Post-Game Talk: Habs lose again to the Jets

[the]

I’ve said it a few times but without this board I wouldn’t be watching the Habs. Coming to this board is my entertainment. Normally I put the game as background noise.

 

[The Real Timo]

I knew it... the media is littered with articles of "habs lost but lots of positives" BS.

 

[Big Empty]

Price, Weber, Bergevin

GTFO

 

[The Real Timo]

Price, Weber, Bergevin

GTFO

You want to keep Danno?

 

[Supersonic]

I just hope Ducharme’s reasoning for the OT line was some sort of vet respect thing

never again. Please learn from this. I actually had thought I liked his lines for the first 3 periods

 

[Big Empty]

You want to keep Danno?

He’s the first one out. The team needs huge changes.

 

[TouzY]

Ducharme didn't learn anything about Juliens trash OT combinations

 

[Adam Michaels]

Hopefully March will be better for the Habs than February was.

In February, they played 12 games and went 4-5-3, picking up 11 pts of a possible 24.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I’d still take Scott g0alless over Phil dan0goal

Phillipe Da no goals

Sounds good

 

[The Real Timo]

Phillipe Da no goals

Sounds good

I like that. Although I would like it a lot more if he was sent to the AHL. But I think we've seen enough from ducharme to conclude that Danno is going to continue getting premium NHL minutes. So sad.

 

[The Real Timo]

Hopefully March will be better for the Habs than February was.

In February, they played 12 games and went 4-5-3, picking up 11 pts of a possible 24.

Habs are likely to have a worse record in March but with a lot of intangible positives though... so all good.

 

[Puck Luck Run Amok]

I’ve said it a few times but without this board I wouldn’t be watching the Habs. Coming to this board is my entertainment. Normally I put the game as background noise.

Same

 

[Aces on the road]

Yeah, Danault taking the heat, but that goal was on Armia.

Nope

 

[Puck Luck Run Amok]

Phillipe Da no goals

Sounds good

Bergevin wanted to give this guy 5 million per year for 5 years.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Bergevin wanted to give this guy 5 million per year for 5 years.

6 years!

 

[Ezpz]

Bergevin wanted to give this guy 5 million per year for 5 years.

6 years.

 

[salbutera]

I thought there was lots of goodness in the game to build on:

- first time I’ve seen that Danault line cycle all season in the Ozone, why is that? That’s what they did well and made them effective the last two seasons

- D enabling Ozone entries - Julien obviously wouldn’t allow it

- Both PK & PP looked much improved

- Suzuki & Romanov seem reinvigorated, Firat time I’ve seen Drouin engaged in back-to-back games in a Hab uni. Concerned about KKs inability to generate offense, might be time to put Anderson next to KK and leave Toffoli w Suzuki. KK needs wingers who will speed up his execution game.

The team missed Anderson’s size + speed presence...it was glaring. Neutral zone support and standing up Jets a defensive blue line significant improvement- both have been absent all season from game 1

Despite the atrocious performances Habs nearly played .500 for the month (1-game below). They’re still 4th in the division with games in hand on Cgy & Edm.

I’ll be surprised if improvement doesn’t start yielding results as fast as Tuesday’s game vs Sens - this will be an important week expecting 4-point minimum

 

[sandviper]

You want to keep Danno?

We need our overtime lulz...

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Alright so full disclosure, I didn't watch the entire game, stopped after the 2nd.

Here are some observations:
- I liked Romanov's game, he was more patient with the puck before taking his shots and he utilized his skating to get into a better position instead of shooting in a standing still position.
- I also liked KK's game, it was simple but in terms of overall impact it was similar as to what we saw in his rookie season.
- Petry seems to be more into 17-18 form where he was doing too much and had multiple brainfarts a game than what we've seen in last 2 seasons. Petry hasn't been good in the recent rough stretch and I think that speaks a lot of how much the team revolves around him with our lack of PMD. He's been making 1 brutal mistake a game that either causes a direct goal or some good scoring chances.
- Drouin had a pretty subpar game, I've come to accept what type of player he is but he's playing like the Drouin of old in the last few games. I think he's trying to do too much and needs to go back to way he used to play.
- I think it's time to try out Suzuki on the left wall instead of the right wall. Would open up more plays (kind of like that tap in goal he set up for Toffoli at start of the year). and make his shot more of a threat which we haven't really seen at the NHL level so far.
- Here are line-up changes I'd like to see:
Drouin - KK - Gallagher
Toffoli - Suzuki - Anderson
Tatar - Danault - Armia
Lehkonen - Byron - Perry

I'd like to see changes on D, promote Romanov on either top 4 pair.


