Leafs @ Panthers - Nov. 22nd, 7:00pm - SNO, TSN 1050

[bustaheims]

The were outclassed in the 1st, even in the 2nd IMO.

Playing even with one of the bottom 5 teams in the league in an awfully low bar to measure from.

The question is whether they deserved even a point in tonight's game.  I think they certainly did.  I didn't claim that it's some kind of landmark achievement.

And, if they best they can do through 40 minutes is play even with a bottom 5 team, they didn't deserve it.

 

[Frank E]

I didn't think FLA played like a bottom 5 team last night. They looked pretty good to me...i don't think they'll be at the bottom for long if they keep playing like that.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Matthews really didn't look like his best against Arizona and even he admitted he wasn't quite at 100% yet so I was a little worried that the Leafs were rushing him back. But he was great last night. Over 21 minutes in ice-time. 73% CF. 8 shots on net, 7 of them coming at 5-on-5. And that was while playing largely against the Huberdeau-Barkov-Dadanov-Yandle-Ekblad unit.

He usually doesn't go head to head with the other teams top player but last night he was incredibly effective against Barkov. Barkov's CF against Matthews was 31.5% in about 9 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. Barkov's CF without Matthews on the ice was 73.3% in about 6 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/markhmasters/status/933539951152689167

Now this is MUCH better than his crappy "having two great players on a line is bad" excuse that he used earlier (which doesn't make any sense anyway because if Marner is playing with Matthews that leaves Nylander as a "line driver" for another unit but whatever). I'm glad he expanded a little bit on his rational. If only there was a way to have Matthews play with a passer AND a shooter...

 

[rdowdall]

I didn't think FLA played like a bottom 5 team last night. They looked pretty good to me...i don't think they'll be at the bottom for long if they keep playing like that.

Some of that is Luongo being hurt.  He missed a lot of time, so if he doesn't get hurt and they pick up a win here or there, it's a different story.

 

[herman]

The third period last night was how I envisioned this team to be capable of playing. Hard work + skill + overwhelming waves of speed and not spending much time in your own zone.

Martin was completely held off the ice midway into the 2nd and on. Komarov and Soshnikov got some spot shifts when we were still double shifting Nylander and Marleau. They sat the rest of the game once we went down to three lines.

Leading up to that, I kind of liked the two defensive lines Babcock was mulling over: slow/heavy defense with Martin - Kadri - Komarov; fast defense with Soshnikov - Marleau - Brown. Way better than the useless 4th line we had last year. But it?d be even better as
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
Soshnikov - Marleau - Kapanen

 

[dappleganger]

https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/933511919109132289

 

[Coco-puffs]

Its interesting.  If we do trade Komarov, I'm starting to lean towards a "shutdown line" of Marleau-Kadri-Brown.  They generated our only goal last night.  I liked the three lines we rolled with in the 3rd:

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Brown
JvR-Bozak-Nylander
(4th without Komarov would have to be Martin-Moore-Sosh)

And you can swap Marner and Nylander if you think Matthews needs another finisher with him.  That said, Marner seems to have been given a jolt of energy playing with Matthews.  He had been improving compared to his sluggish start, but my god, was he full of energy the last few games playing with Matthews.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Its interesting.  If we do trade Komarov, I'm starting to lean towards a "shutdown line" of Marleau-Kadri-Brown.  They generated our only goal last night.  I liked the three lines we rolled with in the 3rd:

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Brown
JvR-Bozak-Nylander
(4th without Komarov would have to be Martin-Moore-Sosh)

And you can swap Marner and Nylander if you think Matthews needs another finisher with him.  That said, Marner seems to have been given a jolt of energy playing with Matthews.  He had been improving compared to his sluggish start, but my god, was he full of energy the last few games playing with Matthews.

Yeah, I was just in the process of writing up this top-9 as well. I think that's what I would start trying right now even before trading Leo, and going Martin-Moore-Komarov on the 4th line.

Trying to run 4 even lines with Bozak or Marleau as 4C seems like a bit of a waste. We don't really need two "shutdown" lines plus a Matthews line. Mats showed last night that he's more than capable of handling tough assignments.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Although my fantasy line-up at this point is (while still keeping Bab's rule of needing Martin):

Nylander-Matthews-Marner
Marleau-Kadri-Brown
JVR-Bozak-Hyman
Martin-Moore-Komarov

Sure, it's loading up the big-3, but the 2nd line still has three 20-30 goal scorers and the 3rd line has two 50-60 point scorers plus a forward who can cover their defensive issues. It's hardly stretching things too thin.

 

[Arn]

I think I commented on it at the time but there was one shift where Matthews tracked back behind his own goal, battled with and stripped the puck off the Florida forward who was behind the Leafs net, then lugged the puck up through the middle into the Offensive zone and set up a chance that Rielly hit the bar on. Was a superb shift.

 

[dappleganger]

Any thoughts playing Komarov with JVR and Bozak?

Nylander - Matthews - Marner
Brown - Kadri - Marleau
JVR - Bozak - Komarov
Sosh - Moore - Leivo

 

[Zee]

I know it was bad that nothing was called against Kadri, but he has to somehow maintain his composure there since the Leafs could have had a 4 on 3 in OT if he didn't take a penalty.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/shaynepasquino/status/933528288508760064
https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/933777768202096642