We can never do anything easily or can we?

[Bluelines]

We've seen this before, where we had a good record, but play that shouldn't result in that. They've got a lot to cleanup at this point.

I think this is a result of having elite talent but not a system that the whole team has bought into.

 

[Stephen]

We generally need to be better and more airtight so we have a buffer against “bad luck” but I’m also wondering if the team is generally improved defensively or if the Canadian Division is just extremely weak competition.

 

[zeke]

We generally need to be better and more airtight so we have a buffer against “bad luck” but I’m also wondering if the team is generally improved defensively or if the Canadian Division is just extremely weak competition.

Well one thing is that the division isn't short of offensive talent or attacking systems at all.

Otoh, with the crap Ds in the division we really should be doing much better offensively.

 

[Morbo]

team is changing to a style that is more conducive to postseason success. that's when we need to win these tight 1 goal games.

it's not going to happen overnight.

there was not even a camp or preseason...we kind just finished that recently, really.

those of you who worship expected goals are going to have a rough time of it this year. this team isn't a run and gun cheat for offence squad anymore.

 

[zeke]

team is changing to a style that is more conducive to postseason success. that's when we need to win these tight 1 goal games.

it's not going to happen overnight.

there was not even a camp or preseason...we kind just finished that recently, really.

those of you who worship expected goals are going to have a rough time of it this year. this team isn't a run and gun cheat for offence squad anymore.

They weren't a run and gun cheat for offence squad under Keefe last year either.

But they were much better in both expected goals for and against.

 

[daethfromabove1979]

It's because we get a lead and we always blow it. Some teams gain momentum and run away with it, that doesn't exist with the Leafs. Imagine if we won a game like 5-1, couldn't be us.

 

[djdev]

in reality, in a normal year we would be like 1 game into the regular season.
also, we have a bunch of new players that are still adjusting to our system, and lines that are different than last year.
also, in the past we find a way to lose half these games, i believe last year we won a total of 10 one goal games, this year we are locking down alot better with a lead...the system looks better overall the way we are exiting the zone more as a 5 man unit(reminds me of the marlies under keefe).
also..we are 7 - 2.

 

[Critical13]

I didn't select any option because I think inconsistent reffing that has hurt us more than our opponents play.

Every game where we start off dominating or playing good hockey inevitably leads to a call against.

If we were even close to even in terms of ticky tacky calls, we would be winning games by 3 or 4 goals more often.

 

[Critical13]

It's because we get a lead and we always blow it. Some teams gain momentum and run away with it, that doesn't exist with the Leafs. Imagine if we won a game like 5-1, couldn't be us.

Hard to do that when you have 2-3 phantom calls every time you go up 1 or 2 goals.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Scoring a goal late in the 3rd in consecutive games to win is a good sign. More importantly we're scoring first more often, which is the most important goal in a game. Last year we only scored first 31/70 games.

 

[Bluelines]

Da good side of it is we practice closing out games which may help us for playoffs ... a lot of these games were really not 1 goal games though ... da only game I thought we really might have lost was da Habs game which we won ... da Sens loss we took night off and Sens had game of their life ... da Oilers loss was pure officiating loss

ya know at one time all the "da's" from you really annoyed me, so many months later, it's like a warm fuzzy blanket... one of the little things that make this forum unique... never change JT ...

 

[Mickey Marner]

Hard to do that when you have 2-3 phantom calls every time you go up 1 or 2 goals.

Exactly, we have 28 PPs to 37 against and many of those calls are ticky tack nonsense because this team isn't particularly physical or aggressive. Stripes are giving out lifelines like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

 

[Bluelines]

Exactly, we have 28 PPs to 37 against and many of those calls are ticky tack nonsense because this team isn't particularly physical or aggressive. Stripes are giving out lifelines like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

I've always wondered why a team that plays as fast as we do has so few PP opportunities. Feels like year after year, teams like Tampa and Boston always have a disproportionately high number of PP chances. Is it our style or the type of players we have or is it a reffing bias?

 

[tmlfan98]

Wasn't everyone complaining last year that we always lost one game games?

 

[Doublerum1975]

It is funny how people forget all the new players we brought in this year we are winning just wait until they start gelling takes time to get used to each other

 

[Stephen]

Well one thing is that the division isn't short of offensive talent or attacking systems at all.

Otoh, with the crap Ds in the division we really should be doing much better offensively.

I’m extremely curious to see if we can turn Vancouver into minced meat next week or if we play down to the level of competition. They seem to be manhandled quite easily by Montreal but they beat up on Ottawa in a way that we just didn’t. Also, looking forward to a Montreal rematch.

 

[Captain14]

I do, I do.
Yesterday is not a good example. Penalties were atrocious yesterday and yes overall we are not getting fair officiating.

