CerebusClone Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Again, I realize that this would never happen, but here's what I'd like to think I would do if I were Bob Gainey to shake things up. First, remove Ribeiro from the lineup. He's become a non-factor once again in the playoffs, and proving you cannot rely on him when it counts the most. Basically, this would be the end of Ribeiro's career in Montreal. Second, insert some young blood in the lineup; we have basically nothing to lose at the moment since we are facing elimination against the second best team in the conference: a team that has all the momentum, and a team that has pretty much owned us in the last 2 games. My lines: Lapierre-Plekanec-Kovalev Ryder-Higgins-Perezhogin Kostsitsyn-Begin-Zednik Bulis-Bonk-Murray Basically, you ask Lapierre to crash the net all game long, disturb the defensemen and Cam Ward, and basically create some space for Plekanec and especially Kovalev. The second line has a lot of speed and skills, and could hopefully give you a goal or 2. For the third line, you ask Begin the same from Lapierre: crash the net and be a little pest, thus giving more space to Kostsitsyn and Zednik. And the forth line is a shutdown line, using Bulis in a defensive role, and giving you more flexibility in case of an injury, or if a line isn't working at all. For the defense, I would take some of Souray's powerplay minutes away, and give it to Komisarek. Keep the Markov-Komisarek pair together on the first unit, and pair Souray with Kovalev on the second PP unit. Souray needs to concentrate on his defensive game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HABBER-oooooKNOWS Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Again, I realize that this would never happen, but here's what I'd like to think I would do if I were Bob Gainey to shake things up. First, remove Ribeiro from the lineup. He's become a non-factor once again in the playoffs, and proving you cannot rely on him when it counts the most. Basically, this would be the end of Ribeiro's career in Montreal. Second, insert some young blood in the lineup; we have basically nothing to lose at the moment since we are facing elimination against the second best team in the conference: a team that has all the momentum, and a team that has pretty much owned us in the last 2 games. My lines: Lapierre-Plekanec-Kovalev Ryder-Higgins-Perezhogin Kostsitsyn-Begin-Zednik Bulis-Bonk-Murray Basically, you ask Lapierre to crash the net all game long, disturb the defensemen and Cam Ward, and basically create some space for Plekanec and especially Kovalev. The second line has a lot of speed and skills, and could hopefully give you a goal or 2. For the third line, you ask Begin the same from Lapierre: crash the net and be a little pest, thus giving more space to Kostsitsyn and Zednik. And the forth line is a shutdown line, using Bulis in a defensive role, and giving you more flexibility in case of an injury, or if a line isn't working at all. For the defense, I would take some of Souray's powerplay minutes away, and give it to Komisarek. Keep the Markov-Komisarek pair together on the first unit, and pair Souray with Kovalev on the second PP unit. Souray needs to concentrate on his defensive game. I used to come to these boards looking for information that I couldn't find myself. Haven't really posted anything lately, simply because not a lot of interesting conversation going on. This one takes the cake! Cerebus. Thank- God you are not Bob Gainey. Your shake-up is something a team might do if they lost the first 20 games of the season. MIGHT!!!!! Montreal is lucky to be in this round at 3-2. The habs are not getting blown out. They've run into a hot goaltender with a very Very VERY strong team in front of him. I think they've held their own without their captain to boot. Komisarek on the PK? He has 2 friggin goals this year. Break up all the lines? For the last game? Your nuts........ Huet and the defense have been great, shutting down this Carolina Team wave after wave. Unfortunatly, we can't get the goal or two to come out on top. I would just tell the guys. GET THE FIRST GOAL and don't look back. You are what got us here and You are what will win this series for us. We need 2 more games. Work a little Harder.................. Dismantle the lines now. I think would be suicide against the Hurricanes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 The habs are not getting blown out. They've run into a hot goaltender with a very Very VERY strong team in front of him. Dismantle the lines now. I think would be suicide against the Hurricanes. Ward hasn't really been hot, except maybe in the 3rd game, he hardly had any work. He gets very few quality shots, and when Montreal gets a good chance, they either shoot wide or straight ON the goalie. Cam Ward hans't