GDT: Montreal vs Carolina, Dec. 23, 2010

[hab29RETIRED]

what's with Gomez tonigth, he is shooting!

[bar]

Captain Jean Luc Picard!

[brobin]

wow.. another great shift by Gomez and we have another goal... if we can get the pleks and the gomez lines producing like this regularly we will be fine.

Now AK won't go to the dirty area again.. twice pleks was looking for the same play, but AK is sitting high up and making no effort to go hard to the net.... Once is not enough AK.. doing it every time!

[hab29RETIRED]

and now a dumb penalty by Hammer

[bar]

Ray Ferraro seems to really hate the habs...anyone else feel that vibe from his commentary?

[hab29RETIRED]

Ray Ferraro seems to really hate the habs...anyone else feel that vibe from his commentary?

problem with most announcers these days is that they were foiled by the 80/90's habs. Habs knocked out teams that Healy, Hrudy, Ferraro, Mcguire played/coached. Then you also have the jealous leafers that have been in agony since 1967.

You also have the two biggest morons on the CBC - Cherry & Milbury who don't have a cup courtesy of the 70's habs. Unfortunately all the former habs that are in broadcasting are on RDS - although they aren't much better.

[brobin]

sigh.. bad clear, really bad defensive play down low.. and now our usual delay of game penalty.

Hang on to your jock Price, you are going to have to save their butts in the third!

[Toronthab]

That Gomez is such a phenomenal skater. Wow ... from his earlier play..

[brobin]

well, we are in full on turtle mode now... going to the wire I think.

[Toronthab]

Nice timing on that penalty

How come Habs Killin' Cole didnt sing our siren song.... (OK, Nat King Cole is a bit of a reach...)

I did a little video on my favourite Christmas card from a buddy who knows me too well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkcwtsWUumA

Edited December 24, 2010 by Toronthab

[BTH]

WTF...god damnit Hammer...if that was PK he'd be crucified...

I don't get this thinking... PK isn't being crucified for making mistakes, he's a rookie having trouble outplaying Montreal's other 6 d-men (including 1-2 other rookies). At the moment, Hammer is a better player than Subban is, that's why he stays in the line up after making a mistake. If Subban wants to get away with making mistakes, as he did in his first 30 NHL games when he was even LESS experienced, then he will need to contribute something to make up for his downside. As of late, he is making no contribution to this team and is no more reliable than Weber or Picard. If he wants to get back in the line up, he should play like a starting NHL d-man.

[hab29RETIRED]

hung on for the win - Price was solid in holding down the win! Gomez was skating and SHOOTING and Pleks was everywhere. This game really did expose our "top" dman though. Hamrlik was horrible, the only positive contribution from Spacek was "drawing" the 5 min major.

[bar]

I don't get this thinking... PK isn't being crucified for making mistakes, he's a rookie having trouble outplaying Montreal's other 6 d-men (including 1-2 other rookies). At the moment, Hammer is a better player than Subban is, that's why he stays in the line up after making a mistake. If Subban wants to get away with making mistakes, as he did in his first 30 NHL games when he was even LESS experienced, then he will need to contribute something to make up for his downside. As of late, he is making no contribution to this team and is no more reliable than Weber or Picard. If he wants to get back in the line up, he should play like a starting NHL d-man.

I disagree BTH, Hammer makes pretty much the same mistakes as Subban, you really think PK adds nothing to the team? How many times has Subban kept in pucks at the blue line on the PP, it's usually 1-2 a game where other, slower, Hammer or Spacey would have let it go by them. I guess we just see things different.

[dlbalr]

Dec. 23, in Carolina, with Chris Lee refereeing. The trifecta of bad news and the Habs still won. Good enough for me!

[BTH]

I disagree BTH, Hammer makes pretty much the same mistakes as Subban, you really think PK adds nothing to the team? How many times has Subban kept in pucks at the blue line on the PP, it's usually 1-2 a game where other, slower, Hammer or Spacey would have let it go by them. I guess we just see things different.

Hammer is a solid second pairing d-man that makes an occasional mistake. Subban is a third pairing d-man that makes mistakes constantly. His main strengths are speed and rushing but he uses them in the worst ways and gets caught out of position. I think he will be a star one day but not until he learns some discipline. He works hard and is all over the ice but he would probably benefit from conserving energy and playing a more boring game. It isn't as exciting as watching the Capitals play but the Capitals aren't going to win the Cup. If you want to win, boring is better.

[bar]

Occasional mistake? There is where I question your mistake counting. I guess we'll just agree to disagree.

[Toronthab]

Dec. 23, in Carolina, with Chris Lee refereeing. The trifecta of bad news and the Habs still won. Good enough for me!

Amen

[JoeLassister]

Hamrlik can thanks Eric Cole for this one.

[jrhabs]

Did Staal get pissed that Spacek was faking his injury ? I saw him elevating his arms and screaming "get up" near the boards ?

That freaking p##### needs to get his bell rung . First he takes out our Marky and now this ?!

[kenadian]

Staal was yapping at Gomez on the late tripping call by LaRose, and even with Ward pulled (playing 5 on 5) we we're scrambling to hang on........

