GDT: Saturday Matinee with the Leafs

[The Merchant]

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Do you think Franky gets the call against Seattle?

I think he probably gets the Seattle game. I think Bednar will still treat Kuemper as the #1 and thus give him the Nashville, Minnesota, and Anaheim games coming up.

If Franky can light it up in the games he is given then maybe he gets some harder games down the road. I just don't see Bednar giving him the main matchups after one good game against Toronto where he comes in for a tempo change. He is going to need to show solid games from start to finish first.

 

[Ceremony]

People can throw around all the stats they like, I have no faith in Kuemper not throwing at least one in every game. And he has a girl's name.

 

[Pokecheque]

Controversial take: Kuemper has been OK this season.

Not controversial. But “OK” is not good enough for a team that has championship ambitions.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Great game. GREAT comeback. Frankie was great in relief. I'll give a pass to Kuemp for now as he has been a lot better since coming back Dec 8th and the way the team played in the 1st period last night. Even the great goalies have bad games. Look at what we did in the past few games to great goalies. So hopefully he comes back like the past few games instead of like last night. But he need to be better than that for sure from now on. You need to be able to count on your goalie to bail you out when you are having a bad start of a game.

OMG was Bura ever bad last night. When he wasn't taking too long to make a pass (usually a bad one to top it off) he was trying to go through all five Leafs' players. I was waiting for him to take the puck and try to go through the Leafs' players sitting on the bench as well. That's how bad it was. Make the damn easy play/pass for God's sake.

Miko was VERY bad/lazy in the first but what a turnaround after that.

Makar and Toews...what can I say?...

 

[MaKarter]

 

[Hennessy]

I'm curious about Francouz and eager to see what he's got after being away so long.
But I think Kuemper takes too much heat from people looking to find a scapegoat.
No, he's not been great, but he's improved as the season goes on. Last night was obviously a bad look, but even so you had some defensive breakdowns and no one's saving that first Matthews goal.
So let's see what Francouz brings, but throwing Kuemper under the bus seems premature.
(Though I will say that his lateral movement is worrisome for a goalie of his pedigree.)

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Punch has fans? What an absolutely despicable piece of shit.

Not in 1967.

 

[dahrougem2]

I mean Kuemper being the statistically worst starting goalie in the NHL is just patently false considering Koskinen/Smith, Binnington, Blackwood, Allen, Grubauer all exist to say the least. (Kuemper is in that huge cluster along the line right above Jones in the first chart. Also there is MAF)

All I'm seeing here is trade for Jonathan Quick and go to war with one of the best playoff performing goalies of all time.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Francouz is going to fall off a tricycle while trying to reach for some string cheese and miss the playoffs.

You may not like Kuemper but they're stuck with him.

 

[Avsavsavsavsavs]

So many complaints in here when this team is owning after a long break and missing their best player.

 

[RECKLESS]

Remember last year when we simply couldn't get a comeback, ever.

Huge thing mentally that we are now capable and won't f***ing fold. Keep building on that and carry over to the big games.

 

[Islay1989]

Not in 1967.

He was a deplorable human. The psychological torture he put Big M through was horrendous. One of the most vile hockey characters.

 

[dahrougem2]

You're still a hockey novice. We all are.

I played too BTW. It makes me no more of an “expert” than someone who never played it. It’s just the means by which I became a hockey fan.

Speak for your f***ing self I know everything about everything.

 

[The Shermanator]

Frankie was scheduled to play against Seattle anyways. I bet it stays the same.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Kuemper hasn't been bad at all the last month or so, however, it would be nice to get a key save. Last night wasn't on him at all but it was a good idea to switch to Frankie, it woke the team up some. I'm more worried about the PK than I am goaltending.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

You're still a hockey novice. We all are.

I played too BTW. It makes me no more of an “expert” than someone who never played it. It’s just the means by which I became a hockey fan.

I invented hockey.

