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About last night ...
posted by Mike Boone at 23h39 EST on Dec 16
Roman Hamrlik was hurt in – stop me if you've heard this before, like in the opening game of the season – a collision with Carey Price.
Since the injury to Andrei Markov, Hamrlik has been the Canadiens' best defenceman. If he's out for a while, with the Canadiens facing seven straight road games after their back-to-backer against the Wild, the team is in big trouble.
Know what?
The Canadiens are in trouble regardless.
Last season, they snuck into the playoffs with a regular season record that included 30 losses in regulation time. Through 35 games, they've lost 17 already.
The Canadiens have 47 games to play. Anyone believe there won't be at least 13 Ls in there?
They're in 10th place. All nine teams ahead of the Canadiens – indeed, every other team in the Eastern Conference – holds at least one game in hand.
Carey Price did not have a great game in New Jersey. The Ilkka Pikkarainen goal – his first in the NHL – was ridiculous. It came shortly on the heels of the Pascal Dupuis goal that won a game for the Penguins last week. Price needs either a new glove or contact lenses to correct long-range vision problems or both.
But as my great and good friend Mitch Melnick was saying on the Team 990 after the game, on a list of the Canadiens' 10 biggest problems, goaltending is 11th.
A looming problem may be the fatigue factor affecting Tomas Plekanec, who has been the team's best player to date.
Plekanec played another 4:08 on the penalty-kill last night. Because the Canadiens chase the puck and commit weak-*** fuls in every game, Plekanec has to play significant PK minutes.
So the centre who won a mind-blowing 23 of 26 draws against the Sabres on Monday loses 19 of 28 against New Jersey.
And when the Devils pop open a tight game with an odd-man rush late, Plekanec can't keep up with Patrik Elias, who scores the winner.
look, I love Pleks. One of the nicest guys in the room, and he's played his guts out this year. Scary to think where the team would be without him ... and we may find out next season, but that's another story.
Plekanec is generously listed at 5'11", 198 lbs. Playing a regular shift plus the power play plus the five PKs this team seems to average per game, how much will Plekanec have left in February and March?
Of course by then, Scott Gomez – four goals, 12 assists in 31 games – will have taken up the slack.
Yeah, right.
The Canadiens have one productive. And all the shorthanded situations eat into the shift totals and ToI of Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn.
In a tough league playing a compressed schedule, the Canadiens are a three-line team.
Georges laraque played 4:52 against the Devils, who didn't dress their heavyweights.
Tom Pyatt played 8:43 but only six minutes of even-strength.
Remember Maxim Lapierre, the Most Improved Player of 2008-'09? He was one of the few bright spots in a fairly dismal season.
Now Max is another underachiever in what is turning out to be a difficult season. maybe Lapierre will be motivated to play well against his pal Gui!.
Maybe not.
And if Hamrlik is unavailable, as is likely, against Minnesota, who's picking up those 24 minutes – including PP and PK – per game?
Do the Canadiens come back with Price against Minnesota?
Or does Jaro Halak get a start in the building he's asking to leave?
One last question:
If Hamrlik is out, does Andrei Markov make his first start of the season against the Wild?
• • •
It's great to see hard work rewarded.
Travis Moen skates up and down his wing, hits, kills penalties and will fight if he has to. The goal that cost Martin F. a shutout was Moen's seventh of the season.
This matches the four he scored with Anaheim and three for San Jose in 82 games last season.
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Teams are funny things, and stats are funny things. For instance Cammi has 15 even strength goals and three power play goals. That is a funny stat. Funny meaning odd. Pleks is only about 47% on faceoffs. That is a funny stat in light of the column, and that metro has a higher % of short handed faceoffs won (against the other teams #1 or 2 center you have to guess).
I have a hunch Pleks is getting the ice this year, against #2 or #3 lines, which wasn't the case most of last year, and looking good. Gomez is outclassed as he's a number two center. Metro is better than he looks but doesn't have the all around game to move up. Lapierre is just what you see.
The game is about strength down the center. Big teams have solid center ice positions. Pleks almost holds his own against #1 or #2 opponents, and does well on the power play (almost half his points). The hue and cry would be to sign Pleks long term.
I think really, what the Habs need, and have needed for 14 years, is a number one center. I don't think that is necessarily Lecavalier who, when not being burned out at 27 minutes a game, is rather league average 20 minute-ish. With a number 1 Gomez would shine, Pleks would roar, and Metro would score.
Sorry Maxime, you would be the new Chips, and at about 20 points a year after three years, should expect someone to take your job away momentarily.
The reffing conspiracy continues: Referee Tim "What A Maroon" Peel hexed Price in the first period by intentionally invoking Red Light Racicot's #37 when he called Price for trapezoidian indiscretions. Peel jinxed Price with full prejudice, my friends.
> Off the glove, then the post, smack the leg, in the net, off to grandma's house we go; in all fairness, Red Light probably would have let the puck fly by, albeit only due to an absence of awareness. Carey just couldn't help himself when he saw that puck heading toward the dreaded trapezoid, he just didn't want the arbitrary jail to get another easy taste of sweet vulcanized rubber.
> On a positive note, Price didn't sulk after scoring on himself. He played tight. Run a year-over-year comp on where Price's head is at, flip open Ken Dryden's The Game and read his treatise on what distinguishes an elite goaltender, then run a regression. I'm a massive Price fan, lame goal 'n' all. Sue me.
> On a negative note, which turned kinda positive, the Habs started out the game trending for 15 penalties. Think Martin had them doing paddywhack lines during the first intermission. Put a stop to it. Refs also helped out by ignoring a few flagrant Hab fouls.
> On a really negative note...tied game heading into the third...three shots on one of the best goalies of all time...bah.
