Post-Game Talk: Woll/Devils 5 plus EN, Leafs 3

[Antropovsky]

"Killer Instinct"

Is Shanny out there in the locker room?

We need Tavares to lose his shit in the locker room. Then get all emotional with Gio as to how this is probably the last hurrah and they gotta be better and what not. May be that lights a spark lol

Nhl players are always quoting their gms, coaches and in this case President. Marner was talking about snot in the offseason.

 

[Ports]

So far, In the Matthews/Marner/Tavares/Nylander/Rielly era :

They never won the division title ever.

They never won the president trophy ever.

They only won a single playoff series against a tired and injured Tampa team in the first round last year.

They never had a legitimate right handed Norris caliber defenseman elite in every aspect of the game(offensively, physically and defensively)

They seldom play with purpose, poise awareness and intelligence. They take useless risks with the puck, often try to make low percentage fancy plays , often play with tunnel vision and are often Making bad decisions on the ice, and aren’t often playing as a cohesive and collective unit.

The leafs face the same problems and repeat the same mistakes every year, and can’t seem to solve them and learn from them. That’s why they go through the same patterns, go through the same motions and get the same results. NHL’s version of Groundhog Day.

They’ve never had a Norris caliber defenseman right or left handed.

 

[Maplebeasts]

That just shows how misleading stats can be.

Or just how terrible most people's eye test can be. But how you can blame them, it's hard to see everything going on on the ice through a TV screen.

 

[Aashir]

"Killer Instinct"

Is Shanny out there in the locker room?

We need Tavares to lose his shit in the locker room. Then get all emotional with Gio as to how this is probably the last hurrah and they gotta be better and what not. May be that lights a spark lol

This "Killer Instinct" is more evasive than the fricking Avatar

it's evaded us for what 8 years now? Might not get to 100, but still this excuse is running out of their mouths....lol at this point it has to be fool's gold for these guys

and Tavares losing his shit? You did see him try to go 1 on 2 like 5 times right, that's 2019 JT right there, thinking he's better than he is. It was spezza's last hurrah, it was simmonds last hurrah, it was mfing jumbo joe's last hurrah and they couldn't pull it off. These guys don't get up for "sentimental" reasons.

Maybe if you tie the play to their paycheck then they'll have some sparks going

 

[PROUD PAPA]

I guess I’ll keep hoping they get dialed in before the playoffs but they sure don’t look to be making progress. I get that playing conservative/attention to detail hockey isn’t as much fun as the freewheeling chase the highlight reel style they prefer but shouldn’t team success after so much failure become the main priority?
They’re all(Willy starting next season) paid more than they’re worth so there shouldn’t be concern about running up big individual numbers for financial reasons. The crest needs to gain importance.

They’re a frustrating and puzzling group of individuals.

 

[arso40]

Benoit was horrific.

Coach shouldn't have sat him that long

 

[notDatsyuk]

They’ve never had a Norris caliber defenseman right or left handed.

Tim Horton (R) and Borje Salming (L) were each runner-up twice and each finalist on two other occasions.

Nothing close in 45 years.

 

[Mess]

Tim Horton (R) and Borje Salming (L) were each runner-up twice and each finalist on two other occasions.

Nothing close in 45 years.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

What exactly does Tavares do that warrants primary deployment on the powerplay?

He's not a defenseman so he's not playing the point. He can't shoot like Auston or Willy. He's not as good net-front as Bertuzzi. And he doesn't have the same passing acumen as Domi (who got 20 seconds of PP time tonight). Tavares can't enter the zone, handles the puck like a grenade, and loses puck battles more often than wins them while on the powerplay.

So again, what the f*** is he being spoonfed powerplay time for? It shouldn't be one of Domi or Bertuzzi, it should be both with John warming the bench until it's time for the 2nd unit. It's f***ing embarrassing watching him flail around out there, lose possession, and then wait while the Leafs painfully re-rack and try again.

The powerplay is clicking at 10.3% in the month of March. That's 29th in the league! Since Mitch went down against Boston it's at 11.1% for 28th in the league. What an improvement . The PP can't live and die with Marner, there is too much talent and money tied up in the forwards for that to be the case. If Keefe and/or whoever the f*** can't figure it out with the tools at their disposal they should be shown the door before they clean out their offices for the summer after the first round exit we're rapidly barreling towards.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Or just how terrible most people's eye test can be. But how you can blame them, it's hard to see everything going on on the ice through a TV screen.

Nope. That's the fallacy of advanced stats.

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

View attachment 842141 View attachment 842144

Tim Horton looked like such a neanderthal. What a beaut. RIP

 

[ZEBROA]

I dont want Nylander with Tavares , but i want Nylander with mcmann, but i dont want Tavares with knies. and i dont want Domi at C.

Bert-matt- domi
Mcmann Holm Nylander
Dewar -Tavares Robertsson
knies kampf greg

Would a Mcmann Nylander Marner be totaly apsht crazy? Marner as a rw with some C duties. All these "same but different" lines that Keefe creates just makes you get carried away.

