Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose 3-2, special teams SUCKS again

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Mess

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Feb 27, 2002
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He manhandled Gardiner.

Leafs need player(s) that can knock people off the puck to get possession not just stick checking all the time.

Big hits the separate the puck carrier for the puck are a great asset to have in the tool box.

Nick Foligno said it best when he said the Leafs don't like to play in their own zone particularly their Dman that can be easily overpowered physically and forced into costly turnovers.
 

VanW27

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Jun 9, 2003
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Anyone know our special teams +/-, meaning PP and SH goals for vs PP and SH goals against, over the last 20 games?

Its gotta be bad
 

Vaive50

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Dec 24, 2015
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We need to come down to earth. The Leafs are just a average team . It is what it is .

Oh right, just an average team and yet we have the 3rd most wins in the league, 3rd most row, 3 highest goal differential, 4th most goals for, 5th least goals against ......and this is after 3 straight losses. We're 28-0-0 (best in the league) when leading after 2 periods. So now that Winnipeg has lost 3 in a row, they're just average also. Well geez, even the Blues lost to an inferior Stars team.

This game is over now, the Leafs have more important things to look forward to tomorrow, if they beat the Habs (in regulation), we'll have our 5 point lead again, I don't even want to mention what if they lose. Last year, Washington finished the season with the exact same record as the Leafs while losing games to bottom feeders that made them look very weak but they got their act together when the playoffs came around.
 

ECanuck

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Jan 7, 2010
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Oh right, just an average team and yet we have the 3rd most wins in the league, 3rd most row, 3 highest goal differential, 4th most goals for, 5th least goals against ......and this is after 3 straight losses. We're 28-0-0 (best in the league) when leading after 2 periods. So now that Winnipeg has lost 3 in a row, they're just average also. Well geez, even the Blues lost to an inferior Stars team.

This game is over now, the Leafs have more important things to look forward to tomorrow, if they beat the Habs (in regulation), we'll have our 5 point lead again, I don't even want to mention what if they lose. Last year, Washington finished the season with the exact same record as the Leafs while losing games to bottom feeders that made them look very weak but they got their act together when the playoffs came around.

They were a bounce away from going out in the first round again. I must say though they flipped a switch in OT (3rd game) and weren't giving a f***ing millimeter on the ice. After that it's all history now.
 

Gary Nylund

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Oct 10, 2013
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Oh right, just an average team and yet we have the 3rd most wins in the league, 3rd most row, 3 highest goal differential, 4th most goals for, 5th least goals against ......and this is after 3 straight losses. We're 28-0-0 (best in the league) when leading after 2 periods. So now that Winnipeg has lost 3 in a row, they're just average also. Well geez, even the Blues lost to an inferior Stars team.

This game is over now, the Leafs have more important things to look forward to tomorrow, if they beat the Habs (in regulation), we'll have our 5 point lead again, I don't even want to mention what if they lose. Last year, Washington finished the season with the exact same record as the Leafs while losing games to bottom feeders that made them look very weak but they got their act together when the playoffs came around.

We're definitely better than an "average team". But at the same time, it's fair for people to wonder why we aren't better and why are we underachieving which we surely are, at least we are IMHO. Last year we had a PTS% of .640, we added Tavares and then we added Muzzin and our PTS% today is .633. So why aren't we better?

In the end, all that matters is how we do in the playoffs. If we fall into a WC spot but win a couple of rounds, nobody's gonna care that we we were in fact average for the last 3 months of the season. Pick up the pace, finish 2nd overall but lose to Boston again in the 1st round and 2nd overall is going to be worthless as a consolation prize.

Which way will it go for us in the playoffs? Who knows? I still believe we can be fantastic and if we become "all we can be", we can beat Boston, we can beat TB and we can beat anyone else for that matter and win the cup. At the same time, the fact that we don't seem to be very close to being "all we can be" at this point in time is making me ... uneasy. And if we do lose to flipping Boston again (or perhaps even worse NYI) in the first round, this will be the longest summer ever.
 

Trapper

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Nov 21, 2013
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First order of business.
Do we have a D Corp that can get the puck out of our zone consistently, quickly and efficiently while absorbing the opposition cycle?

Start there.
 
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Joedoggy

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Feb 7, 2017
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Leafs need player(s) that can knock people off the puck to get possession not just stick checking all the time.

Big hits the separate the puck carrier for the puck are a great asset to have in the tool box.

Nick Foligno said it best when he said the Leafs don't like to play in their own zone particularly their Dman that can be easily overpowered physically and forced into costly turnovers.

Yes they do ...a good example of such was watching the Islanders /Oilers last eve....Isles 4th line who plays all the leagues top lines, did not allow the McDavid line a sniff of a goal...and its not only the hits the Martins/Clutter/Ciz make...that separate player from puck..its the thought of getting hit by a Martin that keeps everyones head up and often turning over pucks....and i mean clean clean hits...Leafs Euro style wants for this type of player...yet Mikey Knew not how to play the player....He surrounded himself with one style of Euro player and wants to play NHL playoff hockey?....No Mikey
 

TMLS

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Oct 30, 2013
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Cant wait for Babcock to get fired once we get knocked out of the 1st round again. Imagine not knowing how to do lines even when you have a stacked team like we do. Best coach ever btw.
 
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Bomber0104

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Cant wait for Babcock to get fired once we get knocked out of the 1st round again. Imagine not knowing how to do lines even when you have a stacked team like we do. Best coach ever btw.

This team is a few years removed from dead last, and has never won a playoff round..

At what point did it become "stacked" ?
 

BigGulpsEh

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Feb 20, 2017
3,113
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Some major flaws to this team as everyone knows. No excuse why our PP is so bad and predicatable. Players are accountable for that but I think it’s more on The PP coach. He needs to go. Team needs a fresh look and strategy.

Its frustrating knowing we have such high skilled guys yet the effort level and chemistry is way off at times. Some of that rests on The players and need to compete better. Majority I believe is the coaching and some inept decisions

My confidence in this coaching staff
Is dwindling. I’m skeptical Babcock is the right guy to win us a cup
 
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Mess

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Feb 27, 2002
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Time and time again

One of my pet peeves with the Leafs is exactly that particularly point.. Leafs defense is scared of getting hit and when they hear footsteps they panic and throw the puck away like a hot potato before they get hit.

Gardiner is the worst at this but Zaits does it also quite often. Teams dump the puck in behind the goal line and charge in and Leafs dmen panic.
 

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
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Lol the hate for dubas is hilarious. It's not his fault Babcock likes to not use an optimal line up. Where are all of tampas tough players? I bet if we had tampas team there would still be people complaining that we don't have enough grit.
It is his fault he overpays.
 

RLF

Registered User
May 5, 2014
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One of my pet peeves with the Leafs is exactly that particularly point.. Leafs defense is scared of getting hit and when they hear footsteps they panic and throw the puck away like a hot potato before they get hit.
Not just our D.
 

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
20,128
10,638
Cant wait for Babcock to get fired once we get knocked out of the 1st round again. Imagine not knowing how to do lines even when you have a stacked team like we do. Best coach ever btw.

Would never happen.

We are flawed like every team.

We have weakness on LW and RD more than many other contenders.

We've also got the most expensive player in the league.
 

8816 others

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Dec 3, 2012
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utzTCyo.png
 

Bomber0104

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Apr 8, 2007
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Burlington
Pierre McGuire thinks best fit for Leafs is Josh Anderson. Called him Tom Wilson with more skill. Then said these players are drafted.

Teams rarely give up their power forwards.

I mean how did the Flyers land Simmonds again? Had to trade them Mike Richards right?
 
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