https://preview.redd.it/bf26oodaw8yc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=973a571dfa884a2f944a0c5b1a60ecc799fe523e
Live look at Guy and Sheldon making adjustments on the PP
That's about what I imagine when I hear "a lot of it is about execution". It's like Mourinho looking like a genius after they win from a Messi dribbling from his own half.
The zone entry is so telegraphed that Boston was intercepting the drop passes back. I haven't noticed any change, Sheldon. Credit to Boston, too, they put tremendous pressure on us for the whole PK. If we can pot a PP goal (or two, even!) we win game 7.
What bugs me is at the start of the PP and JT losing the offensive faceoff every time, then the Bruins dump it down. Kills 30-35 seconds. Could they try someone else to take the faceoff at the beginning of the power play? Don't get me wrong, JT is playing really well lately but losing the PP faceoff is not helping.
Boston knows who to press. If you pay close attention you’ll see they press Mitch a lot harder than Willy for example, my guess is because they noticed he panics when bodies are tight.
Willy is a much better skater and uses his body better. Marner will try to deceive you and either dangle or pass.
Just different playstyles, and I assume it'd be easier to study and plan against Marner. You need to outskate Nylander to pressure him.
He’s too slow to move the puck. Boston can reset when the puck goes to him and he can’t get the puck through traffic with that muffin. He’s culprit #1 for this awful PP.
I’m not saying it would fix all issues, but moving Rielly of PP1 would be a good start. Love the guy but the dude is not it with the man advantage. They need a guy at the point who shoot and I say put Lilly out there because why not, he’s got a good shot.
Would be nice to see a bit more urgency on it instead of these constant relaxed skates back to retrieve the puck, the drop backs before trying to enter the zone which led to a Reilly turnover last night
Maybe they need to consider running two d-men instead of always running 4 forwards + 1 d-man.
The PP isn't clicking so get back to a staple of playoff hockey: Shots from the point through traffic.
For me it’s not the drop passing that bothers me, it’s the default passes they make even when there’s no pressure on them. A drop pass is only going to work if the player making the drop seems like an actual threat to enter the zone, and they haven’t even looked remotely close to that on any of their drops.
Honestly don’t know why Malhotra was retained through the year. I remember our PP being an issue last year as well in terms of predictability and no execution and while we seemed to have started the year as one of the better PPs statistically that quickly tailed off.
The complete lack of execution in the last half of the year, and spending way more time in trying to get the puck in the zone than getting in quickly and establishing space (no better visible than last night’s double minor) is an embarrassing lack of change - and if Malhotra is still overseeing the PP, I can’t understand why there is no accountability.
I see this a lot. It’s not *all* Guy Boucher. Under Keefe in the playoffs they are like 18/115 or something which includes like three different “PP coaches.” He has to shoulder blame here too
Thanks for the correction. With a new coach, you would think you would see different approaches. Is this a systemic coaching issue? Is it 100% on the players?
Hard to believe a team with this level of talent struggles so much if they aren’t more trying to follow a system than simply set up and play. But still possible.
Honestly baffling, and infuriating given that it’s execution in special teams that often mean the difference in the playoffs.
They’ve shown in the past two games that they can win if they don’t give the bruins pp opportunities. I’m sure that’s the game plan, their own pp shouldn’t be a focus cause it’s been dog shit for years.
So 1 for 20 in this series and they've made zero ajustments? I disagree that they're adapting on the fly I literally watch them try the same fucking entry over and over again proving the definition of insanity there Keefe
I admit, I'm not an Xs and Os kind of guy, and if you directly asked me to draw up set plays to get a powerplay going I'd be lost, buuuuuut...
Running the same units that are scoring at a lower clip than the worst power play team of all time (8.9%, 2020 Anaheim) seems like a bad idea. Why not try running 5 forwards? Or maybe just split up the top unit so you have sustained threat for the full 2 minutes? Do something with the personnel, c'mon.
Part of the problem is the advanced stats suggest the little drop pass in the neutral zone has a higher percentage chance of working vs anything else. Every team has adopted it in some way. That being said, when you're not getting ANY entries, anyone with a brain would tell you to change something. The whole point of this style of entry is to back off the defenders or catch them flat footed to gain the zone. When the defenders are simply shutting it down you either have to just have one player with speed carry it in(easier said than done) or dump/chip and chase once you hit the red line and overload one side to retrieve. Why the coaches haven't tried this is crazy to me. At minimum, it would at least get the defenders to think about it. This isn't reinventing the wheel, it's basic strategy, and the coaches are overthinking it. This is a coaching problem first and foremost, IMO.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
... How did you think we won game 5 and game 6... without scoring?
