Pre-Game Talk: Leafs @ Bruins - tonight

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Not denying he is not an elite talent but there is room to grow on the defensive side of the puck. Many are saying that he is not a great 200 foot player and last night we saw a couple of examples.

well he can still get better, but so far he's the best defensive player on the team and went from terrible last year to actually good now

 

[ToneDog]

I'd say hes not as constant of a 200 foot player as we want. He has brilliant moments, then lapses in his own end.

He was amazing in the Jackets end in the OT (2 jaw dropping takeaways) just before the Jackets took the puck down and drew the penalty shot and won the skills competition.

 

[ToneDog]

well he can still get better, but so far he's the best defensive player on the team and went from terrible last year to actually good now

JT might be the better 200 foot player but we don't need Matty to be great. I thought Matty was pretty good in our end his rookie year. Perhaps he is focusing more on O than D. He is young, no doubt he will get better.

 

[saffronleaf]

I couldn’t be more underwhelmed with Barrie, considering he’s supposed to be top pair worthy. Soft as butter, bad reads, hasn’t contributed very much offensively. There is no way this guy deserves a huge pay day in the offseason and Muzzin is much more valuable to this team at this point. Starting to see why Avs we’re willing to part with him, he looks a bad fit for us at the moment. Things can change, just a commentary on “to date”.

Muzzin has been awesome, yes, but the fact that both of these elite dmen have come here and struggled a bit suggests to me it's more of a coaching / systems issue.

Also our goaltending has been awful this season, although Freddy is starting to look excellent again.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Barrie has controlled play pretty well with Muzzin but has gotten scored on a ton and hasn't contributed anything offensively. I still like him better than Zaitsev, but Kerfoot's been a much more valuable piece

 

[MapleLeafs77]

anyone who's complaining about Matthews' play to start the year simply can't be taken seriously. he's controlling play at both ends of the rink and scoring a ton of goals

I think he has played the best on our team but he can be so much better. He can legit be comparable to mcdavid when he is on in my opinion. He can be an absolute monster out there. I have seen it. He just needs to be consistently like that.

With that said, he is the least of my worries of the big six (matthews, marner, tavares, rielly, nylander, andersen).

 

[ryno23]

He's gonna get compared to McDavid with his contract being so close to his. That's on him for wanting that much money. He wants it, fine, but go out and dominate when you're on the ice . They didn't really earn those contracts to begin with so they gotta prove they are worth that now. Matthews has been pretty good this season though.

problem with fans is they see the high flying McDavid who is the best skater in the NHL and compare him to Matthews who is not as dynamic of a skater but does it in his own way.

That comparison Matthews will fail every time.

 

[MattySnipes]

I am the biggest fan of matthews. But I want him to start dominating. He is playing good but I expect more. He should be one of the best in the world. When he is on his game and intense, he uses his body and just takes over.

Marner is out to lunch imo. No idea what happened to him. Completely off his game.

Rielly is just as bad as marner so far. He keeps thinking he has to score and rack up points. He needs to understand that he is a defenceman first. Literally blows out of the zone everytime we get the puck. He needs to wake up and quickly.

Marner and rielly need to wake up completely. I want matthews to take another step and be the generational player we all believe he is.

Oh and no more marner with matthews please. Babcock is the worst but that is one thing I agree with.

No, you're not. That's me.

 

[18leafsfan18]

Yeah last night they gave Leaf fans lots or reasons to be happy. Tune in tonight for more reasons.

Were you expecting them to go 82-0 ?

The team will lose games.

Players aren't going to have their best game every single night.

Leafs fans just sit and whine about it forever.

They lost, move on to the next one. That's what the good teams do.

 

[saffronleaf]

Not feeling very hopeful about tonight but let's at least make it a respectable score.

 

[Legion34]

Got the feeling of an ugly one tonight. Pray for a point but not looking good.

 

[ToneDog]

Were you expecting them to go 82-0 ?

The team will lose games.

Players aren't going to have their best game every single night.

Leafs fans just sit and whine about it forever.

They lost, move on to the next one. That's what the good teams do.

It is not the losses that piss me off, it is the way they lose that does. Not pissed when the blew the lead to the Blues because they gave effort. Not pissed when the blew 3 goal third period lead to Habs because they were gassed. Pissed off after last night's game because they continue to start slow, give up way too many shots, handle the puck like a grenade in their end, play soft in front of Freddy, fail to protect 3rd period leads etc. etc. etc.

Many have said that this team has been playing .500 since the beginning of this calendar year. Is it wrong to expect better from this team ?

 

[MattySnipes]

Food for thought:

Do y'all think the Leafs don't play every game with full effort, etc, because they're saving it for playoffs? I was just thinking. The human body is so complex. It is really impossible to stay in 'peak' conditions for 82+ games. Especially in hockey where it's so team based, consists of 20 players who all hit their respective peaks at different times.

