Post-Game Talk: Mother's Day Massacre. Series tied 2-2

[Kiwi]

Extremely disappointing effort but it's now a best of 3 and we have home ice

It's time to put up or shut up, no excuses be better and stand up

 

[ULF_55]

PK did their job.
Nylander made the PP look okay.

That is all.

 

[Dr.Funk]

We were great that series but that was another example of a loss after being up in a series. We suck once we have a lead in a series.

And we fold when things get tough

 

[OVO16]

Cant believe we traded Kadri. One of the few players with any sort of Balls on the team. Suspension be damned.

Thanks Dubas

 

[Gallagbi]

Before this series started my main concerns were Keefe and Campbell. Keefe reminds me of the Boudreau era Caps. Solid coach but not the one who will get you to the ultimate prize.

Keefe can't make them compete. The systems and talent is there, it's a question of whether the heart and head is.

 

[ToneDog]

The boys made their Mom's a Leaf fans proud tonight. Not.

 

[wingman75]

even without Simmonds and Clifford look how many calls we got. put em back into the line up blackwell is useless.

Agree, get him out... Probably won't happen as Dubas and Keefe have been trying to acquire him for 2 years. I like Blackwell's effort, but he has no skill... always fumbling the puck. Can be a shooter. Can fill in on the PK.

All that being said, he is not the reason we lost this one.

 

[zeke]

 

[Anthrax442]

Cant believe we traded Kadri. One of the few players with any sort of Balls on the team. Suspension be damned.

Thanks Dubas

No point in having a player that is never playing when you need him.

 

[9Iron]

Wasn’t able to watch the first 2 periods. How bad was Holl?

You mean other than giving it up 3 times in row before Tampa scored in the 1st minute to take all the momentum... Let alone almost singlehandedly costing the last game that we were in total control of and then was inexplicably in tonight's lineup and was the starting D? LOLOLOL forever. Sabatoged by our own coach.

If I was the owner I would have walked down after the 1st minute and fired Keefe on the spot and taken over on the spot. No possible way I could have done a worse job from there.

 

[IPS]

Yes Johnny - we know.

Now please kindly demote yourself to the 4th line and give someone else a chance at #2C so we can actually have a chance at winning this f***ing series.

 

[GardinerTheForward]

Wasn’t able to watch the first 2 periods. How bad was Holl?

he lost the game in the first minute but kther than that no worse than the rest kf the no shows (everyone)

 

[2 Slick]

I could care less about nothing goals after the fact, this is my memory of this game…. Show the f*** up Game 5

Yeah, that's why people crap on Nylander. So, when people throw up 30+ goals, it's soft lazy coasting effort plays like this as to why he gets SO much shit. He does this every game.

 

[OVO16]

"Powerplay is our enforcer"

As soon as i heard those words couple of years ago, I knew Dubas and Keefe weren't gonna cut it

 

[jaric1862]

These penalties are honestly ruining the viewing experience of the playoffs. Way too many stoppages, and shorthanded play, not enough 5-on-5 play. I don't know what the NHL is thinking here.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

I mean that's what people said after game 2. Apparantly the Leafs aren't allowed to have any toughness in the lineup or else we parade to the box.

Clifford obviously took a horrible penalty game one, Simmonds was no better afterwards. To me, it's more about the guys in the top 9 actually showing up. Tavares is one of the highest paid in the league and he's a ghost. I'd love if if the tougher guys like Simmonds and Clifford were a positive for this team. All I see is more goals and more penalties with those two.

 

[crump]

That was a bad effort. 3-0 on 5 shots then it was 5-0 on 15 shots. Soup let some soft ones in but was left out to dry on a couple, Leafs defense was horrible and made Maroon look like Guy Lafleur. We were cooked 5 minutes in the 2nd period if not the end of the 1st. Just not prepared, Keefe and coaching staff have to take responsibility for that. Why not start Matthews line at the beginning of the game if they are going to match anyway? Top lines looked like dung all night.

