xXx..CK..xXx

Despite their recent performances, the Habs are still the favorites to make the playoffs amongst the teams. Hockey Reference Habs: 36.5% Columbus: 27.1% New York Rangers: 18.5% New York Islanders: 17.4% Detroit: 3.6% Playoff Status Habs: 43% Columbus: 20% New York Rangers: 19% New York Islanders: 17% Detroit: 3% In both cases, you could combine the Rangers’ and Islanders’ chances and they are less than the Habs alone. I’m personally not as much a fan of Money Puck’s numbers in general but… Money Puck Habs: 34% New York Rangers: 26.1% New York Islanders: 22.8% Columbus: 16.8% Detroit: 3.9% No matter which way one slices it, Detroit is indeed treading water.

A rookie is a rookie as far as I am concerned. I don’t believe age should factor in. If the performance warrants the selection, that’s all that matters. I think the tiebreaker should there need to be one could be the fact that the Habs are contending for a playoff spot. It is an individual award, but Hutson has played a big role in us fighting for a playoff spot whereas San Jose has struggled.

Not feeling optimistic but still hoping for the best and have belief despite the lack of optimism. Emphasis should be on a strong start, followed by playing a full 60 minutes. Carolina is 28-7-1 so it’s going to take a valiant effort but if any team can do it, it’s this season’s Habs.

Had to recover mentally after last night’s loss. Both Detroit and Montreal lost yesterday so no team within the race is earning their spot as of yet. Record since original post: Montreal 0-2-0 NYI 0-1-0 NYR 0-1-0 CBJ 0-0-0 DET 0-2-0 Columbus has been enjoying things and despite no one voting for them as the team that will clinch a playoff spot, they and the Habs are the only teams that can currently reach a maximum of 97 points, the highest amongst the group. The Habs currently hold the tiebreak between them and Columbus. One more regulation win which Columbus could tie with their game in hand but the Habs have 31 ROW (regulation or overtime win) whereas Columbus only has 27. One more would bring them to 28. Updated Standings MTL: 71 GP - 75 PTS - Max Points: 97 —————————————————— NYI: 71 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points: 96 NYR: 72 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points 94 CBJ: 70 GP - 73 PTS - Max Points 97 DET: 72 GP - 72 PTS - Max Points 92 The Habs, Rangers and Columbus are in action tonight. Columbus at home and Habs and Rangers on the road: Habs @ Carolina - 7pm Rangers @ Anaheim - 10pm Vancouver @ Columbus - 7pm Another big night.

Hopefully the Habs aren’t as tired of heading into the third period down by multiple goals as fans are. We need this win. Can’t settle for the status quo.

Laine’s experiencing his no confidence phase v. 2. Being nice in not saying a higher number because I like him.

Requesting a power play goal. Laine, Caufield, Hutson… Suzuki, Slafkovský Any of you contributing will do.

“Surprised” I didn’t include Michkov in the first star of the game poll but “Other (Philadelphia)” is looking good right now. That’s another storyline heading into tonight’s game, the two rookies going at it. Hutson looked motivated in the last sequence of the period so hopefully Michkov’s play means Hutson will gather a few more points tonight. I mentioned Poehling and Deslauriers in the initial post and said they likely wouldn’t factor in to tonight’s game unless Deslauriers was looking to get rough. Of course, he scored his first goal of the season today. I guess Tortorella was holding him back. 🙄 Hutson time.

Just tuned in at 1-3. Hopefully things change for the better.

Tortorella was assistant coach on Team USA. Before anyone comes at me, I know that being an assistant coach of a national team is extremely different to an assistant coach in the NHL. I am not comparing the two, simply stating he has been an assistant coach. In terms of Tortorella becoming St. Louis’ assistant coach, Tortorella coached St. Louis in Tampa Bay, so he saw first hand the “greatness” of St. Louis’ hockey mind. In 2019, when Columbus’ power play was struggling, Tortorella asked him to join their team as a consultant on the power play because Tortorella wasn’t getting through to some of his players (Foligno, Jones, Wennberg, etc.) who were struggling offensively for over a year. With all that being said, just general I see it the opposite way in that it would be more likely for St. Louis to be Tortorella’s assistant than vice versa… especially considering Tortorella was St. Louis’ coach in the past. Never say never though. Is Tortorella practicing his french?

Detroit’s been in the midst of using 3 goalies with Mrazek, Talbot and Lyon sharing the duties. Mrazek was holding the reigns since they acquired him but with him and Talbot nursing injuries, Lyon will get his second straight start tonight. Talbot will be the backup as he seems to be dealing with a nagging injury rather than one that is more serious and acute. Hopefully Lyon is not “the man” and this little goaltending controversy helps the Habs have one less team to compete against for the last wildcard spot. Detroit faces Ottawa tonight, while the Habs face Philly. Those are the only teams in action tonight, amongst the squads in the race.

