stop losing. Toronto still can't figure out how to win these games when they don't bring their best. That's why playoff hockey is a nightmare for them.

lol sure but puck luck is a real thing. You need bounces to go your way in order to win. And I think us leafs fans hold on to losses way harder than any other fan base. It’s a long season, the puck didn’t bounce for us tonight. We had some chances and didn’t bury.

I know we want to win every night but it’s not going to happen. Even the best teams in the NHL lose. Has a team this year even won 3 in a row yet?

 

[Gabriel426]

Maybe the big four should play on three lines to create a more balance lineup.

 

[LastOne2100]

nope but the wear and tear on the area has been done over time and I think there are other factors that contribute including temperature and what not

Exactly - that's why I'm suggesting MLSE dips into their giant money pile and works on improving it.

 

[Gallagbi]

Joey Anderson + Pierre Engvall will do well enough.

Vesey should be scratched

Leafs are horrid at developinging of defenseman. Dermott plays so little, and doesn't get any good opportunity. Scratch him, and bring in engvall.

Vesey is adding more than Simmonds and Thornton right now. He's been solid on the PK.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I don't get the point of Vesey, Spezza or Kerplunk. Or even Thornton, Barabanov and Lehtonen to be honest.

40 mil on 4 forwards, that's what you get. The team is filled out around them with a ton of junk.

 

[Sniper99]

Now that there, was some office space type of dirt.... nothing emotional, no energy, nothing, from both teams More of these please. Ice hockey IS DEAD. Do something man, like marchand does. irritate a motha. We have them thugs to do it. Go to twerk. Hopefully thornton isn't out long. I'm out suckas.

I thought we were "Sires"

No twerking thanks.

 

[ToneDog]

Is it asking too much for them to play 3 good games in a row?

 

[34]

How awful could Brodie have been as a defenseman in a 3-1 loss featuring an own goal and an EN goal? He was shaky on the attack but who wasn't?

I agree with your post, but I don’t think he is that great. All this talk of him being this top pairing D man, I don’t see it.

 

[Critical13]

Man, this forum is too much. It's like some people here expect this team to be 56-0? We were the better team for most of the game and all the bounces went against us. I can accept loses like this. Why are people bitching?

I mean I think it's fair. We're 3-2, falling behind already in the division, and really we've only played 2 good games of the 5.

Not time to lose it mentally, but I can understand some of the doom and gloom.

 

[PromisedLand]

That was a very ugly game. Reminiscent of the Columbus series where Toronto got so psyched up to play a defensively responsible game that they no showed on the offensive side.

Matthews scored, but there's something off about the spacing on the whole Matthews-Marner-Thornton line. They all seem to want to converge to where the puck is and end up getting in each other's kitchens to the point where they're falling over each other and losing track of the puck. When they do have the puck they seem to hesitate on who to defer to. Got to clean things up and have a coherent game plan out there.

Matthews also seems to be all over the ice, but not in an effective way. As a counterpoint, Leon Draisatl seems like a high volume production guy who doesn't do very much, and when he has the puck takes it to the net in straight lines while staying 'big' to protect the puck. Clean up the approach.

Nylander is moving the puck well, but he hesitates to go right to the net. The stop ups and skating behind the net is not really the most effective play.

Kerfoot is skating really well and handling the puck really well, but unfortunately has zero offensive touch and doesn't like the heavy traffic eras. Mikheyev's ability to rag the puck is fantastic but you wish he would show a little more scoring touch and creativity once he gets there.

Tavares had his worst game yet. Looked more like the 2020 version than the 2019 and 2021 version we've seen so far.

Holl was amazing tonight vs McDavid. The skating, reach, stick positioning was top notch.

This why

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-JT-Marner

is so much better. Heck, play Jumbo instead of Mikheyev if you want on the 2nd line

 

[Gallagbi]

Adding a guy who wasn't good on the Buffalo Sabres was always going to be a bit of a Hail Mary. He's basically a warm body out there, but we live and die by the production of our Big 4.

Weren't you big on the Sabres cast-off in Bogosian during TBs cup run?

 

[hamzarocks]

Vesey is adding more than Simmonds and Thornton right now. He's been solid on the PK.

He was killing everything offensively. Engvall was a good PKer when he was up. He replaces him and anderson should begin his development into Hyman 2.0 by playing with JT and Nylander while Hyman plays up on the top line.

 

[The Big Swede13]

I agree with your post, but I don’t think he is that great. All this talk of him being this top pairing D man, I don’t see it.

Rielly and Muzzin were much worse tonight. Rielly probably bobbled the puck 10 times tonight

 

[Superstar]

That penalty call on Muzzin was bull shit and the fact it lead to the Oilers game winning goal should make the NHL and the refs feel embarrassed.

Obviously the refs didn't see what happened, so what were they doing? Hoping to give the Oilers a powerplay (after the Leafs scored), which they did?

 

[IrishInOntario]

I don't share the same level of pessimism that this reaches, but I don't exactly disagree with its concepts either. We lost one, move onto the next one. Let's see how we feel after 10-15 games.

I'm not typically an "over reactor" to one game... For me it's about trends. Through the early season schedule this team has the same makeup it has for as long as I can remember. No carryover in effort, or winning habits, from game to game. They can be Jekyll and Hide on a nightly basis. Very few of their players are consistantly reliable and dependable for long stretches, where you know they are going to show up and give you a high level of effort and production.

All of those above things are why they can't win a round in the playoffs. They're incapable of playing high level, consistent, hockey for long stretches. It's plagued them forever. This appears to be the same team.

 

[74 others]

Team is still a joke. What else is there to say. 1 goal against EDM lol.

Montreal is for sure a better team than we are imo

No we are not for sure a better team. The Oilers are bad though.

 

[Critical13]

Keefe needs to pull Matthews and Marner aside and tell them to cut out the overly fancy bullshit, enough is enough. Seems like they're obsessed with making the highlight reel all the time.

I feel like they are the least of our problems right now, especially Matthews.

 

[Gallagbi]

He was killing everything offensively. Engvall was a good PKer when he was up. He replaces him and anderson should begin his development into Hyman 2.0 by playing with JT and Nylander while Hyman plays up on the top line.

Can't think of a forward who didn't kill everything they touched tonight

 

[Leafs at Knight]

Yikess

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I couldn't continue watching that game after the disgusting first period. What was it like 10 shots total. Total Snooze fest. Leafs Habs and Flames still the favourites to destroy this division

 

[Mats13]

I say Calgary. It's only week 1, but I don't think any cup contenders are coming from this division. Montreal dominated that Oilers team, though. Not a great sign.

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.

 

[AcerComputer]

Leafs should have won

 

[Gallagbi]

Obviously the refs didn't see what happened, so what were they doing? Hoping to give the Oilers a powerplay (after the Leafs scored), which they did?

They panicked, which is never the right answer. Oilers falls, Leaf with his hands up. You could see the confusion and hesitation on the call.

 

[Confucius]

Imagine dropping $500 or more for a couple of seats to watch this one.

 

[Suntouchable13]

lol sure but puck luck is a real thing. You need bounces to go your way in order to win. And I think us leafs fans hold on to losses way harder than any other fan base. It’s a long season, the puck didn’t bounce for us tonight. We had some chances and didn’t bury.

I know we want to win every night but it’s not going to happen. Even the best teams in the NHL lose. Has a team this year even won 3 in a row yet?

No, but lack of scoring from other guys that are not Willy, Matthews, Marner, and JT is concerning. Same shit happened against Columbus. Same shit is going to happen this playoffs too in May. There is a ton of junk around these top 4 forwards.