Caps @ Habs - February 10th, 2010

[Sir_Boagalott]

You're putting words in my mouth so to speak. These aren't isolated cases, he does it ALL the time. Every goalie gives up rebounds, the better goalies smother pucks when they're shot in or directed to the corner, watch Brodeur sometime, he does it great. Because you feel like you can pass judgement on a 22 year, I feel its my right to pass judgement on a 24 year old, and that he hasn't improved it, the rebound control, so I don't think he's as great as you claim.

Haha arguing is fun...the anti-Price fans may even have valid points, but I'm not gonna admit them, cause then the arguing would be over haha.

You're right now, despite the bad calls both ways, the sloppy play in the third, it was entertaining. If only more teams would engage the habs like the Pens, the Caps do. It's entertaining for everyone. The Bruins use to be a fun watch, not they play boring hockey...the same way JM seems to want to take the team in, but sometimes he releases the hounds and everyone wins!

No, you put that nonsense there yourself by blindly backing a Judas Coat.

You disagree with Halak directing rebounds and said Halak cant do that because he is a reactional goalie. Are you really that daft to think a goalie stands there in a set position with his blocker all game so the rebound will drop near his dmen?

Directing rebounds is 110% reactional. Theres no debating it, but here you are.

One could try to argue and say Halak doesnt intentionally try to direct reboudst, but your not and your saying he cant do it cuz he's not positional, which is utter nonesense.

[bar]

Are you denying there are different types of goaltending? Broduer, Roy, Irbe, Hasak...they all stop the puck with the same style?

This is going nowhere, I thought a discussion would be fun, but I can't entertain this seriously.

[BCHabnut]

OK, so if a Habs dmen, say Hammer isnt doing exactly whats he's supposed to be doing, thats an invitation and excuse for Price to basically leave the crease, and when the goal is scored of course its Hammers fault? C'mon.

Give me a break. Thats precisely the reason why that 1 goal was Prices fault. You cant completely ignore a scoring threat thats almost in the crease just because somebody isnt covering him. Thats exactly why Price should have been aware of the goal scorer instead of being completely oblivious to him "cuz it was Hammers guy".

Excuses excuses. Seriously. The last goal wasnt Prices fault, its the pucks fault for not being the size of a beach ball.

Fact: Price let in 3 soft goals tonight.

Fact , he let in two soft goals. 4 and 5.

[BCHabnut]

Halak is the better goalie right now. Price still needs work, but looked good tonight other than the two softies. HALAK GIVES UP TOO MANY REBOUNDS! Too argue that is insane. Halak is better and is further along in his developement. Price is doing very well when compared with other top tier goaltenders at this age and developement. HALAK GIVES UP A LOT OF REBOUNDS! He just does. How can you argue that he doesn'? I still have faith in him back there more than Price. but to say his save percentage is not skewed because many of his saves are on second and third shots?

I am so sick of this conversation. We have two good young goaltenders who are in different phases of developement. Halak is doing a hell of a job taking the bulk of the work while lifting some responsibility from Carey's shoulders so he can develope. The team stepped up tonight and helped Carey out to get the win, but to be fair, he made a pile of crazy good saves. The last two goals should have been saves by a good goalie, but in case none of you guys looked, the team they played against has outscored their opponent by a wide margin. Like 35 more total goals than 2nd in goals. Highest goals for differential in the league. Coming off 14...THAT'S 14 STRAIGHT WINS against some strong opponents and all you guys can rant about is goalies?

[Sir_Boagalott]

No really, its was 3 poor goals.

The 1st fast break goal was also a huge gaff by Price. Price was off centered on the far post to the outside. Price was cheating huge on the puck carrier, and Hammer wasnt doing his job, but so what? When a dmen isnt doing their job, the goalie must compensate, and not cheat at all, let alone cheat huge. Price took away the scoring chance for the guy who had the worst chance at scoring to give the goal scorer the best chance cuz the net was 90% wide open. Price slid so far to the 1 side he was almost not even in the blue paint anymore. Is that Hammers fualt Price slides 5-6 feet side to side?

