Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose 3-2 in OT

[Antropovsky]

Yet another OT game where Marner throws a no look behind the back pass directly to the opponent. He makes 2-3 of these a game.... These are the plays that cost in playoffs, when it's a game of inches. Also...these type of passes also seem to work less in the playoffs where players games are refined, speed is up, checking is tighter and everyone is trying a lot harder. But hey we will keep throwing Marner over the boards every second shift for the bonehead plays and then wonder why our culture isn't changing. Well your paying a player 11 million dollars, slapping an A on his chest and then allowing him to throw giveaway after giveaway pass and without punishment.

We need less behind the back blind passes and more tips like Matthews today and goals that come off screens and rebounds. In the playoffs goalies are hard to best off clean shots..its typically the ones they can't see or the rebounds that go in.

Who cares... Next game we will see a few more fancy dancy magical marner giveaways as usual.

Not surprised to see Marner had another secondary pp assist today and again faltered when the game needed to be won. Seems like a pattern.

Though I'm impressed with how few shots we allowed, we probably win this game with Murray or maybe Samsonov.

Biggest thing we need to stop is the boneheaded low percentage giveaways.

 

[notDatsyuk]

You can see why Barzal is second in the league in assists, even on such a bad team. Moves like Marner, but without the giveaways (or the talented linemates).

First and third Isles goals were deflected by our D. Second was a bad giveaway.

How did Matthews miss both those passes in OT?

How did Marner get on the ice in OT?

Willy leads the league in hitting the pipes, with 6. (The rest of the team have 11 total.)

 

[Leaf4Life79]

I seriously doubt Dubas has a blank check to do whatever he wants and I'm not sure anybody decent is even available this early in the season for anything less than an overpayment

He's been getting better as he's got this legs under him imo, if he and Sandin hold up I could see them logging big minutes

Do you not understand that Muzzin on LTIR opens up like 5.6 Mill in cap???? know your team my dude before talking like you know what you're talking about..... smh
ETA... there are actually a few VERY good Dmen that can be had...for that or less than the cap hit Muzz has!

 

[Leaf4Life79]

3 out of our top 4 defence is injuired , and we are playing a third string goalie . I understand the frustration but thats rough

IT is GO TIME for Dubas... expect a signing or two in the next 24 hours... pending on Riellys outcome.

 

[Kiwi]

Do you not understand that Muzzin on LTIR opens up like 5.6 Mill in cap???? know your team my dude before talking like you know what you're talking about..... smh
ETA... there are actually a few VERY good Dmen that can be had...for that or less than the cap hit Muzz has!

I realize this however I've also realized it's going to be bloody expensive and I'm not sure our GM is going to be allowed to sell the farm to acquire a difference making defenseman that half the league would be competing for

I doubt a GM without a contract extension is going to get to write a massive check without Shanahans permission and he does have an interest in the teams future

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

so why are you guys talking about the game when reilly just got hurt? i glanced over the thread not a word about it. kinda odd your #1 d gets hurt and crickets? and no thread about it?

 

[stickty111]

Positive is the team is playing really well right now and deserved to win today's game. If they keep doing that, the points and wins should continue. Too bad we forgot how to play 3 on 3 it seems

 

[Blanche Blanche]

Positive is the team is playing really well right now and deserved to win today's game. If they keep doing that, the points and wins should continue. Too bad we forgot how to play 3 on 3 it seems

If forgetting how to play 3 on 3 means we can actually play défense…

I’ll take it. Haven’t seen our leafs team winning board battles and clearing the zone as consistently as this season.

We match that with matthews normal production and maybe some from bottom 6.
Gonna be a nice showing for once in the post season.

 

[Leafblooded]

Called the result with 5 minutes left

 

[meefer]

7 bogies (2 caused by bad green bounces), 6 pars, 5 birdies, not bad for the first time out in 2 months, and I'm feeling pretty good about myself...until I read this thread. Well, not really, I'm still feeling pretty good about life because I adopted the mantra of many here, "it doesn't matter until the playoffs."

I do get a kick out of some of the hysteria some bring to these threads. But, the anger that joins many of the comments is concerning. I hope it doesn't affect you in real life and that you're simply using these opportunities to vent, 'cause otherwise going through these types of results so far must be terrible.

None of which is to say that there are not areas to be concerned about.

*With Rielly hurt, we're down 3 of our top 4 defensemen. I can't imagine any team having regular success if three quarters of their top 2 pairings are missing for an extended period of time. Muzz, take care and do what's best for your life, Mo and TJ, get well soon. We need you.
*A quick glance at the stats suggests that at forward, only Tavares, Nylander, Kamph and Jarnkrok are shooting above their career averages. On defense we're seeing only Holl, Benn and Liljegren topping their career averages, with TL leading with 29%...but he's only taken 7 shots. The rest are a combined 0.0%, well to be fair, Gio is rocking a 3.7 rate. Hard to win when you've 7/21 players carrying their average or plus for scoring goals.
*The Leafs are sitting 16th in S/GP with 30.9. Not great, not terrible, it is down from last years 34+ but with the Panthers averaging 40+/G, and given the Leafs having a poor shooting year so far, that's a disadvantage that's hard to overcome. Last year they averaged 3.8 G/G, this year, 2.95. Happily, we're down more than 1/3 GA/G sitting 8th overall, and 0.03 GA/G away from sitting 6th. This with everyone's favorite, Kallgren, playing 8 games and a 0.893 Sv%. Hmmm, maybe Keefe is trying to tighten things up?
*OT...I got nothing.

