Tigger said:
It was a little bit dirty and entirely unnecessary at the time ( considering the score ) but it was nice to see Phil engage.
The guy they miss a lot, when on his game, is Armstrong. I think the Leafs could use a little edge in the toughness department on top of that but they're soooo fast, and to me that was a priority.
I feel bad for Phil but yeah, at least he's retaliating a bit when that stuff happens. The problem is that plays like that are happening every single game now. The book is out on the Leafs. You can take liberties with Kessel and rarely have to answer for them. It also does a good job of getting Kessel off his game because he has to watch over his shoulder for a big hit or is looking for stickwork to impede his skating. The team doesn't need Colton Orr staged fights, but they need a guy who is going to go out there and hit someone hard for messing with Kessel and no-one seems to want to step up and do that (outside of Brown tonight), but this is a problem that happens too much. I don't think that every player in the league needs to be a heavy hitter, but everyone needs to be willing to try and play a more physical game at times and the Leafs don't seem to do that.
Heck, Kadri weighs about 125 and manages to lay guys out at times. There is absolutely no reason that Lupul can't start throwing the odd hit, or heaven forbid Tim Connolly do something other than float around in circles in the offensive zone.
The problem with fast is that teams that do even a mediocre job of clogging the neutral zone and not making reckless pinches can mitigate speed.
Boston does it, Montreal did it, in the games outside of the 5-0 drubbing, Ottawa was doing it. New York did it in their last game against the Leafs. Philly did it. If you take away the transition game, the Leafs are toast. Outside of the 4th line that tries really hard but really has zero scoring ability (Steckel's goals aside, he really doesn't have much ability with the puck on his stick) and Grabovski, the rest of the roster loses most puck battles along the boards.
The Leafs have never really learned how to start a good dump in play so it's pretty much a guaranteed turnover if they don't get a free pass at center ice. The Leafs weren't playing a big tough team tonight and still managed to get outmuscled. That to me had less to do with a physical disadvantage and more of an unwillingness for the team to stand up for themselves.
I think as Nik said, it goes back to a leadership thing. Where was Phaneuf to make a statement and shake his team up after two bad outings in a row? He was a non-factor. Poor effort on the PP on the point and he initiating physical play, he wasn't skating with authority, and was downright embarrassing on how easily he let Eller walk around him for the 4th goal. I know I haven't been the biggest supporter of Phaneuf in general but it was kind of ugly watching that kind of effort from the captain of the Leafs on a night when we are honouring Mats. Mats was a rare breed of player, and the Leafs certainly had stinker games over the 13 years Mats played for the team but this team (as in the fans) deserve better than the effort tonight.
