Post-Game Talk: You get a blown lead! You get a blown lead! Everyone gets a blown lead!

[bobermay]

With decent goaltending the Leafs are probably 4-1 right now instead of staring at 1 win in their first 5 games.

Not even great or elite, simply decent.

I sincerely hope the faith Babcock and management have in this fairly inexperienced goaltender is well-placed.

I don't know what you expect, but he has been decent. We'd only be 4-1 or 5-0 with great / elite goaltending.

Guys, we have got points in 4 of 5 games.... 4 games on the road too..

 

[bobermay]

I would put Polak and Hunwick at the bottom. Also, it's silly to have Carrick below them because 1 time he got beat. Every dman gets beat at some point. Polak and Hunwick get beat all the time and people still seem to think they are defensive dmen.

Carrick has been beat more than that though... he's made a few really bad pinches.

 

[bionic]

The blown leads are a mixture of a weak defence and below average in net. Two things that are going to change. Better defencmen are going to come in and I still think Andersen has what it takes to shake out of the new team blues.

 

[Mess]

I don't know what you expect, but he has been decent. We'd only be 4-1 or 5-0 with great / elite goaltending.

Guys, we have got points in 4 of 5 games.... 4 games on the road too..

Glass 1/2 full = We've gotten points in 4 of 5 games.

Glass 1/2 empty = We've blown leads heading into the 3rd in 4 of 5 games.

Its not how you start but how you finish that is the key to success.

 

[The Apologist]

I kind of wish Leafs fans on this board actually knew something about hockey too

Much easier to just repeat the following and show their cluelessness:

1. Andersen sucks
2. Its Bozak's/JVR's fault.
3. Its all Hunwick.

Scapegoating is so much easier than actually going over the game.

My take:
Kadri line was outclassed tonight. Seemed like they were always chasing, scrambling, and generally a step behind all night.

Marner with a huge learning opportunity on the tying goal. That puck has to come out. Looked pretty good all game though blocking shots and setting up plays.

Babs really should have called a timeout after the third goal given the way the last few games have ended. Calm the troops down.

All in all, this team has looked great offensively but suspect defensively. The good news? Defense can be taught and we have one of the best teachers in the game.

 

[thewave]

I would put Polak and Hunwick at the bottom. Also, it's silly to have Carrick below them because 1 time he got beat. Every dman gets beat at some point. Polak and Hunwick get beat all the time and people still seem to think they are defensive dmen.

Valiev outplays Hunny and Polak and that's no joke. He is a better D as of right this minute. If they think they can play and up the value of Hunny and Polak for trade again... Good luck.

 

[Budsfan]

The Leafs are miles ahead of where they were last year and are in 20th place in the league and are improving, we really we have only lost once in regulation time, this is progress.

 

[frog]

some of these leaf fans are so stupid. Polak and hunwick aren't terrible defensemen they are good defensemen and aside from rielly and zaitsev the best defensive defensemen we have. This team is soo inexperienced and young the fact that they blew the lead the first few games of the season is actually the most realistic outcome that this team should do. Anderson off to a slow start is another realistic outcome given that he was just injured and brand new to this team.

Enjoy the good and let the team grow, there will be lots of mistakes but overtime it will get better. The more complaining you do shows how out to lunch you are about hockey and sports in general when we have a rebuilding team. Please smarten up.

 

[Suntouchable13]

some of these leaf fans are so stupid. Polak and hunwick aren't terrible defensemen they are good defensemen and aside from rielly and zaitsev the best defensive defensemen we have. This team is soo inexperienced and young the fact that they blew the lead the first few games of the season is actually the most realistic outcome that this team should do. Anderson off to a slow start is another realistic outcome given that he was just injured and brand new to this team.

Enjoy the good and let the team grow, there will be lots of mistakes but overtime it will get better. The more complaining you do shows how out to lunch you are about hockey and sports in general when we have a rebuilding team. Please smarten up.

Calls other Leafs fans stupid then misspells Andersen's name.

 

[schenneuf]

One positive: we are only 1 point out of the playoffs.

 

[schenneuf]

I've been saying this all summer: we need a classic power "shutdown" center. Like your prototypical 6-3, 215 lbs, good on FOs and defense-first. We don't have one in the pipeline nor on the roster. Looking around the league, there are tons of guys like that. Off the top of my head, a couple young guys who I'd love to have are de la Rose and Faksa. Someone like that would have helped TREMENDOUSLY last night against Anisimov driving to the net and scoring 2 goals.

