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Post-Game Talk: Well poop: Sabres win 2-1

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BTW, im not sure people understand how easy Kadri made that goal look. He got that puck up real fast, and I am sure many NHLers would have put it right into the pads of Miller
 
Clearly some of the Leafs are just starting to get their legs back. JVR really picked up his game in the third, his skating seemed more fluid.

I expect Kessel, JVR, Phaneuf to hit their stride by game 5. It's been 9 months since they last played.
 
4evaBlue said:
No excuse for Kulemin. As far as I can tell, he was directly responsible for all 3 goals scored against us so far this season.

  • against the Habs, not only did he fail to clear the puck on the backhand (while trying to kill off Grabo's dumb slashing penalty), and chose to skate the puck out, but he also failed to mark his man in front of the net (who ended up scoring the goal), despite being 5 feet away from him
  • on the first goal tonight, not only did he lose the 50-50 puck battle from Grabo's faceoff "win", but he was late at getting in the shooting lane to try to block the shot
  • second goal needs no explanation. He just can't get beat like that right by the blue line. If he's in trouble, just wrap it around the boards.

The thing is, Kulemin makes $2.8M per, and his contract expires in a couple of seasons. If he doesn't pick up his game, he'll probably be gone before his contract is up. I'm not at all concerned about us not being able to find takers for his contract.
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Not all faceoff wins are clean FYI. If the cneter wins the faceoff(doesn't matter how) then it's up to the wingers and D to control it.
 
Guy Boucher said:
I thought he played mediocre against Montreal but was really bad tonight.

He seems to think he's much stronger than he is for some reason. He tries to drop his shoulder and power through the forechecker only to be knocked off the puck. Today he was pinching at inopportune times including when he wiped out on Pominville's goal.

He needs to rebound soon otherwise the Leafs are in serious trouble.
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Ah so that was him who wiped out on the odd man rush. In that case yeah, that's not good. If that goal never happens this game could have gone to OT.
 
I think Jake should be good to go for Wed. With that whole Reimer concussion fiasco and interviews, the Leafs changed their policy and said the the media couldn't talk to the injured players. However, there's an interview with Gardiner up... so here's hoping.
 
Phaneuf was the biggest standout to me this game. The guy looks like his Calgary self but with better defense. When he decides to rush it, he is like a bull, unstoppable. He rushed it a few times and set up a few players in the slot, not to mention his booming shot, which was on point today.

Agree with everyone else that Kadri needed more time but I don't think they should put him in between Kessel and Lupul because of how well Bozak has played. He may not be gifted offensively like Kadri but he doesn't need the puck on his stick to be effective offensively. Let Kessel and Lupul dominate the first line and let Kadri dominate his own line. Bozak can play that passenger role on a line, whereas I would prefer Kadri to be the one driving on his own line, to utilize him to the best of his ability.

Mac is the biggest scrub on this team, IMO. While Kuli hasn't put up points, he is a relentless forechecker and back checker. Mac on the other hand his horrible offensively and doesn't bring anything defensively, except on the few occasions.

In the same vain of fore checking and back checking, Komarov has looked solid. May not be that great offensively, though he was creating chances, he is great defensively and a total pest. This team has been missing a player like him for a while. Nice to see.
 
I don't blame people for not wanting to stand in front of the net with some of the point shots we have in Phaneuf and Franson, but we've gotta be better at creating traffic. NHL goalies are just too good - if they see it, they'll likely stop it.
 
Brody said:
Scrivens gets the start again, if it were up to me. It would be horrible to throw out Reimer against Pittsburgh, when he's cold.
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That'd be such a Wilson thing to do. Kinda like tossing a cold Gus in against the Stanley Cup champ Bruins for his first game of last season. Scrivens should definitely start against the Pens.

The Lollipop King said:
I would like to know what goalie was soft too haha.

The first one was a crazy deflection that he really had to chance on, and the other one was a player getting a wide open shot.
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Also, the second goal was a 4 on 2. It's not only the shooter that Scrivens had to worry about.
 
