Pre-Game Talk: Game 3: Help us Obi Price, you are all we got

[HabsDieHard*]

In all honesty, Price has always been graet in games after he let in a high number of goals.

And Tampa was quite bad in b2b games this year.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that they could go back to Montreal tied 2-2.

But this team has not been playing like a cup contender for a long time now.

And anyone who thinks this is just a case of their best players slumping at the wrong time is in for a rude awakening, because long term nothing is going to change in the right direction.

Therrien is the same underwhelming hockey coach he always has been.

 

[blarneylad]

In all honesty, Price has always been graet in games after he let in a high number of goals.

And Tampa was quite bad in b2b games this year.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that they could go back to Montreal tied 2-2.

But this team has not been playing like a cup contender for a long time now.

And anyone who thinks this is just a case of their best players slumping at the wrong time is in for a rude awakening, because long term nothing is going to change in the right direction.

Therrien is the same underwhelming hockey coach he always has been.

I don't think this series is over. Far from it.

But if it does end with the powerplay being this bad, and scoring in general being this bad, you have to expect changes to be made.

 

[OldCraig71]

DD is not traveling with the team, he has to buy his own ticket to Tampa. He must be really sick, guys this is serious.

 

[Whitesnake]

Just to reassure everybody....DD is on his way to Tampa. You can breath now.

 

[HabsChik*]

I just hope that the Habs management finally sees the true Plekanecs.
The one that is SO useless in the playoffs. Enough is enough.

Keep him as third line center or get rid of him and Desharnais and work on getting bigger and better down the middle.

 

[President XD]

For the Habs to win tonight and even hope for some kind of comeback, the supposed leaders need to stand up and elevate their game. So far, Patch has shown us nothing of a great leader in the Playoffs. 2 fluke goals this year, rather invisible in 2014. Plek enters girl mode come Playoffs time. DD is DD, Chucky is, well what is Chuky exactly? People can talk about him playing wing all they want but it does not explain his lack of effort. He just seems uninterested out there.

We need Markov to wake the **** up. Subban to stop being so freaking selfish and stop doing those stupid spinoramas at the Bolts blue line. It's getting predictable and leading to nothing good. The D needs to put some pucks on net and perhaps should take note from Petry and Gilbert's goals from last game where the shots weren't overly powerful but at least they were on net. If you don't score with the shot, at least by hitting the net you can get a chance at a rebound.

Flynn, Mitchell, DSP and Petry are not the reason the Habs can't score and are in tough against Tampa Bay. It's the core of the team that just can't elevate their game when it counts. You can't have your top 6 disappear in the Playoffs and hope to win a cup.

 

[smirob]

The pessimism here is discouraging.

I am confident that 2 days off and back to back games will work in our favour.

We need the momentum to shift, need to be disciplined and play the shutdown style of hockey vs TB.

More of game 1 and less of game 2

 

[Forum93]

For the Habs to win tonight and even hope for some kind of comeback, the supposed leaders need to stand up and elevate their game. So far, Patch has shown us nothing of a great leader in the Playoffs. 2 fluke goals this year, rather invisible in 2014. Plek enters girl mode come Playoffs time. DD is DD, Chucky is, well what is Chuky exactly? People can talk about him playing wing all they want but it does not explain his lack of effort. He just seems uninterested out there.

We need Markov to wake the **** up. Subban to stop being so freaking selfish and stop doing those stupid spinoramas at the Bolts blue line. It's getting predictable and leading to nothing good. The D needs to put some pucks on net and perhaps should take note from Petry and Gilbert's goals from last game where the shots weren't overly powerful but at least they were on net. If you don't score with the shot, at least by hitting the net you can get a chance at a rebound.

Flynn, Mitchell, DSP and Petry are not the reason the Habs can't score and are in tough against Tampa Bay. It's the core of the team that just can't elevate their game when it counts. You can't have your top 6 disappear in the Playoffs and hope to win a cup.

Add in a powerplay which was never rectified throughout the regular season, now below 4%, a miracle is going to be needed to get to the next round.

 

[Tuggy]

I think the back-to-back can be a blessing or a curse. If the Habs play a good game and win Game 3 then less than 24 hours and carry that momentum and confidence into Game 4. On the flip side, if times go sour in Game 3 and it's a loss then I don't hold out much hope for avoiding a sweep.

 

[Habitant#1]

What bothered me the most about these first two games is that it's a repeat of 2013 where the guys weren't focused and were all over the place emotionally. They lost their composure. I thought that it was what we were going to do to THEM. I thought we were going to hit them a lot, hit them hard, bother them after whistles, that Prust would play a big role in this. But instead, they got into our heads and we lost our composure. It's disappointing.

The only good news out of all of this is that if we win the next one, then we're going to play again the next day and the bolts might still be reeling from that loss without much time to prepare. If we lose.. then we're done so ... whatever. But yeah, seeing how the guys were completely off their game after the 1-1 goal... it doesn't bode well for the rest of the playoffs. Felt like they gave up after Subban's penalty... And our weak forward group is a huge issue.

