Leafs @ sens - Jan. 15th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[Highlander]

WARNING: I'm going to start whining about why isn't Sandin playing real soon.

Ya and Lehtonen,  Bogosian is a stiff and were stuck with Brodie for how many years.  Perhaps the Oilers need another RHD.

You're turning on Brodie really quickly.

I thought he played a good first period, actually I read an article about Brodie in the Athletic. Turns out he is good for 3 bad gaffes a night.  I think we are already seeing that.  Rielly needs a defensive D man to cover his rushes, not Rielly light on the other side. Seems like more of Barrie.

 

[Guilt Trip]

WARNING: I'm going to start whining about why isn't Sandin playing real soon.

Ya and Lehtonen,  Bogosian is a stiff and were stuck with Brodie for how many years.  Perhaps the Oilers need another RHD.

You're turning on Brodie really quickly.

I thought he played a good first period, actually I read an article about Brodie in the Athletic. Turns out he is good for 3 bad gaffes a night.  I think we are already seeing that.  Rielly needs a defensive D man to cover his rushes, not Rielly light on the other side. Seems like more of Barrie.

We'll see if they can get it together. Every line and D pairing minus Holl and Muzzin are different. It will take some time. As for Rielly. He himself needs to be better. Not saying you, but I've had enough of this if he had the right partner stuff. If he's that good and supposed to be our #1 guy, he needs to play like one. He certainly had a rough game last night. I'm not down on Brodie yet. I still think he'd be a better fit with Muzzin and Holl would be better with Rielly but that's me and I'm definitely not qualified to be an NHL coach.

 

[Highlander]

Fair enough, I am going to reserve any judgments until Game 10, by that time the team should have gelled and settled down, see if some of the plans are working and if not, have made the proper adjustments.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Fair enough, I am going to reserve any judgments until Game 10, by that time the team should have gelled and settled down, see if some of the plans are working and if not, have made the proper adjustments.

Exactly. It's going to take time and I'm fully confident Keefe will make changes if needed. They can't afford to wait forever here.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Easy folks, the sky isn't falling. It wasn't a desired result and there definitely were some mistakes make, but screaming for goalies to be benched or calling Brodie terrible is a bit of an exaggeration.

For the first half of the game, despite what Ferraro would have you believe, the Leafs dominated. They spent about 6 minutes straight in the second period, deep in Ottawa's zone. It seemed after the Kerfoot goal, they took their foot off the gas, and couldn't turn it back on. That's to be expected for a team that's playing their second game and trying to get use to each other.
They did seem a little out of sorts in their own zone, but man, this is the 2nd game, with a D core that is trying to figure things out.

I'll fully admit that I wasn't impressed with Bogosian. I can't say I really was expecting to be considering he was cut from the Buffalo Sabres last year. Brodie was a bit of a disaster last night as well, which in turn, hung Rielly out to dry. But, what I did see on the back end, in comparison to the first game, was an energized Muzzin, a pretty good Holl and Dermott was skating like we know he can.

In regards to Andersen, yes he has to be better. 5 goals on 24 shots is not acceptable. He seemed to be fighting the puck. That being said, I'm not sure which goals were on him, and not on the 4 or 5 guys in front of him.

The voice of reason. Well stated and very good assessment, especially the Freddie part.
Hey St Louis lost 8-0 last night. What a terrible team they have there.

That is a team that has won a cup, and was supposed to take a step back.  The team they were playing is considered one of the top two teams in the league.  They didn't lose 8-0 to a team that just met each other a week ago.  The Leafs are supposed to be the team winning 8-0.

There are no easy nights in the NHL. You know the Leafs have made changes also?  1/3 of the lineup is different then last year so there will be an adjustment period.
St Louis is supposed to take a step back? Oh, so losing 8-0 is acceptable to them because Colorado is a good team and they're not supposed to be that good?  You think St Louis is panicking right now because they lost 8-0 like some Leaf fans are?

So how about this?  I won't call a spade a spade any more, and then you let me know when we are allowed to criticize this team and isn't classified as "panicking".  After this post, I won't comment on the state of where I think the Leafs are at until you say that there is a problem.

This is year 7 of the "Shanaplan".  It's the same thing year in and year out.  The team makes changes in the offseason.  Everyone gets excited about how this year is going to be different.  They say stuff like this is the year when they are going to take a step forward.  The team gets off to a rocky start because they can't play defence and the generally look like they are out of sorts.  The team gets hot because their goalie plays lights out but the defence still looks rough.  They limp into the playoffs, and they lose in the first round.  I don't feel that's panicking.  I feel it's the same story every year.  I feel like they have stalled, and they aren't making any progress, and games like last night serve notice that nothing has changed.

You can rationalize how you like.  You can call it panicking when people are frustrated with what they are watching if you like and voice that frustration.  If this keeps happening year after year, then when Matthews is 31, and the Leafs haven't had any success, it's going to look a lot like the Sundin years.  I just thought it was going to be different this time around, and it really hasn't looked like it.

The roller coaster life of a Leaf fan

 

[Guilt Trip]

I watched the Rangers - Islanders game the other night.  The Islanders locked down their zone hard.  Frustrated the hell out of the Rangers.  The Islanders didn't have a preseason either.  At what point is that going to be the Leafs?  At what point are they going to be able to lock down a game to the point where it doesn't feel like they are playing a "no lead is safe for either team" type of game?

How did the Isles do last night against the Rangers? They sure didn't lock it down last night losing 5-0. Again it's early with no pre season. Teams are going to look unbeatable some nights and look like they may never win another the next.