Islanders @ Leafs - Jan. 7th, 7:00pm - TSN, SN 590

[GhostofPotvin29]

And for doing so, he does the perfect deflection by getting his stick in the shooting lane.  Then everyone blames Bernier.

He didn't even do that, he was just there and the shot happened to go right where his stick was.  It wasn't like he put it out there to try and block it/deflect it.  It was just where he was holding his stick and where the shot ended up going.

Phaneuf should of gone down to block the shot.  He skated over and didn't commit.  But I don't blame him, as all that would do is ruin his summer vacation plans.

When was the last time someone went down to block a shot from outside their own blueline?  I thought you're supposed to let the goalie see the puck.  It's just blind luck it hit where it hit, stop trying to make it out to be more than it is - an unlucky play for the Leafs.

 

[Jalili]

Losing Thursday's game to the Canes would likely mean that the Leafs finally lose their playoff spot.

Actually, the next few 3 games are all pretty big in the context of the playoff race.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Maybe some former goalie can chime in.  But I don't think people are appreciating how hard a shot like the one Dion tipped in is to stop.

If that came off a 80 miles/hour slapshot.
422400 feet/hour
422400 feet/60minutes
422400 feet/3600second

Blue to net ->64 feet /1.833 seconds.  (Goalie has to come out of net, so it's actually less then 64 feet) 

Your math wipes out here.  422400 feet/3600 seconds is correct.  That's 117.3 feet/sec.  At that velocity, it travels 64 feet in 0.545 seconds, the reciprocal of your 1.833 seconds.

If Bernier has no time to react to the deflection, Phaneuf certainly has no great quantity of time of his own to make his own adjustments, but regardless I see nothing wrong with his play.  You seriously think Phaneuf should have blocked a shot from outside the blueline?

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

You seriously think Phaneuf should have blocked a shot from outside the blueline?

Apparently not if he wants to summer in the Hamptons.

 

[bustaheims]

Losing Thursday's game to the Canes would likely mean that the Leafs finally lose their playoff spot.

Actually, the next few 3 games are all pretty big in the context of the playoff race.

If they don't earn any points in their next two games, they could conceivably find themselves behind Carolina, Washington, Ottawa and the Rangers. One of the Metropolitan teams would hold 3rd place in their division, but, the Leafs would have lost the luxury of having more points than them. They could also find themselves behind the Devils by the time they play them on Sunday.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Watching the Islanders reminds me of the 1980s.  There's big Matt Carkner, third cousin of Terry Carkner.  There's Brock Nelson, nephew of Olympian Dave Christian.  And of course there's coach Jack Capuano, wearing Ray Bourque's hair.

 

[Highlander]

Very funny Potvin, that made me laugh

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

You seriously think Phaneuf should have blocked a shot from outside the blueline?

Apparently not if he wants to summer in the Hamptons.

I truly can't think of a worse defensive decision there than a shot block attempt.  It would be mind-bogglingly bad.

 

[Stronger Than All]

wow, just watched the low-lights of the game.  I am speechless.  such preventable goals.

 

[Champ Kind]

Watching the Islanders reminds me of the 1980s.  There's big Matt Carkner, third cousin of Terry Carkner.  There's Brock Nelson, nephew of Olympian Dave Christian.  And of course there's coach Jack Capuano, wearing Ray Bourque's hair.

I hate to use this, but I really did LOL.

Terrific!

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Yeah, this page gave me a big laugh today, thanks guys.

 

[ZBBM]

I don't agree with bad-mouthing Kessel like some others might do, but at some point I've grown weary of the "blame his linemates" argument. He's not playing with Joey Crabb anymore, guy has good linemates to play with.One thing I've noticed is that we're not seeing his signature "streak down the side and snipe" move that we used to see so often. Probably opposing defensive systems keying in on him, I guess.

The Joey Crabb thing is a whole other argument. He was scoring 30 goals and 60 points with non-nhl calibre linemates. Ever since getting "good" (not great) linemates, Kessel's totals have climbed to 35-40 goal, 70-80 point pace. I'm not sure what else this guy is supposed to do.

Take over the odd game?  Win a puck battle once in awhile?  More clutch and/or GWGs?

