Post-Game Talk: Leafs win 4-3 in OT

[Pinkcat]

That's the difference between one player playing for a new contract, and another player that has already secured a HUGE new contract with term.

All NHL contracts should be switched to a performance based payment system. If a player takes too many games off, so does the amount of money they make.

JMHO.

Either that or don't make them guaranteed similar to the NFL.

 

[ULF_55]

Also how he played McMann’s second goal was bad

Shades of Tavares goal in Washington. Except Tavares isn't fast.

 

[Evilhomer]

Many posters wanted a change of coaching, for years.
Many posts about being ready to start a game, being ready to play to the final whistle, refusal to switch things up for more than a couple shifts, ... and on and one.

I bet if one had created a Poll about whether they wanted Keefe gone, it would have been overwhelmingly in favor bringing in a new head coach, rather than just changing up special situation coaches.

Keefe might have been a favorite of some, but my guess that was a small portion of the hard core fanbase.

He should have been let go after the Montreal series. The years after that were simply wasted.

 

[ULF_55]

I'm not a Skinner fan but that was a perfect hard wrister off the far post and in. That probably goes in on anyone.

That was the type of goal that goes in or rebounds to Tavares.

You hear that all the time, "he wasn't trying to score, he was looking to rebound the puck to namethatplayer."

On some of the shots looks like a lot of space there.

Did anyone ask Little m about his intention?

 

[LeafSteel]

Can Leafs management finally acknowledge that Marner and Matthews are the best versions of themselves when they are apart?

Would love to see this version of Marner in the playoffs, but I fear management will just keep doing what they always do, keeping M&M together, where they are twice as easy to shut down.

 

[Stephen]

Shades of Tavares goal in Washington. Except Tavares isn't fast.

Both Leafs OT goals came on the counter rush as opposed to sleepily dominating and then getting scored on the counter rush as they are prone to. The common factor here is to attack the net with speed and numbers and put the damn thing in with urgency.

 

[ULF_55]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857985754397397341

Robertson and Nylander combined for 20 shots towards the net, only 7 hit target.

 

[ACC1224]

Either that or don't make them guaranteed similar to the NFL.

Never happen.

 

[Gary Nylund]

He should have been let go after the Montreal series. The years after that were simply wasted.

Keefe has his flaws but most of the blame for those wasted years is on the players. At least I'm pretty sure Keefe didn't tell them to go out there and play like shit in all those game 7's where we got dominated.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

Based on?

The guy is one of the league's most entitled and arrogant players. Furthermore, he is an extremely dirty player and a massive whiner.

What makes him unlikeable ?

Entitled, arrogant, and a massive whiner. Very dirty as well, but he gets away with it because he is the poster boy.

 

[HellasLEAF]

Are those that were predicting doom and gloom a few weeks back, calling for Berube, the system, this player, that player, generally miserable.. just wondering if they've been talked off a ledge yet? The team is still finding its legs and they are 2 points from top of Conference.. Ho Hum.

It's a good thing there are calm experienced fans around Leafs Nation who could see the underlying positives despite the early mixed results GLG.

 

[Ports]

Playing hockey in an Oilers jersey !!!

I get it but for some reason they’re not near my top hated opponents list. Probably because we dont play them that often. I wanted to see them beat the Panthers in the finals. Top of my list are the Bruins, Senators, Panthers, Habs, Canucks, Lightening, and Islanders.

 

[Evilhomer]

Keefe has his flaws but most of the blame for those wasted years is on the players. At least I'm pretty sure Keefe didn't tell them to go out there and play like shit in all those game 7's where we got dominated.

It's not about that. It was the systems he had them playing. You can see that he is doing it again with jersey. Too much free-floating, cross-ice play. Like taking the longest route from A to B instead of just going in a straight line.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Are those that were predicting doom and gloom a few weeks back, calling for Berube, the system, this player, that player, generally miserable.. just wondering if they've been talked off a ledge yet? The team is still finding its legs and they are 2 points from top of Conference.. Ho Hum.

It's a good thing there are calm experienced fans around Leafs Nation who could see the underlying positives despite the early mixed results GLG.

What were positives you saw in the game where we got crushed by Ottawa?

Don't get too up when we play well, don't get too down when we play poorly and most of all, don't get too cocky would be my advice. Also, PTS% is the only sensible way to look at the standings. As of right now and we are 5th in the East and 10th overall.

