Leafs @ Canadiens - Feb. 20th, 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

[Guilt Trip]

So Nylander benched again eh? Well well well well well well.

Actually I didn't see anything this game in particular from him that was overly egregious, but he wasn't all that noticeable either.

Really? The almost goal in the first where he didn't check Anderson who just missed the tap in. The blind pass to the hab in the neutral zone is another. Who knows if he was benched though? He needs to be better.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Congratulations to Montreal for keeping Matthews off the board in the 1st and 3rd periods.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1363329825776283655

Keefe benched Nylander once last season too and Willy responded with 11 points in his next 5 games.

 

[lamajama]

Was behind the game by half an hour...Cuthbert said Tavares scored...wth is he talking about?

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

I need a GIF of Josh Anderson falling there, stat.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1363317542778003459

Watch Muzzin's right arm/stick movement. He clearly sneakily tripped him, lol.

 

[L K]

Leafs are first in the NHL in wins, regulation wins, points and point percentage

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Ok maybe I?m missing something there.  Toffoli hits Muzzin in the face.  Skates around the net and goes in front of the net and grabs the puck and scores.  Where did he stop to check on Muzzin there.  I don?t understand that line of commentary on the replay

Hockey Night in Canada has a huge love affair with Toffoli and Anderson. It's quite obnoxious.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1363329825776283655

Keefe benched Nylander once last season too and Willy responded with 11 points in his next 5 games.

I wonder if there's an attitude thing going on with Nylander. He almost seemed "too cool for the room" on Thursday when he was tapping gloves after scoring.

 

[Frank E]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1363329825776283655

Keefe benched Nylander once last season too and Willy responded with 11 points in his next 5 games.

I wonder if there's an attitude thing going on with Nylander. He almost seemed "too cool for the room" on Thursday when he was tapping gloves after scoring.

I don't know about that, I think that stuff was debunked last year.  He's a quieter guy, but not a problem guy.

I think it's as simple as we witnessed last night, he spends entire shifts just floating.

 

[Frank E]

So much for giving Bogo a break, he played 17 minutes last night.

Spezza played team low just under 10 minutes, and I thought Engvall did a pretty good job with the extra ice time this created for him.  He was skating well and he's better when he's keeping it simple defending a lead.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1363329825776283655

Keefe benched Nylander once last season too and Willy responded with 11 points in his next 5 games.

I wonder if there's an attitude thing going on with Nylander. He almost seemed "too cool for the room" on Thursday when he was tapping gloves after scoring.

I don't know about that, I think that stuff was debunked last year.  He's a quieter guy, but not a problem guy.

I think it's as simple as we witnessed last night, he spends entire shifts just floating.

You're probably correct. I've obviously never coached players anywhere near this level, but it's usually pretty easy to tell which players fit in with the "click" and which ones don't.
On Nylander's goal, watch the celebration. Marner almost doesn't even acknowledge Nylander and vice versa. Now it was a 6-2 game and acting a like a buffoon doesn't show much class so I'll chalk it up to that for now. I really hope that's all it is.

With the amount of attention Marner and Matthews get, and the amount of dogging Nylander receives, it's not hard to imagine he'd be a little put off at times. But if that's the case, watching a player "float" as you put it, isn't really going to win over many hearts.








Sorry Herman.

 

[bustaheims]

Leafs are first in the NHL in wins, regulation wins, points and point percentage

And goal differential.

 

[herman]

Sorry Herman.

I don't think it's an attitude or clique thing.

What I'm seeing from his game lately (not full games, just stretches, as Keefe points out) is, is a lapse in the details and habits the team wants to instill as a process and muscle memory in all players.

Primarily, it's stopping up on pucks when you are (getting) in position to battle. As accounted by many many people who focus on this part of his game, Nylander is a fly-by guy by nature. On the one hand, he is supposed to be an offense driver on the team so I surmise that in his decision making, he is trying to preserve some juice per shift to make plays in offense (i.e. hope the puck gets freed up behind him) so he opts to keep his momentum to sweep around. There is a stamina cost to the added bulk from the past couple of seasons. I'm sure he's a bit frustrated since for whatever reason, Tavares and rando-winger plays are always one or two passes away from clicking but always seems to breakdown before it gets useful. So when he's draining himself making the right plays in the DZ or on the half walls but gets nothing in the net to show for it, he starts to drift back to the habit of poaching pucks, which was effective when playing in a stretch pass system with Hyman and Matthews, but not what the current system needs.

