Leafs 27th in PP % since Nov 30

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Not making any significant changes and expecting different results is stupid. This is 100% a coaching problem.

Babcock needs to step up and order his guys to adapt and do something major.

I didn’t see last nights game. Was there anything major that changed to open things up?

 

[tmlms13]

Toronto is 29th now in that time span.

I would like you to look at the names of the teams that are 30 and 31 in the NHL in the same time span and tell me where they are in the standings.

/thread

Hint, we just played one, and the other is considered a Cup fav.

 

[56 Years No Cup]

Lol too many cooks in the kitchen

Quenneville can take over as Head Chef soon.

 

[Hockey Crazy]

Quenneville can take over as Head Chef soon.

Dont see it happening. Plus then what would you complain about? I guess quennville once you decide the lines are wrong...

 

[Mr Hockey]

Quenneville can take over as Head Chef soon.

you would just him fired at the first slump, 100%

 

[Menzinger]

I didn’t see last nights game. Was there anything major that changed to open things up?

I missed last game too unfortunately

 

[A1LeafNation]

Who started this stupid thread!

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Who started this stupid thread!

Our thread helped Hiller fix the shit show.

 

[ponder]

The last two games the PP has looked great. Main difference is TONNES of speed and TONNES of movement, a very unpredictable PP that takes advantage of the tremendous skill that every player on PP1 has.

Gotta keep this up, no more predictable “everything through Marner, always looking for the high tip.” Keep the puck and players moving and we’re extremely tough to defend.

 

[Moncherry]

Here are the problems with the #1 PP unit as I see it:

1. Marner and Rielly are the only ones moving the puck, or moving in general. They're too stationary.

2. Puck movement mainly works through a triangle of Rielly, Marner, Matthews. Predictable set-ups.

3. Rielly isn't a threat to score from the point and never shoots, which allows the PK to collapse and focus primarily on guarding Matthews and Marner.

4. As Matthews is mainly the target man, PKers have merely to close him off. Marner does the best he can but ultimately can only look to pass to a covered Matthews, feed it down low to Tavares, or shoot into traffic.

5. Tavares is wasted down low. Good hands in front of the net, but needs to be in a position where he's more involved.

6. Kadri does literally nothing but stand in the middle of the ice the majority of the time.

Almost every powerplay is Rielly, Marner, and Matthews playing catch along the outside with Marner eventually trying to thread a pass through the eye of the needle to Matthews or Tavares. Matthews is always covered and Tavares is usually in too tight to do much with the puck. The second unit at least seems to have a lot more movement when they get set-up.

Looks like they've fixed every one of these issues the past couple of games. Not predictable, not stagnant. The activation of Tavares has been the biggest improvement to the powerplay. Hopefully, it stays this way.

 

[dangomon]

I didn’t see last nights game. Was there anything major that changed to open things up?

Last night they used Tavares down low more, which directly led to both of that units goals. Instead of a direct cross ice pass (Marner to Matts, Marner to Kadri, Marner to Tavares high tip) they used movement and passing to open up new lanes. The Kadri goal was significant in my eyes, rarely do we see John open up so off the net much when Matthews has the puck, but him sliding out opened the entire defence pulling people away from Kadri.

 

[Nithoniniel]

I really liked the way Tavares moved. He's been the key lately. He's basically QBing the PP from down low. So much of our PP offense has come from Marner or Matthews moving the puck down low to Tavares who then dictates what happens next. The way he sneaked over to switch sides and open up the tap to Kadri was just beautiful.

 

[RLF]

Last night they used Tavares down low more, which directly led to both of that units goals. Instead of a direct cross ice pass (Marner to Matts, Marner to Kadri, Marner to Tavares high tip) they used movement and passing to open up new lanes. The Kadri goal was significant in my eyes, rarely do we see John open up so off the net much when Matthews has the puck, but him sliding out opened the entire defence pulling people away from Kadri.

Yep, lots of good movement. They have been trying different looks for a good 5 games or so really. The key is their now not always going through Marner. They have even changed up the zone entries where it is not always going through Marner. Last night and against the Rags, the puck has gone through multiple players in the set up. They have become unpredictable again. Once they started changing things up a while ago, it was only a matter of time before it clicked. If they continue to have movement and go trough different players in the set up, the beauty is it should open up the plays again that were so successful through Marner in the past.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The last two games the PP has looked great. Main difference is TONNES of speed and TONNES of movement, a very unpredictable PP that takes advantage of the tremendous skill that every player on PP1 has.

Gotta keep this up, no more predictable “everything through Marner, always looking for the high tip.” Keep the puck and players moving and we’re extremely tough to defend.

Exactly this. During the second intermission they did a nice job of detailing the changes. It's weird, one one hand I think wow did they ever look great, looks like problem solved and they're going to be hard to stop going forward. And then I think WTF is the matter with our coaching staff that they couldn't have done this a couple of months ago?