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Canadiens @ Leafs - Oct. 8th, 7:00pm - SN1, TSN 1050

October hockey is just more intense preseason hockey so I don't think anyone should care all that much about the how. Winning games early matters more to me than whether the team deserved to win or not. I didn't catch big chunks of this one because of the Jays game but when I did tune in, Rielly stood out. The Tavares/Nylander line looked ok a few times I saw it which shouldn't be surprising because they played together all last year. Matthews looked pretty pedestrian outside of his hustle for the ENG.
 
Good ice time distribution. Joshua and Roy PK1? Matthews and Nylander had one shot each into an empty net, a good shooting percentage.

I was expecting Reilly to have a big season.
 
The team was timid (or complacent?) after the first opening salvo put the McMann tip into the net.

It took until the third to find their legs and get more jump on their forecheck, which helped ease the pressure on the DZ that was spiraling a bit for the 2nd period, and turned the tide for the rest of the game. Not sure how consistently they can keep up the workrate, but I'd like them to get very practiced at the patterns of supportive forechecking in time for the playoffs. Kettle the puck in the OZ and just keep giving more messy opportunities for the skilled players to cook something up, or the greasy players to bang one through.
 
herman said:
The team was timid (or complacent?) after the first opening salvo put the McMann tip into the net.

It took until the third to find their legs and get more jump on their forecheck, which helped ease the pressure on the DZ that was spiraling a bit for the 2nd period, and turned the tide for the rest of the game. Not sure how consistently they can keep up the workrate, but I'd like them to get very practiced at the patterns of supportive forechecking in time for the playoffs. Kettle the puck in the OZ and just keep giving more messy opportunities for the skilled players to cook something up, or the greasy players to bang one through.
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When you lose skill as the Leafs have done, the only way to counteract that is by upping intensity and forechecking. If they can, this team will be fine. If they can't, the removal of skill will really show.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
When you lose skill as the Leafs have done, the only way to counteract that is by upping intensity and forechecking. If they can, this team will be fine. If they can't, the removal of skill will really show.
Click to expand...

I think by not directly replacing that lost skill, the message is everybody is gonna row a little bit harder instead of waiting for Matthews to do something. Everybody is going to get a bigger role, more opportunities to stand out, work together to make something happen.
 
herman said:
I think by not directly replacing that lost skill, the message is everybody is gonna row a little bit harder instead of waiting for Matthews to do something. Everybody is going to get a bigger role, more opportunities to stand out, work together to make something happen.
Click to expand...
Definitely. Stop sitting on your hands waiting for someone else to fix the problem.
 
I saw Lorentz drive the net hard. Domi shot pucks (even when maybe he should not have). Willy played defense noticeably. Rielly activated. Knies was a bull in their china shop. OEL and Benoit trying that slot tip.

Plenty of good things to build on to improve cohesion between forwards and defense.
 
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