Pre-Game Talk: Game 2: Leafs @ Bruins - Show some urgency

[Tak7]

Gardiner is very good offensively. How is Gardiner going to handle Boston's Forecheck? Gardiner will be over-matched and exposed. It has nothing to do with agent. Gardiner didnt play this season for the Leafs based on ONE thing. His defense. Its not up too par yet. Whether u think his great skating is more of a factor than his lack of Defense, the coaching staff doesnt see it that way.

It's a great point - Gardiner off the puck has been horrendous, and that's why he's not featured in the lineup for a while.

My counter point - he can't be any worse defensively than what we are currently throwing over the boards.

 

[CanadianLov3]

Gardiner is very good offensively. How is Gardiner going to handle Boston's Forecheck? Gardiner will be over-matched and exposed. It has nothing to do with agent. Gardiner didnt play this season for the Leafs based on ONE thing. His defense. Its not up too par yet. Whether u think his great skating is more of a factor than his lack of Defense, the coaching staff doesnt see it that way.

We can't get out of our own zone! His puck handling and passing ability is what we need. Our D is bad there's nothing more the players can do they suck, this can hopefully be fixed in the off season.

 

[mapleleaf979]

It's a great point - Gardiner off the puck has been horrendous, and that's why he's not featured in the lineup for a while.

My counter point - he can't be any worse defensively than what we are currently throwing over the boards.

Yes Gardiner surely adds more than Kostka in my eyes, but still Boston will expose him in the corners. I think your letting Kessel off the hook with your assessments, but we agree to dis-agree on that front. Id like to see more from Lupul and Kadri as well. I do not blame Reimer in Game 1.

 

[Diatomic]

Gardiner is very good offensively. How is Gardiner going to handle Boston's Forecheck? Gardiner will be over-matched and exposed. It has nothing to do with agent. Gardiner didnt play this season for the Leafs based on ONE thing. His defense. Its not up too par yet. Whether u think his great skating is more of a factor than his lack of Defense, the coaching staff doesnt see it that way.

He actually played 2 games against the bruins this season for the leafs, and he played very well. He played 20+mins in both games, was a -1, +2 and had an assist. What are you going to say next about Jake? Please enlighten me.

 

[TootooTrain]

Biggest change that needs to take place is puck support. The boston forecheck was causing havoc all night. You will not have success against this team if 2/3 forwards are at the opposition blueline when your Dmen are still collecting the puck from behind your own goal.

Would like to see Hamilton get in a game. He's feisty, skates hard, physical and is atleast offensively competent. He's played well in small spurts and I think deserves a start on that 4th line.

 

[Tak7]

He actually played 2 games against the bruins this season for the leafs, and he played very well. He played 20+mins in both games, was a -1, +2 and had an assist. What are you going to say next about Jake? Please enlighten me.

That he is awful defensively. He already made that point. It's a valid point.








Enlightened

 

[Pi]

"We had a player that was supposed to be a great, shut-down defenseman. He was supposedly the be-all, end-all of defensemen. But when you did a 10-game analysis of him, you found out he was defending all the time because he can’t move the puck.

"Then we had another guy, who supposedly couldn’t defend a lick. Well, he was defending only 20 percent of the time because he’s making good plays out of our end. He may not be the strongest defender, but he’s only doing it 20 percent of the time. So the equation works out better the other way. I ended up trading the other defenseman."

Dave Tippett.

Therein lies the difference between Mike Kostka, O'Byrne, Fraser and a guy like Jake Gardiner.

Jake Gardiner can make some brilliant passes...is he going to be a little weak defensively? Yes he will be because he has not had a good year at all but he'll still be better than guys like Kostka, O'Byrne, Fraser, Holzer etc.

Gardiner can actually play 20 minutes a game...he's not that bad defensively, he just needs to be more aware of his surroundings near the boards.

 

[mapleleaf979]

He actually played 2 games against the bruins this season for the leafs, and he played very well. He played 20+mins in both games, was a -1, +2 and had an assist. What are you going to say next about Jake? Please enlighten me.

I like GArdiner alot. I like his upside more than Kostka and Liles as far as a puck moving Dman. I personally would have had Gardiner in for the last 20 games of the regular season and hope it learned from some of his defensive mistakes. He had a short leash with Carlyle, too short for my liking.

Playoffs are a different animal than the regular season. Boston was a freight train last night, they flipped a switch. Gardiner would have struggled last night as well, I still like his skating too much to leave him out of the lineup. He is maybe the only Leaf Dman to be able to skate away from forechecking pressure.

