Pre-Game Talk: Leafs @ Panthers - Game 3 - Sunday 6:30 pm EST

[QJo]

Zero chance Keefe puts his captain and $11M a year player on the 4th line

Zero chance any coach worth their salt puts Tavares on the 4th line. That's emotional fan talk. Not knowledgeable hockey talk.

 

[saffronleaf]

Watching back the highlights of the game Bobrovsky looks like he is letting out a lot of rebounds.

what i notice is matthews ALWAYS going for the blocker like he read he scouting report but now bob is jumping blocker side it's reverse scouting

just switch it up a little bit matthews wtf smarten up

 

[BallardEra]

Panthers pleased with 'good start' against Maple Leafs in East 2nd Round | NHL.com

Florida gets road sweep in Toronto, has won 5 straight in playoffs

www.nhl.com

Coach Paul Maurice admitted that for the first time since being away from home, fatigue -- more so emotional than physical -- was starting to set in. But he was impressed by Florida's ability to rally in Game 2.

"It wasn't a perfect game for us by any means, but didn't expect that from my team, didn't expect them to be perfect tonight," Maurice said. "Just want them to stay in the fight and that's what we did."

"It was the first time it felt like a road trip. The other ones didn't, we're wired, we're all fired up and then today, it felt like a road trip."

The Panthers will get two days off prior to Game 3. It's an extra day Maurice said will be much needed.

"That's five games in nine nights (since Game 5 against the Bruins on April 26), in as intense emotional pressure as you can put on a hockey team," Maurice said. "And this is not the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers (first-round) series where the teams' buildings are 11 miles apart; we've been on an airplane for a while.

"We didn't think we had much in our legs [Friday], so it was just about character and fighting through it and battling the hard things that happened."


This is exactly why I feel the extra day off benefits the Panthers more than it does the Leafs.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Nah, trailing for 80% of the game and winning it in the last half of the 3rd is the 4d chess way apparently. No luck involved. Pure clutchness and skill. Easy path to 16 wins repeating this over and over


I think round 2 is proving there was no clutch involved. Any team can win 4 games first before the garbage finally catches up.

Really? I thought this was supposed to be a team that can never do that.

 

[saffronleaf]

Coach Paul Maurice admitted that for the first time since being away from home, fatigue -- more so emotional than physical -- was starting to set in. But he was impressed by Florida's ability to rally in Game 2.

"It wasn't a perfect game for us by any means, but didn't expect that from my team, didn't expect them to be perfect tonight," Maurice said. "Just want them to stay in the fight and that's what we did."

"It was the first time it felt like a road trip. The other ones didn't, we're wired, we're all fired up and then today, it felt like a road trip."

The Panthers will get two days off prior to Game 3. It's an extra day Maurice said will be much needed.

"That's five games in nine nights (since Game 5 against the Bruins on April 26), in as intense emotional pressure as you can put on a hockey team," Maurice said. "And this is not the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers (first-round) series where the teams' buildings are 11 miles apart; we've been on an airplane for a while.

"We didn't think we had much in our legs [Friday], so it was just about character and fighting through it and battling the hard things that happened."


This is exactly why I feel the extra day off benefits the Panthers more than it does the Leafs.

and we still f***ed it up ugh

 

[LaPlante94]

what i notice is matthews ALWAYS going for the blocker like he read he scouting report but now bob is jumping blocker side it's reverse scouting

just switch it up a little bit matthews wtf smarten up

Yeah after they said something during intermission I started noticing Matthews always going blocker side. Good shooter like him needs to trust his shot and instincts more when it comes to stuff like that because they should know Florida was gonna show Bob the same stuff and where he was getting beat so he could fix that.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

Really? I thought this was supposed to be a team that can never do that.

Every single team in the league has the potential to win round 1 if they want it enough. Pretenders get phased out as playoffs continue,

Leafs never seemed to want it enough that's why they lose to all assortments of difficulties: Boston (hard) Jackets (medium) Habs (easier than easy). This season they looked like they wanted it more than Tampa. Tampa looks toast.

All that failure created a myth that winning round 1 suddenly proves we are a success. All I see is a team playing ugly hockey primed to get booted from the playoffs. 0-2 start to the Panthers is tangible evidence this is true (aka to this point Leafs fall in the pretender category and are getting phased out now).

