[ADSF] Toronto Maple Leafs (A2) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (A3) | Lightning win series 4-3

[Ballisticsports.]

11 hours ago, johngould21 said:

Jim Benning has won more playoff rounds than Kyle Dubas, think about that for a moment.

Too be fair though, Leafs have had better teams, stiffer Eastern competition where the Cups mostly reside and Dunas has have the term at his position

Leafs are still the Stanley Cup (1st round exit) Champions and nothing to boast about

[-DLC-]

1 hour ago, shiznak said:

Matthews’ line had 10 scoring chances and 4 high-danger scoring chances, at even strength. Compare to Tampa’s top line of Stamkos, Cirelli, and Kucherov, who had 6 scoring chances, and 3 high-danger scoring chances. Matthews’ line also only gave one scoring chance the entire game.

 

Toronto also dominated in the possession throughout the game, 65% to 35%, especially in the third (78% to 22%).

 

 

As we've been told...doesn't matter. First round exit counts just the same as every other team that's come up short. Tampa found a way to shut them down (they blocked a whole lot of shots).

 

 

[rekker]

36 minutes ago, JM_ said:

you don't do it the way Dubas has done. That team can't be corrected without either moving AM, or retaining on Marner. 

These two, great regular seasons but just can't find another gear for playoffs. I thought even JT dug down a bit more, got dirty at times. You simply can't have your two best players not step up. Campbell was average at best and not sure they can even afford him next year. Will be interesting to see what happens but my guess is nothing major. I think they are stuck to an extent, and can only hope these guys can figure it out. Maybe Nylander is gone, simply to gain the cap space to bolster the D and add some grit.

[rekker]

3 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

As we've been told...doesn't matter. First round exit counts just the same as every other team that's come up short. 

 

 

Yip. And I don't want to hear or accept that they were facing the two time champs. Tampa was beatable. Remember when we be beat St Louis? They were beatable and our players stepped up and did it. Too many TO players simply can't find another gear.

[King Heffy]

2 hours ago, BarnBurner said:

Blew his wad? and you're getting almighty on me about calling Keith "Sunken Teeth"? 

 

Good one there Heffy. 

Never had an issue with you calling Keith that.  I have a much less family friendly nickname for him.-

[King Heffy]

1 hour ago, JM_ said:

lol, you think TO is built correctly. 

 

"xGF"? what's that expected golf score? 

Allowing an analytics dweeb to run the Leafs is what got them into this mess.  They won't fix this until they hire a GM who is actually qualified to work in hockey ops.

[beni]

I don't care what happens for the rest of the playoffs. Just happy Toronto was knocked out in the first round again. 

[DS4quality]

I don't care that much that the leafs lost, but I am excited for the battle of Florida in round 2. 

Tampa vs Florida is gonna be a great series.  

 

[Eddie]

Hahahahahahahahaahahahahahaaah  - The first round exit story line in the face of Toronto media is just so much fun.   Thooo they have at least got to watch a winning season every regular season with this core as opposed to the slop we've had to endure. 

Leafs are just built wrong - I thought it was pretty much established that star players in hockey don't add the same value as say Basketball, and they add 3 11M players lol. 3rd line is a bunch of tweeners with no identity, retirement line on the 4th, No real superstar on D, Goalie is just good not great, and there are just better teams in that conference.  Like, WCE, or pre 2010 canucks really.  Lessons to learn here as we continue to try and build a winner in Vancouver. 

Marner didn't have a terrible series this time around but when you think you could have Cernak, Cirelli AND Sergachev for this cap hit . . .Dumbass signings.  Speaking of which i really think management has to go on this over there now - The writing is on the wall that the team is built wrong and can't compete, just like we saw this year under Benning.  Bring in a more experience pair of hands to shake up the core and build around AM, who is a bonified superstar, and see what happens from there.  Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.  What they gonna do next year - sign Perry and Erikkson to play on the 4th 

 

[Slegr]

I like how time is running up on Awesome Nostrils. Leafs can either trade him by next trade deadline to ensure they get some quality replacements for him, or they leave it to the end of the following season where he can walk away for nothing as a UFA.

Edited May 15, 2022 by Slegr

[wai_lai416]

1 hour ago, shiznak said:

I mean, on average you’re likely getting 6-8 shots a period. So, 6 shots in 10 minutes is an above average rate and that’s not accounting the ones that were blocked or missed the net. They still rifled 13 shots the entire 3rd period compared to Tampa, who only got in 6.