Team didn't play bad from what I saw and it was more competitive than prior games but they still need to improve on way they create offense. There were maybe 3-4 actual good scoring chances but a lot of perimeter shots like we've seen for quite some games now. Another disturbing trend is the SOG by our team. We outshoot a lot of teams but if you take a look at who the leaders are on the team, we have 4 Ds on our top 8 leaders. If we were SJ, it wouldn't be too much of an issue but Chiarot and Romanov are not the same threat as guys like Tatar or Suzuki who haven't been shooting much. In his first 2 seasons with MTL, Tatar averaged 2.4 SOG/game, right now it's 1.8. For one of our more proven scorers, that's a problem. Suzuki is shooting about the same but with his shot, it should be higher than 1.8 on avg a game. KK is at 1.7 SOG on avg. Drouin is at 1.4 SOG avg which is well below the 2 he's averaged in his time with MTL. Same story for Armia at 1.7 SOG. We had a thread earlier this year about how many 15 goal scorers we might have, well that was one of issues that was brought up is that there's only 1 puck and that some guys will see a regression in terms of shot attempts, we're seeing that right now but it's also either a personnel problem if coaches are saying to utilize the point or a player problem if they don't adapt and read what's in front of them instead of going for the defacto play.

When the opposition is defending and they know that X player is unlikely to take the shot and will most likely set it up at the point, it makes it easier to defend and box out players so they take shots from the perimeter. There is some merit to taking shots from the point but this can't be our only strategy especially with the make up of our D. Otherwise these are hope plays that rely on mostly luck. Another problem has been the lack of shooting/scoring from our centers. It makes it even easier to defend since those guys have a big influence on how things will play out in the offensive zone.

 

[Whitesnake]

You put Danault simply to win faceoffs? How in the f***ing world do they NOT practice Suzuki and Kotkaniemi faceoffs, EVERY f***ING DAY OF THE WEEK??? Why don't they hire a faceoff specialist? Bring Carbonneau for that. Bring whoever. DO SOMETHING!!!!!

 

[WeThreeKings]

You put Danault simply to win faceoffs? How in the f***ing world do they NOT practice Suzuki and Kotkaniemi faceoffs, EVERY f***ING DAY OF THE WEEK??? Why don't they hire a faceoff specialist? Bring Carbonneau for that. Bring whoever. DO SOMETHING!!!!!

It doesn't even matter.. even with Danault, it's almost a 50/50 proposition.. so you don't even have good odds of winning possession, and what if you have it? Danault and Armia have the puck.. it's gonna end up back with the other team almost immediately.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Nope

Watch it again.
Armia’s man walked in alone.
Danault was just fine up to that point, boxing out his man.

 

[salbutera]

You put Danault simply to win faceoffs? How in the f***ing world do they NOT practice Suzuki and Kotkaniemi faceoffs, EVERY f***ING DAY OF THE WEEK??? Why don't they hire a faceoff specialist? Bring Carbonneau for that. Bring whoever. DO SOMETHING!!!!!

They have been practicing and KK has quietly shown improvement, but it’s a long learned skill set it takes time to learn tricks of the trade...doesn’t happen overnight.

Dom Dom was simply caught overthinking 3-on-3 last night..

 

[superstar436]

Price, Weber, Bergevin

GTFO

Timmins, Timmins, Timmins, Timmins, Timmins, Timmins

 

[Yoor]

He's a rookie coach on probation... This shouldn't be a surprise to see him not start shit with his vets, he probably don't want to lose the room in his first week on the job.

Well then he isn't asserting himself as the bench boss then. Sorry but if I am him I am sending a message right away. If this guy doesn't change it around his coaching career is dead on arrival. HE needs to take control ASAP and coach the way he wants to...not let the vets run the show.

I guess we will see what he is made of soon enough. You have to think his boss can't be please so far.