xXx..CK..xXx

I have to miss the first period tonight so will be fast forwarding a recording through commercials in order to try and catch up live. At that point, I’d be able to join here. I’ve been quietly wearing my reverse retro only the past two games this series, and will continue to do so in solitude tonight. My prediction was Habs in 7

I admit I’m not really intimidated by Muzzin (though he did have that solid game as was pointed out) so it’s not like his loss would change this list but at this point I’ve only been wary of Nylander, Spezza, and Matthews on the Leafs. Drouin is a loss, but the Leafs are more top heavy than the Habs so our depth can combat that. It’s just my opinion, but similar to how people claim that we can only win with Price, I will say the Leafs will only win if Matthews shows up and scores 2-3 goals. Either him or Nylander. I’m not fearful of Marner. I really don’t expect him to put the puck in the net. If I’m looking at the Habs roster, I genuinely feel that Toffoli, Perry, Anderson, Gallagher, KK, Suzuki, Caufield.... They’re all threats to put the puck in the net. I will be very surprised if someone like Kerfoot, Thornton, Simmonds, Marner, Mikheyev, Engvall, even Hyman and Galchenyuk... I’ll be surprised if anyone of them score. That’s 8 of their 12 forwards. Foligno being the lone wolf left. When it comes to our forwards, I know Danault won’t score tonight and I would be surprised if Evans or Staal did. That’s it, that’s all. The depth and playoff experience are leaning our way. The top high end skill is on their side. I’m not overly confident but again combined with the Muzzin and Tavares injuries, I’m fine with our chances tonight. We will be facing a Leafs team with their backs to the wall for the first time, however. So it wouldn’t be surprising to have to weather a storm tonight.

I’m not as high on the Leafs as most. I predicted then to win the division but also knew they would falter in the playoffs. I think the Habs have a solid playoff team. It’s sickening to hear the Price this Price that, because we need him and have missed him for years on end. Heck, when he plays well, people bring up 2014-2015 as to a comparison to how he’s playing, which should indicate that Price hasn’t sustained this level at all for years. We should be happy that he has the ability to find that level, and we should hope that he steals game 7. As for the team only relying on Price, you can suggest that but as had been seen, he can only do so much, and if he were on the Sabres, he would not have made the playoffs. There is afterall something meaningful when it comes to being the players in front of him. I think Habs29 has correctly pointed out that the Leafs have sustained a couple of key injuries, and this levels the playing field. If you ask me, I am not specifically overly confident heading into game 7, but in this very moment, injuries and past history included, I would take our team over theirs for this game 7.

Hopefully I am a forecaster. 😇

First game I’ve been able to watch live since game 3. Let’s go boys. Time to go out there and grab the 1st goal.

I expected the Habs to finish 3rd in the division, so they fell one spot short of that by 4 points. I was happy with the off season but I am not sure why it should have led to 1st in the division predictions when Edmonton has players like McDavid and Draisaitl, and Toronto has a player like Auston Matthews. The players we acquired were second tier level compared to them, although Toffoli had a superstar worthy goal scoring season. I am also sure some people we could take a top heavy team with our “roll 4 lines” depth. Long story short, the Habs have played this season to about my expectation, though I do hope they continue to put up a fight versus the Leafs and prolong this season. Regardless of the outcome of the series, I was never a fan of the Ducharme hiring so would not mind it if someone else is introduced. The problem is I don’t exactly have a specific solution as to who I’d prefer. I’ll let the higher powers work on that one.

We were under absolute siege versus that Washington team and the only thing that led us to win was Halak playing like a literal stop sign. There’s no way we should have even been close in that 2010 series. The Habs have been underwhelming during this series but quite honestly whether or not I think the Leafs have a decent squad, they haven’t exactly made me nervous every time they touch the puck. Washington would consistently raise my blood pressure and the main players who showed up for the Habs were Halak and Cammalleri. Sure, the Habs haven’t shown anything to induce optimism but I fully believe we have a chance in Game 5. For me, it’s just how dangerous that Washington team was versus this Leafs squad. So far it’s only been Nylander and Spezza who would be this years version of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, prime Holtby, et al.

