Wild @ Leafs - Jan. 3rd, 2:00pm - SNO, Fan 590

[dekedastardly]

Nice to see Willie get one. Pretty tired of Babcock's stuttering excuses. I wonder if some of the players need a fire under them. Also the powerplay still sucks. They look clueless at times, they seem to want to be too cute with it. Passing around the outside when maybe they should simplify it, go for a couple greasy ones, getting shots through with traffic in front. I'll be at the Boston game. They better get their act together, and soon.

 

[Frank E]

Tavares gets punched in the face and gets a penalty.  NHL refs straight up collide against Toronto.

I didn't see the game, but I'm with you man, straight up collision. 

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Fun game to see in person. Marner was flying.

Nylander got a nice goal, probably because I was wearing my Arenas shirt with his name bar.

With Andersen, it would have been a win.

 

[Bender]

It hurts my eyes to watch horrible games like that and I had the "chance" to watch last two. Won't do that again for some months and maybe never again. I am quite used to watch shitty Leafs teams and I am fooled by the hype and hope again and again. Not anymore. Time to learn from past mistakes.

Sorry, I'm confused. Why are you here?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Just a friendly reminder to all that this Leafs team is still 2nd in the league in points.

 

[herman]

And other all stars complaining that they didn?t pick enough of our stars for the game haha

 

[CarltonTheBear]

And other all stars complaining that they didn?t pick enough of our stars for the game haha

Yeah it's tough being a Leafs fan right now.

 

[ZBBM]

And other all stars complaining that they didn?t pick enough of our stars for the game haha

Yeah it's tough being a Leafs fan right now.

Nonetheless, this game was a template for the things they need to fix if they are going to get anywhere in the playoffs.  Fewer giveaways.  No 10-minute holes with no shots.  Much better defense from the forwards.

Some of this gets covered up if Andersen is on his game, but Hutchinson wasn't really the problem today.  In fact, he was a star in the 1st.

OTOH if Nylander uses this one as a springboard to finally get his game going, the loss will have been worth it in the long run.

 

[princedpw]

Just a friendly reminder to all that this Leafs team is still 2nd in the league in points.

This is where I'm at. 

I had fun watching today's game.  Some beautiful goals from Marner.

 

[princedpw]

Yeah, I'm thinking there are a lot of people here who would be much happier following one of those Hockey teams that never has bad games.

I have to agree with this one.  The negativity is over the top.

 

[Arn]

Yeah, I'm thinking there are a lot of people here who would be much happier following one of those Hockey teams that never has bad games.

I have to agree with this one.  The negativity is over the top.

Strangely I don't think the negativity was as high when the Leafs were ACTUALLY terrible. I guess that's the impact of having higher expectations. We were kind of happily fatalistic when we knew they'd be bad.

The GDTs used to be a really fun way to somewhat increase my enjoyment of watching the games by having some fairly light hearted interaction with other people cos most of the time I watch on my own at home. Sometimes now I feel like it's less fun to dip into the GDT when you see some of the completely over the top, almost satirical (not sure that's quite the right word but you know what I mean hopefully) reactions to things.

 

[Zee]

The Leafs were supposed to be comfortably in 2nd in the division and possibly challenging for first but don't look now we have Boston and Buffalo 4 points back and the lowly Habs 5 points back.  I can understand the frustration of some fans. This team should be closer to elite and Tampa as opposed to the pack

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The Leafs were supposed to be comfortably in 2nd in the division and possibly challenging for first but don't look now we have Boston and Buffalo 4 points back and the lowly Habs 5 points back.  I can understand the frustration of some fans. This team should be closer to elite and Tampa as opposed to the pack

The Leafs are 2nd in the league in points! They ARE having an elite season. We can't kick them for not matching Tampa's points when Tampa is on pace to put together one of the best seasons in the history of the league.

Also who said they were supposed to be comfortably in 2nd in the division? Boston was always going to challenge up for that and we're 4 points up on them with a game in hand. We also have 4 more ROW than they do and our goal differential is better by 23 goals. That's pretty significant.

 

[Zee]

The Leafs were supposed to be comfortably in 2nd in the division and possibly challenging for first but don't look now we have Boston and Buffalo 4 points back and the lowly Habs 5 points back.  I can understand the frustration of some fans. This team should be closer to elite and Tampa as opposed to the pack

The Leafs are 2nd in the league in points! They ARE having an elite season. We can't kick them for not matching Tampa's points when Tampa is on pace to put together one of the best seasons in the history of the league.

