Post-Game Talk: Habs dominate Leafs, lose in OT.

[Kingbobert]

I would agree it was shaky.....the transition game was well executed but in the D-zone it was a little shaky. Don'y forget that without Price's miracle saves, this game ends up 6-2 for Toronto.

Im sorry but if youre going to point out prices miracle saves, why arent you mentiomimg how andersen saved their ass?

 

[DangerDave]

How many times will Tavares be sneezed on this year, resulting in head movements last witnessed back in 1963 in Dealey Plaza? Jesus, what a tool, flopping with every bloody inch of another player. Between him and Lord Auston, it was like a scene from Riverdance out there.

First one was a weak call for sure but he didn't flop or embellish. Second one was a blatant can opener. Refs were pretty bad but the habs got a couple non calls so whatever.

 

[theghost1]

Same old Montreal create chances and no finish this has been going on for decades.

 

[moon111]

Montreal played a great game. Their strategy for attacking the Leafs was spot on, their energy level was great.

Watching Matthews is like going into a store with a bunch of friends and seeing one of them shoplift something.
There's no he's on 'my side' or the 'other side' when it happens, you're just standing there in shock. It feels
dishonest but you don't know what to do about it. I'm outside the store, nervously throwing high-fives, and
feeling guilty for doing so.

I was thinking Montreal would be all about chasing for a good draft position to be frank. They definately
showed there's no quit in their game.

 

[11Goat11]

That was a fun game to watch. Pissed off about the first PP the Leafs got but it seemed to even out in the end. They were so lucky to win this game, outplayed and outclassed on home ice. They are not a Stanley Cup contender with that D imo.

Thought almost everyone played well. Price was fantastic, looked like his old self. Reilly was awesome, great pick up, as was Domi. I liked Galchenyuk and think we ruined his development but some of that is on him. Domi just has so much more passion and jam that lacked in Chucky's game, think this will be a great trade. JK is getting better every game and did not look out of place at all, excited for his future.

People are being too hard on Drouin, he is one of our most skilled forwards and yes made a mistake on the winner, but it wasn't entirely his fault. I have faith that the new coaching staff will work with him to simplify his game, instead of benching him for every mistake.

Speaking of the new coaching staff, that was a ballsy move scratching Plex and Alzner, loved it. Shows me it is not same old/same old and the way they are plying is very exciting. Not sure if they will make the playoffs but we will be much more entertained if they keep this up.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

People aren’t sh****ing on drouin because of the bad change, he was the worst player on the ice. Our 4th liners played better than him. Embarassing display for golden boy

 

[DangerDave]

I have mixed emotions and I am very concerned with middle of the pack strategy. I can see a bottom 5 finish but I can also see a wild card spot for the playoffs. It's a long season! Lets say we do well and either just miss the playoffs or lose in the 1st round (again). Is this forward progression on team direction thinking we can go farther next year? NO! We need more top 5 picks if we are going to be cup contenders.

The only reason I wouldn't mind being middle of the pack is because of the possibility to draft Ryan Suzuki. I'd still rather finish bottom and trade for someone's first and acquire that pick though.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

That was a fun game to watch. Pissed off about the first PP the Leafs got but it seemed to even out in the end. They were so lucky to win this game, outplayed and outclassed on home ice. They are not a Stanley Cup contender with that D imo.

Thought almost everyone played well. Price was fantastic, looked like his old self. Reilly was awesome, great pick up, as was Domi. I liked Galchenyuk and think we ruined his development but some of that is on him. Domi just has so much more passion and jam that lacked in Chucky's game, think this will be a great trade. JK is getting better every game and did not look out of place at all, excited for his future.

People are being too hard on Drouin, he is one of our most skilled forwards and yes made a mistake on the winner, but it wasn't entirely his fault. I have faith that the new coaching staff will work with him to simplify his game, instead of benching him for every mistake.

Speaking of the new coaching staff, that was a ballsy move scratching Plex and Alzner, loved it. Shows me it is not same old/same old and the way they are plying is very exciting. Not sure if they will make the playoffs but we will be much more entertained if they keep this up.