Okay, I will. But really, I will.

I always thought of Gallagher as being on a similar career path to Marchand but for the first time this year am starting to doubt that. I agree that his physical play and devoted hustle is starting to catch up to him. He still has some positive years ahead of him, and I’m happy to keep him but I see the point. As for Antoine Roussel and Loui Eriksson? Ew.

My personal opinion is that it matters. I have always been neutral on Bergevin in that I have wanted him gone at times, and have found attacks on him tiring at others. I am not happy how the Habs are playing. I think they instil no fear in the Leafs. There’s no way that Leafs team or their fans doubt themselves against us right now. However, the amount of years of Bergevin’s tenure mean nothing to me, as long as he has been making decent decisions in the recent past and continues to do so. I guess your quotations mean that you would argue against him having had a successful off season, and if that’s the case, I respect your opinion. If he did indeed have a decent off season last year, then that is reason enough for him to stay. I’m all for a new GM, if I personally had an idea of a better candidate. I’m not up for the sake of change just because of change. That’s what happened with Julien/Ducharme.

That’s the point. They canned everyone and are still going nowhere. They’ve been more of a shit-show than the Habs, yet they’re going the route everyone would praise. The Leafs are actually 27.55 average age and the Habs are 28.04 so depending on your definition, this is actually men against men. If you are saying it in an expression of speech type of way, then that was also the point. The Leafs are a solid team, it just usually lasts only during the regular season for them. This is also the reason, I know they will eventually choke. Whether it’s this series or the next. Finally, your opinion on the potential pushback of the Habs means zero. If it were to happen, you would simply vanish until their next loss anyway. Don’t expect me to be surprised about your personal opinion in regards to a pushback by the Habs. Okay, so if we want to spin things into a negative and discuss his 61st position in points... Based on the reality of there being 31 teams in the league, Shea Weber is either the worst top pairing defenseman, or the absolute best second pairing d-man in the league based on points alone. Which would you prefer? Let’s not forget that Weber had the 7th most goals amongst defensemen in the league on the power play. Considering he is not known to be a power play specialist in the same regard as say, a MAB, one would think this could be taken into consideration when discussing his offense. Anyway, I know that when discussing things like Josh Anderson being worth more than points, it will be accepted as a defense of his 7 million cap hit. Yet when the same concept of intangibles would be discussed concerning Weber, it would be laughed at and described as mythological. I wouldn’t call Weber elite, and I’m not sure where that came from. I would say he is still elite when it comes to power play goals, as well as the power on his shot. He is still elite there, yet the main focus to a certain breed would rather be to mention how often he misses the net.

Bergevin is fine for another year in my books but I’m not particularly a fan of Ducharme, and never was. If that was Bergevin’s decision, which it was, then that should indeed fall on him as well. I wouldn’t fire him for left D this, first line center that. Our defensive corps as an entirety is at worst in the top half of the league. Weber and Petry were two of the best offensive defensemen in the league during the regular season. It’s like people compare our d corps to how d corps used to be in 1999, rather than compare them to other teams in the league now. There are certainly some recent defensive corps that have been elite. I can think of recent Nashville, or Tampa Bay teams. With that being said, there are so many teams in the league nowadays that have a “who is that?” name in the top 4, and sometimes even on the top pairing. Why this change has happened? I’m not sure. Perhaps cap space, or something akin to the “death of the enforcer”, but in reverse. With that being said, time will tell whether or not 1) We can make any sort of pushback in this series. 2) How will/would the Leafs look against Winnipeg, or other competition. 3) We’ve either been extremely lacklustre, or the Leafs have helped us look that way. Remembering that they were 1st overall in the division. I’m not on the fire Bergevin bandwagon but I’l take an astute coach, and he needs to keep improving our team. “Rebuild this. Rebuild that.” No thanks. Weren’t some people praising New York For their public rebuild/retool a few years ago? Doesn’t look like that has worked out for them. Also, new faces and new direction guarantees absolute zilch.

