Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 5-3

[Zybalto]

After sleeping on it;

- The Thornton top line stuff needs to end. It just needs to. 3rd/4th line and PP. sure! Top line playing ~20 mins? Nooooooo

- Brodie and Rielly will be fine. A defensive pairing is very communicative based. That communication is something that takes time to build. Rough night yesterday, but they were fine against MTL.

- Freddy...... really needs more effort man. We controlled the majority of that game, but it felt whenever Ottawa came the other way and got the slightest chance, it went in. I feel like he didn’t make a single difficult save last night through the first 2.5 periods.

- I think Justin Holl has been our worst d-man so far. He looks slower for some reason. Perhaps it’s his paths to the puck or something, but he looks slow.

- Vesey has been a nice surprise. A quiet night for that line, but noticed Vesey several times in the offensive zone.

- Mitch Marner is far too quiet.

- Simmonds has been a nice addition so far.

- Kerfoot has been great. That third line has been great tbh. Even if you move Hyman up with Matthews again, keep Kerfoot at 3C. Put Simmonds on the RW.

- I really want to see Lehtonen play. Put Barabanov on the taxi squad and run 7D due to the cap space stuff if you need to.

Pretty fair takes overall.

Also have remember its only the second game of the season too. When Ottawa beat Tampa the second week last year, I think we all knew it wasn't going to be representative of what the season was going to bring. Just gotta get the lines set up for the year and things will come together.

 

[weems]

Pretty fair takes overall.

Also have remember its only the second game of the season too. When Ottawa beat Tampa the second week last year, I think we all knew it wasn't going to be representative of what the season was going to bring. Just gotta get the lines set up for the year and things will come together.

I dont think it's the fact we lost as much as the way we lost and it being very similar to the uninspired, sloppy hockey we've played for many stretchs the past few seasons.

Far too often the first sign of adversity and this team just folds up shop.

 

[BAM]

Robertson-Matthews-Marner
Hyman-Tavares-Nylander
Thornton-Kerfoot-Mikhayev
Engvall-Speeza-Simmonds

Do it Keefe

 

[All Mod Cons]

Why isn’t the fan base calling for Keefe’s head like they did when Babcock gave more ice time to less deserving players? Oh the irony..........

Definitely not cool the way he's treating our two new foreign imports

 

[BertCorbeau]

i don't get your issue with vesey atm

he is part of a line that is actually working

I’m not sure either, this was a pre coffee post while watching my kids

 

[Faltorvo]

I’m not sure either, this was a pre coffee post while watching my kids

ahhh, you did not intake your liquid IQ,,trust me,,,,, i get that

a good cuppa is worth at least 40/50 basis points for me in the AM

on a bad day it's the only thing separating me from the Neanderthals

 

[Wafflewhipper]

After sleeping on it;

- The Thornton top line stuff needs to end. It just needs to. 3rd/4th line and PP. sure! Top line playing ~20 mins? Nooooooo

- Brodie and Rielly will be fine. A defensive pairing is very communicative based. That communication is something that takes time to build. Rough night yesterday, but they were fine against MTL.

- Freddy...... really needs more effort man. We controlled the majority of that game, but it felt whenever Ottawa came the other way and got the slightest chance, it went in. I feel like he didn’t make a single difficult save last night through the first 2.5 periods.

- I think Justin Holl has been our worst d-man so far. He looks slower for some reason. Perhaps it’s his paths to the puck or something, but he looks slow.

- Vesey has been a nice surprise. A quiet night for that line, but noticed Vesey several times in the offensive zone.

- Mitch Marner is far too quiet.

- Simmonds has been a nice addition so far.

- Kerfoot has been great. That third line has been great tbh. Even if you move Hyman up with Matthews again, keep Kerfoot at 3C. Put Simmonds on the RW.

- I really want to see Lehtonen play. Put Barabanov on the taxi squad and run 7D due to the cap space stuff if you need to.

After sleeping on it, i just want to go back to bed until puck drop

 

[Faltorvo]

After sleeping on it, i just want to go back to bed until puck drop

out hit 65 to 26 so far this season

i don't think this team has gotten out of it's PJs yet

poor little tykes just need their puck lucky charms ,

 

[Wafflewhipper]

out hit 65 to 26 so far this season

i don't think this team has gotten out of it's PJs yet

poor little tykes just need their puck lucky charms ,

Lol brutal. You sound like me

 

[hoglund]

I didn't see the game last night because of work, but one of my patients said the Leafs were playing well until a 5 on 3 penalty and from there things went downhill. Andersen allowed 5 goals, were they soft goals or did the defense play poorly?

 

[joe dirte]

So umm....why does you guys keep Mikko Lehtonen doing nothing and not letting him play???
- the best defenseman two years in a row in the KHL, World Champion, SHL champion,
World Junior Champion, awesome skater, even more awesome hockey IQ,
his ability to get the puck to the net is magical, perfect QB for your PP,
oh and plus, he knows how to play defense as well you know and haves leadership qualities too

Its because he is waiver exempt. Injuries will happen soon enough and then sandin will be inserted into the lineup. Then lehtonen. Theyre just keeping their options open. Bogosian cant be sent to the taxi squad without going through waivers. As soon as injyries start to hit sandin and lehtonen will play.

 

[Nineteen67]

Why isn’t the fan base calling for Keefe’s head like they did when Babcock gave more ice time to less deserving players? Oh the irony..........

I think it’s coming. If this is the same old thing after 15 -20 games

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I didn't see the game last night because of work, but one of my patients said the Leafs were playing well until a 5 on 3 penalty and from there things went downhill. Andersen allowed 5 goals, were they soft goals or did the defense play poorly?

