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About last month ...
posted by Mike Boone at 0h32 EST on Nov 1
Between the Leafs and the Leafs, the Canadiens played 12 games in October and lost seven of them, including spankings at the hands of the Canucks and Penguins.
The team has won one game in regulation time this season, a pasting of the hapless Islanders. They've won four in OT, two in Shootouts.
Again, what do we have here?
Let's do an October-to-October comparison:
A year ago, the Canadiens got off to their best start in 20 years. After losing the opener to Buffalo in a Shootout, the team reeled off five straight wins en route to a 7-1-1 October record. They scored 32 goals, allowed 20 and were 3-0-1 on the road.
This year's team went 7-7 in October, scoring 38 goals while allowing 45. They have one win in regulation time and are 2-5 on the road.
But in recalling the glory days of October '08, we can't ignore what happened in January, February, March and April of 2009. After the All-Star game, the Canadiens season headed south faster than a rich widow with asthma.
To avoid a similar collapse, Bob Gainey blew up his team. The success of that experiment cannot be accurately measured based on the first month of the season.
There is much to like about the team.
• The three FAs who form the top line are talented, exciting and hard-working.
• Tomas Plekanec is off to a great start while centring every winger on the team, plus eight ushers and Charles Prévost Linton. Sign Pleks to an extension, Bob. Don't wait until summer.
• Travis Moen was a great acquisition and he's going to teach Max Pacioretty how to play power forward in the NHL.
• Glen Metropolit is an inspiration to his more talented but less dedicated teammates.
• Paul Mara is a good addition to the D. You never notive him, which is high-praise for a (mostly) stay-at-home Dman.
• As evidenced by several scrums last night, the players battle for each other – without benefit of BGL's highly codified contributions.
• Kyle Chipchura is playing like an NHLer. He's tough, smart and plays a sound positional game that compensates for his lack of speed.
Problem areas:
• It would be nice if a Number 1 goaltender emerged to carry the team. I cling to the notion that Carey Price is The Franchise, but Jaro Halak is 5-2 and Price is 2-5. In reviewing October, a major second-guess on the decision to play Halak in Calgary after Price had stoned the Leafs and Sabres.
• Team defence is inconsistent. Horrible against Vancouver, Pittsburgh and – for three and a half insane minutes – the woeful Leafs. But Jacques Martin's system has eliminated 40-shot bombardments.
• Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek arre averaging almost 25 minutes a game. That's way too much for old geezers – especially Spatch, who has to cope with playing the right side. Martin's system also calls for defencemen joining the attack, which means the Dmen come deep, adding more skating to their minutes. This wedar (but, let's hope, not more tear) will start to show as the season progresses.
• Josh Gorges plays his heart out, but he's small. Marc-André Bergeron is even smaller; and watching him play D, you undertand why MAB was unemployed when the season began.
• Special teams. A rule of thumb in the NHL is good teams' power play and penalty killing efficiencies add up to at laest 100. Canadiens PP is at 15.1 per cent, the PK at 75.8. Contrast that to Philadelphia: 26.4 and 86 or San Jose: 25.4 and 84.2
• Secondary scoring is MIA ... although there were new names on the sheet last night. Gui! has to score. It's the reason he's in the league.
• Andrei Kostitsyn is ... I don't even want to talk about it. A highly skilled first-round draft choice played 7:32 against the Leafs in a game that lasted 65 minutes. AK46 is beyond messed-up. The Canadiens have to either hire a Belarusian psychiatrist or package the brothers in a trade.
So, on to November. Two games against Washington, plus Pittsburgh, Detroit, Boston, Carolina, Calgary and Nashville.
And in the National Parity League, even Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Phoenix aren't gimmes.
Hold onto your hats ... and don't start singing until the siren sounds.
Habs Inside/Out main RSS feed
...14 & 0 would sound a LOT better than 7 & 7 ...but with A Little Luck ...there WERE 2 or 3 games We 'shoulda' won ...which 'coulda' meant We are 9 & 5 ...or 10 & 4 ...just as easily as 7 & 7
...'shoulda coulda' comes in handy ...AND is sometimes quite pacifying ...am I right ;)) ?
