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Canadiens @ Leafs - Jan. 13th, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

Twitter just said Hughson is adamant about not traveling during Covid so will only do Canuck home games.

Season starting out ok.
 
Not going as far as to say that I miss Barrie but unless one of Lehtonen or Sandin really step up we're going to miss having that 2nd dynamic offensive defenceman. I like Brodie but he's not a PP2 guy.
 
This may be confirmation bias at work but the Leafs still feel like they have way, way too many situations where I just have no idea where their defensemen are. They gave up two breakaways on a PK. How does that even happen? Why would you ever send defensemen past centre ice when a man down? Likewise the second Anderson goal. Their 2nd defenseman, whoever it was, wasn't even the 3rd guy back.
 
Nik said:
This may be confirmation bias at work but the Leafs still feel like they have way, way too many situations where I just have no idea where their defensemen are. They gave up two breakaways on a PK. How does that even happen? Why would you ever send defensemen past centre ice when a man down? Likewise the second Anderson goal. Their 2nd defenseman, whoever it was, wasn't even the 3rd guy back.
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Agree.  One game is one game and of course they are still getting used to each other but they looked as perennially unorganized as ever.

And yes CTB Brodie didn't inspire on the 2PP.  Slow and flubbed the only shot attempt I recall.
 
Nik said:
This may be confirmation bias at work but the Leafs still feel like they have way, way too many situations where I just have no idea where their defensemen are. They gave up two breakaways on a PK. How does that even happen? Why would you ever send defensemen past centre ice when a man down? Likewise the second Anderson goal. Their 2nd defenseman, whoever it was, wasn't even the 3rd guy back.
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Yeah, and that stuff really bugs me because it's so basic.

Great to come back and win the game, and Montreal had some pop to their game...I don't think they're going to roll over this year.

I just hope that we're not going to have to be talking about a lousy defensive game all season long, again. 
 
Nik said:
This may be confirmation bias at work but the Leafs still feel like they have way, way too many situations where I just have no idea where their defensemen are. They gave up two breakaways on a PK. How does that even happen? Why would you ever send defensemen past centre ice when a man down? Likewise the second Anderson goal. Their 2nd defenseman, whoever it was, wasn't even the 3rd guy back.
Click to expand...

That one on the goal was actually a 3 on 0. I mean, it was because of the way the line change happened, but what NHL level defense pairing is long changing together, when the puck is barely inside the opposing teams blueline?

Positives:
Forwards - I thought Nylander, Tavares and Matthews were great tonight. Mikheyev was strong on the puck and looked fast. Simmonds was good. Actually the whole 4th line was good. Spezza even had a bit of a jump out there.
Defense - I thought Rielly was fantastic and Brodie was solid. He's not flashy, but that's what Rielly needs as a partner.

Cons:
Forwards - Kerfoot is a try hard. He tries too hard. It takes him out of position. He's fast, but he needs to take his foot off the gas once and a while. Thornton wasn't terrible but just seemed out of position. I won't really say he was a negative and I think after some time, they'll mesh well. Personally, if I was to move a player up from time to time to help with Matthews and Marner and to give Joe a rest, I'd think of Mikheyev. Hyman was not very good IMO
Defense - After the top two, the defense was terrible. Muzzin and Holl were always out of position. I do not like that pairing. Bogosian and Dermott were also pretty bad out there. Bogosian more so.
Goalie - Andersen needs to be better. He was ok in OT, but at least 2 of those goals are not NHL calibre goals.

On Montreal's side, I really liked Anderson for them. That Romanov on defense looks real good. Chiarot is a tool.

 
Wednesday marked the first time in
@MapleLeafs
franchise history in which the team overcame a multi-goal deficit to win a season-opening game.
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That's a fairly crazy stat given the Leafs are over 100 years old.
 
I'm willing to cut the team some slack, with it being the first game of the season, no exhibition games to get back into the swing of things, etc. Both teams looked sloppy at times.

That being said, they need to get it together quickly. Tight schedule with every game being in the division means things can go south quickly.
 
bustaheims said:
I'm willing to cut the team some slack, with it being the first game of the season, no exhibition games to get back into the swing of things, etc. Both teams looked sloppy at times.

That being said, they need to get it together quickly. Tight schedule with every game being in the division means things can go south quickly.
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Agreed.  They'll look sloppy due to lack of exhibition games, but given the talent on the team they should be able to win games even when not at their best.  Last night was a prime example, Leafs weren't especially sharp but the talent came through when it needed to.  Hopefully they get a tighter game going soon since the schedule is so short and every game is a 4 point division game.
 
bustaheims said:
I'm willing to cut the team some slack, with it being the first game of the season, no exhibition games to get back into the swing of things, etc. Both teams looked sloppy at times.

That being said, they need to get it together quickly. Tight schedule with every game being in the division means things can go south quickly.
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Also don't we have limited options in terms of personnel changes due to the cap/trying to keep Dell on the taxi squad?
 
bustaheims said:
I'm willing to cut the team some slack, with it being the first game of the season, no exhibition games to get back into the swing of things, etc. Both teams looked sloppy at times.

That being said, they need to get it together quickly. Tight schedule with every game being in the division means things can go south quickly.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%.
Like they said a couple times. Every game is a swing game. Lose 3 in a row and you've lost lots of ground. Especially with so many back to backs with the same team. You don't want that losing streak to come when you're playing against the team you're chasing, or for that matter, to the team that is chasing you.
 
Bender said:
Also don't we have limited options in terms of personnel changes due to the cap/trying to keep Dell on the taxi squad?
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Right now there isn't cap room to add another player to the active roster and Barabanov is the only one who can be sent to the taxi squad without waivers.

I wonder if we'll see him sent down today for cap accumulation purposes, I was thinking they would go down to 20 on off days.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
bustaheims said:
I'm willing to cut the team some slack, with it being the first game of the season, no exhibition games to get back into the swing of things, etc. Both teams looked sloppy at times.

That being said, they need to get it together quickly. Tight schedule with every game being in the division means things can go south quickly.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%.
Like they said a couple times. Every game is a swing game. Lose 3 in a row and you've lost lots of ground. Especially with so many back to backs with the same team. You don't want that losing streak to come when you're playing against the team you're chasing, or for that matter, to the team that is chasing you.
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With every game being a divisional game (even the ones you don't play) you can get behind real quick. Every single gave your division plays someone is getting points.
 
Joe S. said:
Listening to Burke on the fan right now ?other than the 3 points, Nylander didn?t contribute anything?.
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Until he changes his named to William Smith, Nylander will get criticism for absolutely no reason.
 
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