Speculation: Is this sustainable?

[Harry Wong]

IMO we are to soft, small and have been a bit lucky despite the STATs. As the competition picks up and checking tougher I expect us to drop in the standings. And no one has even factored in the unknown--injuries.

I think Tampa and maybe Boston will finish ahead of us.

 

[S Bah]

When you possess the puck more, you take more shots and allow fewer shots. Offensively, it means more goals. Defensively, it means the other team can't score when you have the puck.

The Habs dump and chase, essentially giving up the puck in the defensive or neutral without pressure for the chance of maybe getting the puck in the offensive zone. What happens though is that you just give up the puck for no reason (either by icing it, losing it in a boards battle or having the puck recovered by a player on the opposing team) and play on your heels.

Teams that carry the puck generally do better than teams that counterattack because they set the tone and set the pace instead of waiting for opponents to make a mistake. To pull off a dump and chase you need to have big, strong forwards who can grind out on the boards.

So if the Habs are 1 point out of first with a game in hand on Vancouver, the team that we got screwed out of a point and got two for the screwing, hmm. The other really big bonus is this game the Habs play is working and all our big prospects like McCarron, Crisp, JDLR and Tangradi will be joining the team later this season or next. Meaning the Habs are only going to get better, scoring is beginning to come from all the lines now and Gonchar should improve the PP's. So cheer up the Habs could be 2nd last instead of 2nd, one win and they are alone on top.

 

[readyforsuccess]

I think they can sustain, and get better. Their stats are a bit off cause of the blowouts this year, so it'll be a better picture after the xmas break. I think they'll be second in the division, behind TB.

 

[Burke the Legend]

IMO we are to soft, small and have been a bit lucky despite the STATs. As the competition picks up and checking tougher I expect us to drop in the standings. And no one has even factored in the unknown--injuries.

I think Tampa and maybe Boston will finish ahead of us.

I would expect MB to pick up at the very least a rental vet bottom 6 guy who brings grit and some good D.