Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose in the Marathon

[riffle]

I see a lot of anti-Holl sentiment in this thread.

All I would like to add is "Holl-y Jolly Christmas" is out of my Christmas music rotation for the rest of my life. Sorry, Mr. Ives.

 

[Budz]

Rielly really needs to get his shit together defensively. He’s been a complete non factor in disrupting plays in his own end. Points are great, but the defensive reads he makes are never good ones. Always caught puck watching, not tieing up his guy, leaving him in no man’s land where he resorts to laying his stick flat on the ice and having the puck go right through him.

Every. Single. Time.

 

[Kurtz]

Keefe was ready to pull Kallgren after that 3rd goal. That doesn't sound like Keefe was too worried about his health.

But he didn't pull him, so perhaps he was worried about his health a bit? Also, sometimes Keefe doesn't make the smartest decisions.

 

[leafsfan2point0]

Holl has been great when paired with Brodie or Sandin. He’s not a bad dman at all, he just needs to be paired with someone more mobile to succeed. Same with Muzzin, it’s clear teams have figured out how to exploit the Muzzin/Holl pairing.

 

[Future]

Holl has been great when paired with Brodie or Sandin. He’s not a bad dman at all, he just needs to be paired with someone more mobile to succeed. Same with Muzzin, it’s clear teams have figured out how to exploit the Muzzin/Holl pairing.

I disagree. He’s been just ok with those two.

My only point is similar to Dermott. He should not be playing over Muzzin, Liljegren, or Lyubushkin at this point. And I say he’s behind Sandin when he’s healthy. Realistically he’s number 8 on this team. On other teams he’d make a decent bottom pairing D.

 

[Twine Tickler]

I'm not a fan of Keefe saying in post game presser I thought the team played well. He doesn't have to be Mike Keenan. I also respect the fact he is probably going to be more critical privately than publicly. Just don't tell us it's always sunshine. It's been since 1967 I'm pretty sure most of us see through the B.S.

I think there is a rational level of criticism that is fair with that performance last night. But I think it also has to be paired with what has been working well of late. the team is allowed to have games where they lack focus at times. It happens to all good teams. Sure it was monumental in terms of it's capacity, but a loss is a loss is a loss no matter how you get there.

I hear what he is saying, and maybe he chose the wrong choice of words. But I think what he meant is that the mistakes that were made overshadowed a lot of very strong play in that game, and even the previous 5 games. This group has played the right way for a while, so although I think they need to be held accountable for that performance, and how I think that 100% cannot happen, I still think they can't let this loss demoralize them. Because they have been playing well lately.

Our PK, which has been a strength all year, especially as of late was absolutely horrendous.

Kallgren, played well until that inexcusable 3rd goal.

The penalties that we gifted FLA, inexcusable.

We lost the game in the "fine print". We didn't secure the puck nearly enough in a 4 goal game and that's what cost us the game. That lack of focus against a team like FLA will get exposed. They don't need to beat themselves up over it, Just learn from it. Better to happen now vs. May.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

We are 31-1-3 this year when leading after 2 periods. Just toss that out there.

 

[leafsfan2point0]

I disagree. He’s been just ok with those two.

My only point is similar to Dermott. He should not be playing over Muzzin, Liljegren, or Lyubushkin at this point. And I say he’s behind Sandin when he’s healthy. Realistically he’s number 8 on this team. On other teams he’d make a decent bottom pairing D.

On our team I agree he’s 8th on the depth chart. On other teams I think he’s probably a good number 5 guy.

 

[Stephen]

One thing that bugged me from keefe's postgame - he said he was thinking of switching goalies anyways after that Gudas goal.

If he was willing to play Jack at the first sign of trouble for Kallgren this game, even with a big lead, then he obviously cared about winning this game more than he was worried about Jack not being able to play back to back and should have just started Jack.

Starting Kallgren against the best offense in the league on the backend of a back to back and 3 in 4 was kind of just conceding the game from the start.

What you have to be mindful of is Keefe doesn’t hesitate to share his mental diarrhea for public consumption. Just have to accept that some of his out there comments are reflective of real time thinking and doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

 

[meefer]

We are 31-1-3 this year when leading after 2 periods. Just toss that out there.

