When I heard Belak was brought in I thought Why oh Why. We need scorers not a tough guy, why not play Stajan who's more of an offensive touch. But boy was I wrong, Belak hitting the body seemed to spark the entire team. And Antropov & especially Ponikarovsky are finally using their damn size to their advantage. They seem to be playing braver and bigger with Belak with them... Even after the first 2 games I think Toronto can do well playing the body on the Flyers D. I think that's the Flyers one weakness is their defense especially with Johnsson out. If Toronto continues to crash them into the boards, they can wear them down and the Flyers D will make mistakes.
Thank you Mogilny for actually showing up today. First game all playoffs he's done anything. But man did he show up today, swerved an on coming checker very early in the game and giving out his own checks. He can be so good when he's not floating... I like the idea of him being in the first line, when you have Nieuwendyk and Nolan in there you have the option to spread the talent around but with both those guys injured you need to have at least one threat line in there and putting your best three potential scorers on one line is a smart move especially at home with last change.
Esche impresses me. Even though he let in 4 goals tonight, I wouldn't say any of them were soft. They were all redirections, 2-men PK or breakaways. None that I would say "He should have had it". The same thing with the goal a game he let in the first two games. They were both redirection scores and dare I say he outplayed Belfour in the first two games as both played really well but Belfour did allowing the one soft goal as Esche didn't making it the difference of winning and losing... I also see the Flyers not being scared to go to the net which is a big positive for them that Ottawa didn't do. I know Belfour likes to keep the game going and kick save pucks out but with this team it's better to catch and hold as they are getting in front of the nets.
I think Leaf & Flyers fans can agree on something. The Habs better sack up and at least win a game or two, because Flyers/Leafs is going to be physical & difficult and could become easy pickings as The Bolts players are spending the next week in Tampa sipping iced tea under a palm tree.
Hats off to the Leafs, who completely outplayed the Flyers last night, but that was one of the oddest referee'd games I've seen in the playoffs. Nothing called through 1.5 periods (and a bunch of interference could have been called on both teams), then the refs go crazy in the 3rd. Ignored the blatant dangerous cross-check from Mogilny on Markov, then call a bogus boarding call on Brashear. On top of that, they then make a weak cross-check call to make it a 5-on-3 for the Leafs. Theoretically the Flyers still had a chance in the 3rd to come back, but the refs took over the game.
The penalties are no excuse, though. The Leafs dominated, the Flyers couldn't get any shots on Belfour, and the Flyers played very poorly in their own end. However, I don't want to see Quinn whining about the refs in this series after seeing the way the game was called in the 3rd.
This is one of those cases where defense CREATES offense. The biggest problem the Leafs have had in the first two games is they let the Flyers shove them all over the ice. So rather than put out another offensive player, they did the smartest thing possible by bringing in some muscle. Like you implied, if some of the guys start showing up.
I agree with the Habs needing to show up, but does that mean having to ROOT for them as well? *grumble*
Even though I'm a Leafs fan I feel the need to point out that there wasn't a single mention of them on the board for the last week. But now that they've won a game all of a sudden they're a topic of conversation. Typical.
Originally posted by anibangingEven though I'm a Leafs fan I feel the need to point out that there wasn't a single mention of them on the board for the last week. But now that they've won a game all of a sudden they're a topic of conversation. Typical.
Lots of exercise for them Leaf fans, jumping on and off the bandwagon is hard work!
Even though I'm a Leafs fan I feel the need to point out that there wasn't a single mention of them on the board for the last week. But now that they've won a game all of a sudden they're a topic of conversation. Typical.
My mama always told me that if you can't say something nice....
THE QUEST FOR LORD STANLEY'S CUP Tied for 9th: St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators Tied for 5th: Tied for 3rd: Second: The Champion:
The NHL should be embarrassed by how those 2 games in Toronto were referee'd. Many of those calls were be atrocious for the regular season, let alone playoff hockey. And it's not like there were young referees in those game. There were veteran refs making blatantly bad calls. Sure, a couple of the calls against the Leafs were questionable (i.e Mogilny's game 4 boarding call), but the majority of the bad calls went against the Flyers. And these goalie interference calls have got to stop. The call on LeClair last night was one of the worst penalty calls I've ever seen. I could see if the Flyers were running over Belfour time after time, but all these calls have come on extremely minimal contact. In fact, they've hardly even come close to touching Belfour all series. Whether it's the league mandating the calls, or the refs making the calls themselves, the NHL should be embarrassed.
Originally posted by anibangingEven though I'm a Leafs fan I feel the need to point out that there wasn't a single mention of them on the board for the last week. But now that they've won a game all of a sudden they're a topic of conversation. Typical.
I guess the silence tonight proves your point perfectly.
Come on Goon, allow us to lick our wounds first before forcing to talk about this abomination (get the thesaurus out to look up 'bad')
The Maple Leafs played one of the worst games I've seen in a long time, and I'm not even talking about just The Leafs or the NHL in general. I'm talking about like international hockey preliminary rounds with superpowers Canada or United States vs. some country that just discovered the magic of turning water into ice. The TML was certainly the latter in this afternoon... They played poor in ever aspect of the game, offense, forchecking, giveaways, positioning, goaltending. They were off on everything.
