I tend to agree. Nylander does have a ton of offensive natural goal scorer talent, but my complaint is that he can many times be a liability both in his own end and to his linemates on offence for lack of physicality in many situations. He's still young, and I'd hope Keefe can help him round out his overall game a bit more at both ends of the rink.
A Kinder, Gentler 2020-21 Toronto Maple Leafs thread
- Thread starter John Wick
- Start date
Tonight the Leafs face a dramatically different Ottawa roster from last season. Many new faces and additions including Matt Murray in net, Stutzle as the prime rookie, and key pieces like Galchenyuk, Stepan, Gudbranson, Dadonov, Paquette and former Leaf Zaitzev. Feels like this could be a bigger challenge for the buds than the MTL game.
I’m excited about watching something different than doom and gloom TV...
Once the season gets going and the story lines and player drama start to ramp up, you'll hopefully feel more into it.
The hardest thing for me to overcome is no fans in the stands. This whole thing has made me realize how integral the fan participation and emotion
is to the dynamic of a game and my enjoyment of it..
In the NHL I don't miss the fans at all, it's the game that matters, players are still playing hard...the coverings over the seats make it look a little better than having rows and rows of empty seats.
Well the majority of your posts on here point to the fact that you have an overactive imagination so that doesn't surprise me in the least.......
A bad 2nd period has the Leafs down two.
-Defence and goal tending are big concerns.
-Brodie was weak on Tkachuk on his goal. Matthews in the same position was hammered hard by Weber and Charot but Brodie did nothing.
-Hyman should be back on Matthews’ line ASAP, he scored the first goal and did a lot of “mucking along the boards” and “paid the price” by standing in front of the net to create the second.
-Nylander gave away the puck and caused the Leafs a penalty which led to a goal against.
-Defence and goal tending are big concerns.
-Brodie was weak on Tkachuk on his goal. Matthews in the same position was hammered hard by Weber and Charot but Brodie did nothing.
-Hyman should be back on Matthews’ line ASAP, he scored the first goal and did a lot of “mucking along the boards” and “paid the price” by standing in front of the net to create the second.
-Nylander gave away the puck and caused the Leafs a penalty which led to a goal against.
With the exception of about a five minute interval where the Leafs were completely dominant and pinned Ottawa in their own end cycling the puck like crazy, Ottawa outplayed Toronto in every category. Marner was the Leafs' best player by far. Toronto D looked abysmal. Tavares also had a strong game overall, Andersen looked distracted. On the Simmonds 2 on 1, Nylander had a hissy fit that Simmonds didn't pass it to him and as usual turned away from the net and the play at the end, disregarding any chances at rebound or goal scramble and sulked off immediately to the bench. To give him credit, he was driving through the crease on the Tavares goal. Leafs have a lot to adjust before tonight's rematch. Watching for Simmonds to duke it out with Watson at some point to set the tone.
Leafs schedule has them playing six games over the next eleven days. Three against EDM, two vs. CGY, and one vs. WPG. They'll need to play some taxi squad guys if they want to stay fresh for the back half of that run. Already you can see Leafs sucking wind in the third period. It's only been two games, Robertson and Sandin will get their shot soon. Bigger question is whether or not Campbell unseats Freddy in goal.
EDIT: Looks like Robertson actually did make into the game but suffered a knee injury. MRI today will tell the tale...(I was watching Buffalo / Baltimore instead.)
EDIT: Looks like Robertson actually did make into the game but suffered a knee injury. MRI today will tell the tale...(I was watching Buffalo / Baltimore instead.)
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I was watching the game and Robertson got crushed. He's an undersize forward and Sandin is an undersize defenseman.
Also, Simmonds was looking for another fight.