Also who said they were supposed to be comfortably in 2nd in the division? Boston was always going to challenge up for that and we're 4 points up on them with a game in hand. We also have 4 more ROW than they do and our goal differential is better by 23 goals. That's pretty significant.

I didn't say match Tampa, just closer to Tampa then the pack.  If Leafs had 2-3 more wins they'd be only 6 back of Tampa and further ahead of the rest.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I didn't say match Tampa, just closer to Tampa then the pack.  If Leafs had 2-3 more wins they'd be only 6 back of Tampa and further ahead of the rest.

I just don't understand where these standards/expectations are coming from. If the Leafs had 3 more wins they'd have 60 points in 40 games. That's a 123 point pace over 82 games. 3 teams have hit 120 points in the salary cap era. Nobody should have their expectations that high right now.

This is like looking at Marner and complaining that he doesn't have 63 points instead of 55.

 

[Zee]

I didn't say match Tampa, just closer to Tampa then the pack.  If Leafs had 2-3 more wins they'd be only 6 back of Tampa and further ahead of the rest.

I just don't understand where these standards/expectations are coming from. If the Leafs had 3 more wins they'd have 60 points in 40 games. That's a 123 point pace over 82 games. 3 teams have hit 120 points in the salary cap era. Nobody should have their expectations that high right now.

This is like looking at Marner and complaining that he doesn't have 63 points instead of 55.

Alright, they're on a 110 point pace right now, better than last year's 105.  I fully expected them to be better than 105 after adding Tavares and have the two number 1 lines + a true #2 center in Kadri playing in the 3 spot.  That's a luxury to have.  If they slip below last year's pace I'll start to get concerned.

 

[herman]

I didn't say match Tampa, just closer to Tampa then the pack.  If Leafs had 2-3 more wins they'd be only 6 back of Tampa and further ahead of the rest.

I just don't understand where these standards/expectations are coming from. If the Leafs had 3 more wins they'd have 60 points in 40 games. That's a 123 point pace over 82 games. 3 teams have hit 120 points in the salary cap era. Nobody should have their expectations that high right now.

This is like looking at Marner and complaining that he doesn't have 63 points instead of 55.

Alright, they're on a 110 point pace right now, better than last year's 105.  I fully expected them to be better than 105 after adding Tavares and have the two number 1 lines + a true #2 center in Kadri playing in the 3 spot.  That's a luxury to have.  If they slip below last year's pace I'll start to get concerned.

Do your numbers account for missing Nylander + Matthews?

 

[Bender]

And other all stars complaining that they didn?t pick enough of our stars for the game haha

Yeah it's tough being a Leafs fan right now.

Nonetheless, this game was a template for the things they need to fix if they are going to get anywhere in the playoffs.  Fewer giveaways.  No 10-minute holes with no shots.  Much better defense from the forwards.

Some of this gets covered up if Andersen is on his game, but Hutchinson wasn't really the problem today.  In fact, he was a star in the 1st.

OTOH if Nylander uses this one as a springboard to finally get his game going, the loss will have been worth it in the long run.

Any team not named "Tampa Bay" has things to work on.

 

[Zee]

I didn't say match Tampa, just closer to Tampa then the pack.  If Leafs had 2-3 more wins they'd be only 6 back of Tampa and further ahead of the rest.

I just don't understand where these standards/expectations are coming from. If the Leafs had 3 more wins they'd have 60 points in 40 games. That's a 123 point pace over 82 games. 3 teams have hit 120 points in the salary cap era. Nobody should have their expectations that high right now.

This is like looking at Marner and complaining that he doesn't have 63 points instead of 55.

Alright, they're on a 110 point pace right now, better than last year's 105.  I fully expected them to be better than 105 after adding Tavares and have the two number 1 lines + a true #2 center in Kadri playing in the 3 spot.  That's a luxury to have.  If they slip below last year's pace I'll start to get concerned.

Do your numbers account for missing Nylander + Matthews?

No, cause the Leafs have both back and are still on pace. 

 

[herman]

Do your numbers account for missing Nylander + Matthews?

No, cause the Leafs have both back and are still on pace.

Does that mean they've overachieved your expectation then?