Series Talk: North Division Round 1: Leafs (1) vs. Canadiens (4)

[Stephen]

In 3 of the 4 series so far the other team has had both the skill and goaltending advantage. In the 4th they at least had the goaltending advantage.

Bit surprised you’d characterize the Bruins and Capitals as the more talented teams compared to Toronto in their playoff matchups. I’d probably agree with Washington in 2017, but I’m not so sure about Boston.

Otherwise if Toronto had been the hard working underdog with inadequate goaltending shouldn’t Dubas have gone aggressively towards adding even more high end skill and upgrading the number one goalie? The fact that we’ve gotten progressively bigger and grittier and older and slower would suggest the low hanging fruit in the equation was upping the effort level and playing harder. Not more dekes and dangles.

Put another way. I think we would be closer to a championship if the core was simply not mature enough to work to its full potential vs not having enough skill to get it done. The former is a work in progress requiring growth and effort level. The latter means we don’t have the right personnel in key positions and are also capped out of making meaningful upgrades without a massive restructuring.

 

[Brobust]

Toronto v Montreal game 1 better be a redux of Colorado v St Louis game 1.

 

[BertCorbeau]

They must have some type of strategy that they didn’t want to show during the season. They can’t just keep doing what they’ve been doing, can they?

I'd like to think, given the number of games against the Habs they've had down the stretch and the fact that they clinch/won the division that they were playing some rope a dope to save some new stuff for the playoffs, but I'm not holding my breathe.

As far as I'm concerned I'm not expecting any PP goals from the Leafs in this series. Just hoping they don't kill their 5 on 5 momentum or give the Habs any shorties.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Scared to have them out against Simmonds cant say I blame them.

Honestly, I know Habs fans won't like that decision and I can understand why I guess. But I think it is the right call on their end. They are meh 5v5 players and they will not be able to insulate their minutes by giving them favorable matchups w/o last change. I am surprised about JK to be honest because he played all 56 games for them in the regular season. But Caulfield I understand completely. He shows the flashes that clearly show he will be a good player in time, but he is absent 5v5. Similar to Robertson last year and this year. Just too many shifts 5v5 where he goes unnoticed or is clearly in over his head.

 

[Bluelines]

Outworked, and clogged the slot in the d-zone... pretty much same recipe for every loss, that, and blatant giveaways for easy goals.

We must lead the league for goals surrendered as a direct result of a d-zone giveaway (within seconds too).

Yep... neutral zone trap and outworked.

 

[Menzinger]

Honestly, I know Habs fans won't like that decision and I can understand why I guess. But I think it is the right call on their end. They are meh 5v5 players and they will not be able to insulate their minutes by giving them favorable matchups w/o last change. I am surprised about JK to be honest because he played all 56 games for them in the regular season. But Caulfield I understand completely. He shows the flashes that clearly show he will be a good player in time, but he is absent 5v5. Similar to Robertson last year and this year. Just too many shifts 5v5 where he goes unnoticed or is clearly in over his head.

The guys they're being replaced by are pretty meh themselves though.

I imagine they'll get thrown in once the Habs are down by at least a couple games

 

[Stephen]

I just think it's funny that people think the Habs are going to magically turn into this defensive juggernaut just because it's the post-season. Yes play tends to tighten up, but it's not going to turn average players into stars.

Matthews' absolutely feasted on them this year.

I’m hoping Matthews lights up Carey Price early and often and puts to bed the notion that he’s this all world Hasek type goalie from 2014. That was also behind one of the greatest two way Olympic rosters ever put together

 

[Menzinger]

What makes you say that, aren't we expecting Simmonds to play in every game? He said he expects to use them at some point ...

Tongue in cheek on my part. But reads like a coach scared to trust his young players (due to pressure or physicality concerns).

In particular strikes me as odd considering the Habs team lacks any real game breaking offensive guys​

 

[Bluelines]

Funny thing is the most outlier stat in a our bad stretches was awful goaltending, not overall play.

Keep saying it does not make it true, it makes you look like a guy who is either 1) Uneducated on the facts or 2) manipulative that you are trying to Gaslight or worse, both. Either way its not a good look on you.

 

[X66]

A blow out game in game 1 and 2 pretty much seals the series.

Leafs have to understand that and their shooters need to perform.

This scheduling is so dumb that if the Leafs go tied back to Montreal, game 3&4 is a back to back, that means game 4 is a big of a coin-flip as any of the games.

