Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose the opener 4-3

[Tufted Titmouse]

This matches the eye test - 4th line and Muzzin pairing were just getting clowned on:

 

[Jojalu]

I thought Nylander deferred to Tavares too much but if his worse game is a goal and an assist with 5 shots and sticking up for Malgin then he will be just fine

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Engvall? He's a depth player who is effective and plays a good 2 way game. He'll get 10+ goals easy. I'd wager he could get close to 20 goals this year.

Kerfoot on the other hand... yuck. He's so average at everything that it hurts. I still can't believe that he's what remains of Nazem Kadri. Gosh Kadri was everything that we have been desperate for these last few seasons. That will go down as one of the worst trades ever. courtnall for kordic territory.

By many metrics, Kerfy was one of our best forwards last night. His line didn't give up much in the way of chances, and the PK kept us in it when we committed FOUR penalties in the 1st half of the game. We gotta clean that up tonight.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

This matches the eye test - 4th line and Muzzin pairing were just getting clowned on:

View attachment 593449

Wouldn't read much into 4th line against Habs. Habs bottom 6 is usually better than most teams bottom 6s. Middle of the pack build where it's like two second lines and two third lines. Other depth players struggle but then they have no answer for a player like Nylander who decides he wants to take over the game. (Yes I'm calling out Matthew's and Marner there using the word decide)

 

[TheDoldrums]

4th line getting destroyed is not good. They're never going to score, so they at least need to have the puck a bunch to provide anything. That line and Muzzin are concerns even after just one game.

The first line sucked too but they'll get going. Matthews is like a big locomotive that sometimes needs some games to get up to speed from a standstill, but when he does he'll be rolling.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

4th line getting destroyed is not good. They're never going to score, so they at least need to have the puck a bunch to provide anything. That line and Muzzin are concerns even after just one game.

The first line sucked too but they'll get going. Matthews is like a big locomotive that sometimes needs some games to get up to speed from a standstill, but when he does he'll be rolling.

I think they will be okay. Our bottom 6 will struggle against builds like the Habs.

Think back to playoffs. No points from top line is biggest reason we choke because Habs were built to beat the rest of the team excluding Nylander. Spezza had some nice moments against Habs because the last remaining drops of his elite skill showed up sometimes, just not enough left to offset.

We'd lose again to the Habs this year in playoffs if core doesn't put up points. They have been playing well for a while dating back to last season st Louis take over.

 

[allfornothing]

So I watched a full game replay at a higher speed and this is what I noticed went wrong.

First Period
- 3 bad penalties mostly due to getting caught flat-footed. Giordano, Bunting, and Sandin were the culprits.
- Only one odd-man rush against that came off of poor shot selection by the 4th line near the end of the period.
- A couple or poor passes by Muzzin that led to extended pressure against, mostly with the 4th line on the ice (most of the Habs' good chances came with those guys on the ice).
- A poor pass decision by Marner on the PK that went into Holl's skates and resulted in a decent opportunity (although Holl was able to make it difficult for the guy to get a good shot off).
- Leafs generally had more good chances and pressure than the Habs, even though the Habs had 3 PP's and the Leafs only had one shortened PP.
- 2nd and 3rd lines were playing well without any really noticeable mistakes and each were able to get some sustained pressure and solid chances. Other than Muzzin, the penalties on Gio/Sandin, and a poor pass from Marner that was in Holl's skates, the defense was also good.
- Murray was clean and solid. Made a pretty solid glove save on Caufield but wasn't asked to do too much. Allen was busier but didn't need to stand on his head either.
- Top line was able to get that one goal and a few other decent chances, but also had a few poor decisions with the puck (Bunting especially) and just looked like they were not completely sharp.

Second Period
- Rielly was taken out when he was forechecking, Marner makes a poor no-look pass into the middle of the ice (or he looked and decided to just make a high risk pass) which turns into an odd-man rush and a goal against.
- 4th line was able to sustain some pressure and draw a penalty, which may have been their only positive shift all night.
- Habs pressure causes a tipped pass by Holl which leads to another good chance.
- Poor giveaway by Bunting leading to the 2nd goal, but technically not an odd-man rush.
- Poor giveaway by NAK almost leading to a 3rd goal.
- Habs had most of their good chances near the end of the period and generally the Leafs had better chances and pressure than the Habs did. Leafs mostly got killed by poor puck selection leading to rush goals against (this is the main way the Habs kill teams).

Third Period
- Poor Kampf pass to nobody with Muzzin caught down low led to a partial breakaway. Gallagher missed.
- Missed passes and some poor puck selection, but nothing that was too costly for the most part (in terms of chances or pressure against).
- 3rd goal against was poor board work by Engvall, Rielly, and Kampf on Dach and a lucky bounce.
- 4th goal was a risky pass by Holl that goes the other way and a brutal turnover by Muzzin that ends up in the back of the net after deflecting off of Holl and going in.