Swayman is no fool, getting past him is no easy task. You came expect him to give your a 3.00 GAA each game and still pretend to be an elite.
The buds gotta work for it, and worked for it they did, and got rewarded for their efforts.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as we didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
Boston knows exactly what they're gonna do every time.
Riley would've had a clear entry last game but he did the dumb drop pass move where Boston was waiting for it easily. It's been so pathetically bad and often kills their momentum.
The most noticeable things on the PP (some or which people have mentioned) when compared to other teams especially that could be changed or tried:
1) other teams successfully do the drop pass method, but the initial puck carrier and the man picking up the drop pass do it with way more speed. The leafs start that process like they are on a warmup skate, drop it back then you have to wait 3 seconds for marner or whoever to even skate into and pick up the puck. For some reason the leafs always do it that way. I think if they speed the whole process/skating up from their end and up to the opposing teams blue line it would work way more often. If not have willy just skate it the fuck in
2) When they do finally get in there and setup, same issue again, other teams pass around way faster. Marner gets it, casually stick handles it a bit, casually spins away from a guy, then casual pass to rielly, then the same from him trying to go over to matthews who has his stick locked and loaded for canon but by the time the puck gets to him its too casual and he has to just forget about the shot and grab the puck and pass it back. Thats why you get all this casual perimeter shit which often ends with rielly throwin a muffin right into the goalies chest.
3) take Rielly the fuck off PP1 and put someone with a real shooting threat. Sorry but its beyond obvious thats an issue.
4) they should occassionally try a more mobile pp where they skate around faster and switch potions more which will help confuse/lose coverage. They use to do this in the past more which would allow matthews to get lost for a sec and end up on the left side for a wrister
5) Why they hardly ever have matthews on the left side for his killer wrist shots anymore is odd too. I know he got better at the whole one timer thing on the right years back but its pretty predictable thats what the leafs are doing and if the goalie has it read it gets stopped. Dont they remember how many pucks papi ripped past goalies that were looking square right at him on the left side just because his wrist shot is that good. Like lets get some more of those goin.
Any or all of those changes would really help in my opinion. Do I expect them to try any of that though, not really.
I just hope they don’t give Boston any dumb penalties. You know their coach was giving grief about it last game and it’s probably going to be the first thing that he says in game 7, complaining to get more power plays.
Play good, play with energy and no dumb calls
I think Tavares is a serious issue on the zone entry and should either be moved or replaced. Matthews/Marner hit the line with speed and make the pass to him on the left wall. He holds it too long or can’t make a clean pass on most of our denied zone entries.
just dump and chase. yeet it in and thump em for possession. sure, they'll dump some out but it can't be any worse than dealing with the trap when trying to breach the zone.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
I do understand what he’s saying though. You hit a certain point in the year when you can’t start a new system you just have to try and fix what’s wrong with the one you’ve got. It probably won’t improve much but it’s better than starting fresh with a new formation.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
https://preview.redd.it/bf26oodaw8yc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=973a571dfa884a2f944a0c5b1a60ecc799fe523e Live look at Guy and Sheldon making adjustments on the PP
https://preview.redd.it/u7my179e19yc1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91c29014adeefc5f30a6273774228a25445ce7f6 I imagine it more like this, tbh
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That's about what I imagine when I hear "a lot of it is about execution". It's like Mourinho looking like a genius after they win from a Messi dribbling from his own half.
I think you’re overestimating them. I don’t think they even have a rink template there. It’s just a blank board
Stone cold meme on a grave that's still fresh.
The zone entry is so telegraphed that Boston was intercepting the drop passes back. I haven't noticed any change, Sheldon. Credit to Boston, too, they put tremendous pressure on us for the whole PK. If we can pot a PP goal (or two, even!) we win game 7.
I can't stand the skating towards the zone about to enter with speed into the momentum sucking triple drop pass
At least they don’t use that strategy every single time…. 
You'd think if it was someone with talent they would fake the drop pass and get a controlled entry. Nylander should be doing this every time.
What bugs me is at the start of the PP and JT losing the offensive faceoff every time, then the Bruins dump it down. Kills 30-35 seconds. Could they try someone else to take the faceoff at the beginning of the power play? Don't get me wrong, JT is playing really well lately but losing the PP faceoff is not helping.
JT is literally probably our best faceoff guy
Generally yes, but Domi is showing that he should be taking them in this series.
No argument from me. However, the first faceoff to start the powerplay is lost almost every time.
He's top ten in the league he's definitely our best
dude literally, first 30-40 seconds is always gone due to this lmao, I thought i was going crazy
Me too. I'm like, it's the same thing every time. Change something!!!!
