Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose. Thornton on the first PP unit. Weak. Nice work keefe. Do better.

[Leaf Rocket]

Some fans are pathetic - loads saying they won’t watch. Bigger weasels than the players themselves.

good to know you are new here, its kind of a ritual if you are bad luck for some of us. if we see when we came to see the game and it brough ill luck, well we just stop watching. nice to know how judgemental you are though and easy to jump to conclusion.

P.S. we are still allowed to watch highlights.

 

[Trapper]

Take out whoever you like, bring in whoever you like.
Ultimately our core needs to be better than the Montreal Canadiens.
Kind of like how it should be.

 

[Twine Tickler]

So you're saying they crumbled under adversity? Isn't that the knock on them in general?

I wouldn't exactly classify yesterday's game as crumbling dude. We gave up an early goal after the injury which I would say was to be expected after what happened. And then bounced back and had the better of the chances the remainder of the game. The puck wouldn't go in. You know how many times Paul Byron could have that same play and not even get a shot on net? the only reason that puck elevated was because it rode up Campbell's stick. Amazing goal by Paul, and I am taking nothing away from him, but that goal itself was a bit of a fluke. But then again, you make your own bounces, and he did an amazing job to make a play there. At the end of the day, If price doesn't make that all world save on the 2 on 1, we win this game no problem. He stole the game. Hard to blame Marner on that either, he got a great shot off and Price just made a better save. If Montreal played a near perfect game (which they did) and only won by a goal, all while being up a man the entire game, and still largely getting outplayed, I would say I am ok with the effort last night. Sometimes the results don't justify the effort. Last night was one of them

 

[killer1980]

Disappointed that some people want to paint Spezza with the same brush as Thornton and Simmonds. Spezza had a very good year and, to me, gave the Leafs much of what they wanted from Marleau. Getting those other 2 was a mistake and borne out of desperation.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Forget their supposed grit, Thornton and Simmonds can’t even play at an NHL level anymore. All of their passes, everything they did was pure garbage. And yet they actually get PP time too. Just ridiculous. Bring up Brooks, enough of these idiots

 

[Gallagbi]

I wouldn't exactly classify yesterday's game as crumbling dude. We gave up an early goal after the injury which I would say was to be expected after what happened. And then bounced back and had the better of the chances the remainder of the game. The puck wouldn't go in. You know how many times Paul Byron could have that same play and not even get a shot on net? the only reason that puck elevated was because it rode up Campbell's stick. Amazing goal by Paul, and I am taking nothing away from him, but that goal itself was a bit of a fluke. But then again, you make your own bounces, and he did an amazing job to make a play there. At the end of the day, If price doesn't make that all world save on the 2 on 1, we win this game no problem. He stole the game. Hard to blame Marner on that either, he got a great shot off and Price just made a better save. If Montreal played a near perfect game (which they did) and only won by a goal, all while being up a man the entire game, and still largely getting outplayed, I would say I am ok with the effort last night. Sometimes the results don't justify the effort. Last night was one of them

I guess my expectations are higher than playing the Habs to a coin flip with the two caliber of teams involved.

Series isn't over, but we've put ourselves down (again) and chasing a weaker team. Habs are exactly where they need to be after playing a game style they needed to play. We lost another low event game that came down to bounces because we didn't generate enough.

 

[Bluelines]

What is so elite against Habs? I mean they don't even have a top high end finisher. Who is he going to shutdown? How many defensive forward do we need?

Mikhaeyev, apparently a great pk. Can't finish
Foligno, apparently great at pk. Not much offensive threat
Kerfet = see above
Hyman = great at both ends

Add 2 other players who can't score in Simmonds and Joe

You want to add more defensive player who hasn't played in months with a knee injury against a fast team?

It's a a bad thing to have a better PK?

Tifolloi had 28 goals, Andersen had 17 goals, its not like they are a bunch of slugs. If the Leafs make it to the final four do you want Nash coming in for the first time against Tampa or LV or another top end team?

So you don't play Nash and you bring in who Engvall? Who is not a finisher either, except for the recent heater, he's been invisible all year.

Nash is better than everyone who sat. Its not a hard choice TBH.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Some serious mistakes made by Dubie as I noted earlier not playing Nash and Zach at end of year .. there was no need to waste all that CAP on Freddy .. it was da smarter mgmt play to give Nash and Zach a couple prep games .. they will both be fine but it wasted game 1 for us .. they will be fine by game 3 but either way they did not cost us any goals against

Bad coaching call by Keefer playing Sandin on 3rd pair .. a rook cost us 2 goals against .. and for an issue which is very well known by everyone in org for a couple years now

Game itself was close as all Habs games this year have been .. JT injury affected game in a big way too in many different ways .. Price was great and like I said he would win 1 game this series and like last years game 1 with Pittsburgh he decided it would be game 1 of this series .. people who wrote him off just don't understand hockey well enough

Biggest issue to overcome is not personnel it is how to beat a 4 man back trap game .. we have a very hard time beating this system .. we think we can pass our way through it and we can't .. we need a different strategy (not puck control) to overcome it .. to me we blast a rocket on dump in around glass and send 2 men into opposite corner to retrieve .. we have to create a couple lines who can do that .. those lines can't include Mitch as he don't have da ability to pull it off .. use Mitch on 3rd and 4th line against weaker competition where they may be able to create something with a fancy play or two .. just ensure Keefer you have Muzzy and Holl on when he goes out there .. so you have to do it on faceoffs only can't be done on fly .. he will not be able to help us in this series as he is too slow straight line and when he tries to get fancy da faster guys just cut him down easily

On PP Keefer just let boys do their thing .. allow Rielly to use his asset and lug puck up ice for us into Habs end .. then let boys setup and play pond hockey .. it will fool Habs as they are expecting our sh*tty system

We can and should still win this series but we need coaching Keefer .. if it is Dubie forcing da lineup then it is time to man up .. Shanny will understand .. do what it takes to win

 

[mrJT]

I know its the playoffs and dump and chase is generally the game plan. We're not built for that outside of one line, we need to get back to our regular season plan of attack, puck possesion and speed, its the only way we'll win.

