Pre-Game Talk: Lightning at Leafs -Monday

[Blanche Blanche]

Montreal will be out of it by that game. If the Bruins cannot be caught, Tavares, Marner, Matthews and Anderson do not make the trip to the Island. After the display by Isles fans put on, they are not seeing Tavares play again this year unless it is in the playoffs.

100%... angry mob mentality hits the Islanders and the refs. They got away with EVERYTHING that game.

They will play to injure and fight for the roar of the crowd like ancient roman times and we dont need to be the proverbial slaves to slaughter.

The only fanbase that has hatred and anger exuding from the crowd.

Playoff teams cheer for victory...

Islanders cheer for Tavares and the leafs to lose. Proof - only sold out stadium date was the return of Tavares

 

[Rob Brown]

Game is meaningless. Won't impact standings. I'd play the game to learn things not to win really. No injuries.

Try some nifty line combos.

Every player who gets a penalty gets to bag skate the next day.

who's going to guard Kucherov? Marner ?

It's not meaningless because we're trying to catch Boston.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

It's not meaningless because we're trying to catch Boston.

Fair enough.

Did i read Freddy will start only 8 of the remaining games ?

 

[Stephen]

Watching my other favorite team playing against Boston, WOW Boston is really good........ well at least a first round exit will be the end of Babcock???????????

Boston isn't playing perfect hockey by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[leafsfan5]

Watching my other favorite team playing against Boston, WOW Boston is really good........ well at least a first round exit will be the end of Babcock???????????

I mean we're a really good team too, we tend to forget this a lot when discussing potential matchups. Boston's elite no doubt, but the leafs are a top 5 team themselves. This series will be a close one going either way, just a shame its happening round one

But I suspect a first round loss wouldn't be the end of Babcock, it would just put immense pressure on him next year to perform or get fired. He better learn to adjust though, and that means giving matthews a player who can actually pass him the puck (NYLANDER)

 

[Koolboss]

I mean we're a really good team too, we tend to forget this a lot when discussing potential matchups. Boston's elite no doubt, but the leafs are a top 5 team themselves. This series will be a close one going either way, just a shame its happening round one

But I suspect a first round loss wouldn't be the end of Babcock, it would just put immense pressure on him next year to perform or get fired. He better learn to adjust though, and that means giving matthews a player who can actually pass him the puck (NYLANDER)

I agree we are a top 5 team, and it should be a close series. However Babcock will adjust for 3 games or so than back to playing Brown and Hymen. Hymen has been good lately but common show me one good line in NHL that has a 3rd line grinder playing first line minutes.

 

[willmma]

Boston lost!!
We better win this one

 

[MattySnipes]

Boston lost!!
We better win this one

Pens helped us out huge. We play the Bolts well. Gonna be a great game tomorrow.

 

[Stephen]

Boston seems to play us better than a lot of teams. One of those psychological edges I guess.

Pittsburgh is primarily known as a skill team but they more than matched the Bruins tonight physically. Malkin was playing extremely aggressive, angry hockey the whole night and they could barely contain them. Our key guys should take note.

 

[LEBOOM]

Game is meaningless. Won't impact standings. I'd play the game to learn things not to win really. No injuries.

Try some nifty line combos.

Every player who gets a penalty gets to bag skate the next day.

who's going to guard Kucherov? Marner ?

I mean it's not like Boston lost tonight or anything...

 

[LEBOOM]

Boston seems to play us better than a lot of teams. One of those psychological edges I guess.

Pittsburgh is primarily known as a skill team but they more than matched the Bruins tonight physically. Malkin was playing extremely aggressive, angry hockey the whole night and they could barely contain them. Our key guys should take note.

All the Leafs have to do is just match the Bruins physicality. There's no Thornton, Lucic anymore. Chara is their only tough guy. Nothing bad will happen if they just finish their checks and don't take any shit.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Leafs need to figure out a their middle 6 lines:

Hyman Tavares Marner
________ Matthews _______
________ __________ _______
Moore Gauthier Ennis
Petan

Marleau Brown Johnsson Kapanen Nylander Kadri

 

[LEBOOM]

100%... angry mob mentality hits the Islanders and the refs. They got away with EVERYTHING that game.

They will play to injure and fight for the roar of the crowd like ancient roman times and we dont need to be the proverbial slaves to slaughter.

The only fanbase that has hatred and anger exuding from the crowd.

Playoff teams cheer for victory...

Islanders cheer for Tavares and the leafs to lose. Proof - only sold out stadium date was the return of Tavares

Don't worry about the Isles, at the rate they've been playing since the Leaf game, they might not even make the playoffs. They've already lost the division lead.

 

[MattySnipes]

Don't worry about the Isles, at the rate they've been playing since the Leaf game, they might not even make the playoffs. They've already lost the division lead.

Yes and Pens closing in on them too.

 

[Stephen]

All the Leafs have to do is just match the Bruins physicality. There's no Thornton, Lucic anymore. Chara is their only tough guy. Nothing bad will happen if they just finish their checks and don't take any ****.

Exactly. They just have to match the physicality and not concede on the loose puck and play their game in heavy traffic.

 

[LEBOOM]

Yes and Pens closing in on them too.

Funniest thing is reading their posts trashing Barzal on their forum and yet when you see them discuss him on the mainboards it's a complete 180.

