Who do you blame for the series loss to the Habs?

[hotpaws]

Andersen was brought in as a starting goaltender and paid like one before he stepped foot on the ice. More is expected of him. Instead we have a career backup who needed to come in and bail Ander out because he left the team mid season whining about some bullshit injury. Under those circumstances Campbell was outstanding.

I have no idea what point your trying to make other than you hate Andy which us fine and Campbell gets a free pass because um reasons , lol .

 

[Maplebeasts]

Keefe, Marner and Matthews. Powerplay was predictably a killer for us and nothing was ever changed. Marner was complete shit offensively and Matthews could not finish.

 

[New Liskeard]

One thing is a definite, the PP was terrible and having that much talent not being able to score at the man advantage is a problem. Manny is gone.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

the players mostly and plenty on the coaching staff.

 

[leburn98]

At the end of the day, your best players need to be your best players. The Leafs didn't get that, but the Habs did. Even Gallagher, who was mostly silent throughout this series, came through in the clutch.

Also, just for fun I had a look at the top 5 point getters on each team that is currently in the playoffs. I think, with the exception of perhaps Vegas and the Isles, it proves my point:

Toronto: 1. Nylander, 2. Kerfoot, 3. Spezza, 4. Matthews, 5. Galchenyuk

Montreal: 1. Toffoli, 2. Perry, 3. Armia, 4. Staal, 5. Suzuki
Colorado: 1. MacKinnon, 2. Landeskog, 3. Rantanen, 4. Makar, 5. Graves
Boston: 1. Pastrnak, 2. Bergeron, 3. McAvoy, 4. Marchand, 5. Krejci
Tampa: 1. Kucherov, 2. Hedman, 3. Killorn, 4. Stamkos, 5. Point
Carolina: 1. Aho, 2. Necas, 3. Staal, 4. Pesce, 5. Svechnikov

Vegas: 1. Janmark-Nylen, 2. Stephenson, 3. Tuch, 4. Stone, 5. Karlsson
NY Islanders: 1. Beauvillier, 2. Pageau, 3. Nelson, 4. Bailey, 5 .Palmieri

 

[Leafy Undergrowth]

 

[egd27]

Andersen was brought in as a starting goaltender and paid like one before he stepped foot on the ice. More is expected of him. Instead we have a career backup who needed to come in and bail Ander out because he left the team mid season whining about some bullshit injury. Under those circumstances Campbell was outstanding.

Ok so we have 2 goalies in 2 series

Both have strong sv% and GA numbers
Both made big saves at times and both let in weak goals

One was outstanding and one was the reason the team lost.

The lack of objectivity here at Club HF is staggering.

 

[TMLegend]

Ok so we have 2 goalies in 2 series

Both have strong sv% and GA numbers
Both made big saves at times and both let in weak goals

One was outstanding and one was the reason the team lost.

The lack of objectivity here at Club HF is staggering.

Narratives. Gotta love em. Andys nunbers were actually slightly better last year.

 

[tokyoite]

same old, same old, same old,..........

 

[ULF_55]

Matthews and marner combined for 1 goal.

This isn't complicated.

 

[Tlo1]

I blame Keefe. We were going to live or die depending on that top line. You wanna blame Matthew’s or Marner but it’s on the coach to adjust when they have 1 goal over 7 games.

 

[egd27]

One thing is a definite, the PP was terrible and having that much talent not being able to score at the man advantage is a problem. Manny is gone.

Agreed.

But my question is this.....Since the issue went on for something like 40 games, why didn't the head coach step in and take over to fix things?

And the only logical answer I can come up with is, he didn't have a solution.

Now I've read dozens of ideas here from various posters and a quite a few of them were probably worth at least a try.

So it would seem the posters at HF are more creative than the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Do I need to point out how frightening that is?

 

[New Liskeard]

Agreed.

But my question is this.....Since the issue went on for something like 40 games, why didn't the head coach step in and take over to fix things?

And the only logical answer I can come up with is, he didn't have a solution.

Now I've read dozens of ideas here from various posters and a quite a few of them were probably worth at least a try.

So it would seem the posters at HF are more creative than the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Do I need to point out how frightening that is?

Can't argue that. Spot on, and good point.

 

[ECanuck]

I blame myself for even believing these guys might win a playoff round.
Had to walk in at work with bruins fans and habs fans waiting for me.
Was hard but I showed up.

 

[Tlo1]

I picked Keefe for this because he has the most control and ability to affect the entire lineup. His inability to fix glaring and consistent problems with the team should not go unnoticed with the PP being the biggest red flag ever.

On the ice it was Marner for sure that stands out but it ends up being a combo of many things. A combination of Hyman not being effective any playoff series to date because talentwise he is playing on a line far above his level. He feeds off of what Marner does a great deal, so when Mitch disappears he takes Hyman with him. When your second, third and 4th line are all scoring goals and its constantly your top line failing the blame goes to the highest paid, highest preforming regular season player with the least results. Matthews played good overall but couldnt find the netting, which also means Marners stats dont get inflated.

