Toronto Maple Leafs

[lucafen4]

Someone in another thread had stated a month or so ago, that the Leafs would fade and no longer be relevant in relation to the Senators. Not only are we still relevant, the Sens are the one's fading down the stretch. And 3 rooks are going to pass 60pts.

[2014olympicgold]

I wouldnt be surprised if Matthews got a vote as like 5th or 6th place in a hart vote.

[Wfactor]

Historically are this years leafs the worst shootout team since its introduction in terms of win % in a single season?At the end of the 14/15 season they were 24th in the league since the start of shootouts with a record of 97Sh 43W 54L 44 win% but within the last two years that number has dropped, after this year going 1 win 8 losses that number is now 42% and are down near Florida(43%) and Philadelphia(35%) as we are nearing the close of 16/17 now.

BTW the Flyers were and still are the worst overall 92Sh 30W 62L 33% at the end of 2014/15 so who knows how bad some of their seasons were

[2014olympicgold]

Im going to put that game in the B2B vs a good team column.

[blayze]

Tomorrow's game against the Lightning will be monumentally huge.

If we lose, I think it pretty much locks us into first round match with the Caps which would be the worst scenario.

[lucafen4]

Tomorrow's game against the Lightning will be monumentally huge.

If we lose, I think it pretty much locks us into first round match with the Caps which would be the worst scenario.

We will win... and my prediction. We see the emergence of our next captain. Matthews will dominate this game. Lead by example

[pmorrow]

I know it's highly unlikely the Leafs fall out of it, but I still look at the schedule and worry a bit. If TB beats us, there's going to be so much pressure to get a point against Pittsburgh Saturday, because Sunday they'll be against CBJ after a long week. And TB and NYI's opponents aren't as strong as ours to finish the year. Both won't get all 6 points but one could.

It's probably just Leafs paranoia, but I reeeally hope we nip this thing in the bud tomorrow.

[Mr. Guru]

I can see a 3 point game in the Ottawa @ Boston game tomorrow just to make things a little more interesting.

- - - Updated - - -

Scenario I just thought of.

If Tampa is tied late in the game tomorrow it would be in their best interest to pull the goalie and go for the win. When was the last time a team pulled their goalie tied in the game? Used to happen a lot growing up and playing in tournaments but I can't remember the last time it happened in league play.

Edit: Could see this happening in OT as well. If they are tied in OT tomorrow Tampa would have to pull the goalie.

[blayze]

I can see a 3 point game in the Ottawa @ Boston game tomorrow just to make things a little more interesting.

- - - Updated - - -

Scenario I just thought of.

If Tampa is tied late in the game tomorrow it would be in their best interest to pull the goalie and go for the win. When was the last time a team pulled their goalie tied in the game? Used to happen a lot growing up and playing in tournaments but I can't remember the last time it happened in league play.

Edit: Could see this happening in OT as well. If they are tied in OT tomorrow Tampa would have to pull the goalie.

If they're not in the lead, TB will def have to pull goalie earlier than usual tomorrow.

[blayze]

Ugh what should have been a virtual lock is starting to look a little shaky now... Leafs need a point against pens/CBJ in back to back games.

...and we're pretty much locked into a match with the Caps at this point. ****.

[pmorrow]

That was a must win game if we had any hopes of making noise in the playoffs.

Odds are we still get in, but we might stumble in and get destroyed by Washington. And we might even just fall short. This weekends games won't be easy.

Good news is Price likely starts tomorrow night vs. a tired Tampa team. But NYI are in this too...

[blayze]

Really disappointed in our effort tonight.

Nevertheless - we just need to muster a single point out of these two remaining games to clinch.

Pens clinched 2nd place tonight so neither them nor CBJ have anything to play for so HOPEFULLY they both rest their stars.

Really sucks that we'll likely face the caps though. No chance of beating that team!

[blayze]

I think they need 2 to clinch.

Who gets tiebreaker if they're all even at 84 points? TB?

Ugh that's a lot scarier now...

[2014olympicgold]

At least Penguins and CBJ are set in their standings and could be resting their starters. Unfortunately Kessel could be coming out hot vs the Leafs to prevent them from the playoffs and the Penguins backup goalie is Fleury.

[Kofax]

Just read Crosby will be rested the final two games of the season.

Malkin nearing a return, but unsure what that means. I figure they'd like to get him into a game before the playoffs?