Eastern Conference First Round: (2) Boston Bruins vs (3) Toronto Maple Leafs

[GinFizz]

He's not a 90-point player in the playoffs and we have a 50-something playoff game sample size as proof. Plus, he demanded that top 10 in the league contract which creates expectations which every Leaf fan painfully knows that he has not lived up to.

Agree.. never said he was.. who is more irrelevant in the playoffs Marner or Matthews?

[saucelife90]

Marner get trashed by fans and the media, yet Matthews had 1 goal in 5 games? Where was the "Elite" goal scorer when they needed him most?

Was he sick with food poisoning like the reports around game 5? Was he playing hurt, like the media was saying during game 7? Or did he give up on his squad in that 3rd period of game 5 until he could potentially play hero in game 7?

In any sense, he was the most invisible of the big 4 in that series.

[blayze]

That’s a stupid comparison.

AM34 single handedly won game 2 and then obv he was sick after that. Whatever it was it warranted him missing 2 elimination games and he was barely alive in game 7 and still set up their only goal. Marner was healthy all 7 games.

At the end of the day, their only star who consistently shows up in the playoffs each year is Big Willy and Rielly even though he stank this series

[blayze]

https://apple.news/AXVgTi0ekRT25LPLbnUqqbw

[Invictus]

https://apple.news/AXVgTi0ekRT25LPLbnUqqbw

Pasta also ripped by the two d-man as well. Not really on Marner there.
And there was some other forward there too. Willy???
Nylander wasn't great in the playoffs at the start (I mean several years ago), but has really started to shine these last two years.

"When teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves."
Gotta say this is an all-time quote...

[2014olympicgold]

There's only really 2 players I can "blame" on the OT goal and that's Marner for not slowing Pasta down while he entered the zone, and Rielly for not seeing Pasta flying in. If you blame Samsonov for it, you clearly didn't notice neither goalie left their net from about 2min into the 3rd.

It was the PERFECT dump in. Perfect. It's easy to critique after, but during you'd have to recognize it was the perfect dump in and do something different.

Well that's it. It'll be an interesting offseason. You can't bring back the "core", but that means Marner is the odd-man out likely. Then you have to hope he wants out too to waive his NMC. Then you'd have to assume the coach is gone, and Shanahan. Which means Marner and his agent are dealing with new people to navigate leaving his childhood team.

Good job Swayman, stole the series as the only Bruin to really show up. Leafs are cursed.

[Invictus]

I don’t really blame Marner, there’s lots of dump ins that occur throughout the game they don’t impede the lone forechecker. Three guys back more than Marner and puck took an odd bounce.
I do think there’s too many cooks in the kitchen and agree Marner is the odd one out.
I don’t see an issue with Tavares except his price tag, and that can be fixed after next season.

[Pengwin7]

It was the PERFECT dump in. Perfect. It's easy to critique after, but during you'd have to recognize it was the perfect dump in and do something different.

Agree.
It's rare - in sports - to see something so perfect... that credit should go only to the guy that executes it.
Not everything can be defended.

I watched that highlight 10-15 times, just for the perfection on watching Hampus time & place that puck. Incredible.
Tough ending for Leafs fans... but awesome to see a D-man show what high-end D-men can do!

[Invictus]

Lindholm was dialed in and then some that game. Great night for him, not sure who won the stars, but he would be my first star selection easy choice.

[2014olympicgold]

Lindholm was dialed in and then some that game. Great night for him, not sure who won the stars, but he would be my first star selection easy choice.

pasta, swayman, sammy

[Invictus]

Not sure who all I would choose, but how can you not have the player who forced O.T and setup the O.T winner. He was their best d-man (McAvoy looked shaky at times).

Not that the 3 stars matter any...

[2014olympicgold]

Not sure who all I would choose, but how can you not have the player who forced O.T and setup the O.T winner. He was their best d-man (McAvoy looked shaky at times).

Not that the 3 stars matter any...

It's kinda moot, but typically 3 stars include 1 player from the losing team. And Sammy did have a sub 2GAA in that game. I get it, 4th star is probably Lindholm. And if they didn't do the "losing team gets 1" Lindholm is 3rd star.

[Invictus]

I'd have Lindholm ahead of Pasta who really didn't influence the game much save for that one O.T. goal.

[Canucks_fan18]

I think Matthews, Nylander and Rielly are your core moving forward. With Marner and Tavares being the odd men out. The only way I see JT coming back is on a really team friendly less then 5 million per year contract but even then, he's not going to a core piece you need.

They need another top 2 D and reliable goaltending. The problem being everyone is going to know that they want to shop Marner for it, which will put them at a disadvantage when trading him. Also who's available as a top 2 D? Does a Seth Jones for Marner trade make sense? Does Seth Jones just look so bad lately because of Chicago, would Marner want to go play in Chicago with Bedard? For the regular season that could be very interesting.

[Invictus]

Oh Marner/Bedard combo sounds exciting!