Playoff Race Thread

[hamzarocks]

Well we made up one point in the three games since the break. Sadly the Panthers got the point tonight

 

[IPS]

Since the Islanders are now in a Wild Card position themselves what does that say about their season, considering they had a 15 game point streak and dropped out of top 3 in the Metropolitan.

Tends to happen when your unsustainable goaltending comes back down to earth.

 

[Cleetus]

Florida falling ass backwards into points. OTL. And hands CBJ the full two points. And the Islanders win. Looking forward to a Hutchison Horror tomorrow.

hoping Hutch is clutch tomorrow and Andersen will go this weekend doubt but heres to hoping lol.

 

[Suntouchable13]

It's almost like every game is a must win from now till the end. Big game tomorrow. If they can win, that would be huge. Maybe Vegas can do us a favour on Thursday?

 

[mikeyz]

Tends to happen when your unsustainable goaltending comes back down to earth.

Barzal bailed them out tonight.

 

[Stephen]

It's almost like every game is a must win from now till the end. Big game tomorrow. If they can win, that would be huge. Maybe Vegas can do us a favour on Thursday?

With so many teams in front of us every night someone seems to be picking up points. The Leafs have struggled many times this season and looks like they are behind the 8 ball when it comes to qualifying.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Florida falling ass backwards into points. OTL. And hands CBJ the full two points. And the Islanders win. Looking forward to a Hutchison Horror tomorrow.

And Tampa pulling a win out of their ass. They had no business winning that game

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Another 3 point game. These could be our demise unless we start getting more. Last night would have been a good start.

 

[kk87]

I can’t get over the fact that we were two points out of a playoff spot when we fired Babcock and after playing at a 112 POINT PACE for 30 games under Keefe we’re still two points out of a playoff spot. This team has proven it’s elite for almost half a season with a real coach and we haven’t been rewarded for it in the slightest, **** this league lmao

 

[LeafsNation75]

Thank you CBJ

It would have been better if they won in regulation and not letting the Panthers get 1 point just for going to overtime.

 

[saffronleaf]

I can’t get over the fact that we were two points out of a playoff spot when we fired Babcock and after playing at a 112 POINT PACE for 30 games under Keefe we’re still two points out of a playoff spot. This team has proven it’s elite for almost half a season with a real coach and we haven’t been rewarded for it in the slightest, **** this league lmao

it's ridiculous

 

[Gabriel426]

It is a good lesson for the boys. Blues was fighting for a spot last year and won the Cup. BJs was out till winning their last two games and swept the best team in the regular season. Can’t see why Leafs can’t do that.

 

[NewEraGM]

it's ridiculous

You realize everyone in the playoff hunt has been playing at that pace....the world isn’t out to get the leafs

 

[NewEraGM]

It is a good lesson for the boys. Blues was fighting for a spot last year and won the Cup. BJs was out till winning their last two games and swept the best team in the regular season. Can’t see why Leafs can’t do that.

Well they have no defense or team defense

 

[Gabriel426]

Well they have no defense or team defense

That’s something they will learn if they make the playoffs.
Honestly, I think they are getting better, even before their last game, most of the goals against were resulted of careless plays more than the team not playing defense. They just need to cut down on their individual mistakes and play a simple game.

 

[Nithoniniel]

You realize everyone in the playoff hunt has been playing at that pace....

Which is what's ridiculous. Almost all the best teams in the league over that stretch has been our direct competitors for a playoff spot.

 

[Nithoniniel]

That’s something they will learn if they make the playoffs.
Honestly, I think they are getting better, even before their last game, most of the goals against were resulted of careless plays more than the team not playing defense. They just need to cut down on their individual mistakes and play a simple game.

If they play a simple game, they'll lose. We are performing at a high level because we play a more difficult but rewarding game than most teams can match. We shouldn't move away from that.

I'd say that our biggest problem continues to be goaltending. Our defense hasn't been good, but it hasn't been 'worst in the league' bad. We're last in the league in save percentage lately though.

