HABS vs FLYERS • GAME THREAD • GAME 3

[jrhabs]

Hmm what to do.

Price has two terrible games in a row under his belt. This is playoff time and no time for a third.

Bring Halak in and see if he shines cause we can't afford a 3rd attempt at regaining his confidence which is totally shot.

go habs go

[Quebecois]

Now would be a good time for you to leave with asinine comments like that.

Anyways, how many damn games in a row is this team only gonna show up for the 3rd period?

Really? I mean we werent overly great in the 1st and 2nd but neither was Philly. If anything I felt like we had the best chances, same with in game 2.

This can't continue. My biggest worry is that the boys will be so discouraged at the lack of results that we won't continue to dominate. But as of right now I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Biron cannot steal a series, so if we keep this up we WILL win.

I don't know who you go with in game 4, if it is indeed Price then it has to be an extremely short leash. I must say I felt quite relaxed with Jaro in net and wouldnt mind if Carbo went with him on Wednesday night.

GO :hlogo: GO

[l<OV4L3V]

I know its easy to second guess, but Lats brings nothing to the game. At least Dandys fast. I say give ryder another shot, he cant be any worse than lats.

Latugboat is what I'm calling latendresse for now on

[Quebecois]

And how many posts are we gonna hit? UGH, we need luck on our side for a game and we will destroy them.

[tomh009]

Screw that the team played harder in front of Halak in the 3rd....

Besides...didn't somebody have a Jaro the Hero avatar up before??

I believe it was KoZed...whoever it was...put it back up!

I'll go for that ... if Halak starts game 4 badly you can always go back to Price. But right now I think it's the right bet to take.

[jrhabs]

1) No Biron really sucks and cannot steal series

2) Price is in bigtime zero confidence now.

3) powerplay losing us games

IF we get the first goal next game , we will win. PERIOD

Flyers are a poor team at best and our below average goalie performance lost the show.

go price go

[rafikz]

I've always thought Halak was cold-blooded.

It's worth a shot, let's start him for game 4.

But, of course, having a goalie won't solve anything; our mistake was trying to play physical like them.

We should stick to playing Canadiens hockey, like we did in the 3rd period.

Why did we wait the 3rd period to play :hlogo: hockey ?

And Koivu WTF? couldn't you fire a 1-timer in the closing seconds ?

[brobin]

LOL, poor hatcher was a victim of Boo Boo turning on him and being too short to play... (paraphrasing philly coach)... .

If that is the case, Boo boo should head butt him right in the jock.. Carbo can explain later... Hatcher is a tall man, and he turned his crotch at the last minute....

[lazy26]

Has Carbo shown anything but loyalty this year? I will be shocked if he switches for game 4

Me too. I just hope this is the wakeup call Price needed. You can blame the team for missing open nets, hitting posts etc... etc... But bottom line, Price needs to play like Carey Price... not the pod-Carey we've seen for the last 2 games.

I know you have faith that Biron's/Philly's luck will run out, but I'm still worried. I never thought it would last this long.

GO HABS GO!!!! Play EVERY period like that last one!

[KoZed]

I'm not doing the Game 4 gamethread.

It's time someone else steps up and change our luck.

[Wamsley01]

Really? I mean we werent overly great in the 1st and 2nd but neither was Philly. If anything I felt like we had the best chances, same with in game 2.

This can't continue. My biggest worry is that the boys will be so discouraged at the lack of results that we won't continue to dominate. But as of right now I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Biron cannot steal a series, so if we keep this up we WILL win.

I don't know who you go with in game 4, if it is indeed Price then it has to be an extremely short leash. I must say I felt quite relaxed with Jaro in net and wouldnt mind if Carbo went with him on Wednesday night.

GO :hlogo: GO

I agree. Philly has to be one of the most fortunate teams I have seen in my life to lead a series

2-1 after being outshot 70-38 and winning both games.

The story of this series has been Montreal's goaltending. If Price was average the Habs would be winning the series,

if he was great it would be 3-0. I certainly did not see the first 3 games playing out like this.

In 30 years of watching playoff hockey I can't recall a team being up 2-1 in a series where they have had about as many

scoring chances all series as the Habs had tonight without a goaltending performance for the ages. I have seen goalies win

a series before and it took a better effort than what Biron has shown. He has been far from dominant and the puck luck will change.

I guess you can be worried that Philly brings a real effort in Game 4, or you can figure that this is their best and the

habs raise their level in Game 4. I guess it depends on if you are a pessimist or an optimist.

I think they explode in Game 4 and win easily

[MFT77]

Got two goals on the 5 minute PP and i thought the Habs were gonna tie it up. They had some great chances to, but missed. Can't get too discouranged, the series is only 2-1.

Just saw an interview with Higgins, and he stated that the team is confident and has no doubt they can comeback. Couple of posts, some missed chances. He also said that Price was screened on the first two goals. Sounds like the Habs feel OK about their game, just frustrated at not buring their chances.

[maxamillion]

LOL, poor hatcher was a victim of Boo Boo turning on him and being too short to play... (paraphrasing philly coach)... .

If that is the case, Boo boo should head butt him right in the jock.. Carbo can explain later... Hatcher is a tall man, and he turned his crotch at the last minute....

It was a BS call. Boullion spun at the last second. Granted, it was a board, but not worthy of 5 and a game. Boullion got right back up and even hit hatch right back. There was no intent to injure, and it wasn't even a vicious hit. and It's entirely possible that it was just the visor that cut him.

And Rafikz, how could you even suggest the refs handed the Flyers the game when the habs were on the PP for almost half of the game and getting away with everything?

