Habs beat Sabres 3-2

[Kimota]

Are you from Montreal? Youppi! Was a baseball fixture in all MLB, let alone Mtl.

Like one said, Roger D. landry, who was managing the marketing side of the Expos in the 80's, asked Jim Henson himself to create him, after the Souki disaster. Youppi! Became an instant success, not only in Montreal, but elsewhere in baseball, running in third place on the popularity chart only behind the San Diego Chicken and the Philly Fanatic.

When the Expos got transferred, the Habs bought the rights to Youppi! He's still popular with the kids.

Well damn I didn't know he was created by Henson. Guy is a genius. But I can see the ressemblance with the Muppets.

But now that the other guy mentioned it, I think they should slowly change him into a lumberjack!

 

[Lions999]

You can't blame MT for playing DD so much considering how well he and Patches have been playing during this run.

What I find wrong from MT is that he got DD and Patches going thats fine but he did all kinds of movement to them going and he now has hurt the confidence of other players.

 

[Winter Eclipse]

Okay, for argument's sake then, which line would you have played Briere-Eller-Bournival over tonight, given how everybody played?

Probably Plekanec's line, but the bigger point is why do we consistently have "higher end" players playing 6-7 minutes a game? Why really bother to dress them if they're gonna be benched?

Sigh...If you'd been following the team, you'd know DD's ice-time has progressively dwindled due to his lack of production and also Pacioretty's injury. Since the two have been healthy and re-united, they have been great, and certainly worthy of the ~16 minutes they received tonight.

51 D. Desharnais C 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

That's his stat line from tonight, 1 hit in almost 17 minutes of play. Also, Gallagher's virtually disappeared on Desharnais' line, if Desharnais and Patches are great, why not reunite the EGG line, and have 2 viable scoring threats going?

As I have mentioned, Eller has on average ~2 minutes more TOI per game this season than DD.

Most of Eller's extra ToI is from his use on the PK; Even Strength time sees Eller at 14:06 and Desharnais at 13:43. Furthermore, we all know that Eller is given far more ES defensive zone starts than Desharnais.

Subban is second on the team to Markov. Galchenyuk is our 3rd leading scorer. NONE of these players seem to be disadvantaged based on the ice time they have been given by the coaching staff.

That's exactly my issue though. Look at what these players have accomplished with the limited trust / playing time / opportunities they've been given...what would they be able to do if this team wasn't constantly shielding / adapting to the needs of Desharnais?

Therrien holds them to higher standards, and thus holds them accountable to these expectations?

but what do I know..

Ok, so they fail to meet these higher standards, and they're benched, but when they meet these criteria...are they ever rewarded? Galchenyuk remains on the third line, as a winger mind you, Eller has seen both of the wingers he excelled with taken away and THEN was benched, and when Subban returned to Norris Trophy form, he earned the privilege of not having his coach rip him to the media.

Contrast that to the punishment / rewards cycle given Desharnais and Bouillon...

 

[PsychoticHab]

Just saw the Thornton play. Wow. Grabs Orpik from behind, pulls him to the ice then punches him in the face twice. Like WTF? How is that a "tough" play. It's dirty as ****. Brutal.

Which is made even harder to watch by having to hear the Bruins commentators (not just Edwards this time) having little to know problem with it while excusing it away because of his hit on Eriksson because Eriksson still hasn't learned to keep his ******* head up.

First time the Habs win this year on a game I missed so that's nice to see.

 

[SnapVirus]

Next game I'd try :

Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Briere
Pacioretty - DD - Gallagher
Bournival - Eller - Gionta
Prust - White - Bourque/Moen

 

[overlords]

Next game I'd try :

Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Briere
Pacioretty - DD - Gallagher
Bournival - Eller - Gionta
Prust - White - Bourque/Moen

So you'd surround your tough minute center with briere and galchenyuk?

 

[WeThreeKings]

So you'd surround your tough minute center with briere and galchenyuk?

Therrien would just revert to Moen-Gionta when we get a lead anyways

 

[Big Lurk]

So you'd surround your tough minute center with briere and galchenyuk?

Good Point.

Pacioretty Desharnais Bournival
Brière Plekanec Gionta
Galchenyuk Eller Gallagher
Moen White Prust

 

[domdo345]

Good Point.

Pacioretty Desharnais Bournival
Brière Plekanec Gionta
Galchenyuk Eller Gallagher
Moen White Prust

This seems like the ideal solution for me but unfortunately, Bournival has been caught giving numerous turnovers in the last few games. And his ice time has suffered quite a bit since then. That's all part of a learning curve to play in the NHL but he'll have to revert to a simplier game with good performances before he gets to play with Patches and DD. Anyway, Therien did the same thing with many many young players, breaking bad habits as soon as he sees them. Bournival is a smart kid, he'll rebound sooner than later.

 

[Jigger77]

Habs fans > fanboys.

Some people just cannot for the life of them understand the concept of a team, and never will. As soon as I see "he got more icetime, he didn't get enough icetime etc" brain shuts off and I move on to the next post. It's just backwards and small thinking.

 

[Hackett]

I thought Murray had his best game in a habs uniform. He handled the forcheck reasonably well, and he even made some tape to tape passes when they were available.

More games like that will peg him as a full time #6 guy.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

I thought Murray had his best game in a habs uniform. He handled the forcheck reasonably well, and he even made some tape to tape passes when they were available.

More games like that will peg him as a full time #6 guy.

Murray is great in our bottom pairing. That's what the Pens fans told us when we signed him, and considering him to be ANYWHERE ELSE but the 3rd pairing was ludicrous, period.

 

[TofoEmptyNt]

I thought Murray had his best game in a habs uniform. He handled the forcheck reasonably well, and he even made some tape to tape passes when they were available.

More games like that will peg him as a full time #6 guy.

I was skeptical of Murray when he first started playing this season. I saw him as a slow, dumb, tough guy who could at least hit.
But his play has gotten better every game. Now, not only can hit, but he protects the puck well in our zone and looks to be gaining some confidence with his passing and skating when he gets a little open ice. He also has a pretty heavy shot.
He has definitely surpassed Cube at this point. We can only hope he keeps getting better and more confident out there.