Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 5-3

[ULF_55]

I think we all know Marner drives the offense on the lines he's on.

We also know defense isn't his strength.

 

[zeke]

I don’t think there is any question there are good players on the Leafs.
Their success, however, is predicated on Freddie being much better than anyone anticipated.

Andersen

17-18: .919
16-17: .918
15-16: .919
14-15: .914
13-14: .923
Career: .918

 

[Mess]

I think Matthews brings more than just points to this team. I've said it in the past, McDavid is the superior player, I just get a more solid feel from Matthews. McDavid reminds me of an Elf, and Matthews a Half-Elven.

Eichel a career .96 PPG and Matthews a career .94 PPG are pretty close statistically and both were MIA in this one, but Leafs seemed to feel it more.

What Leafs might be missing most in the defensive aspect of the 2-way game Matthews plays however as that seems to impact the Leafs as much as his goal scoring.

 

[Zybalto]

Interesting how in 10 pages, barely anyone can acknowledge Komarov’s good game last night.

I guess some folks cheer for the crest and some folks cheer for/against the name on the back.

A game where Komarov plays great, Martin makes an impact after sitting for forever, Pleks has his first decent game and Zaitsev is the best dman on the ice?

Theres been too much groupthink against these guys the last few games for some to show praise.

The loss doesn't help either but bad luck shouldn't take away from giving guys praise, especially if they are in a perceived "slump". We should want all guys going for the playoffs.

 

[ULF_55]

A game where Komarov plays great, Martin makes an impact after sitting for forever, Pleks has his first decent game and Zaitsev is the best dman on the ice?

Theres been too much groupthink against these guys the last few games for some to show praise.

The loss doesn't help either but bad luck shouldn't take away from giving guys praise, especially if they are in a perceived "slump". We should want all guys going for the playoffs.

I'm on the fence ... I think Leafs are locked into a spot, most likely 3rd. in their division.

So I can live with a down cycle for a 2-3 weeks as long as they're on the up cycle heading into April.

They're a very good team, but they aren't a favorite, they'll need to be at their peak to go anywhere in the playoffs.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'm on the fence ... I think Leafs are locked into a spot, most likely 3rd. in their division.

So I can live with a down cycle for a 2-3 weeks as long as they're on the up cycle heading into April.

They're a very good team, but they aren't a favorite, they'll need to be at their peak to go anywhere in the playoffs.

All this is spot on.

 

[JadedLeaf]

It seems like we either get red hot or ice cold for some reason this season. Big picture, we're almost assured a playoff spot at the beginning of March. If we go by our preseason expectations and not get caught up in every hot or cold swing we seem to be right on target. Most of us expected a 2nd round appearance with the chance to go a little further if we got hot. 2nd round might not happen purely because the top of our division is stacked but I would still say first round against Boston we have the better chance, If we meet Tampa while firing on all cylinders like we were before this recent slump I like our chances. I'd almost rather have our slump right now as opposed to with three games left in the season.

I just wish Babs would rest Andersen a bit. Maybe he wanted to get him back into a game after being pulled the last time but it would have been perfect to let him rest a week. It's not like we played like complete shit yesterday. Two fluke goals against andersen to start the game and the 4th was a perfect pass/deflection off a ref. Unfortunate as hell but the score wasn't indicative of the play.

 

[Liminality]

I'm still in the belief that the Leafs got super unlucky last night. Yes the defense needs to do a better job with boxing people out and negating those deflections but Buffalo's whole game plan seemed to stem from their d point shots and bodies in front.

 

[Mugzy97]

I'm still in the belief that the Leafs got super unlucky last night

Any opinion besides this one is wrong IMO

 

[BertCorbeau]

Last night's game summed up:

The hockey gods laid some karma on Babs' and the Leafs for Babs' comments on the Buffalo rebuild earlier in the week with all of those bounces.

The Leafs were leaky defensively, when they were in their own zone.

You can't fix the bounces but you can fix the defensive issues.

 

[Zybalto]

I'm on the fence ... I think Leafs are locked into a spot, most likely 3rd. in their division.

So I can live with a down cycle for a 2-3 weeks as long as they're on the up cycle heading into April.

They're a very good team, but they aren't a favorite, they'll need to be at their peak to go anywhere in the playoffs.

I think the rest is going to help them quite a bit compared to other teams heading into the playoffs and I think the main factor as to why they shouldnt be a clear favorite is that they have to play Tampa or Boston in the first round on the road even if they are the 3rd best team in the conference. Im sure whoever comes in 2nd isnt too thrilled about the situation either.

Want to play one of the best scoring teams in hockey that is going to be comparably rested with a goalie that can steal a series?

If Murray is still ailing, you can make the case youd rather face the Pens...

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think the rest is going to help them quite a bit compared to other teams heading into the playoffs and I think the main factor as to why they shouldnt be a clear favorite is that they have to play Tampa or Boston in the first round on the road even if they are the 3rd best team in the conference. Im sure whoever comes in 2nd isnt too thrilled about the situation either.

Want to play one of the best scoring teams in hockey that is going to be comparably rested with a goalie that can steal a series?

