Post-Game Talk: Leafs win 2-1

[Darch]

A bit of puck luck. That was nice for a change.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

Q: What kind of Habs fan cheers for the f***ing Bruins?
A: a shitty one.

Sena fans I expect it because they just got done throwing drinks everywhere and it's salty up there

 

[tom leafers]

The penalty against Marchand was comical. Bertuzzi jumped into him.

Even the panel said they thought it was a make up call for all the shit Marchand was getting away with. The refs are also probably tired of watching Marchand flop around.

Just ask Bunting. you can only get so many calls your way before refs stop giving you the benefit of the doubt

 

[ACC1224]

The penalty against Marchand was comical. Bertuzzi jumped into him.

Yeah that was a pretty bad call.

 

[notbias]

Haven't posted in a few days, just checking, do we still hate the team and want to trade everyone including Carlton?

Was a great defensive game last night, hope they keep it up moving forward

Clogged up the middle, sacrificing the body, and Woll was great when he had to be.

 

[Jojalu]

5on5 goals are 10-8 for the Leafs. HD chances are almost equal (slight edge B's), xGF% is almost equal (slight edge good guys)

Boston's hit their share of posts as well. Coyle last game, a number in game 1.

It's tight, very tight.

The one thing the Leafs have is although they havn't generated enough chances from it, is they have the puck a lot in Boston's end.

Hard to score when the Leafs have the puck so much. But they need to turn the possession advantage into goals

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Haven't posted in a few days, just checking, do we still hate the team and want to trade everyone including Carlton?

I’ll give you an answer after Saturday night

 

[Gallagbi]

The one thing the Leafs have is although they havn't generated enough chances from it, is they have the puck a lot in Boston's end.

Hard to score when the Leafs have the puck so much. But they need to turn the possession advantage into goals

We've started both of the last two very strong. I thought Boston carried the play and had us hemmed a lot over the final 40 yesterday. Somewhat to be expected, but I do wonder what the actual possession time is like.

I thought we carried the play more when it was even in the last 2 games though

 

[DraftSchmaft]

To be fair to Mitch, while he's struggled HARD offensively, he was a defensive presence last game.

I know we need more out of our $11M player but he was definitely a contributor.

I'm with you though. Bring it Mitch!

Our big D have crushed Marchand hard and even this old man won a game with multiple points for his team.

Marner owes us a big game this series and luckily it will fall on the biggest one yet. Hopefully he delivers. He's not here to play the shutdown 3rd line C role. He's our superstar.

 

[Stephen]

Our big D have crushed Marchand hard and even this old man won a game with multiple points for his team.

Marner owes us a big game this series and luckily it will fall on the biggest one yet. Hopefully he delivers. He's not here to play the shutdown 3rd line C role. He's our superstar.

As long as the team is winning I don’t care what and how Marner is contributing as long as he’s contributing something. But obviously our chances of winning go up if he’s at his offensive peak.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

As long as the team is winning I don’t care what and how Marner is contributing as long as he’s contributing something. But obviously our chances of winning go up if he’s at his offensive peak.

I definitely love what Marner is doing defensively but all I'm saying is at least ONE game per series he should be expected to be an offensive juggernaut, hence the 3rd line C comparison.

The time to win us a game on his back is now.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

A bit of puck luck. That was nice for a change.

indeed.

Parity Era hockey is about draft luck and puck luck.

 

[Jojalu]

We've started both of the last two very strong. I thought Boston carried the play and had us hemmed a lot over the final 40 yesterday. Somewhat to be expected, but I do wonder what the actual possession time is like.

I thought we carried the play more when it was even in the last 2 games though

Game 5 for sure in the 3rd Bos was buzzing.

2nd period yesterday as well.

 

[Stephen]

I definitely love what Marner is doing defensively but all I'm saying is at least ONE game per series he should be expected to be an offensive juggernaut, hence the 3rd line C comparison.

The time to win us a game on his back is now.

Oh yeah we’ll need it for Game 7. All of it.

 

[Stephen]

Game 5 for sure in the 3rd Bos was buzzing.

2nd period yesterday as well.

The Bruins can buzz all they want but as long as we have a committed bus parking defense in the slot, Woll feeling himself and the butchers keep butchering they will grip their sticks tighter and tighter with every missed opportunity. Hopefully the bad psychology kicks and soon enough they’ll be on summer holiday.

 

[Eye Test]

I definitely love what Marner is doing defensively but all I'm saying is at least ONE game per series he should be expected to be an offensive juggernaut, hence the 3rd line C comparison.

The time to win us a game on his back is now.

Maybe I’m wrong but over the entire series I can count maybe a handful of good offensive and defensive plays. The rest he loses the battle.

