Post-Game Talk: Stolarz & Marner Steal a Point - Leafs lose 4-3

[Hellcat]

Player	ATOI	xGoals
Auston Matthews	23:36	1.582
Max Pacioretty	9:51	0.301
Matthew Knies	19:03	0.265
David Kampf	13:14	0.243
Morgan Rielly	24:14:00	0.225
Jake McCabe	24:48:00	0.163
Nicholas Robertson	11:00	0.162
Mitch Marner	26:12:00	0.14
John Tavares	14:52	0.056
William Nylander	18:00	0.052
Steven Lorentz	12:48	0.034
Simon Benoit	14:31	0.019
Max Domi	17:01	0.016
Chris Tanev	21:07	0.015
Oliver Ekman-Larsson	19:28	0
Philippe Myers	12:11	0
Bobby McMann	8:14	0
Ryan Reaves	7:19	0

Coaches will always play their best players the most minutes. This isn’t unique to Keefe or Berube.

Over 26 minutes for Mitch... WOW.

 

[Ports]

How is that the Leafs after playing 6 physical, tight defensively responsible games in a row just stop playing that way? PP woes aside, they don’t even resemble the team from last Monday. This is the ninth season for the core group of four including Rielly and seventh including Tavares and it’s groundhog year all over again. Teams have a game plan to defend their perimeter PP and know if they play hard enough at both ends of the ice, the Leafs will cough up scoring chances and their star players will not be willing to forecheck hard or go to the net to score dirty goals. It’s a mystery how Shanahan believes his overpaid core group has the will or the guts to play the way they need to make a deep playoff run. Berube is in for a long season of watching these ballerinas.

We have 50% of our cap in forwards and we can't score lol

And 61% if you include Rielly. That’s a lot of money spent on offense that doesn’t show up a lot of nights.

 

[Nineteen67]

I can't for the life of me figure out why Matthews was ever put on the PK. It's bad enough that Marner is there, although he's pretty good at it. Hopefully this is just a short term thing, but something we will have to keep an eye on.
Is Berube starting to coach just like Keefe did, by playing M&M heavy minutes? Let's hope not.
The 3rd line continues to be a problem, and will we ever have a 4th line who can consistently play well enough to earn at least 10 minutes a night?
Seems like the same old, same old!

When Jarnkrok and Minton return, reaves should be waived.

 

[Hellcat]

I believe those “ghost” are freed when you’re 10-12 yrs old when you’re learning to play competitive hockey. Matthews is a showcase player and I guess never learned how to play and it shows.

Unless you are a psychopath or sociopath everyone has imposter syndrome, everyone has doubts, everyone has baggage, everyone has ghosts.

 

[ACC1224]

Player	ATOI	xGoals
Auston Matthews	23:36	1.582
Max Pacioretty	9:51	0.301
Matthew Knies	19:03	0.265
David Kampf	13:14	0.243
Morgan Rielly	24:14:00	0.225
Jake McCabe	24:48:00	0.163
Nicholas Robertson	11:00	0.162
Mitch Marner	26:12:00	0.14
John Tavares	14:52	0.056
William Nylander	18:00	0.052
Steven Lorentz	12:48	0.034
Simon Benoit	14:31	0.019
Max Domi	17:01	0.016
Chris Tanev	21:07	0.015
Oliver Ekman-Larsson	19:28	0
Philippe Myers	12:11	0
Bobby McMann	8:14	0
Ryan Reaves	7:19	0

Over 26 minutes for Mitch... WOW.

Seemed like a lot to of PK minutes.

 

[Ports]

Everytime they focus on Savard he looks lost to me. Quickly working away on the iPad. Dude you don’t need to replay every PP they all have the same mistakes.

Maybe it’s your concussions from the past but October/24 looks the exact as Feb/Mar/ April 24.

PP looks awful but Savard wasn’t the coach when they went 1 for 21 in the playoffs last season. Maybe it’s the players who play too cute and aren’t willing to get their noses dirty and score greasy goals.

 

[Trapper]

It is a fundamentally flawed team .. no coach is gonna fix that issue .. hockey is 80% recruitment and only 20% coaching .. always has been .. some things don't change

Berube isn’t going to change who they are. No coach is.
You aren’t going to suddenly turn a sheep into a wolf or make Tavares and Marner skate like McDavid. No coach is.

