Jump to content

Habs at Columbus 7pm EST Caufield Hatty EDITION


Prime Minister Koivu

Recommended Posts

St. Louis really needs to stop pulling the goal on offensive zone faceoffs.  Win the draw, then pull the goalie.  Otherwise, they're going to keep handing opponents quick empty-netters.  There's a balance between aggressive and reckless and this falls on the latter side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

St. Louis really needs to stop pulling the goal on offensive zone faceoffs.  Win the draw, then pull the goalie.  Otherwise, they're going to keep handing opponents quick empty-netters.  There's a balance between aggressive and reckless and this falls on the latter side.

 

I disagree, the extra attacker helps win possession. Maybe not with over two minutes left, but in the final minute you need the extra attacker out there.

 

3 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Entertaining third period. 
 

Slafkofsky had a good game and he looks better and better. 
 

 

 

Yep, Slaf is showing more and more. First career assist tonight, some slick passing and shooting, and strong battles along the boards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Neech said:

I disagree, the extra attacker helps win possession. Maybe not with over two minutes left, but in the final minute you need the extra attacker out there.

 

It hasn't helped the Habs much (if at all) as they tend to lose the faceoff and never gain possession from it.  It's one thing in the final minute as you note but it's reckless to do it off the draw with two and a half minutes left, especially when the player taking the draw was struggling at faceoffs in the game.  Win the draw, then you have possession and can pull the goalie.  Lose the draw and at least they're not coming down and scoring 10 seconds later which has been the outcome a few times in his tenure already as a result of this strategy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

It hasn't helped the Habs much (if at all) as they tend to lose the faceoff and never gain possession from it.  It's one thing in the final minute as you note but it's reckless to do it off the draw with two and a half minutes left, especially when the player taking the draw was struggling at faceoffs in the game.  Win the draw, then you have possession and can pull the goalie.  Lose the draw and at least they're not coming down and scoring 10 seconds later which has been the outcome a few times in his tenure already as a result of this strategy.

 

Anecdotally, I have plenty of memories of us just never getting possession let alone near the net without the extra attacker. At least we're giving ourselves the best chance of scoring. I'd like to believe Marty's decision here is backed by analytics. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

no HATTY for Caufield, but it was an entertaining game that they lost :)

Gallagher and Suzuki played well. Finally, Anderson scored and had a string game. Dvorak and Dadonov generated chances.

 

image.png

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

no HATTY for Caufield, but it was an entertaining game that they lost :)

Gallagher and Suzuki played well. Finally, Anderson scored and had a string game. Dvorak and Dadonov generated chances.

 

image.png

 


Anderson scored recently as well and has been one of the better secondary scoring options, isn’t that big of a surprise especially given playing his former team.

 

Harris and Kova both sucked defensively.  
All of D had questionable game for that matter.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, hockeyrealist said:

Harris and Kova both sucked defensively.  

All of D had questionable game for that matter.

Defensive mistakes combined with goaltending mistakes -- this is what many of us were expecting to see regularly, before the season started. Surprisingly, both defence and goaltending have been better than expected this season, but last night it was not the case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Too bad Xhekaj fell, he was about to feed that guy

BOOOoooooo!

Too bad he wasnt smarter and said no thanks to goofy fight, at that point in game, but Arber the Barbarian pleased the fans at least.

 

#26/44/54/58 had 3 shots each.

 

Is almost painful to watch Dadanov play, he dont look like a 20 goal guy.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, DON said:

BOOOoooooo!

Too bad he wasnt smarter and said no thanks to goofy fight, at that point in game, but Arber the Barbarian pleased the fans at least.

 

#26/44/54/58 had 3 shots each.

 

Is almost painful to watch Dadanov play, he dont look like a 20 goal guy.


I actually thought Dadonov played better the last two games. He shows signs of what was a decent player. 
 

I agree that the staged fight was useless. Still, since the fight was happening I wanted Xhekaj to break his face. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Brian on there needing to be an adjustment when it comes to the manner in which the goaltender is being pulled. Patrick Roy did it years ago and it worked so everyone began copying it.

 

For me, it’s like a drop shot in tennis. Do it once, and it surprises your opponent. Perform it multiple times, and your opponent will make adjustments and turn on the offensive because you are bringing them to the net. 
 

Analogy aside, there are two factors in play here.

 

1) It is no longer a surprising tactic to pull your goalie with a few minutes left. Teams have made adjustments when it comes to defending this threat for a longer period of time.

 

2) The team itself has to be good, or have quality training with what to do with the extra man once they have it. 6 on 5 isn’t the exact same as 5 on 4 but the Habs power play is 28th in the league out of 32 teams. It does not surprise me that we are having this conversation in regards to this specific team. The analytics may show that a team has an advantage when they have the “man advantage” but the statistics also show that the Habs themselves are poor in this respect, for whatever reason.

 

I tend to agree that in the case of the Habs, St. Louis’ decision making has been borderline reckless when it comes to pulling the goalie because it has indeed happened many times where the opposing team scores their empty net goal with over 90 seconds left. With that much time left in a one goal game, the Habs are still in it. We go from a situation where the Habs are throwing their guts at the wall and pressing giving it their all, to a joyous celebration and sense of relief for the other team; all of this with plenty of time left still on the clock.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, TurdBurglar said:

You benched Suzuki in a pool?  Any admins around to rightfully get this man banned?

Haha. I benched hugges against suzuki and hughes put up 3 points. He Saud it himself. He's on a heater.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:


I actually thought Dadonov played better the last two games. He shows signs of what was a decent player. 
 

I was about to say the same thing. He looked pretty strong last night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, tomh009 said:

This is the first game, I think, that our D has really looked like a bunch of rookies. And, oddly, it took the last-place team to do that.

 

I thought Guhle still looked good. 

 

Harris, despite his goal, probably had the worst game of his NHL career to date (as short as it may be). 

 

Xhekaj i think is gonna be sent down when Mattheson is activated. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Xhekaj i think is gonna be sent down when Mattheson is activated. 

Seems to make the most sense. Let Wideman sit above eating hot dogs, not the young man who can play more in Laval.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Commandant said:

I thought Guhle still looked good. 

 

Harris, despite his goal, probably had the worst game of his NHL career to date (as short as it may be). 

 

Xhekaj i think is gonna be sent down when Mattheson is activated. 

Guhle is a keeper, for sure. And, overall, our D has been a very pleasant surprise.

 

Some people think that Xhekaj would be demoralized in Laval but I think that's highly unlikely. He's been undrafted twice, and worked at Costco to get money for training during COVID. Making space for Matheson (for now) is unlikely to hurt his determination to succeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


This is just practice of course but I wouldn’t doubt if these pairings are what we see on Saturday with both Wideman and Xhekaj sitting. 
 

I think Pitlick was sent back down so maybe we carry 8 Dmen for now? Although I can’t see that long term because other than Wideman, we don’t want anyone sitting. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I think Pitlick was sent back down so maybe we carry 8 Dmen for now? Although I can’t see that long term because other than Wideman, we don’t want anyone sitting. 

 

Laval plays at home tonight so Pitlick can play there and be recalled tomorrow.  Matheson is activated, Xhekaj goes down from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...