Avalanche @ Leafs - Jan. 14th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[Guilt Trip]

Here's a 'better' defensieve defenseman:
https://twitter.com/Prospects_Watch/status/1085371943933612033

Haha...When I first saw this I said looks exactly how Gardiner would play it. No body position and reaching with his stick. Make all the excuses of what he was thinking or trying to do. Jake is a very soft offensive defenceman.

 

[Zee]

Here's a 'better' defensieve defenseman:
https://twitter.com/Prospects_Watch/status/1085371943933612033

Haha...When I first saw this I said looks exactly how Gardiner would play it. No body position and reaching with his stick. Make all the excuses of what he was thinking or trying to do. Jake is a very soft offensive defenceman.

But that's not Jake in the clip?  :-\

 

[herman]

Haha...When I first saw this I said looks exactly how Gardiner would play it. No body position and reaching with his stick. Make all the excuses of what he was thinking or trying to do. Jake is a very soft offensive defenceman.

But that's not Jake in the clip?  :-\

Yeah none of the Leafs D ever do that amount of nothing even at their most ineffectual.

 

[cabber24]

Haha...When I first saw this I said looks exactly how Gardiner would play it. No body position and reaching with his stick. Make all the excuses of what he was thinking or trying to do. Jake is a very soft offensive defenceman.

But that's not Jake in the clip?  :-\

Yeah none of the Leafs D ever do that amount of nothing even at their most ineffectual.

The comment should read "Awful Defense" not "Incredible Goal".

 

[Guilt Trip]

Haha...When I first saw this I said looks exactly how Gardiner would play it. No body position and reaching with his stick. Make all the excuses of what he was thinking or trying to do. Jake is a very soft offensive defenceman.

But that's not Jake in the clip?  :-\

Yeah none of the Leafs D ever do that amount of nothing even at their most ineffectual.

The comment should read "Awful Defense" not "Incredible Goal".

Ding ding ding...winner!!

 

[dappleganger]

On the play, Jake tries to push the puck into the corner but the puck jumps his stick. That puts Jake in the wrong position defensively. If Andersen is able to make the save I don't think we're even talking about this. It's ultimately a bad bounce. Shit happens.

Do I like what Jake did on the play? No, I would have preferred he maintained defensive position. I don't think it was a soft play, he made the wrong decision.

Yeah it was a bad bounce off his stick that resulted in the turnover. Getting back and establishing body position was very good; the decision to try to immediately turn it up the ice through the middle on his backhand is what exposed Gardiner to Soderberg's extra effort.

I understand why Gardiner did this: he wanted to preserve precious PP time and expedite getting the puck back to the forwards, he's very good at manipulating forecheckers off the puck with his positioning and skating, so he's very confident he could pull it off and they'd catch the PKers on the change. I would've liked him to just shield off Soderberg and steer the play until it was out of the slot, but if I'm the coach I wouldn't ask Jake (or any skilled players) to stop trying to make these plays, just pick more stable spaces to work from.

Andersen relaxed once Jake put Soderberg on his hip, so he was very not ready when the shot materialized.

Here's a 'better' defensieve defenseman:
https://twitter.com/Prospects_Watch/status/1085371943933612033

Now THAT was a soft play.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I get that the Gardiner team of lawyers are trying hard to justify the soft play he made on the goal by referencing a goal that has nothing to do with the one on Monday, but sadly it doesn't remove his glaring error on the play.

Nobody's justifying it. Nobody has said he didn't make an error. You missed the point of that clip entirely. Jake made a mistake and was beat on that play. But Soderberg also made a great play to use his size and strength to his advantage. Both of those things can be equally true, but as Leafs fan we only ever focus on one side of the equation. I shouldn't even have to explain all that to somebody with 20+ years of coaching experience.

And I'm not sure where you take my comment that I'd bench the defensemen on the play is taking anything away from the goal scorer? The goal scorer should be applauded in both cases for outworking the other player. That being said, it doesn't remove the defender of blame.

The name of the game in hockey is to outwork your opponent. That's true for the entire game, that's true for each shift and it's true for each individual play. If you don't do it, you'll get beat. Gardiner did not outwork the forward on the play. He lost. The puck went into Toronto's net. He wasn't the only player that took the night off.

IMHO, Gardiner is playing that like he thinks the B's forward is going to turn off of the play(which happens often when PKing). Soderberg didn't. Gardiner looked like crap because of it. The other issue is that once he was beat, he decided to water ski behind the player he just lost the puck to. Personally, I would have preferred my defender hacked the guy. Take a penalty. Whatever. Nothing drives me crazier than a player that makes a mistake(yes they happen to the best of them) and doesn't do their best to try and make up for that mistake.

 

[louisstamos]

IMHO, Gardiner is playing that like he thinks the B's forward is going to turn off of the play(which happens often when PKing). Soderberg didn't. Gardiner looked like crap because of it. The other issue is that once he was beat, he decided to water ski behind the player he just lost the puck to. Personally, I would have preferred my defender hacked the guy. Take a penalty. Whatever. Nothing drives me crazier than a player that makes a mistake(yes they happen to the best of them) and doesn't do their best to try and make up for that mistake.

If I recall correctly, Gardiner *did* take a penalty on that play for holding - the referee had his arm up.  And Soderberg still scored.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

IMHO, Gardiner is playing that like he thinks the B's forward is going to turn off of the play(which happens often when PKing). Soderberg didn't. Gardiner looked like crap because of it. The other issue is that once he was beat, he decided to water ski behind the player he just lost the puck to. Personally, I would have preferred my defender hacked the guy. Take a penalty. Whatever. Nothing drives me crazier than a player that makes a mistake(yes they happen to the best of them) and doesn't do their best to try and make up for that mistake.

If I recall correctly, Gardiner *did* take a penalty on that play for holding - the referee had his arm up.  And Soderberg still scored.

Didn't hold him enough to prevent a goal. Failed attempt