*** 2021-22 Playoffs Opening Round: Tampa Bay Lightning (A3) at Toronto Maple Leafs (A2) - (TBL WIN 4-3) ***

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I ask again.... YOU AWAKE YET TAMPA BAY!??

3-0 Toronto and the Leafs for SURE think they can win this series now.

[FD19372]

2 minutes ago, 3 Palmateers said:

Mein, yours, everyone's Kampf!  Shorty. Woo hoo! 

The Leaf fans, have become Kampftorably Numb.

Edited May 3, 2022 by FD19372

[3 Palmateers]

1 minute ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

I ask again.... YOU AWAKE YET TAMPA BAY!??

3-0 Toronto and the Leafs for SURE think they can win this series now.

I'm as big a doubting Thomas in Leafs nation. This is the worst set up possible. If Tampa can score, and get momentum flipped, the Leafs have a history of collapsing...especially in third periods. 

 

Love what I'm seeing, but I've seen them dominate like this and then lose momentum and that boulder starts rolling down hill faster and faster ending in disaster. 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Lightning NOT finishing checks while Toronto is.

Bolts will look back on the video on this game and should be embarrassed by that.
They pride themselves on tough defense as well as scoring and they are allowing the Leafs to skate at will.

[3 Palmateers]

Marner's legs are going to fall off. Wearing the heck out of him. Matthews and Nylander getting their rest due to all the PKs. That offsets the double-shifting needed in the absence of Clifford the big blue ^%&*.

 

Marner magic! Drought over! 18 playoff games without a goal. Buh bye! 

Edited May 3, 2022 by 3 Palmateers

[FD19372]

1 minute ago, 3 Palmateers said:

Marner's legs are going to fall off. Wearing the heck out of him. Matthews and Nylander getting their rest due to all the PKs. That offsets the double-shifting needed in Clifford the big blue ^%&*.

 

Marner magic! Drought over! 18 games. Buh bye! 

Yep. It's their night. I wouldn't be that surprised if Tie Domi got a goal for them tonight.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Well...I called Lightning in 6, so means Toronto has to win two...this might be one of them.

I see NOTHING that says "Defending Champions" out of the Bolts right now.
 

[3 Palmateers]

1 minute ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Well...I called Lightning in 6, so means Toronto has to win two...this might be one of them.

I see NOTHING that says "Defending Champions" out of the Bolts right now.
 

I have Bolts in 5.  3rd periods always scary with the Leafs, but if they hold on, Tampa has to run the next 4. Could happen. 

[3 Palmateers]

Other than the Leafs escaping Boston with a win in a pivotal Game 5 to go up 3-2 headed back to Toronto, this is the most shocking performance I've ever seen out of the Leafs.

 

Also, the most rabid I've ever seen their home crowd. The place is a library most of the time. 

 

Tampa didn't want to give these kids confidence, but now they have it. 

[Math]

The good ol' Corey Perry... How surprising.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Just.....awful for the Bolts and their fans.
Terri-bad.
Gi-normously putrid.

Good thing this isn't some 'play in game'.

Seven game set....sometimes a child needs to get a whuppin before they understand.

TB, there was your whuppin...

Full marks to Toronto for taking it to the Lightning.
No doubt about it, they came to play.

[3 Palmateers]

8 hours ago, 3 Palmateers said:

Always interesting to watch how a team's coach and players react, in front of the media, right before the playoffs start. 

 

Just watched Keefe and Marner. Trying to read them it seems to me that Keefe is horribly uncomfortable and not confident in about what's going to happen tonight, or in this series. 

 

Marner is tougher to read. He looks like someone who is either upset about being questioned regarding the playoffs, or is extremely tight. Maybe, both?

 

I've watched every game this season and listened to the pressers after every game. Marner is usually a boring interview but he seems more boring than usual. Keefe is usually easy to read where his head's at.  

 

In watching the two, I don't have a great feeling about them performing well, tonight. Can't wait to see if my gut feeling about what I'm hearing from them proves true. You want to be wrong, but you feel what you feel. 

 

Disappointed Bunting has been ruled out for Game 1.  Happy Kase is back. He's a potential difference maker for the Leafs and plays hard like Bunting but doesn't have the nasty that Bunting brings. 

 

Last time they played, no Matthews and no Point, and it ended 8-1. Game before that, Matthews posts a hatty and Leafs win 6-2 in there building.  He's been dominant vs. Tampa in his NHL career. Hoping he's in the right frame of mind and is healthy because he's gotta score or this series will be over a lot sooner than many people think. 

