Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 5-3

[Tufted Titmouse]

Leafs need to rough it up next game and intimidate tampa... When leafs hit they win when they poke check they lose clifford in.. Engvall out

This is a bad take.

Engvall has been a net positive in more or less every game since late March.

 

[Mugzy97]

Not sure about Soup. He looked horrible on the Hedman goal and to give that up with seconds to go in period is a downer. Vasi probably stops the Perry breakaway. Soup needs to be better for us to have a chance.

Can't blame either goal on him. Breakaways are a roll of the dice and the Hedman goal was a shitty bounce and players out of position. Very hard to stop.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I have, I've made a few posts on how Muzzin played the situation poorly in the GDT and misread the threat as well as the time. I've also commented about Muzzin's overall poor play from last night as he struggled with his gap.

None of that changes some pretty shotty goaltending on those first 2 goals though where Campbell abandoned fundamentals and simply guessed, which is never a good look for a goalie.

He did look pretty silly on that first goal but I thought he played pretty well overall, there was plenty of blame to go around and I just don't think it's fair to put it all on him, that's all. Every year when we lose in the playoffs it seems everyone wants to blame the goalie, even if he puts up a .930 SV%.

 

[Mugzy97]

We didn't get bounces, we took a couple of stupid penalties and also were given a couple penalties on plays that were not penalties. Just wasn't our game to win. Need to focus on the next one.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Tampa came to play as a team and they skated hard and took da man every opportunity every guy no matter who you were .. they outworked us and deserved da fate of game .. no excuses BUT

1. Reffing seemed a little off and sided with Tampa based on my read being at game .. there were soft calls both ways which never get called in playoff hockey .. i was kinda surprised both games quite frankly in these soft calls
2. Vasi made 2 HUGE 10 beller saves off Lily and Matty which beat almost every tender in league .. Soup kinda guessed before he had too on Hedman's goal which hurt us with goal in late 1st and da snipe by Perry was nice but Vasi likely has that one .. bottom line Vasi >>>>>> Soup .. wasn't game decider but it was not an even tending game
3. Rielly Lub did not look good last night .. they are da weak link in our defense .. if Rielly is supposed to be a #1 then he got badly outplayed by Hedman .. bottom line Hedman >>>>>>> Rielly .. wasn't game decider but their #1 offensive guy played like a #1 .. ours played like a #5 guy
4. Mitch again was our best player and worked his butt off all game long .. Matty and Willy were not as good as game 1 .. JT has been a non factor both games .. biggest surprise of game 1 to game 2 was Engval .. game 2 Engval was not as engaged

Bottom line our core lost us that game (outside Mitch) .. Point Kuch Hedman flat out took our core to da cleaners .. i always call a spade a spade .. da truth hurts .. but we still got a chance to take 1 in Tampa and make it a best of 3 series

 

[Scott r]

I'm going to have to disagree, this is the playoffs. shit like this happens all the time with no calls.

Correct...people spend too much time on conspiracies mhl and n o calls grow up guys

 

[Mickey Marner]

I think we need to make some NZ adjustments. When Tampa sat back and setup in game 2 they were able to stifle our NZ transition. I'd like to see more chips to the NZ and pressure their D into odd-man rush turnovers. We did this well in game one and ended up with goals, scoring chances and drawn penalties.

 

[Brown Dog]

We've put 8 past Vasilevskiy in 2 games. And that's with him standing on his head at times yesterday. That's gotta be a good sign. TB won the goalie dual yesterday (as they are fixed to do most nights), but overall I'd say goaltending has been a draw--which I'll take as a win for us.

 

[Mess]

The positive take aways so far is the play of Matthews and Marner.

Auston is using his body to finish checks and create loose pucks, which is increasing his effectiveness without the puck and has some nice backchecking plays to prevent goals against also. So he is playing a solid 200 foot game with and without the puck. With 2-3-5 points already surpassed last years production and contribution.

Marner is definitely carrying his strong regular season play into the playoffs and far more willing to drive hard to the net and play in traffic and can not be accused of being just a talented perimeter player in the series like the past 2 years. He is being rewarded for his effort and now is among Leafs best players elevating his game in the playoffs like one hoped, but had not yet seen in the past despite working hard. With 2-3-5 points and +6 after just 2 games is more than he achieved 0-4-4 points in 7 games last year.