Price guarenteed the guy who was the least threat wouldnt score, good for him. Wrong move though. Goalies need to be able to identify and rank who are the threats. Price epic failed on that play because he paid 0 attention to the guy who was centereed on the opposite post who was almost in the crease. If Pricew hadnt been cheating and not been to far back in his net, a simple poke check probably could have stopped the goal scoring pass.

What pisses me off if Price does this quite a bit. I swear Price puts teflon on his leg pads, he seems to slide way to far when he slides like that. All of Prices bad goals are almost identical usual bad goals and theres definitely an abundance of goals where he's not even between the pipes.

[bar]

Habs in 6th...haha 3 games in hand on most, but still really...they should be fighting Carolina for the Hall sweepstakes...defying the odds...beating good teams lately too.

[Trizzak]

It seems that as the put-downs of one goalie get more and more ridiculous, the defense of that goalie gets even more ridiculous.

It's an irritating read, really.

[Sir_Boagalott]

huh? I said what now?

Its pretty simple on this board to figure out who knows goalies and who doesnt. The people that bash Halak for poor rebound control are clueless. Sure, Halak lets out more rebounds than Price. I will completely admit that.

Heres why:

1) Halak more often than not actually stops the 1st shot, hence theres more rebounds.

2) Halak is purposely sttempting to direct these rebounds at the Habs players nearby.

Neither reason 1 or 2 makes Price better.

The Price lovers claim Halak lets out all kinds of wild flailing rebounds. Thats BS. Halak does try to control and direct rebounds to Habs players nearby or safely into the corners. Yes, its true not every rebound can be perfectly directed, good for you, but like that means trying to direct rebounds is pointless. Jiggy won a Cup doing it. And not every goalie covering a puck gets a whislte right away. think Flyers series.

To say Price is better cuz of less rebounds is nonsense.

Hey Trizz, you ready for my new campaign of pointing out every rebound Halak directs? It'll be more way more intense than my NCAA pix suck campaingn and just as correct.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Sir_Boagalott

[BCHabnut]

No really, its was 3 poor goals.

The 1st fast break goal was also a huge gaff by Price. Price was off centered on the far post to the outside. Price was cheating huge on the puck carrier, and Hammer wasnt doing his job, but so what? When a dmen isnt doing their job, the goalie must compensate, and not cheat at all, let alone cheat huge. Price took away the scoring chance for the guy who had the worst chance at scoring to give the goal scorer the best chance cuz the net was 90% wide open. Price slid so far to the 1 side he was almost not even in the blue paint anymore. Is that Hammers fualt Price slides 5-6 feet side to side?

Price guarenteed the guy who was the least threat wouldnt score, good for him. Wrong move though. Goalies need to be able to identify and rank who are the threats. Price epic failed on that play because he paid 0 attention to the guy who was centereed on the opposite post who was almost in the crease. If Pricew hadnt been cheating and not been to far back in his net, a simple poke check probably could have stopped the goal scoring pass.

What pisses me off if Price does this quite a bit. I swear Price puts teflon on his leg pads, he seems to slide way to far when he slides like that. All of Prices bad goals are almost identical usual bad goals and theres definitely an abundance of goals where he's not even between the pipes.

Was that the first goal. That was not Price's fault. Laich destroyed everyone on the way in and deked Price out of his shorts. Thats it. Anyway, I'm done with this junk. Nice win by the Habs against the best offense in the NHL!

[Trizzak]

Hey Trizz, you ready for my new campaign of pointing out every rebound Halak directs? It'll be more way more intense than my NCAA pix suck campaingn and just as correct.

At this point we should just replace all the text in your posts with an animated .gif of someone beating a dead horse.

[BCHabnut]

If you are talking about the Backstrom goal then you are confused. The player that shoots almost twice as much as any other player recieves a tape to tape pass is alone in the slot I think I would expect a shot. The pass by OV to Backstrom was beautiful as was the finishing play. I can't fault Carey for that goal. Like I said. The last two were weak. That is bad. I believe Halak would have kept the Habs in this one for a regulation win. I like him a lot. I am not a supporter or cheerleader or hater or whatever crap you guys say. I call em as I see em. Carey F%$^ed up tonight and his team bailed him out. But consider the opponent and be happy for once.

