Rangers @ Leafs - Jan. 4th, 7:00pm - CBC, SN 590

[GhostofPotvin29]

Trade Kadri, he has been awful for 2 months. Play Gleason. Gardiner is to soft to be playing defense. TELL KESSEL TO SHOT, I am getting tired of stupid passes. There is my rant. That is all...

I question what game you are watching.  Kessel is on pace to have 326 shots, he's averaging 4 per game.  That would be the highest of his career (by 1).  In the last full NHL season that would be good for 3rd in the entire NHL.

He's shooting a lot.

 

[L K]

McClement led all Leafs forwards in ice-time. Even more than Bozak.

This was another spectacular portion of the night.  The 3rd line has absolutely no clue how to play  offensive hockey.  I like D'Amigo's hustle but he cuts the wrong way a lot of the time and ends up taking the long path to the puck on forechecks and it means he doesn't get there in time.  It really limits his effectiveness.

McClement on the other hand just throws the puck around the boards.  He doesn't look to see if he has a man to progress the forecheck.  It killed a few plays because he just threw the puck to an empty corner where the Rangers picked it up and cleared the zone.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Trade Kadri, he has been awful for 2 months. Play Gleason. Gardiner is to soft to be playing defense. TELL KESSEL TO SHOT, I am getting tired of stupid passes. There is my rant. That is all...

I question what game you are watching.  Kessel is on pace to have 326 shots, he's averaging 4 per game.  That would be the highest of his career (by 1).  In the last full NHL season that would be good for 3rd in the entire NHL.

He's shooting a lot.

In the Detroit game he had 7 shots on goal.

 

[L K]

Another 50 shots against tonight. They're playing like an AHL team.

The shot clock definitely didn't lie.  And if it wasn't for the Rangers playing 5 men back for half the 3rd period I think they easily would have hit 60.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I may have miscounted, but, I make 30 games this season where the Leafs have allowed 35+ shots.

They've allowed 40+ shots in 30% of their games.

 

[L K]

As for the defense.  Franson looked really good in the 1st period IMO.  He was playing physical, covered for Gardiner a few times and made a few decent plays with the puck.  Start the second period and I have no clue what happened.  He was weak on the boards.  A few times he went down behind the Rangers net for absolutely no reason.  (Althought, fine, he did that....so the forward should go cover the point then to back him up...nope, why do that when you can just give the Rangers an odd man rush the other way).

I almost felt bad for Franson after he got walked around for a goal in the 2nd period.  He walked over to the bench and stood on the ice.  Carlyle didn't acknowledge him.  The assistant coaches didn't says anything.  He just awkwardly stood there.

Rielly.  I think his wings were clipped.  He made next to no effort to skate the puck out of the zone.  He made the same bad clearing attempts that the rest of the team makes.  And for all the talk of how great his legs/frame is, I don't think he pushed a man off the puck once in the defensive zone. 

Gardiner.  Again, I think the wings were clipped.  He doesn't rush the puck at all.  Instead his new go-to-move appears to be make a sharp U-turn and throw the puck behind the net.  Whether there is an outlet available or not.  He kept doing it over and over again.

Phaneuf.  I dont' think he hits 50 points again in his career.  He cheats defense now when the puck is in the offensive zone.  It kills a number of offensive sequences because he lets the puck roll out of the zone when he easily could have kept it in.  I don't have a huge problem with how he plays in the defensive zone. His "fight" should have happened in the second period when Kreider was taking liberties with him and he just kind of stood there and talked with the ref instead.  That lack of emotion just seems to perfectly highlight a big problem with the team this year.

Ranger.  He makes so many bad plays...and then makes a couple of really good defensive plays.  Really, meh.

Gunnarsson - that's a big loss if he is out for a long period of time.

Clarkson - I'm assuming he broke his foot making that shot-block early in the 2nd?

 

[Wendel's Fist]

I'm getting really tired of Carlyle. There's absolutely no reason in hell why a team that lost against Pittsburgh the night before and had zero momentum coming into a road game in Toronto, whooped the shit out of us.

What's the excuse Randy? Our team just didn't execute your plan? I don't get what the hell our plan is, game in and game out. Is it to wait for a turnover in our end? Is that the whole strategy? Otherwise, I'm lost. I don't think that the team itself is all that clued in.

One thing I will say though, is that these kid millionaires should really move their asses more, no matter who's in charge. There's a lot of people who don't make as much money and tickets to watch that crap that they put out tonight, aren't free. I didn't go to the game but I can feel for someone who paid to have their kid watch their first Leaf game live tonight. Just awesome.

