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Habs vs. Islanders | Game Thread


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36-24-7 for 79 points....................22-37-8 for 52 points
(5th East)..................................(15th East)


Forecaster.ca's Tale of the Tape
TSN's Ice Chips

Montreal Player Stats
New York Player Stats

Projected Lineup

(67)Pacioretty - (14)Plekanec - (27)Kovalev/(36)D'Agostini
(46)A.Kostitsyn - (11)Koivu - (13)Tanguay
(21)Higgins - (40) Lapierre - (6)Kostopoulos
(70)Stewart - (15)Metropolit - (25)Dandenault


(79)Markov - (8)Komisarek
(44)Hamrlik - (3)O'Byrne
(24)Schneider - (26)Gorges



29074.jpg vs. 27947.jpg
Carey Price................Yann Danis


TV: RDS
Radio: CJAD, CKAC
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It's so unfortunate for Carbo that we fell apart for such a long stretch.

I've been so wrapped up in our down swing that I didn't realize Washington and Boston have had quite the down turn themselves these past few weeks themselves. Boston has 3 wins in their last ten games.

Most teams have gone through huge slumps that seem to continue longer then usual. If we can put a solid winning streak together and Price gets hot, Koivu, Tangs and AK start becoming a threat along with Kovy and Pleks. It's not totally impossible to have a good run in the play-offs.

Just like Jean Perron's Cup winners. What year was that? 1983? The Habs were crappy all season.....73 measly points and they won it all.

There may be some hope my friends.

Go Habs Go !!!!!!!!

<div align='centre'>2008%20IIHF%20Hockey%20World%20Championships%20Day%2015%20Du-aG1xtJpLl.jpg</div>

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Just like Jean Perron's Cup winners. What year was that? 1983? The Habs were crappy all season.....73 measly points and they won it all.

It was 86, they finished with 87 pts. Was a much different mentality, only the 4 top teams in each division were making the playoffs. Adams division was the tightest of them all. That year all in a sudden the Whalers who had finished last overall just 3 seasons prior and were generally automatically last in the division moved ahead of a good Buffalo team.

Habs werent mediocre in 85-86. Larry Robinson made the 1st team all-star with a 82 pts season. Naslund made the 2nd team all-star with the last 100+ pts season from an Habs player to date (that's no 100 pts forward for 23 yrs folks...).

They just had a very unstable season. It was transition season. Jacques Lemaire had quit his job behind the bench because he couldnt stand having journalists second-guess him; but he basically coached from the shadows. Few people know Lemaire was our "unofficial" coach from 85-86 up until he took a real coaching job in NJ. He was behind Perron, Burns and Demers all those years.

85-86 saw the Habs broke in 8 rookies. Steve Penney had great playoffs the year before and was supposed to be the starter, but came into camp overweight. Supposed backup Doug Soetart got some starts and rookie Patrick Roy who had won the Calder Cup in Fredericton the year before was kept around. Soetart was the starter early on, but one night in Buffalo (back-to-back games vs Sabres), Soetart received a 30-foot slapshot right in the throat. He went down like someone had shot him. Roy was given some starts and basically won the starting job from then on.

Momesso, Dahlin, Lalor, Richer & Skrudland were "real" rookies, as they spent the entire season in Montreal. Lemieux, Kordic, Bucyk, Rooney, Maley joined the team later during the seaosn. It was actually a big issue back then. Rookie coach, 8 rookies in the lineup. Lot of vets on the team said (after the fact) that they were uncomfortable with having so many new kids around. They spent almost all season babysitting them and teaching them what it meant to be an NHLer and a Habs. The malaise culminated with Chris Nilan getting into a fight with Stephane Richer during a practice. Big deal back then. But the kids stuck around. Lemieux and Kordic joined the team very late in the season, just before the playoffs, and they brought a surplus agressive edge to the team. With Nilan and Kordic, nobody could intimidate the Habs. Lemieux was just a superpest. First game he was called up was a Saturday night game vs the Pens. I think on his 2nd shift, he went straight to Mario Lemieux and coaxed him into a fight.

