tomh009

I agree on the impact a solid LD would likely have. I’m not sure whether I’m included in the “people here”. But the issue I have is that we don’t know what options or opportunities are open or available to Bergevin. No one here wants him to make a crap trade or sign another Alzner. But we don’t know who’s willing to trade which player, or what they would want in exchange. So while I want him to address the LD issue, I don’t have enough data to say whether the inaction is due to Bergevin’s risk-aversion or because there is nothing decent on offer.

And yet. Essentially the same set of players played a solid 20 games, For the same coach, and stood second in the division. I only see two realistic explanations to the current slump: either the players are dispirited, demoralized and demotivated, or they are exhausted from playing Julien’s system. Bit I find hard to believe that exhaustion would have hit so hard and so fast. So it’s all mental. And the question is, how to get them playing the same way again — using Julien’s system. Sorry, I don’t have the answer, though.

Back to the game at hand ... it's another loss. And yet at least the team sucked less than it did against the Bruins. PK managed to kill off four penalties with no goals given up. But ... Shots 48-35 for the Habs Scoring chances 36-18 for the Habs High-danger scoring chances 12-10 for the Habs And we lose 6-4.

Price got lucky for a change ...

We're "only" one goal down going into the third. At this point I really don't care how ugly the win is -- or even if it's OT/SO -- I would just like to see the team take away two points for the first time in six games.

That lead didn't last long.

Well ... let's see how naturalstattrick.com rated the chances in the first period: Devils: 3 scoring chances, 1 high-danger chance, 2 goals Habs: 15 scoring chances, 5 high-danger chances, 0 goals If we trust their stats at all, Habs should be leading this after the first period.

Forwards not covering. Defence misplaying. Price just ordinary. How do they pull themselves out of this rut?

That's two goals on two two-on-one breaks. But I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect Price to stop at least one of those. Especially on the second one, it seemed as if Price was unaware of Zajac driving for the net.

It's great that we have so many optimists on this forum!

A good article on Hall, from the NJ perspective. https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2019/5/1/18518163/how-much-is-taylor-hall-worth-to-the-devils-and-for-how-long

At least the downvote wars are history.

... and it all fell apart later in the third. PPG for Belleville, another goal and then an empty-netter, for a 5-3 Belleville victory. In spite of the EN and two PPG, not a spectacular performance for Primeau, who only allowed four goals on only 19 shots. No word as of yet on how much the Rocket defence had to do with those goals, though.

The Rocket has taken a3-2 lead just 58 seconds into the third period, after a PPG in the second and then two rapid-fire goals to start the third. Goals by Cox, Waked and Peca, assists by Evans (x2), Brook, McCarron and Alzner.

Right. I don't think there would be any issue with a bilingual anglo coach or GM.

I don't think Julien traded the Russians, Bergevin did. And yet he did pick Romanov.

2-0 for Belleville after the first, with one of the goals on power play.

Belleville is second-to-last in the North division but has a 7-2-1 record in its last 10 games (Rocket is 6-2-2 in that span). Primeau in net for the Rocket. https://twitter.com/RocketLaval/status/1199829329758343168?s=20

I very much agree with the goal. As for the summer, the difficulty I have with condemning the inaction is that we don't know what happens behind the scenes. What trades were possible? Could we have signed a UFA with a bit sweeter offer? Could we have moved some pieces to improve? This thread is fun for speculation, even assuming Bergevin is willing to play, we don't know which other teams would be willing to talk, and on what terms. It was disappointing, I agree, but we don't know what actual options were there for improvement.

A few weeks, or a month. Unless an opportunity comes up before that. You don't want to be begging for a trade.

From Arpon Basu’s outstanding article in the Athletic today: ”The Canadiens’ system is taxing and is difficult to play efficiently when the schedule gets squeezed a bit. It was at the quarter point of last season that we first saw it, and it has happened again at the quarter mark this season.”t (Sorry about the formatting). But Arpon accurately analyzed this as a repeat of last November’s collapse, when Armia andByron were injured.

Maybe. Or maybe not. If I were Bergevin, I’d really want to know what the hell is going on. I’d want to talk to the players (without Julien) to get their perspective, too. And to each of the assistants, one on one. And Julien, too, of course.

Yes, Drouin and Byron are injured. No, that does not excuse (or explain) tonight's performance.

Domi, Suzuki, Petry, Mete all -4 on the night.

I don't think we pin this particular game on Bergevin. Even that much-dreamed-of LD might not have made the difference here. Julien, on the other hand. The team is not playing the system (which would enable them to play much better) -- and that's the coach's job. And, no, I'm not calling for his replacement. At least not yet.