These guys along with Jack Campbell are the 3 key factors needed to advance beyond round #1 and all 3 have shown up and been factors.

They will need help so Tavares 0-0-0 and Nylander 0-0-0 in the series have got to elevate their games in the playoffs or Leafs are only firing in 2 of their 4 key offensive cylinders.

 

[ACC1224]

This is a bad take.

Engvall has been a net positive in more or less every game since late March.

Last night was a less.

 

[Gary Nylund]

We didn't get bounces, we took a couple of stupid penalties and also were given a couple penalties on plays that were not penalties. Just wasn't our game to win. Need to focus on the next one.

Yeah it was just one of those games. Too bad about that first goal, I thought both teams played well in the 1st but we definitely had the edge in play to that point but in the end, TB was the better team and deserved to win. And I completely agree about the penalties, it seems like many people here are constantly complaining about how the refs are on the side of the other team but I'm with you, we did it to ourselves last night.

The positive take aways so far is the play of Matthews and Marner.

Auston is using his body to finish checks and create loose pucks, which is increasing his effectiveness without the puck and has some nice backchecking plays to prevent goals against also. So he is playing a solid 200 foot game with and without the puck. With 2-3-5 points already surpassed last years production and contribution.

Marner is definitely carrying his strong regular season play into the playoffs and far more willing to drive hard to the net and play in traffic and can not be accused of being just a talented perimeter player in the series like the past 2 years. He is being rewarded for his effort and now is among Leafs best players elevating his game in the playoffs like one hoped, but had not yet seen in the past despite working hard. With 2-3-5 points and +6 after just 2 games is more than he achieved 0-4-4 points in 7 games last year.

These guys along with Jack Campbell are the 3 key factors needed to advance beyond round #1 and all 3 have shown up and been factors.

They will need help so Tavares 0-0-0 and Nylander 0-0-0 in the series have got to elevate their games in the playoffs or Leafs are only firing in 2 of their 4 key offensive cylinders.

Good summary. M&M have been fantastic, can't ask for any more from them but we need some more help from elsewhere.

On another note, damn that 1st goal last night was beautiful!

 

[CanHeDoIt99]

Margin for error in the playoffs is small and a couple bad bounces/penalties can be the difference between winning in 6/7 or losing in 6/7. Have to get back on track in Tampa and take at least one of the next two. I don't expect either team to dominate the other in any specific game (I know the Leafs did in g1, but wouldn't expect it again) - but i'm encouraged by the 5v5 play. Stay out of the box - think I would bring Spezza in too (would help PP2 and give them someone not looking to take needless penalties).

Also starting to think Lybushkin may need to come out for Holl at some point here - but it messes up the pairings so I doubt they're there yet.

 

[TMLAM34]

I’d leave the defensive pairings as is. They weren’t really the issue. Campbell needs to be better and the forwards need to be physical like they were in game one.

 

[Nineteen67]

Now you see why Tampa has won two Cups. They’re mean as snakes and have guys, like Pointe, with a loose screw.

In the dying minute of the first period of game 1 Willy had a grand opportunity to put a bruise on a Tampa d-man during a shoot in, but no, he did his little fly by and let the guy skate like it’s Feb. Compare that attitude with Maroon who has no problem knocking a Leafs d man into the goalie. Even slightly after the whistle, if need be.

What was Keefe doing? Cooper told us what was going to happen, so why wasn‘t Simmonds facing off against Maroon the very first opportunity they had?

 

[JSn0w93]

The last ten minutes were great for us because they didn't quit and took it to Tampa, when really the game was over. Hopefully that effort carries over to next game. I expect a very good game from the Leafs tomorrow.

 

[keonsbitterness]

If only it was possible to insert grit into the lineup without it being accompanied by gargantuan levels of stupidity.

Taking too many penalties is the risk you take when adding extra grit, or risk getting pushed around when you don't.

That is why you can't put too much value in regular season results.

