Post-Game Talk: Leafs sweep California

[Clark4Ever]

That series lose to the Habs really divided the fan base.

Unfortunately...but I don't see why it has to be such a polarizing issue.

I am somewhere in the middle. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this team continue to develop chemistry and compile a surprisingly impressive record thus far, but I am also grounded enough to understand that the real test of the maturity of this team will come in the post season.

 

[glue]

I think leaf fans should take a similar stance to how the team currently views things…1 game at a time. As fans we should absolutely be happy about a great month of November, looking forward to the Avs now. Nothing more nothing less.

 

[LaPlante94]

Right away you show signs you believed all the anti-Leafs crap spewed around though. Lots of money in the clickbait market.

The North division was never a bad division. It never added up statistically and is being even more disproven this year. If anything, the math showed just how balanced all four divisions were (and if played 5 years ago, the North really would have been a weak division). If there even was a weak division, it was out west but even then I'm not playing games there as any team that made it to the playoffs had a chance at winning provided they got good goaltending (which has never been a more proven reason for success in the playoffs yet the hardest thing to predict).

The key, as always, is to make it to the show every year in the best position possible to have a chance at the cup.....and the Leafs are one of the select teams set up to do just that.

We live in great times.

Disproven how? 4 of the teams from that North division are in the bottom 15 of the NHL and 3 of those 4 are in the bottom 4. Just leaves us, Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary sucked last year which is why they made a coaching change and you can make an argument that the Pacific Division is the worst in the league right now.

You're right, the key is to make the playoffs and put your team in the best position possible to have a chance at a cup. Do you not think we were in the best position possible the last 2 seasons and we still lost? How much better could it have gotten last season? So I don't know why you're going on about anti-Leafs and clickbait and all that when it is true when people say regular season success doesn't mean much anymore if we can't make it out of the 1st round. If we're gonna be ok with that mentality then at least win the Presidents Trophy so we can at least acknowledge that we won something.

 

[justashadowof]

I loved Simmonds' muted reaction to his very nice yet meaningless goal.

 

[Menzinger]

Funnily enough this is the best the team has played since.the rebuild has started and the hype around the team is still fairly muted, especially among the media.

Folks should just focus on enjoying the ride rather that fretting over what happens in a few months.

 

[Confucius]

Disproven how? 4 of the teams from that North division are in the bottom 15 of the NHL and 3 of those 4 are in the bottom 4. Just leaves us, Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary sucked last year which is why they made a coaching change and you can make an argument that the Pacific Division is the worst in the league right now.

You're right, the key is to make the playoffs and put your team in the best position possible to have a chance at a cup. Do you not think we were in the best position possible the last 2 seasons and we still lost? How much better could it have gotten last season? So I don't know why you're going on about anti-Leafs and clickbait and all that when it is true when people say regular season success doesn't mean much anymore if we can't make it out of the 1st round. If we're gonna be ok with that mentality then at least win the Presidents Trophy so we can at least acknowledge that we won something.

last year yes we should have won. The year before we finished 13th in the league and it would have been great but it would have been a fluke, much like the Habs last year.

Last year was first year we should have done much better before that we were always the underdog.

 

[glue]

Unfortunately...but I don't see why it has to be such a polarizing issue.

I am somewhere in the middle. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this team continue to develop chemistry and compile a surprisingly impressive record thus far, but I am also grounded enough to understand that the real test of the maturity of this team will come in the post season.

Bingo! It’s the extremes on both sides that drive me nuts. ‘How dare you celebrate the teams current success’ OR ‘How dare you not be extremely excited about this team’. Why is a grounded approach out of the question, it’s dumb.

 

[Gary Nylund]

?

Toronto has been outscored 10-6 (with an EN goal) in their last 3 with two games going to OT. They have been the clearly better team in a majority of the games the elimination games played and if you could isolate just one stat, that it would be save%......and if you want to try and dig deeper, it becomes clutch save metrics.

Hell, you put Vasi or Price on the Leafs last year and they probably win the cup (or close to it) Getting clutch goaltending in the playoffs (like EVERY team that wins even a round) is literally the only thing the team really needs now.

