Blackhawks vs. Maple Leafs - Dec. 2nd, 7:30pm - Prime, TSN 1050

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Did you have Minnesota and Washington as 1 and 2 in the whole league in P% in December on your bingo card?

Yes yes absolutely.

 

[cw]

I've been hoping for years that Rielly's game would round out into a stud...he has the size and the speed...but it has not!

It's defence by committee this year, so we'll see how that works out, and early returns look good...if it doesn't, I'd bet that Tre looks to address that.

I never regarded him as a stud and never thought he was going to be.
I think he's done a pretty good job. I like him.
After all these years though, it is weird that they haven't found a consistent partner for him that really clicks.
Without PP time, his numbers will take a hit this season.

 

[Ozzie]

I never regarded him as a stud and never thought he was going to be.
I think he's done a pretty good job. I like him.
After all these years though, it is weird that they haven't found a consistent partner for him that really clicks.
Without PP time, his numbers will take a hit this season.

In the 1993 and 1994 playoff runs, the Leafs won primarily because of their blue line. It was super reliable and shut down the opposition including high scoring teams such as Detroit which had elites like Yzerman, Federov and Coffey.

But there was no elite stud defenseman on the Leafs. It was the solid dependability of stay at home D like Lefebvre, Gill and Ellett that helped the Leafs win.

Honestly, I see guys on here saying the Leafs are not as fun to watch this season as prior seasons. I am absolutely LOVING this season. It's the best I have seen the Leafs ever in early season play. I know the scoring is slightly down but just the over all balance and disciplined 60 minute execution is a thing of beauty to me. Some games it's only 40 or 50 mins of proper effort. But in prior seasons I would see Leafs lose by underachieving. Just dialing it in against teams they should beat, or giving up part way in the game. I am not seeing that this season.

I respect this version of the team, where I didn't really respect the team (beyond some individual achievements) in prior seasons because their work ethic and consistency and grit was not there, and so frustrating.

I am a big fan of this team under Tre and Berube, and a heavier D line and fucking stellar crease.

 

[azzurri63]

This is clearly the "it's far too early to worry about standings but I'm doing it anyway" comment.

If the season ended today (using point percentage rather than points) they would play Tampa in the playoffs again........

I wish they would go away from the current setup. Don't know about the rest of you but I'm tired of seeing the same matchups for the most part year after year. If it ain't Boston it's TB.

 

[cw]

In the 1993 and 1994 playoff runs, the Leafs won primarily because of their blue line. It was super reliable and shut down the opposition including high scoring teams such as Detroit which had elites like Yzerman, Federov and Coffey.

But there was no elite stud defenseman on the Leafs. It was the solid dependability of stay at home D like Lefebvre, Gill and Ellett that helped the Leafs win.

Honestly, I see guys on here saying the Leafs are not as fun to watch this season as prior seasons. I am absolutely LOVING this season. It's the best I have seen the Leafs ever in early season play. I know the scoring is slightly down but just the over all balance and disciplined 60 minute execution is a thing of beauty to me. Some games it's only 40 or 50 mins of proper effort. But in prior seasons I would see Leafs lose by underachieving. Just dialing it in against teams they should beat, or giving up part way in the game. I am not seeing that this season.

I respect this version of the team, where I didn't really respect the team (beyond some individual achievements) in prior seasons because their work ethic and consistency and grit was not there, and so frustrating.

I am a big fan of this team under Tre and Berube, and a heavier D line and fucking stellar crease.

As I was doing another post yesterday - about Salming I think it was - and the lack of a stud, I literally looked these guys up:
Lefebvre
Rouse
Macoun
Ellett
Gill
Defensively, along with the forwards and Pat Burns, they seemed really, really good and proved you did not need a stud to win in the playoffs. They might have been a high sticking call away from a Cup.

I do think their offense will come around/improve. Some of it is due to injuries. They had to get the defensive part down - which they are doing. As time goes by, they are likely to improve on capitalizing from this new defensive approach. With all the turmoil from injuries, it is going to take a little longer if they return to health.

 

[Zee]

Are you using the app on the tv? I have the latest FireStick 4K so not sure if that's the difference.

This indeed was the difference! It was annoying me, so I went ahead and tested the prime replay of the Leafs/Hawks game first with the Amazon Prime app on my Google TV Streamer, and then with the Amazon Prime app that comes with the LG TV. Guess what? There's an issue with the app on Google TV Streamer in that it does not show HDR for live broadcasts (or replays in this case). Worked fine when I watched the replay on the built-in Amazon app on the TV.

This really does not make sense to me, because again, if I watch the NHL "Faceoff" series that Amazon released on the Google TV Streamer app, that DOES show HDR. So it seems like a difference between "movies/series" vs "live" broadcasts, at least on this specific version of the app. I guess an update can fix it, but for now I'll watch future amazon prime games on the native TV app.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

This indeed was the difference! It was annoying me, so I went ahead and tested the prime replay of the Leafs/Hawks game first with the Amazon Prime app on my Google TV Streamer, and then with the Amazon Prime app that comes with the LG TV. Guess what? There's an issue with the app on Google TV Streamer in that it does not show HDR for live broadcasts (or replays in this case). Worked fine when I watched the replay on the built-in Amazon app on the TV.

This really does not make sense to me, because again, if I watch the NHL "Faceoff" series that Amazon released on the Google TV Streamer app, that DOES show HDR. So it seems like a difference between "movies/series" vs "live" broadcasts, at least on this specific version of the app. I guess an update can fix it, but for now I'll watch future amazon prime games on the native TV app.

They do goofy things like that. Amazon and Google are not great friends.

 

[Zee]

They do goofy things like that. Amazon and Google are not great friends.

It's a minor annoyance cause I'm using the Google TV Streamer as my main streaming option, I prefer Google TV over the WebOS thing. For now I'll use the native amazon prime WebOS app to watch hockey, i rarely use Amazon Prime for anything else so not a big deal, but I hope it gets fixed so I can just use one device for all.

 

[azzurri63]

I never regarded him as a stud and never thought he was going to be.
I think he's done a pretty good job. I like him.
After all these years though, it is weird that they haven't found a consistent partner for him that really clicks.
Without PP time, his numbers will take a hit this season.

He's not good defensively never has been. I have always liked Morgan but he's not a #1 D for me and not the guy to quarterback a PP. In all honesty I wouldn't mind seeing him as a forward if the Leafs can keep a decent D core back there in the latter years of his contract.

 

[Joe S.]

But there was no elite stud defenseman on the Leafs. It was the solid dependability of stay at home D like Lefebvre, Gill and Ellett that helped the Leafs win.

I appreciate the entirety of your post, but Gill and Ellett were absolutely not shut down defenceman.

Lefebvre, Rouse and Macoun were.