tomh009 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Did you know that the Habs have only met Devils once in the playoffs (and it did not end well)? I had not realized that ... Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky RHP - Evans - Gallagher Roy - Monahan - Armia Pezzetta -Stephens - Ylonen Matheson - Guhle Struble - Savard Harris - Kovacevic Montembeault Primeau 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalhabs Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Even Brodeur scored on us... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Looks like Montembault starts and Barron in for Kovacevic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Yee haw a Devils game, will it be typical boring match between these 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Today's lines added to OP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Different pace from the Colorado game! Montembault made some big saves after Habs Dzone breakdowns. Harris, Barron look OK today Slafkofski is my new favourite. I hope he scores again tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs Fan in Edmonton Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 2 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said: Slafkofski is my new favourite. I hope he scores again tonight I think your picture sort of gave that away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Montembault has been great. Habs are playing well but imagine if this team has Newhook and Dach every night too. Habs are making playoffs next season 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 I really like how Caufield is becoming more versatile: not just the one-timer from the circle, but back-checking, passing and playing Gallagher in front of the goal. That makes him much more difficult to play against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Roy looked much better in this one compared to his first two games. Interesting that without the benefit of the favourable line matchups, he seemed a lot more comfortable and assertive out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 3 minutes ago, tomh009 said: I really like how Caufield is becoming more versatile: not just the one-timer from the circle, but back-checking, passing and playing Gallagher in front of the goal. That makes him much more difficult to play against. No question that Caufield is playing differently. Makes me feel good about Marty’s coaching ways. Let’s see if Caufield can put it all together with a bunch of goals too. I don’t understand Matheson. Three minutes to go in a close game, Habs up 3-2, deep in his own zone. Matheson has two players that he can pass to, an open pocket of ice over the blue line that he could skate into and he dumps it high and down the ice - risking an icing. Matheson makes crazy decisions at times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXx..CK..xXx Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said: Different pace from the Colorado game! Montembault made some big saves after Habs Dzone breakdowns. Harris, Barron look OK today Slafkofski is my new favourite. I hope he scores again tonight Slafkovský is Slovak not Polish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I couldn’t watch this one but it looks like the #1 line had yet another monster game. 👍👍 LOVIN’ IT! Nice to see Roy pot one, too. Good for the kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_Boagalott Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said: Montembault has been great. Habs are playing well but imagine if this team has Newhook and Dach every night too. Habs are making playoffs next season Exactly!! They had a much better chance of making the playoffs this year than most people thought - especially when you consider that Dach and Newhook are out. I'm not 100% convinced they are out of the playoffs. I'm hoping the 10 game stretch from game 42 to 51 they go 7-2-1 in and gain on numerous of the bubble teams that are slightly ahead of them. Slaf keeps coming on strong and it seems like Goal Caufield is back. Andy and Armia have been playing well - and maybe Armia doesn't end up injured this year - wouldn't that be something. RHP is back and he had a bad start but with luck he can start the year again and repeat some of his play from last year. I've wanted Roy called up for a quite a while and now that he is he could be a key factor as well. Roy has 1 goal in 3 games but can he pull off 3 in 7? Their next stretch of 10 from game 52 to 61 also looks like they could have an advantageous record to gain ground in the standings. In their next 17 games they have a bunch of 4 point games. They play Pens & Caps twice, NYI & Sabers once. They also play the Sens twice. All of the next 17 games could be huge with the Habs still in the playoff picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Another fun one, well done. Roy had an offensive game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 The team played great the last two games, montembault is a true #1, and Slaf is really maturing. But lets not get crazy with the playoff talk yet. This team's record is inflated by OT/SO pts, both wins and losses. Even after tonight their amongst the NHL's worst in regulation wins. They also have bad analytics as a team The rebuild isnt done. Forward talent is needed even with Dach and Newhook back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I mean the Habs have had a great week and thats fun to watch. Dont let two games make you forget that the team is inconsistent. Last week they stole a game they didnt deserve against Philly, and laid an absolute stinker against the worst team in the league in San Jose. Dont fool yourself into thinking the rebuild is done and the team as currently constructed can make the playoffs. Need some big talent added at forward before that can happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 24 minutes ago, Commandant said: I mean the Habs have had a great week and thats fun to watch. Dont let two games make you forget that the team is inconsistent. Last week they stole a game they didnt deserve against Philly, and laid an absolute stinker against the worst team in the league in San Jose. Dont fool yourself into thinking the rebuild is done and the team as currently constructed can make the playoffs. Need some big talent added at forward before that can happen. Everything you say is true and the rebuild will take 3 more years - give or take. However, we are close to a wild card now - even if it is largely due to our single point games. Next season we will hopefully have Dach and Newhook for the entire season. We are basically adding a full second line. A very skilled second line. Sure the Habs aren’t there yet but you can see it on the horizon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs Fan in Edmonton Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 26 minutes ago, Commandant said: I mean the Habs have had a great week and thats fun to watch. Dont let two games make you forget that the team is inconsistent. Last