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Every defenceman in the NHL makes mistakes. Every single one. The idea is to have more plays that create scoring chances than to create plays that create scoring chances against. Anytime a defenceman is at 74% or nearly 3:1 in terms of xG for vs xG against when he is on the ice in a game, thats a fantastic game.

Monty was bad. It wasn't bad luck when he gave the puck away for the 5th goal... thats completely on him. The OT goal is a simple jam play that went right through him. An NHL goalie has to stop that. If a goalie gives up two bad goals in the same game, I call that a bad game.

xGF% isn't an offensive metric. You really should look into it before declaring that a defenceman should be "weighted more on defensive metrics rather than offensive ones." This sentence tells me that you don't even understand the statistic. Its a metric that includes both offence and defence. Its a balance. In short, if you are at 50% that means the number of good scoring chances that happened when you are on the ice is equal to the number of good chances against. At nearly 75% he is at a ratio where the Habs had 3 quality scoring chances for, for every one against, while he was on the ice. I'll take that every day of the week and every game of the year. And no, not each chance is treated equally, its more than that and also factors in the quality of the chances. Kovacevic and Edmundson were both brutal last night.... including Kovacevic taking a brutal penalty in the last 2 minutes.

Have to comment after reading post game article on main page. Honourable mention for Monty giving up 7 and taking the L? I get that he had great moments, but even his stats were poo. Just drop the honourable mention on a night like that. I’m not sure I can get behind the moral victory of that decision, otherwise was a decent write up. Dont think Monty deserves any of the hate in this thread tho either. Poor team défense and bad luck had more to do with it than his play, which is only reason Habs had a lead and weren’t blown out early so he deserves some credit. Not this crap about him regressing, sucking, blah blah. A lot of comments all too happy and too quick to say he is shitting the bed. He may end up regressing to career averages but too early to call that and he is giving team chance to compete. Edit to add I was adamantly against keeping Monty in the fold before the season and have never been a fan of his, but am happy to be wrong so far this season and don’t mind recognizing his overall strong play.

By all accounts St Louis seems to be great with handling the players, which is partly why I shouldn’t complain of his decisions. I like his mindset of minimizing the bad, elevating the floor while praising the good.

Good point, and defensive strategies are proven to be effective, which is why most teams focus on not allowing more than 2 goals when they win. With the relatively recent shift in style of popular defender (mobile, “puck mover”) it will be interesting to see if average scores , goals per game trend up in coming 3-4 seasons. I want Harris to get those two assists, but also be minimum +2 at end of game, not hear his name mentioned related to give aways, icings, poor pinches. He is going to be very good and am not complaining at this point, just have high (unrealistic? ) hopes.

Good points, and completely agree about the differences one can notice watching live versus on tv. Being able to see the entire ice, watch plays develop, watch how players breakup plays positionally, and the high intensity/speed are some common things for me to still need a live game to fully appreciate.

Sure, if you only look at advanced stats. I’m not sure we were watching the same game either. He was responsible for 2 goals against off the top of my head. Sure, he had 2 assists, if Montembeault had 6 assists, it wouldn’t mean he was the best player on either team. Forgive me if I believe a defenseman should be weighted more on defensive metrics rather than offensive ones.

At least St Louis & crew seemingly seems to have things in hand and gotta like the message. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/st-louis-keeps-things-in-perspective-after-canadiens-blow-four-goal-lead/ "But, as he said, St. Louis never lost his composure. “The coaches aren’t really ones to scream or yell on the bench,” Harris added, “but there’s a certain level and standard they expect, and that’s how it should be.” St. Louis will address all of it with the Canadiens before they take to the ice on Tuesday, about how they need to be more consistent in every area of the ice. But the message will continue to be about building. “Our good was really good tonight, and we’ll just try to focus on that,” St. Louis said. Practice will be about cleaning up the bad."

He does continue to put himself in vulnerable positions be it along boards or cutting into middle. I’m happy and amazed he was able to get himself up and wasn’t held out for rest of game but he does need to learn some self-preservation skills. This time it was a dirty, late hit but he has been caught with solid, clean hits too often for my liking as well.

