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Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose To Florida In OT

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Jojalu said:
How? Tavares tripped him and he fell into the corner? Also Nylander was all over the place. Were you watvhing the same game?
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If you think Nylander had a good game, and was “all over the place” in a good way, then we weren’t watching the same game. He got walked by on the first goal, backed off when any board battle was imminent, was a liability defensively, contributed little offensively even when playing with MM, and looked disinterested too often. Apparently I hold him up to a higher standard than you do.
 
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IrishInOntario said:
Agreed. No shame in losing to a better team that, despite a really great effort overall!
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The better team lost today, and in OT no less.

Although Bobrovsky was excellent, and he was the difference for Florida tonight. Both goalies had to make big saves, but comparatively, it wouldn't have been a close game if it wasn't for Bobrovsky.
 
Jojalu said:
How do you come to the conclusion Florida is the better team?

3 games played. Tor whipped them at home. Lost in OT twice that would never happen in the playoffs.

Glorida is going through the most bizarre season ever by smashing the previous revord of comeback wins.

Tor was clearly the better team for the first and third tonight and they were better for the first two periods the previous game.

Don't get me wrong. I believe Florida has a great team but clearly better than the Leafs is simply not true
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My conclusion comes from the fact that they are 15-1 after the trade deadline, after adding Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot, which is, objectively, more than we added at the deadline... And they've done that without Aaron Eklblad, the best defenseman either team has to offer, who will be back in the playoffs.

Florida has the most points in the lead. They have a winning record against Toronto this season and both of their wins have comes with the rosters that will be going into the playoffs, rather than the pre-deadline rosters. They have the highest scoring team in the league. They have the higher scoring player (Huberdeau) of the two teams. They have the better goaltending (factoring in #1 and #2). They have the deeper core of forwards 1-12. When Ekblad comes back, it's probably a wash defensively.... How have they not shown to be better than Toronto over the course of the season? Objectively, I think that's exactly what they've done. Not my leaps and bounds, but they certainly have the edge.
 
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IrishInOntario said:
Which players do you, realistically, think took a significant discount due to cap stagnation? Is Mrazek really worth much more than 3.8 million? Maybe Rielly gets $8.0 rather than $7.5 next year. Had Engvall or Mikheyev shown anything prior to this year that would have gotten them bigger contracts? Maybe very marginally. Simmonds, Clifford, Spezza, Blackwell, etc would still be who they are and what they're paid.

Maybe we wouldn't have all $8 million (to your point) but I think we'd have at least $6 million more to spend, if we had the same group.
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Brodie may have got a little bit more, but I doubt Muzzin, Ritchie, or Mrazek would have.
 
SeaOfBlue said:
The better team lost today, and in OT no less.

Although Bobrovsky was excellent, and he was the difference for Florida tonight. Both goalies had to make big saves, but comparatively, it wouldn't have been a close game if it wasn't for Bobrovsky.
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That's fine, but the goaltender is a huge part of the team. Both were exceptional tonight. Theirs was that little bit better, which is par for the course for Toronto in these late season / playoff matchups.

Toronto was certainly more dangerous for stretches, but the failure to finish with any kind of class also matters. That was a very evenly played game, in a playoff type environment, and the Panthers, the better team, pulled it out. Shots were near even. They executed better on their PP and PK and Bobrovsky was just a little bit better than Campbell.

No need to take anything away from Florida. I think if we played 10 times (5 home and 5 away) they win the series 6-4, or maybe 7-3 with a healthy Ekblad. Toronto can certainly beat them, but they're deeper and equal, or better in almost every aspect of the game.
 
IrishInOntario said:
My conclusion comes from the fact that they are 15-1 after the trade deadline, after adding Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot, which is, objectively, more than we added at the deadline... And they've done that without Aaron Eklblad, the best defenseman either team has to offer, who will be back in the playoffs.

Florida has the most points in the lead. They have a winning record against Toronto this season and both of their wins have comes with the rosters that will be going into the playoffs, rather than the pre-deadline rosters. They have the highest scoring team in the league. They have the higher scoring player (Huberdeau) of the two teams. They have the better goaltending (factoring in #1 and #2). They have the deeper core of forwards 1-12. When Ekblad comes back, it's probably a wash defensively.... How have they not shown to be better than Toronto over the course of the season? Objectively, I think that's exactly what they've done. Not my leaps and bounds, but they certainly have the edge.
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Ekblad may not be back for the playoffs. At least for the first round. So he may be back for our potential playoff series, but he would have also missed almost 2 months at that point.

It will also be interesting how they do in the playoffs when they have counted on a crap ton of comebacks, high scoring games, and OT's to win games. Things that typically don't happen in the playoffs. I feel like they could sweep the first round or get swept in the first round like Tampa depending on how to bubble bursts.
 
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SeaOfBlue said:
Do you mean two days ago? They followed that up with one game where they outplayed the team with the most points in the league for 2/3's of the game.

Or do you mean the 6-2 win where we have been 6-2-2 since?

I am not worried about this team taking the foot off the pedal at all. If anything, it looks like they have ramped things up. It was a bad 2 periods against Tampa, and sure the loss against BUF and 7-6 loss against Florida in a B2B sucked recently, but there have been very few instances of complacency from this team this year... And even fewer against teams that are not near the bottom of the league.

