Post-Game Talk: Leafs win.

[Nineteen67]

8 times in the last 35 years, I'm guessing but it may be a similar number for the 2nd place team. The rest of the league won the remaining half of the time. Playoffs are a crapshoot, anything can happen. I do understand the overwhelming majority of fans believe the playoffs are a better indicator. Nothing wrong with that, we just disagree.

The playoffs are the only indicator.

 

[BlueForever75]

Team will be fine. Rough stretch getting their legs and touch going. Its not like they havent had chances. For those that are doubting Matthews because of his surgery need to layoff. Its all about confidence for him. Once one or two go in (which I anticipate on Saturday night) all the naysayers that say "Im concerned" will be back on the band wagon. Second guessing this guys strength of shot is only due to people not watching games. He still has it.

 

[saltming]

The promising thing is late in the 2nd and all the 3rd the top 6 were filtering the pucks to the net and banging away.
That's what they need to be figure out. If they do this consistently the ship will be righted.
Adversity is good.

 

[TakeTheBody]

The Leafs need a coach somewhere in between the last two. Babcock was the hard ass with no heart. Keefe is the nice guy who lets them get away with too much. The Leafs need a hard ass with heart. lol.

 

[Nineteen67]

I know some want to be positive, but I’d ask was there anything you saw last night that boosted your confidence this group is a cup contender? I’d argue absolutely not, it’s big picture for me, not eking out a win in OT against a tire fire team.

Did anyone seriously believe this team was Cup contender going into the season? With so many question marks?

If the players think last night was anything more than grabbing a tree root to prevent them from further falling off a cliff, then they are in for a long year.

Are they refusing to back check? Are they refusing to forecheck and win puck battles? Are they refusing to skate? If it’s a decision to play that way, then they can decide to play differently an we’ll see what happens.
If it’s physical and a lack of ability then there’s nothing they can do about it.

 

[robertmac43]

How we feeling on this morning after a win?

 

[Mugzy97]

Leafs win

Thread title: Leafs win.

Leafs lose

Thread title: OMG BLOW IT UP TRADE EVERYBODY FIRE EVERYBODY I HATE MY LIFE

 

[meefer]

An emotionally fragile team fights back from a weak start and wins a game. I’ll take it. Hoping for a more complete effort the next outing.

 

[Dreakmur]

How we feeling on this morning after a win?

We have 3 wins, and they are all against bottom-feeders. The team has been pathetic for most of these 8 games... but there are 74 to go, so whatever.

 

[Statsman1]

Well…it is something that an apparently heart-free team came back from 2 goals down to win, even if it was against a team that really had nothing going for it and far more serious distractions.

As someone commented, the 3rd period showed that the Leafs know who they are supposed to be.

Hopefully that carries on to the next game.

 

[LeafSteel]

This team will not go anywhere if they aren’t willing to work hard, and do it a full 60 minutes.

A come from behind win is nice, but this was ugly and that they allowed themselves to go down 2-0 to a team in utter turmoil is not reassuring or acceptable.

They are going to get their behinds handed to them by Boston and Tampa if the play like this.

Why Bruce Boudreau is not somewhere on this bench right now is beyond my comprehension. Our coaches do not have the combined experience Bruce has and it shows.

 

[The Podium]

This team will not go anywhere if they aren’t willing to work hard, and do it a full 60 minutes.

A come from behind win is nice, but this was ugly and that they allowed themselves to go down 2-0 to a team in utter turmoil is not reassuring or acceptable.

They are going to get their behinds handed to them by Boston and Tampa if the play like this.

Why Bruce Boudreau is not somewhere on this bench right now is beyond my comprehension. Our coaches do not have the combined experience Bruce has and it shows.

Boston hasn’t looked great so doubt we’ll be shaking in our boots.

Florida on the other hand…. They look scary

 

[mcleafs]

Previous years I'd be more happy after a battle back win like this, but this group has done this before. I know this might be a little too negative nancy but I frankly need more proof this isn't just a spurt like we know this team can do.

My opinion still hasn't changed, and I still think it's insane for this group to continue with Marner and Rielly on the roster. I will say though, that Campbell sure has been impressive. He's looking like a solid bet to resign for a few years.

 

[Mess]

How we feeling on this morning after a win?

As a fan you always should feel better after a win, because isn't that why you're cheering for your team?

Losses seem to bother some fans more than others, but everybody loves a win.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The thing about the playoffs is the best team in the league could have had a bad couple of games and got knocked out. Any team can have a bad 3 or 4 game stretch. Now another team wins the Cup but maybe only because they never faced the better team. Playoff hockey may be a different game but I still think there is more luck involved, than winning over the long haul. We have all heard anything can happen in the playoffs.

If one team wins the regular season with 125 points and another has 124, there is almost certainly some luck involved there as well. There is not perfect way of saying who the best team is, that's just life. I'll tell you what though, I'm more than comfortable saying that TB was the best team last season even though a number of teams had a better regular season. But if there was no playoffs and the presidents trophy was everything, I think they would have won more during the season as well for you know, reasons.

Holy shit. I don't consider myself a clairvoyant or anything, but you can trust me here. What more do you need to see. I admire your optimism, but damn, can you see this team being good?

