BCHabnut

I can't figure out the Maxwell thing either. I think Laps should get the third line C job, and put maxwell on left wing on the fourth line. Unless BGL is healthy, then Begin can centre BGL and TK. I am not impressed with Maxwell, and he frightens me in the defensive zone. Dago, on the other hand...I kinda got a man crush on him. I love the way he plays, and he should remain on a top line until others are willing to play that hard.Man, even if he gets sent down, we are so deep it isn't funny. 4 years ago the loss of our top D, top goalie, top centre, and a top 6 winger would have crippled this team. Don't forget, PK, McDo, and Emilin will be chomping at the bit fro D spots soon too.

I think Lats should play with Kovy and Lang next game. That's the line up I've wanted to see all year.

Most were penalties, but this is ######ed. The Lats trip? Justified? His skate followed through just like Staal's freackin goal. I wish Carbo would just bring his checkbook at the press conference and verbally destroy the reffing. It is disgusting. Are you telling me The canes haven't had one infraction?

Absolutely correct BTH. One more thing that I have noticed is that in the two previous years, there were 3 variables the defender had to contend with. 1.Strong shot from the pointman (Streit or Souray) or pass from the strong pointman. 2. diagonal passing between Kovy and Markov, or very effective shooting by either. 3. Continuous movement of players during the PP with short fast passing plays. Now the PP has been narrowed down to one variable. 5 players standing still, trying long, low percentage passing plays.

I wish Weber would have been brought up instead of Maxwell. Laps has been playing great, and could centre the 3rd line, while Begin centres the fourth. You now have room for a pointman.

Kovy looked great until the third, then he tried doing everything himself. I don't know which game you guys were watching. He is snake bit for scoring. He's always played like that, it just went in the net more, and he didn't try to do it all himself. That's how he played for the first two periods. \\The whole team needs to learn to play against the trap better. Tampa played the trap very patiently. The way to break the trap is with speed and short passes. Puck support. Not trying to dangle through 5 guys, or pass through 5 guys. That is Kovy's weakness, but we all love him when it works.

Kovy looks revved. Bad first goal...second was a deflection, not Jaro's fault. 2nd period should be better.

Everyone wants Lats to be Lucic. He is not. I agree that he is not what I expected, and I have even called him out on these boards. I think Lats wants to be more of a Bertuzzi style player. Bertuzzi is very good in the middle of the ice, and can use his size and speed to outwit defense. Lats has very good hands, and I think if he could simplify his game and get more on ice vision, it would help. Often, when he is alone with the puck, I see him try to split the D or do a drag around someone. "NO" "BAD LATS" Chip the boards, protect the puck with that big frame, and go to the net. His play with the puck should be along the boards and driving the net when he has puck support for a short pass. We all know that, but he is a kid. He will get it. There are others players on this team which concern me more right now. Plek and Higgins are not playing nearly to their potential. I will give Sergei the benefit of the sophomore curse, but he too is playing very below his capability. I forgive Sergei though, because he is such chippy player. He just borders dirty. If he could get the intensity to match, I think we have a playoff performer.

I really hope the top two lines can continue where they left off. I was very impressed with them. I think Lats should be on the third line. Carbo loves Kostopolous, and so do I, but he gets key minutes with great players and gets no points. I guess he has to earn it. I hope Sergei wakes up too. I really believe that his brother's injury shook him up. He hasn't been the same since the Saur hit. Hopefully O'byrne has a good game, otherwise the fans will eat him alive. That is one thing I hate about Habs fans is when they single out one player on the ice and vent their frustration on him. OB is no worse than Breezy, and they make about the same money. Also, whats up with booing Rivet and Streit and character ex players that didn't even want to leave?

It's funny how things can change in one season. It now looks like we have two solid lines, and they look nothing like they did last year. I don't know which one to call the first line. Although I would wager that it is the Koivu line. Just because of less costly giveaways. I love the way Dago plays. Even without the goals, he drives the net, protects the puck very well, and never gives up on the plays in the dirty spots. It's funny because my impression of him in the last two training camps was more of a high speed razzle dazzle player, but he plays a very strong on the puck north south style game. I wouldn't call him a power forward, but he's close. Our D scares me in the middle of the ice. if they can keep the play on the boards, they are fantastic, but in the middle of the ice, they are bloody scary. Keep the play near the boards you guys, quit giving me heart attacks. Regarding Markov's hit, I believe there was some unintentional knee on knee contact, and Marky pulled his knee away to avoid injury, and that's why his leg went up.

