Post-Game Talk: Habs lose to Canadiens legend DeSmith and the Canucks

[Lafleurs Guy]

Canucks are a much better team. It shows how far this lineup is from competing. They more or less neutralized our one offensive line and the other lines couldn't get anything going at all in the O zone.

We seriously need an injection of skill up front. We can't get anything goin against high level teams.

We are probably two years away from making the playoffs. A lot of players who will be part of the core aren’t even here yet.

Hutson on the PP will be glorious.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Pretty much a big no show from most of the roster

Anderson and Gallagher names brought up once in the first as they whined

Matheson and Caufield both putrid on the PP

Suzuki was your most physical player while MTL defenseman get pasted and no answer from Donkey or Pez

Just a bunch of nobody gave a fawk

Caufield was great on the PP tonight.

 

[sheed36]

At least Slaf scored again. So there's our positivity for this one.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Caufield was great on the PP tonight.

Skate, switch with Suzuki, skate switch with Suzuki

Force a play

PP over

 

[Miller Time]

Canucks are a much better team. It shows how far this lineup is from competing. They more or less neutralized our one offensive line and the other lines couldn't get anything going at all in the O zone.

We seriously need an injection of skill up front. We can't get anything goin against high level teams.

It is painful to watch...

Shift late in the first, he chips puck in deep, dman gets there first, Anderson bearing down with speed, perfect opportunity to lay the body with a clean hit and.... Powder donkey eases up and steers wide to avoid the contact & allow the dman to join the counter.

Just completely useless.

Really don't get why he isn't scratched at this point. Adds exactly nothing to the roster and isn't even competing anymore.

Looks like he's playing to avoid injury.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Canucks are a much better team. It shows how far this lineup is from competing. They more or less neutralized our one offensive line and the other lines couldn't get anything going at all in the O zone.

We seriously need an injection of skill up front. We can't get anything goin against high level teams.

The canucks were the 11th worst team in the league last season, and the only notable moves they made were adding Hronek and removing Horvat+Kuzmenko.

 

[Rapala]

The 3rd was certainly a snooze fest. Defended the loss really well. I look forward to better coached days.

A big fast well structured team. Aside from our first line we really didn't stand a chance.
Four lines who play hard who finish their checks and who can all score goals is three lines too many for us right now.
Our limited fore check and inability to have our D play in the neutral zone is a problem that must be dealt with.
It's been an all season long thing.

 

[FLHabs]

Can't believe the Habs are still above Arizona and Ottawa. The tankathon might be more intense than the playoff races

 

[calder candidate]

Honestly I think VAN got lucky ref where sleeping and score on most of there chances… It a pretty good effort not sure the score reflects the game. Armia look pretty good again, Newhook got a few good shoot it also lack some grit a few time, 1st line was good…

 

[The Real Timo]

Anderson has completely checked out of the season long time ago. He's just collecting his paycheck at this point.

Anderson wouldn't be playing like he does now if Tocchet was the coach. Or he wouldn't be playing at all. Same goes for all the other stiffs.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Skate, switch with Suzuki, skate switch with Suzuki

Force a play

PP over

Had several good chances and set ups.

But I agree the PP needs work. I’d put CC on the point. It gives him way more space. I don’t like him down in the corner next to the net.

 

[Canucks LB]

The only thing I'm going to say and I'm not saying this lightly.
If Nick Suzuki wasn't already a star he sure as shit is turning into one right before our eyes.
It's to the point where never mind consistency game to game he's doing stuff every shift.

As a Canucks fan, I’ll say this about him, came out really impressed, he really has great control over his stick, handles the puck very well, seems to play with a lot of confidence, he’s a much better player than I thought he was.

Very good overall, nice to see

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

A big fast well structured team. Aside from our first line we really didn't stand a chance.
Four lines who play hard who finish their checks and who can all score goals is three lines too many for us right now.
Our limited fore check and inability to have our D play in the neutral zone is a problem that must be dealt with.
It's an all season long thing.

Generally a good structure will beat free flowing, "concept" hockey Montreal plays

Add in the talent difference, well you get exposed

Suzuki is definitely better than JT Miller was at this juncture in his career.
I'm not sure what you are laughing at.
And bringing up Hutson who hasn't even stepped on the ice in the NHL yet deserves a !

BC Bud is powerful thing

 

[Beendair Donedat]

I don’t get any bad press for Pezz. The poor guy literally does nothing but throw his body around out there (7 hits in 9 minutes of ice time tonight) - when Marty actually lets him play - and had a terrific bout last game against Sam Carrick where both guys landed some bombs. What’s his motivation to do anything when he sees much bigger guys simply going through the motions, making way more money, and always getting to play?