 

[Stephen]

Zero chance any coach worth their salt puts Tavares on the 4th line. That's emotional fan talk. Not knowledgeable hockey talk.

Tavares is so ineffective 5 on 5 you might as well just have him out as a PP specialist and if that means having 3 other skating lines and not wasting Nylander when he's on his game. Other than faceoffs and an offensive eruption every 3-4 games, there's not a lot going on with JT. Which is a sad thing to say not even a week after he scored the biggest Leaf goal in decades.

 

[Leaf Fans]

you are not allowed to have an independent or different thought/opinion. have the same opinion as me or I will cancel you with the mob

I have my own opinion and few people bother me.

 

[Kiwi]

we have spent 50% of cap on top heavy roster. Getting goalied as far as I am concerned is not acceptable. Even for the sake of the argument I say fine... how many times is it acceptable? it was the same with CBJ and Habs.

People continued to blame goaltending i.e. good for opposition while ours not good enough. If thats the case why couldn't we move a core piece and get a goalie who is a proven performer? Why are we playing magic 8 ball with goalie in samsonov and murray?

I do not accept that we are getting goalied. We have 3 11 AAV players on the roster. They are paid that money to figure it out. If they can't figure it out then they are overpaid and not worth their contracts. More importantly it is the GM who doesn't have the foresight to think things through if this is a repeated occurrence

Who cares how much were paying guys? If the other goaltender stops shots at a .950 clip you're screwed no matter what your salary structure is

Our guys have elite shooting talent and we're taking a ton of shots in high danger areas, those go in a lot but Bob is stopping everything

Guys have great patches in there careers
Unfortunately Bob is having one right now

 

[sunstersun]

Who cares how much were paying guys? If the other goaltender stops shots at a .950 clip you're screwed no matter what your salary structure is

Our guys have elite shooting talent and we're taking a ton of shots in high danger areas, those go in a lot but Bob is stopping everything

Guys have great patches in there careers
Unfortunately Bob is having one right now

Do we have elite shooting talent? Outside of Matthews and Nylander(who's snakebitten unlucky) who exactly is a dynamo scorer?

 

[HellasLEAF]

^^^

I think we are overrating Bob just a bit here it's not like he was making saves over and over that was outright robbery. The saves were good but not like they were big post to post moves. Look back at the highlight pack some grade A's but nothing outrageous Panthers had chances too. The Panthers strong defence helped to limit 2nd/3rd chances and angles. Leafs need to be better. They are making another goalie look amazing.

 

[Racer88]

It’s hard because the league has made it that if the leafs retaliate our punishment will hurt us more than the original action. We retaliate we are on the PK and now it’s a 2 goal game. We retaliate we get the 1 game suspension because it’s premeditated.

They don’t retaliate fans think they are p***yes. It’s a lose lose situation

The time to retaliate was right after it happened

 

[Stephen]

^^^

I think we are overrating Bob just a bit here it's not like he was making saves over and over that was outright robbery. The saves were good but not like they were big post to post moves. Look back at the highlight pack some grade A's but nothing outrageous Panthers had chances too. The Panthers strong defence helped to limit 2nd/3rd chances and angles. Leafs need to be better. They are making another goalie look amazing.

Yeah. Let’s see the Leafs crease crash with some accidental on purpose contact on a couple of shifts and get 3-4 bodies in the crease hunting rebounds and piling on like it’s 1st and Goal in the Super Bowl before anointing Bob the 2023 Hasek. They dominated possession and created some fantastic looks but until you’re throwing the kitchen sink at them, you haven’t shown us your best. Bob is solvable.

 

[United35]

we have spent 50% of cap on top heavy roster. Getting goalied as far as I am concerned is not acceptable. Even for the sake of the argument I say fine... how many times is it acceptable? it was the same with CBJ and Habs.

People continued to blame goaltending i.e. good for opposition while ours not good enough. If thats the case why couldn't we move a core piece and get a goalie who is a proven performer? Why are we playing magic 8 ball with goalie in samsonov and murray?

