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

[PhysicX]

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?

Despres struggled badly during pre-season. Injuries and exterior factors hampered his development and performance, and many here believe a long and healthy stint in the AHL with our new coaching staff could tremendously help him.

In Alzner's case, he's ineffective, and part of me believes the coaches just wanted his iron-man streak to end, so it lights up a fire under his butt. Last night's Benn was better than last year's Alzner.

 

[LaFloater]

The Habs were much better than expected and for all the hype this week, the Leafs looked ordinary. Of course Leaf fans everywhere are celebrating like they already won the cup. The Leaf Nation juggernaut propaganda machine is only going to get worse.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

The Habs were much better than expected and for all the hype this week, the Leafs looked ordinary. Of course Leaf fans everywhere are celebrating like they already won the cup. The Leaf Nation juggernaut propaganda machine is only going to get worse.

And the karma of not winning the cup despite all the propping up will be sublime

 

[donghabs98]

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.

I think the sense of acceptance and direction is a big difference too. We know we aren't expected to do much as a team, let's just go out, play hard and see where it takes us. I rather lose with a purpose compared to losing because we just suck like last season.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think the sense of acceptance and direction is a big difference too. We know we aren't expected to do much as a team, let's just go out, play hard and see where it takes us. I rather lose with a purpose compared to losing because we just suck like last season.

I'm OK with losing but like last year? Not sure. That was rough. But how much losing can we tolerate where we get a top 5 lottery pick chance? Hard to measure that but this season is going to be very unpredictable if you ask me.

 

[Thebesthockey]

the thought of another year of mediocrity and mid to low standing finish
with mid draft pick
year 26 and counting without a sniff at lord stanley....

 

[HerculePoirot]

But remember it is hard to maintain such intensity (speed and forecheck) for the whole season. Some nights that element will be missing and things might turn ugly. Nonetheless, a very impressive start.

 

[NoName]

Credit where credit is due; the Habs played solid and controlled most of the game despite the massive disparity in talent between them and the Leafs. Domi was impressive, hopefully this game represents the level of play he will bring the rest of the season.

 

[Habs]

The Habs were much better than expected and for all the hype this week, the Leafs looked ordinary. Of course Leaf fans everywhere are celebrating like they already won the cup. The Leaf Nation juggernaut propaganda machine is only going to get worse.

God it was sickening to listen to the Leaf homers. 'OMG WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO PUT OUT THERE NEXT AND HOW ON EARTH WILL ANY TEAM COUNTER THIS?' 'SO MUCH TALENT, SO MANY ELITE OPTIONS'.

Meanwhile Andrew Shaw puts one past that suspect goalie and the team is dancing around that awful blueline Toronto forgot to fix.

 

[antiqueslivers]

I'd like to see armia get some OT time next time it happens

 

[Adriatic]

God it was sickening to listen to the Leaf homers. 'OMG WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO PUT OUT THERE NEXT AND HOW ON EARTH WILL ANY TEAM COUNTER THIS?' 'SO MUCH TALENT, SO MANY ELITE OPTIONS'.

Meanwhile Andrew Shaw puts one past that suspect goalie and the team is dancing around that awful blueline Toronto forgot to fix.

Man did Hainsey have a rough one lol.

 

[pucky]

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.

Read this:
Leaf fans here are pretty reasonable and are evaluation the situation accurately. They pointed out Hainsey but the point was made - the Leafs' d-core is brutal. They are going to put another guy on waivers, a depth guy?

The Sharks are circling, and the Leafs might lose another player

The problem is not having so many average depth guys but that their 1-6 group is highly average. Gardiner is not really a defender - he's a forward masquerading as a dmen. Reilly is okay but he really shouldn't have the pressure of being the top #1 defender because just isn't that calibre. Thus, you are going to have games in which the Leafs are outshot and might give up around 40 shots a night. Putting Andersen in that position AGAIN in which he has to stand on his head and bail the Leafs out so that their offense can try to score enough goals to win is not fair to him nor is it any indication of a 'good' team or a contender.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Thought the Habs were the better team last night. Really impressed by their speed and puck movement. Kind of reminded me of how NJ played last year. A bit unlucky to not get the 2 pts but a 1pt in a road opener is a good result.

 

[Harry22]

God it was sickening to listen to the Leaf homers. 'OMG WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO PUT OUT THERE NEXT AND HOW ON EARTH WILL ANY TEAM COUNTER THIS?' 'SO MUCH TALENT, SO MANY ELITE OPTIONS'.

Meanwhile Andrew Shaw puts one past that suspect goalie and the team is dancing around that awful blueline Toronto forgot to fix.

Round 1 exit most probably again. Do they really think Tavares will out them over the top? He won one playoff round in 9 years there. On se calme.

 

[Sky04]

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.

That's exactly how he SHOULD be punished, make him earn his leash not keep extending to feed an entitled player. No surprise to anyone that he plays the way he does with his attitude.

 

[sandysan]

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

it wasnt just the change, it was the preceeding turnover that he was solely responsible for and the times he went up the ice with speed to skate into 4 or 5 leafs and then lost the puck.

he wasn't just out worst player, he was our worst player by a HUGE margin. If we are sending messages to Alzner by sitting him, Drouin needs to face the music if he has more games like that.

 

[Harry22]

Also, if the Habs play every game like they did last night, I will watch more games than I did last year. They were fun to watch.

 

[CupInSIX]

Scorching hot take:

Bergevin won the Domi-Galchenyuk trade

 

[Tyson]

If a couple of players can produce (Drouin, Tatar, Lehkonen and Domi) this team could resemble the Vegas team. Speed and more speed. Vegas had to be the hardest team to play against last year because of their tenacity.

 

[CupInSIX]

If a couple of players can produce (Drouin, Tatar, Lehkonen and Domi) this team could resemble the Vegas team. Speed and more speed. Vegas had to be the hardest team to play against last year because of their tenacity.

Tatar didn't mesh well with Gallant's breakneck pace in Vegas, why would he play that way now?

 

[Michoulicious]

Didn't see the game, but Domi and Kotkaniemi FO % looks abysmal (38 and 14(!) %).

Lot of work to be done there.

 

[Habs]

Round 1 exit most probably again. Do they really think Tavares will out them over the top? He won one playoff round in 9 years there. On se calme.

I mean they will score goals, but I'm not sure who's going to prevent them. They should do a Weber for Nylander swap, that shores up their awful blueline and we get another young forward

 

[muzion]

Scorching hot take:

Bergevin won the Domi-Galchenyuk trade

Keller will turn Galchenyuk into a true 30 goal scorer, both teams come out ahead.

 

[Tak7]

But remember it is hard to maintain such intensity (speed and forecheck) for the whole season. Some nights that element will be missing and things might turn ugly. Nonetheless, a very impressive start.

Young teams tend to really slow down in the middle part of the year too.

It's hard to play that style for extended periods of time, but the good news for Habs fans at least, even if it's 1 game - the team looked like they enjoyed themselves and were committed to the system, which is something that just couldn't be said last season

 

[TouzY]

If they keep playing like that (Price included) they will gain confidence and momentum... and start winning.

Yeah true, hopefully they dont get momentum :/