Pre-Game Talk: Maple Leafs vs Sharks

[Nineteen67]

Yep, guaranteed win night.
No way they can lose this one.

Your boy Kallgren is playing tomorrow.……where there’s a will there’s a way

 

[ACC1224]

Your boy Kallgren is playing tomorrow.……where there’s a will there’s a way

Confirmed?

 

[The Masters]

samsonov should be playing every game.

 

[Kelly]

should be an easy win.

It won't, but it should be.

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

Confirmed?

YESS!! I freakin KNEW IT! Under the title y'all can read about that. I knew it! I knew they was going to be CAREFUL with the samsonov, so therefore källgren is going to play TWO GAMES THIS WEEK! And WIN BOTH! Congratulations to US!

David Alter has confirmed that our boy Källgren is playing tomorrow. He (Källgren is facing Kaapo Kahkonen, the finnish goalie on this one). Their worse goalie.

And is going to play again this weekend! Buy YOUR TICKETS!

 

[The Masters]

kerfoot in top line

 

[Apex Predator]

 

[Metroid]

Seriously?? Why... Have Sammy play Thursday, then give kallgren on of Saturday or Sunday. Wtf

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

Seriously?? Why... Have Sammy play Thursday, then give kallgren on of Saturday or Sunday. Wtf

I knew about it and had a real hunch for it under the title. I knew they would be concerned and worried about samsonov. Now that we only have one great goalie, they definitely are not going to play him that much. They could get injured

 

[Metroid]

I knew about it and had a real hunch for it under the title. I knew they would be concerned and worried about samsonov. Now that we only have one great goalie, they definitely are not going to play him that much. They could get injured

Dumb.
He needs to play Thursday and have the team redeem themselves for him cuz he's one of the few that came out to play in Vegas.
Lol have a great goalie, not play him enough games.
Booooo

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Mrazek had a .888 sv% with the Leafs last year, Kallgren has a .886 sv% for his career. I don't really agree with the Leafs forcing him into the lineup, rather than trying to ice the best possible team and win games. He's not an NHL caliber goalie, and Samsonov has been lights out

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

Dumb.
He needs to play Thursday and have the team redeem themselves for him cuz he's one of the few that came out to play in Vegas.
Lol have a great goalie, not play him enough games.
Booooo

But what does it tell that I knew about this all.... that I can predict the leafs doings goodly. Or I can read coach keefe and the gm finely? I saw that they are very, very concerned about samsonov and his fine play. Therefore sit him often, keep him healthy. He could get injured, we have to be careful. We only have one.

 

[Nineteen67]

Will Samsonov play back to back?

 

[Buds17]

I figured Kallgren would start against either LA or Anaheim (ideally, the latter). Not sure of the thought process on this one (starting him against SJ).

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

Will Samsonov play back to back?

What do you think LOL? Of course he plays, ONE of the games. Now that WE ALL KNOW what I knew before so many, our management is REAL, REAL CAREFUL with our best goalie and worried that he can get injured. So he sits. He plays saturday, and you can bank on it. Källgren will give him even more rest sunday against the awful ducks. We will win a lot of games this week. Because of many many of our goalies.

 

[Stephen]

With so many days off, I'm surprised they didn't just start Samsonov vs San Jose, give him the LA game and then have Kallgren sweep up in Anaheim. They may need that slam dunk win vs San Jose more than they realize.

 

[ponder]

I would disagree, that Matthews and Marner aren't playing well together. I think they are playing quite well overall. They've had fewer goals scored against them than normal, dominating possession, playing better defensively, and more physical. Matthews is 5th in the league in shots.... and is shooting 3%. The "struggle" is nearly entirely down to shooting percentage. I have no idea what is wrong there, but if he's shooting his career average of 16.2%, he has 4-5 more goals, and we are 6-1, and the entire narrative and story is different.

Where did Matty's shot go? This is only temporary though right?