I meant elimination games as in elimination for both sides, like when the series comes down to one deciding game. I'd say game 7's but against CLB it was of course game 5 so I apologize for the confusion.

I'm pretty sure that in the last 3 series deciding games, we've been outscored 11-2. You can talk all you want about goaltending and empty net goals and whatever else but the bottom line is, when you score 2 goals in 3 games, more often than not your going 0-3 and there is definitely lots more that went wrong besides the goaltending. And again, I watched all those games and I don't care what fancy stats might tell you, we did NOT play well in those games, in fact we played some of our worst hockey in those games. Why we come out so flat in those games is a mystery to me but that's what's happened.

 

[Confucius]

Bingo! It’s the extremes on both sides that drive me nuts. ‘How dare you celebrate the teams current success’ OR ‘How dare you not be extremely excited about this team’. Why is a grounded approach out of the question, it’s dumb.

It's a ride, I prefer rollercoaster but I realize some prefer Merry-go-round.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Funnily enough this is the best the team has played since.the rebuild has started and the hype around the team is still fairly muted, especially among the media.

Folks should just focus on enjoying the ride rather that fretting over what happens in a few months.

I'm enjoying the ride and I agree the team's been playing amazing but it's only natural to look ahead to the playoffs. I mean come on, it's the 5th year in a row we're seeing this movie - team having a strong regular season. Considering the way the last 4 ended, I don't understand how anyone can NOT think at least a little bit about the playoffs.

On another note, I was listening to Overdrive for a bit today and it was mentioned how cool it was that Kerfoot passed it to Willie for the empty netter. That was an excellent point IMO, agree 100% and good for Kerfoot. He's always the first guy mentioned when we talk about someone going out the door when we need cap space, at this point he may well be the most under appreciated guy on our team.

 

[freshwind]

On another note, I was listening to Overdrive for a bit today and it was mentioned how cool it was that Kerfoot passed it to Willie for the empty netter. That was an excellent point IMO, agree 100% and good for Kerfoot..

i think too, if you look at a replay, once he moved the puck over he started to peel away a bit so he couldn't get a pass back ....

 

[LaPlante94]

last year yes we should have won. The year before we finished 13th in the league and it would have been great but it would have been a fluke, much like the Habs last year.

Last year was first year we should have done much better before that we were always the underdog.

That's fair about Columbus series, but a lot of people on these boards said that Columbus was an awful team and that their analytics proved it so that's why I threw that series in there as an example of how we were setup in a good position to succeed.

 

[Gary Nylund]

i think too, if you look at a replay, once he moved the puck over he started to peel away a bit so he couldn't get a pass back ....

Wow, that's awesome. I've always liked Kerfoot but I like him even more now!

 

[Confucius]

That's fair about Columbus series, but a lot of people on these boards said that Columbus was an awful team and that their analytics proved it so that's why I threw that series in there as an example of how we were setup in a good position to succeed.

That was a coin flip series and we lost. I thought we were talking about winning it all. Still when you add up all the game 7's etc over the last 5 years they are a small sample size, aren't they? A handful of games. On any day any team can beat any team in the NHL. That is why I like to judge over a full season and playoffs are gravy, hope for the best.

 

[m1ker]

I had a gut feeling the leafs would place first place and suck me right back into believing we can win a round in the playoffs. I will not be disappointed this year because I will not set expectations.

 

[napoleon in rags]

 

[ShaneFalco]

Ah so you're another one who cares what others you don't know think about you.

What do I think? I think if people want to enjoy games, more power to them. I think if they want to believe things are looking good, more power to them. What skin is it off my back? I think hockey is grown men chasing a frozen piece of rubber that serves as a distraction from a world that often sucks and that if you take it so seriously it makes you miserable (or miserable to be around) that you probably lack that thing you call "perspective ". I've buried a wife, a niece, a nephew etc. Hockey is hockey, scarcely important in the grand scheme and for many, their time to turn off the junk around them and just enjoy.

Hey man I mean no disrespect and I'm sorry for your losses. In the end you're right, it's just a game people argue about

 

[ShaneFalco]

That series lose to the Habs really divided the fan base.

Yup for sure

 

[Jojalu]

I just watched the Avs ragdoll the Preds, they are playing excellent hockey, they're disciplined, they hit, they fight, they play defense, and they score goals. Sure McKinnon is out, but you'd hardly notice.

