GDT: Habs vs Jackets, November 2, 2010

[Habsy]

So, what are we looking at here? A combined ONE goal against the two power-house Florida and Columbus organisations. I can't wait until we play a good team.

[bar]

Everytime spacek gets near the puck I cringe.

[Toronthab]

What a shame that I missed this one......naught....

Everybody's going to play a bad game every now and then. maybe they're a little sick of hockey after last week?

This too shall pass. I like the team we have out there, I just don't feel it too strongly tonight.

[BCHabnut]

That was the worst game of the year by far. Columbus put on a clinic defensively all night. The coach read the book on Martin. Play strong, and responsibly in your own zone and exploit defensive mistakes. Wow! Can you say bag skate? Montreals offence can not penetrate the defense when they play bib. It is very frustrating.

One observation on Price is that his battle is very good, His puck tracking is better. His positioning was a little goofy tonight, but what I have noticed this year is that he still needs time to get better at anticipating the play. He gets beat on an awful lot of two on ones. Im not saying he shouldn't, but his anticipation is lacking, or Pearn needs to improve the work of the D.

Gill and Gorges on the ice for all three goals against?

[dlbalr]

Working on the HW 3 Stars now...it's quite challenging finding 4 players to give some credit to.

[Habsy]

And for me, losing to a team with a bunch of empty seats, makes it worse. It just does. What the **** is a team doing in that city?

[BCHabnut]

Working on the HW 3 Stars now...it's quite challenging finding 4 players to give some credit to.

Wow. good luck with that. The only players that looked even OK were Plek, Kosty and Pouliot. Moen and Hammer made a few nice plays as well. None of these actually looked good though.

[dlbalr]

Wow. good luck with that. The only players that looked even OK were Plek, Kosty and Pouliot. Moen and Hammer made a few nice plays as well. None of these actually looked good though.

One of those made it...I must say I disagree on Hamrlik though, I had a few negatives written down for him tonight on my list of notes...mind you, a lot of players did.

[bar]

I liked what isaw of Eller.

Hey Brian maybe do a duds of the game instead of stars.

[dlbalr]

I liked what isaw of Eller.

Hey Brian maybe do a duds of the game instead of stars.

Technically, that would have been just as hard, there were lots of duds to choose from. It's posted now, happy reading if you'd like to subject yourself to anything further with this game. http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=2249

[Wamsley01]

That was the worst game of the year by far. Columbus put on a clinic defensively all night. The coach read the book on Martin. Play strong, and responsibly in your own zone and exploit defensive mistakes. Wow! Can you say bag skate? Montreals offence can not penetrate the defense when they play bib. It is very frustrating.

One observation on Price is that his battle is very good, His puck tracking is better. His positioning was a little goofy tonight, but what I have noticed this year is that he still needs time to get better at anticipating the play. He gets beat on an awful lot of two on ones. Im not saying he shouldn't, but his anticipation is lacking, or Pearn needs to improve the work of the D.

Gill and Gorges on the ice for all three goals against?

How can you question his anticipation when he has made about 15 cross crease pad saves that are all based on anticipation?

That game should have been 6-0. He had to do a lot of scrambling tonight because Columbus was moving the puck laterally and

the Canadiens were not interrupting any passing lanes. Even goaltenders who move well will get killed with that type of lateral

passing. I have no problem with his anticipation and I don't expect him to be perfect, I expect him to give them a chance to win

games they shouldn't. he did that tonigh.

The goaltender is responsible for the shooter. That's it, everything else is gravy. Two of the goals the defenseman failed to seal off

the secondary option on the two on one and both opportunities lead to essentially empty net goals.

This defense still allows too many quality scoring opportunities, Price has been limiting the damage.

[BCHabnut]

How can you question his anticipation when he has made about 15 cross crease pad saves that are all based on anticipation?

