Post-Game Talk: Leafs win 3-0!!

[Winreims]

I love the sens complaining about icing an AHL team. How long have we been doing this for?

HAHA for far too long.

 

[TMLeafer]

Phil Kessel
‏@PKessel81
That @Bozie42 is a player

James van Riemsdyk ‏@JVReemer21
@PKessel81 @bozie42 best feet in the NHL

 

[Leafsdude7]

What game were you watching? The first 40 minutes, both teams looked slow on the ice including Ottawa!

But Ottawa was getting more done and getting much better chances. They adapted and played to the style of the game better than the Leafs did.

You don't need to be moving fast to play a good game, especially in a boring defensive/grinding game like tonight. The Sens were grinding much better than the Leafs tonight, and that made it so that they were outplaying us in most every other aspect of the game.

And these players you mention (Kostka, Fraser, Frattin, Holzer) - they were (and some still say are) AHL players, but guess what - they found a way to get it done which is what Ottawa's AHLers did not tonight. We are without our #1 goaltender, arguably two of our best forwards, and two of our better defensemen. We have Dion Phaneuf playing with Mike Kostka.

Good teams find ways to get it done which we've done through 15 games. Injuries happen, look at our team.

None of this opposes my viewpoint. We got the win, and it's nice that we did even though we didn't play well, but that doesn't change the simple fact that we didn't play well, and that they can play much better, even with the guys we have injured out of the lineup.

Just because we won doesn't mean we can't or even shouldn't criticize the performance, especially when they played poorly for most of the game.

In the end, though, IMO, if I had just posted in my first post that I thought we underformed and could play better and that Ottawa outplayed us for the first 40 minutes, instead of defending Healy's statements in the post game, then no one would have batted an eye at my post except maybe to agree.

 

[Grandrift145]

Thought Phaneuf played absolutely spectacular at all ends of the ice tonight. One of the real rocks on the team tonight.

i saw that too

he was real good

the whole defensive core was good

 

[getyourselfsomerest]

Lupul
Gardiner
Gunnarson
Fratin
Reimer
am I missing anybody, ooops you meant Ottawa was decimated....

Except we still have our top point scorers and our highest paid players. Missing Spezza, Karlsson, and Michalek is worse than missing Lupul, Gunnarsson, and Frattin.

Fact is, the Leafs got outplayed, but found a way to win. Last year, they usually didn't find a way to win or win games they had no business winning. But still, they have to be better. Scrivens bailed them out about 5 times in the first two periods, and HAD to because of defensive breakdowns. It was the same way against both games vs. the Canes and guess what? They're a better team, and were able to capitalize. 21st PK, 23rd PP, outshot by Binghamton, almost no sustained pressure, they NEED to be better.

 

[getyourselfsomerest]

Orr playing that many minutes on Kadri's line was just painful. Something tells me Kadri is looking for deer antlers asap to give to Frattin. Brutal game to watch. 2 points is nice though.

Exactly. This drives me nuts. I don't mind playing Orr...but NOT with your top scorer. And don't yell at him because he can't find the crappy linemates you put him with. Funny thing is that as soon as Carlyle was forced to put a "makeshift" line by replacing Orr with Bozak on the Kadri line, they had sustained offensive pressure and kept it until Bozak score.

 

[Winreims]

But Ottawa was getting more done and getting much better chances. They adapted and played to the style of the game better than the Leafs did.

You don't need to be moving fast to be good.



None of this opposes my viewpoint. We got the win, and it's nice that we did even though we didn't play well, but that doesn't change the simple fact that we didn't play well, and that they can play much better, even with the guys we have injured out of the lineup.

Just because we won doesn't mean we can't or even shouldn't criticize the performance, especially when they played poorly for most of the game.

In the end, though, IMO, if I had just posted in my first post that I thought we underformed and could play better and that Ottawa outplayed us for the first 40 minutes, instead of defending Healy's statements in the post game, then no one would have batted an eye at my post except maybe to agree.

I never said you needed to move fast to be good, I was just stating that Ottawa seemed like they were skating in quicksand for the first two, and I stand by that opinion. They didn't look amazing and in no way were they sooo much better than us.

You say we didn't play well, I say we played well enough to win. I say we killed our numerous penalties and scored when we needed too. We didn't play GREAT or PERFECT, but well enough to get the win. And in NO way did Ottawa outplay us like I've said. They outworked us perhaps, but to outplay a team you have to score goals and/or win the game IMO. They did neither of those.

 

[Drakkor]

We each know where the other is coming from, you are just ahead of the curve

If you want to speed up the curve. Sleep with the friend she *****es about the most. . Worked for me lol.

In all seriousness though we were long done before then and they knew it. Just the last nail needed to be hammered in to end it.

 

[The Reaper]

The Sens must be embarrassed that they lost to our back up goalie who is also a Rookie playing in his first full NHL season oh man i gained some confidence for Scrivys

 

[Eb]

Phil Kessel
‏@PKessel81
That @Bozie42 is a player

James van Riemsdyk ‏@JVReemer21
@PKessel81 @bozie42 best feet in the NHL

Love this.

 

[Jerkini]

James van Riemsdyk ‏@JVReemer21
@PKessel81 @bozie42 best feet in the NHL

JVR has had some solid chirps on Twitter.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Except we still have our top point scorers and our highest paid players. Missing Spezza, Karlsson, and Michalek is worse than missing Lupul, Gunnarsson, and Frattin.

Lupul would be up there in points on our team if he were playing. And just because they're our highest paid players, it doesn't mean they're our best. Kadri's paid less than Grabo, but many would argue he's been the better of the two.