After the Tavares thing, they deserve everything coming to them

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Exactly. They just have to match the physicality and not concede on the loose puck and play their game in heavy traffic.

Boston just isn't the physically imposing team they used to be. The leafs should be fine on that front. They just have to constantly be alert and work hard for the whole game and their talent will win out

 

[A1LeafNation]

Boston just isn't the physically imposing team they used to be. The leafs should be fine on that front. They just have to constantly be alert and work hard for the whole game and their talent will win out

Playing Boston's game is what gets them into trouble. They need to skate and score. Boston has trouble against talented teams like Tampa and Pittsburgh.

We need to play fast and skilled and skate around them and get to the loose pucks faster than they can.

 

[MattySnipes]

Funniest thing is reading their posts trashing Barzal on their forum and yet when you see them discuss him on the mainboards it's a complete 180.

After the Tavares thing, they deserve everything coming to them

No way! They're trashing Barzal? I think he's a great player with tremendous IQ and skill. Sure, he does some plays over and over again which can be frustrating but so does every other player. It's only his 2nd year in the league. These Isles fans are crazy! It's probably TWS sticking up for Barzy on the mains

 

[LEBOOM]

No way! They're trashing Barzal? I think he's a great player with tremendous IQ and skill. Sure, he does some plays over and over again which can be frustrating but so does every other player. It's only his 2nd year in the league. These Isles fans are crazy! It's probably TWS sticking up for Barzy on the mains

On the main boards they insist that his numbers are down this year because of added responsibility....Wrong. His QoC is pretty similar to last year and he's still anchoring that second line. Oh and he's getting even more offensive zone usage compared to last year
I hate +- but he's also the worst on the team I believe despite them being a lot better defensively this year

Barzal in his rookie year was a byproduct of that who cares about defense system and being sheltered behind a franchise 1C. That same 1C that they insist they don't need despite sinking like a rock the past few weeks.

As for TWS, I hope they realize he could care less about the Isles, he just roots for whatever team has a bone to pick with the Leafs. He was a Leaf fan that got bullied off of this forum for his horrible takes, then became a Jets fan because of the whole Matthews vs Laine thing, and then when Matthews won that one he switched over to the Isles because of Tavares leaving and them having Barzal that he could try to prop up as their new savior. He'll be nowhere to be seen on the Isles forum after a new team has a rivalry/animosity towards the Leafs.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Unrelated comment but its really a terrible playoff format when the 4th place team of 31 teams is slated to play the 2nd place team of 31 teams...it’s as if this system punishes teams for having a great season.

Two top 5 teams should not be facing one another in the first round, bush league. Thanks Bettman!

Isn't the format the way it is to make more exciting rivalries? Not saying that it's good or anything. But because of the format the Boston-Leafs Matchup has more weight to it.

At the end of the day if we want to be the best we'll have to beat anyone in our way.

 

[lebdafor norris]

Boston just isn't the physically imposing team they used to be. The leafs should be fine on that front. They just have to constantly be alert and work hard for the whole game and their talent will win out

This whole idea of Boston being the Leafs' kryptonite is seriously overblown, people seems to forget that the Bruins were the clear favourite to win that series last year, yet, the Leafs were still able to take it to game 7 despite Andersen doing his best impersonation of an Edmonton Oilers goaltender, had he play as well as he did against Wash then the Leafs would have likely taken that series. The teams that I would actually be more concern of compare to the Bruins are Tampa, Caps and maybe the Pens (largely depend on the health of their D, the speedsters on the Leafs would be licking their chops at the possibility of facing a D lineup that has Maata, Gudbranson and J.Johnson on the top 6).

 

[LEBOOM]

This whole idea of Boston being the Leafs' kryptonite is seriously overblown, people seems to forget that the Bruins were the clear favourite to win that series last year, yet, the Leafs were still able to take it to game 7 despite Andersen doing his best impersonation of an Edmonton Oilers goaltender, had he play as well as he did against Wash then the Leafs would have likely taken that series. The teams that I would actually be more concern of compare to the Bruins are Tampa, Caps and maybe the Pens (largely depend on the health of their D, the speedsters on the Leafs would be licking their chops at the possibility of facing a D lineup that has Maata, Gudbranson and J.Johnson on the top 6).

The fact that the Leafs took the Bruins to 7 games last year and had a lead going into the 3rd period of game 7 is crazy when:
1. We were the underdogs going into the series
2. Matthews was held to 2 points in 7 games
3. Nylander also struggled
4. Andersen was pretty bad
5. Our 2C Kadri got suspended for 3 games

The fact that all of those things went against the Leafs and they were still that close should tell people to step away from the ledge a little bit. Oh and now we have Tavares and Muzzin as well.

Funny on the main boards, none of this will ever be mentioned when discussing the matchup. Everyone over there thinks the Leafs got swept in 4 or something.

 

[GardinerTheForward]

Funniest thing is reading their posts trashing Barzal on their forum and yet when you see them discuss him on the mainboards it's a complete 180.

After the Tavares thing, they deserve everything coming to them

Maybe they push Matthew away and he leaves for Vancoucer in FA?

 

[LEBOOM]

Maybe they push Matthew away and he leaves for Vancoucer in FA?

That franchise might relocate to Quebec if Barzal leaves via offersheet.

And I'm 1000% here for that.