Pre-Game Talk: Toronto @ New Jersey

[ACC1224]

How come Tavares is the extra forward on those lines? Did he get his bell rung on Saturday or is he getting a little discipline for his poor quality of play?

I would say neither.

There are certainly players that have been worse and if he had a head injury he would sit out.
Likely just banged up so giving him a day or two off and he chose to join the Team.

 

[Aashir]

The fact Liljegren is with Rielly since Schenn is away indicates Liljegren was actually just scratched for 2 games.
Liljegren isn't starting in the playoffs. Lets be honest now.

Please be joking

 

[Eye Test]

Matthews should be on the third line for a shame, oops game.

Hope we win, if we played a 1-2-2 this game we would win.

 

[Smif]

This place will be unbearable with an L tmrw night.

 

[Jojalu]

The only player that can get Matthews going is Matthews

100% spot on.

 

[Gabriel426]

Lilly is back in the lineup with Reilly, lets hope he sticks there.
Bunting on the 4th line is interesting.
Kerfoot continues to be on the top line. Think Keefe is force feeding AM to score.

This place will be unbearable with an L tmrw night.

That’s always the case with a L

 

[Jojalu]

LMAO Kerfoot on topliine LW again

What is the lingo that one can use that is even above and beyond galaxy braining?

At least the 7D experiment is done and over with. small win?

Kerfoot had to be able to say he played on every line.

Maybe Keefe can get him in goal for a period. Fill in as the 7th D as well

 

[LeafSteel]

If Keefe sits a healthy Liljegren to play Schenn and Holl in the playoffs, I will be beyond done with him as a coach.

At that point, he absolutely needs to GTFO, and if Dubas can't see it then he may need to GTFO too. The mindless favoritism and senseless decisions that would be on-display would just make it impossible to accept that intelligent decisions are being made.

........ because they wouldn't be. Liljegren coming back from injury at the start of the season single-handedly turned our defence around. Not sure how much more emphatically he needs to prove that he belongs in our Top 4. This has gotten absurd, to be honest if he sits out again.

 

[ACC1224]

Please be joking

There is zero reason to believe Liljegren was healthy scratched or won't start every playoff game.

 

[Stephen]

The fact Liljegren is with Rielly since Schenn is away indicates Liljegren was actually just scratched for 2 games.
Liljegren isn't starting in the playoffs. Lets be honest now.

I would disagree. Liljegren was dumped into the corner in the Edmonton game and was slow to get up. So yeah maybe he wasn’t injured but could have used some rest.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Bunting's season this year has been interesting to say the least, and not so much in a good way. Not really a fan of this answer by him, and it seems like things have gone off the rails for him with his feud against the officials. Personally I think it's a bit unfair that he has to drastically change his game and be less effective just because the officials are so sensitive, but it's also on him to focus on playing hockey and not sulk over it

 

[DarkKnight]

Will Murray be sidelined now after feeling sympathy pain from O’Reilly’s finger?

 

[Martin Skoula]

Bunting's season this year has been interesting to say the least, and not so much in a good way. Not really a fan of this answer by him, and it seems like things have gone off the rails for him with his feud against the officials. Personally I think it's a bit unfair that he has to drastically change his game and be less effective just because the officials are so sensitive, but it's also on him to focus on playing hockey and not sulk over it

I don’t care about his rat game, he does need to figure out what his role is on the top line though. I get that he’s playing for a contract but at this point him showing that he can play a high end grinding role will get him paid more than if he sticks to his current in-between game as a skill guy that sometimes goes into the corners and agitates even if he scores a couple more points that way.

 

[Apex Predator]

That's one gross lineup.

I don’t think it’s that bad.

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

I would say neither.

There are certainly players that have been worse and if he had a head injury he would sit out.
Likely just banged up so giving him a day or two off and he chose to join the Team.

David on twitter: Sheldon Keefe says John Tavares is not feeling himself. He’ll be out of the lineup tomorrow out of precaution.

