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Game 6 - Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins L6-2

McPwnage

McPwnage

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full preview: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/preview?gid=2011102001
Phil Kessel is tired of talking about how he struggles against the Boston Bruins.  He?s certainly doing just fine for the red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs this season.

The NHL?s top scorer, Kessel looks to continue his torrid start Thursday night when the Maple Leafs open a four-game trip against his former club.

Kessel spent his first three seasons in Boston (2-4-0), and led the Bruins with a career-high 36 goals in 2008-09 before being acquired by Toronto (4-0-1). He?s struggled to show that scoring punch for the Leafs when facing the Bruins, notching two goals and four assists in 12 meetings.

Leafs Lines:
Lupul - Bozak - Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Frattin - Lombardi - Kadri?
Brown - Steckel - Dupuis

Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Liles - Schenn
Gardiner - Komisarek

Reimer
Gustavsson

Bruins Lines:
Lucic - Seguin - Horton
Marchand - Bergeron - Peverly
Pouliot - Kelly - Caron
Paille - Campbell - Thornton

Chara - Boychuck
Sidenburg - Corvo
Ference - Bartkowski

Thomas
Rask

Leafs Scoring Leaders:
Phil Kessel GP:5 G:7 A:5 P:12 +7
Joffrey Lupul GP:5 G:4 A:3 P:7 +7
Dion Phaneuf GP:5 G:1 A:5 P:6 +8

Bruins Scoring Leaders:
Tyler Seguin GP:6 G:1 A:4: P:5 +3
Rich Peverly GP:6 G:3 A:1 P:4 +2
Brad Marchand GP:6 G:2 A:2 P:4 +2
​
 
Real_ESPNLeBrunPierre LeBrun
Ha RT @rayferrarotsn: Assuming Leafs have called up Nazem Kadri..he's sitting across the aisle from me on flt to Boston
 
If MacArthur can go, I hope they do something like this..

Lupul - Bozak - Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Lombardi - Steckel - Frattin
Brown - Dupuis - Rosehill

Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Liles - Schenn
Gardiner - Franson

Gustavsson

If Mac can't go, I think they need to call up Kadri. Either way, it will be a different line-up tonight I think. One of Komisarek or Schenn has to sit. My guess is Komisarek, because I think Schenn will come out of his funk quicker.

EDIT: I guess they already called up Kadri.
 
lc9 said:
Mack674 said:
You mean Armstrong ?
Click to expand...

Mac left the game early last night too.  Armstrong for sure looks to be out.
Click to expand...
This worries me... I have memories of everything going wonderful at the start of last year, then Army got injured and we immediately went on that massive losing streak... let's not have that happen again.
 
Crucialness Key said:
lc9 said:
Mack674 said:
You mean Armstrong ?
Click to expand...

Mac left the game early last night too.  Armstrong for sure looks to be out.
Click to expand...
This worries me... I have memories of everything going wonderful at the start of last year, then Army got injured and we immediately went on that massive losing streak... let's not have that happen again.
Click to expand...

Yes that's exactly what I thought last night.  We tanked at the same time he got hurt, and I didn't think it was a coincidence at the time.  Hope he's back soon.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Liles - Schenn
Gardiner - Franson
Click to expand...

You know, I'm not sure what I'd do with the D pairings this game...

I mean, a straight-up replacement of Franson for Komi would be nice, but a pairing of Gardiner-Franson kind of terrifies me defensively.

Liles-Franson
Gardiner-Schenn?

Let Schenn focus solely on the defensive side of things, while letting Gardiner take care of moving the puck? Perhaps keeping his game simple would help him steady out his play.
 
The Red Polar Bear said:
You know, I'm not sure what I'd do with the D pairings this game...

I mean, a straight-up replacement of Franson for Komi would be nice, but a pairing of Gardiner-Franson kind of terrifies me defensively.

Liles-Franson
Gardiner-Schenn?

Let Schenn focus solely on the defensive side of things, while letting Gardiner take care of moving the puck? Perhaps keeping his game simple would help him steady out his play.
Click to expand...

I can see worry about those pairings, however the same thing will happen with Franson being with Liles. Liles and Gardiner both like to jump into the rush and Franson has a penchant for doing that also, so I don't think it matters much. I guess putting Franson with Liles is a bit better, as Liles is probably more defensively aware than Gardiner is.

