Post-Game Talk: I Will Have The Soup With That Win

[Confucius]

I'm not his biggest fan either and I'm not convinced he is what this team needs.

Would it be an upgrade somewhere? Sure. I'd prefer 10 other forwards before him though. Heavy forwards who have game often become all stars in the playoffs. Not easy to find though and Leads are short on cap space.

Dont see him as an upgrade this year, we waived Vesey and he had 5 goals in less games.

 

[moon111]

I want to see Marner as bumper. His creativity will be better utilized there when he gets the puck in other areas of the ice. Nylander and matthews are more traditional half wall types.

Rielly doesn't help either though. We have 0 defense that can run point on PP.

At his current pace, Morgan Rielly will have to play over 4000 NHL games to tie Dion Phaneuf's career power-play goals.

 

[MattySnipes]

Keefe is a funny guy

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Good win but I really wish the PP would choose to score 1 literally just 1

 

[7even]

PP points per 60min, last 5yrs (min 500min)

1. Hedman 7.08
2. Krug 6.18
3. Rielly 6.05
4. Carlson 5.93
5. Burns 5.46

I have zero complaints with Rielly on the PP the past 5 years, just this one. Also don't think there's a better option.

 

[CAVETEETH]

Still can't believe that no call on Matthews getting his back split in half in OT

Jets broadcast colour commentator said Matthews was lucky not to get called for embellishment... Ridiculous

 

[Habs10Habs]

Fun game to watch. Both teams are very evenly matched. I think it would be one hell of a series if you guys went at it with the Jets. Also glad to see Galchenyuk doing well. IMO he looks like he may be your answer to that missing top 6 forward you're looking for.

 

[Leafsfan74]

Really?

I think he'd be a great fit on line 1 for LW. His speed and skill would be great for Matthews and others too.

If the price is right I wouldn't mind it. He is still a weapon. Albeit not in Buffalo.

For the right price, maybe, but who does he replace and what does he bring to a playoff team we haven't had the last four years?

I'm of the opinion that the goals for ledger is a less important need than defense minded, puck battling players. I'd rather D depth than Hall myself.

 

[Confucius]

Good win but I really wish the PP would choose to score 1 literally just 1

meh, may as well go for another infamous record now, we cant be far off. 50 minutes with a man advantage and still being shutout.

 

[socko]

Jets broadcast colour commentator said Matthews was lucky not to get called for embellishment... Ridiculous

I was listening to that. The play by play guy didn't follow up on it, so at least he seemed to recognize it as homer kool-aid.

 

[Bomber0104]

At his current pace, Morgan Rielly will have to play over 4000 NHL games to tie Dion Phaneuf's career power-play goals.

The issue with Rielly on the point is that the other team doesn't respect his shot, at all.

Rightfully so, it's both soft and inaccurate...

A predictable powerplay with few options is the easiest one to kill.

 

[Optimist]

Leafs win. It was indeed a Good Friday.

 

[socko]

The issue with Rielly on the point is that the other team doesn't respect his shot from the point, at all.

Rightfully so, it's both soft and inaccurate...

If Rielly could keep his shot lower, I think it would help him greatly. Lidstrom's shot was a joke too. He was at the All-Star skill comp in the hardest shot for a couple of years and I was embarrassed for him. But Rielly is no spring chicken, change at this point is unlikely. He's pretty damn good at a lot of things.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I see the same thing. He is not distributing the puck like he once did. I will say though, with no point shot in olay, it does make our pp easier to defend. We need a shooter on there. Reilly is most definitely not that.

We don't need a shooter at the point. That is just a weak excuse for Marner not being able to find any other option.

Rielly is great for what he does when he is in the zone, which is to get a point shot at the net for a deflection when he is open and to move the puck. He even gets goals to go straight in by doing that. However, he should be the last option on that PP. Any defenseman should when you have Tavares, Matthews, and Nylander (or even a net front guy like Simmonds/Hyman) on the same PP. Marner keeps going to him like he is the first option and completely wastes time otherwise. That is the problem.

Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander should be getting and shooting the puck pretty much as much as possible, and then have whoever is in front of the net there for rebounds. That should hopefully open up more room for Marner to get more time and space to do what he needs to be able to do, but all teams need to do right now is swarm him and he is completely neutralized, which completely neutralizes our PP since he constantly has the puck.

The number one thing I think people should be noticing is that Marner holds the puck most of the time and it goes nowhere. Matthews, Nylander, and Tavares are not getting the puck at all really. The only other times is when he defers to Rielly when he gets swarmed and Rielly just gives him the puck right back. That comes down to systems for not trying to get the puck elsewhere, and down to Marner for not doing his job on the PP. We don't really need to re-think our system at all, just re-think who should be getting the puck right now, and in general.

 

[Adam da bomb]

Good luck it was a good game and I think you guys have the best chance of Canadian teams and I finally want a Canadian champ so best of luck.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

PP points per 60min, last 5yrs (min 500min)

1. Hedman 7.08
2. Krug 6.18
3. Rielly 6.05
4. Carlson 5.93
5. Burns 5.46

at least for this year, it seems more like it's the case that Rielly just racks up points because he touches the puck a lot than he actually drives offense. The PP gets more shot attempts, shots, goals, expected goals, scoring chances, and high danger chances when he's on the bench

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I want to see Marner as bumper. His creativity will be better utilized there when he gets the puck in other areas of the ice. Nylander and matthews are more traditional half wall types.

