Post-Game Talk: Leafs win 4-3 (SO)

[ACC1224]

I don't think it matters much to Benoit's game whether he has a working thumb or not

He was great last night, one of his best games in a while

 

[leafs in five]

He was great last night, one of his best games in a while

yeah agreed, our best dman I thought

 

[garce]

My Dude,

Is Benoit injured or do players re-locate their thumbs on a nightly basis?

I was a fastball catcher, dislocated thumbs and fingers many times, broke a couple you could tell immediately the difference. I couldn’t pop them back in myself very often the way Benoit did but if there was someone around who knew what they were doing, St. John’s ambulance etc, it was just a quick snap, very little pain and good to go immediately

 

[Evilhomer]

Woll played a good game after a few iffy ones. None of the goals were his fault and he played between the posts more.

Rielly and OEL with rough games (no surprise for Rielly, but OEL may be tiring).

I didn't like our game in any of the three periods. The goals and shots on goal made it look like we played ok in the first. Utah made us look slow. They were on our defencemen quickly and we had little answer. A big part of our problem has been zone coverage, particularly from our forwards.

Mitch had quite a few head scratching giveaways, but in the end, sealed it with a pretty SO goal. At least Matthews looked better in the third but I've never seen him miss the net on so many shots and mishandle pucks.

Beat Florida on Thursday and we're tied for first again, without having played good hockey for the past month and a half.

Edit: Nevermind, Florida plays Boston tonight. Should be a win for them.

Don't be surprised if Boston beats Florida.

 

[ACC1224]

yeah agreed, our best dman I thought

Hopefully Tanev is back Thursday

 

[Macallan18]

He was great last night, one of his best games in a while

true, and the rest were pretty much garbage. what is wrong with Rielly?????

 

[notDatsyuk]

Second goal for me clearly showing what goes wrong right now...

2 player goes on the same player
Jt made gave ul and fantastic effort to backcheck AND....... you've got Nylander uninterested to be there and just let him sliding. Just give 1-2 slide to back check, passing lane to Maatta would never be there and this goal would never happened. That's exactly the type of reason i'm hard on him and it's about 1 play or 1 game, he played that way last 5 game... When his team fighting for 1st spot and where he should be a team leader...

Totally ignore the four excellent defensive plays he made and see only the one where only Woll is less to blame.

Impressive.

 

[Zybalto]

Hopefully Tanev is back Thursday

Some crazy stats from this year:

137 dmen have played 800+ 5v5 minutes this year.

The 5 dmen with the lowest ozone start % out of the 137:

1. Carlo (by a mile)
2. Murphy
3. Ferraro
4. Benoit
5. Tanev

Leafs now have 3 of the top 5 most buried dmen this year lol.

Dmen who dont score a lot of points and put in that position tend not to get favorable reviews from fans (look at what Bruins fans were saying about Carlo) but with Tanev, his stats are just too good overall.

5th fewest 5v5 ozone starts out of 137
3rd highest 5v5 goal differential out of 137
Plays against other teams top guys.

A guy you can feel missing from the lineup.

 

[notDatsyuk]

And on NHL.com game recap Willy was one of the three stars. I didn’t see the game but he must have good other than when he was being Willy.
He loves easy hockey and I don’t see that changing now which is a big reason why I’ve lowered my expectations and it feels like they’re going out in round one again.

Don't let thusk's weird obsession fool you - he was certainly one of the best players in the game.

 

[IPS]

My Dude,

Is Benoit injured or do players re-locate their thumbs on a nightly basis?

That had me shook too!

 

[ACC1224]

true, and the rest were pretty much garbage. what is wrong with Rielly?????

Yeah, he had a tough night as did many.

 

[thusk]

Totally ignore the four excellent defensive plays he made and see only the one where only Woll is less to blame.

Impressive.

- Did he made some good thing at time, yeah for sure but the number of shift off he's actually taking are phenomenal.

-How many time Phil Kessel had been bashed publicly for doing it over and over again in Toronto?
-It's the same thing we saw from Patrick Laine whatever where he played and made his actual reputation.

