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Washington @ Habs: GAME 4


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see.... just a hard work goal by Moore.. but unfortunately our coach gave them a freebie.. if he hadn't, we would be sitting right now with a chance to tie...

Yeah, Washington allowed that goal because they weren't aware. 3 goal leads do that. Moore wouldn't have scored that if the outcome was still in doubt. Come on, Dominic Moore going end to end? Sloan-Corvo on the ice in the final minutes? That was a gimme.

Martin made the right call, the Habs just can't win faceoffs (and Gomez and Plekanec keep getting kicked out of the dot).

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Hammer is a victim of our patchwork defence.
Bam! Gainey warned us the prospect pool in D was thin and we were entering a period of low returns. PK is an exception and a very nice one. But Hammer was a depth reliable D brought in after Souray left. Spacek, Hamrlik, Gorges, Markov, Gill and O'Byrne all go UFA on July 1st 2011. It seems obvious that Gauthier is going to make some decisions this summer on the state of the D. Hamrlik is the most obvious choice to get rid of. But who in their right mind would take back the 5.5 million. He could be a rental one year from now.

Something has got to give. Our not too distant future has us with Markov, Gorges, O'Byrne and Subban as a nucleus IMO!

I can't see Gauthier going with our current D next year.

"Folding the patchwork bandaged tent"

Edited by Athlétique.Canadien
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Do they really lack an identity? Except for Game Three, they played pretty coherent hockey all series. They clearly have a system and implemented it well. That's why they were competitive in these games. No?

As I see it, the problem, against a Washington, is a combo of talent and team make-up. Size up front was a huge factor in Games Two and Three. That obviously needs to be corrected and the failure to correct it will be inexcusable. The D is a patch-up job. Subban may or may not be key to melding it into something better. But these weaknesses are no longer hypothetical ('let's give this team a chance'). They must be corrected if this generation of Montreal Canadiens are to contend. If addressed, the team could play the same game and quite possibly gut out a win in this series.

ARe we dynamic offensively? Are we a shutdown team?

Can they defend in transition? Can they hold leads? Are they high powered like 2008 and can overcome

deficits?

The identity this team has is allow 35-40 shots per game and hope for the best.

THAT is not an identity, it is 19 players going on the ice and playing hockey and us having ZERO IDEA

what we will see night to night.

Edited by Wamsley01
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You're right; except for those bonheaded penalties in Games 3 + 4 (and that *is* a big thing to forget), Gomez has been a pretty dangerous player for us all series on the ice. In fact, we were useless without Gomer. Cammy, meanwhile, has flubbed a lot of shots. I think he's pushing too hard - a result of the slump he was in. It's a shame, because he is a terrific hockey player.

Cammy was out for a long time. He was getting his mojo back and I think Gomez has had a pretty good series too.

Fact is we were all over these guys for the most part. Man proposes, Allah disposes.

I feel sorry for our boys. They gave it a great shot tonight.

Gota get back to faning up.

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Missed chances can also hold true in the sense that if they hadn't blown the lead to the Isles OR beat the Leafs

they would be playing the Sabres or Devils, not the Caps.

I wonder if size didn't play a role there, too. Our top-6 basically evaporated down the stretch before coming back strong against the Leafs (albeit losing). And while injuries were a factor, I'm inclined to think a top-6 this tiny simply can't play at its best for 82 games. Fatigue, punishment build up.

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I don't mind Price getting penalties if it's coming from competitiveness passion and he channels it into his play...

I thought it was a weak call for him firing it at the boards after giving up a 4th goal. Does he get a penalty

if he breaks his stick over the net?

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ARe we dynamic offensively? Are we a shutdown team?

Can they defend in transition? Can they hold leads? Are they high powered like 2008 and can overcome

deficits?

The identity this team has is allow 35-40 shots per game and hope for the best.

THAT is not an identity, it is 19 players going on the ice and playing hockey and us having ZERO IDEA

what we will see night to night.

Yeah; we saw certain stretches this season where the team played like what JM clearly has in mind (e.g., the 6-game winning streak post-Olympics, a little spell in November, much of this series), but I take your point.

