Pre-Game Talk: Devils vs Leafs

[LeafChief]

Soft point in the schedule. Would be a nice time to gain some separation in the standings, particularly within the division.

Hopefully they put their foot on the gas. This last week made up for the terrible showing out west. Would be a real shame if they pissed it all away with a bad week this week.

 

[Cleetus]

Leafs better be ready the Devils look really good, that Miles of Wood is a good pro and a good hockey player! had a hatty against the hawks last night!

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

I'm going to the game! Hopefully it is a good one. Your team is super exciting Toronto!

 

[A1LeafNation]

Austin Matthews is Adam Banks (cake eater) all grown up. Make him rotate his wrist with a stick before he can play.

 

[Cleetus]

Austin Matthews is Adam Banks (cake eater) all grown up. Make him rotate his wrist with a stick before he can play.

lol I think anyone who tries to Rotate one of those old Christian sticks will hurt there wrist for good!

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Soft point in the schedule. Would be a nice time to gain some separation in the standings, particularly within the division.

I mean, theey have done that, they are 3 points up on Ottawa, 6 up on Detroit 7 up on Montreal , 8 up on Boston, 11 up on Buffalo and 12 up on Florida.

Tampa is the only team ahead and I think they can be caught where as I don't think a team like Detroit for example can catch the Leafs and there are 2 reasons for that.

1 despite the gap only being 6 points between Toronto and Detroit just like it is between Toronto and Tampa, Detroit doesn't have the depth Toronto does, they don't have a player the caliber of Patrick Marleau on the 3rd line, in fact none of the teams behind the Leafs do, but when healthy the Leafs can and have done that.

2 The Leafs are where they are in the standings despite Freddie taking a month off, but ever since the California trip he seems to be getting it back, he was great against SJ, great against the ducks, good enough to win against Vegas great against Minnesota and great against Boston if this team can continue to score AND they have good goaltending the rest of the NHL is in A LOT of trouble

 

[frog]

Lines at Leafs practice - Mark Masters, TSN
Forwards
Komarov-Kadri-Polak
Hyman-Marleau-Brown
van Riemsdyk-Gauthier-Marner
Martin-Moore-Leivo
Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Borgman-Carrick
Goaltenders
Andersen
McElhinney
Absent: Matthews, Bozak, Nylander

Auston Matthews - Skated today, remains day-to-day
William Nylander - sick
Tyler Bozak - Maintenance

Very interesting, looks like babcock is sending a message by promoting Polak to the first line. It will be interesting to see how Polak does on right wing next game, if he can go to the net and play a decent cycle game he may be able to find some chemistry with Kadri and Komarov

 

[BertCorbeau]

I mean, theey have done that, they are 3 points up on Ottawa, 6 up on Detroit 7 up on Montreal , 8 up on Boston, 11 up on Buffalo and 12 up on Florida.

Tampa is the only team ahead and I think they can be caught where as I don't think a team like Detroit for example can catch the Leafs and there are 2 reasons for that.

1 despite the gap only being 6 points between Toronto and Detroit just like it is between Toronto and Tampa, Detroit doesn't have the depth Toronto does, they don't have a player the caliber of Patrick Marleau on the 3rd line, in fact none of the teams behind the Leafs do, but when healthy the Leafs can and have done that.

2 The Leafs are where they are in the standings despite Freddie taking a month off, but ever since the California trip he seems to be getting it back, he was great against SJ, great against the ducks, good enough to win against Vegas great against Minnesota and great against Boston if this team can continue to score AND they have good goaltending the rest of the NHL is in A LOT of trouble

Yeah they've got a nice jump on the pack for sure but this is a great opportunity to get another 3-4 points ahead before heading into the western Canada swing. These are the teams they should be beating.

At the very least I hope to see team defense and goaltending keep trending upwards.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Very interesting, looks like babcock is sending a message by promoting Polak to the first line. It will be interesting to see how Polak does on right wing next game, if he can go to the net and play a decent cycle game he may be able to find some chemistry with Kadri and Komarov

Lolak would get the puck in front of the other teams net and still find a way to ice it.

