Post-Game Talk: Buds shine in the sunshine state!

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Fogelhund

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Sep 15, 2007
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I’m happy they won these two games, but they gave up the 3rd goal to Tampa, making it a lot closer at the end and they barely held on and they were about as close as you can get to being down 4-1 to start this game.

this team is not showing me anything has changed in these last 2 games. Florida is legitimately more terrible than this team is, which probably gets the Leafs into the playoffs, but getting to the playoffs is no longer the goal this team is shooting for. This team needs to be making strides towards a stanley cup finals appearance. No one should be happy with anything less than that. Not the players, not the front office and certainly not the fans.

There is still a lot wrong with this team and it’s been there all season.

Baby steps are not going to get them there. The win in Pittsburgh is how this team can play. Anything less than that effort and execution is them not playing up to their potential, and it’s still about Will.

You can’t expect to score 4-6 goals per game in order to win.

What's changed is the mental toughness and compete level. That's the most important change.

.. I mean, we have to understand that 75% of the Top 4 D is out too....
 

Gallagbi

Formerly Eazy_B97
Jul 5, 2005
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Just to throw some more fuel on this truth fire:

Toronto xGA - 14th
Toronto xGA - 4th


That's with injuries, multiple players having slump years, and some questionable roster decisions by the GM.

With those metrics, you would expect the team to be about 7th or so in the standings.

I still haven't regained confidence in Dubas yet, that Carolina game was scarring, but I do think the main board opinion of the team's demise and complete lack of defence goes overboard! Bad goaltending sunk us, we legit had the worst tandem in the league for 3/4s of the season.
Assuming the bottom is supposed to be xGF?
 
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Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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Assuming the bottom is supposed to be xGF?

Yep, and 14th is actually 18th when I use xGA/60. Updated original post.

Point still stands, though. We're a middle of the pack team defensively, even with some huge injuries to our shallow d corps. Not nearly as bad as some say.
 

JT AM da real deal

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Oct 4, 2018
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Dont buy into the whole Zamboni driver thing. Its a nice story for him and all but it had far less to do with him than the Hurricanes playing a great period to keep him safe. Its why they dont show any of his "great saves" in highlight packages and whatnot.

If it makes other teams fanbases underestimate us or low information fans/casuals lose their minds, who cares really. The team followed up with the Florida sweep beating the best team in hockey at home for the first time since mid Dec. and avenging the losses against the Panthers.

The Hurricanes were going to win that game no matter what happened as the Leafs just didnt have it that night. Whats the hardest shot he faced in the third? Hyman hitting him in the crest?
You are right. We have to play a different style against the hard neutral zone trap with BIG teams.
 
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Zybalto

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Dec 28, 2012
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Yep, and 14th is actually 18th when I use xGA/60. Updated original post.

Point still stands, though. We're a middle of the pack team defensively, even with some huge injuries to our shallow d corps. Not nearly as bad as some say.

...and when you start at Nov.20th so its all data under Keefe, the Leafs end up at 9th best xGA/60 (all situations).....yup, the Leafs have a top 10 best xGA in the NHL so far under Keefe. Feels strange to use those words together doesnt it?
 

crump

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Dont buy into the whole Zamboni driver thing. Its a nice story for him and all but it had far less to do with him than the Hurricanes playing a great period to keep him safe. Its why they dont show any of his "great saves" in highlight packages and whatnot.

If it makes other teams fanbases underestimate us or low information fans/casuals lose their minds, who cares really. The team followed up with the Florida sweep beating the best team in hockey at home for the first time since mid Dec. and avenging the losses against the Panthers.

The Hurricanes were going to win that game no matter what happened as the Leafs just didnt have it that night. Whats the hardest shot he faced in the third? Hyman hitting him in the crest?
I was more concerned over the lack of ability to break through a lock down or trap defense. Trying to get into the playoffs, that effort/coaching doesn't bode well. These last 2 wins are awesome, but that game will always raise a flag for me when playing a good defensive team. Hurricanes outplayed us from the opening face-off, what kills me is we did well against the Penguins, another good defensive team 2 days earlier.

Anyway, I am not going to harp on it too much. Its pretty positive right now, the team is rallying around a young D corp, I just hope that game was a watershed moment.
 

Duffman955

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Mar 4, 2010
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Yep, and 14th is actually 18th when I use xGA/60. Updated original post.

Point still stands, though. We're a middle of the pack team defensively, even with some huge injuries to our shallow d corps. Not nearly as bad as some say.

18th is awful. That's the worst or close to the worst for any playoff team

We aren't going to be facing the Detroit's of the league of we want a cup.

Why are so many people happy with mediocrity?

Even with a healthy lineup, our GA/60 wasn't good
 

Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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18th is awful. That's the worst or close to the worst for any playoff team

We aren't going to be facing the Detroit's of the league of we want a cup.

Why are so many people happy with mediocrity?

Even with a healthy lineup, our GA/60 wasn't good

Oh I am not happy with it. What I am comparing it to is the idea that we are the worst or among the worst in the league.

The context is when people look at team Goals Against and see us in the bottom 3, they assume we are bottom 3 defensively. In reality, we are mediocre defensively, but with very bad goaltending.



