Avalanche @ Leafs - Jan. 14th, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[L K]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

 

[Zee]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

 

[TimKerr]

The fans booing Gardiner, well no one is a fan of hearing a rain of boos but in this case it was warranted.

No. Hockey fandom is a wide church, but anyone who was booing Gardiner is a moron.

There is literally nothing easier in the world than being a sports fan: cheer for the guy wearing your jersey. There is no upside to booing, there is downside, the boo birds people just failed at life?s easiest task.

I watched the highlights on TSN again and in the 2nd period, Dermott goes behind the night and blindly throws the puck backhanded right to an Avs player who has an amazing chance but Andersen makes an even better save and the puck gets cleared away. So no goal on the play and no one is complaining about Dermott's defensive woes. The fact is dmen make mistakes, all the time, I just think Gardiner gets picked on because of last year's game 7. Just like McCabe before him and Murphy before him.

 

[Zee]

The fans booing Gardiner, well no one is a fan of hearing a rain of boos but in this case it was warranted.

No. Hockey fandom is a wide church, but anyone who was booing Gardiner is a moron.

There is literally nothing easier in the world than being a sports fan: cheer for the guy wearing your jersey. There is no upside to booing, there is downside, the boo birds people just failed at life?s easiest task.

I watched the highlights on TSN again and in the 2nd period, Dermott goes behind the night and blindly throws the puck backhanded right to an Avs player who has an amazing chance but Andersen makes an even better save and the puck gets cleared away. So no goal on the play and no one is complaining about Dermott's defensive woes. The fact is dmen make mistakes, all the time, I just think Gardiner gets picked on because of last year's game 7. Just like McCabe before him and Murphy before him.

It's a great selling point for free agents thinking about coming to Toronto.  "Regardless of how many times you tilt the ice in the teams favor, it you make key mistakes the fans might turn on you one day and boo you out of town.  All good?  Sign here"

 

[cabber24]

Shake off the BS and peak at playoff time, especially Babcock.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Best Leaf player of the night...Nylander.  Well, maybe...

[tweet]1085032960728870912[/tweet]

 

[lc9]

Marner and Tavares have been really good, but even they still play with a lazy mindset too often.  This has to be the leafs physical team in the league and their entire game plan is geared toward a physical team.  There is good reason they continually get outplayed.

Jesus, man. Marner is on pace to have the highest-scoring season of any Leafs winger -- ever. All you can do is claim he plays lazy too often?

Their entire game plan is geared toward a physical team? I don't even....

Are you arguing that the leafs don?t dump and chase? 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I watched the highlights on TSN again and in the 2nd period, Dermott goes behind the night and blindly throws the puck backhanded right to an Avs player who has an amazing chance but Andersen makes an even better save and the puck gets cleared away. So no goal on the play and no one is complaining about Dermott's defensive woes. The fact is dmen make mistakes, all the time, I just think Gardiner gets picked on because of last year's game 7. Just like McCabe before him and Murphy before him.

Pfft typical Flyers fan coming over here to our boards and spouting complete...ly rational analysis.

 

[cabber24]

Conclusions: Babs is fumbling, and our defense is still not good enough.

 

[cabber24]

I watched the highlights on TSN again and in the 2nd period, Dermott goes behind the night and blindly throws the puck backhanded right to an Avs player who has an amazing chance but Andersen makes an even better save and the puck gets cleared away. So no goal on the play and no one is complaining about Dermott's defensive woes. The fact is dmen make mistakes, all the time, I just think Gardiner gets picked on because of last year's game 7. Just like McCabe before him and Murphy before him.

Pfft typical Flyers fan coming over here to our boards and spouting complete...ly rational analysis.

Should have given JVR $7M x 5...hatty last night.

 

[herman]

Here are some unsolicited thoughts:

A) The Leafs are under performing what this roster should be capable of on paper (in pockets of play)
B) The Leafs have not had a full roster until yesterday (sorry Ennis)
C) The Leafs, with all of the above accounted for, still have 58 pts in 45 games, which is on pace for 105 pts

My only conclusion is, when this team starts to click, when Matthews and Nylander and Kadri and to a lesser extent Gardiner and Kadri get going, this team will be even scarier.

I think Babcock is handling this correctly, with patience, and preaching work before skill. Skill establishes your ceiling (gotta have skill), but work is what gets you up there. As OldTimeHockey mentioned in the previous thread, this is a young team and at times it shows.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Here are some unsolicited thoughts:

A) The Leafs are under performing what this roster should be capable of on paper (in pockets of play)
B) The Leafs have not had a full roster until yesterday (sorry Ennis)
C) The Leafs, with all of the above accounted for, still have 58 pts in 45 games, which is on pace for 105 pts

My only conclusion is, when this team starts to click, when Matthews and Nylander and Kadri and to a lesser extent Gardiner and Kadri get going, this team will be even scarier.

I think Babcock is handling this correctly, with patience, and preaching work before skill. Skill establishes your ceiling (gotta have skill), but work is what gets you up there. As OldTimeHockey mentioned in the previous thread, this is a young team and at times it shows.

I think Leafs' fans are in panic button mode.

If the playoffs were to commence today, the Leafs' opponent would be the Bruins.  Does that sound encouraging?  Not when Boston dominated their season series over Toronto,  not with the way the Maple Leafs played Saturday night (Boston), snd not especially last night (Colorado).

No.  It's going to take a lot more skill, patience, and preparedness to beat teams who harbour that mental toughness which Babcock likes to call playing "heavy".