And trust me, I am as high on this team as anyone could be.

But that said, we've had 2 goal leads many times this season and they all shrank to one goal lead (except for empty netters). We were never able to grow a two goal lead to a three goal lead. I'm providing some constructive criticism here and finding areas to improve.

We certainly had some great opportunities to build the lead, although our shots diminished in the second period, we had some quality looks but failed to cash.

 

[egd27]

Wasn't one of the previous criticisms of the Leafs was that they can't close out games?

So now that they're doing that, it's now "they can't make things easy". Won't even touch on that utter shitshow of reffing last night that led to that being a 1 goal game either. "If you remove the empty net goals" what sound logic here too.

What a terrible thread.

Imagine posing a question even hinting that the Leafs aren't amazing. What was @Bluelines possibly thinking.

 

[hockeyes]

Also keep in mind the Leafs have had 7 days off since the season started. From an energy investment standpoint, you want to be putting out as little as necessary to win over a stretch like that, aka sit back and defend whenever you can.

 

[Cecithepylon]

Man I’m down on the leafs a lot but look at it a different way. They won those close games. Those used to be losses we have a clutch gene developing

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Wow, surprised I'm on the unpopular opinion side of a negative vote. I'm usually on the positive side but I don't think it's a good thing that we can't break out and take over a game now and then. It's positive in some ways that we can choose to keep a game low scoring, but overall even taking our improved defensive play into consideration, our opponents are getting better chances than us.

Hopefully these guys can find some offensive mojo as the season goes on.

 

[Zybalto]

I’m extremely curious to see if we can turn Vancouver into minced meat next week or if we play down to the level of competition. They seem to be manhandled quite easily by Montreal but they beat up on Ottawa in a way that we just didn’t. Also, looking forward to a Montreal rematch.

Gotta remember how shaky Andersen looked in that loss to Ottawa, the fact we had a back to back/3rd game in 4 nights to start the season and that it was early so our rather large team turnover had no training camp and no time to gel quite yet.

Even so, they outshot us 24-23 in the loss and we outshot them 40-19 in the win. Murray also looked sharp in net for them but has suffered from inconsistency and was comparably not very good against Vancouver.

Sure, Vancouver outscored Ottawa 16-3 in their 3 games but the gameplay was far from one sided. Ottawa outshot them in every game: 36-35, 43-35 and 37-25. Vancouver had finish and goalkeeping while Ottawa did not. It's not all set in stone how two teams will fare but Vancouver look REALLY leaky defensively and I'm sort of looking forward to facing a team that averages around 40 shots against per game facing Ottawa.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Wasn't one of the previous criticisms of the Leafs was that they can't close out games?

So now that they're doing that, it's now "they can't make things easy". Won't even touch on that utter shitshow of reffing last night that led to that being a 1 goal game either. "If you remove the empty net goals" what sound logic here too.

What a terrible thread.

Even though it's great the Leafs are winning these 1 goal games, it would also be nice to have more of a lead in the 3rd period and not worry about a possible late game tying goal.

When they defeated Winnipeg 3-1 and Edmonton 4-2, they were also able to get empty net goals which meant they had 1 goal lead in the final minute of the 3rd period.

When they defeated Ottawa and Matthews scored in the 3rd period giving them a 3-1 lead, later on was when Stultze scored to make it a 3-2 game. So that's something they need to stop allowing when they are leading by 2 goals in the 3rd period.

 

[Menzinger]

I dont think its particularly normal to expect a team to have multiple blow out wins, especially at just on the edge of the 10 game maek.

Not everything with thr team has been perfect - namely 5v5 scoring -but Keefe seemingly has the team playing a tighter style to cut down on high danger chances against. Its not like this team is actively trying to run and gun to drive up the score and not succeeding. Especially as main giys like Matthews have been focusing more on the two way side of the game, they're not cheating on offense anymore (at least not as much) and with that comes reduced opportunities (but also well needed defensive improvement)

 

[LeafsNation75]

I dont think its particularly normal to expect a team to have multiple blow out wins, especially at just on the edge of the 10 game maek.

Not everything with thr team has been perfect - namely 5v5 scoring -but Keefe seemingly has the team playing a tighter style to cut down on high danger chances against. Its not like this team is actively trying to run and gun to drive up the score and not succeeding. Especially as main giys like Matthews have been focusing more on the two way side of the game, they're not cheating on offense anymore (at least not as much) and with that comes reduced opportunities (but also well needed defensive improvement)

Last night if it wasn't for the Oilers power play chances are the Leafs go into the 3rd period up 2-0 instead of 2-1 and maybe the whole 3rd period is played a lot differently from what we saw.