Game 33: Kings at Leafs - Dec 19th 7pm SNETO (OTL3-2)

[Mikhail Bloodnovsky]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

 

[lamajama]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

 

[Bender]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

I somehow doubt that.

 

[Tigger]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

The Leafs come from behind to tie against a team with a string of whatever going into the third, gut out a point, dominate in ot and you want to write off the coach?

Get a grip.

 

[brothert]

What a joke listening to this whole controversy about not having a french speaking coach in Montreal. Only thing I can say is WHO CARES.

Apparently, Montreal.

Not to drag this out, but if they hired a non-English speaking coach for the Leafs I would think that we'd be annoyed but because we're in the majority hockey-wise we're a bit baffled at it.

Maybe Wilson could pretend to not speak English? Or we could hire
Esa Tikanen as our coach. He can't speak any language.

Seriously though, if the leafs went out and got the best coach in the world and all he could speak was Bantu,  I wouldn't give an eff as long as he got us to the promised land.  Hire a translator already and get on with it...........

 

[brothert]

I struggle to understand the concept that Wilson uses by making his wingers drop back off the points?  They are too wide to screen shots, theyre not deep enough to overload the corners, they're not high enough to get out to pressure the points.  Even if our D recovers the puck, it requires a perfect pass to keep the puck close to the winger.  Too strong a pass and the point man will pinch.  I just don't get it.  What am I missing.  Somebody with some hockey knowledge please explain whats supposed to happen in this style of defense.

 

[Zee]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

The Leafs come from behind to tie against a team with a string of whatever going into the third, gut out a point, dominate in ot and you want to write off the coach?

Get a grip.

I guess you've missed the whole 9 wins in the last 23 games thing?

 

[Bullfrog]

Well. That's the last game day thread I ever make.

Booyah!

Hey, one point is better than none, so keep at it.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Not acceptable.  Struggling team, last game of road trip, playing under a lame-duck coach.  We should have had them by the throat from the get-go.

But really, L.A. fans could look at this game going into it and think they should beat the Leafs because they've been struggling too.

 

[Tigger]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

The Leafs come from behind to tie against a team with a string of whatever going into the third, gut out a point, dominate in ot and you want to write off the coach?

Get a grip.

I guess you've missed the whole 9 wins in the last 23 games thing?

You really think that's entirely a result of coaching? It should apply to this game?

 

[L K]

Not acceptable.  Struggling team, last game of road trip, playing under a lame-duck coach.  We should have had them by the throat from the get-go.

But really, L.A. fans could look at this game going into it and think they should beat the Leafs because they've been struggling too.

I certainly agree, but I'm really not worried about what the LA fans think about the game.  This was a game where the Leafs probably could have won, had they come out with a little more fire earlier in the game.  The Kings played a good road game, but a lot of their sustained offensive zone pressure had to do with bad clearing attempts rather than them dominating the Leafs. 

Positionally I think the Leafs gave a solid effort in their own zone, they got in the shooting lanes reasonably well and didn't let the Kings have free passes to try and knock rebounds out of Reimer's hands, so that was good, but they were sloppy with the puck in their own zone, and didn't seem to adjust to LA's neutral zone congestion until late in the 3rd. 

Mind you, that's what happens when your 4th line gets 3:30 in ice-time, maybe the team was trying to conserve energy because they had an entire line of dead-weight tonight.  Carrying Orr/Rosehill really has to stop.

 

[lamajama]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

The Leafs come from behind to tie against a team with a string of whatever going into the third, gut out a point, dominate in ot and you want to write off the coach?

Get a grip.

A grip?? The Leafs were playing a team in the crapper worse than we are. These are the games a *good* team takes advantage of.  The Leafs are having their November swoon (that cost us the playoffs) in December.

 

[Tigger]

Wilson is Burke's 1st star so far this season.

If I were Wilson and there's a deal on the table, I'd grab a pen pretty darn quick.

The Leafs come from behind to tie against a team with a string of whatever going into the third, gut out a point, dominate in ot and you want to write off the coach?

Get a grip.

A grip?? The Leafs were playing a team in the crapper worse than we are. These are the games a *good* team takes advantage of.  The Leafs are having their November swoon (that cost us the playoffs) in December.

Good teams gut out a point, the Leafs did that. Can I offer you a 'sky is falling' piece of pie/cake for your fried chicken? Be glad for small victories man, expectation should be tempered somewhat one would think.

I mean, unless you have unrealistic expectations or whatnot.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Not acceptable.  Struggling team, last game of road trip, playing under a lame-duck coach.  We should have had them by the throat from the get-go.

But really, L.A. fans could look at this game going into it and think they should beat the Leafs because they've been struggling too.