been the difference maker in the series. The fact is that Montreal's offense is going absolutely nowhere. They scored a lot goals on a very sick Martin Gerber (most of them should have been stopped), and they have done nothing ever since. Things are not working the way they are now, and a shake up is definitely in order - it might not work, but we'll lose anyway if we don't change anything. We have been overplayed a lot more than the scores might have indicated - thanks to Huet for that - ans yes, I believe inserting some young kid like Kostsitsyn and Lapierre could make a difference. Suicide? Perhaps, but again, we're up against the wall, nothing is working, we're incapable of taking control of the game, we can't score, so we pretty much have nothing to lose at this point; Doing nothing is also suicide. Besides Kovalev, no one is scoring. Ribeiro is nowhere to be seen. The Plekanec line is playing well, but I don't see any points on the board. The Higgins-Ryder duo isn't producing either, nor is Bonk or the grinders he's playing with. So should we go into Game 6 hoping that somehow everthing will change? As for Komisarek, it's again just to shake things up. Also, Komisarek has only 2 goals, but he NEVER plays on the powerplay. Take away the defensemen's power play goals, and you get: Dandeneault: 5 goals Souray: 5 goals Markov: 4 goals Komisarek 2 goals Rivet: 2 goals Bouillon: 0 goal Streit: 0 goal If you take into consideration the ice-time of the top players, they aren't much more productive than Komisarek... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathieu30 Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I like that idea of giving Komisarek PP-time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lull Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 i like CerebusClone's idea. the Habs have been blown out in the last 3 games. i'm not expecting them to win tonight. although Bob won't do this tonight, i do hope they make it a point to crash the net. that's a very good observation. the Canes control their D zone, nothing gets to Ward, and the offense is getting pressured on the boards. that's why we couldn't set anything up in the last game or two. crash the net and messes with the D and Ward, plus, it creates space for Kovalev to do his wonderful thing. Go Habs Go!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makh2o Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 (edited) I used to come to these boards looking for information that I couldn't find myself. Haven't really posted anything lately, simply because not a lot of interesting conversation going on. This one takes the cake! Cerebus. Thank- God you are not Bob Gainey. Your shake-up is something a team might do if they lost the first 20 games of the season. MIGHT!!!!! Montreal is lucky to be in this round at 3-2. I'm gonna have to agree with you 100% on this one! We lost each of the last three games by one goal...and people are saying we got 'blown out' ....WOW....had we won game 3....the series would have been pretty much over....but we didn't, and due to some hard luck, and poor openning efforts, we've fallen short in the last two games as well...but by only one goal! Keep in mind, this team did blow us out during the regular season, so that being considered I think we're putting up one heck of a fight! If we can get more guys in Ward's face...crashing the net, blocking his view, and basically getting him frustrated early on....I think we can win this game tonight...WITH the exact same line up! GO HABS GO! Edited May 2, 2006 by Makh2o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Habby2919 Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 i like CerebusClone's idea. the Habs have been blown out in the last 3 games. i'm not expecting them to win tonight. although Bob won't do this tonight, i do hope they make it a point to crash the net. that's a very good observation. the Canes control their D zone, nothing gets to Ward, and the offense is getting pressured on the boards. that's why we couldn't set anything up in the last game or two. crash the net and messes with the D and Ward, plus, it creates space for Kovalev to do his wonderful thing. Go Habs Go!! I didnt realize that 3 one goal losses were blow outs. :hlogo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habschris Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 The "shake up" will be at the seasons end. Hopefully not tonight. Yes the habs were not Blown out in the series, however they have been dominated for long periods of time during the last 3 games. The following players i beleive will be off the team next year. Sundsrom Ribiero Zednick Souray Bulis Rivet Either Huet or Aebisher This will free up space and money. I feel the habs need to go out and get a #1 and 2 D pairing. (example Jovanoski and