Leafs Drop Game 4, Series Tied at 2-2
It's never easy to write about playoff losses. But being the tough blogger that I am, I'll soldier on and dissect the Leafs' 6-4 loss to the Bruins on home ice in Game 4 today.
We went down by two goals inside the seven minutes of the game, and we were chasing it all day long. We tied things up early in the second, but then the Leafs killer Pastrnak scored two quick ones to restore Boston's lead.
Chara's goal gave the bad guys a 5-2 lead. We battled back to make it a one-goal game again before the Bruins got an empty-netter to round out the scoring.
Gonna keep it short because, well, we lost the damn game!
(Not-So) Special Teams
The start was far from ideal. We were giving up too many easy looks. The Bruins had all the space in the world. Only after allowing two goals did we start playing. I felt we snatched the control of the game, and getting one goal back before the end of the first period was crucial.
Then Matthews tied it up just about a minute into the second, and the game was on. But then Pastrnak, who'd been held scoreless in the first three games, scored twice in a hurry, the latter on the power play. Our rally in the third period notwithstanding, I thought the game was essentially over by then.
McAvoy opened the scoring with a PPG. And those guys are 5-for-11 with a man advantage this series. That's just unacceptable in a playoff series.
On both Boston PPGs today, our penalty killers were in the scrambling mode. As McAvoy skated in from the point and into the slot, our guys were caught watching the puck and missed coverage. Pastrnak was somehow left wide open on his PPG, as he skated in from the left point while all four penalty killers were on the right side of the ice, their backs completely turned away. There's just no excuse for that kind of coverage.
Even considering the fact that we were one skater short, the amount of open ice we gave up was just startling.
I mean, by the time Pastrnak fired his one-timer, there was no Leaf within a couple of feet. When the puck landed on that guy's stick, I had that sinking feeling, "Oh damn, this one's going in." And my next reaction was, "How is this guy so open?"
Not going to inundate you with advanced stats, but those numbers showed that we had a significant edge in 5-on-5 play. Controlled most of the shot attempts, etc. But those are all empty numbers if we don't score enough to win.
Top Unit
So Boston coch Cassidy tinkered with his lineup a bit, sending Pastrnak to the second line after he'd gone three game without a goal. And since that first line of Bergeron between Pastrnak and Marchand had been mostly kept in check by our top unit, I guess Cassidy wanted to spread things out a bit and throw us a new look. Pastrnak kept moving in and out of the top line throughout the game and it did have desired effects, as he scored twice.
Babcock, for his part, stuck to his guns. No point of breaking up our top line, obviously. But I still have a hard time understanding why Zaitsev-Muzzin D-pairing continues to be the part of the five-man unit against Bergeron's line.
Babs loves to have right-handed shooting D-man on the right side and left-handed guy on the left side. Zaitsev-Muzzin is our only righty-lefty duo. Unless AHL kids like Holl or whoever get a chance to play, our other two pairs are all lefty-lefty: Hainsey-Rielly and Gardiner-Dermott.
I understand the value of having defensemen playing on their strong side. As far as clearing the puck and making passes off the boards, etc, etc, it's just far easier when you're the right-handed guy playing on the right side, and the left-handed defender playing on the left side.
But hey, we don't have that luxury. So gotta make do with what we have. Is the Zaitsev-Muzzin duo the best defensive pairing we can throw at the other team's top forward line in a playoff series? My answer is a resounding no.
Muzzin had a great showing in Game 1 but he's been really up and down since then. His mistakes have been really glaring and costly at times. I've been on Zaitsev a few times already. I still don't think he's a top-four D-man on a playoff team.
On Marchand's goal, Zaitsev had a shot attempt go off his hand. He immediately grabbed his hand and basically stopped skating, even though the play was still going on and the puck was deep in our zone. McAvoy made a nice pass that went past Zaitsev and all Marchand had to do was to put his stick on the rubber.
I guess it was only human for Zaitsev to react the way he did, writhing in pain and all. But this is a freaking playoff game and he's a freaking hockey player!! Suck it up and keep on playing!! Once the play is whistled dead, then you'll have plenty of time to wince and grimace and whatever. I thought Marner blocking shots in the final seconds in Game 3 would be contagious. Zaitsev didn't even block a slap shot. It was just a wrister that stung him. It probably hit him at a wrong spot with less protection than other areas. But still, by the time Marchand snuck in behind him to position himself at the top of the crease, Zaitsev was probably still thinking about how much his hand was hurting.
Even when your hand is broken, you can still skate, right? And that's really all Zaitsev needed to do. Skate out to where Marchand was going to set himself up and box him out. Doesn't seem that difficult to me, if you're an NHL defenseman.
If Babs really wanted Muzzin to be handling the Bergeron unit, he should just pair him up with Hainsey. Hainsey is used to playing on the right side next to Rielly. Hainsey is a better defender than Zaitsev, though, I am sad to say, not by much. I liked what I saw from Justin Holl in the few games that he played this year with the big club but it's probably not worth the risk throwing the guy into the playoff fire in a tied series (except that he is a righty).
If Babs won't tinker with the pairings, then at least I want to see Hainsey-Rielly duo against Bergeron and Co. They've been far less error-prone and Rielly brings more of an offensive upside than both Zaitsev and Muzzin.
Game 5 Outlook
We wasted a two-goal game by Matthews in this one. But the encouraging thing is he seems to have found his groove.
Boston was trying to protect the 5-2 lead in the third and almost got burned. I must admit I liked the way we fought back, though there was a sense of inevitability in the air that we couldn't win it. So far in the series, we've done a far better job of protecting leads (Games 1 and 3) than Boston. That's another positive.