> Brodeur wasn't able to surpass Sawchuk while his hometown fans were watching due to the first period's other forgettable goal. According to some Loaf fans I know, Cujo would have made the stop. Marty's obviously a fraud of Madoffian proportions. Off with his head.
> Ah, the trapezoid thingy rule thing; I really don't know why the NHL stopped there. Why not a Forbidden Hexagon in the neutral zone? No left wingers allowed. Then there are the Half-Moons of Peril: Sprinkled randomly all over the ice surface, any player who dares stand on one of them for more than five seconds is never seen nor heard from again. Ok, so the trapezoid is the trap-avoid, and I admit I don't want to watch a return to the pre-lockout hockey game cum tennis match, with Dallas' Marty Nadal at one end and NJ's Marty Federer at the other. At the same time, goaltenders who have the talent or made the effort to develop superior puck-handling talent, ones who can be integral to their team's transition game, shouldn't be handcuffed. Was it Sabres goaltending coach Jim Corsi I heard the other day saying his staff trains the team's goalies to effectively think and behave like a sixth player on the ice? I don't have a perfect solution, only ideas; most would retain the trapezoid but open the door to more goalie action, although he would have to assume more puck-handling risk.
> If, however, we're going to keep the trapezoid rule intact, then – at a bare minimum – transform the puck-over-the-glass rule into an icing equivalent for goaltenders, keeping it unchanged for everyone else.
> In the spirit of propelling NHL scoring to new heights, I would like to propose the following rule: No more goaltenders. Habs 87 – Loafs 56; yeah baby!!! That is some scoring action, hockeh-wise!
JD
Boone, you look so... umm... youthful on this picture. Cute puppy.
I also skipped most of the game. I've had enough New Jersey-Montreal games over the years to not put myself through yet another one...a movie rental seemed to be a much better route. :)
But I did have a couple of comments based on what people are posting here:
1) I agree whole-heartedly with people who are pointing out that the Habs are shooting themselves in the foot by relying so heavily on their best offensive players to also be the ones leading the team in PK duty. This is not new, either...we've had the same problem for years, where guys like Koivu, Higgins and Markov were blowing themselves up killing penalties.
Plekanec is ranked 4th in the NHL in SH TOI amongst forwards...that is way, way too high for your #1 center. If they want to use him on the second wave, sure...but he should not have to play first wave. That was supposed to be Lapierre's job, and he was relatively good at it last year. Throw in the puzzling facts that Martin is running three lines most of the time and seems to have little faith in his other centers for key draws (strange given that Plekanec is actually the worst center on the team right now in terms of faceoff percentage) and you end up with the situation where Plekanec is probably being played more than he should be in situations where he's chasing the puck.
Like Koivu before him, Plekanec (and to a lesser extent, both Sergei and Gomez) relies on speed, agility and positioning to excel, chewing through immense amounts of energy on every shift. When you tire a player like that out on the PK, you take away some of their effectiveness 5-on-5 and on the PP. I know that some guys in the league can do it, but we don't have those guys. We have Plekanec and Gomez, and they are showing that the grind does wear them down.
2) Two goaltenders (Ryan Miller, 1.88, and Tuukka Rask, 1.97) in the NHL have a GAA under 2.00. That means that regardless of who you are, you've done your job if you keep the opposing team to 2 goals or less. It is up to your teammates to score more than 2. Every NHL goalie will give up a stinker...Patrick Roy used to do it all the time in the regular season, to the point that when he had a shutout going into the third period, I would just be waiting for the long shot from the blue line or a weak dribbler to beat him. I'm not going to beat Price up over a bad goal here and there if he's holding the opposition to 2 goals or less.
3) This team desperately needs to retun to rolling four lines regularly. We're back to the situation we saw pre-lockout, where the Habs had a few talented players, but they were being played far too often to make up for the lack of talent through the rest of the roster. When you over-play your top guys, you wear them down and make them less effective. They take penalties because they are tired and caught flat-footed.
The Habs currently have a ton of forwards playing under 13 minutes a game. Conversely, they have 4 forwards (Gionta, Gomez, Plekanec, Cammalleri) that are averaging more than 19:28 of ice time per game. Why? It's not like the Habs are averaging tons of power plays to skew those numbers towards the offensive players.
If you aren't going to play somebody, sit them down and put somebody in the lineup that you will play. The Montreal Canadiens simply do not have the horses to play the top two lines so much.
!0 steps to making do with what you got.
1. bgl must go.....not only is his contract and 1.5 better used elsewhere but he is taking up space and withthe pace we need to play to remain competitive we need a player in his spot who can contribute on pk and eat some minutes.
2. Activate our d while we are strugglin.....we have Spacek, Hamrlik, Bereron, Gorges...all of whom can skate and are intelligient enought o contribute offensivle on the rush and occasionally jump in...Martin spoke of it early but it is a distant memory now as none of them ever join a rush anymore.
3. use our role players who don;t have a role right now like Pyatt, Laps, Metro and Moen on the pk to save our better legs for 5 on 5 and not wear the hell out of them....when we should gain momentum off a great pk we have noone to put on the ice who is fresh enough to follow with a shift of sustained pressure.
4. Change the 2nd pp unit and get Metro the hell off.....play SK74, he is busting his butt but is not being utilized to his strengths by playing pk, 5 on 5 tired with a tired gomez after pking and a random winger, then not even on the pp when every game he generates more chances then metro and MaxPac combined.
5. Move MaxPAc up with Gomez and Sergei, Sergei and MAxPac seemed to have something going, MaxPax can shoot and find open ice but can his linemates find him? he has better offensive instincts then a third liner..he isn;t polished as a finisher by any stretch but right now he's the best we got so just do it.
