GDT Mar 11, Habs vs Flames, 9:00 PM

[Sir_Boagalott]

Awesome tip by Perry!!   The Habs are certainly getting their moneys worth out of him. 

 

They had numerous other decent scoring chances too.  Hopefully they'll score again and then do it again and take the lead. 

[xXx..CK..xXx]

I was hoping for a power play just a moment ago. I feel we’ll get some good looks here.

[Neech]

Chalk this up as a schedule loss.  As others noted, there doesn't seem to be a clear reason why they had to put the back-to-back on the day that we have to travel.  Ducharme could have helped things with some lineup rotation.  

[MFT77]

Not trying to make excuses, but does it not make a lot more sense to schedule back to backs in the same city

[zumpano21]

15 minutes ago, MFT77 said:

Not trying to make excuses, but does it not make a lot more sense to schedule back to backs in the same city

Not to mention that last nights game was later than usual. The guys also lost an hour moving from PST to MST.

[hab29RETIRED]

52 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Anderson loses the fight and the Habs LOSE the exchange ... Anderson off for 5 minutes HURTS ... Lucic off for 5 minutes is almost not noticeable

It was stupid to get in a fight with that gorilla - especially after Chariot got hurt fighting the night before. If you are going to get into a pointless fight, take off Monohon, or Tkachuk.  Tkachuk, instigates and never fights - he used to drive Perry nuts.  Anderson has to be smarter than that!

[Trizzak]

An expected result, but a winnable game. Big pressure for Saturday to take 2 points out of Calgary.

[BCHabnut]

+1 on the scheduling failure. 9 pm mountain time start. Travel. 7 pm mountain time start. A predictable outcome.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Weber made several suicide passes in our own zone just like the one that caused the second goal- he was poor

 

Allen made several great saves

 

I expect a much better game on Saturday. 
 

Anderson is lucky that punch missed and he should not fight a slug like Lucic ever again 

[alfredoh2009]

16 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

There was one instance where he got burned pretty cleanly at the offensive blue line. The Canucks player gained about 8-10 strides on him. I’m generally not too bothered about Weber’s mobility and think it is overstated but that play really stood out. I believe it was when we were on the power play and Price had to come up with a big save. 

I’ll defend the captain a bit here:

Markov was showing the same lack of speed in the last couple of years with the Habs.

knowing full well that they are very different players, many criticized its departure and clamoured for his return.

Captain crosscheck is an important cog in the Habs system, even if he does not skate like Mete; at the opposite spectrum of Mete, he is still a top 4 défenseman that is more valued playing than reflecting on which topping to put on his hotdogs from the press box (not suggesting you proposed sitting him; commenting on other posts) 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

23 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I’ll defend the captain a bit here:

Markov was showing the same lack of speed in the last couple of years with the Habs.

knowing full well that they are very different players, many criticized its departure and clamoured for his return.

Captain crosscheck is an important cog in the Habs system, even if he does not skate like Mete; at the opposite spectrum of Mete, he is still a top 4 défenseman that is more valued playing than reflecting on which topping to put on his hotdogs from the press box (not suggesting you proposed sitting him; commenting on other posts) 

Weber is still important to this team no question. 
 

It is quite obvious that his speed has declined. He gets caught out of position and is no longer able to make up for it. 
 

His pass to Kotkaniemi that lead to the second goal was a suicide pass. Weber was under no pressure but he passed the puck right into the slot to a player that was actively engaged with a Calgary player - quick goal ensued. 
 

Weber made several of these suicide passes. 
 

im not asking for him to be benched but perhaps fewer minutes? 
 

Petry is clearly our number 1 Dman and considering Weber is 35 years old maybe it’s time to peel back his minutes.  

[GHT120]

11 hours ago, Neech said:

...Ducharme could have helped things with some lineup rotation.  

The extra D was already rotated in with Mete for Chiarot ... only D who needed a rest was Weber ... don't see them swapping Shea for Ouellet, Petry would have played 30 minutes

 

Lehkonen could have been brought ... Byron could have gone to the taxi squad and Frolik or Dauphin added ... but not certain any of them are any kind of difference maker last night.

 

IMO the options would have essentially represented a white flag ... THAT said, it might not have been a bad idea to leave Weber at the hotel, along with Byron and any whatever other forward that is "playing through" minor injuries (Suzuki???) ... there isn't anything more than a day-off's rest coming for quite some time.

[DON]

Didnt think was a horrible penalty by Byron.

Poor Mete got pushed around too easily in front of Allen.

Hopefully a day off makes a difference for next game.

But, someone did point out at start of year that the Habs had the worst or one of, as far as scheduling goes (playing vs rested teams and whatnot).

[TurdBurglar]

1 hour ago, DON said:

Didnt think was a horrible penalty by Byron.

Poor Mete got pushed around too easily in front of Allen.

Hopefully a day off makes a difference for next game.

But, someone did point out at start of year that the Habs had the worst or one of, as far as scheduling goes (playing vs rested teams and whatnot).

By the definition of the rule Byron’s penalty was a penalty, the questionable part was how easily the stick came out of the Calgary player’s hand.  Also immediately after, in the same sequence the Calgary player reached out his arm and held Byron, which was completely ignored.  In situations like that the refs usually call the retaliatory penalty or both, in this case they called the initial only, which is a bit bizarre.  By Calgary player I forgot who it was against and too lazy to look it up.

 

Ultimately, that’s not what costed the Habs the game.  They had 2 golden chances and buried neither, giving the puck away way too frequently and only getting 13 shots in 50 minutes of play is what costed them the game.  Most of this I chalk up to fatigue.

