Round 1 - heroes and zeroes

[mydnyte]

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.

he let in 1 'bad' goal, the Tkchuck shot from distance ...he had a puck hop his stick when trying to cover it, and a few point shots that he didnt see until they were in the net.

One goal he 'should' have stopped the entire series. FYI, on a breakaway, the goalie is never expected to make the save, its a bonus when they do, and he only let in 1 breakaway chance and stopped 3-4?

 

[notbias]

Lol. You said "bottom 6 - bad".

But I'm glad you've clarified that.

Worse than the top 6 by a large margin.

The Laughton line playing even hockey is not great, it is good-ish.

I also think the quality of the line they were going up against has to be taken into account.

The 3rd line was by far the worst and don't think anyone will dispute this.

Overall, the bottom 6 was bad, but I will try to break things down player by player in the future so there is not this much confusion.

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.

I don't think McCabe was particularly good in this series, probably the worst D.

Benoit made timely contributions, but I don't think ignoring contributions, sure, he was good.

Rielly gets so much hate based on reputation more than anything else.

Carlo I think had a quiet but really good series, he was similar to Tanev in that sense.

A lot of opinions here are just based on a players' reputation and not much else, Tanev can have a quiet serious and people will praise him for all the little things, but Carlo doing the same thing goes unnoticed.

 

[arso40]

Worse than the top 6 by a large margin.

The Laughton line playing even hockey is not great, it is good-ish.

I also think the quality of the line they were going up against has to be taken into account.

The 3rd line was by far the worst and don't think anyone will dispute this.

Overall, the bottom 6 was bad, but I will try to break things down player by player in the future so there is not this much confusion.



I don't think McCabe was particularly good in this series, probably the worst D.

Benoit made timely contributions, but I don't think ignoring contributions, sure, he was good.

Rielly gets so much hate based on reputation more than anything else.

Carlo I think had a quiet but really good series, he was similar to Tanev in that sense.

A lot of opinions here are just based on a players' reputation and not much else, Tanev can have a quiet serious and people will praise him for all the little things, but Carlo doing the same thing goes unnoticed.

Rielly literally cant make a play at all for some reason Hes weak when it comes to strength on the pucc he can’t zip it at all

 

[mydnyte]

the true hero was Berube...
Game 6, and the top TOI player was Carlo at 22:51
Nylander had the highest TOI from the forward core at only 19:07
Tanev who seemed like he was on the ice all night only played 18:15
and the only other D over 20 mins was McCabe
least TOI was Holmberg who looked like he was on the ice a lot more than he was @ 10:20

this is how you manage a team!!

 

[CabanaBoy5]

he let in 1 'bad' goal, the Tkchuck shot from distance ...he had a puck hop his stick when trying to cover it, and a few point shots that he didnt see until they were in the net.

One goal he 'should' have stopped the entire series. FYI, on a breakaway, the goalie is never expected to make the save, its a bonus when they do, and he only let in 1 breakaway chance and stopped 3-4?

You pointed out the three I was thinking of:

The Tzachuk long shot for sure he should have had.

I don't agree that the goalie is "never" expected to make a save on a breakaway. My problem was how he let the goal in...he looked off balance and it wasn't because it was a great move.

I don't like how he handled the initial shot on that puck that hopped over his stick, he was slow to react after the first shot.

As for the long shots, he was screened but I didn't like his puck tracking on those shots.

Once again, he played a very good series, gave up more rebounds than I would have liked, but compared to his regular season games, he looked a little less than his spectacular self.

 

[mydnyte]

You pointed out the three I was thinking of:

The Tzachuk long shot for sure he should have had.

I don't agree that the goalie is "never" expected to make a save on a breakaway. My problem was how he let the goal in...he looked off balance and it wasn't because it was a great move.

I don't like how he handled the initial shot on that puck that hopped over his stick, he was slow to react after the first shot.

As for the long shots, he was screened but I didn't like his puck tracking on those shots.

