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Penguins vs. Maple Leafs - Dec. 7th, 7:00pm - SN, TSN 1050

Guilt Trip said:
Who do you expect to score in the bottom 6? Holmberg...no. A Nylander...no. Minten playing with those 2 stiffs...no and forget the 4th line. With Patches, Domi and McMann out they put Lorentz with 39, 89. Sorry that's set up to fail. Lorentz is a 4th liner. The best guy they got in the bottom 6 can't buy a goal. Well with everyone starting to get healthy changes are coming in the lineup.
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I get the current B6 is a sinkhole but I don't think getting Domi and McMann back is all that's needed. I know Berube has one way of playing but if they were willing to take some strategic risks to create some more open ice then maybe they could a bit more balance in the overall approach. They do have better D on the roster to hopefully cover for the counterattacks that would happen.
 
35% faceoff win%
They've only had 2 games since Oct 2019 with a worse faceoff win%
They're one of the best faceoff teams in the league
Not sure what happened there
They were all below 40%
 
ZBBM said:
I get the current B6 is a sinkhole but I don't think getting Domi and McMann back is all that's needed. I know Berube has one way of playing but if they were willing to take some strategic risks to create some more open ice then maybe they could a bit more balance in the overall approach. They do have better D on the roster to hopefully cover for the counterattacks that would happen.
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The funniest thing is the Leafs play good D in the playoffs. Their issue is scoring, which is their issue now. Minten with 2 of 89, 11, 74 is a hell of a lot better then what we saw tonight. It also gives them more flexibility and allows them to move 11 or 74 up and a guy like 67 down.
 
ZBBM said:
I get the current B6 is a sinkhole but I don't think getting Domi and McMann back is all that's needed. I know Berube has one way of playing but if they were willing to take some strategic risks to create some more open ice then maybe they could a bit more balance in the overall approach. They do have better D on the roster to hopefully cover for the counterattacks that would happen.
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I'm hoping with all the injuries, Berube has asked the team to play a safer game (and possibly over-compensated) and that things will open up a bit when Domi and McMann get back.
 
Chris said:
I'm hoping with all the injuries, Berube has asked the team to play a safer game (and possibly over-compensated) and that things will open up a bit when Domi and McMann get back.
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They've instilled this playoff hockey style since day 1. I don't see Berube opening up the cage anytime soon. It may generate more offence down the road but it is what it is for now.
 
If you add Pacioretty, Domi, McMann & Minten to the line up and McCabe on the back end to help them defensively while guys like Alex Nylander, Grebenkin, probably Robertson and one of Reaves or another 4th liner takes a seat, I think they'll score more. They were between 9th and 11th in even strength scoring before the injuries.
 
With the return of players, They have some things to fall back on.
McMann-Tavares-Marner was a solid line this season
They have a center in Tavares who can win draws and finish, a big winger in McMann who can forecheck and a top notch distributor of the puck in Marner who is very strong defensively. Both Tavares and McMann have the muscle to thrive in the front of the net.

Knies-Matthews-Domi
They have a center in Matthews who can win draws and finish and is strong defensively, a big winger in Knies who can forecheck and a good distributor of the puck in Domi. Both Knies and Matthews have the muscle to thrive in the front of the net. That line did well in last year's playoffs

Pacicoretty-Minten-Nylander
They have a center in Minten who can win some draws, potentially finish/score some and distribute the puck while helping defensively, a big winger in Pacioretty who can forecheck and finish and a good distributor of the puck and shooter in Nylander. Pacioretty has the muscle to thrive in the front of the net.

I don't know if those lines are the answer.
But adding Pacioretty, McMann & Domi with the potential emergence of Minten along with the return of McCabe is very likely to improve even strength scoring.
 
cw said:
With the return of players, They have some things to fall back on.
McMann-Tavares-Marner was a solid line this season
They have a center in Tavares who can win draws and finish, a big winger in McMann who can forecheck and a top notch distributor of the puck in Marner who is very strong defensively. Both Tavares and McMann have the muscle to thrive in the front of the net.

Knies-Matthews-Domi
They have a center in Matthews who can win draws and finish and is strong defensively, a big winger in Knies who can forecheck and a good distributor of the puck in Domi. Both Knies and Matthews have the muscle to thrive in the front of the net. That line did well in last year's playoffs

Pacicoretty-Minten-Nylander
They have a center in Minten who can win some draws, potentially finish/score some and distribute the puck while helping defensively, a big winger in Pacioretty who can forecheck and finish and a good distributor of the puck and shooter in Nylander. Pacioretty has the muscle to thrive in the front of the net.

I don't know if those lines are the answer.
But adding Pacioretty, McMann & Domi with the potential emergence of Minten along with the return of McCabe is very likely to improve even strength scoring.
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I like these lines very much, time for the change.
 
cabber24 said:
The look on Alex's face when he took that penalty was telling, that's probably it for him. What does he bring?
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That Alex penalty was that Nicky backwards pass when crossing the blue line.

Those will be the farewell plays for these lads.
 
I don't know if it was very noticeable on TV but man I was blown away by how many empty seats there were in the arena, especially in the lower bowl. And that's with probably 30-40% of the attendance being Leafs fans.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I don't know if it was very noticeable on TV but man I was blown away by how many empty seats there were in the arena, especially in the lower bowl. And that's with probably 30-40% of the attendance being Leafs fans.
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Oof. They're in the lower tier of attendance as % of sold out.

www.hockey-reference.com

NHL Attendance | Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com www.hockey-reference.com

I don't know how much faith I have in some of those figures, but at least there's a reference there.

I wonder how bad of a draw they'd be if they traded Crosby.
 
Arn said:
Were they not fairly close to going bust/being moved before they got Crosby? In their old arena.
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Yep, and Lemieux propped things up himself. A nice little investment he made there that worked out when they got Malkin, then lottery Crosby.
 
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My other note about the experience is that their arena kinda blows. Which is surprisingly since it isn't really that old. Aside from obviously being bigger our whole party agreed it just gave off FirstOntario Centre/Copps Coliseum in Hamilton vibes. Again, ownership in Pittsburgh is probably terrified about their post-Crosby future.
 
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CarltonTheBear said:
I don't know if it was very noticeable on TV but man I was blown away by how many empty seats there were in the arena, especially in the lower bowl. And that's with probably 30-40% of the attendance being Leafs fans.
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That's what happens when teams not named the Leafs, suck.


CarltonTheBear said:
My other note about the experience is that their arena kinda blows. Which is surprisingly since it isn't really that old. Aside from obviously being bigger our whole party agreed it just gave off FirstOntario Centre/Copps Coliseum in Hamilton vibes. Again, ownership in Pittsburgh is probably terrified about their post-Crosby future.
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Which is odd, because it wasn't a cheap arena to build. Maybe they haven't kept up with the maintenance and improvements.
 
Pittsburgh is a great town, one of my favourite cities in the N.E states, they are a hockey town and can't see the team moving at any point especially to Hamilton which the Leafs would eschew.
 
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