Pre-Game Talk: I don't believe Boston is concerned with the stretch pass only....

[Wafflewhipper]

So now the boston defense is talking keeping 5 guys in front of them and good gap control in the neutral zone.

The only question i have is can our guys out skate and out work them for 60 minutes.

It looks like the adjustment to our speed could knock a couple shots off Freddy's workload but this game might be won in the neutral zone.

They will be trying like hell to limit our speed through the middle. Hopefully they can't and take some penalties.

Well their defense can't match our speed through the neutral zone if we transition out of our own zone. It should be fun watching this cat mouse game.

 

[Atrusai]

**** Boston.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I know the Leafs have to have some sort of pushback on Marchand, but I'd much rather prefer the Leafs treat him just like any sane person would treat an internet troll.

Internet trolls say crap and show up everywhere trying to ignore you, but the second you ignore them, they lose any significance and relevance they had.

The Leafs aren't a team of goons. They aren't a team full of jerks. I'd much rather the Leafs simply ignore Marchand and leave him to the refs. Once he realizes they only care about winning, and not about mucking it up, he loses his relevance.

I thought the Sedins in 2011 played them perfectly. Just turned a blind eye. The problem is the rest of the Canucks weren't on the same page, and lost their minds.

If any player got punched in the face repeatedly by Marchand and did nothing, I'd lose a lot of respect for them. I understand not letting him get to you, but that doesn't mean absolutely no push-back no matter what he does.

 

[Tak7]

If any player got punched in the face repeatedly by Marchand and did nothing, I'd lose a lot of respect for them. I understand not letting him get to you, but that doesn't mean absolutely no push-back no matter what he does.

The Sedins just skated away, and that agitated Marchand to act like an idiot and, on occasion, cost his team.

It was only the Keslers and Bieksas (the hot-headed, unhinged fools), that decided to react and retaliate.

Had the entire team taken the same approach of the Sedins, they would have neutralized Marchand pretty nicely.

 

[luvdahattymatty]

Don't kid yourself the only reason we competed in 2013 was stretching out their defencemen and Reimer won 2 games all by himself. We also did the same formula again in game 3. Boston is not fast enough to play open ice game with Leafs straight up so they play in 5 man units tight in a quarter of the ice. It is very hard to skate through 5 guys tight. Because they play really strong on the puck and maintain possession through strength on stick and man it is really tough to get the puck from them. So best bet is faceoff wins. To open up ice the other way to do it is our defence must get back quicker on their dump ins and get puck deep past their defence either with flip or boards as their defence kill our wingers in board games. So as happened in game 3 Boston defence started NOT holding the blue lines as they were not fast enough to play catch up. Once we get them moving off the blue lines we will win. Our scorers are better than theirs straight up. Yes it leads to a lot of scoring chances both ways but it is secret for us to win. No matter what anyone says if game becomes a battles of wills and strength in small ice board games we lose every time to boston as we do not have that type of personnel.

 

[Coachcorner]

Imagine how hard we might pound these fools to the ground tomorrow night :fist:

We might do that thang for sure tomorrow. It's like nas and aaliyah sang, "I be gon by daylight, and you be so full of sorrow." We might do that thang real hard tomorrow on these fools!

We gon Mr T these goons real hard! Pound and fist them up :hand: :shake: :uppercut:

We are the HOCKEY'S MECCA!

 

[Havoc]

I am not a Bruins fan, but to describe Bergeron as "feeble" is pretty funny.

I said freebie assists. Not feeble. I am making note that he is in an offensive slump which we need to take advantage of.

 

[ottomaddox]

He's probably one of the more overrated stars of the game IMO. He's good, but not "Best in the World" good.

Understood.

 

[ottomaddox]

I said freebie assists. Not feeble. I am making note that he is in an offensive slump which we need to take advantage of.

Sorry. My dyslexia is acting up.

 

[moon111]

Although one can have a 'plan' to me the best is having options. The worst thing you can do is keep going to the well with the same move. Teams will find an answer. So keep them guessing. Don't let a goalie know he can cheat against a player because he's gonna shoot. Plan for a blueliner to fake a shoot in and instead break in. Whatever the Leafs do, keep staying tight to your man, cover him like a sheet, and position yourself wisely in your own end.

 

[Maple Leaf]

I'd like to see some scoring off the bench
Kapanen AJ and Brown need to get rolling

 

[7even]

If any player got punched in the face repeatedly by Marchand and did nothing, I'd lose a lot of respect for them. I understand not letting him get to you, but that doesn't mean absolutely no push-back no matter what he does.

Daniel Sedin was penalized for this play

 

[Mugzy97]

Imagine how hard we might pound these fools to the ground tomorrow night :fist:

We might do that thang for sure tomorrow. It's like nas and aaliyah sang, "I be gon by daylight, and you be so full of sorrow." We might do that thang real hard tomorrow on these fools!

We gon Mr T these goons real hard! Pound and fist them up :hand: :shake: :uppercut:

We are the HOCKEY'S MECCA!

:hand:

:fist:

 

[Stephen]

We need to do what we did for Game 3 but even better in Game 4. Skate them into the ground in the opening frame. Also, if the series is tied up going back to Boston it will be very interesting to see what two matchup lines in Plekanec and Kadri can do to match Bergeron's unit. Just annoy the hell out of them: disrupt Bergeron, get Marchand to take penalties and beat the hell out of Pastrnak. In terms of a heavy forecheck, the Leafs should take a page from the Pat Quinn era teams and what they did to Wade Redden to McAvoy and Krug. Drill them into the end boards every time they're on a puck retrieval. Also, get in Rask's face.

