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April 16th, 2009 | Canadiens @ Bruins | Game 1 Thread


Cataclaw

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Our boys played a good game! The players who disapponted me were Plekanec, Brisebois, and to a lesser degree AK46! AK46 played a little better than what we've seen from him in the past 6 weeks, but still, he can do alot better. Maybe if he could just get ONE PP goal, it would get him to loosen up a little and allow him to be more confident out there!! I love him huge bodycheck on Lucic!

I liked the fact that Gainey had BGL playing with Koivu and Kovalev. It created some room for Koivu and it kept Chara away from Kovy!

Price played a good game. I can,t believe some people are blaming him after he made 35 saves on 38 shots(.921 save%). Price WAS NOT THE PROBLEM!!!

Like I said earlier, our boys played well, but let's not kid ourselves here. The Bruins DID NOT play their best game. They can definitely improve, whereas the Habs will have a tougher time to improve their game.

I just hope we can keep up this level of play for the whole series!

Edited by Habsfan
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The more I think about it, the more I like this lineup.

Kovy - Saku - Tanguay

A. Kost - Plex - Laraque

Tender - Lapierre - Kosto

Higgins - Metropolit - D'Agostini/S. Kost

Switch Markov for Brisebois and we have our chances for round 2.

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I have not seen that yet, but I do believe that they are in this series and the Bruins

don't realize it yet.

Still, the overall result of the game is disappointing. How well you play hardly matters in the playoffs. We already knew we could play with the Bruins and could catch them off-guard. No sense being happy just because we stayed in the game. We knew we could stay in the game with them. Maybe Boston didn't, but all we did last night was give them a wake up call.

You're proud that we didn't lose so badly in a 1st round playoff game? A win is a win, a loss is a loss, and we lost one; and that'll be the story for the next two days: one game, one loss, just as predicted. Our golden hope is that Markov comes back and we regain that element of surprise. A win in Game 2 swings the series into our favour, I think - or at least right down the middle.

But my point is that last night was our game. If an 8th seed wants to win the Cup, they need to win games that they have a chance to win. We will beat nobody if we let games like last night's slip away. That's why Boston is first - they win those games that are up in the air - and why we just barely made the playoffs - because we have no killer instinct whatsoever. Had we won last night, the ball would have been squarely in our court... but now we're on our heels again.

Run Habs run! Apparently scrambling through the season wasn't enough. Now let's make it hard for ourselves and scramble/sleepwalk (in turns) through every playoff game and series. Cardiac Corpses.

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Carey Price made 35 saves. His nonchalance in freezing the puck let Phil Kessel open the scoring, and a bad Price handoff to Josh Gorges launched the sequence that culminated in the David Krejci goal that made it 2-zip.

But Price looked more poised and confident than the alleged All-Star at the other end of the ice. And with Tom Kostopoulos ill-advisedly backing in rather than skating toward the blueline to challenge the shot, Price never saw the Zdeno Chara power-play laser that won the game.

I am really getting tired of this type of microanalysis. Out of all the things that went on last night Mike Boone decides

that he is going to offer a compliment while pointing out that he still was kind of responsible for the two goals.

Where is the mention of the responsibility for allowing the Bruins to have two guys WIDE open in front of the net

on both goals? Where is the mention of the forward peeling off in order to set up the original shot that created the

scoring chance that lead to the first goal?

This type of analysis is what leads to fans blaming the goaltender for everything that goes wrong in a game.

Sad. The last thing I took from that game was blaming the goalie for breakdowns in coverage.

Edited by Wamsley01
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The D makes me soooo mad and frustrated when they back up in their own zone. They are better off just dumping the puck than backing up against a forechecking team like the bruins. When they back pack, and pussyfoot back there all they do is allow time for another Boston forechecker to get into the zone, which usually leads to a turn over, because our D seems like they are playing hot potatoe and want to get rid of the puck so quickly.

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Still, the overall result of the game is disappointing. How well you play hardly matters in the playoffs. We already knew we could play with the Bruins and could catch them off-guard. No sense being happy just because we stayed in the game. We knew we could stay in the game with them. Maybe Boston didn't, but all we did last night was give them a wake up call.