 

[Kiwi]

I mean, theey have done that, they are 3 points up on Ottawa, 6 up on Detroit 7 up on Montreal , 8 up on Boston, 11 up on Buffalo and 12 up on Florida.

Tampa is the only team ahead and I think they can be caught where as I don't think a team like Detroit for example can catch the Leafs and there are 2 reasons for that.

1 despite the gap only being 6 points between Toronto and Detroit just like it is between Toronto and Tampa, Detroit doesn't have the depth Toronto does, they don't have a player the caliber of Patrick Marleau on the 3rd line, in fact none of the teams behind the Leafs do, but when healthy the Leafs can and have done that.

2 The Leafs are where they are in the standings despite Freddie taking a month off, but ever since the California trip he seems to be getting it back, he was great against SJ, great against the ducks, good enough to win against Vegas great against Minnesota and great against Boston if this team can continue to score AND they have good goaltending the rest of the NHL is in A LOT of trouble

Easy, we've played more games than most of those teams, and Ottawa has every chance of passing us with there games in hand

Out of the team's chasing us i'm concerned about Montreal (if Price sorts himself out) Boston (if they can get fit)

Tampa are a class act, if there fit were going to be in tough to even get close to them

 

[BertCorbeau]

Also worth noting that the Leafs play 15 of their next 20 games on the road (which takes them to the end of December). They're 5-4-0 on the road so far (includes the West Coast trip).

I find it very strange that they will play in Florida next week but not visit Tampa while they're down there. I can't remember the last time that's happened. Bizarre scheduling.

Regardless this means that starting in January the Leafs will have 26 remaining home games and only 17 road games if my math is right.

 

[Apotheosis]

Honestly, this is a game where we should outspeed them. First game I believe was a back to back. Now we have the defensive ability to cope and hopefully the offence wake up.

 

[PinkFly]

Nylander needs to step it up. Been doing an invisible act the past few games.

 

[Polaris1010]

At the very least I hope to see team defense and goaltending keep trending upwards.

Goals allowed, is always correlated to the GAA. That GAA is correlated to the sv% if people like to follow that thing.

GA is always a product of the team.

If the GAA is near the bottom, you either look at the goalie or the team that needs to be fixed. Andersen GAA is at the very bottom.

However, Andersen is tied at 2nd for wins at 10. The only goalie that has more wins is the Tampa goalie.

Incidentally, the team defense started to look better and the Leafs were trying to play 3-2 games after they moved Bozak to the 4th line.

NHL.com - Stats

 

[Kiwi]

Honestly, this is a game where we should outspeed them. First game I believe was a back to back. Now we have the defensive ability to cope and hopefully the offence wake up.

I like our chances if we stay calm and don't get into a glorified shootout, stay goal-side keep the defensive mistakes to a minimum and apply the pressure

Do that and good things should happen

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Easy, we've played more games than most of those teams, and Ottawa has every chance of passing us with there games in hand

Out of the team's chasing us i'm concerned about Montreal (if Price sorts himself out) Boston (if they can get fit)

Tampa are a class act, if there fit were going to be in tough to even get close to them

you still need to win those games and when I look at the next games both teams play Ottawa has the pens, Toronto has NJ, now I know Toronto lost to NJ the last time but Freddie seems to be getting his back and he was struggling when he ed NJ the last time, he's not struggling as much anymore, I mean is numbers are still poor but sense the California trip he's been g for the most part, if he has his game back I our chances. I also know the pens haven't be great but they are the pens they are not an easy out.

There is a decent chance that after Thursday Ottawa could still have those 3 games while being 5 points back.

As for Boston and Montreal I don't think they have near enough to Catch Toronto the depth just isn't there

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Honestly, this is a game where we should outspeed them. First game I believe was a back to back. Now we have the defensive ability to cope and hopefully the offence wake up.

it wasn't a b2b, we just didn't compete very well. I absolutely expect Babcock to have the team ready and working hard for this one. It seemed to be a theme last year that if a team beat us once, we would get them the next time

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Goals allowed, is always correlated to the GAA. That GAA is correlated to the sv% if people like to follow that thing.

GA is always a product of the team.

If the GAA is near the bottom, you either look at the goalie or the team that needs to be fixed. Andersen GAA is at the very bottom.