6. Start whining to the refs a bit....unfortunately the squeaky wheel does get the grease in this world so finding a middle ground between Carbo and Martin would be ideal
7. Start trying to make some plays at the opposing blueline and in the neutral zone instead of ALWAYS making the SAFE (but also often stupid) play of dumping the puck in.....we simply are not winning teh battles and recovering those pucks...isn;t the definition of insanity doing teh same thing over and over expecting different results. Even in the offensive zone we have aboslutely zero patience with the puck outside a very few guys....you know what makes the difference between an offensive play and a safe play....patience...it really is that simple...sure occasionally the puck will get turned over but it really is amazing what happens when you just hold onto the damn puck for that extra split second....see Pleks, sergei, markov,etc ....and once you prove you are capable of doing that defenders then try to pressure and panic or hesitate and next thing youknow you are a magical creator of space...it really isn;t rocket science it is more like mental chess with a little skill involved but every now and then even Lapierre has a little light go off and he waits and low and behole good things happen...then he remembers who he is or something and forgets it but..it is simpler than people think.
8. Show some balls.....this team needs a scrappy game (and not a vince mcmahon staged BgL fight)...show each other they care...there has been hardly any physicality and/or fighting this year....I don't want goonage but I want passion and I honestly don;t remember what that is like anymore.....there is no emotion and no feistiness....unleash Sergei let him be a pest, same with Laps, we don;t have to win any fights at all...just show up...that is all I am asking because that will light a fire and we definitely something lit.
9. Start playing like professional hockey players or more like baseball players away from the puck mentally and always be nalyzing different outcomes of what could or is about to occur...when I watch other teams they rarely overskate rebounds or miss them because their sticks aren;t on the ice, they get open and are moving when pucks bounce and they capitalize...we are the worst team I have seen away from the puck....noone is ever set to shoot, whenever a guy goes to the net he doesn't actually gain a position to do something with if he gets the puck, etc. Sergeithe last few games has looked to shoot and it is visibly noticeable....after that game he missed a couple likely goals by not being ready I bet the video coach got on him...he has responded...watch him...he's all of the sudden set away from the puck. One more thing in this away from the pcuk thing...start counting circles we skate when forechecking or pursing the puck...scary how often we take ourselved out of the play by lazy circles insted of stopping and starting in a direct line.....Pleks is a machine at the stopping starting game and forces turnovers and is often there to recover losse or bobbled pucks as a result...and he is just wee little fellow..but he does skate circles and is always anticipating a bounce and positionally is a genius.
10. Roll the dice a few times....our boys seem to be playing a very passive conservative game coming out of our end and it is really easy to sit back and check. Until we create our own space with some work away from the puck and show a wilingness and ability to make passes and plays to stretch defenders a bit we are in trouble because we do not have the guys with the individual skill to break down the traps and we do not have the guys to win the dump and chase game...we need to rely on our speed and play to our strengths...we are a fast team but you wouldn;t knowit beacause we are always standing still or barely moving coming out of our zone.....when was the last time you saw one of our forwards get behind the d in the neutral zone, we rarely have odd man rushes which is a shame becuase we have some guys who thrive in those situations but without generating the opportunites they are rendered useless more often than not.
I am not asking that we veer 180 degrees from Martins defensive game but we have to let some of the guys play to their strengths and play to our strengths....I am all for dumping pucks in (smartly where we have a chance to retrieve them,etc), I am all for safe play (but occasionally we have tokeep the d honest and show we aren;t always going to just chip it and that noone will ever be looking for a pass in the middle of the rink and noone will take any chances).
step 11: Don't take those brain dead penalties! It is tiring out our good players.
I understand why Martin uses Plekanec and Gomez to kill penalties. His priority is not to lose instead of going for a win.
that last line about sums up our team right now and you are unfortuntely very right.....that cannot continue...that is a big reason we get so many call against us too...we are always just trying to hang on. I don;t believe in the Montreal conspiracy but I do believe that the reffing is inconsistent and htat in any given game the refs are to some extent affected by their surroundings and situation (being the game) and they do tend to penalize the team that appears to be being controlled...and occasionally it works the other way..last night after calling 4 in a row Metro dumped someone in the ozoen and they didn;t call it...figured we had enough already. I just wish tehy wold either not call a damn thing or call everything again but the variation from game to game and even within games is just too much and I still believe that between our trying to hang on, our team being perceived that way as well are factors and it will get worse before it gets better if we don;t start actually trying this puck possessing thing we were allegedly supposed to try.
I don't understand all the bitching about not having the talent. Two of our players are among the top 30 highest scoring players in the league.
True, but then there is a big drop off. The Habs have a lot of "role" players. But the skill level as a whole is not that good. I think that is evidenced by the lack of shots on goal every game. Most of the players just don't have that ability to get in position to get a shot away. They are out there following the play, rather then creating the plays. Lapierre is a perfect example. Just never going to be a goal scorer.
That right now is what is frustrating me the most - you see a guy like Kessel in Toronto - gets at least 5-6 shots a game - he had a 10 shot game this year. The Leafs can get 35-40 shots. Habs seldom do that.
I completely agree that the talent curve drops off pretty rapidly. I am a believer in tipping points...you get a few more players who can score, or are agressive enough to create chances for others to score... or you get 1 or 2 big but mobile defensemen (I like Hammer and Spacek but they are not fast and mobile) and things start to happen. We get more efficient at moving the puck out of our end, we stop chasing around and taking penalties, Pleks and Gomez spend less time on the PK. We are not at that tipping point and I don't know if Markov and Gionta's return will get us there. We have abunch of journeymen players who are not particularly good at either end of the rink. Hard to see us making the playoffs at this point.