...so look on the bright-side of the omelet
Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEY
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049
So, on to November. Two games against Washington, plus Pittsburgh, Detroit, Boston, Carolina, Calgary and Nashville.
And in the National Parity League, even Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Phoenix aren't gimmes.
ah, geez...
Glen Metropolit... what a guy!
Have any one heard if there is something wrong with Gonta because he looked a step behind against the Leafs he is certainly not skating like he was and I am wondering if he playing hurt. No way this guy is not putting out ,he has to much heart. I am hoping he getting over the flu and he not hurt.
This is where we are positioned this week with the 30 teams.
Goals Against--45--We are in 25th place, Last week we were in 12th place.
Total Points----14--We are in 17th place, Last week we were in 19th place.
Goals For-------38--We are in 15th place, Last week we were in 16th place.
This speaks for itself. Our defence is very porous so far. In our own end we give the puck up far to often when under the fore check. This group of defence men is having a very hard time adjusting to the speed of a Jacques Martin high tempo and quick puck movement style. Markov is not the only thing missing here. Our goal tenders are quite adequate.
I was in Montreal Sat. night, and it has taken me a long time to calm down after loosing a two goal lead late in the 3rd period to the very worse team in the league. Under pressure this group of defence can not cut the mustard.
We need to get rid of Laraque. We are paying him for nothing.
We need to at least try SK74, maybe AK46 will wake up if little bro is there. I think Martin is running out of ideas with him. Then again, AK46 is not helping himself. He glides all over the ice and I have noticed (at least) one flaw in his game. He's always 1 second behind the play. Always. He cannot read what the play is.
Like Gretzky said : Don't go where the puck has been, go where it is going to be...
SK will be playing at the Bell Center this Friday. I am sure the management and his brother will be watching....
I wonder how the crowd will respond to him?
______________________________________________________ Gionta for Captain.
HAHA! Can't wait for that one!
... from Lance Hornby / SunMedia - ' Divisional Trades No Longer Taboo ..... http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/11/02/11600551-sun.html from the article ... What it really speaks to is the economics of the NHL today," Buffalo GM Darcy Regier said of the Paille deal. "Ironically, I was one that always wanted to place a player in the Western Conference. It's not always do-able, and in this case it wasn't do-able. So, you make the best deal you can in the Eastern Conference.................. Montreal and Toronto got chummy with the Mikhail Grabovski deal last year and, since March 1, just before the trade deadline, there have been 53 trades involving at least one live body, of which 16 were deals in the conference and seven between division rivals.
Everyone is hung up on the goaltending soap opera. Our biggest concern is lack of scoring depth. As long as certain players underachieve, the Habs will be too easy to shut down. What is the next move with AK46 now that he has played on the fourth line and the first line and he's still in public skating mode??
"My face is my mask," Gump Worsley
Halak has been "Jack Morris" like. A guy who would win 20 games with an ERA of 5.
Price starts = Habs averaging 2.00 goals per game
Halak starts = Habs averaging 3.58 goals per game
I'm not dogging Halak rather making the case that Price has played solid and wins alone mean nothing.
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
wins mean everthing
I think he meant Goaltending Wins as a personal stat don't tell the true play of a goalie. Carey's playing well and losing 2-1 where Halak's playing okay but winning 5-4...
Both playing merely okay, wouldn't say one has been better than another personally. You'd have to be a pretty big Price fan to say he's played "well" and Halak's played "okay" ...
Full Breezer 4 Life
Carey Price - Save Percentage Rank - 47th!
Yes that is correct! 47th!!!
16 Backup Goalies have a better save percentage!
Don't tell me Price is playing great or even adequate right now.
That's exactly what I mean. Thx.
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
Of course. You don't win Stanley cups if you don't win. Who looks back at a championship season and says "But that season, the goaltender wasn't that great, it's just the team who scored more in front of him". lol. The important part is the winning.
Ex nihilo nihil fit
I had a lengthy talk about this with a buddy at work. It got a little heated, so I put together a couple numbers.
In short, both goalies are playing alright, each with their hot and cold nights.Thus far, Halak is at 5 / 2. Price is at 2 / 5. Price started the season off, behind a team which really for the first few games had no clue what the hell they were doing together. Halak has been benefitting from a team which is coming together.
