Pre-Game Talk: CBJ @ Leafs (Monday) and Leafs @ Bruins (Tuesday)

[On-the-Fly]

0 chance of Willy at C, from her as well.

 

[Heisen]

playing all of them against divisional rivals when they are rested.

Richest organization in the league and they haven't called out this unfair scheduling that gives divisional rivals unfair advantage.

would be nice if Shanny and Dubas grew a back-bone and told the league to shove it

Maybe they did and the leagues response was, “Okay, but come CBA time, we’re not going going to hear from you about keeping LTIR loopholes in place, right? We are also considering a cap on managerial salaries”


Don’t bite the hand. There are enough advantages we have as a rich team.

 

[Hustlr]

Maybe they did and the leagues response was, “Okay, but come CBA time, we’re not going going to hear from you about keeping LTIR loopholes in place, right? We are also considering a cap on managerial salaries”


Don’t bite the hand. There are enough advantages we have as a rich team.

Our schedule isn’t that bad, it just looks that way until February and then it flips on its head.

We do come out on the bottom but at least we get our advantage down the stretch.

 

[Burnie97]

Haha... throwing some shade at the stripes.

Although probably won't help the Leafs in the long run to complain to much.

The reffing was bad last night... real bad.

 

[The Iceman]

I don't get it. Why can't he even think about it? Like I suspect he is sarcastic, but isn't it something actually worth thinking about?

LIAR LIAR his pants are on FIRE

 

[67leafs]

Is Dermott and Hyman cleared to play for Saturday as it's has been 10 games and 24 days (LTI)

Yes

 

[Twowingcantfly]

Glad I'm not the only one that noticed he needed to work on his edges..

 

[ZEBROA]

Petan-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner
Moore-Spezza-Kapanen
Timashov-Shore-

Why reward Petan?

Timashov-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner
Moore-Spezza-Kapanen
Petan-Shore-

i dont know why the goat got so big , maby its a sign. Should i change from Marner to Goat in the game prediction thread?... Naah..

How often are the lines changed from practice to game?

 

[Twowingcantfly]

I would not tweak the goal tending plan that's in place. Hutch will play the back end of back2back games. If the refs don't mess with the game like they did the last we will be fine. Our skating was much the best in last, as it will be this coming Tuesday. Saturday night did little to convince me Matthews and Marner need to play on the same line. If anything it hurt. These superstars need a lot of touches, and will not get enough if they play on the same line. Matthews and Marner will make their line mates better, while making it difficult for teams to match up against them.

 

[Kiwi]

Win one of the two, I don't care which game we win just pull out one victory over the next couple of games and i'd concider it a success

We're in a tough strech with some pretty significant injuries and every game we bank points is a little win for our playoffs push later in the season

I was proud of the boys in the last game but losing tomorrow would undo a lot of the good work we did in the last game so let's bank some points boys

 

[Nylander88]

Glad I'm not the only one that noticed he needed to work on his edges..

Might be good time off for JT. GOAT has been the better skater of the two this season (granted I realize GOAT plays half the minutes JT does)

 

[Nylander88]

Hope Babs finally stops being stubborn and plays Hutch tonight. Save Freddy for Boston.
He showed maybe the most adaptability I've seen out of him last game. Switching Marner and Nylander around based on where the draw was. Pairing Rielly-Barrie depending on situation. Hope he can keep that going. Thought last game was one of his better coached games

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Andersen is always going to start the first game of a back to back. I don't know why this is talked about ad nauseam or there is confusion about it.

Johnsson is probable to play. X-rays were negative, so it's likely a bruise.

Hes always going to start, but why? The bigger and tougher game is tuesday vs Boston. It's not confusion; its frustration. What makes the most sense is Hutch vs the Jackets, Andersen on tuesday vs Boston, Hutchinson on friday and Andersen on Saturday. Am I crazy for thinking that makes the most sense? Having your #1 against teams within your division. Those points matter. Instead, we're going to see Andersen face two non-divisional teams and our backup faces two teams in the division.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Hes always going to start, but why? The bigger and tougher game is tuesday vs Boston. It's not confusion; its frustration. What makes the most sense is Hutch vs the Jackets, Andersen on tuesday vs Boston, Hutchinson on friday and Andersen on Saturday. Am I crazy for thinking that makes the most sense? Having your #1 against teams within your division. Those points matter. Instead, we're going to see Andersen face two non-divisional teams and our backup faces two teams in the division.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Torontonian]

Hes always going to start, but why? The bigger and tougher game is tuesday vs Boston. It's not confusion; its frustration. What makes the most sense is Hutch vs the Jackets, Andersen on tuesday vs Boston, Hutchinson on friday and Andersen on Saturday. Am I crazy for thinking that makes the most sense? Having your #1 against teams within your division. Those points matter. Instead, we're going to see Andersen face two non-divisional teams and our backup faces two teams in the division.

Freddy starting the 1st game of the B2B gives us the best chance of getting those 2 points, the first game the leafs aren't as sloppy as they are in the 2nd back 2 back, and if Hutch stinks in the first game of the B2B and we lose, we now have a uphill battle trying to get any points on the 2nd b2b game because we generally suck playing back to back.

