Oilers @ Leafs - Jan. 20th, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

[Spider]

The Oilers got the bounces (all 3 of their goals), the Leafs didn't (puck hits Nylander and goes wide, puck on edge Spezza shoots it wide).  That's what won the game.

 

[Britishbulldog]

So the 1st goal was one we scored on ourself, the 2nd goal was on a PP that was where we were penalized for one of their players tripped one of their own followed by an EN goal.

Were they missing any key players?  They seemed lucky tonight to beat us.

I hope some of those shots that almost went in for us will go in Friday night and we don't just lay an egg.

 

[Britishbulldog]

The Oilers got the bounces (all 3 of their goals), the Leafs didn't (puck hits Nylander and goes wide, puck on edge Spezza shoots it wide).  That's what won the game.

Yup, I agree.  I think that Simmonds hit a post as well.  Could have been a MUCH different game.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

They look out of sorts on offense. Lots of bobbles, poor decisions and passes. Partly due, I think, to "forcing" Thornton and Vesey onto the first 2 lines. Neither belong in those positions. The Thornton issue might be solved by injury but Vesey needs to give way to Mikheyev.

At least, that's how it looks to me.

Yeah, I agree. Thornton simply can't play at the pace the marner and matthews go at. It's been obvious since game one that they're doing well in spite of Thornton, not because of him.

And vesey is fine for the 3rd line I guess. Yeah, Mikeyev is skating well, he should be with Tavares, and Hyman should be back full time on the first line.

 

[Britishbulldog]

They look out of sorts on offense. Lots of bobbles, poor decisions and passes. Partly due, I think, to "forcing" Thornton and Vesey onto the first 2 lines. Neither belong in those positions. The Thornton issue might be solved by injury but Vesey needs to give way to Mikheyev.

At least, that's how it looks to me.

Yeah, I agree. Thornton simply can't play at the pace the marner and matthews go at. It's been obvious since game one that they're doing well in spite of Thornton, not because of him.

And vesey is fine for the 3rd line I guess. Yeah, Mikeyev is skating well, he should be with Tavares, and Hyman should be back full time on the first line.

The kicker for me will be if Thornton is now hurt who do you replace him with...unless it is a major injury and he goes on LITR and even then he is a min league salary player.  We also were already playing only 11 forwards.

 

[Guilt Trip]

They look out of sorts on offense. Lots of bobbles, poor decisions and passes. Partly due, I think, to "forcing" Thornton and Vesey onto the first 2 lines. Neither belong in those positions. The Thornton issue might be solved by injury but Vesey needs to give way to Mikheyev.

At least, that's how it looks to me.

Yeah, I agree. Thornton simply can't play at the pace the marner and matthews go at. It's been obvious since game one that they're doing well in spite of Thornton, not because of him.

And vesey is fine for the 3rd line I guess. Yeah, Mikeyev is skating well, he should be with Tavares, and Hyman should be back full time on the first line.

I think JTs line could use Hyman more then Matthews' line. Either way though I want to see Mikheyev get moved up.

 

[Guilt Trip]

They look out of sorts on offense. Lots of bobbles, poor decisions and passes. Partly due, I think, to "forcing" Thornton and Vesey onto the first 2 lines. Neither belong in those positions. The Thornton issue might be solved by injury but Vesey needs to give way to Mikheyev.

At least, that's how it looks to me.

Yeah, I agree. Thornton simply can't play at the pace the marner and matthews go at. It's been obvious since game one that they're doing well in spite of Thornton, not because of him.

And vesey is fine for the 3rd line I guess. Yeah, Mikeyev is skating well, he should be with Tavares, and Hyman should be back full time on the first line.

The kicker for me will be if Thornton is now hurt who do you replace him with...unless it is a major injury and he goes on LITR and even then he is a min league salary player.  We also were already playing only 11 forwards.

Leafs can put both Thornton and Robertson on LTIR but they'll have to get up to the cap before doing that. Let's see what the injury is first.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Keefe said Joe's going to miss some time. Cap shenanigans coming.

 

[azzurri63]

So when Muzzin was carrying the puck up the ice and almost tripped that's not a penalty? I'm really getting sick of the Leafs getting the short end of the stick when it comes to calls.

The thing is this team doesn't dive or embellish calls. You would think refs want to reward that, but it's probably a better strategy to go down. If Muzzin goes down on that play they have to call a penalty.

I was thinking the same thing. Go down. Sucks but after the BS call on Muzz why not.

 

[Chris]

I don't really pay much attention to the cap but if Thornton is going to be out for a while I'd like to see Engvall. Not sure if that would work cap-wise but I think he would make the biggest impact. Maybe they could give Barabanov a shot in the top 6. He hasn't shown much but hasn't really been given much time. Brooks would probably be safe but wouldn't be much of a threat offensively.

 

[dekedastardly]

I feel like this is the kind of game a good team finds ways to win. It shouldn't have been close enough for the bad bounces and calls against to make a difference. It could have been pretty well sewn up in the first, with the zone time they had.

 

[BrownRolo]

I feel like this is the kind of game a good team finds ways to win. It shouldn't have been close enough for the bad bounces and calls against to make a difference. It could have been pretty well sewn up in the first, with the zone time they had.

It sure feels.like they have the same problem as they did against the BJs last year. Just can't get goals.

 

[Chris]

I feel like this is the kind of game a good team finds ways to win. It shouldn't have been close enough for the bad bounces and calls against to make a difference. It could have been pretty well sewn up in the first, with the zone time they had.

It sure feels.like they have the same problem as they did against the BJs last year. Just can't get goals.

Lots of zone time, lots of fancy skating and passing, but mostly kept to the outside. Not even seeing Matthews getting into the prime shooting areas very often. Not sure how much is the design of the offense/how other teams are countering, and how much is due to the lines being suboptimal due to personnel (Thornton and Vesey).

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I don't really pay much attention to the cap but if Thornton is going to be out for a while I'd like to see Engvall. Not sure if that would work cap-wise but I think he would make the biggest impact. Maybe they could give Barabanov a shot in the top 6. He hasn't shown much but hasn't really been given much time. Brooks would probably be safe but wouldn't be much of a threat offensively.

They could call up Engvall with just Robertson going on LTIR. That seems to make the most sense, especially if the Leafs choose to keep a checking line. Mikheyev could go up to the Matthews-Marner line and Engvall could join the Kerfoot-Hyman line. Definitely a slight downgrade but Engvall does have the tools to make it work, just needs to figure out how to use them.

The one small issue is that Engvall is just 7 games away from losing his waiver exemption.

 

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/EarlSchwartz27/status/1352092950436655107

 

[Guilt Trip]

Oh and just read they took Mariner's assist away on Matthews' goal and gave it to Brodie.

 

[BrownRolo]

Next game I guarantee there will be a buttload of penalties called and they will give the Leafs one more than Edmonton. That's how they will atone for their shoddy officiating from tonight.

 

[Andy007]

I feel I'm a pretty neutral fan when it comes to Reffing but the way the Leafs are continually jobbed by the refs is so frustrating.

Yea, I'm not sure if it's the embarrassingly weak calls (ie. Marner, Hyman), the made up calls (ie. Muzzin) or lack of calls (ie. Nylander enduring multiple cross checks from behind by Larsson) that are the most frustrating but this seems to be a constant battle for the Leafs.

It's certainly making it difficult for me to watch, anyway. 

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Officiating aside, that was a very difficult game to watch.
Nothing was clicking. Passes were slightly off, timing was off. The focus didn't seem to be there.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/jccuthbert/status/1352084932953255939

Hopefully Coach Matthews makes some changes for the game tomorrow.