Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose again to poverty franchise

[ULF_55]

Coyote fan coming in peace. I was born and raised in Alberta and cheered for the Leafs when I was young, the Keon era. Moved to Edmonton and cheered for the Oilers when they became part of the NHL. Now I live in Phoenix, and I cheer for my home town Yotes. It saddens me to read all these negative and snarky posts from you Leaf fans, who has the richest franchise that has won jack shit the last half century. As a franchise the Yotes have had their issues, but finally we are on the right track with a new owner and building on the horizon. It would be nice to have friendly banter among posters, instead of acting like little kids not getting their way. Anyway, back to the game. It was a very entertaining game and the best team won on this night. The difference between winning and losing in the NHL is very small and any team can win on a given night. You guys have a good day and hope to meet you in the SC finals in a few years.

Well, you bring up the lack of success on the ice for the Leafs, and your struggles. Can you imagine if, with your franchise's struggles, your ticket buyers had to support other franchises whose ticket holders don't support their own team?

2022 NHL Fan Cost Index: Florida Panthers offer the best return on investment

With their success on the ice and relatively low prices, the Panthers look like a pretty good value according to the 2022 NHL Fan Cost Index

theathletic.com

The most expensive team for a family is the Toronto Maple Leafs at $697.75 (U.S.), a number driven primarily by their league-leading average ticket price of $145.60. That doesn’t include premium ticket costs.

Are you really surprised at the comments? Living off the labours or other doesn't usually garner much respect.

It would be nice to see the Coyotes join the contributors in the future.

We can all agree with that.

 

[Clark4Ever]

In the grand scheme of things, that game doesn't mean much but I hope that Rielly's performance in particular is not a sign of things to come.

 

[notDatsyuk]

They were noticeable,don't even know how many shots they rang off the post or missed the net, but yeah looking at the boxscore you wouldn't believe none of them put up a single point with3 goals scored.

This one I blame on shoddy goaltending, Reilly with the neutral zone turnover, and $40m skating around doing everything but score.

Pulling the goalie WAY to early didn't exactly help

Willy and JT with a post each. JT led the team with 4 missed shots. Matthews had 3 of the 11 total.

Willy recorded 6 shots and Matthews 4.

For the season, Matthews is second in the league in missed shots, and Nylander is third in posts+crossbars.

 

[Twine Tickler]

It wasn't a terrible effort, but the execution was off. Recurring theme with ARI for some reason, but it is not like we backed off or didn't put a ton of pressure on Vejmelka. The comments about the game makes me think that people just watched some twitter clips though.

Yup I agree whole heartedly.

I also agree on the Nylander assessment on the GWG to an extent. I think I may have misspoke on my initial post. I am ok with Willy blowing the zone initially knowing Lilly had clear possession and nothing but daylight ahead of him on his strong side. That stretch pass/tip in entry has been a play that Sheldon has implemented since day 1. He and Bunts look like they were doing their jobs in rotating in and out of the zone once Lilly decided not to initially feed it up ice to Willy. That looks pretty normal to me at that point. Then the breakdown for Willy that I was not clear on in my previous post occurs on the D2D pass. Willy needs to be a bit more aware IMO. It's a fast bang bang play, and everything is easy to pick apart in slow motion, so I am fully aware that I am being a little harsh. But IMO, the second he sees Mo have to take that shit pass in his skates Willy needs to ease off on exiting the zone. The second that pass hit Mo's skates Willy is trying to provide an outlet up the middle that was sealed off the very second that D2D pass didn't go tape2tape.

again it's tough to just blame 1 person on this play, because they all play a part in the goal against, and by no means am I solely blaming Willy. My entire point initially was that they all factored into that GA, not just Mo, Lilly, Murr...etc. It truly was a comedy of errors.

This is the screenshot is about a half second before Mo gains full possession of that grenade D2D.
Willy is circled, and he is heading up ice. Mo doesn't have possession of the puck yet, and Bjustad is actively sealing off that lane already.

This is a snapshot 3 seconds later into the frame once the TO has occurred on the wall. Crouse gains possession and Willy is just too far down ice to recover

The subsequent 2 on 1 was just another series of bad plays lol.

Willy in the grand scheme of things gets a bit of a Raw deal, as he's banking on Matthews making some attempt on the puck that Mo plays up the wall, and then he's the guy out of position as a result.

I think the thing I see most when reviewing this GA, is that no one was anticipating anyone to make a mistake. Therefore when the play started to break down, we were caught with our pants down hard.

