Post-Game Talk: Lost to Carolina 1:2

[aingefan]

That is a tough back to back, never got into Raleigh until 12:47am and then an early than normal start. Not excuses, just facts. Slow start vs a team that was ready to play. Gave up what seemed like five breakaways?

Woll kept it close, and I thought they did a good job of generating some chances later in the second and throughout the third. What Domi was doing on the three-on-one we will never know. Shoot the puck friend.

Andersen made the saves when needed. Needed more pressure on him, looked like he was starting to crack.

Similar trends continue though. PK not good enough. PP not clutch. Unable to get to the dangerous areas against teams with good defensive structure.

They went down with a fight though, and I appreciate that. They could have backed away and took that loss like they have in the past.

Team is better with Benoit and without Brodie.

Robertson sucked. But the guy can shoot. I'd rather he be a scratch come playoff time.

All well said.
I’m glad NickRob sniped it tho. He has been forcing it abit.
In other news, Holy Woll.

 

[aingefan]

It was the best and worst of him tonight. Bad penalty and poor decision making that comes with being a young guy in the NHL. Then he is strong on the forecheck, does a good job getting himself open ,and then rips home our only goal of the game with that shot of his.

He's not in the lineup come playoff time but at 22 and with the Leafs depth that's nothing to be ashamed of or something to be disappointed with. Still a work in progress but very few players jump into the league feet running.

Agreed, again. Despite the yips and hiccups, this has been a year of progress.
His ppg in that ice time is pretty nice, really. He’s stayed more healthy, better protecting himself from contact. The brain farts should settle in time with more reps.

 

[fancy lad]

You forgot the 45 times they showed the hit-em-with-the-4 like Auston Matthews commercial.

I always thought he was saying hit em with the floor or something.

What's the 4?

not that it matter LOL. I guess i'm an old guy now.

 

[RunItBackAgain]

I always thought he was saying hit em with the floor or something.

What's the 4?

not that it matter LOL. I guess i'm an old guy now.

he scored 4 in his first game..

 

[57 Years No Cup]

Leafs are 16-15-7 against the East, barely a .500 team. Only Philly among the current playoff seed teams is worse.

Doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy.

 

[ULF_55]

leafs are too thin to hope making anything without him, sorry

if youre thinking leafs will replace a dman playing againdt toughest oppositiongamr after game with 5/6/7th d when they already pretty weak...Good luck leafs will need it

So you think Brodie is still a top 4 defender?

Perhaps if the other team doesn't forecheck he might make that classification, but otherwise he is no longer struggling. After a year of the same performance it isn't a struggle it is who he is in 2023 ... and now 2024.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

he scored 4 in his first game..

The ironic thing is he hasn't done it since.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Woll was excellent tonight. Good for Robertson to get a goal tonight, nice snipe, but I think he's the first guy out when Marner comes back. We just need more from him, on a consistent basis.... he's just not there yet. Knies too really... I think they'll both be good eventually, but neither are where we need them to be yet. McCabe had a bad game, no question there... but he's been good most of the rest of the time... so it is what it is.. move on.

PP and PK need work... It's critical for any playoff success.

Everyone who plays with Brodie ends up looking bad .. while it did not affect last night outcome if Keefer just subs Benoit for Brodie our team becomes a much more complete playoff D .. I realize Brodie is going through a TON in his life and like most I feel for him .. but we need to get our D pairs going to get ready for playoff mode .. also last night watching on TV I don't think Lily is ready to handle playoff hockey especially running a PP .. he is not assertive enough and flat out is getting beat on loose pucks way too much .. bottom line it comes down to Lily and/or Brodie to me for 6th, and last spot, on D and right now tie goes to vet .. Lily is just not ready yet .. I wish he was but he isnt

 

[ULF_55]

Does this scare you as much as it scares me?

Not at all.

What's he going to say?

What would Torts have said?

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Don’t think we played that bad. Should have won that game from my perspective but unfortunately we didn’t get Game 7 Freddy and they got lucky.

The PP is an absolute tire fire though. That is going to kill us in round 1 if it’s not fixed ASAP

 

[Al14]

The PK coach should be fired……..months ago

The head coach should have been fired YEARS ago !!!

 

[fancy lad]

he scored 4 in his first game..

LOL it's an actual song?!

okie dokie.

 

[ACC1224]

Don’t think we played that bad. Should have won that game from my perspective but unfortunately we didn’t get Game 7 Freddy and they got lucky.

The PP is an absolute tire fire though. That is going to kill us in round 1 if it’s not fixed ASAP

Marner will help, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[Al14]

Does this scare you as much as it scares me?

Yep, it terrifies me. Even my wife said 'Why would Keefe sit a better D in Benoit when Benoit is so much better physically?'