I see this as well. And I think it starts at the top: Therrien whining about the offside goal after game one. He set the stage for the the Habs to be victims. Very poor leadership IMO. Reminds me of the 'faceoff was on the wrong side' momen from 2013 vs Senst. He just seems defeated and lost, he has no answers.

 

[Habitant#1]

Honestly this game is a must win. Habs are not winnig four straight after losing eight straight.

 

[smirob]

I think the back-to-back can be a blessing or a curse. If the Habs play a good game and win Game 3 then less than 24 hours and carry that momentum and confidence into Game 4. On the flip side, if times go sour in Game 3 and it's a loss then I don't hold out much hope for avoiding a sweep.

Yeah I agree. Game 3 is all that matters right now.

 

[HBDay]

For the Habs to win tonight and even hope for some kind of comeback, the supposed leaders need to stand up and elevate their game. So far, Patch has shown us nothing of a great leader in the Playoffs. 2 fluke goals this year, rather invisible in 2014. Plek enters girl mode come Playoffs time. DD is DD, Chucky is, well what is Chuky exactly? People can talk about him playing wing all they want but it does not explain his lack of effort. He just seems uninterested out there.

We need Markov to wake the **** up. Subban to stop being so freaking selfish and stop doing those stupid spinoramas at the Bolts blue line. It's getting predictable and leading to nothing good. The D needs to put some pucks on net and perhaps should take note from Petry and Gilbert's goals from last game where the shots weren't overly powerful but at least they were on net. If you don't score with the shot, at least by hitting the net you can get a chance at a rebound.

Flynn, Mitchell, DSP and Petry are not the reason the Habs can't score and are in tough against Tampa Bay. It's the core of the team that just can't elevate their game when it counts. You can't have your top 6 disappear in the Playoffs and hope to win a cup.

That moment when you think the habs are playing tonight but they aren't.

 

[Richiebottles]

I think the Habs will bring all they got tomorrow with their season on the line.

I really do think that we will win game 3 and 4 and come back to Montreal with the Momentum.

Bell Centre on a Saturday night with the series tied, Lets do this.

 

[JohnKordicsGhost]

We aren't going to go very far in the playoffs if Mitchell and flynn are our top scoring forwards. Max and pleks choke yet again.

 

[McClane]

I am confident that the Habs will take this one.

 

[Analyzer*]

We aren't going to go very far in the playoffs if Mitchell and flynn are our top scoring forwards. Max and pleks choke yet again.

While 1 is an empty net, Pacs still has 3 goals this year. Which is more than I expected from him.

Markov has never brought offense in the playoffs.

Hell, even Subban isn't stepping up to the level he normally does. He's above everyone else, except Price, but still below the level he normally gets to at this time.

If there's ever a time to play Hudon just to see what happens, it would be against Tampa.

 

[Habsawce]

DD is not traveling with the team, he has to buy his own ticket to Tampa. He must be really sick, guys this is serious.

Molson probably sent his private jet, don't fool yourself he's not travelling coach.

 

[pepperMonkey]

Honestly this game is a must win. Habs are not winnig four straight after losing eight straight.

Er...I think your numbers are off

 

[McClane]

Molson probably sent his private jet, don't fool yourself he's not travelling coach.

We could have pitched in for a Greyhound ticket.

 

[Saint Patrick]

The team itself is playing as good as it can, you can't honestly say they aren't trying. They do give up a little too quickly in my opinion but they still try. Tampa is simply better, and they match up perfectly against us. They are what we should be offensively but with a slightly worst goalie, and even that is debatable. This is where a fantastic coach makes the difference. He looks at the opposing team and makes adjustments, and I'm not talking about adjustments because some of your non factor players are out of the line up. You show the other coach that you've figured him out and adjusted, even if you aren't 100% sure. But that's not Therrien, he basically sticks to a solution that works sometimes, by grinding and scraping by, but against teams that are equal or superior the system just doesn't work. We've seen that playing against the western teams. Once the flood gates are open, Habs just have no chance to recover, especially when moral is so-so. He needs to make some changes, with confidence, to show everyone he is the one leading the charge, setting the terms, again that's not Therrien. Otherwise I'm not sure what everyone is expecting, short of the team pulling some miracle despite being badly coached and outcoached by the opposing team and a goalie playing in a God like fashion, this is going to end exactly the same way every other game has ended since the playoff, cross your fingers and hope we win.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

 

[Habssince89]

honestly I'd put DD in for prust. the latter is hurting the team big time.

Pac-Plek-DSP
Galch-Eller-Gally
PAP-DD-Weise
DLR-Mitchell-Flynn

 

[Takeru]

Er...I think your numbers are off

5 losses this season against TB + 2 this series + 1 if we lose next game = 8 straight.

He's right.

 

[Braun]

What makes me the most mad out of anything is that if we can beat Tampa we have a chance of beating Washington or NYR. To me, this series is the biggest out of the 3. Obviously excluding the SCF.

 

[Laps40]

i liked the way Pleky is playing on defense but other than that do you think we should move him? Eller could replace his defensive role i suppose