Hey, I am trying to stay optimistic. Deep inside, I am dying.
We went down by two goals inside the seven minutes of the game, and we were chasing it all day long. We tied things up early in the second, but then the Leafs killer Pastrnak scored two quick ones to restore Boston's lead.
Chara's goal gave the bad guys a 5-2 lead. We battled back to make it a one-goal game again before the Bruins got an empty-netter to round out the scoring.
Gonna keep it short because, well, we lost the damn game!
(Not-So) Special Teams
The start was far from ideal. We were giving up too many easy looks. The Bruins had all the space in the world. Only after allowing two goals did we start playing. I felt we snatched the control of the game, and getting one goal back before the end of the first period was crucial.
Then Matthews tied it up just about a minute into the second, and the game was on. But then Pastrnak, who'd been held scoreless in the first three games, scored twice in a hurry, the latter on the power play. Our rally in the third period notwithstanding, I thought the game was essentially over by then.
McAvoy opened the scoring with a PPG. And those guys are 5-for-11 with a man advantage this series. That's just unacceptable in a playoff series.
On both Boston PPGs today, our penalty killers were in the scrambling mode. As McAvoy skated in from the point and into the slot, our guys were caught watching the puck and missed coverage. Pastrnak was somehow left wide open on his PPG, as he skated in from the left point while all four penalty killers were on the right side of the ice, their backs completely turned away. There's just no excuse for that kind of coverage.
Even considering the fact that we were one skater short, the amount of open ice we gave up was just startling.
I mean, by the time Pastrnak fired his one-timer, there was no Leaf within a couple of feet. When the puck landed on that guy's stick, I had that sinking feeling, "Oh damn, this one's going in." And my next reaction was, "How is this guy so open?"
Not going to inundate you with advanced stats, but those numbers showed that we had a significant edge in 5-on-5 play. Controlled most of the shot attempts, etc. But those are all empty numbers if we don't score enough to win.
Top Unit
So Boston coch Cassidy tinkered with his lineup a bit, sending Pastrnak to the second line after he'd gone three game without a goal. And since that first line of Bergeron between Pastrnak and Marchand had been mostly kept in check by our top unit, I guess Cassidy wanted to spread things out a bit and throw us a new look. Pastrnak kept moving in and out of the top line throughout the game and it did have desired effects, as he scored twice.
Babcock, for his part, stuck to his guns. No point of breaking up our top line, obviously. But I still have a hard time understanding why Zaitsev-Muzzin D-pairing continues to be the part of the five-man unit against Bergeron's line.
Babs loves to have right-handed shooting D-man on the right side and left-handed guy on the left side. Zaitsev-Muzzin is our only righty-lefty duo. Unless AHL kids like Holl or whoever get a chance to play, our other two pairs are all lefty-lefty: Hainsey-Rielly and Gardiner-Dermott.
I understand the value of having defensemen playing on their strong side. As far as clearing the puck and making passes off the boards, etc, etc, it's just far easier when you're the right-handed guy playing on the right side, and the left-handed defender playing on the left side.
But hey, we don't have that luxury. So gotta make do with what we have. Is the Zaitsev-Muzzin duo the best defensive pairing we can throw at the other team's top forward line in a playoff series? My answer is a resounding no.
Muzzin had a great showing in Game 1 but he's been really up and down since then. His mistakes have been really glaring and costly at times. I've been on Zaitsev a few times already. I still don't think he's a top-four D-man on a playoff team.
On Marchand's goal, Zaitsev had a shot attempt go off his hand. He immediately grabbed his hand and basically stopped skating, even though the play was still going on and the puck was deep in our zone. McAvoy made a nice pass that went past Zaitsev and all Marchand had to do was to put his stick on the rubber.
I guess it was only human for Zaitsev to react the way he did, writhing in pain and all. But this is a freaking playoff game and he's a freaking hockey player!! Suck it up and keep on playing!! Once the play is whistled dead, then you'll have plenty of time to wince and grimace and whatever. I thought Marner blocking shots in the final seconds in Game 3 would be contagious. Zaitsev didn't even block a slap shot. It was just a wrister that stung him. It probably hit him at a wrong spot with less protection than other areas. But still, by the time Marchand snuck in behind him to position himself at the top of the crease, Zaitsev was probably still thinking about how much his hand was hurting.
Even when your hand is broken, you can still skate, right? And that's really all Zaitsev needed to do. Skate out to where Marchand was going to set himself up and box him out. Doesn't seem that difficult to me, if you're an NHL defenseman.
If Babs really wanted Muzzin to be handling the Bergeron unit, he should just pair him up with Hainsey. Hainsey is used to playing on the right side next to Rielly. Hainsey is a better defender than Zaitsev, though, I am sad to say, not by much. I liked what I saw from Justin Holl in the few games that he played this year with the big club but it's probably not worth the risk throwing the guy into the playoff fire in a tied series (except that he is a righty).
If Babs won't tinker with the pairings, then at least I want to see Hainsey-Rielly duo against Bergeron and Co. They've been far less error-prone and Rielly brings more of an offensive upside than both Zaitsev and Muzzin.
Game 5 Outlook
We wasted a two-goal game by Matthews in this one. But the encouraging thing is he seems to have found his groove.
Boston was trying to protect the 5-2 lead in the third and almost got burned. I must admit I liked the way we fought back, though there was a sense of inevitability in the air that we couldn't win it. So far in the series, we've done a far better job of protecting leads (Games 1 and 3) than Boston. That's another positive.
Hey, I am trying to stay optimistic. Deep inside, I am dying.
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