Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 4-2

[Seath The Scaleless]

Some perspective; Boston lost 7-2 to the Islanders, then 6-2 to the Rangers a few games back. They also lost 2 of 3 against the 7-10-2 NJD.

The Sabres blew out the Flyers 6-1.

3 of Florida’s 4 regulation losses came at the hands of the 6-8-4 Dallas Stars (it was their only win over an 11 game span) and the 7-16-3 Red Wings (who won twice to the tune of 2-1 and 4-1)

The Colorado Avelanche were just spanked 6-2 by the San Jose Sharks.

St.Louis has lost 4 of 7 to the Arizona Coyotes. And lost 3 of 5 to the LA Kings.

We need to get back to playing team D and start winning again, but all good teams have these kinds of nights and end up taking embarrassing L’s.

And to be fair, we haven't had an embarrassing loss since game 2 of the season vs Ottawa.

Regulation losses:
-Ottawa (bad)
-Edmonton (Phantom call in the 3rd right after we tied it. Own goal in the first)
-Montreal (Close game. Lost at least a point late in the third)
-Calgary (Rittich was good. No bounces)
-Vancouver x2 (Played good enough to win both games)

 

[Teeder Keon]

Right. And that has nothing to do with wins and losses, but rather has everything to do with the moment and playing the way you need to give yourself the best chance at a win even if its a shit game. Tonight, once down 3-2 they completely threw all structure to the wind and pulled out the non-sense-hope-and-a-prayer game plan. They were not playing well to begin with, but they still had a chance until they went all 'junior'.

Very good take
We need to learn still

 

[Confucius]

If Nylander put up points like Marner did this season, we’d be talking about how his contract is a steal

Nylander doesn't deserve the harsh criticism he gets, he's fine. Everyone in the league has some bad games. McDavid was invisible for three straight games. His most memorable play was losing a race to Soup.

 

[wingman75]

They need to be a team that fights through the struggles and out of grooves. Even in a shortened season we'll have a few losing streaks, every team does

They were in a position to do that, even down 1 in the 3rd but they dropped the entire game plan and just started making panic no look wish plays all over the ice... which essentially handed the 4th goal to the opponents.

You know, I think we'd all respect a hard nosed tidy effort in a loss... that's going to happen, but I find this team, more than any other (and I watch a LOT of games) just throw away changes and often games because they get mentally lazy. It was a battle Babcock was fighting, and though they are a thousand times better under Keefe, there is still work to do.

 

[Confucius]

Did they look terrible? Or did Demko play great, again, Vancouver play a tight checking, patient game in front of him, and Toronto miss some high scoring chances that it usually doesn't?

I thought the goaltending played like our goaltending usually does...

I thought the D-core was pretty much the D-core...

I thought 2 of our lines were pretty dominant and simply struggled to finish...

Demko played great. We couldn't make a clean pass most of the time.

 

[Teeder Keon]

Nylander doesn't deserve the harsh criticism he gets, he's fine. Everyone in the league has some bad games. McDavid was invisible for three straight games. His most memorable play was losing a race to Soup.

Not mostly for sure , he played ok tonight and way better recently

 

[IrishInOntario]

And to be fair, we haven't had an embarrassing loss since game 2 of the season vs Ottawa.

Regulation losses:
-Ottawa (bad)
-Edmonton (Phantom call in the 3rd right after we tied it. Own goal in the first)
-Montreal (Close game. Lost at least a point late in the third)
-Calgary (Rittich was good. No bounces)
-Vancouver x2 (Played good enough to win both games)

We're going to lose games. Goalies are going to stand on their head some games. Ours are going to be really average some games. Even elite goal scorers like Matthews are going have bad stretches... Look at what we did to McDavid over 3 games...

I think we should just give the Canucks some credit and hope the team rebounds with a couple of days off, against another really good goalie.

 

[IrishInOntario]

Demko played great. We couldn't make a clean pass most of the time.

Thought Vancouver played really aggressive and closed down a lot of room. Stick checked a lot of shots and played to shutdown Marner, knowing that Matthews is not shooting right now.

 

[Gallagbi]

They were in a position to do that, even down 1 in the 3rd but they dropped the entire game plan and just started making panic no look wish plays all over the ice... which essentially handed the 4th goal to the opponents.

You know, I think we'd all respect a hard nosed tidy effort in a loss... that's going to happen, but I find this team, more than any other (and I watch a LOT of games) just throw away changes and often games because they get mentally lazy. It was a battle Babcock was fighting, and though they are a thousand times better under Keefe, there is still work to do.