Any ways, I put together a few numbers. Sorry for taking up alotta space.
Price:
W - Buffalo (8/2/1)
L - Chicago (8/4/1)
L - Colorado (10/3/2)
L - Edmonton (7/6/1)
L - Ottawa (6/4/2)
W - Toronto (1/7/4)
L - Vancouver (8/7/0)
7 Games played.
6 vs. Teams with 6+ wins.
1 vs. team with less than 5 or less wins.
GAA 3.44
SV % .889
Halak:
W - Atlanta (5/4/1)
L - Calgary (7/4/1)
2x W - New York Islanders (4/4/5)
W - New York Rangers (9/5/1)
L - Pittsburgh (11/3/0)
W - Toronto (1/7/4)
7 Games played.
3 vs. Teams with more than 6+ Wins.
4 vs. Teams with less than 5 or less wins.
GAA 2.85
SV% .893
Their playing pretty evenly all in all... Team quality appears to be the only real difference.
It's an extreme example but, it illustrates the same point. If you put me on the Habs and I am playing goalie for them against a last place local peewee house league hockey team for 10 games, I'll probably do pretty well (smartass comment, even though they'll have the size advantage on us, we should be able to outskate them)
Now put Patrick Roy in his prime behind this same Habs team only they're going to face Team Canada and Team Russia from the upcoming Olympics 10 times.
I bet my numbers will be better than Roy's will but, that isn't a reflection on me being a better goalie, it's a reflection of the opponents and the way the team would likely play in front of us in those games.
That example is actually so extreme it makes blindfolded mountain-biking look tame.
Full Breezer 4 Life
It still gives a great example of why getting too hyped about wins vs Atlanta, the Isles and the Leafs (most of which were in OT/Shoot outs while the team had started to gel at that as opposed to losing close games to the teams that are leading most of the divisions in the league right now, while the team was in utter disarray at the time and scoring more goals on themselves than their opponents were (or than they were scoring on the opposing net).
price can not make a save when needed most like last goal in chicago, folds under presure.
Kind of like the two late goals that Halak let in during the 3rd period Saturday to let the Leafs tie it?
Jeezus. You wanted Halak to stop a one timer off a beautiful cross-ice pass and a puck that went in off a body in front of the net? Not many goalies in this league that would have stopped either.
Folks, we have two good goalies with excellent potential. These goalie discussions are so boring.
In that case why is Luongo getting an invite over Osgood for Team Canada? I'm to assume you would pick Osgood too?
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
agreed - it is a team sport so as long as the team in front plays better with Halak in there, you ride Halak. .500 is not bad for month #1 but it has to be the worst month for the team. All other months need to be over .500.
SK74 had an assist last night, while Weber and Subban each had 2. 'Dogs still haven't lost in regulation.
Ex nihilo nihil fit
I watched the game. The 3rd period was very exciting. With 8 mins left, we got a 5 minutes major penalty. The game was tied at 2 - 2. I thought we were going to lose. Then they tripped us and the game became 4 on 4 for 2 minutes. During this two minutes, we scored 2 goals. The final score is 5 - 2. What an exciting finish.
If Patrick Sharp and Versteeg are available I would be all over that if I was Bob Gainey.
You would probably have to send Subban the other way as part of a package deal.
I was hoping more for Weber if we had to send one of the two. I am also wondering how long we are going to wait for Andre Kostitsyn to get his act together, I know my patience is running out. We really need a second line right now, and I guess we have to give up something to get it.
No dice! Subban will be lights-out in a couple of years!
I agree, he's not going anywhere, here's a story from the nhl.com:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=504458
"I guess if they didn't love me when I was here they wouldn't be booing, so I must have done something right when I was here," said the Leaf player who was -3 on the night.
LOL - http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=296851
Does anyone know if Ladd was called up on the carpet for the hit on D'Ags Friday night?
Once a Habs fan, always a Habs fan
Gainey needs a serious, reasoned long range plan, therefore, we must trade Price because he had a couple of bad games, trade Halak because he isn't Hasek, and trade the K bros to Pittsburgh for Malkin because we deserve someone like that!