 

[Leafsfan83]

We can't get out of our own zone! His puck handling and passing ability is what we need. Our D is bad there's nothing more the players can do they suck, this can hopefully be fixed in the off season.

This.

 

[Diatomic]

Biggest change that needs to take place is puck support. The boston forecheck was causing havoc all night. You will not have success against this team if 2/3 forwards are at the opposition blueline when your Dmen are still collecting the puck from behind your own goal.

Would like to see Hamilton get in a game. He's feisty, skates hard, physical and is atleast offensively competent. He's played well in small spurts and I think deserves a start on that 4th line.

Carlyle: Thats great and all, ya ya.. But can he fight?

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

And yeah - I'm pleased that Kostka won't be playing in game 2, but I won't "cheer" his injury. That's just small time and pathetic.

Would you be happy if he gets miraculous recovery and is in for Game 2?

 

[Tak7]

Would you be happy if he gets miraculous recovery and is in for Game 2?

Shut up


No comment

 

[legendinblue]

Yep.

Jonas Siegel ‏@jonasTSN1050 6m
Kostka suffered a broken bone in one of his fingers and is out. One or both of Jake Gardiner and Ryan O'Byrne will step in

Bet it will be O'Byrne.

 

[mapleleaf979]

Carlyle: Thats great and all, ya ya.. But can he fight?

If Matt Frattin sits again, Ill be bothered.

 

[cheeeko]

Kostka broke a finger according to Siegel, donezo.

 

[Tak7]

When's the last time Frattin scored?

Anyone know? It was before the injury right?

 

[I Believe]

Not enough cameras imo. I can see why Kessel wants to skip out on the media once in a while

 

[Pi]

Another thing I noticed that needs to be stopped immediately:

Flipping the puck from our zone into the neutral zone. I saw JvR, Kessel, Bozak, Kostka, Liles, Fraser all trying to flip the puck out of our zone.

If this was the Habs midget team, I can understand that it will safely land outside.

The Bruins have giants on the blue line...do they really think they can't catch the puck...like they did like 5-6 times and kept it in the zone?

 

[leafstilldeath*]

Chris Johnston ‏@reporterchris 2m

Mike Kostka broke a finger last night.

was it the middle finger that he has been giving to the leafs nation? seriously!

I hope he gets better but do not step on to the ice at least for the remainder of the playoffs thanks

 

[Tak7]

Not enough cameras imo. I can see why Kessel wants to skip out on the media once in a while

Kind of interesting that they did this interview by the ice - apparently the Leafs/away dressing room in Boston is tiny, so it's likely they couldn't all fit comfortably when Phil spoke to the media.

 

[Conan]

I think its true the maple leafs are scared of boston.
After each goal, it mentally haunts the leafs of 2011-2012 season vs boston.

Key points dont let them score in the 1st period.

should be a good bounce back game if leafs dont play the turn over game

 

[Shoebottom]

Komisarek - O'Bryne should be the bottom pairing no doubt.

 

[mapleleaf979]

Another thing I noticed that needs to be stopped immediately:

Flipping the puck from our zone into the neutral zone. I saw JvR, Kessel, Bozak, Kostka, Liles, Fraser all trying to flip the puck out of our zone.

Your bang on, Bozak and Fraser turned the puck over in there own zone doing this. Was it nerves that led to them flubbing it? I think so, those 2 were good all year doing the flip out of the zone technique, but it was a major error last night. I think it led to one goal.

 

[TootooTrain]

Another thing I noticed that needs to be stopped immediately:

Flipping the puck from our zone into the neutral zone. I saw JvR, Kessel, Bozak, Kostka, Liles, Fraser all trying to flip the puck out of our zone.

If this was the Habs midget team, I can understand that it will safely land outside.

The Bruins have giants on the blue line...do they really think they can't catch the puck...like they did like 5-6 times and kept it in the zone?

Goes hand in hand with the forwards not being anywhere around our dmen. 1st playoff game gitters too. You could tell they were feeling the pressure and used the "flip it to center ice" strategy as a release valve. It's okay when 2 or 3 guys are doing it, but when it becomes your default reaction, you're essentially just giving them the puck over and over again. Not to mention it doesn't allow you to change since the puck isn't getting deep.

 

[Pi]

Komisarek - O'Bryne should be the bottom pairing no doubt.

Komisarek is with the Marlies helping them win the Calder Cup.