You bloody nailed it!

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

Even if we had price in net -- we'd still lose. Lol!

we are soft in playoffs... period. Overhaul? Yes please.

strip it all down.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

I blame myself for even believing these guys might win a playoff round.
Had to walk in at work with bruins fans and habs fans waiting for me.
Was hard but I showed up.

Lol. I didn't bother watching when they are up 3-1 cuz my dad said they'd choke.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

Matthews and marner combined for 1 goal.

This isn't complicated.

Yup. Soft mentality. This team reminds me of raps under casey, but way worse.

 

[BLONG7]

Matthews led league in scoring...he isnt going anywhere.

Especially to the 2nd round....

 

[nhlfan9191]

Completely dominated again in a game that matters .. sure Price was good but so was Holtby, Rask and Korpisalo it is a repeating pattern where we get outgoalied .. injuries hurt sure but that is what occurs in playoff hockey no different than last year.. coaching was inflexible yes that is another repeating pattern .. Mitch is trying his best but lacks required 10% extra speed and strength required of playoff hockey yes but also a known issue .. Matty gets coverage against/doubled all night yes again a known issue .. and we lose to inferior teams because our best players play down to competition yes again repeating issue .. that we play perimeter possession hockey yes we do and again it is a known systematic issue for turnovers which are exemplified in playoffs which requires a much more simple game which we don't have .. that Rielly is fast but lacks brains/hands to make precise plays that a top offensive dman should make yes again a repeating pattern .. bringing in an over da hill HOF playoff underachiever like Jumbo (see Paddy) never works .. so many issues folks here but all repeating patterns over 5 years of 1st round exits

Again if nothing changes at top and with core it is very obvious da same sh*t will occur next year too .. but not sure we will even make playoffs next year folks .. Florida, Tampa and Boston are significantly better teams .. Montreal and Ottawa are improving squads . . it will be a huge battle to get a wildcard i think

If we remove Shanny/Dubie which I suspect is likely in coming days then it will take a couple years to REJIG this team by trading Mitch and Rielly to start to create CAP room and build a regular NHL squad which can compete in playoffs

Tough choices ahead for Larry but he knows da above facts .. such a bad state for our Leafs to be in really .. like I stated never send a boy to do a man's job .. and never rely on anything you hear from legal beagle Bettman as he only views us here in TO as his piggy bank

Honestly, as a Habs fan who isn’t trying to troll your forum or cause any problems on your turf by making this post, I felt like Matthews was shutdown by Price in this series. He was honestly dangerous many times and our goalie wasn’t allowing it. And we were suffocating him. A few bounces the other way and it’s different. Marner is a bit of a different story. He looked and played frustrated IMO.

 

[NightTrain1]

Especially to the 2nd round....

hahahah, ok really laughed when i read that.

 

[FraumBallard]

So, if you hire an employee who stinks at his job, it's his fault not yours? I believe it is the person's job who is doing the hiring to properly evaluate the talent of the person he is hiring. On this team Dubas failed on so many levels.

Agreed.
Everything is the fault of Shanahan and Wonder Boy.
Dubas should have never been hired.
Who could have seen this coming??
Oh Yeah.
I have said it since the moment Shanny hired Dubas.
Wonder Boy is a disaster and must be fired.
Shanahan and Keefe too.
And most of their hires too.
Clean House.
Top To Bottom.
Adore the Leafs.
HATE THIS TEAM & Mgt Group.
Good Riddance!!!!

 

[Kurtz]

Bad luck. Tavares injury. If he didn’t get injured game 1, we likely win that game and the next 3 for a sweep. Or he likely adds a point in one of the overtime games.

Good chance Matthews and Marner figured it out in rd 2 as well. If not though, that’s as far as we’d go. But they’re too good to stay cold for long.

It’s a shame such a good team could be torn apart by a freak injury.

Tampa lost Stamkos like 5 minutes into their postseason last year. They pulled it out.

Had we pulled it together against the Habs, we'd get JT back early for the Winnipeg series.

I can't blame this on bad luck.

 

[Stylizer1]

 

[moon111]

Despite this loss, the Leafs were an improved club in many regards. Their defensive play and risk taking has improved all season and continued into the playoffs. Only six players managed to be a minus player at the end of all this. Matthews is leading the playoffs with 14 takeaways.

We can discuss the nuisances of individual players, but the overall problem is Cap-management. Granted I don't think Dubas could of found much better 'patches' to fill the roster, but they simply weren't good enough. Having Spezza is brilliant. Thornton - fail. Simmonds - fail. Galchenyuk - fail. Engvall - fail. Mikheyev - fail. Dermott - fail. Sandin - fail.

You can take a forward like Kadri with no history of any sort of defensive play and wrap them around a player like McDavid. Especially if that's all they have. The idea that Matthews and Marner get stymied by Montreal shouldn't be a surprise. What you need is a bunch of Kerfoot-level/paid players to step up. But the Leafs can't have nice things because of their cap-management.