Jets @ Leafs - Feb. 21st, 7:30pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[ZBBM]

I'm going to say too, that Rielly had a good game.  Key in the OT PK and some nice rushes to boot.

God, am I glad that Laine didn't win it again in OT.  Real life is hard enough without Sportslife? being a crapfest as well.

 

[Kin]

Don't let Laine win it that's all I say. If they leave him open I can see him winning it. Coaching staff should be all over that before the OT. Let someone else win it. If they leave him open and he scores I've lost my faith with Babcock.

Why should Babcock care about who beats them? Should he double on Laine and leave someone else wide open just so it's not Laine who gets the shot?

Seriously, I sometimes wonder if you know what a NHL coach's job is. Pro-tip: It's not to gameplan so that Jets fans don't get to brag on message boards.

 

[Coco-puffs]

I'm going to say too, that Rielly had a good game.  Key in the OT PK and some nice rushes to boot.

God, am I glad that Laine didn't win it again in OT.  Real life is hard enough without Sportslife? being a crapfest as well.

Reilly and Zaitsev with team best +18 Corsi differential.  Zaitsev definitely had the goat horns a bit more, losing Laine on his first goal, Ehlers on the tip, and failing to clear the puck on the PK. 

 

[disco]

Just watched the full Game in Six after missing the first period. Scheifle to Laine twice for one-timer goals. Very impressed. That kid's gonna score a million getting feeds like that. His one-timer snap is incredibly accurate. Both of them were just inside the post, low blocker-side on the first and high blocker-side on the second.

 

[herman]

I'm going to say too, that Rielly had a good game.  Key in the OT PK and some nice rushes to boot.

God, am I glad that Laine didn't win it again in OT.  Real life is hard enough without Sportslife? being a crapfest as well.

Reilly and Zaitsev with team best +18 Corsi differential.  Zaitsev definitely had the goat horns a bit more, losing Laine on his first goal, Ehlers on the tip, and failing to clear the puck on the PK.

Some additional fairness to Zaitsev: Ehlers had a pretty good hold of his stick with his chicken wing when he initially fell down and for a good period of time as he was getting up. Zaitsev had to back off to not get a penalty called, and Ehlers lays on the subtlest of change-up tips on a pretty wicked shot.

Rielly and Zaitsev getting scored on by other 1st lines (Jets have 2 of them) is concerning, but not the end of the world. Getting beat by really good opponents is normal as you're developing.

 

[azzurri63]

Don't let Laine win it that's all I say. If they leave him open I can see him winning it. Coaching staff should be all over that before the OT. Let someone else win it. If they leave him open and he scores I've lost my faith with Babcock.

Why should Babcock care about who beats them? Should he double on Laine and leave someone else wide open just so it's not Laine who gets the shot?

Seriously, I sometimes wonder if you know what a NHL coach's job is. Pro-tip: It's not to gameplan so that Jets fans don't get to brag on message boards.

I'm not an idiot Nik. What I was suggesting is to try and not give him that extra space if they could avoid it. I know it's tough in OT especially on the PK as they were. Laine aint going to beat you one on one. It's all shot with this kid so Leafs should have been playing him tight all night. You saw on the first goal he doesn't need much room but I still defend Zaitsez and Andersen could have played that better. No different in OT take his space away that's all I was getting at. Didn't say to double up on him.

 

[Kin]

I'm not an idiot Nik. What I was suggesting is to try and not give him that extra space if they could avoid it. I know it's tough in OT especially on the PK as they were. Laine aint going to beat you one on one. It's all shot with this kid so Leafs should have been playing him tight all night. You saw on the first goal he doesn't need much room but I still defend Zaitsez and Andersen could have played that better. No different in OT take his space away that's all I was getting at. Didn't say to double up on him.

"Playing him tight" is easier said than done. He's a player who excels at finding open space. On the PP taking any individual player's space away by definition will leave other players wide open. It's why, despite the fact that people know Alex Ovechkin is pretty good at scoring goals and shouldn't be given lots of space, he continues to be able to do so.

Seriously, when a player like Laine finds open space do you think that's because an opposing coach has told his players to back off him and let him shoot? Or is it because Laine is quick, mobile and smart and as a result he can elude defensive coverages?

I'd wager the Leafs are pretty consistently "trying" to take away open space from other teams best offensive options. The moments when they fail to do so aren't necessarily failures of effort or gameplanning. Highlighting individual instances where players who aren't superstars could have possibly played better also doesn't indicate failure of effort or gameplan.

You're really going to have to make your peace with the fact that this is a weak defensive team and, in all likelihood, will still be one when the season ends.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Kudos to Auston's keen awareness of landing the perfect pass to Gardiner, (before Byfuglien could drill him), and Gardiner doing the rest.  It was a classic case of good timing by both players.  Great job guys!

GO LEAFS GO!!

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Huh, I didn't realize that almost half of Laine's goals this season have been scored against just 2 teams. He has 8 goals in 5 games against Dallas and 5 goals in 2 games against Toronto. Now it's not exactly rare for star players to beat up poor defensive teams, but that's a big chunk.

 

[Zee]

Huh, I didn't realize that almost half of Laine's goals this season have been scored against just 2 teams. He has 8 goals in 5 games against Dallas and 5 goals in 2 games against Toronto. Now it's not exactly rare for star players to beat up poor defensive teams, but that's a big chunk.

Yup, it's ironic that the Leafs defensive woes are helping Laine be in the calder talk.  Take away the 5 goals against the Leafs and Matthews is the clear favorite right now.

