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[Game Thread] MONTREAL CANADIENS @ Toronto Maple Leafs


KoZed

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The negativity is way overblown. People need to keep their perspective. This team is Markov-less, playing four games in six nights, riddled with flu, and played after getting in from Chicago at 3:00 AM without adequate prep. They also got ridiculously jobbed by the refs in one of the most egregious displays of amateurishness I've seen in years. And they won. For that, they are rewarded with baying fans declaring that this "proves" that they are a mediocre team.

When Markov went down - remember!?? - most of us feared the worst and expressed our hope that the team could hang on and stay in playoff contention. Many said that .500 hockey would be acceptable without our best player. This is EXACTLY what the Habs have delivered so far. Doesn't matter, though - all we hear about is how they "can't beat the good teams," barely beat the Isles and Leafs, have too many (!) OT victories, have no defensive system (although there has been obvious overall improvement in that area, yesterday notwithstanding), boo hoo, woe is me, the sky is falling.

We won't know how truly good or bad the team is until Markov returns. It's like judging the Calgary Flames without Iginla or the Canucks without Luongo. In the meantime, we should all keep in mind what our expectations were when Markov went down and measure the team's success accordingly. By that standard, this bunch is doing about as well as we could have hoped.

Very well put

after all, Markov is our best player

Also, there seems to be a great chemistry and everybody sticks up for each other

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The negativity is way overblown. People need to keep their perspective. This team is Markov-less, playing four games in six nights, riddled with flu, and played after getting in from Chicago at 3:00 AM without adequate prep. They also got ridiculously jobbed by the refs in one of the most egregious displays of amateurishness I've seen in years. And they won. For that, they are rewarded with baying fans declaring that this "proves" that they are a mediocre team.

When Markov went down - remember!?? - most of us feared the worst and expressed our hope that the team could hang on and stay in playoff contention. Many said that .500 hockey would be acceptable without our best player. This is EXACTLY what the Habs have delivered so far. Doesn't matter, though - all we hear about is how they "can't beat the good teams," barely beat the Isles and Leafs, have too many (!) OT victories, have no defensive system (although there has been obvious overall improvement in that area, yesterday notwithstanding), boo hoo, woe is me, the sky is falling.

We won't know how truly good or bad the team is until Markov returns. It's like judging the Calgary Flames without Iginla or the Canucks without Luongo. In the meantime, we should all keep in mind what our expectations were when Markov went down and measure the team's success accordingly. By that standard, this bunch is doing about as well as we could have hoped.

You and I seem to post this type of thing once every 2 weeks or so.... I think maybe it will never sink in

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In the meantime, we should all keep in mind what our expectations were when Markov went down and measure the team's success accordingly. By that standard, this bunch is doing about as well as we could have hoped.

I agree with you except for your last comment. When you look at the Habs record without Markov this years Habs are actually doing really good, especially when you consider all news guys. Markov has never been injured before on a Habs team with so many new faces. These new faces are pulling together better than the old teams did who already had a well established chemistry. Its definitely a good sign. :D

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:lol:Same here. 9,75$ is an expensive throw for sure...

I thought there was an offside on our last goal too. Didn't see the replay though.

I was at the game last night, and they jacked up their prices to an even 10$ this season!

I thought the Habs played OK until the last 5 minuts of the third period where they just sat on the lead. I can't believe people are complaining about Halak vs Price. Both goalies have been adequate up til now, nothing more, nothing less.

I was frustrated to see our team incapable of getting the puck out of our zone in the last 5 minutes.

I'm still glad the Habs got the 2 points, but was pissed that we had to go to a shootout, and offer the Leafs 1 point in the process!

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Are you sure that wasn't because it was against the Leafs?

Truculence doesn't put the puck in the net :P

No, but I would just take Cammy,Gionta and Gomez over Kovalev, Koivu, and Markov in a shootout. Not taking anything away from those guys, 3 great players in their own right, but I personally believe the current top 3 are better in this event. I loved how Gomez picked the same hole instead of trying something fancy. That was real hockey smarts.

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Living in Toronto as my moniker suggests, I am a much happier puppy for the win and would have HATED to have gone in after a loss .....ugh.

Boy that first line is quick! The guys are rockets. Sad as I truly am to see Kovalev an Koivu departed, I'm pretty impressed with the new gang and believe uncle Bob did just what he had to do under the circumstances and thank goodness he has the credibility to effectively act in the league.

So now we're no 2 in our division.

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The game was ok. They played hard for the most part. They really need to learn to play weith the lead, they look exactly like last years bunch, standing around looking for something bad to happen when they have a lead. Even the commentators mentioned that Martin's system is moving forward, getting the puck deep and skating with the lead. Hopefully they'll get that soon. They have been outscored 14-6 in third periods this year, not a good recipe for success long term.

1 move i didn't understand, why Martin didn't have the bigger defensive players on the ice during the last minute. No offense but i put prefer having Mara and Gill out there with Metro, Moen and lapierre.

Price played outstanding on Froday, too bad his team doesn't score for him. Halak was solid but I would go back to Price the next game, i thought he earned another start with his last performance.

I think AK46 gets benched next if D'Agi is healthy.

Nice to see Chipchura standing up and fighting for his team.

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I think AK46 gets benched next if D'Agi is healthy.

I agree with you, however I think Martin will give AK46 another chance on TUesday. If he doesn't show any willingness or any improvement, My guess he'll be benched against Boston!

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I agree with you, however I think Martin will give AK46 another chance on TUesday. If he doesn't show any willingness or any improvement, My guess he'll be benched against Boston!

Andrei K. is (maybe unfortunately) the key to our succes concerning a performing 2nd line... It will live with Andrei or die with Andrei... Simple as that.

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What second lone are you all talking about exactly? As far as I know, our second line has both Pleks and Cammy, who have been fantastic and probably our two best players in recent weeks. If anything, we should be worrying about the first line of Gomez and Gionta!

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What second lone are you all talking about exactly? As far as I know, our second line has both Pleks and Cammy, who have been fantastic and probably our two best players in recent weeks. If anything, we should be worrying about the first line of Gomez and Gionta!

Cammy has been most effective when on a line with Gomez, but in a way, you made our point.. there are 3 players on each line for most teams, we only have 4 to split between them.

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What second lone are you all talking about exactly? As far as I know, our second line has both Pleks and Cammy, who have been fantastic and probably our two best players in recent weeks. If anything, we should be worrying about the first line of Gomez and Gionta!

+1

Gomez & Gionta haven't produced in over 2 weeks. It's been all Plex, Cam, M&M and others chipping in.

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Gomez is suffering from the flu, so give him a bit of a break. Gionta, he's always been a player who needs a million chances in order to score, so it's a matter of time. (The same is true of Gomez, actually - just look at their SOG-to-G-ratio, that's some scary stuff. If the stats are right, we're going to see tons and tons of near-misses and shots that somehow don't go in all season long :wacko: ).

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