Post-Game Talk: Murray's first Win as a Leaf!, 5-2 leafs

[Canada4Gold]

As bad as that Sandin giveaway was it was a fumble that could happen to anyone. It's not like he made a terrible decision, or took a huge risk, or bad a bad play on purpose. I'm way more willing to ignore fluke puck bounces or fanned passes. He has not been good though.

Murray looked pretty solid. Need to get back into game mode and get a feel for the puck a bit more but a great game. I think he's a solid goalie but he needs to stay healthy. I don't think Dubas was wrong to like Murray in the offseason. He just didn't get market value back given the injury history. If you believe in your scouting you could make a move like that and it be a huge win, but it's a big risk because you got a bad deal market value wise so you better be right.

 

[Gabriel426]

Sandin thing is one of those flukes that happened once in a long while.
That Holl cross checked to Malgin and the Kerfoot pass to Murray are more concerning as both of them are starting to do things like that in the game too often.

 

[Gabriel426]

Much better apart.

Funny how they were together for about 15 seconds when JT's man scores.

I think there was too much AM+MM, and Bunting got left out. With Nylander it looks more like a threesome.

I think MM looks for AM too much esp if the team is struggling or they are struggling. While Willie will just do his thing regardless of who he is playing with.

AM's shot might not be there yet but I find he is more engaged playing with Willie and Bunting, as he understands he needs to do more than just waiting for a pass from MM,

 

[TheDoldrums]

Can't remember the last time we had no power plays *and* had two penalties called on non-existent infractions. Pretty staggering...

What a showing by Murray though, especially when it was a 1 goal game. Huge confidence boost.

They gave us a PP once we had scored the empty netter to end the game, we didn't even put PP1 out. So no practical benefit but it made the stats look closer...

 

[Antropovsky]

Watching Murray in net I couldn't get over how big he looks when he's down. I thought he was 6'3 ish, so I was kinda shocked to see that he's listed at 6'5.

 

[Dayjobdave]

Sandin thing is one of those flukes that happened once in a long while.
That Holl cross checked to Malgin and the Kerfoot pass to Murray are more concerning as both of them are starting to do things like that in the game too often.

I agree that bad or reckless decisions are far worse than a physical mistake. They happen, although that was pretty epic.

The play that bothered me even though it didn’t bite us was Benn going to the net on the two on one at the end of the shift on the PK. That could have blown up huge if the goalie doesn’t freeze the puck. The vets need to lead the way with game management.

 

[AvroArrow]

Just horrendous officiating but still found a way to fight through it and win. That tripping call on Gio was a joke, then the "high stick" just embarrassing officiating. There was a shift about 5 minutes after the high stick call where the Pens tripped 3 of our guys and no call, just garbage officiating.

The positives, pretty much everything else. Marner completely dominating that game, Tavares looked good, Matthews looked good, and last but not least who the fooook is Jordie Benn and please continue to get him ice time. I did not know he was this good, looks like a perfect bottom pairing guy. Responsible defensively, physical and then obviously that stick save he made was a complete game changer.

Really happy for Murray as well, he was battling but he held it down. Huge confidence boost for him to get his first W against his former team.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

That was a big win, that could have fallen apart very quickly but they didn't allow it, they got through it.

Last night we saw the Matt Murray we need neither goal was great but when the team needed a big save he made it.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Murray and hopefully Samsonov can keep up his level of play.

If we can get solid play out of both the team will be in good shape

 

[willmma]

This team was 4-2-0 before that awful road trip

And 5-1-1 after that awful road trip.

9-3-1 when not on that awful road trip. Not too shabby.

 

[TMLAM34]

Murray looked shaky at times but overall looked really calm in net. Glad he got the W and had a good game. The guy is massive in net.

 

[Nineteen67]

They might want to sit Engvall and maybe Malgin again to make sure they don’t go back to sleep out there.

 

[justashadowof]

Only saw the condensed game so it's never a complete picture. That appeared to be two teams playing under a curtain of 1980's stadium lighting on lousy ice with two shaky goaltenders who seemed to lose track of the puck repeatedly. Still a very welcome win.

 

[Nineteen67]

Murray looked shaky at times but overall looked really calm in net. Glad he got the W and had a good game. The guy is massive in net.

I don’t know if it’s normal for him, but he seems to handle every shot like it’s a butterfly.