 

[RomanianLeafs]

We are tanking because Babcock doesn't know how to coach this team. Give him Winnik and Parenteau, we don't need these kids playing. Fire him next season and hire someone who knows how to win with talent.

F***ing guy puts Holland on Penalty shoot, puts Polak and Hunwik on 4v3. This guy is straight up pathetically making this team awful followed by Andersen.

this fanbase...

 

[showtime8]

I've taken screenshots of the 4 goals that the Leafs had against them last night and I'm going to try and explain the play that preceeded the goal.

GOAL 1

View attachment 92401

So this is the goal where Panarin was coming in, Andersen let out the rebound and Anisimov scored.

I think most of the blame went to Kadri and Hunwick.

But the way I saw it was the Leafs had the numbers in their favour. They had Kadri, Komarov and Zaitsev back and the Hawks only had Panarin & Anisimov because everyone else was on a change.

Kadri does lose body positioning on Panarin, Komarov is back in case their is a high man in the slot coming down and Zaitsev should be looking for Anisimov. Instead, all 3 Leafs collapse on Panarin, Andersen lets out a rebound based on the way Panarin angled his shot and no one is left covering Anisimov. He's got the open net for him.

Kadri should have not been out-muscled for the puck, but even if he was, everyone else should be doing their jobs and the rebound comes out to a covered man in the slot and you have the 3rd guy (Komarov) there to get the puck out of the zone at the very least.


GOAL 2

View attachment 92407

Here's the Hawks 2nd goal on the power play. The puck gets worked around the umbrella and comes to Campbell for the shot. Andersen lets out a huge rebound in the slot and everyone else is too slow rotating over to get a man.

For all the Andersen haters, this is probably the only goal that you could fault him on. The shot from the point was easy to see and should have been easy to control. Instead he puts it out into the slot and was an easy goal. To be fair to Andersen, Rielly was in floating around somewhere and left Michalek to cover both the point shot and Motte behind him (who eventually ended up scoring).

GOAL 3


View attachment 92409

So this might be sacrilege, but I'm pointing out that Morgan Rielly should have been covering his man better.

On the 3rd goal, Campbell enters the zone and puts a shot on Andersen. Andersen lets out a rebound to the middle of the slot and Anisimov scores again. I know a lot of people should say that Andersen should control his rebounds better. And I do agree with that to a point. But when a shot is coming in from that angle, his only choice is to try and stop the puck and hope that everyone else has someone covered. Rielly was late reacting to his coverage and it cost them.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Much easier to just repeat the following and show their cluelessness:

1. Andersen sucks
2. Its Bozak's/JVR's fault.
3. Its all Hunwick.

Scapegoating is so much easier than actually going over the game.

My take:
Kadri line was outclassed tonight. Seemed like they were always chasing, scrambling, and generally a step behind all night.

Marner with a huge learning opportunity on the tying goal. That puck has to come out. Looked pretty good all game though blocking shots and setting up plays.

Babs really should have called a timeout after the third goal given the way the last few games have ended. Calm the troops down.

All in all, this team has looked great offensively but suspect defensively. The good news? Defense can be taught and we have one of the best teachers in the game.

What are the expectations for the Kadri line? Is he supposed to carry two offensive black holes? His talents are going to waste in this "shutdown" role.

 

[Budsfan]

One positive: we are only 1 point out of the playoffs.

This is the point, we are a team in flux but moving in the right direction, few expected us to be a playoff team this year and we may not be one but it's encouraging to be where we are and moving toward that goal.

There will be more player changes ahead and we will become a better team moving forward.

 

[The Apologist]

What are the expectations for the Kadri line? Is he supposed to carry two offensive black holes? His talents are going to waste in this "shutdown" role.

The expectations on the shutdown line is to shut down the other line. They didnt. Theyve looked good recently. Last night not so much.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I'm not sure why Kadri gets blamed for those goals.

First goal he had Panarina shooting from an angle, and Andersen played it this way. Zaitsev leaving his man on the other side caused the goal. Cover your guy or damn sure don't let the pass go across, Zaitsev did neither.

Was it the third goal? Kadri had his guy covered but again the guy on the far side was covered by Reilly.
Rielly was in "near position" but didn't handle the guys stick.

