Game 1 2017 Playoffs Rangers at Habs

[THE Bobby Orr]

4 minutes ago, nihilz said:

As much as it hurts to admit it. Tomas Plekanec is still this teams best all around center. He doesn't have Danault's speed and tenacity, but he has a poise and experience Danault lacks. Plek and Shaw had some nice chemistry down the stretch. Let Danult dig for Radulov and have Lehkonen shoot everything he touches. Get chucky back at center and have Byron and Gally Buzzing around letting Alex find the soft area's for one timers. Right now, I'd ride those three second lines. The 3 guns seperated and chemistry how you see fit. Regardless they need an offensive threat on the ice every shift. The chances are going to be slim and margins tight. They're no Malkin Crosby & Kessel, but it has to be the same philosophy.

 

 

makes sense but i don't see it happening; CJ will not break up the 1st line.

 

if we are going to turn the blender on then:

 

Max Danault Radu

Arturi Plex Gally

Byron Shaw Chucky

Marty Mitchell Flynn

 

 

On D - Nesty should sit....i cannot imagine Beaulieu will play any worse than he did tonight

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Patches - Plek - Gally

Lehkonen - Chuck - Radulov

Byron - Danault - Shaw

King - Mitchell - Flynn

[DON]

10 hours ago, miklin said:

what did everyone think of the CBC announcing? Was Romanuk missed that much to encourage his return from exile from Europe. Thought the broadcasting team had a pro NY bias (or do they just favour whomever is leading). At least we didn't have to listen to Bob Cole who blundered his way through parts of the Ottawa game

Didn't notice much, cept the F1 and F2 BS Gally was babbling about was goofy.

[DON]

9 hours ago, JoeLassister said:

Anyone undestand why they kept putting Nesterov and Beaulieu with the 4th line on the ice ?

They were killed and spend MINUTES in our zone, gave TONS of scoring chances and the momentum to the Rag$ during the 2nd period.

 

But they kept playing those 5 together for a few other shifts after...  Unbelievable !

Yes, hope Emelin is back next game and Nesterov never has to dress again.

[illWill]

I thought Galchenyuk was terrible out there. He looked lost and uninspired, while his line mates were the ones driving the play and creating chances. 

[DON]

10 hours ago, Stogey24 said:

It sets the tone. Especially on the road. Quiet the crowd down, bring some momentum your way, create some doubt.  Pretty self explanatory. 

 

Two years ago, when Habs were in playoffs; every series seemed like the first team to score, won the game. 

Seems like perhaps.

But, you said 1st goal in playoffs, not sure that goal will have huge impact on tomorrow's game

[DON]

10 hours ago, Stogey24 said:

Ya, Plekanec as our #1 centre. Genius 

Actually Shaw easily played the most, Plekanec & Danault didn't play on the PP and Plekanec played 7 seconds more than Galchenyuk. 

[DON]

14 minutes ago, illWill said:

I thought Galchenyuk was terrible out there. He looked lost and uninspired, while his line mates were the ones driving the play and creating chances. 

Agree, seemed more uninspired play from #27 and the faceoff penalty/braincramp didn't help neither, but he did manage 4 shots on net at least.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

20 minutes ago, DON said:

Yes, hope Emelin is back next game and Nesterov never has to dress again.

 

Indeed. Anyone saying the team is better without Emelin is failing to consider his replacement.

14 minutes ago, illWill said:

I thought Galchenyuk was terrible out there. He looked lost and uninspired, while his line mates were the ones driving the play and creating chances. 

 

Indeed. If the idea was to inspire him by embarassing him, it was a total fail. If you ask me, the kid has confidence issues, and probably needs to believe his coach and teammates have faith in him. Put him back in the top 6. We're not going to wi n without him there anyway.

13 minutes ago, DON said:

Seems like perhaps.

 

Indeed. With these goalies, the team that scores first is going to win most of the time.

 

That was a real statement game by the Rangers. They totally sucked the life from the Habs, and the morning after I find it hard to recover my former optimism about this series. You have to hand it to them, their game plan and coaching were superb.