However, Andersen is tied at 2nd for wins at 10. The only goalie that has more wins is the Tampa goalie.

Incidentally, the team defense started to look better and the Leafs were trying to play 3-2 games after they moved Bozak to the 4th line.

NHL.com - Stats

so the goalie is absolved of all blame I mean if you honestly think GA is "always a product of the team" then the goalie can't be blamed because it's always on the team

 

[stickty111]

it wasn't a b2b, we just didn't compete very well. I absolutely expect Babcock to have the team ready and working hard for this one. It seemed to be a theme last year that if a team beat us once, we would get them the next time

Compete was off and Andy wasnt good either.

 

[Apotheosis]

so the goalie is absolved of all blame I mean if you honestly think GA is "always a product of the team" then the goalie can't be blamed because it's always on the team

DOn't bother with him. He basically absolves Andersen of blame every time.

 

[Polaris1010]

so the goalie is absolved of all blame I mean if you honestly think GA is "always a product of the team" then the goalie can't be blamed because it's always on the team

DOn't bother with him. He basically absolves Andersen of blame every time.

Well sure. If you understand what I am saying, you can say that.

The difficulty is this.

If you want to blame Andersen, then you're blaming for 10 wins. There is only one goalie with more wins than that at this moment in the season.

When you look at those list of GA and GAA most closely, you find goalies with better GAA and teams with better GA, but the goalie still has less wins.

The wins matter.

Oh yeah, another thing too. Andersen leads the league in starts. No goalie has played more.

If the Maple Leafs thought there was a problem with Andersen, I think he would NOT lead the league in starts, and be last, he's actually 50th in GAA.

How do you guys explain that. Dead last in GAA for Andersen, most starts for Andersen, AND second most wins!

 

[Polaris1010]

NHL.com - Stats
Here's the condensed version of the stat line from the above line.

50th Frederik Andersen 2017-18 TOR G 16 3.25

Andersen is absolute worst goalie in the league with a GAA of 3.25. That is 50th - the worst! According to that stat.

Then why has Babcock basically played him every single game except the back to back? Andersen leads the league in starts!

Seems pretty obvious to me. The inflated GA, they are looking at the team for that, and specifically the forwards.

The goalie, the D top 4 guys and Borgman, basically played every single game.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Well sure. If you understand what I am saying, you can say that.

The difficulty is this.

If you want to blame Andersen, then you're blaming for 10 wins. There is only one goalie with more wins than that at this moment in the season.

When you look at those list of GA and GAA most closely, you find goalies with better GAA and teams with better GA, but the goalie still has less wins.

The wins matter.

Oh yeah, another thing too. Andersen leads the league in starts. No goalie has played more.

If the Maple Leafs thought there was a problem with Andersen, I think he would NOT lead the league in starts, and be last, he's actually 50th in GAA.

How do you guys explain that. Dead last in GAA for Andersen, most starts for Andersen, AND second most wins!

Simple Andersen was dog shit for about a month, but fortunately for him he is on the 2nd highest scoring team in the NHL that means he doesn't need to be great because his teams offense more often than not will bail him out.

the reason no goalie has played more is because there is nothing behind him, there is a reason I have named Mcbackup, Mctrash and one game doesn't change that more often than not he's garbage.

It's not the team's fault Andersen couldn't make save for most of October that is Andersen's fault.

Now he does seem to be turning it around but deserves blame for just not showing up in October

that is his fault

 

[Polaris1010]

Simple Andersen was dog **** for about a month, but fortunately for him he is on the 2nd highest scoring team in the NHL that means he doesn't need to be great because his teams offense more often than not will bail him out.

the reason no goalie has played more is because there is nothing behind him, there is a reason I have named Mcbackup, Mctrash and one game doesn't change that more often than not he's garbage.

It's not the team's fault Andersen couldn't make save for most of October that is Andersen's fault.

Now he does seem to be turning it around but deserves blame for just not showing up in October

that is his fault

The team GF is really up there, along with the GA, because the team runs and guns.

If we are going to blame Andersen because the team runs and guns, guess we can, but that does not make much sense.

If the team runs and guns, all the stats related to that, ie scoring, will be inflated.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

Round two, let's do it.