We're never going to play mistake free hockey. We need to score goals, and that comes with playing with an element of aggression sometimes. But we still need to make sure that we fundamentally limit the quality of chance going the other way when those plays break down. This is kind of a perfect example of the type of goals we've been giving up in the playoffs unfortunately. Unforced error, no coverage, need a big defensive play or save, don't get one, curtains.

Just need to tighten it up a bit. That's all. In fairness, these type of GA this year have been way less abundant in the last 2 months

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Players of Rielly's caliber never go on conditioning stints.

And he didn't even look like he needed one. He didn't look out of it at all.

I've played/watched maybe ten of thousands of games over 50+ years and Rielly played that one from a wheelchair .. brutally slow .. again not his fault but he normally can wheel and get himself back from taking risks but not last night .. all he could do was waive his wand

 

[MSZ]

You are both right. My problem is that they should not have a team ahead of Quebec City and a second team in the GTA. Hockey failed twice in Atlanta before Winnipeg got their team back. Clearly the NHL values American non-markets over some Canadian hockey markets. God bless Gary.

Even if they flat out refuse to consider any potential Canadian markets, there are still quite a few American cities where they are more suitable for a NHL team compare to Phoenix.

Houston and KC are two examples.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

You are both right. My problem is that they should not have a team ahead of Quebec City and a second team in the GTA. Hockey failed twice in Atlanta before Winnipeg got their team back. Clearly the NHL values American non-m markets over some Canadian hockey markets. God bless Gary.

my bro went to a game last month while there on vacation and he and his wife and 2 kids got da $20 tickets each for FREE as college kids don't even go to games for free .. that is reality of what is going on there right now .. it is a toal sh*t show in Zona

 

[ULF_55]

I never watched last night, but have heard about a bad pass to Rielly ... and that just brings back the bad pass from Rielly to Sandin auditioning on his off wing earlier in the season that resulted in a goal against. Sandin took the blame for that goal, not Rielly for the crap pass.

...

 

[Enniskillen]

Came for Rielly comments. I wasn’t disappointed lmao.

 

[Stephen]

Some concerning things about this game:

Riellys gambling ways
Murray didn’t make enough saves
Matthews with another poor game
Holl was too skittish
Another game where the opposition gets more pp”s than us

Finally, How the hell does the league allow a professional team to play in that arena? That little puke of a commissioner with the Napoleon complex is a moron

So if Mullett Arena has a seating capacity of 5,000, it would be way smaller than Ricoh Coliseum for the Marlies which has a capacity of 7,700.

 

[1specter]

Strange that people expect someone to be in mid-season form after being out 5 weeks with an MCL sprain. Pretty sure Mo played all 82 last year and they set a franchise record for points....

 

[Twine Tickler]

Honestly, people shitting on Rielly in here clearly just have a bone to pick. It's a lazy argument. By no means was he excellent, but he wasn't the reason we lost this game. Costly penalties followed by poor PK'ing and untimely mistakes that were converted on. Not much more to read into this game TBH. They all share blame in this loss.

Even a guy like Connor Timmons, who had 2pts on the night, and a team high 89.6 xGF% made 1 very costly mistake that we could realistically make an argument for costing us the game.

These games are going to happen from time to time. It's all about how you respond. Win on saturday and all will be forgotten.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I never watched last night, but have heard about a bad pass to Rielly ... and that just brings back the bad pass from Rielly to Sandin auditioning on his off wing earlier in the season that resulted in a goal against. Sandin took the blame for that goal, not Rielly for the crap pass.

...

Trying to remember what happened with that one but this was a basic tape to tape pass that was in Rielly's skates. Rielly recovered well but by then, his only option was up the boards and the rest of the stuff happens.

If that is tape to tape, then we likely get a great scoring chance out of the subsequent plays.

 

[GrizzGreen]

Honestly, people shitting on Rielly in here clearly just have a bone to pick. It's a lazy argument. By no means was he excellent, but he wasn't the reason we lost this game. Costly penalties followed by poor PK'ing and untimely mistakes that were converted on. Not much more to read into this game TBH. They all share blame in this loss.

Even a guy like Connor Timmons, who had 2pts on the night, and a team high 89.6 xGF% made 1 very costly mistake that we could realistically make an argument for costing us the game.

These games are going to happen from time to time. It's all about how you respond. Win on saturday and all will be forgotten.

Also his first game back, he'll do better.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Yep.

A strange anomaly in sports. It's impossible to figure out why over so many years and so many different teams, Arizona just beats the Leafs.