The team went up and down all season, up to the last week of the regular season. Nobody gave them much of a chance to go far. When they started the playoffs, Perron instated a reclusion in a hotel in Montreal. Players called it "Alcatraz".

They won the first series against Boston mostly because of Roy (stole the 1st game), Richer (game-winner in Game 2) and Gainey (scored tiying and game-winner in Game 3). Habs sort of got lucky when Hartford upseted the Nords. The division finals were the Habs toughest series but also the one that prepped them up for the rest of the season. Hartford was a very well-balanced team. Francis, Dineen, Verbeek, Ferraro, Turgeon, Anderson up front. Babych leading a tough, stay-at-home D with Liut in nets. Habs just never got to shake them off. Series always went back and forth. I think the turning point of the playoffs, when the Habs really got serious, was when Dineen drilled Robinson in the boards on a dump-in. Until then Robinson had been really quiet. But it woke him up. Dineen was a Habs poison and a pest. Robinson just jumped him and kick the living daylight out of him. Of course that Lemieux OT series winner in Game 7 with Mario Tremblay (color commentator because he was sidelined with career-ending injury) screaming like a school girl on TV sort of cemented the idea that the vets and rookies were on the same page.

Habs got the Rangers after that. People say they were lucky because they avoided the two heavyweights of the Patrick Division (Philly & Washington), but they forgot it's the Rags that upsetted both those teams. The Rangers were the Habs of the Patrick Division. John Vanbiesbrouk went on to win the Vezina that year. They had a mix of vets and rookies too. They had one of the two best PP defensemen in Patrick & Ruotsalainen and Pierre Larouche who had missed most of the season was on a tear. Larouche actually said after a couple of games into the series what were his thoughts about Patrick Roy being so good for a rookie so far. Larouche said something like "Let's see what he does when he's really tested and get 40 shots". Next game was the epic, legendary OT game in MSG where Roy made something like 8 straight saves and Lemieux scoring the game-winner.

Calgary was almost the easiest team the Habs had to face. At this point there was just nothing that could stop them. Calgary wasnt bad. They had Mullen, MacInnis, McDonald, Tonelli acquired late in the season, good ol' Risebrough for leadership and experience, Suter who went on to win the Calder and rookie Vernon in nets. They would become to be the Habs' twin nemesis in the West for the next 4 years until they got their revenge in 89. But that year the Habs just had meshed so well together nothing could stop them.

They had great vets though. Kid would look around in the room and there was Gainey & Robinson, Green, Deblois, Nilan, Walters, Smith. Serious guys who had gone to war before. Makes all the difference in the world.

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They just had a very unstable season. It was transition season. Jacques Lemaire had quit his job behind the bench because he couldnt stand having journalists second-guess him; but he basically coached from the shadows. Few people know Lemaire was our "unofficial" coach from 85-86 up until he took a real coaching job in NJ. He was behind Perron, Burns and Demers all those years.

Holy crapola,

You'd think that season just ended. What a memory you have.

Funny, I didn't know Lemaire coached from behind the scenes. Makes you wonder if Carbo is behind the scenes. The only reason I say that is because Gainey didn't even hold a practice yesterday. You would think he might instill some new system but it doesn't seem to be the case.

They are probably playing Carbo's sytem and Bob just will instill confidence and the illusion the problem is gone.

In the lemaire situation how exactly did he coach behind the scenes? Were the players aware of it? How did that play out?

Actually, Tell me more about that, I find that very interesting.

ummm... habs didn't win the cup in 1983 - they won it in 1986.

Just checked - they had 87 pts, not amazing - but back before 3 point games 87 pts was good enough for 7th in the league.

Ya, that's it I just messed up 1993 and 1986. It was 1986 I'm talking about.

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Holy crapola,

You'd think that season just ended. What a memory you have.

Funny, I didn't know Lemaire coached from behind the scenes. Makes you wonder if Carbo is behind the scenes. The only reason I say that is because Gainey didn't even hold a practice yesterday. You would think he might instill some new system but it doesn't seem to be the case.

