GAME DAY #12: Sens @ Habs - 7:30pm EST - Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015

spader wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:One more top 4 D man would be great but good luck acquiring one right now.

Cam Fowler is apparently being shopped. Send Zibanejad back.

You're late to that convo.

I'd agree but I don't feel we have a good enough option to replace him on the number 2 line. Maybe the kid needs to have a Dung season(or at least the start of one) to get his Dung together and train more appropriately. I was suggesting Hoffman and weir for fowler but I would dearly miss Hoffman. But yes we need fowler. Big time. Just don't think we can send something to the ducks that we won't miss. Prospects and pics won't do, they want emediate help.

I can't imagine moving Hoffman right now. His game away from the puck seems to be improving and he seems to belong on that top line.

He's so good. I think he's improved enough away from the puck to be acceptable, but his speed and offensive awareness is amazing.

LeCaptain wrote:There's nothing to change to the forward core. There's enough chances, we score enough goals.
The defense has and still is the number 1 issue.
Let's be honest with ourselves. How many of our defensemen would crack the Habs lineup? Probably 2.

Karlsson + Methot for sure. I'd say Ceci would do very well with their up-tempo style of play. Same with Wideman. The others are likely too slow.

SpezDispensed wrote:The d are making poor decisions in our end that frequently lead to turnovers either in zone or the dump it down and the other team gets it right away.  Puck possession is such key.  Gotta think you need to look at wideman again.

Fowler would be nice.obviously

Habs won something like 70% of the face offs. Or at least that was the stat at one point, after the first or midway through the game. Hard to play a possession game when you lose that many draws.

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Officiating was pathetic.  In the last 10 minutes there were three plays where I was screaming for a penalty, then Methot draws a minor with 4 minutes to go.  I'm not arguing that it was a penalty, but in my opinion the Sens should have been on a PP and Methot would not have even been on the ice.  And that quick whistle was just embarrassing.  Similar to Pageau's non-goal in the playoffs, the ref is standing in the corner and has no idea where the puck is, so he assumes Condon's got it.  Problem is he blew the whistle so friggin' quick that by the time he must have made up his mind to do it (the intent to blow) I'm not sure the puck had even hit Condon's chest.  You've got to give it at least a half second and then judge from the players' reactions.  If the goalie is standing up and the forward is swinging at ice level, guess where the puck must be.  This is an incredibly simple thing to do and they've now failed twice in crucial situations.  

To be fair, they also let us get away with high-sticking PK twice...which was enjoyable.

I'd take the 2 if they also gave PK 2 for embellishment. The way he goes to the bench and winces in "pain" as if he's being tortured is pretty despicable. Not a mark on him but because he flopped he wants to pretend that it really hurt.

tim1_2 wrote:Bobby ended up benched towards the end of last night's game which was  very telling.  It also helped that every other line was vastly out performing his line.

Obviously Bobby and ZBad are going to get every opportunity in the world to put up numbers, and that's fine, because there isn't much of an alternative right now.  I might be tempted to put Bobby with Pageau.

Anyway, as I said, great game.  It's impressive to pull out that W considering how bad we were in the faceoff circle...Anderson was great.

Exactly what I was about to say (bolded part). Get out of my head!

Yes, Andy was the #1 star without a doubt.

It was also nice to see Chiasson and Michalek have good games, no doubt spurred on by JGP.

Wiercioch wasn't good. I thought Cowen had a good game. Right now we are devoid of a middle D pairing.

tim1_2 wrote:Bobby ended up benched towards the end of last night's game which was  very telling.  It also helped that every other line was vastly out performing his line.

Obviously Bobby and ZBad are going to get every opportunity in the world to put up numbers, and that's fine, because there isn't much of an alternative right now.  I might be tempted to put Bobby with Pageau.

Anyway, as I said, great game.  It's impressive to pull out that W considering how bad we were in the faceoff circle...Anderson was great.

No he wasn't. The whole line was reduced.

I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Bobby has been fine recently.

LeCaptain wrote:There's nothing to change to the forward core. There's enough chances, we score enough goals.
The defense has and still is the number 1 issue.
Let's be honest with ourselves. How many of our defensemen would crack the Habs lineup? Probably 2.

Are you serious? The same Habs who have Emelin, Beaulieu, and Gilbert?

We could use another D but I think a Top 6 forward is a must get.

Ev wrote:

I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Bobby has been fine recently.

I'm not complaining. I think there are very legitimate reasons to be concerned about two of our "top 6" forwards - Bobby and ZBad.

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:

I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Bobby has been fine recently.

I'm not complaining.  I think there are very legitimate reasons to be concerned about two of our "top 6" forwards - Bobby and ZBad.

I don't think there are concerns given they had a slow start and are doing even better than I expected production-wise.

