Post-Game Talk: Lightning Shock Habs - Film at Eleven...

[pvanders21]

Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher
Galchenyuk-Desharnais-Andrighetto/Hudon/DSP
De La Rose-Eller-Thomas
Prust-Malhotra-Weise

Agreed! The team was much better before any of the trades at the deadline including Petry.

 

[sheed36]

N. Flynn also proclaimed earlier in the year that Pacioretty needs DD to score and that if they can't find a RWer to play with the pair, MB should go trade for one instead of splitting the duo. It was painful to listen to, he was adamant on keeping DD and Pacioretty together (to point of getting audibly upset) and suggested that the latter owed much of his success to DD.

So in other words pay no attention to what this guy says then.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

Normand Flynn on TSN690 trying to make a big deal out of what Pacioretty said after the game. Norman and MT must be buddies I take it.

I love it! Saying someone is a good coach infers that the other coach is bad! Please no one praise one of your children, by default your other child should be insulted...

 

[bsl]

And yet, he has assembled a group that can skate circles around the top team in the conference despite missing their top (tied) scorer and 2 of their top 4 defensemen due to injury. A little credit where credit is due.

Huh? He he just said that Yzerman did not assemble this group. And he is correct, for the most part. Bizarre answer dude.

The Bishop trade was a good one I'll give him that. He chose a better than coach than MB too.

 

[Michelangelo]

Tayeule Norman Flynn

****ing idiot.

 

[bsl]

Where were all you guys the last 5 games when the team was actually playing well despite loosing some games. The fair weather fans on this board is comical. Only come out of the woodshed when the team gets outplayed so they can bash everyone.

Blahhhhhhhh

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

our defense has been exposed against Tampa for 5 games without any adjustmentt. Only MT would think that after losing 4 of 4 agsinst Tampa we should continue playing the same game plan. The whole night Price was left defenseless and the slot wide open. We will never beat Tampa we continue to give the puck away. You watch the way Tampa plays. They want the puck and when they don't have it they persue it as a 5 man group.

The way they pursued was a big hole in Tampas game. The habs had no problem possesing the puck in this game. The problem the habs had, was the D. Two breakaways and 2 give aways lead to goals for Tampa. This doesn't even take into account Price keeping the game close. The habs can easily win against this team, but they need to play mistake free hockey. This better be a learning experience going into the playoffs. Make the smart play, keep it simple, don't make mistakes. Tampas firepower is incredible. They can't be given that many great chances. (I think they had 12 great chances, scored on 4)

 

[GoodKiwi]

I agree with someone else in here who said that the biggest difference last night was Tampa's ability to finish as opposed to ours. We just don't have enough talent in our top 6/9.

 

[Kriss E]

The Yzerman worship is nauseating.

If MB inherited a team with three top three picks entering their primes and a cast of stud forwards that his scouts told him to draft, we would be expecting similar results (if not better).

The Lightning are a great squad, but their core was acquired due to tanking and their supporting cast is there thanks to the tireless works of their scouts, not Steve freakin' Yzerman.

I agree the Yzerman love is annoying, but he has done a pretty darn good job.

Bergevin inherited a pretty solid team, the difference between us and TB is that they don't have a coach that kills the offense of pretty much every youngster coming in.
Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Eller, DD, none of them have really improved their offensive numbers or game other than just a natural progression.
Patches, if he didn't have this insane shot, he'd be a rather ordinary forward. Big, doesn't really crash the net, doesn't go in the corners. However he was already a 30 goal scorer before Therrien took over.
Even a guy like PK. I mean, he's just so damn skilled, he's one of the best in the NHL, but even he changed his game for a way more conservative and boring style.
His creativity has been killed by Therrien.

But Bergevin inherited those guys. They're the reasons why we're at the top of the NHL now. It's not Bergevin that made some shrewd moves. Heck, he couldn't even see that PK Subban didn't need a bridge deal.

He did well last year getting Vanek. We won the trade deadline day because of it.
His Petry deal was good as well but he better re-sign this guy, if not it's likely to be another useless move (unless of course we win the cup this year).

However, this is the 3rd year under Bergevin and we still are using DD as our go-to offensive center. That is flat out unacceptable. A complete joke.

 

[Kriss E]

I love it! Saying someone is a good coach infers that the other coach is bad! Please no one praise one of your children, by default your other child should be insulted...

Well it actually goes to show you Flynn believes there's some issues with our coaching.
If we had a terrific coach, people wouldn't assume that's what Max meant. But seeing how our coach is terrible and we've looked completely unstructured playing pee-wee style hockey for the past 2 years, then you assume it might be a knock on our coach.