I haven't seen a damn thing this year where I can honestly say..............great coaching by Carlyle. The sooner this never-look-a-reporter-in-the-eye-while-they-ask-a-question pylon leaves the team, the better.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

LK, interesting observations about Rielly and Gardiner. They definitely used to rush the puck a lot more than they have recently.

 

[L K]

On the forward front:

The top line had some really dangerous passes.  Sometimes Kessel is too fast for his own good when he comes in as a trailing man though.  He skates full bore and really doesn't give himself a good chance to grab those long rebounds.  I think he needs to slow himself down a touch on those plays because he overskated a few good second chances because he came in with too much speed.

JVR.  Where did you go?  I didn't see him do much of anything.

Bozak.  Really fell back to earth today.  He makes a lot of safe plays, but really doesn't add to the offensive flare on the top line.  His assist on the Lupul goal is a perfect example of this.  He was looking pass the whole time and Lupul scored on a good shot.  Bozak gets an assist but really had very little to do with the play.

Clarkson.  He coasts a lot.  I was really hoping to see that he was more of energy sparkplug for the team away from the puck, but he's not.  Even on the forecheck he goes hard, but the second it looks like an easy play isn't there he lets up and glides in to try and pin the puck along the boards rather than to create plays.  I miss Darcy Tucker.

Lupul.  He was trying to do things but he was on an island by himself.

Kadri.  Something is wrong with him right now.  His head isn't in the right place.  He doesn't have a lot of confidence in his offensive game right now.  He would make a decent cut inside the blueline and then flub a pass to cause a turnover.  Maybe he needs to sit for a game to clear his head.  I don't know.

Raymond.  Didn't do anything.

I touched on the bottom 6 already.  Nonis wasted a 2nd round pick on Holland.  Carlyle isn't going to play him.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Worth noting that the first line was the only line that outchanced the opposition tonight.  Didn't do them any help in the +/- department, but it's a good sign regardless.

 

[ZBBM]

Nonis wasted a 2nd round pick on Holland.  Carlyle isn't going to play him.

Nonis needs to figure out who's in charge of this club or else he'll be shown the door at the same time as Carlyle.  Like somebody said of Del Zotto, trade him or else tell the coach to start liking him.

 

[ZBBM]

On the forward front:

The top line had some really dangerous passes.  Sometimes Kessel is too fast for his own good when he comes in as a trailing man though.  He skates full bore and really doesn't give himself a good chance to grab those long rebounds.  I think he needs to slow himself down a touch on those plays because he overskated a few good second chances because he came in with too much speed.

JVR.  Where did you go?  I didn't see him do much of anything.

Bozak.  Really fell back to earth today.  He makes a lot of safe plays, but really doesn't add to the offensive flare on the top line.  His assist on the Lupul goal is a perfect example of this.  He was looking pass the whole time and Lupul scored on a good shot.  Bozak gets an assist but really had very little to do with the play.

Clarkson.  He coasts a lot.  I was really hoping to see that he was more of energy sparkplug for the team away from the puck, but he's not.  Even on the forecheck he goes hard, but the second it looks like an easy play isn't there he lets up and glides in to try and pin the puck along the boards rather than to create plays.  I miss Darcy Tucker.

Lupul.  He was trying to do things but he was on an island by himself.

Kadri.  Something is wrong with him right now.  His head isn't in the right place.  He doesn't have a lot of confidence in his offensive game right now.  He would make a decent cut inside the blueline and then flub a pass to cause a turnover.  Maybe he needs to sit for a game to clear his head.  I don't know.

Raymond.  Didn't do anything.

I touched on the bottom 6 already.  Nonis wasted a 2nd round pick on Holland.  Carlyle isn't going to play him.

Thanks for the assessment.  You need to demand your money back, though, since you were defrauded.  You were told you'd be attending a game between two NHL teams.

 

[hockeyfan1]

"Getting booed off the ice in the first period, second period and the end of the game ? and we deserved it," winger Joffrey Lupul said. "We were not good in any aspect. We don?t feel very good about ourselves right now."

"We?re not proud of that game, it?s embarrassing," he said. "I apologize to people who paid money to see us play like that. It?s one game and we?re going to feel pretty bad about this tonight and then hopefully tomorrow come back and practise and get some life and try to turn the page on it."

"They had the freedom to roam about the ice and do what they wanted to do, and we didn?t engage in the competitive side of it of limiting their space, stepping in front of anybody, skating in front of anybody to impede the progress," Carlyle said. "Obviously we left our goalies hanging high and dry."

"We felt that we were becoming more competitive," Carlyle said. "And this one kind of sent an A-bomb.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/leafs-win-streak-snapped-with-rout-by-rangers/

 

[Leaflifer]

That lack of emotion just seems to perfectly highlight a big problem with the team this year.