It took the Leafs 82 games to secure home ice advantage against TB, and now all the Cup champs had to do was split the first 2 in TO, and are now heading home in a best of 5 with home ice advantage with 3 of the 5 remaining in Tampa.

Leafs go from favourites to underdogs, but luckily this is the postion the Leafs play best under, and need at least a split to recoup home ice in the series again.

That's pretty funny considering you spent like a thousand posts obsessing on that 8-1 loss.

 

[killer1980]

Got to get more out of Tavares and Nylander. and Nylander aint a third line player, dig him out of there. Nylvares been shooting ok. But Matthews should always have more shots on net then any other player. Not Marner (he has been fantastic so its Matthews who need to shoot more, not Marner that needs to shoot less).

Way back in the regular season St Louis figured out how to limit Matthews effectiveness. Many of the bottom feeders used this template to control the Leafs. In game one, Tampa thought they could outskill the Leafs. That did not work. In game two, Cooper made the adjustment and Matthews was, more or less, ineffective. Nylander wanted none of game 2. Game 3 will be very telling if Keefe can devise a plan to open up the first line.

 

[Mess]

On another note, damn that 1st goal last night was beautiful!

You win some you loose some, and things tend to balance out with goalies.

While the 1st goal against Campbell was not something of beauty and mistake filled by defensive coverage and assisted by goalie play, which made it look bad. To me that was offset by Campbell making some key saves like taking Hedman's 100 mph slapshot off the collar bone from point blank..

If Campbell stops that 1st one, but Hedman then blows that other one past his ear the net result is about the same score wise, and so I see Campbell making up for his earlier mistake by keeping the Leafs in the game later on, allowing for an attempted comeback. He let in a Kucherov PP goal, but then later stopped Kucherov on a breakaway to balance things out etc.

So to me Campbell was not the problem he made more tough saves in game #2 then he even faced in game #1. IMO

 

[mapleleafs34]

Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Kerfoot-Tavares-Marner
Mikheyev-Kampf-Kase
Engavll-Spezza-Simmonds/Blackwell

Run this for Game 3 IMO.

 

[Koolboss]

Imagine Tavares’ 11 million was used on a bonafide #1 goalie and a solid #2 centre. Can’t believe he wears the C

This has been discussed 3 years ago, we can thank Dubas for that

 

[Gallagbi]

He did look pretty silly on that first goal but I thought he played pretty well overall, there was plenty of blame to go around and I just don't think it's fair to put it all on him, that's all. Every year when we lose in the playoffs it seems everyone wants to blame the goalie, even if he puts up a .930 SV%.

I didn't put it all on him, but I am calling out some bad decisions and fundamentals. Similar to how I have for other players last night.

It'll be a tight series, if he plays like last night were in trouble. We'll need him to play like he did outside those 2 blatant gaffes if we want a chance in this series.

 

[Apex Predator]

I think with Tampa having last change you don’t play Simmonds and Clifford this game. You go with the skill line up and see how it plays out.

Bunting Matthews Marner
Mikeheyv Tavares Nylander
Kerfoot Kampf Kase
Engvall Blackwell Speeza

 

[Shooter2x]

I honestly think we should consider stacking the top line with Nylander. I understand regular season put Engvall on a pedestal but I just don't see Engvall and Kampf making use of Nylander's skillset. Are we going to go another playoffs under-utilizing Nylander? I thought we learned from mistakes.

If the PP isnt firing, 5v5 isn't going to get enough out of Nylander if he's out there with two third liners who are incapable of lighting up Tampa with him.

 

[Clark4Ever]

We can play physical without all the unecessary dumb penalties.

Keefe should dress our most skilled forward group next game.

 

[AvroArrow]

Actual play that game was 50/50, we didn't play hard enough the entire game to say "we deserved to win" but I don't think Tampa played particularly well being dead serious though, that was anyones games, we just took too many stupid penalties and a couple of bad calls by the refs too. We just didn't want it bad enough, combine that with stupid penalties we were bound to lose that game.

Going into game 3, we need to play how we did in game 1. Come out hungry, flying and playing with intensity. I liked the physical nature of the game but those penalties by Simmonds were brutal. Just stay more disciplined, it's clear the referees are calling the playoffs like the regular season this year.