Bruce Boudreau On Game 7, What He Would Do To Fix The PP, + Mitch Marner/Sheldon Keefe's Future

unfortunate time like I I really would have loved to have you on to talk about round two but here we are another first round exit what was your takeaway from game s you know what I mean honestly I'm not as negative I thought the Leafs out played Boston I didn't think there was a chance in hell Boston was going to score a goal in the last half of the game they didn't look like they had any opportunities um the Leafs were in their face but they had one big blunder and and that was in overtime where they three guys got caught doing doing nothing and um unfortunately when it's h they get caught doing nothing and the other team's best players got the puck uh usually something negative happens Gabby on uh it's was like a tale of two teams almost in the series I thought their game four one of their famous no show stinkers no effort no heart no push back um they responded with game five six and seven it was like they were a different team they like they like adopted a different mentality almost and it was a more of a playoff mentality and they were dominant what do you think happened in between you know game four and five to go on that three- game Run where I think they dominated the Bruins they did dominate them and uh they played playoff hockey quite frankly and uh where you're in your face you're not taking stupid penalties games five six and seven you didn't see the the everybody let's go after marshand and take dumb penalties and let them when you take um bad penalties usually those are the ones that end up in in your net and Maran had eight points in the first four games and none in the last three they played him as a a regular player he's a good player but I mean um but they they didn't get him so wound up that he he was over playing better than maybe what he's capable of I mean he didn't score a power play goal in the last 41 games of the regular season until Toronto started taking penalties against him and then he did it but uh you know what they did what they had they were supposed to do they got pucks deep they didn't allow them over the blue line and the more the most import important or the the thing that I was the most impressed with was the Leafs um clogging up the middle in their own Zone and not letting any shots through I mean they blocked everything um they you know I mean you could tell that the players were committed in wanting to win um and and that just goes by how much courage you have in blocking shots and everybody was blocking shots like I was texting during the game and I probably put the stupid Jinx on them saying that uh you know Boston's not getting any chances they were reminding me of Nashville playing Vancouver in the game six there was just no energy to go offensively and I mean uh I was saying the Leafs are a better team eventually they're going to score now Swan give him credit was incredible I mean uh um he'd probably if you had to give the K Smite away even though right now he'd be like right up there in the voting I mean there's a few guys that would be but I mean right now he's right there but uh the Leafs seem to find ways to lose when other teams find ways to win and uh I think that's the most disappointing thing uh from it that I took Gabby uh pardon my French the power play one for 21 uh I've been on the record for the last couple weeks I want you running this power play man I hope it works out but what did you see what would you change like what's your overall perspective of what went wrong for this team when it comes to the power play well I mean uh for five out of the the seven games they didn't have their complete power play I mean Matthews was missing for two neander was missing for three but think you know when you're playing a team seven times or potentially seven times I mean it's easy to scout what you're doing on the power play now Boston's very aggressive and I didn't think the Leafs I thought they were still trying to be too cute and getting you know like when you're missing two of your best players that you know you uh we used to call it um get back to the bread and butter things aren't going well get back to your bread and butter which is shoot the puck and get to the net and when I've seen the Leafs do really good this year when they're on uh on fire they're they play to the inside of the other teams and they'll get four guys down there instead of the normal three they'll shoot pucks and it's popping out somewhere but the Leafs are always playing to the inside and I thought they did a lot of perimeter stuff I thought they were trying to be too cute I thought their entries were okay um but I mean shoot uh shot volume is where everything happens because if you don't shoot then the defensive team stays in the same uh same spots they don't have to move they don't have to do anything but if you shoot pucks and then wherever it goes and you beat the team to the puck then everything starts that's when you get them running around that's when you find open guys that's when the the skill comes through and I didn't think the Leafs were doing enough of that Bruce guys are taking heat John Taris guys anyone online that says this team is close people get laughed right off of their platform but I mean when you talk about the injuries when you talk about swayan um when you talk about how bad they did dominate them at many points of of the series I'm of the elk that like you know what that was close like you score a couple of more goals like who who could possibly have predicted one for 21 on the power play of course they get a conm worthy performance out of the other goal tender um are are you more positive than a lot of other people that want to burn this thing down that they are close and a couple of tweaks could get them to where they want to be well they certainly to me were we close to beating the Bruins I mean if you're talking about close to winning the Stanley Cup I think they had a little ways to go yet I mean even though Boston came out and they won um you know 5-1 or in in in Florida which uh I won't be able to really be able to evaluate in my mind until I see how plays in game two but uh um let's face it the bad luck that occurred against them I mean neander plays 82 games then gets migraines so he misses the first three I still don't know what the Austin's injury was um um I mean they said he was sick but then he he tweaked something and I don't know what it was but Joseph wall who looked like he was going to be unbeatable uh not saying samsonoff did anything wrong unless until the