Canadiens @ Leafs - Apr. 9th, 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

[Bill_Berg_is_sad]

https://twitter.com/scottmatla/status/1512955151606337536

These guys are banking on Caufield so hard.

If Leafs win the Cup, all the trash talking from Habs fans goes away, cause at that point they got nothing.

The fallback position is then about the number of Cups.

Oh I know, but it's a hollow position.  At least now they can chant "1967" and "have you ever won a Cup in colour or in HD?"  Leafs win it, and the Habs fans "number of Cups" thing is basically just a huge reach where they may as well just yell "SHUT UP OK!!!"

Habs are basically at 30 years now. Lots of fans over there that have never seen a cup.

Also, if the Leafs win the cup, I will have to have a serious internal debate between being humble and joining the epic new era of trash talking that will surely begin.

I fear for fans of any other Canadian team on Twitter if the Leafs win the Cup.  If they think Leafs fans are bad now, just wait.  Also, other cities complain about too much Leafs centric coverage, imagine how that would just increase if they won the Cup?  ;D

I doubt I would actually be a jerk about it, but if I had a list of all the people on Twitter that went out of their way to piss off Leaf fans over the years. No mercy for them!

[hobarth]

I watched the game on Saturday, TO owned the 1st, the 2nd was fairly close but Mtl. owned the 3rd in a close game.

This is what is most distressing about the Leafs, a what is/should be a far inferior team like Montreal was able to control the game at any time in the game but even more important seemed to have pretty much total control in the last period in a close game.

I believe this shows a lack of killer instinct which is totally necessary for any team to do well in the playoffs.

[CarltonTheBear]

Total shot attempts in the 3rd period were 27-12, scoring chances were 19-4. I'll give you one hint as to which team had the lead in those numbers: it wasn't Montreal.

[bustaheims]

I watched the game on Saturday, TO owned the 1st, the 2nd was fairly close but Mtl. owned the 3rd in a close game.

My eyes and the numbers don't align with your interpretation of the 3rd period in the slightest. Montreal was credited with all of 4 scoring chances in the 3rd. The leafs had 19.

Toronto dominated the 1st and the 3rd. The 2nd was pretty even.

[hobarth]

Total shot attempts in the 3rd period were 27-12, scoring chances were 19-4. I'll give you one hint as to which team had the lead in those numbers: it wasn't Montreal.

Shot attempts are meaningless, what is meaningful is that the actual shots taken by Mtl. were of the extremely dangerous variety, which I'd think implies that the lesser team is actually more talented or had a far more pronounced killer instinct.

TO has 100 points so they're a good team but I don't think good teams can as frequently as TO allow inferior teams to beat them.

Since Jan. 1 TO has lost to Arizona 2-1, Van.3-2, Mtl. 5-2, Buff. 5-1, Van. 6-4, Arizona 5-4, Buff. 5-2, Mtl 4-2. These losses were/are distressing, I play some sports and competition is why I do, I always want/try to win, if I'm the better player I never give the lesser opponent an opportunity to beat me and nobody pays me millions to win.

It just seems to me that the Leafs can very easily fold in the face of adversity and their record doesn't reflect that for reasons I can't understand.  I lost faith in TO early in the year, TO played Pitts. Oct. 23 and lost 7-1, Pitts. is a good team so that's understandable except that Pitts. didn't have Crosby, Malkin and Letang that night which would be like TO not having Mitch, Austin and JT. Since then TO has won a lot but I have consistently felt that the team is a house of cards because I've seen them play so poorly against even really bad teams.

It's very hard to have faith in the Leafs especially after watching the Canadians have their way with the Leafs on Saturday late in the game when the superior team should not be allowing the inferior team a chance to win.

[Joe]

No offence but I think you're watching another leafs team from some other dimension because nothing of what you said seems to be rooted in reality.

[CarltonTheBear]

Shot attempts are meaningless, what is meaningful is that the actual shots taken by Mtl. were of the extremely dangerous variety, which I'd think implies that the lesser team is actually more talented or had a far more pronounced killer instinct.

Alright let's do it like this then. Montreal took a grand total of 7 shots on net in the 3rd period, which by your description is total domination. Here's a description of all 7 shots:

1) 18:36, Jake Evans chips the puck in at the Leafs blue line and it goes on net. Kallgren covers it. This was very charitably considered a shot by the Toronto scorekeeper.

2) 14:49, Anderson hunts down a puck lobbed into the Leafs zone and gets there first. He doesn't have any time or space to do anything other than backhand it on Kallgren. Anderson has 1 backhanded goal in 59 games this season and it shows. Easy save for Kallgren.

3) 13:37, Gallagher speeds past the Leafs at the blue line and gets a good scoring chance on Kallgren. Would I say this was an extremely danger shot vs. just a dangerous shot... eh, but I'll give you this one.

