Stars @ Leafs - Feb. 7th, 7:30pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

21-22-10, 52 points | 24-17-10, 58 points

Projected Lines

Benn-Eakin-Eaves Roussel-Seguin-Ritchie Shore-Faksa-Sharp McKenzie-Cracknell-Korpikoski Lindell-Klingberg Hamhuis-Benn Nemeth-Johns Lehtonen ​

Hyman-Matthews-Brown Komarov-Kadri-Nylander JVR-Bozak-Marner Martin-Smith-Soshnikov Rielly-Zaitsev Gardiner-Carrick Hunwick-Polak McElhinney​

Scratches

Jiri Hudler         Julius Honka ​

Alexey Marchenko Martin Marincin Josh Leivo​

Game Notes

DAL
?Kari Lehtonen (11-15-6, 2.89 GAA, .902 Sv%) will likely start for the Stars
?Lehtonen has played in 10 straight games for Dallas, starting 8 of them. He's 2-5-2 in that stretch with a .913 save percentage. Niemi started 2 games in that stretch and was pulled both times
?The Stars will be without Jason Spezza for a couple of weeks, he was injured on the weekend

TOR
?McBackup (3-3-2, 2.43 GAA, .922 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?The Leafs will look to avenge last weeks 6-3 loss to the Stars

Injuries

?Jason Spezza - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Johnny Oduya - Ankle - Injured Reserve ?Jamie Oleksiak - Hand - Injured Reserve ?Ales Hemsky - Hip - Out for season ?Mattias Janmark - Knee - Out for season​

?Nathan Horton - Back - Out indefinitely ?Joffrey Lupul - ?\_(ツ)_/? - Out indefinitely ?Stephane Robidas - Old - Out indefinitely​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[disco]

Go Leafs Go!

 

[Kaberle15]

I want 2 points for the Leafs in regulation by a good margin.

Go Leafs Go!

 

[dekedastardly]

They really need to avenge their poor outing last game against these guys. No "we're tired" excuses on second half of back to backs. Be nice to see Mcilhinney get the start. With that, hopefully the recent trend of giving up the early softie ends.

 

[herman]

I haven't had a chance to watch too closely as I missed a couple of games, but judging by the breakdowns and the way tap-in goals are being given up, it sounds like a system adjustment was made on the defensive zone side of things that players are still calibrating to*.

As mentioned upthread, the Leafs play a more complicated modified swarm that requires a lot of communication and trust and we're finding out which players can handle it and which ones have some more growing to do. Polak mentioned recently that sometimes players try too hard and instead of taking their own assignment, they try to do someone else's.

Not helping that were Rielly's absence (and continued healing), minor lineup changes (Smith-Gauthier), and primarily Andersen fluctuating into a minor downswing, which revealed these latent issues on the scoresheet.

* According to Stephen Desrocher, the Leafs' system is pretty much always changing.

 

[Frank E]

I haven't had a chance to watch too closely as I missed a couple of games, but judging by the breakdowns and the way tap-in goals are being given up, it sounds like a system adjustment was made on the defensive zone side of things that players are still calibrating to*.

As mentioned upthread, the Leafs play a more complicated modified swarm that requires a lot of communication and trust and we're finding out which players can handle it and which ones have some more growing to do. Polak mentioned recently that sometimes players try too hard and instead of taking their own assignment, they try to do someone else's.

Not helping that were Rielly's absence (and continued healing), minor lineup changes (Smith-Gauthier), and primarily Andersen fluctuating into a minor downswing, which revealed these latent issues on the scoresheet.

* According to Stephen Desrocher, the Leafs' system is pretty much always changing.

This reminds me, Smith was pretty bad last night.  I think Gauthier was better in that spot.

 

[pmrules]

I haven't had a chance to watch too closely as I missed a couple of games, but judging by the breakdowns and the way tap-in goals are being given up, it sounds like a system adjustment was made on the defensive zone side of things that players are still calibrating to*.

As mentioned upthread, the Leafs play a more complicated modified swarm that requires a lot of communication and trust and we're finding out which players can handle it and which ones have some more growing to do. Polak mentioned recently that sometimes players try too hard and instead of taking their own assignment, they try to do someone else's.

Not helping that were Rielly's absence (and continued healing), minor lineup changes (Smith-Gauthier), and primarily Andersen fluctuating into a minor downswing, which revealed these latent issues on the scoresheet.

* According to Stephen Desrocher, the Leafs' system is pretty much always changing.

This reminds me, Smith was pretty bad last night.  I think Gauthier was better in that spot.

Long term Gauthier is the 4C (potential 3C) solution.  I wouldn't mind, for the greater future good, if Gauthier stayed in the AHL for the remainder of the season and develop further without the millions of eyes on him.  He still has areas of improvement.