The big question is - what will this team do in the playoffs? There are some encouraging signs but there have been some encouraging signs pretty much every year with this core so if there's one thing all Leaf fans should know by now, it's that what happens in November means absolutely nothing in April.

It's not about that. It was the systems he had them playing. You can see that he is doing it again with jersey. Too much free-floating, cross-ice play. Like taking the longest route from A to B instead of just going in a straight line.

When the team plays up and down through 6 games and then plays like shit game 7, of course it's "about that".

 

[Voodoo Child]

Almost at the quarter mark, who have you guys got?

MVP (F): It has to be Mitch. Willy has the goals, but Mitch has the points, the overall play and I feel like he's singlehandedly won us a few more games than Willy has so far. JT has also been excellent. You still want him to carry through the playoffs and not demand an obscene raise before you sign him but he's been excellent, T-7th in league scoring.

MVP (D): OEL, such a smart, positionally sound and surprisingly physical presence back there. Mo also looks good in a less noticeable role but we've needed an OEL since forever.

MVP (Overall): Stoli has it by a nose over Mitch, makes big athletic saves, plays the puck well, his positioning is sound and he hasn't had a bad game.

Most Improved: Gotta be Knies, wanted to give it to McMann or even Timmins but Knies looks like a sustainable 1st line power forward out there, that snipe off that steal with the McDavid assist was textbook decision making. I think he's a 30-40-70 guy or maybe more at peak and should have been offered a 3x5.5 bridge in the summer, keeps up they're gonna have to give him 8x7.

Needs to bring it: Matthews but if he's been injured I understand. Nicky Bobby is electric every 3-4 games and meh in between, don't make trade demands. Woll has been solid but not amazing, and it's a long season and I'm sure Stoli will hit a lull once or twice.

As expected they'll make the playoffs easily, but what happens once they get there? If they started today they'd be playing the Caps, I think. Let's get some fresh hate in here instead of Tampa or Boston again.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Do you know why I really want the Leafs to win the Cup? Not for me, not for the fans, nor the players, nor the organization.

It's so I can spam/troll the f*** out of the Polls section. Haha

 

[Gary Nylund]

Almost at the quarter mark, who have you guys got?

MVP (F): It has to be Mitch. Willy has the goals, but Mitch has the points, the overall play and I feel like he's singlehandedly won us a few more games than Willy has so far. JT has also been excellent. You still want him to carry through the playoffs and not demand an obscene raise before you sign him but he's been excellent, T-7th in league scoring.

MVP (D): OEL, such a smart, positionally sound and surprisingly physical presence back there. Mo also looks good in a less noticeable role but we've needed an OEL since forever.

MVP (Overall): Stoli has it by a nose over Mitch, makes big athletic saves, plays the puck well, his positioning is sound and he hasn't had a bad game.

Most Improved: Gotta be Knies, wanted to give it to McMann or even Timmins but Knies looks like a sustainable 1st line power forward out there, that snipe off that steal with the McDavid assist was textbook decision making. I think he's a 30-40-70 guy or maybe more at peak and should have been offered a 3x5.5 bridge in the summer, keeps up they're gonna have to give him 8x7.

Needs to bring it: Matthews but if he's been injured I understand. Nicky Bobby is electric every 3-4 games and meh in between, don't make trade demands. Woll has been solid but not amazing, and it's a long season and I'm sure Stoli will hit a lull once or twice.

As expected they'll make the playoffs easily, but what happens once they get there? If they started today they'd be playing the Caps, I think. Let's get some fresh hate in here instead of Tampa or Boston again.

If the playoffs started today, we'd play TB.

Tanev's my MVP on D. Without thinking about it too hard, I think I agree with the rest.

 

[therealkoho]

Not sure how no one is mentioning the fact that McDavid absolutely launched Tavares’ stick up the ice and caused the tying goal. That’s an obvious penalty.

Cuthbert and Simpson were completely oblivious to it, which is par for the course for those two mouth breathers.

I mentioned it as soon as it happened, the reason was because many years ago in a playoff game, I was taking an Ozone FO and the opposing centre dropped his stick which impeded me from getting the puck. I swept his stick away and got the puck over to the F3. It was whistled immediately. I barked at the official and he then explained the rule to me.

As far as that play last night, I thought it was a slash at first and on replay saw it was interference. Either way the Oilers got away with one.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Do you know why I really want the Leafs to win the Cup? Not for me, not for the fans, nor the players, nor the organization.