Overall
- The Leafs were much better on the cycle and with sustaining pressure. They also had more clear odd-man rushes and good rush opportunities, but the Habs were much better at converting on those opportunities. The Habs only had 3 or 4 odd-man rushes all game... which is not a lot. Now there were some that were broken up because the Leafs took a penalty instead, but the Leafs had double that and they all came from the 2nd and 3rd lines. That included multiple clean breakaways whereas the Habs really only had the Gallagher one (and Muzzin even got back enough to disrupt Gallagher).
- Murray was actually very solid all game long, but I guess you hope he makes one of those key saves to win us the game in the future. None of the goals should be considered weak, and he deserved a much better result.
- Bunting and Marner made some poor decisions with the puck that directly led to goals against and the puck going the other way. Matthews didn't make poor decisions, but he was struggling to make some really basic passes that also ended up going the other way far too often as well. Also shot into shin pads far too often even though he did get some good scoring chances as well.
- 2nd and 3rd line were great. Sustained a lot of pressure. Generated some good chances. The 2nd line was keeping us in that game so good job for them. Wish the 3rd line could have converted some more of their chances but getting them is the first step.
- Defense was actually pretty good for the most part. Muzzin was the worst by far, but even then he was good beyond the few times he was sloppy. It is just that the sloppiness cost us in the end. Holl too was good most of the time, but he had one turnover that led to a good chance and the poor pass in the end which started the 4th goal against. Seems to be what he generally does, and people probably only remember the few bad moments and forget that he is good the other 95% of the time. No complaints about Rielly-Brodie or Giordano-Sandin other than the latter each taking one penalty by getting caught flat-footed. It wasn't complete perfection but they met expectations.
- 4th line needs to be much better. Most of the Habs good chances and sustained pressure came against them. Made poor decisions at both ends of the ice, and other than one sustained cycle where they drew a penalty, they were getting caved in. They were at least able to play physical, and there were certainly some moments where you could see what that line could be if they can get everything clicking.
- Too many stupid penalties, but our PK played well. PP didn't score and there are some things they could do better but like Keefe said, they mostly just need to score. It wasn't really sloppy or lacking in chances, but just was a tad bit slow at times and a few bobbles here or there that happens even at the best of times.

Much of what will be remembered will be the last 3 minutes which were also by far the sloppiest 3 minutes of the game. You can't let that happen. There needs to be better pass and shot selection, especially out of that top line which had the puck going the other way far too often. Fortunately, everything is fixable, but you certainly expect better against this caliber of opponent... Especially when they were very sloppy themselves.

I remember

Under vastly different coaches and GM's.

At this point, it is up to the players. The coach and GM may take the fall for it, but the failure of the Leafs at this point falls on the players being able to hold up their end of the bargain, especially when it counts. So far, they haven't.

Only one game so it will get better but today they weren't even outplayed. They beat themselves, as they often do when they lose... And the guys who have been through that pain time and time again were at the forefront of it. So what have they really learned?



Playing down to the opponent makes it sound like it was an effort issue or they weren't trying hard enough.

They tried... But trying is not enough.

We are beyond lack of effort issues. It is not really a concern for this team on most nights anymore. But this is a team that needs consistent execution of at least the fundamentals and the fundamentals were lacking.

They really aren’t beyond the effort issues. They got outworked all night. I saw gallagher split the defense like he was connor Mcdavid. Gallagher is not quick. Murray let in 3 goals glove side, 2 were wide open shots from a decent distance. The GM has stripped the defense, goaltending and depth forwards down to its barebones to go all in on 4 forwards.

 

[egd27]

Yeah, opening night

(add) against the frickin Habs

 

[HockeyVirus]

A lot of over reactions (I've missed this) and I agree it was a bad game but it was also game 1. I don't think it matters until we're at game 5 and same issues are here. The team hasn't gotten it done in post season but they've proven they are an elite regular season team and deserve a chance to work out some kinks this week.

With that said, I think the 3 worst players for us were Aube-Kubel, Muzzin and Holl. Aube-Kubel has been useless IMO since pre-season and even Keefe said he valued his cup experience but thought it was hard coming to a new team for him so far. He needs to figure it out because outside of his first shift where he finished a nice check he was underwater and wasn't even in a position to be able to finish checks because he was chasing the play.

Muzzin looked like this last year and was our best dman in the playoffs. So IDK what is up with him if he is just fighting off age or if he is trying to play differently to not get hurt in the reg season. Either way, him and Holl simply DO NOT WORK. Which brings me to

HOLL. When he is good, he is very effective and cheap 2nd pairing dman. But when he is not good, which is increasingly becoming the standard, oh boy.