Once again, he played a very good series, gave up more rebounds than I would have liked, but compared to his regular season games, he looked a little less than his spectacular self.

i agree about his rebound control, that needs to be cleaned up, was better in game 6, but, not so good in the first few games, to the point where i was questioning if his hand was hurt, as he often dropped the puck from his glove.

 

[IPS]

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.

Through 3 games when we went up 3-0, he was above .930, So yeah, he did kind of fall off a bit as the series went on but I thought he played a very steady game last night, I don't hold the Perron goal against him too bad cause that's a flukey goal.

 

[Shooter2x]

He was going in the bad pile before that goal, and they still won more games with Robertson in the lineup.

Nice pass from Domi as well, but the 3rd line was an abyss for too much of the series.

How many games have we lost because our guys try to keep dangling to get an even clearer lane? Patches hit his value threshold with that game winner. It was a breath of fresh air watching the puck get no-nonsense scooped into the net as soon as it hit his stick.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

How many games have we lost because our guys try to keep dangling to get an even clearer lane? Patches hit his value threshold with that game winner. It was a breath of fresh air watching the puck get no-nonsense scooped into the net as soon as it hit his stick.

I can't tell you the number of times I said "shoooot" when they were in prime position for a quick shot, especially when a screen is already set up. Nylander has such a great shot and release but he does this more than I would like.

 

[AvroArrow]

Heros

Nylander, Knies, Tanev, Matthews, Marner, Stolarz, Pacioretty, Benoit, Domi, Tavares

But If I gotta pick 2-3 guys, give me Nylander, Tanev, Benoit. It might've only been 2 games, but set up the OT winner in game 2, scores the OT winner in game 3, that's massive.

Matthews and Tavares did a lot of work they didn't get noticed for. Absolutely dominated faceoffs which led to like 5 or 6 goals and were great defensively. Obviously game 5 Matthews sucked, but apart from that he played well.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

Heroes would be team D.
No real zeros but a few who should bring more.

 

[BlueForever75]

Heroes would definitely be Stolarz, entire D, Laughton line, Berube, PP, Knies

Stolarz bailed us out when we needed to be. And kept the confidence of his team.
D Core played well as a unit and strategy. Very strong
Laughton line controlled play, were physical, created turnovers
Berube made the correct adjustments and showed confidence in his team
PP looked strong and needs to contribute next round again
Knies is a warrior. If everyone played with his ethic the Leafs would be perfect. Never stops. Hits. Scores. Skates

Zeroes would Nylander, Matthews, Domi, McMann

Nylander leads team in scoring after first round, but needs to show more enthusiasm. Seems disinterested at times
Matthews needs to engage more consistently physically. When he does he is unstoppable. Stop giveaways on PP
Domi did come through in overtime but needs to be more physical and engaged.
McMann needs to play as he did in game 6 every game. More physical and engaged

 

[fancy lad]

i gotta say from the eye test Reilly looks off it compared to the likes of Carlo, Tanev. I get that his playing style is totally different, but i wish he would be more defensively sound and just better.

That said i don't think anyone should be considered a "zero" . They all played a part in winning the series. They all contributed. go leafs go

 

[Sypher04]

Good
Tanev
Knies
JT
Marner
Nylander
Jarnkrok
OEL
Benoit
Lorentz

Meh/good enough
McCabe
Matthews
Holmberg
Stolarz
Robertson
Pacioretty (only due to the 3-2 goal)
Rielly (was good in the first three games)
Carlo
Laughton

Disappointing
McMann
Domi

I don’t see a strong argument to have Matthews in a different tier than the other 3 core 4 guys.

