Habs @ Leafs - Oct. 3rd, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

[Danny R]

I would like to say, that it was uneccessary drama, but I can't. We have to expect more of them. Anyway there are signs of real good things to come. Mainly from overated scoring centers, thouhg. lol

 

[hockeyfan1]

Marleau seems to not get tons of love from us but that was a gorgeous feed.

2nded.

Marleau's pass was perfect.

 

[ZBBM]

And it's a small thing, but the only way the leafs had possession to put that play together was because Tavares refused to give up on the puck at the end of his shift and passed it back to keep possession on the line change.

He's going to do a million little things like that that will result in points.  Tenacious.

 

[herman]

I think the cellies were Nylander homages.

Exhibit A:
https://twitter.com/theflintor/status/1047635697505431552
https://twitter.com/theflintor/status/963208839557406720

Exhibit B:
https://twitter.com/theflintor/status/1047667480909373445
https://twitter.com/theflintor/status/963218655646384128

 

[Danny R]

Tavares`s equal as good.

 

[ZBBM]

I would like to say, that it was uneccessary drama, but I can't. We have to expect more of them. Anyway there are signs of real good things to come. Mainly from overated scoring centers, thouhg. lol

Habs thoroughly outplayed us.  Domi, Kotkaniemi, Mete stood out to me but up and down the lineup they had the better of things.

 

[Zee]

I think we may see something pretty big from Matthews this year.

Knock on wood he stays healthy I see 50 goals

 

[Zee]

I would like to say, that it was uneccessary drama, but I can't. We have to expect more of them. Anyway there are signs of real good things to come. Mainly from overated scoring centers, thouhg. lol

Habs thoroughly outplayed us.  Domi, Kotkaniemi, Mete stood out to me but up and down the lineup they had the better of things.

They did but man the Leafs were not engaged at all in this game. It's like they figured it would be easy and didn't bother getting up for the game. Reminds me how they started the playoffs but this time we didn't have a good team on the other side so we survived. Hope they realize preseason is over

And yeah kudos to Andersen he started on time this year

 

[herman]

I think we may see something pretty big from Matthews this year.

Knock on wood he stays healthy I see 50 goals

Imagine this Matthews, but with Nylander.

 

[TheMightyOdin]

I had to miss the game but I came here to read the GDT to see what happened before watching highlights.

I got to live the rollercoaster through your posts.

Go leafs!

 

[Spider]

Did they change the goal song?  Was celebrating too much, I forgot to pay attention.  The game winning song is still the same.

 

[TheMightyOdin]

... and now I?ve watched the highlights.

I missed a good one. Matthews makes it look so easy on that OT goal.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

The Canadiens outplayed the Leafs for a good portion of the game. I really cannot believe the amount of giveaways the Leafs had in their own zone.

That being said, good teams find a way to win.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I would like to say, that it was uneccessary drama, but I can't. We have to expect more of them. Anyway there are signs of real good things to come. Mainly from overated scoring centers, thouhg. lol

Habs thoroughly outplayed us.  Domi, Kotkaniemi, Mete stood out to me but up and down the lineup they had the better of things.

The speed was the biggest factor. Toronto simply could not handle Montreal's speed.

 

[Andy007]

The Leafs look like garbage.  Right back to trying to force long stretch passes that get picked off instead of letting the defence carry the puck

1000 times this.

This was a huge problem all of last year. The forwards stand still on the opposing blueline waiting for passes that either get picked off or get deflected into the opposing zone and no Leaf can retrieve the puck because they are standing still.

I don't understand why Babcock doesn't want the team to use its speed and skill. Let the D carry the puck out and have them supported by the forwards. I just don't get it.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

A little surprised to see Rielly as the only D to not play on the PK last night:

Zaitsev 5:01
Hainsey 3:39
Dermott 2:13
Gardiner 1:12
Ozhiganov 0:45
Rielly 0:00

Two of our penalties were by defencemen too (Ozhiganov and Hainsey). Weird.

 

[herman]

The Canadiens outplayed the Leafs for a good portion of the game. I really cannot believe the amount of giveaways the Leafs had in their own zone.

That being said, good teams find a way to win.

The speed was the biggest factor. Toronto simply could not handle Montreal's speed.

These two issues are obviously related. Toronto's breakout is a swinging centre coming low to outlet for the defense through the middle (rather than the boards). The apparent lack of speed comes from having to think about what to do, rather than just automatically doing it and having the support automatically be in the right spot and our forwards not really executing on the casual blueline interference Babcock wants when backchecking forecheckers to give their defense retrieval time.

 

[Strangelove]

Looks like Babcock went right back to neutralizing his own team's speed with stationary hail mary passes and being mostly allergic to maintaining possession in the neutral zone.

It's one game though, so hopefully it was poor execution rather than something systemic.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

The Canadiens outplayed the Leafs for a good portion of the game. I really cannot believe the amount of giveaways the Leafs had in their own zone.

That being said, good teams find a way to win.

The speed was the biggest factor. Toronto simply could not handle Montreal's speed.

These two issues are obviously related. Toronto's breakout is a swinging centre coming low to outlet for the defense through the middle (rather than the boards). The apparent lack of speed comes from having to think about what to do, rather than just automatically doing it and having the support automatically be in the right spot and our forwards not really executing on the casual blueline interference Babcock wants when backchecking forecheckers to give their defense retrieval time.

Yes they are definitely related.

There were many giveaways on the breakout but there were also some by Dermott, Gardiner, Rielly, Hainsey and even Tavares that were simply boneheaded plays. There were a couple blind passes in front of our own net that simply made no sense in any situation.

This was only what I observed in the defensive zone. In the offensive zone, I watched some poor decisions as well that led to the Leafs not being able to sustain pressure. A lot of that had to do with attacking from the wrong side of the puck(high side instead of defensive side) as well as making passes with very low chances of success(Kadri, Leivo are two I can think of). I'm talking about the behind the back passes that need to go through 3 sets of skates and a goalies stick to have any chance of succeeding. What those passes result in 99% of the time is a forward behind the opposing net(never a good place to be without the puck) a flat footed forward waiting for said "hail mary" pass and an opposing team breaking out with speed 5 on 3.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Looks like Babcock went right back to neutralizing his own team's speed with stationary hail mary passes and being mostly allergic to maintaining possession in the neutral zone.

It's one game though, so hopefully it was poor execution rather than something systemic.

I would vote that it was poor execution and poor decision making.