Post-Game Talk: Toronto Maple Leafs @ New York Rangers 3/5/2014

[ajdj10]

Zuccarello coming back guys ... we got some depth at D as well ... and I honestly expect Miller to be back with this team at some point. We just need to find our game, we are collectively slumping.

Can we collectively unslump?

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Rode home from the game tonight with my BFF Brendan Shanahan. No big deal, whatever...

 

[Roo Returns]

What a crazy day.

The game was too loose. They can't play like that often and expect to win.

I like a little more defensive hockey.

St. Louis looked fine. Hagelin needs to stop being star struck, but he'll be fine.

Nash was pretty bad.

Hopefully that's the last we ever see of Dorsett. He really has no role on this new "skilled" version of the team and the kids in the minors who are going to be pecking for jobs next year are all more skilled and offer more than him.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

The hallmark of AVs defensive system seems to be: leave the slot wide open

Always nice to head to the Garden and see a no-no though

 

[aufheben]

What a crazy day.

The game was too loose. They can't play like that often and expect to win.

I like a little more defensive hockey.

St. Louis looked fine. Hagelin needs to stop being star struck, but he'll be fine.

Nash was pretty bad.

Hopefully that's the last we ever see of Dorsett. He really has no role on this new "skilled" version of the team and the kids in the minors who are going to be pecking for jobs next year are all more skilled and offer more than him.

Plus Carcillo does his job better anyway, sans PKing.

 

[aufheben]

The hallmark of AVs defensive system seems to be: leave the slot wide open

Always nice to head to the Garden and see a no-no though

Look at the shot chart from the Boston game. Literally every goal was right in the slot. Is this a result of man-on-man? I feel like Zone would be/was much better for covering the slot. Man-on-man means defenders skating around, which opens up space. Also note the amount of Bruins' hits in the corner.

But yeah, that's all on Hank, lol.

 

[AHB*]

Crowd was dead all game.

Liked St. Louis.

As much as i hated Torts juggling lines, AV never juggles them. It's absolutely ridiculous to force guys to stay together. When was the last time Kreider-Stepan-Nash was relevant? They just aren't clicking anymore. With Zucc out, switch it up. Put Brassard there. Bump Steps down with St. Louis and let Richie dog it with the grinders.

Regardless, frustrating loss, but felt we outplayed them for most of it.

Team will be better once Zucc is back and they have some practice time with MSL.

I can't comprehend the Dorsett move though, guy is just flat out ineffective. Why are you going to put him with two offensively capable players. Let Miller play. The third line was negated tonight because of DD. Horrible coaching.

 

[Inferno]

Look at the shot chart from the Boston game. Literally every goal was right in the slot. Is this a result of man-on-man? I feel like Zone would be/was much better for covering the slot. Man-on-man means defenders skating around, which opens up space. Also note the amount of Bruins' hits in the corner.

But yeah, that's all on Hank, lol.

yep, pretty much.


getting sick of this defensive zone system. its pretty damn horrible.

say what you want about Torts, the slot was usually territory you earned, in our system, it's a gift with purchase.

 

[aufheben]

yep, pretty much.


getting sick of this defensive zone system. its pretty damn horrible.

say what you want about Torts, the slot was usually territory you earned, in our system, it's a gift with purchase.

Seems like we've traded free range of the points for free range of the slot.

 

[Roo Returns]

Here's the reason Miller was sent down;

“A player must be on an AHL roster at 3 ET Wed. to be eligible to be sent down from the NHL the rest of the season.â€

 

[Inferno]

Seems like we've traded free range of the points for free range of the slot.

typical rangers.

sigh.

 

[Crease]

Here's the reason Miller was sent down;

“A player must be on an AHL roster at 3 ET Wed. to be eligible to be sent down from the NHL the rest of the season.â€

They could have called him right back up though and played him on the 3rd line instead of Dorsett. No NHL roster limit after the trade deadline. That said, Zucc should be back Friday to solve the Dorsett problem.

 

[aufheben]

They could have called him right back up though and played him on the 3rd line instead of Dorsett. No NHL roster limit after the trade deadline. That said, Zucc should be back Friday to solve the Dorsett problem.

Thank God, these guys are clueless without The Zucc.

 

[Callagraves]

Are you going to watch the game tomorrow?

Yeah. It'll hurt, but, I have off, and I'm not doing anything else.

