Game 7- Rake and Burn the Leafs
- Thread starter NYCSox
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Tampa isn't as deep up front as Toronto. They'll have a hard time keeping up with our third and fourth lines.
may want to add Point, Stamkos, Kucherov. ...Lighting roster is superior to Toronto's. Doesn't mean they will beat the Bruins, but they have a nice squad top to bottom and they are healthy.
They have a deeper roster than Toronto, but not a more explosive offensive game. Toronto's speed gave Boston fits. Tampa doesn't have that kind of team speed. Some are fast, but not all.
Krug scoring as quickly as he did was huge. If that period started ticking down towards 13 or 12 minutes, I could see a lot of sticks turning into sawdust (or the composite equivalent of sawdust).
I can't quite grasp what I am reading and hearing from people on TV, fans, etc. People want to boil down defensive hockey to simply goaltending. Most are quick to blame every single goal on Rask and "oh Rask sucks, he's terrible, pull him, trade him, he's a choker". While Rask was shaky tonight, nobody mentions that the players around him made mistakes to set up certain situations. It happened all series long. Pucks weren't properly cleared, Marchand overskated a puck that led to a breakaway, and McAvoy gave it up right in front of the net. Rask is a complete enigma in this town, never gets any credit for good games, and gets completely destroyed in every loss. Some even say that nothing is good enough until he wins a Cup. It's crazy.
Once again, the defense can suck and the goaltending can also suck. They aren't mutually exclusive. There was much more discussion in this thread about the shitty clearing of the zone on the first couple goals than there was about Rask. But, just because the defense isn't perfect doesn't mean a goalie should be absolved when they let in a goal. You're an NHL goalie, you should be expected to make some tough saves once in a while. Rask didn't do that tonight. He made the saves he should have made, the same ones that most division 1 college goalies make, but he wasn't doing much more than that. They had 4 goals on their first 15 shots or so. He gave up 4 goals on 13 shots the other night. I don't give a shit how bad your defense is, that's pathetic, for any goalie.
Rask had one brilliant game in this series in Game 4. Besides that, he was average at best, and downright putrid at times. The defense was as well, but you know what, sometimes the other team's offense makes plays and the only one who can keep the puck from going in the net when that happens is the goalie. The Bruins shouldn't have to hope every shot hits Rask in the chest or it's going to be a goal, and that's pretty much what it was through 2 periods tonight. Fortunately, the B's put 7 on the board.
Edit: Just to add some numbers to this:
In the last 5 games of the series, both goalies gave up a total of 15 goals. Anderson faced 175 shots, and Rask faced 128 shots during that time.
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That DeBrusk GWG was just pure sex. I think I might be pregnant after watching it a few times.
Rask had his fair share of big saves on odd-man rushes and breakaways outside of Game 4 as well. It's just people choose not to remember them but they certainly remember every mistake he makes. He was good in Games 1 and 2 and was not bad in Game 3 and 6 in losses. Tonight, he was not good and I don't think you'll find anyone that says he was. He should be getting criticism tonight. Most just believe lazily that Rask is to blame for all of the team's problems. Most do not criticize players that make defensive breakdowns but are very quick to throw up their hands solely at Rask any time the puck goes in the net.
I don't think Rask has really gotten rid of the stink of the 2010 Flyers series and maybe to a lesser extent the 2014 Montreal series. It's unfair but I think people hold those against him.
I am so fucking happy right now. They made an important step tonight. Seriously. A huge step forward.
I must have blacked that out completely because I have absolutely no recollection of Tuukka being the starter in the 2010 playoffs. None. Had to check multiple sources to confirm.
They overcame mediocre goaltending and won. You can do that in hockey. It's the ultimate team sport. Rask has a chance to redeem himself against Tampa.
Matthews: 1-1=2 in 7 games.
B’s got burned my Marner a few times, but they did a monster job on Matthews.
B’s got burned my Marner a few times, but they did a monster job on Matthews.
I honestly have a very different recollection of Rask in this series outside of Game 4, and maybe Game 1. I don't remember him making more than a couple "good to great" saves outside of those games. In fact, it almost felt like the complete opposite. It felt like the Bruins would dominate play, and pepper Anderson with mixed results, and then Toronto would go into our end and score almost every time they challenged Rask with any sort of difficult save.
I also think you're very much mistaken about the tone of this thread, and the threads in this series. I don't disagree that there are Rask haters out there, particularly on talk radio, but the vast majority of the posts in this thread were calling out the defense, particularly on the first two goals. I know Chara was the one that got most of the blame for his shitty clear on the 1st goal, and it was the same with the 2nd goal. But again, the defense is never going to be perfect. Once in a while, a goalie needs to make a play to pick up his defense, especially a goalie making $7m a year. I don't think asking Rask to be better than average is asking a lot, and I think that's what most fans are looking for, and didn't get in this series.
I just find it interesting that anytime the Bruins scored, fans credited the player(s) who created or scored the goal, or they blamed Anderson for being a shitty goalie. We never heard about the defensive breakdowns that led to the goal when the shoe was on the other foot. And Toronto had many, many more defensive breakdowns than the Bruins had in this series. The shots on goal numbers bear that out pretty vividly.
