Devils @ Leafs - Dec. 4th, 7:30pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[bustaheims]

Under the shimmer of the DAL game lurked the fundamental weaknesses of this team, primarily on defense.  Unless they get those fixed, they can be exploited by any team in the league at any given time.

Absolutely. The biggest difference between the Leafs and the Stars on Tuesday was goaltending - the Leafs got it early in the game, while the Stars didn't. Both teams had a lot of quality scoring chances, and both played fast and loose on the defensive side of things.

 

[Joe S.]

WOW holy negativity dude. Go Leafs Go

It's happened too many times, dude. These Leafs have a tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

Or below.

Under the shimmer of the DAL game lurked the fundamental weaknesses of this team, primarily on defense.  Unless they get those fixed, they can be exploited by any team in the league at any given time.

In fairness though - they clearly took their foot off the pedal when it was 5-2. Not saying that's ok, but I don't think we should conclude that they were lucky to win that game.

They do need to learn how to play shut down hockey though, instead of the 'pray for time to go faster' technique they use in the 3d period.

 

[ZBBM]

WOW holy negativity dude. Go Leafs Go

It's happened too many times, dude. These Leafs have a tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

Or below.

Under the shimmer of the DAL game lurked the fundamental weaknesses of this team, primarily on defense.  Unless they get those fixed, they can be exploited by any team in the league at any given time.

With the parity of the league what it is now you could really say that about any team.

Not of the best ones, the real contenders.  They don't have deep structural and personnel problems on D.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

WOW holy negativity dude. Go Leafs Go

It's happened too many times, dude. These Leafs have a tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

Or below.

Under the shimmer of the DAL game lurked the fundamental weaknesses of this team, primarily on defense.  Unless they get those fixed, they can be exploited by any team in the league at any given time.

With the parity of the league what it is now you could really say that about any team.

Not of the best ones, the real contenders.  They don't have deep structural and personnel problems on D.

They can still be exploited at any given time, they are just less prone to do so.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

WOW holy negativity dude. Go Leafs Go

It's happened too many times, dude. These Leafs have a tendency to play down to the level of their competition.

Or below.

Under the shimmer of the DAL game lurked the fundamental weaknesses of this team, primarily on defense.  Unless they get those fixed, they can be exploited by any team in the league at any given time.

In fairness though - they clearly took their foot off the pedal when it was 5-2. Not saying that's ok, but I don't think we should conclude that they were lucky to win that game.

They do need to learn how to play shut down hockey though, instead of the 'pray for time to go faster' technique they use in the 3d period.

That's why people look at "score effects" though, because there's a trend of teams when they get up by 3 goals or so to let off.  It's not just a Leafs thing, it's typical league-wide which is why that term even exists.  It's obviously not an absolute to happen every time, but it appears to just be a natural tendency for teams up by a significant margin to let off.

I really don't think it's anything for the fans to be concerned about in games like that.

 

[L K]

Might be a good one for Reimer to get back in.

That's what I thought too, but there's a back-to-back next week so if Reimer starts tonight it means he would be playing 2 of the next 4 games. That's waaaaaayyyy too much for the guy, you know.

Personally.  I feel that he performs better when going a month between facing a shot....you know, like most goaltenders.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Personally.  I feel that he performs better when going a month between facing a shot....you know, like most goaltenders.

And if he gets lit up next week it just means that he needs even more rest.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Personally.  I feel that he performs better when going a month between facing a shot....you know, like most goaltenders.

And if he gets lit up next week it just means that he needs even more rest.

He's kinda in a crummy situation eh?  Gets left in against Buffalo to get lit up.  Bernier's starting to get lit up against Nashville, gets pulled so Reimer can get lit up.  Doesn't start again.  When he starts again if he gets lit up or struggles it'll put him even further behind.

 

[L K]

Elias and Jagr are both confirmed as out of the lineup tonight.  Gionta left the morning skate and was limping around.  He's a game-time decision.

This really is a must win game.  This is a mediocre Devils team that is beaten up.

 

[Kin]

Might be a good one for Reimer to get back in.

That's what I thought too, but there's a back-to-back next week so if Reimer starts tonight it means he would be playing 2 of the next 4 games. That's waaaaaayyyy too much for the guy, you know.

Personally.  I feel that he performs better when going a month between facing a shot....you know, like most goaltenders.

There's no way for Carlyle to win that one though. If he sits Reimer he's an idiot for getting him rusty, if he starts him and they lose he'd be an idiot for not going with the guy who's got points in each of the last 5.

 

[freer]

Personally.  I feel that he performs better when going a month between facing a shot....you know, like most goaltenders.

And if he gets lit up next week it just means that he needs even more rest.

He's kinda in a crummy situation eh?  Gets left in against Buffalo to get lit up.  Bernier's starting to get lit up against Nashville, gets pulled so Reimer can get lit up.  Doesn't start again.  When he starts again if he gets lit up or struggles it'll put him even further behind.

