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Blackhawks @ Leafs - Oct. 9th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

princedpw said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Matthews finished the game with a 29-3 shot attempt edge at even-strength. 18-0 in actual shots.
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Missed the game aside from the last 5 minutes of the third & OT.

That's unreal.
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Was surprised to see that. Besides a shift at the end of the first and another long sequence of them running around the Hawks net before a PP (2nd?), I didn't think they were creating that much tonight -- mostly one-and-done rushes, I thought. Guess I wasn't watching what they were giving up... which evidently wasn't much.

Hawks really eliminated the Leafs' passing game and were so well organized in their own zone (for the most part) the dump and chase wasn't really clicking either... nice to see the Leafs gut out win when they're not playing their game.
 
For the record, I started watching at the beginning of the 2nd. I apologize for the crummy opening period.
 
I warched through the first two periods and kept envisioning Leafs winning in the OT. 

That #34 continues to amaze.  Awesome Auston!!

GO LEAFS GO!
 
I was deliberately watching for Martin and his work on the ice.

I missed this one:
https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/917536256652992512
Honestly, that's a great heads up move.

Another instance was when Fehr and Brown forechecked the puck carrier around the net and forced a turnover, Martin was coming around the other side and had a chance to really bury the guy into next week and elected to let him pass as he no longer had the puck.

He finished safe (if uncomfortable) hits on the forecheck and was generally quick to the puck to force quick decisions by the defense.
 
Kaberle15 said:
Bullfrog said:
A whole five minutes of ice time for Mr Matt Martin.
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And Leivo at the pressbox...
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As much as I prefer Leivo over Matt Martin (and I really do)...

The fourth line is playing about 6 mins per game at 5-on-5 while the other lines take the majority of the ice-time.  If anything, I'd like to see the Matthews line play MORE at 5-on-5.  That Matthews and Nylander aren't seeing closer to 20 mins a game is kinda disappointing. 

So, with the thought that Martin or Leivo would see 4-5 mins @ 5-on-5 ... I'm perfectly fine with having Martin there in case things get out of hand.  His results last year were largely driven by having AHLers as center men most of the year.  Ben Smith was awful, and the goat was only slightly better (mostly due to percentages).  Now that he has NHL calibre centermen you can see that while he doesn't help a whole lot, he really doesn't hurt you.

And yes, I do agree that Leivo would probably "help" more.  In games like last nights and against the Rangers, where the other team doesn't really have anyone you have to worry about getting out of hand- I see no reason Leivo shouldn't get in there.  Against the Jets (etc), Martin over Leivo is perfectly fine with me.
 
Coco-puffs said:
And yes, I do agree that Leivo would probably "help" more.  In games like last nights and against the Rangers, where the other team doesn't really have anyone you have to worry about getting out of hand- I see no reason Leivo shouldn't get in there.  Against the Jets (etc), Martin over Leivo is perfectly fine with me.
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Yeah, this is basically where I'm at. I've accepted that Martin will never be a permanent press box fixture, and he probably wouldn't be on most NHL teams really. But with our depth there's no reason for him to play in every single game. Babs seems comfortable rotating the 4C and 6D right now even after convincing wins. Why not throw Leivo into a game once a week just to keep him fresh? Especially against teams like Chicago who really doesn't have any toughness to their game.
 
That's kind of where I'm at. I don't think putting in Leivo on the 4th line will have a significant impact on the results, it's more that I think 6 minutes on the 4th line is better than 0 while sitting in the box. And since Martin only plays even strength, it's not like the team loses anything by sitting him.
 
It was neat to some of the overtime combinations for the first time:

Matthews-Nylander-Gardiner
Kadri-Komorov-Reilly
Marner-Marleau-Zaitzev
Bozak-JVR-Reilly
Moore-Brown-Gardiner

Lots of weapons there 2F-1D. What I like is that everyone is pretty responsible in their defensive ice coverage now, making sure they're between their man and the net. Good, hard 30-40 second shifts and off.  Only odd man rush I think was when JVR fell down in the O-zone. I think we'll do better O/T-Shootout this year. Precious points to be had there.
 
disco said:
It was neat to some of the overtime combinations for the first time:

Matthews-Nylander-Gardiner
Kadri-Komorov-Reilly
Marner-Marleau-Zaitzev
Bozak-JVR-Reilly
Moore-Brown-Gardiner
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Those weren't the combos (Komarov didn't play in OT and Moore was of course a healthy scratch so you're mistaking him for someone else). It went:

Kadri-Brown-Rielly
Matthews-Nylander-Gardiner
Marleau-Marner-Zaitsev
Bozak-JVR-Rielly
Kadri-Brown-Rielly
Matthews-Nylander-Gardiner

Thankfully, no Komarov or Hyman or Hainsey (/Hunwick) like we sometimes saw last year.
 
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