KoZed

Funny, I'm listening to the radio here in Quebec City and they're talking about just that. Ovie has just been raised poorly, that's what it comes down to. What pisses me off is that nobody defended the kid. Had I been that kid Ovie would have got a two-handed slash across the knee and a headbutt to the nuts.

But that ego got him 1, 2, 3 Conn-Smythe Trophies. Winning excuses many behaviors. Reminds of when I was in High School. I gave all my teachers headaches and got thrown out of so many classes. But I was getting straight A's (or an average grade of 90+%, we didnt have letter grades) so I was somewhat justified for being a disturbance. If you're successful, your bad attitude is seen as a symptom. If you're not successful, your bad attitude is seen as a cause.

It's always about context. Price has a chip on his shoulder since last season. His sympathy capital is near 0. It doesnt help him that Halak is the kind of lovable shy underdog with a rag-to-riches story. Price is in a situation where he has to prove he's not an immature spoiled kid. Playing with an edge is fine, but it has to be done in a way to will rally the team or intimidate the opponent. I doubt throwing the puck at the guys celebrating a goal or tripping them achieves one or the other. Yeah, I do believe Price has become a whipping boy of sort. A lot has to do with him being placed in a bad situation by a GM who overestimated the kid's mental focus and the team's ability to win games without stellar goaltending. But Price is not helping himself either.

THERE is a gutsy team! Can we swap Boucher and Martin for Friday's game?

It's the same old story. We need size. Gomez disappointed me a great deal down the stretch and now in the playoffs. Gionta is a nice little trash-goal scorer, but he can't pass worth a damn. Together those two are nothing more than secondary offense. Very expensive secondary offense. Having to work with what we've got now, what we could be hoping for is to trade for a big young RW stud to play with Cammy and Plex. Upgrade AK46 for a big guy, a force. A Nathan Horton/Chris Stewart kinda guy. As for the D... we're paying for the lack of foresight by the organization in the early 2000's. They try to play catch-up and draft D's in recent years but Fisher isnt developing and McDonagh's already gone. We also missed the boat on Emelin who might have grown into a fixture right now.

I was thinking just the same. It's tough to like this current Habs edition because it's not the type of team, the type of hockey most fans seems to want. Of course winning makes every team looks better, but even when we won there was always some bitter after taste. We definitely need to get bigger and more aggressive. It's been a problem for so long, I can't believe it's still is a problem.

At this point, the only way I see it happening is if some fans pull a Tony Harding on Hamrlik...

Yeah. Halak in Game 5. Price was ok, but nothing exceptional. Then you pile up the two misconducts and you just see a kid acting like a kid. Ovie has his number anyway. I'd like to get some stats about the number of goals Ovie has against Price. It's 3 in 4 periods so far. I wish we could get rid of Gomez as well. Not bringing it this series.

You're mixing series. Theo got hot in 2002 (Year of the Hart)... we came back from the 3-1 deficit in 2006 (the year Kovy got slashed and just forgot the puck at the Habs blueline)

Very disappointed by Gomez. Also not impressed by Price's immaturity antics.

*sighs* Well at least Markov came to win. Great game for him. Same with Cammy. Gio his usual self... Hammer is useless. Gomez messed his backcheck on the 3rd goal.

Of course it is. Hammer does what he can, but he doesnt have the wheels to recover anymore. Just the same as back when we had Souray, but at least Souray would make up for it with rockets and goals. Hammer needs to play a stay-at-home style and Martin needs to finds someone else to send on that PP. I keep saying to send Sergei K. The kid has hockey smarts, vision and passing skills. Why he doesnt get any PP time is mind-boggling, especially since our PP is having regular problems controlling the puck. Anyway, good period ruined by a bonehead coaching decision.

That's the crap that makes me hate Martin. Hamrlik got burned A THOUSAND TIMES when he was out on the PP. Martin just keeps sending him out there and we keep getting burned. WAKE THE F*CK UP FOR CRISSAKE!!!!!! I swear. Jacques Martin is the slowest coach out there.

:puke:

That's the f*cking way to go. Right in the goalie's face, banging on the puck. Pay the f*cking price!

So, how many tripping penalties on the Habs have the refs missed so far? 4, 5?

THERE!!! That's the way to play after allowing the 1st goal. You go get it back asap!

Some guys are gonna have to wake up. I'm tired of hearing people bitch about the goalies or MAB or Laps or Sergei K. Depth guys making 700k. ... what about Moen & Moore? Moen has been totally invisible for over a month now. Wasnt he supposed to be the big gritty playoff-experience winger we lacked? Haven't seen him in the goalie's face or hitting the Caps' D's on their asses once so far. 1 little assist and -2 in the past 14 games while playing around 14 mins per game... all for 1.5M$. And Moore hasnt done much more in 3 games either. -1 with two measly shots on goal for the price of 1.1M. So far the Caps' 3rd line is killing ours for half the salary.

