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2nd Rnd '25 Playoffs: Leafs vs Panthers - Flo-Rida them onto the ECF - LFG!

I think the team is calmer and seem more confident and collected for a few reasons.

For one, they all suddenly got older in a blink - Willy just turned 29, Marner 28, Matthews right behind them. They seem to have gotten serious about their window, and credit to Berube, who I'm shocked about just generally, that he seems to know how to guide this ship in a way that Keefe and Babs didn't.

For another, the big boys actually have a group of players behind them who are doing something finally to supplement Willy's production or whoever else might be producing at that moment. We've never had the support of Knies, MaxPac, McMann, Holmberg, etc., all given significant roles and contributing. If we had Kampf and Reaves in instead of two of those guys, like we always do, we'd probably be 1-1 or 0-2 right now.

And then the D is top to bottom solid, led by Tanev who is the best defensive dman we've ever seen, ahead of prime Brodie. Even Benoit has been more than earning his keep, especially with his physicality. They're tough and smart, and can all skate and make simple plays to move the puck. Also, their blocking skills are otherworldly. Only a few of the attempts are ever getting to the goalie, and when they do, both Stolarz and Woll have been good, while not even being at their best yet.

Hard to believe what I'm seeing, and don't even want to talk about it much for fear that this will suddenly turn into a pumpkin. Next game is massive, because if we can take another in their barn, they'll be done. In the post-game media interviews, Marchand was basically just praising the Leafs like it was over already, so one more should break them. (It's such a shame we didn't just throw Jarn and some prospects at Boston and gotten Marchand in the Carlo deal). And then we just have to do better against Carolina than we did the last time we made our way to the conference finals and met them.
 
zeke said:
in some ways he made way too many adjustments.

his lines and pairings were different almost every game, and changed during the games too. some of that was due to injury but that doesn't explain all of it.

an underrated part of the team right now is how consistent the lines and pairings have been so far. The 1st and 4th line and D-pairs haven't changed one iota during this playoffs run.

The 2nd and 3rd lines have been in flux, but that's probably mostly due to Patches being a question mark coming in - in his mind, brooby has probably always wanted a healthy patches on the 2nd line.
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The obsessive line matching said it all.
 
It’s kind of crazy Willy is now 29. You would think with the core at this age they’ll almost assuredly start to figure things out — which thankfully appears to be happening.

As far as the Marchand trade goes, he was part of the process and requested to be traded to Florida.
 
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Blueman said:
Pretty happy with patches so far. Usually it’s the other team that gets unexpected contributions in their lineup. We have patches, domi and Dmen all pitching in goals. You love to see it. And Nylander and Knies have been unbelievably good.

The way this team handles adversity has been on a different level. It’s comforting to see them not panic and respond time and time again. Go leafs GO!
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Its honestly hard to believe sometimes that this is largely the same bunch of losers as before
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I think the team is calmer and seem more confident and collected for a few reasons.

For one, they all suddenly got older in a blink - Willy just turned 29, Marner 28, Matthews right behind them. They seem to have gotten serious about their window, and credit to Berube, who I'm shocked about just generally, that he seems to know how to guide this ship in a way that Keefe and Babs didn't.

For another, the big boys actually have a group of players behind them who are doing something finally to supplement Willy's production or whoever else might be producing at that moment. We've never had the support of Knies, MaxPac, McMann, Holmberg, etc., all given significant roles and contributing. If we had Kampf and Reaves in instead of two of those guys, like we always do, we'd probably be 1-1 or 0-2 right now.

And then the D is top to bottom solid, led by Tanev who is the best defensive dman we've ever seen, ahead of prime Brodie. Even Benoit has been more than earning his keep, especially with his physicality. They're tough and smart, and can all skate and make simple plays to move the puck. Also, their blocking skills are otherworldly. Only a few of the attempts are ever getting to the goalie, and when they do, both Stolarz and Woll have been good, while not even being at their best yet.

Hard to believe what I'm seeing, and don't even want to talk about it much for fear that this will suddenly turn into a pumpkin. Next game is massive, because if we can take another in their barn, they'll be done. In the post-game media interviews, Marchand was basically just praising the Leafs like it was over already, so one more should break them. (It's such a shame we didn't just throw Jarn and some prospects at Boston and gotten Marchand in the Carlo deal). And then we just have to do better against Carolina than we did the last time we made our way to the conference finals and met them.
Click to expand...
Good summary, we are in agreement!
 
mbow30 said:
The obsessive line matching said it all.
Click to expand...

and i'm not 100% on it right now but I'm pretty sure brooby is actually just giving maurice the matchups he want. we'll see for sure when maurice has last change but i'm not sure we'll see much difference.


Matthews: 1.Barkov 21:12, 2.Bennett 3:58, 3.Lundell 2:52, 4.Sturm 0:45
Tavares: 1.Lundell 11:07, 2.Bennett 7:12, 3.Sturm 4:24, 4.Barkov 4:13
Laughton: 1.Bennett 11:46, 2.Lundell 8:06, 3.Barkov 1:57, 4.Sturm 1:24
Domi: 1.Bennett 6:16, 2.Sturm 5:04, 3.Lundell 3:39, 4.Barkov 3:13

I would've thought brooby would have tried to get tavares more on against the Bennett line than the Lundell line, while Maurice would prefer to have the lundell line checking the tavares line. If Brooby was being aggressive with the line matching this is the difference that sticks out.

Brooby did get some matchups he wanted with Laughton out against the Bennett line, and did manage to avoid the Domi line getting too victimized by their top lines.
 
the D-matchups may have been more aggressive, at least with the shutdown pair against their top line.....

McCabe: 1.Barkov 17:28, 2.Bennett 7:10, 3.Lundell 5:55, 4.Sturm 3:09
Rielly: 1.Bennett 12:10, 2.Lundell 11:22, 3.Barkov 6:10, 4.Sturm 5:25
Benoit: 1.Bennett 8:31, 2.Barkov 7:33, 3.Lundell 7:25, 4.Sturm 3:19


We'll see if Maurice tries to get away from that matchup more.
 
Bobrovsky's Playoffs Rounds with FLA

2020 vs NYI: 4gms, 1-3, .901
2021 vs TBL: 3gms, 1-2, .841
2022 vs WSH: 6gms, 4-2, .906
2022 vs TBL: 4gms, 0-4, .919
2023 vs BOS: 5gms, 3-1, .891
2023 vs TOR: 4gms, 4-1, .943
2023 vs CAR: 4gms, 4-0, .966
2023 vs VGK: 5gms, 1-4, .844
2024 vs TBL: 5gms, 4-1, .896
2024 vs BOS: 6gms, 4-2, .907
2024 vs NYR: 6gms, 4-2, .921
2024 vs EDM: 7gms, 4-3, .899
2025 vs TBL: 5gms, 4-1, .901
2025 vs TOR: 2gms, 0-2, .820


So only 4 above average series, and only 2 superlative series - the first series against the Leafs, plus the series right after facing the Leafs.

Pretty much, the Leafs are likely entirely responsible for Bob's one hot streak of elite play in the playoffs with the panthers.
 
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