Pre-Game Talk: Boston @ Toronto - Saturday Jan 12

[Bomber0104]

the smurf habs back in the day skated circles around the bruins d-men and beat them with speed and skill.

that said, that habs team had compete in their smaller players even; look at gallagher he is like what? 5'7? look at his compete level.

if our skilled guys show compete and speed boston is toast; if our skilled guys only rely on skill boston is gonna run away with the game.

i call out babcock on many things but i cannot dispute when babs says "if you put skill before your work; you won't have much success"

Agreed entirely.

That's what our team is. No point in pretending we can out hit / intimidate the Bruins...

But making a guy play scared is fun..

We have anyone capable of scaring the Bruins?

 

[Bluelines]

i call out babcock on many things but i cannot dispute when babs says "if you put skill before your work; you won't have much success"

It really comes down to if our stars don't mind losing a tooth or coming out of a Boston series with a few bruises and scars.

TBL won that series fairly easily, makes you wonder if the skill gap between us an them is that big or if they just have a better system.

 

[Bluelines]

Agreed entirely.

That's what our team is. No point in pretending we can out hit / intimidate the Bruins...



We have anyone capable of scaring the Bruins?

Where's Polak?

 

[PromisedLand]

It really comes down to if our stars don't mind losing a tooth or coming out of a Boston series with a few bruises and scars.

TBL won that series fairly easily, makes you wonder if the skill gap between us an them is that big or if they just have a better system.

tampa didn't employ a stretch pass system i.e. there were no jake gardiner gaffe plays by tampa in the playoffs

also if i recall correctly marchand-bergeron-pasta and xxx -stamokos-kucherov line (forget who played LW) played each other to a stalemate basically none of the two lines scored much;

but tampa won on depth scoring.

also, its not like tampa got physically invovled a lot with the bruins (not that bruins didn't try it); tampa was just always first to the puck; won most of the 50-50 battles basically :

bolts matched bruins compete level; and because bolts were more skilled they beat bruins quite easily.

if leafs matched bruins' compete level; leafs skill will take over and win the game for them

the way I see it is like this:

Boston: Compete Level + Skill Level > Leafs: Compete Level + Skill Level

obviously boston isn't much skilled; leafs have much more skill than boston but boston's compete level is ALOT better; boston wins most of the battles and usually has the puck quite often in dangerous parts of the ice.

If Leafs upped their compete level Boston is toast; if Leafs stay status-quo against boston and rely on skill alont they are toast

 

[JT AM da real deal]

IMO Leafs had the control in Game 7; they had a lead going into 3rd period

babcock had all his centers on the bench for a 4 on 4 play; sent out marleau-marner

Freddy gave up a soft goal on a un-screened shot by krug; and then....

Jake Gardiner's stupidity took over Game 7. He kept on making stretch pass after stretch pass; I don't understand till this day why did Gardiner kept making the same plays when they were failing....

Honestly you know the exact answer to your question. and everyone knows the exact answer to that question. No toolbox. I don't care how many tools you have with no toolbox with pressure comes big problems.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

tampa didn't employ a stretch pass system i.e. there were no jake gardiner gaffe plays by tampa in the playoffs

also if i recall correctly marchand-bergeron-pasta and xxx -stamokos-kucherov line (forget who played LW) played each other to a stalemate basically none of the two lines scored much;

but tampa won on depth scoring.

also, its not like tampa got physically invovled a lot with the bruins (not that bruins didn't try it); tampa was just always first to the puck; won most of the 50-50 battles basically :

bolts matched bruins compete level; and because bolts were more skilled they beat bruins quite easily.

if leafs matched bruins' compete level; leafs skill will take over and win the game for them

the way I see it is like this:

Boston: Compete Level + Skill Level > Leafs: Compete Level + Skill Level

obviously boston isn't much skilled; leafs have much more skill than boston but boston's compete level is ALOT better; boston wins most of the battles and usually has the puck quite often in dangerous parts of the ice.

If Leafs upped their compete level Boston is toast; if Leafs stay status-quo against boston and rely on skill alont they are toast

Tampa has a big strong and fast defense. So they can withstand the Bruins forecheck. Tampa's wingers come back to play the boards to help get puck out. It is very simple. There are no secrets here. Tampa has the personnel and system.

 

[Marshy]

Tampa has a big strong and fast defense. So they can withstand the Bruins forecheck. Tampa's wingers come back to play the boards to help get puck out. It is very simple. There are no secrets here. Tampa has the personnel and system.

I want a system too damnit. Where do we get one of those?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I want a system too damnit. Where do we get one of those?

If I was Rielly I change my approach just a little and play Marchand's game. Sometime in 1st period when Rielly gets back to puck a little quicker and he comes around net instead of trying to make a play I would wrist one as hard as I could right around Marchand's beak. I would hope it does not hit him but enough so that he hears the whistle go by his ear. And if Marchand comes to make his point i would skate right past him and say heh man I didn't see you there bud. He will get the message quick. I would also dress Clune or Clarkie for Lindholm. The 4th line won't play much in this game either way. But if bruins decide to rumble and they might then we can't have Kadri doing the fighting he just can't do it. At least we don't see our guys start to turtle.

