GDT: Game 53: Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs 5/6/21 7:00pm EST TSN2, RDS (HD), TSN 690

[salbutera]

Nilan is right on 690, time to show you are men and respect the organization.
no effort is embarrassing. Right on Nilan

he says many of the hab players are letting down the team, by lazy attitude

He also said he understands what the schedule is like, since he played the game..pls he’s got no f*ckin idea.

No one has ever been through this before, and no other division has the combination of coast-to-coast time zone travel + Covid condensed schedule as North division does.

Looks like Knuckles fell off the wagon again.

 

[McGees]

This game will come down to special teams , and either Nylander's enormous head, or Matthews enormous jaw (NOSTRILS).

 

[Ezpz]

I mean I personally wouldn't use this year as a barometer of anything tbh, I expect Molson will feel the same

Honestly I'd fire the whole lot of them based on this season. We are in legitimately the weakest division we've played in since the 60's and can't even make the playoffs handily. Imagine the top Eastern teams in our conference again, we would have finished 5th worst in the conference in front of Ottawa, Buffalo, New Jersey, and Detroit.

 

[McGees]

I expect a fat loss because:
a) Leafs wanting revenge for the loss last time they met
b) Their schedule is smooth sailing to finish the season while Habs are tired and played last night
c) Dom's system only allows one good game for every 3 bad games.

 

[1909]

If only Habs can show a heartbeat. Yesterday they did not at all.

 

[First Line]

They didn’t show up yesterday. Usually they would bounce back with a decent effort but I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I might just skip this one.

 

[sheed36]

Honestly one thing I want to see is the Habs play physical with Marner and Matthews. They never seem to try to hit those two guys for some reason. Are they just hard to hit? Make life tough for those guys

Chiarot and Weber gave Matthews a good going over with some crosschecks to his back during the first Habs/Leafs game this season which caused some whining and crying from Matthews agent after. Romanov also got a bit rough with Matthews in one game but yeah we need to see way more of making this guys night much tougher.

Really other than some Oilers/Habs games that were quite intense and physical the rough stuff and physicality in games between teams in the North have been pretty meh from what I've seen considering how many games these teams have played each other. The hockey from the North division hasn't been very enjoyable or entertaining this year for the most IMO and I'll be happy when this farce finally ends which is soon.

 

[sheed36]

I expect a fat loss because:
a) Leafs wanting revenge for the loss last time they met
b) Their schedule is smooth sailing to finish the season while Habs are tired and played last night
c) Dom's system only allows one good game for every 3 bad games.

I'm not even sure Dom as a system. He seems to be way in over his head and most times doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing. He hasn't shown enough IMO to be named head coach for next season. Maybe though he's not the one calling the shots here and and it's the guy upstairs.

 

[habsfan891]

Be nice to see a better effort than that embarrassment last night

 

[Death]

Nilan is right on 690, time to show you are men and respect the organization.
no effort is embarrassing. Right on Nilan

he says many of the hab players are letting down the team, by lazy attitude

Not sure I agree with this ... Sure, they sometimes look terribly off but I'm not convinced this is laziness or a lack of effort. This team is mostly made of not so talented players relying on hard work to obtain some kind of success. With the condensed schedule and the team being bad for so many years (some players must feel kinda depressed as competitive pro athletes lacking success after years of sucking, leading to apathetic showings), stinkers are gonna happen more often than not.

 

[Rapala]

I was reluctant to jettison DD after not giving him a real chance but I think a complete coaching and management house cleaning needs to happen

I think we will see a REAL game tonight. The Habs checked out before it even started last night. There is no doubt they are fatigued and I don't doubt they were looking ahead. I much prefer they crap out in Ottawa which has zero meaning at this point but if they don't show tonight I'll be disappointed. Regarding cleaning house there is no doubt it should have happened by now. I'm really not sure what can be done but we need to shed at least one of Price Weber Drouin and ideally two. Anything less than one would be a fail prior to next season. We also can't mortgage our future to have Seattle take one of them. Francis is a wise hombre and you just know he's going to exact a steep toll if he takes on any heavy contracts. Starting from our President on down we need a total reset and a fresh install. This continual rebooting has to end.