 

[Twine Tickler]

The guys they're being replaced by are pretty meh themselves though.

I imagine they'll get thrown in once the Habs are down by at least a couple games

Ya for sure. It almost as if they are forecasting them needing a spark later in the series for one reason or another. As in, if they lose both in TOR they can insert these 2 for game 3 and get that spark they otherwise wouldn't have had. Or under best case scenario for them, they steal 2 in TOR and still have that as an ace in the hole to try and close things out should the Leafs respond in game 3.

 

[Bluelines]

I’m hoping Matthews lights up Carey Price early and often and puts to bed the notion that he’s this all world Hasek type goalie from 2014. That was also behind one of the greatest two way Olympic rosters ever put together

Hockey is a game of tradition, which is one of may things that makes it great, is also one of the things that makes it bad. Hockey people tend to thaw slowly on the thought a former star is no longer a star.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Deal with it and don't make it an excuse would be my advice

I'm just a fan, there's nothing for me to "deal with" lol. There's plenty of evidence that crowds are a huge part of home advantage, when one team has that and the other doesn't thats a significant difference. I'm just pointing that out.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

The Habs are sitting the three players I was actually most concerned about. Pretty hilarious.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Ya for sure. It almost as if they are forecasting them needing a spark later in the series for one reason or another. As in, if they lose both in TOR they can insert these 2 for game 3 and get that spark they otherwise wouldn't have had. Or under best case scenario for them, they steal 2 in TOR and still have that as an ace in the hole to try and close things out should the Leafs respond in game 3.

Clearly they're going for a veteran heavy line up to try and be steady defensively and shut the Leafs' offense down.

I don't know if that plays to their strength or not.

 

[mix1home]

Romanov is also sitting out

.. they're really afraid to play their youngsters.

Perhaps plan is to rough up Leafs in game one and then go with more skill rest of the series?

 

[Bluelines]

The Habs are sitting the three players I was actually most concerned about. Pretty hilarious.

Caufield scored 4 goals in 6 games and they are "resting" him?

 

[zeke]

Bit surprised you’d characterize the Bruins and Capitals as the more talented teams compared to Toronto in their playoff matchups. I’d probably agree with Washington in 2017, but I’m not so sure about Boston.

Otherwise if Toronto had been the hard working underdog with inadequate goaltending shouldn’t Dubas have gone aggressively towards adding even more high end skill and upgrading the number one goalie? The fact that we’ve gotten progressively bigger and grittier and older and slower would suggest the low hanging fruit in the equation was upping the effort level and playing harder. Not more dekes and dangles.

Put another way. I think we would be closer to a championship if the core was simply not mature enough to work to its full potential vs not having enough skill to get it done. The former is a work in progress requiring growth and effort level. The latter means we don’t have the right personnel in key positions and are also capped out of making meaningful upgrades without a massive restructuring.

Both those teams had the elite talent to match our still young top guys, while having better depth talent.

Matthews 19 -- Ovechkin 31
Marner 19 ----- Backstrom 29
Nylander 20 --- Kuznetsov 24

Kadri 26 ------ Oshie 30
VanRyk 27 --- Williams 35
Komarov 30 - Johansson 26

Bozak 30 --- Eller 27
Hyman 24 - Wilson 22
Brown 23 --- Burakovsky 21

Boyle 32 ---- Beagle 31
Martin 27 --- Winnik 31
Kapanen 20 --- Connolly 24/Vrana 20



Rielly 22 ----- Carlson 27
Hunwick 30 - Niskanen 30

Gardiner 26 -- Shattenkirk 28
Zaitsev 25 ----- Orlov 25

Marincin 24 -- Schmidt 25
Polak 30 ---- Alzner 28
Carrick 22 -- Orpik 36

Andersen 27 --- Holtby 27
McElhinney 33 - Grubauer 25



Matthews 20 -- Bergeron 32
Marner 20 ----- Marchand 29
Nylander 21 --- Pastrnak 21

Kadri 27 ------ Krejci 31
VanRyk 28 --- Rick Nash 33
Marleau 38 - Backes 33

Bozak 31 --- Riley Nash 27
Hyman 25 - Acciari 25
Brown 24 -- Kuraly 26

Plekanec 35 ---- Gionta 39
Kapanen 21 --- Debrusk 21
Johnsson 23 --- Heinen 22
Komarov 31 --- Wingels 27


Rielly 23 ----- McAvoy 20
Hainsey 36 - Chara 40

Gardiner 27 -- Krug 26
Zaitsev 26 ----- Miller 30

Polak 31 ---- McQuaid 31
Dermott 21 - Grzelcyk 24
Marincin 25 - Holden 30


Andersen 28 --- Rask 30
McElhinney 34 - Khudobin 31

No shame in admitting those teams simply had more prime talent right through the roster. Credit to the leafs for competing so hard against them.