You're proud that we didn't lose so badly in a 1st round playoff game? A win is a win, a loss is a loss, and we lost one; and that'll be the story for the next two days: one game, one loss, just as predicted. Our golden hope is that Markov comes back and we regain that element of surprise. A win in Game 2 swings the series into our favour, I think - or at least right down the middle.

But my point is that last night was our game. If an 8th seed wants to win the Cup, they need to win games that they have a chance to win. We will beat nobody if we let games like last night's slip away. That's why Boston is first - they win those games that are up in the air - and why we just barely made the playoffs - because we have no killer instinct whatsoever. Had we won last night, the ball would have been squarely in our court... but now we're on our heels again.

Run Habs run! Apparently scrambling through the season wasn't enough. Now let's make it hard for ourselves and scramble/sleepwalk (in turns) through every playoff game and series. Cardiac Corpses.

If an 8th seed wins the CUP?

History has shown us that 8th Seeds don't win the Cup. History has shown us that teams with a +2 goal differential

do not win Stanley Cups. I think you need to lower your expectations.

It is ONE game. I think you are overreacting. When the Habs won the Cup in 1993 they lost the first game of the playoffs. They should have won but gave up a 2 goal lead in the last 60 seconds. They then got down 2-0 in the series and in the next game were in OT fighting for their lives to avoid a 3-0 deficit to the Nords.

The Carolina Hurricanes WON the Cup in 2006 and LOST game 2 when they NEEDED to win it in OT. They also were fighting for their lives in game 3 and had to win in OT to save their season.

I can go through another 30 years of history to show teams who looked dead and buried, so I am not going to overreact

to a game 1 loss in which a team that no showed two months stood up and showed they could compete. It was not a foregone

conclusion to me that they would compete. I assumed the Bruins would bring out the best in them, but with their history of

mailing in games, I was still fearful they would turtle.

THey have not proved they are going to win the series yet, but that was a solid start and until they lose on Saturday

and put themselves in a must win game, I am not going to sweat it.

Edited by Wamsley01
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If an 8th seed wins the CUP?

History has shown us that 8th Seeds don't win the Cup. History has shown us that teams with a +2 goal differential

do not win Stanley Cups. I think you need to lower your expectations.

It is ONE game. I think you are overreacting. When the Habs won the Cup in 1993 they lost the first game of the playoffs. They should have won but gave up a 2 goal lead in the last 60 seconds. They then got down 2-0 in the series and in the next game were in OT fighting for their lives to avoid a 3-0 deficit to the Nords.

The Carolina Hurricanes WON the Cup in 2006 and LOST game 2 when they NEEDED to win it in OT. They also were fighting for their lives in game 3 and had to win in OT to save their season.

I can go through another 30 years of history to show teams who looked dead and buried, so I am not going to overreact

to a game 1 loss in which a team that no showed two months stood up and showed they could compete. It was not a foregone

conclusion to me that they would compete. I assumed the Bruins would bring out the best in them, but with their history of

mailing in games was still fearful they would turtle.

THey have not proved they are going to win the series yet, but that was a solid start and until they lose on Saturday

and put themselves in a must win game, I am not going to sweat it.

Every team in the playoffs is aiming to win the Cup.

You're listing exceptions. Tides turn, but what does that have anything to do with our Habs? They're in a tough position, had a golden opportunity... and lossed it. Next! But will there be a next one?

They only threw away one playoff game but this is what they've been doing all season. I don't expect this to be the last close game they fade away in. Their attitude is not how it should be and it could cost them future games, not just last night's.

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Every team in the playoffs is aiming to win the Cup.

You're listing exceptions. Tides turn, but what does that have anything to do with our Habs? They're in a tough position, had a golden opportunity... and lossed it. Next! But will there be a next one?

They only threw away one playoff game but this is what they've been doing all season. I don't expect this to be the last close game they fade away in. Their attitude is not how it should be and it could cost them future games, not just last night's.

If there is no next one, THEY WERE NEVER GOING ANYWHERE!

Teams that win Stanley Cups blast through adversity, they do not quit because they lost game one.

