I understand why teams like keeping injury info close to the chest in the playoffs. I get it. But this Nylander situation is turning into a major distraction for the team. The lack of transparency feeds speculation online, and now everybody is pissed at Willy AND Keefe. Nobody wins.
I hope that everybody felt the same way that I did, that there was 100% confidence that the Leafs would hold on to the late lead, especially with a minute or two left. No way they'd let Boston swarm them and knock in a loose puck from the front of the net.
In that late scrum, Marchand gets slashed by Bertuzzi and than Marchand throws himself on the ice holding his leg...why isn't the little rat getting a diving or unsportsmanlike penalty?
Part of the game plan for Boston is to get power plays. By crook if needed. Everyone knows the Leafs PK is not good.
They are looking for opportunities to embellish. It looks to be mandated across the team with Marchand as the lead.
Leafs player usage:
Matthews lead all Leafs in TOI. Bertuzzi was 4th. His usage shot up. Marner was 7th.
Edmundson lead all D in ES (even strength time on ice). He went from 12 min to a whopping 20.44
2 min more than 2nd Rielly. Edmundson also most utilized D on PK.
Lili usage went up. Slightly ahead of McCabe in fact.
Benoit usage went way down. Looks like Lili took the ice time of Benoit on the PK as well.
Knies usage shot up. Surprisingly he played less than Robertson in game 1.
Robertson usage went way down. Reaves played way more. He took the ice time of Robertson.
In a tight game Robertson is least utilized. Holmberg ice time took a nose dive as well.
Like in past playoffs the 3rd line was not good in game 1 and played the least in game 2.
For game 2 the 4th line became the 3rd line.
Leafs could use Nylander and/or McMann to help out the 3rd line.