Post-Game Talk: Leafs Get Shutout 4-0

[Mess]

You as much as anyone would know the game would have been different had the score been 1-1 rather than 1-0 and eventually 2-0....

How so?

Leafs ice the puck, so the faceoff comes back in Leafs zone, Nashville wins the draw cleanly back to the point and PK Subban blast a laser past Hutch that he didn't even see.

The only difference I see is that Preds would have gone up 2-1 at that point instead of 2-0, with nearly 1/2 game still to play.

Our Leafs didn't score any other goals after that point so a loss is still a loss only the final score might have been different, by the overturned goal. IMO

Here is the video: P.K. and Pekka lead Predators in shutout win over Leafs | CBC Sports

 

[MyBudJT]

How so?

Leafs ice the puck, so the faceoff comes back in Leafs zone, Nashville wins the draw cleanly back to the point and PK Subban blast a laser past Hutch that he didn't even see.

The only difference I see it that Preds would have gone up 2-1 at that point instead of 2-0.

Our Leafs didn't score any other goals after that point so a loss is still a loss only the final score might have been different. IMO

In all your years of watching hockey, you haven't noticed how scoring a goal tends to give a team a bit of a momentum swing?

 

[PromisedLand]

Considering that they only had 18 shots, that map shows maybe three or four from the slot. And unfortunately, it doesn't show quality. A screened shot from the point can be much more dangerous than a one-handed shot from the slot with a defenceman all over you.

Thank you!!!

Someone that puts context when looking at "advanced stats"

 

[PromisedLand]

Nobody is hitting anymore.

I think they’re coached not to finish checks and instead to go for the stick check and try to steal the puck. Even Kappy/AJ/Dermott who were all chippy guys at one point are hitting a lot less this year.

may be less hitting means more durability and less injuries?

that said,

playing the body to either protect the puck or get the puck from opposition is still part of the game. stick checks aren't enough

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think some of us need to adjust our expectations for this team a bit. Remember that we're still a very young team and have growing pains to go through. To me I expect the Leafs to finish 2nd in their division this year and win 1 round - even if its against Boston who have an extremely strong and experienced core. Beyond that I think its money if the Leafs go any further. Last year to be honest, if the leafs beat Boston it would have been a steal because for the vast majority of that series, Boston was just flat out better. This year I think it will be a much closer showdown, but I expect Leafs to still come out on top. Now if they don't, then yes I'll be disappointed and think that they came up a bit short

Agree with all this, especially the bolded. Would only add that I hate the PO structure with a passion. If the format was 1 vs 16 and so on, we'd have a much better chance of going past the 2nd round.

How so?

Leafs ice the puck, so the faceoff comes back in Leafs zone, Nashville wins the draw cleanly back to the point and PK Subban blast a laser past Hutch that he didn't even see.

The only difference I see it that Preds would have gone up 2-1 at that point instead of 2-0.

Our Leafs didn't score any other goals after that point so a loss is still a loss only the final score might have been different. IMO

I have to agree with this, NSH dominated in the 3rd. Hard to argue that it would have been different had the score been 1-0 instead. No ifs ands or buts, they DOMINATED!

 

[PromisedLand]

Why doesnt Kapanen get any PP-time yet? Can hardly be worse than Marleau and Nylander? Atleast he has the effort and it doesnt seem to pay off..

Kappy should be playing in kadri's slot for a one-time option from Mitch's pass on the right wall (like caps do with oshie).

they should move kadri and matthews to the 2nd unit


Left wall - screen - slot - right wall - point

PP1
Johnsson-Tavares-Kapanen-Marner-Rielly

PP2
Nylander (one-timer option)-Marleau-Kadri-Matthews (one-timer option)-Gardiner

splint the mins between the PP units (like they are doing anyway); whichever unit scores it starts the next PP

IMO Matthews is being wasted on PP1; Marner's pass to the slot Kadri is not useful as kadri shoots left; marner's pass to Matthews is well covered always, Kadri's tips from marner are pathetic (way to soft and easy to save); Rielly hardly takes any point shots so not sure what the hell is rielly even doing on the PP

Matthews only gets passes from Rielly and then looks for rebounds if available. Cross ice pass is very well covered by teh teams, he is not going to get a pass from Marner easily - like out of 15 PPs marner may be able to get his pass to matthews like may be once; thats just not good enough.