But nylander because leafs still winning despite, that's okay let's continu that's doesn't matter


Exemple against Colorado on 1st goal, he made a mistake on turnover ... okay he made a mistake like everyone. That goal was not a mistake, was a lack of work and at this time of season, get one of your leader working only between 2 to 10 min of the 20 hes on the ice, it's pretty alarming. It's not how leafs gonna reach 1st seed and win in playoff. Can he play hard for a complete game, that's what i'm want to see from him and didn't see for a while

I like the Nylander playing a complete 60 min game, i hate the Nylander playing 10 to 50% of game.

 

[ACC1224]

- Did he made some good thing at time, yeah for sure but the number of shift off he's actually taking are phenomenal.

-How many time Phil Kessel had been bashed publicly for doing it over and over again in Toronto?
-It's the same thing we saw from Patrick Laine whatever where he played and made his actual reputation.

But nylander because leafs still winning despite, that's okay let's continu that's doesn't matter


Exemple against Colorado on 1st goal, he made a mistake on turnover ... okay he made a mistake like everyone. That goal was not a mistake, was a lack of work and at this time of season, get one of your leader working only between 2 to 10 min of the 20 hes on the ice, it's pretty alarming. It's not how leafs gonna reach 1st seed and win in playoff. Can he play hard for a complete game, that's what i'm want to see from him and didn't see for a while

I like the Nylander playing a complete 60 min game, i hate the Nylander playing 10 to 50% of game.

Yeah he had a pretty good glide back on the one goal.
He is what he is, just be great if he showed up more consistently.

 

[Nineteen67]

Don't let thusk's weird obsession fool you - he was certainly one of the best players in the game.

He is what he is- not a great player but just a really good one.

 

[Gary Nylund]

- Did he made some good thing at time, yeah for sure but the number of shift off he's actually taking are phenomenal.

-How many time Phil Kessel had been bashed publicly for doing it over and over again in Toronto?
-It's the same thing we saw from Patrick Laine whatever where he played and made his actual reputation.

But nylander because leafs still winning despite, that's okay let's continu that's doesn't matter


Exemple against Colorado on 1st goal, he made a mistake on turnover ... okay he made a mistake like everyone. That goal was not a mistake, was a lack of work and at this time of season, get one of your leader working only between 2 to 10 min of the 20 hes on the ice, it's pretty alarming. It's not how leafs gonna reach 1st seed and win in playoff. Can he play hard for a complete game, that's what i'm want to see from him and didn't see for a while

I like the Nylander playing a complete 60 min game, i hate the Nylander playing 10 to 50% of game.

Nylander's the only star player we have who doesn't stop producing offence in the playoffs. He's the last guy anyone should be worried about but whatever, you do you.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I just don't feel we are as good as we should be. +16 goal differential, while Florida is at +41 and TB at +55. At the end of the day, top teams have a goal differential way better than +16. Metro is a joke, but even teams like Carolina and NJ are at +29 and +28 respectively.

 

[Macallan18]

Nylander's the only star player we have who doesn't stop producing offence in the playoffs. He's the last guy anyone should be worried about but whatever, you do you.

yeah, I don't know why there is so much hate for this gentleman, he has ratcheted his game up another level, second in goals in the nhl, and produces in the playoffs as you say.
I am his fan. And the TTC commercials!!! He is to Toronto what Marner pretends to be.

 

[stickty111]

A win is a win, but this team has some major issues right now.

 

[Gary Nylund]

yeah, I don't know why there is so much hate for this gentleman, he has ratcheted his game up another level, second in goals in the nhl, and produces in the playoffs as you say.
I am his fan. And the TTC commercials!!! He is to Toronto what Marner pretends to be.

Exactly! It seems like nobody on the team loves playing in Toronto as much as Nylander, gotta love that!

 

[Gary Nylund]

I just don't feel we are as good as we should be. +16 goal differential, while Florida is at +41 and TB at +55. At the end of the day, top teams have a goal differential way better than +16. Metro is a joke, but even teams like Carolina and NJ are at +29 and +28 respectively.

