Series Talk: How do we beat Boston in round 1?

[JT AM da real deal]

The only upside to this series it is will be BY FAR the best hockey played in opening round. I hope we win. No disrespect here but Bruins are not built to beat Tampa. But we can beat Tampa. We have more than enough wheels to beat them in a run and gun game. But not sure if we can overcome the Bruins forecheck and cycle game. If Muzzy can carry us through that then yes we can win. It will be great hockey no doubt. And I can't wait to take my seats for opening face-off. I bought my Bruins game 1 and 2 seats today. Get ready Beantown I am coming back.

 

[Nineteen67]

The only upside to this series it is will be BY FAR the best hockey played in opening round. I hope we win. No disrespect here but Bruins are not built to beat Tampa. But we can beat Tampa. We have more than enough wheels to beat them in a run and gun game. But not sure if we can overcome the Bruins forecheck and cycle game. If Muzzy can carry us through that then yes we can win. It will be great hockey no doubt. And I can't wait to take my seats for opening face-off. I bought my Bruins game 1 and 2 seats today. Get ready Beantown I am coming back.

The East won’t be worth watching unless Pitt and Wash and Wash and TB meet.

 

[Suntouchable13]

The East won’t be worth watching unless Pitt and Wash and Wash and TB meet.

Couldn't care less about those teams, personally. I want the Leafs to make it deep more than anything. I want to watch the Leafs in the ECF. f*** all those other teams. If Leafs go out, I am not watching especially with the Raps poised to make a run deep into June.

 

[Nineteen67]

Couldn't care less about those teams, personally. I want the Leafs to make it deep more than anything. I want to watch the Leafs in the ECF. **** all those other teams. If Leafs go out, I am not watching especially with the Raps poised to make a run deep into June.

Did you watch the Caps TB game last night? It was a great playoff preview, and as a hockey fan I want to see them in a 7 game series.
Pittsburgh and the Caps is always entertaining.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Pitts vs Caps has gotten very boring. What is it 8 years now? Both are teams at the end of the rope. They have won their Cups. Like to see a new team emerge from Metro. Maybe Carolina?

If Babs can pull a miracle and beat Bruins then I think it is 50/50 we can make ECF. I think we have a team built to beat Tampa assuming Vasi plays ok (if he is lights out then oh well it can happen). Even the Habs could knock out Tampa (if Price goes out of this world). All it takes is 4 SO's.

Tampa is not a sure thing to me this year against one of Toronto, Pittsburgh or Montreal. Against everyone else I think they are a lock. And it is very possible that could be there first 3 match ups.

 

[stickty111]

 

[joeyjojojrshabadoo]

I think another way to beat the Bruins is to do what we did against the Senators back in the day--when Shayne Corson shadowed Alexei Yashin every shift, every second, regardless of where he was on the ice. I think we need a whole line that does this--that sacrifices offence completely in order to limit the Bruins' big line.

 

[Cappuccino]

Boston is so deep in our heads, we even make these threads months before the playoffs begin.

I guess the advantage we have, no one would be too shocked if it all goes south again and we are pretty much used to it. AKA it can only turn out to be better than expected.

 

[Notsince67]

This is the right idea

 

[hoglund]

Boston is so deep in our heads, we even make these threads months before the playoffs begin.

I guess the advantage we have, no one would be too shocked if it all goes south again and we are pretty much used to it. AKA it can only turn out to be better than expected.

It's more in the fan's heads than the player's.

 

[jaric1862]

Who do you guys think Cassidy line matches the Bergeron line against when theyre at home? You would think it would be the Matthews line, but then that also frees up the Tavares line to do some damage? Will it always be the Tavares-Bergeron lines going head to head this year?

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Pastrnak will matchup with Marner

 

[ShaneFalco]

This is the right idea

Love to see Muzzin level him

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Johnsson - Matthews - Nylander
Hyman - - - Tavares - - - Marner
Moore - - - - Kadri - - - Kapanen
Marleau - - Gauthier - - - Ennis

Muzzin - - - - Rielly
Gardiner - Hainsey
Dermott - - Zaitsev

Andersen
Andersen















Sparks​

 

[unitedstars87]

Anderson outplays Rasks
Tavares line equals Bergeron line
Our D keeps it simple with limited giveaways.
Matthews takes over series.

