Post-Game Talk: Leafs Shut Out Kings

[Jojalu]

Not sure I get the trepidation about starting Hildeby in this back-to-back. He's a 22-year-old overager and the assignment is a temporary backup gig as our #4 against a bottom feeder in the other conference on the road. Tell him to go out and have fun with it. Is the risk really that great that this could ruin him?

If getting shelled in one game ruins anyone, I would argue they are not cut out for this.

People have bad games and get shelled from Atom all the way up to the NHL.

If the Leafs decided he was the #1 guy this year and threw him to the wolves, that would be different. 1-3 spot starts would worry me if he said he lost confidence

 

[DarkKnight]

Benoit, beauty…

https://x.com/tictactomar/status/1742406733446668569?s=61&t=VWyreO8esema9G1_8yNyVA

 

[Auston Marlander]

Stay away from the pigsty if you don't want to stink.

A convincing win to help ease worried minds. A loss last night would have put them under .500. Why is it every time I think Keefe is gonna get fired they win?

For Keefe's sake he better hope they keep winning too.

An 18-17 record is nothing of which to be proud. With a record like that they might squeak into the playoffs. Then get eliminated in the first round again.

The very definition of a mediocre team.

A blowout win is always the best way to turn momentum around. Hopefully this game marks the end of that skid they were in. Then again they probably shouldn't have put themselves into a situation where they needed a big win like this anyway.

You won't need a shower if you don't roll in the muck to begin with.

When you have to change their record to prove you point you don't have a very good point. And before you say anything, your opinion on an OTL means nothing. The stats are the stats, and losing in reg is much worse than losing 3v3.

 

[Nineteen67]

Personally I’d like to see Domi in the top six along slide Matthews and Marner

or would it be even better if he was on another team?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Pleasant news to wake up to today

 

[TMLeafer]

Was only able to catch the first period. Looks like the boys put in a solid and complete effort and got some reliability in net from Jones. Bert seemed to be doing good things.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'm happy they played a great game but I'm pissed they've played like crap in so many games this season when they're obviously capable of so much more. Whatever, no point in getting to high after a win or too low after a loss, hopefully they'll be interested in competing when the playoffs start, we'll see.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Great games but Benoit should be careful when and where he picks his fights, did not need it there.... lost momentum. Could have easily went 2-1 and then who knows what happens.

Benoit didn't pick any fight, he simply obliged when asked. It was fine.

Could've, would've....... Anything to complain sometimes I suppose.

 

[robertmac43]

One of, if not the best game of the year. Start to finish we were solid.

Great start to the road trip. Hopefully we don't put up a dud tonight against the Ducks.

 

[LeafsGuy16]

Switch marner and nylander on the zone entry Willy and matty are the best at attaccing they should be carrying it in I know it will probably piss marner off but that’ll save us 30 second

I’ve been thinking this for a while. I don’t have the stats but by eye test Willy looks to be one of the best in the world at zone entry.

 

[therealkoho]

I don't think Craig Simpson nor Gord Miller know what "Schmeagle" actually means. I've heard both of them use it this year more than once, unless it's some kind of inside joke. An inside joke that has grade 8 written all over it!

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Great result .. how was game? Was Jones solid in da SO? Willy did his thing? Who won da fight?

 

[Evilhomer]

I'm happy they played a great game but I'm pissed they've played like crap in so many games this season when they're obviously capable of so much more. Whatever, no point in getting to high after a win or too low after a loss, hopefully they'll be interested in competing when the playoffs start, we'll see.

Definitely have given away too many points. The good news is that there is a lot of time to make up those points. Sweep the next 4 games and they will be right back on Boston's tail.

 

[Drytoast]

I don't think we've won a fight all season. But at least they are trying!

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Great look to the team except these terrible jerseys. It looked right from the start that the team was dialled in and putting in a solid effort for 60 minutes was encouraging to see. Nice to see Bertuzzi get a couple of points. Great to see a goalie making routine saves. PP has not looked impressive lately otherwise great game.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I am happy with the shutout, did not watch the game. I am just shocked at what Martin Jones is doing. At the same time, I don’t know how NHL players can not figure him out. Like what the hell? This is Martin Jones, he has not had a season with a save % above 90 in 6 years. Puzzling, but good for us.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Definitely have given away too many points. The good news is that there is a lot of time to make up those points. Sweep the next 4 games and they will be right back on Boston's tail.

Like I've said before, I don't care much about catching Boston. What I want is for this group of cupcakes to be ready to play when the playoffs start. And not just for a couple of games here and there either, winning the cup is a two month grind where you can't take off as many games as we're in the habit of doing.

I am happy with the shutout, did not watch the game. I am just shocked at what Martin Jones is doing. At the same time, I don’t know how NHL players can not figure him out. Like what the hell? This is Martin Jones, he has not had a season with a save % above 90 in 6 years. Puzzling, but good for us.

He's one of the most positive stories of the year for us for sure. Goalies are voodoo, play great for years, go cold for years, play great again out of the blue, go figure.

