keonsbitterness
Registered User
I would have figured most playoff teams have somewhere near a .500 record against playoff teams, barring a team having a historically great season.
Once again, skidding into the playoffs...
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It's also an improvement in our record against playoff teams, in the playoffs.
ITM
As Long As It Takes
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To the OP's title re: Skidding; It occurred to me that we will skid into the playoffs the question is one of style and character.
We could skid like Chastain's wallride or tripod like a friend's dog across the carpet - my money's on the latter.
But If home-ice is gone, either way is fine by me so long as we're smiling, knowing full well July 1 will be here soon enough and a first round exit a lot sooner.
We could skid like Chastain's wallride or tripod like a friend's dog across the carpet - my money's on the latter.
But If home-ice is gone, either way is fine by me so long as we're smiling, knowing full well July 1 will be here soon enough and a first round exit a lot sooner.
2nd in the division, 4th in conf, 3rd best road record in the league of 32 teams.
It's just never ending misery in this section, I'm starting to see why so many people hate the leaf's as it seems like many of their own fans hate them as well...
It's just never ending misery in this section, I'm starting to see why so many people hate the leaf's as it seems like many of their own fans hate them as well...
Gary Nylund
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Ignore 8 consecutive seasons of sub .500 hockey in the playoffs and be happy.
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The only real disappoints in terms of expectations they’ve had in the post season are losing in the play in series and to that team out east in the made up divisions. Other than they’ve been good.Ignore 8 consecutive seasons of sub .500 hockey in the playoffs and be happy.
Commander Clueless
Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
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Gary Nylund
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We were massive favorites against Florida, and got crushed. We've also been dominated almost every time we get to game 7. You call that good?
9th overall, +16 goal differential (3rd worst of the Matthews/Marner era), carried by our goaltending/defense for most of the season, while our generational goal scorer hasn't even cracked 30 yet at a 13.25m price tag. I wouldn't say misery, just observant.
I don't even see "hate" in this thread, just apathy. Which is appropriate given the circumstance.
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They were massive favourites against Florida? Who said that?
Those teams getting to games 7 was the accomplishment, yes that was about good as they could do based on the players they’ve had.
Gary Nylund
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The people who set the betting lines. I don't remember the exact line (maybe -170?) but I do remember that our of the 4 second round series, we were by far the biggest favorite to win.
If you play a team even through 6 games, I see no reason to accept that that's "about good as they could do" and shrug off getting squished in game 7. Agree to disagree.
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Betting lines? Goodness gracious.
They never got squished they got worn down over the 7 game series. That was even the case when they lost in the Canadian division, but you could argue they shouldn’t have been in that situation.
Gary Nylund
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The betting lines are usually pretty accurate. Not 100% accurate but close enough that they're backed with huge sums of money and profitable.
Worn down over 7 games maybe, but squished in game 7. IIRC that MTL series was the only one where game 7 was close, usually we lose something like 3-0, 3-1 etc.
Why are we always the ones that get worn down?
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HockeyVirus
Woll stan.
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To me, the whole "playoff hockey is different" thing will be put to the test. We spent a bunch of the year playing a system that didn't fit the team build because it was supposed to prepare them for the playoffs. In that regard, the regular season really does not matter at all.
The real test is going to be the playoffs like we all knew. Can our goaltending find their peak form at that time? Will the system allow us to block a ton of shots and limit high danger chances? Will our forwards be able to dump and chase and win the puck battles to cycle and does that lead to us being able to actually score?
To me, too many similarities to the past with this core to think things will be different. Not to mention our PK cannot be trusted and I expect our PP to go ice cold when it counts again
The real test is going to be the playoffs like we all knew. Can our goaltending find their peak form at that time? Will the system allow us to block a ton of shots and limit high danger chances? Will our forwards be able to dump and chase and win the puck battles to cycle and does that lead to us being able to actually score?
To me, too many similarities to the past with this core to think things will be different. Not to mention our PK cannot be trusted and I expect our PP to go ice cold when it counts again
Ianturnedbull
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I agree, but if I started a thread titled "Matthews should get involved in fist-to-cuffs from time to time to prove his leadership", 99% of leaf fans on this board would want the thread closed. They would say "ok sure. Let's have our best scorer sitting in the penalty box for 5 min!" , or "Yeah great. Have our best shooter break his hand in a fight. This is the new NHL where fighting is the way of the dinosaur!"
Gary Nylund
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Yup, the real test is ALWAYS the playoffs. Early in the season the party line when we played poorly was that it takes time to adjust to the new system. Not sure what the excuse is now as you'd think we'd have figured it out by now. Bottom line, I agree that there's not much reason to think anything will be different. Goaltending should be more reliable and the D is (maybe) better but if the big guns see their production dry up the way it seems to do every spring, that's going to be nowhere near enough.
I don't care if he ever drops the gloves but we need to see the Matthews from Game 3 of the Bos series last year more frequently.
He could be a lot better getting into people's faces in front of the net or after the whistle but that doesn't seem to be who he is.
Gary Nylund
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It's not about proving anything and he doesn't necessarily need to fight, but showing a little bit of a mean streak even on very rare occasions could go a long way. Instead of a fight, an elbow to the face of an annoying twerp like Marchand followed by a nasty smile, something along those lines would be great to see.
Matthews has 0% of that Messier meanness in him, I'd like to see him raise that to even 10% and maybe snarl instead of laughing when it gets rough.
This team is notorious for being easy to play against and it all starts with the captain.
kevsh
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What do you mean "good"?
Seriously. They have one playoff series win in 8 seasons.
4 of the 9 series they lost were against teams that they finished higher in the standings/had more points. For 5 they were the lower seed but as we've seen many times (up close, see my previous point) the lower seed can pull off an upset. Not with this team however.
Expectations-wise then, the Leafs should have won at least 5-6 series by now, or at least 3-4 if you're being really, really forgiving/generous. And the one they did win was against a very tired Lightning team that had just gone to the final 3 years in a row and were ripe for beating (which still took the Leafs until game 6 OT to do).
The only real disappoints ... is this team.
notDatsyuk
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Some posters seem to think it's a crap shoot with the league handing the other team loaded dice.
Stephen
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The thing that annoys me about Matthews conversations and him applying himself in the rough and tumble stuff. If the difference in winning and losing is him applying himself at a fraction of Matthew Tkachuk, why is he excused from those things? Especially when playing with more power would make him more difficult to play against?
notDatsyuk
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Betting lines are based more on who's going to bet than on who's going to win.
Gary Nylund
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That's true, but the betting public is so much smarter than they were in days of old that they're almost the same anyway. One of the more popular arguments people love is that there are so many Leaf fans, so the lines on them are such that the payouts are less than they should be as people will bet them regardless. I always say no, that's just not true and today we seem to have evidence to refute this claim.
This is fanduel odds right now. You'd think if the theory of adjusting the lines for the Leafs was true, the line would be maybe +1000 instead of +1600.
Ranking us 10th our of all the contenders seems pretty accurate to me, and I'd guess it's an accurate reflection of who is likely to win and also who people are betting on to win.