 

[hamzarocks]

Where did the leafs rank in penalties taken last year. We were on the penalty kill a lot in that series and lost pur control. Kadri messed up pretty bad with his hit. The bruins did play a grinding style and made it hard to defend them down low. The leafs struggled last year in the same departments as this season.

We had trouble cleanly breaking out of our own zone. Our right side on defense was targetted with the bruins forecheck being relentless and gaining possession. We had a tough time defending point shots from what I recall about that series. The leafs defense were failing to stick to the bruins defenders and they got too many looks.

Leafs like you said need to be disciplined and pick their spots for when they decide to play a rough style. If a dirty play is made by the bruins drop the gloves dont try and give their guys concussions. If the bruins are slashing and hooking like crazy, then the leafs have to play the same way and not let them just get away with their cheap plays. The refs will hopefully call a good series so their should be room for these sort of plays both ways. Matthews and nylander have to show up this time around. If they go up against krejci that wont be an easy matchup if they are not willing to outwork the bruins 2ndine.

 

[Notsince67]

Have to disagree. They will get physical. Better be prepared

 

[biotk]

Who do you guys think Cassidy line matches the Bergeron line against when theyre at home? You would think it would be the Matthews line, but then that also frees up the Tavares line to do some damage? Will it always be the Tavares-Bergeron lines going head to head this year?

Boston really didn't care much about line matching forwards last playoffs. Babs did. Boston loved to get Bergeron/Marchand/Pastrnak out against tired Leafs no matter who they were. But when it came to line matching all they really cared about - both at home and on the road - was getting Chara out there against Matthews. This playoffs I imagine that Chara will be matched against Tavares and Marner, freeing up Matthews.

 

[Cleetus]

Man the arrogance of Bruins fans. You all should take a gander at that main board thread started by B's fan claiming Tampa is overrated in the same vein as the 2011 Canucks. The puck hasn't even dropped for round 1 and their already thinking about a round 2 match up with them.

I don't care how stacked the odds are against us, taking those pricks out in the first round would just be immensely satisfying.

this I dont care about anything past beating the Bruins it would be an incredible feeling!

 

[hockeyes]

Haha, give me a break. Bruins will get the power play advantage despite anything that happens, this is guaranteed. They are able to play a brand of hockey most teams are outlawed from, conspiracy or incompetence, it doesn't matter.

 

[Cor]

So I have a theory, which is very unlikely to ever happen, however while some believe that we need to add size to compete with Boston, I think the exact opposite is true. We need to put an emphasis on puck skills with Boston, because they pounce on teams when they get them stuck in their own end and after icings.

So it's important to be able to move the puck out of our zone against Boston more than ever.

AKA, I'd look at the following D pairs;

Rielly - Dermott - Strong zone exits pair
Muzzin - Gardiner - Another strong zone exit pair. LD-RD can be swapped. Gardiner is more agile, so I think it makes more sense to move him over.
Rosen - Liljegren - The "very unlikely" part of this, is the calling up of Liljegren for this series. In all likelyhood, this would be Zaitsev, or at best Holl, however this would be the best third pairing option against a team like Boston.

Now, with Hainsey and Zaitysev scratched in this scenario, it would completely revamp our PK pairings. I personally would have Rielly and Liljegren on the powerplay and do balanced time between Dermott, Rosen, Gardiner and Muzzin.

Having Zaitsev and Hainsey ice the puck is going to hurt us against Boston.

 

[Sweet Leaf]

Who do you guys think Cassidy line matches the Bergeron line against when theyre at home? You would think it would be the Matthews line, but then that also frees up the Tavares line to do some damage? Will it always be the Tavares-Bergeron lines going head to head this year?

The home team coach controls the match up. The way it's been going all year is it's been the Tavares/Marner line going up against the other teams #1. Babs clearly trusts this line the most. And opposing teams clearly see this as our most dangerous line.

I doubt strongly you're going to see either Babs or the other teams coach deviate from what we've seen all year.

If Matty/Nylander get crazy hot could we see Cassidy change the match up when he has home ice? Possible. Not likely though since JT/Marner are going to scare everyone more than Matty/Nylander as they have done all year.

 

[Suntouchable13]

In my opinion, coaching has to be the difference in this series. Our coaching has to devise a good game plan that is suitable for the personnel we have and win the damn series. Enough with excuses.