I think our defense with Markov is good enough (he really is a game changer) but our forwards trouble me. Ideally, Gionta comes back, finally gets Gomez started, push Lapierre to the third line and Laps goes back to the level he was last year.
Gomez and Lapierre really are the keys to the rest of the season, I think. They have the potential to solve our depth problems all by themselves. As of now, their lack of production hurts any line they're in.
Last I looked, there's 18 other guys that aren't. Unless the two players' names are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, you simply cannot ask 2 guys to carry a team.
----- "Come on, let's keep a little optimism here." -- Han Solo, Return of the Jedi
I agree with you they are going to wear them out.....What is wrong with the other players?.They can score if they put their hearts in it & so for heaven's sake stay out of the box....Price has to get better he looks shaky tonight not solid not like last nite...Come on guys I am tired of losing get in front of the goalie so he can't see the PUCK.get dirty. I hate to say GO HABS GO!!! because you are not going so far
We do have talent, every team in the NHL has talent. But not the type/elements that pushes a team over that hump.
WE HAVE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO talent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And two of our best players are injured, too. But it's easy to forget that...
I have a policy where I never blame the goalie for a loss if his team doesn't score at least two goals in front of him. After that, things could get fuzzy, but Price should be able to make one or two mistakes and not have to worry about losing the game because of it. We can't expect a shutout every night, but last time I checked, that's the only way to win when your team only scores one goal.
Not a bad policy but Martin should still stick him in the gym for 4 hours practicing fielding fly balls and line drives.
Bang on!
Also, a team with only one scoring line is going to be easy shut down. The Habs, like a lot of other teams in the National Salary Cap League, have nada beyond line number one. Only when Brian Gionta comes back will line number two start producing.
not even 1 line. 2/3 of a line only. worst team (talent wise) in the history of the habs!
Dude you are drunk. There's no way that's true.
"I lined up next to him at a faceoff, looked over and said "Hi Rocket". All he did was growl." -Gordie Howe
no he is not drunk he is a troll, trolls always say dumb *** stuff!
"The Future Belongs to Those Who Believe in the Beauty of Their Dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt
double
a healthy dose of fibre may also help with number 2 production, :) Sorry couldn't help it...there is so much misery on the board today...we need to cheer up and the habs need to go bowling! :)
Why do some of you continue to bitch about one bad goal??!!! That is not the reason they lost the game. Price only allowed 2 goals!! We need to score more than one goal folks, and Moen cannot be our only goal scorer.
Everyone talks like the game should have went to overtime, like that is our great expectations of this team, and because Price missed a shot, we didn't make it there.
Holy crap, I want more than that from this team, 1-1 then overtime. How about getting out to a 4-0, 5-0 lead sometime?? like we did against Boston? If this useless bunch could score a few goals, Price letting in one stinker would not be a factor.
A goalie blowing ONE now and then is really not that big a deal cuz if the team had any balls, they'd get it back twofold by burying some pucks at the other end. Now a goalie making a habit of softies REGULARLY is a killer. Even Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent, Terry Sawchuk, Patrick Roy and Martin F. Brodeur let bad ones in more than once.
I play goalie every weekend and every time I get reminded of a stinker I let in, I remind the skaters of the open nets they miss or easy passes they screw up that lead to turnovers. It's just so much more obvious when a goalie messes up.
You can say it's one bad goal but it isn't. Price is playing extremely well overall after a so-so start and has earned his Number 1 status. He is about a thousand times sounder than last spring. That's the good news. But his penchant for a sloppy glove is something that has to be looked at. It could be that he has one eye stronger than the other - most right-handed people are also right-eyed. When a right handed person has a dominant left eye, a "balancing" lens can help tremendously.
His eyes may not be the problem - maybe his glove needs changing or redesign. But we can't ignore the weird goals. If they can be eliminated, he will be almost unbeatable.
or Halak...he should be allowed as well to let in a stinker. But people still got on Metro's case because of the late penalties he took, and he is one of the unsung heroes this season.
People just like to bitch.
What Ilkka Pikkarainen's goal shows is that anything can happen if you SHOOT THE PUCK!
Martin needs to go off like Torterella and/or Quinn. I mean WTF??? I know it may not be in his personality but if he can get all pissed off at SK74 during a practice......I don't see why he can't get a little passionate about this pathetic play!
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
Quinn's rants are fine but the way Torterella goes off is totally unprofessional and condescending, I wouldn't want to play for and I'd never respect a coach like Torts, Ron Wilson, Mike Therrien or any other coach who publicly embarrasses his team thru the media.
He doesn't have to make it a routine or use the exact lingo as Torts.......but get pissed off and show it! He embarassed SK74 and it seems to have lit something cuz he's playing a helluva lot better!
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
I have been a Habs fan since the forties and I am sure tired of the rebuilding when I see players let go for nothing and then bringing in so called veterans and over paying them.Then a coach who has not got a good past and we play the defence protect the lead game.Defence down to three players that quaify as defencemen.
This season as far of playoffs are over and if the goal is to make the playoffs then I have been suckered to think we will have a stanley cip team,I watched to Toronto game at times last night and saw teams with little talent but well coached.
If we are out bring up the kids and lets develope them.Oburne wont make it he hasnt got the brains to become a good player he looks completly lost and confused at times. and bring in a modern coach.
This crap of signning players at the end of the season must make a player feel good.
Now I feel better
I think Martin is an improvement over Carbonneau, but yeah I agree Id like to see a diffrent approach of coaching in Montreal. I wanted Ted Nolan but anyways...But then again, I cant say the talent is there, I really feel the dynamics of this club could change with just one big dominant centreman that weve lacked for so long...I dont know if its possible with salary cap and stuff but we got some D and some forwards to spare, we should go for broke and make an offer a team couldnt refuse for such a player. And if it doesnt work out well we end up sucking for a few years, but if we dont do anything, I dont see this core of youth amounting to a winner (yes they could upset some teams in the playoffs) so I see no reason for patience.