Matthews and Nylander need to play together on the 2nd PP unit and should be positioned for one-timers

 

[PromisedLand]

we couldn't beat elite teams like TB and Nashville.
I'm getting sick and tired of this.
Leafs big brass is responsible for not fixing the problems.
I'm not going to bash Dubas because he's a rookie GM.

as much as I despise the defensive structure leafs play with and their stupid stretch pass systems and leaving d-men out to dry

I think tampa game was completely dominated by teh leafs, vasy just went god mode in that game

 

[PromisedLand]

Thought the team played a decent period and change WITH Hutch in net against a Western beast with a Vezina caliber goalie who just got Forsberg back. Not bad...not bad at all. Other than the 3rd period...yikes!

Won't give any crazy hot take but we've beat the Predators a bit the last few years so you're bound to lose one eventually. They are a well-oiled machine so nothing wrong in losing to that quality. I hope we can find a Matthias Ekholm. What a beauty dman.


A quote by Babcock I liked was when he said "playing heavy is a state of mind."

I agree with this in a sense, you don't need to get 'heavy' players. But if you have players with high hockey IQ and who work smart you can be in the right spots to retrieve pucks or disrupt the forecheck. Playing fast is not only about skating fast, it's thinking the game FAST.

Completely agree with that quote. That quote can basially be drilled down to:

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

 

[Slyfox]

Thinking fast is a huge problem on the d-end. Guys like Zaitsev might skate well but he thinks the game at a below average level. The goal which Nylander tipped all started cause Zaitsev couldn't exit the zone and the NSH fwd shot it on net causing a faceoff. Watch how the Nashvilles dmen transition the puck. Thing of beauty.

 

[Bluelines]

Agree 100 %
Been saying this for awhile now but when we talk about being heavier, adding dump and chase/forecheck/heavy play to our game, it seems to be taken as add goons.

No. We can’t just be a stretch pass team.

Would love to have a young Wayne Simmonds type, Smith Pelly and Wilson in last years playoffs really gave Washington a power forward element that they had lacked in years past, and gave the other teams multiple looks/ things to deal with, they had, elite skill with Ovie, Backstrom and Kuznetzov, elite power forwards with Simmonds and Smit Pelly, great goaltending. They may have not been the most skilled team but they were definitely the best balanced team.

Leafs are not a well balanced team right now, great skill, elite forwards and Rielly and Andersen but not well balanced.

 

[zeke]

Frustrating game.

Leafs dominated the scoring chances for 2 periods, and they were dummying their dmen for long stretches, and that called back goal was just a killer.

Unfortunately, the leafs also wasted most of their prime chances by missing the net. Add in 2 fluky point shots getting past our 3rd string goalie, and that's all she wrote.

 

[zeke]

Thinking fast is a huge problem on the d-end. Guys like Zaitsev might skate well but he thinks the game at a below average level. The goal which Nylander tipped all started cause Zaitsev couldn't exit the zone and the NSH fwd shot it on net causing a faceoff. Watch how the Nashvilles dmen transition the puck. Thing of beauty.

a team like the preds will always spend some shifts in the offensive zone, but in the end, it was still just a random last-resort point shot that fluked into the net.

 

[Nineteen67]

a team like the preds will always spend some shifts in the offensive zone, but in the end, it was still just a random last-resort point shot that fluked into the net.

We used to call those set plays. Wide open point man shooting at the net while guys screen the goalie.

 

[I am Canadian]

for me, it's really disappointing to be shut out at all, let alone twice in the last 5 games. The guy's should be downright embarrassed. A team with offensive talents like Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Kadri should NEVER get shut out. Need some heart and compete from those guys mentioned.

 

[mrbagina]

Glad I skipped this one..