last goal but I mean he comes down with an injury on um what they say was the last play of the game with 0.1 second in a meaningless goal that Boston scored because the game was over that's a lot of bad luck that's almost like there is a curse like when I was growing up like when I was growing up they they would uh and um Cham used to do a lot and they they and they'd make up songs and there was the leaf witch that would be putting curses on them or or trying to put curses on other teams and I just think it's almost the curse of the Leafs like uh uh but the thing I don't like is is we think that the goal is to win a round the goal is to win four rounds and I mean uh everybody like in the previous year when they they won the first round everybody's doing going nuts to me that's one out of four I mean yeah I'm happy we won let's move on let's not let's make this understand that this is not our goal our goal is to win the cup and and I mean players are getting older people are running into the last years of their contract it's uh it's going to be a new look team I think a little bit next year Brad will after he seen the the team for a year we'll get uh finally know where he thinks that what is what changes need to be made what uh what direction they want to go as as part of a team and uh we'll see a little bit of a different team I think for the record you've been a a massive backer of Mitch Marner but I think we can all agree here in this conversation it wasn't his best series he had three points in seven games 12 shots on goal where are you at in the Mitch Marner conversation obviously he's a year away from uh UFA and there's a lot of Rumblings already that it could be the best for both sides to move on from each other well I have noidea idea quite frankly but let's face it I mean um come July 1 uh they're going to have to sign them uh before then if they want to keep them and Mitch is probably going to want eight years is my guess uh and he's going to want north of 10 million he's going to probably want the 11 million plus and can the Leafs afford that I don't know if they can afford it or if they want to go in that same direction uh you know they've got a couple with Ethan Cowen coming up but he's only 18 he's going to be a couple years yet uh Matthew n took great strides uh but if if they're going to change the makeup of the team I think somebody has to go he seems to be the logical guy what everybody's saying even though I I think he's an unbelievably outstanding player um it's a uh if they're going to make any changes I mean uh it just seems like if they're going to do something that really hits home and change the the concept of the team he would be the guy that would be moved I would think Bruce um you know a saying goes that coaches are hired to be fired um it seems like nobody nobody coaches the same team forever eventually everybody gets fired so if that is the case for Sheldon Keef whether it is or not what's going on at this point in time time in the season behind the scenes what's a coach doing who's he talking to waiting for the acts to fall or what's what's the whole background like there well it's actually interesting um uh the coaches probably already had meetings with the management and management they said they're talking on Friday so I mean we'll see what happens uh between now and then they'll either give them a vote of confidence that we're keeping them or they will have already made the move uh if they're if they're not I mean um the NHL is about winning you know and uh it's it's not a development league so I mean uh and in in that market it's uh uh and I think you know Sheldon's done uh a wonderful job with the team and you look at his his numbers with the uh over the last five years since he took over from Babcock I mean is the winning percentages and everything else but uh I mean sometimes you just make it you make a change I don't know which way they're thinking but I mean uh um they've been calling for it every year that the Leafs don't get out of the first round this might be the year that uh they make the move either way he's going to get another job somewhere quick I would think but um uh sometimes you just have to go a different direction when things aren't working well or Gabby uh finally great question in the chat uh someone asked who's responsible for for the Ot Ot goal from a coach's perspective like what was your breakdown was it just circumstantial where a guy like Pastak made an unbelievable play no he didn't make an unbelievable play he his unbelievable play quite frankly was pointing to hampus lindol and telling him um to shoot the puck off the end boards because he had way more speed than Marner who was coming off the bench and was that was that was his man and usually what happens is when he's that he's their man then the defense can stand up and the the forward picks up the puck because he's playing in front of him coming back but with him being flat-footed Morgan Riley was definitely flat-footed I don't know what he was doing in the middle of the ice quite frankly he was stopped he would like pampus wasn't a threat to come through the middle he he passed that puck from the red line and then I think um they it caught Samson off sleeping because the puck went right through his crease and he stayed deep in the in the crease and allowed Pastak to to to get the puck and make the move uh so I mean I'm looking at all three of those guys uh I mean I could take it further I haven't looked at it whether that he was challenged at the red line to dump in in or he just he just saw the opening when and went D to D I think and then he came up but nobody challenged him on the dump in it all which would have made it more difficult to get a a clean play like that and and you know like I always talk about cross Corner dumps are only good if it's a play and uh because if it's not a play and you just do cross Corner dumps the opposing team or the defensive team is going to pick the puck up all the time because they're going to be in front of the forward coming back but everybody was sort of caught looking and watching and the only one going was pastor neack and he got the puck and when you give a guy that Talent uh uh open open opportunities he's going to put it in the back of the net make sure to check out more of our content right here on the Leafs Nation YouTube page 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Channel: The Leafs Nation

Views: 30,357

Keywords: LeafsForever, Leafs Morning Take, NHL

Id: PJE3W0TNZNY

Length: 14min 18sec (858 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024