Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 5-2

[notDatsyuk]

Hyman looks to be a bad move in hindsight......it happens.


That's kind of what I was getting at.

Not to take anything away from Hyman, who was one of my favourites, but I think some of it has to do with everyone watching McD. His breakaways were prime examples.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I wouldn't worry about a game here and a game there .. every pro team has a few every season .. last night Matty and Willy decided to both take night off .. Oilers have lots of speed and it takes a bigger effort to crank up da jets and da 2 boys decided it was not worth it .. Mitch and JT and ROR tried there best .. games against Tampa will all be decided by defense and tending .. it is gonna be a close series .. when push comes to shove my guess is Vasi will win 2 games and Murray will win 2 games and da last 3 get decided by da better defensive team who gives up da least amount of chances .. or one of 2 tenders has a shut down no one is scoring on me game 7 .. or maybe like last year it comes down to a weak refs call in game 6 .. it is gonna be a nail biter series .. lets hope Leafs catch a break this year .. i gotta feeling ROR will carry team in game 7 just a hunch

Murray, wow! That's pretty far out there on that limb, we'll see.

Hard to blame the goalie for a PP goal, especially when your best PKer makes such a poor play to start it.

Not impressed by the second in particular.

But I understand why Keefe keeps starting him, because every other goalie he's been given is worse.

I just looked it up, Samsomov is 12th best in the NHL in SV%, can't complain about that.

In other news, just ahead of him in 11th is Boston's 2nd string goalie. FML.

22nd in points per game, still not good enough. He is behind Zach Hyman in points and points per game, is that not a problem to you?

Good point!

I think O’Reilly approaches what prime Hyman’s role is, but the interesting outcome of this upcoming run is whether we finally get to the point whether the play of the team (core) gets to the point where these low floor games are not acceptable.

No team is perfect, yada yada. But my feeling is whenever this Leaf core is put into a front runner role when things look good, leading in a series, look like everyone likes them, optimistic about their chances or playing a clear cut bottom feeder, they just go on a mission accomplished auto pilot. This is a really nasty personality trait that has limited their potential as a group.

If there is something rotten with this core and adding any one player could help, then IMO that player is ROR. We'll see what happens in the playoffs.

 

[mjd1001]

I'm not too worried right now. They are in the playoffs, home ice or not I really don't care much about.

I'm not too worried about Tampa, or even Carolina. Boston and the Rangers/Devils are the stumbling blocks, but I give the leafs a 50-50 chance in any of those series.

Guaranteed to win the cup? of course not. But I really think they are getting out of the first round this year, and have a shot against Boston or whoever they face in the Conference Finals.

Get to the playoffs without additional injuries. Then the fun starts.

 

[Hellcat]

22nd in points per game, still not good enough. He is behind Zach Hyman in points and points per game, is that not a problem to you?

Nope not a problem at all. Zach is having a career year, on the highest scoring team in the League.

The guy just won the Rocket two straight years, is on pace to break Ovie's all time goal scoring record. He is top 1% of the league in scoring, that's a problem for you?

I can't understand the quick hate towards a guy who is the best goal scorer since he came into the league. Well there is always time for us to drop him at the TDL for a couple of 3rd rounders, the guy is such a bum!

TBH IMO this is a mind numbingly stupid conversation, you don't need to reply as I wont reply to you.

 

[Gabriel426]

Hyman will never be the player today if he stayed with the Leafs.

Look at how he plays as an Oilers and how he plays here. He is actually a focus in their offense and you can see Drai and McD are willing to dig pucks for him. Whereas he is the one who was doing the digging whether it is with AM or JT.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I just looked it up, Samsomov is 12th best in the NHL in SV%, can't complain about that.

In other news, just ahead of him in 11th is Boston's 2nd string goalie. FML.

Not complaining about Sammy at all (not thrilled by the second goal), but about our backup situation.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Nope not a problem at all. Zach is having a career year, on the highest scoring team in the League.

The guy just won the Rocket two straight years, is on pace to break Ovie's all time goal scoring record. He is top 1% of the league in scoring, that's a problem for you?