Latendresse for LeCavalier, Stewart for Doan, BGL, MAB and Glumac for Luongo and the Sedin bros, Dags for Ovechkin and finally, Gainey for Eklund.
Lookin' good.
Yeah Eklund would be a great GM or so he thinks lol
And your apparently sizeable bong for reality. ;-D
Yankees are now 1 win away from pushing me into hockey season. I have to say that with Markov out and the Habs being all over the place in October, the Yankees have made my month a heck of a lot easier in the sports watching department.
Go Yanks!
Getting ready for just another stroll down the "Canyon of Heroes."
A. Rod steps again, as does the great Rivera. Jeter is the same consistent player. Damon came up huge towards the end. I almost want them to lose the next game so they could win it in NYC.
I love baseball, I loved the Expos since 1972 and the Red Sox since 1975 (back then before interleague BS, there were two leagues and you could love two teams).
I can't tell you how much I despise the New York Yankees especially since 1994 not coincidentally the year MLB decided to screw the Montreal Expos. The Expos were headed for greatness that season until a player's strike cancelled the World Series and both sides dug in for a battle over a salary cap to even out the field so the smaller market teams could have the same shot as the big market teams.
Well, they finally decided to play ball again the next spring and NOTHING was settled and the rich got richer while the poor got poorer and thus the Expos' fire sale began and the team lost everybody that mattered for nothing. And now the Expos are gone and once perennial great teams like the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles among others have been reduced to forever terrible.
And who benefitted the most from this? Yeah the great Satan, the NY Yankees who go out every season and woo great players away from their teams for big, big money. They bought every World Series they have won since the '90s. They disgust me and embarrass the game itself.
And you can counter that the Red Sox do the same thing but at least the Red Sox have a majority of their players that have come through their system (Pedroia, Papelbon, Lester, Buchholz, Delcarmen, Youkilis, Ellsbury) or shrewd trading (Varitek, Ortiz, Bay, Beckett and Lowell). Boston pays big bucks just to keep their players where the Yanks have no homegrown talent (okay, Jeter and Rivera but who else?) and just prey on the poor of the league.
Yankees suck.
"And you can counter that the Red Sox do the same thing but at least the Red Sox have a majority of their players that have come through their system (Pedroia, Papelbon, Lester, Buchholz, Delcarmen, Youkilis, Ellsbury) or shrewd trading (Varitek, Ortiz, Bay, Beckett and Lowell). Boston pays big bucks just to keep their players where the Yanks have no homegrown talent"
I have to answer this because this is the same nonse I am sick of hearing everywhere. I mean no disrespect to the poster that made the comment, I am disrespecting the comment itself as it's one that way too many people make without actually learning the reality of it all.
I'll use this current roster as my direct example, which will exclude players such as Bernie Williams and Alfonso Soriano from the past juggernaut teams over the recent years but, will illustrate the point perfectly.
The Yankees main batting order for the playoffs has consisted of the following:
Jeter, Posada, Cano, Matsui, Gardner, & Cabrera who have all never played with any other MLB team and are life-long Yankees in their MLB careers
Damon, Teixeira (the only two batters who are free agent signings, Teixeira was a rental player last year so they didn't even directly take him from an established team so only Damon, who has been there for close to half a decade now, among all of their batters, has come there from another team as a free agent)
A-Rod and Swisher (the only two batters who are there via trades, A-Rod cost them Soriano in a pretty even superstar for superstar trade at that)
The pitching staff they've been using includes CC and AJ as free agents (CC another rental player last year so only AJ had any sort of established team prior to that)
Pettite who came up as a Yankee, spent most of his career there, retired, went to Houston and returned home afterwards. He's still a Yankee developed product and is there out of loyalty to him.
The bullpen is Joba, Hughes, Coke, and Rivera, all of which are lifelong Yankees that have come up through their system.
There isn't a single team in the MLB with more players that have never played with another organization than the Yankees. Which completely makes any claim that the Yankees have no homegrown talent compared to other teams, or claims that they just buy their team from elsewhere a joke.
4 Players on their entire playoff roster so far have come to the team via free agency from other MLB teams. Only 4!
...AND If those players were drafted and came-up through ...say ...the Kansas City Royals ...or even the St.Louis Cardinals organizations ...do You really think they would be still playing for Kansas City and St.Louis today ?
