sens @ Leafs - Jan. 10th, 7:30pm - SN, TSN 1050

[hockeyfan1]

Wow, what a bunch of whiners... Reilly has a couple mistakes in a couple games and suddenly he's dog shit garbage... Better run him out of town now, guys... Ignore everything he's done up until now because he made TWO FRIGGIN' MISTAKES.  Boo-hoo... Somebody call the whaaaambulance.

Ouch.  Poor Reilly.  The "mistakes" though cost the Leafs in handing Ottawa the winning goal.

The whiners sound like the media that automatically starts the trade this guy, trade that guy tirade. 

The Leafs have had a brutal schedule.  Cut them some slack and this bye week should recharge them (and Babcock, who too needs to re-configure some things out).

 

[Bullfrog]

I didn't see the last five minutes of the game. So, I'll say emphatically that Rielly was the best player on the ice last night. He looks so confident out there.

 

[Bender]

Maybe we're in a bit of a slump. We were at this time last year as well and we're trending for more points than last year also. Maybe we had no expectations last year so we remembered last year as being better than it was.

I do think it's frustrating to not beat bottom feeder opponents like Ottawa though...

 

[rdowdall]

I think the Kessel years where the Leafs would get out to a hot start and then bottom out near the end of the year have left me feeling like that could happen at any time.

At no point do I feel like the Leafs are assured of anything, so I don't feel overly confident in saying that the Leafs are going to achieve any measure of success.

Looking at things objectively, they have been playing better of late in that their game has more pace and it looks like they are skating again.  I felt the team skated very well in the Tamp and Sharks games.  The had a bit of a letdown in the Canucks game, but I though they skated well again in the Columbus game and the Sens game.  I think that trend of skating well in games is a good thing.

If you factor in that a lot of their goal scoring woe's are probably tied to slumps that the players should eventually break out of then the goals should come back, but only if the slumps break.  I think at the start of the year we were seeing Matthews, JvR and Kadri all on hot streaks at the same time, so that inflated the numbers a bit.  JvR has cooled a bit, and Kadri is downright frozen.  Matthews had been pretty consistent, but even he has gone a couple of games now without a point.  Marner and Nylander sort of break in and out of these mini slumps to supplement the offense every so often. 

I think the strength of this team is that the have 4 players that can break a game wide open for them in Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and the emergence of Reilly.  In that sense, they have 4 players that can break a slump and turn a losing streak around by themselves.  This is something they didn't have during the Kessel years.  They also have a goalie who can win games all by himself with a little more consistency than the goalies they had during the Kessel years.

The fear is still there though that the chips aren't going to fall in to place for them.  That players won't rise to the occasion or that the wrong decisions will get made for stubborn reasons, and that they will tumble down the standings as a result. 

Since 1999, there has never been a season where the Leafs have made the playoffs and the Sens haven't.  I'd like that to be this year, but I am not so sure it's going to be. 

 

[Chris]

Wow, what a bunch of whiners... Reilly has a couple mistakes in a couple games and suddenly he's dog shit garbage... Better run him out of town now, guys... Ignore everything he's done up until now because he made TWO FRIGGIN' MISTAKES.  Boo-hoo... Somebody call the whaaaambulance.

No one is calling him "dog shit garbage" (except you), but come on - you have to be aware of the situation out there. The team isn't good enough to just give away points, and a few points here/there could be the difference between a playoff spot and golfing. Those kinds of plays need to be eliminated in the last couple of minutes of a game we're winning.

Maybe the extra minutes got to him but that's 2 games in a row where he made an unnecessary high risk play in the last few minutes that led to a loss of points. Hopefully he learns from it and moves on.

Kadri is in a funk but he is still getting shots (looks like he's trying to pick too many corners) and his linemates are not helping at all. Marleau, as someone else mentioned, has looked completely ineffective except when he gets the puck alone in front of the net - that's when his great hands are evident (kind of like JVR). And Komarov has a few moments but overall has been an anchor. Whole team looks like it needs a break, maybe the schedule has gotten to them. Hopefully they come back refreshed.

 

[Highlander]

Rielly's been the best Leafs d-man all night.  Like JVR's goal that one was deserved.

One gaffe and he is thrown to the wolves, if it keeps happening game in and game out then we have a problem.  He made two bad choices in two consecutive games going all out all the time and both times paid the price. Give him a break.

 

[ZBBM]

Wow, what a bunch of whiners... Reilly has a couple mistakes in a couple games and suddenly he's dog shit garbage... Better run him out of town now, guys... Ignore everything he's done up until now because he made TWO FRIGGIN' MISTAKES.  Boo-hoo... Somebody call the whaaaambulance.

Wow, what a bunch of whiners... Babcock dresses players you don't like and suddenly he's dog shit garbage... Better run him out of town now, guys... Ignore everything he's done up until now (Stanley Cup and so on) because he line matches and doesn't play Matthews 24 minutes a night.  Boo-hoo... Somebody call the whaaaambulance.

Huh.  So that's how easy it is to set up a straw man and knock it over.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Honestly, I think this image tells a good part of the story. The Leafs dominated most of the game and ran into a hot goalie... and 4 or 5 posts/crossbars. It wasn't a close game, and Rielly's mistake cost them a win, but it could have been another 8-2 loss for the Sens.

 

[Zee]

I love the passion, the swearing has been kicked up a notch cause we all hate losing to the Sens

 

[AvroArrow]

Huh.  So that's how easy it is to set up a straw man and knock it over.

What strawman? There's not even an argument here. I'm spewing a bunch of ridiculous hyperbole to hopefully get people to pull their heads out of their *****.

People want Reilly benched... For two mistakes.  Benching the best (or second best if you wanna argue for Gardiner) dman on a team that's fragile defensively WILL NOT HELP.  It will literally do the exact opposite.  To suggest it is just moronic.

 

[bustaheims]

I didn't see the last five minutes of the game. So, I'll say emphatically that Rielly was the best player on the ice last night. He looks so confident out there.

Agreed - and, without him, the team wouldn't have even been in a position to where a 4th goal cost them a chance at the win. His rush led to the first Leaf goal, and he scored the 3rd. That doesn't absolve him of the error he made on the game winner, but, he's a big part of why that play actually mattered.

Also seeing a lot of assumptions the Leafs would have won if that goal hadn't been scored - which, sure, they might have, but, that's certainly not for sure. Rielly's two big screw ups cost the Leafs one point pretty much for sure (reg win vs OTL against CBJ), one more probably (no guarantee the sens don't score some other way before regulation ended), and another maybe (50/50 once you get into OT/SO).

 

[wnc096]

Honestly, I think this image tells a good part of the story. The Leafs dominated most of the game and ran into a hot goalie... and 4 or 5 posts/crossbars. It wasn't a close game, and Rielly's mistake cost them a win, but it could have been another 8-2 loss for the Sens.

Fair enough...but you shouldn't be giving up 4 in a game you dominate.  They dominated but made some egregious mistakes

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I love when it gets all Sesquipedalian in here

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Word of the day toilet paper for sure.

 

[Highlander]

I don't know about you but enjoying the break, I don't know as a Leaf fan if I will ever be as happy as I was when they were winning cups when I was kid. Perhaps it's the players in that day had to work in summer jobs to make ends meet, that players would play with broken ankles to win championships.  Not saying todays players are mollycoddled or not superb athletes, it just seems that something is missing and I don't know what it is.  Perhaps its something to do with compete level day in and day out.  I don't remember Keon or Horton ever missing shift, but that could be nostalgia and time.
I think this whole team for the most part is underperforming by at least 20% although the last two games they brought it up a notch. Lets hope they can continue without the gaffes.