Welcome to the NHL in the 21st Century, two labour stoppages in the span of a decade, rampant free agency, coaches replaced at the drop of a dime, players drafted at 18 and making the team, intense media scutiny from every possible manner (newspaper, radio, TV-whole stations devoted to sports, INTERNET!) and spoiled IMPATIENT fans!
My son is 5 years old and loves hockey. I can't wait til he, one day, tells his grandchildren about the ol' days of the NHL and The Original 30.
As a fan, I am embarrassed to see our player taking all those undisciplined penalties. Plekanec was overly taxed in the first period killing 4 penalties in a roll. On top of that, NJ is famous for their defensive hockey. It is not surprising that our 1st line was shutdown.
It looks like too many of our players have those brain dead reactions, taking penalties and Price scoring in his own goal. Are the coaches watching the game too?
Does anyone know where you can find that awesome Ken Dryden t-shirt? An online source would be best as I'm not in Montreal.
Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!
GO HABS GO!
Yeah it is cool. It'd be even cooler if there were another t-shirt with his original skeleton mask.
Any fan has a tendency to overestimate the players (s)he roots for.
I understand many of you are in love with Carey Price and agree that he has an immense potential.
But just because we had Roy, Dryden and Plante doesn't make any of our young goalies better. They are all individual cases and talent is only one of the variables that enter the equation.
Work ethics, self-confidence, motivation, coaching and the team around them are as important as their talent.
Just sayin' - don't be suprised, people, if he doesn't become a superstar in this league. I think the chances are not as slim as many of you die-hards think.
I understand your realism: I'm a realist too and Canadiens fans tends to be overexcited about every detail regarding their team (so the backup goalie wants to play more? Big deal!) But you have to leave fans room to be, well, fans! What can we be excited about this year? Even if we make the playoff, we probably won't last long and we're not nearly as spectacular as some expected at beginning of the year.
So when you have a young player with a potential for greatness, and when that player shows as many flashes of that potential as Price did this year, of course people will get excited.
Of course Price could still flop, but at one point you have to see your glass half full!
well, you can't blame just Price (although why did he even use his glove, and he has terrible puck tracking, he needs to work on that), or the Forwards (especially the #1 line, they are working their butts off night after night, can't be a one line team every game, others need to step it up), or the Defense (I hope Hamr is not gone).
The team lost this one...in the books now and on to the Wild. Lets hope Andrei gets the HAT-TRICK tonight!
GO HABS GO!
Much has been said about Carey Price’s brain cramp on the first New Jersey goal. It may have been his fault, but I’m not so sure that’s the main reason why we lost the game.
First off, it would be pretty difficult for any goalie to not try and play that puck - even though is was so high. That’s a reflex move that all of us would have made. The fact that he didn’t catch it is certainly Price’s fault. He looked very awkward on the play. Then the puck drops down into his feet and pure bad luck has him unknowingly slide it into his net with his skate. Truth of the matter is that Brodeur let in a real softy when Moen took a fairly harmless backhand shot that lots of goalies would have stopped. It was Brodeur that cost himself the historic shutout.
Even with Price’s miscue, the Habs still had another full period to come out and score a goal or two. I believe they only had 3 shots in the 3rd which was all she wrote. They lost this game because they can’t generate any consistent offense. If their big line doesn’t score, then they are life and death to stay in the game.
Montreal has lost all of their last four games by a margin of one goal. They have been in the games with a chance to win some of them, but don’t seem to have the ability to put the other team away. We are now "battling" teams such as Atlanta, Florida, and the Islanders for the coveted CFPS. We are presently two games under .500 and face a Minnesota team that presently has an 8-2 record. (Take a good look at the Wild, you might just see yourself in the mirror). The Wild also have a hot goalie and excel in the face-off circle. Not to mention that Lats is back in town. If Lats ever scores the winning goal......
Nothing seems easy for the Habs right now.
Price didn't lose us that game......but he didn't win it for us either. Whatever the case, anytime you get less than 20 shots and score only one goal.........doesn't matter if you bring back Jacques Plante from the dead.....chances are u ain't winning!
Brian Burke = Overrated Loud Mouth POS
Very well said. Goals against happen - sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not. If a goal happens that ties the game and there's still more than 20 minutes left to play, it defies credulity to pin the loss on said goal. It's a team game, and everybody wins and loses together. That play took all of 2 seconds, leaving another 59:58 for the team to score or not score.
What concerns me above all else right now are the penalties.
----- "Come on, let's keep a little optimism here." -- Han Solo, Return of the Jedi
When you have a team of just average players, scoring is going to be a challenge. Real good players can play in a defensive system, and still get the job done offensively. These guys can't do both.
My concern right now is Price - no not blaming him - but am concerned he goes south for awhile - just out of frustration. It's one thing to play well and it shows in the win column, but if you play like he is and still losing, at some point that sharpness and edge starts to wear off. I'd keep Mr. Halak around for awhile. We may need him.
Just think, by the end of this weekend, the mighty Leafs may be ahead of us in the standings - that tells you what kind of a season we have to look forward to.
Who cares if it was a banana, they had plenty of time to try and score one back. A goal like that is supposed to light a fire under your arse and do something about it, especially after he's held them in it not just last night but night after night etc. If people blame Price for that, then you gotta start blaming Cammy for rarely scoring on the road (which is a career problem of his). How many wide open nets did they miss? Brodeur looked beatable last night but I honestly don't remember any real offense save for Moen's goal. I just don't think they have anything left in the tank for this stupid blitz season. The intensity level, the speed and the strength is different from the AHL, which is what this schedule reminds me off. All that's missing is the weekly Friday/Saturday/Sunday set of weekend games. And the Habs aren't the only team suffering from it. Rangers seem to be suffering from it too to the point where even Lundqvist's in his oversized equipment has to be absolutely perfect to give them a win or Torts goes on a swearing tirade.