 

[azzurri63]

I'm not an idiot Nik. What I was suggesting is to try and not give him that extra space if they could avoid it. I know it's tough in OT especially on the PK as they were. Laine aint going to beat you one on one. It's all shot with this kid so Leafs should have been playing him tight all night. You saw on the first goal he doesn't need much room but I still defend Zaitsez and Andersen could have played that better. No different in OT take his space away that's all I was getting at. Didn't say to double up on him.

"Playing him tight" is easier said than done. He's a player who excels at finding open space. On the PP taking any individual player's space away by definition will leave other players wide open. It's why, despite the fact that people know Alex Ovechkin is pretty good at scoring goals and shouldn't be given lots of space, he continues to be able to do so.

Seriously, when a player like Laine finds open space do you think that's because an opposing coach has told his players to back off him and let him shoot? Or is it because Laine is quick, mobile and smart and as a result he can elude defensive coverages?

I'd wager the Leafs are pretty consistently "trying" to take away open space from other teams best offensive options. The moments when they fail to do so aren't necessarily failures of effort or gameplanning. Highlighting individual instances where players who aren't superstars could have possibly played better also doesn't indicate failure of effort or gameplan.

You're really going to have to make your peace with the fact that this is a weak defensive team and, in all likelihood, will still be one when the season ends.

The Leafs have been weak defensively for years. I'm sure I've stressed that more than anyone. I just don't get how for the most part I don't see any improvement from Game 1 and the personnel hasn't changed. So the question is are the players just flat out poor defensively or the coaches at fault for not changing something. Maybe it's due to the style we play a more offensive game wide open etc. I don't know but I feel things could be simplified to reduce the quality chances we give up night in night out. Sure they will probably suffer a tad on the offensive side but that's what good teams do. We aren't there yet I understand that but all I ask is some signs of that improving. Last night was better thinking that had something to do with the Jets at the end of a road trip. All I can say it's frustrating from a fans standpoint.

 

[Kin]

I just don't get how for the most part I don't see any improvement from Game 1 and the personnel hasn't changed.

Probably because most improvements will come from personnel changing. The Leafs last year sucked offensively too, then they added Marner and Matthews and Nylander and now they suck less offensively. Conversely, defensively the team hasn't changed much and in fact they've probably gotten a little worse incorporating all of the rookies into the lineup.

It's tremendously unlikely you're going to see significant shifts in how well this team defends absent personnel changes or the type of player development that doesn't happen on a month to month basis. 

So the question is are the players just flat out poor defensively or the coaches at fault for not changing something.

Or, more likely, it's that most of this team is very young and developing and the coaching staff thinks that giving a young team stability and time to deal with the learning curve of defensive hockey is more valuable than pulling their hair out and screaming every time a goal gets scored and someone could have potentially stopped it.

All I can say it's frustrating from a fans standpoint.

No, it's frustrating from your standpoint, which quite frankly seems long on being unreasonably critical and short on any actual specifics for a coaching strategy short of knocking everyone down or taking away their space.

As a fan myself, I'm not frustrated with the fact that this team hasn't gone from worst in the league to good in all areas of the game in the five months of this season or that the players that the team started the season with haven't drastically shifted what they're good at and what they aren't. Babcock, who's overseen a team that's gone from worst in the league to being genuinely in the playoff mix after 60+ games, certainly isn't in danger of losing my faith in his abilities because he hasn't been able to fix absolutely everything wrong with the team in that time span. 

 

[azzurri63]

I just don't get how for the most part I don't see any improvement from Game 1 and the personnel hasn't changed.

Probably because most improvements will come from personnel changing. The Leafs last year sucked offensively too, then they added Marner and Matthews and Nylander and now they suck less offensively. Conversely, defensively the team hasn't changed much and in fact they've probably gotten a little worse incorporating all of the rookies into the lineup.

It's tremendously unlikely you're going to see significant shifts in how well this team defends absent personnel changes or the type of player development that doesn't happen on a month to month basis. 

So the question is are the players just flat out poor defensively or the coaches at fault for not changing something.

Or, more likely, it's that most of this team is very young and developing and the coaching staff thinks that giving a young team stability and time to deal with the learning curve of defensive hockey is more valuable than pulling their hair out and screaming every time a goal gets scored and someone could have potentially stopped it.

All I can say it's frustrating from a fans standpoint.

No, it's frustrating from your standpoint, which quite frankly seems long on being unreasonably critical and short on any actual specifics for a coaching strategy short of knocking everyone down or taking away their space.

As a fan myself, I'm not frustrated with the fact that this team hasn't gone from worst in the league to good in all areas of the game in the five months of this season or that the players that the team started the season with haven't drastically shifted what they're good at and what they aren't. Babcock, who's overseen a team that's gone from worst in the league to being genuinely in the playoff mix after 60+ games, certainly isn't in danger of losing my faith in his abilities because he hasn't been able to fix absolutely everything wrong with the team in that time span.

Good answers. Rest my case and zip it. Until tomorrow night lol. Have a good night Nik.

 

[Bullfrog]

Huh, I didn't realize that almost half of Laine's goals this season have been scored against just 2 teams. He has 8 goals in 5 games against Dallas and 5 goals in 2 games against Toronto. Now it's not exactly rare for star players to beat up poor defensive teams, but that's a big chunk.

What's really impress to me is that of his 30 goals, 22 are even strength. For Matthews, of his 28 goals, 24 are even strength. That's 3rd (tied) and 2nd in the league for even strength goals. Only Michael Grabner (what, what?) has more even strength goals than Matthews.