I like the team we have these playoffs due to Bergevin’s recent moves. Here’s to hoping we can take the Leafs. I think semis this year would be a success. Then we’re going to likely have to face the best team in the NHL at that point.

I’d like CC in, especially. But that’s without seeing the line configurations. Also does this mean Evans > KK? Because if so, I’d have preferred KK.

Habs in 7 Oilers in 6 Carolina in 5 Tampa Bay in 6 Islanders in 7 Washington in 6 Colorado in 5 Vegas in 7

He’s not being sarcastic. Since it seems you didn’t understand, he’s saying that the team was a playoff capable team, whether or not they made the playoffs. This has happened before, and it will happen again. He wasn’t handing out a consolation trophy for effort, despite them having missed the playoffs. How many times do we see people saying negative things about the Habs when they do make the playoffs? But we’re not allowed to say positive things about the Habs when they miss the playoffs with the highest point total to miss of all time? Quite frankly, your post is more junk thank his. I think all this recent discussion is better fit for after actually losing our playoff series. Yes, we are definitely the underdogs. In any series before looking at names on a paper, any team has a 50% chance of losing a series, so of course no one can guarantee that we will beat the Leafs. With that being said, it happens all the time where players and teams play well above expectation. Let’s give the Habs a chance to perform in a week’s time, rather than have this useless conversation. Any decision about Bergevin should hinge on the team’s performance these playoffs, which we have still yet to see. If we lose in 4 or 5, I am completely fine with Bergevin being shown the door. At this point in time? One week before playoffs? It’s not even a topic on my mind.

Looking forward to the series. I think the Habs are more of a playoff team than the Leafs but both teams do have a veteran core who have experience running deep, if not winning. I am going to go with a similar prediction to Will but while I was initially thinking 6 games as well, I am going to go with Habs in 7 games. Looking forward to this one, though like many have already expressed, I really wish we were able to attend/have some fans in the stands to increase the excitement level for this long awaited series, as well as the rest of the playoffs.

Mike Smith was pretty terrible in 2014-2015 when he was 33 and just had a 21-6-2 .923 save percentage season at the age of 39. I love how you consistently make blanket statements that turn out to be incorrect and then completely act as though those statements never existed in the first place. I’ve seen it too often within you posts. Price may already be terrible, but so is Jake Allen, considering Allen actually had a losing season compared to Price’s season. One could argue that simply having Price in net helped our team make the playoffs, even if it would be because the team plays better when they have him in the net compared to a backup; there’s still that positive effect. Anyway, the chances that both Weber and Price are completely done are extremely thin, and the chances that neither of them have a better season than this year in a future regular season is something I would be willing to put my money on. When in the future at least one of then do indeed have better seasons than this year, we will see you cheering them on with statements such as “Wow, who would have thought they still had years in the tank” like it was some huge shock, or it will simply be overlooked that you ever called them “terrible” players who “are only going to get worse”.

I really don’t see this prediction as that being expected. I’d be very shocked if we got swept by the Leafs. Though, admittedly you did at the 5th game as an option. I personally felt as though the Leafs would win our division, and I predicted as much in the thread associated with the North Division predictions. With that being said, while they would likely be a favorite against the Habs, I don’t see them as a stellar playoff team considering they have not won a playoff series since 2004. If we do lose in 4 games, then someone does indeed need to be shown the door. Whether it is Ducharme, Bergevin, Molson, or a combination of the three.

We would have wrapped things up sooner given how poor Calgary and Vancouver are, had they not had so many extra games in hand. The Habs will likely make the playoffs with a decent cushion of about 7-10 points above those teams.

I remember having the Habs finish 3rd in the division behind Toronto and Edmonton, and getting flamed on for it. 🙂

Zadina scored May 2nd

But... But how? My hypothesis is that after you rage quit: 1) You still followed along on HabsWorld 2) You followed along on NHL.com 3) You are in a fantasy league and saw the score

If one has terrible vision, it was even more beautiful. I thought Petry put the puck between his own legs prior to the pass at first glance.

Suzer 🚨