No, you are wrong. I've read it here countless times that we never hold onto a lead, we always lose in spectacular fashion, and no other team in the league does the same. Well, ok, you could be right, but that would mean that a lot of posters get overly emotional after a loss and don't really think through what they are saying. On reflection, I think I owe you an apology. Sorry.

 

[ToneDog]

One thing that bugged me from keefe's postgame - he said he was thinking of switching goalies anyways after that Gudas goal.

If he was willing to play Jack at the first sign of trouble for Kallgren this game, even with a big lead, then he obviously cared about winning this game more than he was worried about Jack not being able to play back to back and should have just started Jack.

Starting Kallgren against the best offense in the league on the backend of a back to back and 3 in 4 was kind of just conceding the game from the start.

Yet they were up 5-3 when Kallgren pulled himself. Truth be told the loss was a team effort.

 

[ShaneFalco]

This is just filthy

 

[therealkoho]

back to back 3 out of 4 points; both against divisional rivals. I'll take it.

I think we see Florida 2 more times. We;ll get it done then.

P.S. Enough with the Holl love fest Keefe. ENOUGH!!!!

Holl made a weak play on the PP goal, he really needs to make a stronger play on the stick, otherwise he had a decent night and covered up for the myriad of Muzzin miscues.

I know they pay Muzzin multi millions and so feel obligated to play him, but whatever he had that got him that contract seems to have deserted him. He looked totally out of synch.

The d- pairings that Keefe iced against Tampa are what they should have stayed with. Although even Brodie looked out of sorts last night but looks totally focused when playing with Holl.

Refs calls stick lifts as hooks
and when JT gets slashed on his hands

And that's why Holl left the opponents stick alone on the first goal, no use in giving the Panthers a 5 on 3 off the get go

 

[kb]

Muzzin is currently our 8th or 9th best d-man. I feel more comfortable with Dahlstrom TBH.

 

[Clark4Ever]

We'll see how stubborn Keefe is next game. If Muzzin-Holl are a pairing again, it could be very problematic.

 

[therealkoho]

It was Muzzin’s first game back, take it easy. I’m sure it’ll take a few games to get his legs moving, he’s been off for quite some time.

He's been sinking since mid season of 20/21, his foot speed just isn't where it has to be and because of that the game has become all that much faster for him, and as such he has to make much quicker decisions. When he's rushed it forces errors, it means less accuracy on his passes because he has less time to make them. When his passes are off target it forces the other D into making mistakes as well.

 

[IPS]

What do points matter at this stage of the season? We're a lock for the playoffs and aren't catching Florida. So this is all sealed. Getting "3 out of 4 points on a back to back" means literally nothing. If we were fighting for a playoff spot? Yes, 3 of 4 points is great. Is it October? Then yes. 3 of 4 points is great. But where the leafs are now? It means nothing.

But lets look at what does matter.

This team and its core have a reputation for being mentally fragile. For losing the big games when it counts. Blowing massive leads. Losing to zamboni drivers. On and on and on and on we could go. The team is 0 - 8 on elimination playoff games under this core. That number is almost comical. We were up 3-1 on the TWENTY-FOURTH PLACED TEAM and still lost 3 games in a row to lose the series.

Every year we hear the same lame excuses. "Oh, the core is young. They'll mature. They'll figure it out."

But then games like yesterday show that it's the same mentally fragile team. They BUCKLE under pressure.

And that's why the loss is so important. 3 out of 4 points is meaningless. But the loss shows that nothing has changed. Who in their right mind truly believes this team can hold leads (in games and series) come playoffs?

You do have a valid point but Florida is a ridiculous team that's made their modus operandi as comeback gods this season. They also have the best offense in the league (one of the best of the cap era too). Once they got that softie against Kallgren they got their momentum and it is extremely hard to take away momentum from that Florida team. And this is all on top of the fact that the Leafs came off a back to back win against Tampa in a very playoff style game.

