GDT: Game 66: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Montreal Canadiens 3/2/19 7:00pm EST SN, TVA (HD), TSN 690

[donghabs98]

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[JianYang]

So is reilly simply a healthy scratch these days?

 

[The Great Weal]

So is reilly simply a healthy scratch these days?

I personally think he has been better than Kulak.

 

[JianYang]

I personally think he has been better than Kulak.

I haven't seen the last couple games, so I have not seen folin at all, but I don't think either Kulak or reilly were playing themselves out of the lineup.

 

[26Mats]

So is reilly simply a healthy scratch these days?

yeah. I haven't been watching, but I'd like to see if that second pair of Benn-Petry is better than Rielly-Petry. I liked Reilly's speed.

 

[Guns n Roses]

Let’s get the 2 points!

 

[NobleSix]

I'll be at the game with a friend.

Price better play.

 

[Habssince89]

I don't like Benn anywhere but on the third pair. He can be very solid, but he's overexposed with Petry. The D should be:

Mete-Weber
Reilly-Petry
Kulak-Folin

With the potential of Kulak challenging Reilly. I think Kulak has been incredibly solid and I love his mix grit, mobility, and IQ.

Folin has a good tool set, and he takes pressure off of Weber with the physical element. He did a good job of clearing the crease against the rangers. If Folin can't hack it I would play Benn over him as the #6

 

[OldCraig71]

This will be a tough test. The Penguins are desperate as well and have the experience of being in this type of pressure situation many times in the past. Crosby and Malkin scare me.

 

[bobholly39]

This one is complicated. Lots of dynamics at play. In order of importance for me, let's see....

1A. Carey Price stats. I want him to win the Vezina, so he can't let in a lot of goals
1B. Sidney Crosby stats. I want him to get as close to the Ross as possible - so he needs to score a lot of points
2A. I want Habs to make the playoffs. Can't really afford to lose 2 points
2B. I want Pens to also make the playoffs. Can't really afford to lose 2 points.

Here's my compromise.

1. Don't play Price
2. Have it go to OT
3. Have Crosby score 6 points in a 7-6 OT loss

Glass half full. I'm an optimist. In addition to being a compromise - i'll call this my prediction.

Habs win 7-6 in OT. Crosby scores 6 points. Book it?

 

[thewall]

Price playing back 2 backs means Julien and the staff lost confidence in Niemi. That's where i think Bergevin missed out at the deadline. Kinkaid would have been a great acquisition imo. We could have also taken on Talbot's contract and get a pick since Edm needed to shred some sallary. I guess the price on Howard was to high. All the pts will be important and Niemi is always a big question mark.

 

[JohnnyB11]

Price playing back 2 backs means Julien and the staff lost confidence in Niemi. That's where i think Bergevin missed out at the deadline. Kinkaid would have been a great acquisition imo. We could have also taken on Talbot's contract and get a pick since Edm needed to shred some sallary. I guess the price on Howard was to high. All the pts will be important and Niemi is always a big question mark.

I don’t agree - I think their confidence in Niemi is likely the same as it has been all year. The fact is this is a Saturday night game in Montreal against Crosby and co., a team challenging you for one of the wild card spots. Why the hell would you play your backup? Is Carey Price that much of a pansy that he needs the night off?

Definitely not. Got less to do with Niemi and more to do with Price.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Oh God, Benn in the top 4 again?

 

[UVMCats]

FYI. Price is playing tonight. Is what i was told.

 

[Lshap]

This one is complicated. Lots of dynamics at play. In order of importance for me, let's see....

1A. Carey Price stats. I want him to win the Vezina, so he can't let in a lot of goals
1B. Sidney Crosby stats. I want him to get as close to the Ross as possible - so he needs to score a lot of points
2A. I want Habs to make the playoffs. Can't really afford to lose 2 points
2B. I want Pens to also make the playoffs. Can't really afford to lose 2 points.

Here's my compromise.

1. Don't play Price
2. Have it go to OT
3. Have Crosby score 6 points in a 7-6 OT loss

Glass half full. I'm an optimist. In addition to being a compromise - i'll call this my prediction.

Habs win 7-6 in OT. Crosby scores 6 points. Book it?

If you can pull all that off, I'll wish you good luck with world domination, Lex Luthor.

 

[bobholly39]

FYI. Price is playing tonight. Is what i was told.

Damn.

Now I gotta decide between rooting for Price having a shutout and Crosby scoring a ton of points.

Maybe if Pittsburgh does something insane like shoot 78 times on Price and he lets in 4 goals (4 Crosby Points) - it's the best of both worlds. his sv% goes up, and Crosby gets lots of points. Win-win?

 

[Simarino]

I don’t agree - I think their confidence in Niemi is likely the same as it has been all year. The fact is this is a Saturday night game in Montreal against Crosby and co., a team challenging you for one of the wild card spots. Why the hell would you play your backup? Is Carey Price that much of a pansy that he needs the night off?

Definitely not. Got less to do with Niemi and more to do with Price.

Thats what i think also, Price give them a way better chance to win the game, no matter if its Niemi/Kinkaid or Kudhobin your Backup and every game is pretty much a must win at this point of the season so give your team the best chance to win even if it means overplaying the top players.

 

[thewall]

I don’t agree - I think their confidence in Niemi is likely the same as it has been all year. The fact is this is a Saturday night game in Montreal against Crosby and co., a team challenging you for one of the wild card spots. Why the hell would you play your backup? Is Carey Price that much of a pansy that he needs the night off?

Definitely not. Got less to do with Niemi and more to do with Price.

Well i'll disagree with you with the fact that Niemi didnt get the start vs the mighty Red Wings on Tuesday. I'm not only talking about this weekend back to back. Niemi always got the starts on back to back and if the management would have faith in him he would have probably started last night.

I personally have 0 faith in Niemi so I dont blame them. I'm just surprise they didnt improve the backup position if indeed they have no faith in Niemi.

 

[Tyson]

If anyone thinks for one second that Neimi starts in the most important game of the year need to give their heads a shake.

 

[thewall]

If anyone thinks for one second that Neimi starts in the most important game of the year need to give their heads a shake.

Im not suggesting to put Niemi tonight. That would be so dumb. Im just stating the fact that if Niemi doesnt get the start in Det then where do you play him?
Habs have like 4 more b2b games. A better backup would give them a better chance of getting in the playoffs.

 

[Tuggy]

Another big one tonight. Looks like we might be getting DeSmith tonight, which could be nice.

And I'd also play Reilly over Kulak.

 

[Tyson]

Im not suggesting to put Niemi tonight. That would be so dumb. Im just stating the fact that if Niemi doesnt get the start in Det then where do you play him?
Habs have like 4 more b2b games. A better backup would give them a better chance of getting in the playoffs.

Julien has pretty shown us that he no longer trusts Niemi. What surprises me is that Bergevin didn’t address it at the TDL. Lindgren has been pretty bad this year and McNiven has zero experience. Does not bode well.

 

[Tyson]

Another big one tonight. Looks like we might be getting DeSmith tonight, which could be nice.

And I'd also play Reilly over Kulak.

Kulak is way better than Reilly from what I have seen, of course opinions are subjective. Reilly is simply not very good.
Kulak is +11 in 41 games which is impressive for a bottom pairing D. He also assisted on the GWG last night.

 

[Adamcrazy3]

Huge game tonight!! Hoping for a 60minute effort.. GO HABS GO!

 

[Archijerej]

Oh God, Benn in the top 4 again?

He's been in the top 4 since January, if not earlier.