 

[herman]

This reminds me, Smith was pretty bad last night.  I think Gauthier was better in that spot.

Long term Gauthier is the 4C (potential 3C) solution.  I wouldn't mind, for the greater future good, if Gauthier stayed in the AHL for the remainder of the season and develop further without the millions of eyes on him.  He still has areas of improvement.

Statistically, Smith has been better than Gauthier individually. Gauthier scored some stellar goals though, so that washes out a lot of the bad in our minds and the narrative around him is largely more positive/hilarious. He also still has a future, so I'm more willing to give the Gaut more leash later. Our 4th line wingers looked more effective with Gauthier as well.

Ideally, Smith gets traded for something, perhaps as the Spaling to Polak 2.0. They both play the way a lot of old school coaches over value. After the deadline, we either bring up Gauthier or Froese and that'll be that.

 

[Highlander]

This reminds me, Smith was pretty bad last night.  I think Gauthier was better in that spot.

Long term Gauthier is the 4C (potential 3C) solution.  I wouldn't mind, for the greater future good, if Gauthier stayed in the AHL for the remainder of the season and develop further without the millions of eyes on him.  He still has areas of improvement.

Statistically, Smith has been better than Gauthier individually. Gauthier scored some stellar goals though, so that washes out a lot of the bad in our minds and the narrative around him is largely more positive/hilarious. He also still has a future, so I'm more willing to give the Gaut more leash later. Our 4th line wingers looked more effective with Gauthier as well.

Ideally, Smith gets traded for something, perhaps as the Spaling to Polak 2.0. They both play the way a lot of old school coaches over value. After the deadline, we either bring up Gauthier or Froese and that'll be that.

Seems to me that the Leafs tend to win more with Gauthier than Smith. I think you have to look at this intangible and say "are the Leafs in it to win it this year"? or do you let Freddie develop with the Marlies? 
I like the win now philospohy whilst retaining the overall Shanaplan

 

[herman]

Seems to me that the Leafs tend to win more with Gauthier than Smith. I think you have to look at this intangible and say "are the Leafs in it to win it this year"? or do you let Freddie develop with the Marlies? 
I like the win now philospohy whilst retaining the overall Shanaplan

Gauthier and Smith are more 'play to not lose' guys than 'play to win' guys, so their predominant effect on outcome is either maintaining the existing score, or unfortunately occasionally costing us the game.

So the intangible of winning more with Gauthier was that he coincided with a spike in our PP proficiency, a brief run of our PK being unbeatable thanks to Andersen playing lights out, and all the rookies firing away.

Letting Gauthier develop is the better decision.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Seems to me that the Leafs tend to win more with Gauthier than Smith. I think you have to look at this intangible and say "are the Leafs in it to win it this year"? or do you let Freddie develop with the Marlies? 
I like the win now philospohy whilst retaining the overall Shanaplan

Gauthier and Smith are more 'play to not lose' guys than 'play to win' guys, so their predominant effect on outcome is either maintaining the existing score, or unfortunately occasionally costing us the game.

So the intangible of winning more with Gauthier was that he coincided with a spike in our PP proficiency, a brief run of our PK being unbeatable thanks to Andersen playing lights out, and all the rookies firing away.

Letting Gauthier develop is the better decision.

It's also notable that by the end of his stint he was a "take the faceoff and GTFO" on the PK.  He's not fast enough to execute the high-pressure PK system the Leafs play.

 

[disco]

Happy game day! Every other night for two months ;D This made me laugh.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/829069727720960000
Matt Martin wants YOU to keep that workplace de-fribulator on hand with proper signage :

 

[Zee]

Marchenko not in?  Not like the defense has been a tire fire or anything lately...i mean how much worse could he be?

 

[Redleaf]

Who's feeling a big Leaf win tonight. Anyone??

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Who's feeling a big Leaf win tonight. Anyone??

5-2 Leafs. 3 points for Matthews. BTW, nice to look here and not see Laine anymore.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/rookies.htm

 

[Frank E]

I swear, these TSN guys are trolling these boards for material. 

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I swear, these TSN guys are trolling these boards for material.

I missed the pre-game, what they saying?

 

[McGarnagle]

I swear, these TSN guys are trolling these boards for material.

I missed the pre-game, what they saying?

They were saying anyone that picked this team to play at a 93 point pace is delusional, and should be banned from all bars, rec rooms, and the internet. I thought it was a bit strong, but hey, they're the experts.

 

[Frank E]

I swear, these TSN guys are trolling these boards for material.

I missed the pre-game, what they saying?

They were saying anyone that picked this team to play at a 93 point pace is delusional, and should be banned from all bars, rec rooms, and the internet. I thought it was a bit strong, but hey, they're the experts.

Pretty sure it was you that used the term "tire fire" the other day in talking about the defense lately, and they were using that exact term tonight describing the defense.