GDT Dec. 29, Habs vs Canes, 7 PM

[DON]

Don't egg on the Blowout Crowd!!

(blowout is one sign of apocalypse)

[Habs30/31]

There really are no easy games anymore. Good teams can consistently win close games, bad teams can still put forward a good effort but they are bad because they usually lose close ones. Blowouts are fairly rare when you think about it.

True. Upon closer look though which team actually played better. Habs have been on both sides of that. Last night the canes were playing better most would agree. Certainly saw Price alot more than Ward. Carey was the games first star, Cam not even consideration. Thats telling.

[JoeLassister]

Yea i guess. I still dont think the habs played well. They were rested, they are disgustingly healthy, and were playing a team that stinks.

Either did the coach. MT commented after game "we cant go into play offs with a team like this" Then he ripped subban, slighted chucky, and complimented dd and pap.

Good thing the playoffs are 46 games away.

[Habs30/31]

DD and PAP played much better than Galchenyuk and Subban, not a shocker just truth.

Weise and Prust also stood out and got nothing to do with language.

It was another Therrien on ANtichamber who criticized team wasn't it? Gaston?

After checking that out you are indeed correct. My bad. It was Gaston not Michelle.

Thanks D

[hab29RETIRED]

Not really. Shots were about even. Scoring chances even more even.

In fact, the only reason whe allowed a goal was because a Canes player put his stick under Price's glove so he couldn't cover the puck as he was just about to do.

Were we watching the same game??? Switch goalies and we would have been down 3-0 in the first period. Price made a lot of great saves. I don't recall Ward making one.

[Habs30/31]

Were we watching the same game??? Switch goalies and we would have been down 3-0 in the first period. Price made a lot of great saves. I don't recall Ward making one.

Thats the game i saw. Dont know how 29-19 in shots is "about even" ha!

[Habs30/31]

Florida far better than team than Hurricanes. Habs will have to be way better.

Game plan. Carey Price

Be interesting to see if Gallant has abetter game plan for his old team.

predict a Panthers win.

[Guest Stogey24]

Its not just the shots either. Its almost like Montreal plays down to teams. We'd never see a game like that against Boston.

[hab29RETIRED]

Thats the game i saw. Dont know how 29-19 in shots is "about even" ha!

it wasn't just the shot total. Canes were the better team in the first. It could have been game over in the 1st if weren't for Price.

[JoeLassister]

Look at my avatar. Couldn't care less about shots. What I mean is always "good shots / good scoring chances".

On every shot, I tell myself "easy save" or "that could have been a goal". I look at deflections, WHO shoots the puck, angle, where the shot is coming, etc.

And yes, in my eyes, it was even. Don,t care about how many shots Price saves easily, only the good scoring chances matter to me.

And by the way, if we were not to rely on Price, we would not pay a goalie huge money like that. We'd just trade him for superstar offensive player and play a mediocre goalie.

Having a superstar goalie is not luck. It's part of our strategy and shouldn't be seen as a privilege.

[hab29RETIRED]

Price and Ward make about the same. The difference in last night's game was that price made 5 or 6 big saves, ward only faced 3 good chances and let in 3.

I don't think their is another team that relies in their goalie to win as we do this year. Defensivley we are looking a lot like the Avs last year - without the offense the Avs had.

Look at my avatar. Couldn't care less about shots. What I mean is always "good shots / good scoring chances".

On every shot, I tell myself "easy save" or "that could have been a goal". I look at deflections, WHO shoots the puck, angle, where the shot is coming, etc.

And yes, in my eyes, it was even. Don,t care about how many shots Price saves easily, only the good scoring chances matter to me.

And by the way, if we were not to rely on Price, we would not pay a goalie huge money like that. We'd just trade him for superstar offensive player and play a mediocre goalie.

Having a superstar goalie is not luck. It's part of our strategy and shouldn't be seen as a privilege.

[Machine of Loving Grace]

i thought it was a cruddy game by the Habs, absolutely. Carolina got two major players back and wanted to win badly at home. For all of the talk that the Sabres are the worst team in the east, it's the Hurricanes sitting in 29th only three points ahead of the Oilers. They are 18 points out of a playoff spot. Nobody has scored less goals this year than Carolina. There's good players on their team and getting two back? They wanted to make a statement. That said, Montreal outshot them in the first and then played the defensive road game after two goals in the second. They had less shots in the second and third combined than they had in the first. Six of Carolina's shots were on the PP. Chris Lee was also refereeing and it's amazing we didn't get more dumb penalties because of that.

I think Sekac, Eller, Gonchar, Beaulieu and Price were the best players of the game and the rest were either middling or questionable. I'm glad to see Lars Eller play well on a road game.

Montreal has the 4th best road record in the East and the 9th best in the league. Let me remind folks that only two teams won on the road last night out of the 12 games. The Lightning are the only team in the league with more points than the Habs with a weaker road record. 12-5-3 is the best road record in the league. 12-5-3 is only the 12th best home record. It doesn't matter how you win on the road, just that you do.