Hoffman reminds us why you would have to be on crack to trade him.

Yes, the Habs won a ton of faceoffs, but in reference to the puck possession last night (and previous games), there are D-men on this team that must make better decisions with the puck in the defensive zone. There are so many times that you see Cowen and Wiercioch specifically throw the puck up the boards blindly when they have plenty of time and it gets picked off at the point. Part of that is the forwards - specifically the wingers - not getting back there to allow for a three, four foot pass up the zone, but these are unforced errors that lead to loss of possession and scoring chances.

The same applies when there's any kind of pressure in our zone. Once in a while you get that nice, crisp outlet pass at our blue line that makes for a nice breakout, but more often that not you get the half ice icing where the other team gets it in their defensive zones and switches immediately to back on the attack.

Sometimes I wonder if Jason Smith co-ordinating the defence is a mistake, because he never had the hockey sense to look for options coming out of the zone. He was good at what he did, he cleared the crease, he made life miserable for opponents and he blocked shots, but is he the right guy to guide guys like Cowen and Boro into making smart plays under the pressure? Not sure.

As for Zibanejad, we need to remember (or I keep reminding myself), that Turris wasn't the be-all at age 23. He was progressing, but we kept seeing him get into prolonged slumps and losing puck battles a lot. I'm hoping that ZBad can continue to bulk up and follow Turris' lead and blossom into an important piece. He shows a lot of flashes of brilliance, like last night when he pulled the puck back to avoid a stick check and got a good shot away on Condom.

Ryan's been good IMO. He had a slightly slow start, but props to him for telling Cameron not to separate him and ZBad so they can get some chemistry going once and for all.

Hoffman is a beauty. Wouldn't trade him now, teams are nuts not to have blown Murray out of the water in the summer, now...it's pretty much not happening.

Andre Tourigny is a defence coach.

Ev wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:There's nothing to change to the forward core. There's enough chances, we score enough goals.
The defense has and still is the number 1 issue.
Let's be honest with ourselves. How many of our defensemen would crack the Habs lineup? Probably 2.

Are you serious? The same Habs who have Emelin, Beaulieu, and Gilbert?

We could use another D but I think a Top 6 forward is a must get.

Do you watch the Habs often?
I heard on the radio after the game last night that the Habs dumped the puck 3 times in the first 2 periods. So do you think it's thanks to their forwards or their defensemen?

Ev wrote:Andre Tourigny is a defence coach.

I thought he was the PP coach? If so, he really has a lot of work to do.

LeCaptain wrote:

Ev wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:There's nothing to change to the forward core. There's enough chances, we score enough goals.
The defense has and still is the number 1 issue.
Let's be honest with ourselves. How many of our defensemen would crack the Habs lineup? Probably 2.

Are you serious? The same Habs who have Emelin, Beaulieu, and Gilbert?

We could use another D but I think a Top 6 forward is a must get.

Do you watch the Habs often?
I heard on the radio after the game last night that the Habs dumped the puck 3 times in the first 2 periods. So do you think it's thanks to their forwards or their defensemen?

I have seen the Habs many times. I would easily take Ceci over any d-man they have not named Markov or Subban, and I would play Cowen over Emelin and Gilbert in a heartbeat. They are basically a one-pairing team like the Sens.

So they don't dump the puck? Why is that an argument in their favour? That's just a different style, doesn't mean it's a better stly.

SpezDispensed wrote:

The same applies when there's any kind of pressure in our zone.  Once in a while you get that nice, crisp outlet pass at our blue line that makes for a nice breakout, but more often that not you get the half ice icing where the other team gets it in their defensive zones and switches immediately to back on the attack.

Yeah, this exact situation, the "half ice icing" as you call it, has become a frequent occurrence, and it's quite frustrating to watch. And yeah, it seems to happen most often with Cowen/Wiercioch/Ceci/Boro.

Ev wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:

Ev wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:There's nothing to change to the forward core. There's enough chances, we score enough goals.
The defense has and still is the number 1 issue.
Let's be honest with ourselves. How many of our defensemen would crack the Habs lineup? Probably 2.

Are you serious? The same Habs who have Emelin, Beaulieu, and Gilbert?

We could use another D but I think a Top 6 forward is a must get.

Do you watch the Habs often?
I heard on the radio after the game last night that the Habs dumped the puck 3 times in the first 2 periods. So do you think it's thanks to their forwards or their defensemen?

I have seen the Habs many times. I would easily take Ceci over any d-man they have not named Markov or Subban, and I would play Cowen over Emelin and Gilbert in a heartbeat. They are basically a one-pairing team like the Sens.

So they don't dump the puck? Why is that an argument in their favour? That's just a different style, doesn't mean it's a better stly.

They must be pretty craptacular then.