They do not bemoan the fact that they let one get away.

They get their shit back on and force the issue. Mentally weak teams don't win.

I am taking things one game at a time. If I look ahead and analyze logically, I wouldn't be watching the games.

What would be the point? They are unlikely to win, and I am not going to sulk after a solid performance, but YA NEVER KNOW.

A win on Saturday and everybody forgets last night.

Edited by Wamsley01
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I've seen lots of team lose games like that and come back to win series.

This ain't over. Not by a long shot.

But at the risk of contradicting myself, I think they HAVE to win on Saturday. The discrepancy between the two teams (in terms of talent, and in terms of self-belief) is significant enough that you can't fall behind 0-2.

So, nothing's decided, but the situation risks moving from 'unfortunate and disappointing' to 'emergency' in a big hurry.

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Let me start by saying Price played well, and I don't think we lost because of Price. Period. I would definitely play Price in game 2.

However, even if Price plays well and lets in no bad goals, if we lose game 2 we should consider putting in Halak.

Let me explain my logic before the Price lovers freak out...

1. We are not as good a team as Boston.

2. Most upsets are because of goaltending. Either one team's goaltender is amazing, or the other goaltender sucks. Washington will be upset if Theo plays like he did in game 1 for instance. We beat Boston a few years ago because Theo had an incredible series. Remember that unknown guy named Cam Ward...Etc.

3. I believe the only way we upset Boston is because one of our goaltenders plays God Like! Playing well won't cut it. Playing a bit better then Thomas is not enough to overcome the significant difference between the talent levels on the teams.

4. My goal is to beat Boston, not get goalie x or goalie Y experience because they are "the future".

Therefore, if Price cannot get to God-like status in the next game, what do we have to lose by giving Halak a chance. Remember those 4 games he won earlier in the year because he was on a roll and had horseshoes up his butt??? Maybe he will come in and give us a performance or two like that. Certainly we are starting by giving Price the chance in the first two games.

Now, if Halak comes in and doesn't do the job (maybe he plays just as good as Price, but not God Like enough to win, then go back to Price for game 4).

I know this sounds radical, but if anyone here thinks we can beat Boston because Koivu or Kovy, or BGL will be the difference maker, then I think you are delusional. Those guys all have to be at the top of their games AND we need awesome goaltending to steal this.

And for the record, I think Boston is good enough to beat us with Thomas playing just average.

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Dunno what all the negativity is about. Did everyone expect to win in four? Habs just showed that this isn't going to be a cakewalk. Gainey just showed what a little creative line-making will do. D'Ago's almost goal on the Thomas pokecheck was that close to giving us the opportunity to take game one. (I suppose then people would have been saying we didn't deserve it and we suck and yadda yadda.) I laugh when I hear people (like Cherry) say Boston sucked and this was Montreal's chance. Really? Or did Montreal play well enough to make Boston not look nearly so good. I think it's the latter. Two pretty evenly matched teams. We're a second line short of matching them. Time for Pantynec to take off the turtleneck.

Highlight of the game? I'm surprised no one said a thing: Koivu knocked Chara on his ass. Talk about a size mismatch!

Anyhow, if one can manage to weed out emotion, I think Habs fans should be fairly pleased about this result. Montreal can play with the Bruins, and isn't that what we wanted? Good game. Fun to watch.

Why are you surprised - given All the Koivu bashers on this forum.

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Positives:

- Kept up with the B's

- Out hit them

- Quality scoring chances

- Penalty Kill

Negatives:

- Giving up the puck

- Not first on the puck

- Plekanec

- Brisebois

- Stupid Penalties

- Power Play

- Scared to get hit

Time to regroup and show the same energy in game 2 boys!

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Highlight of the game? I'm surprised no one said a thing: Koivu knocked Chara on his ass. Talk about a size mismatch!

I mentioned it, but unfortunately due to CJAD's limitations did not SEE it

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I mentioned it, but unfortunately due to CJAD's limitations did not SEE it

Yep. Say what you will about Koivu, but fans and haters alike can agree on one thing - he shows up in the playoffs, and he isn't afraid to give it his all.

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