Where the clique thing comes into play is that Nylander is pretty respected by the European youngsters; Keefe knows him well enough from Marlies days that Willy needs a boot in the pants once in awhile, he can handle and respond positively, and that there is trickle down value to the rest of the lineup.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Sorry Herman.

I don't think it's an attitude or clique thing.

What I'm seeing from his game lately (not full games, just stretches, as Keefe points out) is, is a lapse in the details and habits the team wants to instill as a process and muscle memory in all players.

Primarily, it's stopping up on pucks when you are (getting) in position to battle. As accounted by many many people who focus on this part of his game, Nylander is a fly-by guy by nature. On the one hand, he is supposed to be an offense driver on the team so I surmise that in his decision making, he is trying to preserve some juice per shift to make plays in offense (i.e. hope the puck gets freed up behind him) so he opts to keep his momentum to sweep around. There is a stamina cost to the added bulk from the past couple of seasons. I'm sure he's a bit frustrated since for whatever reason, Tavares and rando-winger plays are always one or two passes away from clicking but always seems to breakdown before it gets useful. So when he's draining himself making the right plays in the DZ or on the half walls but gets nothing in the net to show for it, he starts to drift back to the habit of poaching pucks, which was effective when playing in a stretch pass system with Hyman and Matthews, but not what the current system needs.

Let's hope you're mostly right. The only counter I'd have to that is if a player is "frustrated" because of their line mates, well then there is an attitude problem. Players should go to work no matter who's lining up beside them.

 

[herman]

Let's hope you're mostly right. The only counter I'd have to that is if a player is "frustrated" because of their line mates, well then there is an attitude problem. Players should go to work no matter who's lining up beside them.

He's not frustrated by his linemates, from what I can tell (not like Laine). He's frustrated he's not able to help more on scoring, setting them up. But he does need to realize help starts with the baseline process of earning pucks by staying above the play. I'm not worried; I've seen he can play that way. It just needs to become automatic.

 

[bustaheims]

More Matthews facts of supremeness

https://twitter.com/pr_nhl/status/1363317648730320898

https://twitter.com/mirtle/status/1363308231720906755

Another fun one that hasn?t been mentioned yet - Matthews has goals in 13 games this season. No one else in the league even has 13 goals yet.

 

[Bender]

Leafs are first in the NHL in wins, regulation wins, points and point percentage

And goal differential.

But it's the North Division [emoji58]

 

[Guilt Trip]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/1363329825776283655

Keefe benched Nylander once last season too and Willy responded with 11 points in his next 5 games.

I wonder if there's an attitude thing going on with Nylander. He almost seemed "too cool for the room" on Thursday when he was tapping gloves after scoring.

I don't know about that, I think that stuff was debunked last year.  He's a quieter guy, but not a problem guy.

I think it's as simple as we witnessed last night, he spends entire shifts just floating.

Missed assignments are also a big deal. Just watch the way JT, Kerfoot compete in both ends of the ice. Last night Willy actually does the right thing dropping back to the crease to pick up Anderson who was standing beside the net. Problem was, guy shoots, Willy turns his head puck slides past him and luckily Anderson missed it. So he's there but he's not engaged at all. Watch him on the back check. He rarely goes flat out to put pressure on the guy from behind. Guy has world class talent but he needs to get his head in the game. I think he'll get it together though. He has the capabilities.

 

[Zee]

So I'm never bringing up the 3 games in 4 nights argument any longer. We've seen consecutive Saturdays where the supposedly more tired team ended up winning. Just win, no excuses

 

[Kin]

So I'm never bringing up the 3 games in 4 nights argument any longer. We've seen consecutive Saturdays where the supposedly more tired team ended up winning. Just win, no excuses

Or maybe fatigue can be a factor but not necessarily the deciding one?