Post-Game Talk: Leafs lose ... On the brink of elimination

[stickty111]

Matthews is NOT built for Toronto... say what you want but this lad needs to be shipped back home for some young prospects and picks

Wrong.

 

[Loosie]

That is very false. Plenty of tough saves through traffic. A 2 on 1 on Marleau, a great glove save on Moore. He didn't let in any softies.

Rask has competely dominated Andersen so far this series.

Andersen didn't let in any softies tonight either.

 

[thewave]

Very costly experience asset wise. I am not going to complain about the Pleks thing even just because he probably took out Bergeron and helped give us a chance. So sad to see Matthew and Nylander playing such uninspired games.

 

[Sniper99]

Can Tavares play the blueline?

 

[TimeZone]

Can't even beat them without their best player.

Outplayed them handily for 40 minutes, didn't get f*** all to show for it...zero finish. Matthews and Nylander make me want to vomit.

 

[Havoc]

Don't wanna rag on the team. Game was good. Individual mishaps cost us. Gonna keep my energy positive for Saturday.

I'll blame our shitty division for the first 2 games. We couldn't go up or down for 90 percent of the season. Cruise control the whole time. No killer instinct allowed to brew.

Came into the playoffs with cruise control habits. No heat from panthers, wings, habs etc. Win 4 in a row still make no ground on bruins and bolts.

We could have won this game. This is the series we were expecting with Boston. Both teams having a chance to win every game and most likely needing 7 games. If this was game 2 we wouldn't be worrying. We'd just say we'll get the next one.

But down 3-1 with that +2 handicap we gave them.....not looking good.


I'm still saying Leafs in 7, especially if Berg is still out with Kadri back.

 

[Mitchy]

Leafs had more shots, shot attempts and scoring chances, but were unable to convert, while the Bruins were able to capitalize on the ones they got. Credit to Rask. He made the saves he needed to and made some tough ones as well (Marner breakaway, Moore 2 on 1 etc.)

Also, credit to Boston for clogging up the slot. They have completely frustrated the Leafs there in this series.

 

[Nithoniniel]

This series has been an all out disappointment so far. I count maybe 5 players who have been as good as should have reasonably been expected. A few more as question marks.

Also, it's easy to talk about bounces deciding the game. The thing is that those bounces becomes goals due to a series of bad decisions. The puck bounced on the Bruins too, but they evaluate situations, they make sure that both puck and player can't get by them, and they have constant back support. That's how their bounces turn into nothing, and our bounces turn into game-deciding chances.

We look like a young and dumb team getting taught a lesson.

 

[TheKingSlayer]

They play like they either have zero confidence in Andersen, or nobody has taught them how to defend a 2 on 1... seriously... some brutal f***ing defense again. Offense remains inept.

It has become very clear to me that Nylander is either a center or does not have a future as a winger on this team. He likes to carry the play, not engage in the play. Without PP time, he's basically a ghost. Move him to the 4th line for game 5 and promote someone who gives a shit.

It's really too bad. We had the jump, just not the execution and Boston capitalized on the two chances they had on top of the lucky first goal. Sigh. Stupid playoffs making me all angry and emotional and stuff. Blarg.

 

[Mats13]

Hainsey has been awful all f***ing series.

He was actively killing offence today.

Also people should remember Matthews is playing through a shoulder injury.

 

[KIWILEAFFAN]

Dunno why but I am not worried or upset.
I thought the bruins looked tired and were lucky on some blue line miss plays that won them the game.

It looks bad now and I can't explain it but my gut feeling is the Leafs are still going to win the series.