Sorry, I guess I expect too much from Phil.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Right, on pace for 37-38 goals, after scoring at a 35 goal pace last season and 37 goals the season before, but in your mind he doesn't even take over the odd game?

I just think you're never going to like him, no matter what.  He's never going to be this player you have in your mind, and even if he were to "take over the odd game" (whatever that means) I expect the expectations would change again and he would fail to live up to those new expectations.

 

[bustaheims]

Take over the odd game?  Win a puck battle once in awhile?  More clutch and/or GWGs?

Sorry, I guess I expect too much from Phil.

The Leafs are one of only a handful of teams whose top 4 goal scorers have scored more than half of the team's goals. The top guys are not the problem, it's the depth scorers that aren't contributing as much as they're supposed to. So, yes, you do expect too much from Kessel. He's one of the only guys on the team that is actually doing his job. It's hard to win games when there are only a handful of guys on the team actually putting the puck in the net with any sort of consistency.

 

[TML fan]

The next 8 years are going to be fun.

 

[Andy007]

You know what's funny, in roughly the same amount of games played, Kessel has exactly the same amount of GWG as Sidney Crosby. This year he has 4, which is around, or better than all of Crosby, Sharp and Ovechkin, the top 3 goal scorers.

 

[ZBBM]

Right, on pace for 37-38 goals, after scoring at a 35 goal pace last season and 37 goals the season before, but in your mind he doesn't even take over the odd game?

I just think you're never going to like him, no matter what.  He's never going to be this player you have in your mind, and even if he were to "take over the odd game" (whatever that means) I expect the expectations would change again and he would fail to live up to those new expectations.

Granted, he'll never be my favorite player but I don't dislike him as much as you may think.  I recognized, and was very happy with, his play vs BOS in the playoffs, for example.  I also gladly acknowledge that he's a better playmaker than he used to be.  And, though he's not great at it, I do see him trying to backcheck more than he did.

Everyone keeps quoting his scoring stats, but surely we can expect more from him in terms of timely goals, a willingness to fight through checks, etc.  Well, I do anyway, without apology.  He gets paid a ton, I expect a ton.

And BTW, please, everyone knows what taking over a game means.  Tavares, for example, in his last two.  It's when a team's top player leads his team to a victory they otherwise didn't look like they would get. 

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Right, on pace for 37-38 goals, after scoring at a 35 goal pace last season and 37 goals the season before, but in your mind he doesn't even take over the odd game?

I just think you're never going to like him, no matter what.  He's never going to be this player you have in your mind, and even if he were to "take over the odd game" (whatever that means) I expect the expectations would change again and he would fail to live up to those new expectations.

Granted, he'll never be my favorite player but I don't dislike him as much as you may think.  I recognized, and was very happy with, his play vs BOS in the playoffs, for example.  I also gladly acknowledge that he's a better playmaker than he used to be.  And, though he's not great at it, I do see him trying to backcheck more than he did.

Everyone keeps quoting his scoring stats, but surely we can expect more from him in terms of timely goals, a willingness to fight through checks, etc.  Well, I do anyway, without apology.  He gets paid a ton, I expect a ton.

And BTW, please, everyone knows what taking over a game means.  Tavares, for example, in his last two.  It's when a team's top player leads his team to a victory they otherwise didn't look like they would get.

I get what you mean to some degree. It is frustrating to see Kessel turn the puck over or lose puck battles along the boards in close games.

On the other hand he's not really a puck possession kind of player so it's kind of an unreasonable expectation. He's a pure rush goal-scorer.

I think, at the end of the day, you'll be largely unhappy with him as a Maple Leaf (especially @ 8M for 8 years). I'm not sure how much to read into this but he has 22 of 38 pts in 9 games with only 2 of those teams being difficult opponents (PIT, ANA).

That means he's scored 16 pts in the other 35 games which isn't so great and is even worse when you consider Busta's numbers about secondary scoring.

 

[Tigger]

To me one of Phil's attributes is gaining the offensive zone with possession, he's not a puck battle guy, no, but a possession player? I think so.

 

[AvroArrow]

Take over the odd game?  Win a puck battle once in awhile?  More clutch and/or GWGs?

How quickly people forget... There's probably a million examples this year for your expectations (above), but to kill them all, just go review the Boston series from last year.