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Montreal Canadiens vs. Anaheim Ducks | November 29th, 2016 | 10:00 EST


Habsfan84

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Man...16-4. That record is sick. Interestingly, though, the Habs are still not widely regarded as among the league's top contenders. In terms of the East, it's always Pittsburgh, NYR, Tampa and Washington that come up.

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3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Man...16-4. That record is sick. Interestingly, though, the Habs are still not widely regarded as among the league's top contenders. In terms of the East, it's always Pittsburgh, NYR, Tampa and Washington that come up.

I haven't watched many habs games and thought "Damn this is definitely a 16-4 team". Still think we're completely screwed in a playoff series with the lineup as is.

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4 hours ago, bbp said:

I haven't watched many habs games and thought "Damn this is definitely a 16-4 team". Still think we're completely screwed in a playoff series with the lineup as is.

 

I've been thinking the opposite; how is any team going to beat Price 4 games out of 7? 

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Guest Stogey24

Since the 2013-14 campaign, Montreal has managed to collect just four out of a possible 18 points on California soil against the likes of Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles, posting a 1-6-2 record during that span. 

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Ducks in 16th place and they look like they, San Jose & LA also, are among the fading West teams. Hope the Habs don't play down to their level and don't have a piss poor effort at least, which tends to happen out west.

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I'll be at the game tonight! Glad Price is playing. 

 

:1gohabs:

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5 hours ago, illWill said:

 

I've been thinking the opposite; how is any team going to beat Price 4 games out of 7? 

Primarily by completely abusing are atrocious d-core for 7 straight games.

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4 minutes ago, bbp said:

Primarily by completely abusing are atrocious d-core for 7 straight games.

We have an atrocious defence? I am not aware of that. They may not be the best in the league but they are not atrocious.

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Just now, habs rule said:

We have an atrocious defence? I am not aware of that.

Markov isn't going to be holding up by playoffs and any team worth their salt is going to abuse the living hell out of Emelin.

Thinking of a series against a team like Tampa... with Emelin as our #2? I mean Weber has been great but I don't think he is going to be good enough to cover for him.

 

Couple that with Plekanec probably falling off a cliff again to end the season.... not liking our chances.

 

Price has made this D-Core like competent when they've had major issues clearing the zone and generally transition has been mediocre at best.... it is only a matter of time.

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I'd also like to clarify that I love Pleks... just don't see him holding up. Same with Markov. Then what happens? Patryn/Redmond/Beaulieu start taking more minutes? Yikes.

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I agree, the D is of great concern and MB should be trying to orchestrate a trade for a solid #2 or #3 dman.  That needs to happen sooner rather than later.  Then at the deadline, MB can trade for FW rentals for a deep playoff run.

 

As for this California road trip, 1-2 is what I predict.

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2 hours ago, bbp said:

Markov isn't going to be holding up by playoffs and any team worth their salt is going to abuse the living hell out of Emelin.

Thinking of a series against a team like Tampa... with Emelin as our #2? I mean Weber has been great but I don't think he is going to be good enough to cover for him.

 

Couple that with Plekanec probably falling off a cliff again to end the season.... not liking our chances.

 

Price has made this D-Core like competent when they've had major issues clearing the zone and generally transition has been mediocre at best.... it is only a matter of time.

 

Yes if we assume that everything goes wrong, this team will be in trouble.

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2 hours ago, bbp said:

Markov isn't going to be holding up by playoffs and any team worth their salt is going to abuse the living hell out of Emelin.

Thinking of a series against a team like Tampa... with Emelin as our #2? I mean Weber has been great but I don't think he is going to be good enough to cover for him.

 

Couple that with Plekanec probably falling off a cliff again to end the season.... not liking our chances.

