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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    Leafs hope to talk way up the standings

    jedi17
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    • Post n°1

    Leafs hope to talk way up the standings Empty Leafs hope to talk way up the standings

    Post by jedi17 Mon 14 Nov 2016, 7:47 pm

    Leafs hope to talk way up the standings
    Better communication should help one of the league's worst defences.

    Leafs hope to talk way up the standings Kadri.jpg.size.custom.crop.800x450
    Toronto centre Nazem Kadri says "all five guys have to be on the same page" when they Leafs are playing without the puck. 
    The Toronto Maple Leafs remain in the mix for a playoff berth, despite the club’s overall inconsistency with defensive play.
    And they worked on the latter Monday — tracking checks in the neutral zone, and ramping up the intensity in their own zone — in the hopes it will affect the former.
    After a week in which they looked disorganized against two elite teams, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, the Leafs (6-6-3) were just two points behind Tampa Bay for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
    Coach Mike Babcock, drawing on his experience with Detroit, says the Wings annually regarded the 20-game mark of the season as a good barometer for the climb toward the playoffs later in the season.
    “If you’re out of it (at the 20-game mark), it’s a long climb, and we all see how competitive all the teams are now,” Babcock said. “But we think we’re in a good spot, we like our team, and we think we’re going to bet better with our younger players. We have a real important five-game segment coming up.”


    Babcock and the Leafs also realize, behind the scenes, that they are at a minor crossroads with their overall performance.
    The team must tighten up defensively. It boasts excellent possession numbers as a team, and is rated seventh in the league at just over 50 per cent in the faceoff circle. But it has been lodged for several weeks as the league’s worst team in shots against, a result of the club’s lack of consistency in defensive zone coverage, physical play and communication.
    “It wasn’t just the defence working on (own-zone details),” Leafs defenceman Roman Polak said about practice Monday. “We were working as a group of five on the ice. Just working with the forwards, facing the puck, being hard on the (opposition check), good pressure on the puck, and reading each other. There has to be communication out there, and we have to improve on that.
    “We work on box-outs, and there doesn’t have to be a big hit there, just better position, and be first on the puck. But we need to talk a lot in our own zone. We have a younger team, and we need to work on it. “
    Leafs centre Nazem Kadri concurred.
    “It’s attention to detail, staying strong on the puck and communicating,” Kadri said. “A couple of times in the Pittsburgh game, we got confused. Guys were in decent spots but we weren’t communicating. All five guys have to be on the same page there.”
    Kadri also remains an example to the younger players — the Leafs have seven rookies on the roster — as a strong, offensive player who Babcock pressured to develop his two-way game.
    “He put that on me right away when he got here as coach,” Kadri said. “He wanted to see what I could do, he wanted to challenge me and watch how I’d come out of it.

    “I’m a very competitive person and I don’t want people thinking I can’t do that job. I’d like to think I’m doing a good job at it, but I have to be consistent and keep it going.”
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