Round 1 - heroes and zeroes

[CabanaBoy5]

We knew Tanev and OEL were good, but they were very good.

The surprises were the coming out of Knies as a beast, and Benoit as a reliable and effective top 4 defenceman.

Laughton looking like a great playoff pickup.

I was a bit surprised by the soft goals on Stolarz. He had maybe 3-4 all season but in this series he had at least 3 softies.

 

[Legion34]

Overall the team played well. We all expect 60 minutes of dominance and no mistakes. But that’s never realistic.

Toronto was by far the better team when you look at it objectively. They held Ottawa to less than 20 shots a lot, and when Ottawa was down they were having full periods of 5 or less shots.

They hit a million posts and had way more actual scoring chances. Even in the 4-0 game they had good chances.


Matthews/marner/knies played well and controlled possession. Of course Matthews has the brutal giveaway. But they controlled play. Knies is a gamer And will be a folk hero like a Gary Robert’s/tucker here.

Willy had some lazy plays but came up when it mattered.

The whole 3rd line was the phenomenal. If Jarncrok could actually score it would be amazing. Laughton was great.

Domi had major issues but came up clutch. PAC same thing.

Mcmann and holmberg were pretty useless

Liked the whole D. Benny was great. I love OEL and Tanev. Carlo isn’t scared of the moment.

McCabe I think had some rough moments. And Rielly did too.

Overall. Toronto was the better team

 

[Warden of the North]

I won't call anyone a zero.

My biggest concerns by position moving forward - Rielly on D, Domi at F, and Stolarz by default. Before you get angry, Stolarz did struggle locking it down in third periods. Yes, he also had great highs. So did Mo and Domi. But again, that's why I'm not calling anyone a zero.

That is a big difference between this roster and previous years. There was always a guy or three you could look at and say they were just clearly out of their league. Not so with this team.

 

[notbias]

Top 6 = good
Bottom 6 = bad
All D = slightly above meh (OEL was probably the best)
Stolarz = bad

No clue how anyone could say Holmberg was bad, he was meant to be a glue guy and he did well in that role.

The bottom 6 were bad, but even some of them had their moments.

 

[TheShape]

Echoing what many have already said but it's Tanev and Knies easily, Benoit has always elevated come playoff time, he's a warrior. Chris Tanev's defensive IQ is unmatched league wide.

Not many shouts for the core as heroes which is concerning but unfortunately not surprising. Rielly was really, really bad.

 

[Warden of the North]

Top 6 = good
Bottom 6 = bad
All D = slightly above meh (OEL was probably the best)
Stolarz = bad

No clue how anyone could say Holmberg was bad, he was meant to be a glue guy and he did well in that role.

View attachment 1028052

The bottom 6 were bad, but even some of them had their moments.

How could you call the Laughton line bad?

They were terrific. Did they score? No. Were they a liability? Also no. It's not their job to score. They ate the clock and had possesion in the offensize zone, which is really all I care about from a 4th line.

 

[Tak7]

Zeroes for me = Robertson.

Worked so hard to gain Berube's trust, and get into the lineup for the first few games.

But had a really hard time, especially in game 2, took some rough penalties, lost his spot, and then saw the guy who replaced him grow into the series and score the winning goal.

That's tough

 

[rumman]

Knies, Benny, Tanev, OEL, and yes Stoli. This is the true core of the Leafs…….

 

[notbias]

How could you call the Laughton line bad?

They were terrific. Did they score? No. Were they a liability? Also no. It's not their job to score. They ate the clock and had possesion in the offensize zone, which is really all I care about from a 4th line.

I wouldn't call them bad, they were good and bad, but more good than bad.

Overall, sure, they were good.

1st/2nd, line great
3rd line, terrible
4th line, good

Knies, Benny, Tanev, OEL, and yes Stoli. This is the true core of the Leafs…….

I want everyone on this board to be happy, so sometimes I wish this could come true.

I sometimes hope that all the scoring on this team is traded, and we assemble a team of players like this.

2015 was a fun time to be a Leafs fan, and I hope some of you get to experience it again.

 

[Zybalto]

Dcore was good
Core 4 combined for 29 points in 6 games. (insane anyone is calling any of them a negative)
Stolarz was overall good
Depth guys battled and had some big goals. Better depth results than almost any team during the Matthews era.

Good overall team effort.

 

[mydnyte]

Marner just f***in sucks

said like a true Habs/Sens fan

his defensive play alone would have sufficed, but he is a key reason we were up 3-0

 

[mydnyte]

How could you call the Laughton line bad?

They were terrific. Did they score? No. Were they a liability? Also no. It's not their job to score. They ate the clock and had possesion in the offensize zone, which is really all I care about from a 4th line.

and considering they were often up against the Stutzle line, thats pretty darn good. They can play vs any line, and that has a ton of value

 

[Zybalto]

I want everyone on this board to be happy, so sometimes I wish this could come true.

I sometimes hope that all the scoring on this team is traded, and we assemble a team of players like this.

2015 was a fun time to be a Leafs fan, and I hope some of you get to experience it again.

Its crazy so many were happier then. We've had some trauma I know but you may get your wish as the teams solid history of chasing off their good players may come to pass with Marner as well....and then we get to see him win a cup somewhere else and we all pretend like we all really wanted to keep him (Kessel, Kadri the more recent examples)

 

[Mess]

Series #1 Hero's by GAME

Game #1: Game winning goal Tavares (on PP)
Game #2: Max Domi in OT
Game #3: Simon Benoit in OT
Game #4: Max Pacioretty late in 3rd.

