Post-Game Talk: Thats all she wrote.

[The CyNick]

How about recognizing Jake Gardiner is having the worst game of his career and holding him back and promoting Dermott? I don't get how you can see a player struggle SO MUCH and keep playing him.

Had he promoted Dermott and he struggled a bit, I'd get it. How about calling a timeout at some point to calm them down?

Is there any accountability that lies on the highest paid coach?

Dermott was no good the game before. You ride with the horses that brought you to the dance. By your logic we should have pulled Andy in the first.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

I think the Bruins deserved the win but my estimation of Babcock as a coach has ****ing plummeted.

My bones to pick with Babs are...

1. All season he overused plugs like Martin, komorov. So essentially we practiced lower than our potential.

2. Number 1 lead to bringing in Kap/Dermott in late when clearly they could use the practice and be shown the ropes.

3. It took komorov injury during playoffs to have steady time for Johnsson. He shouldve been in the lineup at least mid season like Kap and Dermott.

4. His system was meant for a plug on each line, with the likes of Martin and Komorov. I mean when you put Leo on Matthews line you clearly have skewed vision.

In the playoffs, he realized how the plug grinder style was being owned by a bigger stronger Bruin style. He saw how speed and handling the puck was all we had, and after gm2 he sat out Komorov and made the lines balanced with speed. But it was too late to fully adjust.

Hes using the SAME system. A system that Komorov and other plugs could play with. A system that holds back speedy talent like ...

Its always a simple 1 to 2 pass.

When we can play on the level like the bergeron line - Bring the puck in, draw a defender, have your center support the puck, while you wait for someone to bite and you make smart passes to the man shaking his defender. When you are 16, 34, 29, 24, 18, 23, you dont need to panic, the skill is there to dangle out of an aggressive attacker.

Babs systen is a system for low talent plugs.
It worked beacasue we have alotta talent.
But the playoffs showed us how limited the system is.

Babs love for vets was a gamble that arguably one that costs us home ice... and probably some games this series.

If it wasnt for Plek, someone who isnt all Babcock systems in his brain, we wouldve gotten swept.

Marleau is a SJ vet... he knows how to adjust.
Plek is a Hab vet... he adjusted and was brilliant.
Marner is the only young Leaf that Fully went rogue and did his own thing and it showed

The three best players.

Hopefully Babcock seeing the new NHL and not Komorov as jesus

 

[luvdahattymatty]

Moving forward I think you will see both Gardiner and Polak cut/traded/robidaed. Rielly needs to be moved down to a position in lineup to a 3 role where he skills are more suited. Hainsey will be kept but he is too slow and it was evident throughout playoffs but it works ok in regular season with rielly. Dermott will have to develop more and take on a greater role. Zaitsev i am not really sure about but i think he can be a complimentary soft puck moving defence as a 4 or 5 guy. Bottom line the defence needs a total reconstruction. It is like a said before series started a bottom 5 defence in the nhl. Somehow Lou/Shanny need to bring in a number 1 and a number 2 to lead the team. Realistically this is a monumental job this summer and quite frankly i don't think it can happen that fast. Bottom line is we will have to wait for draft picks and Dermott to develop. Could be another 3 or 4 years before Leafs are ready to contend.

All that said Freddy really crapped the bed last night. The 4th and 5th Boston goals in 3rd were goals scored in a house league. Even a decent junior goalie makes both of those saves easy. When a goalie is that HOT and then that COLD you really have to worry about who is IS. I am not ready to throw him under the bus just yet but wow gave me pause for thought.

 

[GoonieFace]

You just proved to me you don't really know what you are talking about regarding competitive sport. They play as instructed, what they were doing was not working and no adjustments were made. That does not absolve individual efforts or lack there of.

Your hot takes are getting old. This was not a coaching issue. The Leafs D corps needs a massive upgrade. No amount of coaching can fix poor players. The Leafs are built on speed, so you play a game suitable to your strengths.

Fact is, they lost to a better team. That is all.

 

[bbgobie]

The problem with the Leafs breakout is they don't cover the points. So when you do miraculously recover the puck down low the forward is no where near the point. So throwing it up there is useless. There's no one to support.

Alternatively when we have time the forwards are up the ice covered because the opposing d has backed off and it's tthe opposing forwards waiting at the boards.

 

[leafs in five]

I mean in the end the system under scrutiny had them up 4-3 versus with 20 mins to play vs a legit cup contender with like an entire 5-man unit of killers. I will work through my anger and frustration, this has been a good thread today. the only posts I can't deal with yet are the 'congratulations on a good series from the Bruins board' ones.

