Post-Game Talk: Utterly Rittich-ulous Leafs Lose 6-3

[Gary Nylund]

The goaltending has been brutal lately but we're not that far removed from Jack Campbell being lights out since coming back from injury. And really, since coming here last year he's been mostly outstanding.

I think people are giving up on Campbell too quickly after this latest stretch of bad play. He's still our best option by far.

If a goalie has a bad stretch, that's what so many people here do - give up on him.

First we gave up on Hutch, then Andersen, then Campbell and now Rittich. So I guess we should be back to Hutch but we've gone right past him and are hoping Freddie comes back.

Realistically though, Rittich doesn't have an impressive CV to begin with and was horrid last night so it's hard to have faith in him, Andersen's status is unclear and Hutch can't possibly the answer so Campbell does seem to be the best option, unfortunately that's mostly for lack of other options. There's no reason to be confident he can get the job done. that's the sad truth but you never know and maybe there's one more chapter left in the Andersen saga, we'll see.

Obviously nobody expects him (or anyone else) to maintain a perfect record or .950 sv%. He is somewhere between that level and the Toskala calibre we've seen from him more recently. If he can be around. 915, not let in backbreaking softies, and make the odd 10-beller, that should be enough to go on a run. I believe he can do that.

That would be amazing. Realistically though, what are the odds of him being able to do that for us in the playoffs? Less than 50% I'd guess, maybe 25%? Better than zero anyway so there's hope, but then again, every team has hope before the games are played. Hard to be very optimistic at this point in time.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Luckily this season we have Freddy Andersen & Michael Hutchinson & Jack Campbell & David Rittich to choose from.

If all were healthy, and the playoffs began tomorrow, which goalie would Leafs start and have full confidence in that you could win a playoff series?

At present I'd bet that the answer none of the above would creep into the conversation based on this season goalie performance current or past.

Therein lies the problem as I currently see it, that despite having 4 options you couldn't really have full confidence in any of them to carry this team deep into the playoffs. IMO

I don't have confidence in any of them stealing a playoff series for us. The only one who is a viable option for success of any kind is an injury-free Andersen. Some would say Campbell but he's a basketcase, imagine how he's going to react to letting in poor goals in what will be a pressure packed playoffs for our Leafs.

 

[Marshy]

Challenge accepted

Wait how many are Skilliturd reffing? I reserve the right to change my prediction.

 

[rdogg]

So basically the Leafs just need to score 7 goals per night to make up for their **** goaltenders.

It's sad, this season seemed so promising. No way they make it out of the first round now.

 

[Dayjobdave]

We were looking pretty good coming off the PP goal and the Shorty by Brooks.... then ouch.

I think the team will be ok. Best Willie game in a long time. He should skip more meetings.

When we were pressing at the end and Sandin was on the ice, it was really apparent how much faster he moves the puck than Morgan does on the point.

I think we need to give that kid a shot on the power play.

 

[stealth1]

So basically the Leafs just need to score 7 goals per night to make up for their **** goaltenders.

It's sad, this season seemed so promising. No way they make it out of the first round now.

It's the same Leaf team. They always look promising at the start cause most teams aren't in playoff mode then.

 

[Cypruss]

Remember when the Leafs were going to run up the score and pad stat against an exhausted Canucks team full of guys who could barely breathe, let alone play, after battling COVID? Yeah, fun times.

Pepperidge farm remembers....

 

[Mr Knies Guy]

Worries me that people are actually thinking about Andersen as the solution. I have zero faith in that guy.

0.0 haven’t we witnessed enough playoff softies and game 7 collapses? We need more evidence that he doesn’t have “it” mentally?

 

[Oscar Peterson]

IMO the Leafs need to go back to Galchenyuk on Tavares line and eventually have either Foligno or Hyman on the first. Even going back to the Ottawa game, I don't really think Galchenyuk has shown much chemistry with Matthews and seemed to look a lot better with JT.

 

[aingefan]

Those back to back soft goals .....sigh.

 

[NK94]

If 2017-18 Andersen could make a reappearance (regular season Andersen) in the playoffs, that would be nice. Not holding my breath though.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

The goalies have been terrible lately but something else seems off as well. The terrible pp, the hesitancy in play making, and what appears to be a lack of cohesion in their systemic performance. Team is certainly good enough to win when coasting plus average goaltending but if they could just tighten up their game again: cup contenders.

 

[Mess]

He has 70 starts in the past 6 seasons. With that kind of sporadic use, I'm not sure you can hang your hat on his "larger body of work"

Agreed

Jack Campbell is 29 years old, has started 70 NHL games total in his entire NHL career with a record of 34 W 29 L & 7 OTL , having lost more games than he has won, with a career 2.52 GAA & .917 sv%.