 

[Zybalto]

said like a true Habs/Sens fan

his defensive play alone would have sufficed, but he is a key reason we were up 3-0

He was great this series.

Over the last 3 years he's:

1.042 PPG
Solid #1 PK forward
5v5 goal differential: 69.12% (+25.45 REL the team)

Absolutely one of the top forwards in the playoffs.

 

[mydnyte]

We knew Tanev and OEL were good, but they were very good.

The surprises were the coming out of Knies as a beast, and Benoit as a reliable and effective top 4 defenceman.

Laughton looking like a great playoff pickup.

I was a bit surprised by the soft goals on Stolarz. He had maybe 3-4 all season but in this series he had at least 3 softies.

if you say Stolarz had 3 softies, then you would say Ulmark had 7-8 softies? a tipped shot, or a shot the goalie doesnt see if NOT a softie ...they may not look good, but, goalies cant stop what they dont see

 

[Zybalto]

This was Stolarz first taste of the playoffs. I think he was pretty good.

 

[Mess]

This was Stolarz first taste of the playoffs. I think he was pretty good.

Yesterday I watched a young Tim Stutzle (not much physically bigger than Mitch) trying and making a difference almost every time he was on ice, Taking the puck hard to the net, always around all the action.

He didn't score any points in game #6 but his effort was through the roof after his goal and 2 assists in game #5 to create game #6.

Pretty impressive indeed and if you're going down that is the level of compete one would expect from star players.

We didn't get that level of effort from any Leaf in this series. IMO

 

[Warden of the North]

I wouldn't call them bad, they were good and bad, but more good than bad.

Overall, sure, they were good.

1st/2nd, line great
3rd line, terrible
4th line, good



I want everyone on this board to be happy, so sometimes I wish this could come true.

I sometimes hope that all the scoring on this team is traded, and we assemble a team of players like this.

2015 was a fun time to be a Leafs fan, and I hope some of you get to experience it again.

Lol. You said "bottom 6 - bad".

But I'm glad you've clarified that.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

How could you call the Laughton line bad?

They were terrific. Did they score? No. Were they a liability? Also no. It's not their job to score. They ate the clock and had possesion in the offensize zone, which is really all I care about from a 4th line.

I completely agree. Exactly what you want from a 4th line, perhaps a goal here or there but that's not the job of a 4th line. They hustled, battled hard along the boards, spent alot of time in the o-zone and were great in their own zone. At the very least you can say the bottom 6 was meh because of the Domi line, but to say they were bad reeks of extreme negativity.

 

[Zybalto]

Yesterday I watched a young Tim Stutzle (not much physically bigger than Mitch) trying and making a difference almost every time he was on ice, Taking the puck hard to the net, always around all the action.

He didn't score any points in game #6 but his effort was through the roof after his goal and 2 assists in game #5 to create game #6.

Pretty impressive indeed and if you're going down that is the level of compete one would expect from star players.

We didn't get that level of effort from any Leaf in this series. IMO

Your still a "glass half empty" guy even after a hard fought series win eh?

Against the Habs, Matthews led entire first round in almost every offensive number you can name, far more dominant than Greg Louganis there. Shots, scoring chances, etc. Didnt matter as he didnt score enough though.

Instead of glazing him, you should give the same "credit" to Stutzle you gave to Matthews after the Habs series....and Matthews is 100 times the defensive player too.

The Sens and their "Too many men!" coach are losers, especially when they play the Leafs.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

if you say Stolarz had 3 softies, then you would say Ulmark had 7-8 softies? a tipped shot, or a shot the goalie doesnt see if NOT a softie ...they may not look good, but, goalies cant stop what they dont see

I'm not comparing Stolarz to Ullmark, I'm comparing playoff Stolarz to regular season Stolarz. He was very good this series overall, but I was surprised by the softies because he hadn't let many in during the season. A .901 save percentage in this series isn't what we expect from him.

 

[Al14]

Top 6 = good
Bottom 6 = bad
All D = slightly above meh (OEL was probably the best)
Stolarz = bad

No clue how anyone could say Holmberg was bad, he was meant to be a glue guy and he did well in that role.

View attachment 1028052

The bottom 6 were bad, but even some of them had their moments.

Sorry, but I think Tanev was clearly our best D. OEL was maybe better than McCabe, but not by much.
Benoit made more contributions to our Leafs success than Rielly !!!

JMHO.

 

[mydnyte]

Yesterday I watched a young Tim Stutzle (not much physically bigger than Mitch) trying and making a difference almost every time he was on ice, Taking the puck hard to the net, always around all the action.

He didn't score any points in game #6 but his effort was through the roof after his goal and 2 assists in game #5 to create game #6.

Pretty impressive indeed and if you're going down that is the level of compete one would expect from star players.

We didn't get that level of effort from any Leaf in this series. IMO

Stutzle is actually 6' tall, and has a min 10-15 lbs on Marner and is much quicker than Marner.
Marner is not 6' tall, unless he's being measured in his skates, or he had a strange growth spurt after getting drafted (which he didnt)
and being flashy and putting in a good effort with no result were main reasons the Leafs were always criticized, but, here for a losing opponent its impressive.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Sorry, but I think Tanev was clearly our best D. OEL was maybe better than McCabe, but not by much.
Benoit made more contributions to our Leafs success than Rielly !!!

JMHO.

Agreed. A defence with Tanev on it, a solid Carlo, a feisty OEL, and a gamer in Benoit in no way can equate to a "meh" defence in this series.