 

[avsfan2189]

what's crazy to me is prior to the leafs game, i'd say Kuemper's actually made the key saves. He's a guy that makes the clutch save, yet somehow lets in a softie;

best example is in the WPG game, he should have stopped the Schiefele goal, but then later stops a 3 on 1; i remember in a game a while ago he let in a softie but then made an incredible save on a 2 on 0 break by the other team.

If he can stop letting in the softies, but continue to make the clutch saves, then he'd be a vezina goalie. We only need him to be Corey Crawford good to win the cup though; we don't need Hasek.

 

[McJedi]

You're still a hockey novice. We all are.

I played too BTW. It makes me no more of an “expert” than someone who never played it. It’s just the means by which I became a hockey fan.

Me too. But I see an opponent goal like the first one yesterday. See EJ badly misread a play. He gets a point shot and blows it by trying to hit the upper corner, far post, when Murray had pinched down low. EJ needs to aim low and inside post for a rebound. Avs have a numbers advantage at their net. But EJs shot is terrible. Misses wide and starts a 2-1 the other way.

Bura does an amazing job back checking and takes the left shot bunting deep and into a terrible shooting angle coming down the left wing. Kuemper sees this and comes out of his net to cheat and make that shot it impossible. Great team D by Bura and Kuemper to fix EJs screw up. Because EJ is perfectly positioned to stop a pass to Kerfoot. Except EJ makes the worst possible play and leaves his man to put himself on the ice to stop a pass. Instead, he opens up the passing lane and now Kuemper is out of position because of EJs F up.

Toronto goal. 110% EJs fault. A novice hockey fan wonders why Kuemper didn’t make the hard save.

i realize Bednar will show EJ that at the intermission as a teaching moment. Won’t say a word to Kuemper because he didn’t do anything wrong. He played it right. So did Bura. EJ is the breakdown here. Twice.

(mod)

 

[Pokecheque]

I invented hockey.

In that case, thanks.

 

[Pokecheque]

Me too. But I see an opponent goal like the first one yesterday. See EJ badly misread a play. He gets a point shot and blows it by trying to hit the upper corner, far post, when Murray had pinched down low.

Right. Bad choices by both of them. But plenty of people saw that, you and I being former players didn’t necessarily give us extra insight into that series of events.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I invented hockey.

I invented never being wrong.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Controversial take: Kuemper has been OK this season.

He's been fine; but I think Frankie is actually the more talented goalie (if he stays healthy that is). But then of course, Frankie's sample size as a legit goalie is pretty limited (at the NHL level). But on every other level, he's outplayed the other goalies on his team by a fair margin.

 

[McJedi]

what's crazy to me is prior to the leafs game, i'd say Kuemper's actually made the key saves. He's a guy that makes the clutch save, yet somehow lets in a softie;

best example is in the WPG game, he should have stopped the Schiefele goal, but then later stops a 3 on 1; i remember in a game a while ago he let in a softie but then made an incredible save on a 2 on 0 break by the other team.

If he can stop letting in the softies, but continue to make the clutch saves, then he'd be a vezina goalie. We only need him to be Corey Crawford good to win the cup though; we don't need Hasek.

Winnipegs only goal was another F up by EJ skating himself way out of position and allowing an uncontested point blank tip. Then LOC lost his gap control. And is standing in the middle of the ice. Doing nothing and looking for the puck. Awful PK work by those two. Hockey is a team sport. Breakdowns lead to goals.

 

[avsfan2189]

Winnipegs only goal was another F up by EJ slaying himself way out of position and allowing a point blank tip. Then LOC lost his gap control. And is standing in the middle of the ice. Doing nothing and looking for the puck. Awful PK work by those two. Hockey is a team sport. Breakdowns lead to goals.

i agree with all of that; but on Kuemper's part he saw the chance, but he didn't kick off quick enough or at all laterally; Bednar even said that in his post game. It was a very saveable goal but Kuemper's decision to not push off hard enough made it look like a tougher goal than it needed to be