Fanpuck33

https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadiens-power-play-lines-game-4-stanley-cup-final-1.1663701 No Gustafsson on the powerplay, so it looks like he will not be in the lineup for game 4.

That is an elite logo. Brilliant!

Well, that would be one way to get Merrill and Gustafsson out of the lineup, since they only fit under the regular season cap because of pro-ration of their salary. Many teams, particularly those who added at the deadline, would be over the cap based on that criteria, Montreal included. While I am ok with largely killing the trade deadline, most are not.

Time for reactionary fan lines: Anderson-Danault-Toffoli Tatar-Suzuki-Caufield Lehkonen-Evans-Perry Armia-Kotkianiemi-Gallagher Kulak-Petry Edmunson-Chiarot Romanov-Weber Jumble the lines, which aren't getting it done. This should have happened before the last 5 minutes last night. Gallagher is beaten to hell and is giving his all, but I don't think there is much left in his tank. Limit his minutes without losing his hear from the lineup. Anderson is constantly going around the D on the right side, but doesn't have a good enough backhand to get the kind of goals he should be getting. Try him on the left. Give the top line some more offensive punch by moving Toffoli there. We need more than one dangerous line and Suzuki-Caufield have been the better guys together recently, so keep those two together. If Tatar isn't checked out as some have suggested, throw him in and see what he can do. In the short term, he looks like a solid fit with the kids. Lehkonen and Evans have done well playing the same role, so let's throw them together. And of the remaining forwards, Perry has been bringing the most, so throw him on with them. Staal and Byron have been the least effective forwards this series, so they are the odd men out up front. Merrill brings nothing and Gustafsson is no longer bringing any real offense. Swap them both out and roll 3 actual pairings.

But the main point is how do you justify enforcing a salary cap at a time when the players are not being paid salary? At a time where every team close to the cap is over the salary cap by calling up half a dozen or more "black aces"? And the only reason teams who make deadline additions aren't over the cap by the end of the season is because of the daily calculation? Also, I keep hearing 15-18 million being mentioned as how far their roster is over the cap. Outside of Kucherov's 9.5 million, is the rest of that just a bunch of "black aces" salary? Did I miss another big money player coming back into the lineup?

I might have said something along those lines earlier in the playoffs, I don't recall. But once we made the final... I threw consolation pride out the window and wanted the Cup. Largely because beating Vegas was the first time I felt like the team actually could win this year.

It's hard to justify enforcing the cap at a time when the players are not being paid salary. Do I think there is a problem with a system where it is beneficial to acquire dead money like Gaborik and Nilsson? Yes. Do I think a 10 million dollar player missing an entire season being eligible to return in the playoff is an issue? Not really. Now there I can agree with you, at least in the first part. Not gonna touch Bettman conspiracy theories. But making the cap based in player net pay instead of gross? That would be interesting, wouldn't it?

The real surprise was the last 5-6 weeks of brilliant play. The last three games have been his normal form for most of the last five year.

Remember the last 5 weeks when this team could both score and prevent goals in the same game? Those were days... Totally outclassed and outcoached.

Sure, now the lines change and the 3rd goal comes.

It's Caufield time!

That's more like it! NEEDED a goal from that line!

Oh for the love of...

My gut is telling me this game/series comes down to Gallagher. He is all kinds of beaten up and I'm not sure what he has left in the tank. I feel like he is either going to gut out a goal and inspire the team, or he is going to get knocked out of the series and they lose.

I think you just did this, my friend! I also think it's time to break out up some backup...

The highs are high and the lows are lower.

A stick curve challenge isn't going to save us this time.

That did not just happen. That did not just happen. That did not just happen. That did not just happen.

How often can you say Montreal looks like they're on a powerplay at 5-on-5? Now let's capitalize on this surge and take the lead heading into the 3rd!

SCOREY!!!! Edit: Wow, Perry didn't touch it.

Dangerous hit! Let's make them pay for it!

Bad goal.

Habs fans like to rag on newer teams' fans for being ignorant and I usually think it is a bit unfair. But on the 4-on-3 power play when Montreal was passing it around as if they were stalling, they were booing like idiots who didn't understand their team was having a successful penalty kill. This after booing a call on a blatant penalty, but that is pretty universal in sports.

Have they always marketed as "Final" as opposed to "Finals"? Because if so, you've just blown my mind.

*grunts*