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Game Thread | Pittsburgh Vs. Montreal | 01/03/06


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The habs did not dominate for 50 minutes, the dominated the first shift, then kovalev took a stupid penalty. To there credit, despoite the score they finished the first and started the second strong. Once Therien took the timeout and Montreal got the lead, they stopped playing. They had more shots in the first then the next 2 periods comined. The habs D was abused all night. Theo was average last night, he didn't have a chance on 4 of the goals.

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A Loss is a loss and goaltending is part of the team. It boggles my mind how some people can try and defend the team by singling out the one bad thing that happened in a game, when we have won what 2 games in our last 20....This is ridiculous....something will always cause the loss, the point is we're losing and somethign needs to be done. Theo has a propensity to overslide plays and whenever he's hung out to dry he gives up on the play instead of making an effort and he might have the most apparent weakness in the NHL high glove side, it's there EVERY time.

HOpefully this meeting will do something. and HOpefully Koivu Kovalev and Zednik will show up for more than the first shift of the game.

On the positive side, I was impressed with Kosty's playmaking up front, I'll suffer through his mistakes for his creativity as long as he learns from them and Ferland looked to fit in very well.

I'm talking about this game not the past 20. Why does it matter how we've done in the past 2 months. So had we been on a long winning streak and played that game it would have been a strong performance? And that's what I said, Theo's play is the MAIN reason why we lost.

The habs did not dominate for 50 minutes, the dominated the first shift, then kovalev took a stupid penalty. To there credit, despoite the score they finished the first and started the second strong. Once Therien took the timeout and Montreal got the lead, they stopped playing. They had more shots in the first then the next 2 periods comined. The habs D was abused all night. Theo was average last night, he didn't have a chance on 4 of the goals.

It's obvious that they dominated the first period. Maybe not in the score (3-1) but if you watched the game (which I'm sure you did) then you saw that we played a very strong period and had several quality chances that Fleury stopped. Then the Pens, on the rare times they touched the puck, got oddman rushes and scored weak goals on Theodore that should been stopped. Had both goalies been average it could have been 3-1 for US after the first. Shots were 17-6. In the second, we won the period 3-1 and continued to put great pressure on Fleury despite letting Pittsburgh get a couple of quality chances on Theodore. In the third, we started off with great puck movement and control. At one point we passed around the puck in the Pittsburgh zone for a full 2 minutes at even strength before the puck was dumped down the ice. We had many scoring chances. The winning goal was lucky - Crosby kicked the puck in accidentally. Theo should have had that one too. Goal #6 wasn't a quality scoring chance either but it found the back of the net. Then in the second half of the period, the Habs couldn't set up and their momentum had died. Pretty much they dominated the first half of the game, outplayed Pittsburgh for another 20 minutes and then got outplayed for the final 10 minutes.

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Bulis the habbie very well put.

Yes Theo is the main reason the Canadiens lost the game there is no doubt in my mind that is true. Anyone who argues is a blind supporter of Theo.

Theo needs just a single shutout to shake this team up I promise you. If he gets a shutout it will give the defence core great confidence in him and will change this teams mentality entirely. Will he get a shutout this season? I don’t know but I sure hope he does and it comes soon.

The second MAIN reason the Canadiens lost tonight was the Battle between the 2 top lines Crosby vs. Koivu. Crosby scored twice and the Koivu line, which was, matched against him all most the entire evening was held pointless.

Hopefully the Canadiens can beat the Devils, who will be one tough team with Elias back and Brodeur fresh off his first shutout of the season.

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The only reasons why we lost is because Theodore played like crap on the first 5 shots and the first line never showed up. One of our best games of the season.

On paper, that may be correct. If Theo had saved a few of those early shots, and everything else remained the same, the Habs win. But I'm not convinced we would have had the fire to score 4 straight goals if we were only down 1-0. This team has been way too complacent when the game is close, even when we're losing! Evidence: in the third period, while down by 1, we're outshot 13-5. The Penguins had some good chances, and Theo made some good saves!

THAT is unacceptable. At the start of the year, the Habs never quit - they refused to lose. It seems that we're now OK with losing, as long as it isn't by a lot (which doesn't always work out, as we saw vs. Atlanta).

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Theo will never get a shut out with the current D-men. Way to many breakaways, 2 on 1's point blank rebounds. They are way too soft in front of him. Cinfidence in the D is fine, but talent ultimately wins games, this D is not talented enough to win consistantly.

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Theo will never get a shut out with the current D-men. Way to many breakaways, 2 on 1's point blank rebounds. They are way too soft in front of him. Cinfidence in the D is fine, but talent ultimately wins games, this D is not talented enough to win consistantly.

I get the impression (because you've said the same thing many times in every post you could find) that you don't think highly of our defence corps. Our goals against is almost exactly in the middle of the pack in the league. Our goals-for is 7th worst.

I'm not saying the defence are superstars, but I don't think they're worthy of an obsession. If there is a weakness that deserves attention, it's on offence.

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Not an obsession, people are obsessed with blaming theo, i'm just stating the D in my opinion is the biggest problem with the team. Perhaps if they get it out of the zone more often, make a good pass to transition theforwards, scoring might go up. I also think this team doesn't play hard enough every night, that incudes everyone. sorry if i sound obsessed.

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Very true Mont Royale our goals against is quite impressive. While our goals for is less than decent.

Habs Chris what would you recommend for Theo to get a shutout because I believe he can do it and he will soon.

The Canadiens had a closed-door meeting after the game. I believe things were said in there that will make this team better. No team plays well when there is stuff they need to get off their chest.

Devils next Brodeur just got his first shutout of the season and their defence is no better than the Canadiens in fact I would argue it is worse.

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I hope the closed door meeting helps, i'm just saying the team doesn't play hard enough in the defensive zone. Or any zone currently. I think if everyone on the team plays hard for 60 minutes the wins and maybe even a shut out will happen. I certainly think the team is better then what they are showing lately. I also think Theo's groin injury is still bothering him, he doesn't move like he used to.

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Canadiens dont play the Blackhawks this year along with the rest of the Central divison. The Pens Panters Bruins or Caps would be the perfect team to do it against they are the lowest scoring teams in our conference.

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In reality, BTH isn't that far from the truth. The Habs played better than the score indicated, though Kovalev and Zednik failed to show.

Goal one against us saw a poor pinch by Rivet turn into a Crosby goal.

Goal two was another defensive blunder, can't remember who (might have been Rivet again) which allowed Endicott to break and score a terribly weak goal on Theo.

The second Crosby goal took an inoffensive shot and banked it off Crosby's foot then Theo's foot.

Those were the three against the Koivu line and, while Crosby's line was better on this night, the reality is that, with competent defence and a little better luck (the third goal) our first line ends the game even and we win. I wouldn't say we dominated 50 minutes, but we were the better team for more time than Pittsburgh.

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