I can't understand the quick hate towards a guy who is the best goal scorer since he came into the league. Well there is always time for us to drop him at the TDL for a couple of 3rd rounders, the guy is such a bum!

TBH IMO this is a mind numbingly stupid conversation, you don't need to reply as I wont reply to you.

I'm pretty sure nobody hates him, he's playing nowhere near last years level though so it's understandable that he's maybe even our number 1 concern as the playoffs approach. We just traded a lot of futures to win now, Matthews has one of the highest cap hits in the league and we need him to be better is all.

Not complaining about Sammy at all (not thrilled by the second goal), but about our backup situation.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not too worried, going into the season I was just hoping one of our two gambles paid off and so far one paying off is exactly where we're at, plus you only really need one healthy #1 goalie in the playoffs. I'm not counting Murray out yet either, he's got two cup wins on his resume and there's a ways to go before the playoffs start.

 

[ACC1224]

Not complaining about Sammy at all (not thrilled by the second goal), but about our backup situation.

Does he not watch film? McDavid scores that same goal all the time.

 

[Obo]

In partial defence of Holl, the guy that starts fighting first usually wins.

Also, there was nothing dirty about the hit so he shouldn't have had to fight in the first place.

 

[ACC1224]

In partial defence of Holl, the guy that starts fighting first usually wins.

Also, there was nothing dirty about the hit so he shouldn't have had to fight in the first place.

RNH should have been given an extra 2 there.

 

[Stephen]

Murray, wow! That's pretty far out there on that limb, we'll see.

I just looked it up, Samsomov is 12th best in the NHL in SV%, can't complain about that.

In other news, just ahead of him in 11th is Boston's 2nd string goalie. FML.

Good point!

If there is something rotten with this core and adding any one player could help, then IMO that player is ROR. We'll see what happens in the playoffs.

I hope ROR is the answer. He’s an elite high character guy for a group that thinks it is but consistently gives us this C Game on predictable schedule.

 

[Stephen]

In partial defence of Holl, the guy that starts fighting first usually wins.

Also, there was nothing dirty about the hit so he shouldn't have had to fight in the first place.

In defense of Holl, Yamamoto is a guy who plays like he wants to get blown up. I was happy Holl did it but maybe do the big momentum things while it still matters. And don’t be the guy who does things right but still ends up embarrassed.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I hope ROR is the answer. He’s an elite high character guy for a group that thinks it is but consistently gives us this C Game on predictable schedule.

To be fair, I'd say the team played quite well against TB last playoffs. That said, with this theoretically improved roster I 100% expect them to be better still this time around and substantially better, not just a little bit better. And if that doesn't happen, big changes need to happen.

 

[francis246]

I hope ROR is the answer. He’s an elite high character guy for a group that thinks it is but consistently gives us this C Game on predictable schedule.

I think the collection of adds will be the answer. They need time to gel. I also think he needs his own line.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Does he not watch film? McDavid scores that same goal all the time.

True, but McDavid also picks either top corner all the time.

I used to play and coach goal, and I find it very annoying with a lot of goalies now, when they drop and when they move side to side, they never seem to use their stick to cover the 5-hole. That was goaltending 101 in my day.

 

[francis246]

Hyman will never be the player today if he stayed with the Leafs.

Look at how he plays as an Oilers and how he plays here. He is actually a focus in their offense and you can see Drai and McD are willing to dig pucks for him. Whereas he is the one who was doing the digging whether it is with AM or JT.

I think Hyman could have been the player he is in EDM here. Bunting scored 60 points his first year here. I just think he got injured too frequently as a leaf but he was on his way

 

[Mess]

Hyman will never be the player today if he stayed with the Leafs.

Look at how he plays as an Oilers and how he plays here. He is actually a focus in their offense and you can see Drai and McD are willing to dig pucks for him. Whereas he is the one who was doing the digging whether it is with AM or JT.

That is sooooo true.

He was misused because all the focus was on Leafs stars and Hyman was the go fetch the puck for the big guns, Matthews and Marner would play catch and Hyman the 3rd wheel.

In Edmonton he is treated as one of the big guns and gets #1 PP time with which he has 13 PP goals and 8 assists. John Tavares leads the Leafs with 11 PP goals on the season ,while Hyman wouldn't be given any #1 PP time in TO. .