It was a 2-1 game. At least they weren't shut out. I'm sick of Brodeur saving his milestones for the Habs.
Who's the Goofy looking, balding gray haired guy?
"Isn't professional sports great. They continue to make the same stupid mistakes & still get paid"
That's our uncle, DD
can they trade gomez for kovalev? I would much rather watch kovalev take nights off as opposed to gomez taking the season off
....that makes 4 in a row ? now what ?
Last nite Price was quite simple ...Price lets in a free bee and Gomez fires the puck into the devils corner from the far blueline and ..heads off.. NJ recognizing the open ice Gomez has just created headmans the puck to the vacated spot ... the rush begins ... next thing .. goal !!! 2-1 she's over .
JM lost the room ?? maybe ... lets hope not .
After that bowling shoe ugly goal in the second period last night, I immediately flashed back to a story told on the 100 Years of the Montreal Canadiens DVD set involving Larry Robinson and a very young Patrick Roy. It was the 85-86 season, just as the team was heading into the playoffs. At the time Patrick was a green rookie and had a tendency to let in some stinkers. Big Bird had a sitdown chat with Patrick and the message was simply, "No more bad goals."
Look, Carey is my guy. If you go to his website there's a picture of me under the heading "#1 Fan." I've invested pretty heavily in him. There is no doubt whatsoever where my support goes in the Great Canadiens Goaltending Rivalry of 2009. But at some point one of the veterans on this team needs to have the "No More Bad Goals" chat with him. Obviously there's nobody in that locker room that comes even close to holding the same level of respect and prestige as Larry Robinson, but even if it's his good friend Josh Gorges or one of the guys that has been to the big dance and won a Stanley Cup, the talk needs to happen.
----- "Come on, let's keep a little optimism here." -- Han Solo, Return of the Jedi
And what happened next? Roy never let any other bad goal for the rest of his career? Come on, that's non-sense! Even at the end, Roy let a few bad goals in from time to time. In fact, the goalie Price was facing wasn't that strong on the goal he let in and he's a great one. In fact, he even let a few bad ones that eliminated his team during the last playoff, as did Roberto Luongo
That anecdote you tell sounds good as an anecdote but it's nothing more. You can't prevent a goalie from giving up bad goals, or having bad nights altogether, just by telling him not to. He has to learn to be more consistent and mentally stronger on his own. Price could still improve in both areas but don't ask for infaillibility!
*sigh* Compare Patrick's 85-86 playoffs stats to his 85-86 regular season stats. Then look up 1986 Stanley Cup Champions. That's what happened next.
I'm not saying Carey has to be perfect - I've stated on numerous occasions "goals happen." A great season for an elite goaltender is a SV% in the .920 range with a GAA around 2.00. That's a pretty frank admission that goals will be scored. A lot of the bad goals come due to lapses in concentration - it's not asking too much to work harder to cut down on those is it?
Relax a little bit. Note that I'm proposing some constructive criticism for our #1 goaltender here. We're allowed to do that, yes?
----- "Come on, let's keep a little optimism here." -- Han Solo, Return of the Jedi
Your criticism, like Robinson's criticism, is way too large to be constructive. Saying "no more bad goals" is like telling a scorer to "score more"! How does that help? You have the right to criticize Price and if you find faults with his game, please do say so.
But accept my own criticism: your idea of a non-goalie telling Price something obvious like "cut the bad goals" isn't a good one at all
Looks like Hal Gill is the guy telling him to hang in there and keep battling. They were chatting on the bench in the final minutes with him pulled for the extra attacker. I can't call his so-called bad goals "bad" as they just look so flukey. You can't chat that away. More likely someone needs to smash their stick on the table like Lafleur and say "c'mon guys, we have to wake up!" and score some goals/stop letting other teams have it easy in our zone...
We don't have any veterens...except for Markov
AGREED...
"Isn't professional sports great. They continue to make the same stupid mistakes & still get paid"
Where Adele..... still, nice familly.
Hamrlik was playing well, we were 8th, Markov was at practice while there was talks of Gionta seing a doctor and possibly coming back soon...... but now, only a couple of days later everything looks hopeless more than ever...... bummer.
Adele took the picture
This may be a dumb question but I almost feel like Im the only one on here that doesnt know these Friedmans, what are they famous for if I may ask?
I believe they were responsible for abolishing slavery... at least on the west island. :o)
Adele's hiding out with Pouliot
I hate games against New Jersey so I decided before this one that I wouldn't watch, just check the score periodically and watch Toronto instead. I ended up watching most of the first period, which was exasperating with all the penalties, and the last few miniutes, which were heartbreaking... again, the way it mostly is these days. The team cannot protect a lead, cannot find a way to score late in a tie game, and has yet to erase a late game 1-goal deficit. The last four games are all games we should have won or at least taken a point in, and there must be at least another half-dozen games this season of which that is true. It's certainly going to cost us a playoff spot. Even the Leafs, bad as they were at the beginning of the season, were mostly losing in overtime; these days, we can't even find a way to get to overtime.