[DON]

2 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

You have to hand it to them, their game plan and coaching were superb.

Giving up 16 shots in 1st period doesn't seem very smart and unlikely to work often.

[Lovett's Magnatones]

26 minutes ago, illWill said:

I thought Galchenyuk was terrible out there. He looked lost and uninspired, while his line mates were the ones driving the play and creating chances. 

 

To be fair, that game might be the first time he played on a fourth line his entire life. 

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

13 minutes ago, DON said:

Giving up 16 shots in 1st period doesn't seem very smart and unlikely to work often.

 

True. It's the final two periods that made the 'statement.' Once they got the flukey lead, they settled in with a dominant 40 minutes. 

[DON]

7 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

True. It's the final two periods that made the 'statement.' Once they got the flukey lead, they settled in with a dominant 40 minutes. 

Yes cant disagree, couple untimely penalties didn't help and were easily outshot, till Habs started to play desperate towards latter part of 3rd.

[DON]

Tried Galchenyuk at centre on the PP, but quickly backfired.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

1 minute ago, DON said:

Yes cant disagree, couple untimely penalties didn't help and were easily outshot, till Habs started to play desperate towards latter part of 3rd.

 

One of the things that's bugging me is the old adage that 'your best players have to be your best players.' 

 

Well, Max, Weber, and Price all played excellent games last night. The supporting cast just could not get the job done. Our best players were our best players and still we lost. Looks to me like the Rags just have a deeper, faster roster. Still...it's one game.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing Mitchell draw in. At least he has wheels. This group looked slow last night.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

3 minutes ago, DON said:

Tried him at centre on the PP, but quickly backfired.

 

Yeah, and this supports my theory that he has lost all confidence. Putting him in the top 6 may result in him making mistakes, but it's the only way to put him in a position to get his confidence back. Again, this team is not going to win anything without a productive Galchenyuk anyway. So whatever has the best chance to kick start him back to being dangerous, that's what you have to do.

[Guest Stogey24]

Galley said the exact same thing on that play. He said he didn't like the knee being stuck and could have easily been a penalty. 

[Guest Stogey24]

10 hours ago, BCHabnut said:

Is funny, I was watching on NBC and ferarro noticed zucherello was mad about being hit, so he stuck the knee out on Gallagher. That looked like what happened to me. I switched over to anti hab network, and Galley comments on the identical play saying the exact opposite. It's amazing. Romonuk is ok, but I can't stand galley. Ferarro and mike Johnson are superior and not employed by the sportsnet hype machine

 

[Guest Stogey24]

1 hour ago, DON said:

Seems like perhaps.

But, you said 1st goal in playoffs, not sure that goal will have huge impact on tomorrow's game

Lol ok. Don't take it that literal. I'm talking about first goal of the game in playoffs 

[DON]

1 hour ago, Stogey24 said:

Lol ok. Don't take it that literal. I'm talking about first goal of the game in playoffs 

OK, but still think is exact same as reg season game. And even less so for Habs who were best at coming back this year.

But, when cant even score one goal, it is huge period. Lack of all-star power up front may be their Achilles heal, but was just one game and I blame my weak GDT more than anything!

[huzer]

Best road team in the NHL winning the first game doesn't give me a "sky is falling" feeling. Heck, the Rags are a better road team than home! The team played well in the first, and I rarely wanted to throw stuff at the TV last night while I was watching. It's going to be a tight series, which I think everyone expected. The script may well be flipped tomorrow and it's the Habs protecting a 1-0 lead late. To say the Rangers had that much more firepower when they managed a whopping 1 goal. And you can't say it was because peak price was stealing the game, either.

