Leafs @ Panthers - Apr. 5th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[Guilt Trip]

I guess but I?m pretty sure every contending team has lost to a weaker opponent at least once this year.

Just quickly looking at TB - they?ve lost to Buffalo, NJ, Ottawa and montreal.

Colorado has lost to Arizona twice.

Fla lost to the Kraken twice.

 

[bustaheims]

Would be the absolute Leafiest thing to do if they beat the Panthers tonight.  Lose to the Habs and Sabres, two brutal teams in the division but then beat the Panters(x2), Bruins and Lightning.

Typical Leafs. Always playing to the level of their competition.

 

[Bill_Berg]

I know teams do play up and down to the opponents, but they're all NHL teams. I mean anyone can beat anyone in a single game.

 

[herman]

With Ekblad down, Weegar has been playing RD (as a right shot), but like Brodie, he's better on his off-hand (probably something to do with his footedness and pivots). They have a lot of cycle-breakers on the backend (Gudas, Chiarot, Montour), so the Leafs might want to use their speed advantage and play more of a rush attack tonight.

 

[ZBBM]

With Ekblad down, Weegar has been playing RD (as a right shot), but like Brodie, he's better on his off-hand (probably something to do with his footedness and pivots). They have a lot of cycle-breakers on the backend (Gudas, Chiarot, Montour), so the Leafs might want to use their speed advantage and play more of a rush attack tonight.

Last night Campbell was the better goalie.  Leafs are most likely only going to win tonight if K?llgren can make it two in a row.

 

[cujo4ever]

GO LEAFS GO!

 

[L K]

I guess but I?m pretty sure every contending team has lost to a weaker opponent at least once this year.

Just quickly looking at TB - they?ve lost to Buffalo, NJ, Ottawa and montreal.

Colorado has lost to Arizona twice.

Record against Eastern Conference Playoff Teams
Toronto: 10-4-1
Boston: 5-8-2
Tampa: 7-9-3
Florida: 11-4-3
Carolina: 10-6-5
New York: 13-5-0
Washington: 7-8-2
Pittsburgh: 9-7-3

Record against bottom 10 teams in the league
Toronto: 17-7-1
Boston: 24-2-0
Tampa: 22-3-1
Florida: 21-4-0
Carolina: 15-5-2
New York: 20-1-2
Washington: 15-5-4
Pittsburgh: 17-5-4

The Leafs definitely play down to their opponents but they aren't horrendously off what most teams do.  I'm not going to delve into the details of each win/loss for every team but just in the Leafs they had

Montreal: 4-2 loss where they outshot Montreal 51-18
Arizona: 5-4 OT loss where they outshot Arizona 38-23 and Matthews was interfered with on the game winning goal
Arizona: 2-1 loss where they outshot Arizona 46-18
Ottawa: 3-2 loss where they outshot Ottawa 48-36
Montreal: 5-2 loss where they outshot Montreal 37-24
Buffalo: 5-2 loss where they got outshot 36-38 (Outdoor game)
San Jose: 5-3 loss where they outshot the Sharks 33-31
Buffalo: 5-1 loss where they were outshot 30-31

So in their 8 losses to bottom 10 teams they got outscored 34-17 while outshooting their opponents 319-219.

Leafs have a 5.3% shooting percentage in those 8 losses.  Their opponents have a 15.5% shooting percentage.

The Leafs absolutely hold some responsibility as a team for some of those losses but a good chunk of our "we suck against bad teams" games have also been a result of our goaltenders sucking.

 

[Deebo]

Arizona: 5-4 OT loss where they outshot Arizona 38-23 and Matthews was interfered with on the game winning goal

This one I remember having excpetionally bad goaltending from Mrazek

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1511444880702296065

This leads me to think Lyubushkin might be the first to sit.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Arizona: 5-4 OT loss where they outshot Arizona 38-23 and Matthews was interfered with on the game winning goal

This one I remember having excpetionally bad goaltending from Mrazek

Kallgren's first game in relief. Mrazek let in a couple of bad ones in that game for sure. Hope for the best tonight for Kallgren. Tough game tonight though.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Pretty easy call considering how well Lily and Gio have played, not that Bushkin hasn't been very good be side he has.
https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1511448865576206337

 

[Frank E]

Lyubushkin is also a UFA at year's end, so maybe there's more priority on Liljegren's progression.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Lyubushkin is also a UFA at year's end, so maybe there's more priority on Liljegren's progression.

Maybe but Liljegren is an RFA, so he's not going anywhere. I think Keefe is just putting the best line up possible. I suspect it will be a revolving door for the last games. What a nice problem to have!

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Muzz and Bush 3rd pair just taking absolutely runs at people would be fun.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Lyubushkin is also a UFA at year's end, so maybe there's more priority on Liljegren's progression.

Maybe but Liljegren is an RFA, so he's not going anywhere. I think Keefe is just putting the best line up possible. I suspect it will be a revolving door for the last games. What a nice problem to have!

Liljegren has been quietly making a lot.of money this season, would love to see him on a Holl type deal, but I think he's going to get a big raise unless it's a bridge.

Some of the one ice metric measurements have his market value around 7 million annually, that's obviously inflated, but not massively so.

 

[herman]

Lyubushkin is also a UFA at year's end, so maybe there's more priority on Liljegren's progression.

Florida's forwards are more speed than cycle, so Liljegren has the leg up on that front. Muzzin coming in also means he is playing with someone familiar, probably with sheltered usage.

Rielly - Brodie
Giordano - Liljegren
Muzzin - Holl

If Muzzin is okay and ramps up nicely, that's probably what we roll with (3x top-4 pairs). If he falters, we have options.

 

[ZBBM]

Bobs 2-0 so far.

 

[ZBBM]

Well, that sucked.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Terrible coverage there Holl.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Poopity poop.