I just hope that Benoit doesn't get fed up with our Leafs. He just might ask for a trade in the off season. I'm sure the Habs wouldn't healthy scratch him the way Keefe has.

 

[Al14]

So you think Brodie is still a top 4 defender?

Perhaps if the other team doesn't forecheck he might make that classification, but otherwise he is no longer struggling. After a year of the same performance it isn't a struggle it is who he is in 2023 ... and now 2024.

Exactly right. It's beyond time to healthy scratch Brodie and allow him to sit at home with his sick wife.

IMHO, Benoit is younger and better option at this point.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Too many passengers. McMann and Holmberg with no energy. Nylander coasting most of the game. Bertuzzi entirely disinterested. PK still shit, PP just awful.

Keefe will be the downfall of this team. Why were Benoit and Timmins out? Nothing like keeping the same defence pairs for two games in a row. They have to force Brodie into the lineup. This game was only close because of Woll.

Yup, it looks like they're committed to having Brodie play. I feel Benoit should be one of the 6 dmen. To me, here are the best pairs based on who we have:

Rielly, Boosh
Edmunson, Liljegren
McCabe, Benoit
Extras: Timmins, Brodie, Gio

But I still don't feel this d corps is good enough to make a deep playoff run. Add on to that our weak PK and up and down PP.

 

[Stephen]

Yeah schedule has been odd this year. Now they have NJ coming up 3 times in the next couple weeks.

The NHL also has big Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night games this week and barley anything on the other days. Which is fine, I like those nights. But so unpredictable.

 

[Evilhomer]

Leafs are 16-15-7 against the East, barely a .500 team. Only Philly among the current playoff seed teams is worse.

Doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy.

I think that stat is about as relevant as the regulation wins stat that everyone was losing their minds about earlier in the season.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Don’t think we played that bad. Should have won that game from my perspective but unfortunately we didn’t get Game 7 Freddy and they got lucky.

The PP is an absolute tire fire though. That is going to kill us in round 1 if it’s not fixed ASAP

Getting Mitch back and losing JT the turnover machine will help.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Yup, it looks like they're committed to having Brodie play. I feel Benoit should be one of the 6 dmen. To me, here are the best pairs based on who we have:

Rielly, Boosh
Edmunson, Liljegren
McCabe, Benoit
Extras: Timmins, Brodie, Gio

But I still don't feel this d corps is good enough to make a deep playoff run. Add on to that our weak PK and up and down PP.

They're not the greatest d-pairs but they're the best we've got and give us the best chance against Boston or Florida. At least Benoit is a warrior who won't lose body position or give away the puck under pressure. Brodie offers nothing at this point, and expecting him to all of a sudden become the player he was a few years ago is foolish.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Glad I had to miss this one due to a family function. I guess the boys were out of gas.

 

[OVO16]

Carolina Penalty killing was insane. Like I was watching their formations and their positioning.

Carolina is the definition of a team who's very good at attention to detail. They're that type of team

 

[Suntouchable13]

Glad I had to miss this one due to a family function. I guess the boys were out of gas.

No, I wouldn’t say running out of gas was the issue. They started slow, but poured it on late.

 

[Twine Tickler]

was not able to watch this game. Watched the extended highlights this AM and it looks we got the result we deserved. Freddy looked to make some big saves, but so too did Joe. Obviously an unlucky bounce on the 2nd GA, but that's gunna happen from time to time.

That's a tough Carolina team. It's hard enough to beat them in an ideal set of circumstances, let alone on the second end of a B2B w/ travel.

On the positive side of things, it really looked like Woll had a solid game. I know lots of the discussion on twitter were surrounding TJ and Nick for their play. Although Nick can be frustrating at times, there are few players in this league that can finish at his caliber. You sometimes have to take the good with the bad. ESPECIALLY with young players. I know it feels like Nick has been in the NHL for ages, but he has still not even combined for a full NHL season of his tenure in the show. Not to mention he is still only 22 years old. Lets give the kid a break. There was a very similar rhetoric with a young Nazem Kadri at one point and look at how he has developed over his career. To think if we were told at age 22 that Naz would turn into a 200 ft center who was at one point in a selke conversation we would have all been on the floor crying in laughter. But that's exactly what ended up happening.

As for TJ, I don't know how he played in this particular game. I think he's been largely terrible all season, but I also don't think we've deployed him appropriately. It really sucks seeing him struggle, because he's been so good for us over the years, but he really needs to find something quick.

Nonetheless, this was always going to be a tough ask for the boys to get 2pts. On paper, without watching nothing more than the highlights and reviewing the advanced metrics, I think the boys gave it a good go. Nothing to be ashamed about.

on to the next

 

[ACC1224]

Anyone else find this site even slower than normal today?