Oh yes, better defence, too.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Here are some unsolicited thoughts:

A) The Leafs are under performing what this roster should be capable of on paper (in pockets of play)
B) The Leafs have not had a full roster until yesterday (sorry Ennis)
C) The Leafs, with all of the above accounted for, still have 58 pts in 45 games, which is on pace for 105 pts

My only conclusion is, when this team starts to click, when Matthews and Nylander and Kadri and to a lesser extent Gardiner and Kadri get going, this team will be even scarier.

I think Babcock is handling this correctly, with patience, and preaching work before skill. Skill establishes your ceiling (gotta have skill), but work is what gets you up there. As OldTimeHockey mentioned in the previous thread, this is a young team and at times it shows.

I think Leafs' fans are in panic button mode.

If the playoffs were to commence today, the Leafs' opponent would be the Bruins.  Does that sound encouraging?  Not when Boston dominated their season series over Toronto,  not with the way the Maple Leafs played Saturday night (Boston), snd not especially last night (Colorado).

No.  It's going to take a lot more skill, patience, and preparedness to beat teams who harbour that mental toughness which Babcock likes to call playing "heavy".

Oh yes, better defence, too.

When the Leafs were playing great, their first round opponent was still going to likely be Boston.

As for Saturday's game, the Leafs were the better team so I'm not sure what you're getting at.

 

[L K]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

Sure and so because they are in a slump we need to scream about Babcock being fired or Gardiner being absolutely useless.  The hyperbole over every stretch is getting way out of hand.  You aren?t going to find many happy with how the team has played in the last month but I?m not sure I?m going to be too fussed about the team performance in earynJanuary when we lost Matthews for a good stretch, had Nylander gone for essentially three months and just lost our goalie for a few weeks.

If we are playing like this in March we are in trouble but the team is on 105 point pace and there are some acting like we are a bottom tier team without a first round pick.

 

[Bullfrog]

Marner and Tavares have been really good, but even they still play with a lazy mindset too often.  This has to be the leafs physical team in the league and their entire game plan is geared toward a physical team.  There is good reason they continually get outplayed.

Jesus, man. Marner is on pace to have the highest-scoring season of any Leafs winger -- ever. All you can do is claim he plays lazy too often?

Their entire game plan is geared toward a physical team? I don't even....

Are you arguing that the leafs don?t dump and chase?

Nope. I'm not arguing that.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

Sure and so because they are in a slump we need to scream about Babcock being fired or Gardiner being absolutely useless.  The hyperbole over every stretch is getting way out of hand.

I'm not sure it's new LK or getting out of hand. It's par for the course with this team's fans. There's a reason they're mocked. It's either a parade route or a dumpster fire. There's nothing in between.

 

[Zee]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

Sure and so because they are in a slump we need to scream about Babcock being fired or Gardiner being absolutely useless.  The hyperbole over every stretch is getting way out of hand.  You aren?t going to find many happy with how the team has played in the last month but I?m not sure I?m going to be too fussed about the team performance in earynJanuary when we lost Matthews for a good stretch, had Nylander gone for essentially three months and just lost our goalie for a few weeks.

If we are playing like this in March we are in trouble but the team is on 105 point pace and there are some acting like we are a bottom tier team without a first round pick.

I hear you, but the Leafs need to turn this around or they lose home-ice advantage in the first round to Boston.  They've already had issues against the Bruins, not having home ice against them yet again would be not good.

 

[Deebo]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

Sure and so because they are in a slump we need to scream about Babcock being fired or Gardiner being absolutely useless.  The hyperbole over every stretch is getting way out of hand.  You aren?t going to find many happy with how the team has played in the last month but I?m not sure I?m going to be too fussed about the team performance in earynJanuary when we lost Matthews for a good stretch, had Nylander gone for essentially three months and just lost our goalie for a few weeks.

If we are playing like this in March we are in trouble but the team is on 105 point pace and there are some acting like we are a bottom tier team without a first round pick.

I hear you, but the Leafs need to turn this around or they lose home-ice advantage in the first round to Boston.  They've already had issues against the Bruins, not having home ice against them yet again would be not good.

Has anyone said they don't need to turn it around?

The obviously have to do better than they have in the last month.

 

[Zee]

This is literally the worst team I can recall watching.

The worst 3rd most regulation wins in the league.
The worst 3rd best goal differential in the league.

Absolutely the worst.

I get the sarcasm, and overall the record is still good, but look at the last stretch, lost 5 out of 7.  Also going back to Dec when Nylander first came back the Leafs are barely over .500, so yes they banked alot of points early, but are on a not so good trajectory right now.

8-7-2 over the last 17 games, actually more losses than wins.

Sure and so because they are in a slump we need to scream about Babcock being fired or Gardiner being absolutely useless.  The hyperbole over every stretch is getting way out of hand.  You aren?t going to find many happy with how the team has played in the last month but I?m not sure I?m going to be too fussed about the team performance in earynJanuary when we lost Matthews for a good stretch, had Nylander gone for essentially three months and just lost our goalie for a few weeks.

If we are playing like this in March we are in trouble but the team is on 105 point pace and there are some acting like we are a bottom tier team without a first round pick.

I hear you, but the Leafs need to turn this around or they lose home-ice advantage in the first round to Boston.  They've already had issues against the Bruins, not having home ice against them yet again would be not good.

Has anyone said they don't need to turn it around?

The obviously have to do better than they have in the last month.

I'm just saying that's where most of this frustration from Leafs fans is coming from.  Sure it's great that they have a good record still and are still on pace for 108 points, but that's dropping fast, they were well ahead of that pace a month ago.  If you're all about trends, the Leafs are trending in the wrong direction and I just hope it doesn't snowball. They should be a lot better than this.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Just checking because I don't think anybody brought it up here... but we're all in agreement that Soderberg's SHG that was caused by a Gardiner lost battle was an entirely stoppable shot, right? Blame Jake all you want, but that's a save that Andersen should have easily made.