If Murray is still ailing, you can make the case youd rather face the Pens...

No doubt. I really hope this absurd situation starts a discussion about changing the playoff format. Would be much more fair (and more interesting) if they just had 1vs8, 2vs7 etc.

 

[Warden of the North]

We should have won this game

 

[thewave]

We should have won this game

I don't care that we lost. Sometimes you get bad bounces, but I did not like the challenge goal. That was no goal. They put the whistle away for Buffalo especially.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I just noticed something.

Leafs mathematical point difference to Panthers is 5 points, few more losses (even 1 point ones)
and more wins for Panthers will put your Leafs into serious danger, what comes to play-offs picture.

5 games in hand, 5 x 2= 10
15 - 10 = 5

Who knows what is the mathematical probability for Panthers 5 wins,
but its plausible scenario, it is ice hockey after all.

---

Devils number is 7
Blue Jackets is 10

 

[Cor]

Saw the challenge goal this morning.

I’m officially on the “I don’t know what goalie interference is” train.

I don’t know how you can make that contact with the goalie and it be called a goal, after we saw Matthews stick tap the goalies blocker and it get called off.

If it stays 4-2 and the Leafs get that 4-3 goal, maybe they rally to sneak out a point.

And then add in the ref skating directly into the passing lane of our defense, causing it to deflect right to ROR all alone in the slot, and it just wasn’t the Leafs night.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I just noticed something.

Leafs mathematical point difference to Panthers is 5 points, few more losses (even 1 point ones)
and more wins for Panthers will put your Leafs into serious danger, what comes to play-offs picture.

5 games in hand, 5 x 2= 10
15 - 10 = 5

Who knows what is the mathematical probability for Panthers 5 wins,
but its plausible scenario, it is ice hockey after all.

---

Devils number is 7
Blue Jackets is 10

Wut?

 

[Nithoniniel]

I’m officially on the “I don’t know what goalie interference is” train.

Yeah. I'd even say that it's not just bewildering, it's counter-intuitive at every turn. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that the last 10 or so challenges I've seen has gone against common sense.

If they would come out today and say that they will skip the whole coaches challenge and just go with referee's impression, I'd be fine with it. I understand why the ref gets things wrong. I don't understand these calls.

I do hope they decide to put more of it in the hands of the war room, get the same people the job to check goals, review if needed, and then judge if it's a goal or not. Same people should mean consistency, at least.

 

[Raging Bull]

Goalie interference was pretty cut and dry for like, 90 years. Don't know why all of a sudden it's so hard for the league to set a precedent.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Goalie interference was pretty cut and dry for like, 90 years. Don't know why all of a sudden it's so hard for the league to set a precedent.

Video review and bad precedent set by said video review has effed it all up.

I can see the argument that Andy pushed his way into the path of the Sabres player, hence no interference, BUT:

- contact was in the blue paint
- Larson made little effort to no effort to get out of the way
- Andersen had no idea that Larson was behind him, so it's not like he tried to sell it.

 

[Raging Bull]

Video review and bad precedent set by said video review has effed it all up.

I can see the argument that Andy pushed his way into the path of the Sabres player, hence no interference, BUT:

- contact was in the blue paint
- Larson made little effort to no effort to get out of the way
- Andersen had no idea that Larson was behind him, so it's not like he tried to sell it.

If the referee on the ice said Gardiner was pushing Larson into Andersen, I wouldn't agree but that would at least be a debatable reason. For the on ice officials to tell Babcock the goal was called off because the contact was outside the crease, and then the league to give him a totally different reason after the game, is unacceptable.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Yeah. I'd even say that it's not just bewildering, it's counter-intuitive at every turn. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that the last 10 or so challenges I've seen has gone against common sense.

If they would come out today and say that they will skip the whole coaches challenge and just go with referee's impression, I'd be fine with it. I understand why the ref gets things wrong. I don't understand these calls.

I do hope they decide to put more of it in the hands of the war room, get the same people the job to check goals, review if needed, and then judge if it's a goal or not. Same people should mean consistency, at least.

Not a bad idea. Keep things the way they are and there's a decent chance these challenges will be the biggest story of the playoffs which would be most unfortunate as there are a number of interesting storylines.

 

[Cleetus]

Funny how no one says that about the Bruins when they have 2 bad games.

oh I bet the Bruins fans say the same when they dont compete.

 

[Mugzy97]

I just noticed something.

Leafs mathematical point difference to Panthers is 5 points, few more losses (even 1 point ones)
and more wins for Panthers will put your Leafs into serious danger, what comes to play-offs picture.

5 games in hand, 5 x 2= 10
15 - 10 = 5

Who knows what is the mathematical probability for Panthers 5 wins,
but its plausible scenario, it is ice hockey after all.

---

Devils number is 7
Blue Jackets is 10

You forgot the mathematics of a bird in the hand being worth 2 in the bush.


Panthers win % is basically 50%, which means they are likely to get 5 or 6 points in those 10 games. I'd much rather have the points in the bank than to need to win 5 straight and make up the difference. The optics of it look like they are close but they are a long ways behind us.

 

[ShaneFalco]