Good Lord, I sure did. Up there in the nose-bleeds, surrounded by red sweaters, watching that madness unfold as two dubious teams basically played road hockey. Yowza! I was so happy when Caufield scored that opening goal. He was on my side of the rink, so I had a direct line of sight to witness first-hand what may become one of the iconic sights of the next decade of Habs' history, i.e., Caufield blasting one in from the left hashmarks. This is a game that defied rational analysis. Complete carnage out there. However, it was interesting to see the Habs live, something I haven't done since well before Covid. Random observations: Habs made a LOT of "young team" mistakes. I mean things like pointless icings, where you miscalculate where you're shooting the puck from so it crosses multiple lines; multiple breakdowns on the same play; sloppy plays around the team's blueline to fumble a clearing pass; that sort of thing. They also fell down a lot at key moments (my God, Mattheson in OT was comically brutal), which may have had to do with the ice, I dunno. Anderson is a better player live than on TV. He does a lot of positional and physical things out there that you don't necessarily notice on the telecast. A tough player to play against. I guarantee you his teammates love what he brings, and opponents hate him, even if fans don't always appreciate it. Dach looked very strong on his skates, an impressive-looking player. Edmundson looked just terrible for much of the night. Sort of Anderson in reverse - a guy who seems to be a lot worse live than on the broadcast. Ugh. Or maybe he just had a bad game. But watching him caused me to rethink my previously-staunch belief in his value. I enjoyed the running commentary from the Habs fans around me. One pointed out that Armia never, ever shoots. A pertinent observation, even if the Armia line was fairly strong on the forecheck much of the night. He also poked holes in Evans's game. Evans was a mixed bag for sure. He shouldn't be expected to play too many minutes. Slaf: I was relieved he wasn't injured on the hit. He plays the game in an "aw shucks" way that may just be part of who he is as a player, but he worries me. He does some good things, is strong and a good skater, but (1) I don't think he protects himself properly - he's already suffered 3 or 4 explosive hits this season, and I would expect that eventually he will suffer serious injury; and (2) he has that early Kotkaniemi "gee, I'm just happy to be here" vibe where he doesn't seem to feel a need to drive anything or impose himself on the game. Understandable, but I don't want that settling in as a habit for him. It's something I've seen from too many Habs prospects over the years - and when they wake up 3-4 years later and realize they're expected to manufacture things, it's often too late to flip the switch. For both reasons, he should be down in Laval: learning to play with his head up and anticipate being a target in the North American environment, and learning to be the take-charge guy who drives a team. I do not understand what the Habs are doing with him. I wore the Doug Harvey last night. Ironically, that game was the antithesis of what I understand Doug Harvey's play to be, i.e., cerebral, controlling, masterful. Oh well. One thing these young Habs are is never boring!

Holy crap, I went to bed after the second and it was 4-2 Habs. Just watched the third period this morning and I surely wasn’t expecting a 7-6 OT loss!!!!!! Simply horrendous team defence in the third. The entire team was too busy trying to start an offensive rush to bother playing defence in the Dzone. Awful clearing attempts by everyone. Bring on Seattle

Galchenyuk 8:30 0pts 0 shots Hudon 15:25 0pts 7 shots.

Entertaining game for sure, 50 more of those this season would be fine by me. #44 seemed to have thumb up butt on at least 3 goals. Armia & Dadanov had lots of icetime and both got a point at least. 2 bad teams put on a good show. Slafkovski, you could see that hit coming a mile away, clean hit i thought. He and Guhle need a bit more self-preservation in their games...but maybe i worry to much. https://www.habsworld.net/2022/12/habs-blow-huge-lead-to-fragile-canucks/ On to Battle the Kracken!

Harris had a 72 xG% on the night, a fantastic number and the best of either team. He also had 2 assists. HOW DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME THAT MEANS HE SHOULD BE SENT DOWN? I'm not sure we are watching the same game. This was Harris' best game all year.

D'oh!! I'm bummed because I believe the answer to my previous question is yes, this game:

Yes. Way way more fun than losing 1-0.

dame here, it was fun to watch

It was an entertaining way to loose. Pezzetta scores and Harris have more reasons to send him down (I know about the injuries, but still…) Lots of goals points from secondary scoring. I am happy

I am very bad at predictions.

Crazy game. Cc got his money's worth

Caulfield with the OT winner.

I thought Montembeault would get a lucky win, since he was so good in the first half of the first period … now it’s 6-6 I still believe the horse shoe up his “sleeve” will help the Habs get the win

Montreal was just teasing them.

You did!