I actually think they have the worst D in the league with Detroit.
Holy smoke this D core is bad

how bad was the Russian on their last D pair ? that was so atrocious

 

[Baksfamous112]

I have mixed emotions and I am very concerned with middle of the pack strategy. I can see a bottom 5 finish but I can also see a wild card spot for the playoffs. It's a long season! Lets say we do well and either just miss the playoffs or lose in the 1st round (again). Is this forward progression on team direction thinking we can go farther next year? NO! We need more top 5 picks if we are going to be cup contenders.

I’m not concerned at all. All I want to see is hard work and progression from our young guns during the season. We’ll finish wherever we have to finish. If it’s a loto pick, ok. If we make the playoff? Cool!

I don’t have any expections other than seeing a team working hard and having fun. I predicted a bad 2018-2019 with a good 2019-2020 season but after the training camp and first game of the season, I can’t help but think if we can keep a .500 pace until Weber is back we could easily fight (and win) a playoff spot once he’s back.

 

[Kriss E]

I expect nothing from this team this year. It was just nice to see them put up a good effort.

I agree. For what it's worth, the game was still somewhat entertaining.

 

[LaP]

The Leafs are overrated. They should have lost that game (almost did) and their D is just as bad as most objective fans said. The Leaf fans are in denial and don't accept criticism. Same with the Leaf mods - who think any kind of criticism is trolling. What a joke.

Good teams win games they should lose and bad teams lose games they should win. A season is 82 games. All bottom feeders will look good at least 10-20 of them and all "cup contenders" will look bad at least 10-20 of them. What separate them is skills. Can't work hard 82 games. Nobody can do that. You got to win the games you don't look good or else you wont go far. Remember 4 years ago when we looked bad every *** games against Buffalo? It did not make Buffalo any better or us any worse.

 

[Kriss E]

I’m not concerned at all. All I want to see is hard work and progression from our young guns during the season. We’ll finish wherever we have to finish. If it’s a loto pick, ok. If we make the playoff? Cool!

I don’t have any expections other than seeing a team working hard and having fun. I predicted a bad 2018-2019 with a good 2019-2020 season but after the training camp and first game of the season, I can’t help but think if we can keep a .500 pace until Weber is back we could easily fight (and win) a playoff spot once he’s back.

That's fine from a fan's entertainment perspective. From a team planning and building point though, it's a terrible strategy.

 

[Forum93]

I would agree it was shaky.....the transition game was well executed but in the D-zone it was a little shaky. Don'y forget that without Price's miracle saves, this game ends up 6-2 for Toronto.

Price made some great saves but Habs outplayed the Leafs and deserved better. I thought our D played well especially Reilly. Leks, Shaw, Tavares, Matthews, in the end Leaf's finishers came through.

 

[11Goat11]

I actually think they have the worst D in the league with Detroit.
Holy smoke this D core is bad

how bad was the Russian on their last D pair ? that was so atrocious

I thought we were going to have better D than the Leafs once Weber returned but they are still better even without him.

 

[PaulD]

I watch my team for them to compete and get better. Tanking is not an option

Not the players department. Management is the only department that tanks. Ever.

Thankfully none of us have to actually watch management.

 

[PaulD]

I thought we were going to have better D once Weber returned but they are still better without him.

how do you figure that?

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I actually think they have the worst D in the league with Detroit.
Holy smoke this D core is bad

how bad was the Russian on their last D pair ? that was so atrocious

All summer I heard about how their defense wasn’t THAT bad and then their defense played even worse than I could have envisioned. Some of the easiest zone entries I’ve seen our team have in a long time. Their coverage was all over the place. They were getting hemmed in their zone. Toronto better hope that was early season jitters cause I’m not joking when I say they’ll score 280 goals but give up 279 if they’re like that all season.

 

[11Goat11]

how do you figure that?

Better than the Leafs D if I wasn't clear.

 

[PaulD]

Im sorry but if youre going to point out prices miracle saves, why arent you mentiomimg how andersen saved their ass?

Both goalies played well.