 

[Matthew McConaughay]

Thanks, I needed that lol

They don't need Bedard, they have Caufield .

 

[Havoc]

Our bottom 6 does not stand out at all. Almost every team in the leagues bottom 6 can realistically beat it head to head on any given night i.e anything can happen down there in a 7 game series. I like how Jarnkrok is suddenly some elite depth guy just because he's in a Leaf sweater now. This guys another dime a dozen at 31 years of age. These dime a dozens are perfectly fine to own and you have no choice but to own them, but they need a leader down there as the foundation.

They want to cheap out on the second pairing and the token depth guy, then enjoy being fired when it's all said and done. Teams have been exploiting these bottle necks in the playoffs for a while but the counterintuitive homers can't see it.

 

[Tutu to]

Mathews was horrible. Complete non factor kinda like against Tampa in game 7 last year.

Doesn’t drive offense imo

 

[leafsfan2point0]

What was with Montreal Booing Matty.. I don’t recall them doing that last year?

 

[Kelly]

Mathews was horrible. Complete non factor kinda like against Tampa in game 7 last year.

Doesn’t drive offense imo

Matthews doesn't drive offense? wat.

Why are people comparing game 1 of the reg. season to game 7? Makes zero sense.

Matthews usually torches game 1's anyway, brutal takes all across this site today.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

Our bottom 6 does not stand out at all. Almost every team in the leagues bottom 6 can realistically beat it head to head on any given night i.e anything can happen down there in a 7 game series. I like how Jarnkrok is suddenly some elite depth guy just because he's in a Leaf sweater now. This guys another dime a dozen at 31 years of age. These dime a dozens are perfectly fine to own and you have no choice but to own them, but they need a leader down there as the foundation.

They want to cheap out on the second pairing and the token depth guy, then enjoy being fired when it's all said and done. Teams have been exploiting these bottle necks in the playoffs for a while but the counterintuitive homers can't see it.

Not having any impact ELC breakout or pre-raise Goodrow or Coleman down there really hurt us. Forces us to have to take on a large cap hit for good player if we can't find good value heart on sleeve. It literally is a whatever bottom 6 any team can quickly put together aimlessly. Dubas needs his next Hyman find as soon as possible.

 

[robertmac43]

Watching the highlight back, Murray's glove hand was concerning last night and that's putting it nicely.

 

[Sypher04]

It has to do with the fact that this team hasn't done anything to get the benefit of the doubt after a bad start. Whether it's the regular season or not.

And again, you’re still wrong. The leafs had a poor start to last season too and went on to have their best season on record. If you don’t understand how that translates to deserving the benefit of the doubt then I cannot help you.

The playoffs have nothing to do with the regular season and it’s been one game

 

[rocketman588]

Forgot Monahan was a Hab. What riches did they give up to acquire him?

They received a first round pick

 

[justashadowof]

Not sure Game 1 counts as a big game.

Unless it suits a certain narrative.

Longest rivalry in hockey history, first game of the new season, new players, hopeful of a redemption arc, etc.

Just another game 'cos that suits a "certain narrative".

 

[egd27]

Two ways to look at this one IMO.

1. It's only game 1 with a bunch of new faces, no big deal
2. It's opening night against a divisional (and historical) rival, the effort is poor, and mental mistakes result in another in a series of somewhat humiliating losses, which is concerning

Both are likely correct

 

[rocketman588]

Keefe getting outcoached on a regular basis is relatively concerning.

We shouldn't look unprepared and terrible game one of the season with a very similar line up

The habs doubled Matthews on the PK and we had no answer

 

[pspot]

Keefe getting outcoached on a regular basis is relatively concerning.

We shouldn't look unprepared and terrible game one of the season with a very similar line up

The habs doubled Matthews on the PK and we had no answer

at least he calls the team out in the media...

 

[Koolboss]

Wake me up when Dubas's ass is canned for good

 

[justashadowof]

Keefe getting outcoached on a regular basis is relatively concerning.

We shouldn't look unprepared and terrible game one of the season with a very similar line up

The habs doubled Matthews on the PK and we had no answer

While I'm not sure he was being out-coached (players suitable to be on the ice weren't executing), if he was out-coached, he was out-coached by a rookie pro coach who hadn't coached higher than Peewee until 8 months ago.

 

[rocketman588]

at least he calls the team out in the media...

Only when no handshake line respect is earned.

I wonder if dubas will have the balls to ever pull the trigger because we're obviously not great coaching wise. Dude got dicked by Dom Ducharme in a series