...extremely unlikely
...WHY ???
...because neither ...similar to EVERY other team ...Other Than the New York Yankees ...have a quarter billion dollar payroll to Lock Them Up
...like I said, I use to be a devout Yankee Fan (...AND a Brooklyn Dodger Fan) ...until I smartened up and opened my eyes to the fact I can not respect those store-bought championships won on a extremely uneven playing field
...I thought We Habs' Fans look at Our Team through rose-toned lenses ...BUT Yankee Fans look through bottoms of deep-fuscia Coke-bottles in comparison ...AND I realize ANYTHING I have to say based on fair-play and common-sense on the subject would ONLY be listened to with tone-deaf denials and tortured justifications defiant of reality by New York Yankee fans
...so I here have no optimism to change said Yankee fans' minds
Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEY
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049
That's an issue for the Royals to address then. It's not the Yankees taking the Royals' players, which is the point. The only 2 players that they've got that were established in another market right now are Damon (from Boston) and AJ Burnett (from Toronto).
Boston's anything BUT a weaker sister team by the way and the Jays have spent a TONNE of money on guys like Frank Thomas and BJ Ryan so they shot themselves in the foot there.
Go Yankees!
Yankees are the greatest baseball team ever. just as the habs are the greatest hockey team ever.
i could never like any team from boston, because the Brooooons suck!
Almost is correct. The Phils are too good to be serious about it.
Has everyone read the Price trade rumors on HockeyBuzz?
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=23967&blogger_id=1
If so, who do you think the team is and what would the trade be?
I'll start by saying LA and the trade would be: Price & both Kostitsyns for Quick, Frolov & a pick
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never judge another man's decision poor until you actually have proof of it failing!
This was just a conversation starter fellas. I was not asking for your two cents on what I said. I just wanted to know what you thought possible trades might be. Please ensure that you read a full post before commenting on things not even related to it. I know that trade I mentioned would never go down and that Ek is barely ever right so please comment to the question and not what you think my knowledge is or isn't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never judge another man's decision poor until you actually have proof of it failing!
Dwayne rolie straight up for price?
Go Habs Go!
Eklund is always wrong, but he is obviously talking about Luongo. That is the big succesful guy that would make Montreal happy (french superstar). Carey is a western Canada boy. It would be surprising that Vancouver is shopping him. Of course GM's have to have secret discussions about players they would most likely not consider trading all of the time. It means nothing. You have to find out what your players are worth and develop strategy.
Economically this would not fit at all as Carey counts 2.2 mil, while Luongo counts 6.7 mil.
Eklund is not worth paying attention to. Don't worry about it.
GO HABS GO!
Not to mention that Gainey doesnèt exactly have a history of dealing for guys who are signed into 2022. : )
If a trade between LA and Montreal mentions Price, it's meaningless without at least a guy like Jack Johnson. But anyways, Eklund's been mentioning Price for the past week, since Halak's been starting. Eklund, the real 40 year old virgin.
I don't understand how Eklund has any credibility whatsoever, the guy literally just writes whatever he wants and he always finishes by saying "more to come" and then nothing develops. I don't really like any of those trade scenarios as Frolov is a lazy player that only plays when he feels like it and Quick will not be as good as Price can be. I hope if Gainey does trade the Kostitsyns, it doesn't involve either goalie. Targeting Bobby Ryan would be nice but I doubt Anaheim is shopping him considering he had such a strong rookie campaign.
I'd like to see Filatov come to Montreal because he has superstar potential but hasn't proven anything yet so he could still potentially traded for the right price.
http://hockeybuzzhogwash.com/
Worth a laugh, this site takes a look at Eklund's accuracy over a 17 month period from Jan 2008 forward.
Did you check out the "rumour generator"? F'in hilarious!
According to my sources within the Montreal Canadiens organization, the Atlanta Thrashers are willing to part with RW Colby Armstrong, G Kari Lehtonen and LW Ilya Kovalchuk to obtain the services of G Carey Price. Remember, you heard it here first!