It's so I can spam/troll the f*** out of the Polls section. Haha

Last year the Oilers had to go through LA, Vancouver and Dallas...wow, one really good team, scary!

Florida had to go through Tampa, Boston and the Rangers.

The Leafs, to even get to the finals, will need to go through any three of Tampa, Boston, Florida, The Rangers or Carolina. Imagine the Leafs getting to draw LA in the first round? At the very least if some squeaker like Detroit, Washington or Ottawa knocks Boston off it makes it easier.

We do not do cupcake matchups in the East.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Last year the Oilers had to go through LA, Vancouver and Dallas...wow, one really good team, scary!

Florida had to go through Tampa, Boston and the Rangers.

The Leafs, to even get to the finals, will need to go through any three of Tampa, Boston, Florida, The Rangers or Carolina. Imagine the Leafs getting to draw LA in the first round? At the very least if some squeaker like Detroit. Washington or Ottawa knocks Boston off it makes it easier.

We do not do cupcake matchups in the East.

Boston and TB were nothing special last season. Come to think of it, they're nothing special this season either.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Boston and TB were nothing special last season. Come to think of it, they're nothing special this season either.

Agreed somewhat, but Boston is still a strong systems team with elite goaltending, and Tampa had the experience of two Cups and still has Kucherov, Hedman and Vasi. When they went to the final four in 2022 they had LA and Calgary before getting swatted in 4 by Colorado.

Boston is/was way better than LA and Tampa is/was objectively better than Vancouver. The Rags and Dallas are about a wash.

 

[Aashir]

Maybe I’m going to sound like a Debby downer, but I didn’t like how little we generated as a team 5 on 5

1 nice goal from a great forecheck, love that

1 goal from a braindead pass by Bouchard

1 goal from nice speed by mcmann, but wtf was skinner doing there

I know it was a defensive game and oilers got like 4 shots in the minute before they scored the tying goal, but I’d prefer if the team would create more. We did well on the pp for a game we didn’t score in, but idk maybe I’m just being a party pooper, but it didn’t seem like we created much

I don’t wanna end this off negatively, so I’ll credit the defence, we played well, McDrai had their points (they will get those), but we did well in stoping them and the rest of their team for the most part.

Do you know why I really want the Leafs to win the Cup? Not for me, not for the fans, nor the players, nor the organization.

It's so I can spam/troll the f*** out of the Polls section. Haha

I’m getting banned when/if we win the cup

Mcdavid vs Matthews ? No diff
Marner vs Any winger not named kucherov? Don’t even mention it

I’m going on a revenge tour for all Canadian teams to hate us, and I’m gonna enjoy it. I will be so annoying, especially to any team without cups or none in recent history, that’ll I’ll be the biggest blocked user on the site.

Just need it to happen now…

 

[therealkoho]

Do they still announce the 3.stars?

Yes, they also post them on SN on the game wrap up page.

My 3

Mitch Marner. He must have skated 10 miles tonight, he hit a couple of people, he broke up a bunch scoring chances and he was KingKong on the kills and the main man on the PP, and oh yeah potted the winner.

Bobby McRocketmann. He was flying last night, a few times I thought he and Knies had switched sweaters. That second goal was a great read, he knew Eckholm was out of gas and just flew by him. He never slowed down and because of that Skinner didn't have a chance.

Connor Brown just working hard all night, using his speed he was as dangerous a PKer as the Leafs have seen all season. From the Oiler games I've watched this year Brown has been able to break away at least once a game. He's a great weapon, he could solve our 3rd line and be a 24k partner for Mitch on PK1. Ahh one can dream.

Fire Jen, I'm sorry if that doesn't fit with the program. I am so tired of listening to her irresponsible takes, her erroneous takes and just the general feel that her off the cuff remarks are just flat out tinged with stupid. While they're at it permanently move Kelly out west along with Luke. They should keep Biz, but do him as a remote on a screen(Skype?) kind of like a modern day Max Headroom.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Weird post considering that he's the one that brought him in.

Yet he didn't claim him off of waivers at the start of last season....so maybe he thought it was not going to happen for McMann. He sure could use him in Pittsburgh now.

 

[3blizzard4]

3 stars:
Marner/Stolarz
Marner/Stolarz
Marner/Stolarz

I think you gotta include Skinner and the next Bobby Orr in there.