Normally I'd be right with you on something like this but this may be the one time ever where I don't feel very freaked out over a loss like that.

 

[IPS]

I’m as hard on the Leafs as anyone but that didn’t strike me as an meltdown due to mental fragility. Could they have been way better in lockdown mode? Yes. Did they fall into the trap of a big lead that they allowed to slip through their fingers? Yes. But the flub by the rookie goalie on the PP, having a cold back up come in, and all seem like unusual fire drill items than a big team bed wet. Toss in the usual game management on the Clifford slash to finish it off.

They looked mentally fatigued as the game wore on and it turned into a track meet. They also had enough fight to take it to OT with zero momentum and almost won it if not for a bad hook.

I think that game was a burn the tape game by the time it hit 5-4 so let’s see how they regroup vs Dallas. If they’re a tire fire then I’ll be happy to criticize.

It's also worth noting that Florida came in with vengeance on their minds from that last game where the Leafs trounced them.

 

[IPS]

Rielly really needs to get his shit together defensively. He’s been a complete non factor in disrupting plays in his own end. Points are great, but the defensive reads he makes are never good ones. Always caught puck watching, not tieing up his guy, leaving him in no man’s land where he resorts to laying his stick flat on the ice and having the puck go right through him.

This is true but what I do like about Rielly is he always brings his A game in the playoffs, and that includes defensive play. He's been really bad defensively for the last stretch but as long as he gets into playoff mode when such time rolls around, it's all good in my books.

 

[Stephen]

It's also worth noting that Florida came in with vengeance on their minds from that last game where the Leafs trounced them.

Well the Leafs did trounce them again for half the game. Florida isn’t that impressive. They’re extremely sloppy.

 

[riffle]

Seeing the Leafs record leading after 2 periods, I thought this stat was also interesting, although, not exclusively compiled by this year's team: Last night and the game in Colorado where Leafs blew a 4-1 lead and lost in OT account for 2 just this year. There may be another one I'm missing from this season.

 

[Apex Predator]

It is what it is with this loss. A loss like this in the playoffs would shake the core and mentally I don’t think they would be able to recover. I hope these kind of losses aren’t going to be on their minds as we get closer to the playoffs.

 

[Coachcorner]

Think how G our team will be in this years' playoffs sire. Now that's hard right thurr. We bout that life. We always WIN the current top teams in the league. We always get points against them fools. They not bad, we IS!! We is hockey's MECCA! Not them! US!!! :

 

[TGB]

I hate inconsistency like this. Inconsistent teams never hold up in the playoffs.

Well the Leafs did trounce them again for half the game. Florida isn’t that impressive. They’re extremely sloppy.

Honestly, they're pretty much the same team. High flying offense. Everything else is pretty much a crapshoot.

 

[Mr_Fun]

The season is full of ups and down. "You need to relax" is what Paul is saying.

This is our team. Noise or no noise...this is our team. Our fan base plans parades one day and less then 24 hours is cancelling the season.

It's a god damn joke of a fan base who appears to get more emotional then a pregnant woman watching soap operas with a bucket of ice cream.

View attachment 527432

Nobody can predict what's going to happen in the playoffs. It's all about which team finds a groove and goes on a heater. Did anyone think Montreal was going to make it to the finals? Did anyone think St Louis was going to win the cup the year they won? Or Washington? Having had so many years of first or second round exits?

We watch because we don't know. Nobody knows. We hope. That's the best we can do.

RE- LAX. Or don't watch? If you think it's a forgone conclusion, why bother watching?

I get great enjoyment from watching the many drastic mood swings this fan base goes through on the regular. One would assume that a fanbase of a team with 100 years of history would know better...but apparently we don't. We are just the loudest.

Yuck.

This season has been amazing! We far outplayed my expectations and both Matthews and Marner have hit another level which I thought wasn't possible. Matthews has 7 games less played and will still win the rocket. AND HE'S A MAPLE LEAF!

Marner has outscored McDavid since the Christmas break (no short stretch) and McDavid has gone on a heater!

This team is fun as hell to watch right now. We stack up competitive against any team in the league. I fear nobody.

Great take.