Leafs @ Rangers - Dec. 20th, 7:00pm - SNO, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

17-14-4, 38 points | 16-13-4, 36 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen Engvall-Kerfoot-Mikheyev Timashov-Gauthier-Spezza Rielly-Barrie Muzzin-Holl Dermott-Ceci Andersen ​

Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast Panarin-Strome-Buchnevich Lemieux-Chytil-Kakko McKegg-Howden-Smith Skjei-Trouba Staal-DeAngelo Lindgren-Fox Georgiev​

Scratches

Trevor Moore Adam Brooks Martin Marincin ​

Michael Haley ​

Game Notes

TOR
?Andersen (17-8-3, 2.51 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Keefe said that Moore would be available to play in this game after a couple of false starts on his return from injury. Given Timashov and Gauthier's strong play in their last game though it seems like that return could be put on hold for a bit
?Matthews has jumped up into a 5-way tie for 3rd in the league in goals

NYR
?Georgiev (9-6-1, 2.72 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Rangers
?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%
?Artemi Panarin has lived up to his massive contract so far as he has 43 points in 33 games for New York. That puts him 9th in the league in scoring

Injuries

?Trevor Moore - Shoulder - Questionable Friday ?Andreas Johnsson - Leg - Injured Reserve​

?Libor Hajek - Knee - Injured Reserve              ​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Bender]

@

17-14-4, 38 points | 16-13-4, 36 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen Engvall-Kerfoot-Mikheyev Timashov-Gauthier-Spezza Rielly-Barrie Muzzin-Holl Dermott-Ceci Andersen ​

Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast Panarin-Strome-Buchnevich Lemieux-Chytil-Kakko McKegg-Howden-Smith Skjei-Trouba Staal-DeAngelo Lindgren-Fox Georgiev​

Scratches

Trevor Moore Adam Brooks Martin Marincin ​

Michael Haley ​

Game Notes

TOR
?Andersen (17-8-3, 2.51 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Keefe said that Moore would be available to play in this game after a couple of false starts on his return from injury. Given Timashov and Gauthier's strong play in their last game though it seems like that return could be put on hold for a bit
?Matthews has jumped up into a 5-way tie for 3rd in the league in goals

NYR
?Georgiev (9-6-1, 2.72 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Rangers
?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%
?Artemi Panarin has lived up to his massive contract so far as he has 43 points in 33 games for New York. That puts him 9th in the league in scoring

Injuries

?Trevor Moore - Shoulder - Questionable Friday ?Andreas Johnsson - Leg - Injured Reserve​

?Libor Hajek - Knee - Injured Reserve              ​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

That rangers lineup is awful. How do they have 36pts?

 

[Kin]

That rangers lineup is awful. How do they have 36pts?

Goaltending is most of it.

 

[Andy007]

You know, I kind of like the look of the lineup with the forwards playing their dominant wing:

Mikheyev  Matthews  Nylander
Engvall    Tavares      Marner
Kerfoot    Spezza      Kapanen
Timashov  Gauthier    Hyman

 

[CarltonTheBear]

That rangers lineup is awful. How do they have 36pts?

Goaltending is most of it.

9th best 5-on-5 Sv% in the league, 11th in all situations. So it's not even really amazing, but keeping them in games I guess. Worst possession team in the league right now by a pretty good margin.

 

[Kin]

9th best 5-on-5 Sv% in the league, 11th in all situations. So it's not even really amazing, but keeping them in games I guess. Worst possession team in the league right now by a pretty good margin.

Well yeah. Like I angrily ranted about elsewhere, even decent goaltending is probably enough to get most teams into the giant cushy middle of the league and from there it's probably going to be some mix of luck and having a consistent scorer or two.

 

[herman]

If we trade for Georgiev today, we won?t have to face him again.
But we can?t because of the roster freeze.

 

[bustaheims]

?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%

THat can't be right. It's not like he stopped 99 out of 101 shots against the last two times he faced the Leafs.

Oh, he did? Alrighty then. That's...lovely.

I'll see myself out.

 

[ZBBM]

?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%

THat can't be right. It's not like he stopped 99 out of 101 shots against the last two times he faced the Leafs.

Oh, he did? Alrighty then. That's...lovely.

I'll see myself out.

I remember that too gdammit.

But they also have 36 points because they have McKegg and we don't.

