habscout

Yes but it's also the worst team they've played all year. That said, so far so good for Les Habitants tonight.

Another couple of quality shots by Petry on the powerplay. The man is on fire tonight! His teammates should be inspired to play better.

I love that hip check by Petry on Kucherov!

What's hurts even more is allowing 2 quick goals within the first 2 minutes of the 2nd period. Ugh!!

Damn, the Lightning were really coming on over the last few minutes of the first, and scored with only a few seconds left to tie the game. 😞

The TV announcer said it was the Habs 5th PPG, and the 2nd by Petry to lead the team. The NHL.com website says they have 6 PPG, to give them a 25% efficiency, and rank them #16 in the league. That is promising.

Nice blast by Petry to put the Habs up 1-0 !

Go Habs Go!

Too bad about Juulsen and McCarron. I hoped both would have strong exhibition seasons. Juulsen is really starting to concern me. About Honka, he has a good offensive package and the Stars are relatively deep on defence. However I have heard his defensive game is lacking, and he's prone to coughing up the puck at the worst times. If that news is accurate then it makes more sense the Stars would be willing to move him along while his value is somewhat higher. As such I would rather see the Habs let one of their own defensive prospects get a shot before they trade for Honka and knock them all down one run on the depth charts. Aside from Juulsen the regulars on defence are healthy so there's less incentive to gamble on Honka now. Either some other team will take a chance on him before the season starts. Or the Habs (or another team) will pick him up on waivers likely in the first few months. Since Honka is starting his 4th NHL season, he's waiver eligible if he's sent down to the minors.

I know this is only an exhibition game, but I can't believe Hudon had the puck on his stick in the slot then lost the handle of it. Very frustrating to watch this kid.

Well these Habs are up 2-0 after 9 minutes and change. Nice rush by Fleury to set up the second goal; Cousins & Thompson played well also.

For sure he was awkward. He has time to improve on that aspect of his "game"; I'd rather see him on the ice anyways.

I debated signing up then took the plunge during a Black Friday sale. It is worth it, even at full price ( I am over 1 1/2 years subscribing now). As someone said the daily coverage is very good, similar to what the Gazette used to be durng the hay days of the Habs (1950's through 1970's) I used to be a faithful Hockey News subscriber for many years but found I did not read much of the non-Habs stories so it felt like a waste. With the Athletic, if you follow a team in another major sport then they have beat writers covering them. So you get more value from it in my opinion.

Hard to say if he will grow much; perhaps a little. His brother is almost 2 years older and a little bigger at 5'8", 173 pounds. On draft day when they announced the Habs selection and showed Cole with his family, his brother looked somewhat bigger than Cole. I am pretty happy with the Habs picking Caufield. They have not gone for a highly skilled player like this in a while, when they have not been drafting in the top 3. He's a pure goal scorer, very shifty, but he's not a selfish one as I have watched several videos where he has dished the puck off to a linemate when he could have easily taken the shot. Yes he benefited from playing on the same line as Jack Hughes, but he also scored when Hughes was at the U-18 tournament. He could be top line player eventually for the Habs. I have no doubt he will play at least 1 year in college, since he's going to the same one his brother is at. He may leave after 2 seasons, similar to what Poehling did, who also wanted to play college hockey with his brothers, and did so for three seasons before turning pro.

As much as I would like to see the Habs draft a stud LD , I think Harley is terrible in his own zone. I don't see him maturing his game enough to become a top 2 defenceman in the NHL.