Post-Game Talk: Shameful Leafs lose 3-2

[notDatsyuk]

from the hotstove
Through two games so far, this series has very much felt like Sheldon Keefe is up to his old tricks, loading up the top guys with huge minutes as if nobody else really matters. Bunting is the team’s best left winger, without question, with Knies out. 15:11 is a low ice-time total for him.

Matty and Mitch up around 27 minutes each, while Willy had just over 17.

 

[Mess]

Big picture, the Leafs virtually lost the series on the Forsling sequence.

Now the Leafs are firmly in the underdog role and they’ll need to stop thinking about the series and just win one period at a time. The team loves adversity but I think they dug themselves a pretty deep one.

The team Boston that just recorded the ALL-time best record in NHL history was up 3-1 on Florida and had 3 chances included 2 at home to put them away and failed.

Now the Leafs have tasked themselves into winning 4 of the next 5 games to stay alive.

So unless the Leafs win the next 2 games and even the series this Cinderella story will not have a happy ending.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I remember reading an article in which a coach said if your team does better on the road than at home it's because the coach is relieved of his match-up duties and can't screw things up like he can at home. Let's see how they play on the road for the next 2. If they can pull a few wins out...

I could see that.. you win or lose with the horses you have so when you have big talent like the Leafs you just gotta play the hell out of them and hope for the best.

Keefe should be letting the opposition worry about our guns rather than trying to big brain with matching up our bottom 6 against anyone because our bottom 6 = zero offense.

 

[francis246]

Yesterdays game confirmed for me Keefe is the main problem with this team.

He constantly creates chaos at home with the way he starts games and periods. I don’t know how many times as a coach you have to get burned & caught chasing a matchup before you realize that matching up is stupid if you have superior players. Just start the top line.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Cut him some slack

He just had a child

3rd one in 5 years.

You can't expect him to produce with newly born infants crying plugging his ears

Did JT figure early May was a safe time to have a baby because the Leafs are usually out of the Playoffs?

 

[Stephen]

The team Boston that just recorded the ALL-time best record in NHL history was up 3-1 on Florida and had 3 chances included 2 at home to put them away and failed.

Now the Leafs have tasked themselves into winning 4 of the next 5 games to stay alive.

So unless the Leafs win the next 2 games and even the series this Cinderella story will not have a happy ending.

It’s bleak when coming back from Florida with a split and being down 3-1 is a semi success. But yeah. They have to play the next game as a must win. Then play the next one like it’s a must win and just see if there’s going to be a Game 5.

 

[Stephen]

They’ve won 4 out of 6 periods already. One period at a time ain’t cutting it. They need to change the goalie.

Might as well. Season is on the line.

 

[leafan11]

I agree that it would be nice to have a veteran savvy coach behind the bench . Keefe is very amateur.

 

[hockeyes]

They were pretty bad against Tampa.

Were they though? They had an actual strategy, played them tight and limited mistakes while getting to the inside to make theirs count. So far vs Florida, Leafs have gifted over 50% of their goals with unforced errors while repeatedly trying to snipe a hot goalie instead of making his life difficult. The urgency and focus is completely different in this series.

 

[francis246]

They’ve won 4 out of 6 periods already. One period at a time ain’t cutting it. They need to change the goalie.

I wouldn’t change the goalies, I would flip the lines. I would go back to

Nylander - Matthews - Jarnkrok
JT - O’Reilly - Marner
Bunting - Acciari
Kerfoot - Kampf - Lafferty

Rielly - Schenn
McCabe - Brodie
Gustafson - Liljegren
Holl

Samsonov


I’d go 11/7. Give one of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, JT, O’Reilly extra shifts if need be with bunting and Accari and ride your horses

 

[Zero1]

I am not a fan of Keefe. I don’t know why he makes this harder than it needs to be for the Leafs and much easier for the Panthers.

f***ing split up Matthews and Marner.

 

[Zack47]

We need more quality depth just not getting enough push through out the line up.