week they stole a game they didnt deserve against Philly, and laid an absolute stinker against the worst team in the league in San Jose. Dont fool yourself into thinking the rebuild is done and the team as currently constructed can make the playoffs. Need some big talent added at forward before that can happen. Yes. They have a #1 goalie, they have a talented young group of defensemen that is maturing, they need another high end center to compliment Suzuki (hopefully Dach if he can stay healthy) and another winger who can snipe. They are definitely making progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 10 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said: Slafkovský is Slovak not Polish. Lol I almost always write his full name, rarely use Slaf as a shortcut so I’m not sure why I made Slafkovsky Polish last night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said: Everything you say is true and the rebuild will take 3 more years - give or take. However, we are close to a wild card now - even if it is largely due to our single point games. Next season we will hopefully have Dach and Newhook for the entire season. We are basically adding a full second line. A very skilled second line. Sure the Habs aren’t there yet but you can see it on the horizon And next year there will likely be other injuries too. Maybe not as bad but there will be something that comes up. Its a contact sport and depth will be important and we don't have enough yet (at least not enough that is NHL ready). And the OT points will be likely be down too. They are not normal. This is a bottom five team in regulation wins and thats more predictable to future results than repeating all these OT points. Even with Dach and Newhook back, they need a game breaking talent up front to take the next step. There is certainly progress being made, and thats good. But its slow and steady right now, i dont see a big jump without adding talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Funny thing about OT wins and losses. The 2021 team had a ton of OT losses and people routinely use that distorted regular season record to denigrate that team, as proof they weren’t “real” contenders in the playoffs (even though 3 on 3 and SO have no connection to the playoffs whatsoever). Now the team has a ton of OT wins and that is proof the team is not a “real” almost-bubble team. Let’s make up our minds. Does OT count or not? But in the big picture, yeah, I’ll echo Commandant: we do indeed have a #1 G (yaaaaay Monty!) and it looks like we have a legit #1 line, for the first time in decades, really. (Suzuki’s hitting another level is massive and I intend to savour every moment of his emergence as a true #1C, along with Slaf’s continued development and CC’s possible restoration as an elite scoring threat). We have a bunch of quality D that are developing successfully on the MSL Accelerator Plan. However, we have no #1 D-man as yet and it is WAAAY too soon to say we have anything resembling a second line. Dach looked great but seems to be made of balsa wood, and Newhook, while he was on a hot spell when he got hurt, is anything but proven. When you find yourself saying things like “if X, Y and Z happen, we’ll be a playoff team!!” - then you’re probably not a playoff team. Don’t get me wrong, a second line would indeed make us a playoff team. But it’s not clear that we actually have one waiting in IR. If (which I doubt) both Newhook and Dach emerge next year as legit and dependable 2nd-line stalwarts, we’d still need at least one of our defencemen to emerge as a bona-fide stud in order to start doing serious damage. Guhle has shown flashes but no more than that. Right now we have a #2-3 d-man (Mattheson) and a bunch of #4-5s, really, on a good team. A work in progress. But the signs are that very promising that this organization knows how to develop talent. Cautious optimism is warranted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, Commandant said: Even with Dach and Newhook back, they need a game breaking talent up front to take the next step. There is certainly progress being made, and thats good. But its slow and steady right now, i dont see a big jump without adding talent. For the big jump to contender, they certainly need to add some talent up front. But I could see a smaller step to making the playoffs based on the talent currently in the organization and trades this TDL and summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 There is also an enormous difference between a making the playoffs and being a contender. We are probably 3 seasons away from a contender - If our prospects develop the way we think. A bubble team that fights for a wildcard is already happening and if HuGo can add that top 6 winger to play with Newhook and Dach then surely we will at the very least continue to be a bubble team next season too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said: Funny thing about OT wins and losses. The 2021 team had a ton of OT losses and people routinely use that distorted regular season record to denigrate that team, as proof they weren’t “real” contenders in the playoffs (even though 3 on 3 and SO have no connection to the playoffs whatsoever). Now the team has a ton of OT wins and that is proof the team is not a “real” almost-bubble team. Let’s make up our minds. Does OT count or not? But in the big picture, yeah, I’ll echo Commandant: we do indeed have a #1 G (yaaaaay Monty!) and it looks like we have a legit #1 line, for the first time in decades, really. (Suzuki’s hitting another level is massive and I intend to savour every moment of his emergence as a true #1C, along with Slaf’s continued development and CC’s possible restoration as an elite scoring threat). We have a bunch of quality D that are developing successfully on the MSL Accelerator Plan. However, we have no #1 D-man as yet and it is WAAAY too soon to say we have anything resembling a second line. Dach looked great but seems to be made of balsa wood, and Newhook, while he was on a hot spell when he got hurt, is anything but proven. When you find yourself saying things like “if X, Y and Z happen, we’ll be a playoff team!!” - then you’re probably not a playoff team. Don’t get me wrong, a second line would indeed make us a playoff team. But it’s not clear that we actually have one waiting in IR. If (which I doubt) both Newhook and Dach emerge next year as legit and dependable 2nd-line stalwarts, we’d still need at least one of our defencemen to emerge as a bona-fide stud in order to start doing serious damage. Guhle has shown flashes but no more than that. Right now we have a #2-3 d-man (Mattheson) and a bunch of #4-5s, really, on a good team. A work in progress. But the signs are that very promising that this organization knows how to develop talent. Cautious optimism is warranted. Were the OT points from 2021 repeatable in 2022 and 2023? No, they are an anomaly so counting on them again next year is a fools errand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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