Champ Kind
New member
Bender said:
Truer words were never spoken
Canadiens @ Leafs - Feb. 13th, 7:00pm - CBC, Fan 590
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Truer words were never spoken
ZBBM
Active member
I see this as a mirror image of last game. We limited their chances then and they limited ours except for the first ten minutes. As the commentators said it didn't seem like the hit difference had that big of an impact.azzurri63 said:
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azzurri63
Active member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Hits do not win games. My concern and it?s been a problem with this team for years is that grit, passion, intensity and willingness to go into the corners to dish a hit or take one. Too many on this team avoid contact. Matthews is doing more of that this year but there are some who avoid it. Frustrating to watch. Effort tonight other than the first period was horrid. Maybe I expect too much. If the effort is there and we lose so be it but for 2/3 of the game at home against a tired divisional rival we were flat.
azzurri63
Active member
Bullfrog said:
Read my previous post. Said it doesn?t cost you the game. What it does show is a willingness to dish out hits to retrieve the puck, gain possession etc. Lack of hits by this team means you have a skilled team but a lack of grit, toughness etc. Some of you I?m sure feel it?s not needed but I beg to differ and this is the regular season. Dubas built a team with no vision for toughness and size. Only this off season they addressed it with Simmonds. We need more guys like him. We have too many that avoid any sort of contact. When Matthews your best player is one who dishes out more hits than others there?s a problem.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
The Leafs looked great the first 20 minutes. The habs seemed to lull them to sleep.
It was a pretty boring game.
It was a pretty boring game.
bustaheims
Active member
Hits are generally negatives correlated to puck possession, so, I?m okay with Leafs having low totals. Same with blocked shots. You can only really rack them up when the other team has the puck.
Bullfrog
Active member
azzurri63 said:
Please explain why it's needed.
You just criticized Dubas for not building a team with toughness and size. Spezza is 6'3, 210lb+; Thornton is 6'4, 220lb; Matthews is 6'3, 215lb; Muzzin is 6'3, 215; Holl is 6'4, 210; useless Nylander outweighs Simmonds by 15 lbs.
So clearly size isn't the problem. So it must be "toughness" then. The Leafs are currently #1 in the league in points (4th in point percentage).
bustaheims
Active member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
It?s something that the wider hockey world is coming to terms with. It?s also a really unreliably tracked stat, which is also something that people are realizing. It?s not a useful measurement for success of any kind. All it really tells you is willingness to throw a hit, not usefulness or any other actual positive.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
azzurri63 said:
Holy crap, did you watch the first period? Did you see the Marner and Matthews magic? why in gods green earth would you break that up?
azzurri63
Active member
OldTimeHockey said:
Yes I did and I love the two of them together but it seems like its the only line doing anything. Losing Thornton and Simmonds has hurt us not in the sense that they are going to carry you but it definitely shows as far as lack of depth. All I'm saying his we need more production from the JT line. Maybe a swap will get both of them going because frankly they aren't cutting it.
ZBBM
Active member
Guilt Trip
Active member
The issue isn't their overall point totals. Their issue is at even strength..JT has 8 ESpts in 15games, Willy 7 ESpts in 15games. Take it further, JT has 1 ES goal, Willy, 3...not good enough.Bullfrog said:
Matthews and Marner are PPG players at even strength. Leafs need to be a 2 line attack. Right now they're not.
Guilt Trip said:
JT and WN have looked pretty ineffective for significant parts of this season, last night it was particularly obvious. OTOH Marner and Matthews have been fantastic. I'd be hesitant to break them up BUT, Matthews and Nylander have worked well before. So it might be worth testing some new combinations. But what are they?
A simple step would be to just switch out Hyman and Mikheyev, perhaps Hyman can provide the spark to get the second line going. If not, then split up the big tandems and try Hyman-Matthews-Nylander and Someone-Tavares-Marner. Who is that someone...I like Mikheyev but he may not be a great fit there. Maybe try Petan or even go back to Vesey, as much as I don't like him he might be a better fit than Mikheyev.
I don't know what is going on but JT just doesn't appear right to me. He looks slower than usual with everything - skating, shooting, puck handling. Maybe he's just focusing too much on playing defensively. And Nylander seems to have regressed into an even less engaged state than usual. Sure, he manages to steal a few pucks each game but mostly avoids physical battles and tend to lose them when he engages.