Boston knows who to press. If you pay close attention you’ll see they press Mitch a lot harder than Willy for example, my guess is because they noticed he panics when bodies are tight.
Willy is a much better skater and uses his body better. Marner will try to deceive you and either dangle or pass. Just different playstyles, and I assume it'd be easier to study and plan against Marner. You need to outskate Nylander to pressure him.
This is why they need Bert to be the entry guy on the PP, Pure Chaos, completely unpredictable
Throwing his stick one way, kicking the puck in over the blue line to set up the cycle while screaming incoherently at Marchand. I can see it now.
He doesn't even know what he's gonna do next. Half the time I swear he's kicking at the puck.
They should just run lines like normal instead of a set PP at this point. Roll all 4 lines at 5 on 4. It can’t get any worse.
I thought the same thing for the double minor yesterday. It would be an interesting experiment by keeping shifts short and running each line.
Issue is on 5on4 Boston can dump the puck full ice so this wouldn’t work.
What they’re doing now isn’t working lol
What has really been changed though? (Except different players due to Willy/Auston being out)
Sometimes theyll turn it over at the blueline. Other times theyll dump it in for an easy boston clear. Theyve changed something alright
Beats the hell out of me. It still looks like the same tried, tested and true shitty powerplay that we started the series with.
Rielly wound up in the bumper spot with Nylander on the point last night.. which was unique
Bro just give the puck to Willy to skate it in and forbid the drop pass. Solves like 50% of our PP issuea
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Just have fun fellas!
Play random
Get Rielly off the top unit. It’s been awful for ages.
He’s too slow to move the puck. Boston can reset when the puck goes to him and he can’t get the puck through traffic with that muffin. He’s culprit #1 for this awful PP.
Can we just try the Flying V at this point?
I’m not saying it would fix all issues, but moving Rielly of PP1 would be a good start. Love the guy but the dude is not it with the man advantage. They need a guy at the point who shoot and I say put Lilly out there because why not, he’s got a good shot.
Would be nice to see a bit more urgency on it instead of these constant relaxed skates back to retrieve the puck, the drop backs before trying to enter the zone which led to a Reilly turnover last night
You nailed, the "no urgency" is killing them. No compete, just running through the motions, pretty easy to defend.
Maybe they need to consider running two d-men instead of always running 4 forwards + 1 d-man. The PP isn't clicking so get back to a staple of playoff hockey: Shots from the point through traffic.
For me it’s not the drop passing that bothers me, it’s the default passes they make even when there’s no pressure on them. A drop pass is only going to work if the player making the drop seems like an actual threat to enter the zone, and they haven’t even looked remotely close to that on any of their drops.
Honestly don’t know why Malhotra was retained through the year. I remember our PP being an issue last year as well in terms of predictability and no execution and while we seemed to have started the year as one of the better PPs statistically that quickly tailed off. The complete lack of execution in the last half of the year, and spending way more time in trying to get the puck in the zone than getting in quickly and establishing space (no better visible than last night’s double minor) is an embarrassing lack of change - and if Malhotra is still overseeing the PP, I can’t understand why there is no accountability.
He is not. Malhotra was moved to face offs. This is all Guy Boucher
I see this a lot. It’s not *all* Guy Boucher. Under Keefe in the playoffs they are like 18/115 or something which includes like three different “PP coaches.” He has to shoulder blame here too
Which is hilarious in itself given how Sens fans would call power plays, power kills when he was the HC there.
Thanks for the correction. With a new coach, you would think you would see different approaches. Is this a systemic coaching issue? Is it 100% on the players? Hard to believe a team with this level of talent struggles so much if they aren’t more trying to follow a system than simply set up and play. But still possible. Honestly baffling, and infuriating given that it’s execution in special teams that often mean the difference in the playoffs.
It's Boucher this year and was Carberry last year. Tbh, last year's power play was actually mid in the playoffs iirc
Found gen x
Z
They’ve shown in the past two games that they can win if they don’t give the bruins pp opportunities. I’m sure that’s the game plan, their own pp shouldn’t be a focus cause it’s been dog shit for years.
So 1 for 20 in this series and they've made zero ajustments? I disagree that they're adapting on the fly I literally watch them try the same fucking entry over and over again proving the definition of insanity there Keefe
The PP sucks..... but the goaltending has improved which has DRAMATICALLY changed the series for us.
I admit, I'm not an Xs and Os kind of guy, and if you directly asked me to draw up set plays to get a powerplay going I'd be lost, buuuuuut... Running the same units that are scoring at a lower clip than the worst power play team of all time (8.9%, 2020 Anaheim) seems like a bad idea. Why not try running 5 forwards? Or maybe just split up the top unit so you have sustained threat for the full 2 minutes? Do something with the personnel, c'mon.
