OldTimeHockey said:
I didn't watch the game but did watch the 6 minute replay. I'd say that goaltending can only been looked at on two of those goals, with only one of those two not involving a defensive breakdown.
It's early in the season but the trend of coughing up the puck repeatedly in their own zone needs to be stopped as soon as possible.
Yep, agreed. I think the problem seems to be that fans are so used to Andersen bailing the D out of bad decisions, that when he doesn't do it, it's his fault.
I still maintain that this D group is being tasked with plays that it doesn't have the talent to execute. None of them are especially big and strong, so they can't break up the cycle, and their constantly getting on the wrong side of body position, so when they do finally get a chance to transition it, they're gassed. None of them are particularly fast, save Reilly. And none of them have much vision in terms of possession type decisions in their own end save Gardiner, and he occasionally has his off nights as well.
I'd like to see them acknowledge this, and return to a simpler getting the puck out of the zone as quickly as possible rather than trying to make elite plays as a group. Once the opposition has the puck in the Leafs' end, they're having a hell of a time trying to get it back.