Maybe we should give the Habs some credit.

[mikeyz]

Looks like their new system kicked in at the right time for them.......maybe the leafs hit a buzz saw?

This is not even close to being it.

The Leafs choked. Pure and simple. Just wait until you see what Vegas and Colorado do to the Habs. The moment they start trailing against either one of those teams in a game next round, you’ll see how quick they’ll fold.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

We'll see what they do against Colorado or Vegas, everybody knew that the North division was a joke all season long. They are much better than I thought they were but the real teams are waiting for them, the Leafs and Jets are both trash. Now if they beat COL/VEG then they are a buzzsaw.

Habs will lose in 4 games to either team and 2 of games will be complete and total blowouts .. then everyone will see what I have been saying da north division is AHL level hockey (Toronto may have got a game or two against Tampa in a run and gun game)

 

[Maplebeasts]

They play with an intensity I wish our stars would. You can just tell that there players truly hate to lose. Too bad they're also void of talent and will get trounced by whoever they see in Round 3.

 

[nuck]

As much as I hate the Habs, I can't make excuses for the Leafs and I have to give MTL some credit here. They've won 6 games in a row against playoff teams, even if those aren't the best of playoff teams they're still playoff teams and that's not easy to do.

Full value for upping their game big time. Shutting down better offensive teams isn't just about stars choking. I am not a Habs hater, because Montreal improving doesn't make the Leafs a worse club. Having said that I expect reality to catch up to them as it has to previous over achieving teams. There are no more Keefes in the playoffs and all the hitting and the giveaways will catch up to them.

They are about to win two rounds boys. Not an easy thing.

 

[Brown Dog]

The NHL is such a crapshoot and the difference between great teams and mediocre teams is razor thin. All it ever takes for a mediocre team to go on a run is some combination of getting hot at the right time, special teams, goaltending, and key bounces at the right moment.

Sometimes one of the favourites wins it all and sometimes not. We've seen 8th seeds win the Cup, including a LA a few years ago in what was one of the most dominant stretches of any playoff team in recent memory. They barely made the playoffs.

If Galchenyuk doesn't turn the puck over in OT in Game 5 and we score and eliminate Montreal in 5, we perceive this team completely differently. Instead we hit the skids and Montreal goes on a heater with 6 straight. Will they win the Cup or even make the finals? Probably not, but it could happen. It wouldn't be the craziest thing I've seen.

All this makes it all the more infuriating that we can never get the right set of circumstances to even just fluke our way into a run at some point in the last 20 years.

 

[Gary Nylund]

We already know the Leafs and Jets suck, whether the Habs suck or not remains to be seen. They'll be huge dogs in the next round (and they're not there yet) but you never know what a team playing in front of a hot goalie with a lot of confidence can do.

An interesting question to me is what's more likely, that they get swept next round or they win at least 2 games. I think they'll probably win at least one but after that, it's harder to say.

 

[ToneDog]

Habs will lose in 4 games to either team and 2 of games will be complete and total blowouts .. then everyone will see what I have been saying da north division is AHL level hockey (Toronto may have got a game or two against Tampa in a run and gun game)

If they can close out the Jets tonight and the AVs/VGK series goes 7, they might be facing a battered and bruised team. If they defend and Price remains hot, they have some hope.

 

[17 Clark]

We lost because the guys we cheer for either suck or lack intensity. Possibly both. Either way Montreal wasn't some insurmountable hurdle the Leafs had to leap over. This should really put into perspective just how pathetic this Leafs team is. Montreal is going to the 3rd Round. For Leafs fans that might as well be a Magical Fairy Land.

Every Montreal game that they win makes you More and more mad about this team how pathetic can the maple leafs possibly be lose to Zamboni driver On and on Just when you think they’ve hit rock bottom they find a way to go lower just pathetic

 

[Gary Nylund]

If they can close out the Jets tonight and the AVs/VGK series goes 7, they might be facing a battered and bruised team. If they defend and Price remains hot, they have some hope.

Be very interesting to see what the betting line is. I can usually guess pretty close at what the oddsmakers will do but not this time. But yeah if they're well rested and they face a battered team that's taking them lightly, you never know, they might just make it interesting.

 

[koyvoo]

Stranger things have happened, but I wouldn’t want to bet more than $6 on the Habs passing the next round.

The one narrative I sort of disagree with is about the difference in the quality of games in the two series being compared.

The North series is a sludge because Montreal wants it to be, not because Winnipeg can’t fly like Colorado or Vegas. Winnipeg can’t certainly play a high octane game, and I’m sure their plan was to outskate and outskill the habs.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

If they can close out the Jets tonight and the AVs/VGK series goes 7, they might be facing a battered and bruised team. If they defend and Price remains hot, they have some hope.

With respect even Price who like i said i still look at as best tender with Vasi in league today I don't see it .. i would say same thing if it was Leafs Avs too .. Tampa is only team who can play with Avs/Vegas in whatever style you want .. Avs v Tampa would be great entertaining hockey at incredible speed

 

[TheScandal89]

They've had their path become 5x easier with the injuries to Tavares and suspension to Schiefele. There biggest weakness was lack of centre depth, but when teams lose #1 centres (Tavares would be on many teams), it makes it a lot easier. Especially against the Jets losing there best player.

I'm just waiting for Mackinnon or Rantanen to pick up an injury so there fluke post season can continue. Its nothing thats there fault, the hit on Tavares was a pure fluke and Schiefele's hit was by his own hands.

But to say those 2 key players missing helped them significantly is an understatement. It is what it is though, the Raptors would not have won if Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson didn't get hurt.

 

[Clark4Ever]

All I know is they are a better team than the Leafs when it matters and one game away from proving they are the best team in the North Division.