Apart from the string of losses, it's painful to watch the team. It could be Carbo behind the bench with the dump-and-chase hockey, the absence of forechecking, the absence of a transition game. We can't exert any pressure 5-on-5, yet our penalty-kill thrives because of constant pressure - why we can't play that way when we're not shorthanded is a mystery to me. And game after game, the dumb penalties make me want to scream. If Jacques Martin has a system, it's difficult to discern it; he seems to rely on the penalty-kill to be perfect, the goaltending to be stellar, and not much else. If Hamrlik is out for any length of time, our season is certainly over; but even if he isn't, even if Markov and Gionta were to come back tomorrow, I think it's over. And I hate to say this, but having watched a few of their games recently, I think the leafs are a better team than we are. They're grittier, they forecheck better, they're more intense.
I boycotted as well last night and cheered for the Coyotes over the Leafs. Toronto would probably be ahead of Montreal in the standings if they had any goaltending. Toskala is a sieve.
Price allowing softies is killing this punchless team right now. Will it make any difference when Gionta and Markov are back? It tough to play in goal when you can't allow any by you.
When a goalie allows less than 3 its not right to fault him...Las Vegas has made Montreal a home underdog against Minnesota, tells you what they think of the habs, Minnesota is 6-13 on the road.
Before the game, I said I will be extremely surprised if we win the game.
Now, I am going a little further and will say I will be extremely surprised if we get to the playoffs.
Reason? We may have lost Hamrlik for a while or may have not, but we lost games we should have won - Atlanta, Buffalo, Toronto. Failed to get at least a point against Pittsburgh (thanx to Lee) and New Jersey.
This could be the end of the season for the Habs.
To be back in the picture, we would need to go on a winning streak right f. now. We don't play the best teams in the league next: Minnesota, Islanders, Thrashers, Hurricanes, Leafs, Sens, Lightning and Panthers. A good team would go on a 8-game winning streak.
JM needs to find a way how to start scoring. We have 2 scorers in AK and Cammalleri. If AK-Plex-Cammy line is defended, Gomez-SK combo or 3M won't score. Before Gionta and Markov are back (and maybe Hamrlik), we need to survive and find a way to get points.
Get 13-16 points before the year is over and then we'll be talking. Otherwise we are a toast.
Price only allowed 2 goals, cant criticize the goalie in any way shape or form no matter if one was a softie. And if Hamrlik is out for a lengthy period, may as well call it a season and start thinking good draft pick.
Agreed, difficult to win scoring one goal. Go for the draft pick and pick up a few more by trades at the trade deadline. Some teams will be financially desperate to make the playoffs. Montreal makes money,they should take advantage of that and skip the playoffs this year. The NHL is doing all it can to get the weak US francises into the playoffs this year wink! wink!
I agree doug.
Want to know what happened to the team that was comming off a centennial 3 game win streak?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvqA4VU_e1M&feature=related
Yep, how's it been since then? My point exactly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Youtube: "CHRIS LEE blow's habs game" ~ In hopes to end his career as a ref.
Lapierre is playing himself off of the team and possibly out of the league. There isnt much use for a non-tough, non-scoring, non-physical, average face off time waster.
He can fill minutes without hurting you too much but never really accomplishes anything and ultimately is just filling a roster spot until someone better comes along. Our problem is we have no-one any better knocking on the door.
Maxwell is underachieving in Hamilton and no other centres can play regular minutes in the NHL. Lapierre keeps his job by default.
Pack him up with Halak and get a real hockey player instead.
I have one Christmas wish...and that is for Coach J. Martin to stop "playing" with the lines...put them together and leave them alone for several games...I think we have some good opportunity once Gionta comes back...which will be soon folks. So have faith.
Line 1...AK46 - Plecs - Cammi (there some chemistry and positive stuff here)
Line 2...Gionta - Gomez - SK74 (we all know Gio and Gomez have chemistry...and SK74 is shown a great deal of commitment and focus and restraint towards palying a very responsible game since being called back...he has seen the light and the message has been received from his early seaon demotion)
Line 3...Moen - Metro - Max Pac (this line has energy, talent and consitntly puts pressure onthe other team...Max Pac is developing and learning with each game...I think Moen is mentoring him to be a power forward, and man does he have speed in the first few strides...and Metro has shown he has offensive talent and Moen is one of hte only players on the team that knows where the front of the goalie is and understands that screening the goalie is a really good thing)
Line 4...Dags - Lapierre - Pyatt (Lapierre needs to get the confidence and swagger and cockiness back that he had last year...give him the assignment as a shut down guy and on the PK...teach him how to be a PK specialist...Dags and Pyatt have speed and size and talent and can do a good job on the PK and putting in some quality minutes regular time to allow our top two lines to catch a breath...)
Other players like BGL...face the reality, he is baggage on this team...if heis not valuable enough to play more that 3-4 shifts a game then why have him taking up space on the bench? I would rather he sat in the press box than be a waste of space and llimit the opportunities for younger more talented players.
As for Pouliot...time will tell if he is an NHL player and if he is passionate and talented enough to challenge and take a job from one of the regulars.
Jacques...Please...I agree with Boone...you are burning out Plecs on the PK...Why not train the 3rd and 4th lines to be defensive and kill the penalties. Let the offensive guys play offensive minutes.
Penalties...you Know what Jacques...If you are upset at Metro or O'Byrne for stupid, lazy penalties...put them int he press box for the next game...don't just move the guy to the 4th line...for F-sake...sit the guy and make him get the point...stupid, lazy penalties are selfish and making us lose games...You know what Jacques...if the penalties are going to make us lose the game...sit the lazy SOB that takes the lazy selfish penalty and out in a kid from Hamilton that will at least give a full hearted effort for a game or two...we may still lose the next game due to reduced talent on ice, but the message would be very loud and very clear..."if you are too lazy or selfish to put out the full effort and play right and not take the selfish game killer penalties, then you are not needed on the ice...they will get the message really quickly...
