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Game Thread | Montreal vs. Ottawa | 10/18/07


Spider-Man NL

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Well I certainly hope that the Habs win. But the problem with this team is scoring. And as long as we have Carbo as our coach, we will continue to have this problem. As a matter of fact, as long as we continue with this philosophy of hiring defensive coaches, we will continue to have problems scoring. There's been a lot of crying here lately about the Canadiens not having a bona fide goalscorer. I personally think that the problem is not with the players but with the system employed. When was the last time that we weren't a trapping team? Change that and we'll start to get some goal scoring.

Unlike a lot of people, I really liked Michelle Therrien when he was our coach. (If not for Theodore, he might still be our coach.) I just wish the powers that be would realize that it's easier to win when you go for it, as opposed to trying to prevent the loss.

- Jack

For the record, the Habs were ranked 15 out of 30 teams in goals per game last year. While we certainly could use a top line center, and more goals is always nice, I don't see how you can argue our problem is simply goals, and its Carbo's fault.

We were ranked 22 in goals against last year. I might argue that based on the stats under Carbo, its the defensive game that needs to improve. :)

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You don't need a 90 point forward to win though. If you have depth and can get goals from all lines then you're perfectly fine with your best players merely being stars (Higgins, Koivu, Kovalev, possibly Kostitsyn, Plekanec, Latendresse and others in the future) instead of superstars. This is even more the case when you are potentially being backed by a franchise goaltender. Look at Vancouver - they won the division last year with few offensive talents. Naslund has an offseason and they had the Sedin twins as two point-a-game players. Other than that, their team is full of character players and grinders (not unlike Kostooulos and Smolinski, who actually played for them last year) and rely heavily on their goalie - yet this is a team built great from top to bottom.

So I see the Habs following this mode, some solid offensive weapons spread out over the top 3 lines mixed with some character players and two-way forwards with defensive presence (Chipchura, Lapierre, Begin, ...) with an all-star goalie in net.

Look at the '93 Cup-winning team - people say they had no superstar. Roy was their superstar. And Price will be ours.

(Hopefully!!)

You're right about the '93 cup team. But more recent results suggest that having superstars really helps. Look at the three last Cup champions : Anaheim (Selanne + Pronger & Neidermayer) vs Ottawa (Heatley, Spezza), Carolina (Staal) vs Emonton (odd run, still Smyth, Pronger), Tampa Bay (Lecavalier, St-Louis) vs Calgary (Iginla).

Of course there are other factors, such as an outstanding goaltender, coaching, etc.

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Well, of course, having superstars on your team always helps. But you're perfectly fine if you build around a superstar goalie. I'm not saying our 2002 team relying on Theodore - I'm saying a team with some very good (but not elite forwards) with a superstar goalie backing them up.

As I've said in another post, I believe we are lacking two things right now - a big defenceman who can control bigger forwards and a top 9 LW that can score 20 goals while playing a gritty two-way style and provide character and leadership. I believe both those players are currently in the system in O'Byrne and Latendresse. I don't believe Bob will make any moves while we have potential within the organization to solve our problems internally.

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You're kidding, right....that was a terrible goal.

We shouldn't be relying on a goalie in his 2nd career game to steal a win for us. He definitely should have had that but if we lose 1-0 it would be unfair to blame the loss on him for letting that in.

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We shouldn't be relying on a goalie in his 2nd career game to steal a win for us. He definitely should have had that but if we lose 1-0 it would be unfair to blame the loss on him for letting that in.

LOL, I won't blame the loss on him yet, we haven't lost yet. :)

But it was a stinky goal. The thing I like about Price is that he shakes it off and just made some nice saves...

On the other hand, it looks like we are relying on him. :(

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On the other hand, it looks like we are relying on him. :(

Which is exactly why it's unfair to blame for letting in a so-so goal. After all, he just made a few nice saves.

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Which is exactly why it's unfair to blame for letting in a so-so goal. After all, he just made a few nice saves.

Its not unfair to blame him for that goal, he let in a stinker. If that was Theo, there would be 500 posts calling to trade him for pucks.

It is unfair to blame the loss on him, but I didn't see anyone do that.

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LOL, I won't blame the loss on him yet, we haven't lost yet. :)

But it was a stinky goal. The thing I like about Price is that he shakes it off and just made some nice saves...

On the other hand, it looks like we are relying on him. :(

haven't we always relied on our goalies? ;)

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