Rielly doesn't help either though. We have 0 defense that can run point on PP.

As I said, Rielly is not the problem. The puck in the zone runs through Marner, and Rielly is doing what he is supposed to be doing. The issue right now is that Marner is not doing his job on the point right now and that makes everyone else fall apart.

Our PP would probably be doing better if we let Rielly take Marner's job and let Marner do some stuff off of the puck or open up another forward who can shoot. Maybe use Marner as a bumper as Leafsfans74 suggested. So I guess it is not much unlike what you are suggesting, but instead of saying we don't have a defenseman who can run the PP, we need someone other than Marner to run the PP right now. We just aren't getting the puck to our shooters right now and that mostly falls on Marner considering he is the guy who has the puck the most right now.

 

[meefer]

To the issue of the PP: once they gain the zone, the Leafs look good, decent puck movement, shot selection, etc. . It's gaining the zone that is killing them. Half of the power play is spent circling back to their own zone to pick up a puck that has been stopped at the blue line or fired down ice from the corner because we're stalling our speed using that gosh darn annoying drop pass. Everyone knows it's coming. Attack with speed, dump if you need to, force their defensive posture into a more cautious position, once we're in their zone we can attack with the skills we have. Even if we don't score, I'd rather see 1'30" of circling and moving in the O zone, tiring out the opposition, which might lead to a benefit later in the game, rather than this disjointed, time wasting, low event process which we are constantly overusing.

 

[MattySnipes]

For the right price, maybe, but who does he replace and what does he bring to a playoff team we haven't had the last four years?

I'm of the opinion that the goals for ledger is a less important need than defense minded, puck battling players. I'd rather D depth than Hall myself.

Tbh the power play is worrying me and just incase offense dries up it never hurts to have Hall's speed and skill. Dubas definitely needs to get some d depth too, but the question is based on cap available what can he get?

I'm sure he'll prioritize the defensive signings, and keep an eye on Simmonds and Jumbo here, as well as the PP. If things still don't change, his hand might be forced.

 

[therealkoho]

Don't know if Campbell is good goalie or just a guy on a roll, but I've seen enough to say we need to ride him for the rest of this season.

Please stay healthy.

Injuries have seemed to be his biggest enemy since turning pro, by all accounts the guy is a solid goaltender and has shown to be very capable at the NHL level, the injuries I think kept him out of the starters spot, that and playing behind some pretty high level goalies. One thing I've noticed is that he seems like the perfect low maintenance team-mate in that he's not overly assertive in demanding starts and is highly supportive of the team in front of him. I've never really seen a goaltender who thanked his defenders more after almost every save, maybe Johnny Bower ,Tony O or Tugger.

but yeah stay healthy

as far as keeping the net, it's his for now, if for some reason he was faltering I don't think I'd let him go for 6 starts before I pulled him, maybe 2 or 3 max, depends if Freddie is back or it's Hutchinson

 

[hockeyes]

To the issue of the PP: once they gain the zone, the Leafs look good, decent puck movement, shot selection, etc. . It's gaining the zone that is killing them. Half of the power play is spent circling back to their own zone to pick up a puck that has been stopped at the blue line or fired down ice from the corner because we're stalling our speed using that gosh darn annoying drop pass. Everyone knows it's coming. Attack with speed, dump if you need to, force their defensive posture into a more cautious position, once we're in their zone we can attack with the skills we have. Even if we don't score, I'd rather see 1'30" of circling and moving in the O zone, tiring out the opposition, which might lead to a benefit later in the game, rather than this disjointed, time wasting, low event process which we are constantly overusing.

You nailed it, the power play needs some urgency. The guys coming over the boards need to flip a mental switch that they will score no matter what and screw everything else. Right now, they seem to be happy if they don't give up a short handed goal which is obviously insane.

 

[socko]

My first move would be to put Galchenyuk on the PP. They always cheat to Matthews but another pure shooter would really help with that.

 

[MattySnipes]

Leafs vs Jets through 6 games

Scheifele - 1G, 3A, -5
Connor - 2G, 2A, -3
Ehlers - 3G, 3A, -1
Wheeler - 0G, 1A, -3

6 goals, 8 assists, -12



Matthews - 4G, 3A, +1
Marner - 3G, 4A, +4
Nylander - 2G, 2A, +3
Tavares - 1G, 2A, +4

10 goals, 11 assists, +12

 

[therealkoho]

Ya he is peaking at the right time feel good about him and ending the draught!

damn I'm thirsty

 

[Leaftors]

lmao at Jets commentators calling for embellishment by Matthews. Wow.

Was at a buddies house who was streaming and they had the jets feed and he said “lucky he didn’t get an embellishment”. That’s probably the worst call I’ve ever heard. Even Jack with the bruins isn’t that bad.