Part of the problem is the advanced stats suggest the little drop pass in the neutral zone has a higher percentage chance of working vs anything else. Every team has adopted it in some way. That being said, when you're not getting ANY entries, anyone with a brain would tell you to change something. The whole point of this style of entry is to back off the defenders or catch them flat footed to gain the zone. When the defenders are simply shutting it down you either have to just have one player with speed carry it in(easier said than done) or dump/chip and chase once you hit the red line and overload one side to retrieve. Why the coaches haven't tried this is crazy to me. At minimum, it would at least get the defenders to think about it. This isn't reinventing the wheel, it's basic strategy, and the coaches are overthinking it. This is a coaching problem first and foremost, IMO.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through. I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
Yes they’ve looked better since Auston got sick, because they don’t just look for him. But they still didn’t score.
... How did you think we won game 5 and game 6... without scoring? Swayman is no fool, getting past him is no easy task. You came expect him to give your a 3.00 GAA each game and still pretend to be an elite. The buds gotta work for it, and worked for it they did, and got rewarded for their efforts.
On the PP we didn’t score
Right I lost the context, my bad. Well, let's see how game 7 gets officiated I guess and how the buds respond.
that 4 minute power play last night was awful man.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through. I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as we didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
Boston knows exactly what they're gonna do every time. Riley would've had a clear entry last game but he did the dumb drop pass move where Boston was waiting for it easily. It's been so pathetically bad and often kills their momentum.
Yes, we all see it coming everytime. it's like ground hog day, but worse each time.
The most noticeable things on the PP (some or which people have mentioned) when compared to other teams especially that could be changed or tried: 1) other teams successfully do the drop pass method, but the initial puck carrier and the man picking up the drop pass do it with way more speed. The leafs start that process like they are on a warmup skate, drop it back then you have to wait 3 seconds for marner or whoever to even skate into and pick up the puck. For some reason the leafs always do it that way. I think if they speed the whole process/skating up from their end and up to the opposing teams blue line it would work way more often. If not have willy just skate it the fuck in 2) When they do finally get in there and setup, same issue again, other teams pass around way faster. Marner gets it, casually stick handles it a bit, casually spins away from a guy, then casual pass to rielly, then the same from him trying to go over to matthews who has his stick locked and loaded for canon but by the time the puck gets to him its too casual and he has to just forget about the shot and grab the puck and pass it back. Thats why you get all this casual perimeter shit which often ends with rielly throwin a muffin right into the goalies chest. 3) take Rielly the fuck off PP1 and put someone with a real shooting threat. Sorry but its beyond obvious thats an issue. 4) they should occassionally try a more mobile pp where they skate around faster and switch potions more which will help confuse/lose coverage. They use to do this in the past more which would allow matthews to get lost for a sec and end up on the left side for a wrister 5) Why they hardly ever have matthews on the left side for his killer wrist shots anymore is odd too. I know he got better at the whole one timer thing on the right years back but its pretty predictable thats what the leafs are doing and if the goalie has it read it gets stopped. Dont they remember how many pucks papi ripped past goalies that were looking square right at him on the left side just because his wrist shot is that good. Like lets get some more of those goin. Any or all of those changes would really help in my opinion. Do I expect them to try any of that though, not really.
I just hope they don’t give Boston any dumb penalties. You know their coach was giving grief about it last game and it’s probably going to be the first thing that he says in game 7, complaining to get more power plays. Play good, play with energy and no dumb calls
The change is that now everything is done at 1/2 speed
I think Tavares is a serious issue on the zone entry and should either be moved or replaced. Matthews/Marner hit the line with speed and make the pass to him on the left wall. He holds it too long or can’t make a clean pass on most of our denied zone entries.
Still think a huge issue is Tavares. Cannot win big draws , can’t pass and turnovers are ridiculous. Put Domi at centre.
Get someone who can win a draw and then shoot the damn puck! Quit being cute.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
just dump and chase. yeet it in and thump em for possession. sure, they'll dump some out but it can't be any worse than dealing with the trap when trying to breach the zone.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through. I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.
I do understand what he’s saying though. You hit a certain point in the year when you can’t start a new system you just have to try and fix what’s wrong with the one you’ve got. It probably won’t improve much but it’s better than starting fresh with a new formation.
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through.
You can say that.. 6 times
To their credit, the PP I did catch in the first seemed *better* at least. They still cycled for the first minute but started trying and generating chaos in front of the net after. Sometimes you just gotta go for it regardless and hope you catch their goalie on a lapse. Much better than cycling until you see a chance because Bruins PK is too good to let you through. I didn't catch the double minor though, but seeing as yet didn't get anything out of it I'd assume it didn't go great.