Edited December 24, 2010 by kenadian

[Wamsley01]

Hammer is a solid second pairing d-man that makes an occasional mistake. Subban is a third pairing d-man that makes mistakes constantly. His main strengths are speed and rushing but he uses them in the worst ways and gets caught out of position. I think he will be a star one day but not until he learns some discipline. He works hard and is all over the ice but he would probably benefit from conserving energy and playing a more boring game. It isn't as exciting as watching the Capitals play but the Capitals aren't going to win the Cup. If you want to win, boring is better.

BTH, you are bang on.

Subban is nowhere near the defenseman Roman Hamrlik is at this exact moment. Defense is not about rushing the puck, booming slapshots and creating offense. It is about positioning, ability to read the play, anticipating danger before it happens, containing dangerous physical forwards, poise and calm with the puck etc etc.

It is great that everybody loves PK, but he doesn't get the Staal's and Crosby's to defend. He gets easier minutes. He doesn't have the experience to understand the things that Crosby may or can do. If Hamrlik makes 4 mistakes in a game and PK makes 4, IT DOESN'T equal out. If Hamrlik played against the second or third line forwards his mistakes would decrease, if PK played his minutes against the top line his mistakes would increase.

Hamrlik is at the end of his career, but people tend to forget that this guy was the 1st pick overall. The guy is a rock solid defenseman.

PK Subban has the chance to be something special and at worst he will probably be a Matthieu Schneider type of defenseman, but he has played less than 40 NHL games. To think he is at the same level as Hamrlik today is unrealistic.

Also found it interesting that the knives were sharpening last night at habsinsideout in regards to Price after the 2nd goal.

A small losing streak is enough to remove early season goodwill and jettison a man under a bus. Scapegoating is the easy way

out folks, looking for real answers is the difficult task.

Edited December 24, 2010 by Wamsley01

[dlbalr]

I agree fully with the above assessment. Hamrlik and Spacek as well get the toughest assignments; the Habs have done well shielding Subban from drawing the tough ones and letting him find his way against the 2nd and 3rd lines.

Here's the QualComp stats, Subban is towards the bottom of the list while Hamrlik is in the top-10, though lower than I thought: http://www.behindthenet.ca/2010/new_5_on_5...am=MTL&pos=

On Price, I think he has been a little off the last few games and fatigue has something to do with it I'd guess. Not necessarily physical fatigue, but rather mental. Even if he has faced a big workload before back in junior, the NHL obviously isn't the same, it's a much quicker pace. Especially coming off a season where he didn't see a lot of work down the stretch, I can understand why his mind may not be quite as sharp. You can work out and get in physical shape all you want, but that's only part of the story. That's where I'd like to see Auld get a couple more games, even if they're in relief in blowouts (either winning or losing). Even if it's a partial rest, it still helps. That all said, Price had a very strong 3rd last night and was a key factor in the Habs holding on for the win.

[Wamsley01]

I agree fully with the above assessment. Hamrlik and Spacek as well get the toughest assignments; the Habs have done well shielding Subban from drawing the tough ones and letting him find his way against the 2nd and 3rd lines.

Here's the QualComp stats, Subban is towards the bottom of the list while Hamrlik is in the top-10, though lower than I thought: http://www.behindthenet.ca/2010/new_5_on_5...am=MTL&pos=

On Price, I think he has been a little off the last few games and fatigue has something to do with it I'd guess. Not necessarily physical fatigue, but rather mental. Even if he has faced a big workload before back in junior, the NHL obviously isn't the same, it's a much quicker pace. Especially coming off a season where he didn't see a lot of work down the stretch, I can understand why his mind may not be quite as sharp. You can work out and get in physical shape all you want, but that's only part of the story. That's where I'd like to see Auld get a couple more games, even if they're in relief in blowouts (either winning or losing). Even if it's a partial rest, it still helps. That all said, Price had a very strong 3rd last night and was a key factor in the Habs holding on for the win.

Boone threw him to the Wolves on his GameBlog when he said he was out of position on the first goal.

He wasn't out of position, he was a little deeper than he could have been, but a shot along the ice at that pace should be stopped.

That lead to the blame game.

I would start Auld on Sunday, that would give him 4 days off until the Caps game.

[BlueKross]

Boone threw him to the Wolves on his GameBlog when he said he was out of position on the first goal.

He wasn't out of position, he was a little deeper than he could have been, but a shot along the ice at that pace should be stopped.

That lead to the blame game.

I would start Auld on Sunday, that would give him 4 days off until the Caps game.

I would expect Price to be getting a little tired. Yes Auld needs to play more. I just don't think you can expect a young Price to play a Brodeurish number of games (past years) and stay totally focused. I think Halak suffered from fatigue at one point this year and has come back. I think it is the mental part of the game that wears young players down when they are under the gun for long stretches.

[BTH]

I agree fully with the above assessment. Hamrlik and Spacek as well get the toughest assignments; the Habs have done well shielding Subban from drawing the tough ones and letting him find his way against the 2nd and 3rd lines.

Here's the QualComp stats, Subban is towards the bottom of the list while Hamrlik is in the top-10, though lower than I thought: http://www.behindthenet.ca/2010/new_5_on_5...am=MTL&pos=

Also, I think Weber was as much to blame as Hamrlik on that goal.