I certainly agree, but I'm really not worried about what the LA fans think about the game.  This was a game where the Leafs probably could have won, had they come out with a little more fire earlier in the game. 

My point was simply, just because the other team is struggling doesn't mean these are games that should be guaranteed wins for us.  We've been struggling too, so really this game was a toss up all along, and LA probably has arguably the better roster based on last season's success, and better goaltending.

So to say we SHOULD have dominated them (which I assume having them by the throat means) makes no sense to me - why should we have dominated them?  Both teams have been struggling.

And as it turns out, it was a close game.

 

[TML fan]

If you fancy the Leafs a playoff team, these are the kind of games they should win.

 

[ZBBM]

Not acceptable.  Struggling team, last game of road trip, playing under a lame-duck coach.  We should have had them by the throat from the get-go.

But really, L.A. fans could look at this game going into it and think they should beat the Leafs because they've been struggling too.

I certainly agree, but I'm really not worried about what the LA fans think about the game.  This was a game where the Leafs probably could have won, had they come out with a little more fire earlier in the game. 

My point was simply, just because the other team is struggling doesn't mean these are games that should be guaranteed wins for us.  We've been struggling too, so really this game was a toss up all along, and LA probably has arguably the better roster based on last season's success, and better goaltending.

So to say we SHOULD have dominated them (which I assume having them by the throat means) makes no sense to me - why should we have dominated them?  Both teams have been struggling.

And as it turns out, it was a close game.

What TML Fan just said.

Besides, there is no excuse for getting outworked in your own end, especially at home.  I could have reached through the laptop and grabbed Lupul by his, well, lapels when he had the puck on his stick behind the net, and, with no pressure, just wafted it up the boards right to an LA player.  Unforced turnovers, lost puck battles (Schenn) -- that's just a lack of determination.

Like I said, not acceptable.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Not acceptable.  Struggling team, last game of road trip, playing under a lame-duck coach.  We should have had them by the throat from the get-go.

But really, L.A. fans could look at this game going into it and think they should beat the Leafs because they've been struggling too.

I certainly agree, but I'm really not worried about what the LA fans think about the game.  This was a game where the Leafs probably could have won, had they come out with a little more fire earlier in the game. 

My point was simply, just because the other team is struggling doesn't mean these are games that should be guaranteed wins for us.  We've been struggling too, so really this game was a toss up all along, and LA probably has arguably the better roster based on last season's success, and better goaltending.

So to say we SHOULD have dominated them (which I assume having them by the throat means) makes no sense to me - why should we have dominated them?  Both teams have been struggling.

And as it turns out, it was a close game.

What TML Fan just said.

Besides, there is no excuse for getting outworked in your own end, especially at home.  I could have reached through the laptop and grabbed Lupul by his, well, lapels when he had the puck on his stick behind the net, and, with no pressure, just wafted it up the boards right to an LA player.  Unforced turnovers, lost puck battles (Schenn) -- that's just a lack of determination.

Like I said, not acceptable.

It came down to a shootout, and the Leafs had just as many great scoring chances during the game as the Kings did to try and end it in regulation.  They allowed a lot of shots sure, but we've seen plenty of times the Leafs directing a lot of shots on the opposing teams net and not getting much to show for it. 

Yeah the Leafs gave up a lot of cycling plays tonight, and some guys like Lupul struggled in the defensive zone, but by no means was this a game they should have won if they fancy themselves a playoff team.  Good teams lose to worse teams almost every night - Philly is losing to Colorado as I type this - and the end result in such close games is not the difference between showing you're a playoff team or not.  It's a nice sentiment to look back upon if you've won and say it separates you, but we just beat Carolina recently in a game we 'should' win - so does this game cancel out that one?

They need to get on a roll, plain and simple, regardless.

EDIT:  I knew I'd jinx Colorado!  ;D

 

[Spider]

You got to remember that the 2 goals that LA got should not have happened.  One was a shoot in that was going around the glass, hit the stanchion, and came right in front to where a loan LA forward was.  Try that one thousand times and it might happen once.  The other was a goal on a missed offside call.

At least the Leafs got 1 point out of it.

 

[cw]

Reimer was great tonight. That's encouraging.

It was. If he plays like that for the rest of the season, they'll make the playoffs.

And like Spider just said, he was a little unlucky he didn't get a shutout with a bad bounce goal and an offside goal.

 

[maplesyrup]

I'm doing the Messier and guaranteeing the win tonight. In fact, I'm so confident of the win, that if we don't, I'm done being a fan until next year. 

* bump *

Well, I'll stand by this... My mental health probably requires it anyway. Until the new year, this group is yours, folks... Enjoy. For now, all my hockey love is going to our Canadian juniors. Go Canada Go!