To me, its better to try to get the for sure 2 points against whomever first, and then hope we play well enough on the 2nd back to back and maybe Hutch can stop a puck.

 

[Leafsman]

No word on which goalie is starting the back-to-back?

It would be absolutely insanity to start Hutch against Boston. Anderson just had a great game against the Bruins and was one of the biggest factors in walking away with two points. Hutch has been struggling, while at the same time facing tough competition. I'd like to see what he can do against a more average team on the start of a back-to-back and see if Hutch's struggles have been magnified by the situations he's been put in.

I hope Babcock does right by Hutch and gives him a little easier task, I don't want to see Babcock claim another victim (ie: Leivo, Corrado,etc.)

 

[Leafsman]

Freddy starting the 1st game of the B2B gives us the best chance of getting those 2 points, the first game the leafs aren't as sloppy as they are in the 2nd back 2 back, and if Hutch stinks in the first game of the B2B and we lose, we now have a uphill battle trying to get any points on the 2nd b2b game because we generally suck playing back to back.

To me, its better to try to get the for sure 2 points against whomever first, and then hope we play well enough on the 2nd back to back and maybe Hutch can stop a puck.

Also gives us the best chance to not get the two points, the next day.

 

[SprDaVE]

Hes always going to start, but why? The bigger and tougher game is tuesday vs Boston. It's not confusion; its frustration. What makes the most sense is Hutch vs the Jackets, Andersen on tuesday vs Boston, Hutchinson on friday and Andersen on Saturday. Am I crazy for thinking that makes the most sense? Having your #1 against teams within your division. Those points matter. Instead, we're going to see Andersen face two non-divisional teams and our backup faces two teams in the division.

It's about the player and the odds. Andersen prefers the first game of a back to back, for obvious reasons, and the 2nd game of a back to back is much harder to win for a lot of reasons, therefore if you lower your chances to win in the first game by changing your goaltender, the 2nd game doesn't get easier by playing your top goaltender.

So you're basically just lowering the chances of winning in the first game significantly and just slightly raising the chances of winning in the 2nd, instead of just putting your chips in the first game and hope your backup goaltender can be respectable or be good in the 2nd.

It might make more sense to you doing it your way but when you look at the numbers (odds and percentages) and actually gettting feedback from your goaltender, I think it becomes a lot more understandable. This has been explained a million times.

 

[ACC1224]

Hes always going to start, but why? The bigger and tougher game is tuesday vs Boston. It's not confusion; its frustration. What makes the most sense is Hutch vs the Jackets, Andersen on tuesday vs Boston, Hutchinson on friday and Andersen on Saturday. Am I crazy for thinking that makes the most sense? Having your #1 against teams within your division. Those points matter. Instead, we're going to see Andersen face two non-divisional teams and our backup faces two teams in the division.

I can see both sides of it.
Early in the season you focus on the points in front of you and keep the Goalies, who are creatures of habit, in their rhythm.

IMO, this isn't something to worry much about.
A competent Backup and no one cares about this. That is the real issue.
I don't think anyone can confidently say tonights game is an expected win with the backup in.
I'd expect them to win with Andersen starting.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

If Tavares was out long-term, it would likely be something that is tried. But Tavares is only out a couple weeks. A major shake up isn’t really necessary.

Babcock did a great job last night of catching Boston off guard by putting Marner and Matthews together to start, then put Nylander back there, and then used Marner again in different spots. If teams don’t know if it’s Marner Matthews or Matthews Nylander coming out, it makes things tougher to match against

Somthing that 99% of having been yelling about for 3 seasons now.

Babcock has one of the most talented and deeper depth teams in the NHL.
The fact that it has taken this long to try this still makes me eagarly visit the Babcock has to go thread.

Hope this is a trend to come and not the classic one and done with Babs.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Hope Babs finally stops being stubborn and plays Hutch tonight. Save Freddy for Boston.
He showed maybe the most adaptability I've seen out of him last game. Switching Marner and Nylander around based on where the draw was. Pairing Rielly-Barrie depending on situation. Hope he can keep that going. Thought last game was one of his better coached games

It was interesting for sure.
Ever since I listened to a podcast with (think it was McCarty) talking about Babs style compared to other coaches...it kinda stuck with me.

He explained how hes a master of the prep work and pre game... making sure every facet of the opponent is covered, but isnt really a "on the bench" coach or someone who can adapt 'in game'

Nice to see him mix it up a bit... getting players different looks.

 

[dangomon]

Petan-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner
Moore-Spezza-Kapanen
Timashov-Shore-

Why reward Petan?

Timashov-Matthews-Nylander
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner
Moore-Spezza-Kapanen
Petan-Shore-

i dont know why the goat got so big , maby its a sign. Should i change from Marner to Goat in the game prediction thread?... Naah..

How often are the lines changed from practice to game?

I'd give it a zero percent chance Petan plays anywhere near the top 6. He was a placeholder in practice, hopefully they're assuming Johnsson might be able to play.

 

[ZEBROA]

I'd give it a zero percent chance Petan plays anywhere near the top 6. He was a placeholder in practice, hopefully they're assuming Johnsson might be able to play.

Thats right AJ is on the team.. i totaly forgot. Hope he is ok