They got healthy and Price got hot at the right time, and sometimes, that's all it takes.

 

[Clark4Ever]

I texted a buddy of mine today (a diehard Habs fan) if he would support Bergevin getting a contract extension now, and he replied with a resounding NO!!!

Lol

 

[AllDay28]

Respect Montreal?


Ahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

It is strange.. countless Leaf fans have repeatedly said that NYI and Montreal suck.. yet they keep winning in the playoffs and Toronto keeps losing.

Montreal is about to make it to the final 4. Something the Leafs haven’t done since 93. I really wish the Leafs sucked as much as NYI and Montreal.. maybe then the Leafs would win a playoff series.

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

Be very interesting to see what the betting line is. I can usually guess pretty close at what the oddsmakers will do but not this time. But yeah if they're well rested and they face a battered team that's taking them lightly, you never know, they might just make it interesting.

The opening line will be Montreal +180 to +200.

 

[Brown Dog]

Habs will lose in 4 games to either team and 2 of games will be complete and total blowouts .. then everyone will see what I have been saying da north division is AHL level hockey (Toronto may have got a game or two against Tampa in a run and gun game)

I don't think it's fair to say how things will play out with any level of certainty (which is, of course, part of what makes the Stanley Cup playoffs interesting).

There are so many examples of the razor thin edge between winning and losing, greatness and mediocrity--and of us imposing the narrative after the fact.

That Bruins team that we lost to in 2013 was by any definition a good team; they had a great lineup and went all the way to the Cup final...but just to get out of the first round they needed a totally improbable third period comeback and OT win against an inferior Leafs team that hadn't made the playoffs before under that regime and didn't make it again. If Matt Frattin scores on that breakaway...or James Reimer makes one more save in the 3rd period...or Joffrey Lupul scores in OT instead of hitting the post and the Leafs win that game/series, were they any better than the team that didn't but instead collapsed so embarrassingly?

In 2018, when they won the Cup, the Capitals fell behind to Columbus in the first round 2-0 and Game 3 went to double-OT. If they give up the OT winner in that game (which of course they easily could have) and go down 3-0, they almost certainly lose that series and go out early yet again. Instead they completed the comeback, won the series, and never looked back. The legacy of the Ovechkin Capitals is totally different if things go just a little differently in that Game 3. History now sees them as a team that overcame adversity and learned how to win instead of a perennial choker. But that's B.S., really; they just took advantage of the right break at the right moment and went on a run at the right time.

 

[RoadWarrior]

It is strange.. countless Leaf fans have repeatedly said that NYI and Montreal suck.. yet they keep winning in the playoffs and Toronto keeps losing.

Montreal is about to make it to the final 4. Something the Leafs haven’t done since 93. I really wish the Leafs sucked as much as NYI and Montreal.. maybe then the Leafs would win a playoff series.

The NYI and Habs are built for the playoffs. However that doesn't make them cup contenders. They don't have enough firepower to be cup contenders.

 

[mydnyte]

It is strange.. countless Leaf fans have repeatedly said that NYI and Montreal suck.. yet they keep winning in the playoffs and Toronto keeps losing.

Montreal is about to make it to the final 4. Something the Leafs haven’t done since 93. I really wish the Leafs sucked as much as NYI and Montreal.. maybe then the Leafs would win a playoff series.

The Islanders dont suck, they play a great team defense system, and have a very solid and perhaps the most under-rated defense in the league.
I've never heard any Leafs fans say the isles suck.

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

The NYI and Habs are built for the playoffs. However that doesn't make them cup contenders. They don't have enough firepower to be cup contenders.

Hmm... making it to the final 4 and winning 6 ( soon to be 7) straight playoff games would certainly seem to qualify as a Stanley Cup Contender.

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

The Islanders dont suck, they play a great team defense system, and have a very solid and perhaps the most under-rated defense in the league.
I've never heard any Leafs fans say the isles suck.

You must be new to the boards. Leaf fans crapped all over the Islanders for a long period and some still do.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Hmm... making it to the final 4 and winning 6 ( soon to be 7) straight playoff games would certainly seem to qualify as a Stanley Cup Contender.

The habs essentially have been gifted the last 6 playoff games by an a combination of injuries to Tavares and Muzzin, suspension of Scheifele and an inept Leaf's coaching staff.

The habs will be destroyed in the next round by Tampa, Boston, Colorado etc. It won't be close.

 

[DavePoulin4PM]

The habs essentially have been gifted the last 6 playoff games by an a combination of injuries to Tavares and Muzzin, suspension of Scheifele and an inept Leaf's coaching staff.

The habs will be destroyed in the next round by Tampa, Boston, Colorado etc. It won't be close.

Yep. Habs have been gifted 6 straight playoff wins. That’s how the NHL works... it is that easy. Habs essentially did nothing to earn those wins. You’re 100% right the Habs will get DESTROYED against a real team!!!

I will bookmark this for next round

 

[JayfromNB1219]

They are built from the net out. Many laughed at their top 4 dmen. Well they are not laughing now. Many laughed at Suzuki, Kotkiniemi (sp), Cole, Gallagher, Anderson. Well they ain't laughing now. Many laughed at Bergevin. Well they ain't laughing now.

I remember when they traded for Staal and I jokingly posted. "Check. Your move Kyle", and was raked. Well it was check mate in 7 Kyle. LOL.

Uhh I will laugh at all of them…us melting down does not make them any better lol Winnipeg being low key trash without helley standing on his head doesn’t say anything about MTL either…now if they sweep Vegas or Colorado come back and talk to me…until then though…definitely not interested in this hot take lol