Edited April 29, 2008 by maxamillion

[rafikz]

I'm not doing the Game 4 gamethread.

It's time someone else steps up and change our luck.

I called Brisebois' goal vs Boston (Game 3).

May I ?

[Canajun]

Price may not be physically tired - like all of you that are hollering "he's only 20, he's only 20, he's not tired!" - but I would say he's mentally tired. Being 20 years old and in top physical shape is not the issue here. There's such a thing as mental fatigue.

Go with Halak next game. Like Jackp so accurately said, we need to concentrate on winning this series... not on being the Carey Price Cheerleading Brigade.

[Wamsley01]

It was a BS call. Boullion spun at the last second, it was a board, but not worthy of 5 and a game. Boullion got right back up and even hit hatch right back. It's entirely possible that it was just the visor that cut him.

It was a 4 minute double at the least. A headshot that leads to blood is an automatic 4 minutes.

They scored 2 goals before 4 minutes so it wouldn't have made a difference.

[Wamsley01]

Price may not be physically tired - like all of you that are hollering "he's only 20, he's only 20, he's not tired!" - but I would say he's mentally tired. Being 20 years old and in top physical shape is not the issue here. There's such a thing as mental fatigue.

Go with Halak next game. Like Jackp so accurately said, we need to concentrate on winning this series... not on being the Carey Price Cheerleading Brigade.

That wisdom would have put Halak in Game 7. This is about winning a series, but it is also about

experience. If Gainey feels that Price is the goalie of the future he will give him another shot and

see what he is made of. He has responded all year and if he does not on Wednesday then you will

see Halak.

From Gainey and Carbo's history this season, it is most likely that Price will start.

[tomh009]

It was a BS call. Boullion spun at the last second. Granted, it was a board, but not worthy of 5 and a game. Boullion got right back up and even hit hatch right back. There was no intent to injure, and it wasn't even a vicious hit. and It's entirely possible that it was just the visor that cut him.

Whether it should have been two, four or five minutes, it was a fine attempt by Hatcher to get the Habs back into the game. Just like Downey tried to spot us an early lead by tripping Price. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage ...

[sbhatt]

Go with Halak next game. Like Jackp so accurately said, we need to concentrate on winning this series... not on being the Carey Price Cheerleading Brigade.

:clap: :clap:

All I care about is the Habs winning. I could care less which of Price or Halak ends up being our starting goaltender, as long as one of them turns into a great goaltender. If Price ends up fading into obscurity while Halak excels, that's fine with me. If Price ends up being a dominant tender and Halak fades, that's fine with me too. As long as one of them is winning games for us, I don't give a damn which guy it is.

[tomh009]

That wisdom would have put Halak in Game 7. This is about winning a series, but it is also about

experience. If Gainey feels that Price is the goalie of the future he will give him another shot and

see what he is made of. He has responded all year and if he does not on Wednesday then you will

see Halak.

From Gainey and Carbo's history this season, it is most likely that Price will start.

And if he has another mediocre game? Is Halak then the goalie of the future?

[maxamillion]

It was a 4 minute double at the least. A headshot that leads to blood is an automatic 4 minutes.

They scored 2 goals before 4 minutes so it wouldn't have made a difference.

with all due respect, they scored in the 3rd minute of the PP, so they would have only gotten one

[Athlétique.Canadien]

The puck control game works but please apply more hits. At least the room should finally be angry. A fourty minute effort out of sixty minutes doesn't win cups!

Edited April 29, 2008 by Athlétique.Canadien

[Wamsley01]

with all due respect, they scored in the 3rd minute of the PP, so they would have only gotten one

You are right. But it was a legit penalty

[Quebecois]

In 30 years of watching playoff hockey I can't recall a team being up 2-1 in a series where they have had about as many

scoring chances all series as the Habs had tonight without a goaltending performance for the ages. I have seen goalies win

a series before and it took a better effort than what Biron has shown. He has been far from dominant and the puck luck will change.

Ya know, the only time I remember feeling this ripped off was in 1998 when Hasek completely dominated the Habs and the Sabres swept us out of the 2nd round.

Martin Biron is NOT Dominik Hasek.

[jackp]

Why did we wait the 3rd to start playing Canadiens hockey ?

:puke:

What game are you watching? We hit 3 posts in the 1st. We totally dominated this game. If we get even mediocre goaltending, we win. (3 goals in 12 shots - you can't win with that kind of goaltending)

I like Price, I really do. But he's in a slump right now. Carbo has a tough decision to make for next game. He needs to start Halak. Price had his chance to shake off his bad streak tonight and it didn't happen. He's even lost his puck-handling ability, so you know he's really struggling. Not the kid's fault. It's tough facing the kind of pressure he's facing when you're 20. Start Halak. Give Price a breather. Don't destroy the kid by making him come up a cropper yet again in game 4.

Now maybe Halak has a bad game too. Who knows? But at least we have a chance at getting better goaltending. If both teams keep playing the way they have, we win with half decent goaltending. (Let's hope Philly isn't able to up their game - they've been pathetic for most of the series - Boston gave us a much tougher series - SO FAR!!!)

I wouldn't even be suggesting Halak if Price had only been bad 1 or 2 games. But look at the last 6 games: he's had ONE good game in those 6.

It's up to Carbo now. (Kinda reminds me of the gutsy move that Pittsburgh coach made in '91? 92? Replaced Tom Barasso with Pieterangelo for a couple of games until Barasso got his game back. Probably won them the cup because they would have been eliminated had he stayed with Barasso at that point in the playoffs.)

Glad I'm not the coach right now!!!

- Jack