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Game #60, Montreal @ Florida, 7pm EST, Thursday February 29, 2024


TurdBurglar

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Left Wing Centre Right Wing
#22 Cole Caufield #14 Nick Suzuki #20 Juraj Slafkovský
#89 Joshua Roy #35 Alex Newhook #40 Joel Armia
#11 Brendan Gallagher #71 Jake Evans #17 Josh Anderson
#70 Tanner Pearson #36 Colin White #56 Jesse Ylönen


Left Defence Right Defence
#8 Mike Matheson #21 Kaiden Guhle
#72 Arber Xhekaj #58 David Savard
$54 Jordan Harris #26 Johnny Kovacevic


Starter Backup
#35 Samuel Montembeault #34 Jake Allen

 

Courtesy of Habs Eyes on the Prize.  Only slightly stolen this time.

 

Leap Year Game!  I looked at the date a long time before I realized it's a leap year.

 

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On paper is dosent look fair.

Canadiens Statistics Panthers
23-28-8 Record 39-16-4
44.9% (29th) Scoring-chances-for % 56.3% (3rd)
2.76 (27th) Goals per game 3.27 (12th)
3.51 (27th) Goals against per game 2.39 (2nd)
19.4% (19th) PP% 26.0% (5th)
73.8% (30th) PK% 82.5% (6th)
0-2-0 Head-to-Head Record 2-0-0

Canadiens @ Panthers: Game preview and how to watch (habseyesontheprize.com)

 

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2 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

Nice goal from Suzuki to tie it up.  A pretty good period overall although the late Evans penalty stings.

 

Great pass from Arber too.

 

How does Evans take a penalty with 4 seconds on the clock?

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Chicken shit move by Montour to pull back on Matheson's shoulder when he was tussling with Tkachuk.

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Nice end to the period!:gohabsgo:

Suzuki up to 58pts in 59 2/3 games, go Suzy!

5 shots for Suzuki, 4 for Slafkovski

 

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When did the rules change that if you make contact with a player carrying the puck, they fall, it's now a penalty?

 

Calling that a trip because of Caufield's back foot is like calling any hit elbowing, because the elbow makes contact.

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Slaf is having a whale of a game all over the ice. Crisp passes, using his size, winning and maintaining possession. And he still has so much room to grow!

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Was Kovalev the last one to do that?

 

He was:  84 points in 2007-2008

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15 shots for the 1st line, i like that.

Slafkovski with 1 timely goal, 6 shots 3 hits and continues to do good stuff.

As does this fella, now tied for 30th in scoring & playing 21:13/game which is 4th in NHL for centres.

image.png

 

Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki goes toe-to-toe with Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov - The Athletic

Suzuki and Barkov were matched up all night, and their numbers looked very similar.

Suzuki vs. Barkov
PLAYER G A PTS TOI PP TOI PK TOI FO %
Suzuki
1
2
3
22:16
5:00
2:46
40%
Barkov
1
2
3
22:58
7:06
3:40
58%

 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, DON said:

15 shots for the 1st line, i like that.

Slafkovski with 1 timely goal, 6 shots 3 hits and continues to do good stuff.

As does this fella, now tied for 30th in scoring & playing 21:13/game which is 4th in NHL for centres.

image.png

 

Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki goes toe-to-toe with Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov - The Athletic

Suzuki and Barkov were matched up all night, and their numbers looked very similar.

Suzuki vs. Barkov
PLAYER G A PTS TOI PP TOI PK TOI FO %
Suzuki
1
2
3
22:16
5:00
2:46
40%
Barkov
1
2
3
22:58
7:06
3:40
58%

 

 

 

It’s been a garbage season, but the bright spots for me so far have been seeing Suzuki gradually work his way into selke conversations (next year?), and the steady progression of the big man. Can’t wait to see him in his prime with full man strength.

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21 minutes ago, BCHabnut said:

It’s been a garbage season, but the bright spots for me so far have been seeing Suzuki gradually work his way into selke conversations (next year?), and the steady progression of the big man. Can’t wait to see him in his prime with full man strength.


I also like how the consistency of Guhle, he is still improving but has kept a very good level all season.

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Bit early for post-mortems, but off the top of my head I’d say

 

POSITIVES

-Suze emerging as a legitimately elite 2-way C

-Slaf’s growth into a serious top-6 FW, with more to come

-Monty solidifying his standing as a legit #1 G

-Guhle solidifying his game

-Huge pro season by Mailloux in the minors

-Great season by Monahan, followed by solid trade return

 

NEGATIVES 

-Caufield not being elite

-Ridiculous injury to Dach, plus the resulting doubts re: his durability

-Massive Newhook injury

-Regression by Kovacevic

-Vets struggling, especially JA and maybe Allen

 

The top two positives and negatives all concern the young core. Frustrating that we can’t bump more of those into the “positive” column.

