Playoffs Round 1: Toronto Maple Leafs (A2) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (A3)

[cabber24]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

So a guy at work seems to think Bunting was just doing what you'd normally do going into a puck battle. I think he knew Cernak was coming in and he may have thought he'd get shoulder to shoulder but elbowed his face instead but I also think he could've known he was hitting Cernak's head. What do we think?

Clipped the guy in the head and injured him, suspendable.

 

[herman]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

So a guy at work seems to think Bunting was just doing what you'd normally do going into a puck battle. I think he knew Cernak was coming in and he may have thought he'd get shoulder to shoulder but elbowed his face instead but I also think he could've known he was hitting Cernak's head. What do we think?

I thought the same, but DoPS adjudicates based on resultant effects, not intentions. He's getting booked.

 

[bustaheims]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

So a guy at work seems to think Bunting was just doing what you'd normally do going into a puck battle. I think he knew Cernak was coming in and he may have thought he'd get shoulder to shoulder but elbowed his face instead but I also think he could've known he was hitting Cernak's head. What do we think?

If he keeps his elbow down on that play, it's a pretty standard battle for positioning. But, he popped up with the elbow and made contact with the head. That's a big no-no. There was no need for his elbow to be elevated like that. He's able to control that and he didn't - and, with guys who play on the edge like Bunting does, that's a frequent issue and something he needs to be much more conscious of. I don't think he did it with malicious intent, but it was reckless and stupid, and he deserves to sit for a few.

Really, at this point, the question might be whether or not he gets back into the lineup at all. He's becoming more of a liability than an asset.

 

[L K]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

So a guy at work seems to think Bunting was just doing what you'd normally do going into a puck battle. I think he knew Cernak was coming in and he may have thought he'd get shoulder to shoulder but elbowed his face instead but I also think he could've known he was hitting Cernak's head. What do we think?

If he keeps his elbow down on that play, it's a pretty standard battle for positioning. But, he popped up with the elbow and made contact with the head. That's a big no-no. There was no need for his elbow to be elevated like that. He's able to control that and he didn't - and, with guys who play on the edge like Bunting does, that's a frequent issue and something he needs to be much more conscious of. I don't think he did it with malicious intent, but it was reckless and stupid, and he deserves to sit for a few.

Really, at this point, the question might be whether or not he gets back into the lineup at all. He's becoming more of a liability than an asset.

I think it's fair to think that he was trying to anticipate contact and because Cernak is bigger than him if Cernak leaned his body into Bunting that the elbow would have been more of a shove.  But anticipating something that didn't happen isn't an excuse.  It was an elbow to a player as an interference play.  It certainly concussed him.

I agree at this point that Bunting is simply a liability.  He can't stay out of the box.  He doesn't draw calls in an effective way and while he is certainly an agitator, he isn't someone who grinds teams down.  he doesn't throw punishing hits.  He gets scrums going after the whistle I guess but he's not really leading the charge on play.  His offensive play hasn't been good enough either.  I'd rather see Simmonds (if Knies looks overmatched) in the lineup over him at this point because at least we know what we get out of him.  Simmonds will throw hits.  Might take a stupid penalty but it would be a two minute penalty if he did and but he would get in on the forecheck and hit.

A couple of months ago I was struggling to do cap math to figure out how the Leafs keep him.  Now I'm honestly hoping we just walk away.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/koshtorontosun/status/1648719466539229184

Changes!

 

[ZBBM]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

So a guy at work seems to think Bunting was just doing what you'd normally do going into a puck battle. I think he knew Cernak was coming in and he may have thought he'd get shoulder to shoulder but elbowed his face instead but I also think he could've known he was hitting Cernak's head. What do we think?

I thought the same, but DoPS adjudicates based on resultant effects, not intentions. He's getting booked.

As it should be.

 

[ZBBM]

https://twitter.com/koshtorontosun/status/1648719466539229184

Changes!

I don't know about the second line.  But I see the logic of Knies with ROR on the 3rd.

 

[herman]

The Leafs have pre-emptively suspended Bunting, in terms of lineup looks.

 

[L K]

Kind of surprised given how badly the Gio-Holl pairing got filled in last night that Liljegren isn't getting an opportunity to check back in.

Also not really a fan of Kerfoot in the Top 6 but I'm not really sure what the alternative would be.  I think Knies-Tavares-Nylander is asking a lot of Knies but that 3rd line is also asking Knies to probably take on some important defensive matchup stuff because sheltering Acciari and ROR seems like a bit of a waste and I wouldn't really want to be using Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as a feature defensive line - they seem to get hemmed in their own zone too much.

