Our regulation record is 13-20. This means the Leafs have to be clutch in sudden death 5v5 overtime. Not counting on it after the Game 7 vs. the Bruins. The team chokes under pressure. It's impossible to get far in the playoffs when your team plays so poorly in regulation (13-20). And if you can't handle the pressure of sudden death overtime on top of that, it's even worse.
Shootouts mask how poor this team is playing
- Thread starter likeabosski
- Start date
Yeah but what if they awarded a point for every save that your goalie made? 
I never liked the shootout but it's unfortunately part of the game. There were years that the leafs were brutal at the shootout and had to settle with the one point.
From a strategic point of view, I'm sure the Leafs know they have a great chance at two points if they get to the shootout. How many risks are they going to take during the 5-minute overtime?
I never liked the shootout but it's unfortunately part of the game. There were years that the leafs were brutal at the shootout and had to settle with the one point.
From a strategic point of view, I'm sure the Leafs know they have a great chance at two points if they get to the shootout. How many risks are they going to take during the 5-minute overtime?
Suntouchable13
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SprDaVE
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Bozak was the only one to score last season in the shootout. None of the other players scored a single one. Not Lupul, JVR, Kadri or Kessel.
The whole point of the thread goes over the heads of so many its almost comical. While yes the shootout is part of the game and the Leafs are very very good at it.......and take full advantage of it. Kudos. I also remember when they sucked at them and narrowly missed the playoffs. Which seemed unfair but they are part of todays game love them or hate them. A couple of things though. The Leafs have the least ROW games of any playoff team or competing playoff team except Washington. The standings are so close..its not inconceivable that the wildcards can be decided by tie breakers...ROWs....also going to extra time or SO for almost every game simply shows the Leafs are a very middle of the pack team that cant dominate anybody. Not even the Sabres on home ice. Evidence shows they are not a great team threatening to anybody really. If they make the playoffs...and thats a big IF.....they wont last very long.
Suntouchable13
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Well, last year they had more ROW's than Boston and people still said that they will annihilate us. So ROW's don't matter with some fans either.
Last year when I did a similar calculation with the old point system, the Leafs would have finished in the East's top 4 I believe. And there were teams who made the playoffs thanks to the shootout or overtime losses and vice versa.
Shootouts and overtime losses are becoming such a factor now that it's worthwhile for teams to consider dressing shootout specialists and give more ice time to shut-down specialists (to protect draws). This is probably why the Kulemin-McClement-Clarkson line gets as much ice time as a 2nd or even 1st line a lot of the time.
Further proving the point. Last years Leafs were a better team. Perhaps not personnel wise but no denying they played better as a team. This Leaf team is not very good. They have zero consistency other than perhaps goaltending. The odd night where the goalies are not ontop of their games..the Leafs almost always get blown out. They will struggle to make the playoffs, unless Nonis can change it up or Bolland comes back and makes a significant difference.
Last year the big topic of debate was Toronto's unsustainable shooting % and poor possession. The Boston Bruins were absolutely killing us in possession. But Toronto had the superior shooting % and save% in the playoffs series (poor Reimer is thrown under the bus a lot. Our goalies are under a microscope. But we never pay attention to the mistakes that goalies make on other teams. Whenever a Leaf scores on Tuuka Rask, it's because the Leafs are awesome. It's never because Tuuka Rask made a mistake. Every time Reimer or Bernier makes a mistake, they hear about it...) That's why Toronto came very close to beating Boston. Whenever our goalies are human or our defense gives off a bad pinch on a play or lapses, the deficiencies in our game (which are usually hidden by solid goaltending and what not) become magnified.
Purity*
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Why in the hell would you be worried about Boston? I think our roster would relish another chance at beating the Bruins.
Rants Mulliniks
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I think you struggle with what winning percentage means. It's wins/games played. If you remove SOW and OTL, the SOW become ties.
BonMorrison
Registered User
Actually winning percentage is calculated as a percentage of points obtained vs points possible.
So if you tied every game you would have a 'winning' percentage of .500 not zero.
Rare Jewel
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I personally hope eventually the nonsense which is the shootout is removed from the NHL.
Its like a NBA game decided by a slam dunk competition or a MLB game decided by a home run competition.
It actually degrades the sport of hockey. IMO
Its like a NBA game decided by a slam dunk competition or a MLB game decided by a home run competition.
It actually degrades the sport of hockey. IMO
you are exactly right. The first 2 years after the first lockout 06 and 07 seasons, if not for the shoot out the Leafs were in the playoffs, because they couldn't seem to win. They were far better than Edmonton in 06, but Edmonton was great in the shootout and had more points than the Leafs. The Leafs had way more regulation wins than the Oilers, but not as many points, if not for the shoot out the Leafs playoff drought wouldn't have started until the 08 season making their drought only 4 years.
Now this is where the NHL is great. We have teams that are playing poorly, so along comes the NHL and says "we are going to help you go from poor to mediocre". We will give you a point even if you lose, AND if you don't really win, but just kind of win, we'll give you two points just like you did win!" (we'll also give the "loser" a point kind of like an E for effort). But, if it comes down to a tie breaker, those "kind of wins" are not even considered as good as a regulation win OR an overtime win. Ya follow?? 
Me neither....
Me neither....
Baarle*
Registered User
This took to long to be said. The entire premise of the OP is that we will lose in the playoffs because we can't win in the first five minutes of OT (of course the opposition couldn't either but OP has decided to ignore that). Who's to say we won't win the majority of longer OT periods?
How is the the Leafs' "Inability" to finish off games in OT relevant to the playoffs? Last time I checked the playoffs used continuous OT, not 5 minutes of 4v4. You CAN NOT say that we would can't finish off games in OT in the regular season, and transfer that to the playoffs. It's called Apples vs Oranges! This is basic stuff folks!
It may be worth noting here that regular season overtimes are not equal to post season overtimes. Regular season is "4 on 4" (not counting the goaltenders ?). Post season overtimes are standard full strength. See how that makes sense? No?
Me neither...
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