Redden) Also a Center man Briere, Arnott or Peca). The rest i beleive will be replaced internally in the organization. I would over pay for the D but not the Centers. This post is not meant to piss people off or start an angry thread, just stating the way i think the shake up will be. New line up: Higgins Koivu Ryder (Decent line) Perez Pleks Kovalev (Should be a good scoring line) Kostitsyn Peca Murray (gritty line, will teach Kostitsyn to play D) Begin Bonk Downey/ Lappiere (Tough 2 way line 2 new D Markov Komisarek Dandy Bouillon /Cote I don't know if Chipchura or Lattendresse will be ready next year. This line up is younger, tougher, grittier and should score more then the current roster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Let's stop this "next season" crap. We can talk about next season once THIS season is over. That being said, I would love it if Bulis were benched tonight. I also wouldn't ming Ribs being benched, but that would require playing Higgins at Center, which he hasn't done in a while. So my lines would be: Higgins-Plekanec-Kovalev Kostitsyn-Bonk-Ryder Perezhogin-Begin-Zednik Sunny-Ribeiro-Murray Markov-Komi Dandy-Rivet Souray-Cube I would split up Souray/Rivet and play each of them with guys who are playing really hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plecx Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Again, I realize that this would never happen, but here's what I'd like to think I would do if I were Bob Gainey to shake things up. First, remove Ribeiro from the lineup. He's become a non-factor once again in the playoffs, and proving you cannot rely on him when it counts the most. Basically, this would be the end of Ribeiro's career in Montreal. Second, insert some young blood in the lineup; we have basically nothing to lose at the moment since we are facing elimination against the second best team in the conference: a team that has all the momentum, and a team that has pretty much owned us in the last 2 games. My lines: Lapierre-Plekanec-Kovalev Ryder-Higgins-Perezhogin Kostsitsyn-Begin-Zednik Bulis-Bonk-Murray Basically, you ask Lapierre to crash the net all game long, disturb the defensemen and Cam Ward, and basically create some space for Plekanec and especially Kovalev. The second line has a lot of speed and skills, and could hopefully give you a goal or 2. For the third line, you ask Begin the same from Lapierre: crash the net and be a little pest, thus giving more space to Kostsitsyn and Zednik. And the forth line is a shutdown line, using Bulis in a defensive role, and giving you more flexibility in case of an injury, or if a line isn't working at all. For the defense, I would take some of Souray's powerplay minutes away, and give it to Komisarek. Keep the Markov-Komisarek pair together on the first unit, and pair Souray with Kovalev on the second PP unit. Souray needs to concentrate on his defensive game. Worst lineup ever. I just want to say that Souray has clearly the best slapshot on the team, why put Komisarek who has only 1 goal in his frigging 2-year career? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Worst lineup ever. I just want to say that Souray has clearly the best slapshot on the team, why put Komisarek who has only 1 goal in his frigging 2-year career? That's not a lineup I would use on a regular basis (Lapierre doesn't belong on a first line), but I would have done this for maybe one game in which we had nothing to lose to shake things up. Considering that Koivu is injured, Ribeiro was a no-show once again, and no one besides Kovalev was generating offense, I don't see how this lineup could habve done any worse. But of course, old fashioned, stubborn Gainey didn't make any change to the lineup, probably wanting to justify his many questionable decisions this season, and surprise! the team did exactly as they did the previous 3 games; they failed to generate quality scoring opportunities, and the made Cam Ward look very good. I personally would have hoped that Gainey, seing how his offense was inexistent, would have at least tried to win a third game by making a few changes, instead of making it easy for the Canes to win the series. As for Komisarek, he actually had some good numbers in his last 15-16 games, especially considering he gets ZERO powerplay minutes, as opposed to all other defensemen on the roster. Also, I'm not sure Souray has a better slapshot than Komisarek; it might be slightly more powerful (and still, I'd like to compare them), but Komisarek creates a scoring opportunity almost everytime he shoots because he keeps his shot ON the net (as opposed to 5 feet wide), and low. I still believe that if we give him his shot on the PP next season, Komisarek will surprise many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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