It was a good game. Leafs had their chances but to me Nashville is one hard working talented team. That is a seasoned team who has been there done that and it shows. Leafs put up a good effort overall but I don't see them beating a team like Nashville in a 7 game series, not yet anyway.

 

[BlueForever75]

Let's put it this way, for any line you need to cross (no matter what side you are on) you need the puck to fully cross before being consider out of that zone and into the next one.

So to gain the offensive zone, the puck needs to fully cross the blue line first.

To clear your own defensive zone, the puck needs to fully cross the blue line first.

To score a goal you need to fully cross the goal line.

I understand the current rules. Totally do. What I am saying is that it is flawed. The blue line regardless of clearing the defensive zone or entering it should be inclusive of the zone entering or exiting. If its inclusive when exiting it should be that way when entering. It removes any replays really that are necessary and it is cut-dry in both circumstances. Any part of puck touching line counts as a clean exit of entrance. As any part of the puck touching goaline isn't a goal regardless of how much of the puck is touching it.

 

[Warden of the North]

Pretty much

 

[zeke]

We used to call those set plays. Wide open point man shooting at the net while guys screen the goalie.

yep. we score goals like that all the time.

 

[pylon17]

We used to call those set plays. Wide open point man shooting at the net while guys screen the goalie.

LOL

 

[Mr Hockey]

Pretty much

I can't stand the offside review, its bs

 

[JT AM da real deal]

The game was controlled by Nashville's backend. They clearly dominated the game. But Leafs did create a few chances to score in 1st and 2nd. After the over turned goal things went downhill. We lost our momentum and drive. While we can all say it should not happen fact is whether your an nhler or not those kinda things do affect play and games. I asked my son if there is a blue line camera on that side of ice at Scotia and he said there is none. The offside video is all the NHL side saw. So someone who did not actually see the puck made a call on that play and made an assumption which over turned the refs call. That is flat out wrong and should never ever happen. The video is also too far away from the puck and i am not even sure the angle is right. When I go down to game on Saturday night I am going to take a real close view where that camera is setup and located. The spirit of the whole thing has been lost and we are relying on some suspect technology and placement of that technology to make game changing decisions. This is all very wrong to me.

 

[ECanuck]

Lots of time and lots of games left but there does seem to be a how to book on beating the Leafs. The Cup contenders tend be more successful.
They had a nice cushion that’s down to 4 points and it’s not out of the question they’ll be passed by Boston this week.

Yes it may seem like that but the numbers show we have the upper hand on teams when it comes to how to beat them!

 

[francis246]

Agree but I don't see how we can acquire those pieces without taking away from our NHL roster. I prefer to move Willie and his contract for a dman rather than Kappy but who is going to take Willie before July 2nd ? We might be able to get Simmonds for a pick and a prospect though.

I think the dman for this year you pick up is rental that you can move picks for. Also at this years deadline try and get simmonds, maybe we move Moore or Brown + a pick or Bracco. Simmonds is on a cost effective contract

Trade Willy on July 2nd for a dman with Term (Pietrangelo or Parayko or Vince Dunn) i’d Target St. Louis as a trading partner

 

[CelticDruid]

Obviously you have not been watching Willie and Moore. You might want to give a listen to what Carlo Colo, Marc Savard and the coach think of Willie's play. With Hyman coming out, Willie deserves to be the next to sit but we know that won't happen, but not because of his poor play.

I've been watching and everyone has to step up as far as I'm concerned. No one gets a free pass.

Especially the likes of Kadri and Brown.

 

[ToneDog]

I think the dman for this year you pick up is rental that you can move picks for. Also at this years deadline try and get simmonds, maybe we move Moore or Brown + a pick or Bracco. Simmonds is on a cost effective contract

Trade Willy on July 2nd for a dman with Term (Pietrangelo or Parayko or Vince Dunn) i’d Target St. Louis as a trading partner

AP is attractive this year because he gives you two runs at the Cup. He would be a great catch but I can't see Leafs offering what it would take to acquire him. As such I would agree we target rentals this year and target a dman in the summer.