Chris

Because it works on EA sports and people don't realize that players like Begin, Murray, Bonk, Johnson are extremely valuable to any team. Name a team when a bunch high scoring forwards last won the cup. Don't say the Oilers, they were very gritty besides gretzky and a few others. I would look at a lineup more like (Next year) Higgins Koivu Lats Samsonov New Center Kovalev Perez Bonk (Chipchura) Johnson Begin Lapierre Murray / Streit or other grinder

They better show up in the first period or it could be a long night. . Buffalo hasn't played well of late but 2 days off, they should come out flying. Does anyone think Carbo needs to give his after first period "speach", "butt chewing" before the first period? He may actually get his team to show up for the first. Just a side note, Aebi should get 1 game this week with Huet 2. I would put in Aebi in against Buffalo, Let Huet play against Philly and Boston. With all the rubber he has seen in the last 3 games he may need the break.

I suspect there is a move or 2 in the near future. The current roster has too many players on it. I'm not saying they are making a spot for Biron, but they do need to clear some players.

Because it's there choice. Not yours. What you do is your business.

Exactly fanpuck. My only real point is that players should have the choice to wear visors or not. It's not up to the writters, media or the fans to make that choice. The reason visors are not mandatory is the PLAYERS vote against it. Simple as that. You think high sticking is bad now, wait until everyone gets a visor. The contract and insurance is just a bad idea. The teams and owners pay the bills. If you don't like what's going on, don't attend games.

Your going over the deep end on that one. Those items you mentioned are MANDATED by the respective leagues. Visors are not. I would be willing to bet (I don't have any data in front of me) that injuries to the face in hockey is probably at the bottom of the injury lists. Groins, backs, ankles, hands and wrist injuries are way higher. We could have the players stop skate hard to avoid those groin injuries.

Wait a minute on the wood sticks, People using that arguement make it sound like the wood sticks are so much heavier then the new ones. It 's not like there is a 10 pound difference or anything. In my league i use a wood stick, i tried a friend of mine's graphite stick and i didn't immediately start high sticking everyone and couldn't control my stick. There are high paid athletes in all sports, injuries are part of sports and the players should have the coice to wear a visor or not. Simple as that.

Why do you guys care what an adult capable of making choices by themselves wear a visor or not. It is up to the individual players to make that choice, they all know the risks. Koivu had one and his injury was more severe them others who don't wear visors. How about players STOP high sticking eachother. That would help more then a visor.

Well my only thoughts about last night was the habs found a way to get 2 points. The players who collected a game check should give it Huet, or a charity of his choice since they don't deserve one. Hopefully Carbo will call them out or do something to send them a message, if they play like that on Saturday Pittsburgh will crush them.

Plus Ryder is the ONLY habs player that consistantly gets scoring chances. Other forwards are invisible alot of the time. So as Mont Royale points out, Ryder is a much more complete player and does play hard every night. As for Samsonov, he plays hard most nights and shifts. He just hasn't found his spot yet. Once Higgins comes back i think you'll see Carbo start to shake some lines up to get more production.

Right, my point was Kovy and Ryder were the only ones who scored after the first game. Everyone else dried up. I don't have the stats in front of me either but i do know that after game 2 they didn't score much at all. My only thoughts on Kovy is now that we have 7 top 6 forwards (when everyone is healthy), Carbo can give him a seat now and again to rest him. I beleive he will be a good playoff performer for the Habs provided they make it. I beleive he led the team in points against Carolina.

Haboholic, in the playoffs Ryder and Kovalev were the only 2 forwards scoring. Look it up. It was the other 10 forwards, 6 D who didn't have any points that was the problem

Someone please correct me if i'm wrong. If Higgins is in the line up then someone has to go down or be waived. That would mean the Habs have 4 people sitting out and they can only have 3. Souray, Begin, Downey and One of the 3 who played on the fourth line on Tueday. Murray Streit or Lapierre. The Habs need to play with the passion for 60 minutes tonight like they did Thursday and things will take care of themselves. They can't sit back or take time off tonight.

Since he only shows up 1 out of every 4 games, Carbo can sit him down for a few games. Let his knee rest, then play him once or twice a week. There is no team out there that would trade for him at 4.5 million with one more year left. Samsonov, maybe Ryder is realistically the only top 6 forward that the Habs can move. Higgins, Koivu, Lats are obviously untouchable.

I agree about Samsonov, the question is once Higgins is back what is going to happen. Lats deserves to stay in the top 6. Now is the time trim some fat off the roster and get a quality #2 centerman. The Habs have enough depth to move a top 6 forward and a D to get the centerman they need.

I'll just point out 1 thing about shots against. Most goalies have anywhere from a .90 to a .93 save %. So it just stands to reason if you give up 40 shots a game and only get 25 a game, the numbers will eventually turn against you.

Very good game by the Habs, 40 shots taken, that is nice to see for a change. That was pretty close to a full games effort. I thought pretty much everyone played well besides Kovaev, he was lazy, turned the puck over alot, especially goal #2. The 4th line looked very good with Lapierre, i said it on some other posts but i really like an aggressive hitting 4th line, i don't like the extra D out there. Also alot of people picking on Murray but he was just as visible as Lapierre. It would be nice to see Begin Lapierre and Murray. Offense looked pretty sharp in there own end, defensively I thought they were exposed many times, i won't pick on the D too much i think the forwards not getting back and turning over the puck alot was the problem in their own end. The Pk looked really bad. It is very nice to see the Habs actually able to sustain some injuries and have depth to cover the spots and not lose anything. A bonus way to go for Carbo who actually will use his young players. Also when he calls out players he lets them play to prove themselves, very nice to see. He should call out Kovalev next.

Well even a broken clock is right twice a day. So maybe he can.

In don't doubt his talent, work ethic or ability to put points up, the only question i have is why is he paired with kovalev? They both like to hang onto the puck. Samsonov needs to play with a finsher.

I was actually surprised the didn't call up Chipchura. The current injuries are minor so i thought they may take a 1 or 2 game look at him.

Murray is on the team because he is big, fast and is a good 4th line player. He is also good on the Pk. He struggled early but has been playing well the past few weeks. If lapierre plays well, great for him. Why is it that Habs fans think call ups will steal everyone's spots?

Yea, i hope he is going to be ok. The gainey family as well.

Kessel is out indefinately, an undisclosed medical injury/ illness not related to hockey.

A solid game overall. Huet looked good and bad. But you can't complain about only giving up 2 goals. What you can complain about is the second line, MIA again. It's fine to get chances but sooner or later the PP will dry up for a while and with no 5 on 5 scoringthat's when the Habs will be in troublr. The Habs will be able to obsorb the Souray injury, this is the first time in years they can deal with injuries (Accept a center). There was no drop off in productivity when Markov was out, i expect the same is Souray is out for a long period of time. One more big complaint (3) 2 on 1's in the first period and not one shot. That is pathetic.

The habs need to get younger, more mobile and better. Aucoin is not the answer. The habs have enough old defensemen who can't skate. Plus he is a RD. Who you going to sit out? You could get the vishnovsky (spelling) out of LA. Samsonov for a pick to Chicago would be good once Higgins comes back