Toronto avg 35 shots on goal per game in regular season so that's almost 12 shots per period.. 6 shots in 10mins is just their avg so no they were not above average. they weren't bad and didnt fold like previous years no, but they weren't desperate enough the last 10mins of the game.. heck they couldn't even get the goalie to the bench for 30sec

[MikeBossy]

Thing I noticed in Game 7 was how well Tamps kept the Leafs to the perimeter and Toronto didn't have the big bodies to send to the net. Also thought the best Leaf on the night was Spezza and that is not what you want in a game 7

[gizmo2337]

They lost by 1 goal, and Leaf Nation goes nuts. Great for my hockey pool though, it was a slam dunk.

[Kragar]

5 hours ago, D-Money said:

Agreed. Previous years the problem was their star players struggled. This year that wasn’t the case at all. They played Tampa hard right to the end, and it could have easily gone the other way.

 

That said, the proof is in the pudding. They need more depth. They have far too much money invested in their forwards - Tavares is a luxury they just can’t afford. But he has the NMC, and no one is going to take that contract. I think they have to trade Marner.

It's gonna be messy.

 

Mr Bean's contract ends this year, so that helps.  But most of that cap goes to Reilly's extension.  Campbell and Mikheyev are due raises.  They only get 1.2M back from Kessel's contract ending.

 

And, would anyone really want to have Marner for 11M per year?  Could be an interesting off-season there.

 

Fully agree with you on Tavares.  That was another bonehead move by the Amazing Kyle.

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[-DLC-]

10 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

[DownUndaCanuck]

7 hours ago, Coconuts said:

 

 

They should never have gone after Tavares, they killed any chance to build any actual depth with that move. He also set the contract bar if I remember correctly.

I agree, I remember when they did it - they wanted to get a top leader to help the kids. I'm not sure what the leadership is like in that locker-room and who runs the show but they've got a lot of "leaders" - throw Giordano into the mix and there's a lot of captains in there, not to mention Spezza. That's a lot of different, strong voices. Of course it sounds good but I wonder if it's just too many cooks in Toronto.

 

Tavares is/was great, don't get me wrong, but he's on a 10M contract and is a point-per-game player. 

 

They need to offload one of their forwards and I'd be building around Matthews and Marner. Matthews is enough of a leader now to wear the "C".

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

I agree, I remember when they did it - they wanted to get a top leader to help the kids. I'm not sure what the leadership is like in that locker-room and who runs the show but they've got a lot of "leaders" - throw Giordano into the mix and there's a lot of captains in there, not to mention Spezza. That's a lot of different, strong voices. Of course it sounds good but I wonder if it's just too many cooks in Toronto.

 

Tavares is/was great, don't get me wrong, but he's on a 10M contract and is a point-per-game player. 

 

They need to offload one of their forwards and I'd be building around Matthews and Marner. Matthews is enough of a leader now to wear the "C".

I thought Spezza was the LOSER LEAFS hardest worker, and the one most willing to sacrifice.  Didn’t see the same determination (defensively) from their top paid guys.  Then watch the Tampa players, and their top paid guys are also their hardest workers (without the puck) and the most willing to sacrifice.  

[DownUndaCanuck]

When you look at the Leaf's cap structure, they have 40M (half their cap) tied up in the top 4 forwards. 10 forwards are under 2M in cap. Don't get me wrong, a lot of those players had a brilliant regular season and scored at 40 point paces, but they're all relatively small, skilled forwards who don't play a gritty game at all and certainly didn't elevate in the playoffs. They simply just lack playoff performers, and Tampa is full of them.

Another big difference for me is number 1 defenceman. You've got Reilly who is very flashy and racks up points on the regular season powerplay, and then an absolute beast in Hedman who shuts down forwards, plays them hard physically and still somehow scores a point per game. TJ Brodie has always been a bit suspect defensively and he gets caught flat-footed quite badly on one of the Paul Game 7 goals. Reilly, Muzzin, Giordano and Brodie are nice top-4 defencemen but none of them are really a top-5 NHL defenceman and sadly that's what you need in the playoffs.

[Pears]

3 hours ago, stawns said:

I'd say, other than Marner, Nylander was their best fwd throughout the series.

Nylander is always easy to pick on but anyone who watched this series would know he was easily one of if not their best forward.