 

[ZBBM]

Kind of surprised given how badly the Gio-Holl pairing got filled in last night that Liljegren isn't getting an opportunity to check back in.

Also not really a fan of Kerfoot in the Top 6 but I'm not really sure what the alternative would be.  I think Knies-Tavares-Nylander is asking a lot of Knies but that 3rd line is also asking Knies to probably take on some important defensive matchup stuff because sheltering Acciari and ROR seems like a bit of a waste and I wouldn't really want to be using Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as a feature defensive line - they seem to get hemmed in their own zone too much.

Keefe has been given options.  Let's see if he's got enough skill to use them.  While I wouldn't say he got outcoached last night (the game was out of hand when he did his Hail Mary challenge), neither did he use home ice advantage in any effective way.

 

[ZBBM]

https://theathletic.com/4427558/2023/04/19/nhl-stanley-cup-playoffs-concern-o-meter/

Guess who they think should be concerned?  (VGK even more so)

 

[Bender]

Kind of surprised given how badly the Gio-Holl pairing got filled in last night that Liljegren isn't getting an opportunity to check back in.

Also not really a fan of Kerfoot in the Top 6 but I'm not really sure what the alternative would be.  I think Knies-Tavares-Nylander is asking a lot of Knies but that 3rd line is also asking Knies to probably take on some important defensive matchup stuff because sheltering Acciari and ROR seems like a bit of a waste and I wouldn't really want to be using Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as a feature defensive line - they seem to get hemmed in their own zone too much.

I think I'd just move Nylander and Marner from that lineup and see how it shakes out. I don't think you can keep that second line as it is.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Kind of surprised given how badly the Gio-Holl pairing got filled in last night that Liljegren isn't getting an opportunity to check back in.

Also not really a fan of Kerfoot in the Top 6 but I'm not really sure what the alternative would be.  I think Knies-Tavares-Nylander is asking a lot of Knies but that 3rd line is also asking Knies to probably take on some important defensive matchup stuff because sheltering Acciari and ROR seems like a bit of a waste and I wouldn't really want to be using Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as a feature defensive line - they seem to get hemmed in their own zone too much.

At 5v5 Holl and Gio were on for 1 goal. They had more SCF, more HDCF. They weren't bad together. Rielly and Schenn were also good 5v5. Same with Brodie, MacCabe. The D and team were actually good at 5v5 and outplayed TBay by quite a margin. 16-5 in HDCF. 26-18 in Scoring chances. Leafs need to stay out of the box and they'll be fine.

 

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/koshtorontosun/status/1648719466539229184

Changes!

I don't know about the second line.  But I see the logic of Knies with ROR on the 3rd.

There's little choice unless you're moving JT to the 3rd line. Knies can't be the most defensive player on line 2 and he would have to be playing with Willy and JT. Kerfoot is good on the D side of things.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

The Leafs have pre-emptively suspended Bunting, in terms of lineup looks.

Or he's having an in-person hearing.

 

[Bullfrog]

Kind of surprised given how badly the Gio-Holl pairing got filled in last night that Liljegren isn't getting an opportunity to check back in.

Also not really a fan of Kerfoot in the Top 6 but I'm not really sure what the alternative would be.  I think Knies-Tavares-Nylander is asking a lot of Knies but that 3rd line is also asking Knies to probably take on some important defensive matchup stuff because sheltering Acciari and ROR seems like a bit of a waste and I wouldn't really want to be using Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander as a feature defensive line - they seem to get hemmed in their own zone too much.

I'm good with Kerfoot in the top 6.

I'd rather have Liljegren in for Schenn.

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

Bunting is getting a hearing tomorrow.  I'm assuming he gets two games. 

Addition by subtraction.

yep. The league will be doing the Leafs a favour by suspending him.....

on a semi-related note, the Leafs are 0-8 lifetime in playoff games reffed by Wes MacAuley (I'm not surprised, given the history between Sheldon Keefe and MacAuley's BiL David Frost)

 

[bustaheims]

The Leafs have pre-emptively suspended Bunting, in terms of lineup looks.

Or he's having an in-person hearing.

It?s a phone hearing. Would have specified in person when it was announced if that was the case.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/nhlplayersafety/status/1648815612192522240

 

[rdowdall]

https://twitter.com/nhlplayersafety/status/1648815612192522240

Well that seems consistent. Isn't that what Kadri got the first time?