Line Combos: Matthews Match-Up Strategy in Games 3/4

Going into the series, it seemed like the most likely scenario in Toronto would be for Kadri to be matched against the Bergeron line, with Matthews likely going up against the Krejci line. With that no longer being an option, Babcock has a very interesting decision to make for games 3 and 4.

 

Well seeing how Bergeron and co have absolutely schooled him I'd say get him away from them

 

Not Babcock's decision. All Cassidy has to do is put the Bergeron line out as often as possible, giving Babcock the choice of responding to game situations or cutting the TOI of Matthews.

 

Eh. Matthews held almost 80% of shots while on the ice and that wasnt really affected by the score. Boston held an advantage early in the game but Toronto blitzed them. Goalie had a tough night.

 

He was 0-5 against Bergeron in high danger scoring chances.

 

It was definitely affected by the score. When a team holds a 3 or 4 goal lead for most of the game, it's going to change things drastically.

Also, vs. Bergeron he was 7-6 for Corsi but 0-5 for high danger chances.

 

That's one relatively small snippet of the full story. 76% SF, 64% Scoring chances while on the ice. He can tighten up on bergeron but he by no means was schooled.

 

The game chart shows a toronto advantage for all but the first 5 min. Boston scored against the flow from the get go.

 

That's the point though. He played well when Bergeron wasn't on the ice. 7-0 scoring chances, 4-0 high danger chances, 12-1 corsi, even if gameflow dictated part of that. Do you play him away from Bergeron to try to build on that and risk lesser competition vs. that line, or do you still force a best on best that has not worked out well so far?

 

If I were Babcock, I would play him straight up against Bergy's line. Babcock worked hard to get him away from Bergy last night and it worked 50% of the time. But what happened was Bergy's line feasted on other lines. Cassidy should be credited for his coaching there actually. He knew either way he would win. But back to who Matthew's matches up with? You have to play your best against their best. And hope your best wins. Right now it's Bergy 2 Matthews 0. You give Matthews a chance to redeem himself, he has to make himself from invisible to visible in game 3 or it is golfing season for the Leafs.

 

I'm more talking about playing with at least a 3-goal lead for close to 50 minutes of the game. Bruins capitalized on their opportunities/got some bounces to go up by 3 or 4 to begin with, but after that, it completely changes the flow of the game.

 

Sure score effects are real and def helped but Toronto was going strong before that point as well.

If you have the numbers on hd chances against bergeron do you have his other numbers against bergeron.

 

i think they should play Matt Martin, and Roman polak on wing. justvs9ebd the whole time running Patrice Bergeron.

that would be my plan.

 

I'm not debating the start though. My point is that about 80% of this game was played with the Bruins sitting on a massive lead, and the possession numbers during that period mirror exactly what you'd expect.

Matthews vs. Bergeron Game 2:

Corsi: 7-6
Fenwick: 7-5
Shots: 5-3
Goals: 0-2
Scoring chances: 4-6
High danger chances: 0-5

 

Not bad overall imo. The high danger chances are no good, but id suspect babcock could hard match him.

Maybe less so without kadri. Hard to say.

Where did those numbers come from?

 

Matthews vs Bergeron line.
Send him to school. He needs to learn to be like Bergeron.
So far Auston has done well with challenges. Keep challenging him.

 

No disrespect, but this emphasis on statistical analysis makes the game seem more like planning a lunar shot than trying to win a playoff hockey game.

As if AM just needs to tweak up his “SF” a notch or two and “tighten up” on Bergeron — and that’ll fix ‘er.

He was better last night for stretches — certainly better than he was in game one. Which is good. Because the oldest most reliable measurement tool (eye test) was inconclusive in game one. Had to go to boxscore to confirm he actually played game. He was that bad.

Matthews is a great young player, but if Toronto wants to try and get back in series he’ll have to do a lot more. I think kid can play better, but unfortunately he can’t fix that horrid defense and tired goalkeeping. That’s on Babcock and Lou L — and is a job for off/next season.

 

Its not an emphasis. Ppl make a statement that he was schooled, you look at stats to see what actually happened.

Im not disregarding any eye test but confirmation bias will skew that pretty heavily. Toronto was abject in game 1.

Goalies are a big deal in the playoffs. Torontos is bad.

 

After the 1st goal Boston was never in trouble, they dominated the 1st and controlled the last 40.

 

Throw Komarov on his line again, that'll work.

Not sure what Babcock expected to happen there. What a disaster.

 

Fair enough. I agree that eye test is not perfect .... it’s just more fun, for me.

At the end of the day I guess the bottom line is the honest players know whether they are delivering the goods — and for the record I think AM seems like one of those.

This series will help him develop no matter what happens.

 

You need to add option: It doesn’t matter what Leafs do or focus on, Bruins will walkover anyway.

 

I agree. I watch the games. Imnnot just looking at stats only.

Toronto has a lot of work ahead, but goaltending is killing them more than any bad play on their part. Especially in game 2.

I think past matthews its more concerning that marleau is 2nd in 5v5 toi. Dude is 38. Toronto didnt do enough on the roster to make a real run.

 

Toronto's team D was just as bad as their goaltending so far. Maybe Andy would have had a couple saves if the front of the net wasn't open to any Bruin willing to take it. He sure did play bad but that dzone coverage is abysmal.

 

Two guys that could never cover the ice the way Bergeron does wasting their time and taking themselves out of position while trying to, I hope so.