[ADF] Toronto Maple Leafs (A2) vs. Florida Panthers (WC2) | Panthers win series 4-1

[drdeath]

 

[PistolPete13]

All Knies all the time. Leaf’s really pinning their hopes on this fresh out of uni dude.

[rekker]

4 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

After consulting with the linesmen....one of them must have seen the high stick.

Ahh, that could be. The linesman can make the call, but should they not have their arm in the air prior to whistle?

[canuckwings]

I can't wait to see what all those analysts who said leafs will take the series in 5-6 games say now after game 1. 

 

There was no excuse for leafs to complain about this game. They had home ice and 5-1 PP in their favour especially the double minor that the refs somehow remember seeing long after the whistle. Florida playing it clean as well. 

[rekker]

6 minutes ago, drdeath said:

 

Well played Maurice, well played.

[RUPERTKBD]

11 minutes ago, rekker said:

Ahh, that could be. The linesman can make the call, but should they not have their arm in the air prior to whistle?

They can't call just anything, but if a ref has reason to believe an infraction happened (like if someone is bleeding) he can ask the linesmen if they saw anything. Happens all the time on "puck over the glass" calls....

[Toyotasfan]

Tampa won game one in the first round, but somehow this feels different. Florida has gelled at the right time. 

[King Heffy]

29 minutes ago, rekker said:

Well played Maurice, well played.

He  really should have been more blunt and insist that Sutherland and Hanson are not assigned to any more of their games.  It was obvious before the game that these two wrothless pieces of trash weren't going to clean up their act.  The NHL will continue allowing these criminals to pull their BS unless it is made clear in no uncertain terms that the conduct of those dirtbags is simply not acceptable.  Taking the high road does not work against a league that outright refuses to hold problem refs accountable.

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

1 hour ago, PistolPete13 said:

All Knies all the time. Leaf’s really pinning their hopes on this fresh out of uni dude.

Panthers had Leafs on their knees tonight

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

2 hours ago, drdeath said:

Maurice predicting Panthers in 6

[Ghostsof1915]

1 hour ago, drdeath said:

 

#CanucksLife

[Ghostsof1915]

3 minutes ago, AlwaysACanuckFan said:

Panthers had Leafs on their knees tonight

I thought that was Simpson with the Leafs?

[BarnBurner]

1 hour ago, canuckwings said:

I can't wait to see what all those analysts who said leafs will take the series in 5-6 games say now after game 1. 

 

There was no excuse for leafs to complain about this game. They had home ice and 5-1 PP in their favour especially the double minor that the refs somehow remember seeing long after the whistle. Florida playing it clean as well. 

I don't like either team, but you're right, there wasn't any dirty play by Florida. Even that hit by the 18 year old, was a solid clean hit. It's like you can't even throw a clean hit in this league anymore without someone taking exception to it. 

[*Buzzsaw*]

No big surprise to see the result.

 

If Toronto wants to win the series they have to do a number of things.

 

-  Play a puck control game... they need to prevent the Panthers from getting a chance to make a rush or get the puck into the Leafs zone.  That means no shooting the puck in when you need to change... you hold onto it and let the next group of forwards come out and get the puck.  They can't alternate rushes back and forth with the Panthers.

 

-  Be more deliberate in their zone entries... they need to take the puck in under control.  The Leafs are a really dangerous team when they establish their cycle game in the opponent's zone.  Again, they do not want to do what they did in the first game, which is go back and forth and trade chances with the Panthers.  The Panthers have a better goaltender and a better D... they can deal with the Leafs attacks better than the slower, less capable Leafs D can deal with the two big Panther lines.

 

-  They need to shoot more... stop waiting for the perfect setup.  The playoffs are all about greasy goals and rebound goals.  The Leafs big offensive guys need to take the puck to the net... the only one who was doing that was Tavares... Mathews was not, neither was Marner, neither was Nylander... Nylander had one opportunity in the 2nd when he had a clear path to the net, he turned away and passed the puck back to the blue line.  In the third he had his breakaway, but there was no support.

 

The Leafs have more offensive talent than the Panthers.  They need to take advantage of that and play the game in the Panthers' end.

 

I am not sure the Leafs can adapt... but they need to do the above if they want to have a chance.