It wasn't until year 3 that we actually started matching talentwise:

Matthews 21 -- Bergeron 33
Marner 21 ----- Marchand 30
Nylander 22 --- Pastrnak 22

Tavares 28 --- Krejci 32
Hyman 26 --- Debrusk 22
Kadri 28 ------ Johansson 28

Marleau 39 --- Backes 34
Kapanen 22- Debrusk 22
Johnsson 24 -- Heinen 23

Brown 25 ---- Kuraly 26
Ennis 29 --- Nordstrom 26
Gauthier 23 --- Acciari 27
Moore 23 --- Wagner 27


Rielly 24 ----- McAvoy 21
Muzzin 29 -- Chara 41

Hainsey 37 -- Krug 27
Zaitsev 27 ----- Carlo 22

Gardiner 28 -- Grzelcyk 25
Dermott 22 - Clifton 23
Marincin 26 - Moore 28


Andersen 29 --- Rask 30
Hutchinson 29 - Khudobin 31


Now this year was a bit of a piss off - but I will never let Babcock off the hook for his gross overplaying of Marleau, Hainsey, and Zaitsev when we had clearly superior options.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Caufield scored 4 goals in 6 games and they are "resting" him?

Easily the best offensive player on their team and he sits. It’s beautiful.

 

[Marshy]

A quick read of the Habs Pre-series thread - they are not happy about Staal and Byron playing for Caufield and Kotkaniemi. They want Bergevin fired and want an 8-0 drubbing in game 1. I say Leafs oblige them.

 

[zeke]

Keep saying it does not make it true, it makes you look like a guy who is either 1) Uneducated on the facts or 2) manipulative that you are trying to Gaslight or worse, both. Either way its not a good look on you.

The stats are posted for you by @Twine Tickler above.

What doesn't look good is a poster like you continuing to hurl false insults constantly without having the slightest clue as to the facts.

 

[Bluelines]

The Habs are sitting the three players I was actually most concerned about. Pretty hilarious.

I was curious if the Hab fans were on board with the Game 1 lineup, from their forum:

Absolutely f*cking ridiculous...how can anyone make excuses for these two f*cktards anymore??...what's next; Gustafsson in for Evans??...Weal or Belzile in for Suzuki??...I know, we can call Frankie Boo Boo out of retirement and put him with Weber, use Shyterot on LW instead of Toffoli...maybe even dress Bargain Bin himself as an extra D...get everyone under the age of 35 out of the lineup and get some good vets...it is rather amusing, however, that just a few years ago Bargain Bin wasn't interested in a good vet like Jagr but now he's all about filling the lineup with guys who haven't quite reached the "Get my Walker" stage yet...sad...Habs are run by Galactic F*cktards and our idiot Owner could care less, as long as the cash keeps flowing in like the stale piss his family brews...un-f*cking believable...

LOL ... nope

 

[egd27]

They must have some type of strategy that they didn’t want to show during the season. They can’t just keep doing what they’ve been doing, can they?

You have to hope so.
Maybe Keefe figured they were still winning and decided not to unveil his double secret super duper PP strategy until the playoffs?

 

[Bluelines]

The stats are posted for you by @Twine Tickler above.

What doesn't look good is a poster like you continuing to hurl false insults constantly without having the slightest clue as to the facts.

If you don't like being called out for your questionable posting tactics, then change your posting style. You're in a constant state of conflict on this msg board, there is a reason for that and its not because of the "other guy".

 

[zeke]

A quick read of the Habs Pre-series thread - they are not happy about Staal and Byron playing for Caufield and Kotkaniemi. They want Bergevin fired and want an 8-0 drubbing in game 1. I say Leafs oblige them.

In bergy's defense I'm pretty sure caufield and Romanov deserve to be out. Caufields been getting buried at even strength while Romanov had steadily declined from his solid start to where a guy like Merrill is probably an upgrade.

Not so sure about Kotkaniemi - Staal hasn't earned a spot ahead of him in don't think.