GDT: 1/17/19 - 7:30PM EDT - Toronto vs Tampa Bay

Brownbeard

Registered User
Oct 6, 2017
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Honestly? The players that impressed me were Kapanen and Tavares. I thought Marner wasn't super effective. Matthews was largely invisible. Nylander couldn't hit the net if there was 6.9 million dollars sitting in it.

If the Leafs trade Kapanen they're ****ing stupid, because that kid's a gamer. He's the guy you can take into the playoffs and win with. He's the anti-Nylander. But their second line and third lines (or 1st and 3rd, don't know how they distribute ice time) were pretty good.

Sad but true
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
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Yeah this is a night where we needed a greasy goal and couldn't get one. It was tough to beat Andersen clean. Rebounds and redirects were the ticket (and he was popping some rebounds out).

It was one of those nights. When we had him, the puck went off the shaft of his stick or the post. And we didn't have him much. He played a great game, IMO. Both teams are good. I really liked our physicality, and I think that would be tough for them to handle in a playoff series.

Oh and agreed on an earlier post about Kapanen. We didn't seem ready for him, even if we were ready for Marner/Matthews/Tavares.
 

TheDaysOf 04

[ 2 6 ] [ 4 ]
Jun 23, 2007
52,501
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I liked the job Cernak did on Matthews all night. Cernak had a great game, IMO.

Credit to the Leafs. They won. But I think there was a lot to like about our individual performances, particularly Hedman, but also Cernak and Stamkos. If this version of Stammer shows up in the playoffs, we're gonna be a handful.
I agree on Cernak. Love watching him get better and better, but what I equally like is his chemistry with McDonagh. Hedman may be our top Dman, but McD and Cernak are our best pair.
 

The Macho King

Back* to Back** World Champion
Jun 22, 2011
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I agree on Cernak. Love watching him get better and better, but what I equally like is his chemistry with McDonagh. Hedman may be our top Dman, but McD and Cernak are our best pair.
Hedman had himself a good game too. And I thought Sergachev was pretty decent (I still blame the forward more on that first goal because he was pretty much left in a 2 on 1 situation).

There aren't really any players you can point to and say didn't play well. It was a solid effort. How many shots hit the shaft of Andersen's stick? They got some good bounces (especially on the Marner goal), and we didn't. Plays out that way sometimes.
 

God King Fudge

Championship Swag
Oct 13, 2017
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TBH, that's a wildcard team without Andersen.

They have high level offense, but their D is pretty sub par. They get saved by their goalie and it happened tonight.

TB seems to have hit a minor scoring drought as of late.

Oh well. On to the next one.
 

LeafSteel

GO LEAFS GO!!!
Mar 5, 2014
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Toronto
Good game guys.

Andersen closed it out but you guys were out-hustling us the entire 3rd period and your PP is lethal.

So much to like about your team. Skilled, balanced, physical, hard on the puck, stacked on defence, and a dynamite goalie.
 
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Peiskos

Registered User
Jan 4, 2018
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TBH, that's a wildcard team without Andersen.

They have high level offense, but their D is pretty sub par. They get saved by their goalie and it happened tonight.

TB seems to have hit a minor scoring drought as of late.

Oh well. On to the next one.

Shots were 31-38, lets not act like Andersen put on a display for the generations here, standard goalie display tonight. Tampa got saved by their goalie when you beat us 4-1 while getting brutally outshot 50-19. Goalies are apart of the team.

Also Tampa has allowed more goals against AND shots against so far than TO.

TBL : 137 GA, 1,547 SA.
TOR : 130 GA and 1,494 SA.

So the raw numbers don't really paint the picture you're trying to produce here. Not trying to provoke you or anything just think these numbers do have meaning.
 

God King Fudge

Championship Swag
Oct 13, 2017
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Of course goalies are a part of the team, but those numbers don't mean much to me. Some teams just allow a lot of shots, but they're outside chances or low quality shots. Saying Tampa had allowed more doesn't in any way reflect the quality of the defense.

Also Tampa has allowed 7 more goals while playing career backup Louie Domingue for 20 games. I don't think Toronto would go 16-4 in front of Sparks. Or Domingue for that matter.

Be proud of your team. They're good and they're exciting. They are absolutely IMO a wildcard team without Andersen. Tampa likely still wins the division in front of Domingue.

That's not a bad thing to have a goalie that's taking you to the next level, but if he goes down or has a rough patch in the playoffs. Yikes.
 

The Macho King

Back* to Back** World Champion
Jun 22, 2011
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Shots were 31-38, lets not act like Andersen put on a display for the generations here, standard goalie display tonight. Tampa got saved by their goalie when you beat us 4-1 while getting brutally outshot 50-19. Goalies are apart of the team.