 

[htpwn]

They were the better team in the 1st. They were dominant in the 2nd. I want to say they deserved this one, but after that 3rd? I can't. The Bruins are as good as any team in the NHL at shutting down their opponents, but as good as they were, the Leafs did it to themselves. How many times in the 3rd did the Leafs dump it in and just skate up to the Bruins defenseman instead of throwing a hit? How many times did they win a puck battle? Would they have come back if they kept up their play? I don't know. But I do know the answer is not to stop skating. No team hoping to compete for a Cup should have that mind set. The series isn't over -- a far worse Leafs team almost came back in 2013 and the return of Nazem Kadri will help -- but the fat lady is warming up. Not a lot of reason to be hopeful at the moment.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

The Leafs REALLY struggle without the stretch pass.

 

[Fabs]

Outside of that one goal Matthews scored from Nylander last game those 2 have been invisible. Disgraceful effort by 2 of our top players.

 

[The List Of Jericho]

Imagine early last week someone were to say "What are our chances to win if Matthews is utterly invisible and Andersen has a .850 save percentage?"

We would have all said zero percent.

Well... that's what's happened.

If Matthews wakes up and Andersen decides to play hockey... well... then we'd have a series. But they've been terrible at a level that is shameful and humiliating.

It’s no coincendence that Matthews hasn’t been great with Nylander playing the way he is. The Bruins can key in on him even more, Nylander usually generates space with his speed. Seen none of it.

 

[Community]

I'm not giving up on the team this year yet as they've won 3 in a row lots of time this year, but I do like that the majority of the youth movement looked good (except Matthews and Nylander.... I think for Matthews it's the lingering injury and I'm not sure what's wrong with Nylander). Kapanen, Johnsson, Marner, and Rielly have looked great the last few games. Bodes well for next year.


If Andersen gets back in his groove, we can still win this series. Kadri coming back will give us a bit more swagger and hopefully he can contribute in the slot and get on some of these rebounds.

We had lots of possession and screened shots, but nobody was getting in on the rebounds in the slot. Part of the reason is Chara and his huge reach/stick length, but come on... We gotta be pushing harder in the slot for rebounds.

JVR, Matthews, and Nylander need to get going if we want to win the next game.

 

[AvroArrow]

Zaitsev needs to go. Absolute garbage on D. The dumb plays by him and Polak cost us the game. Rask robbed us in the first two periods, gave his team a chance to win. The effort was there, we had two bad plays defensively and they made us pay for it. Sucks, this was the game we played the best so far in the series and we come up with the L because of two bonehead plays.

Nylander has been a ghost this series too.

We absolutely outplayed them in damn near every aspect of the game, Rask has been the MVP imo. If he doesn't make those early saves, his teams down by 2-3 goals and the entire momentum of the game changes.

 

[djdev]

well...this is the way im going to look at it. if we win in boston we are back to where we NEED to win at home..its not over yet, maybe kadri gives us the spark we need...but man our game changers need to start changing some games (outside of marner)

 

[La Masse]

Cant beat a poor team missing their best player is inexcusable

 

[Oskar The Groucho]

Hainsey has been awful all ****ing series.

He was actively killing offence today.

Also people should remember Matthews is playing through a shoulder injury.

I keep telling people this. He is injured. He needs surgery asap and the longer he plays the longer he will be out

 

[justafan22]

Indivudalism sunk this team.

 

[Superstar]

Very disappointing...we gave the game away with those 2 bad defensive pinches...there was really no need to pinch like that when the game was tied and we were in control or just being down by 1 with almost an entire period to play...not patient enough...we sunk our own ship...it's clear we need to upgrade our defense in the offseason...hopefully with Kadri back, we take game 5 and bring the series back to Toronto.

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Our defence is shit, plain and simple. We all knew it wasn’t good enough, so we have to hope Lou fixes this because if you know hockey, it’s just not good enough. Sure Matthews and Nylander were invisible, but unless Andersen plays like he did midsession, our defensive deficiencies are exposed.

 

[IPS]

I'm not kidding I seriously think we come back from 3-1 down.

What happens in game 7 I don't know.

 

[sxvnert]

Forwards and goaltender was fine (minus the first goal).
The entire D core is the most disgusting collection of six players I've ever seen. Wholesale changes on the backend this summer.