This is a good team, I have zero doubts about that. I have serious doubts about being good enough to go all the way but nothing is impossible. TB is weaker, they are not the juggernaut that they were so there is not one team out there without serious flaws, not one. So if we're healthy and get good goaltending and get hot at the right time, there's too much talent here to say we have no shot.

The bookies had us as the #4 favourite when the season started, those guys are pretty smart. I'd probably adjust that at this point, I think I'd have NYI, CAR and FLA ahead of us now so we're maybe the #7 favourite today IMO but a few weeks from now, that could change again so ... we'll see.

 

[LeafSteel]

Boston hasn’t looked great so doubt we’ll be shaking in our boots.

Florida on the other hand…. They look scary

We will get destroyed by Boston if we play like we did yesterday.

They always bring their A games against us and they are totally in our team’s heads.

I think we are in for some ugly results next week.

 

[ACC1224]

We will get destroyed by Boston if we play like we did yesterday.

They always bring their A games against us and they are totally in our team’s heads.

I think we are in for some ugly results next week.

Beating the Browns Sunday will make next week easier to take!

 

[Twine Tickler]

Wasn't a fan of our game much yesterday. I cannot for the life of me understand why the directive with the D is to be so active in neutral ice. We get caught pinching not to keep the puck in the offensive zone, but more often to keep it on the their side of the red line....which makes zero sense to me. What is the gain?

It is very clear that this is the message to the D and not them making individual decisions. This needs to be cleaned up ASAP.

Happy the boys battled back and got the W, but they really should not have gotten a single point. Soupy bailed us out big time with some massive saves in the 3rd to keep it tight.

Hopefully this is the W that gives them a shot in the arm going forward.

Standouts:

-Campbell was a rock
-Willy is just so unbelievably underrated when in the same sentence as Mitch and Auston. He is every bit as skilled as those 2, and we are seeing it night in and night out now. Absolute monster out there, total treat to watch him be so dominant.
-Marner's best game by a mile, still a bit off, but strong bounce back
-Sandin was the best D IMO
-Engvall - Kampf - Kase is a line that is showing signs of promise. If anyone reads my posts on here you'll know how little I think of Engvall from an IQ perspective. But I have to give him credit, he has shown a bit more awareness this year. He still makes the vintage dumb f***ing plays that cost us goals against, but he has also shown an ability to make plays with the puck on his stick.

Standouts for the wrong reasons:
-Muzz/Holl pairing is f***ing terrible right now. They turn like 18 Wheelers and have been stuck in the mud all year.
-Matthews just seemed off all night.
-Bunting just looked a little out of sorts with Matts and Willy. Not sure if it is the wrong mix, or if it was just an off night for the line. But there were a lot of miscues with drop passes going no where, and general fumbling of the puck.

all n all, take the 2, get on top of the wave for a change and hopefully ride it for a little while. We desperately need our confidence back. A little streak in the right direction would do wonders

 

[Sypher04]

One positive takeaway I’ll throw in is I saw signs that both the Matthews/Nylander and Tavares/Marner duos we’re refinding their chemistry in the 2nd and 3rd periods

 

[DarkKnight]

Did anyone seriously believe this team was Cup contender going into the season? With so many question marks?

If the players think last night was anything more than grabbing a tree root to prevent them from further falling off a cliff, then they are in for a long year.

Are they refusing to back check? Are they refusing to forecheck and win puck battles? Are they refusing to skate? If it’s a decision to play that way, then they can decide to play differently an we’ll see what happens.
If it’s physical and a lack of ability then there’s nothing they can do about it.

No I didn’t. We’re worse than last year. So if we aren’t cup contenders why aren’t we retooling? We’re going to let Morgan walk for nothing?

 

[Statsman1]

Not to mention Matthews was actually yelling at someone. Seems like it’s about time Alternate Captain Moustache got angry, if Captain Pyjamas won’t.

 

[Sypher04]

No I didn’t. We’re worse than last year. So if we aren’t cup contenders why aren’t we retooling? We’re going to let Morgan walk for nothing?

i still don’t think there’s much difference in roster quality between this year and last year overall. We got weaker in a couple spots, but improved I think in others. The biggest issue still in my estimation is that our players are not playing to their abilities, and I don’t know how you solve that

 

[mapleleafs34]

One positive takeaway I’ll throw in is I saw signs that both the Matthews/Nylander and Tavares/Marner duos we’re refinding their chemistry in the 2nd and 3rd periods

This! And Bunting is developing a little more chemistry with that top line. I think he's there to stay.

 

[DarkKnight]

i still don’t think there’s much difference in roster quality between this year and last year overall. We got weaker in a couple spots, but improved I think in others. The biggest issue still in my estimation is that our players are not playing to their abilities, and I don’t know how you solve that

Where did we improve? Bogo and Hyman gone, a bunch of bandaids brought in. You think our depth is better, I don’t see it, pretty vanilla.

 

[Nineteen67]

No I didn’t. We’re worse than last year. So if we aren’t cup contenders why aren’t we retooling? We’re going to let Morgan walk for nothing?

Those are great questions. IMO, it should have happened after the Columbus loss.
Bargain hunting for key pieces like a 1and 2 LW, and a goalie in FA doesn’t instill confidence in the team.