Mark masters Twitter: Keefe on Tavares: "John just not feeling himself today. Not feeling great. Wanted to skate & see exactly where he's at & he got through it & is feeling a little bit better than he thought."

Tavares will be kept out of tomorrow's game "out of an abundance of caution"

 

[LeafalCrusader]

I don’t think it’s that bad.

Kerfoot 1st line lw. Lafferty 2c. Kampf with ZAR on the 3rd line. Yeah it's gross.

 

[AvroArrow]

The fact Liljegren is with Rielly since Schenn is away indicates Liljegren was actually just scratched for 2 games.
Liljegren isn't starting in the playoffs. Lets be honest now.

If Lily started last playoffs, we would have advanced. Liljegren absolutely needs to play

Rielly - Schenn
McCabe - Brodie
Gio - Lily

Holl #7

Would be my ideal starters. But Keefe likes Holls PK ability more than Lilys passing/breakout/skating/playmaking so he'll probably play Holl over him again. I think we may see Lily playing at home, Holl on the road. Controlling matchups will make a big difference.

 

[egd27]

People in this thread sometimes...

and others.......

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Failed to mention they are also 4th in GF/60 out of the same sample size...

And have the worst on-ice save percentage.

And their xGF% is practically the same as Rielly-Liljegren, albeit with more offensive zone starts.

Rielly - Liljegren is probably the pairing I go with though. Or Rielly-Brodie and put Liljegren with McCabe, even though goals just don't go in with those two together.

Gio - Holl should be our 3rd pair.

This is where I go with it too. Flip Brodie/Liljegren if need be but the other 4 should be locked in.

 

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

I personally feel Schenn will earn his spot next to Reilly before playoffs.

He impressed me with the limited ice time he had.. he might not have good straight line speed, but his pivots and movement side to side was pretty quick for a big guy and he was clearing the front of the net everytime he was on the ice.

It's nice to see players moved out from our goalies vision for once instead of a constant battle infront where we lose body position and just try to tangle the players stick. Shift after shift schenn was just throwing bodies out of the way.

If he can just get use to the system and learn how to play the way Boosh did with Reilly he would be a better fit. Give Reilly more room to do his thing.

 

[therealkoho]

Blender should be in action before the game.

Not sure who can get Matthews going?

Someone should maybe show him his paycheque!

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

I personally feel Schenn will earn his spot next to Reilly before playoffs.

He impressed me with the limited ice time he had.. he might not have good straight line speed, but his pivots and movement side to side was pretty quick for a big guy and he was clearing the front of the net everytime he was on the ice.

It's nice to see players moved out from our goalies vision for once instead of a constant battle infront where we lose body position and just try to tangle the players stick. Shift after shift schenn was just throwing bodies out of the way.

If he can just get use to the system and learn how to play the way Boosh did with Reilly he would be a better fit. Give Reilly more room to do his thing.

He's a real physical G sire. Been seeing his play the whole season long. He a true G. (The most hits in the world this season think about it.)

 

[Fonzieleaf]

Kerfoot goes from the 4th line to the 1st line, essentially swapping spots with Bunting now.

Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[D00bis]

I personally feel Schenn will earn his spot next to Reilly before playoffs.

He impressed me with the limited ice time he had.. he might not have good straight line speed, but his pivots and movement side to side was pretty quick for a big guy and he was clearing the front of the net everytime he was on the ice.

It's nice to see players moved out from our goalies vision for once instead of a constant battle infront where we lose body position and just try to tangle the players stick. Shift after shift schenn was just throwing bodies out of the way.

If he can just get use to the system and learn how to play the way Boosh did with Reilly he would be a better fit. Give Reilly more room to do his thing.

While I agree with most of this I would like to see a McCabe/schenn shutdown line for the playoffs. I feel like Reilly needs a quicker partner to compensate for his short comings especially lately

 

[shaner8989]

Kerfoot 1st line lw. Lafferty 2c. Kampf with ZAR on the 3rd line. Yeah it's gross.

This is absolutely disgraceful. House on NJ. Free money