 

[expy]

No "tired" excuse tonight, they didn't play last night.

 

[Rapala]

An improvement on having the worst record of all 24 teams last year!

It looks to me like we've moved from 24th to about 18th. Still not good enough for our normal conference and division.

 

[Habit11]

It looks to me like we've moved from 24th to about 18th. Still no good enough for our normal conference and division.

17th best points percentage in the league in the 2nd half of this season. 16th overall for the entire season. Spectacularly mediocre.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Clinching scenario tonight:

- Canucks lose in regulation against the Oilers tonight.
- Habs get at least 1 point tonight against the Leafs.

If the Canucks win tonight, even if Habs win, they do not clinch yet. We know they're making it. But they won't be in mathematically. For the Habs to miss the playoffs, it will all have to go wrong in these last 3 games for Montreal and EVERYTHING go right for Vancouver in their last 9 games.

 

[Rapala]

I respect you as a poster man but let’s dial it down a bit on this one.

Nilan's issues were alcohol and pain killer related. I'm sure he used coke but it wasn't the cocaine that laid him out.

 

[Ezpz]

Win clinches if Casucks lose their game. Basically if we earn 1 point and Vancouver loses we clinch. We're already 10 points up on Calgary and they have 5 games remaining. Any point we gain eliminates Calgary.

 

[Rapala]

Win clinches if Casucks lose their game. Basically if we earn 1 point and Vancouver loses we clinch. We're already 10 points up on Calgary and they have 5 games remaining. Any point we gain eliminates Calgary.

We just need to win and it starts with closing out Mitch Marner.

 

[angusyoung]

Super pumped and stoked for this game ,can't wait to see how it unfolds!

 

[HTTP 400]

It seems to me that the Habs are still very much into an underdog mentality. They come strong and motivated when facing a top team, even more if that team has superstars. They are like "we gonna stop them, they won't score on us, we're gonna beat them with intensity". But when they face hardworking teams like Ottawa and Calgary, they don't seem to know what the purpose is : they have nothing to defend, no special missions on superstars. They are just flat.

So it wouldn't surprise me if they win tonight, playing inspired hockey.

 

[angusyoung]

I mean I personally wouldn't use this year as a barometer of anything tbh, I expect Molson will feel the same

And that is the problem! He's a fool and it all ebbs from Molson. It takes a fool to fool a fool, follow the trickle down effect. Ship of fools, just look at the product ,who's at the helm? Molson came over by ship! It all ties in if you ask me

 

[Habs Halifax]

The day after a loss is cancer culture on our boards. Two looses in a row?

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

Honestly one thing I want to see is the Habs play physical with Marner and Matthews. They never seem to try to hit those two guys for some reason. Are they just hard to hit? Make life tough for those guys

Yup, would be nice if they give them a little taste of what the playoffs will be like when the games usually becomes more intense. They have the players to rough them up, now they just have to have the will to do it. If they do that, the Leafs will choke again.

 

[le_sean]

I respect you as a poster man but let’s dial it down a bit on this one.

Perhaps but he answered the bell. His issues with drugs are not a joke. It killed John Kordic. Surprised you would say this actually

Let’s calm down with the morality lesson. What happened to guys like John Kordic and Len Bias was no joke and I’m not making fun of it. But cocaine as a performance enhancing drug in the 80s was a real thing. The Darryl Strawberry Mets, Lawrence Taylor. So for Nilan to say there isn’t effort is not fair. They are trying, they are just average and some nights are exhausted.

He’s always had this viewpoint that if you’re not getting your head bashed in, you’re not really doing enough. We get it Chris, you were nuts, but not everyone is wired that way.

 

[David Suzuki]

Looks like Knuckles fell off the wagon again.

Imagine insulting a guy's battle with addiction to defend these Habs