Warden of the North
Ned Stark's head
Could argue Bruins and St. Louis are top teams too.
Florida plays St. Louis 2x and Bruins 2x
Leafs only play Bruins 1x
Thats fair.
Beating Florida in regulation is of paramount importance
Could argue Bruins and St. Louis are top teams too.
Florida plays St. Louis 2x and Bruins 2x
Leafs only play Bruins 1x
Could argue Bruins and St. Louis are top teams too.
Florida plays St. Louis 2x and Bruins 2x
Leafs only play Bruins 1x
Nitpicky me...so if we give 100% effort in 111% of our games...46% Playoff Teams
65% Playoff & Bubble Teams
Thanks for those numbers, that's interesting. Yesterday I had a peek at FLA's schedule and ours and my impression was also that theirs was easier, good to have this broken down like that.
The main difference seems to be the 4 games that we have against bubble teams that they have against non-playoff teams. That may not sound like much but with only 26 games to go, it's pretty substantial. And as the Warden said, 3 games against TB is also a substantial factor.
I think we're better than FLA but it looks to me like the schedule is definitely in their favour. No question about it, we need to step on the gas and not take a single night off from now on.
Thats fair.
Beating Florida in regulation is of paramount importance
That seems like a fair point.
Nitpicky me...so if we give 100% effort in 111% of our games...
Thats fair.
Beating Florida in regulation is of paramount importance
OK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
OK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
Florida plays WAS in their final game of the season, too. Hopefully Ovi is hungry for another Rocket
Of course, it's nice to have that safety net.It'd be optimal to be in a position to have either. So, probably should keep an eye on both.
Yet we keep losing.This is such a terrible post.
For one example, over that stretch Matthews is at a 60.21 xGF% at even strength. They only way he could do better at "playing both sides of the effin puck" were to get in net and make the saves Hutchinson and Andersen haven't been making.
When Matthews has been on the ice at even strength over that stretch, Leafs goalies have a SV% of .872. Do you know how bad this is considering it's not even including power plays?
And even throwing out all the underlying stats, I don't understand how anyone thinks he's been bad over the past couple months by the "eye test." Like what are you guys watching, I watch every game and he's been routinely in great positions and backchecking hard.
But we play much better/faster against Pens and Tampa which is 5 games so I don't think it will be much of a factor. Really only 2 very tough grinding ones for us with Wash and Boston. But Florida has to grind it our 4 times against Blues and Bruins. I think we have an advantage on this analysis. Those 4 games Florida has will leave a mark.OK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
OK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
But we play much better/faster against Pens and Tampa which is 5 games so I don't think it will be much of a factor. Really only 2 very tough grinding ones for us with Wash and Boston. But Florida has to grind it our 4 times against Blues and Bruins. I think we have an advantage on this analysis. Those 4 games Florida has will leave a mark.
Colorado is probably better than the St. Louis, definitely not separated by a tier. Only TB and Boston have a better goal differential.
On the flip side, I believe Florida has more road games along with significantly more back-to-backsOK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
Yeah my point is when we play teams like Tampa and Pittsburgh they think they can out skate and out skill us. And maybe they can sometimes but we got a chance against anyone in those type of games. Most of time those games come straight down to chance vs chance and whose goalie is best wins. StL, Wash and Bos have very top end skill lines but they also play a forecheck and tight defensive game and when they decide to bring it we are in deep sh*t. My hope is we don't have to face either Wash or Boston in round 1. In fact if we can get on a nice 5-7 game heater here then we should get 3rd and likely face Tampa especially if we can beat Tampa in our 3 games left where we can control who we play.I'm not sure how valid this is but I hope you're right. Maybe those 4 games Florida has will leave a mark but I doubt we'll go thorough our 7 games unscathed either. Hell I'm not even sure about beating Ottawa for that matter.
OK. I believe neither plays them anyway so doesn't really matter here.
On the flip side, I believe Florida has more road games along with significantly more back-to-backs
Yeah my point is when we play teams like Tampa and Pittsburgh they think they can out skate and out skill us. And maybe they can sometimes but we got a chance against anyone in those type of games. Most of time those games come straight down to chance vs chance and whose goalie is best wins. StL, Wash and Bos have very top end skill lines but they also play a forecheck and tight defensive game and when they decide to bring it we are in deep sh*t. My hope is we don't have to face either Wash or Boston in round 1. In fact if we can get on a nice 5-7 game heater here then we should get 3rd and likely face Tampa especially if we can beat Tampa in our 3 games left where we can control who we play.
In my ideal world, I get to see the Leafs beat MTL in a playoff series before I die. And I don't really care about EDM but I would like to see McDavid in the playoffs.
Yes but that just means we've been the least ****ty team of all the ****ty teams in a ****ty division.
Just sayin': we're only still in this because the Habs, Sabres and Panthers just don't feel like winning.
I think winning the 2 remaining games against them is a must.
I'd like a Montreal series but at the same time, if it isn't for the Cup, it feels a little worthless. 93 would have been a dream.
I don't really care about Edmonton either, more just that their fans have been and continue to be insufferable, so I say "wallow".
OK I did some quick "research" so FWIW ...
There are IMO 5 teams that deserve to be considered to be the top tier of the NHL as of today, TB, BOS, PIT, WSH and STL.
FLA has 4 games remaining against this elite group, 2 each against STL and BOS.
We have 7, BOS, WSH, PITx2 and TBx3.
Substantial edge to FLA IMO, no doubt about it.
It is normal to be considering the strength or weakness of the schedule but I don't believe too much into it. For example, the Caps have lost 4 of their last 6 games and those 2 wins were against the Sens and Kings. The Red Wings beat the Bruins (for the 2nd time), Devils shutout the Flyers and then the Flyers embarrass the Caps. So anything can happen in any game as we all know. We have the players, we can do it if we want to, anyways if we do make the playoffs, we will be playing either Tampa or Boston first round so the Leafs better knock off their bad habits of the last week (playing only 40 minutes).
And let's not forget that teams that are comfortably in a playoff spot won't necessarily be wasting too much energy to win (Tampa and the Caps know that all too well). The tougher games will be against the bubble teams as they will be playing for their playoff lives.