 

[Cassano]

****ing THIS.

It's tough to watch the the forwards phone it in every night

lol.

MSL is a heart and soul player too, except he isn't associated with the nostalgic NA hockey cliches like grittiness, toughness, going to dirty areas, etc.

 

[Inferno]

its really incredibly how lost Brassard and Pouliot look w/o MZA

 

[DelZottoHitTheNetJK]

its really incredibly how lost Brassard and Pouliot look w/o MZA

Not sure we were watching the same game.. they both looked good. Pouliot was probably our grittiest forward tonight

Thoughts from the game:

-How Dorsett has an NHL job is beyond me. He is completely useless
-Sloppy game from both teams. Both teams had trouble breaking out, and the Rangers couldn't make a tape to tape pass in the 1st to save their lives
-Hank was excellent tonight, save for the penalty shot goal. Not one he should have had, but one we know he definitely could have had
-LOL @ Phaneuf scoring for us

 

[Callagraves]

lol.

MSL is a heart and soul player too, except he isn't associated with the nostalgic NA hockey cliches like grittiness, toughness, going to dirty areas, etc.

I said most.

If I had to guess, I'd say Zucc and MSL are going to be our two hardest working forwards from here on out. Which is a problem because they're both pretty damn small.

But really, our forward corp is so soft right now it's not even funny. 2 players in the top 9 who engage physically, and neither are even close to 6ft

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I turned off the recording after the 2nd goal. They looked as poor offensively as I have all season in the 2nd, it was terrible. Couldn't do **** and this was against a horrible defensive team. When will ****ing Lundqvist learn to stop a breakaway or a penalty shot? The guy has become a piece of turd against those opportunities. Seriously, I can't think of one he stopped all season. I'm surprised he stopped any in the penalty shot. The guy is a complete head case when it comes to those situations this year, seriously. It's definitely not physical, he just ***** his ****ing pants whenever a guy comes in one on one on him, it's disgraceful. That said the team sucked ass for most of the game that I saw. Looked worse than the team without MSL. I liked that line but MSL seemed to fumble the puck all the time. They seemed to overpass.

OH AND WHY IN THE ****ING HELL IS JT MILLER IN HARTFORD AND THAT PIECE OF **** DORSETT? WHAT WAS AV THINKING? That was my first all caps sentence on this board, that was disgraceful!

 

[Cassano]

I said most.

If I had to guess, I'd say Zucc and MSL are going to be our two hardest working forwards from here on out. Which is a problem because they're both pretty damn small.

But really, our forward corp is so soft right now it's not even funny. 2 players in the top 9 who engage physically, and neither are even close to 6ft

This is AV's team. The Canucks top 9 wasn't that gritty either.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

Missed the third period...thought we looked fine through two.

MSL was great. I think whatever line he's on will without question be our #1. He was consistently in the middle of things.

Hank made some great saves, sad to see he gave up two more. The penalty shot goal is acceptable, but I don't know how the other two were. He's gotta right his head and the defense needs to stop being awful at man to man.

 

[Callagraves]

This is AV's team. The Canucks top 9 wasn't that gritty either.

Both of those sentences are huge problems.

 

[One Winged Angel]

Didn't like AV from the start, still don't like him.

We need someone with a demeanor between AV and Torts, not someone who like AV who seems unphased by **** like this sometimes.

I know the pro-Callahan party will go "oh, we need more grit, look what we lost without Cally," well, we do need more grit, but not tremendously overpaid players.

They need Nash and Kreider to actually play like power forwards and pull their heads out of their *****. Stepan too. That entire line has been ******* for a while now. It needs to be broken up, honestly.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

2 things I'm very surprised in the responses:

1) Why are so many people killing Hags? I thought he deferred a bit to MSL but he was really close to setting him up for a goal early I thought he was good and even though how good MSL would be for him. Richards was a different player.

2) How is it that no one thinks the team looked as bad offensively as it has in month in that 2nd period? Looked awful. Brutal Leafs' D just schooled them.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Thought Staal and Stralman were bad today. Hank was shaky. Richards and MSL were our best forwards, outside of Dom Moore who was beast. McDonagh was pretty damn good IMO outside of the play in OT, Girardi, too. Thought Stepan had a solid game as well.

Tough one to lose. We had the edge in play most of the night. These last 3 games, we all could have won. We're not converting on scoring chances when we need to. I think once MSL settles in and Zuccarello is healthy, we'll start winning a lot more of these games.