 

[TMLAM34]

They might want to sit Engvall and maybe Malgin again to make sure they don’t go back to sleep out there.

Not sure what people expect out of Malgin. Our fourth line has been one of our best for a little while now. Malgin has looked great even if he’s not constantly on the scoresheet which will never happen.

Engvall on the other hand has been a huge disappointment to date. Seemed like last year he was finally starting to take the next step in his development and it all went out the window this year.

 

[Mr Bill Waters]

Murray saves 35-37 shots! Fantastic! Dubas might be looking really shrewd by the end of the year.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Okay we're finally above .500........9 wins and 8 losses. Still not great but it's better. Keep it up, Leafs.

The Leafs have been for a while. You just don't accept how the overtime and shoot-outs are counted. They are 9-5-3.

 

[Nineteen67]

Not sure what people expect out of Malgin. Our fourth line has been one of our best for a little while now. Malgin has looked great even if he’s not constantly on the scoresheet which will never happen.

Engvall on the other hand has been a huge disappointment to date. Seemed like last year he was finally starting to take the next step in his development and it all went out the window this year.

Malgin looks like he’s starting to slip back into himself. Wouldn’t hurt to keep him hungry.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

As bad as that Sandin giveaway was it was a fumble that could happen to anyone. It's not like he made a terrible decision, or took a huge risk, or bad a bad play on purpose. I'm way more willing to ignore fluke puck bounces or fanned passes. He has not been good though.

Murray looked pretty solid. Need to get back into game mode and get a feel for the puck a bit more but a great game. I think he's a solid goalie but he needs to stay healthy. I don't think Dubas was wrong to like Murray in the offseason. He just didn't get market value back given the injury history. If you believe in your scouting you could make a move like that and it be a huge win, but it's a big risk because you got a bad deal market value wise so you better be right.

It was a bad decision but I imagine having Crosby pressuring you does that to a lot of players. But the fan on the pass isn't as bad as it looked live. The replays/highlights show the stick flex really badly which is what caused it (again, aside from the bad idea in the first place).

 

[ULF_55]

Thought the Leafs dominated the first period and then lost it there for a while in the 2nd.

It was a game they had control of for the most part.

Even made up for the officiating.

 

[LeafsandSharksfan]

Lost their game for about ten minutes in the second but I thought held it together strong the rest of the way. As much as Murray gives me anxiety the way he slides all over the crease he made some fantastic saves.

 

[ACC1224]

Sandin thing is one of those flukes that happened once in a long while.
That Holl cross checked to Malgin and the Kerfoot pass to Murray are more concerning as both of them are starting to do things like that in the game too often.

Didn't the same thing happen the other night?

 

[X66]

Lost their game for about ten minutes in the second but I thought held it together strong the rest of the way. As much as Murray gives me anxiety the way he slides all over the crease he made some fantastic saves.

I actually didn't expect him to be a goalie that would go wild in the net from time to time lol.

At times you're like 'wow, where is he going' lol.

One thing though that he looks really elite in, and something I love in goalies and hope he continues...when the puck hits him, it lands right in front. Used to love how Belfour and Bernier(when he was good for us lol) would do that.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Sandin with a brutal giveaway on the Crosby goal.

Marner, Bunting, and Matthews with good games.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Okay we're finally above .500........9 wins and 8 losses. Still not great but it's better. Keep it up, Leafs.

Above .500 hasn't meant anything in the NHL standings for several decades now. Wake up, smell the coffee and get with the program. PTS% is the only stat that matters in the overall standings and the Leafs are 8th overall with a .618 PTS%. Welcome to the 21st century.

Murray saves 35-37 shots! Fantastic! Dubas might be looking really shrewd by the end of the year.

A definite possibility. Gonna be a crow eating party if it happens, that's for sure!

Sandin with a brutal giveaway on the Crosby goal.

Marner, Bunting, and Matthews with good games.

Yes we all saw the giveaway. Let's give the kid a break shall we? It wasn't long ago people were saying he's a future top pairing guy for us, that was premature and giving up on him now like many seem to be doing would also be premature. Playing D in the NHL is freaking hard, the kid is only 22, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he looked great a few months from now.

GLG!!

 

[Warden of the North]

Solid win.You'd need to be pretty damn miserable to find fault with this game