 

[Chief Berube]

You stay in yours. Quoting Conor doesn't make you cool. Emotionally charged condescending hot takes year over year don't either. There's tons of great posters on this forum. I wouldn't credit those 2 for keeping and building this forum or whatever. I'm guessing you're an alt.

Trying to be cool is something people try to do in high school. I don't really need your reassurance. I will be in the lane I chose to be in.

 

[egd27]

Tied 1-1 in the 3rd period and you let in a shorty from a guy on his knees while attempting and failing to play the puck again? I would say that is pretty back breaking.

If Andersen allowed that goal he would be figuratively crucified here.

 

[Optimist]

Not a hope in hell that Byron scores that shorthanded goal if that was Dermott chasing him down.

 

[Cotton]

The hot takes are too much, you’d think the Habs dominated rather than squeaking out a win by converting on a bad play by Joe.

JT’s injury was huge, I didn’t give a shit about the game after that, which seems to be how most felt too (and we’re just fans, imagine how his teammates felt).

They’ll adjust, we’ve faced better with less and held our own. Won’t be any different now.

Also, Matthews playing like a power forward is awesome.

 

[BTP]

Hyman-Engvall-Mikeyhev needs to be reunited.

Take Thorton out and put Galchenyuk back up with 34 and 16.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Ya my only real problem with Keefe is his allotment of ice time including PP. It was clear Jumbo was having a shit game. Should have seen reduced ice time and not gotten near PP1

 

[3blizzard4]

Did Simmonds do anything last night? He didnt even add grit or throw any hits.

 

[Bomber0104]

Disappointed that some people want to paint Spezza with the same brush as Thornton and Simmonds. Spezza had a very good year and, to me, gave the Leafs much of what they wanted from Marleau. Getting those other 2 was a mistake and borne out of desperation.

At the end of the day though, you have to put it in perspective.

People are actually upset that two players earning 750k and 1.5M aren't performing?

That's par for the course for players like that.

That's why they're getting paid that sort of money in the first place.

 

[Cotton]

Not a hope in hell that Byron scores that shorthanded goal if that was Dermott chasing him down.

Sandin isn’t fast, which is why on our following PP Rielly was back on PP1. But Dermott isn’t a guy you want on the PP, and inevitably it was Jumbo who f***ed up in the first place. Shit happens.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

I guess my expectations are higher than playing the Habs to a coin flip with the two caliber of teams involved.

Series isn't over, but we've put ourselves down (again) and chasing a weaker team. Habs are exactly where they need to be after playing a game style they needed to play. We lost another low event game that came down to bounces because we didn't generate enough.

This is my problem too. This team is never ready play and constantly drops the first game of every series they’ve been in these past 5 playoffs minus 2019 which we still managed to screw up but came the closest to winning. Historically the team that wins the first game usually wins the series, it’s beyond annoying they keep repeating the same script.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

If Andersen allowed that goal he would be figuratively crucified here.

Pretty much yet all I have seen is people say Campbell had a good game. He did make some really nice saves but also let in a bad 2nd and wasn't great on the 1st either leaving way too much room at the near post as he didnt get across fast enough (it was obvious Anderson was going to shoot that side due to him being a right shot and skating in that direction).

It is alot easier to throw blame on a goalie who might not be here next year as that could be an easy fix. People don't want to wonder why we have trouble scoring in the playoffs and have been like bottom 5 in playoffs scoring the last few years from the stats I've seen posted. Especially when the entire cap structure is setup to be super offensive.

 

[Cotton]

Did Simmonds do anything last night? He didnt even add grit or throw any hits.

He threw a couple and was in scrums.

 

[Twine Tickler]

chasing a weaker team

Correct. They are a weaker team. No reason to believe we can't win 4 of the next 6. Remember they still need 3 more wins to advance. Let them celebrate this one. They played a good game. We will be celebrating in a week or so. I'm pretty confident the team doesn't have the same poopy daiper attitude as some people on here. That room doesn't think about 17 years of not winning a playoff round, I can f***ing guarantee that. They know they are better, and they will prove it.

 

[napoleon in rags]

I feel like Pavlov's dog. The playoffs start and a sickening feeling of impending doom overcomes me. I can't help it: I've been trained.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Did Simmonds do anything last night? He didnt even add grit or throw any hits.

If he is not going to play gritty, in your face, type of hockey then sub him in for someone with skill that can score a little from the 3rd/4th line.

 

[Gallagbi]

This is my problem too. This team is never ready play and constantly drops the first game of every series they’ve been in these past 5 playoffs minus 2019 which we still managed to screw up but came the closest to winning. Historically the team that wins the first game usually wins the series, it’s beyond annoying they keep repeating the same script.

I expect many are like myself and get the pit in their stomach before these games because it's almost like a book you've read before or a movie you've watched about to be started up again.

What I am interested in seeing is how they bounce back. They've been consistent with that all year, but I can't say I'm optimistic. If they don't rebound, we simply can't see this core again.