And I don't care what Patches says, it definitely was, subconsciously or not.

Anybody can see that the Habs don't play a great system and there's a lot of bonehead decisions being taken roster wise.

 

[MasterDecoy]

Flynn is a drooling idiot, what does it matter what comes sliming out if his dirty whorish mouth? We all know it, so why even bring it up?

 

[Kriss E]

I would tell you to take your cynical glasses off but they're glued to your face.

With 20/20 hindsight, mind telling us what Bergevin could have done differently, specifically with Gionta, Gorges, Bourque being players he was stuck with?

Where is the Ben Bishop you think the habs could have acquired, and for what pieces?

We didn't and don't have pieces like Marty St Louis, Lecavalier or Conacher to trade for other assets.

That's just an excuse. It's been three years, and DD is still being used as the go-to center of this team. That's just inexcusable.

 

[WHY LIE GUY]

Montreal hasn't been playing very well for awhile now.

We've gotten slower and it's obvious against the quicker teams. We were playing better with players like Thomas and Bournival in the lineup. Sure, they didn't put the puck in the net, but with their speed they were actually able to get into the opposing team's zone and apply a bit of pressure.

 

[Forum93]

Montreal hasn't been playing very well for awhile now.

We've gotten slower and it's obvious against the quicker teams. We were playing better with players like Thomas and Bournival in the lineup. Sure, they didn't put the puck in the net, but with their speed they were actually able to get into the opposing team's zone and apply a bit of pressure.

I agree, and would add Sekac to that list- stupid ,stupid trade.

 

[Dannyhab]

I am disgusted by last night's performance. The most frustrating thing about the whole situation is I think we have the pieces right now to go far in the playoffs but Da Systsem is holding us back. This lineup that was posted earlier if P-E-R-F-E-C-T. For the love of God I hope Therrien gets his head out of butt and changes things.

Brian Wilde in his column said something great about having strength down the middle, he's bang on.

Max Pacioretty - Alex Galchenyuk - Brendan Gallagher
Sven Andrighetto - Tomas Plekanec - P.A. Parenteau
David Desharnais - Lars Eller - Devante Smith-Pelly
Brandon Prust - Jacob de la Rose - Dale Weise

 

[Takeru]

I am always cheering for Eller (because despite the fact he has no IQ, he is big, physical and protects well the puck) but sometimes I am just puzzled at the plays he does.

-Markov and Subban out on the ice for 2+ min, Eller gets the puck and instead of carrying it, tries a ridiculous pass that's intercepted and BAM, Markov and Subban can't change.

-It's a 2 on 2 and Eller is covering his man (Fillpulla). Then for absolutely no reason he starts looking around, loses his man and Fillpulla has a mini-breakaway.

-Eller has a clear path to Bishop. He should have got a great shot on him but no, he does a ridiculous spin-o-rama and tries a pass to Flynn (who luckily got slashed so we got a PP out of it).

-Not sure who is to blame for the 4th goal (him or Pateryn) so I am not going to comment on that.

I swear this guy has to lowest hockey IQ I have seen a player have. He is lucky he gets the ice time he gets sometimes.

Yeah I litteraly laughed out loud at his ridiculous spin-o-rama pass, absolutely no reason to try that. Sometimes it seems he tinks he's some Crosby or Tavares.

 

[Justin11]

Flynn is an idiot. Pacioretty is right, TB is a well coached team.

One of the problems with Therrien is that he won't adjust vs certain teams. Its live and die by the system / plan. His stubbornness will hurt this team short and long term.

 

[smirob]

Team has been getting outplayed for a long time.

This.

Price has covered over the blemishes (and there are many) of the roster and gameplan since January imo.

But people kept saying "Look at the standings, look at the standings"......despite being grossly outplayed and outsmarted.

Outsmarted, that lands on the coach.
Outplayed, that lands on the players (forwards specifically) *not all obviously.

At the end of this season, if we continue to play who and how we play (who as in lines) we will be discussing Desharnais' golf swing in April.

 

[Strat]

Bergevin is a coward.

He is going to singlehandedly demolish our chance, a chance that he had very little in bringing about to begin with- he's extended Therrien for all of Price and Pacioretty's prime ffs.

Compare to this:

Unbelievable.

Our window is going to be two years, this one and the next. Then Markov and Pleks are gone and none of our players can replace them because no one's been developed under this gongshow.

Compare Yzerman to Bergevin:

Therrien and Bergevin took a team that was in the NHL basement and brought it back up to respectability and at the top of the NHL. They have the league's best goaltender and arguably the best defense.

