Predators @ Maple Leafs - Dec. 9th, 7:00pm - SN, TSN 1050
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
Sometimes it's better to be lucky then good..Sammy needs this to get his confidence going. Big win for him tonight.L K said:
dappleganger
Active member
Bender said:
Nashville might be not good.
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
Reaves played literally 9 mins(8:58). Robertson had the least amount of ice out of everyone. I don't get it either.lamajama said:
Guilt Trip
Well-known member
They're a decent team that's very structured. Leafs simply outplayed them.Dappleganger said:
bustaheims
Well-known member
Dappleganger said:
They had won 9 of their last 11 coming in. They had a rough start to the season, but they?ve been one of the better teams in the league over the past month.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
It was really good to see them keep the shots against down. I can only remember once where I felt like the Dzone was a dumpster fire. Other than that, they kept control of the puck, and when they didn't have control, they kept Nashville to the outside.
I was thinking about what happened last night.
24 games in and they suddenly play some decent defense with their #7, #9 & #10 dmen?
This team confounds.
I do wonder if the Leafs were collectively motivated to help Samsonov after the injury to Woll.
He's only played 11 games - too few to conclude much. But Benoit is starting to intrigue me. He's hitting. Blocking shots. He singlehandedly killed a couple of cycles quickly last night. He's putting up good numbers on the PK. He took a good penalty last night - probably saved a goal. I think he's still got a chance to play in the NHL.
Timmins was #3 in TOI for dmen. Great pass to spring Kampf and burn Josi & McDonagh.
None of Lagesson, Lajoie, Benoit or Timmins have been really horrible.
I think the big difference last night was how they took care of the puck. They didn't turn it over very often in ways that could quickly come back to hurt them. They played that way last year when they were a better team defensively.
24 games in and they suddenly play some decent defense with their #7, #9 & #10 dmen?
This team confounds.
I do wonder if the Leafs were collectively motivated to help Samsonov after the injury to Woll.
He's only played 11 games - too few to conclude much. But Benoit is starting to intrigue me. He's hitting. Blocking shots. He singlehandedly killed a couple of cycles quickly last night. He's putting up good numbers on the PK. He took a good penalty last night - probably saved a goal. I think he's still got a chance to play in the NHL.
Timmins was #3 in TOI for dmen. Great pass to spring Kampf and burn Josi & McDonagh.
None of Lagesson, Lajoie, Benoit or Timmins have been really horrible.
I think the big difference last night was how they took care of the puck. They didn't turn it over very often in ways that could quickly come back to hurt them. They played that way last year when they were a better team defensively.
Zee
Well-known member
cw said:
I wonder that too. Were the Leafs so worried about protecting Samsonov that they played an almost perfect defensive game? I know it's difficult to commit to team defense all the time, but if they played MORE like this more of the time, they'd win a lot of hockey games. All 5 players on the ice were committed to getting back, checking, blocking shots, it was a pleasure to see. Hopefully they build off this.
I have to watch the game tonight to find out if that was a fluke or if they've turned the page. It doesn't take nearly as much skill as it does on offense to play decent defense.
Here's a clip (the 2nd clip) of Benoit killing a cycle against Ottawa.
https://twitter.com/RinkRatReport/status/1732921461235462523
He did the same to the Preds at least twice. If I were coaching him, he'd be getting more TOI if he keeps doing that. All three times, he's very aggressive - wastes little time - he goes right at it and shuts the cycle down by squeezing the puck carrier into a puck battle on the boards. A breath of fresh air compared to letting teams do laps on the cycle. Left me saying "why don't the others do that? ..." I guess we'll see soon enough if he can keep it up along with his hits and blocks. This D group needs that.
Here's a clip (the 2nd clip) of Benoit killing a cycle against Ottawa.
https://twitter.com/RinkRatReport/status/1732921461235462523
He did the same to the Preds at least twice. If I were coaching him, he'd be getting more TOI if he keeps doing that. All three times, he's very aggressive - wastes little time - he goes right at it and shuts the cycle down by squeezing the puck carrier into a puck battle on the boards. A breath of fresh air compared to letting teams do laps on the cycle. Left me saying "why don't the others do that? ..." I guess we'll see soon enough if he can keep it up along with his hits and blocks. This D group needs that.
OldTimeHockey
Active member
cw said:
Defensively, we teach players to attack when the puck possessor faces the boards. Much easier to contain. In the second portion of that clip, he does it to perfection.