Another Loss in Florida
Oh well, Sunshine State hasn't been so kind to the Buds.
The Panthers beat us 4-3 in OT as Sasha 'the best player no one talks about' Barkov completed his hat trick with the winner.
A couple of thoughts.
Mitch nets 2
A few entries ago, I wrote about how Marner wasn't scoring enough goals and he was in danger of becoming too predictable as the pass-first, shoot-much-later winger for opposing Ds and goalies to figure out.
Well, against Tampa, he had seven shots. In this one, Mitch scored twice on three shots, ending his 13-game goal-scoring drought.
Since we lost in OT and there isn't much to cheer about, I am going to post videos of both of his goals.
On the first goal, Mitch showed great patience (even had a bit of a fake) before going high on Luongo. With the puck on his stick, this guy can do some special things.
The Leafs wasted that effort by giving up a go-ahead goal just 27 seconds later. But Mitch tied the score again with a beauty of a shot off the far post.
The bottom line: Mitch's gotta shoot more.
(BTW, I watched the latter half of the third period while vacuuming the house. Being this Sunday morning et al, the wife wanted to do some cleaning up. Since this was a regular season game, I went along with her plan. Playoffs? Not a chance. Anyway, I had my wireless, Bluetooth headsets on, and fired up the game on my phone. So you can just picture the half-hearted effort I gave into cleaning. Just like the Leafs on power plays. Ouch!)
Line juggling
When we trail by a couple in the third, Babs likes to juggle the lines. On the back end, Rielly and Gardiner usually play together so we could generate more offense from there. Today, the coach mixed up his forwards as well.
Tavares played with Johnsson and Kapanen. Matthews was back with Nylander at RW and Hyman and LW. Marner went to Kadri line with Marleau at LW. Only the fourth line stayed intact.
Well, we did score three times in the third and walked away with a point, so can't complain. Sportsnet's Luke Fox suggested reuniting Nylander with Matthews and moving Kapanen to LW on that line. Not a bad idea, though we haven't seen Kapanen on his off-wing yet to see how effective he could be there.
Not-so special teams
We gave up two PP goals and went 0-for-4 in our own PP chances. Even had a four-minute opportunity that we didn't convert. Now 1-for-22 in the past dozen games with man advantage.
Our first unit was electric at the start of the season. Then Auston got hurt. Then it looked good for a bit after he returned. But since then, things have gone sour.
I think the top unit guys are trying to get too cute at times. Other teams have figured us out to some degree. The play often goes through Marner at the right point or half-board, and from there, he either tries to feather one through a seam to Matthews or fire one toward the net for a tip by Tavares or Kadri.
The Panthers did a great job of pressuring our puck carriers upon entry, and we couldn't even get set up on a few occasions. Matthews didn't look all that sharp handling some passes or loose pucks today.
We go from Sunshine to Swamp on Wednesday to play the Devils, and then get another crack at the Panthers at home on Friday. Gotta finish the calendar year on a strong note.
The Panthers beat us 4-3 in OT as Sasha 'the best player no one talks about' Barkov completed his hat trick with the winner.
A couple of thoughts.
 |
| He sure is. And scored a goal today, too. |
Mitch nets 2
A few entries ago, I wrote about how Marner wasn't scoring enough goals and he was in danger of becoming too predictable as the pass-first, shoot-much-later winger for opposing Ds and goalies to figure out.
Well, against Tampa, he had seven shots. In this one, Mitch scored twice on three shots, ending his 13-game goal-scoring drought.
Since we lost in OT and there isn't much to cheer about, I am going to post videos of both of his goals.
On the first goal, Mitch showed great patience (even had a bit of a fake) before going high on Luongo. With the puck on his stick, this guy can do some special things.
The Leafs wasted that effort by giving up a go-ahead goal just 27 seconds later. But Mitch tied the score again with a beauty of a shot off the far post.
The bottom line: Mitch's gotta shoot more.
(BTW, I watched the latter half of the third period while vacuuming the house. Being this Sunday morning et al, the wife wanted to do some cleaning up. Since this was a regular season game, I went along with her plan. Playoffs? Not a chance. Anyway, I had my wireless, Bluetooth headsets on, and fired up the game on my phone. So you can just picture the half-hearted effort I gave into cleaning. Just like the Leafs on power plays. Ouch!)
Line juggling
When we trail by a couple in the third, Babs likes to juggle the lines. On the back end, Rielly and Gardiner usually play together so we could generate more offense from there. Today, the coach mixed up his forwards as well.
Tavares played with Johnsson and Kapanen. Matthews was back with Nylander at RW and Hyman and LW. Marner went to Kadri line with Marleau at LW. Only the fourth line stayed intact.
Well, we did score three times in the third and walked away with a point, so can't complain. Sportsnet's Luke Fox suggested reuniting Nylander with Matthews and moving Kapanen to LW on that line. Not a bad idea, though we haven't seen Kapanen on his off-wing yet to see how effective he could be there.
Not-so special teams
We gave up two PP goals and went 0-for-4 in our own PP chances. Even had a four-minute opportunity that we didn't convert. Now 1-for-22 in the past dozen games with man advantage.
Our first unit was electric at the start of the season. Then Auston got hurt. Then it looked good for a bit after he returned. But since then, things have gone sour.
I think the top unit guys are trying to get too cute at times. Other teams have figured us out to some degree. The play often goes through Marner at the right point or half-board, and from there, he either tries to feather one through a seam to Matthews or fire one toward the net for a tip by Tavares or Kadri.
The Panthers did a great job of pressuring our puck carriers upon entry, and we couldn't even get set up on a few occasions. Matthews didn't look all that sharp handling some passes or loose pucks today.
We go from Sunshine to Swamp on Wednesday to play the Devils, and then get another crack at the Panthers at home on Friday. Gotta finish the calendar year on a strong note.
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