 

I may be irrationally optimistic, because I finally get some car parts installed yesterday on the Cougar that had been giving me fits, but today, I don't feel any worse about the Habs ability to win this series. Close, tight game that could have gone either way is how I saw it. Oh, and Nesterov? Get off my lawn.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

12 minutes ago, huzer said:

Best road team in the NHL winning the first game doesn't give me a "sky is falling" feeling. Heck, the Rags are a better road team than home! The team played well in the first, and I rarely wanted to throw stuff at the TV last night while I was watching. It's going to be a tight series, which I think everyone expected. The script may well be flipped tomorrow and it's the Habs protecting a 1-0 lead late. To say the Rangers had that much more firepower when they managed a whopping 1 goal. And you can't say it was because peak price was stealing the game, either.

 

I may be irrationally optimistic, because I finally get some car parts installed yesterday on the Cougar that had been giving me fits, but today, I don't feel any worse about the Habs ability to win this series. Close, tight game that could have gone either way is how I saw it. Oh, and Nesterov? Get off my lawn.

 

It certainly could have gone either way. Regarding your scenario of 'the Habs protecting a 1-0 lead late,' somehow I have my doubts that our team could play the kind of mistake-free, stifling, steady defensive hockey the Rags played for 40 minutes. Call me crazy, but I suspect we'd have more breakdowns than they did, and that our D would look slower.

[THE Bobby Orr]

trying to find a positive...Maybe its a good thing we lost the first game? most on this board agree it's going to be a long series so, while it's a shame we lost the first game, we were going to lose a few anyway.  This loss could work in our favor - a rude awaking perhaps (just saying).

 

I find it oddly interesting that suddenly ppl on this board are saying AV is a better coach than CJ... why? because of a one goal loss?  or is it because CJ has King playing on the 3rd line?   King is playing because MB brought him in for  his size AND playoff experience. Period. (it's not even CJ's decision).

 

As for Galchenyuk...this kid has been a "petri dish" experiment for 4 years now...its not CJ that started this cluster#### - it was MT and MB.  By now this young man should be at least a #2C on this team (a team that for 4+ years now has had no talent down the middle...why were players like DD and Eller ahead of him!?!) instead, #27 is struggling on a fourth line and somehow this is CJs fault??!? If we tried to look at Galchenyuk through the coach's lens (instead of a fans rose-coloured glasses), we will see a player who does more things wrong than right. Maybe just maybe, Chucky is not as coachable as we think he is?  Maybe he doesn't listen to his coaches?  Maybe he just "shows up" at practices and goes through the motions?  Backchecking can be taught - but his backchecking is piss poor...why?  taking face-offs can be taught - but he's not good in the face-off circle...why?  Being responsible without the puck can be taught - but he looks lost out there when he doesn't have the puck...why?  Fly- byes can be stopped - but he is the team's fly-by expert...why? oh yeah i forgot..he's 23 - well then, maybe its time this very young talent spends time on a 3rd or 4th line while he learns to play the game. Btw Arturi is 21 and is a more complete player BUT Arturi is not going through what Chucky has gone through.  As far as i am concerned the Habs "player development" team have botched this player's progression. He has not only moved back and forth (C to W and back) BUT up and down (top line to 4th line)...a proverbial "yo-yo".  when was the last time we saw something like this with such a high draft choice?? 

 

   

 

[huzer]

14 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

It certainly could have gone either way. Regarding your scenario of 'the Habs protecting a 1-0 lead late,' somehow I have my doubts that our team could play the kind of mistake-free, stifling, steady defensive hockey the Rags played for 40 minutes. Call me crazy, but I suspect we'd have more breakdowns than they did, and that our D would look slower.

 

They pretty much did that. They only gave up 1 goal. Scoring chances were pretty much dead even. Yes, I know the Habs have scoring woes, but when you only give up 1 goal, the outcome should be a win. I find it hard to believe the Rangers game plan would be to score 1, then sit on it. They had to be making some sort of effort to score.

[DON]

19 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

It certainly could have gone either way. Regarding your scenario of 'the Habs protecting a 1-0 lead late,' somehow I have my doubts that our team could play the kind of mistake-free, stifling, steady defensive hockey the Rags played for 40 minutes. Call me crazy, but I suspect we'd have more breakdowns than they did, and that our D would look slower.

Your frickin Crazy!