[hab29RETIRED]

7 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I’ll defend the captain a bit here:

Markov was showing the same lack of speed in the last couple of years with the Habs.

knowing full well that they are very different players, many criticized its departure and clamoured for his return.

Captain crosscheck is an important cog in the Habs system, even if he does not skate like Mete; at the opposite spectrum of Mete, he is still a top 4 défenseman that is more valued playing than reflecting on which topping to put on his hotdogs from the press box (not suggesting you proposed sitting him; commenting on other posts) 

Weber at his peak never moved the puck or saw the ice as well as markov. In his peak, because of the mix of physicality, defence, offence, and leadership ever was a better defender. In vision and puck distribution, Markov was the better dman. Even though he wasn’t a physical dman, defensively I’d say they are equal. Markov was a better setup man and Weber a better scorer because of the shot (although Markov’s shooting ability was underrated).  Loss of speed and mobility didn’t affect Markov as much because of his elite passing and vision. He also was better position ally and didn’t take himself out of the play to make that big hit. Weber doe not have that. Where Weber has Markov beat is in leadership. Markov was lacking in either the ability, or willingness to be a more active or visible leader. As more of a lead by example guy, but was not someone hose leadership was very visible to outsiders. He also had zero interest in the captaincy.

[Sir_Boagalott]

4 hours ago, TurdBurglar said:

By the definition of the rule Byron’s penalty was a penalty, the questionable part was how easily the stick came out of the Calgary player’s hand.  Also immediately after, in the same sequence the Calgary player reached out his arm and held Byron, which was completely ignored.  In situations like that the refs usually call the retaliatory penalty or both, in this case they called the initial only, which is a bit bizarre. 

 

 

In the 3rd period I certainly noticed that the Flames made several lame attempts to make the Olympic Diving Team.  i.e. all Cdn teams know the Habs are highly penalized so the Flames were easily falling down etc and trying to draw penalties from nothing. 

 

1 hour ago, hab29RETIRED said:

 He also had zero interest in the captaincy.

 

That eventually turned out to be a major problem too.  When the Habs needed to choose a new Captain I did not agree with either Subban or Paccioretty.  However, there was nobody else other than Markov, who didnt want it. 

 

[Trizzak]

23 hours ago, Trizzak said:

Lehkonen should be playing. The thought that you don't change a winning lineup is ridiculous. It's a back to back! Put in as many fresh legs as you can!

Further to this, why wasn't Frolik in the lineup? (I think Lebrun brought this up during one of the intermissions.) Ya, he might be rusty as hell but he certainly would have been going balls out the entire game (like Mete was, and as Lehkonen would have too).

 

I guess the positive takeaway from this game was that the team kept it close even when they were almost all so obviously lethargic. 

[dlbalr]

11 hours ago, Trizzak said:

Further to this, why wasn't Frolik in the lineup? (I think Lebrun brought this up during one of the intermissions.) Ya, he might be rusty as hell but he certainly would have been going balls out the entire game (like Mete was, and as Lehkonen would have too).

 

I guess the positive takeaway from this game was that the team kept it close even when they were almost all so obviously lethargic. 

 

There are still cap-related issues to consider.  They can barely afford to bring Frolik onto the roster right now and if they're trying to save cap space for a deadline addition (or covering bonuses as they're nowhere close enough to having all of those covered), they don't want to bring anyone else up that they don't necessarily have to.  They could bring Frolik up but if they have to send Evans down to do it (Byron is waiver-blocked again so that option is currently off the table), is it worth doing?

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

It’s a real shame Weber has picked this season to decisively regress due to age and lost mobility. The signs have been there for a couple of years, but the decline is quite obvious now. Bad timing inasmuch as the Habs have finally assembled a quality team - but Weber’s regression wasn’t part of the calculation. (MB seems to have problems with anticipating player decline; the collapse of the 2014-15 edition was caused as much by Plekanec’s aging out as by anything else, and of course Bergevin had absolutely no fall-back plan).

 

On the flip side, Corey Perry was a brilliant signing. It’s kind of fascinating to watch him - he’s one his last legs, and yet he is so smart, making plays of utmost veteran savvy (e.g., bumping a goalie just enough to mess him up, but not enough to invite ‘goalie interference’ charges; clever little bank passes in tight; etc.). Of course, where Perry is a sort of minor bonus, Weber’s decline is a major structural problem which the coaches will have to manage carefully if the team is have a chance to do any real damage this season.

[Trizzak]

2 hours ago, dlbalr said:

 

There are still cap-related issues to consider.  They can barely afford to bring Frolik onto the roster right now and if they're trying to save cap space for a deadline addition (or covering bonuses as they're nowhere close enough to having all of those covered), they don't want to bring anyone else up that they don't necessarily have to.  They could bring Frolik up but if they have to send Evans down to do it (Byron is waiver-blocked again so that option is currently off the table), is it worth doing?

Pardon my potential ignorance but does this mean Byron can't be placed on waivers? Because I would have just put him on waivers and non-rostered him to let Frolik get a game.

[dlbalr]

10 minutes ago, Trizzak said:

Pardon my potential ignorance but does this mean Byron can't be placed on waivers? Because I would have just put him on waivers and non-rostered him to let Frolik get a game.

 

No, he can go on waivers.  I thought he was heading there yesterday but with limited options on the taxi squad and quarantine recall concerns, maybe they're just waiting until they're closer to returning home to make that move on the off chance he was to be claimed.  Or maybe with the way Ducharme seems to strongly dislike Lehkonen, maybe he doesn't want Byron going on waivers again.