Either way, I believe that this is why Komisarek hasn't been sat thus far, as they need a stay at home presence for a few of their rear-guards.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
The Red Polar Bear said:
You know, I'm not sure what I'd do with the D pairings this game...

I mean, a straight-up replacement of Franson for Komi would be nice, but a pairing of Gardiner-Franson kind of terrifies me defensively.

Liles-Franson
Gardiner-Schenn?

Let Schenn focus solely on the defensive side of things, while letting Gardiner take care of moving the puck? Perhaps keeping his game simple would help him steady out his play.
Click to expand...

I can see worry about those pairings, however the same thing will happen with Franson being with Liles. Liles and Gardiner both like to jump into the rush and Franson has a penchant for doing that also, so I don't think it matters much. I guess putting Franson with Liles is a bit better, as Liles is probably more defensively aware than Gardiner is.
Click to expand...

Schenn has struggled so I feel a bit leery about a possible pairing with him and Gardiner but maybe that's a good tonic to get him going? Not sure what's really wrong with him either, couple things jump out as possibilities, new contract ( though that shouldn't be a big deal ) and new rule applications in the hitting department that could be messing him up between the ears, he doesn't seem like his old robust hard checking self. Maybe he's a bit hurt too, dunno. He hasn't been horrible but he has been flat at times.
 
Tigger said:
Not sure what's really wrong with him either, couple things jump out as possibilities, new contract ( though that shouldn't be a big deal ) and new rule applications in the hitting department that could be messing him up between the ears, he doesn't seem like his old robust hard checking self. Maybe he's a bit hurt too, dunno. He hasn't been horrible but he has been flat at times.
Click to expand...

I think it is between the ears. His hitting, while less prevalent, isn't any less robust IMO, maybe a little, but where I see his game suffering, is his decision making with the puck. When he gets control of the puck after a hard battle for it, he seems less fleet of foot and confused about what to do with it. We haven't really seen this problem with Schenn, he usually can even deek a guy out and then make a solid play, but we haven't been seeing that. Lots of hesitation in his game lately.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Tigger said:
Not sure what's really wrong with him either, couple things jump out as possibilities, new contract ( though that shouldn't be a big deal ) and new rule applications in the hitting department that could be messing him up between the ears, he doesn't seem like his old robust hard checking self. Maybe he's a bit hurt too, dunno. He hasn't been horrible but he has been flat at times.
Click to expand...

I think it is between the ears. His hitting, while less prevalent, isn't any less robust IMO, maybe a little, but where I see his game suffering, is his decision making with the puck. When he gets control of the puck after a hard battle for it, he seems less fleet of foot and confused about what to do with it. We haven't really seen this problem with Schenn, he usually can even deek a guy out and then make a solid play, but we haven't been seeing that. Lots of hesitation in his game lately.
Click to expand...

Yeah hesitation is a good way of putting it. I'm not overly worried about him shaking it off though, in fact, if the Leafs actually start firing on all cylinders ( Reimers 'A' game, Schenn, Grabbo unit yadda yadda ) they will be hard to beat, they've been 'good to be lucky' in some ways so far.
 
Tigger said:
Yeah hesitation is a good way of putting it. I'm not overly worried about him shaking it off though, in fact, if the Leafs actually start firing on all cylinders ( Reimers 'A' game, Schenn, Grabbo unit yadda yadda ) they will be hard to beat, they've been 'good to be lucky' in some ways so far.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if all our players are bringing their A' game at the same time, I like our chances against anyone in the league really. I think Lombardi has a whole lot more to give also, but he's looking like a player that hasn't plays in a while. His speed is there, but his timing and hockey sense has to come back into form.

Steckel has provided a real difference in the bottom half of the forward group, if we can just get the Grabbo line and the third line clicking, while cleaning up the defense, look out NHL.
 
McPwnage said:
Personally I would like to see the defence like this

Liles - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Schenn
Gunnar - Franson
Click to expand...
I agree that would be the most "balanced" set, I just didn't want to touch Phaneuf's pairing cause it's been working well so far. Though, this does make the most sense.
 
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