For fun here is the link to the EKLUND RUMOUR GENERATOR: http://hockeybuzzhogwash.com/rumourgen.htm
_____________________________________________ Gionta for Captain.
How about:
Price, AK46, and SK74 for Giguere and Bobby Ryan?
Price, AK46, and SK74 for Versteeg, Bolland, and Huet?
Price, AK46, and SK74 for Horton and Vokoun?
AK46 and SK74 for Scott Walker, Matt Cullen, and a conditional pick (2nd if neither of these guys resign, 3rd if one does, 4th of both do)?
- Giguere seems to have lost his magic and I don't think a return to form would be likely under the highly pressurized environment Montreal creats for a goalie and we can't absorb the cap hit anyway that he and Ryan would bring, Giguere's salary is Price, Kostitsyns by himself and Ryan is RFA next season and if he's good for us, he'll need an AK46 salary, putting Montreal over the cap and it still only gives us 1 Top 6 forward, we'd still be short a guy and no money to get another one.
- Huet's just as bad for a cap hit and he's career backup at 5.6 a year, at least we'll get Gomez for all 82 games on his 7.3 million a year, Bolland's not bad and I like Versteeg but these favours Chicago heavily I think. Doing them more of a favour by relieving Huet and giving them a potential No. 1 goalie for cheap while we absorb a Career backup in exchange with a huge cap hit.
- Vokoun can post great games at times, but he's also mired himself in bad stretches that make me wonder if he's really as good as he appears, he will post great games, but he seems to be there to steal a game or two during stretches, but never consistent enough to help a team into playoff mode. Horton, I just don't think he's equal value for the two brothers, problemeatic as they are right now, I'd like to see them paired up one more time before they get the boot at least.
- Walker and Cullen are 36 and 33 respectively and combined they add up to 5 twenty-goal campaigns together for all their NHL seasons so we trade youth for age and aging players that haven't added up to that much really. Stacked up they're shorter than the 6' Kostitsyns and one of the main strikes against the team is a lack of size to begin with, these guys are not going to give the secondary scoring we argue that isn't coming from the K-Bros and their records indicate some injury troubles over the last several years, injuries are much harder for the older players to compensate for as well.
Kostitsyns should be moved if Martin can't get them to fit into his system, but since Gui is barely fitting into the system as well and he's apparently earned his 4th chance for doing his 30-second impressions of power forwards once every 7 games, I say give it more time before we move the Kostitsyns or anyone, a Kostitsyn pairing with Plekanec could make something happen, it might not and I accept that but hell, considering nothing else we've tried has really turned out secondary scoring, might as well try that before we throw in the towel completely on the two brothers.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
first one's not bad
never would take huet back plus bolland and versteeg makes our already small team even smaller..insert sharp instead of versteeg and now we're talking.
3rd's not bad
5th one is interesting cause both those guys are straight arrows as opposed to the kostitsyns...but neither are as skilled so we lose a lot of skill.
- we need a MARKOV.
LA wouldn't want price...they still have jonathan bernier in the pipeline...their Carey Price.
also eklund's glove don't fit cause he's full of ship.
- we need a MARKOV.
My main complaint with Gainey is his overall lack of vision and adherence to a plan.
Montreal makes tons of money. There's no excuse not to have the best scouting and player development department.
Absolutely none.
That's where Gainey has failed miserably.
I would be more patient if there was some semblance of a plan, but there doesn't appear to be.
It's time for a new innovative GM and management team.
Simple as that.
Can you first point out what Gainey's plan should be (as he supposedly has none) and then point out how he has deviated from this?
oh it's simple as that? oh wow you are so smart to put it so simply...
it's not like there are 29 other teams in the league also taking all those steps.
--- we need a kovalev
Kovalev [ka-va-leov]: A player who makes you jump out of your seat with a wicked deke or a sick shot and makes you say: "Did you see that!!"
Ovechkin leaves Caps game with upper-body injury
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=504425&navid=DL|NHL|home
A note about our next game on Tuesday against Atlanta. The Thrasher goalie, Ondrej Pavelec, had the game of his life making 50 saves in a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. In fact Ottawa outshot Atlanta 25-3 in the third period but still were not able to win the game. Yikes.
Alex Ovechkin left the game tonight against Columbus with an undisclosed injury.
Same goalie who stoned the Habs recently ...
