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Game 25: Leafs @ Bruins - Mar. 7th, 7:00PM - TSN, TSN 1050

sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.
 
azzurri63 said:
sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.

Agreed.
 
Potvin29 said:
azzurri63 said:
sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.

Agreed.

Holy crap pinch me. Potvin do I sense a little sarcasm coming from you. Not to often we seem to agree on anything. LOL.
 
Potvin29 said:
Peter D. said:
Potvin29 said:
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
That's right Randy, roll that fourth line when chasing an equaliser.

Not sure if anyone posted this while I was offline, but did anyone catch what Orr did on a face-off off an icing?  Orr went to take the draw and purposely lined up wrong so he would be kicked out and Steckel came in - they never kick the 2nd guy out, so it guaranteed Steckel would take the draw.  Thought that was smart, although not saying it was Orr's idea.

Didn't catch it, but what was the point of that? Why didn't Steckel take it in the first place?

So that there was no risk of Steckel being kicked out and having to have Orr or McLaren take the draw.

Exactly.  I caught that faceoff as well.  Good strategy that worked.
 
azzurri63 said:
Potvin29 said:
azzurri63 said:
sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.

Agreed.

Holy crap pinch me. Potvin do I sense a little sarcasm coming from you. Not to often we seem to agree on anything. LOL.


This mean you're going to take me off your ignore list haha.
 
I got in to catch the end of the 2nd and all of the 3rd which is rare for me.

My observation was:
Positive side-
- the PK was dominant against the Bruins
- after almost every game last year hearing in the press that the Leafs against the Bruins were like boys against men...tonight no Leaf backed down from any Bruin.  Seeing Kadri in the 3rd bumping Lucic was nuts.  No fear.
- The Leafs seem to be in better shape this year.  McClement, Kulemin and Grabovski seemed to be machines out there. 

The negative:
- Phaneuf seems over his head in games like this.  None of the dmen seem able to handle the comeback push. Maybe the 3rd pairing was most composed which probably isn't good...
- MacArthur still seems to guess at his plays rather than anticipate the play like Kadri does.  Couple of BRUTAL give aways although he seems to be doing better overall.

Lupul and Frattin back in and Reimer in the net and I believe the Leafs could beat the Bruins.
 
The Leafs got beaten by a better team tonight.

But, to me at least, it was  non-sensical that Orr was out there in the 3rd period of a close game and then took an idiotic selfish penalty.  In fact, he could hae had a 5 minute major as well.  (I was watching the Boston feed, and the commentators were remarking how slow and out of position the 4th line was.  It seems that everyone can see it, except for Carlyle and Don Cherry).

Kadri was again around the puck, and was a force in the offensive zone.  He has been the most consistent offensive player this year for the Leafs, and makes his linemates that much better.

And Phaneuf's penalty was also stupid.  In fact, Dion had one of his worst games this year, if that is possible.  Every time he had the puck in the Leafs zone, he was so tentative with it, or coughed it up.  He is a $6 million plus pylon (but with a lot of grit and has a very inspiring hate stare against opponents).  He was on for at least 3 goals against, and was out of position so often.  He had way too much ice time, especially with his struggles tonight, IMHO.  In fact,  Fraser looked solid, once again, and should be playing more, especially in these physical and fast-skating games.
 
azzurri63 said:
azzurri63 said:
Potvin29 said:
azzurri63 said:
sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.

Agreed.

Holy crap pinch me. Potvin do I sense a little sarcasm coming from you. Not to often we seem to agree on anything. LOL.


This mean you're going to take me off your ignore list haha.

I thought it was just me. I guess I'm not special after all.
 
Mostar said:
azzurri63 said:
azzurri63 said:
Potvin29 said:
azzurri63 said:
sneakyray said:
hmmm...so with Lupul and Frattin back this Boston team isn't so scary anymore.

You never know when everyone is healthy if any chemistry or line combos might affect anything but I like the way the team looks. If any area I think we could improve it's the D and overall team defensive play. Think we will have 3 solid lines that can contribute offensively with Lupul and Frattin back. Defense I think we could improve with Holzer and Kostka back down. Like to see Gardiner and Liles back if not maybe pickup someone in a trade.

Agreed.

Holy crap pinch me. Potvin do I sense a little sarcasm coming from you. Not to often we seem to agree on anything. LOL.


This mean you're going to take me off your ignore list haha.

I thought it was just me. I guess I'm not special after all.

It's a mystery.
 
Potvin29 said:
Peter D. said:
Potvin29 said:
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
That's right Randy, roll that fourth line when chasing an equaliser.

Not sure if anyone posted this while I was offline, but did anyone catch what Orr did on a face-off off an icing?  Orr went to take the draw and purposely lined up wrong so he would be kicked out and Steckel came in - they never kick the 2nd guy out, so it guaranteed Steckel would take the draw.  Thought that was smart, although not saying it was Orr's idea.

Didn't catch it, but what was the point of that? Why didn't Steckel take it in the first place?

