Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose Game 1: 4-2

[Gary Nylund]

Need to clean it up defensively and need more from the big guns.

Thought Nylander gave a putrid effort. Marner wasnt much of a factor. Same for JT and O'Reilly.

I thought Nylander was very good tonight myself, strange take. Agree with the rest of it though.

Overall it was a really good game 1 except for the result. We outplayed them, but their goalie stole it. Can't really complain too much about that after how we got past TB, just gotta win the next one.

GLG!!

Edit - nice goal by Knies. That was a slick move, nice pair of hands!

 

[BertCorbeau]

On two brutal decisions by our "safe" D no need for McCabe to pinch or Brodie to two-step outside the blueline

Agreed - mind you, Brodie had a weird bounce with the puck right off of his skate, right to the Florida player who passed it to Verhaeghe

ROR was chasing Verhaeghe hard, but that bounce caused ROR to pause for a second. If ROR kept going he might have caused enough pressure to stop a goal.

Play stupid games win stupid prizes I suppose. I was expecting Florida to score in this fashion tonight (and in this series) and unfortunately it was a costly won. Hopefully the buds learn.

It was interesting because it was McCabe, a new comer, getting caught up in the high skill run and gun ... Needs to play within his limits.

 

[Rob Brown]

I don't have any personal grudge against Keefe

 

[Kalaish26]

The core guys minus AM and Rielly need to be better, especially Nylander and Marner. Need to clean it up on the defensive zone as well, we have zero answer to their cycle.

When they have slow vets like the Staals, we need to take advantage of our speed a lot more and capitalize on some of those rebounds that Bob's giving.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Your question is how did our 4th line play vs. Tkachuk's line, when MT had 3 points, none against that line and Keefe trust them in defensive situations.

Maybe youre asking the wrong question here

FWIW the fourth line has Kampf and Kerfoot .. which typically is one of our top defensive forward duo's .. Kampf was a 3rd line centre for most of the season, checking top lines.

TBH he's the perfect fourth line centre to have for those top line matchups.

 

[Rob Brown]

Imagine spending all that money to "spite" the Leafs. You really stuck it to them!

Yeah not a whole lot going on for her, I wouldn't think.

 

[Nineteen67]

Have they said anything more about ROR hand? Is it broken?

 

[notbias]

here is Tkachuk's 5 on 5 mins against Leafs players explain to me how the hell do 4th line players get so much ice time against tkachuck line at home with a last change. That is absolute stupidity. Whats the point of home ice and last change if you are not going to take advantage of it.



View attachment 702101

Now see how Keefe iced our 4th line players and against whom for their most mins (remember we have home ice and last change)

ZAR
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Kampf
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Kerfoot
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There are other numbers that one can post and then disect how STUPID Keefe was. I don't have any personal grudge against Keefe I don't even know the guy. If Leafs were winning or he coached a solid game and it was just bad bounces nobody would blame him (or at least I wouldn't). Keefe was absolutely terrible tonight

They literally didn't get scored on... his plan worked...

This is hilarious

 

[HellasLEAF]

Need to clean it up defensively and need more from the big guns.

Thought Nylander gave a putrid effort. Marner wasnt much of a factor. Same for JT and O'Reilly.

O'Rielly played well. Agreed on the rest.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

I'm amazed how they can move the puck on the PP, just wheel it back and forth. Problem is however, they could not get a shot through. PP chances squandered will eventually come back to kill us, they always do.

Not going down negative paths cause it's just game 1. They can and will be better than this. I just hope they're ready for a dirty series, this'll be very physical and they many want to keep an eye on this Tkachuk guy...apparently he's pretty decent.

 

[Gary Nylund]

They literally didn't get scored on... his plan worked...

This is hilarious

That is pretty funny actually. I don't know where that guy gets all his negative energy from but I'm just glad his pessimism and downerism isn't contagious.

 

[PromisedLand]

Your question is how did our 4th line play vs. Tkachuk's line, when MT had 3 points, none against that line and Keefe trust them in defensive situations.

Maybe youre asking the wrong question here

we needed goals not "defense"

Tkachuk has : 1st period: 1A (1st goal) , 2nd period: 2A (2nd goal) tipped shot; 3rd period: 1A (4th goal) 6 on 5 goal on delayed penalty

Your argument only hold weight if Leafs were playing with a lead and leafs was trying to hold on to the lead. We never had a lead in the game we wanted goals.

If you want to defend keefe go ahead. IMO he is the primary reason why leafs lost because he couldn't make key adjustments, got outshot/outchanced on 5on5 hockey in 3rd period and did not change up his defensive pairs as they were sturggling or get Lily more mins to get offense going.

 

[killer1980]

Very bad in there own end. Looked like they weren't prepared for this kind of game. For sure better next time.

 

[Gary Nylund]

O'Rielly played well. Agreed on the rest.

Putrid effort from Nylander is a really strange take. He looked like one of the very few who was often creating dangerous chances out there. And I'm not a big believer in advanced stats but still, they aren't completely useless and you might find this interesting - look who led our team in 5on5 XGoals% tonight.

 

[Gallagbi]

we needed goals not "defense"

Tkachuk has : 1st period: 1A (1st goal) , 2nd period: 2A (2nd goal) tipped shot; 3rd period: 1A (4th goal) 6 on 5 goal on delayed penalty

Your argument only hold weight if Leafs were playing with a lead and leafs was trying to hold on to the lead. We never had a lead in the game we wanted goals.

