Pre-Game Talk: Montreal at Winnipeg - 8 PM ET

[ZARTONK]

Still a long way before the game starts, I though we should have a thread to discuss before the GDT is up.

Here are the lines that were announced yesterday:

Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gallagher
Pacioretty - Eller - Gionta
Bourque - Desharnais - Prust
Moen - Bournival - Brière/White.

Markov - Subban
Gorges - Diaz
Bouillon - Tinordi/Beaulieu

Price will be in nets.

Click to read more...

 

[Lshap]

I'm really liking our forward remix. All merit, no teacher's pets.

Are both Tinordi and Beaulieu in the lineup?

 

[Smokey Thompson]

Nice lineup, should be an easy win. But then again Calgary should have been an easy win.

I'd give the 6th spot to Beaulieu tonight, Tinordi was awful vs Vancouver (which is to be expected from time to time from a rookie D).

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Jets fan here. Here's a probable line-up for the bad guys:

Kane - Little - Wheeler
Ladd - Scheifele - Frolik
Tangradi - Jokinen - Setoguchi
Halischuk - Slater - Wright (could the Thorburn or Peluso)

Enstrom - Byfuglien
Bogosian - Trouba
Stuart - Postma (could be Clitsome)

Pavelec is the likely starter.

G'luck tonight! Habs seem to have the Jets number.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Someone knows the last time the Habs have lost in Winnipeg?

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Nice lineup, should be an easy win. But then again Calgary should have been an easy win.

I'd give the 6th spot to Beaulieu tonight, Tinordi was awful vs Vancouver (which is to be expected from time to time from a rookie D).

I wish MT would sit Cube for a night or two and try Beaulieu and Tinordi on the 3rd pair; I know icing the two rooks together is a risk, but it can't hurt anymore than Cube on the PP does...

 

[Lshap]

Jets fan here. Here's a probable line-up for the bad guys:

Kane - Little - Wheeler
Ladd - Scheifele - Frolik
Tangradi - Jokinen - Setoguchi
Halischuk - Slater - Wright (could the Thorburn or Peluso)

Enstrom - Byfuglien
Bogosian - Trouba
Stuart - Postma (could be Clitsome)

Pavelec is the likely starter.

G'luck tonight! Habs seem to have the Jets number.

Thanks! Remember that in hockey math, no numbers are constant.

 

[Account Terminated]

I heard Briere was playing as White's RW, indicating White would center the 4th line. Either White or Bournival could sit but I'd be happy giving Briere one game to watch from upstairs and snap him out of it.

 

[ZARTONK]

I heard Briere was playing as White's RW, indicating White would center the 4th line. Either White or Bournival could sit but I'd be happy giving Briere one game to watch from upstairs and snap him out of it.

I don't know how up to date my lineup is, I just took it from J-F Chaumont, the Journal de Montreal's beat writer for the Habs, he posted this yesterday.

 

[boris4c]

Someone knows the last time the Habs have lost in Winnipeg?

4-0 loss on December 22, 2011.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Thanks! Remember that in hockey math, no numbers are constant.

So hockeymathics are a subset of bistromathics?

 

[Le Barron de HF]

What's our record against the Jets since they've comeback? Anyway I expect the Jets to come out strong tonight since we ruined their playoff chances last year (well sort of). I expect a big game from the fourth line and the Gallys.

 

[ps241]

Someone knows the last time the Habs have lost in Winnipeg?

Jets 2.0 record vs. the Habs: 1-6-0
The one win being a shutout.
Pavalec playing all 7.

Habs = Kryptonite

Not only do we lose but we usually get blown out and always save our worse games for Montreal even in the season you bottomed out??? I am expecting a lackluster dopy effort from the Jets and expecting Pavs to suck because that’s how we roll when we play your team. We seem to love to stand around and watch your team skate and like to find out how good your power play is by giving you about 4 or 5 shots.

 

[Habaddict]

So hockeymathics are a subset of bistromathics?

Bistromathics was discovered when someone tried to understand the
NY Rangers' cap options.

 

[Phil Parent]

I know history says we got this, but I'm worried about tonight. They're pretty big and pretty deep too. Jokinen and Setoguchi on a third is pretty strong. Enstrom/Byfuglien/Bogosian/Trouba is a strong base for a D.

We'll see.

 

[Halifaxhab*]

I'm just happy to get to watch a game! I'd love to see Eller and Patches get in sync tonight. that would definately help.

 

[Lebowski]

Jets 2.0 record vs. the Habs: 1-6-0
The one win being a shutout.
Pavalec playing all 7.

Habs = Kryptonite

Not only do we lose but we usually get blown out and always save our worse games for Montreal even in the season you bottomed out??? I am expecting a lackluster dopy effort from the Jets and expecting Pavs to suck because that’s how we roll when we play your team. We seem to love to stand around and watch your team skate and like to find out how good your power play is by giving you about 4 or 5 shots.

In contention for best quote of the month.

 

[Luigi Habs]

The Jets have a great top 4 on defense.

 

[Habskrieg]

Therrien really needs to stop putting Brière on the wing...

 

[FrontierPsyCHiatrist*]

I'm 3-0 with my western trip predictions. Unfortunatly I think we will lose this one boys, coming back to Montréal with 4 points out of 8 isn't bad though.

But damn that Jets roster looks sexy!

GG all, looking foward to see Pleckanec not expecting passes from Galchenyuk :p

 

[Et le But]

I actually like Gionta in Briere's place. Costs that line a lot of playmaking and creativity, of course, but it makes them far more defensively responsible, which might allow Eller to actually focus on his possession game.

All three go to the net too, that line could be ugly and effective.

Therrien really needs to stop putting Brière on the wing...

At the expense of who? Desharnais actually looked decent now that he's back playing against soft competition with two big forwards.

Briere has done nothing to earn a promotion.

 

[costathing]

Jets fan here. Here's a probable line-up for the bad guys:

Kane - