GDT: Canadiens and Caps 7:00 PM

[Langway]

Haven't had a lead in 205 minutes of play. Legit might be a bottom five team.

 

[HTFN]

Montreal fans in the beignet minute?

Minute de Nougat

or maybe La Minute Nougat

I just think it's funny if it's nougat instead of nuggies

 

[PlushMinus]

Monahan always scores against us. Always.

Monahan's career was basically over until he landed in Montreal. Which says a lot about the quality of their roster.

 

[aonb]

watched coyotes vs ducks before this game and man, coyotes despite only winning 2-1 have looked like 20 times better than caps and canadiens combined. quick puck movement, generating 5 on 5 chances like its nothing, dangerous pp. we are far behind not only a good teams but even mediocre/weak ones atm

 

[PlushMinus]

Andersson 4 games - well deserved for that POS play.

Listen to this idiot - why was Andersson so riled up? "He was trying to prevent the empty net". lol yeah that was the reason.

I do like Bieksa on this panel. The guy I'm referring to above - can never remember his name but he used to be a goalie?

 

[HTFN]

Haven't had a lead in 205 minutes of play. Legit might be a bottom five team.

Still seeing forward progress in the smaller things. Coherence is up a little, fewer miscues and reversion to old reads, but you still see too many instances of two Caps skating to the same area of the ice and crossing each other up.

Maybe some of that is just that we've got some brickheads but some seems like it will smooth itself out after 20 games or so, and we'll finally be seeing where the weakest links are instead of trying to identify the mistake or which players are just struggling at the start (like, Jensen is a mystery box right now)

Isn't perfect but the idea that comes to mind is watching a new offense in the NFL. There are a lot of miscues, but initially it can be hard to tell if it's the QB throwing the wrong ball, the WR running the wrong route, or just an initial lack of reps and chemistry between them in routes with built-in options.

I mean, they're not looking like the playoffs right now or anything so there's a limit to the optimism but the function of the team seems to keep improving in different isolated areas every time, and they're usually the areas of immediate discussion by the coaching which I think is promising.

 

[HTFN]

Mantha is so lazy. Didn't even try to elevate that.

that can be pretty challenging if your hands get too far away from the body. Hell sometimes the pass just doesn't sit flush and the puck feels like three times heavier than it should even when your hands are okay, some just die on the stick and you can't really get the force into the blade that you need to lift it

Didn't see the replay but that one looked like it got out ahead of Mantha a little and he had to hook it to get it on net and couldn't get his left hand low

 

[Holtbyisms]

Haven't had a lead in 205 minutes of play. Legit might be a bottom five team.

Expecting us to be anything but was pretty optimistic imo. We were a bottom five team after the deadline last year and the young guys we've added this year aren't studs. They're decent pieces but they're going to have to learn how to be effective at this level and that usually doesn't happen right away unless you're a top tier player. That paired with the fact everyone in the core is a year older/slower and you're in the toughest division in the league... You've pretty solidly got a bottom 5 team. I'll be shocked if we're not easily in the lottery hunt this year.

 

[Coldplay619]

Looking at teams like the Leafs and Oilers and what they're fans are going through, I'm forever thankful we were able to snag one.

 

[aonb]

that can be pretty challenging if your hands get too far away from the body. Hell sometimes the pass just doesn't sit flush and the puck feels like three times heavier than it should even when your hands are okay, some just die on the stick and you can't really get the force into the blade that you need to lift it

Didn't see the replay but that one looked like it got out ahead of Mantha a little and he had to hook it to get it on net and couldn't get his left hand low

fair point from a practical standpoint. but the funny thing is that's always mantha, every *** time

 

[g00n]

Gonna be a lot of trades in the next month or so if this keeps up.

 

[HTFN]

fair point from a practical standpoint. but the funny thing is that's always mantha, every *** time

If we're being fair that's basically what happened to CMM on his two on one with Oshie, although the pass was better it's the reason he couldn't get it more than about a foot or two off the ice

 

[Langway]

I just see a plodding team with a leaky PK. That in itself is enough to sink them. Some areas will come around but I don't see them methodically dialing it in. I'm not even sure at this point what they would look like at full throttle. What does a realistically full throttle Kuznetsov look like? I have no clue. The blueline is also low-key uneventful offensively outside of Carlson.

For me the Atlantic is tougher top to bottom than the Metro. This is really about them, their form, their pace and commitment.

Sure do love watching Mantha skate around, though!

 

[Holtbyisms]

Is HHA already out best defenseman after half a game? lol

 

[marcel snapshot]

Handing out high danger chances to Habs like candy.

Meanwhile Al Koken reduced to hyping scoring chances vs the league’s worst team

 

[Empty Goal Net]

legit tripping call.

 

[tycoonheart]

McMichael has been fantastic!

 

[HTFN]

I just see a plodding team with a leaky PK. That in itself is enough to sink them. Some areas will come around but I don't see them methodically dialing it in. I'm not even sure at this point what they would look like at full throttle. What does a realistically full throttle Kuznetsov look like? I have no clue. The blueline is also low-key uneventful offensively outside of Carlson.

For me the Atlantic is tougher top to bottom than the Metro. This is really about them, their form, their pace and commitment.

Sure do love watching Mantha skate around, though!

Sounds like we're not having the same conversation, then, or at least not with the same parameters.

You're not going to see methodically dialed in after 4 games. You just... won't, not unless the "what they're trying to do" conversation is outrageously simple, and Carbery isn't taking an interim job with a playoff team so I'm not sure what the incentive would be to do that.

 

[Brian23]

0/11. Jesus.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Ovie honing that rim the puck on the PP thing

 

[troyerlaw]

I know we suck, but i do enjoy seeing CMM, Pro, Malenstyn, HHA, Phillips get regular shifts and not get automatically benched for a single mistake.

Would enjoy it even more if we could unload Mantha and promote Snively or Frank or someone else with some wheels and spark

 

[Coldplay619]

HHA has been a revelation.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

So nice to hear an organ.

Allen is making great quality saves.

 

[bacchist]

that can be pretty challenging if your hands get too far away from the body. Hell sometimes the pass just doesn't sit flush and the puck feels like three times heavier than it should even when your hands are okay, some just die on the stick and you can't really get the force into the blade that you need to lift it

Didn't see the replay but that one looked like it got out ahead of Mantha a little and he had to hook it to get it on net and couldn't get his left hand low

He should have been skating faster, then

 

[Langway]

You're not going to see methodically dialed in after 4 games. You just... won't, not unless the "what they're trying to do" conversation is outrageously simple, and Carbery isn't taking an interim job with a playoff team so I'm not sure what the incentive would be to do that.

It's less 'are they dialed in already?' as 'are they methodically learning as they go?' At this stage in being such an old team I think the answer is more likely they simply are what they are each and every night more or less. They're mostly past the stage of learning much of anything. There are additional variables like getting used to linemates--switching them every game may not help with that--but I'm not expecting them to radically clean up their game any time soon. What will be more widely varying is probably the level of competition they face and just what it manages against them.

It's going to be a challenge for them to punch through on teams. Gaining some confidence, earning that confidence, can help them put some things behind them and find more rhythm. But...I just think they're not that strong. Even if they manage to break through on teams I don't know what sort of defensive resistance they're capable of.