This Avs team is in a whole different stratosphere than the teams the Leafs have played in the last 2 weeks.

Sure the Leafs controlled most of last night's game, but they had a substantial number of breakdowns against a team that was unable to capitalize, the Avs will take their lunch money everytime they get sloppy or lazy.

They hit? They are behind the Leafs in hits.

They are insanely good though. Mack might be back Wed, but Kadri and Makar have been spectacular since he has been out

 

[Zybalto]

I meant elimination games as in elimination for both sides, like when the series comes down to one deciding game. I'd say game 7's but against CLB it was of course game 5 so I apologize for the confusion.

I'm pretty sure that in the last 3 series deciding games, we've been outscored 11-2. You can talk all you want about goaltending and empty net goals and whatever else but the bottom line is, when you score 2 goals in 3 games, more often than not your going 0-3 and there is definitely lots more that went wrong besides the goaltending. And again, I watched all those games and I don't care what fancy stats might tell you, we did NOT play well in those games, in fact we played some of our worst hockey in those games. Why we come out so flat in those games is a mystery to me but that's what's happened.

You may have a point in those games (although those games have also all been marred by insane softies given up by our goalkeeping) but it was still at least debatable on who had the better chances at the end of the game that Toronto usually had more shots in but NEVER who had the better goalie. Thats the only point I wanted to get across and every single statistic, fancy or not, backs me up here.

2-0, 1-0, 1-0

Theres Tampa's last 3 series deciding games to win the cup last year. The Leafs would like just one of those games this year. Just one.

 

[Confucius]

They hit? They are behind the Leafs in hits.

They are insanely good though. Mack might be back Wed, but Kadri and Makar have been spectacular since he has been out

Guys need opportunity, Kadri was a very good player for us he just lost his mind every now and then. I think he got an 8 game suspension already.

 

[Gary Nylund]

You may have a point in those games (although those games have also all been marred by insane softies given up by our goalkeeping) but it was still at least debatable on who had the better chances at the end of the game that Toronto usually had more shots in but NEVER who had the better goalie. Thats the only point I wanted to get across and every single statistic, fancy or not, backs me up here.

2-0, 1-0, 1-0

Theres Tampa's last 3 series deciding games to win the cup last year. The Leafs would like just one of those games this year. Just one.

I get what you're saying but at the same time, TB scored 4 goals in those 3 games and while sure that doesn't sound like much, it's still twice as many as we managed in 3 games.

SV% doesn't tell the whole story but as single stats go, it's a pretty good one and it tells me that our goaltending the last two playoffs has been pretty good. The other teams goaltending was better? OK that's fair but there's more to a team than goaltending and sometimes the offence needs to do better and that's where the stats don't tell the whole story. The CLB series is particular was full of scoring chances blundered away by our super star forwards.

Even you want to pin the losses on our goalie, what does it really matter? You win and lose as a team and our team in the playoffs just hasn't been good enough. Maybe this spring things will be different, we'll see. But if we do lose again and this time our goalies play great, I'm sure we'll find another scapegoat/excuse, we've gotten quite good at that!

 

[kb]

Unfortunately...but I don't see why it has to be such a polarizing issue.

I am somewhere in the middle. I am thoroughly enjoying watching this team continue to develop chemistry and compile a surprisingly impressive record thus far, but I am also grounded enough to understand that the real test of the maturity of this team will come in the post season.

No issues with this. I will concern myself with how they do in the playoffs when they get there. Not before. Because.....what can anyone do about it now besides that?

I do think that once they break the glass ceiling and win that first round, no telling how far they could go.

 

[Clark4Ever]

No issues with this. I will concern myself with how they do in the playoffs when they get there. Not before. Because.....what can anyone do about it now besides that?

I do think that once they break the glass ceiling and win that first round, no telling how far they could go.

Agreed. IF this core can ever get over that mental hurdle of the first round, it could very well catapult them straight to the Stanley Cup finals.

 

[kb]

Agreed. IF this core can ever get over that mental hurdle of the first round, it could very well catapult them straight to the Stanley Cup finals.

It's not an if, it's a when.