 

[Sypher04]

Heroes would definitely be Stolarz, entire D, Laughton line, Berube, PP, Knies

Stolarz bailed us out when we needed to be. And kept the confidence of his team.
D Core played well as a unit and strategy. Very strong
Laughton line controlled play, were physical, created turnovers
Berube made the correct adjustments and showed confidence in his team
PP looked strong and needs to contribute next round again
Knies is a warrior. If everyone played with his ethic the Leafs would be perfect. Never stops. Hits. Scores. Skates

Zeroes would Nylander, Matthews, Domi, McMann

Nylander leads team in scoring after first round, but needs to show more enthusiasm. Seems disinterested at times
Matthews needs to engage more consistently physically. When he does he is unstoppable. Stop giveaways on PP
Domi did come through in overtime but needs to be more physical and engaged.
McMann needs to play as he did in game 6 every game. More physical and engaged

Nylander and Matthews as zeroes is utter nonsense.

 

[ChurchOfMatthews]

Nobody was particularly good, but Matthews can barely skate and is a shell of himself. Sad watching him try to play.

Glass half empty kinda guy eh?

 

[BlueForever75]

Nylander and Matthews as zeroes is utter nonsense.

So you think that their play has been acceptable?

Their play got them through round 1 but needs to be more consistent against a stronger opponent. We cannot have giveaways on PP that leads to shorthanded goals, we cannot have them consistently losing one on one battles. And they both have to go hard every shift against the likes of Barkov, Bennet, Reinhart, Verheghee and Marchand. These are physical players and they have to be physical back. Engaged on every shift. Skate back and defend on giveaways and not watch.

Im sorry yes they put up points but their overall play has to be better. The team around them will play to level they show them. This and only this will propel them past the Panthers

 

[sunstersun]

Knies was good, but probably overrated.

We rarely see his grit on the Leafs so we give it extra cookies. He didn't produce at the level he did against Tampa. That guy is worth 8.5mil.

 

[notDatsyuk]

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.

Core 4 with 9 goals and 29 points. The funny part is that the one who had 1/3 of the goals and virtually 1/3 of the points is the one getting the most 'bad' reviews.

Personally I would say Tavares and Tanev were our TNT. After that Knies, Nylander, McCabe and Stolarz.

 

[weems]

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Stolie went from hero #1 in Toronto to people wanting Woll to start game 1 against Florida.

That honestly breaks my heart

Not me - that f***er's gonna win us that series against Florida - just you watch.

I honestly think he started to get a bit tired. The goals that he let in the last 3 games were partly due to concentration issues because of his consecutive starts going back to the end of the season. We might see Woll but I hope not.

 

[Maple Leaf]

I honestly think he started to get a bit tired. The goals that he let in the last 3 games were partly due to concentration issues because of his consecutive starts going back to the end of the season. We might see Woll but I hope not.

How can you stop those deflects?

 

[Mr_Fun]

the true hero was Berube...
Game 6, and the top TOI player was Carlo at 22:51
Nylander had the highest TOI from the forward core at only 19:07
Tanev who seemed like he was on the ice all night only played 18:15
and the only other D over 20 mins was McCabe
least TOI was Holmberg who looked like he was on the ice a lot more than he was @ 10:20

this is how you manage a team!!

It's great not being out-coached in a series for a change.

 

[Jojalu]

Nylander and Matthews as zeroes is utter nonsense.

Not sure how you can lead a team in goals and points and be a zero.

 

[seanlinden]

This is admittedly a difficult question. For the players that had highlight / standout performances, most had glaring issues in their game as well.

Nylander obviously huge in game 6, but that backcheck in game 5 inexcusable.

Marner & Matthews had 7 and 8 points, and were hugely instrumental in getting us up 3-0, but were largely invisible when it mattered.

Domi factoring in on massive goals, but also largely invisible and questionably playable.

Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok were excellent controlling play and cycling the puck, but didn't generate much offensively or dangerous.

Knies was a bull in a china shop, but a couple of stupid penalties.

If you have to pick a hero or two, I think it's probably Simon Benoit (factoring in on the massive goals, and generally not doing anything stupid), Chris Tanev (consistently difficult matchups), Anthony Stolarz (keeping the Leafs in every game, never really getting out-dueled), and the team defence that the Leafs employed. Maybe an honourable mention for OEL as well.

If you have to pick a zero, Bobby McMann -- did nothing for most of the series.