I agree... but how do you do that? You pay the top 4 less, so you have more money to pay for 2nd and 3rd line wingers...

 

[Twine Tickler]

It's time for them to show us that they are indeed "different" from those other teams we've seen in the past few seasons.

Bingo.

I know we are all upset with that 2nd period. Those 2 turnovers just cannot happen. But those things happen from time to time. We need a save or a shot block on goal 2. We probably aren't even having this conversation if we get one.

Again, I am genuinely not trying to take away anything from Florida. They made their own luck on all 3 goals. But that's not to say we didn't do the same on the other end, we just didn't get rewarded by it and bury on those chances we created.

A regression to the mean seems inevitable at some point. I just hope it doesn't come too late. But that's just the nature of playoff hockey.

 

[Gallagbi]

Well, when we tried to respond to a knee on knee hit against Sandin after he was targeted all game, Spezza (no discipline history) ended up getting suspended 6 games for this hit:



So it’s tough when you’re playing under a different set of rules with the Maple Leafs crest on your jersey.

Stack the Kadri resonse on this too.

At that point in the game we have a lead and an officiating crew looking for an excuse to call us

 

[Zack47]

It needs to be said, since I don't see it here. It was 2-2. Don't you wake up and play carefully, simply, with your head on straight? Apparently no. Mitch Marner caused that third goal. He is coming out of the zone with the puck, but before he even gets to the blueline, he passes into the middle to Matthews, where it was intercepted.... and that was the beginning of the end. My coach in midget would yell at me for that pass. It was so amateurish it was pathetic.

Other issues abound anyway --- is Sammy hurrt? If so, don't play him. Why wasn't there a penalty on that Knies play?

We do need more depth on the third line and more distributed scoring. We are too easy to defend against, even with the posts.

 

[therealkoho]

Unbelievable limp wristed puck handling by Matthews, Nylander, Brodie and McCabe to start the 2nd. It was then followed up with the "oh well" level of concern as far as getting back into it. It sure looked like it was going to be hard, but guess what they looked like "they've cashed the cheques and just thought somebody else will do it.

Even more unbelievable was the lack of composure, unfocused effort and drive for the rest of the period by every one of them. No wait ROR and Cookie still looked in it, JT looked like he finally gave up, why go and work your ass off to come up with the puck only to see the support all headed to the bench to change.

It's not over, not by a long shot albeit it will be a long shot if they somehow pull it off. Every last one of them needs to get their oars in the water and start pulling together, it's either that or start making plans to move elsewhere.

There are players on that roster that should be ashamed of themselves.

The last thing I want to hear from most of them is the "we need to be better" lame old bs. Maybe somebody needs to step up and say, I played like ass and I promise I will be better and play to the level they expect of me. And then go and damn well do it.

 

[egd27]

I think I've found the problem. Keefe hasn't been watching any of the games, or looking at the videos.

Oh you definitely found the problem.

 

[Gallagbi]

Strange how every team the Leafs face each year has excellent goaltending and only the Leafs never do... hmm...

Vasi wasnt in either series

 

[BraveCanadian]

Well, not really, the General Manager hasn't made a real commitment to goaltending since he's been here.

Dubas repeatedly just sticks a band-aid on the goaltending over and over again, in part, because he's allocated all the money elsewhere.

This team was always going to sink or swim by outscoring their opponents.

He painted himself into that corner with his contracts and the cap.

Also, with how inconsistent the so-called "top goalies" have been in the past decade.. do you really want to tie up a goalie for a ton of cap? It is a real gamble.

However, my point is: the Leafs make goaltenders look worse than they actually are, and this has been shown many times. People just use the goalie as the scapegoat.

 

[Cor]

Just win the next one.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

It ain’t over till the fat lady sings. When the Leafs were down 4-1 to Tampa most of us wrote them off before they pulled off the improbable. Being down 2-0 this series is shit but it’s not insurmountable. Leafs have been better on the road anyway and I’m going to believe that they’ll start finding the back of the net more than twice per game in this series going forward.