Bergevin brought in Prust when the team had zero grit. He traded Diaz out for Weise. Traded away boat anchor contracts like Moen's and Bourque's in smart moves. He re-signed Markov, let Gionta walk, locked Subban long-term, ditto with Gallahger, and got Vanek at last year's trade deadline for a Playoffs push which was a coup, back then. Price was signed at 6.5 million/year which is a STEAL! Why? Because it's 2$ million *LESS* than Lundqvist. And let's not even mention Pacioretty's contract at 4.5$ million/year. One of the very best snipers in the league trailing only Nash, Stamkos, and Ovechkin, also leads in plus/minus with his ridiculous +39. And we have him for another 4 years! Do you know how much Stamkos is paid? 7.5$ million. Nash? 7.8! Ovechkin? 9! That's twice what Pacioretty makes.

One of Bergevin's best decisions was to bring Stephen Waite to bring Price to the next level. And look at the results. They speak for themselves.

Bergevin OK'ed and drafted (with the first really high pick the organization was privileged to have in the longest time) Galchenyuk, which some argued would be a big risk as he had been injured for the majority of the season. De La Rose was also drafted by Bergevin. Guess what? BOTH players are playing key roles with the team right now!

Fucale was also drafted by Bergevin, a goalie whose pedigree is impressive, to say the least. It was the steal of the draft and now, Bergevin has the luxury of either putting Fucale as a great 2nd-string goaltender or trading him to fill a roster spot with a very good replacement.

Meanwhile, the Habs swept the Lightning in last year's Playoffs, where it really counted. Also, had Price not been taken out by Kreider, there's a very good chance the Habs might have been in their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1993, a full 21 years earlier.

He was also great at getting rid of people who either didn't want to play, didn't give a full effort, or who have outgrown their usefulness. Such as was the case with Cole, the malcontent who threatened to retire. Same with Ryder who filled his role well in the regular season but was a ghost in the Playoffs.

Yep. He's a terrible GM.

 

[Takeru]

Where were all you guys the last 5 games when the team was actually playing well despite loosing some games. The fair weather fans on this board is comical. Only come out of the woodshed when the team gets outplayed so they can bash everyone.

We did play better over those last 5 games so there was obviously going to be less criticism about the way we played THOSE games. However, do you mean to say those 5 games were closer to the way we played all year, rather than an exception?

Because in my opinion, we've played most of the year like we did yesterday, except that we were able to win against weaker teams or with Price standing on his head.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

I agree with someone else in here who said that the biggest difference last night was Tampa's ability to finish as opposed to ours. We just don't have enough talent in our top 6/9.

TB had like 4 breakaways and more then one 2 on 1.

They sliced thru therriens system like butter.

montreal didnt get these types of quality. Doesnt matter about finish, get enough of them and some will go in

 

[Forum93]

We did play better over those last 5 games so there was obviously going to be less criticism about the way we played THOSE games. However, do you mean to say those 5 games were closer to the way we played all year, rather than an exception?

Because in my opinion, we've played most of the year like we did yesterday, except that we were able to win against weaker teams or with Price standing on his head.

Supposedly you're only a true fan if you remain content with the status quo. All others are "fair weathered".

 

[Takeru]

Supposedly you're only a true fan if you remain content with the status quo. All others are "fair weathered".

You forgot the part about the true fan judging the team only by the record.

 

[LaP]

Yep. He's a terrible GM. You clearly know what you're talking about.

MB did well overall since he was hired as a GM but let's be honest he is having a rough year.

Bière for PAP was not a good trade. Brière will be UFA at the end of the season while we will still be stuck with PAP next year.

Flynn and Mitchell are useless. Petry is okay but he is not worth what he will ask this summer. He is not a solid 3rd d able to do 30-35 points and this is what the CH needs.

Sekac for DSP so far is a bad trade and i've been saying this from day 1. Sekac had a great start and slowed down toward the middle of the season. This is not unusual for an European used to play 40 games a year. Sekac will likely never become a good 2nd line player but his chance to become one are higher than DSP and we desperately needs 2nd line players.

MB did not address the main problem this team has at the deadline while still wasting picks for guys who wont help us go further in the playoffs. We needed a top 6 forwards. It should have been the top priority. If it was not possible to get one there was no point doing any trade at the deadline.

 

[Habsawce]

Parenteau is beyond useless right. He's not a bottom 6 player, doesn't have the jam. And he's far too slow to play in the top 6, so what is he exactly?

I'd much rather have Ghetto or Hudon in the top 6. Have some god damn creativity Therrien.


Pacioretty-Plekanec-Ghetto
Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher
Desharnais-De La Rose-Smith-Pelly
Prust-Malhotra-Weise

Beaulieu-Subban
Markov-Petry
Emelin-Pateryn

Price