Martin may be the problem. Still, when you look at the makeup of our team, you see a bunch of fast, moderately talented forwards and a bunch of slow-footed or uni-dimensional defencemen who are mediocre on the transition. That's a tough mix to fuse into one seamless unit. This is why I think that Subban could be a huge help - not just because he's a potentially impact talent, but because he would make our back end look more like our front end (fast, puck-moving). Not that he's a magic bullet. But that's the kind of personnel change that would make the team as a whole look better.

And yeah, the call against Price was more bullsh*t from the refs. I don't think I've ever seen a player penalized for something like that.

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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Yeah; we saw certain stretches this season where the team played like what JM clearly has in mind (e.g., the 6-game winning streak post-Olympics, a little spell in November, much of this series), but I take your point.

Martin may be the problem. Still, when you look at the makeup of our team, you see a bunch of fast, moderately talented forwards and a bunch of slow-footed or uni-dimensional defencemen who are mediocre on the transition. That's a tough mix to fuse into one seamless unit. This is why I think that Subban could be a huge help - not just because he's a potentially impact talent, but because he would make our back end look more like our front end (fast, puck-moving). Not that he's a magic bullet. But that's the kind of personnel change that would make the team as a whole look better.

Subban will add a dimension this team sorely lacks and that is 1. a puck RUSHING defenseman and

2. somebody to take the transition heat off Markov.

I really feel the Habs are falling into the Leaf mold from 2003-06 of trying to rebuild on the fly without

really rebuilding where the playoffs become the goal and not a dominant annual contender.

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I wonder if size didn't play a role there, too. Our top-6 basically evaporated down the stretch before coming back strong against the Leafs (albeit losing). And while injuries were a factor, I'm inclined to think a top-6 this tiny simply can't play at its best for 82 games. Fatigue, punishment build up.

Ya, and losing Cam and MAB for a large chunk of the year killed our PP. Martin did a heck of a job getting us going after the olympics, but it wound down perhaps due to size or the time it took for Cam and MAB to get back into the game.

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I don't blame Martin for the season.

He has done absolutely nothing I did not expect him to do. He is what he is.

Give him talent he gets you top 3 in the Conference, you give him average talent you get

seed 7-9, you give him little talent and he misses the playoffs.

I didn't like the 4 year contract the minute he signed it.

Edited by Wamsley01
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I don't blame Martin for the season.

He has done absolutely nothing I did not expect him to do. He is what he is.

Give him talent he gets you top 3 in the Conference, you give him average talent you get

seed 7-9, you give him little talent and he misses the playoffs.

I didn't like the 4 year contract the minute he signed it.

It was probably the cost to pay to lure him here. Remember that he already had a job, well paid job. He was the boss in Florida. Now I doubt the Molson will keep him only because of his contract. But that's a question for this summer

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I don't mind JM as a coach(most of the time), I just feel he's trying to fit a round peg in a square hole..sure if you force it hard enough it might go through, but it'll never be the best fit.

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I hope these last 4 games will finally end the Price vs halak debate.

If we learnt one thing about this series is that goaltending is not the problem...and that both goalies are good. However, when you don't have a decent defensive corps in front of you, there isn't much you can do against the likes of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green, Laich, Fleishmann and Knuble!

Before the series started, I told myself that if we can take this series to 6 games, I'd be satisfied. They might still have a chance of playing a 6th game in Montreal, but I doubt many of our guys will have any heart left for the 5th game in Washington on friday!

Edited by Habsfan
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8 pages of a GDT (2 first page don't count) and nobody yet bash Hal Gill (6'5'' or so) for trying to play the puck against Ovechkin... Amazing.

Gill sucks balls. I think he was on the ice for every Ovechkin goals. With the last change, it is unnaceptable from Jacques Martin. Markov is the only one (Gorges did good to) who can handle Ovechkin. SEND HIM OUT AGAINST HIM.

My signature ain't shit, no more chance to Hal Gill. GTFO sir.

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8 pages of a GDT (2 first page don't count) and nobody yet bash Hal Gill (6'5'' or so) for trying to play the puck against Ovechkin... Amazing.

Gill sucks balls. I think he was on the ice for every Ovechkin goals. With the last change, it is unnaceptable from Jacques Martin. Markov is the only one (Gorges did good to) who can handle Ovechkin. SEND HIM OUT AGAINST HIM.

My signature ain't shit, no more chance to Hal Gill. GTFO sir.

