Post-Game Talk: Habs lose to the Leafs again.

[Lshap]

Yeah, this forum (and pretty much every forum in HF) gets way too high after a win and way too low after a loss. Tonight was not our night but people need to keep things in perspective. Great start to the year. We're much improved and in an easy division. It's going to be a fun year overall.

Ya it should still be a fun year, and the more the season goes on the more evident our weaknesses will become.

No question the team is much better. Can you imagine our record without Anderson, Toffoli, and Allen? With Price looking rusty and Danault's line playing like dog poo, the Habs would be in Ottawa's lane without the production from our new guys.

But we still don't know what this team is. The players who are playing like crap will eventually heat up and the new guys will cool down, so last night's garbage wasn't some big reveal of the roster's weaknesses. It was one bad game. Toronto won't sustain their current streak; we can still take those jokers, but not if we play like the mess from last night.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Nothing is guaranteed. They could play 1 of Winnipeg or Calgary who both have goalies that can easily steal a series.

They could also play us or the Oilers tho. They won’t get a better chance to win a series then this year.

 

[sharks9]

No question the team is much better. Can you imagine our record without Anderson, Toffoli, and Allen? With Price looking rusty and Danault's line playing like dog poo, the Habs would be in Ottawa's lane without the production from our new guys.

But we still don't know what this team is. The players who are playing like crap will eventually heat up and the new guys will cool down, so last night's garbage wasn't some big reveal of the roster's weaknesses. It was one bad game. Toronto won't sustain their current streak; we can still take those jokers, but not if we play like the mess from last night.

This is what has surprised me most so far. I'm surprised the cold streaks for our returning guys are lasting so long while Anderson for instance just keeps producing.

We're still second in the division with all of Danault, Tatar, Gallagher, Lehkonen, Byron, Weber, KK, Drouin, etc. scoring less than they're capable of doing.

 

[Kriss E]

No question the team is much better. Can you imagine our record without Anderson, Toffoli, and Allen? With Price looking rusty and Danault's line playing like dog poo, the Habs would be in Ottawa's lane without the production from our new guys.

But we still don't know what this team is. The players who are playing like crap will eventually heat up and the new guys will cool down, so last night's garbage wasn't some big reveal of the roster's weaknesses. It was one bad game. Toronto won't sustain their current streak; we can still take those jokers, but not if we play like the mess from last night.

Ya this team is still an unknown entity. We don't know what we have yet. We need to play the Leafs and Jets more to really know.

 

[MasterDecoy]

Pretty sure you said that before last year's playoffs too.

If you say something often enough it will eventually come true

 

[Censored Toad]

I hope the overly-optimistic will take a lesson from this...

Agreed, I didn't want to poo poo on everyone's optimism earlier on with threads like ~MB Is amazing MB is a genius~ or "Is this the year?" so I didn't post.

We have flown outta the gates many times, its like the habs are trying to sprint in a 10k race. Sure the first 1KM they fly ahead of everyone else then as the race continues, teams adapt to our poor coaching that cannot seem to adapt and the 8th Km of the race (analogy here) we aren't in the PO's anymore.

Win first 10 games, omg habs win the cup!!!. Then we start going 6-3-1 then it a few 2-7-1's happen and before ya know it.. we aren't in the PO's.

Not saying we cannot turn it around and continue to be one of the top teams in this new (weak) division but I won't hold my breathe. Teams seem to be able to adjust to us, and we cannot adjust to them. It happens all the time, we come out flying like we got our legs first then other teams catch up.

Also I still don't think we are that good of a team. MTL seems to maybe be trending in the right direction thou!

 

[Lshap]

Hey, friendly leafs fan here. Firstly good game guys!

Marner pks a lot going back last year. I'm not sure on his results this year but he wasn't great last year. Hyman and Mikheyev are the defacto best forward pker on the leafs.

As for Matthew's. He's taking reps here and there, this year for the first time in his career essentially. He made great strides on his defensive game last year and personally asked to play some pk this year. Matthew's is on pace to shatter previous bests in hits and should be close for blocks.

I was impressed with Mikheyev and Holl, two players I hadn't seen much of. Overall, Leafs' defence was very good, especially on the PK, although it's never clear where lousy offence stops and good defence begins. As you're seeing in this thread, we're ready to toss half our forwards overboard because they've been pathetic the last few weeks. Good game!

