Post-Game Talk: Leafs Lose in SO

[Bigleaf]

Lol @ you guys blaming Kessel.

Why? Is Kessel above criticism? His giveaway directly led to the tying goal and his shootout attempt was awful, as usual.

Nobody is denying he is our best player but he deserves criticism just like everyone else when it's warranted, and last night it was.

 

[BertCorbeau]

The Leafs had a 1 goal lead heading into the third, and were shorthanded for 13 .. 13 minutes in the third including that 5 minutes major on the road .. And manage to get out of the third with a tie .. All those PIMs in the third, no wonder the Leafs were flat that whole period

Yes the Kessel giveaway was bad .. But the bounce off his skate was just unlucky... Probably Kessel's worse mistake all year, they've come few and far between

The Leafs almost had it in OT too .. They controlled that period

Overall it was a solid road game against a team that plays a very defensive, cycle based game .. Just got shafted on a make up call in the third and were a bit unlucky at the end

Let's also not forget Minny's been one of the hottest teams in the league as of late and the Leafs held them to 1 goal .. The offensive is out of sync with the injuries but I'm glad to see they are tightening up a bit in their own end

 

[Raging Bull]

Rielly looked great last night for the most part too, too bad he didn't get a little more on that shot in OT, would have been a great first goal.

 

[saffronleaf]

Silver lining to the loss was Dion's play. He's been amazing this year.

 

[saffronleaf]

And you can't compare Lucic's situation with Kadri's.

Colin Campbell's spawn doesn't play for the Leafs.

 

[Wami]

Kessel looked like a potato out there. JVR isn't excelling at the center position yet and that first line looked a lot like a third line. I'm loving Clarkson's compete level, his goals will come and he's playing well. Kulemin is literally the most underrated player on our team, guy is going to be on the Russian Olympic team as the do-it-all grinder who dominates. Saw some great play from Gunnar that I've been missing for a long time. I was impressed with our whole d-core last night really.

Lupul was invisible, although I'm getting a feeling it's less to do with his play and more to do with coaching and all those penalties. Ashton is one of the hardest workers on the ice. All smithson can really do is win faceoffs. Raymond was ok... I know he scored a goal but we're getting a sense of how invisible the guy can really be... breakaway notwithstanding. Gardiner needs to f'ing score already.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Kessel looked like a potato out there. JVR isn't excelling at the center position yet and that first line looked a lot like a third line. I'm loving Clarkson's compete level, his goals will come and he's playing well. Kulemin is literally the most underrated player on our team, guy is going to be on the Russian Olympic team as the do-it-all grinder who dominates. Saw some great play from Gunnar that I've been missing for a long time. I was impressed with our whole d-core last night really.

Lupul was invisible, although I'm getting a feeling it's less to do with his play and more to do with coaching and all those penalties. Ashton is one of the hardest workers on the ice. All smithson can really do is win faceoffs. Raymond was ok... I know he scored a goal but we're getting a sense of how invisible the guy can really be... breakaway notwithstanding. Gardiner needs to f'ing score already.

Except for the Lupul comment, yes, I agree. Good analysis!

 

[JackJ]

Put JVR back on the wing and Raymond up the middle.

JVR Raymond Kessel

 

[Clark4Ever]

Why? Is Kessel above criticism? His giveaway directly led to the tying goal and his shootout attempt was awful, as usual.

Nobody is denying he is our best player but he deserves criticism just like everyone else when it's warranted, and last night it was.

No argument there, but he has won more than enough games for this team to deserve being cut some slack. Last night was the first time I recall Kessel costing this team a point.

 

[Faltorvo]

Solid road point,

Minny has the 3nd best home record in the NHL and is on a serious hot streak ATM.

Fluke goal cost us a point, meh, so what.

 

[FreeBird]

Solid road point,

Minny has the 3nd best home record in the NHL and is on a serious hot streak ATM.

Fluke goal cost us a point, meh, so what.

Fluke how can you say that, Kessel threaded a perfect pass to set that goal up.

 

[gabeliscious]

Fluke how can you say that, Kessel threaded a perfect pass to set that goal up.

puck went off his skate. not disputing he should have got the puck out of the defensive zone but on the pass across it went off his skate and in. its a bummer play but what are you going to do. im sure the coaching staff well let him know he needs to be better when breaking out of the zone and not pass the puck up the middle. im sure the guy is upset about the situation too. its not like he meant to do it.

 

[Levenah]

The atmosphere at the game was pretty pathetic. They fans sat there, and didn't really cheer or do anything. Most around us were talking loudly about other things. It wasn't until the Kadri hit, did people start to wake up. People complain about the ACC seats not filling up? They should visit the Wild. I saw entire upper level sections that had 4-5 people in it. For a team with that record, and says they're the "state of hockey", I thought it would have been different. Hundreds of leafs fans though.

Pretty impressed with Ashton last night. Not sure what some of our top players were doing. Glad special teams were able to keep us afloat.

Should have been ours, but time to move on and focus on Buffalo.

 

[Dangles McGavin]

Shoot out lineup should be:
JVR
Lupul
Clarkson

People who can actually score in a shootout.

 

[indigobuffalo]

****ing Kessel cost us the game.

More like Kadri cost the game. Taking all those penalties... and the ejection. Gotta play with some sense considering that the Leafs haven't got any other centremen...

 

[Kingstonian84*]

More like Kadri cost the game. Taking all those penalties... and the ejection. Gotta play with some sense considering that the Leafs haven't got any other centremen...

As much as I thought Kadri was a dirty little weasel last game he wasn't the reason we lost, give your head a shake if you watched we killed off the 5 minute major and his 2 min interference one! We lost because we couldnt' get our offense going anytime you score only 1 goal its usually a recipe for disaster, that and Kessel with that boneheaded defensive play cost us the game.

 

[indigobuffalo]

Shoot out lineup should be:
JVR
Lupul
Clarkson

People who can actually score in a shootout.

Carlyle needs to actually take some time in practice to figure out who he should never let take a shootout...

What really makes me wonder about Kessel is that he is 100% a shooter and never dekes... can't have a one-read player taking shootouts. Goalies know man, they just know....