 

[ZEBROA]

Matthews had 9shots at goal. On a good day at least 3 of those goes in. A realy good day 4or 5. This was a bad day.

 

[ZEBROA]

We need the good and the ugly back, the bad is already on the team and not in a good way.

 

[Jojalu]

if tampa beats boston tmrw they'll be 2 points behind us

games in hand mean jack when you lose them all

But they don't.

They were on a hot streak, cam back to earth for a bit, and will be better when Marner gets healthy.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

Liljegren is so bad. You rarely see a pro athlete with so little jam. He's like a nepo baby who just gets force fed a prime time roleb because he's a 1st round pick and a RHD.

That or because he plays better than most of the other sad sack defensemen on the team.

He hasn't been good as a PPQB this month but neither was Rielly. I'm not sure what you found egregious about his game tonight anyway. He could have played the 2-on-1 better but that play only happened because McCabe (who has jam but no brains) made one of his signature nonsensical pinches and just bailed on the backcheck. The other GA was mostly lost coverage by the Kampf "shutdown" line that had a brief stretch of passable play but is now regressing to being garbage again, like they have been for most of the season.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

This team and their stars.

They don't want to work hard. They only show up when they feel like it. They have a bad tendency to not start on time and to check out early.

Their work ethic rivals that of my own.

I see we're already blaming this one on Woll. That's not a bad idea. Because the Leafs just got out-goalied by one of the worst goaltenders in the league.

That's a shameful showing no matter how you slice it.

I'm living proof that work ethic equals results. Just getting by shouldn't be good enough for this team however. This is supposed to be a Stanley Cup contender.

But they just lost to a team with the washed up body of Jake Allen in net.

 

[Gabriel426]

Allan made over 40 saves. Can we just admit we got goalied.

 

[Arzak]

I can't wait for the defense to be blamed they got 790 goaltending tonight

You get 790 goaltending that's not a defense issue.

It must be coincidence that goalies behind solid D in Boston perform well, while goalies go to die here

Woll was bad, but we can make any goalie look bad playing our solid AHL D. I start blaming goalies once we have D to speak of and a hint of defensive system/team defence.

 

[Arzak]

So what? We still lost the game. Samsonov has been better and more consistent. Woll isn’t ready. He looked awful in the two Boston games he was force fed and looked awful tonight. He’s a young goalie finding his footing but he does not deserve to be the starter night 1 of the playoffs

You are factually correct, but I can still remember last year's playoff Sammy.

Woll might sh*thimself and probably will, but there is an off chance of him going brick Woll. Sammy might suck less on bad nights, but he is not stealing sh*t.

IMO Sammy sucks ass in postseason and it's his MO. Woll might suck too as he is young and inconsistent.

Damn, I don't like either in our net.

 

[Arzak]

""

Did he just call JT senile?

 

[LeafsFan89]

Standings have nothing to do with with ramping up for the playoffs. A competitive team shouldn't go into a playoff season just half assing it like they don't even like the sport.

I remember several years ago, Keefe was on the core 4's collective assess about their shit play getting close to the playoffs (I think it was Boston 2?). Apparently the core 4 said "get off our backs. We'll bring it in the playoffs". Yeah...

I am not particularly fond of Keefe, but these issues go beyond playing Brodie-Rielly imo. It's a culture problem. I don't think JT is a good leader. It seems Auston Matthews is just a better Phil Kessel than he is a franchise, playoff leader/warrior. Really seems he is just a goal scorer that happens to play center at this point.

This whole team lacks a blue collar identity - hard work and compete. They seem like a bunch of people who were told they were special/had world beating talent their whole lives, and never had to grind out gutsy wins.

 

[rumman]

The leafs are like spoiled pretty boy rich kids born and raised in privilege, who are taking life for granted. They are so casual in their approach to play games. They exclusively rely on their talent to win. They are average at best on defense with no Norris caliber blueliner. Last time the Leafs had a experienced, reliable, durable and clutch goaltender was Eddie belfour for two seasons back in the early 2000s, just before MySpace/Facebook/YouTube became ubiquitous worldwide. They don’t see the value of hard work and commitment to a game plan or system. Their team defense from game to game is inconsistent.

they excel best in run and gun, low intensity, low physical games with open space for them to manœuver offensively and make fancy high skilled plays . Imagine if they played with high end speed, poise, clutchiness, determination, controlled aggression, energy, tenacity and purpose like Colorado, Florida and Tampa bay. The core cashed in early with life changing money and don’t feel to do more than necessary, they are going through the motions and coasting. I find Tavares lack of fire and intensity as a player off putting as well.

Keefe should have been fired a long time ago. He doesn’t prepare the team to win. The leafs are the wealthiest, most influential and most powerful franchise in the nhl and they can’t even hire a decent head coach?

Excellent summation………

 

[hoglund]

What was "Immature" about last year night's game? I didn't understand this comment.

 

[Cournoyer12]

They’ve never had a Norris caliber defenseman right or left handed.

Horton? Salming? Brush up on your history lad!!