Game #22 - November 29, 2022 - Canadiens vs Sharks

[GHT120]

EDIT:  Today's lines

 

 

[DON]

PP is 29th in league.

Should limit the # of passes allowed/shot on the PP.

Simply shoot more maybe?

[GHT120]

1 hour ago, DON said:

PP is 29th in league.

Should limit the # of passes allowed/shot on the PP.

Simply shoot more maybe?

Decline penalties?   Habs have not had a 20% success rate on the PP since 17/18 (21.2% - 12th) and that was the first time since 12/13 ... that previous decade of full seasons the Habs rank 30th in PP% ... 29th this season ... I've almost given up on PPs.

[TurdBurglar]

1 hour ago, DON said:

PP is 29th in league.

Should limit the # of passes allowed/shot on the PP.

Simply shoot more maybe?

It's the Weber trap with Caufield.  PP isn't doing well because it's too predictable with always trying to get Caufield the one-timer.  They pass on prime shooting locations and situations in favor of cycling the puck high to get it to Caufield.  They cycle the puck high too often to setup this one-timer, causing the defense to not collapse, leaving less time and space at the point to make plays.

 

They need a shooting option on the right circle and to cycle the puck low and behind the net a lot more.  Neither one independently is going to improve the PP, it needs both or the defense won't take the threat of the low cycle or right shooter seriously.  These options don't have to supersede the Caufield one-time, it needs to be used to setup that one-timer.  Yes, this will mean Caufield may miss out on a few PP goals, but overall it'll make the PP more effective.

[DON]

Fingers crossed Matheson will be part of answer. 

[GHT120]

 

 

AND ...  the Sharks ARE in Ottawa Saturday ... so some may be advance scouting.

 

[dlbalr]

That offside call was really close, well worth taking the chance.  Nice job defensively by the Habs after the kills; Montreal didn't allow a shot once the Kovacevic minor ended.  Too bad they couldn't muster up much though.

[GHT120]

4 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

That offside call was really close, well worth taking the chance.  Nice job defensively by the Habs after the kills; Montreal didn't allow a shot once the Kovacevic minor ended.  Too bad they couldn't muster up much though.

Let's hope the "need for review" doesn't come up again this game ... IMO, as a rule, untill later in the game reviews should be used only for obvious situations ... not "really close".

[dlbalr]

49 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Let's hope the "need for review" doesn't come up again this game ... IMO, as a rule, untill later in the game reviews should be used only for obvious situations ... not "really close".

 

The Habs don't lose their right to challenge because of getting it wrong - it's not like what happened to the Alouettes in the semis against Hamilton.  They can challenge as many times as they want with the penalty for getting it wrong being a penalty.

 

Big two-man advantage coming up.  They've got nothing going offensively so far so this is a gift they need to take advantage of.

[alfredoh2009]

Ok game, good result.

 

Matheson is a lefty Petry, why did they go get him?

I hope Harris learned lots tonight.  
 

The Monahan line should have played more than Suzuki’s , they played better 

 

That good shift from the 4th line in the 3rd makes me wonder if this was not a game where they could have changed the momentum 

… but what do I know ?!

[alfredoh2009]

Good summary!

 

happy to share the link here:

 

The #Habs couldn't muster up much on Tuesday night, falling 4-0 to San Jose: https://t.co/XTDlGoc5ry

— HabsWorld.net (@habsworld_net) November 30, 2022

 

 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I only saw the last five minutes but Slafkovsky looked good with Anderson and Monahan. 
 

I continue to think Matheson stinks (outside of his skating abilities). He passes the puck away constantly in the Ozone and makes weak clearing attempts in the Dzone. He does this stuff every game and he was guilty of both in the five minutes that I watched. 
 

 

[BCHabnut]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I only saw the last five minutes but Slafkovsky looked good with Anderson and Monahan. 
 

I continue to think Matheson stinks (outside of his skating abilities). He passes the puck away constantly in the Ozone and makes weak clearing attempts in the Dzone. He does this stuff every game and he was guilty of both in the five minutes that I watched. 
 

 

Yep. I liked slafkovsky with Monahan. 

[sbhatt]

I agree with those who are unimpressed by Matheson; Arber shouldn't sit on account of this guy, with the exception of a very infrequent rest day if required.

[alfredoh2009]

I wonder if the Habs may keep Monahan if they can get rid of one of the boat anchor contracts they have 

 

He makes his line mates better, a good 2nd line center 

[DON]

FUGLY game.

That was a painful one to watch.

PP is just hummming, they can really pass that puck back and forth and back and forth again...brutal going on years now. Surely they have enough skill to score vs one of the worst teams in the NHL.

Too many days off i guess?

[Commandant]

Matheson has been poor. 

 

I'm hoping he plays better once he knocks some rust off, he had a long injury and basically came right back into the lineup, so I'm hoping that's all it is, cause he's been concerningly bad. 