We need to stay healthy, we need our top guys (especially Matthews and Marner) to perform, we need some puck luck, and we need Campbell to consistently give us performances like he did today. All of these things are the standard for successful playoff teams. We get that and we can win a lot more than just one series.
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I think they put themselves in a bad headspace going into the Tampa game loosey goosey and like you said after the first period the wheels came off. The PP and running up the score factored in but all the talk about the Lightning wanting it more was not good. Tonight started off well but blowing a 2-0 lead is blowing a 2-0 lead and by the end of OT they let the extra point slip.

Tomorrow, they need to get back to their dominant game vs Washington, which is a good test but a winnable game. We'll see. And of course health is the other big factor as well.
 
How many goals has Jack Campbell given up that are nearly identical to the one he gave up, in OT, tonight?

When you see someone bearing down on him with the puck alone, it almost always goes south.

Didn't even need to see it go in or hear Cuthbert call it. That play is a high-probability goal against him every single time.
 
hockeyes said:
At this point in the season, OT means nothing for measuring teams, this was a tie as far as I am concerned.
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Exactly.

Imagine Leafs beat TB 8-1 and won in OT today, it still doesn’t mean they will beat either teams in the playoffs.

I don’t like how the boys didn’t show up against TB.
Only saw the 3rd and OT today and I won’t put much stock into the OT since there will be no 3v3 in playoffs.
My only concern based on watching the 3rd is the Leafs needed to bury their chances bc if they had, it won’t even be in OT.
 
riffle said:
How many goals has Jack Campbell given up that are nearly identical to the one he gave up, in OT, tonight?

When you see someone bearing down on him with the puck alone, it almost always goes south.

Didn't even need to see it go in or hear Cuthbert call it. That play is a high-probability goal against him every single time.
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He did made a break away save 10 secs into OT when MM missed his assignment on Weegar.
 
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PromisedLand said:
Tavares on the backcheck through the neutral zone

1*YCOwGZ5Ts-0pbAJV_cT8cQ.gif
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IrishInOntario said:
Which players do you, realistically, think took a significant discount due to cap stagnation? Is Mrazek really worth much more than 3.8 million? Maybe Rielly gets $8.0 rather than $7.5 next year. Had Engvall or Mikheyev shown anything prior to this year that would have gotten them bigger contracts? Maybe very marginally. Simmonds, Clifford, Spezza, Blackwell, etc would still be who they are and what they're paid.

Maybe we wouldn't have all $8 million (to your point) but I think we'd have at least $6 million more to spend, if we had the same group.
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TJ Brodie and Morgan Rielly would be the big ones. Can probably add a million to both of them. Bunting, Kase, Kampf, and Mrazek all get a bump.

More cap space means more money for contracts. It's not just that the leafs would have more cap space, but every other team would too, and that drives up prices.
 
Essentially, we tied one of the 2 or 3 best teams in the league, in their own building. Who knows how that one would have ended up in a real OT?

Sure, there's some room for improvement but Florida has to be saying the same type of things as we're saying. I saw two evenly matched teams out there tonight; if it's any indication going into the PO's, then I think we have about 50/50 chance of winning the series. In this division, I don't think you could ask for much more.
 
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Ok about the ot loss. Nylander fell over Tavares ledfoot. No chance in hell for him to catch the passning or recieving player. Tavares could if he was faster. The D dudes Job is to force a shot, or take away the pass lane, he did not, he was only in the way of Cbell, that did not make the save needed. So all players could have done better.
 
Gabriel426 said:
Exactly.

Imagine Leafs beat TB 8-1 and won in OT today, it still doesn’t mean they will beat either teams in the playoffs.

I don’t like how the boys didn’t show up against TB.
Only saw the 3rd and OT today and I won’t put much stock into the OT since there will be no 3v3 in playoffs.
My only concern based on watching the 3rd is the Leafs needed to bury their chances bc if they had, it won’t even be in OT.
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I agree with the concern, it seems that when games start to get tight, the Leafs are always an inch wide. In the grand scheme though, they are a high powered offence so I think some of that is just bias from watching them under a microscope and all teams have similar problems when you follow them as closely.
 
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good game, havent lost to them in regulation this year. cant be mad at it. 3 on 3 is a wash. gotta bury more of those chances. cambell looks good
 
hockeyes said:
I agree with the concern, it seems that when games start to get tight, the Leafs are always an inch wide. In the grand scheme though, they are a high powered offence so I think some of that is just bias from watching them under a microscope and all teams have similar problems when you follow them as closely.
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I agree, defensively they didn’t give up any odd man rushes in the 3rd, which I really liked. Although they didn’t get scored on against TB in the 1st but they gave up way too many odd man rushes in that period and Kally saved them all.
 
leafs were really really good in the first and third, bob made some massive saves but gotta bury one of those chances
 
Gabriel426 said:
I agree, defensively they didn’t give up any odd man rushes in the 3rd, which I really liked. Although they didn’t get scored on against TB in the 1st but they gave up way too many odd man rushes in that period and Kally saved them all.
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It is too bad that Kallgren completely crapped the bed in the other two periods. Even the earlier goals, he was not squaring up properly so he was constantly beat on his right side (by deflections or anything that went laterally) and it got completely out of hand at that point.

Kallgren can't be great for 20 minutes and terrible for the last 40 minutes. He didn't really give the Leafs the chance to compete in a game which may have not been an ideal effort, but was still well within reach.
 
The Panthers and the Leafs are near equals. No fear in facing them. I'd rather play them than Tampa.

Panthers have no recent playoff pedigree much like the Leafs, and the Leafs won't be carrying the weight of at very least being the top team in the East, if not the President's trophy winner like Florida.
 
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