Nailed it.  Couldn't have been more wrong, but it feels so right. 

 

Happy to see the boys not celebrating especially Matthews. He knows and stated you don't win 4 games in 1 game. Long way to go.  

[Buffalo Rick]

The Leafs have proven they can beat anyone.  Except the Sabres for some strange reason.  But they are going to be a tough out. I hope the Flames are good tonight.

[3 Palmateers]

Tampa knows. Game 2 will tell us what kind of a series we're likely to see the rest of the way from the Bolts. 

 

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

2 minutes ago, 3 Palmateers said:

Tampa knows. Game 2 will tell us what kind of a series we're likely to see the rest of the way from the Bolts. 

 

 

 

I said as much yesterday, that all TB needed to do was look at the game footage to see they really were too soft on Toronto.

I mean, some message board fan like myself can see that CLEARLY.... the coaches and players certainly should be able to see that.
Toronto, all game long, finishing checks and were highly aggressive defensively.... Bolts weren't any of those things, bottom line.

If for some reason the Lightning players did a bit too much reading about how the Leafs tend to fold in the first round, then SHAME on those TB players..... they should be handling Toronto like they handled Florida, Carolina, the Islanders, and Montreal previously.
With no quarter given.

[3 Palmateers]

Michael Bunting is in for Game 2. He should really help amp it up tonight.

 

 

Tampa didn't lose Game 1 in either 1st round series during their back-to-back Cups. The last time they lost Game 1, they got swept. 

 

Tonight, is HUGE. I expect the Leafs to be nothing like they were in Game 1 and Tampa to be the best version of themselves. Should be a hoot. 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by 3 Palmateers

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Bolts are 14-0 following a playoff game loss.... let's see if they can continue that trend.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

One big difference I'm already seeing in the Lightning's game:
They are finishing checks now.

Will it be enough to disrupt Toronto's "flow", we will see, but I do notice the Leafs players coughing up the puck a lot more now due to being hit, or even anticipating being hit.
Ultimately, the Lightning will need to solve Campbell, but the Champs are definitely more engaged here.

Now... Toronto to the power play on a bench minor by the Bolts...

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Lightning capitalize on a broken play to end the 1st, and now, Corey Perry disrupts the Leafs and runs a breakaway towards Campbell, and scores as well, putting the Lightning up 2-0.

Lots of game left, but yep, TB DEFINITELY awake now.

Crowd is deadly silent in Leafs Land right now.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Toronto fires back to make it 2-1, but the thing the Lightning have shown they know how to do:

Once fully engaged, they are quick to answer. And they did.
3-1 and on the PP, so special teams taking center stage here.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Leafs dodged a treecutter in that sequence.

Bolts are getting Toronto to over commit on the PK, leaving a bunch of wide open TB players. 
Campbell was able to track it down and freeze however, but that could have been disastrous for the Leafs.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Ryan McDonagh with some borderline play on the Leafs attackers.

But that is McD at his best.... manhandling the opposition, pushing the envelope without actually taking a penalty (even if one is warranted), and getting the opposing forwards thinking about what he's gonna do next to them when they enter the zone and go behind the net, rather than thinking about making plays.

McDonagh is a lot stronger than I believe he was before too....ragdolls guys his own size and bigger as well.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Ilya Lyubushkin.... damned good underrated defenseman.

Nasty. Unafraid.

UFA at season's end.
Probably not cost a lot.

Vancouver should look at trying to sign that guy.....

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

3rd period about to get underway.

Down the stretch time for Game 2.

Do the Champs let off the gas? (Shame on them if they do!)
Do the Leafs change any approaches (I.E. take even more chances offensively at the risk of leaving Campbell to fend for himself?)
Do the Lightning run away with it by piling on goals?
Do the LEAFS pile on goals?

Plus.... Does Donna really love Jason? And will she ever tell him the baby isn't really his??

These questions, and I am sure many others will be answered in, As the 3rd Period turns.  

[3 Palmateers]

This feels about right. The Leafs intensity from Game 1 was not sustainable. Leafs down...Tampa up. A predictable outcome. 

 

We'll see if the back-to-back champs make the same mistake the Leafs made in not stepping on the throat and pounding the nail halfway into the coffin. 

 

I don't think they will.  Tampa in 5. Feels like a key Leafs injury is coming. 

 

Jack Campbell has not been good and Vasilevskiy showing who's the alpha and who's the beta.