 

[Stephen]

That’s something they will learn if they make the playoffs.
Honestly, I think they are getting better, even before their last game, most of the goals against were resulted of careless plays more than the team not playing defense. They just need to cut down on their individual mistakes and play a simple game.

The philosophical question is whether the Leafs can consistently battle that way given the way they are built. The Blues and CBJ also has elite defense and goaltending to fall back on to grind it out. The Leafs are built on offense and when they play to their strengths it becomes a track meet and can easily get away from them. We don’t have a broad base and it remains to be seen whether they can win in all situations.

 

[JayfromNB1219]

Yeah I think he was a useful player with sub-optimal usage. Worth the $2.1M in my opinion, but not if he was going to be on a 4th line...but his lack of offensive aptitude made it difficult to justify a bigger role on our high flying squad.

Yes and no...I mean the defensive conscious he brought to the lines he played on are definitely worth 1-2M but it's like he lost his hands (in junior the kid could practically stickhandle in a phone booth) maybe it was a confidence thing...but he seems to have somewhat righted his ship in Ottawa (he was never going to be an offensive dynamo in the NHL)

 

[Mess]

Panthers look terrible. Problem with being in the back of the pack is these conference games means a team we are chasing is getting points regardless.

That is actually the main reason its so hard to make up ground or fall out of the race quickly.

Potential 3 point games with teams you're chasing like this 1-0 Columbus win in OT handed out points to both teams.

You can't simply hope or count on teams you're chasing to lose games because of head to head matches where the outcome, regardless even if it ended in regulation somebody is always walking away with 2 points.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I can’t get over the fact that we were two points out of a playoff spot when we fired Babcock and after playing at a 112 POINT PACE for 30 games under Keefe we’re still two points out of a playoff spot. This team has proven it’s elite for almost half a season with a real coach and we haven’t been rewarded for it in the slightest, **** this league lmao

You should look at the standings by PTS%, that will give a much more accurate picture and you'd see that we're in much better position today than we were then. Just as one example of how distorted a picture you get when looking only at points, when Babs was fired, we were two points ahead of TB. They had 5! games in hand on us though so it was pretty obvious that in the race to the playoffs, we were way behind them.

Going by PTS%, I believe we were 13th overall in the East when Babcock was given the boot, today we're 9th, we're so close to the teams we're chasing that we could even be 6th a week from now while teams not in the top 10 are pretty much out of it. Things are much better today, no doubt about it. As far as being rewarded, you get a point when you don't lose in regulation and another point if you win. That's the same for all teams, so there is zero reason to complain about the league not "rewarding" us.

Big game tonight (they're all big now), would be nice to win and be rewarded with 2 points. GLG!!

 

[MSZ]

It would have been better if they won in regulation and not letting the Panthers get 1 point just for going to overtime.

3 points games are happening nightly. The Leafs simply have to win some games even with the injuries they have.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Next 7 games are a prime opportunity for a heater:
Rangers
Ducks
Habs
Coyotes
Dallas
Ottawa
Buffalo


We need to be cautious vs the Rangers. With Georgiev's moxy and value, he'll be making save assists from the bench.

 

[LeafsNation75]

We need to be cautious vs the Rangers. With Georgiev's moxy and value, he'll be making save assists from the bench.

For once Georgiev is not starting against the Leafs. They are starting Igor Shestyorkin.

 

[Big Muddy]

I can’t get over the fact that we were two points out of a playoff spot when we fired Babcock and after playing at a 112 POINT PACE for 30 games under Keefe we’re still two points out of a playoff spot. This team has proven it’s elite for almost half a season with a real coach and we haven’t been rewarded for it in the slightest, **** this league lmao

it's ridiculous

You realize everyone in the playoff hunt has been playing at that pace....the world isn’t out to get the leafs

Columbus has 9 Overtime losses, we have 7.