Game 8: Bruins @ Leafs 7:00PM Saturday on CBC

[lc9]

Leafs get shutout at home.  That drops their record to 1-3 at home while they 3-1 on the road.  Poor.

 

[drummond]

Nonis rection was telling

 

[bustaheims]

Time to replace Kostka with Gardiner.

Or Liles. Or Franson. He's been reasonable at even strength, but he's just been pretty useless on the PP.

 

[barney_rebel]

We stink dudes.

 

[Zee]

Nonis rection was telling

Missed it what was his reaction?

 

[ZBBM]

Everyone's piling on Kostka at the moment but seriously, I don't see why he merits the big minutes. 

Anyway, tough loss but overall I'm quite happy with the way they played.  Reimer especially, but props to Kuly.

 

[BrownRolo]

I haven't seen a lot of offensive skill from Kostka. Why is he played like he is a point scoring defenceman? And Phaneuf is pretty useless. I hate that pairing.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

 

[maplesyrup]

Everyone's piling on Kostka at the moment but seriously, I don't see why he merits the big minutes. 

Fair enough. He'd likely benefit from a smaller role.

 

[TML fan]

Next time they play Boston, I'd like to see the Leafs NOT send everyone 100 feet up the ice on the breakout. Short passes, short chip ins. Way too much separation.

 

[sickbeast]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

Why are we ragging on the defense when they held Boston to only 1 goal?  It's the forwards that were the problem tonight.  Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

 

[BrownRolo]

I think Kostka is solid, but I agree with what people are saying here. No way should he be playing as 1st pairing PP group and out there for the final 2 minutes when you have a 6 on 4 advantage. I don't see him being very creative. Makes more sense to have Franson out there. The guy knows how to keep his point shot low and get it on night. Maybe he can teach Phaneuf?

 

[bustaheims]

Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

He was hardly invisible tonight. He had a few decent chances, put one off the crossbar in the 2nd and was fairly involved in what little offence the Leafs managed to produce.

 

[BrownRolo]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

Why are we ragging on the defense when they held Boston to only 1 goal?  It's the forwards that were the problem tonight.  Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

Defense was decent. Gave up a lot of chances but Reimer bailed them out. Leafs need Lupul back really bad! Kulie looked decent tonight though. Had some chances.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

Why are we ragging on the defense when they held Boston to only 1 goal?  It's the forwards that were the problem tonight.  Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

Well it's a little too easy to say that the defence has to worry about the defence and the forwards have to worry about the offence. On the powerplay the defencemen play just as big of a role in trying to score as the forwards do, and I think Liles would be a lot more effective on the top unit than Kostka. Making that switch could help the powerplay and it could put Kostka's TOI to a more reasonable amount.

 

[leafplasma]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

Why are we ragging on the defense when they held Boston to only 1 goal?  It's the forwards that were the problem tonight.  Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

Agreed, defensively we were bang on.  We were offensively as strong as a novice girls ringette squad.

 

[maplesyrup]

Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

He was hardly invisible tonight. He had a few decent chances, put one off the crossbar in the 2nd and was fairly involved in what little offence the Leafs managed to produce.

So true. Like I said in the MotM thread, I just about HM'd him.

 

[TML fan]

Kostka leads all players in ice-time with 27:37. Phaneuf also over 27 minutes. Chara only played 21:33. What happened to managing the ice time for those two a little better? There was no reason for those two to be that high.

Why are we ragging on the defense when they held Boston to only 1 goal?  It's the forwards that were the problem tonight.  Kessel is always invisible against Boston, it's pathetic.

He had three of the best chances to score tonight.

That play late in the game where he went wide on Chara and circled the net is a perfect example of why Kessel doesn't do anything against Boston. He did everything he possibly could and all Chara had to do was stick that 400 year old Sequoia he carries out in front of him and Kessel had no play.

 

[drummond]

Nonis rection was telling

Missed it what was his reaction?

I am not a lip reader, but judging by his gestures, first he was angry as if he were saying WTF was that (Kostka stupid penalty) followed by the hand sweep in resignation as if he were saying oh well, we are done.

 

[TML fan]

I still blame Reimer for that goal. He has to block those cross crease passes. Use your stick man! Other than that, fantastic game on his part.