Leafs @ Ducks - Mar. 3rd, 10:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

28-21-14, 70 points | 32-21-10, 74 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Komarov-Kadri-Brown JVR-Bozak-Marner Martin-Boyle-Soshnikov Gardiner-Zaitsev Rielly-Marchenko Hunwick-Polak McElhinney ​

Eaves-Getzlaf-Kase Ritchie-Rakell-Perry Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg Shaw-Thompson-Boll Fowler-Vatanen Lindholm-Manson Holzer-Bieksa Bernier​

Scratches

Ben Smith Martin Marincin Eric Fehr Josh Leivo ​

Brandon Montour Chris Wagner Antoine Vermette ​

Game Notes

TOR
?McElhinney (5-4-2, 2.24 GAA, .931 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Toronto will look to finish their West-coast swing with a win
?The Leafs are currently outside of a playoff spot. They have the same amount of points as the Islanders who sit in the final WC spot but have played 1 more game. They're 2 points behind Boston with a game in hand

ANA
?Former Leaf Jonathan Bernier (9-6-2, 2.94 GAA, .901 Sv%) will likely start for the Ducks.
?Also former-Leaf Jonas Enroth will back him up with John Gibson hurt. Enroth went 10-2 for Anaheim's farm team with a 1.42 GAA and .944 Sv%
?Anaheim is coming off it's bye week. As of about a week ago, teams were 4-12-4 in their first game back from the bye
?The Randy Carlyle-led Ducks sit 3rd in the Pacific behind the Oilers. Just for fun: they're a middle of the pack team in terms of CF%, just a few shades behind the Leafs

Injuries

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - ?\_(?)_/? - Out indefinitely ?Stephane Robidas - Old - Out indefinitely ?Connor Carrick - Upper Body - Injured Reserve​

?John Gibson - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Clayton Stoner - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Simon Despres - Concussion - Injured Reserve​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[herman]

Minor change: Joseph Cramarossa was claimed off waivers by the Canucks a couple of days ago.

I also looked at Bieksa's numbers and I lol'd.

Also: Active Former Ducks on the Leafs vs Active Former Leafs on the Ducks very one sided.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Minor change: Joseph Cramarossa was claimed off waivers by the Canucks a couple of days ago.

Poor guy.

 

[herman]

Poor guy.

Probably didn't Laich that too much.

Looking at Nick Ritchie's name reminded me of how fun the 2014 draft turned out.

Top 3 forwards in NHL Pts/GP to date: #25 Pastrnak (0.688), #8 Nylander (0.678), #3 Draisaitl (0.659).

 

[Kaberle15]

Please nomore 3rd period colapses and just get a win.

Go Leafs Go!

 

[digdug]

Do the rules change after the trade deadline ?

I thought there was a limit of 3 healthy scratches

 

[bustaheims]

Do the rules change after the trade deadline ?

I thought there was a limit of 3 healthy scratches

Teams can carry 27 players after the deadline instead of 23.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Do the rules change after the trade deadline ?

I thought there was a limit of 3 healthy scratches

Teams can carry 27 players after the deadline instead of 23.

Where did you get that number from?  I believe there is no limit.  The 23 man roster limit expires at 12:01 am on Trade Deadline day.  You could, assuming the cap space is there, trade for as many players as you want on deadline day and still add the 4 AHL callups.  Right now the Leafs sit at 25 and still have 3 AHL callups remaining, so they could hit 28 if they used them all.

 

[Zee]

Who wants to put odds on Bernier getting a shutout tonight?

 

[Kaberle15]

Do the rules change after the trade deadline ?

I thought there was a limit of 3 healthy scratches

Teams can carry 27 players after the deadline instead of 23.

Where did you get that number from?  I believe there is no limit.  The 23 man roster limit expires at 12:01 am on Trade Deadline day.  You could, assuming the cap space is there, trade for as many players as you want on deadline day and still add the 4 AHL callups.  Right now the Leafs sit at 25 and still have 3 AHL callups remaining, so they could hit 28 if they used them all.

Any team can have up to 4 (Players or call ups), so 23+4 = 27. Also there is no limit for emergency call ups. (see Leafs last season). Also those extras bodies count against the Cap

 

[bustaheims]

Where did you get that number from?  I believe there is no limit.  The 23 man roster limit expires at 12:01 am on Trade Deadline day.  You could, assuming the cap space is there, trade for as many players as you want on deadline day and still add the 4 AHL callups.  Right now the Leafs sit at 25 and still have 3 AHL callups remaining, so they could hit 28 if they used them all.

Leafs are at 24 right now - players on IR do not count towards the roster limit. Because someone has been recalled as an injury replacement/emergency, once Carrick is ready to return, someone will either have to be sent to the Marlies, or the Leafs will have to use up one of their AHL transactions to keep them on the NHL roster.

27 is more of the de facto limit, rather than an official number.

 

[Redleaf]

With McElhinney between the pipes tonight, I'll feel a lot more comfortable should it go to a shootout again.

I'm starting to think it would be better to use McElhinney for all shootouts moving forward. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they put in a completely cold goaltender over Anderson. For whatever reason, his confidence sinks like a stone the second that first shooter bears down on him in the S.O. I'm sure to this point Babcock has been letting him work through it, but every situation eventually needs to be addressed. The time has come to try something different here.

 

[leafsjunkie]

With McElhinney between the pipes tonight, I'll feel a lot more comfortable should it go to a shootout again.