Also Tampa has allowed more goals against AND shots against so far than TO.

TBL : 137 GA, 1,547 SA.
TOR : 130 GA and 1,494 SA.

So the raw numbers don't really paint the picture you're trying to produce here. Not trying to provoke you or anything just think these numbers do have meaning.
Don't you have a parade to plan?
 

Peiskos

Registered User
Jan 4, 2018
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Of course goalies are a part of the team, but those numbers don't mean much to me. Some teams just allow a lot of shots, but they're outside chances or low quality shots. Saying Tampa had allowed more doesn't in any way reflect the quality of the defense.

Also Tampa has allowed 7 more goals while playing career backup Louie Domingue for 20 games. I don't think Toronto would go 16-4 in front of Sparks. Or Domingue for that matter.

Be proud of your team. They're good and they're exciting. They are absolutely IMO a wildcard team without Andersen. Tampa likely still wins the division in front of Domingue.

That's not a bad thing to have a goalie that's taking you to the next level, but if he goes down or has a rough patch in the playoffs. Yikes.

Well certainly an opinion you are entitled to hold, but Sparks is 6-2-1 this season and he has essentially identical stats to Domingue.

Sparks, 3.01 GAA, .905 SV%

Domingue, 2.99 GAA, .905 SV%
 

The Macho King

Back* to Back** World Champion
Jun 22, 2011
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Well certainly an opinion you are entitled to hold, but Sparks is 6-2-1 this season and he has essentially identical stats to Domingue.

Sparks, 3.01 GAA, .905 SV%

Domingue, 2.99 GAA, .905 SV%
So Sparks has played 9 games.

...

Dom has played like 20. Plus one from Pasquale.
 

Peiskos

Registered User
Jan 4, 2018
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So Sparks has played 9 games.

...

Dom has played like 20. Plus one from Pasquale.

True but you said you don't think the Leafs could go 16-4 in front of Sparks..maybe not but at 6-2-0 it clearly shows the Leafs can and have won with a backup, maybe 16-9 ish range is certainly possible. Leafs aren't a team that relies 100% on its goalie, that is a false narrative.
 

TeslaCoilFan

Slightly Elite Fan
Mar 17, 2017
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Well, that's the last time I take my brother to a game, freebie good seats or not. Lost the last time and this time. :whatever:

Leafs fan chants were annoying, but I kept reminding myself of how many STMs they are supporting. :thumbu:

Not that happy with Sergachev's defensive play tonight. Yes, the forward should have been helping defend on that first goal, but Sergy looked out of position on that one and the other GA (although you do have a point about where the hell was Palat on that one). Plus he still doesn't seem to like to go after the puck in the corners or battle along the boards as much as he should.

Strålman was the only one covering his defensive duties properly during two GA, yet he gets stuck with a -2 night (along with Sergy). He had a great block to break up a 2 on 1 and managed to keep up enough to force both Marner and Matthews to the outside on a couple of different occasions. Did look like he was getting tired on his last few shifts though.

Cernak is getting more solid and confident each game. Heck, he was looking better than Mac out there at times despite s rookie mistake! I love how willing he is to battle along the boards and play very physical. I just SO want him to get that first NHL goal!! He is so deserving! :heart:

Is it just me, or does Mac's skating look a bit...off lately? :puppy:

And lastly...Girardi is still slow. :P
 

Bolt 45

Registered User
Oct 19, 2015
1,598
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Meh. What are you gonna do? We played well. Andersen had a solid game, but we didn't exactly make it hard for him. There was plenty of open net to shoot at, we were just missing it on our better chances. That's how it goes.

I'm not in fire Cooper mode, but unlike some I thought this was partially a coaching loss. Babcock straight-up dissected our tendencies (gig's probably up on the drop-pass zone entries) and he did a really good job of playing his team's strengths versus our weaknesses. Hats off to him for that, but I'd imagine another game on Saturday would look pretty different. Presumably we wouldn't get caught on the counter so often, and we be a little better about shutting down/ picking off their stretch passes. Furthermore, our lineup was a head-scratcher, and that's on Coop. I love Cally, but he had no business being out there tonight.

Vasy was pretty good, but Andersen was a smidge better. Fortunately for us that probably isn't going to happen four nights out of seven. If we'd gotten one more past Andersen I think the flood gates would have opened. My take on him has always been that he's very good right up until he isn't. Three's the magic number, we just couldn't pry him open tonight.
 

FinnLightning26

Death and no taxes
Sep 16, 2007
7,165
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Eh, it was a fun game that could've turned either way. Leafs had a couple of lucky ones and we couldn't buy a goal in the third period. They we're unlucky last time so maybe it balances out with this one.
 
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