We're gonna be on the road until January 6th. That means three more road games. We won't have a road trip like this again until the four game road trip beginning in March. I don't care how outshot we are in those games either. Just survive it.

[Habs30/31]

Look at my avatar. Couldn't care less about shots. What I mean is always "good shots / good scoring chances".

On every shot, I tell myself "easy save" or "that could have been a goal". I look at deflections, WHO shoots the puck, angle, where the shot is coming, etc.

And yes, in my eyes, it was even. Don,t care about how many shots Price saves easily, only the good scoring chances matter to me.

And by the way, if we were not to rely on Price, we would not pay a goalie huge money like that. We'd just trade him for superstar offensive player and play a mediocre goalie.

Having a superstar goalie is not luck. It's part of our strategy and shouldn't be seen as a privilege.

All true. Does not change the fact the canes played better than the habs did last night. Their forwards gave our d alot more work than our forwards gave their d. They broke out of their zone alt better than the habs did. They held the habs to under 20 shots. Montreal held the canes to 28 shots. Price out played Ward. So yes having a great goaltender is not luck. (gainey drafted him on purpose) and it showed last night that the only place the habs out played the canes was in the blue paint. Of course we will take it. But we all know the habs coach and players were not happy with that effort.

[KoRP]

i thought it was a cruddy game by the Habs, absolutely. Carolina got two major players back and wanted to win badly at home. For all of the talk that the Sabres are the worst team in the east, it's the Hurricanes sitting in 29th only three points ahead of the Oilers. They are 18 points out of a playoff spot. Nobody has scored less goals this year than Carolina. There's good players on their team and getting two back? They wanted to make a statement. That said, Montreal outshot them in the first and then played the defensive road game after two goals in the second. They had less shots in the second and third combined than they had in the first. Six of Carolina's shots were on the PP. Chris Lee was also refereeing and it's amazing we didn't get more dumb penalties because of that.

I think Sekac, Eller, Gonchar, Beaulieu and Price were the best players of the game and the rest were either middling or questionable. I'm glad to see Lars Eller play well on a road game.

Montreal has the 4th best road record in the East and the 9th best in the league. Let me remind folks that only two teams won on the road last night out of the 12 games. The Lightning are the only team in the league with more points than the Habs with a weaker road record. 12-5-3 is the best road record in the league. 12-5-3 is only the 12th best home record. It doesn't matter how you win on the road, just that you do.

We're gonna be on the road until January 6th. That means three more road games. We won't have a road trip like this again until the four game road trip beginning in March. I don't care how outshot we are in those games either. Just survive it.

Word!

That's the truth of it right there, survive the road and maintain. I thought it was a typical Habs road win, first star Carey Price, and hang on....

[Lovett's Magnatones]

All true. Does not change the fact the canes played better than the habs did last night. Their forwards gave our d alot more work than our forwards gave their d. They broke out of their zone alt better than the habs did. They held the habs to under 20 shots. Montreal held the canes to 28 shots. Price out played Ward. So yes having a great goaltender is not luck. (gainey drafted him on purpose) and it showed last night that the only place the habs out played the canes was in the blue paint. Of course we will take it. But we all know the habs coach and players were not happy with that effort.

They didn't play better than the Habs because they trailed the entire game and they scored less goals.

As for the Ward/Price comparison, Ward got a big deal because of a Cup run. If you're wondering what Jon Quick will look like in five years you saw it last night.

[Habs30/31]

i thought it was a cruddy game by the Habs, absolutely. Carolina got two major players back and wanted to win badly at home. For all of the talk that the Sabres are the worst team in the east, it's the Hurricanes sitting in 29th only three points ahead of the Oilers. They are 18 points out of a playoff spot. Nobody has scored less goals this year than Carolina. There's good players on their team and getting two back? They wanted to make a statement. That said, Montreal outshot them in the first and then played the defensive road game after two goals in the second. They had less shots in the second and third combined than they had in the first. Six of Carolina's shots were on the PP. Chris Lee was also refereeing and it's amazing we didn't get more dumb penalties because of that.

I think Sekac, Eller, Gonchar, Beaulieu and Price were the best players of the game and the rest were either middling or questionable. I'm glad to see Lars Eller play well on a road game.

Montreal has the 4th best road record in the East and the 9th best in the league. Let me remind folks that only two teams won on the road last night out of the 12 games. The Lightning are the only team in the league with more points than the Habs with a weaker road record. 12-5-3 is the best road record in the league. 12-5-3 is only the 12th best home record. It doesn't matter how you win on the road, just that you do.

We're gonna be on the road until January 6th. That means three more road games. We won't have a road trip like this again until the four game road trip beginning in March. I don't care how outshot we are in those games either. Just survive it.

and with Price we likely will "just survive" like last night.

[habs rule]

it wasn't just the shot total. Canes were the better team in the first. It could have been game over in the 1st if weren't for Price.

Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah damn near every game. Le Genius has a plan, I just can't figure it out. In 50 years of watching hockey this is a new plan. Start slow, screw the PP ,don't need it. Rely on goaltender to keep you in game till team wakes up in the second or third. Don't make too many in game adjustments, except to staple some poor sap to the bench if he makes a mistake. Preferably a rookie. Thank the Great Pumkin that you have the best goalie in the league. The results are there boys. It works.