Yes.

 

[joe dirte]

I wish it was as simple as Thornton being taken off the first line.

Its a start though.

Im not sure what theyre rrying but its clear its not working. Thornton was passable in game 1 but terrible in game 2. Hyman was been buzzing both games. Passable doesnt even cut it when youve got a guy that has played well on the line for years and is playing well off the line now.

Ibsuppose theyre trying to get multiple lines clicking at once so they want hyman on the third line, but itsreally hurting the first line.

 

[therealkoho]

He gives a damn, but he also has elite vision, skating, shot, handles, etc.

Some thought he was on Crosby’s level back in the day. He gives a damn, but what sets him apart is his incredible skill set too. I don’t know if AM has that kind of potential. Not sure anyone does right now.

He also is quite willing to skate through people, he's a big boy and it buys him room for the next time. Matty to my recollection hasn't done anything remotely like this. The NHL respects will and physical competitiveness, I'm not saying Matty needs to drop them, just that he needs to show he'll hurt you if you get too close.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I'm going to give them a pass for last night, but this core seems to take too many shifts off. Mitch especially you in these 2 games.

I'd like to see both Boyd and Anderson in there soon too

 

[joe dirte]

I didn't see the game last night because of work, but one of my patients said the Leafs were playing well until a 5 on 3 penalty and from there things went downhill. Andersen allowed 5 goals, were they soft goals or did the defense play poorly?

None were overly bad softies but all were savable. He isnt playing well. He was all over the place. And the d were really bad as well.

 

[Nineteen67]

The Leafs were down two goals late and they had Simmonds and Thornton on the PP. I realize Willy took the night off, but come on Keefe.

 

[joe dirte]

- I really want to see Lehtonen play. Put Barabanov on the taxi squad and run 7D due to the cap space stuff if you need to.

I like this idea. The defense needs the extra man far more than a 13th forward right now. Use the spot to get sandin and lehtonen in there.

 

[joe dirte]

actually in recent memory we go on a tear very early in the season... we fall off the cliff mid to late season when the heat is on.

Its been a mixed bag. They were terrible early last season until babcock was fired.

 

[Mess]

Reilly -4 +/- , Brodie -3 out there with the Matthews (-3) line while posting no points, while Freddy gives up 5 goals against on 24 shots and posts a .792 sv% is the summary takeaway from this game.

These are suppose to be our best players at their positions, so unfortunately those stats alone tell the story of this game and what went wrong.

I expect this to be reversed tonight, all except Andersen as we will see Campbell instead.

 

[Faltorvo]

He also is quite willing to skate through people, he's a big boy and it buys him room for the next time. Matty to my recollection hasn't done anything remotely like this. The NHL respects will and physical competitiveness, I'm not saying Matty needs to drop them, just that he needs to show he'll hurt you if you get too close.

matty 0 hits on the season so far

 

[Captain Crunch]

I dont think it's the fact we lost as much as the way we lost and it being very similar to the uninspired, sloppy hockey we've played for many stretchs the past few seasons.

Far too often the first sign of adversity and this team just folds up shop.

I watched it up until Ottawa went ahead 4 to 2, then I shut it off. We were controlling quite a bit of the play, unfortunately Murray was playing fairly well. Then when Ottawa would come down and get a half decent chance, Andersen couldn’t seem to make the save. Hoping that he gets into form real quick, or we might have to give Campbell an extended look.
Wondering if we would be over the cap if we took out Barabanov and put Lehtonen in, and went with 7 dmen?

 

[horner]

A few issues and one of the main ones is Freddy. Thats perfectly reasonable

Brodie , Morgan and the forwards .


Boxing out forwards tying up players sticks .
Putting someone on there ass .

I have seen the same crap for the last 4 yrs .

 

[hockeynorth]

- Thornton has been okay, but okay doesn't cut it with Matthews and Marner. Yes, their possession numbers are bonkers but pucks aren't going in because they're just passing excessively. I think Thornton needs to be L3/4 and PP (where he's been effective).

- Andersen has been shaky, Campbell should've gone in after goal 3 or definitely goal 4. It was clear at that point the team didn't have enough faith in Andersen to play their game.

- Vesey has actually probably exceeded expectations thus far. The people ripping on him seem to be doing so for a scapegoat, but he's filled his role effectively and is doing a nice job in the tough areas. I'm totally fine with him as a 3rd wheel on L2 right now, I wouldn't mind seeing him with Kerfoot though.

- Barabanov needs to come out if you aren't going to play him. Be it Robertson, Lehtonen, Sandin, Brooks, Engvall, Boyd or Anderson, any of those players can provide a unique element to this team he just isn't. He reminds me of Par Lindholm, but even less effective thus far.

- Marner needs to lose his shoot more mentality.

- Brodie and Rielly will be fine, it's been 2 games, they have to get used to each other.

- Hyman, Nylander, Tavares and Matthews have all been good, Matthews though is snake-bitten. I'm actually wondering if dropping to 210 is hurting him more than helping.

- Simmonds has filled his role effectively. Nice to see Matthews jump in with him last night when they went after Spezza.

- Spezza has been totally ineffective. I think he needs to come out of the lineup too, but it might just be that line, can't really tell.

- Dermott looks okay, but sometimes he and Bogosian look out of sync.

- Holl I haven't liked thus far. We need the rover Holl that we saw at the start of last year, not this timid Holl.

- Muzzin is rusty, needs to get into game shape. Seemed better last night than the night before.

- Mikheyev hasn't looked the same since the injury, seems that the fearless attitude is gone.

- Kerfoot looks much better so far this season.