I do agree that the Sens injury situation is worse than ours, but it's not nearly as one sided as you're trying to make it out to be.

Also, you're forgetting Reimer on our injury list, as well as Gardiner (though not really an injury, more "recovering"). Sens are also missing Cowen too.

 

[Winreims]

Except we still have our top point scorers and our highest paid players. Missing Spezza, Karlsson, and Michalek is worse than missing Lupul, Gunnarsson, and Frattin.

And they have their goaltender who is one of the best in the NHL this year. We have our backup because our #1 is injured. We can play the injury game all day long, fact is that BOTH teams have numerous injuries to key parts of their teams. We have better depth it would seem. Hell half our team is Marlies this season and we're 9-6.

 

[CBinTokyo]

If you want to speed up the curve. Sleep with the friend she *****es about the most. . Worked for me lol.

In all seriousness though we were long done before then and they knew it. Just the last nail needed to be hammered in to end it.

In my case I will continue to play the game. There is still a lot of good left, and I have a 4.5 year old son who needs me daily.

And I'll still score the occasional empty netter (wahtever that means)

 

[colchar]

But Ottawa was getting more done and getting much better chances. They adapted and played to the style of the game better than the Leafs did.

You don't need to be moving fast to play a good game, especially in a boring defensive/grinding game like tonight. The Sens were grinding much better than the Leafs tonight, and that made it so that they were outplaying us in most every other aspect of the game.

Who cares? The Leafs won, end of story.

Just because we won doesn't mean we can't or even shouldn't criticize the performance, especially when they played poorly for most of the game.

It is points in the win column. I don't care how they get those, so long as they get them. There is no stats column for quality of performance in a win so let's just take it and move on.

 

[Leafsdude7]

I never said you needed to move fast to be good, I was just stating that Ottawa seemed like they were skating in quicksand for the first two and I stand by that opinion.

Fair enough. I agree with that opinion. Leafs were also skating in quicksand for most of the first two.

They didn't look amazing and in no way were they sooo much better than us.

I think, considering the difference in talent level between the teams, the fact that they did play better than us for the first two periods does make it as such that they were "sooo much better than us". It was a game we should have dominated if we played at all well. Instead, Ottawa controlled much of the action and we were on our heals for most of the first two.

You say we didn't play well, I say we played well enough to win.

I've said both. Repeatedly.

I say we killed our numerous penalties and scored when we needed too. We didn't play GREAT or PERFECT, but well enough to get the win. And in NO way did Ottawa outplay us like I've said. They outworked us perhaps, but to outplay a team you have to score goals and/or win the game IMO. They did neither of those.

Outwork = outplay. They're synonyms in this context.

 

[Cool Beans Man]

Lupul would be up there in points on our team if he were playing. And just because they're our highest paid players, it doesn't mean they're our best. Kadri's paid less than Grabo, but many would argue he's been the better of the two.

I do agree that the Sens injury situation is worse than ours, but it's not nearly as one sided as you're trying to make it out to be.

Also, you're forgetting Reimer on our injury list, as well as Gardiner (though not really an injury, more "recovering"). Sens are also missing Cowen too.

There's no argument to be made. He absolutely has been, by a mile.

 

[Grandrift145]

I love how some of the fans are being so picky

We're not the dynasty Leaf team that was just celebrated today or the dynasty Oilers....take every win you can get.

Leafs used to outshoot teams a ton under Ron Wilson's system and almost all of the shots were perimeter shots and then Wilson would say "Hot goalie," "Snakebitten," etc etc.

I'll take the 2 points. You guys can whine about being outshot though.

soo true

 

[Snow Dog]

The Leafs are 5th in the League in +/-.What decade is this.

 

[Suntouchable13]

The Leafs are 5th in the League in +/-.What decade is this.

And they have 2 goalies in the top 10 for save %.

 

[Leafsdude7]

Who cares? The Leafs won, end of story.

It is points in the win column. I don't care how they get those, so long as they get them. There is no stats column for quality of performance in a win so let's just take it and move on.

Meh. I'd perfer to think like a coach. If you just accept the result, instead of the play in the game, then you're going to keep seeing the same play, and that's going to almost certain get worse results.

We played a bad game, and if we play like that against better/deeper/healthier teams than Ottawa was tonight, we're almost always going to lose.

In the end, the whole point is we can and need to play better than we did tonight, or else we're looking at another April and May with just baseball to watch. So, yes, I care how we get our wins, and just like I'll praise the team when they lose if they play a really good game, I'm going to criticize them when they win after playing a stinker of a game.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

There's no argument to be made. He absolutely has been, by a mile.

Yeah, I should have said he has been, but whatever I was trying to be impartial or something. I don't know. But yeah, Kadri has been the better of the two.

 

[p.l.f.]

i havent seen leafs play team defense like this since pat burns
great to see the players buying into it

 

[Winreims]

Outwork = outplay. They're synonyms in this context.

To outplay a team means to surpass or "better" that said team. Ottawa did not They lost 3-0

You can outwork a team all you like (which they did as I've said numerous times), but this is the NHL. Outworking a team doesn't get you the win, the Leafs know all about that.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Meh. I'd perfer to think like a coach. If you just accept the result, instead of the play in the game, then you're going to keep seeing the same play, and that's going to almost certain get worse results.

We played a bad game, and if we play like that against better/deeper/healthier teams than Ottawa was tonight, we're almost always going to lose.

In the end, the whole point is we can and need to play better than we did tonight, or else we're looking at another April and May with just baseball to watch.

Well, this team showed that they can play better against Montreal and Philly. I am not too worried about their game in the past 2. It's going to be up and down.