 

[Dough72]

When Hyman's work led to that goal last night I was thinking about the kind of player Nylander would be if he had half the work ethic that Hyman does, but I digress ...

he'd be a better player but still wouldn't be as good as Hyman in the corners or at puck battles. Kapanen and johnsson and brown show plenty of effort and Nylander does too for numerous shifts each game. They still aren't as effective at it as Hyman .

 

[BTP]

we'll be up 6 on them after tmrw night. with a game in hand.

 

[Albus Dumbledore]

well going by this season they beat our ass then we beat theirs then they beat ours again so naturally its our turn to to the ass whooping.

6-3 win incoming.

 

[Brownbeard]

I just hope nobody will get hurt, with Wagner, Backes and Marchand going out to injure every shift.

 

[PromisedLand]

I just hope nobody will get hurt, with Wagner, Backes and Marchand going out to injure every shift.

I am hoping for a Hyman open ice hit on princess macavoy

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

Agreed entirely.

That's what our team is. No point in pretending we can out hit / intimidate the Bruins...

Yeah. I'm with the crowd that says we've got to play our game, not try to play their game.

They're tougher than us. They really are.

But we're more skilled than them. Way more.

So... like the Smurfs (but with some self pride!) we need to get the job done our way.

We also need to match them in effort. They don't just play tough they play full out for 60 minutes.

 

[AllHeartNoSkill]

So... like the Smurfs (but with some self pride!) we need to get the job done our way.

The difference here is the Habs draw the easiest penalties and it takes an aggravated assault for the Leafs to go on the PP.

 

[Nooodles]

I'll be just happy if they dont destroy us. Babcock clearly doesnt know how to play Boston. Let's hope our offense saves us somehow.

 

[Drytoast]

It’s not just Pastrnak tho, it’s that whole line. We’ve never been able to completely shut them down

Well someone once said that bergeron is a pretty good hockey player

 

[Joedoggy]

Agreed entirely.

That's what our team is. No point in pretending we can out hit / intimidate the Bruins...



We have anyone capable of scaring the Bruins?

Leafs had this guy.....BTW this works ..

 

[DarkKnight]

I'll be just happy if they dont destroy us. Babcock clearly doesnt know how to play Boston. Let's hope our offense saves us somehow.

Wow.

 

[Nooodles]

Wow.

Our defense and goaltender won't, that I'm pretty sure of. Let's discuss if you don't agree.

 

[Bomber0104]

Leafs had this guy.....BTW this works ..

Believe me , I wish he was still here too.

 

[v4karuna]

A must win game for the leafs, we can't risk Boston catchup in points and they end up getting home ice advantage.

We are very likely playing the Bruins in round one, and I think the team with home ice advantage wins!

 

[Brobust]

I don't know why people are so afraid of the Bruins.

Kadri was suspended. Matthews and Nylander went cold (they weren't shutdown, their underlying numbers were almost identical to their regular season numbers). The leafs still carried a lead into the third period of game 7.

They also swept the regular season series against the Bruins in 16-17 and have had a winning record against them since Matthews joined the leafs.

 

[FlareKnight]

I don't know why people are so afraid of the Bruins.

Kadri was suspended. Matthews and Nylander went cold (they weren't shutdown, their underlying numbers were almost identical to their regular season numbers). The leafs still carried a lead into the third period of game 7.

They also swept the regular season series against the Bruins in 16-17 and have had a winning record against them since Matthews joined the leafs.

Because we still lost. Trying to talk up our defeat last season is pointless. Kadri got suspended in that series. We had him at the start, he did something dumb, and then we had him to end the series. We had to claw back to even get to Game 7. Three of the 7 games we were just blown out while all of our three wins were by only one or two goals. And no I don't think our star players being utterly shut down when the games mattered the most is a positive we can take from it.

People are worried about the Bruins because the Leafs are afraid of the Bruins. Not as if they've been great against them this season either. We've won a solid game and been blown out twice. It shouldn't be some sort of mental puzzle. If you aren't worried about Boston that's fine. But pretending you don't get why people are is just silly.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

I don't know why people are so afraid of the Bruins.

Kadri was suspended. Matthews and Nylander went cold (they weren't shutdown, their underlying numbers were almost identical to their regular season numbers). The leafs still carried a lead into the third period of game 7.

They also swept the regular season series against the Bruins in 16-17 and have had a winning record against them since Matthews joined the leafs.

What FlareKnight said...

Bruins have a system very well tailored to their strengths which is super skilled Talented top line and 3 heavier shutdown lines with heavy checking and their goal is to Hem you in, until youre tired and put on the Pasta/Berg/March to take advantage.

We have more talent, but we are stilles figuring out which system and style of play suits us best.

We beat 75% of the league with our speed breakouts - but we still havent figured out 100% what to do with defensive minded heavier teams.

Bruins are one of them