I do not accept that we are getting goalied. We have 3 11 AAV players on the roster. They are paid that money to figure it out. If they can't figure it out then they are overpaid and not worth their contracts. More importantly it is the GM who doesn't have the foresight to think things

Coach Paul Maurice admitted that for the first time since being away from home, fatigue -- more so emotional than physical -- was starting to set in. But he was impressed by Florida's ability to rally in Game 2.

"It wasn't a perfect game for us by any means, but didn't expect that from my team, didn't expect them to be perfect tonight," Maurice said. "Just want them to stay in the fight and that's what we did."

"It was the first time it felt like a road trip. The other ones didn't, we're wired, we're all fired up and then today, it felt like a road trip."

The Panthers will get two days off prior to Game 3. It's an extra day Maurice said will be much needed.

"That's five games in nine nights (since Game 5 against the Bruins on April 26), in as intense emotional pressure as you can put on a hockey team," Maurice said. "And this is not the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers (first-round) series where the teams' buildings are 11 miles apart; we've been on an airplane for a while.

"We didn't think we had much in our legs [Friday], so it was just about character and fighting through it and battling the hard things that happened."


This is exactly why I feel the extra day off benefits the Panthers more than it does the Leafs.

Don’t play magic 8 ball, anything can happen Sunday (including a leafs win)

 

[GoBuds14]

There is no reason they can’t win games 3 and 4, obviously game 3 is the must win, but Florida hasn’t impressed me, they’re opportunistic sure, but they’ve looked very beatable… let’s see what the Leafs got.

 

[wingman75]

There is no reason they can’t win games 3 and 4, obviously game 3 is the must win, but Florida hasn’t impressed me, they’re opportunistic sure, but they’ve looked very beatable… let’s see what the Leafs got.

There is nothing I have watched in Game 1 or 2 that makes me feel the Leafs do not have a chance. Must win tomorrow...

I cannot believe this is not gameday, fu to the NHL and their scheduling idiocy (yes I know the Heat play this afternoon and the F1 race is in town).

 

[57 Years No Cup]

you are not allowed to have an independent or different thought/opinion. have the same opinion as me or I will cancel you with the mob

This is a symptom of a larger issue in the world but that's all I'll say about that.

We have been this series
Bob is rocking a .950 and Samsonov can't even crack a .900

We've had the run of play so far but you aren't winning **** if this continues


I thought Tampa had the run of play in the last series but Samsonov did just well enough and Vasi couldn't stop a beachball at times

Sometimes the goaltender is the difference in a series for good or bad

Bob's save percentage is so high because the shots he is facing are easy to save.

 

[DarkKnight]

Isn’t it a 6:30 start?

We’re going to see the best version of this team, whether it’s too late remains to be seen.

 

[leafs in five]

6:30pm ET start right?

 

[egd27]

Really? I thought this was supposed to be a team that can never do that.

A little condescending considering they've done it once in 7 tries, and are now down 0-2 don't you think?

They win on Sunday and they're back in the series, but there's quite a hole that they have dug for themselves.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Bob's save percentage is so high because the shots he is facing are easy to save.

That's literally the exact opposite of true.
Against Florida, the Leafs have averaged 0.12 expected goals per shot. That would rank us 1st in the league in the regular season, and 2nd in the playoffs.
Against Florida, the Leafs have averaged 37 scoring chances per game. That would rank us 1st in the league in the regular season, and 2nd in the playoffs.
Against Florida, the Leafs have averaged 18 high danger chances per game. That would rank us 1st in the league in the regular season, and 1st in the playoffs.

 

[Dekes For Days]

6:30pm ET start right?

Yes, it's 6:30. I don't know why OP didn't bother to check when making the thread. Hopefully people don't miss the start of the game because of it.

 

[egd27]

Yes, it's 6:30. I don't know why OP didn't bother to check when making the thread. Hopefully people don't miss the start of the game because of it.

You could always ask a mod to make a correction when you spot a mistake.

 

[fahad203]

Lets see how the leafs response to the hit by Bennett

I don't expect them to drop the gloves but some targetted hitting would be nice

Watching the Canes play last night was something else. Fast with a tremendous hit, Hischer got absolutely gutted by Kotkanemi
These are not players you would expect to hit but they bought into a system

Rod is making the most of his team even with injuries.

Lets see who stands up or shows up for leafs