Berube can put a new system in place and hold players accountable, but as a coach you have to try and win with what the players are and not what you want them to be. They aren’t going to play like Toews/Crosby/Tkachuk/etc. They are passive and can’t sustain for long periods. You have to coach Thornton and Marleau players. That’s what the 4 are.

 

[Hellcat]

Seemed like a lot to of PK minutes.

Must have been, how can you expect your best players perform at their best when they log those many minutes.... 3 assists for Marner...? Would you look at that ...! "We are lucky to have him" - Braaaaaaaaaaaad Treliving

 

[Nineteen67]

How is that the Leafs after playing 6 physical, tight defensively responsible games in a row just stop playing that way? PP woes aside, they don’t even resemble the team from last Monday. This is the ninth season for the core group of four including Rielly and seventh including Tavares and it’s groundhog year all over again. Teams have a game plan to defend their perimeter PP and know if they play hard enough at both ends of the ice, the Leafs will cough up scoring chances and their star players will not be willing to forecheck hard or go to the net to score dirty goals. It’s a mystery how Shanahan believes his overpaid core group has the will or the guts to play the way they need to make a deep playoff run. Berube is in for a long season of watching these ballerinas.


And 61% if you include Rielly. That’s a lot of money spent on offense that doesn’t show up a lot of nights.

I think they stopped playing north south because they’re too slow and feel like they’re wasting energy. Too often the wingers are standing at the blue line waiting for the dump and then can’t retrieve the puck. The dump in is not a good spot because the puck carrier gets checked.

 

[ACC1224]

Must have been, how can you expect your best players perform at their best when they log those many minutes.... 3 assists for Marner...? Would you look at that ...! "We are lucky to have him" - Braaaaaaaaaaaad Treliving

For sure they play too many minutes but Coaches will always run the best players the most.
It’s not often Matthews and Marner don’t lead the team in ice time.

 

[Nineteen67]

Unless you are a psychopath or sociopath everyone has imposter syndrome, everyone has doubts, everyone has baggage, everyone has ghosts.

It’d be nice if they had a little sociopathic tendencies

 

[Ports]

Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes

This is not an elite roster, it is a middle middle roster, that plays occasionally elite and occasionally like dog shit but for the most part they play right down the middle middle hockey. They play slow, they take too long to move the puck, this could be because they dont trust themselves or could be they dont trust their teammates to be where they are supposed to be. Seems like the simple stuff is not simple.

I know it is early but I think we can call this one. Much like the Jays were pretty obvious what they were a couple of weeks into the season, this team screams middle middle. Barring some miracle, this team will finish 3rd in the East.

That might be optimistic. They played well against Tampa but let’s face it, Vasilevskiy couldn’t stop a beach ball in that game. The way they are playing right now, they’ll be touch and go to make the playoffs. They’re caught between their old style of play and the north-south game Berube and Treliving believe will give them a better chance to win in the playoffs. I don’t see their star players buying into that though and that is a real problem. Unless their goaltending steals them a bunch of games, I don’t see them beating good, disciplined teams that can shut down their PP.

 

[lord stanly]

Matthews had the primary assist on goal 2 and the game tying goal lol.

and winning goal

 

[Enniskillen]

Myers’ debut was good, very physical, no nonsense player. Stolarz, Knies, OEL and Tanev are fighters. The rest are meh.

 

[Ports]

I think they stopped playing north south because they’re too slow and feel like they’re wasting energy. Too often the wingers are standing at the blue line waiting for the dump and then can’t retrieve the puck. The dump in is not a good spot because the puck carrier gets checked.

If players decide to make personal choices and play the way they want to then there is no chance they can win. Every TEAM has a coaching staff that implements a system that the players must follow. Players not wanting to waste energy especially nine games into the season is pretty damning criticism in my eyes. You may not agree with the system but the way they have played for the last eight years in a row in the playoffs hasn’t had any success. I don’t think their core five are willing or able to put in the physical effort to play a tighter, tougher grinding style that wins come playoff time. They want to out talent the opposition by playing on the perimeter even though they’ve proven it doesn’t work.

 

[Trapper]

It’d be nice if they had a little sociopathic tendencies

They do. They absolutely kill it come contract negotiation time. They’d make Leatherface afraid.