They had that hard fought loss on Thursday. Tonight was some bad luck and some bad decisions where they didn't look good (yet still better than Van IMO)

Next few games are a perfect opportunity to see what this team is made of

 

[Cleetus]

Now that I agree with , but apparently we don’t need toughness

well we have engvall

 

[Buds17]

I might be the Minority here , don’t know ?
Fred’s not perfect , but he’s one of the better ones in my opinion ..
But I don’t think tonight was on him , sorry folks , we played poorly everywhere

Four goals against is a bit more than I'd like to see. Conversely, it can be argued that two goals for isn't quite enough for a favourable result. My biggest takeaway would likely still be that Demko put forth a quality performance.

 

[Teeder Keon]

We're going to lose games. Goalies are going to stand on their head some games. Ours are going to be really average some games. Even elite goal scorers like Matthews are going have bad stretches... Look at what we did to McDavid over 3 games...

I think we should just give the Canucks some credit and hope the team rebounds with a couple of days off, against another really good goalie.

No question about all your takes , totally agree with you ...
But my biggest problem is the execution and seemingly unwillingness to play greasy and ugly in these types of games
We can’t always think that our cycling around and around will get us pretty goals
Sometimes the team all four lines have to play it ugly and just shoot and crush the net and hope for ugly rebounds
Look at canucks goals tonight

 

[Teeder Keon]

well we have engvall

I’m not going there , yet !
But I’ll have a itchy pointer finger on my iPhone coming soon if this continues
I will always keep it real
But not game to game
I look more into trends and more of a bigger scope
ie : Kerfoot
He’s just not good enough , big enough , smart enough sorry

 

[Confucius]

Thought Vancouver played really aggressive and closed down a lot of room. Stick checked a lot of shots and played to shutdown Marner, knowing that Matthews is not shooting right now.

yes that may well have happened but we had many many passes that were behind the player, into the skates and just bobbled or completely missed. There were very few crisp onto the stick.

 

[Marshy]

They probably looked at this 5 day stretch as a bit of a break.

Good lesson learned. There are no breaks. Bring your A game or you might be bringing your L game.

Easier for Keefe to get buy-in now. Good practice on Monday and get back on the right track.

We're going to catch some teams tired and hurting the rest of the way it'll even out.

 

[saffronleaf]

Might have overreacted a bit. Lets just get ready for the Jets.

 

[TeddyBare]

Man
that 3rd vancouver goal.
1) Marner attempts to go 1 on 4
2) Toronto has 3 guys back and Miller goes untouched to the front of the net

 

[Teeder Keon]

Might have overreacted a bit. Lets just get ready for the Jets.

Were you feeling like your profile pic

 

[Maple Leaf]

They lost to the canucks

 

[Clark4Ever]

Despite a sub par effort by our top guys, I thought we still played well enough to win and deserved a better fate tonight. At the end of the day, Demko was the difference in both games.

Regardless of our record, I'm not that confident going into the playoffs with Freddy as the starter. The chances are we will run into a better goaltender on the opposing team, whoever we face.

 

[Cynical]

Looks like the expectation is that either the Leafs win every game or they suck to some people.

Two losses - oh well.

Onto the next one.

 

[david999]

This was nothing more than a throwaway game by the Leafs. They
are likely pacing themselves for when it really counts, as evidenced by their lack of intensity in chasing down pucks like in the Edmonton series. Having no fans in the stands also contributes to players not feeling the pressure to play full balls to the wall every game. Demko was solid for the canuckleheads.

 

[killer1980]

They still have a very weak defense and a goalie that does not do well in the playoffs. I'll enjoy the regular season and polish my golf clubs when the playoff starts.

 

[ToMaLe]

And the Marlies lose with 2 late 3rd period goals to lose 4-3. Like they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.....

 

[IrishInOntario]

I’m not going there , yet !
But I’ll have a itchy pointer finger on my iPhone coming soon if this continues
I will always keep it real
But not game to game
I look more into trends and more of a bigger scope
ie : Kerfoot
He’s just not good enough , big enough , smart enough sorry

Unfortunately, I don't think we're built that way. The team is built on creativity, speed, offensive pressure and the ability to draw penalties and get to their powerplay. It doesn't mean they can't play good defensive hockey for stretches, but they're just flat out not the type of team that is going to consistantly play and win greasy games.