I agree. I think there is better hockey in this group, but the emotion (or accountability to each other) isn't there.

 

[Andy007]

So I checked the box score to see how many minutes Carlyle played Wayne McLement and wasn't surprised to see a whopping 19+. Then I figured, oh well, it was a rout and maybe he was just giving the bottom lines more ice time...and then I saw Holland's 8+ minutes.

I really am scared that Nonis does a desperate move to acquire even more "Carlyle'esque" players. He is so obviously the main flaw with this team.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

On the forward front:

The top line had some really dangerous passes.  Sometimes Kessel is too fast for his own good when he comes in as a trailing man though.  He skates full bore and really doesn't give himself a good chance to grab those long rebounds.  I think he needs to slow himself down a touch on those plays because he overskated a few good second chances because he came in with too much speed.

JVR.  Where did you go?  I didn't see him do much of anything.

Bozak.  Really fell back to earth today.  He makes a lot of safe plays, but really doesn't add to the offensive flare on the top line.  His assist on the Lupul goal is a perfect example of this.  He was looking pass the whole time and Lupul scored on a good shot.  Bozak gets an assist but really had very little to do with the play.

Clarkson.  He coasts a lot.  I was really hoping to see that he was more of energy sparkplug for the team away from the puck, but he's not.  Even on the forecheck he goes hard, but the second it looks like an easy play isn't there he lets up and glides in to try and pin the puck along the boards rather than to create plays.  I miss Darcy Tucker.

Lupul.  He was trying to do things but he was on an island by himself.

Kadri.  Something is wrong with him right now.  His head isn't in the right place.  He doesn't have a lot of confidence in his offensive game right now.  He would make a decent cut inside the blueline and then flub a pass to cause a turnover.  Maybe he needs to sit for a game to clear his head.  I don't know.

Raymond.  Didn't do anything.

I touched on the bottom 6 already.  Nonis wasted a 2nd round pick on Holland.  Carlyle isn't going to play him.

Thanks for the assessment.  You need to demand your money back, though, since you were defrauded.  You were told you'd be attending a game between two NHL teams.

Plus it was Guaranteed Not Lose By 6 Or More Goals Night at the ACC.  MLSE is going to pay dearly for that gimmick.

 

[losveratos]

On the forward front:

The top line had some really dangerous passes.  Sometimes Kessel is too fast for his own good when he comes in as a trailing man though.  He skates full bore and really doesn't give himself a good chance to grab those long rebounds.  I think he needs to slow himself down a touch on those plays because he overskated a few good second chances because he came in with too much speed.

JVR.  Where did you go?  I didn't see him do much of anything.

Bozak.  Really fell back to earth today.  He makes a lot of safe plays, but really doesn't add to the offensive flare on the top line.  His assist on the Lupul goal is a perfect example of this.  He was looking pass the whole time and Lupul scored on a good shot.  Bozak gets an assist but really had very little to do with the play.

Clarkson.  He coasts a lot.  I was really hoping to see that he was more of energy sparkplug for the team away from the puck, but he's not.  Even on the forecheck he goes hard, but the second it looks like an easy play isn't there he lets up and glides in to try and pin the puck along the boards rather than to create plays.  I miss Darcy Tucker.

Lupul.  He was trying to do things but he was on an island by himself.

Kadri.  Something is wrong with him right now.  His head isn't in the right place.  He doesn't have a lot of confidence in his offensive game right now.  He would make a decent cut inside the blueline and then flub a pass to cause a turnover.  Maybe he needs to sit for a game to clear his head.  I don't know.

Raymond.  Didn't do anything.

I touched on the bottom 6 already.  Nonis wasted a 2nd round pick on Holland.  Carlyle isn't going to play him.

Thanks for the assessment.  You need to demand your money back, though, since you were defrauded.  You were told you'd be attending a game between two NHL teams.

Plus it was Guaranteed Not Lose By 6 Or More Goals Night at the ACC.  MLSE is going to pay dearly for that gimmick.

What exactly do they pay out for said guarantee?

 

[Kin]

Right now, as a fan, I'd be significantly more comfortable with Lupul wearing the C.

 

[TML fan]

How they respond in their next game will go a long way to determining whether Lupul's words actually meant anything.

 

[Redleaf]

This loss was entirely predictable after all the hoopla. The difference on the scoreboard was a little surprising though. Next game we should see a response.

It's interesting to see how differently the wings and Leafs reacted their next matches after playing the 'biggest game ever' at the outdoor classic. The winner coasted, and the loser came out with something to prove.