 

[PaulD]

Nothing is guaranteed. They could play 1 of Winnipeg or Calgary who both have goalies that can easily steal a series.

and I would love for that to happen.

But I dont agree with Hellebuyck stealing a series against the loafs. He loses as many game for that team as he wins.

Markstrom could be that guy though.

 

[Hins77]

Men. I remember that stretch from yesterday. Hard to see. When those things happens. They are suppose to put back their stick on the middle of the ice and make team again

 

[le_sean]

and I would love for that to happen.

But I dont agree with Hellebuyck stealing a series against the loafs. He loses as many game for that team as he wins.

Markstrom could be that guy though.

The Leafs had a difficult enough time facing PLD as the top centre. Not sure Matthews/Tavares could handle him, Scheifele and Lowry. That’s some serious size and talent.

 

[Rapala]

Thanks. So Marner is their elite go-to guy on the PK. Matthews was merely incidental then.

Matthews is deployed for faceoffs and leaves the ice immediately thereafter. If we had a good PP his TOI would be much higher as he couldn't leave the ice.

 

[Chipdagger]

The lack of puck moving d on this team is scary

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

If you say something often enough it will eventually come true

If only that were true..

 

[Lshap]

Suzuki - 3 goals
Evans - 2 goals
Kotkaniemi - 1 goal
Danault - 0 goals

6 goals in 13 games for all our centres combined. That's not gonna do shit in this division when Toronto's #1 has 11 by himself

This needs to be bumped and fully digested. And then we need to book therapy sessions to deal with it. Because unless Danault and Kotkaniemi start producing, the Habs' centre depth is weaker than it was when Desharnais was #1.

 

[Lshap]

I hope the overly-optimistic will take a lesson from this...

There's no "I told you so" after one game. It was way too soon for people to declare the roster a contender after 10 games, and it's way too soon to declare the opposite after they've gone through a bad week.

 

[Rapala]

Yes. Dryden stood on his head and single handedly beat the Bruins, a monster team at that time, with Bobby Orr healthy, and the hawks, another monster team, in the final in 1971. And won the cup. And earned the smythe I believe too. As a rookie. Habs were no where near the strongest team that year. Lemaire was still developing but very good. Lafleur had not joined the team, or maybe was at year one. Cournoyer was their only star. Savard had a broken leg that year I think. Was playing on one leg. Robinson and Gainey were not with the team yet. Beliveau had retired.

Henri Richard ran that team. At age 36 I think. Dryden stood on his head and won them that cup. Against much better teams. It is one of the best goaltending performances ever in the history of the NHL. So apologies if I am not that impressed by Carey Price.

Cup winner to not making the playoffs the following year when he sat out to cup winner when he came back says it all. For such a relatively short career Dryden was completely under-rated by many many fans.
His trademark pose didn't help in that regard but coming up with huge saves after being idle for long stretches is never easy. The best Habs goalie by a landslide IMO his numbers speak for themself.

 

[hvac412]

We had way more shots than the Leafs, but the Leafs had better quality scoring chances.

Tuned out after they tied it up,seen this horror show to many times,our no.1 center is a rookie and the rest are third and fourth liners at best,the Ottawa loss pretty much sums it up for this team.Still wondering why Claude had heart issues last year?

 

[azcanuck]

Another game blown by Carey Price. Should have started Allen like I said pre game. That is if you want to win.
How long are fans going to worship the alter of Price?
I thought KK and Drouin were the best forwards last night, with Danault having a terrible game.
Allen better start saturday if Julien wants to win.

 

[Lshap]

Cup winner to not making the playoffs the following year when he sat out to cup winner when he came back says it all. For such a relatively short career Dryden was completely under-rated by many many fans.
His trademark pose didn't help in that regard but coming up with huge saves after being idle for long stretches is never easy. The best Habs goalie by a landslide IMO his numbers speak for themself.

Roy is my all-time favourite goalie, but a good case can be made for Dryden. Dryden had the misfortune to be one of many superstars on a dynasty. His greatness blended into the background of general greatness that saturated the 1970s roster. On the other hand, Roy was the undisputed star of his Habs teams. He played a bigger role and his accomplishments looked bigger.