Our top pairing defense of Matheson and Guhle had a combined total of Zero shots on net. So that’s definitely something.

Outside of one line, the Habs have no scoring. Suzuki played well, Caufield as well and Slaf is creeping towards a 20 goal season.

They do their best with limited talent, but hard work only carries so much water. Vancouver is a much deeper and more structured team, and this game was over almost before it began.

 

[FLHabs]

Anderson wouldn't be playing like he does now if Tocchet was the coach. Or he wouldn't be playing at all. Same goes for all the other stiffs.

MSL is 100% a players coach and seems to sometimes favor the vets, but at the same time he knows that guys like Anderson and Gallagher are here to stay, especially with those contracts. My guess is that he doesn't want to foster a bad environment, but yea, Andy needs time in the press box for sure.

About the physicality, the team played really hard against the Oilers, they just didn't show up tonight. They've shown they can do it many times this season, they just have to be motivated I guess.

 

[Javaman]

The canucks were the 11th worst team in the league last season, and the only notable moves they made were adding Hronek and removing Horvat+Kuzmenko.

40% of the Canucks' current best roster is different from last year. Allvin has done a lot more than simply swap out Horvat for Hronek.

 

[Habssince89]

MSL is 100% a players coach and seems to sometimes favor the vets, but at the same time he knows that guys like Anderson and Gallagher are here to stay, especially with those contracts. My guess is that he doesn't want to foster a bad environment, but yea, Andy needs time in the press box for sure.

About the physicality, the team played really hard against the Oilers, they just didn't show up tonight. They've shown they can do it many times this season, they just have to be motivated I guess.

We lack forecheckers who hit Dmen to create turn overs, and the team lacks speed to forecheck well a different way so in the end we have guys playing more conservatively to not get caught but it makes us very non physical up front. We need better versions of pezzetta. Motor, foot speed, sandpaper. Florian will be helpful

 

[Rapala]

Did Anderson get Webers teflon coat when he left?

Like no one calls this POS out in the media. Im actually shocked he isnt getting the boo birds out yet.

He literally does not give a damn and is collecting paycheques

It's no use I'm done with him and if I had to guess I think our coach may be as well.
He defended and fought for this player tooth and nail earlier this season.
I thought the message was finally getting through but it was very short lived.
Marty shows a fierce loyalty but once you lose it you are done.

 

[Kimota]

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Anderson wouldn't be playing like he does now if Tocchet was the coach. Or he wouldn't be playing at all. Same goes for all the other stiffs.

Completely different situations. And the Canadiens have zero forward depth. Bench Anderson for…. who? The club is starved for forward depth.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

That was one of the funniest scenes ever.

 

[Rapala]

Can't believe the Habs are still above Arizona and Ottawa. The tankathon might be more intense than the playoff races

Well like I pointed out yesterday.
When the 2-8-0 Red Wings gain ground in the wildcard race tanking might be harder than we thought.

 

[Habs]

team never looked ready to play, or engaged. May have spent the night at the #5 Orange instead of preparing for a game.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Honestly I think VAN got lucky ref where sleeping and score on most of there chances… It a pretty good effort not sure the score reflects the game. Armia look pretty good again, Newhook got a few good shoot it also lack some grit a few time, 1st line was good…

I think for what we have on our roster now, we played well against one of the best teams in the NHL. The wind came out of our sails when Garland scored that rather malodorous third goal. I have been watching this team for almost seventy years and I haven't seen a weaker lines 2, 3 and 4 on this team. I suspect that they would have trouble playing effectively in the AHL let alone in the NHL.

I thought Harris had one of his best games of the year and Guhle was a real team leader tonight. I don't think it helped mixing up the pairings but generally, the defence played well against a heavy, fast and skilled team. It is becoming apparent, at least to this writer, that the heavy load ( playing time) that has been placed on Matheson's shoulders has finally caught up to him as his skating is no where near as crisp and fluid as it was in the first 3/4's of the season.

As I posted here before, our elite players are very good and allow us to compete in most games. But that level of talent is very thin. Unless we add to the bottom three lines , these unfortunate results will not change.

 

[JianYang]

The canucks were the 11th worst team in the league last season, and the only notable moves they made were adding Hronek and removing Horvat+Kuzmenko.

I really think they were underachieving last year. They also lost the coach bump that Boudreau initially gave them and relied too much on demko who got hurt.

This year is the new coach bump from tocchet and now they are overachieving.

The true Canucks are somewhere in the middle of the last two versions we have seen.