 

[Zybalto]

So I have a theory, which is very unlikely to ever happen, however while some believe that we need to add size to compete with Boston, I think the exact opposite is true. We need to put an emphasis on puck skills with Boston, because they pounce on teams when they get them stuck in their own end and after icings.

So it's important to be able to move the puck out of our zone against Boston more than ever.

AKA, I'd look at the following D pairs;

Rielly - Dermott - Strong zone exits pair
Muzzin - Gardiner - Another strong zone exit pair. LD-RD can be swapped. Gardiner is more agile, so I think it makes more sense to move him over.
Rosen - Liljegren - The "very unlikely" part of this, is the calling up of Liljegren for this series. In all likelyhood, this would be Zaitsev, or at best Holl, however this would be the best third pairing option against a team like Boston.

Now, with Hainsey and Zaitysev scratched in this scenario, it would completely revamp our PK pairings. I personally would have Rielly and Liljegren on the powerplay and do balanced time between Dermott, Rosen, Gardiner and Muzzin.

Having Zaitsev and Hainsey ice the puck is going to hurt us against Boston.

Maybe its good I havnt been paying attention to the media and only been watching games and looking at data.

All due respect but....

Im sorry but this scenario is pretty much ludicrous.

Split up the only pairing that didnt get hemmed in their own zone (hence best at zone exits) and was analytically the best second pairing in the first round (Gards/Zaitsev) because you want to move the puck out of our own zone better? PDO really brainwashed people on this pairing last playoffs as Anderson was brutal behind them as it was all posts and misses from the forwards in front of them. Its how a guy like Zaitsev can lead ALL dmen in the playoffs in REL expected goals% and no one notices.

Put Dermott on the first pairing after he had an awful series last year and was outplayed by his partner (Polak), which was a big shock to most of us at the time? He also hasnt played well at all against the Bruins this year. Heres a little food for thought. 253 players played at least 50 5v5 minutes in the first round last year. The leader in giveaways/60? Travis Dermott....against the Bruins 3rd and 4th lines. He was once again one of the most sheltered players in the league this year and has proved nothing to earn a promotion to the top pairing.....and with no heavy defender at the top they would get eaten alive by Bostons big line. People have to stop overrating him as I'm hoping myself he's ready to step in to fill Gards shoes as the #3 on this team but he's just not really good enough defensively quite yet IMO.

The problem Rielly/Hainsey had last year was as much about their forward support as anything wrong they were doing. You can see it in the data. They actually did a decent job preventing goals in the series but with Kadri pretty much taking himself out out of the series (and was bad when he was playing in it) and Pleks being an utter disappointment meant they just couldnt get the puck out of the zone....which led to tired Hainsey eventually winning a board battle and icing it. Center depth is much improved this year though and I'm positive we wont see the same massive difference in defensive zone times between the 1st and second pairings. It is still very strange that you still see people talking about the right side being targeted when the only massive variance in the pairings was the unbelievable gulf between the 1st pairing and the 2nd in run of play. Surprisingly, the left and right sides performed pretty evenly in the series.

...and speaking of Hainsey(and Zaitsev). You really think its a great idea to not play 2/3 of our best defensive defenders against the Bruins? Stick unproven kids in there instead? I have almost no words on this. Its pretty much a recipe for getting hemmed in your own zone the whole series and getting swept in 4. Like the exact opposite of what you are trying to do.

Of course, Anderson not being arguably the worst starting goalie in the first round might make the D look a little better this time. He faced the 3rd fewest high danger shots/60 as overall our D over performed in a few areas but really crapped the bed and took little or no flack for doing so. Washington pulled their starter in favor of Holtby (smart move) and the guy they pulled had better numbers than Anderson did last year. Even recently the team has been taking a ton of heat but its been pretty much a combination of injury and Anderson playing poorly. Mainstream press has really gotten worse with their analysis in pretty much every area as I get older though, so its no surprise they dont know what the hell is going on. Everyone has their biases though and cant wait to confirm them on a giveaway or some such bad play by player "x". Just look at the shitshow in the threads sometimes.....and pretty much no one ever eats crow. I just want this team to finally win something. Its been a long time...

 

[Pyrophorus]

Marner said they gave them too much respect in games #1 and #2.
Stopping that would be good.