[JoeLassister]

Price and Ward make about the same. The difference in last night's game was that price made 5 or 6 big saves, ward only faced 3 good chances and let in 3.

I don't think their is another team that relies in their goalie to win as we do this year. Defensivley we are looking a lot like the Avs last year - without the offense the Avs had.

This is where I disagree. Whe had more quality chances than that.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Interesting discussion. Personally, I wouldn't read a whole lot into one nothing road game against a nothing team after a long layoff in the middle of the season. That's almost the prototype of a game in which the point is to just get the darned win and get out.

The wider question of whether the Habs are chronically outplayed is more significant. I tend to think that people are collapsing together two distinct issues here: our poor first periods, and overall play over 60 minutes. If I had to generalize, I'd suggest that we tend to outplay opponents over the final 2/3rds of games, after Carey keeps us in the mix during the first period, and that's why we keep getting wins. People seem to be fixating on the weak opening period and inferring too much from that, as a rule; after all, the other 40 minutes do count.

Of course, it would be nice to own a team for 60 unbroken minutes. That's a lot to ask in today's NHL, though.

[Toronthab]

Good thing the playoffs are 46 games away.

The players all are aware of that...they've got 46 dances on their cards before they get to ballroom dancing.

[Toronthab]

i thought it was a cruddy game by the Habs, absolutely. Carolina got two major players back and wanted to win badly at home. For all of the talk that the Sabres are the worst team in the east, it's the Hurricanes sitting in 29th only three points ahead of the Oilers. They are 18 points out of a playoff spot. Nobody has scored less goals this year than Carolina. There's good players on their team and getting two back? They wanted to make a statement. That said, Montreal outshot them in the first and then played the defensive road game after two goals in the second. They had less shots in the second and third combined than they had in the first. Six of Carolina's shots were on the PP. Chris Lee was also refereeing and it's amazing we didn't get more dumb penalties because of that.

I think Sekac, Eller, Gonchar, Beaulieu and Price were the best players of the game and the rest were either middling or questionable. I'm glad to see Lars Eller play well on a road game.

Montreal has the 4th best road record in the East and the 9th best in the league. Let me remind folks that only two teams won on the road last night out of the 12 games. The Lightning are the only team in the league with more points than the Habs with a weaker road record. 12-5-3 is the best road record in the league. 12-5-3 is only the 12th best home record. It doesn't matter how you win on the road, just that you do.

We're gonna be on the road until January 6th. That means three more road games. We won't have a road trip like this again until the four game road trip beginning in March. I don't care how outshot we are in those games either. Just survive it.

Well...If you keep setting an example of pertinent data, solid premises and entailed conclusions...you make it rather difficult for me to appear at all interesting! Would you consider lowering your standards? :-)

[dlbalr]

seems more like a square peg being put in a round hole. It's one thing to ask a player to be responsible defensively, it's another to ask a goal scorer to play on an entirely checking line. That would be like putting Bowman with galchenyuk and MaxPac and then sending him back for not scoring.

I know what you're getting at but Bowman would actually have a much better chance of succeeding with the Habs if he was put in more of an offensive role. Like Andrighetto, he's not really a defensive checker. The big issue is right now, there aren't many options on the farm to competently play a fourth line role. There's Tangradi...but given his recent stint, you might have to put a prefix before the word competently. Not much else to choose from for a line 4 spot.

[Toronthab]

Interesting discussion. Personally, I wouldn't read a whole lot into one nothing road game against a nothing team after a long layoff in the middle of the season. That's almost the prototype of a game in which the point is to just get the darned win and get out.

The wider question of whether the Habs are chronically outplayed is more significant. I tend to think that people are collapsing together two distinct issues here: our poor first periods, and overall play over 60 minutes. If I had to generalize, I'd suggest that we tend to outplay opponents over the final 2/3rds of games, after Carey keeps us in the mix during the first period, and that's why we keep getting wins. People seem to be fixating on the weak opening period and inferring too much from that, as a rule; after all, the other 40 minutes do count.

Of course, it would be nice to own a team for 60 unbroken minutes. That's a lot to ask in today's NHL, though.

And in that short 82 game season. It's a wonderful anybody's still alive at the end.

[Habs30/31]

If habs play like they did last night..............Carey will have to be near perfect again to win. Fortunately he is very capable of it.

Got a feeling habs are due for a loss though. If price does not play tonight, (which is very likely as he has played 11 straight). Habs lose

[Toronthab]

I know what you're getting at but Bowman would actually have a much better chance of succeeding with the Habs if he was put in more of an offensive role. Like Andrighetto, he's not really a defensive checker. The big issue is right now, there aren't many options on the farm to competently play a fourth line role. There's Tangradi...but given his recent stint, you might have to put a prefix before the word competently. Not much else to choose from for a line 4 spot.

I think he's there to learn, not to excel. To develop some reflexes and experience without the team actually counting on him to produce. Ice time with reduced responsibility. Seems ok to me..but maybe that's not the best yardstick available...