 

[Loosie]

@Cor how's the GDT coming? Don't forget if it's not done by 5 AM EST they use the Bruins one!

 

[Blanche Blanche]

Don't kid yourself the only reason we competed in 2013 was stretching out their defencemen and Reimer won 2 games all by himself. We also did the same formula again in game 3. Boston is not fast enough to play open ice game with Leafs straight up so they play in 5 man units tight in a quarter of the ice. It is very hard to skate through 5 guys tight. Because they play really strong on the puck and maintain possession through strength on stick and man it is really tough to get the puck from them. So best bet is faceoff wins. To open up ice the other way to do it is our defence must get back quicker on their dump ins and get puck deep past their defence either with flip or boards as their defence kill our wingers in board games. So as happened in game 3 Boston defence started NOT holding the blue lines as they were not fast enough to play catch up. Once we get them moving off the blue lines we will win. Our scorers are better than theirs straight up. Yes it leads to a lot of scoring chances both ways but it is secret for us to win. No matter what anyone says if game becomes a battles of wills and strength in small ice board games we lose every time to boston as we do not have that type of personnel.

Hope Babs knows this now too...
Yes Babs... im talking about you and Komorov

 

[Cor]

@Cor how's the GDT coming? Don't forget if it's not done by 5 AM EST they use the Bruins one!

I’ve send it to the HF Boards staff for the Quality consent approval

 

[cookie]

Us relying on the stretch pass is a double-edged sword. Some of the worst hockey we played this year featured our defensemen trying to hit forwards with long passes which would lead to icings. On the other hand, maybe the Bruins shouldn't send all three forwards to pressure Leaf puck carriers at their very own blue line. Anyways, I think the upcoming games will be decided through special teams. We were a little lucky last game with there being only two calls. Not sitting too comfortably here when the refs (and our AHL-level PK) can decide the fate of a game.

 

[Mats13]

He's literally the best 2 way centre of this generation.

People realize that 2 way isn't just defence right?

2 way means offence and defence (and transition).

Knowing this, how can you say he's the best of a generation that includes Sidney Crosby?

 

[Pucker77]

I believe the extra rest day will help the Leafs. This is a fast series and after a big win on Monday it could have been draining to play so quickly again. It gave them some extra time to rest and regroup for yet another big game tomorrow night. Also, an extra day to calm any nerves. Pastrnak may want revenge for the ridiculous save by Freddie, but now it is a bit more in the past. Same for the anger between Rielly and Marchand, cooler heads will prevail in this series, do not let your emotions get the better of you and take stupid penalties.

If the rest of the series is called they way Monday's game was, it may bode well for the Leafs, because it limits the damage Boston can do on the powerplay.

 

[cookie]

People realize that 2 way isn't just defence right?

2 way means offence and defence (and transition).

Knowing this, how can you say he's the best of a generation that includes Sidney Crosby?

He's got exceptional positioning which helps him lead the NHL's forwards in pass interceptions and takeaways(according to that hnic snippet comparing him to Matthews) but also helps him gain leverage against players stronger than him. Then there's the solid stick checking game, the great shot that he gets off instantly, and his legendary perseverance that let him play through broken ribs. These things show up in his exceptional possession stats and I'd say they're even more noticeable when you look at the kind of beating his competition takes in their possession and production. Plus he's on the PK unlike Sid.

 

[Apotheosis]

People realize that 2 way isn't just defence right?

2 way means offence and defence (and transition).

Knowing this, how can you say he's the best of a generation that includes Sidney Crosby?

Yes, I know exactly what that means. And no, stop. Crosby is in a different tier offensively, but Bergeron is in a different tier defensively. Bergeron paced for PPG all season and has been 70+ his whole career. Both are two way players, but Bergeron embodies that to a whole other degree. He also shut down Crosby in the playoffs, but the reverse isn't true.

 

[Kurtz]

He's got exceptional positioning which helps him lead the NHL's forwards in pass interceptions and takeaways(according to that hnic snippet comparing him to Matthews) but also helps him gain leverage against players stronger than him. Then there's the solid stick checking game, the great shot that he gets off instantly, and his legendary perseverance that let him play through broken ribs. These things show up in his exceptional possession stats and I'd say they're even more noticeable when you look at the kind of beating his competition takes in their possession and production. Plus he's on the PK unlike Sid.

Yes, he's very good.

But "best 2-way" means best overall C.

Now who would you rather have over the past generation- Crosby or Bergeron?

If you're a rational person, you'd have answered Crosby, so how could Bergeron be the best?

There are a number of superior C's during Bergeron's generation. Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Kopitar, Datsyuk immediately come to mind. You can also make arguments for guys like Giroux, Tavares, Getzlaf, Jumbo Joe, Zetterberg, Sedin, etc.

 

[Kurtz]

Yes, I know exactly what that means. And no, stop. Crosby is in a different tier offensively, but Bergeron is in a different tier defensively. Bergeron paced for PPG all season and has been 70+ his whole career. Both are two way players, but Bergeron embodies that to a whole other degree. He also shut down Crosby in the playoffs, but the reverse isn't true.

Well, that's just objectively and provably wrong. Bergeron hit 70 points twice in his 14 year career. Over his career, he's averaged 62 points for every 82 games played.

I mean forget about Crosby - he's obviously not close to Crosby. He's not even in Datsyuk's territory, who was even better defensively and averaged 80 points/82 games.

 

[Mikeyg]

when we play our game (lets face it, thats pond hockey) bruins can't match us. Forget this grit grinder, saskatoon shit, get out and play!