I can take losing but not like that. Everyone needs to feel shame and reset. Which team will show up? The one that wins 5-0 or loses 5-0 by the second period?

 

[wingman75]

Keefe can't make them compete. The systems and talent is there, it's a question of whether the heart and head is.

I don't question the heart... I do the head. There is some mental block with the leaders of this group the just brings out complete nonsesne in big moments. One of them has to find a way through that. Maybe it happens in game 7.

 

[Stephen]

I honestly don't know how to be positive or negative considering we've seen two variations of the Leafs in four games so far. The game 2 loss was just due to taking way too many penalties, for 70% of the game, the effort was still intact for large chunks of the game. I complained, but I actually had positives to bring from that game.

Even though they got 3 goals in the third period, it's tough for me to bring anything positive out of this game.

The defense and entire team hung Campbell out to dry, but Campbell wasn't great either, so while it's not all on him, some of it was just bad goaltending too.

Just Holl was absolutely atrocious in the first period. Absolutely mind-blown at how Keefe decided to put him back in after his game 3 performance? Pinches, took a dumb penalty, gave Tampa Life with a powerplay goal in game 3 and the Leafs hang on by the skin of their teeth the rest of the game, Holl shows up in game 4 and basically says, hey Tampa, want a free 3-4 goals? Just flabbergasted at the chance after chance this piece of shit is given. WHY? Who the f**k cares if he's good on the PK. If he's terrible at 5 on 5 and makes his team worse, I don't give a flying shit how good he is on the PK.

Tavares? Embarrassing would be the nicest thing I could say about his overall effort. He had maybe one good play all game and that lead to a goal by Nylander. Complete non-factor in this series. At least in games one and two he was a monster on faceoffs, now he can't even do that properly. No foot speed, no offensive drive, no 50-50 battles being won, no passion, no effort, no extra pep in his step, all the cliches, he's completely a ghost out there.

Nylander does what he always does. Coasts, plays soft, scores a few goals, disappears for 3-4 games. I don't even care that he scored twice, that gaffe at the blue-line was just soft, led to the empty net goal. Same for Tavares, lost a 50-50 battle, ends up the ice, in the back of our net, 2nd empty net goal.

I guess the lone positive I have about Nylander is that maybe this will spark and motivate him to do better in game 5?

Matthews I'm very disappointed in. I don't care about a useless powerplay assist, at 5 on 5, he and Marner brought nothing in game 4 and for the most part, did the same thing 5 on 5 in game 3. You can't be a 60 goal scorer, have 106 points and then decide to play scared when the games matter most. His two goals in this series are A. One from being at 5 on 3, was a good shot, but it's pretty much a gift. B. Second goal was an empty-netter gift from Vasilevskiy. I mean, good on him for having the awareness, but that was just a freebie.

Zero goals in games two, three and now four from our top offensive producer... it's not good enough. He's doing what he's done most playoffs, show up for a game or two, coast the rest of the way and play scared. He was good in his rookie series against Washington and had another good series against Boston, but was invisible last post-season, one goal, 2 goals in 5 games against Blue Jackets, 1 goal in 7 games against Boston in 2018. It's... NOT.... good enough.

Marner isn't putting up goals either when it matters most.

When David Kampf has as many goals as your two offensive weapons, a guy who had ONE goal all season with the Blackhawks the season prior, then you know they aren't doing their jobs.

Campbell is pretty much playing like I expected he would. Lets be realistic, I was giving him shit for months from December 15th all the way until early April. He was hovering at around 880% and 3.25 GAA for 4 months straight, my confidence in him was pretty much nil.

He was good in game one, but wasn't tested, he was gifted a shutout by Tampa Bay. They now showed that one. He was great in game 3, but pretty meh in games 2 and 4. Not all his fault, mind you, too many penalties in game 2 and just bad all around in game 4, but him being streaky is pretty much how I expected him to be.