Yup. I've always kept an eye on goal differential, used to calculate it in my head as far back as 50 years ago. And that's why I said a few months ago to watch out for TB when others were writing them off.

The more I think about it, the less reason I see for Leaf fans to be optimistic about the playoffs. I thought maybe the TDL moves would motivate some people but so far ... same old, same old.

What a disaster this core has been. Hoping they can surprise me in the playoffs, doesn't seem likely though.

 

[verdi]

We're a shitty team.

 

[Zybalto]

I just don't feel we are as good as we should be. +16 goal differential, while Florida is at +41 and TB at +55. At the end of the day, top teams have a goal differential way better than +16. Metro is a joke, but even teams like Carolina and NJ are at +29 and +28 respectively.

I'm pretty big on goal differential too.

5v5 Goal differential 2021-2024 regular seasons:
Matthews: 62.39%
Marner: 60.66%
Nylander: 51.58%
Tavares: 52.10%

Rest of team: 50.46%

5v5 Goal differential 2022-2024 playoffs:
Matthews: 57.71%
Marner: 64.20%
Nylander: 46.47%
Tavares: 48.51%

Rest of team: 38.42%

Gotta keep in mind here too that special teams were pretty solid in the regular season and big negative in the playoffs.

This year:

5v5 Goal differential 2024-2025 regular season:
Matthews: 55.83%
Marner: 58.03%
Nylander: 56.84%
Tavares: 61.54%

Rest of team: 44.83%

Mid PK and top ten PP

The keys to winning this year in the playoffs are going to be goaltending (check), the PP (who knows) and not having the depth fall off a cliff. Matthews' big struggles are hopefully behind him and he can get his numbers back up, Tavares and Nylanders numbers have spiked huge which is great but depth performance looks worse in the regular season than others. As bad as its looked, its been a rockstar compared to its past playoff performance though. A lot of new faces though and guys probably more suited to the playoff style means we might get an increase (or at least I'm hoping).

Really need that PP going heading into the post-season.

 

[GoonieFace]

Yup. I've always kept an eye on goal differential, used to calculate it in my head as far back as 50 years ago. And that's why I said a few months ago to watch out for TB when others were writing them off.

The more I think about it, the less reason I see for Leaf fans to be optimistic about the playoffs. I thought maybe the TDL moves would motivate some people but so far ... same old, same old.

What a disaster this core has been. Hoping they can surprise me in the playoffs, doesn't seem likely though.

I never have much confidence in this group. That being said, I think they match up well with Tampa. After that, all bets are off.

I do worry about how the goalies hold up, since both have already exceeded their career high in games played in a season.

 

[dubplatepressure]

I just don't feel we are as good as we should be. +16 goal differential, while Florida is at +41 and TB at +55. At the end of the day, top teams have a goal differential way better than +16. Metro is a joke, but even teams like Carolina and NJ are at +29 and +28 respectively.

Supposedly we're a better defensive team, but I've yet to see it. Our puck management has taken a HUGE step back the last month or so. We've now regressed to being the team that routinely concedes multi-goal leads again, something we were supposed to have shedded with Berube. Some of our players are playing for themselves, and its obvious. Others have taken huge steps back (Rielly, looking at you and your -20). Of course these could just be regular-season pains and come postseason none of it matters. But there's just as much reason to worry this year as there has been in years past IMO despite being what many would think is substantially better on paper this year.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I never have much confidence in this group. That being said, I think they match up well with Tampa. After that, all bets are off.

I do worry about how the goalies hold up, since both have already exceeded their career high in games played in a season.

My dream is that we somehow win the division, then play Ottawa. We probably won't win the cup but that would at least be fun. Then again, I thought playing MTL in the playoffs would be fun, maybe I need to think about this some more.

At least we have 2 goalies, both of whom could be really good. Stolarz has been awesome and Woll's been off lately, but that doesn't mean he's not capable of being excellent in the playoffs like he was last year.