Full Breezer 4 Life
But the Habs won anyway...
Well they won, and Halak is now 5-0 at home. Just saying.
I have not been on the site all day so I am not sure on the topics. My main concern right now...
Andrei Kostitsyn
HE needs to score
THE TEAM needs him to score
HIS SALARY needs him to score
What is it going to take with this guy...Sergei called up? Being benched a couple of games? A new team?
EDIT: And thanks to Boone for mentioning the whole singing thing...can fans seriously only do this after the game is won or at least when there is 2 minutes left with a 3 goal lead :) Just baaaad luck.
Halak sucks on the road. 0-2 this year so far. Just saying
Price sucks at home, just saying...
Halak is *** lucky so far. If it wasn't for 2-3 pucks getting pass him every game & hitting the posts he would be 0-7.....
"Truth! You can't handle the Truth"
DillyDalley are you and price dating?
If he'll win games, I'll take it.
Ex nihilo nihil fit
Great is better than lucky because luck eventually runs out!
"Truth! You can't handle the Truth"
neither one is great this year, but Halak is getting the wins. TO ME, that is what matters.
Price is not GREAT
Halak is not GREAT
Halak has 5 wins
Price has 2
Both have played the same # of games.
Yes, BUT:
Not the same teams played nor the same team effort in those games.
Price has had the tuffer of the two in net.
"Truth! You can't handle the Truth"
Isn't the most important factor the WIN? They aren't the same people, and they react completely differently to any given situation, so it's really useless to compare who they were playing against etc. etc. The bottom line is neither one is hotter than hell but Halak has the better record.
...........
"To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high."
I STILL BELIEVE. I WILL ALWAYS BELIEVE.
price can't handle presure too many weak goals
Kostitsyn is a dim wit.
Nothing is going to motivate him.
He's guaranteed another close to $7 million over the next season and a bit. What does he care? He can go back to Bohunkistan in April 2011 with enough money to last his family generations.
Well if you're going from that angle, one might say he's lazy and scheming but not dimwitted, because he figured out a 9.75 million dollar scam to run against Montreal then go home with close to 10 million dollars after not even having worked very hard for 3 years, I wish I could do that.
He was motivated in 07-08, in January he had a strong campaign alongside his brother with Lang as their centre but Lang went down before he could lead the brothers on further and help instill a more disciplined attitude into them. Kovalev was not the guy to teach AK46 that so it was probably better they didn't work so well going into the 08-09 season, Andrei picked up on Kovy's bad habits it seems, the way Lapierre started to take after Gui to start this season. It doesn't seem to be coming that Andrei will get a linemate from the current squad that will guide him along and Martin doesn't seem to be getting through, but bringing up SK74 might solve the problem, it's an experiment to try in a season where the Cup isn't coming back to Montreal so JM might as well get a try for 10 games or so.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
Washington had a 3-2 lead with 10 minutes to go and then a 4-3 lead with 3 and a half minutes to go. THe Colubus Blue Jackets tied it with 22 seconds to go and took the game to OT and won. It's happening more and more in the league this year and not only the fault of the Habs. Then again, they had Theodore in nets.
"All you need in hockey is good character, luck and skills" - Ovie
i watched that game also,theo was bad on the bad hand wrap around goal. Mason wasn't too great either,the long wrister looked bad and he also had some rebound control problems. I wasn't too sold on the knuble penalty on brassard,it looked a little ribeiroish which led to the jackets tying the game at 4.
Love the post, Boone, that's why you make the big bucks (I'm counting the free tickets) and we are mere spectators. Also, vocab points for busting out "fatuous", it warms this English teacher's heart.
As fans, we should be well-satisfied with October, and you outline the main reasons succinctly: better team D as evidenced by fewer shots against, an apparent change in the culture sparked by the "never-say-die" newcomers, and the calmness instilled by the new coaching regime. To that, I would add mention of improved "team toughness": how many times last year did we see a Hab get cheap-shotted and NOONE came to his defense? Obviously, Carbo preached a "turn the other cheek and take the powerplay" philosophy, and I see his point, but it was frustrating to watch. Without fail, every time this year that someone has gotten gooned, there has been a response from the players on the ice. Yes, it negates power-plays; but I think it aids the esprit de corps (just because it's intangible doesn't mean it's unimportant!) and it's immensely more satisfying, to boot.
