Fack marchand, he deserves 10 games for that

Defense looked what you would expect:
Rielly and Dermott - played quite ok.
Zaitsev and Ozhighanov - mediocre, but still a pass.
Hainsey and Gardiner - bad game for both, lots of giveaways.

We obviously missed Nylander, although Ennis did quite a few things well - but he's not the same threat as Nylander is.

Brown and in particular Johnsson were very bad.
Hyman didn't play well either.

Best players on the ice were Andersen, Matthews and Tavares.
Marner was meh.
Lindholm played quite ok.

I wonder whether Babcock eventually could change things in some games, giving quite a bit of ice time to two toplines:

Kadri - Tavares - Marner
Marleau - Matthews - Nylander

and then 3rd line of:
Brown - Hyman - Kapanen (all three can take a faceoff)

4th:
Johnsson - Lindholm - Ennis

Ennis does show that he can play anywhere in lineup and can do what's needed in all situations.
But unless Johnsson improves quickly, I could see him being out of the lineup by game 3/4 - and a bit later in the season other players like Grundstrom, Marchment being called up to join that 4th line.

At this point in time, Leafs should probably be best of to try and trade Gardiner + Johnsson (+) for a good young d-man.
- plantheparade

Kapanen had a great game

I like how it's game 1 of the season. Game (frank)ing 1 of the season and he's torpedoing the club's chances, bringing up Boston. We didn't even play them last night!

They played like poop, no doubt, but c'man: it's Game ONE of EIGHTY-TWO games.
- gravyface

Agreed.
Wait until the 20 game mark, that will usually tell you what a team will be.
Hes right though, it was the same crappy play as in the past, outshot, horrible D, but skate by with a win.
But its only 1 game....who cares. Not worth ranting about.
But fack the bruins lol

And leivo looked decent in top 9 role.

Gards and hainsey were brutal. Ad I said earlier...I wonder if the boos during the intro ceremony hurt his little ego.

Kapanen had a great game
- mykokes

Agreed, just wasnt going in for him. Loved his effort.

I still think the Leafs are trying to beat the system and Willie is in on it too.

Willie will be back...in December.

yea!montreal! goes to show to many chiefs.....

KEEP THE STREAK GOING TONTO TREE PARTS!
- MLew65

I dont know what this means, but I know it is an extremely intelligent post.

And leivo looked decent in top 9 role.

Gards and hainsey were brutal. Ad I said earlier...I wonder if the boos during the intro ceremony hurt his little ego.
- mykokes

Too bad if it did. Man up, gimme a break.
Gards is just bad period.
But leivo did look decent.

You know those teams that finish in 1st place and then they lose in the playoffs and wonder why? That's going to be the Leafs if they're not careful. Some teams do it for 10+ years and eventually figure it out (like Washington) other teams go all the way and lose in the end (like Vancouver and San Jose) and other teams just score a lot of goals, finish in 1st and just go nowhere (St. Louis, Buffalo and Ottawa).

The process matters as much as the results.
- Unholy_Goalie

Oh man, you are so over the top its ridiculous. You know youve been wrong about pretty much everything Leafs right? Yet here you are, clicking the submit button on your post again thinking you cant be wrong.

the Leafs won, and it wasn't as bad as people are making it out to be.

its 1 game..we need to see 10 games play out before we start to give a poop about being outworked and whatnot .

the Leafs won, and it wasn't as bad as people are making it out to be.

its 1 game..we need to see 10 games play out before we start to give a poop about being outworked and whatnot .
- senstroll

I cant believe how many people have overreacted to the first game its laughable. Mirtle had an awful take on The Athletic too. Just craziness.

Agreed.
Wait until the 20 game mark, that will usually tell you what a team will be.
Hes right though, it was the same crappy play as in the past, outshot, horrible D, but skate by with a win.
But its only 1 game....who cares. Not worth ranting about.
But fack the bruins lol
- Fakepartofme

The Carlyle days are still pretty fresh in all of our minds, but this is not that team: our worst is better than that group's best.

If he hit him in the chest or the shoulder, that hit is perfectly fine. But he hit him in the head, he's a repeat offender and it was a (frank)ing preseason game. I hate how much softer the league is becoming but that hit was unnecessary on multiple levels.
- Unholy_Goalie

Meh, buddy looks right at Wilson then decides it’s a good time to bury his head for a shot. 20’s too much.

Go Leafs Go

Still have my woody from last night

*fired up the hub*

I cant believe how many people have overreacted to the first game its laughable. Mirtle had an awful take on The Athletic too. Just craziness.
- Archaic

The hockey media is ridiculous: overhype the living (frank) out of everything, paraphrase it all as "the fans", and then when their overinflated expectations for a SINGLE GAME doesn't pan out, they go Full Ugtard in their first post-game write-up.

I cant believe how many people have overreacted to the first game its laughable. Mirtle had an awful take on The Athletic too. Just craziness.
- Archaic

Hainsey was not very good. i cant see how he plays the whole year playing that much

No, it's actually not. It's the way they've played for two years. It's a problem. It's a bad habit. If it's just "early season" hockey, why didn't the Habs (a garbage team on paper) suffer from it? Why are they playing the same way on the 1st game as they did during the playoffs last year?
- Unholy_Goalie

People would prefer it if you stopped posting. You’re a miserable troll. Go to the bruins board. You love them. It’s a good fit

Hainsey was not very good. i cant see how he plays the whole year playing that much
- senstroll

A bad 1st, after that it wasn’t as bad. As you said it’s 1 game. We’ll end up trading for a d this year I think.

Welp, at least Boston sucks

If the Leafs ever win the Cup are you gonna feel joy for a moment or just start in about why they don't have what it takes to repeat?
- Zezel

So true!

I thought Dermott looked really good. That’s a positive Matthews wasn’t very good, still gets two goals. That’s the beauty of having awesome players I guess.

I thought Dermott looked really good. That’s a positive Matthews wasn’t very good, still gets two goals. That’s the beauty of having awesome players I guess.
- ClarksonDavid

What to have your blood boil? Tavares and Matthews scored 3 goals total and are franchise game changers. Want to know what forwards had the highest TOI last night? Ennis and Marleau.
Why is Tyler Ennis, who couldn't crack a non playoff team last year and was brought in as a tryout getting more ice-time than Matthews and Tavares?
Kapanen looked great in very little ice-time. When will this kid get to actually play?
Dermott looked really good and had little ice-time.

Kapanen had a great game
- mykokes

Leivo played pretty well too.. I thought 5 on 5, the Tavares line and the Kadri line were our two best.. \
Matthews line, struggled a little against the Domi line

the Leafs won, and it wasn't as bad as people are making it out to be.

its 1 game..we need to see 10 games play out before we start to give a poop about being outworked and whatnot .
- senstroll

20 games is my measuring stick.
By then youll have a pretty good idea of what the team is.

Hainsey was not very good. i cant see how he plays the whole year playing that much
- senstroll

Its one game, hes usually steady.