EDIT: in the last month, we are 13th overall :D
 
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Trapper

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Nov 21, 2013
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Andersen let in 2 bad ones, but I have to admit, he did make some nice saves too.

Florida has 10 HDCF (all situations) and an expected goals of 1.73 - so this tells me he let him 1 bad one, but 2 GA is reasonable.

Leafs had expected goals of 3.4.
Could be worse. Florida is paying Bobrovsky 10 mil and he didn’t look great now or all year.
Just make sure we don’t do that.
 

LeafSteel

GO LEAFS GO!!!
Mar 5, 2014
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I cannot believe that Spezza is one of my favourite Leafs, after years of hating him in Ottawa.

He is impressing the hell out of me not only with his IQ but his veteran presence and pushback, standing up for Freddy’s when he got jabbed at after the whistle.

Great attitude, leadership, still an play and score, some guts, at league minimum? He definitely has added value this season, and has had greater value/impact than Marleau.

When this teams will matches its skill, they can be anyone, and it is what is most infuriating about them.

They have gaps on defence, the goaltending needs to be more consistent, and they’ve had a lot of injuries. A lot of that you cannot control. Attitude and effort is something that they can control and it’s unacceptable that they don’t show up for every game prepared to work.

Ultimately it will be something that decides if they get into the playoffs, and if they have any success.

Hopefully the will part is part of the maturing process, while Dubas addresses the roster gaps to make us a more complete team.

We aren’t there yet, but hopefully we can learn now how badly things go when we don’t show up.
 

Once

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Jul 16, 2010
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Feels good to be up 4 points today! This team is starting to show more character. You’re starting to see hints of where they will be in 2-3 years time. A lot of the younger guys are coming into their own.

I still want more from Marner. I realize he will never live up to that bloated contact, but he seems a bit off. That little move on the Matthews goal was nice, but I was more impressed with Matthews forecheck. Mopped Wagner no problem.
 

Leafsfan74

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Jul 2, 2018
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That second period is how they will need to play as a team with or without injuries if they want to be consistently on top. A focus on team D, get the puck in deep when there is nothing there so that even if the opposition wins the battle for retrieval they have a long way to go to get to the Leafs net.

Showing other teams different looks makes it difficult for them to splan. In the ebb and flow of the game, the Leafs carried it after the first 20. If they could only start the game this way as they did against the second Pittsburgh game last week, the sky is the limit.
 
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Randy Randerson

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18th is awful. That's the worst or close to the worst for any playoff team

We aren't going to be facing the Detroit's of the league of we want a cup.

Why are so many people happy with mediocrity?

Even with a healthy lineup, our GA/60 wasn't good
fwiw, the bottom 10-12 teams are not exclusively non-playoff teams by xGA or xGA/60 - there are a few playoff teams lower than us and a few more bubble teams, and we are right in line with a few playoff teams that are thought of as defensively sound like the Isles. The top team in the league in this regard is a non-playoff team - MIN.

There are other contending teams that profile similarly to us by xGF/xGA, namely Washington who we are beating in both. By xGF%, the net result of these two categories, we're sandwiched by Boston and Nashville, with Col, Cgy, Wsh, Phi, StL as the next 5 teams below that
 
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Merrrlin

Grab the 9 iron, Barry!
Jul 2, 2019
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That second period is how they will need to play as a team with or without injuries if they want to be consistently on top. A focus on team D, get the puck in deep when there is nothing there so that even if the opposition wins the battle for retrieval they have a long way to go to get to the Leafs net.

Showing other teams different looks makes it difficult for them to splan. In the ebb and flow of the game, the Leafs carried it after the first 20. If they could only start the game this way as they did against the second Pittsburgh game last week, the sky is the limit.

Agreed. There were a few times in the 3rd where someone (I remember Marner, Nylander and Engvall specifically) curled back and then caused problems in our own end.

I don't mind the possession game but they still haven't found that perfect balance of using it when they can and chipping it out or dumping it when they need to.
 
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Trapper

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Let's be honest both goalies gave up a house leaguer goal in that game. But it did not matter. Freddy was 1 save better. And that is all that truly matters.
Goaltending is such a strange position to spend a ton of money on. Even goalies like Bob and Price (or others) have their few years of dominance but level out. And then you can’t afford a decent backup in slump/injury times.

The tandem is really looking like the way to move forward.
 

Strangle

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May 4, 2009
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What's changed is the mental toughness and compete level. That's the most important change.

.. I mean, we have to understand that 75% of the Top 4 D is out too....

Going to need a much bigger sample size for me to actually believe they’ve become mentally tough in like, a week
 

Nooodles

Registered User
May 7, 2010
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This is one of the worst takes I've seen on this site all season. Congratulations.

You are a very detailed poster but it looks like you don't pay attention recently, though I think it is actually good for your health.

Posts like this are almost everywhere now and their numbers are growing rapidly.
Feels like we are back in the Harold Ballard era or something like that.
 

NinjaKick

life as a leafs fan
Dec 5, 2018
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I watched the game with my best buddy. It was a crucial game and we were both happy with the way the boys played. Freddy didn't have the best game but guess what? he got the W. Lets not throw him under the bus.
This is the momentum we needed. Go Leafs!
 
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