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GDT: Colorado @ Toronto 7:30

Also I feel for Kadri at this point. 2nd most shots in the league, and on the broadcast they were talking about how a lot of them aren't dangerous and from the outside, but a lot of them are from point blank, in the blue paint, and he just can't bury it right now. Credit to him to stick with it through the frustration though. Something a guy like Kessel could never do.
 
leafman101 said:
James Mirtle
Haven't seen it discussed much but Leafs possession has been ugly lately. Reimer and special teams are the story http://www.puckon.net/?s=2015-09-01&e=2016-04-30&f=0&ld=-1&l=9

That's why I don't think "they're wrecking the tank!" is the story yet. Can't win like this forever. #Leafs
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The last 5-6 games we've been playing against top top teams and even Colorado came winning 3 in a row and guys had to deal with Duchene and MacKinnon's crazy lateral movements all game long. Add the fact we had to play so many games back to back and you have a tired team(Babcock said yesterday how he gave guys some days off because of it). Now it's back to practice to keep working on the little things. I'm not worried about possession or shots against, there were some games where we allowed so many OUTSIDE shots but overall it was still 30+...couldn't care less about those. I worry more about those games where we're allowing so many point blank shots and we've had maybe 3-4 games where we've done that(and almost 20 games played now). Team is doing just fine and Cock will make them even better.
 
leafman101 said:
I didn't think coaches could win games for a team, but that was a coaching win. They way they moved the puck on the PP was very impressive. It was all position, and quick short passes though. Not crazy plays by the players.

That said, the advanced stats still suggest this is unsustainable. 5 on 5 play wasn't great, and they are still getting the hot goaltending. This won't keep up.

Babcock is a genius though. i wouldn't be concerned at all about bringing Nylander into this environment.
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Yes we were getting hot goaltending as of late (I am sure for last night Reimer had to be great. He just need to be ok. Just ok. :) ) ... the thing is, unless our goaltending drops down to below average or disastrous again, otherwise judging from how the team's already made plenty of strides in the first month, it's only natural to assume the team will continue to improve in all areas of the game - possession (I know we took a step back recently), positioning, special teams, etc.

And to say this team is without talent is not exactly correct either. We got 2 30G scorers in JVR and Lupul (who are playing like 30G scorers), we got Komarov who is playing like a top 6 winger again after his concussion year, we got Rielly emerging as a top unit dman, we got Gardiner who is playing like a solid 2nd unit, and Dion is playing like a 45 points dman again. On top of all that, we have Kadri who's not hitting the scoresheet yet but with any luck any day he can start playing like a 60-70 points C.

So this team may not be as depleted as one may think skill-wise. In fact, come to think of it, a very similar team plus Kessel made the playoff with poor coaching from Carlyle. I don't think this is a playoff team without Kessel but I am not SO convinced we're a top 10 draft team. I sure hope we are, but I don't think so, unless Reimer starts playing like Bernier again ;)
 
Not to be critical, maybe you guys are right, but we've heard all those arguments before. Hell I've made those arguments before.

We've seen time and time again what happens though when winning streaks are supported by goaltending and shooting percentage, despite poor possession and scoring chance numbers, and poor 5 on5 play. It doesn't last.
 
leafman101 said:
Not to be critical, maybe you guys are right, but we've heard all those arguments before. Hell I've made those arguments before.

We've seen time and time again what happens though when winning streaks are supported by goaltending and shooting percentage, despite poor possession and scoring chance numbers, and poor 5 on5 play. It doesn't last.
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That's true too. There is one huge difference i haven't seen before though. I don't know if you've followed closely this season but in 90% of our games so far we have outplayed the other team and it wasn't scoring goals by RUSH hockey. Last season and before that, it was us winning games just 1 one way where we get some room and usually JVR to Kessel or other way around. Now we are playing like it's playoff hockey every game and just grinding it out. If i see us do that 4-5 games straight and then have a bad game that's fine because it's exactly how the other good teams do it(Canadiens if you go to their forum always want wins so after a 5 straight wins everyone goes nuts because they suck at that 5th-6th game)..so it's fine as long as we don't start win 1 lose 1 and so on.
 
leafman101 said:
Not to be critical, maybe you guys are right, but we've heard all those arguments before. Hell I've made those arguments before.

We've seen time and time again what happens though when winning streaks are supported by goaltending and shooting percentage, despite poor possession and scoring chance numbers, and poor 5 on5 play. It doesn't last.
Click to expand...

Thing is, possession does a very poor job indicating quality of play over single games and struggles to link up with wins over short periods of time. It's larger samples where possession stats do an excellent job in correlating to more more wins than losses.
 
Isn't it great what a little confidence will do?

Imagine if Kadri could really assert himself?
 
I didn't even realize Harrington was scratched and Maricin played.

Is that a reason for it? Or was it just Babs' plan to rotate his #7?
 
don't think the corsi tells the story from last night's game. the leafs were the better team. they forced the avs into more mistakes and had the better chances to score.

there was some luck in the pp clicking but kadri alone should have had 2 easy tap in ES goals, JVR had a few chances and boyes created a few as well. i thought the leafs outchacned the avs in terms of high quality chances. the leafs also had several shifts where they maintained puck possession in the offensive zone through a line change. the avs didn't hem the leafs in once all game.

they played well. against a not very good or well coached team. but i thought they looked solid.

nice game from 34, too.
 
kadri isn't necessarily playing his game. he definitely needs to spend a bit more time on the puck rather than just firing shots.

but they'll start going in soon enough.

i like that he hasn't sulked, looked outwardly frustrated, tried to do too much, etc. he's really taking it in stride. and he's playing really well. babcock wasn't bs'ing when he said he's been the best forward. he really looks after his own end, he has cut down on the neutral zone/blueline turnovers, and when he's on the puck is usually in the offensive zone.
 
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