The team's ability to cope with the loss of their MVP has also been impressive. .500 without Markov? Unbelievable, I say.
I'm scratching my head about the goaltending, though. Both goalies have been ... okay. Not bad, but not great. Now, they've both been better than their numbers, I feel, because their numbers are merde, while both Halak and Price have looked anything but merde. But they both - almost unfailingly - seem to allow first goals, last goals in regulation, and just generally crucial goals at crucial times. With the exception of Price in game one, neither has been dominant or top-notch, and this is something a team with the limited scoring and injury problems of the Montreal Canadiens desperately needs. If these Habs are going to make the playoffs, we certainly need one of these goalies to save over 91% of shots against and allow fewer than 3 goals per game. To make any noise in the playoffs, we need one of these goalies to stand on his head on a regular basis. Is either capable of doing this? Maybe Price, based on pedigree/resume. Maybe Halak, based on spunk and his ability to just win. My money's on Price, personally, but we'll see. If he could play in the NHL like he played in junior and the AHL ... no doubt the Habs would have a shot at winning it all.
Kostitsyns ... what a nightmare. Sergei has turned into an underachieving Prima Donna, while Andrei merely underachieves. Maybe Sergei "I am Alex Kovalev without godlike-talent" and Andrei "I am Alex Kovalev without pride or a sweet effing clue" will rebound. That would make a huge difference. If one of these things fails to happen, well ... we will watch a team without consistent secondary scoring all damn year.
I LOVE THE NEW GUYS. All of them. Except Queen MAB. Cammalleri is such an upgrade on Kovy - whom I loved - it's not even open for debate. It's the consistency, stupid. Gomez ... well, I loved Koivu as well, always will, but at this stage in their careers, Gomez has more upside. That said, I think Koivu would still be valuable on this team ... on the third line and PP and taking crucial draws. As for Gionta ... well, everything he does is great by me. Pure hustle, grit, determination. Alex Tanguay? Um, no thank you. Mara adds toughness, solid-looking D, and some surprising offensive awareness, while Gill - somewhat unlucky - is perfectly satisfactory to me, and apparently JM agrees, despite the apparent feelings of most Habs fans. Spacek is a poor-man's Markov, and we're pretty lucky to have him with Markov out. Oh, and does anyone not love Moen? Didn't think so.
That brings me to MAB. Sorry, but the powerplay is still crap, and as a defenseman, he gives me cramps. I'm so nervous when he's on the ice, it turns my stomach. Really, would Weber do worse? VERY doubtful. We'll see.
So overall, I'm satisfied as hell with these guys, and anyone who isn't should rethink the importance of the line-up changes and the loss of Markov. I expect steady improvement, especially later when Markov returns - what a trade deadline acquisition he'll be! - and as the team continues to learn their new system, and (hopefully) one of the young goalies raises his game. That was a character win against the Leafs, and I know we'll be seeing more of those.
PS: watched last night's game with a Leafs fan, my sister's new BF, and the crushing disappointment he felt in the shootout warmed every little Schadenfreude cell of my heart.
Full Breezer 4 Life
One wishes that Queen MAB had not been with us. Juliet might have done better.
Queen MAB: Nice.
Excellent.
I cavil against your MAB analysis. He is here for is PPL awareness, which is hard to come by, and which no-one else beside Hamr & Spac on D have. Yes our PPL sucks still, but JM will bench MAB soonest if that doesn't get corrected after a reasonable settling in stretch of time.
I don't like him on D at all off the PPL: it's easy to see why he was available! And he also is the answer to whiners about poor Gill: he who is exactly what he claims to be -- a helpful 6th defenseman & HUGE upgrade on Beezer (shudder) who adds no-nonsense presence in clearing the front of his goalie. NO COMPARISON with Gill & MAB error-wise speaking. Give me Gill any day. But when it's PPL time, well.....
Enjoyed, as usual. Thanks Bill for an excellent post. I couldn't agree more. :o)
...........
"To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high."
I STILL BELIEVE. I WILL ALWAYS BELIEVE.