That game should have been 6-0. He had to do a lot of scrambling tonight because Columbus was moving the puck laterally and

the Canadiens were not interrupting any passing lanes. Even goaltenders who move well will get killed with that type of lateral

passing. I have no problem with his anticipation and I don't expect him to be perfect, I expect him to give them a chance to win

games they shouldn't. he did that tonigh.

The goaltender is responsible for the shooter. That's it, everything else is gravy. Two of the goals the defenseman failed to seal off

the secondary option on the two on one and both opportunities lead to essentially empty net goals.

This defense still allows too many quality scoring opportunities, Price has been limiting the damage.

Ya, I'm not disapointed in one game he's had yet this year. I am more saying that on clear 2 on 1 he has been getting beat a lot this year. I don't know if it's defensive or him. I do see that most of our D try to stop the pass, but they certainly dont take away the person without the puck. I understand what you're saying, but I would still like to not call teh goal before it happens. 2 on 1s this year = goal way too much. It's our slow D more than anything I suppose.

[lazy26]

Anyone else find it ironic that this team is a no-show now that Markov is back? Maybe they were counting on him providing more, and are underachieving as a result.

Anyway, glad to have missed this one while at work. Just wish it could have been Mase in net getting the SO for my pool.

[Toronthab]

Anyone else find it ironic that this team is a no-show now that Markov is back? Maybe they were counting on him providing more, and are underachieving as a result.

Anyway, glad to have missed this one while at work. Just wish it could have been Mase in net getting the SO for my pool.

Lots and lots of hockey last week. They maybe were a little played out as well as outplayed.

[BTH]

Ya, I'm not disapointed in one game he's had yet this year. I am more saying that on clear 2 on 1 he has been getting beat a lot this year. I don't know if it's defensive or him. I do see that most of our D try to stop the pass, but they certainly dont take away the person without the puck. I understand what you're saying, but I would still like to not call teh goal before it happens. 2 on 1s this year = goal way too much. It's our slow D more than anything I suppose.

I saw the first goal coming too but not because of Price, because Gorges was covering the pass and letting Rick Nash walk in and take a clear shot. I'm not sure he realized that it was Nash with the puck. You'd think he'd have put more pressure on the shooter.

[Easy Ryder]

Lazy has something there, with Markov back, offensive forwards expect a tape to tape pass so they

don't come back as low in the d zone. This puts all Martin system down the drain. Forwards have to come back on

Markov side as low as they do with Gill.

And defense corp, well Hammer is always better when Markov is not there, why i do not know but it

always been.

For Spacek, i would make him take a full NASA test(available at Laval) twist him by every side, every height ,

every shock to see if that inner ear problem is still there and doesn't hide it.

And the three stars are relatevely easy

1 Garon

2 Voracek

3 Nash

No habs deserve to be considered there.

[bar]

I saw the first goal coming too but not because of Price, because Gorges was covering the pass and letting Rick Nash walk in and take a clear shot. I'm not sure he realized that it was Nash with the puck. You'd think he'd have put more pressure on the shooter.

I always thought it was defender take the pass, and goalie take the shooter?

[Chris]

Well that wasn't much of an effort. pretty emabarrassing. 1 goal in there last 2 games against the Panthers and Jackets. They should be embarrased with themselves. Gorges and Gil were just awful. Everyone else was just bad.

I would shake up the lines a bit and i would definitely seperate Markov and Subban, they are the only 2 players who can get the puck out of there zone without icing it or throwing it off the glass. I put Picard in with Subban, let Hamrlik and Spacek fight it out for ice time with Markov.

Forwards I go Pouliot Eller Cammi, Ak46 Pleks Gionta, Moen Gomez Lapierre, Boyd Halpern Darche Pyatt.

Maybe that will shake them up a bit.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Two points:

1. We've seen this movie before. How many times does a team do surprisingly well without its best player, only to hit a slump the moment that player returns? It happens all the time. The reason seems to be that there is a psychological let-up: 'now that X is back, I can take it easy a little bit.' It may take another 2-3 games before Markov gets his sea legs and the team starts to realize they can't coast on his back. So frustrating as it is, there's some normalcy to this. The message here: ride it out and don't panic as fans.

