Only rookies can score, Habs lose 3-2 vs Canes

[blarneylad]

They will not. Sens and Wings will have surpassed them. And, TBH, in what shape will he be back?

Until the GM finds a veteran alternative, this team will play .500 hockey. And the team's overall confidence with the puck will be shot. Offensively, it has started. They are already much more tentative.

The Sens just lost Turris. That is a big part of their team.

 

[S Bah]

With how well the Wings, Bruins, and Sens are playing, Habs might not be able to hold on to division lead by the time Price returns.

Truly I'm a little more concerned with Tampa Bay at 27 games played 29 pts. a full 12 pts back with a game in hand, don't count out Stevie Y's team from coming back into playoff contention it's early in the season yet. Then of course Florida's GM Dale Tallon has the Panthers playing like world beaters also with two games in hand and 11 pts back.

 

[Le Tricolore]

I still just absolutely cannot believe we had to challenge that play. Basically, if the Hurricanes scored that goal last year, it would have counted. Amazing.

 

[Kriss E]

With how well the Wings, Bruins, and Sens are playing, Habs might not be able to hold on to division lead by the time Price returns.

We have 5 regulars out, it's not like we're only missing Price. With how Therrien changed some lines he also killed our depth.
They took a cold player who had 3pts in 9gp, and moved him up to play with Patches who was a ppg player with Plek even without Gallagher. They took our ppg center, gave him a winger with 2pts in 7gp and a waiver pick up who has 2 ES points on the season. Not only did they do those changes, but to make it worse, they gave them even more ice time!

The only change that needed to happen was double shifting Galchenyuk on Plek's wing with Patches every few shifts. Lines stay the same and Galchenyuk can finally get to play more minutes.

 

[BigHabs]

I hope next game they have a bit more offensive output:

Pacioretty Plekanec Byron
Eller Galchenyuk Andrighetto
Fleischmann Desharnais Weise
Carr Flynn Thomas

Markov Subban
Beaulieu Petry
Emelin Pateryn

Condon

Give Gilbert a night off. He has been kind of struggled a bit the last two games. Though he has been pinching a little more than usual. Just didn't look like himself in the defensive zone. It's ok to have a bad game here and there. Just get Pateryn in there to keep him engaged.

Emelin always plays his best games against the Bruins so he will most likely be in.

 

[MasterD]

Skating in a straight line isn't a finesse player. There's no finesse to his game. Max is a shooter. He's Mike Ryder with more speed, and a better defensive game.

I like that comparison.

 

[DamianHabs]

With how well the Wings, Bruins, and Sens are playing, Habs might not be able to hold on to division lead by the time Price returns.

The panic on these boards is amusing and laughable. The Habs lose two in a row and all of a sudden
the Bruins and senators are going to catch us. Omg. We are fine. Yes were dealing with adversity but the panic is ridiculous.

 

[feds91]

I hope next game they have a bit more offensive output:


Give Gilbert a night off. He has been kind of struggled a bit the last two games. Though he has been pinching a little more than usual. Just didn't look like himself in the defensive zone. It's ok to have a bad game here and there. Just get Pateryn in there to keep him engaged.

Emelin always plays his best games against the Bruins so he will most likely be in.

I'm surprised that Gilbert is second in plus-minus amongst defensemen in plus minus

 

[The Great Weal]

Give Gilbert a season off.

I agree.

 

[Brainiac]

Skating in a straight line isn't a finesse player. There's no finesse to his game. Max is a shooter. He's Mike Ryder with more speed, and a better defensive game.

A Mike Ryder with more speed and better defensive game is a hell of a hockey player...

Add some playmaking ability and you've got a Max Pacioretty!

 

[Compile]

A Mike Ryder with more speed and better defensive game is a hell of a hockey player...

Add some playmaking ability and you've got a Max Pacioretty!

Max can't pass. I don't know where you guys get the idea that he's good at it. He's capable/decent but 3/4 of his passes are rockets. It looks like he's shooting the luck at his teammates half the time.

 

[FormerLurker]

Max can't pass. I don't know where you guys get the idea that he's good at it. He's capable/decent but 3/4 of his passes are rockets. It looks like he's shooting the luck at his teammates half the time.

This is the NHL. If his linemates can't handle hard passes then they should be playing in the AHL. Do you remember Galchenyuk's rocket pass to Max against the Rangers a couple of weeks ago? Max buried it, because he is an NHL player.

Watch any NHL team on the power play, even the Leafs. The passes are hard and accurate. Even when they are not tape-to-tape, they are often corralled.

Don't blame inept pass reception on the guy making the passes.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

A Mike Ryder with more speed and better defensive game is a hell of a hockey player...