I'm starting to think it would be better to use McElhinney for all shootouts moving forward. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they put in a completely cold goaltender over Anderson. For whatever reason, his confidence sinks like a stone the second that first shooter bears down on him in the S.O. I'm sure to this point Babcock has been letting him work through it, but every situation eventually needs to be addressed. The time has come to try something different here.

So the goalie takes all the blame? What about our shooters, who suck in this individual skills event?

 

[Kin]

I think long term I'd rather miss out on a handful of points than tell the goalie we're heavily invested in over the next 4 years that we've lost faith in him.

 

[bustaheims]

With McElhinney between the pipes tonight, I'll feel a lot more comfortable should it go to a shootout again.

I'm starting to think it would be better to use McElhinney for all shootouts moving forward. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they put in a completely cold goaltender over Anderson. For whatever reason, his confidence sinks like a stone the second that first shooter bears down on him in the S.O. I'm sure to this point Babcock has been letting him work through it, but every situation eventually needs to be addressed. The time has come to try something different here.

Leafs' shooters are a combined 5 for 28 in the shootout this season. Andersen hasn't been good (and, for the record, over their careers, he and McBackup have similar numbers in the shootout), but, even if he was the best shootout goalie in the league, the Leafs would still have a poor record because they can't beat the other team's goalie.

 

[Redleaf]

I think long term I'd rather miss out on a handful of points than tell the goalie we're heavily invested in over the next 4 years that we've lost faith in him.

You don't think he hasn't already come to that conclusion himself? He stinks at shootouts. Addressing the issue hardy constitutes losing faith in his goaltending abilities during the course of a game. He just doesn't have it for whatever reason, with the skills competition we've ended up having to confront way too many times this season. I have a hard  time understanding why more coaches don't differentiate the two more and try different things to secure that extra point at games end. Those extra points could be the difference between making the playoffs or not. Try something different!!

 

[Kin]

You don't think he hasn't already come to that conclusion himself? He stinks at shootouts. Addressing the issue hardy constitutes losing faith in his goaltending abilities during the course of a game. He just doesn't have it for whatever reason, with the skills competition we've ended up having to confront way too many times this season. I have a hard  time understanding why more coaches don't differentiate the two more and try different things to secure that extra point at games end. Those extra points could be the difference between making the playoffs or not. Try something different!!

I don't think most athletes will be able to compartmentalize things that way. The shootout is a largely random process that can't really practiced in any particular way. Really it just boils down to a Goalie's natural ability and focus. The coaching staff telling Andersen they've lost faith in his ability to win shootouts is de facto telling him that they don't think he can improve something that I'm sure he's working on. So I doubt he'd hear that and say "oh, well, that's just limited to shootouts".

If shootout performance were a more consistent measurement from year to year then I think there'd be a reason to really dig down into whether or not Andersen has the ability to be good at it but I don't think there's any attribute that makes a goalie good at shootouts that's separate from just being a good goalie in general.

The variable performances of goalies from year to year tells me that a lot of it is just attributable to luck and, resultingly, I don't think it's an important enough issue to jeopardize the team's relationship with their #1 goalie.

 

[slapshot]

Please nomore 3rd period colapses and just get a win.

Go Leafs Go!

Ducks are in a semi-comfortable spot, essentially battling Oilers for 2nd in division, but not in as dire straits as Leafs, so hopefully Leafs will be more motivated. After tonight, competition is more favourable next week, though no game can be taken lightly.

I think Babcock has given looks to pretty much all his young players in late stages of games and periods to see how that fare (part of learning, part of assessment), but he might be a little more picky now as must-win games have pretty much arrived. I'd like to see stronger defensive guys, penalty killer types out when up by a goal or game is tied late.

Leafs also need to find some stronger defensive d-men. Kind of stating the obvious here, but late in the game, trying to hold a lead, I'd like to see the Leafs add two d-man that could be counted upon in those situations, along with Rielly and Zaitsev. The other 4 Leaf d-men aren't really well suited for that. Gardiner handles the puck well and has his strengths for sure, but I don't think he's the best choice for winning a puck battle against stronger forwards. Polak may win a puck battle, but then handle the puck like a hand grenade. We need size and the ability to move it quickly and effectively once you gain possession. So there is some off-season work to do. I expect a Leaf veteran or two (likely JRV), and maybe a pick and/or prospect to be moved to acquire the back-end help. The Leafs might also be able to add by taking on some salary.

 

[slapshot]

With McElhinney between the pipes tonight, I'll feel a lot more comfortable should it go to a shootout again.

I'm starting to think it would be better to use McElhinney for all shootouts moving forward. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they put in a completely cold goaltender over Anderson. For whatever reason, his confidence sinks like a stone the second that first shooter bears down on him in the S.O. I'm sure to this point Babcock has been letting him work through it, but every situation eventually needs to be addressed. The time has come to try something different here.

I think it's bad reads on Anderson's part. He seems to be backing in too soon, even when the attacker appears to be set to shoot, opening up too much space for them. Kopitar last night was just another example. Hopefully goalie coach can get him to make some adjustments by showing him videos. I wonder how often they get a chance to practice shoot-outs?

 

[slapshot]

Who wants to put odds on Bernier getting a shutout tonight?

I highly doubt it, wouldn't be great odds in my mind. But who knows, maybe you'll be a prophet.