 

Price has made this D-Core like competent when they've had major issues clearing the zone and generally transition has been mediocre at best.... it is only a matter of time.

pretty negative stuff in my opinion

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Actually, I don' think bbp is all that off base. Two points in particular:

 

1. Markov is being over-used and will quite probably be running on fumes come the playoffs, if current trends continue. It's also a little-known fact that Markov doesn't have a terribly impressive playoff track-record (notwithstanding his excellence in 2014 versus the Prunes).

 

2. Plekanec was atrocious in the last series against TB, which doesn't instill confidence, and - if I'm right - is no longer a legit #2 C in any case. DD is a playoff joke. Alex Galchenyuk may be awesome, but having him as our only productive C is not a recipe for a long playoff drive.

 

On the other hand, I tend to think of Emelin as a 'big game' player. "Abusing the living hell out of Emelin?" Excuse me, he is the one doing the abusing more often than not. So I have faith that he can come through in the crunch, but it is true that he's more likely to have spikes in excellence in the real key games than be a reliable top-4 guy game-in and game-out over a long playoff run.

 

On balance, I wouldn't accept Commandant's charge that bbp is "assuming everything going wrong." The error is in assuming that Markov and Pleks will be productive with major playoff minutes. At this point, I feel that that's assuming that "everything goes right." The probabilities are against it.

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The problem is that there is no Markov replacement.  Guys like him don't grow on trees; most teams would love to have one.  We really should be platooning him and treating him more as a second-pairing guy until the post-season, but unfortunately that's never going to happen.  Petry's decent I guess, but he's hardly comparable.  

 

I wonder what Markov's thinking about his career beyond this year.  He may have another year or two in him.

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35 minutes ago, habs rule said:

This is likely Markov's last year, he is too slow and is not the "general" he once was. Pleks and DD should go. If we can find a suitable replacement.

Markov is tied for 3rd in NHL scoring for d-men. His foot speed is issue in own end, but he is not 'too slow' at other end of ice.

And we 'should' add Crosby also, but this isnt fantasy hockey we are discussing HR.

 

And :1gohabs:

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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Actually, I don' think bbp is all that off base. Two points in particular:

 

1. Markov is being over-used and will quite probably be running on fumes come the playoffs, if current trends continue. It's also a little-known fact that Markov doesn't have a terribly impressive playoff track-record (notwithstanding his excellence in 2014 versus the Prunes).

 

2. Plekanec was atrocious in the last series against TB, which doesn't instill confidence, and - if I'm right - is no longer a legit #2 C in any case. DD is a playoff joke. Alex Galchenyuk may be awesome, but having him as our only productive C is not a recipe for a long playoff drive.

 

On the other hand, I tend to think of Emelin as a 'big game' player. "Abusing the living hell out of Emelin?" Excuse me, he is the one doing the abusing more often than not. So I have faith that he can come through in the crunch, but it is true that he's more likely to have spikes in excellence in the real key games than be a reliable top-4 guy game-in and game-out over a long playoff run.

 

On balance, I wouldn't accept Commandant's charge that bbp is "assuming everything going wrong." The error is in assuming that Markov and Pleks will be productive with major playoff minutes. At this point, I feel that that's assuming that "everything goes right." The probabilities are against it.

 

1.) Markov is playing 2 minutes less per game this year than last year. 

 

2.) I don't buy narratives of clutch or big game players.... merely of small sample sizes.  If you can produce 5v5 in the regular season, there is no reason you can't produce 5v5 in the playoffs. 

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1 hour ago, habs rule said:

This is likely Markov's last year, he is too slow and is not the "general" he once was. Pleks and DD should go. If we can find a suitable replacement.

 

Markov has been fine defensively.  Not the great player he was previously, but he has not been a liability.  He can sometimes have issues with speed, but for the most part his good positioning and active stick have negated that.  He's no longer the #1 defenceman he was, or even a top pair guy, but he's still solid on the second pair and power play. 

 

 

 

He's also amongst the league leaders in points by a defenceman. 

 

Reports of the demise of Andrei Markov have been greatly exaggerated 

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