Yeah there's really not much else to it. Leafs went what, 0-3-1 vs the Coyotes in 2022? Not gonna take much from last night's game other than maybe the continued struggles of the goaltending, but they were due to regress after an unsustainable start

 

[ULF_55]

Trying to remember what happened with that one but this was a basic tape to tape pass that was in Rielly's skates. Rielly recovered well but by then, his only option was up the boards and the rest of the stuff happens.

If that is tape to tape, then we likely get a great scoring chance out of the subsequent plays.

It was up near center ice, pass handcuffed Sandin, and the puck was going back towards the Leafs zone, not forward out of the zone.

Sandin also had a bouncing puck in front of the net that game that was put in for a goal.

 

[geo25]

I'm not referring to a 1 game sample. I'm referring to his career....

You seem to forget (if you were even a fan then) that his mentor & protege was none other than Dion Phaneuf....who was no defensive stalwart either...

 

[Stephen]

Strange that people expect someone to be in mid-season form after being out 5 weeks with an MCL sprain. Pretty sure Mo played all 82 last year and they set a franchise record for points....

I didn’t watch the game, don’t really have a bone to pick with Rielly but if you’re coming back from injury and healthy enough to be in the lineup I don’t think you can point to the recent injury as an excuse for what is perceived to be poor play. Not saying anything about last night. If you’re in you’re in.

 

[Stephen]

You seem to forget (if you were even a fan then) that his mentor & protege was none other than Dion Phaneuf....who was no defensive stalwart either...

One of the reasons why Gio looks like a great addition by Dubas is he can provide Norris level mentorship to the blueline. Rielly never had that growing up into his role.

 

[Al14]

Coyotes own the leafs

They are constantly biting the hands that feed them.

Without revenue sharing, there is NO Coyotes in the NHL. They actually should be relocated to Quebec City already. f***ing Bettman!!!

 

[geo25]

One of the reasons why Gio looks like a great addition by Dubas is he can provide Norris level mentorship to the blueline. Rielly never had that growing up into his role.

I agree wholeheartedly with that observation. I recall when Reilly 1st played ...and the lofty expectations I had for him. While I'm not disappointed offensively, I am very on the defensive side.

 

[nuck]

They thought they were in a practice arena. Mullett will screw with a few teams, kind of like the Covid games with no fans. Also the Yotes players were showcasing themselves hoping to become trade targets for the Leafs because of all the trade proposals,

 

[1specter]

I didn’t watch the game, don’t really have a bone to pick with Rielly but if you’re coming back from injury and healthy enough to be in the lineup I don’t think you can point to the recent injury as an excuse for what is perceived to be poor play. Not saying anything about last night. If you’re in you’re in.

Plenty of guys come back and look rusty or often play through injury. Yes they have to perform, but acting like the first game back defines that player in totality is short sighted, especially in a long season. Jarnkrok was playing through his groin issue and looked fairly unremarkable a lot of games but when he finally went and rested it he's been lights out since coming back. I think we can give Rielly the benefit of the doubt and afford him some more rope. I remember when he returned from a high ankle sprain years ago and also struggled but eventually finished the season strong and was arguably our best defenseman against Washington in the playoffs.

This is the highest level of hockey there is, the smallest things can make a big difference let alone being out with injury and not having played in a while.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

They are constantly biting the hands that feed them.

Without revenue sharing, there is NO Coyotes in the NHL. They actually should be relocated to Quebec City already. f***ing Bettman!!!

I don’t even need them to go to a Canadian city. f***ing stick ‘em in Houston for all I care. Anywhere where they don’t have to play in a College Arena and they make some money.

The whole situation is embarrassing. No other league would permit a major league franchise to play out of a school, and no other NHL team would be allowed to do so. Could you imagine if Ottawa asked to play out of Carleton’s or Ottawa University’s arena while they waited for a downtown arena? Bettman would ship the Sens to Hartford before they even finished the question.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Plenty of guys come back and look rusty or often play through injury. Yes they have to perform, but acting like the first game back defines that player in totality is short sighted, especially in a long season. Jarnkrok was playing through his groin issue and looked fairly unremarkable a lot of games but when he finally went and rested it he's been lights out since coming back. I think we can give Rielly the benefit of the doubt and afford him some more rope. I remember when he returned from a high ankle sprain years ago and also struggled but eventually finished the season strong and was arguably our best defenseman against Washington in the playoffs.

This is the highest level of hockey there is, the smallest things can make a big difference let alone being out with injury and not having played in a while.

The issue with Rielly was not just one game, it’s been a pattern throughout his career. The difference this year is that his gambling ways are not leading to offence, particularly goals. His risk/reward style of play this season and last (not including playoffs) skews way too much to the risk side.