Brad Marchand should be back with Florida just in time for our home and home with them as well 🙂 In all seriousness, the on ice talent is still tilted in our favour. We noticed that this didn’t matter against the Islanders but the Habs have enough reason to be jacked up for this game as well. They remain the favorites despite the reality that the game still needs to be played on the ice. Nevertheless, I agree that the timing is unfortunate.

Islanders lost tonight against Vancouver 5 to 2. Thank youuu. Record since original post: Montreal 0-1-0 NYI 0-1-0 NYR 0-1-0 CBJ 0-0-0 DET 0-1-0 No team in the race has won since the thread was created. Let’s have the Habs be the first to change things tomorrow against Philadelphia. Updated Standings MTL: 70 GP - 75 PTS - Max Points: 99 NYI: 71 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points: 96 NYR: 72 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points 94 CBJ: 70 GP - 73 PTS - Max Points 97 DET: 71 GP - 72 PTS - Max Points 94

Might be a typo but the Habs play Thursday, Friday, and Sunday at 1pm. There’s no game on Saturday. If Montembeault plays Friday vs Carolina, then he’ll have less than 48 hours between games as the Sunday game is at 1pm. It is indeed 2 days on the calendar but roughly 39 hours between the end of the game on Friday and the start of the game on Sunday. I would play Dobeš against Philadelphia even with that knowledge, but lately they have played Dobeš on the second end of the back to backs, rather than the first game. Still, I would play Dobeš tomorrow against Philadelphia and go from there.

The only relevant game today will be the Islanders’ home game against the Canucks. Should the Islanders beat the Canucks, then they will leapfrog the Habs and take over the final wildcard spot for the time being. New Jersey is also facing the Blackhawks and Boston is facing Anaheim. Those two teams aren’t directly involved in the wildcard race, although Boston is still technically alive, but we’ll hope for the western conference teams to win in all three scenarios this evening.

I think it’s as simple as this: The Habs ran into two of the hottest teams in the league. Colorado is a top tier team who made moves at the deadline, whereas the Habs stayed put with the team they had. St. Louis is in a similar position to the Habs but are 15-3-3 in their last 21 games and had home ice advantage. Prior to those two games, I would have predicted 1 point out of 4. The Habs are capable of beating top teams in the league but these matchups recently, were the perfect storm. We also played Ottawa who was the hottest team along with the Habs at the time, and lost a game where we were the better team against the Islanders. The Habs are a playoff calibre team but would find themselves as an underdog in most series. They just had a tough patch in their schedule. It’s as simple as that. Do they need to perform better? Surely they do. Are they capable of playing better, or have they emptied the tank? I think we still have plenty of reserves in the tank and hopefully the results show in our favor beginning with Philadelphia next game.

After a tough loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, the Habs will look to rebound against a struggling Philadelphia team on Thursday. Next Matchup Montreal Canadiens @ Philadelphia Flyers - Thursday, March 27th @ 7:00PM EST @ Wells Fargo Center Montreal Canadiens Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovský Roy - Newhook - Laine Anderson - Dvorak - Gallagher Heineman - Evans - Armia Matheson - Carrier Struble - Hutson Xhekaj - Savard Dobeš Montembeault Philadelphia Flyers Foerster - Cates - Brink Michkov - Couturier - Konecny Tippett - Poehling - Pelletier Deslauriers - Abols - Lycksell York - Sanheim Seeler - Drysdale Zamula - Andrae Ersson Fedotov Storyline: For the first time in a while the Habs enter the game finding themselves in a very different situation than their opponent. While the Habs are clinging on to the last wildcard spot, depending on what happens in the Islanders game this evening, the Flyers are just about looking ahead to their future. While both the Flyers and the Habs have young top lines, the Philadelphia top line does not hold the same pedigree as the Montreal top line. Cates, Foerster and Brink have a combined age of 72 (23,23,26), the Habs’ top line has a combined age of 69 (24,25,20). With that being said, the Habs top line has combined for 178 points this season whereas the Philadelphia top line have combined for 94 points. While both the Flyers and Habs are coming off of 5 goal losses (Habs 1-6 vs St. Louis & Flyers 2-7 vs Leafs), the Habs clearly enter the game as favorites. With that being said, Caufield finds himself in a mini slump with only 1 point and no goals in his past 4 games. If the Habs are to begin winning games in regulation, or at all, they will need him to step up to the plate and start producing for them, as he is the 2nd leading scorer in the NHL on the road with over 20 goals. Slafkovský has also gone 3 games out of his last 4 without a point, however he did score 2 important goals versus Colorado. The Habs enter this matchup with a few question marks regarding their lineup. The first question surrounds Kaiden Guhle. He has been skating with the team in a regular practice jersey and with the Habs having lost their last game by a wide margin, this may be the perfect opportunity for him to enter the lineup. The question will remain, who will he replace? The answer will likely be between Struble, Savard and Xhekaj. While Savard is the most popular pick, he does tend to bring value in certain unique areas, including the reality that removing him would leave the Habs with 5 left handed defensemen in the lineup and only one right hander in Carrier. The other main question surrounds goaltending. With the Habs on the front end of a back to back, will Dobeš be the starter against Philadelphia? Once again, after the Habs struggled mightly in their last contest, and the Flyers being a relatively easy opponent (not to be taken for granted though) this may be the moment to get Dobeš into the net and give Montembeault the day off. If it were me, Dobeš would play this game, however time will tell as the goalies have yet to be confirmed. The time is now for the Habs to turn their recent results around and begin a solid stretch to finish off their regular season. The team is coming off of a very difficult loss but it is possible that they needed that wakeup call and it could be viewed in a positive light down the road should they use their loss vs St. Louis as a learning experience and use it as fuel for the remainder of their season. They had been getting away with things as of late, so hopefully the Habs can use the frustration from that matchup and translate it into productive play. The margins are slim but they have played well enough over the stretch to have their destiny in their own hands. As one can see, the storyline of this matchup revolves mainly around the Habs. The Flyers have some ex-Habs players in Poehling and Deslauriers but they are mostly depth players and shouldn’t factor much into the equation, unless Deslauriers would like to drop the mits with Xhekaj. The Habs should remain disciplined however and if they do so, they should come out of this match with a victory. Previous Matchup: October 27, 2024: Montreal 4 - 3 Flyers