Gorges is our #4 D man. I have been very happy with his performance, and I think that he has eased some of our dependence on Komi. You guys are crazy talking about splitting up our four top D. Play Marky and Komi together, Hammer and Gorges together, or you can even split up Hammer and Gorges, but the top D line needs to be just that. We don't have a stud defensive centre and a shut down third line. We have three scoring lines and a fourth line. We rely on our defense to shut down the other team's top guns, and our top two defensemen. I don't think that splitting up our defense would make us any more competent against the other team.

I think Lats or Sergie on the Plek line would be good. They are both very physical, and would make a little room.

I hope some real all stars from the East make the first line. It kind of embarrassed me to see all the Habs beating out Chara, Ovechkin, Semin, Crosby, Malkin... Sorry

AKost looked great last night. It's too bad Weber couldn't be brought up and only played in the power play. Kinda like a Kicker in football.

That may be an accurate statement, but probably the margins are very close. I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but BC and Alberta are Habs crazy. When the Leafs and Habs are in town, the fans are 50% hometown, 50% leafs or habs.

I watched the Detroit game on Canadiens express this morning, and I was very impressed with O'Byrne's play . His second efforts were great, he never took himself out of position to cream someone. I was impressed with his play. Nice to see.

The good news after all of this is that the Habs have played 20 games. The last 10 were horrible (9 points in 10 games) and the boys are still in 5th in the conference. I am getting sick of waiting for them to snap out of it, but from what I have noticed, the last four games have been an improvement. There are a lot of missed open nets, and the Kovy line is still out of sync, but, I remember gettining mad like this when the team was in 10th or 11th place in the league. They will find their groove, and when they do, we are in good shape. As for O'Byrne, this gaffe is unfortunate, but should not be the thing that causes us to send him down. His poor play would be, but I would treat it like a bad game by a goalie. Let him have a chance to redeem himself. if he fails, send him down, send Dandy to D and bring up Chips, Max Pac, or D'ago.

That's gonna be a tough one for him to get over, but the bottom line is it's done. We don't have any D in the minors that are ready to come up, unless we can talk Emelin into getting out of his contract in Russia. O'Byrne will keep playing unless Dandy gets moved back to D and a forward is brought up.

I was born and raised in BC, and I should be a Nucks fan, but my dad and all his brothers would gather at our home to watch Guy, Gainey Dryden the big 3 destroy all comers. They were so passionate about the Habs, that I just grew up loving them. Everyone I knew ragged on me for being a Habs fan, and all they could do was brag about the Canucks. I ended up wanting the Canucks to lose, just out of spite. Pretty wierd, I know. I cheered against the home team. I don't hate them, I just feel satisfaction when they lose.

I'm still not sure why Lang hasn't been put with Kovy during all this slumping. With the exception of his stupid penalties, Lang has done quite well with the talent he has playing with him. I think Lang Kovy S. Kost would be a nice looking line.

Plek has been very sub par. I would try Lang, Kovy and SK on a line. Plek Higgins and AK, Tangs, Koivu and Lats. Man, when I type these guy's names out, I can't believe we aren't destroying everything in our wake!

Well it's too bad the outcome was the way it was, but I still think this was the best game the boys have played in a long time. Lang looked great. Too bad about the slashes. Sergie and Andre looked good too. Higgins and Plek were in my doghouse. O'Byrne looked solid until his mistake which caused the goal, then he pooped the bed. Kovy was meh. BGL was great. Very effective. No penalty. I have a feeling Julien and Carbo both warned their teams to behave. BGL made Lucic a non factor in this game until his freakin goal. O'Byrne needs his confidence back. I remember Komi taking himself out of the play to try the hit in the early days though. What is up with our defense for the last 10 years. They just fall back and let the other team in without a fight. It's like "Oh. you wanna come in here and set up and get some chances? Ya OK, Come on in buddy!"

Oilers...even though they haven't given me a reason in the last two years. and flames. Iggy and phaneuf are the ultimate hockey players.

After watching the fight, I am not mad at Laraque any more. Lucic and Komi have hated each other for a year now. This was coming for a while, and they wanted each other. The thing we should be mad at is the fact that nobody takes of their helmets before a fight anymore. Here they are chucking them as fast as they can with freakin helmets on! That's why Komi quit throwing, and looked dominated at the end of the fight, and that's why he's out for who knows how many games. It's not because he fought, it's because people fight with their helmets on?? Message to Carbo: Play Laraque when Lucic line is on. Message to Laraque: DESTROY KESSEL, SAVARD, OR BERGERON WITH A CLEAN HIT, AND LUCIC WILL HAVE TO FIGHT YOU!

Ya but guys like Mcyntire, Boogard and other goons hammer the other teams star in order to force whichever enforcer is on the ice to fight him. This is a tactic a good goon will use to switch the momentum. He should crush Bergeron or Savard when Lucic is on the ice, and then he can destroy Lucic's big ugly nose.