Post-Game Talk: The Maple Andersens beat the Flames. 2-1 (SO)

[Drytoast]

Regardless of how many shots they allowed what impressed me was the strength of the back check.

Their were at least a half a dozen strong slot opportunities foiled by the Leafs because they were back checking and thus taking the man that was suppose to get the puck in the slot...causing the puck to sail past harmlessly. It was pretty god damn nice to see for a change.

A great example of this stuff was (I think) Zaitsev lifting that stick at the last second to stop a one timer down low on Andy that would have likely ended in a goal.

 

[MJ65]

Nylander stuck for most of the game on the fourth line despite being our by far best skater. Brown getting every chance with Matthews despite not doing anything right. Moving Nylander up to Matthews and then replacing him with Brown again after Flames got a counter-rush after we had one. That happens, and has nothing to do with Nylander. Marner having a liability game, yet gets thrown out there all the time and in the OT. Nylander being our best OT player and our best player of the night, yet gets almost completely benched in OT. Hyman out there instead, though to his credit he did very well. Komarov finally getting sent to the fourth, Nylander replacing him and immediately that line has their two best shifts, setting up a near-goal, at which point Komarov went back again. Stuck with matchups that seemed to favor Calgary almost religiously. I just don't see the logic here, not from a game management, tactical, or teaching perspective. If I'm Nylander, I wonder what the heck the coach want from me.

Nailed it
- I am not sure why Nylander is stuck on 4th line and Brown has played quiet a few games on Matthews line but it's not working out
- Not sure why Hyman is on ice when it's a 3 on 3 situation or any other offensive situation when the game is online
- Why Bozak is use in 3 on 3 situation when he is the worst at defensive end and hasn't done any thing offensively
- OT hockey is all about skill and speed, it's like do or die and in that situation you need your skilled players on ice and Matthews / Nylander should be used as often as possible
- Marner is stuck with line mates who are unable to match his speed and are often not ready to receive any of his passes to create any offensive chances (I mean we can all see Marner is creating offense but without the support of line mates you can't do much)