You stated this:
"You're right. Rielly has never had bad gap control."
I never said that.
Then you twist the discussion from one particular play to "This is where the confusion lies. That he is good at defending or bad at defending?"
Some folks get suckered by the off the cuff television commentary.
Toronto Maple Leafs - Utah Mammoth - Oct 13, 2026 | NHL.com
NHL Gamecenter - Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Utah Mammoth, Oct 13, 2026 - summary, stats, boxscore, play by play, recap and more.
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At the latest, in high school hockey, where do they teach dmen to line up in the o-zone for a faceoff? Well away from the far boards - closer to center ice. The defensive read on that puck battle with all the Utah players inside the right faceoff dot should have been "this situation is like a faceoff so I need to position myself, in part, for the possibility we lose possession - just like I do on faceoffs" Stecher didn't do that. He was too far over by the far boards. He left his partner, Rielly, with a 2 on 1 - not a walk around. He skated and tried to get back but it was too late to get in proper position to defend. That is my first grievance. I'm confident he got spoken to about that by his coaches. Again, this is high school stuff - big leaguers getting paid 7 figures are supposed to have this stuff down.
Mckenna won the puck on the boards and passes to Roslovic. Roslovic is surrounded by 4 Utah players. No chance. They relieve him of the puck. Paul tries a somewhat lame poke check of But and misses. But starts to go up the boards. Paul goes over with him. But pushes the puck ahead to McBain with Paul right there. Paul doesn't finish his check or ride him off into the boards. Then as But takes off building up speed, Paul doesn't seem to make much of an effort to pursue.
Roslovic, does his best impression of a casual, lazy skate back to get a distant view of the impending goal.
But is a right shot and Stecher is pressing him some towards the corner so that But doesn't have the greatest angle. If 6'6" Stolarz just stands there and hugs the left post, there is not much left for But to shoot at and if he goes for it, Stolarz can kick with his right pad or blocker. Stolarz doesn't do that. He flops down into a butterfly out of line with the shooter such that he's protecting ice to the left of the net and in doing so, gives up nearly the whole top of the net. It seemed so stoppable that it felt soft.
So on that goal, before I get to Rielly, I have bigger issues with Stecher, Paul & Stolarz. It is a team sport. I bet if I spoke with Pounder, Corrado & Colaiacovo, at the very least, they would concede some of what I just said.
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