[*Buzzsaw*]

1 hour ago, King Heffy said:

He  really should have been more blunt and insist that Sutherland and Hanson are not assigned to any more of their games.  It was obvious before the game that these two wrothless pieces of trash weren't going to clean up their act.  The NHL will continue allowing these criminals to pull their BS unless it is made clear in no uncertain terms that the conduct of those dirtbags is simply not acceptable.  Taking the high road does not work against a league that outright refuses to hold problem refs accountable.

You misunderstand... the NHL wants Sutherland and company to do what they are doing. 

 

They want the Leafs to have an advantage... they are already pissed that the mean nothing market Panthers eliminated the established key market Bruins... whose owners have direct access to whine in Bettman's ear 24/7

[Kragar]

17 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

You misunderstand... the NHL wants Sutherland and company to do what they are doing. 

 

They want the Leafs to have an advantage... they are already pissed that the mean nothing market Panthers eliminated the established key market Bruins... whose owners have direct access to whine in Bettman's ear 24/7

True enough, but wouldn't Bettman also want to prop up the Panthers at this point, to at least help justify the existence of the team?

[Darius]

Found these on Twitter . This guy is my hero. Shows up to leaf games and cheers on the opposing team!

 

 

[Barbarian]

20 minutes ago, Darius said:

Found these on Twitter . This guy is my hero. Shows up to leaf games and cheers on the opposing team!

 

 

 

 

 

HAHA what a legend!

[mordekai]

2 hours ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

No big surprise to see the result.

 

If Toronto wants to win the series they have to do a number of things.

 

-  Play a puck control game... they need to prevent the Panthers from getting a chance to make a rush or get the puck into the Leafs zone.  That means no shooting the puck in when you need to change... you hold onto it and let the next group of forwards come out and get the puck.  They can't alternate rushes back and forth with the Panthers.

 

-  Be more deliberate in their zone entries... they need to take the puck in under control.  The Leafs are a really dangerous team when they establish their cycle game in the opponent's zone.  Again, they do not want to do what they did in the first game, which is go back and forth and trade chances with the Panthers.  The Panthers have a better goaltender and a better D... they can deal with the Leafs attacks better than the slower, less capable Leafs D can deal with the two big Panther lines.

 

-  They need to shoot more... stop waiting for the perfect setup.  The playoffs are all about greasy goals and rebound goals.  The Leafs big offensive guys need to take the puck to the net... the only one who was doing that was Tavares... Mathews was not, neither was Marner, neither was Nylander... Nylander had one opportunity in the 2nd when he had a clear path to the net, he turned away and passed the puck back to the blue line.  In the third he had his breakaway, but there was no support.

 

The Leafs have more offensive talent than the Panthers.  They need to take advantage of that and play the game in the Panthers' end.

 

I am not sure the Leafs can adapt... but they need to do the above if they want to have a chance.

Panthers has the better overall offensive talent.

Barkov, Chucky, Verhaeghe, Reinhart and then Montour Forsling and Ekblad for defense 

who does the leafs have? Their Top 4 guys and Reilly? 

plus panthers top players are huge and fast and plays a hard game 

[DownUndaCanuck]

Surprised Toronto didn't win a shoot-out type game, it was pretty loose out there. Florida are just playing solid playoff hockey right now, their forwards like Bennett, Tkachuk and Verhaeghe are just grinding down low so well, when they pass it up to the defencemen Toronto collapsed so many times. Ekblad, Montour and Forsling are just owning Toronto offensively and (surprisingly) defensively right now. Even Bob had a massive game and massive late-game save.

 

You never know which team is going to show up or disappear in the playoffs. Surprised to see Boston and NYR fade away - they're built for the playoffs, whereas you'd expect Florida to be more of a regular season flashy scoring type of team, but here they are grinding out playoff wins like it's nothing.

 

I think a big reason we see these upsets is the matchup game. Boston were built like anything, but didn't matchup well against Florida - they couldn't contain Montour or Tkachuk surprisingly and at the end of the day they couldn't score in the end, and their centers were non existent.

 

Toronto seemed to matchup nicely against Tampa surprisingly, they played Tampa's grinding game but at the end of the day Tampa just couldn't score enough whereas Toronto found a way despite the tight checking.

 

This Florida-Toronto series plays into the hands of both teams but so far Florida is playing the matchup much better. Toronto's forward stars should be taking over this series - I'm pretty disappointed Matthews and Marner didn't explode so far, and Nylander and JT have a massive opportunity here against less physical defencemen, but so far, nothing. I'm sure they'll come back in the series but surprised to see them shut down so much so far.