My only positive from this game? Kallgren gave up 0 goals in relief, then again, he wasn't tested overly either, but I have to try to find something? Anything?

I said the Leafs would take this series in 6 games, I still feel they will. I don't know why I feel that way, but I choose to have some faith. The series isn't over yet. If they lose game 5 at home, then it's over. If they win game 5, then I think it's the Leafs for the taking.

I'm exhausted from this team, they know how to make you sing their praises one game and then make you hate them the next game. Two polar opposites in the playoffs. I just HONESTLY felt like we wouldn't see a complete NO show in game 4 after that heartbreak in the playoffs last year. I mean.... HOW do you do that? I just... I have no words for itt. So baffling that a team with THIS many talented players can look like an ECHL team.... it BLOWS my mind.

So disappointed.

I hear ya. For me, this game is all negative and I don't find a single good thing about a team that was happy to take the split home even if they made a fake little push at the end. We all know Vasi can be beatable and Tampa's energy level isn't consistent.

For me, I think the Leafs will likely still have 1x god mode game left in them, and probably 1x freebie to give away to Tampa, which takes us back to Game 7. But how can we trust a team to put their best foot forward in Game 7 if they're still laying eggs as late as Game 4 in a series when they could have exorcised demons comfortably?

 

[Jmo89]

Bad effort by the players but Keefe did alot of things to put the team in a bad spot in the first.

- Trusting Holl against the top line
- Playing Kase on the second line
- Not slowing the game down after the 2-0 goal
- Not pulling the goalie after 3 goals on 6 shots.

I think those are all things he could have handled better, early.

I understand not wanting to change a winning lineup, but Kase was nearly invisible in game 3 and should not be sniffing the 2nd line right now. He had a nice stretch of 10 games with Nylander/Tavares until he tried to stop a speeding hockey player with his head. The playoffs don't allow the luxury of letting a 3rd line player find his game against the defending champs.

Holl should also (at minimum) be getting sheltered, but Rielly also had his worst game of the playoffs. At the very least, Kase should have sat for Clifford or Simmonds.

What's funny is Keefe's decisions for and during this game reminded me exactly of the guy everyone wanted run out of town. This felt like a game coached by Babcock. Trust where its not deserved, stubbornness over the lineup, and little to no adjustments. Babcock probably pulls the goalie at 3-0 though.

I love Spezza but this isn't a good series for him. Sit Kase and Spezza. Dress Simmonds and Clifford for game 5. Or let Spezza centre them and sit Blackwell. Do the same thing as Tampa; run up the score early and then the penalties done matter when you're up by 3, 4, or 5. It's easy to be tough when you're leading by that much.

Oh, and with more protection from Simmonds and Clifford replace Holl with Lil.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

About as same as Dion.

Only difference being that Phaneuf’s teams were expected to suck.

 

[LadyLala]

Hollow words

 

[leafsfan2point0]

No matter who we put on the ice the refs are going to find a way to call us. So F*** it, might aswell put Simmonds and Clifford out there and stir it up

 

[IPS]

You mean other than giving it up 3 times in row before Tampa scored in the 1st minute to take all the momentum... Let alone almost singlehandedly costing the last game and then was inexplicably in tonight's lineup and was the starting D? LOLOLOL forever. Sabatoged by our own coach.

If I was the owner I would have walked down after the 1st minute and fired Keefe on the spot and taken over on the spot. No possible way I could have done a worse job from there.

Make no mistake about it - Holl is as much Dubas as he is Keefe. Dubas brought him in, Dubas extended him, Dubas protected him at the expansion draft. It would kill Dubey if this team won without Holl being a part of it.

 

[ULF_55]

Yeah, that's why people crap on Nylander. So, when people throw up 30+ goals, it's soft lazy coasting effort plays like this as to why he gets SO much shit. He does this every game.

Yes, at 5-0 it was a key point.