McDavid nor Draisaitl have no issue using Hyman as a finisher and were setting him up for prime time scoring chances.

Sometimes its all about opportunity, Hyman's 11 goals in 16 playoff games last year would never be remotely possible because Leafs never used him to allow for that.

 

[Stephen]

To be fair, I'd say the team played quite well against TB last playoffs. That said, with this theoretically improved roster I 100% expect them to be better still this time around and substantially better, not just a little bit better. And if that doesn't happen, big changes need to happen.

I don’t think there is a “to be fair” with this core group. I just don’t think they’ve ever earned that trust for us to believe they’ll figure it out despite all wonky efforts, no show issues, power play mental blocks, saving it for the playoffs, starting on time, etc. They’re a flawed group that always rely on the supporting cast additions to change who they really are. If ROR is the key, great.

 

[Puckstuff]

I watched both games as well and Flames couldn't have played much better or with more intensity against the Bruins.

If the Leafs get that version of the Flames tonight they're going to need a to be a lot better than last night to secure the win.

Well they could have.. but they chose Engvall and Kerfoot instead

 

[Stephen]

I think the collection of adds will be the answer. They need time to gel. I also think he needs his own line.

I want to see Marner Tavares and O’Reilly again. The way Matthews is going he’s wasting Marner.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I don’t think there is a “to be fair” with this core group. I just don’t think they’ve ever earned that trust for us to believe they’ll figure it out despite all wonky efforts, no show issues, power play mental blocks, saving it for the playoffs, starting on time, etc. They’re a flawed group that always rely on the supporting cast additions to change who they really are. If ROR is the key, great.

I'm not saying I "trust" them, I just said I thought they played well in the playoffs last spring and unlike previous years they didn't just fold in game 7 as they did in previous years.

 

[IPS]

That is sooooo true.

He was misused because all the focus was on Leafs stars and Hyman was the go fetch the puck for the big guns, Matthews and Marner would play catch and Hyman the 3rd wheel.

In Edmonton he is treated as one of the big guns and gets #1 PP time with which he has 13 PP goals and 8 assists. John Tavares leads the Leafs with 11 PP goals on the season ,while Hyman wouldn't be given any #1 PP time in TO. .

McDavid nor Draisaitl have no issue using Hyman as a finisher and were setting him up for prime time scoring chances.

Sometimes its all about opportunity, Hyman's 11 goals in 16 playoff games last year would never be remotely possible because Leafs never used him to allow for that.

Straight waffling here.

Hyman did get prime minutes here. He was Matthews and Marner's permanent linemate in his last year here. And he put up great numbers doing it.

He's doing what he's doing this year because McDavid is putting up the best season since Lemieux. Literally the same Hyman we had here, except he's naturally getting more points being the winger of McDavid.

It appears you are clueless about how Hyman was actually used here.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I didn’t even like Marner’s game last night very much at all, despite the couple points. His cute play on the pk caused the turnover that kinda then set the tone for the game.

No one looked good last night.

They were big mistakes no doubt .. my point was he was trying out there .. he gave a sh*t .. i don't care about his points or no points .. Willy and Matty took a freakin pass no real effort to try to revere tilt da ice .. like they gave up once they realized they were in tough .. i don't care about that 1 game but it does set tone for team when your 2 best players sh*t da bed like that

 

[Magic Man]

I loved the fire from Justin Holl in this one. You could definitely tell he knew he was on the trade block after Gustafsson, McCabe and Schenn were all brought in. He was playing for his life. He threw probably his best two checks of the year and landed the first punch he has ever landed in a fight in the same night. Even if he still gets traded, he may have upped his trade value bringing out the grit.

 

[Gabriel426]

I think Hyman could have been the player he is in EDM here. Bunting scored 60 points his first year here. I just think he got injured too frequently as a leaf but he was on his way

I wanted to say yes but he was never viewed that way.
Bunting got 60 pts bc he was cleaning up after AM and MM. not really bc AM and MM were setting him up like how McD and Drai are doing.
Then you look at PP time where there is no way Hyman will be on PP1 here over AM, MM, JT and Willie.