 

[ZBBM]

9th best 5-on-5 Sv% in the league, 11th in all situations. So it's not even really amazing, but keeping them in games I guess. Worst possession team in the league right now by a pretty good margin.

Well yeah. Like I angrily ranted about elsewhere, even decent goaltending is probably enough to get most teams into the giant cushy middle of the league and from there it's probably going to be some mix of luck and having a consistent scorer or two.

And another path to giant cushy middle is to have really good goaltending, 4 high-end scorers, halfway decent supporting forwards, and a defense that is ______________.

 

[Kin]

And another path to giant cushy middle is to have really good goaltending, 4 high-end scorers, halfway decent supporting forwards, and a defense that is ______________.

I appreciate what you're saying but the reality is that on the whole, the Leafs have not had really good goaltending. They're below league average for both SV% and 5v5 SV%, ranking 18th and 19th in the league there respectively.

Most of that is on the backup situation, sure, but those missed points are a big part of what's keeping the Leafs in that middle. Even Andersen's 5v5 SV% alone though would only rank 9th in the league among teams.

 

[cujo4ever]

Montreal won last night. It's way to early to be watching the standings but I can't help it. Four points this weekend would be great.

GO LEAFS GO!

 

[ZBBM]

And another path to giant cushy middle is to have really good goaltending, 4 high-end scorers, halfway decent supporting forwards, and a defense that is ______________.

I appreciate what you're saying but the reality is that on the whole, the Leafs have not had really good goaltending. They're below league average for both SV% and 5v5 SV%, ranking 18th and 19th in the league there respectively.

Most of that is on the backup situation, sure, but those missed points are a big part of what's keeping the Leafs in that middle. Even Andersen's 5v5 SV% alone though would only rank 9th in the league among teams.

Thanks, that makes sense. 

And to your point in the other thread where you say we shouldn't pin the b/u situation on Dubas because he had only scrap heap pickings, that may be true (though I still would take McBackup now in a flash) but he had this problem last season when Sparks failed.  I think a legitimate criticism of Dubas so far is that he's a bit slow to acknowledge mistakes and move to fix them.  He should have been working hard before the end of last season to try to come up with a solution.  I can't believe that the hockey world is so bereft of goaltenders that his very best available option was to come into camp with Hutch and Michael Freaking Neuvirth.  That was garbage from the get-go, and it's on Dubas.

 

[ZBBM]

And another path to giant cushy middle is to have really good goaltending, 4 high-end scorers, halfway decent supporting forwards, and a defense that is ______________.

I appreciate what you're saying but the reality is that on the whole, the Leafs have not had really good goaltending. They're below league average for both SV% and 5v5 SV%, ranking 18th and 19th in the league there respectively.

Most of that is on the backup situation, sure, but those missed points are a big part of what's keeping the Leafs in that middle. Even Andersen's 5v5 SV% alone though would only rank 9th in the league among teams.

Thanks, that makes sense. 

And to your point in the other thread where you say we shouldn't pin the b/u situation on Dubas because he had only scrap heap pickings, that may be true (though I still would take McBackup now in a flash) but he had this problem last season when Sparks failed.  I think a legitimate criticism of Dubas so far is that he's a bit slow to acknowledge mistakes and move to fix them (e.g. Ceci).  He should have been working hard before the end of last season to try to come up with a solution.  I can't believe that the hockey world is so bereft of goaltenders that his very best available option was to come into camp with Hutch and Michael Freaking Neuvirth.  That was garbage from the get-go, and it's on Dubas.

 

[disco]

Go Leafs Go!

 

[Bender]

And another path to giant cushy middle is to have really good goaltending, 4 high-end scorers, halfway decent supporting forwards, and a defense that is ______________.

I appreciate what you're saying but the reality is that on the whole, the Leafs have not had really good goaltending. They're below league average for both SV% and 5v5 SV%, ranking 18th and 19th in the league there respectively.

Most of that is on the backup situation, sure, but those missed points are a big part of what's keeping the Leafs in that middle. Even Andersen's 5v5 SV% alone though would only rank 9th in the league among teams.

Thanks, that makes sense. 

And to your point in the other thread where you say we shouldn't pin the b/u situation on Dubas because he had only scrap heap pickings, that may be true (though I still would take McBackup now in a flash) but he had this problem last season when Sparks failed.  I think a legitimate criticism of Dubas so far is that he's a bit slow to acknowledge mistakes and move to fix them.  He should have been working hard before the end of last season to try to come up with a solution.  I can't believe that the hockey world is so bereft of goaltenders that his very best available option was to come into camp with Hutch and Michael Freaking Neuvirth.  That was garbage from the get-go, and it's on Dubas.

