How to beat the Leafs

[LeafFever]

Mike seems angry having to coach a highly-skilled team with a lack of grinders.

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

1. Cover the Left Defence man and force the Right D-man (i.e. Hainsey/Zaitsev) to make the breakout pass; or
2. Cover the wingers to take away the stretch pass; or (also works but less common)
3. Commit the entire lineup to clogging up the neutral zone as the leafs have no zone entry system in place other then the stretch pass

 

[SprDaVE]

The way to beat the Leafs is you make sure Matthews and Nylander have their biggest scoring slumps ever.

 

[Nineteen67]

Do what the teams did on Oct 18 th and Jan 7th.

 

[alliuk12]

Just play 2 periods of hockey. It seems that the leafs can’t play a complete game they haven’t done it in the last 3 years

 

[Burnie97]

Some days all you gotta do is put on a pair of skates.

Yup... this right here.

Just go out for a blade half the time lately.

That's the problem to me. . Pretty simple.

Yes we need an rhd ... maybe a tougher forward etc etc... but one thing that remains obvious to me is whether they come out giving a shit or not.

 

[Le Cobra]

And yet, he still has 1 more win than losses.

Yeah but even the worst backup in the league will win games when they have the offence of the Leafs supporting them

 

[GlitchMarner]

They're not great at dump and chase or at chipping the puck in and going after it and regaining it. Their wingers aside from Marner, Kapanen and Nylander (when he's on) aren't particularly great at carrying the puck though traffic, either. They need to make clever chips and get the puck back more often.

 

[FraumBallard]

Mike seems angry having to coach a highly-skilled team with a lack of grinders.

 

[FraumBallard]

Rightfully so.
Highly skilled yet scared to make or take a hit.
Terrible mix.
You can have a couple.
We have around 8.
Fire Dubas!!

 

[Duffman955]

Clog the neutral zone and take 2-3 runs at the star players

Team wilts right after

 

[Vaive50]

The Leafs tend to beat themselves. if they go off to a good start in a game and get a lead, they're excellent. if they fall behind, they tend to give up. they also give extremely inconsistent efforts

Yeah but this inconsistency is in the last 9 games, before that when they were 27-10-2, they were winning whether they were leading or not from the start. Last year, we had 2 solid reliable lines and 32-goal Kadri on the 3rd. If Matthews lines didn't score, then JVR's line did or Kadri.

These last 9 games, our offense is so shut down, Marner/Tavares are doing their part but when they don't score like in the Panthers game, that's where we need Matthews line or Kadri's line to step up but it's just not happening.

 

[Dough72]

this is the drawback of a skill-only team. Sometimes they don't respond well to hitting and sometimes they don't respond well to trapping/dump-and-chase and sometimes they get hemmed in their own end all night by the cycle. It's not on Babcock though it's up to Dubas at this point whether he wants a more versatile roster or will take his chances with a skill-only team. Playoffs are going to be interesting.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

He just seems like such a *****e in the way he will always just say that the other team wanted it more...thats it...work before skill..etc.

Players like that better that than Carlyle who would throw players under the bus.

 

[AreBe]

Easiest way really is to disrupt the stretch passes the team relies on for breakouts.

Clog the middle, the neutral zone and don't confuse "skating with" and "Skating at"
To use basketball parlance, the Leafs are a fast-break team but if you take that away, they can have a scoring drought
Teams generally cannot skate with the Leafs, but they can skate at them, taking away time and space making the Leafs look flat
The Leafs, to the consternation of dinosaurs, are a high skilled no goon team, designed by a technocrat with a statistical model of the game, his name is Dubas, and he has a lot of clout.

In a typical fast-break situation, the defending team obtains the ball and passes it to the fastest player, who sets up the fast break. That player (usually the smaller point guard, in the case of basketball) then speed-dribbles the ball up the court with several players trailing on the wings. He then either passes it to another player for quick scoring or takes the shot himself. If contact is made between him and a defender from behind while on a fast break, an unsportsmanlike foul is called. Recognition, speed, ball-handling skills, and decision making are critical to the success of a fast break.

Fast break - Wikipedia

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Game plan vs. Matthews' line: double team Matthews because he is usually playing with at least one plug who is not a threat in the offensive zone.