4) 4:38, Romanov, who has 3 goals in 69 games this season, puts a puck on net from the Leafs blue line. It wasn't a particularly hard shot and it wasn't tipped and there was nobody directly in front of Kallgren. Also want to make note of the times here, in a period where the Canadiens apparently had "pretty much total control" they went 9 minutes without a shot on net.

5) 3:57, Suzuki from behind the Leafs goal line threw the puck toward the Leafs goal as a centering attempt, instead it bounced off Kallgren's pads and immediately went out of the Leafs zone. Once again, this was very charitably considered a shot by the Toronto scorekeeper.

6: 0:52, With the Habs on the PP and their net empty they set up a one-timer for Hoffman. He gets it off but despite Montreal having 2 extra players on the ice there isn't a single red & white jersey anywhere within 8 feet of the Leafs crease and Kallgren is able to see the pass-then-shot the entire way and easily gets in front of it.

7: 0:07, similar to the Suzuki play Gallagher is at the corner of the rink on the Leafs goal line and passes it to the front of the net despite the fact that there is no Canadiens player within 15 feet of the net and it just bounces off Kallgren. Again, Toronto scorekeeper being very kind in considering that a shot on net.

So we have a period here where Montreal got 7 shots on goal. 3 of them would absolutely not be considered shots by any serious hockey individual. 1 of them was a very routine save any NHL goalie could make as well as most AHL goalies. 2 of them might have been decent scoring opportunities if Montreal had any bodies in front of Kallgren but they did not so he was able to stop those without much trouble. And one of them was yes a legitimately good scoring chance. Are you really going to sit here and say that because of one good scoring opportunity that Montreal "owned" the 3rd period?

[Guilt Trip]

No offence but I think you're watching another leafs team from some other dimension because nothing of what you said seems to be rooted in reality.

Haha...funny and true.

[Bill_Berg_is_sad]

Were the Canadiens the beer league team the Leafs were supposed to lose to?

[bustaheims]

No offence but I think you're watching another leafs team from some other dimension because nothing of what you said seems to be rooted in reality.

Clearly. Or just watching replays of other games, possibly from other seasons. Barely anything being said by him matches what happened on Saturday.

4 scoring chances for Montreal compared to 19 for the Leafs. If that's Montréal having their way with the Leafs, I feel sorry for their fan base.

[Zee]

Total shot attempts in the 3rd period were 27-12, scoring chances were 19-4. I'll give you one hint as to which team had the lead in those numbers: it wasn't Montreal.

Shot attempts are meaningless, what is meaningful is that the actual shots taken by Mtl. were of the extremely dangerous variety, which I'd think implies that the lesser team is actually more talented or had a far more pronounced killer instinct.

You know there are actually propeller heads out there that watch and re-watch games for shots and chances and quality of scoring opportunity yeah? By any measure from Saturday Leafs deserved to win that game and they did.

[hobarth]

Were the Canadiens the beer league team the Leafs were supposed to lose to?

They were last year.

[Bender]

Total shot attempts in the 3rd period were 27-12, scoring chances were 19-4. I'll give you one hint as to which team had the lead in those numbers: it wasn't Montreal.

Shot attempts are meaningless, what is meaningful is that the actual shots taken by Mtl. were of the extremely dangerous variety, which I'd think implies that the lesser team is actually more talented or had a far more pronounced killer instinct.

TO has 100 points so they're a good team but I don't think good teams can as frequently as TO allow inferior teams to beat them.

Since Jan. 1 TO has lost to Arizona 2-1, Van.3-2, Mtl. 5-2, Buff. 5-1, Van. 6-4, Arizona 5-4, Buff. 5-2, Mtl 4-2. These losses were/are distressing, I play some sports and competition is why I do, I always want/try to win, if I'm the better player I never give the lesser opponent an opportunity to beat me and nobody pays me millions to win.

It just seems to me that the Leafs can very easily fold in the face of adversity and their record doesn't reflect that for reasons I can't understand.  I lost faith in TO early in the year, TO played Pitts. Oct. 23 and lost 7-1, Pitts. is a good team so that's understandable except that Pitts. didn't have Crosby, Malkin and Letang that night which would be like TO not having Mitch, Austin and JT. Since then TO has won a lot but I have consistently felt that the team is a house of cards because I've seen them play so poorly against even really bad teams.

It's very hard to have faith in the Leafs especially after watching the Canadians have their way with the Leafs on Saturday late in the game when the superior team should not be allowing the inferior team a chance to win.

Tampa was on a skid and Boston recently lost to Detroit. If the Leafs aren't 82-0 they're trash, but no other team is held to the same standard. Just friging nonsense.

[Bill_Berg_is_sad]

Were the Canadiens the beer league team the Leafs were supposed to lose to?

They were last year.

I wonder how many beers Carey Price coats.  Maybe he just needs a six pack and a ride to the game.

[L K]

Were the Canadiens the beer league team the Leafs were supposed to lose to?

They were last year.

You must be fun at parties.