JVR- still looking very sluggish needs to get mroe intense with the game
Kadri- Such a stud recently
Kostka- Earning every second of ice
Fraser- Not as good but that fight was a game hanger when he threw foligno
Orr- Taking a guy 5's taller than him major balls
Kessel/Lupul- Not as good as last year but didnt expect them to start the season with the same chemistry
Grabo-Still looking like a 2nd line center
Kulemin- Not playing the same way as the KHL needs to step it up
Mac- Playing like the usual mac
Scrivens- Outstanding 3 GAs in 2 games
Reimer- Warming the bench better than ever
Brown- Didnt see much of him till he started yapping and got thrown out
 
Keep Kadri on the third line with sheltered 5-on-5, and give him additional PP time. That's the way good teams transition their prospects into the league. If he gets pushed up to the first line, he'll be facing the elite players of the league and is more likely to lose confidence.
 
Kadri should be on the pp more. He excels there.

Also, offense has never been a question with Naz. Neither has skill or talent. The question is can Kadri keep this up consistently. We know what he can do,but he has to keep doing it on a consistent level on the third line before we place him on the first line, or set expectations too high.
 
I'd like to see this forward combo soon:

Lupul-Bozak-Kessel
JVR-Kadri-Grabo
Kulemin-McClement-MacArthur
Brown/Orr-Steckel-Komarov

We need to get a consistent secondary scoring threat established.
 
4evaBlue said:
I'd like to see this forward combo soon:

Lupul-Bozak-Kessel
JVR-Kadri-Grabo
Kulemin-McClement-MacArthur
Brown/Orr-Steckel-Komarov

We need to get a consistent secondary scoring threat established.
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No way.

brown orr mcclement is a great fourth line IMO.

JVR kadri komarov seem to be getting chemistry.

And mac and USSR will be fine.

I am completely fine with our line up right now until someone gets injured.
 
4evaBlue said:
I'd like to see this forward combo soon:

Lupul-Bozak-Kessel
JVR-Kadri-Grabo
Kulemin-McClement-MacArthur
Brown/Orr-Steckel-Komarov

We need to get a consistent secondary scoring threat established.
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At 1-1 with 3GF/3GA it is waaay premature to be line-juggling, let alone something as drastic as moving Grabo to the wing for Kadri.
 
leafsfuture said:
BTW, im not sure people understand how easy Kadri made that goal look. He got that puck up real fast, and I am sure many NHLers would have put it right into the pads of Miller
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Youre not seriously going to make a big deal of that goal, are you? It was not indicative of Kadri's skill level....
 
Eb said:
No way.

brown orr mcclement is a great fourth line IMO.

JVR kadri komarov seem to be getting chemistry.

And mac and USSR will be fine.

I am completely fine with our line up right now until someone gets injured.
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The Kadri line is not getting nearly enough ice time. Giving them 15-18 mins will allow them to get into the game, and make an impact much better. I don't think Komarov brings much to the line, that he couldn't bring on the 4th line.

The Kulemin-McClement-MacArthur line could be used as the shutdown line, which would free up the top 6 for pure offense. Steckel could be used on clutch draws.

bunjay said:
At 1-1 with 3GF/3GA it is waaay premature to be line-juggling, let alone something as drastic as moving Grabo to the wing for Kadri.
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Grabo played the wing in the KHL, so it's not an unfamiliar position for him. The suggestion isn't change just for the sake of change, but an attempt to try to find chemistry for our secondary scoring. We cannot afford to do what we did for the majority of last season, and solely rely on the Kessel line for offense.

Edit: It's also an attempt to get Grabo's offense going by giving him better linemates. For now, in order for us to be successful offensively, we need to get Grabo peppering the net with shots. He's averaged around 3 shots per game over the course of the last few seasons, and thus far, he's yet to hit the net this season.
 
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12345 said:
Keep Kadri on the third line with sheltered 5-on-5, and give him additional PP time. That's the way good teams transition their prospects into the league. If he gets pushed up to the first line, he'll be facing the elite players of the league and is more likely to lose confidence.
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Agreed, love that third line with kadri centering JVR and komarov. Bozak belongs on that first line at the moment, just for chemistry reasons, but Grabo is still our best centre man
 
Would like to add, it was a good game tonight. Miller was rock solid but I'm confident in our current line-up, no drastic changes needed to be made going into pittsburgh on wednesday.
 
Almost as bearable as a loss as you can have ... The few errors they made cost them, but Miller gave Buffalo two points in regulation tonight

Still glad to see the 60 minute full effort, just need to execute a bit better .. And seeing Orr dummy Scott evened it out a bit

JVR looked really good in the third, here's hoping he picks up his play with Kadri
 
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