They are probably playing Carbo's sytem and Bob just will instill confidence and the illusion the problem is gone.

In the lemaire situation how exactly did he coach behind the scenes? Were the players aware of it? How did that play out?

Actually, Tell me more about that, I find that very interesting.

Lemaire wanted to coach, but couldnt stand the mediatic pressure. Officially he was some sort of assistant to Serge Savard, but in reality he was responsible for laying down the tactical fundation of the Habs for the mid 80's to the mid 90's. That's when he perfected the trap and the Habs were the first team that used it as their main identity. That's why the Habs were the best defensive team for all those years and regardless of the coach, always had the same system that players bought in and followed.

Pick up Jacques Demers' book, there's lot of references about 1993 when Demers was a bit lost and says if he ever had troubles he could always go to Lemaire for solutions.

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With the Devils coming in on Saturday, a win is a must tonight. Hope kovy plays, this Isles look like a good team to score a hat trick against !!

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Kovalev unsure case for tonight. Like most games i would say but

this time it's a virus. He did not practice this morning.

Source RDS.ca

If he plays anyway D'Agostini will sit so will Brisebois.

Great. Just what we need- a flu bug.

If that's our final downfall, the centennial cup dream was definitely not in the cards. Let's hope it's not some goofy airborne thing running around the dressing room.

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It's both sad and funny that Yann Danis has superior stats this year with the worst team in the league to both Price and Halak.

I hope he can finish the season strong and get a starting job somewhere, I always liked him.

That being said, I hope we treat him tonight like we did the first time he faced us.

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This is a MUST WIN Game against the worst team in the league. Not only is it a must win because we are facing the islanders, but because we will be facing Brodeur and those god-damned Devils on Saturady...and there are no garantees that we'll pick up any points in that game!

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Go Habs Go!

Its an important game and should be an easy two points. The Isles have been playing pretty good lately though. Danis has looked pretty good lately.

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Go Habs Go!

Its an important game and should be an easy two points. The Isles have been playing pretty good lately though. Danis has looked pretty good lately.

DONT JINX IT !!!

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4-1 Montreal

Habs: Higgins, Pacioretty, Kostitsyn x2

Isles: O'BYRNE :lol:

Edited by marky_and_komi
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A +4 night, hattrick and a couple assists for both Markov, Tanguay and Higgins would be really welcome for my fantasy team

Go :hlogo: go!!

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It's so unfortunate for Carbo that we fell apart for such a long stretch.

I've been so wrapped up in our down swing that I didn't realize Washington and Boston have had quite the down turn themselves these past few weeks themselves. Boston has 3 wins in their last ten games.

Most teams have gone through huge slumps that seem to continue longer then usual. If we can put a solid winning streak together and Price gets hot, Koivu, Tangs and AK start becoming a threat along with Kovy and Pleks. It's not totally impossible to have a good run in the play-offs.

Just like Jean Perron's Cup winners. What year was that? 1983? The Habs were crappy all season.....73 measly points and they won it all.

There may be some hope my friends.

Go Habs Go !!!!!!!!

<div align='centre'>2008%20IIHF%20Hockey%20World%20Champions</div>

You weren't that far off on either end.

The 84 Canadiens coached by Jacques Lemaire had 75 points and went on a run to the Conference Finals

before losing to the Isles 4-2 after leading the series 2-0.

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You weren't that far off on either end.

The 84 Canadiens coached by Jacques Lemaire had 75 points and went on a run to the Conference Finals

before losing to the Isles 4-2 after leading the series 2-0.

It's funny how we forget that we have had some lameish teams that have gone far into rounds and even won the cup regardless of a relatively poor season. There is no reason we can't get our act together. When these guys are on and play 60 minutes we can beat anybody. I only fear two things- Bruins, just because they are strong and always give us a hard time even when they are weak and Ovechkin. Hopefully we can have a year we don't even meet the Bruins for once.

Thanks for bringing Saku over to page 2 my man.

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