Freddy Andersen who turned 31 this year averages 60-65 games a single season, and Campbell is barely exceeding that single season total his entire career YTD.

Perhaps there is a valid reason that Campbell has been used as a backup goalie his entire career to date ,and never appearing in more than 25 games a season.

The 14 starts this year as a Leaf is due in part to Andersen injury or he would have maybe played only 1/2 of those as his backup.

PS.. Remember back in 2017-18 when Curtis McElhinney posted 17 GS ... 11 W 5 L & 1 OTL with a 2.14 GAA & .934 sv% how little that meant to the Leafs with such a small sample size despite what looks like sparkling #'s. Is that really much different than Campbell performance this year in relief?

 

[hoglund]

It's the same Leaf team. They always look promising at the start cause most teams aren't in playoff mode then.

Are you saying that the Leafs were in playoff mode to begin the season and that's why they were winning?

 

[Clark4Ever]

What a silly take.

It is a silly take.

The fact is we've played well enough to win most of these past few games, but unfortunately, our goaltending has once again reverted to costing us games.

Last night in particular was very discouraging. That was a very unexpected letdown from Rittich, who looked really solid prior to last night.

Let's just hope that at least one of our goaltenders can get into a rhythm going into the playoffs. We have everything else we need.

 

[Superstar]

Big Cave Dave...

 

[Mad hatter]

Surprised Keefe came out and isolated the goaltending in the loss when the team didn’t really look good for a lot of the game. Made sure to pump up the team, Jack Campbell and isolated the new guy Save Rittich. So much of the loss was indeed on Rittich but seems like a dubious strategy to alienate the brand new guy and insurance policy if Campbell can’t get going.

I liked it personally, goaltending has cost us lots of points this year. Imho there’s nothing wrong with calling out players to try to motivate them. It happens in lots of other markets just not in Toronto often I find. I find it weird that when Andersen sucks he’s not called out though.

 

[stealth1]

Are you saying that the Leafs were in playoff mode to begin the season and that's why they were winning?

No what I'm saying is that at the beginning of the season most teams play loose. The Leafs excell then. When teams get into playoff mode it's like they go into another gear. For some reason this core doesn't have it.

 

[Bomber0104]

Are you saying that the Leafs were in playoff mode to begin the season and that's why they were winning?

We've seen it the past 3 years now, the Leafs come flying out of the gate and then struggle as teams start tightening up entering the playoffs.

 

[Stephen]

I liked it personally, goaltending has cost us lots of points this year. Imho there’s nothing wrong with calling out players to try to motivate them. It happens in lots of other markets just not in Toronto often I find. I find it weird that when Andersen sucks he’s not called out though.

I would like it more if he blasted Andersen all the times he cost us but feel a little weird about Rittich (who sucked) but is a new guy whom you might want to go easier on and let him acclimate.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Are you saying that the Leafs were in playoff mode to begin the season and that's why they were winning?

There's a contradiction there.

 

[Wrong Wilson]

We've seen it the past 3 years now, the Leafs come flying out of the gate and then struggle as teams start tightening up entering the playoffs.

This team reminds me of the '93-'94 Leafs when they had a 10-game winning streak to start the season and then played .500 hockey the rest of the way.

 

[theTTC]

Surprised Keefe came out and isolated the goaltending in the loss when the team didn’t really look good for a lot of the game. Made sure to pump up the team, Jack Campbell and isolated the new guy Save Rittich. So much of the loss was indeed on Rittich but seems like a dubious strategy to alienate the brand new guy and insurance policy if Campbell can’t get going.

I dunno, an NHL coach should be furious at losing due to crazily soft goals, especially when the skaters did enough to earn at least a point. Going public is a not-so-veiled threat of fix-it-or-else to Rittich. Probably quite appropriate for this situation.

Imagine Tortorella if this was his post game interview

 

[Brown Dog]

So basically the Leafs just need to score 7 goals per night to make up for their **** goaltenders.

It's sad, this season seemed so promising. No way they make it out of the first round now.

I'm not willing to say they have no chance in the playoffs. They are like 2 weeks removed from a 10-game unbeaten streak (and that was with a PP that provided zero help).

Every playoff series has its own narrative. Anything can happen, no matter how well or how poorly they are playing going in.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

We've seen it the past 3 years now, the Leafs come flying out of the gate and then struggle as teams start tightening up entering the playoffs.

did you happen to miss last season? They came flying out of the gate as the 25th best team in the first 2 months. This loss (and the last one) also had nothing to do with Vancouver tightening things up into a playoff style game that the Leafs were unable to match