So that there was no risk of Steckel being kicked out and having to have Orr or McLaren take the draw.

I noticed that too. I was thinking it might have been to give Steckel a little more time to catch his breath since the faceoff was from an icing call.
 
Potvin29 said:
Chev-boyar-sky said:
Phaneuf demonstrating the heart of a Captain on that 2:00 shift with the game on the line.

There was a whistle and Carlyle could have changed him if he wanted.

Ah ok I stand corrected. Phaneuf sucked and it's Carlyle's fault.

Phaneuf, however, with the game on the line booted the puck all over the ice. Losing the puck in the D zone (twice) was tragically comical, but not something I'd like to see from the captain.

I thought he had a horrible game. Actually that's not strong enough. A wretched game. Yeah that's it, Phaneuf had a wretched game!
 
Britishbulldog said:
I got in to catch the end of the 2nd and all of the 3rd which is rare for me.

My observation was:
Positive side-
- the PK was dominant against the Bruins
- after almost every game last year hearing in the press that the Leafs against the Bruins were like boys against men...tonight no Leaf backed down from any Bruin.  Seeing Kadri in the 3rd bumping Lucic was nuts.  No fear.
- The Leafs seem to be in better shape this year.  McClement, Kulemin and Grabovski seemed to be machines out there. 

The negative:
- Phaneuf seems over his head in games like this.  None of the dmen seem able to handle the comeback push. Maybe the 3rd pairing was most composed which probably isn't good...
- MacArthur still seems to guess at his plays rather than anticipate the play like Kadri does.  Couple of BRUTAL give aways although he seems to be doing better overall.

Lupul and Frattin back in and Reimer in the net and I believe the Leafs could beat the Bruins.

Most likely.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
sickbeast said:
How was Scrivens?  He let in 4 goals on not that many shots.

One of those was an empty netter.  I thought he was fine.

It would be nice if he learned to not touch the puck behind the net on every single play.  There were a few times last night where his aggressive puck play took possession away from the Leafs and created scrums behind the net because he would come out when the Bruins were right there.

That and his rebound control was something awful last night.  He wasn't the reason the Leafs lost but he was kicking some juicy ones out there on the ice. 

From the team perspective, the Kessel line just can't handle this kind of game.  I don't know if it is because there isn't enough size on it or what, but Kessel avoids the physical contact and it kills a lot of rushes because he will back off on forechecking opportunities to avoid scrums along the boards.  It wasn't like any of the other lines were that much better, but when you have Kadri getting  into it with Chara a few times, it does kind of show the glaring difference between Kadri's game and Kessel's.

It's not Kessel's fault that he is a soft peripheral scorer (because at his best he is one of the best scorers in the league), but I think the team really needs to stop throwing him out with the most icetime in games like this.  He's just not productive.

He has 9 points in 20 games against the Bruins and is a -20.
 
L K said:
It would be nice if he learned to not touch the puck behind the net on every single play.  There were a few times last night where his aggressive puck play took possession away from the Leafs and created scrums behind the net because he would come out when the Bruins were right there.

That and his rebound control was something awful last night.  He wasn't the reason the Leafs lost but he was kicking some juicy ones out there on the ice. 

From the team perspective, the Kessel line just can't handle this kind of game.  I don't know if it is because there isn't enough size on it or what, but Kessel avoids the physical contact and it kills a lot of rushes because he will back off on forechecking opportunities to avoid scrums along the boards.  It wasn't like any of the other lines were that much better, but when you have Kadri getting  into it with Chara a few times, it does kind of show the glaring difference between Kadri's game and Kessel's.

It's not Kessel's fault that he is a soft peripheral scorer (because at his best he is one of the best scorers in the league), but I think the team really needs to stop throwing him out with the most icetime in games like this.  He's just not productive.

He has 9 points in 20 games against the Bruins and is a -20.

Those are all really good points, it's exactly how I see Kessel and that line. Maybe Lupul comes back with a little sandpaper, but other than that, they do need to play Kessel less with games like Boston.

To Kessel's credit, he has been trying to be a bit more physical the past two games, but he's really not suited for it.
 
L K said:
From the team perspective, the Kessel line just can't handle this kind of game.  I don't know if it is because there isn't enough size on it or what, but Kessel avoids the physical contact and it kills a lot of rushes because he will back off on forechecking opportunities to avoid scrums along the boards.  It wasn't like any of the other lines were that much better, but when you have Kadri getting  into it with Chara a few times, it does kind of show the glaring difference between Kadri's game and Kessel's.

I don't think it helps the situation to throw him out there with a 3rd line C every time he's played them.  I know there haven't been many options, but I bet you'd see Kessel's game improve against Boston with an actual 1st line C.  I mean, even the couple times Kadri came down the ice against Chara, and he's one of the best "dekers" out there, Chara calmly poked the puck away each time.  Kessel's not a great 'possession' player, but the lack of a good C for him is most glaring against Boston.
 
Opinion on Zdeno Chara seems to be pretty elastic here depending on whether excuses are being made for Phaneuf or for Kessel.
 

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