Canadiens and big games

[Seb]

This team seems to thrive under competition, and with Carye Price anything is possible.

I'm not gonna set my expectations too high, but this could possibly be the year.

 

[JusticeBeaver]

No no. Don't go against the grain here. This team sucks and price (who doesn't count as part of this team because of reasons) is the only positive aspect of our season.

That was a response to my statement, and while the habs did turn things around thanks to stronger play in the second half, the first half of the game was digusting.

I'm not part of the narrative that you describe, but if you want it to go away, I'm not sure bringing it up is the right way to go about it.

 

[optimus2861]

I believe winning tight games is a good sign going into the playoffs, no?

Price is having such a God-mode run that at this point we could almost win 5 games with 5 GF. It is what it is I suppose. Infuriating as hell to see Therrien coaching the team like this and Price continually saving his ass.

 

[Jeffrey]

Chicago loss come to mind

 

[Uber Coca]

Price is having such a God-mode run that at this point we could almost win 5 games with 5 GF. It is what it is I suppose. Infuriating as hell to see Therrien coaching the team like this and Price continually saving his ass.

Infuriating you say? I'm enraged about this team and its 39-16-5 record. Disastrous coaching, of course! We all know this team is an offensive powerhouse that could/should compete with Chicago, Pittsburgh and others in terms of scoring. There's no point in playing a team-defense first game with this powerful offense.

 

[Andy]

The 5-0 (2x) and 4-0 thumping from the Hawks, Rangers and Pens come to mind.

If the team plays like they did last night, they have a good chance. Otherwise, I think their POs will go with the flow of how dominant Price is.

 

[HTTP 400]

Infuriating you say? I'm enraged about this team and its 39-16-5 record. Disastrous coaching, of course! We all know this team is an offensive powerhouse that could/should compete with Chicago, Pittsburgh and others in terms of scoring. There's no point in playing a team-defense first game with this powerful offense.

Yeah, MT is like that clown Sutter who turned the LA Kings into one of the lowest scoring team in the NHL for the last 3 years. Kings fan can't wait for him to be fired so that Kopitar can score 100 pts and Carter reach 50 goals during the regular season. Stupid coach should thank Quick and Doughty for saving his job.

 

[Uber Coca]

MT is like that clown Sutter who turned the LA Kings into one of the lowest scoring team in the NHL for the last 3 years. Kings fan can't wait for him to be fired so that Kopitar can score 100 pts and Carter reach 50 goals. Stupid coach should thank Quick and Doughty for saving his job.

I hear you. I'll throw Claude Julien's name out there too. Clowns, all clowns. And what about Mike Johnston? He's relying so much on Crosby to win games I can't even...

 

[optimus2861]

Yeah, MT is like that clown Sutter who turned the LA Kings into one of the lowest scoring team in the NHL for the last 3 years. Kings fan can't wait for him to be fired so that Kopitar can score 100 pts and Carter reach 50 goals during the regular season. Stupid coach should thank Quick and Doughty for saving his job.

Don't know why I bother coming here some days.

 

[Lshap]

Don't know why I bother coming here some days.

The omelette bar is pretty good.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Out of all the teams I'm scared to face most in the playoffs, it's Buffalo, Edmonton and
Tampa in that order.

If Tampa gets eliminated before the ECF and we manage to get through, I can see another series between us and the Rangers. This time, if we have Price, I'd expect a different result.

Besides Tampa, I really don't fear any team in the East and only a couple in the West. By the time a team in the West gets to the finals, they're normally functioning at 80% after the attrition in that conference.

 

[Lshap]

That was a response to my statement, and while the habs did turn things around thanks to stronger play in the second half, the first half of the game was digusting.

I'm not part of the narrative that you describe, but if you want it to go away, I'm not sure bringing it up is the right way to go about it.

Yeah, no question that first half against Nashville was a microcosm of every problem this team has. Weak on the boards, weak in our zone, weak breakouts and uncoordinated rushes into the o-zone. Not quite as bad as the shot-differential (how could it be??) but pretty freakin ridiculous.

But it was also a microcosm of everything that's great about this team. Price playing like a Ninja, the skaters adapting to Nashville and continuing to press, the forwards starting to click with their passes and create chances, and the unyielding belief that they can comeback and beat anyone. Which they did. Again.

No metric exists to measure confidence, determination, buy-in. For all the legit questions about this team's weaknesses, there's no denying it has some pretty awesome strengths.

 

[optimus2861]

The omelette bar is pretty good.

No bacon this morning though! Who's the chef 'round these parts?!

 

[sharks9]

The 5-0 (2x) and 4-0 thumping from the Hawks, Rangers and Pens come to mind.

If the team plays like they did last night, they have a good chance. Otherwise, I think their POs will go with the flow of how dominant Price is.

Those were all earlier in the year though, I'm happy that we haven't really been blown out in the last couple months.

 

[Hoople]

This is indicative of the Habs compete factor.

Yes it's great to have Price. Yes it's even greater to have a team with mental toughness to play well on the face of adversity and against strong opposition.

 

[GoodKiwi]

The 5-0 (2x) and 4-0 thumping from the Hawks, Rangers and Pens come to mind.

If the team plays like they did last night, they have a good chance. Otherwise, I think their POs will go with the flow of how dominant Price is.

The last one of those "bad" losses happened in November when they were playing much looser than they are now.

Time to get over it.

 

[GoodKiwi]

Those were all earlier in the year though, I'm happy that we haven't really been blown out in the last couple months.

They have lost by 3 goals exactly twice in their last 36 games. Another two times during the same time span losses were by 2 goals.

If that's not impressive I don't know what is.

 

[Brainiac]

Maybe you could tell us which games should be included?

Let's see...

Oct. 13: Lost 1-7 against TBL
Nov. 4 : Lost 0-5 against CHI
Nov. 18: Lost 0-4 against PIT
Nov. 23: Lost 0-5 against NYR

And let's not forget that they lost 3 easy games recently (EDM, OTT, FLA) and barely beat the Leafs in SO.

Should these games not count in our assessement of the Habs?

Look, I agree that recently they are playing great hockey against good teams. But a season is 82 games and all these games count when you want to understand what you have at hand. This team still has flaws. Goal scoring being one.

 

[Pricef*]

Don't know why I bother coming here some days.

Funny, I feel the same way!

 

[Hackett]

Let's see...

Oct. 13: Lost 1-7 against TBL
Nov. 4 : Lost 0-5 against CHI
Nov. 18: Lost 0-4 against PIT
Nov. 23: Lost 0-5 against NYR

And let's not forget that they lost 3 easy games recently (EDM, OTT, FLA) and barely beat the Leafs in SO.

Should these games not count in our assessement of the Habs?

Look, I agree that recently they are playing great hockey against good teams. But a season is 82 games and all these games count when you want to understand what you have at hand. This team still has flaws. Goal scoring being one.

Like I said, I only included game in this calendar year, and it's not cherry picking to me if I clearly state that stipulation in the first place. At the very least, we can concede an impressive winning streak against these types of teams.

As for Edmonton, Ottawa, and Florida, I do not qualify them as measuring sticks, hence why I left them out. The measuring stick aspect also clearly stated in the original post, and indirectly in the thread title.