If you want to defend keefe go ahead. IMO he is the primary reason why leafs lost because he couldn't make key adjustments, got outshot/outchanced on 5on5 hockey in 3rd period and did not change up his defensive pairs as they were sturggling or get Lily more mins to get offense going.

From the above i dont think you understand my argument or even yours for that matter

 

[BayStBullies]

Maybe Keefe should consider not pinching his D at the end of periods? Maybe he should learn from mistakes?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Putrid effort from Nylander is a really strange take. He looked like one of the very few who was often creating dangerous chances out there. And I'm not a big believer in advanced stats but still, they aren't completely useless and you might find this interesting - look who led our team in 5on5 XGoals% tonight.

View attachment 702112

Jesus Knies ... if he starts to have this strong of an impact that adds a new element with Marner and Matthews

 

[PromisedLand]

From the above i dont think you understand my argument or even yours for that matter

I see you are going to gaslight now.

have a good night

 

[torontoblood]

For all the big hits we landed on Tkachuk he still finished with 3 assists and an xGF% of 69.25%. Gotta be way better than just occasionally catching him in open ice.

Take away time and space from him. Smother him with defensive awareness and hockey iq . Be proactive by anticipating his every moves and every of his linemates moves. Frustrate him physically and defensively by denying him any room to manoeuver with and without the puck instead of looking to crush him with big hits on open ice. Leafs shouldn't let him get into their head, just quietly shutdown him.

The panthers go as Montour, Ekblad, Barkov, Verhaeghe and Tkachuk go. Shutdown them and the rest of the team has no direction and life.


Leafs just have to minimize careless plays and play better defensively. Just play a more structured and discliplined game. Samsonov should be sharper next game too. This was only game 1 : both teams were trying to get into playoff mode again after playing in emotional, intense and physical series the previous round.They were feeling each other. They were studying each other. We also have to mention the fact that these teams aren't rivals at all- this is the first ever playoff meeting between both teams. There is no playoff history or history of bad blood between florida and toronto. I believe that The leafs will play better during the rest of the series and the quality and playoff intensity of this series will be higher the longer it goes as well.

 

[HellasLEAF]

I thought Nylander was very good tonight myself, strange take. Agree with the rest of it though.

Overall it was a really good game 1 except for the result. We outplayed them, but their goalie stole it. Can't really complain too much about that after how we got past TB, just gotta win the next one.

GLG!!

Edit - nice goal by Knies. That was a slick move, nice pair of hands!

Nylander was good I agree.

 

[Gary Nylund]

we needed goals not "defense"

Tkachuk has : 1st period: 1A (1st goal) , 2nd period: 2A (2nd goal) tipped shot; 3rd period: 1A (4th goal) 6 on 5 goal on delayed penalty

Your argument only hold weight if Leafs were playing with a lead and leafs was trying to hold on to the lead. We never had a lead in the game we wanted goals.

If you want to defend keefe go ahead. IMO he is the primary reason why leafs lost because he couldn't make key adjustments, got outshot/outchanced on 5on5 hockey in 3rd period and did not change up his defensive pairs as they were sturggling or get Lily more mins to get offense going.

That's awesome! You should start a chant next time we need a goal late in the game or maybe print T-shirts and sell them on the street. Way to coin a phrase dude, Don Draper eat your heart out!

Jesus Knies ... if he starts to have this strong of an impact that adds a new element with Marner and Matthews

Indeed. I love that goal he scored, nice scoring touch. Looks like he's a lot more than just a big strong kid who can win puck battles!

 

[Gallagbi]

I see you are going to gaslight now.

have a good night

I mean you posted entire game stats for them, questioned how that can happen, then dramatically shifted the goalposts once you got the answer.

Youre welcome to continue the discussion if you want to clarify why you posted full game minutes and questioned full game usage, then zero'ed in on a third period where they played under 3 minutes with 3 shifts in the period. Coincidentally that was the period we saw most of the changes you wanted, but you highlighted it as a notably bad one.

Just tough to zero in on your thoughts here

 

[BertCorbeau]

That's awesome! You should start a chant next time we need a goal late in the game or maybe print T-shirts and sell them on the street. Way to coin a phrase dude, Don Draper eat your heart out!


Indeed. I love that goal he scored, nice scoring touch. Looks like he's a lot more than just a big strong kid who can win puck battles!

I liked his aggression. He's getting more and more confidence as he learns about what it takes in the playoffs. Like a sponge soaking it all in. You can see he's thriving in the opportunity.

 

[PromisedLand]

I mean you posted entire game stats for them, questioned how that can happen, then dramatically shifted the goalposts once you got the answer.

Youre welcome to continue the discussion if you want to clarify why you posted full game minutes and questioned full game usage, then zero'ed in on a third period where they played under 3 minutes with 3 shifts in the period. Coincidentally that was the period we saw most of the changes you wanted, but you highlighted it as a notably bad one.

Just tough to zero in on your thoughts here

whatever makes you happy. am not going to go through the entire thing again. feel free to view the posts again may be you will learn something if not its all good. preconceived biases often overtake sound logic and reasoning.

 

[Gallagbi]

Maybe Keefe should consider not pinching his D at the end of periods? Maybe he should learn from mistakes?

Looked like McCabe got over excited after his big hit