Needs: An upgrade at 3C and a solid top 4 defenseman.
Wants: Robertson to play soon. We need to score and he has the potential more than anyone else we have. I hope Keefe is drilling home defensive responsibility so that he can help a bit as he learns. I'd try to match him with Gio on the ice, because... . I'll also be happy when Samsonov returns.

We're not dead in the water, we're playing better defense and not scoring as much, and we've had some injuries. Defense will be our test over the next few games, but for me, there's hope. Have a great day.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Sandins your number 2 offensive dman but sits in OT for Holl

Starting to get the feeling we're never going to turn Sandin and Liljegren loose to see what they can do. Especially in offensive situations. Keep Gio/Holl as your shutdown guys if you want but if Rielly is out I'm hoping to see 23-24 minutes a night out of the Sandin/Liljegren pairing and some PP/OT opportunities for these guys.

 

[WillyC]

After giving up the tying goal… it must have been terrifying, watching that OT unfold from the Leafs net.

Tied for 5th overall… lots of season to play still.

 

[Nineteen67]

They played a relatively safe, decent defensive game.

How often does 2 goals win a game?

It was theirs to lose ... and they did.

Thought the same, they played well but you have to score more.

The fact they are paying more attention to team defence is beginning to change my outlook on this team’s potential. Yes, they need to score more, but right now they need to focus on good habits without the puck.

If Kallgren doesn’t throw a cookie up the middle it very likely ends 2-1, or they score an EN.

 

[Nineteen67]

Nearly perfectly executed road game, on home ice.

The better team lost this one. Poor play by Kallgren to put his defence in an un-defendable position. Yet another OT with no shots or even attempts for.

Snipe shot by Beauvillier for the winner. Could have been stopped, but let's be honest, if one of our guys scored that we'd be commending the shot.

We probably do win that one with our #1 or #2 in goal.

That was a pretty good shot. Nylander hit the post on a very similar shot earlier in the game that goalie had no chance to stop.

 

[Hugh Mongusbig]

No Wonder Keefe had planned to employ the 4 forwards w/ 1 D-man strategy this season in tight games.... He was trying to avoid going to OT. That was probably a good strategy, too bad it isn't working and the Leafs have been to OT 6 times already. I think he needs a new strategy to avoid OT.

Hey look, Devils next up. At least we probably won't see OT in that one.

 

[MSZ]

No Wonder Keefe had planned to employ the 4 forwards w/ 1 D-man strategy this season in tight games.... He was trying to avoid going to OT. That was probably a good strategy, too bad it isn't working and the Leafs have been to OT 6 times already. I think he needs a new strategy to avoid OT.

Hey look, Devils next up. At least we probably won't see OT in that one.

Well someone has to end NJ's long winning streak. If the last meeting was any indication NJ is definitely beatable.

 

[BLONG7]

How long do they think Reilly is gone for?

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Hate the outcome, but man, the Isles looked pretty bad all night. Just a very different team with Trotz gone, giving up chances galore.

I guess your flaws are less problematic when you have the 2023 Vezina winner erasing your mistakes.

 

[ToneDog]

Hate the outcome, but man, the Isles looked pretty bad all night. Just a very different team with Trotz gone, giving up chances galore.

I guess your flaws are less problematic when you have the 2023 Vezina winner erasing your mistakes.

Isles have goaltending and decent D (Lou builds from the net out). We do not have enough goal scorers.

We also need to cut down on the giveaways.

Otherwise just about beat a grinding team.

 

[ULF_55]

How did Matthews miss both those passes in OT?

First one he has no excuse it was to his skates but he really wasn't covered and had a long look at it.
Second one was off his stick.

Is there an underlying issue with his wrists?

He looked gased before OT even started.

Definitely, not 2021-2022 Matthews.

 

[GoonieFace]

Likely Tampa. Boston won't stop winning and we throw away points in games like tonight. Makes it really tough to catch up

Just need to get in, which this team will do comfortably. You have to beat the good teams at some time, and I think the 1st rd is the time to do it.

 

[trellaine201]

Ok Rielly getting imaging done is not a good thing. Have to think this is serious. Meaning out a while. Trouble ahead.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I'm still infuriated over that OT performance. Instead of cleaning up the lackadaisical passes, they got worse somehow. If this is coaching, someone needs to be fired if they don't want to change strategy. If it's the players just being lazy or gambling, other players should be used. I'm sick of this.

 

[Gilmour1996]

No Wonder Keefe had planned to employ the 4 forwards w/ 1 D-man strategy this season in tight games.... He was trying to avoid going to OT. That was probably a good strategy, too bad it isn't working and the Leafs have been to OT 6 times already. I think he needs a new strategy to avoid OT.

Hey look, Devils next up. At least we probably won't see OT in that one.

Just use the best defensive players in OT and get thru 5 minutes. Don't even try to score! Play keepaway. Then use Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares in the shootout and win it there. Surely they have 6 players who can keep things tied for 5 minutes. There's F-all the league can do about it.

 

[ACC1224]

Just use the best defensive players in OT and get thru 5 minutes. Don't even try to score! Then use Marner, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares in the shootout and win it there. Surely they have 6 players who can keep things tied for 5 minutes.

When you give up a goal on a 2 on 2 rush, probably not.