People have really short memories. I remember everyone shitting on Sparks for a .905% and when Hutch played well last year people were happy with him. The backup position remained a point of concern but Hutch only received a significant amount of heat this year. I remember last year people talking about how calm he was in net compared to Sparks etc. .914% in 5 games - I think most of us would take a flyer on a backup goaltender with that record elsewhere right now, which, if you think about it, makes you wonder if maybe it's not that easy to figure out the backup position even with cash to spend unless you're getting someone with pedigree like Halak.

 

[Kin]

And to your point in the other thread where you say we shouldn't pin the b/u situation on Dubas because he had only scrap heap pickings, that may be true (though I still would take McBackup now in a flash) but he had this problem last season when Sparks failed.

Just to be clear, I didn't say we shouldn't "pin the back-up situation on Dubas". What I said was that there are valid ways to criticize the way Dubas put the team together and indeed handled the back-up situation but that "Of all the scrapheap goalies available to him, Dubas didn't pick the best one" is not a particularly good one.

 

[azzurri63]

@

17-14-4, 38 points | 16-13-4, 36 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen Engvall-Kerfoot-Mikheyev Timashov-Gauthier-Spezza Rielly-Barrie Muzzin-Holl Dermott-Ceci Andersen ​

Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast Panarin-Strome-Buchnevich Lemieux-Chytil-Kakko McKegg-Howden-Smith Skjei-Trouba Staal-DeAngelo Lindgren-Fox Georgiev​

Scratches

Trevor Moore Adam Brooks Martin Marincin ​

Michael Haley ​

Game Notes

TOR
?Andersen (17-8-3, 2.51 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Keefe said that Moore would be available to play in this game after a couple of false starts on his return from injury. Given Timashov and Gauthier's strong play in their last game though it seems like that return could be put on hold for a bit
?Matthews has jumped up into a 5-way tie for 3rd in the league in goals

NYR
?Georgiev (9-6-1, 2.72 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Rangers
?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%
?Artemi Panarin has lived up to his massive contract so far as he has 43 points in 33 games for New York. That puts him 9th in the league in scoring

Injuries

?Trevor Moore - Shoulder - Questionable Friday ?Andreas Johnsson - Leg - Injured Reserve​

?Libor Hajek - Knee - Injured Reserve              ​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

That rangers lineup is awful. How do they have 36pts?

Our lineup is much better and the better question is how do we have only 38?

 

[Highlander]

@

17-14-4, 38 points | 16-13-4, 36 points

Projected Lines

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Nylander-Matthews-Kapanen Engvall-Kerfoot-Mikheyev Timashov-Gauthier-Spezza Rielly-Barrie Muzzin-Holl Dermott-Ceci Andersen ​

Kreider-Zibanejad-Fast Panarin-Strome-Buchnevich Lemieux-Chytil-Kakko McKegg-Howden-Smith Skjei-Trouba Staal-DeAngelo Lindgren-Fox Georgiev​

Scratches

Trevor Moore Adam Brooks Martin Marincin ​

Michael Haley ​

Game Notes

TOR
?Andersen (17-8-3, 2.51 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?Keefe said that Moore would be available to play in this game after a couple of false starts on his return from injury. Given Timashov and Gauthier's strong play in their last game though it seems like that return could be put on hold for a bit
?Matthews has jumped up into a 5-way tie for 3rd in the league in goals

NYR
?Georgiev (9-6-1, 2.72 GAA, .920 Sv%) will start for the Rangers
?It seems like Georgiev is starting to take over the starters net in New York. This will be his 7th start in the Rangers' past 10 games. He also has a 2-1 career record against the Leafs that comes with a .956 Sv%
?Artemi Panarin has lived up to his massive contract so far as he has 43 points in 33 games for New York. That puts him 9th in the league in scoring

Injuries

?Trevor Moore - Shoulder - Questionable Friday ?Andreas Johnsson - Leg - Injured Reserve​

?Libor Hajek - Knee - Injured Reserve              ​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

That rangers lineup is awful. How do they have 36pts?

Our lineup is much better and the better question is how do we have only 38?

Two words:  Bab  cock

 

[Bullfrog]

Five words: Stop quoting the entire GDT.