Series Talk: Leafs vs Bruins - 'ah shit here we go again' edition -- Full schedule post #933

[aingefan]

Great... I'm gonna hate Italian food real soon.

f***ing Pasta...

Hate that mofo

Good point.
Everyone should EAT pasta every game night to inspire the boys.
But they can chew him up and spit em out.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

It's a funny team our Leafs.

Which team shows up against Boston... who knows?

That's true against RANDOM opponents.

It's untrue vs Boston.

They have dominated us for two years.

The drubbing a month ago was embarrassing.

We haven't scored in the first period vs Boston - ALL YEAR - another sign we were dominated.

 

[OVO16]

Bruins are the elite floppers. Yeah honestly the officiating are gonna screw us heavy. I already see it.

The narrative "leafs aren't allowed to be tough" is actually correct. In any scrum the Leafs will be shorthanded

 

[Evilhomer]

That's every team in the league. The difference is how many times each team has the ability to do this.

Boston does it way more frequently than we do.

The irony is that Boston fans are probably saying all of the same things as Toronto fans. The reality is that it's a series between two playoff failures.

 

[1specter]

Not exactly entering the playoffs on a strong note.

4 straight losses while attempting to secure home ice in round #1 with 3 different Leaf goalies all surrendering 5 or more goals.

View attachment 855128

Leafs likely starter Sammy allowing 11 goals against posting a .700 sv% surrendering 6 against NJ and then 5 goals (.844 sv%) against 2 non playoff teams.

A Leafs team far to focused on personal best player marks, then preparing as a team for what is expected to be a hard fought and physical series, which to me shows a lack of maturity and misguided priorities not putting team and playoff success first and foremost in preparation for what is ahead. IMO

As has been stated ad nauseum, trying to draw significant conclusions from the final stretch of regular season games for teams who had their playoff spot locked in eons ago is generally a fruitless exercise. Just looking at the last two weeks of the season for the previous 5 years of Cup champs:

Vegas went 5-0-2 going into the playoffs last year
Colorado won 1 of their final 7 games of the season in 2022
Lightning went 2-3-1 in their final 6 games of the season in 2021
Lightning went 3-4-1 in their final 10 games of the 2020 season (this followed a 60+ win season where they infamously choked)
Blues went 5-1-1 in their final 7 games of the 2019 season

Looks like a fairly mixed bag to me. Context is also important - Vegas had missed the playoffs the previous season and were trying to lock up the division and it came down to the wire between them and the Oilers, and St.Louis in 2019 had been last place in the West in December and went on an insane second half heater with Berube to work back into a divisional playoff spot. Colorado and Tampa had their positions locked up and didn't really have anything to play for by the end (Colorado had already won the West by the time April rolled around), not dissimilar to the Leafs who were firmly locked in the third spot. Tampa also made NHL history in 2019 and fell flat on their faces and began to focus solely on playoffs after that.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Going to be so weird seeing playoff JVR against us in a Boston jersey

 

[HamiltonNHL]

more bad news.

2 victories in their barn since Nov 2017 (regular season)

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Has any team .... anytime in the cap era, had such poor GAA (= sum of Defense and Goalies) and won a cup ?


seems almost impossible.

 

[nuck]

Need a goalie to step up. Any goalie please, although I think Jones is out. One start in two months isn't enough to keep sharp and it showed. Enough sandbagging Sheldon. Lets see what you've learned in the last 4 years.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

If both 1st lines totally blank each other every game which team will score more?

 

[peconcan]

It seems in the past with the goalies the biggest issue was giving up the untimely soft goal.
I don't think there's much the defense can do about that.


Why is that important?

Because some of us work nights during the week and prefer getting to actually watch on the weekend lol

 

[mjd1001]

Need a goalie to step up. Any goalie please, although I think Jones is out. One start in two months isn't enough to keep sharp and it showed. Enough sandbagging Sheldon. Lets see what you've learned in the last 4 years.

Agreed.

Boston just gets more consistent goaltending. I think when you look at Swayman and Ulmark, the worst save percentage they had in any single game this year was something like .808 (that rings a bell, I'd have to look it up to confirm it.) That is the WORST start they had the entire year.

Now look at the Leaf's goaltending, I think it was 8 times (maybe 9 times) their starting goalie had a Save percentage worse than that, sometimes a LOT worse.

The absolute worst start by a Bruins goalie ALL year, the single one game they had the lowest save percentage.....The Leafs goalies have a game worse than that (again, sometimes a lot worse) on average about every 2-3 weeks.

 

[Rob Brown]

View attachment 855145

more bad news.

2 victories in their barn since Nov 2017 (regular season)

Wouldn't the playoff results at the Garden be more relevant?

 

[Evilhomer]

Boston just gets more consistent goaltending.

As long as you ignore the playoffs, yes.

 

[ACC1224]

Game 3 Wednesday and game 4 Saturday is a nice break in the middle of the series. Lets hope we are up 2-1 heading into that break.

Maybe some of the crazier Leaf fans can figure out which Hotel Boston will be staying at during that break.

I just love a Saturday night playoff game

Fair enough, never really consider which day it is.

I know when attending I much prefer weekdays to weekends.

 

[Evilhomer]

Wouldn't the playoff results at the Garden be more relevant?

Why let small details get in the way of a good narrative?

This series will obviously get the most media hype, but both teams have equally poor playoff success over the last several years.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Wouldn't the playoff results at the Garden be more relevant?

Please add them !

Yes and No, they are from a loooooonng time ago.

 

[Rob Brown]

Please add them !

Yes and No, they are from a loooooonng time ago.

For sure, I just think the playoff record in that barn is more relevant as it's a totally different environment. Shows that they have the ability to win there in the playoffs.

2018 - 1-3 at TD Garden
2019 - 2-2 at TD Garden

 

[Drytoast]

The irony is that Boston fans are probably saying all of the same things as Toronto fans. The reality is that it's a series between two playoff failures.

one team in recent times has the other team's number, has better goaltending and has gone deeper in the playoffs.

 

[Suntouchable13]

In 2019, we had a 3-2 series lead. Finish the job this time.

 

[leafsfan5]

In 2019, we had a 3-2 series lead. Finish the job this time.

When Mo made it 1-0 early in the first I really thought we had it....

 

[wingman75]

For sure, I just think the playoff record in that barn is more relevant as it's a totally different environment. Shows that they have the ability to win there in the playoffs.

2018 - 1-3 at TD Garden
2019 - 2-2 at TD Garden

So... 2024 - 3-1 at TD Garden?

Does that mean it has to go to game 7? lol

 

[HamiltonNHL]

When Mo made it 1-0 early in the first I really thought we had it....

No lead has been safe for a few YEARS now.

 

[Rob Brown]

So... 2024 - 3-1 at TD Garden?

Does that mean it has to go to game 7? lol

I sure hope not!

Before the first round last year we ALWAYS went to the max # of games with the exception of 2017 vs. Washington (I'm also counting the dumb series vs. Columbus since it was a max of 5 games). I'm hoping that since we broke the max games streak last year that this one will be wrapped up in less than 7 lol. I'm picking Leafs in 6 for a home win. Do what the team couldn't in 2019.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Does that mean it has to go to game 7? lol

You basically know it's going to happen.