Thus, Babcock has them playing in a way where they can hit their peak for playoffs and go far. Just been thinking out loud. Especially with how Tampa schooled everyone all season, they were going full effort and full skill every game. Only to get burnt out by playoffs and overmatched by a tight, close-checking Blue Jackets team.

What if Cooper has implemented something similar this season where they're not going as hard in regular season. Set themselves up to be at peak around early March-ish.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[18leafsfan18]

It is not the losses that piss me off, it is the way they lose that does. Not pissed when the blew the lead to the Blues because they gave effort. Not pissed when the blew 3 goal third period lead to Habs because they were gassed. Pissed off after last night's game because they continue to start slow, give up way too many shots, handle the puck like a grenade in their end, play soft in front of Freddy, fail to protect 3rd period leads etc. etc. etc.

Many have said that this team has been playing .500 since the beginning of this calendar year. Is it wrong to expect better from this team ?

Never wrong to expect better, but to assume they are automatically losing this game because they weren't strong last game is ridicules.

Remember what I replied to.

To automatically call this game a loss is a losers mentality.

Are they in tough tonight, absolutely. Could they gut out a win, absolutely.

They are going to have shitty loses. Every single team has them. St Louis won last year. Tons of shitty losses. Washington the year before with plenty of bad loses.

 

[MattySnipes]

Referees tonight are both from Ontario

Corey Syvret #42

Wes McCauley #4

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[KPower]

Poor Hutch is getting lit up tonight.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

We’re gonna get smoked.

 

[Zybalto]

Referees tonight are both from Ontario

Corey Syvret #42

Wes McCauley #4

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

......which means theyll be going out of their way to appear "unbiased". Id rather have Boston boys wearing Bruins undies.

 

[1specter]

thank god for the Raptors game

 

[On-the-Fly]

Food for thought:

Do y'all think the Leafs don't play every game with full effort, etc, because they're saving it for playoffs? I was just thinking. The human body is so complex. It is really impossible to stay in 'peak' conditions for 82+ games. Especially in hockey where it's so team based, consists of 20 players who all hit their respective peaks at different times.

Thus, Babcock has them playing in a way where they can hit their peak for playoffs and go far. Just been thinking out loud. Especially with how Tampa schooled everyone all season, they were going full effort and full skill every game. Only to get burnt out by playoffs and overmatched by a tight, close-checking Blue Jackets team.

What if Cooper has implemented something similar this season where they're not going as hard in regular season. Set themselves up to be at peak around early March-ish.

Let me know your thoughts.

Im sure its a possibility, but given how Babcock has criticized the 'flip a switch mentality' in the past, I doubt its a reality.

Im not against load management, though. I thought they had something up their sleeve when they were rotating 4th lines. Perhaps a night off for the big lines here and there.

To be honest, this team seems confused. Its tough to get it going when everyone aint on the same page.

 

[MattySnipes]

......which means theyll be going out of their way to appear "unbiased". Id rather have Boston boys wearing Bruins undies.

lol that's a good point. Didn't think of that.

 

[MyBudJT]

Leafs win 5-2. You heard it here first!

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Barrie has controlled play pretty well with Muzzin but has gotten scored on a ton and hasn't contributed anything offensively. I still like him better than Zaitsev, but Kerfoot's been a much more valuable piece

Ya agreed, Kerfoot looks like he has some untapped potential especially in his defensive game as he is used more in that role. Very smart player.

The problem is the leafs dont have a proper shutdown pairing to be able to insulate Barrie to get the best out of him. The leafs best defensive defender is playing with a guy who has historically played sheltered offensive minutes. That is just setting Barrie up to underperform expectations unfortunately.

 

[Ryan Michaels]

Food for thought:

Do y'all think the Leafs don't play every game with full effort, etc, because they're saving it for playoffs? I was just thinking. The human body is so complex. It is really impossible to stay in 'peak' conditions for 82+ games. Especially in hockey where it's so team based, consists of 20 players who all hit their respective peaks at different times.

Thus, Babcock has them playing in a way where they can hit their peak for playoffs and go far. Just been thinking out loud. Especially with how Tampa schooled everyone all season, they were going full effort and full skill every game. Only to get burnt out by playoffs and overmatched by a tight, close-checking Blue Jackets team.

What if Cooper has implemented something similar this season where they're not going as hard in regular season. Set themselves up to be at peak around early March-ish.

Let me know your thoughts.

Absolutely not. The same thing was said the last 2 years any time the team struggled, and they still got outworked by Boston who by this logic should've been gassed. I hate this excuse, this team has been nowhere near good enough to save themselves for the playoffs, Crosby can do that in between back to back cups at 30 it would be pathetic if that's what these guys were doing.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Our backup is playing because Andersen must be suffering from extreme fatigue and burnout after a long 10 game season. No matter of it is a division rival battling us for home ice advantage we must manage player fatigue. Our sports sciences department are great folks over there, and they are smart.

“Players are like people”, and we want good people”, “fresh people are good people” “so hows that”!

F)(k