 

[mapleleafs34]

This loss hurts so much more because it's Boston. I hate ****ing Boston and that ****ing POS Marchand. I hope Tampa destroys them.

 

[leafs in five]

Your hot takes are getting old. This was not a coaching issue. The Leafs D corps needs a massive upgrade. No amount of coaching can fix poor players. The Leafs are built on speed, so you play a game suitable to your strengths.

Fact is, they lost to a better team. That is all.

I kinda think the launch pass from stationary defenseman to stationary forward at redline hoping top catch a streaking forward on a tip pass or deflect-dump almost neutralises the team's speed, at least when it becomes so routine. but f*** I dunno, agree that they don't have the D to play exactly as I'd like them to.

 

[The CyNick]

Yes, for God's sake.

The inability of the Leafs to transition from the defensive zone is truly pathetic. Championship caliber teams don't routinely throw pucks out of the zone and give away possession as much as the Leafs do. This is certainly magnified in 2nd periods when line changes are longer, meaning giving away the puck leads to spending more time in the Defensive zone with dead tired players.

When given time and space, all the leafs were able to muster were stretch passes which were either closed off by Bruins in the neutral zone, or called back for icing.

A lot of players didn't show up tonight, but this type of Defensive zone play was prevalent since the regular season, and for a team that specializes in skill and skating just to employ hail mary passes and Dump-n-Chase as frequently as they do boggles my mind.

It's not hard to see why Leafs keep getting out shot.

1. Flip puck out of zone
2. Let Bruins gain possession and enter zone
3. Try to box out Bruins to let Andersen make save
4a. Regain possession and repeat 1
4b: If possible, make low % stretch pass, only to repeat 2

Teams have to know how to make plays under pressure and in tight spaces. Leafs won't win anything next year if they employ the same strategy again.

The stretch pass was utilized all season as an exit plan and we got 105 points.

The issue was execution and not getting NHL calibre goaltending in our losses.

You live by the sword, you die by the sword. That's would be the title of this season's story.

 

[garce]

I have to comment on this...

Toronto sucks when they use the stretch pass. Wilson abused it, Carlyle tried it and now Babcock. Our teams have never much luck when we revert to that sort of play. Even the shortened season against Boston and prior it was all short pass short pass and up the ice with speed. It works, the stretch pass only works with the best players and with guys like Kapanen. I see it as a coach cheating and not trusting his team.

Yeah Babcock didn't play us the right way vs Boston and it's why we lost so bad in 3 of the games.

They simply don’t have the personnel to play the short pass game you describe. Particularly on the D, more specifically the rh D Boston exploited the plodding low skill RH D of the leafs by making them handle the puck, they can’t even rim the puck out much less make a skilled smart short pass.

 

[thewave]

Your hot takes are getting old. This was not a coaching issue. The Leafs D corps needs a massive upgrade. No amount of coaching can fix poor players. The Leafs are built on speed, so you play a game suitable to your strengths.

Fact is, they lost to a better team. That is all.

General commands troops to hunker down in the bunker while heavy artillery is shelling their position. Refuses to fire back and is happy with this strategy as he slowly watches his army taking losses.

That's what Babcock instructed us to do. He did it from game 1. It was not the right decision but he committed and stuck with it.

 

[leafs in five]

This loss hurts so much more because it's Boston. I hate ****ing Boston and that ****ing POS Marchand. I hope Tampa destroys them.

yeah basically

can't remember the timeline exactly but at a certain point it was 4-3 Leafs and 3-2 Jays. within like 10 mins seemingly it was 6-4 Bruins and 4-3 Sox.

mother

f***er

 

[TCB]

You guys had great yr and your future is extremely bright. Too bad the playoff format is all screwed up because the leafs, based on their regular season play, deserved an easier first round opponent.

Mathews and Marner is the new Toews and Kane and the leafs will be lifting Lord Stanley in the near future!

 

[4thlineduster]

I mean in the end the system under scrutiny had them up 4-3 versus with 20 mins to play vs a legit cup contender with like an entire 5-man unit of killers. I will work through my anger and frustration, this has been a good thread today. the only posts I can't deal with yet are the 'congratulations on a good series from the Bruins board' ones.

Herein lies the problem with your statement. It’s just excuses and justifying something that doesn’t deserve it. By trying to be glass half full defending it with the attitude of “well we almost won the game so the system can’t be that bad” it’ll never effect change.

The fact of the matter is the system that “almost” won the leafs a series....twice.....has in fact still never gotten the leafs out of the first round of playoffs (when they actually make the playoffs).

Sorry but you’re not going to ever convince me that Babcock is the correct coach for the leafs at this point. He’s an old school coach on a young team and it may provide moderate success but that’s about it.

