Mammoth vs. Leafs - Oct. 13th, 9:00pm - TSN4

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2110209949724770363

Identical setup to the Marchenko chance but Willy had more room in the slot (Utah D had zero clue and three players bit hard); Marchenko serving as an option but really a decoy for the goalie. Pretty sure a third of Marner's career PP goals came from Nylander shot-fakes.

Great pass by Raddysh there.

 

[ZBBM]

Perhaps the flip side to your point herman about the forwards needing to disrupt the forecheckers to give the D some brain time is what Cheryl Pounder was saying about poor gap control and positioning. The D as a group looks tentative and are giving up the blue line easily.

 

[YYZ]

Perhaps the flip side to your point herman about the forwards needing to disrupt the forecheckers to give the D some brain time is what Cheryl Pounder was saying about poor gap control and positioning. The D as a group looks tentative and are giving up the blue line easily.

The forwards need to help out more. On the first goal Rielly wasn't good but Paul also stopped skating on the back check and was just waving his stick around.

 

[Guilt Trip]

The forwards need to help out more. On the first goal Rielly wasn't good but Paul also stopped skating on the back check and was just waving his stick around.

Fair point but Rielly has to get to the inside on that play. Stay inside the dots kind of deal and stay there. Keep the player to the outside and its a nothing play. Stolarz should not have let that in regardless other mistakes.

 

[ZBBM]

Fair point but Rielly has to get to the inside on that play. Stay inside the dots kind of deal and stay there. Keep the player to the outside and its a nothing play. Stolarz should not have let that in regardless other mistakes.

Pounder made that very same point.

 

[YYZ]

Pounder made that very same point.

 

[Bender]

Pounder made that very same point.

Carlo and Corrado both said the same.

 

[herman]

Perhaps the flip side to your point herman about the forwards needing to disrupt the forecheckers to give the D some brain time is what Cheryl Pounder was saying about poor gap control and positioning. The D as a group looks tentative and are giving up the blue line easily.

It’s two different play sequences we’re talking about.

Forwards slowing up the forecheck is on dump in retrievals so defense can start breakouts and shed the first forecheck layer to create mini numerical advantages up ice.

Defense gapping up is on attempted controlled entries, which would force more dump in plays in the aggregate if they’re disrupting consistently.

Leafs are and have been kind of bad at both. Rielly is extremely bad at gap control and sorting out rush plays. He is very good at joining OZ plays and making good passes for opportunities.

 

[cw]

It seems for decades that Leafs dmen catch a disproportionate amount of criticism for poor defensive play

 

[YYZ]

It seems for decades that Leafs dmen catch a disproportionate amount of criticism for poor defensive play

It's the six man unit out on the ice who are responsible for not getting scored on. Too many nights it seems as though that is not the case.

Hiller likes his teams to skate. What I glean from that is he wants the forwards to get on their horse when they give up the puck in the O zone and help out the D. There seems to be a half-ass effort at times such as the first goal last night.

They have an aging D core that are not quite as mobile as a younger group of guys. The team as a whole needs to be more aware of what helping out the D means for W's and L's.

 

[Bender]

It seems for decades that Leafs dmen catch a disproportionate amount of criticism for poor defensive play

If you get beat by a fourth liner rookie because of bad gap control and angling....

 

[cw]

If you get beat by a fourth liner rookie because of bad gap control and angling....

One incident doesn't change that fact.

As well, this "4th liner" is a 1st round draft pick (12th overall), 70th percentile in skating speed. He is 6'5" - a big guy taking longer to develop as is often the case with big forwards.
Rielly's gap control on the puck carrier McBain seemed reasonable. As McBain decelerated and cut to his left, Rielly stayed with him. But But was following up the play, building up speed to sling shot past Rielly.
I do not think that is as big of a defensive crime as it is being made out to be. In my opinion, the vast majority of NHL dmen would get beat on that play.