Sabres @ Leafs - Mar. 26th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[L K]

3 or more goals from Andersen in 15 of his last 19 games.  There is no reason for him to be playing every single game at this point.  He's either running out of steam, playing with an injury or some combination of the two.  No reason for him to be playing 60-70 games when we have a competent backup.

 

[Zee]

It's frustrating when Andersen makes some great saves early on and then lets that one in for the game winner.  Leafs deserved better tonight

 

[azzurri63]

3 or more goals from Andersen in 15 of his last 19 games.  There is no reason for him to be playing every single game at this point.  He's either running out of steam, playing with an injury or some combination of the two.  No reason for him to be playing 60-70 games when we have a competent backup.

Ya I agree. Been banged up so let him rest. We aren't changing in the standings. So let Boston and TB fight it out for first and get everyone ready for the playoffs. Same as Matthews. If he isn't 100% let him rest as well. But hey don't agree with half the s**t Babcock comes up with.

 

[ulfselrach]

Not terribly upset about this loss.

Sure, would've been nice to extend the win streak, but I'd hate to see the Sabres land the number one pick this year.

Sent from my MHA-AL00 using Tapatalk

 

[Al14]

Not terribly upset about this loss.

Sure, would've been nice to extend the win streak, but I'd hate to see the Sabres land the number one pick this year.

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It's losing the winning streak that hurts for me.  This game, losing to Buffalo, who cares?  Just look at the standings.

 

[herman]

The winning streak is equally meaningless.

Only one shot really beat Andersen to the point where I?d be concerned, which is to say 1 muffin is not that concerning. It?s also in his scouting report, and pretty much every goalie is liable to give something like that up.

A behind the net turnover from one of your most reliable carriers, zipped to one of the premier young stars who made a fantastic move, yeah that play is not on the goalie.

A tip off a skate on a shot going wide? It happens.

Eichel?s backhand drive? Probably want a better set on that, rather than cheating towards the cut back (which opened up the hole).

 

[Bender]

At times the team looked dominant, but they couldn't make it count on the scoreboard, I don't think they'll make any serious noise until they can comfortably put games like this away.

Yeah but Buffalo's an odd team. They beat TBay and Boston in twice each in Feb. I agree they should win these but for whatever reason they've been pretty good against top Atlantic competition lately.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Andersen has been very average for an extended period of time now.

This is the real problem.  Andersen has let in a lot of weak goals over the past 6 weeks.  He isn?t anywhere near good enough to win a playoff series. He is as streaky as they come.

What many may find stranger is why Babcock won't rest Andersen, Matthews, and perhaps even Nylander.  This could be done on a rotative basis, ex. one game Andersen & Matthews, the next Nylander & Marleau or Hainsey, etc.

Even a one game rest is enough to recharge one's energies.  Some innovative thinking is what I would like to see from Babcock during this stretch.

 

[herman]

Buffalo's record this season so far against:
Boston: 3-1-0; 13 GF 10 GA
Tampa Bay: 2-1-0; 7 GF 6 GA
Toronto: 2-1-0; 10 GF 10 GA

 

[Bender]

Buffalo's record this season so far against:
Boston: 3-1-0; 13 GF 10 GA
Tampa Bay: 2-1-0; 7 GF 6 GA
Toronto: 2-1-0; 10 GF 10 GA

I was about to air my disappointment but I mean this kind of speaks for itself. They've managed to eke out wins against the best in the Atlantic all year long. And it's not like the Leafs mailed it in - we readily outplayed them according to a tweet I read from Ian Tulloch (although that's not saying much), so I mean it's not like we rolled over. These things happen sometimes.

 

[bustaheims]

I was about to air my disappointment but I mean this kind of speaks for itself. They've managed to eke out wins against the best in the Atlantic all year long. And it's not like the Leafs mailed it in - we readily outplayed them according to a tweet I read from Ian Tulloch (although that's not saying much), so I mean it's not like we rolled over. These things happen sometimes.

Yup. Possession stats and such heavily favoured the Leafs. They just weren't able to convert on as high a percentage of their chances as they needed to - and there's a lot of factors at play there, many of which are outside of their control.

 

[herman]

And how many times have a the Leafs rolled a team in a game they had no business being in themselves thanks to Andersen and JvR in the third period?

Last night looked like the first time we crushed ROR in shot share too. He's had our number this season (so has Eichel last season).

 

[Zee]

Twas a weird game last night.  Usually when the Leafs lose I can point to the game and say "yes, they deserved to lose that game".  I guess in the grand scheme of things, scoring fewer goals than the opposition makes you "deserving to lose", but the Leafs played far better than the Sabres all game.  A couple of crappy goals (off the Polak skate, and the muffin given up by Andersen), plus the lack of finish on all the Leafs chances was the difference.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

We can point to Andersen all we like but you're not going to win many hockey games scoring 2 goals.

 

[hockeyfan1]

We can point to Andersen all we like but you're not going to win many hockey games scoring 2 goals.

So true.  This game seemed more like a goaltenders battle, with Buffalo's Chad Johnson simply outshining Andersen in this one.

The Leafs had plenty of scoring chances only to be stymied by Johnson.  Of course, we can also say that the team let Buffalo get away with their chances.
Andersen not being particularly sharp and neither were the team's forwards without the puck.  When they did have it, Johnson was there to shut the door effectively.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/bymharrington/status/978819849689489409
Ah so that?s where we went wrong.

 

[ZBBM]

https://twitter.com/bymharrington/status/978819849689489409
Ah so that?s where we went wrong.

"Be wary"?  Is Corsi like a tiger waiting behind that tree over there?  Jeez.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm pretty much convinced that every member of the PHWA has some sort of game they play where they all have to take a shot anytime one of them writes the phrase "end-all/be-all" when talking about corsi.

 

[Zee]

https://twitter.com/bymharrington/status/978819849689489409
Ah so that?s where we went wrong.

Is Mike Harrington still upset with Babcock?