Leafs @ Penguins - Dec 9, 7:00pm - CBC
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
Zee said:
If you ever miss anything the twitter accounts of @JeffVeillette and @TheFlintor have almost every highlight clip in gif form immediately.
https://twitter.com/TheFlintor/status/939686076024741888
Andy007
Active member
So yea...that Bozak line is great, like I said earlier... 
Anywho, it's continually surprising how few PP's this team gets. For a team with this much skill and this many wins, how do they always end up taking considerably more penalties than the opposing teams? It's truly bizarre.
Anywho, it's continually surprising how few PP's this team gets. For a team with this much skill and this many wins, how do they always end up taking considerably more penalties than the opposing teams? It's truly bizarre.
ZBBM
Active member
Andy said:So yea...that Bozak line is great, like I said earlier...
Anywho, it's continually surprising how few PP's this team gets. For a team with this much skill and this many wins, how do they always end up taking considerably more penalties than the opposing teams? It's truly bizarre.
The noncall when Rielly's stick was held, and which directly resulted in a PIT goal, was downright outrageous.
Strangelove
New member
Chris said:
It'll take extra mental cortortions than usual to attempt to justify Babcock's use of Nylander tonight, but I'm sure someone will try.
herman
Well-known member
Strangelove said:
Nylander had one shift in the third as the Penguins shortened their bench to chase the score. It?s also the front half of a back to back so guess who is going to be ridiculously fresh today where we have home ice advantage against a one line team?
Edit: granted that I believe the best way to protect a lead is to score another goal on them while they are taking risks, I don?t mind that Nylander wasn?t on the top line getting literally smothered by Crosby?s line. Matthews and co zeroing out Crosby (or nearly) is pretty much a win. The only goal they gave up was an accidental collision taking out both Matthews and Rielly from the play.
L K
Active member
herman said:
To be fair they only scored one goal because of a few near misses. The Leafs were thoroughly outplayed in the 3rd. This is the problem with having arguably your second best player on the 4th line. Babcock was so focused on line matching that he sat the whole 3rd. There is no reason to do that.
herman
Well-known member
Further to that, the game plan was to zero out Crosby, Malkin lines and let Bozak?s line and hopefully Nylander run roughshod over Pittsburgh?s depleted bottom 6.
To that end, it was a success. The Penguins got next to nothing in the high danger areas other than on the PP. With the top 3 lines in defense mode (other than Bozak), who do you swap Nylander in for?
To that end, it was a success. The Penguins got next to nothing in the high danger areas other than on the PP. With the top 3 lines in defense mode (other than Bozak), who do you swap Nylander in for?
L K
Active member
herman said:
I guess for me, I don't view keeping Crosby in the offensive zone for long shifts all game as good defensive strategy, even if he's kept to the outside. So for me it goes back to Nylander and Brown. What I would like to see is Brown replace Komarov on the Kadri line and bump Komarov to the 4th line/PK.
GatineauLeaf
New member
L K said:
I blame myself for that as I only tuned in for the 3rd period. The Leafs seem to play much better when I stick to the sportsnet live updates, and these message boards game day threads. ;D
herman
Well-known member
L K said:
I wouldn?t characterize the strategy as keeping Crosby/Malkin in the OZ, seeing as how they are premier players and generally have their way with opponents. It?s not like I don?t agree with you either. It?s just easy to see who Babcock trusts in a lockdown scenario and who he trusts to get goals and who he trusts to do both.