When You’re ‘Too Soft’ For The NHL

When You’re ‘Too Soft’ For The NHL

Marine to deas pass scor season Trent Fredick has a breakaway and he scores Carlos R shot scor Max DOI and Charlie mckoy are going to go some message sending from both teams 41 twice in four 4 days oh I’ve seen this movie before many times it’s a

Classic very rarely do you see a regular season game elicit this kind of emotion from both the players and the fans but this game was a sneak peek of the playoffs with these two teams likely to meet in the first round and when you have one team who’s trying to change

Their identity against a foe who’s constantly exposed them for seemingly being too soft you end up getting pure fireworks it’s no secret Boston has completely and utterly ran the leaf show for years for example if I ask you to remember the series where the Leafs lost in seven games to Boston you would

Literally have to ask me which one because there have been several in the last decade this week the Leafs lost two games to the Bruins both by the score of 4-1 you truly can’t make this stuff up and although everything gets wiped clean when the playoffs start these games are

A good indicator of how this series may go physically strategically and mentally let’s start with the physicality of the game since it’s what jumps out first to the eye the knock on the Leafs has forever been that they are just too soft but with the pieces that they have added

Toronto is extremely aware of this issue right away we saw Jake McCabe give two all-time cross checks to the face of Brad Marshon and Jake debrusk sadly I can’t show this because YouTube wants to protect your delicate eyes against violence but these had some purpose behind them these cross checks set the

Tone and it also landed mcabe right in the Penalty Box now the ref screwed up by giving both n and mcabe a penalty instead of just mccab and that would result in a five on three that would lead to a goal the goal was assisted by of course Marshon and Ne Brusque and

Maron felt the need to point to the Leaf’s bench after the goal that’s a little sneak peek of the mental Warfare between these two teams then you have the brunes physicality in all three zones against the leaf that allows them to be so difficult to play against this

Is where I feel the Leafs get beat quite frequently by Boston there’s certain teams that as a player you know you’re going to get punished as a top Leaf player you know that the brons are going to take a piece of you and it’s going to hinder your decision-making the broons

Run a one 1224 check and F1 is always making sure that they finish their check coach Jim Montgomery spoke afterwards of just how important their physicality was early on and it set the tone for the game even when Boston had sustained pressure and Toronto tried desperately to get it out every Boston player

Finished their check and made it hard minutes for the leaf Defenders this has been a staple of the brunes game for years but the real difference is on defense and how hard they make life on the Leaf’s top players there were times in this game where the Leafs had some

Sustained pressure but Boston just kept them neatly to the perimeter since the Leafs are a high possession team the brunes play Man defense and look at how aggressive each player is to their check as soon as the leaf touches the puck they’re instantly met with pressure and

Little space for you to make a play really this is brilliant defending by Boston but this has been the knock on the leaf core for years getting on the inside in these tight checking games and making a play in the dirty areas of the ice with Toronto wanting to have their

Skill players up high High to attack downhill Boston’s aggressiveness with man-on-man coverage eliminates that space that Toronto Stars usually get when they play against Zone coverages this forces the Stars to try and do too much and good things end up happening for Boston in both games against the

Brunes the Leaf’s core consisting of neander Matthews Marner and tarez were largely kept to the outside of the danger areas when five on five it needs to be that way too for Boston because if they do get clean looks they will make you pay another area where Boston

Exposed Toronto in these two games is off the rush a bit too passive at the blue line for the Leafs and multiple times an entry followed by a stop up had Boston finding the trailer and getting pucks on net to score a goal that will be something that both teams will note

Heading into the playoffs as the leaf will look to be more aggressive in the neutral zone while Boston will look to use their speed to force Toronto’s rangy defenseman to back off and give them space back to the physical part of the game the Leaf’s role players stepped up

And showed push back where Toronto typically hasn’t in the P bruzi Fed so many lefts to W spoon that he was begging for a right and DOI got in the mix as well and while that is the response that you’re looking for as a leaf fan the Leafs still lost this game

Regardless Toronto was firm on sending a message Max doy said postgame that the team had made a pack in the locker room that they were going to stick together in Toronto everything is broken down to the comma in the media but do you think the Boston Bruins make the same pack

Every season or is it simply a non-negotiable that doesn’t even need to be set as a fan of either team take all this with a grain of salt Toronto is coming off a backto back with the flu bug riding through the locker room and the brunes have their own choking sins

To worry about from last year but both strategically and mentally this matchup is absolutely fascinating the Bruins will impose their physicality against Toronto and if they do it in a strategic way like we’ve seen in the past two games this week it’ll be extremely tough for the Leafs to generate any offense as

For Toronto their management is clearly sick of being called soft and all their moves and role players will try to match that physicality they may not be a soft team to play against with the additions but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are a better team the difference will

Ultimately come down to the Leaf’s top players and if they can create offense despite that physicality and even maybe show some of their own push back in the process one thing is for certain and it’s that if this series does happen it will be an allout War Boston may have

Swept the regular season series but they know better than anyone that the playoffs are a different animal with that being said everyone has seen this movie before and to expect otherwise may just be wishful thinking

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We take a deeper look into one of the NHL’s historic rivalries between the Toronto Maple Leafs & The Boston Bruins ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline

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