GDT: Start of the November hot streak part 3 - Tampa visits Toronto

[LeafSteel]

Let’s go Robertson!

Hope he plays smart and doesn’t try to be a world beater tonight.

Play your game and leave the Dude Perfect bullshit for Marner.

 

[MK78]

If they shit the bed today, I'm officially worried.

 

[bax]

I think Cooper just loves punking the Toronto media with stuff like this because he knows it will get great play.

Sure he does but he’s also not wrong.

 

[mikeyz]

Like we do with everything else you mean? Hardly unique here lol.

Personally, give me 40 games of the kid before we decide what he is.


Keefe should run 13-5 or maybe 14-4 lol.

He's gotta stay healthy long enough to get to those 40 games. Lol

 

[HockeyVirus]

Thx for a great game thread. I admire your enthusiasm ……….I’m struggling with mine

I am not confident this is a cup team as of today, but I am confident this is a good enough team to make the playoffs. And if I have been taught anything, once playoffs start it's a new season. Teams that look terrible can go on deep runs.

Remains to be seen if our new look group is better in the spring than in the fall.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think Cooper just loves punking the Toronto media with stuff like this because he knows it will get great play.

What does Cooper care about getting "great play"? It's not Cooper punking the Toronto Media, it's anyone and everyone punking this team whenever they're in the mood to do so.

They were just talking about it on overdrive, what Cooper said, and especially what Stamkos said. The thing is, everyone knows that this team is nothing but a bunch of pansies. It's been talked about for years, everyone knows it and you can say or do whatever you want, there's nothing to be afraid of because this group never pushes back no matter what. You can insult them, bully them, injure them with dirty plays, it doesn't matter because no matter what happens, the response from the Leafs is to look in the other direction and act as if nothing happened.

 

[Racer88]

I am not confident this is a cup team as of today, but I am confident this is a good enough team to make the playoffs. And if I have been taught anything, once playoffs start it's a new season. Teams that look terrible can go on deep runs.

Remains to be seen if our new look group is better in the spring than in the fall.

I too think they will back their way into the playoffs but they are absolutely not a cup contender

 

[IPS]

I am not confident this is a cup team as of today, but I am confident this is a good enough team to make the playoffs. And if I have been taught anything, once playoffs start it's a new season. Teams that look terrible can go on deep runs.

Remains to be seen if our new look group is better in the spring than in the fall.

It's a cup team no doubt. It's the NHL - anyone can win the cup if they get hot at the right time.

The lesser complete teams like ours just need more stuff to go right for them if they do catch the playoffs on a hot streak.

If the Oilers had 1 or 2 more quality D when their forward group caught fire in the 2022 playoffs they'd have probably beat Colorado and won the cup. If Matthews and Marner do something similar we're gonna need a much better D to replicate and/or exceed those results.

 

[Jojalu]

It's a cup team no doubt. It's the NHL - anyone can win the cup if they get hot at the right time.

The lesser complete teams like ours just need more stuff to go right for them if they do catch the playoffs on a hot streak.

If the Oilers had 1 or 2 more quality D when their forward group caught fire in the 2022 playoffs they'd have probably beat Colorado and won the cup. If Matthews and Marner do something similar we're gonna need a much better D to replicate and/or exceed those results.

Montreal's run during the Covid year is a great example of things just going right and getting hot.

Florida last year.

The Kings when they won their first cup.

Have a goalie get hot, find a way to win the 1 goal games, and perservere in OT.

 

[Gary Nylund]

It's a cup team no doubt. It's the NHL - anyone can win the cup if they get hot at the right time.

The lesser complete teams like ours just need more stuff to go right for them if they do catch the playoffs on a hot streak.

If the Oilers had 1 or 2 more quality D when their forward group caught fire in the 2022 playoffs they'd have probably beat Colorado and won the cup. If Matthews and Marner do something similar we're gonna need a much better D to replicate and/or exceed those results.

Yeah I don't really think that's true. You go back and look at the teams that actually win the cup, and show me one that wasn't a really good team.

I'd say anyone can get hot at the right time (mostly they're led by a goalie that gets hot) and sometimes, these lesser "hot" teams go on a run and make the finals. Even that doesn't happen all that often and when it does, that's as far as they get. They end up losing in the finals every single time and more often or not, they get crushed. Florida last year was exactly like like that.

Montreal's run during the Covid year is a great example of things just going right and getting hot.

Florida last year.

The Kings when they won their first cup.

Have a goalie get hot, find a way to win the 1 goal games, and perservere in OT.

The Kings IIRC were actually a very good team, and started winning on a regular basis well before the playoffs started. Despite their relative low place in the standings, they were favorites in most of the playoff series they played, even when they started those series on the road.

 

[IPS]

Yeah I don't really think that's true. You go back and look at the teams that actually win the cup, and show me one that wasn't a really good team.

I'd say anyone can get hot at the right time (mostly they're led by a goalie that gets hot) and sometimes, these lesser "hot" teams go on a run and make the finals. Even that doesn't happen all that often and when it does, that's as far as they get. They end up losing in the finals every single time and more often or not, they get crushed. Florida last year was exactly like like that.


The Kings IIRC were actually a very good team, and started winning on a regular basis well before the playoffs started. Despite their relative low place in the standings, they were favorites in most of the playoff series they played, even when they started those series on the road.

Hurricanes in 2006 would be my best example off the top of my head. Maybe LA in 2012 but that team was really built for the playoffs in that 2012 - 2014 stretch.

I guess it doesn't happen often but it can happen, it's about the best we got.

 

[Jojalu]

Yeah I don't really think that's true. You go back and look at the teams that actually win the cup, and show me one that wasn't a really good team.