 

[leafs in five]

Moving forward I think you will see both Gardiner and Polak cut/traded/robidaed. Rielly needs to be moved down to a position in lineup to a 3 role where he skills are more suited. Hainsey will be kept but he is too slow and it was evident throughout playoffs but it works ok in regular season with rielly. Dermott will have to develop more and take on a greater role. Zaitsev i am not really sure about but i think he can be a complimentary soft puck moving defence as a 4 or 5 guy. Bottom line the defence needs a total reconstruction. It is like a said before series started a bottom 5 defence in the nhl. Somehow Lou/Shanny need to bring in a number 1 and a number 2 to lead the team. Realistically this is a monumental job this summer and quite frankly i don't think it can happen that fast. Bottom line is we will have to wait for draft picks and Dermott to develop. Could be another 3 or 4 years before Leafs are ready to contend.

All that said Freddy really crapped the bed last night. The 4th and 5th Boston goals in 3rd were goals scored in a house league. Even a decent junior goalie makes both of those saves easy. When a goalie is that HOT and then that COLD you really have to worry about who is IS. I am not ready to throw him under the bus just yet but wow gave me pause for thought.

I think the Debrusk goal was a bit forgivable because of the way Gardiner just moved his stick away from the area from which the shot was taken a second before. like if he keeps his stick there instead of picking it up for leverage to lay the body (which he did pretty well) then the shot has to either come from a different area or through the obstruction of Gardiner's stick. when he kind of cedes that ice Debrusk can make a play that wasn't really available a second earlier. I think maybe Andersen was caught off by the way Gardiner played it as well.

4th goal was indeed a shocker as they say in England.

 

[thewave]

They simply don’t have the personnel to play the short pass game you describe. Particularly on the D, more specifically the rh D Boston exploited the plodding low skill RH D of the leafs by making them handle the puck, they can’t even rim the puck out much less make a skilled smart short pass.

Sure we do and did, we used it at times. We tried different things all the time. There was no point in watching them take the play to us and not pressuring Boston in our end. They always had a man open for a shot and at the wall. Even without pressure we couldn't clear the puck because they read our plays and were likely laughing about it.

 

[leafs in five]

Herein lies the problem with your statement. It’s just excuses and justifying something that doesn’t deserve it. By trying to be glass half full defending it with the attitude of “well we almost won the game so the system can’t be that bad” it’ll never effect change.

The fact of the matter is the system that “almost” won the leafs a series....twice.....has in fact still never gotten the leafs out of the first round of playoffs (when they actually make the playoffs).

Sorry but you’re not going to ever convince me that Babcock is the correct coach for the leafs at this point. He’s an old school coach on a young team and it may provide moderate success but hate about it.

I don't think I'm trying to convince anyone on Babcock. there are lots of posts in this thread.

 

[luvdahattymatty]

I hate the Bruins. Always have and always will. it just pisses me off we lost to them.

 

[leafs in five]

I hate the Bruins. Always have and always will. it just pisses me off we lost to them.

yeah same and the fact that it was Marchand icing it after the glorious site of him getting bodied by Kapanen leading to the 4th goal, it just feels to cruel. On my bike ride to work this morning I yelled f*** probably a dozen times to no one in particular.

 

[Revolt]

Don’t feel any better this morning. Sigh.

 

[I Believe]

We were the underdogs going in, but it still sucks to lose in a collapsing fashion.

I'll say this though, we 'll be right back in the playoffs next year.

 

[ToneDog]

The Leafs giveth and the Leafs take it away. Pretty much everybody gets an F for last night's collapse. The Shanaclan now needs to roll up it's sleeves and fill the holes left by our UFAs and upgrade the D.

 

[member 147413]

The better team won.

Our defense was just too weak and a few of our guys were no shows.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

unlike the leafs

Pens, Jets, Preds, Bolts

all play better team defense

boston is overrated and is a one line team; that is not going to get them far in the playoffs. if leafs had defense this series would have been over in maximum 6 games with leafs advancing to the 2nd round or hell if babcock's ego wasn't so huge and if he had iced the line up minus komarov to have 4 scoring lines even that would have helped in the first 2 games

Agreed. All of it. Especially the babs/Komorov part.

 

[ShaneFalco]

The Leafs giveth and the Leafs take it away. Pretty much everybody gets an F for last night's collapse. The Shanaclan now needs to roll up it's sleeves and fill the holes left by our UFAs and upgrade the D.

Yup. And I really hope everyone noticed how JVR played. MIA

And apparently there'a a GoFundMe account set up to buy out Gardiner's contract lol