For example is holmberg not more noticeable than he’s been? Knies for sure has, dewar too. Domi etc

 

[DraftSchmaft]

Maybe I’m wrong but over the entire series I can count maybe a handful of good offensive and defensive plays. The rest he loses the battle.

For example is holmberg not more noticeable than he’s been? Knies for sure has, dewar too. Domi etc

Yeah, for a player of Marner's caliber he should have games where he stuffs the stat sheet. It doesn't have to be every game but he's a superstar (offensive superstar*) in this league so it has to happen to an extent.

To allow him to get away with a passing grade just because he can play a shutdown role would be criminal. You can pay guys half his salary if that's all you need.

p.s I'm pro-Marner, so I'm saying he WILL deliver Saturday.

 

[Jojalu]

The Bruins can buzz all they want but as long as we have a committed bus parking defense in the slot, Woll feeling himself and the butchers keep butchering they will grip their sticks tighter and tighter with every missed opportunity. Hopefully the bad psychology kicks and soon enough they’ll be on summer holiday.

It sure is nice knowing we have 4 guys back there making life a living hell for any Bruin that wants to get close to the net

 

[Stephen]

Maybe I’m wrong but over the entire series I can count maybe a handful of good offensive and defensive plays. The rest he loses the battle.

For example is holmberg not more noticeable than he’s been? Knies for sure has, dewar too. Domi etc

What looks bad on Marner is he’s out of sync with the pace of play around him. Everything’s happening at a furious pace at the start of the series, hitting everywhere and he’s playing this off speed, fussy game, little curl backs with no escapability. And he’s simply not impacting the pace of the game. It’s looked better in recent games. He looks his best when he’s a sprinter out there, but when he’s playing that change up Wayne Gretzky gear, it is not effective and looks bad too.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

Boys i cant do any work today im still reeling. so excited for saturday

I'M JACKED TO THE TITS


god this site does not make it easy to post a gif

 

[Ciao]

I had lost confidence in the Leafs, but this was the best game I've seen them play since Pat Burns was the coach.

They had a game plan and really committed to it.

They won the game in the defensive zone. In transition, the Leafs usually outnumbered the Bruins, and I didn't notice a single odd-man rush against them. Somehow, they had enough speed and commitment to get back into their own end, won the puck battles, and closed off the shooting lanes. I don't know what their assignments were, but they seemed to have players in the right places at the right times – mainly clearing chances around the net.

I was very surprised and impressed.

Nylander was absolutely the scoring star, but that would have amounted to nothing without the defensive effort. Good for him to put the puck on the net, but his first goal would have been stopped had it not deflected off of McAvoy's chest. He did what needed to be done, but it wasn't rocket science.

The second goal was a beauty, but his breakaway would not have happened if the Bruins had not been chasing the Leafs late in the game at the expense of their defensive coverage. Still, given the opportunity, it was an extremely highly skilled play.

At the intermission, one of the Leafs spoke about being patient and that is exactly what they did. They cleaned things up in their own end, knowing that if they were patient they would eventually get a break at the other end, which is exactly what happened.

The Leafs have done that twice in a row now – both without Matthews – and I'm interested to see if they can do it once more.

 

[Lightsol]

What looks bad on Marner is he’s out of sync with the pace of play around him. Everything’s happening at a furious pace at the start of the series, hitting everywhere and he’s playing this off speed, fussy game, little curl backs with no escapability. And he’s simply not impacting the pace of the game. It’s looked better in recent games. He looks his best when he’s a sprinter out there, but when he’s playing that change up Wayne Gretzky gear, it is not effective and looks bad too.

He's been slowly speeding up over the series; I think the high ankle sprain is still bothering him a bit (Sportsnet showed a few instances where his edge work wasn't what it usually is, and you can see he's not spinning as fast as he usually does). But at the end of last game he did start to take advantage of Boston's "clog the middle, keep everyone to the outside" gameplan. If Boston's going to let him spend time on the perimiter with the puck, he's going to use it to open up passing lanes and find guys (and he generated a few scoring chances like this, like the one where he got it to Domi for a quick shot and McAvoy had to knock Bertuzzi over to stop him from banging in the rebound).

 

[stickty111]

Also a strong structure. Credit to Keefe because nobody wants to.

Keefe has issues in the playoffs, but structure isn't one of them and honestly never has been.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Willy with 3 hits! and 2 blocks!, some good defensive play (including a well-executed 1-on-1 while covering for a D), and led the team with 5 shots.

Now if he could only score.....

 

[Leafsfanperson]

I've talked a lot **** about Keefe for years so I'll say one nice thing about him.

When his job was on the line after game 4 and everything a real hockey market was about to destroy him he didn't mess him in the press conference like Montgomery.

Stay mad Jimmy.