McCabe a Minus-5, you have to be some sort of horrible to be do that. Belfour, even though some goals were unstoppable he didn't actually do any big saves to keep the team in the game... Primeau played like a man possessed and Johnsson really is the big talent on the blueline, the Leafs are going to be kicking themselves for not taking one of the first two games in Philly when he was out.
I can't get over how flat the Leafs looked, I really think it being an afternoon game has something to do with it. I go back to the playoff series last year, just like this year tight & competitive. Then Game 7 in Philadelphia on a weekend afternoon. Toronto just didn't bring their A-game much like yesterday... Believe me it's not an excuse, Flyers played well, the Leafs played horrible. But I do think there's something to it, The Leafs never schedule afternoon games during the regular season(I don't' think they even had one this year, maybe 1, tops), I know Philadelphia plays alot of weekend afternoon games. Knowing hockey players, so much has to do with routine and for a team that hasn't played an afternoon game all season to be thrown into one, I can see how it could be an "iffy" situation.
I sit back and you try to think of positives, as I think to myself "Is being blown out really that bad?". Would it feel better outplaying the Flyers, going to double overtime and losing by a fluke goal deflecting off your defensemen butt. I think there's some positives of knowing that Game 5 was a total ruination from the start & you don't have to focus on "what if". A squash like this could play on someone psyche if it happened early in the series but Toronto has won 2 of 2 at home and has played even & maybe even outplayed Philly in the first 2 games in Philadelphia, I hope the Leafs can build on that and learn from Game 5... It's also interesting to see the status of Esche(even though I think Burke is a wonderful goalie) and TML's Klee (Yikes, Kaberle without Klee. LOOK OUT)
Originally posted by Net Hack SlasherCome on Goon, allow us to lick our wounds first before forcing to talk about this abomination (get the thesaurus out to look up 'bad')
Oh, don't worry, I'm a Leaf fan as well, and I'll be getting a lot of pointing and laughing in the office here today.
McCabe a Minus-5, you have to be some sort of horrible to be do that.
This is one case where even the stat doesn't do justice to how bad one player was. McCabe was a MAJOR part of the collapse last night, handing over the puck on I don't know how many occassions. I'm surprised that based on his play ALONE that the Flyers didn't net 2 or 3 more goals, and Primeau walk off with 5.
Before he showed up, I had been watching Mark DeRosa over on TBS boot ground balls all over the place (4 errors) - but I couldn't even get grumpy about the fact he was singlehandedly fucking over Atlanta after watching McCabe's pitiful display.
Kelly Hrudey went on a rant the other day about what bullshit the Plus/Minus is because people get minuses and plusses for goals they had nothing to do with. It's really not indicative of a person's play.
A good example was in the Canucks/Flames series as Mattias Ohlund was a minus 5 or something but he played all the time against the Iginla line, and on almost all of the Penalty Killings ie the times when goals are scored. But he didn't play when the Canucks top forward line was out because the Iginla line wasn't out. So no matter how good he is at defending, he's still gonna be a minus because he was always out with the forwards who don't score.
With all that aside, Bryan McCabe sucked balls and Leetch wasn't much better in that game. I wonder if someone pissed in his pre-game meal? Hopefully the Leafs can rebound from that game but that has to be pretty demoralizing in the Playoffs. They didn't just lose 7-2, they got slaughtered in every way.
Luckily for the Leafs they get to go back to Toronto for Game Six because if they had to play another one in Philly, they'd be out of the Playoffs. I'm not at all confident in the Leafs chances now because they haven't put together a good game in Philly yet and that's where Game Seven will be - if they make it there.
Originally posted by GreymarchI figured that they just decided that they needed some rest. Just call in this game and save up the energy for the next one.
I can't see that, as it would be hard enough to win in Philly on Sunday, let alone trying to on Game Seven later on. Besides, why would you want to humiliate yourselves like that?
I saw the same thing the Red Wings were dealing with by having an afternoon game: An older, beat up team that got screwed by the shorter than normal turnaround between games. And that to the entire team (not just McCabe) sucked bad. Usually I can half watch and half not, and can give up on caring when I realize the game's out of hand, but I was almost yelling at these guys to even friggin' MOVE when they were on the ice. The effort given was disgusting. It's like they drafted me, and 20 other mes, and then threw us all on the ice for the game. The ONLY good thing to come out of this is that Belfour usually becomes a brick wall after an asskicking like this.
Here's a scary thought to leave you with. The best Leaf in the game on Sunday: Trevor Kidd.
Sunday was one of the most one sided hockey games that I have ever seen in my 10 years of watching the sport. I really love the war between the coaches as well. The whole "upper-body injuries" and "lower-body injuries" thing is just pure hockey gold. This has been a series of the home team so I have to go with the Leafs for tonight but Thursday will be our night. LETS GO FLYERS!
Bye Leafs Bye. Hehe. There's still 40 minutes but gawd, the Leafs can't play defense worth a lick.
Edit: Well they tied it. Defense has still been shaky.
(edited by fuelinjected on 4.5.04 1850) "Each race determines for itself what indecencies are. Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them." - Mark Twain
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