I'd say anyone can get hot at the right time (mostly they're led by a goalie that gets hot) and sometimes, these lesser "hot" teams go on a run and make the finals. Even that doesn't happen all that often and when it does, that's as far as they get. They end up losing in the finals every single time and more often or not, they get crushed. Florida last year was exactly like like that.


The Kings IIRC were actually a very good team, and started winning on a regular basis well before the playoffs started. Despite their relative low place in the standings, they were favorites in most of the playoff series they played, even when they started those series on the road.

Vancouver was favoured in the first round, but yes, they definitely underachieved to start the year and got better all year.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Hurricanes in 2006 would be my best example off the top of my head. Maybe LA in 2012 but that team was really built for the playoffs in that 2012 - 2014 stretch.

I guess it doesn't happen often but it can happen, it's about the best we got.

It would take a miracle but yeah, hoping for that miracle is all we got.

Vancouver was favoured in the first round, but yes, they definitely underachieved to start the year and got better all year.

The changed coaches mid-season, and of course Quick got super hot. But they also had Kopitar and Doughty, both of those guys had more leadership qualities in their pinky fingers than we have in our entire team. I could see Woll (or even Samsonov) getting super hot, what I don't see is that being enough for that simple reason - this team lacks character/leadership.

 

[RunItBackAgain]

Yeah I don't really think that's true. You go back and look at the teams that actually win the cup, and show me one that wasn't a really good team.

I'd say anyone can get hot at the right time (mostly they're led by a goalie that gets hot) and sometimes, these lesser "hot" teams go on a run and make the finals. Even that doesn't happen all that often and when it does, that's as far as they get. They end up losing in the finals every single time and more often or not, they get crushed. Florida last year was exactly like like that.


The Kings IIRC were actually a very good team, and started winning on a regular basis well before the playoffs started. Despite their relative low place in the standings, they were favorites in most of the playoff series they played, even when they started those series on the road.

Flames in 04. IT WAS IN!

 

[ACC1224]

I think Cooper just loves punking the Toronto media with stuff like this because he knows it will get great play.

What a great coach. Maybe one day the Leafs will have a great Coach again.

 

[therealkoho]

I'm actually choosing not to watch this game in real time as I don't need the stress. I see this game as having 1 of 2 outcomes.

The Leafs win in a tightly contested, tight checking low scoring affair. In which case hoorah!

Or

The Lightning run us hard and win as the say going away.

I'll ask once again for all of you who want to fire Shelly. Who takes the reins?

 

[Dion TheFluff]

actually kind of excited about the lines tonight! (The D pairing are a different story)

Excited to see what Knies can do with Matthews and Marner, and Robertson-Domi-Jarnkrok seems like it should have potential on paper so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Flames in 04. IT WAS IN!

I'll take your word for it I guess, I was living in Europe at the time so not following too closely.

The best example I can think of was MTL in 93, the year we came closest to the finals in the last 50 years. They had Roy in net of course but they also had a team that was super sound defensively, they were probably better than people gave them credit for. But they also got super lucky in that someone else took out PIT for them (PIT led by Lemieux was the class of the league that year) so unlike the other Cinderella teams that made it as far as the finals, they weren't even big underdogs by the time they got there, in fact they were the favorites.

 

[IPS]

I'll take your word for it I guess, I was living in Europe at the time so not following too closely.

The best example I can think of was MTL in 93, the year we came closest to the finals in the last 50 years. They had Roy in net of course but they also had a team that was super sound defensively, they were probably better than people gave them credit for. But they also got super lucky in that someone else took out PIT for them (PIT led by Lemieux was the class of the league that year) so unlike the other Cinderella teams that made it as far as the finals, they weren't even big underdogs by the time they got there, in fact they were the favorites.

That's actually prob the best example.

 

[Jacquestrapless]

I give it one period before Jarnkrok moves up and Knies goes down.

But Knies - Domi - Robertson ain't so bad either

 

[ACC1224]

I'm actually choosing not to watch this game in real time as I don't need the stress. I see this game as having 1 of 2 outcomes.

The Leafs win in a tightly contested, tight checking low scoring affair. In which case hoorah!

Or

The Lightning run us hard and win as the say going away.

I'll ask once again for all of you who want to fire Shelly. Who takes the reins?

Stress? It’s only November

 

[MSZ]

If they shit the bed today, I'm officially worried.

If that means the end of Keefe I'm all for it.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'm actually choosing not to watch this game in real time as I don't need the stress. I see this game as having 1 of 2 outcomes.

The Leafs win in a tightly contested, tight checking low scoring affair. In which case hoorah!

Or

The Lightning run us hard and win as the say going away.

I'll ask once again for all of you who want to fire Shelly. Who takes the reins?

For me, I'm resigned to the fact that this group isn't winning the cup so it's stress free for me. It's also less interesting than it has been so I'll probably watch with one eye while I practice guitar, or play chess online or play with my cats or whatever.

The most interesting thing about this game is the comments by Stamkos and Cooper, especially Stamkos. As Noodles said on overdrive, what a normal team does is to send a message to Stamkos tonight. I mean even if that happens, I wouldn't see it as some seismic character shift in this group, it would take a lot more than that but still, it would be something I guess. But if they don't do anything, it'll just be one more of the many, many pieces of evidence that argue that this team has no character and is a group of individual players, not a team in the true sense of the word.

 

[hamzarocks]

Is a anti-voodo doll a thing

Need to get a Nick Robertson one and stab the crap out of it, so he can avoid injuries in real life.

Think he is ready to break in, just hoping his body doesnt break down again

 

[Gary Nylund]

That's actually prob the best example.

And if it is, the fact that I had to back 30 years in history to find it shows just how rare it is.