zeke
Well-known member
So yeah this is actually a big game.
Kind of a must win if we want to finish in first tbh, given that the panthers have a healthy lead in the tiebreakers. There's only 1 team in the league that we have more than 1 game left against this year, and that's the Panthers, who we have to play 3 times including tonight. So that's the battle for top spot right there.
The Leafs have played so fricken badly the last bunch of games that it's hard to think they can right the ship. Literally as bad as i've ever seen this team play, even in the tanking years. On the flipside, one quality convincing performance in this big clutch game could right the ship all at once.
I'm holding on to a little hope that we saw a bit of a spark from Auston in the 3rd period last game, a big mean nasty hit followed by a whole bunch of agressive offensive plays. The big boys are going to have to start dominating again if we hope to drag the team out of the doldrums. And no matter the coaching system the big boys SHOULD dominate so it's all on them.
They're calling it a gametime decision but it sure looks like Tanev is back in tonight. It looks like it would be Myers coming out, not Benoit, which would mean OEL on his wrong side on the bottom pairing.....but still, OEL on the bottom pairing should turn it into a dominant pairing regardless. no excuses. One thing is that keeping Benoit in and trading for Carlo is obviously a decision based in a good part on Benoit-Carlo being a bigtime PK pairing (after McCabe-Tanev). If this doesn't result in an elite PK, then these dman decisions are a failure. If it does help us have an elite PK , then that might actually be worth a bit of a possession hit at evens.
With Florida missing Tkachuk, Marchand, and Ekblad if we can't beat and outplay them tonight then things look pretty grim. (Though let's remember the panthers are cheating the cap if all three are healthy for playoffs, and tbh i'm not sure tkachuk is actually going to be healthy for the playoffs and i'm unconvinced that marchand and ekblad are impact players atm anyways).
Likely lineups:
If the net ratings for Jarnkrok, Carlo, and Benoit don't improve significantly the rest of the way in their new roles which should slot them in the most advantageous way, then we're in trouble.
Kind of a must win if we want to finish in first tbh, given that the panthers have a healthy lead in the tiebreakers. There's only 1 team in the league that we have more than 1 game left against this year, and that's the Panthers, who we have to play 3 times including tonight. So that's the battle for top spot right there.
The Leafs have played so fricken badly the last bunch of games that it's hard to think they can right the ship. Literally as bad as i've ever seen this team play, even in the tanking years. On the flipside, one quality convincing performance in this big clutch game could right the ship all at once.
I'm holding on to a little hope that we saw a bit of a spark from Auston in the 3rd period last game, a big mean nasty hit followed by a whole bunch of agressive offensive plays. The big boys are going to have to start dominating again if we hope to drag the team out of the doldrums. And no matter the coaching system the big boys SHOULD dominate so it's all on them.
They're calling it a gametime decision but it sure looks like Tanev is back in tonight. It looks like it would be Myers coming out, not Benoit, which would mean OEL on his wrong side on the bottom pairing.....but still, OEL on the bottom pairing should turn it into a dominant pairing regardless. no excuses. One thing is that keeping Benoit in and trading for Carlo is obviously a decision based in a good part on Benoit-Carlo being a bigtime PK pairing (after McCabe-Tanev). If this doesn't result in an elite PK, then these dman decisions are a failure. If it does help us have an elite PK , then that might actually be worth a bit of a possession hit at evens.
With Florida missing Tkachuk, Marchand, and Ekblad if we can't beat and outplay them tonight then things look pretty grim. (Though let's remember the panthers are cheating the cap if all three are healthy for playoffs, and tbh i'm not sure tkachuk is actually going to be healthy for the playoffs and i'm unconvinced that marchand and ekblad are impact players atm anyways).
Likely lineups:
If the net ratings for Jarnkrok, Carlo, and Benoit don't improve significantly the rest of the way in their new roles which should slot them in the most advantageous way, then we're in trouble.