Passion...some one here mentioned that there doesn't seem to be any passion...I have to agree...the 100th aniversary game was an eye opener for me nad I think the team as well...I have not seen that level of individual and collective team passion and energy in a couple of years...every line and every player came out and gave it a full effort for the full 60 minutes...not like we see in every other game this season where the effort is hit ans miss...one shift here, another shift there...one great period and then two flat and nothing energy...J. Martin...you are the coach...For God sake just one post game interview, could you sound pissed off and upset...how about ripping the players and getting publically angry...show some passion and maybe the players will sense that you at least give a crap and maybe they will reflect and turn there attention to their own lack of passion.
So please Jacques...send me a Christmas present and leave the line alone and let them get to know each other and build their chemistry, establish a sound group to kill penalties that does not rely of Plec and Gomez (our offensive centres)...I know, I know they have just gone on a really long successful PK run...but I am worried about burnign out Plecs and Gomez and the other guys on the PK when we need them fresh and energized to attack and be offensive...teach the 3rd and 4th line centres to take the PK roles. J.M...Get tough and sit guys out for selfish game compromizing penalites - send the messsage strongly and with passion so there is no mistake what you meant.
Well that is my Christmas wish for the Habs...
...let's look at the positives ...for instance, Toronto lost
Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEY
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049
Price had a 0.926 sv% tonight. There's no question that the first goal was his fault. The loss however cannot be put on his shoulders. 18 shots and 1 goal is not going to win you many hockey games in any league.
Anyone notice how bad the Habs' record is now since Paul Mara went down with injury?
What's there record since the Chris Lee incident?
oh my ... did I just spot a pothole?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Youtube: "CHRIS LEE blow's habs game" ~ In hopes to end his career as a ref.
Doesn't have so much to do with mara going down, as the fact that Mara going down has led to the return of MAB on the blueline. i think you may find that has been a very big factor in recent games
I think it was the trading of Guillaume that really sent this team into a tailspin.
The Pleky fatigue factor is ridiculous....
Why is it that in Montreal a foward cant play more than 20minutes...
Morrow play 21 min tonight, 3 on the PK they better rest him, he'll be tired in February
Correy Perry played 22min, they better rest him, he'll be tired in February
K Okposo play 20min, they better rest him, he'll be tired in February
Stajan played 22min, they better rest him, he'll be tired in February
Ovechkin plays 25 min a game, they better...
You get the point...
It's the type of minutes you play. When penalty killing, you exert a ton of energy sprinting around the ice as the PP whips it around. Plekanec is playing against the other teams best defenders because he's getting no support from the other centers on Montreal's roster, who would not scare a junior team with their play of late.
If Plekanec was 6'2" and 215 lbs., he could probably put up with being leaned on all game a little better than he can now, when the leaners are always bigger than he is.
His style of play expends a tremendous amount of energy, and he relies on speeds and agility to excel. When that goes, Plekanec is a pedestrian.
There is nothing in hockey more tiring than killing penalties or being hemmed in your end for a whole shift....and everything else you mentioned here is completely accurate....I don;t know why Moen, Lapierre, Pyatt and maybe Metro aren;t the ones killing the majority of penalties....they are capable....maybe mix in pleks or gomez but we only have 5 offensive weapons right now in Pleks, gomez, cammo, andrei and sergei and we are consistently drainging the hell out of three of them......at least Pleks has two fresh guys but gomez and sergei are both in similar situations with respect tot he pk and they only have a random 3rd/4th liner to fuill in with them...How do we expect offense in these instances. Hell call Ryan White up to kill penalties...he seemed pretty decent at it.......maybe if our tiop lines weren't tired at even strength we may have some territorial possession thing going on for a while and maybe end up with less penalties and maybe, just maybe, well a big maybe getting some powerplays ourselves....nah scratch that last part...but it would still help.
Driving home from work I was listening to ESPN radio and their hockey coverage of tonight's games and the emphasis naturally was on the Rangers and how bad they are and how the struggle continues and how they have one good player (Gabby) and a decent goalie (King Henry). They then went on to discuss the malaise that is the Philadelphia Flyers, a team picked by many of the talking puckheads to win the East.
So, I know it sucks that we suck but the suckage is widespread and we ain't the only ones... things will change.
With the exception of a couple of teams, the Eastern Conference sucks compared to the West. Habs inability to do well just punctuates how far we are away from contending for #25.
"Don't play to get into the Playoffs - Play to WIN the Division"
IT'S A TEAM GAME - Go Habs Go!
Yet another myth about the western teams being better. Poppycock and johnnyrot I say!
"We all should have been in the other room studying."
LOL Boone you crack me up...
"love cannot drown truth, Nefertiti"
i still dont get it that we have a team full of forwards who cannot score but they cannot kill penalties so we have to use one of our few offensive forwards and over play him...offensive talent on this team is probably the worst in the nhl...a team full of forwards who cannot score and do not look like they have the skill set to score..
Before we were a one line team plus plekanece
now we're a one line team plus nobody
with injuries to markov and gionta is it really any surprise that things are looking grim? And now possibly Hamrlik?
is pouliot the saviour? that's not a serious question. gomez and s. kosts will need to step it up.
When is mara expected to be back?
This was a game we should have won very easily but we only played with intensity the last two minutes of the game. Like all of a sudden, OH we better start skating now.
Terrible performance by the whole team. But that's OK, they get their pay checks anyway. Who cares if people pay good money to see this kind of effort.
Garbage hockey and their pride has been left somewhere else. Game after game, same old same old.
The loss is not what bothers me, its the lack of effort, intensity and focus.
Do you think it has to do with Martin's coaching style Ian. He seems so unemotional behind the bench. Never getting mad or showing any passion himself. His system is sooo boring and laid back that it prevents the players from skating, forechecking and getting involved in the game.