 

[WeThreeKings]

This needs to be bumped and fully digested. And then we need to book therapy sessions to deal with it. Because unless Danault and Kotkaniemi start producing, the Habs' centre depth is weaker than it was when Desharnais was #1.

I'm not too concerned about this because KK's game has been mostly encouraging even when he's not putting up points.. you're going to have to expect up and down performances from 20 year old kids (Suzuki was basically invisible last night and thought had a worse game than KK).

Danault is a lost cause and I'm happy he's playing himself out of town than getting locked up deep.

The bigger concern is the defense.. you can't have 3 guys who have questionable skating and/or puck skills.

 

[sharks9]

This needs to be bumped and fully digested. And then we need to book therapy sessions to deal with it. Because unless Danault and Kotkaniemi start producing, the Habs' centre depth is weaker than it was when Desharnais was #1.

Yep, I know Kotkaniemi is still only 20 but at some point he needs to produce. That 3rd line isn't a strength if Toffoli vs. the Canucks is all the offense we get out of it.

His shooting percentage is below what it was both last year and in his rookie season so there's some bad luck there, but that needs to change ASAP

 

[Rapala]

4 goals in his last 57 games as @sheed36 posted in this thread and one of them is an empty netter.

How is he a 2-way center, with output like that?

Also, just because we're posting about Danault doesn't mean there aren't other players or other reasons to delve into, impacting upon the team's performance. He's only being singled out cause his struggles are longstanding and he happens to play a position that is the most significant of any team.

Everyone who is not pulling their own weight, deserves to be looked at more closely and we've had several posts doing just that.

We have one two way center in the making. His name is Nick Suzuki. KK is still a possibility despite what you may read here. I somehow get the impression that these kids are being over-coached. I much prefer their instinctive play which Julien seems to frowns upon. I wasn't kidding yesterday when I said too many XXX's and OOO's are slowing us down. We hear a lot of negative talk about Muller but one thing for certain in my mind is that I much prefer his coaching style to Clod the Plod's. I'm also not convinced the PP is strictly his domain given how the deployment was different last year when Julien was out. Ultimately the failings of our special teams plural has to fall on the HEAD coach.

 

[The Real Timo]

Ya this team is still an unknown entity. We don't know what we have yet. We need to play the Leafs and Jets more to really know.

Nah... having followed this team for the past 27 years I'd say the entity is pretty known. We know that we have yet another team that will not win much. Maybe playoffs, maybe even a round of playoffs, but that's about it. It's not a very optimistic view but it is what it is.

 

[417]

No question the team is much better. Can you imagine our record without Anderson, Toffoli, and Allen? With Price looking rusty and Danault's line playing like dog poo, the Habs would be in Ottawa's lane without the production from our new guys.

But we still don't know what this team is. The players who are playing like crap will eventually heat up and the new guys will cool down, so last night's garbage wasn't some big reveal of the roster's weaknesses. It was one bad game. Toronto won't sustain their current streak; we can still take those jokers, but not if we play like the mess from last night.

Each of the Habs 3 losses have been by 1 goal (excluding empty netters).

So even in the games where they didn't play well, a bounce here or there could have changed the outcome of the game.

There will be plenty of matchups vs the Leafs to come.

 

[The Real Timo]

We have one two way center in the making. His name is Nick Suzuki. KK is still a possibility despite what you may read here. I somehow get the impression that these kids are being over-coached. I much prefer their instinctive play which Julien seems to frowns upon. I wasn't kidding yesterday when I said too many XXX's and OOO's are slowing us down. We hear a lot of negative talk about Muller but one thing for certain in my mind is that I much prefer his coaching style to Clod the Plod's. I'm also not convinced the PP is strictly his domain given how the deployment was different last year when Julien was out. Ultimately the failings of our special teams plural has to fall on the HEAD coach.

I honestly don't think KK will amount to anything better than a 3rd line center. I like him, I think Habs could do better with him, but talent wise, I am just not seeing it. Perhaps eventually a slightly more productive Danno. But that's where I cap it. So technically, habs still only have one legit top line NHL center in Suzuki who is forced to drag Drouin's useless ass because he is d'chez nous and Bergevin still needs to continually justify wasting the first round solid NHL defensman on that creampuff floater.