Blues @ Leafs - Feb. 9th, 7:30pm - SNO, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

Man it feels like Rielly's jumping into the rush more this season with 1 ankle than he did with 2.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wouldn't mind seeing Leivo get a few shifts with Marner, seem like a potentially good setup and trigger combo.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

That was Rielly's 2nd goal of the season, 1st at even-strength.

 

[Kin]

There are a lot of good things about the Leafs but pretending that they haven't had a year long problem on the defensive end of things is just nutty. They're 27th in the league in shots against/60 and 24th in CA. They've been getting by because they've cooked up solid special teams and their offense has been clicking but good teams have been able to hem them in for stretches.

 

[azzurri63]

Well been boggled up the entire game but manage to squeeze one in before the end of the period. Going to have to muster up some offence in the 3rd.

 

[BrownRolo]

I could be mistaken but prior to the Allstar game the Leafs had very good possession numbers. Since then there has been a big change. If you guys can't see a change in the way they are playing I don't know what to say.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

There are a lot of good things about the Leafs but pretending that they haven't had a year long problem on the defensive end of things is just nutty. They're 27th in the league in shots against/60 and 24th in CA. They've been getting by because they've cooked up solid special teams and their offense has been clicking but good teams have been able to hem them in for stretches.

I basically said they needed to improve at the end of my post.

To describe this as a season of them "blowing leads and being dominated for long stretches" does not come close to painting the full picture.

 

[Kin]

I could be mistaken but prior to the Allstar game the Leafs had very good possession numbers. Since then there has been a big change. If you guys can't see a change in the way they are playing I don't know what to say.

The Leafs had, and still have, decent possession numbers but they never had good defensive numbers. Post All-Star break(which is only 5 games) there hasn't really been any sort of massive shift, they've just had some bad games.

In those 5 games, where they're 2-2-1, they've had 162 shots or 32.4 per game and given up 166 or 33.2 a game. That SF/G total is exactly their season average and the SA/G total is only .9 higher than their season average

 

[Kin]

To describe this as a season of them "blowing leads and being dominated for long stretches" does not come close to painting the full picture.

It doesn't, but it's not mutually exclusive with the positive things about this season either.

 

[McGarnagle]

There are a lot of good things about the Leafs but pretending that they haven't had a year long problem on the defensive end of things is just nutty. They're 27th in the league in shots against/60 and 24th in CA. They've been getting by because they've cooked up solid special teams and their offense has been clicking but good teams have been able to hem them in for stretches.

I basically said they needed to improve at the end of my post.

To describe this as a season of them "blowing leads and being dominated for long stretches" does not come close to painting the full picture.

I didn't say it was the full picture. It was in rebuttal to the theory that they had only been bad defensively since the all star break. Relax.

 

[McGarnagle]

Yeah, I think playing mcbackup would have been the wrong move.

 

[bustaheims]

I could be mistaken but prior to the Allstar game the Leafs had very good possession numbers.

Prior to the ASG, the Leafs CF% was hovering around 50% - so, basically, their possession numbers were average, not very good.

 

[ZBBM]

There are a lot of good things about the Leafs but pretending that they haven't had a year long problem on the defensive end of things is just nutty. They're 27th in the league in shots against/60 and 24th in CA. They've been getting by because they've cooked up solid special teams and their offense has been clicking but good teams have been able to hem them in for stretches.

So basically what you're saying is that we are continuing the same problems tradition that we've had since, oh, Dmitri Yushkevich patrolled the blueline?

 

[bustaheims]

To describe this as a season of them "blowing leads and being dominated for long stretches" does not come close to painting the full picture.

Not the full picture, sure, but not a minor feature, either.

 

[ZBBM]

Marner's anticipation is off the charts.  There's he's going full bore at the goalie, starts falling, and still gets a stick on the clearing attempt.

 

[BrownRolo]

I could be mistaken but prior to the Allstar game the Leafs had very good possession numbers.

Prior to the ASG, the Leafs CF% was hovering around 50% - so, basically, their possession numbers were average, not very good.

Can you show me a link to that? I've been looking for possession numbers on a month-to-month basis can't find it anywhere.

 

[McGarnagle]

Marner's anticipation is off the charts.  There's he's going full bore at the goalie, starts falling, and still gets a stick on the clearing attempt.

The other leaf rookies are great, but it seems Marner does something that hits the eyeballs every single shift. He's a human highlight reel.

 

[ZBBM]

Marner's anticipation is off the charts.  There's he's going full bore at the goalie, starts falling, and still gets a stick on the clearing attempt.

The other leaf rookies are great, but it seems Marner does something that hits the eyeballs every single shift. He's a human highlight reel.

Exactly.  You don't take your eyes off him when he has the puck.

 

[herman]

Did anyone expect a goalie duel tonight from these two?

 

[bustaheims]

Can you show me a link to that? I've been looking for possession numbers on a month-to-month basis can't find it anywhere.

http://www.corsica.hockey/teams/

That site will let you do a rolling average. If you put it up to a number of games that's close enough to cover the season (which will show you roughly where they were going into the last few games), you'll see the Leafs at roughly 50.1% going into the ASG for 5-on-5 CF%, and they were at almost 50% exactly coming into tonight. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn close.