GDT: Maple Leafs (15-8-1) vs Capitals (13-10-1) | 7:00 PM EST | Hockey Night In Canada!

[AppsSyl]

Thought Martin and Polak were a good possibility, but a bit surprised Leivo doesn't get another chance tonight in place of Moore, since they are on the road.

 

[AppsSyl]

Usually when we play really poorly and get blown out we come back with a very strong game. I know we won, but the way we played was like a blow out game. I am actually feeling that we are going to have a real good game tonight, given the opponent (extra motivation b/c of playoffs last year), and our effort the night before.

 

[Budsfan]

I think the reason for Polak and Moore, is to get a bit more physical presence and in last night's game there were few players finishing checks and hitting and the only player that was doing it on a consistent basis was Marleau.

Why Martin is sitting on the bench is a mystery but Babcock may have seen something he didn't like, or some other reason, I think maybe he wanted Levio in and he did score a goal.

 

[francis246]

Tough to imagine a scenario where this game goes smoothly. Last night really drained me of optimism.

We won the game...

 

[Apollo Leaf]

Oh boy.

 

[Budsfan]

We can't rely on Andersen to stand on his head every game and save our Bacon, however, tonight we should see McElhinney in on this back to back, so this may turn into a real battle.

 

[MapleLeafs77]

Im not a fan of marner and matthews together yet.....even when our team is awful we can usually rely on matthews and nylander to be good and get scoring chances. Last night no one was good. I dont think they looked good against panthers either until the 3rd period but to be fair everybody looked amazing in the 3rd.

So far matthews and nylander look better. But we will see how they do tonight. Marner is just too weak on the puck

 

[Randy Randerson]

We won the game...

we were utterly dominated, luck and goaltending won us that game. We shouldn't be encouraged by that kind of performance

 

[Cor]

we were utterly dominated, luck and goaltending won us that game. We shouldn't be encouraged by that kind of performance

Every team wins games they shouldn’t, and lose games they shouldn’t.

Maybe try and enjoy things

 

[SniperOnTheWing]

Im not a fan of marner and matthews together yet.....even when our team is awful we can usually rely on matthews and nylander to be good and get scoring chances. Last night no one was good. I dont think they looked good against panthers either until the 3rd period but to be fair everybody looked amazing in the 3rd.

So far matthews and nylander look better. But we will see how they do tonight. Marner is just too weak on the puck

Nylander will probably be back up there with Matthews once he gets his scoring touch back.

 

[PromisedLand]

I guess I have to swing by LCBO after all. These line up changes may lead to bunch of worthy moments that would require some scotch to soothe things

 

[francis246]

we were utterly dominated, luck and goaltending won us that game. We shouldn't be encouraged by that kind of performance

You Look at the positives and move on. Idk why people get so hung up on the negatives. Not every team is going to have an A+ night every single night.

Take the W, the 2 points on to the next game. What happened last night already happened

 

[Damisoph]

The boys are coming out with a good effort tonight, from the drop of the puck. GLG

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Mcbackup better have a career performance tonight, or Holtby better have the worst game of his career

one of these 2 things as to happen, if they don't tonight could be rough, Washington is not what they once were but they still have a good core up front

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Are we the only team that never goes with the same skater lineup in the 2nd half of a back-to-back? I understand the idea of inserting fresher legs, but it's not as if they are key contributors. Martin, Moore, and the well-rested Roman Polak........not sure if that makes the lineup better lol

 

[Mr Hockey]

I don't know why Willie is so snake bitten, ffs, he is flying out there, shooting, carrying the puck, etc. Hatty tonight Willie!

 

[PromisedLand]

Mcbackup better have a career performance tonight, or Holtby better have the worst game of his career

one of these 2 things as to happen, if they don't tonight could be rough, Washington is not what they once were but they still have a good core up front

Ovi
Backstrom
Kuznetsov
Oshie

Still not too bad IMO

 

[PromisedLand]

Are we the only team that never goes with the same skater lineup in the 2nd half of a back-to-back? I understand the idea of inserting fresher legs, but it's not as if they are key contributors. Martin, Moore, and the well-rested Roman Polak........not sure if that makes the lineup better lol

Hey they are all gud pros; listen to country music, watch hunting channel and train right

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Every team wins games they shouldn’t, and lose games they shouldn’t.

Maybe try and enjoy things

I guess I don't really understand this mindset entirely....I do enjoy winning but I don't understand the people getting snippy because people aren't happy with the way the Leafs have been playing. We have objectively played really bad Hockey the last month and been bailed out by great goaltending. This isn't just a last night thing....now last night was probably the worst game we have played this season but the trend of us being out worked and out skated....this isn't a one game thing. I said this in the PGT I am as happy as anybody that we are still collecting points while playing like this because it is definitely a lot easier to correct the problems while comfortably sitting in a playoff spot....but if anybody actually thinks we are playing a good brand of hockey right now....I don't really know what to say. Because Andersen is not going to play this good for the rest of the season.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Both teams are on a back to back. No excuses for a lacklustre effort tonight.

 

[Randy Randerson]

Every team wins games they shouldn’t, and lose games they shouldn’t.

Maybe try and enjoy things

I'm not unhappy about the win, just saying we shouldn't be happy about that level of play. I don't want to see the Carlyle era repeat itself - we finished well last night and I wouldn't call any of our goals flukes, but we'd have to finish at a really high rate to play like last night and win consistently which seemed to be Carlyle's game plan

You Look at the positives and move on. Idk why people get so hung up on the negatives. Not every team is going to have an A+ night every single night.

Take the W, the 2 points on to the next game. What happened last night already happened

sure, just saying we shouldn't be happy with that level of play even if we get the win because if that level of play continues we won't be getting wins

 

[The Podium]

Hopefully Nylander channels his inner Backstrom tonight

 

[Clark4Ever]

Babs is always preaching that guys need to take advantage of their opportunities. What kind of message does it send if he sits Leivo tonight?

 

[Contenderorpretender]

Mcbackup better have a career performance tonight, or Holtby better have the worst game of his career

one of these 2 things as to happen, if they don't tonight could be rough, Washington is not what they once were but they still have a good core up front

Mcbackup already had his career game in his last start.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Hoping for a better performance tonight. We're going to need it.

This.

I guess I don't really understand this mindset entirely....I do enjoy winning but I don't understand the people getting snippy because people aren't happy with the way the Leafs have been playing. We have objectively played really bad Hockey the last month and been bailed out by great goaltending. This isn't just a last night thing....now last night was probably the worst game we have played this season but the trend of us being out worked and out skated....this isn't a one game thing. I said this in the PGT I am as happy as anybody that we are still collecting points while playing like this because it is definitely a lot easier to correct the problems while comfortably sitting in a playoff spot....but if anybody actually thinks we are playing a good brand of hockey right now....I don't really know what to say. Because Andersen is not going to play this good for the rest of the season.

Nice post. I was going to say something along those lines but you probably said it better than I would have. I'm always happy to win, that doesn't mean I'm going to set aside by ability to critically assess how we played. And what I really care about is not winning a game in November but rather the progress we're making in our journey towards the ultimate goal and last night was definitely not a step in the right direction.