At 5v5 absolutely

Murray is back he will be #3 for now but if Sammy struggles he could be in game 3 or 4.

Honestly if he comes back and we can potentially do what Pitt did in 2017 I would be so happy lul

Spoiler they won the cup that year to lul

Dear Patrick Kane

Want a cup

Sign with the Leafs this summer on a discount and u get to play with Matthews

As Rangers clearly didnt give a **** about u

He didn't help them over the hump, he's done. Let someone else overpay him for his past accomplishments.

Boys, we get to watch the Leafs play Round 2 hockey tonight. What a day

Why am I even working today? Lol

I feel you guys. Finally getting past the penguins was so moving.


They will come out fighting tonight. The momentum is pretty high imo.

Let's go for a better game 1 then they had in round 1!!!

Holl-elujah

Really love seeing Knies quickly moving up the lineup. I kind of would prefer him with JT and Marner though. I feel like him and JT have a similar skill set and could really dominate the play along the boards in deep and Marner looking to set up either is deadly. I don't hate him with Matthews either just expect Matthews line to get the tougher line matchup. I was worried about Lilly going in after not playing for so long but he looked solid to me and can't wait to see him tonight!

Really hope this doesn’t end up as a back to back.

Some Keys to the Series



- “They run three lines that are all dangerous – one anchored by Alexsander Barkov, one by Matthew Tkachuk, and one by Sam Reinhart. Similar to Tampa, they are aggressive on the forecheck and attack with numbers.”

- “They play fast and fearlessly. Lots of underdogs retreat and try to play defense, hoping for some breaks (a counterattack, a power play, etc.) to steal games. We have seen teams do this to the Leafs in the playoffs and regular season over the past few years. The Panthers just straight up attack. Against Tampa Bay, the Leafs had a lot of trouble with their forecheck, so this is something to focus on. Tampa’s speed was a problem, and I would argue the Panthers are even faster than the Lightning. Can the Leafs break out effectively and avoid costly mistakes, unlike the Bruins? “

- Very weak 4th line unlike Tampa Bay

- “In the regular season, the Leafs ranked eighth in 5v5 save percentage and the Panthers ranked 12th. I was not expecting it to be so close before I looked into the numbers.”

- “The Panthers are a good team and have a formidable three-line attack and a legitimate top pairing. Their defense depth is vulnerable, they take a lot of penalties, and they struggle to kill them off. There are a lot of areas for the Leafs to exploit, and Toronto has a three-line attack of their own that they can run out there and go head-to-head with the Panthers.”



Key takeaway:
Stay out of the freaking box: Since Jan. FLA had a higher xGoals/per60 (10.82) on the PP, better than EDM.
FLA plays a very instigator type game where they hope the refs even up the calls later in the game (they drew the 3rd most penalties in the NHL). TBL plays a very similar style and is very happy to trade off penalties since they have Vasy in net and a good PK but that’s where TOR needs to excel since FLA has Bobrovsky and the 10th worst PK and against BOS gave up 11 goals on 27 opportunities (59%).


Hopefully this will be an area TOR can exploit and get back to entering the zone with control instead of all the dump-ins against TBL.


A line to watch out for:

- in nearly 105 minutes together at 5v5 (regular and postseason), the Luostarainen-Lundell-Reinhart line is:
- out-scoring the opposition 6-3
- carrying 58% of the xG share
- sporting an xGA/60 of 2.22

You know Holl's going to get back in at some point. Likely will play really well as well.

Florida plays a very different system than Tampa. Their forecheck doesn't worry me. Neither did Tampa's what I didn't like vs Tampa is they couldn't gain the zone with control often. Vs Florida they will. Just make sure you don't get caught because Florida transitions well but will give up a lot more offence than Tampa did.

TOR can’t sit back like they did against TBL, none of their big forwards could finish (Kucherov 0G, Point 0G, Hagel 1G, Stamkos 2G) it was Cirelli(3G) that really hurt us.

FLA has Tkachuk (4G), Verhaeghe (2G), Bennett (2G), Duclair (1G), Luostarnen (1G), Reinhardt (1G), Barkov (1G), their forwards are deeper than TBL. If TBL could finish we wouldn’t be here in the 2nd round.

Hopefully TOR will change up how they attack and defend, can’t play like this against FLA. Also, how injured is Ryan O’Reilly, lost every face off in Game 6, his broken finger could be an issue.

TOR needs to capitalize on special teams, I feel FLA will dictate at 5v5

Genuine question: You are a Caps fan... but is your other team the Leafs?

It's okay if not, you are still super cool 😎

Weird... I figured they would want prime time Saturday night. Makes sense to me.

It’s sad if true , but I don’t think the league wants to put up its biggest money maker (Toronto) up against the F1 race on Saturday (but that starts at 12:30pm) so who knows

It's a different series man, they took what Tampa offered and vs Florida, our usual style of play is far more effective. We will have a lot of turn backs and maintaining possession. Florida attacks a lot more aggressively through the neutral zone but TO's system works well against that because that style tends to open gaps in coverage. Play smart and we'll get loads of rush chances that Tampa never gives up.

Sounds like a great way to have 90% Leafs fans in attendance lmao. They should totally do that

Took what they offered? TOR sat back and played a completely different style of play they used all season. That was about as cautious a Leaf team play during the Core 4 era.

But yes, it is a new Series, let’s wait and see if they change up. Certainly surprising it didn’t happen once in the TBL series tho

That's what worked against Tampa. Too often TO tries to be too cute and give up super bad rush chances against. They didn't do that vs Tampa.

This is not a recipe for success. TOR got a ton of puck luck (something we never get) and TBL couldn't finish.
5v5
TOR - TBL
CF 284 CA 342
FF 192 FA 229
GF 14 GA 15
SCF 137 SCA 198
HDCF 65 HDCA 69

Agree to disagree, all good.

Most of those stats don't really tell the story though. Corsi, and chances for and shots don't overly matter. HDFC was pretty much even. TO finished better on the PP and that was the difference. Evenly matched series.

Looks like Lyon gets the start against the Leafs tonight. Man, I can't wait