I’ll update the results in the original post as they come in. So far everyone in the race who didn’t play today is happy. Though they weren’t discussed here as they currently hold the first wildcard spot, Ottawa lost 3-2 against Buffalo. Montreal lost 6-1 to St. Louis Detroit lost 5-2 to Colorado Rangers game is not finished but they are losing 2-1 to the Kings in the second intermission…… Rangers lost 3-1 Record since original post: Montreal 0-1-0 NYI 0-0-0 NYR 0-1-0 CBJ 0-0-0 DET 0-1-0 Updated Standings MTL: 70 GP - 75 PTS - Max Points: 99 NYI: 70 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points: 98 NYR: 72 GP - 74 PTS - Max Points 94 CBJ: 70 GP - 73 PTS - Max Points 97 DET: 71 GP - 72 PTS - Max Points 94 The race is on.…

Also, I love Dobeš but he let in 1 goal on 5 shots today. Ended up with a worse save percentage than Monty. He came in at a terrible time, but we would have lost with him in net tonight as well. Not sure what the big deal is. Okay, we would have played Dobeš. Result would have been the same.

Was Montembeault also fatigued when he lost 8 out of 9 games in October and November near the beginning of the season when he should have been fresh? 3-6 vs Pitts 1-4 vs LA 2-7 vs NYR 2-8 vs Seattle Then a win vs St. louis followed by losses to Pittsburgh, Calgary, New Jersey, Toronto all consecutively. Not to mention a 9-2 loss vs Pittsburgh later in the season. I agree that I don’t see fatigue as the main reason Montembeault is letting these goals in. It’s simply who he is. And if he is fatigued after playing 5 games in a row, then we have a starting goalie problem and he should be replaced in the future. I would be fine with that. Mentally sharp is not synonymous with fatigue as there are plenty of reasons he could lack being mentally sharp in the moment. He could be nervous for all we know. I doubt he is but the point is fatigue is simply an assumption. I perfectly agree that we should play Dobeš next game. As I said though, expect more of the same from Monty moving forward. We can still win with him like we did when he had a poor showing vs Ottawa. Don’t expect a magical Montembeault after one game rest though. —— On a separate note, I kind of think we needed a game like this. I was expecting a tough game the past two games which is unfortunate considering we should have belief in our team after how they have performed but we were getting away with a lot since we crossed the wildcard boundary and a game like this may help us regain our focus. It’s either that, or we lose to Philly, and we choose the worst time to start our losing streak into the end of the season.

Dominated all night

If Montembeault really was overly tired despite being a professional athlete, I would really hope that someone closer to the team would be aware of such. I understand the thought that Monty wouldn’t necessarily mention it because he wants to play but these aren’t fools running the organization. Sometimes a goalie lets in a weak goal. Yes, they have been happening more frequently but it’s not like Montembeault has been a top tier goalie throughout his career. It’s a bit of everything at once, including tough opposition as of late. Dobeš should start next game against Philadelphia in my opinion but it’s not going to surprise me if Montembeault lets in a weak goal against Carolina, despite having rest. Just like everyone, I want him to do well though.

Power play just as requested (was thinking we could use one). But we need something here.

Don’t usually request it but I wouldn’t mind a fight right about now… as long as we win it.

Terrible faceoff loss right at the end of the period leading to a goal. Looked like no effort from Dvorak there. I knew as soon as we lost it.