All I know is that Tampa is a better defensive team than this Toronto team, so relying on our offense to put up 28 goals over 7 games might be asking too much, and if so, Tuuka is going to need to be better than he was in this series.
What a snipe by Krug to tie it up.
Who knew that 4-4 would be key. Debrusk MOP of the series IMHO.
Bruins win, Bruins win.
Who knew that 4-4 would be key. Debrusk MOP of the series IMHO.
Bruins win, Bruins win.
Just came out of radio silence to get up and watch the 3rd at 6AM,. What a period. I had dreams of me smashing my TV. This was much better... Although I was ready to drive to Rick Nash's house myself and pack his bags for him after he evened up the sides with the bonehead crosscheck on the delayed penalty. My son learned a few new words right then...
On to the sunshine state.
On to the sunshine state.
Some great posts in their game thread on Toronto HF boards. The best one IMO:
"Golf Leafs Golf"
"Golf Leafs Golf"
And I would like to thank my bartender Steve at Big Dog here in Maine. I was so wound up for this game, I got to the bar, got through 2 (maybe 3) Buck Brown Ales and a nice steak-and-cheese, went to check the thickness of my wallet, and realized it was still home on the desk...
My man floated me for the rest of the game. I'll pay up today when he opens at 4. And I'll grease the guy a $20.
Thanks, man!
Every time I hear an NHL player talk about Rask, they talk about how awesome he is and how he's a top 5 goalie in the League.
Every time I hear people shitting on Rask, it's dudes who don't have much beyond cursory knowledge of the position.
Rask had a stinker in game 5, and had 2-3 other goals he'd probably like back over the course of this series. If they want to win the Cup, he's going to have to play better; but a good 75% of the criticism I read/hear of him is foolish.
I'm way more relieved than excited about last night...worst case I can enjoy 2 more weeks of playoff hockey. I was shutting the league down if the Bs had lost that one.
Every time I hear people shitting on Rask, it's dudes who don't have much beyond cursory knowledge of the position.
Rask had a stinker in game 5, and had 2-3 other goals he'd probably like back over the course of this series. If they want to win the Cup, he's going to have to play better; but a good 75% of the criticism I read/hear of him is foolish.
I'm way more relieved than excited about last night...worst case I can enjoy 2 more weeks of playoff hockey. I was shutting the league down if the Bs had lost that one.
I'd like to take a minute and talk about Adam McQuaid.
(also, would have been really interesting to see if a call would have been made had the Leaf gone down there instead of staying on his skates)
(also, would have been really interesting to see if a call would have been made had the Leaf gone down there instead of staying on his skates)
I was shocked a call wasn’t made as it played out. I think there definitely would have been a call if the player went down
That really is an under rated and amazing play. He gets the stick on the puck and still manages to pull back the the stick and not slide into him to avoid the penalty. I think half of his healthy scratches this year were strictly because Cassidy wanted to preserve him for the playoffs given his willingness to sacrifice his body continuously.
Meanwhile I was screaming at him for being so slow to change on - I can't believe he ended up making it.
My voice is gone, but my erection...
My voice is gone, but my erection...
He’s a pretty known quantity at this point in his career. He’ll give you around a .916 save percentage, which generally fares worse in relative league rankings than his GAA. His GSAA and Expected Save Percentage differentials and any other numbers you can slice tell the story of a pretty average goalie. And he’s generally got shittier stats in elimination games, which sticks in people’s minds.
He’s fine. Sometimes he’s great. Sometimes he’s shitty.
He also has a 41 year old and bunch of kids in front of him. I don't think it's entirely on him.
He made multiple great saves in the third period of game 6 alone. One was a shoulder save on Nylander on the doorstep after a cross ice pass with 8:40 left. Starting at 1:50 of this video:
http://www.nbcsports.com/video/toronto-maple-leafs-3-boston-bruins-1-game-6-highlights
One shorthanded on Kapanen with 4:50 to go after a terrible Marchand pass:
https://www.nhl.com/bruins/video/rasks-huge-point-blank-save/t-277443694/c-60076703
One on Mathews with 3:30 to go in the game:
https://www.nhl.com/bruins/video/rasks-nice-diving-save/t-277443694/c-60077103
He wasn't great in the series, but lets not act like he made zero saves outside of game 4
Which aspect of it? Expected Save Percentage differential takes that into account (not perfectly, but it is what it is). Do you think the Bruins defense is worse than league average? Which way do you think the fact that his GAA has been better vs. the league average than his Save Percentage cuts?
Khudobin’s stats this year are similar to Rask’s.
He’s fine. He makes a lot of money. It’s a monumentally boring discussion beyond that.
The Garden was so f**king primed last night. I was sitting about 15 rows back on the blueline where the Bruins were shooting for the 1st and 3rd periods. I was pissed when they let up that first goal so early because you could just tell that the fans were so ready to explode for the home team and was concerned that the home ice advantage might be neutralized (the fans were pretty quiet in the execrable 2nd period). When goals 5 and 6 were potted, the roof came off the place. It literally hurt my ears. What a fun night.
I just want to note that Jake DeBrusk got absolutely trucked scoring the GWG. He had to put himself in a really vulnerable position with a guy that was in a obvious position to take advantage of it, and he sacrificed his body to score. That's the kind of play that comes out in the playoffs and is one of the reasons that hockey is so fucking awsome.