As far as phycical retribution goes I think the Leafs just need to better protect themselves and win the series, which would hurt more overall. Don’t get me wrong I’d love for Bennett to get a taste of his own medicine but we’re all well aware of how this league and officiating works. Bennett can and will do as he pleases since he’s faced no discipline so far, and the microscope on us will be intensified and the refs and Parros are only too eager to punish Toronto. Any action the Leafs take will be more harshly punished. If they can catch Bennett with an open ice hit, great! Otherwise going out of their way to get him will only help Florida.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Here's my birds eye take for row 1 blues .. Leafs came out harder/faster to start game and unfortunately could not maintain either da pace and/or physical side .. Cats can maintain speed and toughness and they did for 2 periods until they went into trap mode in 3rd period .. JT and Kampf continue to get badly tilted when they are on da ice .. Matty and ROR played even steven .. Bobbo played his best game which did not help our cause .. but that was not why we lost da game

Defensively 3 huge defensive turnovers which were all self inflicted were da cause for da L .. Lily trained in Sweden/Leafs development clearly does not know how to eat a puck, then JT could not support his error due to footspeed and mobility issues and Gio assumed Lily was gonna move puck up boards (lack of communication very evident there) .. overall Cats speed on forecheck reduces time and space and caused da breakdown .. this is a theme now for past 2 games

Goal 2 against was a ghastly error by both Willy and then Sammy .. 1st no excuses Willy is fastest guy on ice and this was a straightforward easy exit which Willy played at regular season pace (give him credit he picked up his pace after that goal against but..) .. he fumbled puck to Cats and then after his fumble he did not attack Barkov to make his shot attempt harder and Barkov used his quick release and screen to beat Sammy in a goal which could have been saved but it was nowhere near as bad as Freddy's or Soup's f*ck ups .. but it was a save that $$$ tenders need to make

Goal 3 was all on Mitch and Matty as they both decided to play shinny hockey in a playoff game .. goes to both of their characters and bottom line neither are leaders of men and both are still boys .. given both of their self entitled hockey lives I don't see either being a guy you can trust in playoffs .. da truth hurts fans but it must be stated

All that said offensively both ROR and Kerfoot found ways to beat bobbo with their 2 only chances at net .. Matty had 2 glorious chances, JT had 2 even better chances and Willy had 3 which were super good too .. our core 4 had 7 i said 7 let me repeat 7 chances to score .. 7 legit kill zone chances to score .. i think you need to hear that again folks da core 4 had 7 legit chances to score .. BUT ZERO NOTHING NOTTA 1 goal .. what does that tell you??????? .. think long and hard about that one .. of course there will be folks on here which say Bobbo stole it .. my reply yes he did play extremely well .. but this is a recurring playoff theme for 6 years now .. legit top end scorers don't miss 7 times like that .. those boys are not clutch at all .. and they never will be .. great regular season scorers yes but when pace picks up in playoffs and time and space is reduced on puck none of them excel .. facts are facts .. you can't have 4 guys ALL FORWARDS who don't score when required on your team .. too much tied up in them

All that said I don't see Leafs winning this series but Bobbo will not play at this level 4 straight .. Keefer can make some more changes to lineup and team can play better .. but character of core 4 is reason we won't win this series .. blaming Sammy is flat out wrong .. he flat out beat Vasi in round 1 and that tells me he is fine ..

 

[BallardEra]

It ain’t over till the fat lady sings

The pleasantly plump person that can reproduce.

 

[robertmac43]

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Oh you definitely found the problem.

Is there no counter coaching philosophy for a heavy forecheck that we can do? Seriously....nothing? This guy is like Babcock coaching team Canada and getting credit for opening the door to the bench like he did. There is no System to rely on when things are not going well. No muscle memory type plays that we can do automatically. It seems that the players are coaching themselves except for who plays on what lines.