[Colin]

Holy crap, we beat the best team in the league. This reads like a major loss. Perspective, people.

[JCPetit]

Price had a good game until the 3rd period. Obviously, he made a few mistakes out there, but still battle to stop some hard shots. His confidence level is not very high at this point. At least, he got the win against the highest scoring team in the league. Let's not be too negative here. He managed to beat the Capitals, even though he was not at his best. I guess that Halak will get the next start, but at least he won.

[BCHabnut]

Price had a good game until the 3rd period. Obviously, he made a few mistakes out there, but still battle to stop some hard shots. His confidence level is not very high at this point. At least, he got the win against the highest scoring team in the league. Let's not be too negative here. He managed to beat the Capitals, even though he was not at his best. I guess that Halak will get the next start, but at least he won.

THIS

Have a look at Jonathan Quick. WHO? Exactly. He is the 24 year old goalie who nobody has heard of in LA. He is playing amazing right now. He also played a solid chunk of his last few years in the minors developing. This is the normal route a goalie takes. I will not hang Price until the end of 2012. When he is 24. Until then, he is developing nicely. But decisions need to be made on how well he plays. I don't expect him to get a huge raise next year. If he gets a raise at all.

Edited February 11, 2010 by BCHabnut

[nhfarber]

Can we all keep in mind that we just sent a 22 year old goalie to play arguable the best offensive team in the last 20 years after sitting on the bench for more than 10 days.

I'd say all things considered he handled himself pretty good. Did you see the way these Capitals humiliated Fleury the other day? Even the best goalies look awful against this team. The reality is that Price made enough saves to keep the team in it against the best team in the league. Could Halak have done the same? Probably. He's been playing great lately too, but one has to think that his rebound issues would have been more of a factor against a team like Washington.

People here spend so much time fighting over who's "their guy" in goal. Cheer up folks, we have two young promising goalies, either of whom I'd trust to start right now. How many other teams can actually say that?

[jackp]

Ovechkin went for the puck no matter what even though he was against one of the tallest guy in the league (Gill). What a player... impressive

No way he went for the puck... He charged Gill to get him slamming into the goalie. The only thing wrong with that call is that it should have been a penalty for interference.

[nyckdkool]

Price seems to have a knack for making the great save but giving up the weak goal, my biggest concern with him and it may have more to do with playing time and developing a feel for his dmen, but he when he plays the puck, far more often than halak or most goalies, he often causes confusion and chaos as a result, he put's his D in bad positions, he gives the puck away and everything breaks down deep in the d zone, he or his stick interferes with the Dman who is in position to move the puck. In the past he has cost his team goals as a result of his carelessness and last night there were 2 or 3 instances where if he just stayed in his damm net and allowed the dman to make the play there would have been fewer scoring opp's for Wash off the turnover.

[bar]

No way he went for the puck... He charged Gill to get him slamming into the goalie. The only thing wrong with that call is that it should have been a penalty for interference.

Agreed. There could have been one of three penalties called on it. Interference (no puck), charging, heck even elbowing. For all Ovies praise...he plays dirty.

[jackp]

Haha your big 'setting me straight' is "this kid is out of whack"? I bring up real reasons for your golden boy not being as great as you think, and you counter with...this is kid is out of whack. You'll never convince me Halak is more than a glorified backup, and I'll stop trying to get you to admit Price is more than such.

As an aside, you need to stop whining when I bring up Halaks infamous rebound control, no amount of sugar coating will change the fact that's his Achilles heel.

Hey! Think about it! Bar is the "anti-jackp"!

Seriously though, I can sympathize with Bar on this one. The kid hadn't played in 5 games, and then they put him in against the highest scoring team in the league. Plus, he knew he needed a good game and that added even more pressure.

I didn't think he was great last night, but I was very pleased with how hard he was trying. We need more of that fire coming out of this kid. And I honestly think he would have done well in the shootout.

And Bar, though we are on opposite ends on this, at least you have the guts to be passionate about what you feel. You never try to be politically correct, and I appreciate that...

[Habsfan]

Good morning boys. I was lucky enough to have tickets for last nights game and boy was it ever an exciting game. I had good seats (Section 109, row D) which was about 10 rows up behind Price in the 1st and 3rd periods.

