Game 31: Leafs @ Sabres - Mar. 21, 7:00pm - Sportsnet, Fan 590

[princedpw]

I seem to recall Sundin just coming down the ice and roofing the puck with a great shot.  I really don't understand why Kessel doesn't just come down the ice with blazing speed and roof the puck like he does during the games.  His release is so fast that he has a good shot of scoring.  Instead he tries to deke and quite frankly he's not all that good at it.

It took Sundin about a season or so to figure it out.  Then he developed exactly two moves.  Come down and shoot (Sundin)right side by the glove.  If the goalie hedges to Sundin's right, he roofs it backhand.  Simple. Effective. Like everything Sundin did.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

So what was that thing Kessel was doing in the shootout? He picked today to try a new deke move? Not picking on him only but his weapon (his only weapon) is the killer shot. WHERE WAS THE KILLER SHOT!!

Watching him in the shooutout there made me try and think how many of his goals come from dekes. Granted, I don't memorize every single Kessel moment, but I couldn't recall a single goal where he deked a goalie out. At best, it probably accounts for 5% of his total goals.

 

[ZBBM]

We stink dudes....

Can you remind us again why you do this?

it's kinda his thing, like me and my bears. To be honest, I kinda miss it when Barney is away and we don't get these posts in the GDT. Like something ain't right in my world

I'm with Glennie. How about some new material?

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Love Kadri's offensive game. Feel like we might've had a chance with Scrivens playing tonight. Was surprised Reimer wasn't pulled after the 4th, though I had an inclination to get him out after the 3rd. Wake the team up what have you and an excuse to get him out because he didn't look comfortable.

Grabbo is still infuriating. No offense, ok, but sometimes he makes terrible defensive plays/has trouble getting the pucl out of the zone or makes a terrible giveaway. For 5.5M per at least do something well, please! Kulemin is looking better with Kadri (who isn't?).

The one constructive criticism I have of Kadri from tonight's game was that his line wasn't good enough in their own end. They were dominated on a good few shifts and just couldn't get the puck out.

The Kessel/Jvr/Bozak team, though on the score sheet, need to have a bigger impact on games.

 

[Strangelove]

So what was that thing Kessel was doing in the shootout? He picked today to try a new deke move? Not picking on him only but his weapon (his only weapon) is the killer shot. WHERE WAS THE KILLER SHOT!!

Watching him in the shooutout there made me try and think how many of his goals come from dekes. Granted, I don't memorize every single Kessel moment, but I couldn't recall a single goal where he deked a goalie out. At best, it probably accounts for 5% of his total goals.

Last game - that forehand deke thing he does.  It's probably the only deke he should try in the shootout because his forehand is his weapon.  But really, he should come in with speed and either go with a quick release or else slow up and then quick release.  Meandering in without so much as a leg kick isn't going to do it.

 

[TML fan]

Thought it was an exciting game, disappointed with some of the defensive play, but I enjoyed it, The Nazie Dream is looking like a special player.

Its pretty obvious that the only untouchable on this team is the Lebanese kid who is woefully outplaying all of the supposedly "tougher" Canadian and American Leafs. I am usually optimistic but this is a ridiculous, pointless loss that may well be the point that we needed to make the playoffs.

Just despicable. I hate this team sometimes.

ps. Get Liles the **** out of there again. He wants to spout off about being a "ten year vet" and getting respect from Gardiner but then he makes a rookie mistake by getting sucked into leaving his man open and letting Buffalo score uncontested from the low slot. You're kidding me, right? Let McClement take the man in the corner, and stay in front of the g-ddamn net.

The devil is in the details. This game wasn't lost in the shootout. It was lost on the sloppy errors we made on allowing the second and third Buffalo goals.

Why doesn't Carlyle call a timeout after that second Buffalo goal to send a message. I could have coached this game better. I am absolutely livid at this team from the top all the way to the bottom. What happened to rallying for Lupul after he gets a totally ridiculous suspension?

Grow some balls and play like men. You're a bunch of lazy douchebags who have no idea what it means to play with testosterone because, well, they are coddled and pampered by the most comfortable organization to play for.

Most maddening loss of the season. I don't care about the point, that's not a team point, that is NAZEM KADRI's point.

I get the sentiment here. Honestly I don't think the Leafs were that bad tonight. Yeah they made mistakes but they also scored some goals on mistakes so it works both ways.

Ultimately, the Leafs just lack that put away mentality. They had two 2 goal leads and 2 chances to put the game away and they just couldn't find that extra gear to ice it for them. I even said to my wife last night that the 4 goal lead against Tampa made me nervous because the Leafs had almost completely stopped playing, whereas Tampa didn't and there was still 20 minutes left to play. Tonight they didn't really stop playing but they didn't do much to prevent Buffalo from getting back in it. They made it far too easy for Buffalo to have the puck and control the play.

 

[maplesyrup]

I'm with LHF. It brings a smile to my face more often than not.

 

[mc]

JVR looks out of it. He seems not interested.

 

[Kessel Run]

Ugh shootout...

Should have had this one long before.

