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

[Gallagbi]

We outshot them but we didn't outplay them. The intensity wasn't good enough and the loss is deserved.

Hope it's a wake up call for the team that talent isn't enough. Murray wasn't the reason we lost tonight.

We outplayed them, but our mistakes were significant and they capitalized on more.

Not the showing we want from this team, but the Habs didnt carry the play

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Does Murray know how to use his glove?

I wanted to keep Muzzin because we need his physicality....he did NOT prove me right in game 1. Hopefully he's just starting slow

It doesn't help that Muzzin chose to miss almost the entire training camp+preseason to manage his back. You'd think he'd be a little more eager to start off strong after his disaster of a season but obviously not

 

[Mopar]

Absolute clowns running this team.

I flick on the TV after work to see Muzzin and Holl together again.

Murray doesn't look very good but I'm willing to give him some time to settle in.

Team looked slow and sloppy.

Having a hard time getting excited for this season. Laughed out loud when they panned over to Keefe after the Anderson goal.

 

[DarkKnight]

Why is Holl being flamed? Muzzin was directly responsible for two goals. We didn't deserve this one at all. Were never ready to play to be honest.

Holl stunk, why are you parsing him out to say Muzz sucked. Agreed!

 

[francis246]

Why is Holl being flamed? Muzzin was directly responsible for two goals. We didn't deserve this one at all. Were never ready to play to be honest.

Holl turned the puck over in offensive zone that lead to initial odd man rush

 

[binop7]

In the prediction thread, I said that Montreal would win 6 to 3. Murray just is not a good goaltender, abysmal would be putting it politely. I mean, when you stay status quo and then you sign two goaltenders that can’t stop a puck, this is pretty much scripted how I pretty much expected it would go.

Holl and Muzzin continue to be useless as expected, they’ve regressed even more, did not think that would be possible.

Pretty hard to win games when your goaltender can’t even give you a save percentage above .875%.

I’m glad I had zero hype heading into the season, there’s literally nothing to be excited about. I’ve seen Matthews and Marner break records, I don’t care about that stuff anymore. Until management shows they care, why should I show that I care?

If both goalies are below 0.875 then we're toast

 

[KingsHockey24]

Leafs blowout the Canadiens with Simmer and Cliffy in the line-up.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Look at the bright side. Montreal got 2 points and a regulation win.

Not good for their Tank for Bedard

Only the lottery balls will stop them getting Bedard. They are bad. Really bad.

 

[Gallagbi]

You can’t blame tonight on goaltending. Our defense on all 4 goals were out to lunch.

I know a lot of people were excited about our defense. But I’ve been saying it all summer. Our defense core is old and slow.

Second goal was awful

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

I’m a big Nylander fan, unlike some here, but I thought he was awful tonight as well. For all the time he skated around with the puck tonight, he didn’t make pretty much any plays.

Willy was average, which oddly enough puts him in top 10 percentile for best performance on the team. Leafs looked terrible to open the season and need to be MUCH better.

 

[Stephen]

I just don’t understand why they are taking any risks at the end of the game there. Just lock it down, take the point and try to win it in OT. Why the duck are they giving up a 2 on 1?

Under Keefe, you can see how their risk assessment go-no go sliders are completely out of whack from a typical NHL team. Casual regroups under heavy forecheck, no hard zone exits, drop passes and cross ice passes at the blueline under pressure, unforced reversals, bumps to open wings and uncovered points, etc.

They just make high danger decisions ALL THE TIME. They benefit from exploiting the other teams but open up vulnerabilities that wouldn't be there otherwise.

 

[Sypher04]

That might be the worst game I’ve ever seen Matthews play, passing up shots and not anywhere close to in position to let it rip.

Jackie would have saved goals 2 and 4.

Willy and JT looked great, JT has some jump and Willy went to the hard areas. Malgin also looked good, possibly makes Kerfoot redundant.

Muzzin and Holl…just…

The Habs beat them the same way they beat them in the playoffs - they played smart, error free hockey, except for in the 1st, while the Leafs were figure skating.

Willy was not good at all tonight. He skated around with the puck on his stick a lot, but he didn’t really do anything. Quite a few turnovers.

The core group all need to be, and will be, better

 

[DarkKnight]

Our supposed depth, pretty vanilla.

 

[binop7]

Holl turned the puck over in offensive zone that lead to initial odd man rush

His back check was absurdly slow as well

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

Murray didn't see shit on that shot. Holl might as well have been the goalie there. Not sure what you expect him to do in that situation. As far as the other goals go, 2 nice shots from caufield, and maybe a poor rebound out that Monahan scored off of, you can't really say those goals are his fault. The team infront was kind of a$$

 

[AllDay28]

0-1. Seasons over.

 

[htpwn]

Sucks to open the year by losing against what may well be the worst team in the NHL but it is one game. Not much you can read into this yet.

That said, the sheer slowness of this team is worrying. Some of that will go away as the team gets in sync (puck always moves quicker than legs) and the Big 3 get going, but the bottom six may well need some more dynamism. Something to keep an eye on.

Murray wasn't great, but even if he was, it is going to be at least a half season until the questions around our goaltending resolve one way or another.

 

[Legion34]

I don’t blame Murray for the goals. Second I think. Was tipped. If not. I blame him for that one

Muzz might be done….. Holl needs to be gone.

Murray now I’m a little more scared. He looked good in pre season but I wasn’t watching his glove.

It’s not open. He holds his glove like he is clapping his and and then raises his shoulder.

I don’t know wat that’s about but generally older style was having. Glove open face shooter. Lift up

New style is hand up like you are waving goodbye and move down. M

Murray holds it straight like he is touching gloves in boxing.

If he is injured then that’s just a nightmare for us. Cap hit us massive

 

[francis246]

No one was excited about our defense. Looks like another long season ahead filled with the same chocolate covered pretzels

There were literally people claiming we had one of the best defense’s in the NHL. Not gonna name names. But it was said a ton over the summer

 

[rocketman588]

You can’t blame tonight on goaltending. Our defense on all 4 goals were out to lunch.

I know a lot of people were excited about our defense. But I’ve been saying it all summer. Our defense core is old and slow.

Interested to see what the xga stat is today.

A good test of how valid it is

 

[hullsy47]

Muzzin showed why +/- isn't a great stat.

He will always be concucussed

 

[Stonehands 1]

mussin, mussin mussin

 

[socko]

I hope this team doesn't think they're going to run and gun anymore. Because they are really slow.

 

[MoreMogilny]

Why is Holl being flamed? Muzzin was directly responsible for two goals. We didn't deserve this one at all. Were never ready to play to be honest.

Holl caused multiple odd man rushes against. Like in that last play. He was awful tonight. So was Muzzin. They’re a bad pair and we saw enough evidence of that prior to tonight yet here we are.

Bring on Mete at least he can skate. The rest of our group with Liljegren being absent are slow as can be

 

[Stephen]

We outshot them but we didn't outplay them. The intensity wasn't good enough and the loss is deserved.

Hope it's a wake up call for the team that talent isn't enough. Murray wasn't the reason we lost tonight.

If they didn't wake up in 2019-20, 2021, 2021-22, I'm not sure why a regular season game vs Laval is going to put them on a different track. This is a kind of game they routinely lost last season vs Ottawa, Montreal and Buffalo. And Arizona.