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R2: Anaheim Ducks (3P) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (1P)

CarltonTheBear

CarltonTheBear

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https://twitter.com/x/status/2050440954327224589

Game 1: Anaheim at Vegas -- 9:30 p.m. ET, Monday, May 4 (ESPN, SN, SN360, TVAS)

Game 2: Anaheim at Vegas -- 9:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 6 (TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS)

Game 3: Vegas at Anaheim -- 9:30 p.m. ET, Friday, May 8 (TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS)

Game 4: Vegas at Anaheim -- 9:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, May 10 (ESPN, SN, SN360, TVAS)

* Game 5: Anaheim at Vegas -- TBA, Tuesday, May 12 (ESPN)

* Game 6: Vegas at Anaheim -- TBA, Thursday, May 14 (TNT, truTV, HBO MAX)

* Game 7: Anaheim at Vegas -- TBA, Saturday, May 16 (ABC or ESPN)

* - If necessary
 
Another high scoring series? Should be fun. For pure entertainment and watching people lose their shit, it would be funny if Vegas won. Kind of hoping the Ducks can keep rolling. They're fun to watch.
 
I think Marner absolutely got more blame than he deserved but it's also pretty clear that he wasn't producing like this in the playoffs with the Leafs. Sometimes you need a culture shift and the Leafs never went that route.

Dostal also looks terrible right now and I honestly can't recall a single series where the Leads genuinely faced bad goaltending (maybe Vasilevskiy in the series they beat Tampa but even then I don't think he was bad but rather just average)
 
L K said:
I think Marner absolutely got more blame than he deserved but it's also pretty clear that he wasn't producing like this in the playoffs with the Leafs. Sometimes you need a culture shift and the Leafs never went that route.

Dostal also looks terrible right now and I honestly can't recall a single series where the Leads genuinely faced bad goaltending (maybe Vasilevskiy in the series they beat Tampa but even then I don't think he was bad but rather just average)
Click to expand...
Vasi was bad that series. 3.56GAA, .875SV%...Samsonov went 3.18GAA, .898SV%..
You are def correct about Marner getting more blame then he should have.
 
I blame the core 4 equally. No matter how you spin it, 4 forwards making half the cap doesn't allow for a deep enough team to be competitive in the playoffs. Any of the core 4 (in their prime) on Vegas would probably be putting up big numbers.
 
cabber24 said:
I blame the core 4 equally. No matter how you spin it, 4 forwards making half the cap doesn't allow for a deep enough team to be competitive in the playoffs. Any of the core 4 (in their prime) on Vegas would probably be putting up big numbers.
Click to expand...
Yup they all should share the blame. Depth was a huge problem for the Leafs in the post season. Every team needs depth scoring to have success. You can't have the B6 pitching zeros.
 
Good for Marner but to me the number of people saying he's "proving the doubters wrong" like Jack Eichel makes me wonder: does he just repeat this ad nauseum to anyone who will listen? No wonder he couldn't do it here. It's all he could think about. It also doesn't hurt when you're playing the weakest teams in R1 & 2.
 
Bender said:
Good for Marner but to me the number of people saying he's "proving the doubters wrong" like Jack Eichel makes me wonder: does he just repeat this ad nauseum to anyone who will listen? No wonder he couldn't do it here. It's all he could think about. It also doesn't hurt when you're playing the weakest teams in R1 & 2.
Click to expand...

This is hilarious.

I'm not even saying Matthews is/was the problem. Or Nylander. Or Tavares. But the proof is pretty obvious. Marner continues to produce. The Leafs fall of a cliff.

People are 100% correct that the team make up was the problem. Think of them like a solidly built chair or table. With four legs, it's pretty tough to knock it over. Unfortunately, Treliving and team removed one of those 4 legs and tried to replace it with 5 or 6 legs of unequal lengths. Team was wobbly as fck.
 
Here's all the forwards who won a Conn Smythe and their career playoff ppg with Marner inserted

ConnSmythe Winner Playoff PPG
01 Wayne Gretzky 1.84
02 Mario Lemieux 1.61
03 Connor McDavid 1.53
04 Mark Messier 1.25
05 Mike Bossy 1.24
06 Sidney Crosby 1.11
07 Jean Beliveau 1.09
08 Joe Sakic 1.09
09 Guy Lafleur 1.05
10 Evgeni Malkin 1.00
11 Mitch Marner 0.99
12 Patrick Kane 0.97
13 Steve Yzerman 0.94
14 Alex Ovechkin 0.91
15 H Zetterberg 0.88
16 Jonathan Toews 0.87
17 Yvan Cournoyer 0.86
18 Ryan O'Reilly 0.83
19 Bryan Trottier 0.82
20 J Marchessault 0.75
21 Dave Keon 0.74
22 Joe Nieuwendyk 0.73
23 Sam Bennett 0.73
24 Reggie Leach 0.73
25 Brad Richards 0.72
26 Butch Goring 0.66
27 J Williams 0.63
28 Bob Gainey 0.40

It is a little unfair as many of them declined as they got older
while Marner is near his peak

If Marner is such a lousy playoff scorer how come all these Conn Smythe winners couldn't blow him away in playoff ppg?
What is wrong with them?

Unlike a number of them, Marner is somewhat like Gainey - in that his defensive smarts is a key component of his game

That to me is what is really overlooked when folks focus only on his points - too often, they forget the other side of his 200 foot game.

He's not just leading the league in playoff scoring this year. He's leading in +/- as he did over all Leafs forwards during his time here. Some of that will probably change when they face Colorado. Yes, he's benefited from weaker competition this season. But again, he's put up the best scoring and +/- numbers on his team so far - in other words, he's not a playoff bum - which is why all the Cup winning coaches he's had give him so much ice time.

I cross checked that by selecting all the forwards in NHL history who played 41 or more playoff games (half a season to get a decent data sample for ppg).
www.nhl.com

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.
www.nhl.com www.nhl.com
Of the 1,079 NHL forwards who played 41 or more playoff games, Marner's 0.99 career playoff ppg is tied for 36th in NHL history - he's inside the top 4%. If Marner is such a playoff scoring bum, how do we describe the other 96% of these NHLers?
 
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