Funny enough, we are playing the league leader in shots next game. Timo Meier 42 shots in his nine games. he has NO goals. LOL

More physical, for sure - Matthews especially. But in terms of Bunting/Matthews/Marner having those even-strength shifts where they completely dominate possession and generate a flurry of amazing scoring chances, I think they've had fewer of those than normal so far this season. Feels like there's about half as many of those legit dominant shifts per game now - I have no stats to back that up, but that's how it feels to me (I do watch most Leafs games every year, including this year).

But yeah, the weirdest thing is that Matthews' shot looks bad, when normally it's beyond elite. I don't think it's a case of "he's shooting well but has been unlucky", e.g. hitting posts, hot goalies making great saves, etc. He's just not shooting it well. Whiffing on 1-timers completely, poor power when he does connect, changing the angle less on his release, and poor accuracy (either missing the net or shooting it into the goalies chest). He's had a lot of shots, but few high quality ones. I've only seen this before when he had wrist injuries/surgery recovery, but as far as we know he's currently healthy. My thought is it may be mental - like he's in a bit of a mental funk, AND his linemates love to feed him for shots, and he's just been "gripping his stick too tight." If that's it, I can see playing with 2 shooters like Robertson/Nylander being good, he could force shots less and feed Robertson/Nylander more, and maybe get back to more instinctive/natural shooting.

Harder to get out of a mental funk where you're doing X poorly if you're in an environment where there's huge pressure on you to do X well. Easier to get out if it if you switch to an environment where there's less pressure on you to do X at a high level. IMO playing with Robertson/Nylander would put less pressure on Matthews to be a shooter than with Bunting/Marner, and could thus help him get out of his shooting funk.

 

[as Pure as Evil]

everyone does realize Mathews had one goal in his first 6 or 7 games last season as well

 

[CabanaBoy5]

With so many days off, I'm surprised they didn't just start Samsonov vs San Jose, give him the LA game and then have Kallgren sweep up in Anaheim. They may need that slam dunk win vs San Jose more than they realize.

I agree 100%. Can you imagine if Kallgren lets in a couple of stinkers and we somehow lose this game? I wouldn't be taking any chances with this game given that it is a very winnable game with our starter in nets. Without, you're taking a massive gamble. Kallgren's barely an AHL goalie.

 

[supermann_98]

Anyone seen Coaches Corner lately? I kinda miss his silly posts to take the negative attention away from this lazy, unorganized team

 

[Al14]

Yep, guaranteed win night.
No way they can lose this one.

This will be posted in the Sharks dressing room. It will be a source of motivation to lay a beating on our Leafs!

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

I agree 100%. Can you imagine if Kallgren lets in a couple of stinkers and we somehow lose this game? I wouldn't be taking any chances with this game given that it is a very winnable game with our starter in nets. Without, you're taking a massive gamble. Kallgren's barely an AHL goalie.

But now that we only have one great goalie, we cant play him often. I understand and sensed our policy cause they are very worried. He could ge injured so let him sit and rest and not play. Weekend our best goalie gets another one (vs LA). This way our management can keep the fans (us followers) happy and we still get to win games. We cannot play often games now with our current number one great goalie cause we only have one.

 

[egd27]

""

Wonder what role Keefe is expecting from that 3rd line?

 

[egd27]

Seriously?? Why... Have Sammy play Thursday, then give kallgren on of Saturday or Sunday. Wtf

Cuz Keefer wants the Sharks to know how little he thinks of them

 

[Stephen]

I agree 100%. Can you imagine if Kallgren lets in a couple of stinkers and we somehow lose this game? I wouldn't be taking any chances with this game given that it is a very winnable game with our starter in nets. Without, you're taking a massive gamble. Kallgren's barely an AHL goalie.

Well, San Jose with Kallgren is basically Arizona 2.0. It better be points night, a decisive win and that just gets you back to where the team was after the Dallas game. And you better get 3/4 points in Los Angeles and Anaheim after that.