[hockeyrealist]

Like seeing Suzuki used less on PK, don’t like seeing him out there for these.  Anderson has good reach, speed for this and looked good the few times he was used for this last night.

 

CC needs to do better finding shooting lanes, he gets blocked far too often, is far too predictable and isn’t changing up his angles enough/using feints to break defender ankles and either open up lane for  a shot for himself or a pass through a seam.

 

The shine of Guhle is diminishing somewhat, seems to be frequently burned by stretch passes, making some poor pinching choices, but still overall good first season.   Think Edmundson is not a very good partner for him, and don’t like seeing Guhle having to play his wrong side on top of playing too many minutes.

 

Harris seems to be slipping and if not getting chance to help PP I don’t understand why not send him down as he is physically overwhelmed too often and if not being given chance to contribute offensively I think his development will suffer.  Think he could benefit most from a top paring, all situations role in Laval as think he could be a PP QB down the road.

 

PP needs more shooting threats, the wind up for Suzuki to come down strong side is slow developing and obvious. The set up for CC is also too obvious and easy to defend when no slot/down low/point shot threats are present. It is a two prong attack, but only two prongs and too easy to defend without more threats.

I don’t get why Gallagher continues to get PP time, would rather see Evans, Pezzetta get a chance at this point as well as Harris as mentioned.   Saw Guhle for some PP time but wasn’t impressed.  Against a top PK team like the Sharks (surprisingly enough they are) the Habs needed to simplify and generate shots, traffic, rebounds to eventually set up the perimeter play / seam pass layer on. They never established an inside not shooting threat and therefore were relatively easy to manage.

 

 

Slaf deserves and should be given a longer look with Monaghan and Anderson, Armia had his chance and aside from cycling has no offense. Slaf needs to be gone a chance to play with some more  skilled players in a more offensive role, and brings high

energy to that line which has been the frequent game/period starting line and obv helps kick things off well with high energy opening.

 

Also believe Wideman should have played, needing the PP help and Sharks are not overly physical team.  Also would balance the right/left handedness of back end.

Got to keep all players game ready and he hasn’t played much lately.

 

[hockeyrealist]

17 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Ok game, good result.

 

Matheson is a lefty Petry, why did they go get him?

I hope Harris learned lots tonight.  
 

The Monahan line should have played more than Suzuki’s , they played better 

 

That good shift from the 4th line in the 3rd makes me wonder if this was not a game where they could have changed the momentum 

… but what do I know ?!

I saw a poorly played game with botched passes on both sides.   Not a good result imo, getting shut out isn’t helping develop players nor build trade value.

 

Regarding Petry, He wanted out and was well documented about that, but was valuable player so if Matheson becomes Petry number two I’m fine with that. Petry is still a solid top four player and was easily a top three or top two dman for Habs.

He is about the become top right handed dman for Penguins and is having a good season already, expect his stats are going to take a big jump with L’étang unfortunately being out.

[DON]

Petry 10pts  in 23games

Savard 8pts in 21 games

 

I hope 10 is all Petry gets for the year, lost respect i had for him last year and hope Penguins flame out and miss playoffs.

[dlbalr]

20 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Ok game, good result.

 

Matheson is a lefty Petry, why did they go get him?

 

Because a left-handed Petry is a useful piece.  A left-handed Petry that's signed for three more years after this one that could be a key veteran once the Habs emerge from their rebuild is a particularly useful piece.  And Pittsburgh had to move a lot of money out to afford Petry so of course they were going to be taking on a veteran that's signed for a bit; that was the only way they were going to move him.  The challenge for Matheson in the past is that he struggles when he's in too big of a role (not unlike Petry, for that matter).  He's not a #1 d-man.  He's a second-pairing piece that ideally can be in that role in a couple of years if Guhle continues to improve.  In the meantime, he's probably going to struggle in a role he's not suited to play.

[Commandant]

Did you just suggest Pezzetta for the powerplay? Where can i.get some of what you are smoking.

[Sir_Boagalott]

I agree with all the negative comments regarding Matheson, I've said in other threads that he reminds me of Petry, but his bad aspects.  I tend to disagree about it being about his injury.  He seemed to be like that before he was injured, but I guess that could be from the off-season.   Sadly, I don't find Edmundson to be overly helpful either, although he seems better than Matheson.  

 

Does anybody know what the Habs record was without Matheson and Edmondson vs with them?  I wouldn't be overly surprised if the Habs were better playing the 4 rookie dmen than the 2 vets.  Before they came back I joked that their return would mess things up, but I honestly feel that it has.  

 

I agree with Slaf on the 2nd line, but I also want to see Armia score at least once.  I've had a feeling that Armia would score in the last 3-4 games because he's looked much better but he still hasn't scored yet.