 

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14 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Bit early for post-mortems, but off the top of my head I’d say

 

POSITIVES

-Suze emerging as a legitimately elite 2-way C

-Slaf’s growth into a serious top-6 FW, with more to come

-Monty solidifying his standing as a legit #1 G

-Guhle solidifying his game

-Huge pro season by Mailloux in the minors

-Great season by Monahan, followed by solid trade return

 

NEGATIVES 

-Caufield not being elite

-Ridiculous injury to Dach, plus the resulting doubts re: his durability

-Massive Newhook injury

-Regression by Kovacevic

-Vets struggling, especially JA and maybe Allen

 

The top two positives and negatives all concern the young core. Frustrating that we can’t bump more of those into the “positive” column.

 


I agree but feel free to add Caufield’s game becoming so much more complete. 

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23 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Bit early for post-mortems, but off the top of my head I’d say

 

POSITIVES

-Suze emerging as a legitimately elite 2-way C

-Slaf’s growth into a serious top-6 FW, with more to come

-Monty solidifying his standing as a legit #1 G

-Guhle solidifying his game

-Huge pro season by Mailloux in the minors

-Great season by Monahan, followed by solid trade return

 

NEGATIVES 

-Caufield not being elite

-Ridiculous injury to Dach, plus the resulting doubts re: his durability

-Massive Newhook injury

-Regression by Kovacevic

-Vets struggling, especially JA and maybe Allen

 

The top two positives and negatives all concern the young core. Frustrating that we can’t bump more of those into the “positive” column.

 

 

Kovacevic is performing at the level I expected. Let's say he set expectations high by having a good start with the Habs.

 

I do not agree with your opinion on Caufield. He has been bothered by something, probably not fully recovered from the shoulder injury. He has been streaky, but overall has kept a very good point production. He has improved his overall game lile @Helmethead mentions.

 

IMHO he is an elite 2nd line winger, capable of back-breaking goals but not physically capable of competing with the league's top-lines for a full season. On the PP, he is definitely elite.

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34 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Bit early for post-mortems, but off the top of my head I’d say

 

POSITIVES

-Suze emerging as a legitimately elite 2-way C

-Slaf’s growth into a serious top-6 FW, with more to come

-Monty solidifying his standing as a legit #1 G

-Guhle solidifying his game

-Huge pro season by Mailloux in the minors

-Great season by Monahan, followed by solid trade return

 

NEGATIVES 

-Caufield not being elite

-Ridiculous injury to Dach, plus the resulting doubts re: his durability

-Massive Newhook injury

-Regression by Kovacevic

-Vets struggling, especially JA and maybe Allen

 

The top two positives and negatives all concern the young core. Frustrating that we can’t bump more of those into the “positive” column.

 

 

I disagree on Caufield. 

 

We've already seen that he's an elite level goal scorer.  That isn't gone.  Its' been said all season that his shot doesn't have the same velocity as last year.  This is normal for the shoulder surgery he had.  In other players who had the same surgery, the velocity returned 18 months post surgery, which lines up at the start of training camp. 

 

While his shot was elite last year, he was also a one-trick pony.  What has really improved in his game is his playmaking and his play without the puck.  While the playmaking was a liability, its now a strength.  Where he was a liability defensively, he's gotten to the point where he may not be a positive, but he's not a negative either.  

 

Given all of that, he still is projecting as a franchise level, first line winger.  Let's remember he's just 23.   Nick Suzuki is two years ahead of him in terms of drafts (2017-2019) and still improving, so I'm not down on him at all. 

 

 

The other issue is Newhook.  yes he had the long injury, but he's proven to be a top-6 capable player when healthy and that's a plus for the team in my mind too. 

 

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1 hour ago, DON said:

15 shots for the 1st line, i like that.

Slafkovski with 1 timely goal, 6 shots 3 hits and continues to do good stuff.

As does this fella, now tied for 30th in scoring & playing 21:13/game which is 4th in NHL for centres.

image.png

 

Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki goes toe-to-toe with Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov - The Athletic

Suzuki and Barkov were matched up all night, and their numbers looked very similar.

Suzuki vs. Barkov
PLAYER G A PTS TOI PP TOI PK TOI FO %
Suzuki
1
2
3
22:16
5:00
2:46
40%
Barkov
1
2
3
22:58
7:06
3:40
58%

 

 

 

I think I had picked Suzuki to get around 87 points - despite his dry spell, he may still be able to do that. It would be nice to have a hab close to 90 points and finally pass Kovolev’s point total from over 15 years ago!

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Just to be clear, I'm not saying I've given up on CC becoming a heavy-duty elite scorer. I agree that his game has become more complete. Yes, the surgery was a factor. And heck, he is on pace for 30 goals pro-rated, so it's not like his season has been bad.

 

I've just never seen him as topping out as an "elite 2nd-line W." I want him to become an elite 1st-line goal-scorer who scares the sh*t out of other teams. I'm not talking Auston Matthews, but definitely a reliable 40+ goal guy. Those are lofty expectations, but CC has it in him IMHO.

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