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The Leafs Special Teams Has Been Dreadful

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Jimmy Firecracker

Jimmy Firecracker

Backcheck, Forecheck, Paycheque.
Mar 30, 2010
38,576
40,806
Mississauga
They can’t kill a penalty or score on the powerplay to save their lives. Tonight is a prime example but it’s been like this all month.

Carolina: PP 0/4 - PK 3/5
Philadelphia: PP 0/4 - PK 2/3 (allowed SHG)
Montreal: PP 0/2 - PK 3/4
Boston: PP 1/4 - PK 3/5
Buffalo: PP 0/1 - PK 2/2
Boston: PP 0/4 - PK 1/2
New York: PP 0/3 - PK 3/3

The Leafs have ONE powerplay goal in the month of March out of 22 attempts! They’ve only killed 70% of powerplays against! This is horrific! The Leafs can’t continue like this, consistently failing to score on the PP but continuously bleeding goals on the PK.
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Well, first of all, they really need to get Marner back. Marner is probably the Leafs' best PK'er (if it ain't Kampf).

The PP needs another shakeup. They need to get Reilly and Tavares off it again and go back to Matthews-Marner-Nylander-Bertuzzi-Liljegren. It was working. But Keefe being Keefe, he HAD to go back to his favorite PP option.

Also, can we never see Brodie on a PK again?
 
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I love Mo. I hate Mo on the PP.

So slow processing the game, so slow making a play whether that be a pass or shot. Plays are there to be made, but they tend to pass by, and then the shots that don't make it through... omg. I hate it.

I prefer Timmy on PP1.

No doubt missing Mitch on the PK. Do not love Willie on the PK either... we are limited.

I have not liked what I see from Dewar, but he gets a pass as he figures things out.
 
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Its not helping the anti-Marner arguments is is? Although no one really disputes that anyways, its about the playoffs.

Marner is out and the PP and PK is suffering. Regular season, for the sake of not arguing the playoff part, because I don't want to, he is an elite forward in both scenarios, and missing him would hurt any team.
 
Power play was 1st overall In feburary

A month later…

DEAD LAST

that is insanity. If they don’t sort it out, we lose in 5 vs boston
 
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Lightsol said:
Well, first of all, they really need to get Marner back. Marner is probably the Leafs' best PK'er (if it ain't Kampf).

The PP needs another shakeup. They need to get Reilly and Tavares off it again and go back to Matthews-Marner-Nylander-Bertuzzi-Liljegren. It was working. But Keefe being Keefe, he HAD to go back to his favorite PP option.

Also, can we never see Brodie on a PK again?
Click to expand...
It ain’t Kampf
 
Nylander has to be off your PK, I know we're missing people now, when they come back please end this experiment. Sure he can tip a puck and fly down the other way, he's a threat, but he is way too passive for me, you need aggression from your forwards, he seems to think if he's in the right spot on a chalkboard then he's done his job. That's isn't enough. Willie hemmed in our zone is hard to watch, it's still his weakest spot, and we saw it last night again. Great player, PK isn't his game and that's fine.

Brodie needs to retire too.
 
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Jimmy Firecracker said:
They can’t kill a penalty or score on the powerplay to save their lives. Tonight is a prime example but it’s been like this all month.

Carolina: PP 0/4 - PK 3/5
Philadelphia: PP 0/4 - PK 2/3 (allowed SHG)
Montreal: PP 0/2 - PK 3/4
Boston: PP 1/4 - PK 3/5
Buffalo: PP 0/1 - PK 2/2
Boston: PP 0/4 - PK 1/2
New York: PP 0/3 - PK 3/3

The Leafs have ONE powerplay goal in the month of March out of 20 attempts! They’ve only killed 70% of powerplays against! This is horrific! The Leafs can’t continue like this, consistently failing to score on the PP but continuously bleeding goals on the PK.
Click to expand...
I think the PP problem is due mostly to our inability to pass the puck around quickly enough to get someone open. We, compared to most teams, get our pucks deflected a lot when trying to make a quick pass whilst standing still for the most part. I think I read a stat where we are one of the, if not the worst, teams at passing the puck around in the offensive zone. Combine that with everyone pretending they are statues and here we are.
 
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They need to simplify the powerplay. No one is asking for the Harlem Gloebtrotters and yet I can see the Guy Boucher markers all over the ice in transition. Like this guy criss crosses and leaves the puck in position for that guy to zig zag into the slow gap at the blueline. Once in the pool, everyone give me a crap ballet of attempted keep away. Worst guy to touch it shoots. Don’t be afraid to blast the puck wide and don’t worry about the puck careening back down the ice for an odd man rush against. They’re just so unaware it makes no sense.
 
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Lightsol said:
Well, first of all, they really need to get Marner back. Marner is probably the Leafs' best PK'er (if it ain't Kampf).

The PP needs another shakeup. They need to get Reilly and Tavares off it again and go back to Matthews-Marner-Nylander-Bertuzzi-Liljegren. It was working. But Keefe being Keefe, he HAD to go back to his favorite PP option.

Also, can we never see Brodie on a PK again?
Click to expand...

Matthews actually has the best PPGA/60 on the team, 3x better than Marner last I checked but doesn’t play half as much.
 
Squiffy said:
Its not helping the anti-Marner arguments is is? Although no one really disputes that anyways, its about the playoffs.

Marner is out and the PP and PK is suffering. Regular season, for the sake of not arguing the playoff part, because I don't want to, he is an elite forward in both scenarios, and missing him would hurt any team.
Click to expand...
The PK has been bad all year, so not sure getting Marner back will change that. Definitely miss him on the PP, as the next options are less than ideal
 
The PK hasn't been very good this year.. but part of that is also terrible goaltending earlier in the year. The two best PK forwards have been Marner, and Jarnkrok... Jarnkrok has missed a lot of time this calendar year, and Marner is out now. Even with them back, it needs work.

We've had a lot of injuries in the D, we've had a lot of injuries and issues with goalies, and now with some forwards... it's been a challenging year.

The PP runs through Marner, that's the reality... he makes it work.

We need both players back and healthy, and we need the PP to get back to where it was, and we need to focus on making the PK work. The last stretch isn't something to get too worked up about, but our coaching staff really needs to work at getting these functioning at a high level before the playoffs... which includes having healthy bodies.
 
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Ebbs and flows of the regular season, especially with their top PP/PKer out .. I'm more concerned about playoffs and if they can make the needed adjustments.

Odds are they can't.
 
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