Teams have been doing it for a while now.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Rightfully so.
Highly skilled yet scared to make or take a hit.
Terrible mix.
You can have a couple.
We have around 8.
Fire Dubas!!

Calgary does less hitting than we do. They are doing OK.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/team-...CELLANEOUS&group=1&time=0&pos=0&team=1&page=1

Not sure how this team can grind through 4 playoff series mind you.

 

[ToneDog]

Calgary does less hitting than we do. They are doing OK.

https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/team-...CELLANEOUS&group=1&time=0&pos=0&team=1&page=1

Not sure how this team can grind through 4 playoff series mind you.

Only watched 1 period of the Flames/Oil game but the Flames made life miserable for McDavid every chance they got. Hathaway and Hamonic sent him to the bench bleeding from a cut to his left eye. The Flames look like they have all the ingredients to make a deep run. Only hope we would have against them is that it will be hell to get out of the West.

 

[Egghead1999]

Yeah but this inconsistency is in the last 9 games, before that when they were 27-10-2, they were winning whether they were leading or not from the start. Last year, we had 2 solid reliable lines and 32-goal Kadri on the 3rd. If Matthews lines didn't score, then JVR's line did or Kadri.

These last 9 games, our offense is so shut down, Marner/Tavares are doing their part but when they don't score like in the Panthers game, that's where we need Matthews line or Kadri's line to step up but it's just not happening.

How many PP goals over that period of time?
As I said before, the leafs roster is not prefect, but the man advantage (5 vs 4, 6 vs 5 ...) and the defense zone coverage are not up to par.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Only watched 1 period of the Flames/Oil game but the Flames made life miserable for McDavid every chance they got. Hathaway and Hamonic sent him to the bench bleeding from a cut to his left eye. The Flames look like they have all the ingredients to make a deep run. Only hope we would have against them is that it will be hell to get out of the West.

That's business as usual for McDavid though. I can barely watch Oilers games anymore because I honestly just get pissed. It's as if just because defense can't handle McDavid within the rules of the game, the refs let them step outside the rulebook on a consistent basis. Whether to give them a chance or because they don't want to deal with a parade to the box I don't know, but the treatment of McDavid is like what we get times ten.

 

[JustinCase]

Simply throw something at the Leafs that they are not expecting.
Babcock seems very poor at matching other coaches moves.
Lately it seems like he's just pulling lines and plays out of a hat.

 

[Le Cobra]

Yeah but this inconsistency is in the last 9 games, before that when they were 27-10-2, they were winning whether they were leading or not from the start. Last year, we had 2 solid reliable lines and 32-goal Kadri on the 3rd. If Matthews lines didn't score, then JVR's line did or Kadri.

These last 9 games, our offense is so shut down, Marner/Tavares are doing their part but when they don't score like in the Panthers game, that's where we need Matthews line or Kadri's line to step up but it's just not happening.

For that reason I don’t think Matthews deserves 12 million contract. The price should be 10-11

 

[Le Cobra]

Game plan vs. Matthews' line: double team Matthews because he is usually playing with at least one plug who is not a threat in the offensive zone.

Teams have been doing it for a while now.

What type of. solution would you suggest?

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Yeah, I think Babcock's praising of grinders and old players that are shells of their former selves is about enough. If I am Matthews I am very frustrated with my wingers for 3 years and my TOI.
If you love grinders, go get more. They're easy to acquire. LOL. Teams don't value them like Babcock does.

Marleau looks finished this season. Everyone is aware except Mike.

I think the biggest problem with this is that you can see young guys get an opportunity and make mistakes because they're trying to play a way they're not used too.

There were a few times last year where you saw Carrick trying to play like Polak and be more physical and he made bad plays and took a few beatings because of it. Obviously not a recipe for success. But he sae Polak getting ice time while he sat out or got fewer minutes so he tried to play that way.

Babs should turn his skilled guys loose in a game where we're down like tonight. Instead he uses a Marincin-Hainsey pair in the last 10 minutes of a game we're losing.

 

[ZEBROA]

No need to complicate things.
Keep calm and blame Nylander. And everything will be ok.