- The whole defence played very good, standouts were Reilly and Juulsen.. Reilly was excellent
- Impressive first game for Kotkaniemi who didn't look out of place
- Domi looked good at centre, was our best forward tonight in my opinion
- Lehkonen looks faster than last year, now that he's healthy I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 25-30 goals
- People **** on Shaw all the time, he's overpaid but he's still a useful player. He had a very good game for someone who hasn't played since March, the whole fourth line looked very good.
- Drouin was disappointing, but aside from the Danault line none of the lines have played much together. I'll give him time to get chemistry with his linemates before ****ting on him.

Plekanec and Alzner also made a huge contribution to the team on opening night. Many thanks to CJ.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Missed the game cause I accidentally fell asleep.

Holy f*** Lehkonen's Tarzan scream during his celebration though

 

[Harry22]

That Leafs defense is so bad. A lot of teams have more firepower than us and will bury all those chances. They won't go very far with that pathetic group.

 

[Milhouse40]

We disagree. Habs took it too them 5/5 last night and the D was solid. Our D against their offense look much better than their D against our offense! That is saying something. Yeah, Price played well but that's his job. Stop putting Price on a pedestal talking away from how our D contained the Leafs offense. Leafs scored a PP goal on a penalty that should of not been called and Tavares just was awesome on his goal. We lost in OT.

The whole team played well.

Im sorry but if youre going to point out prices miracle saves, why arent you mentiomimg how andersen saved their ass?

Price made some great saves but Habs outplayed the Leafs and deserved better. I thought our D played well especially Reilly. Leks, Shaw, Tavares, Matthews, in the end Leaf's finishers came through.

Habs was the better team, no doubt about that. Our transition game kept them away from the D-zone most of the night. But in the end, this is not a new story here, Habs gets tons of shots on goal, control the game but just can't finish. Can't get that 3 goals despites all that good work and shots on goals.

Despites all the shots, Andersen didn't made tons of great saves. As usual, we made it really easy in most part. He stole one versus Gallagher on a one timer in the slot but that's about it. Byron hit the post....and he was very weak on Lehkonen's goal.

A hard working team like the Habs will need that much chances to score 2 or 3 goals while a team full of skills like Toronto won't need that many chances to put numbers on the board. That's why Price's saves were critical....Toronto had a lot less chances than the Habs and they were outplayed, but the chances they got were grade A scoring chances.

 

[HockeyGuruPitka]

Habs compete > Leafs compete
Leafs Skill> Habs skill

Skill prevailed this time.

Honestly impressed, and seeing that level of compete kind of solidifies the change in culture and leadership.

Mike Rielly was excellent. I think that may be the most underrated pick up of Bergevins time as GM.

Random thought, why is Jordie Benn playing over Alzner? and even Despres?

 

[Eat The Rich]

Hey Carey, may want to work on the shoulder... , you are getting paid for it.

Pretty good game, too bad the refs are in love with Toronto.

Montreal had one more powerplay..

 

[Habs Halifax]

Habs was the better team, no doubt about that. Our transition game kept them away from the D-zone most of the night. But in the end, this is not a new story here, Habs gets tons of shots on goal, control the game but just can't finish. Can't get that 3 goals despites all that good work and shots on goals.

Despites all the shots, Andersen didn't made tons of great saves. As usual, we made it really easy in most part. He stole one versus Gallagher on a one timer in the slot but that's about it. Byron hit the post....and he was very weak on Lehkonen's goal.

A hard working team like the Habs will need that much chances to score 2 or 3 goals while a team full of skills like Toronto won't need that many chances to put numbers on the board. That's why Price's saves were critical....Toronto had a lot less chances than the Habs and they were outplayed, but the chances they got were grade A scoring chances.

Good post. I think most of us agreed we would have trouble scoring. The speed game, a better D, and better Price will be entertaining but were going to be losing a lot of games 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 this year. If we can continue to get good development from the young players and still get a top 5 pick, I will be very happy. Perfect season if you ask me. The tone changes to yeah, we are struggling but we are going to rise as a better team very soon.. Possibly a cup contending team vs just a playoff team that we were for several years prior.