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Ducks @ Leafs - Dec. 16th, 7:30pm - TSN4, Fan 590

Frederik Andersen will make his 19th straight start for the Ducks

And he hasn't dropped dead? My understanding was that more than 5 starts in a row cause the goalie to explode.
 
Joe S. said:
Frederik Andersen will make his 19th straight start for the Ducks

And he hasn't dropped dead? My understanding was that more than 5 starts in a row cause the goalie to explode.
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Think they ran into some goaltending health issues (hence signing Bryzgalov).  He won his last back to back, but in the 2 previous back to back situations he allowed 9 goals over the two games.  They probably shouldn't play him so much but I think they were left without many options.
 
Joe S. said:
Frederik Andersen will make his 19th straight start for the Ducks

And he hasn't dropped dead? My understanding was that more than 5 starts in a row cause the goalie to explode.
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Miraculously, he's the only goalie the Ducks have used this season that hasn't suffered a significant injury. He's started so many games because the Ducks didn't really have a viable backup for most of that stretch.
 
herman said:
bustaheims said:
I'm obviously less convinced. A lot of it has to do with the fact that they're still riding on a exceptionally high shooting percentage, and that's due to normalize some. So, even if/when the top line gets things going again, at some point soon, the rest of the lineup's production is going to slow down - possibly significantly and almost certainly more than the increase from the top line. I'll admit that, for the most part, the other lines are playing better than their counterparts from last season, but, that's also a pretty low bar. The goaltending has also obviously been excellent recently, but, we've all seen how quickly that can change.

We've also seen this from the Leafs recently. They had a 9-1-1 stretch heading into the Olympic break last season, which also came after a some humbling losses, and involved the team scoring at an unsustainable rate and relying on exceptional goaltending more than they should be comfortable with. Obviously, they don't have a break to the extent of the Olympics on the horizon (though, how much that really played into things is very much debatable), but, there are still a number of alarming similarities and their possession rates are trending in the wrong direction. While I don't think this team will completely fall off the cliff like last season's did, I'd still caution against reading too much into their recent success. This coming road heavy stretch leading into the All Star Game should give us a real idea as to whether or not this team has really turned any corners.
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I respect your view of the game as I have since I was an unregistered lurker. I had already written off this season when Nonis and Carlyle were left at their respective helms, so any success they're registering now on the scoreboard is gravy.

There are promising signs nonetheless, though many of those promising signs are the ones playing for next year's contracts. I've always wondered about the PDO regression that has yet to impact the Leafs substantially in recent years, barring goaltender injury. The one sign that stands out to me is how most players are now listening when the coaches talk about how it's not about the win itself, but how you go about winning.

So I think we'll still take our lumps heading into the break, but with more wheels that aren't flat on this year's 18-wheeler, we won't be down and out by February this time around.
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One thing to look at as well, by January 15 last season, Leafs had 11 wins in the shootout.  So far this season they're 7th in ROW.  Hopefully they can keep that up - by end of December last season they were getting a lot of wins via the SO rather than regulation or OT.
 
Potvin29 said:
One thing to look at as well, by January 15 last season, Leafs had 11 wins in the shootout.  So far this season they're 7th in ROW.  Hopefully they can keep that up - by end of December last season they were getting a lot of wins via the SO rather than regulation or OT.
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Ummm, while I understand the point you're trying to make, I have no idea where you got that number from. They had 9 SO wins in total last season . . .
 
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
One thing to look at as well, by January 15 last season, Leafs had 11 wins in the shootout.  So far this season they're 7th in ROW.  Hopefully they can keep that up - by end of December last season they were getting a lot of wins via the SO rather than regulation or OT.
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Ummm, while I understand the point you're trying to make, I have no idea where you got that number from. They had 9 SO wins in total last season . . .
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Ummm, probably counted some OT wins or something.
 
Potvin29 said:
bustaheims said:
Potvin29 said:
One thing to look at as well, by January 15 last season, Leafs had 11 wins in the shootout.  So far this season they're 7th in ROW.  Hopefully they can keep that up - by end of December last season they were getting a lot of wins via the SO rather than regulation or OT.
Click to expand...

Ummm, while I understand the point you're trying to make, I have no idea where you got that number from. They had 9 SO wins in total last season . . .
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Ummm, probably counted some OT wins or something.
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All 9 did happen on Jan 15th or earlier though.
 
bustaheims said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
I'm skeptical that this team has done anything like "turning the corner," although I have to say the last 10 games have been impressive.  If they can beat this Ducks team, I'll hand it to them, it would be the best homestand I can remember.
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The second Detroit game was really the only game out of the last 4 where I thought they were the better team. They went against the percentages/rode some unsustainable trends in the rest. Good on them and such, but, I also don't think they've turned the corner or anything, either.
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That's high priase coming from you.
 
So far it's Kadri vs. Getzlaf, Holland vs. Kesler, and Bozak vs. Cogliano. The "top line" definitely getting the easier match-ups lately.
 
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