Hal Gill has been one of the best defensemen on the team. He can't handle Ovie, though the idea is that it's Gorges that has him. Of course, just a simple cut across the ice and it's Gill. Gill is the biggest reason the Caps didn't have a PP goal in their first 3 games.

Hamrlik has been awful all series and there's no sugarcoating it. He's done.

Martin should have played Markov-Gorges when Spacek was ruled out. But he didn't.

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Subban will add a dimension this team sorely lacks and that is 1. a puck RUSHING defenseman and

2. somebody to take the transition heat off Markov.

I really feel the Habs are falling into the Leaf mold from 2003-06 of trying to rebuild on the fly without

really rebuilding where the playoffs become the goal and not a dominant annual contender.

Well, Gainey tried to do it the 'right' way and it blew up in his face. Wamsley, I know you plumped for re-signing the Koivu/Kovalev core short-term and then trying to pounce on other teams's cap problems, but other than that option, Gainey did what he had to do - abandon Rebuild 1.0 as the abject bust it was, and retool on the fly. That he did this doesn't prove the organization is content with mediocrity or that the current squad is the final, end point.

How Gauthier behaves this summer will be far more indicative of whether they've settled into that awful 'Leafs' mode. If we see him re-signing Pleks and trying to pawn off a combination of lateral moves + PK Subban, we'll know the organization is full of crap. If we see the obvious weaknesses being targeted and aggressively addressed, even at cost of some risky moves, we'll know that the organization is serious. After all, this was always going to be a transitional year. Gauthier deserves a chance to show us that he means business.

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Well, Gainey tried to do it the 'right' way and it blew up in his face. Wamsley, I know you plumped for re-signing the Koivu/Kovalev core short-term and then trying to pounce on other teams's cap problems, but other than that option, Gainey did what he had to do - abandon Rebuild 1.0 as the abject bust it was, and retool on the fly. That he did this doesn't prove the organization is content with mediocrity or that the current squad is the final, end point.

How Gauthier behaves this summer will be far more indicative of whether they've settled into that awful 'Leafs' mode. If we see him re-signing Pleks and trying to pawn off a combination of lateral moves + PK Subban, we'll know the organization is full of crap. If we see the obvious weaknesses being targeted and aggressively addressed, even at cost of some risky moves, we'll know that the organization is serious. After all, this was always going to be a transitional year. Gauthier deserves a chance to show us that he means business.

In all honesty, I would rather have spent the transition year out of the playoffs with cap space

then being capped out and a first round casualty.

This season was exactly what I wanted to avoid. Another year as a bubble team, number 7 since 2000.

This team needs bold moves to address their team and organizational shortcomings. If they make lateral

moves, this team is going nowhere.

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I really feel the Habs are falling into the Leaf mold from 2003-06 of trying to rebuild on the fly without really rebuilding where the playoffs become the goal and not a dominant annual contender.
Good news is, the party is over. There is no way Gauthier can just ride this. The Tanguay acquisition and less so getting Lang has left a void short term in picks. Habs have to cash in now IMO, to pay for the gambles! Fan pressure and anger puts this into a potentially bizarre summer. Goodbye Mr Goalie who? Edited by Athlétique.Canadien
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In all honesty, I would rather have spent the transition year out of the playoffs with cap space

then being capped out and a first round casualty.

This season was exactly what I wanted to avoid. Another year as a bubble team, number 7 since 2000.

This team needs bold moves to address their team and organizational shortcomings. If they make lateral

moves, this team is going nowhere.

I agree 100% on the last bit. Like I say: size up front and a better D. No excuses, no 'we almost had so-and-so,' no f*cking around. Deliver.

The only area of dispute is over Gainey's strategy this summer. I prefer to say that he assembled a solid core that needs significant tweaks. But either way, it's water under the bridge. Going forward, I agree that we had BETTER see Gauthier moving boldly to fix the glaring deficiencies. Those moves may involve frightful risks, e.g., moving Halak/Pleks, making a final call on the Kostityns, even moving Gomez for Lecavalier, whatever; but the risks have to be taken or else the Habs are the Leafs. No two ways about it. We endured the botched rebuild for five years. We gave this year's brand-new team 'a chance.' The time for patience is over.

Make us a contender. Period.

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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