Post-Game Talk: 2022 NHL Playoffs - Round 1: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs | 4-3 WIN

[DFC]

I'm pretty sure these are the two best teams in the East.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Toronto media is SHOOKETH

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Toronto media is SHOOKETH

Don't be scared to point out the especially good ones

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

I'll start (just the really cringy part that I time-linked):

 

[Lightning1995]

I would run Point Kuch Palat tomorrow and put Stammer with Cirelli. Atleast either Point or Cirelli would be on the ice most of the time to check Mathews. Also the Lightning are just not getting much from Kuch or Stammer 5v5 this series. Split em up

 

[Point21]

Looking back, what would have been better? Signing Evander Kane and move Raddysh/Katchouk for younger prospects or do the Hagel trade still

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Looking back, what would have been better? Signing Evander Kane and move Raddysh/Katchouk for younger prospects or do the Hagel trade still

I don't know if the Hagel deal was a good one. Time will tell, but I'm glad we stayed away from Kane. Him being a good hockey player was never the question. Everything else was. San Jose, Winnipeg, and Buffalo were more than happy to get rid of him.

On the other hand you have Chicago head coach Derek King saying about Hagel:

“He better not be (traded). Hags has got to stay here. You can’t. I mean, that’s me. You’ve got do what’s right for the organization and what’s right for the team, but Hagel is a big part of this organization.”

“He’s a big part of this team, so we have to hold onto this kid.”

and then when he was traded

“We talked about it a few weeks ago, that (Hagel is) a big part of this organization and the type of character that we want and the type of player we want, so I was very shocked ... when they called me upstairs to talk to me. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s me getting traded or something.’ But when they said his name, I was shocked, I was very shocked.”

"...players I think are emotional about it, shocked. You’re never ready, especially a player like that you don’t want to lose."

and Seth Jones:

"Hags was an identity piece for us, I thought. He definitely had a hardworking mentality and did a lot of great things for us. Sucks to see him go."

and Jonathan Toews:

“I had a hard time thinking in my mind that he would be one of the guys to get shipped off, considering what he brought in. Yeah, that was a tough one to see. I’m pretty shocked, for sure.”

"Of course, you invest a ton of energy and emotion, and care with your teammates, because you’re all working toward that common goal. Now, all of a sudden, you realize no one on our team is safe, and we could all be going in different directions shortly. It’s pretty discouraging. I’ll leave it at that for now.”

 

[These Are The Days]

Looking back, what would have been better? Signing Evander Kane and move Raddysh/Katchouk for younger prospects or do the Hagel trade still

Kane is a trainwreck. JFBB probably did his homework and said NOPE!

BTW good omen. I have work tomorrow. Everyone get your traditions in

 

[Pierre Larouche]

Jan Rutta would be an improvement over Bogo.

I’m really missing Rutta- is he still recovering from the fight w/Reilly?

 

[Ducati Boy]

I see on the main boards (also known as ‘the Leafs board’) that the Toronto faithful have already prepared to blame their loss on the refs, the league, Bettman, and capitalism.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[Stammertime91]

John Tavares is such an awful captain. Dude did nothing except for 1.5 games. I would jettison him and Nylander tomorrow.

 

[These Are The Days]

Wrap your heads around the quality of opponent we just beat. Holy f*** boys

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Leafs lol!

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[DFC]

Kind of scary, because if the Leafs copy that, they will be unstoppable.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Kind of scary, because if the Leafs copy that, they will be unstoppable.

Well the only person on our team that doesn't block shots is Kuch. Everyone else will get down in front of the puck. I don't see Matthews, Marner, or Nylander ever getting down in front of a shot.

 

[aessi]

I knew the Toronto fans were pathetic but now even The Athletic complaining about refs. How can you complain about that interference call? Maple Leafs report cards: Another season ends in heartbreak with Game 7 loss and even Dom "I'm not biased" "call the rulebook"

 

[Peacefool]

What I liked in this series, that it was pure hockey. Skill met skill, speed, grinding,play off performance and intensity , fights..and all of this WITHOUT unnecessary nastiness, without injurymaking cross checks, without targeting star players,only true FAIR hockey between to great teams.
I will miss this at 2nd round)

 

[Stammertime91]

What I liked in this series, that it was pure hockey. Skill met skill, speed, grinding,play off performance and intensity , fights..and all of this WITHOUT unnecessary nastiness, without injurymaking cross checks, without targeting star players,only true FAIR hockey between to great teams.
I will miss this at 2nd round)

Pouring one out for this post when Lomberg and Hornqvist run at someone's knees.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[Stammertime91]

What a relaxing Sunday.