 

[Gallagbi]

How is that the Leafs after playing 6 physical, tight defensively responsible games in a row just stop playing that way? PP woes aside, they don’t even resemble the team from last Monday. This is the ninth season for the core group of four including Rielly and seventh including Tavares and it’s groundhog year all over again. Teams have a game plan to defend their perimeter PP and know if they play hard enough at both ends of the ice, the Leafs will cough up scoring chances and their star players will not be willing to forecheck hard or go to the net to score dirty goals. It’s a mystery how Shanahan believes his overpaid core group has the will or the guts to play the way they need to make a deep playoff run. Berube is in for a long season of watching these ballerinas.


And 61% if you include Rielly. That’s a lot of money spent on offense that doesn’t show up a lot of nights.

Some things look like they're leveling out right now. We had a few games vs decent teams where or goalies stood on their head and everything went in (LA, TB). Our goalies aren't completely dominating like they did early, and we're not capitalizing on as many chances, so that alters perceptions a lot

It's easy to ignore the McMann fumbles when your goalie makes the save, just like it's easy to remember the quality of chance when we score vs. miss the net

 

[Ports]

After team fought back to tie it up and again to go OT in Beantown .. Matty gives it way like a sieve .. Rielly dives to nowhere land instead of taking Marchand out of play for da rebound .. lone bright spot is tender who made a great save on Marchand to give us a chance .. Matty and Rielly have no idear of how to play defense .. Matty should have locked up Pasta for rebound and Rielly should have taken out Marchand and let tender hold puck after his amazing save .. but NO .. Matty stands around and Rielly dives into nowhere land leaving tender against 2 guys fighting for a rebound .. this is piss poor defense .. it reeks of players who don't want to win when it really matters .. or wore yet guys who have ZERO defensive training and skills

I would add zero guts to engage opponents physically. Soft, soft, soft.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Coaches will always play their best players the most minutes. This isn’t unique to Keefe or Berube.

But it's funny how those amount of minutes always seem to bite this team in the ass when it comes down to crunch time

When Jarnkrok and Minton return, reaves should be waived.

I don't think management would do that to Reaves, though. Even if they did do that, wouldn't someone else need to either be waived or traded?

 

[Nineteen67]

If players decide to make personal choices and play the way they want to then there is no chance they can win. Every TEAM has a coaching staff that implements a system that the players must follow. Players not wanting to waste energy especially nine games into the season is pretty damning criticism in my eyes. You may not agree with the system but the way they have played for the last eight years in a row in the playoffs hasn’t had any success. I don’t think their core five are willing or able to put in the physical effort to play a tighter, tougher grinding style that wins come playoff time. They want to out talent the opposition by playing on the perimeter even though they’ve proven it doesn’t work.

Management hasn’t built the team properly and I think most felt they didn’t do enough in the offseason. The players they have are not really good enough so they’ll struggle with any system.
Matthews is scoring or setting up so it makes it very difficult for them to win.

The hope is they’ll excel during the shinny season when teams are going through the motions and get enough points to make the playoffs.

They do. They absolutely kill it come contract negotiation time. They’d make Leatherface afraid.

That’s their agents.

But it's funny how those amount of minutes always seem to bite this team in the ass when it comes down to crunch time

I don't think management would do that to Reaves, though. Even if they did do that, wouldn't someone else need to either be waived or traded?

They’ll have to trade or waive someone, unless there’s another injury.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Coaches will always play their best players the most minutes. This isn’t unique to Keefe or Berube.

Then I guess it will be something that needs to be monitored throughout the season, with the amount of minutes they, Matthews especially, also play on the PK.

 

[Ports]

Some things look like they're leveling out right now. We had a few games vs decent teams where or goalies stood on their head and everything went in (LA, TB). Our goalies aren't completely dominating like they did early, and we're not capitalizing on as many chances, so that alters perceptions a lot

It's easy to ignore the McMann fumbles when your goalie makes the save, just like it's easy to remember the quality of chance when we score vs. miss the the net.

They also look tight. Old habits die hard.

 

[Gallagbi]

They also look tight. Old habits die hard.

Last night, but I didn't see that vs STL or CLB. Last night looked like a game that meant more to them

 

[Nineteen67]

What if Stolarz played Thursday and Woll last night? A 3-1 loss at home followed up by 5-1 loss in Boston?

 

[kevsh]

How is that the Leafs after playing 6 physical, tight defensively responsible games in a row just stop playing that way?

Maybe the best meme ever relating to the core of this team.