2. We may also be seeing the inevitable result of Gomer and Gionta not producing. You can only have your top line carried by depth scoring for so long. Their window is slamming shut - if they don't get cracking soon, Gomez in particular will begin to enter to jaws of Montreal hell (blame, recrimination, boos, the whole bit). The message here: panic no, increasingly grave concern, yes.

[BCHabnut]

Two points:

1. We've seen this movie before. How many times does a team do surprisingly well without its best player, only to hit a slump the moment that player returns? It happens all the time. The reason seems to be that there is a psychological let-up: 'now that X is back, I can take it easy a little bit.' It may take another 2-3 games before Markov gets his sea legs and the team starts to realize they can't coast on his back. So frustrating as it is, there's some normalcy to this. The message here: ride it out and don't panic as fans.

2. We may also be seeing the inevitable result of Gomer and Gionta not producing. You can only have your top line carried by depth scoring for so long. Their window is slamming shut - if they don't get cracking soon, Gomez in particular will begin to enter to jaws of Montreal hell (blame, recrimination, boos, the whole bit). The message here: panic no, increasingly grave concern, yes.

Ya, if Gomez doesn't start putting up some points it could be a long season for all of us. He should really renegotiate his contract to 5 mill, to take some pressure off of himself

[dlbalr]

Ya, if Gomez doesn't start putting up some points it could be a long season for all of us. He should really renegotiate his contract to 5 mill, to take some pressure off of himself

Can't do that under the CBA and quite frankly, would you really expect him to? I can't think of a lot of people who'd willingly forfeit $3 million dollars just to try and alleviate some pressure.

[BTH]

I always thought it was defender take the pass, and goalie take the shooter?

I think so too, but if I know it's Rick Nash coming I would make sure to at least partially obstruct his shooting angle.

[BlueKross]

Can't do that under the CBA and quite frankly, would you really expect him to? I can't think of a lot of people who'd willingly forfeit $3 million dollars just to try and alleviate some pressure.

There is also a minumum salary, so you can't pay him what he is worth at the moment.

[Chris]

There are numerous forwards not producing. Picking on Gomez I'm sure makes you all feel better but Gionta and others are not producing either. The top line hasn't had a sniff in 2 games.

Alot of it has to do with effort, 2 no shows the last 2 games.

[Wamsley01]

Ya, if Gomez doesn't start putting up some points it could be a long season for all of us. He should really renegotiate his contract to 5 mill, to take some pressure off of himself

Gionta is shooting at a 2% clip, when his career number is 11%.

Even if he replicated his career low 8% he would have 4 goals instead of 1. That puts him at 6 points

in 12 games, not fantastic, but not dragging anything down. If you make the assumption that Gomez

is in on those, then he is at around 7 points as well.

It happens, the optics of it look worse because it is to start the season, but in order for your fears

to be realized, we would have to make the leap that he is starting a monster career decline.

We are talking about a player who is 7th in the league in SOG. The company he is keeping in that category

are among the elite of the game. Ovechkin, Crosby, Carter, Malkin, Parise, Nash, Staal etc.

He will continue to shoot and when he heats up and runs a 10 game stretch with a 25% accuracy like he did

in the playoffs he will push his shooting percentage to his career average.

If you judge a 12 game portion of the schedule based on statistics, we might as well rename the Vezina the

"Tim Thomas" trophy. Things will change and your viewpoint will be much different come Christmas.

This happens in some form or another every year. Remember, through October last season Jaroslav

Halak's SV% was .893. 6 months later and everybody wants to kick Price out of town and is outraged

at a 1st and 3rd round pick return.

It is no different than expecting Kostitsyn/Plekanec and Cammalleri were going to put up 80-90 points each.