I'll take one game at a time. Hopefully, our Leafs will perform above my expectations and win the series.
Boston may not score as much as us but they're better defensively. In fact, their goal differential is better than the Leafs' for the year. That's a style that's more likely to succeed in the playoffs than our run and gun which as we know, disappears in the postseason.
After the Bruins read your post all but guaranteeing they would lose to Tampa, what did you expect them to do?
I'd buy this argument if the Bruins actually had any playoff success in recent years, but they've only won a single round since 2020. Whatever they are doing, it's not succeeding.
The Bruins needed to win three games to finish first in the conference and play...Washington. I'm fairly certain that would have been their preference.
They beat the Pens and lost to Wash and Ottawa to finish the season. They were never winning the conference.
Rangers were up by 3 points on the Bruins on April 15th. They needed to win their last 2 games and have Rangers lose their last to Ottawa. Rangers rinsed Ottawa and they laid an egg in Washington that night. Realistically they were never overtaking the Rangers.
This is the meme circling in social media.
In general though, a hard-nosed defensive game is more conducive to playoff success than run and gun. Year after year the teams with the best D and best goaltending go further. Not an argument, it's a fact.
I don't disagree, but I think it's more that for any Cup winner, its best players played better than the other team's best players. Vegas hardly had the best goaltending last year, but their stars played like stars. Tampa never had the best defense, but their stars performed. Colorado definitely didn't have the best goalie or defense, but their stars...you get the point. There is no surefire recipe for success.
I will agree on that point, our stars have been largely outplayed in most series except for the Tampa series where our guys had better stats. You could argue though that Tampa had much better depth and should have won if it wasn't for Vasi being much leakier than usual.
Something Dubas and Shanny failed to realize. In contrast, one of the first things Lou did here was trade for a #1G and he's had a true #1 everywhere he has been GM.
Vegas had a rock solid D which is why they did not miss a beat every time a goalie went down. Colorado had a generational dman and a good mix of puck movers and defenders. The Blues got stellar goaltending and had Petro. We have Sammy, Rielly and a bunch of plugs.
It's interesting, because no one said boo about Vegas' defense until they won a Cup. Same for St. Louis. In this case, it will be up to the Leafs' stars to carry the team. Goaltending in the first round is the least of my worries because we have all seen goalies get hot for a series or two. I think the bigger question with Toronto's goaltending is whether they can do it for four rounds.
lol, if they lose this series I’m sure that will be at the top of the excuse list, followed closely by Jacobs owning the refs
I think Samsonov will be just fine in this series, and will be as good as, or better than, Boston's goalies. The issue with Samsonov is whether he can do it for four rounds. Any goalie can get hot for one or two rounds (see Florida last year). Four rounds is a tougher ask.