Although Carey did let in a few softies, he did make some important saves in the 1st and 2nd periods. Seeing as he hasn't played much in the past 3 weeks, I think it's safe to say that he was a little rusty (especially with his catching glove), but overall, he made enough saves for our boys to get the win. Between the 3rd and Overtime, we could tell that Carey was really mad at himself for letting that 5tjh goal in. He kicked the boards near the Habs bench so lound, that we all heard it.

This was my first time seeing Ovechkin Live, and let me tell you, he is freakin' impressive! He takes shots from everywhere, and 90% of his shots make it to the net(maybe Spacek can take a few lessons from Ovie!?!? ;) ) He's a notch above everyone else on the ice, he's faster and has no problems dishing out the hits(he leveled Hal Gill in the 2nd period when that washington goal was refused). The Caps were going on all cylinders in teh 3rd period, and our boys kinda at on the lead. I hate Jacques Martin's passive agressive style. There was almost no forechecking by our boys in the 3rd, and it allowed th4e Caps to enter our zone easily!

In the end, I like the fact that our boys finally gave Carey some goal support, and I'm very happy that our boys won it in Overtime, cause had we lost that game, alot of us would be crucifying Price this morning!

Edited February 11, 2010 by Habsfan

[KEEP26]

big win last night..beat the best team in the the east..put a end to the was cap winning streak..way to go habs..

price had 33 saves and the team score 6 goals..all around good game by everone...(was it just me or did Markov look a little off last night)

if your on this game thread fighting about price and halak then that is sad...we just play and beat the hottest team in the nhl and guys are still crying about goalies..GOD help us...

[Habsfan]

Agreed. There could have been one of three penalties called on it. Interference (no puck), charging, heck even elbowing. For all Ovies praise...he plays dirty.

Yup, when I looked at my buddy after the Caps had scored, I said this is either a charging/elbowing penalty for OV, or the goal is good.

[bar]

Hey! Think about it! Bar is the "anti-jackp"!

Seriously though, I can sympathize with Bar on this one. The kid hadn't played in 5 games, and then they put him in against the highest scoring team in the league. Plus, he knew he needed a good game and that added even more pressure.

I didn't think he was great last night, but I was very pleased with how hard he was trying. We need more of that fire coming out of this kid. And I honestly think he would have done well in the shootout.

And Bar, though we are on opposite ends on this, at least you have the guts to be passionate about what you feel. You never try to be politically correct, and I appreciate that...

Haha...right back at ya.

Yes, it was lame of us to talk about the goalie situation. The situation last night was a little too heated, and apologize to SirBog and KoZed (though I swear he does it on purpose just to get me going!), haha no one likes to lose an argument, and it went on a little too far.

Short handed team, first ever NHL goal for Pyatt, this was a great victory never minding how it came about.

S.kost was flying, Laps was active last night too...good show to everyone. I do think it shows we lack D men for the PP, someone before had the suggestion of trying S.kost there, and I think it makes sense now, with the way he's playing now to have him back there.

[JCPetit]

big win last night..beat the best team in the the east..put a end to the was cap winning streak..way to go habs..

price had 33 saves and the team score 6 goals..all around good game by everone...(was it just me or did Markov look a little off last night)

if your on this game thread fighting about price and halak then that is sad...we just play and beat the hottest team in the nhl and guys are still crying about goalies..GOD help us...

Markov played more than 30 minutes; he was exhausted and said so after the game. Same thing with Hamrlik who made a couple of big mistakes, notably on the 4th goal.

[Habsfan]

I am wondering what you all think of Plek. Is he a mirage? Is this the true Plek? He really seems to be dominating...like every night he has a part in everything.

I think this is the real Plex. He's growing into his own. No more Kovalev and Koivi to cast a shadow over him. He has matured alot in the past 2 years. He did have a lousy year last year, but then again, who had a good year for the hasb in 2008-2009??

The Team 990 announced that Pierre Gauthier contacted Plex's agent and discussions have started(good news) and listening to what Plex had to say the other day, my guess is that we could probably sign him for under 5 million$ per season. He seems to really enjoy Montreal, and doesn't mind the pressure. Get him signed ASAP!