 

[Evilhomer]

Like I've said before, I don't care much about catching Boston. What I want is for this group of cupcakes to be ready to play when the playoffs start. And not just for a couple of games here and there either, winning the cup is a two month grind where you can't take off as many games as we're in the habit of doing.

I think the benefit of playing a wild card team in the first round would be significant. But to get there, they need to take the easy points from teams like Anaheim, San Jose and the Islanders in the next 4 games.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

When you have to change their record to prove you point you don't have a very good point. And before you say anything, your opinion on an OTL means nothing. The stats are the stats, and losing in reg is much worse than losing 3v3.

How do you calculate winning percentage?

 

[therealkoho]

Benoit didn't pick any fight, he simply obliged when asked. It was fine.

Could've, would've....... Anything to complain sometimes I suppose.

Can you imagine if he turned the other cheek and just skated away? The chatter would have all kind of ways to get him out of TO and into the "A", and somewhere near a sleepy little town, down around San Antone

 

[Twine Tickler]

I'm sure some of you east coaster's wouldn't have stayed up for this one as the game would have wrapped at just after 1AM EST, so I will do my best to summarize the game in its entirety.

In short, it was easily the most complete game all season. Start to finish we played a complete 200ft game with an incredible attention to detail. The last time I can recall us playing anywhere close to this was against the Canucks or Preds in November.

The thing that separates this win from the wins above were that I actually don't think LAK played all that bad. In fact I think they played quite well. They played hard, and structured as they always do. We just were better in every aspect.

Simply put, there was a complete buy in for the entire 60 minutes.

-Gio with a huge block on the PK in the 3rd
-Marner going hard into the corners and trying to physically win puck battles
-Knies drawing 2 clear and obvious no doubt penalties in the 3rd period just by out working his man
-Bertuzzi grinding along the wall to set up 2 goals
-Jonesy steadying the ship whenever there was a hint of a breakdown
-Benoit dropping the mitts, albeit he needs to pick a better time and place in the game lol. It gave life to LAK and the entire building for that matter when we realistically could have lulled them to sleep. Nonetheless, beggers can't be choosers. I will take any sort of physicality at this point.
-Literally everyone on the ice engaging physically after Matthews hit, including Marner who may have been first man in
-Kampf was a dog all night. Clearly took the HS personally
-Whenever LAK did establish the O-Zone, we kept them to the outside and never gave them an inch

The list of positives is truly as long as it's ever been after any game all season. Not really even close IMO. I am stuggling to find 1 player who didn't have a strong effort.

This needs to be the benchmark going forward. If we can find this level of consistency in all 3 zones going forward, we can compete with any team in the NHL.

More of this please.

 

[Clark4Ever]

I passed out halfway through the game. Glad to see the boys held on for an impressive shutout on the road against a solid team.

 

[Twine Tickler]

I am happy with the shutout, did not watch the game. I am just shocked at what Martin Jones is doing. At the same time, I don’t know how NHL players can not figure him out. Like what the hell? This is Martin Jones, he has not had a season with a save % above 90 in 6 years. Puzzling, but good for us.

Jones is a tenured NHL goaltender. He is 100% still good enough to play a role as a backup on a good NHL roster.

I don't think Jones has had a start all season long where he didn't give our boys a chance at winning. He makes most of the saves he should, and a decent amount of saves that we might not deserve.

I think the game we got out of Jones last night is pretty on par with what he's given us all season long TBH. We didn't ask him to do too much, but he did make 2-3 really high end saves that Sammy has not been giving us all year long. It was the difference in walking away with a comfortable 2 points and the most complete game of the year vs. potentially going into OT and losing on a good effort.

I feel very comfortable with Jones being our backup TBH. You know he can manage a workload if need be, and again, if we play well in front of him he almost always gives us a chance. Nothing really more you can ask from a backup let alone a 3rd stringer

 

[Stephen]

That was a completely unexpected effort vs LA… and LA was playing their roid rage crybaby game all night and the Leafs stood their ground.

LA Kings, wore their tinfoil hat best to host Toronto. Dubois and Englund both dumped Matthews pretty hard into the end boards. That pissy baby Fiala threw down his man in frustration near the end of the game. Dumb caveman Englund fought Benoit for a normal hit on Lizzotte? (Who cares). Former Marlie great Trevor Moore was crying all night. Dubois took a dive on another play. Surprise surprise. Kopitar with the last generation slalom style dekes. Just a prick team. And Jones shuts them out, Nylander scored to break the deadlock, Jarnkrok got the insurance and Nylander sealed the deal with a hard fought EN.

 

[Stephen]

I am happy with the shutout, did not watch the game. I am just shocked at what Martin Jones is doing. At the same time, I don’t know how NHL players can not figure him out. Like what the hell? This is Martin Jones, he has not had a season with a save % above 90 in 6 years. Puzzling, but good for us.

Honestly he just looked like a professional goalie who was focused doing his job just like Talbot at the other end.