Leafs trapped in round 1 prison again. Tampa moving on. Delightful.

 

[Peacefool]

Pouring one out for this post when Lomberg and Hornqvist run at someone's knees.

Thats wy I said I will miss fair hockey next round(

 

[definedMF]

Leafs fan here daring to come in peace. Let me start by congratulating your team and your franchise for last night. There was a reason I dreaded facing Tampa over any other team in the first round, knowing how stronger the Leafs seemed to be this year but also knowing that Tampa simply has had an incredible run and seasoned core with those intangibles needed to be champions. That was apparent more last night than in any other game.

Your team totally suffocated our offense and overall, despite my horror at the disallowed goal and questionable non-calls particularly in the last couple games, I simply cannot deny that Tampa just outplayed us last night. Beating us to pucks, neutralizing our offense by clogging the center of the ice to prevent our preferred cross crease passes which forced it to the point where your defense simply blocked it without fuss, a far more purposeful power play that terrified me whenever they had possession.

Your team knows how to distill their game to simplest and most essential plays, especially to the net while all last night our clan of jokers were passing up open lanes and opportunities in the slot hoping to just pass the puck into the net. You outplayed us when it mattered most and whatever arguably dodgy officiating our fanbase might be moaning about cannot undo that fact.

I think you all should know that I personally have had a fondness for the Lightning for many years that dates back to their 2015 run to the finals which was some of the most thrilling and enjoyable hockey I can recall of the last 15 years. I loved watching the Triplet line with an emerging Kucherov and Tyler Johnson back when he was good, I was gutted when Chicago won against a banged up Bishop. Both in 2020 and 2021 after my dear Leafs inevitably choked out of the playoffs the Lightning were the team I backed the whole way and was ecstatic in 2020 that not only you finally won but you snuffed out the totally unworthy and lucky Stars team of that year and of course witnessing you pummel Montreal and burst their Cinderella bubble was especially delicious for us Leafs fans.

I say all this as a Leafs fan in grief at another year of futility, at another year of record setting hopelessness, but finding in the midst of that the most painful aspect is not the familiar numbness of defeat but the overwhelming glee and pleasure of the rest of the hockey world, certainly the entirety of Canadian fanbases, and essentially everyone else stomping on our grave, kicking us when we're down. I've observed in this thread alone the sheer number of posts specifically pointing at and mocking the reaction of devastated Leafs fans, specifically Steve Dangle (who I think only damages the perception of the Leafs fanbase but that's for another day).

My question becomes...why such rejoice at defeating us and reveling in our humiliation? We're not the Yankees, we haven't won the most championships in history, we haven't won a cup in 55 years, we haven't won a series in now 19 years at least. We have nothing except the size of our city and therefore our market, which individual Leafs fans have no control over. When does the weight of that legacy of failure outweigh the desire to laugh at our misery I wonder? It's an honest question that I'd like an honest answer to.

I would speculate that probably it's the sheer size of our fanbase that makes certain topics of ours over represented and shrill to other fanbases. That's not something I can personally control, the larger the fanbase the larger the raw number of bad apples there will be. But ours is not mostly shallow bandwagoners, most are grizzled and damaged from our years of failure that are if not downright venomous to our own team. If it's arrogance, I can only hope my post can dispel that perception, at least among you Lightning fans.

Sorry for the massive post, I suppose I needed to get some of this off my chest to process the loss. Once again, I salute your team, and I really hope you Lightning fans do not for a second take for granted this team and this generation of players, I would give anything to taste a fraction of the pleasure your fanbase has had over the past few years, it's truly one of a kind and something to be treasured. I wish them all the best, and hope Point can recover enough to start another Conn Smythe performance, but hoped my team was there more.

 

[bigdaddio]

Can we get the guys who build these in touch with Leaf fans on social media? World energy problems solved.

Molten salt reactor - Wikipedia

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