 

[Babcocks Marner]

Some of you guys really should pick a new hobby, or choose a different team if you get so angry over a game and a team that is still learning the ropes.

Negatives for the kids:

Matthews - needs to be better on his defensive aspect. Leading forwards in the give away dept.

Nylander - Same as Matthews, but doesn't give the puck away. Would like to see him back check a bit harder, but he has already been much better defensively over the first 3 games.

Marner - Shoot more.


Positives:

They have 18 points in 5 games. Marner and Nylander lead the team in Take aways. They are 1,2,3 on the team for shots on goal. Marner has more blocked shots than any defender not named Rielly. Matthews is freaking 3rd in the NHL for points.


How can you not be happy? I love this team more than ever. Losing or not, the positives out weigh the negatives by x1000000. All I wanted to see this year were the kids get better and better and they hop out of the gate like beasts.

Give it a rest on Babs as well, insanity.... 5 games and some cry like they are personally insulted over what D pair was on the ice, or who shot in the shoot out. It's one thing to disagree, it's another level to actually be angry about it.

Guy was handed a bag of apples and told to make peach cobbler. If you don't have the patience to suffer for a couple years to actually become a REAL competitor, than like I said, find a new hobby. Going to get a stroke or heart attack getting all worked up over a game. Plus, you should be used to losing. We been garbage for 50 years. I would hate to see some of you 2 years ago

I don't even mind losing while watching our ever so bright future. Still on a 82 point pace, huge improvements from last year, even with horrible luck. The kids are only going to get better, as will the lines as the adjust to the new faces. We need to add a good D man, and goal tending has to be better.... lots of time for that, the parade route isn't even set yet

Pain is here, we were all warned well in advance. (imo not even that painful this year )

 

[swint]

I've been saying this all summer: we need a classic power "shutdown" center. Like your prototypical 6-3, 215 lbs, good on FOs and defense-first. We don't have one in the pipeline nor on the roster. Looking around the league, there are tons of guys like that. Off the top of my head, a couple young guys who I'd love to have are de la Rose and Faksa. Someone like that would have helped TREMENDOUSLY last night against Anisimov driving to the net and scoring 2 goals.

Gauthier

 

[TIGERCOOL]

I've been saying this all summer: we need a classic power "shutdown" center. Like your prototypical 6-3, 215 lbs, good on FOs and defense-first. We don't have one in the pipeline nor on the roster. Looking around the league, there are tons of guys like that. Off the top of my head, a couple young guys who I'd love to have are de la Rose and Faksa. Someone like that would have helped TREMENDOUSLY last night against Anisimov driving to the net and scoring 2 goals.

No one in the pipeline?

Andersen is the reason we made it to a shootout last night. He was fanrastic in OT. Only 1 goal can be pinned on him, which is the bad rebound in front of the net. His rebound control is pretty good, he'll sort that out.

 

[Garthinater]

I've been saying this all summer: we need a classic power "shutdown" center. Like your prototypical 6-3, 215 lbs, good on FOs and defense-first. We don't have one in the pipeline nor on the roster. Looking around the league, there are tons of guys like that. Off the top of my head, a couple young guys who I'd love to have are de la Rose and Faksa. Someone like that would have helped TREMENDOUSLY last night against Anisimov driving to the net and scoring 2 goals.

Pretty sure that describes f Gauthier to a T.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

The expectations on the shutdown line is to shut down the other line. They didnt. Theyve looked good recently. Last night not so much.

I don't think Kadri is suited for a shutdown role....but that could be just me.

 

[The Apologist]

I don't think Kadri is suited for a shutdown role....but that could be just me.

May be more than you but personally I disagree. I think that role suits him perfectly. Hes fast, tenacious and plays with an edge. He's always a threat to score as well so teams can't just sit back on him. I actually think he himself looked good last night. The line itself was a step behind though.

 

[Purity*]

May be more than you but personally I disagree. I think that role suits him perfectly. Hes fast, tenacious and plays with an edge. He's always a threat to score as well so teams can't just sit back on him. I actually think he himself looked good last night. The line itself was a step behind though.

Kadri needs a big power winger who can drive the net and score goals.

Michalek is a little old and run down to be that guy.

 

[Walshy7]

Yeah id love to see Gauthier soon prototypical shutdown C move Bozak to the wing or even better off the team completely and give the goat a chance to learn what it takes.