Add some playmaking ability and you've got a Max Pacioretty!

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

Ryder minus all his flaws isn't even close to Ryder anymore.

Just imagined Ryder on the PK. God that would be brutal.

 

[Kriss E]

Max can't pass. I don't know where you guys get the idea that he's good at it. He's capable/decent but 3/4 of his passes are rockets. It looks like he's shooting the luck at his teammates half the time.

The ''he can't pass'' narrative was unproven when he was paired with Galch and he kept setting him up. He also did good when paired with Vanek, they were moving the puck around nicely. Not to mention, he had a nice passing season during the lockout too.

Max is a very versatile player.
What he isn't is a dangler/stickhandler.

 

[SOLR]

The ''he can't pass'' narrative was unproven when he was paired with Galch and he kept setting him up. He also did good when paired with Vanek, they were moving the puck around nicely. Not to mention, he had a nice passing season during the lockout too.

Max is a very versatile player.
What he isn't is a dangler/stickhandler.

Well said. Brendan Shanahan 2.0

 

[Rapala]

Well said. Brendan Shanahan 2.0

All release not even that accurate.

 

[LaP]

Truly I'm a little more concerned with Tampa Bay at 27 games played 29 pts. a full 12 pts back with a game in hand, don't count out Stevie Y's team from coming back into playoff contention it's early in the season yet. Then of course Florida's GM Dale Tallon has the Panthers playing like world beaters also with two games in hand and 11 pts back.

I'm kind of puzzled by people concerned with teams being 10 points behind. 10 points is a pretty big difference even with games in hand.

It means you must win around 6 more games to be sure to be in front. 6 more games in 50 something games is 10% of the remaining of the season. That's A LOT.

If Mtl is 27-27 it means to other team with 2 games in hand must be 33-23. That's a 600 winning % which is very hard to keep over a long period of time.

I'm also kind of puzzled by people expecting the wings to keep winning all their games. They are 7-0-3 in their last 10 and are still 7 points behind. When you are still 7 points behind after not losing a single game in regular in your last 10 games it's not really good at all. The wings will have a losing streak soon. We all know this you can't play 55 games without losing a single time in regulation.

 

[LaP]

A Mike Ryder with more speed and better defensive game is a hell of a hockey player...

Add some playmaking ability and you've got a Max Pacioretty!

No doubt. Ryder was actually a good hockey player. His main weakness was his poor defensive play.

So a Ryder without this weakness and also a bigger frame is effectively a very very good player.

 

[Rapala]

I'm kind of puzzled by people concerned with teams being 10 points behind. 10 points is a pretty big difference even with games in hand.

It means you must win around 6 more games to be sure to be in front. 6 more games in 50 something games is 10% of the remaining of the season. That's A LOT.

If Mtl is 27-27 it means to other team with 2 games in hand must be 33-23. That's a 600 winning % which is very hard to keep over a long period of time.

I'm also kind of puzzled by people expecting the wings to keep winning all their games. They are 7-0-3 in their last 10 and are still 7 points behind. When you are still 7 points behind after not losing a single game in regular in your last 10 games it's not really good at all. The wings will have a losing streak soon. We all know this you can't play 55 games without losing a single time in regulation.

Provided we don't go on any extended losing streak we wil be fine.
But teams can put together good or even better runs than we had (see Rangers)
If they coincide with consistent losing on our part we could find ourselves back in the reach of some of these clubs. Some folks brought up our Dec. schedule as a potential perfect storm.
So far we aren't overcoming adversity. Winning 9-10 in October and then losing 9-10 in Dec would be bad. The only saving grace would be the fact that we did play fairly well in between.

 

[LaP]

Provided we don't go on any extended losing streak we wil be fine.

I agree.

But teams can put together good or even better runs than we had (see Rangers)

One of them sure can until the end of the season. 2 maybe. But 2 is kind of stretching it. This said i don't see how anyone could be sure we are going to be 2nd in the division before Price return. We would need to lose a lot more regulation games than we did in our last 10 games for this to happen.

As long as we keep winning more than losing we will be fine. It will take more than a 2 games losing streak to worry me.

I'm actually more worried about the use of Flynn, DSP and Byron in our top 6. I'm all for letting our kids develop in the AHL but at some point it must not become stubbornness and stupidity. If we keep using those guys in our top 6 we will eventually lose more games than we will win. I can't believe we don't have a single kid better than those guys. He might not be ready for prime time but giving him 10-15 games will not hurt. The wings do it often. Guys like Tatar and Nyquist played games in the NHL here and there before graduating.