That being said. I have seen more soft goals let in by Bernier by a huge amount. Reimer had one bad start against BUF.  Bernier had a bad start against NAS. The only difference I see is RC pulls Bernier, when he shits the bed. Reimer had to remain in the shit.

 

[Peter D.]

He's kinda in a crummy situation eh?  Gets left in against Buffalo to get lit up.  Bernier's starting to get lit up against Nashville, gets pulled so Reimer can get lit up.  Doesn't start again.  When he starts again if he gets lit up or struggles it'll put him even further behind.

At this point, it should just be expected that Reimer is a backup in every sense of the word as opposed to thinking he will be given the opportunity to win the crease.  Unless Bernier gets injured, he won't be afforded the starts to make it a battle. 

Crappy situation for him, but hopefully he continues to have the right mindset in a role he was pretty much forced into. 

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

He's kinda in a crummy situation eh?  Gets left in against Buffalo to get lit up.  Bernier's starting to get lit up against Nashville, gets pulled so Reimer can get lit up.  Doesn't start again.  When he starts again if he gets lit up or struggles it'll put him even further behind.

At this point, it should just be expected that Reimer is a backup in every sense of the word as opposed to thinking he will be given the opportunity to win the crease.  Unless Bernier gets injured, he won't be afforded the starts to make it a battle. 

Crappy situation for him, but hopefully he continues to have the right mindset in a role he was pretty much forced into.

Oh I view him as the back-up now.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

James Mirtle @mirtle  ?  3m 3 minutes ago
Carlyle said today he plans to use Santorelli a lot more, including on both special teams. Makes sense.

Good to hear. He's played about 15 minutes total on the PP/PK this season, and most of that was somewhat recently.

Also, side-note, Kessel and JVR both played 9 minutes on the powerplay against Dallas? That's insane.

 

[herman]

James Mirtle @mirtle  ?  3m 3 minutes ago
Carlyle said today he plans to use Santorelli a lot more, including on both special teams. Makes sense.

Good to hear. He's played about 15 minutes total on the PP/PK this season, and most of that was somewhat recently.

Also, side-note, Kessel and JVR both played 9 minutes on the powerplay against Dallas? That's insane.

Good for Santorelli. Good for Smith by extension.

Dallas kept giving us power plays. I was hoping for the second unit to get some reps, but we kept coughing up goals so the lead was never secure enough.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

James Mirtle @mirtle  ?  3m 3 minutes ago
Carlyle said today he plans to use Santorelli a lot more, including on both special teams. Makes sense.

Good to hear. He's played about 15 minutes total on the PP/PK this season, and most of that was somewhat recently.

Also, side-note, Kessel and JVR both played 9 minutes on the powerplay against Dallas? That's insane.

Good for Santorelli. Good for Smith by extension.

Dallas kept giving us power plays. I was hoping for the second unit to get some reps, but we kept coughing up goals so the lead was never secure enough.

It was pretty secure.  3-0, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3.

 

[herman]

James Mirtle @mirtle  ?  3m 3 minutes ago
Carlyle said today he plans to use Santorelli a lot more, including on both special teams. Makes sense.

Good to hear. He's played about 15 minutes total on the PP/PK this season, and most of that was somewhat recently.

Also, side-note, Kessel and JVR both played 9 minutes on the powerplay against Dallas? That's insane.

Good for Santorelli. Good for Smith by extension.

Dallas kept giving us power plays. I was hoping for the second unit to get some reps, but we kept coughing up goals so the lead was never secure enough.

It was pretty secure.  3-0, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3.

Normally yes, but we were giving up pretty interesting chances the other way.

 

[Bonsixx]

He's kinda in a crummy situation eh?  Gets left in against Buffalo to get lit up.  Bernier's starting to get lit up against Nashville, gets pulled so Reimer can get lit up.  Doesn't start again.  When he starts again if he gets lit up or struggles it'll put him even further behind.

At this point, it should just be expected that Reimer is a backup in every sense of the word as opposed to thinking he will be given the opportunity to win the crease.  Unless Bernier gets injured, he won't be afforded the starts to make it a battle. 

Crappy situation for him, but hopefully he continues to have the right mindset in a role he was pretty much forced into.

Oh I view him as the back-up now.

He is the back-up. And he probably would be on most other teams in the league too. If he made it absolutely impossible to not start him, it's one thing, but he hasn't, and they clearly like Bernier's game better.

It's like when the Leafs brought in Cujo, and swore Potvin would have every chance to keep his No. 1 job. Potvin actually outplayed Joseph during the pre-season, but there was no way in hell he was starting opening night and everyone knew it.

 

[Highlander]

Remember when our backup was Trevor Kidd?  Thing could be worse.
Oh???. they were when we had Raycroft and Toscala.
Things could be a lot worse.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Darren Dutchyshe practically begging TSN to put him on a panel.