 

[Strangelove]

I wonder how many wins Kadri has been worth this year.  I really don't think they'd be above 500 without him.  To be sitting at around a +20 given the amount of goals this team allows against is pretty staggering.

 

[princedpw]

I wonder how many wins Kadri has been worth this year.  I really don't think they'd be above 500 without him.  To be sitting at around a +20 given the amount of goals this team allows against is pretty staggering.

... Plus can't forget it seems like he draws 2 penalties a game ...

 

[leafplasma]

Thought it was an exciting game, disappointed with some of the defensive play, but I enjoyed it, The Nazie Dream is looking like a special player.

Its pretty obvious that the only untouchable on this team is the Lebanese kid who is woefully outplaying all of the supposedly "tougher" Canadian and American Leafs. I am usually optimistic but this is a ridiculous, pointless loss that may well be the point that we needed to make the playoffs.

Just despicable. I hate this team sometimes.

ps. Get Liles the **** out of there again. He wants to spout off about being a "ten year vet" and getting respect from Gardiner but then he makes a rookie mistake by getting sucked into leaving his man open and letting Buffalo score uncontested from the low slot. You're kidding me, right? Let McClement take the man in the corner, and stay in front of the g-ddamn net.

The devil is in the details. This game wasn't lost in the shootout. It was lost on the sloppy errors we made on allowing the second and third Buffalo goals.

Why doesn't Carlyle call a timeout after that second Buffalo goal to send a message. I could have coached this game better. I am absolutely livid at this team from the top all the way to the bottom. What happened to rallying for Lupul after he gets a totally ridiculous suspension?

Grow some balls and play like men. You're a bunch of lazy douchebags who have no idea what it means to play with testosterone because, well, they are coddled and pampered by the most comfortable organization to play for.

Most maddening loss of the season. I don't care about the point, that's not a team point, that is NAZEM KADRI's point.

So how bout dem Leafs.

 

[PG]

Don't like that they have allowed 3 goals or more in 7 of the last 8. Eerily starting to look like last year...and the year before...and the year before that.

Loving Kadri....hands down the best player on the team. Yes Randy, I'm anointing him.....

 

[Capn_Crunch]

We stink dudes....

Can you remind us again why you do this?

it's kinda his thing, like me and my bears. To be honest, I kinda miss it when Barney is away and we don't get these posts in the GDT. Like something ain't right in my world

I know what you mean and agree... it's his thing. I nicknamed him the GDT Troll as a good natured way of accepting his way of venting

Back on topic... This is our 10th SO loss in a row i heard it mentioned tonight. That's simply something that needs to be addressed and most ricky fricking tick. Teach these guys that dangles mean jack squat unless you can finish. Once you prove you can score in the SO then you get to be all fancy dancy IMHO.

RC and company need to pull their heads out of their asses and get to work on SO drills asap.
That's 6 points this season we have let slide away from us in one shape or form. That number reaches 10 and you can start to kiss the playoffs good bye i think.

Kadri... Man this guy is something special in the making i truly believe. He's fun to watch play and he's been getting a bit of grit he never had before. I truly hope that the media doesn't make it too hard for him to concentrate on his play and not on a bunch of idjits opinions in the media. We can't anoint him .... yet anyways

 

[Bonsixx]

My thoughts:

I have no confident in Reimer right now. That first goal by Ennis was ball hockey league quality.

That said, the Leafs were brutal after they went up 3-1 and deserved to lose the game. But man, what a frustrating game it was.

I remember a week or two ago when Bozak took a shootout attempt and got stopped and everyone went crazy about how he was allowed to shoot. Two attempts later, two goals. Meanwhile, Kessel, as usual on shootouts, does nothing. Let Bozak into EVERY shootout from now on.

That game sucked from the minute they kicked Orr out for trying to kill Patrick Kaleta.

 

[Boston Leaf]

Poor goaltending is gonna be our downfall. Howdy Doody must be better.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Thought it was an exciting game, disappointed with some of the defensive play, but I enjoyed it, The Nazie Dream is looking like a special player.

Me also. I was entertained by this game, it was fun to watch, however I think the Leafs could have beat them tonight, so it's upsetting that we didn't get 2 points in this.

 

[L K]

Don't like that they have allowed 3 goals or more in 7 of the last 8. Eerily starting to look like last year...and the year before...and the year before that.

Loving Kadri....hands down the best player on the team. Yes Randy, I'm anointing him.....

He's been far from perfect out on the ice but Gardiner looks really good a lot of the time. 

Kadri is easily the best player on the ice for the Leafs.  He's consistently the most dangerous offensive player and quite frankly, his defensive play has actually been pretty good.

The goaltending is going to be a huge issue for this team pretty soon though.  Neither Scrivens or Reimer instill very much confidence for me.  I wouldn't want to sell top prospects unless you were getting a relatively young goaltender back but it would be a shame to waste yet another season.  Eventually the value of a 12th pick vs. an 18th pick doesn't become more valuable than the playoff experience for Gardiner/Kadri/Kessel, etc.

 

[Frank E]

So...are we OK with Colton Orr punching the hell out of Kaleta?

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I am. Is it bad that I enjoyed it?