It'd be a great story if, after all the crap he's been through and being thrown out there as some sort of last resort move, Price saves our collective ass. If any Habs player has the upside of stealing games, it's him. That being said, the Habs have to play 60 mins. Not go in with that stupid "Gotta score first, gotta take the lead then defend it" mentality. It's the playoffs, you're playing an offensive powerhouse; you're gonna win by working harder from the 1st to the 60th minute, period. Oh, and they need to go to the f'n net. Enough with the perimeter-hail-mary-pass-across-the-slot shit already. I'd be happier if Martin finally realizes that Hamrlik doesnt belong on the PP. Not holding my breath for it though...

You could feel it. After the SH goal the Habs were just stunned. They were matching the Caps' energy up until then, but after that goal they were knocked out. Which is the point I'm trying to make. I'm not debating some great teams will be discouraged after doing great and coming empty-handed like the examples CC used. The difference is: you have great teams, confident in their greatness, who throw everything they have at an opponent and come out empty-handed. That gives instant credibility to the adversary, that's where the stunning comes from. Habs are not a great team, and they hadnt thrown everything they had at the Caps up until that SH goal. The Caps didnt even score on a great play. The Habs had absolutely no excuse in the world to be shook by such a small thing. Yet they were. Why? Why did it took so little to rattle the team. How comes a minor setback had a major effect? I theorized that it's because the Habs' entire game plan hinged on that stupid notion of "getting the first goal". I say it's a stupid notion because it's symptomatic of the poor coaching preparation and strategy Martin has failed to instill in the team. Instead of being prepared to play 60 mins and end on top, the Habs come into games with a sort of step-by-step program where they, basically, need to score first and then hang on for dear life trying to protect the lead. The Habs can't do it, never could all season long. That's what failed us in Game 2. They had the same plan in Game 3, because Martin dont know any other way; and getting scored on first just crushed the player's confidence. It is, I think, one of major flaw in Martin's work. His coaching is rigid, players are asked to submit to the system. In itself, nothing exceptional. But with Martin it feels like players are asked to bend so much into the system & the plan, they're devalued individually and lose confidence in themselves. That's why they've been so emotionally flat so many times. I haven't really seen it this clearly up until now, but in my eyes what we've seen is the Habs going from one extreme last season (too much freedom) to the other extreme this season (not enough in freedom). Last year players weren't listening to a damn thing the coaches were saying; this year the coaches hold unto the players too tight. The guys that are left on the roster right now are the guys that won't step a toe outside of the limits drawn by the coaches. Again, in itself not a problem. But in a case where the limits are so narrow that a small little thing like allowing the first goal throws the entire plan into oblivion, now there's a problem. Right now what I see is players being so concerned about following the damn plan, so focused on themselves and how they do their own little thing; they forgot about the most basic aspects of the game itself, starting with the fact that you've got another team in your face and that you have to be better than them. Martin keeps harping on about execution and completely forgets about competition. Execution is following the game plan, competition is going into the slot and banging on a rebound 4 times while getting cross-checked across the back. What I see is players that have been stripped of the better part of their instincts and that dont play at the gut level enough.

CC, I dont know how else to put it... The Habs collapsed because they allowed the FIRST GOAL early in the SECOND period.

Being shook up because you blew a lead is one thing. Being stunned because you allow the first goal early in the 2nd is another.

I find the Subban idea a tad ridiculous, to be honest. First off, it reeks of the Messianic Syndrome Habs fans too often have for good young kids coming up in the system (see: Pacioretty, Latendresse, Price, etc.). All odds are Subban would feel so damn forced to save the team that he'd suffocate on his own breath. I'm not even mentioning the impracticality of the move itself and it's repercussion on the team. Scratching a veteran for a kid, etc. It's not like you're in the end of the season, on your way to missing the playoffs and are preparing the future. You're in the playoffs, trying to win them. If you use Subban with the justification that he makes you better, you have to explain why you didnt used him before, if he's the missing piece, etc. Gotta be realistic here.

Sorry, but that's utter rubbish. Sure, the loss in OT in Game 2 hurts, but you turn the page. The Habs were on the PP and the Caps opened the score. It's early in the 2nd, you're 1 man up and you already cower because you allow a bad goal? Come on! How weak is that!? It's hockey, you're not gonna score first every game but to let it stun you is absurd. A real competitive, confident team would have answered by swarming the Caps right then and there on the PP. Instead the Habs looked like an insecure team trying to reassure themselves by whispering "We're ok, we're ok" while pissing their pants. Give me a break with the gut shot and human interest touchy-feely crap. It's hockey, it's sports, it's a fight, a battle of skills and wills. It's push and pull. You get pushed, you push back. You dont curl up in a ball hoping the other will stop pushing. You have to dominate with your will first, the rest will follow. If your will to win breaks down so easily, stick to knitting. I'm so damn freaking tired of these excuses and cope outs whenever the team falters because of a fundamental lack of competitive spirit. Win or die trying, period. It's not idealization, it's a value that hung 24 Cup banners up in the rafters.

It was already significant after the lockout when they did a 1st crackdown on equipment. That's also when Theodore (a small goalie) fell from grace. As big a fan as I am of Halak, when push comes to shove big goalies have an edge. Price's size was always part of his intangibles. However, a bigger goalie doesnt automatically negates the whole crease-crowding tactic. Price is the kind of player who easily gets thrown off his game.