Leafs @ Capitals - Apr. 21st, 7:00pm - CBC, Fan 590

[itsgametime]

Correction, Reilly stopped at the goal line when he saw Hunwick leave his man to go behind the net.

That better?

Well no.  Hunwick never left his man.  Watch it again and you'll see what I mean.

 

[azzurri63]

I blamed Nylander when the goal happened as I thought he could have probably got to the slot quicker if he would have glanced back. After watching the goal a couple times I think I put more blame on Reilly. No reason to stop at the post and basically took himself out of the play and was not quick enough to get to Williams and the attempted shot block was hilarious.

 

[AvroArrow]

Correction, Reilly stopped at the goal line when he saw Hunwick leave his man to go behind the net.

That better?

Well no.  Hunwick never left his man.  Watch it again and you'll see what I mean.

I literally just watched.  Hunwick's man is on the near boards.  Hunwick swings in behind the net, leaving his man.

 

[AvroArrow]

I blamed Nylander when the goal happened as I thought he could have probably got to the slot quicker if he would have glanced back. After watching the goal a couple times I think I put more blame on Reilly. No reason to stop at the post and basically took himself out of the play and was not quick enough to get to Williams and the attempted shot block was hilarious.

He stopped because Hunwick went behind the net.  Both defenders on one player behind the net means a man is open in front.

I will admit that once Reilly stopped, he didn't read the play fast enough to cover the player in the slot (after Matthews tried to take Hunwick's man)

 

[itsgametime]

Correction, Reilly stopped at the goal line when he saw Hunwick leave his man to go behind the net.

That better?

Well no.  Hunwick never left his man.  Watch it again and you'll see what I mean.

I literally just watched.  Hunwick's man is on the near boards.  Hunwick swings in behind the net, leaving his man.

Hunwick doesn't swing in behind the net, he took a direct root to MJ once he saw Reilly was beat.  Kuz on the boards was the responsibility of the 2nd forward coming back so either Nylander or Mathews

 

[disco]

Our PP was firing this game ends 3-1 Leafs in regulation.

 

[mr grieves]

Yeah, but that's why I'd be wary of changing the Kadri line. They're checking the Caps' 1L about as effectively as I could've hoped, and I can't really see what Marner would add, doubt Brown would get the Bozak line going.

Like I said, for me it's less about getting the Bozak line going and more getting Marner going. Put him in more of a counter puncher's role, give him a better center to set-up...I'm not saying I know it would work, just that I don't think Brown is really integral to what's working on that Kadri line.

Yeah, maybe a counterpunch against an apparently tougher matchup would be better than going against the Caps bottom 6, which have figured out how to grind the Bozak line down.

I guess the thing I'm stuck on is that Marner's already pretty positioned to succeed. He's got JvR, who's playing well, and he's playing at least a decent amount of time with Rielly... he's not getting the tough match-ups that Kadri and Matthews are getting. I think it's possible that he's just done for the season, whether that's because of a wall being hit in his first pro season or the injury and illness he had a month or so back.

 

[Nik]

Yeah, maybe a counterpunch against an apparently tougher matchup would be better than going against the Caps bottom 6, which have figured out how to grind the Bozak line down.

I guess the thing I'm stuck on is that Marner's already pretty positioned to succeed. He's got JvR, who's playing well, and he's playing at least a decent amount of time with Rielly... he's not getting the tough match-ups that Kadri and Matthews are getting. I think it's possible that he's just done for the season, whether that's because of a wall being hit in his first pro season or the injury and illness he had a month or so back.

Sure, there's a very good chance this sort of shake-up wouldn't really result in any huge difference.

But the Leafs haven't had a lead in this series since midway through the 3rd of game 2. To me that says you should be thinking about shaking-up what isn't working even if just for the sake of shake-ups.

 

[Zee]

I'll feel alot better about the Leafs game last night if the Habs get eliminated​ tonight

 

[L K]

I'll feel alot better about the Leafs game last night if the Habs get eliminated​ tonight

 

[mr grieves]

But the Leafs haven't had a lead in this series since midway through the 3rd of game 2. To me that says you should be thinking about shaking-up what isn't working even if just for the sake of shake-ups.

Oh, I'm all for that. Marner's underperformance is the glaring weakness, so I understand the desire to get him going, but, from what I've seen, the spark he needs is as likely to come from him than getting moved to another line, which might create a tough matchup.

As for shake-ups more broadly, I think they could do themselves some good by shuffling other things around. In my wildest dreams, they'd try to create more matchup havoc but plugging a motivated Leivo in Martin's place and trying to get more out of the fourth line. More realistically, the powerplay's not been good, particularly in gaining the zone and setting up. That's a good reason to try to work Kapanen in, who's been pretty good about getting into the zone and getting to pucks quickly. He's also pretty good around the net.

But I'm sort of expecting Babcock to stand pat. He hasn't really shown himself to be very creative in juggling the forward lines.

 

[Zee]

I'll feel alot better about the Leafs game last night if the Habs get eliminated​ tonight

Feeling much better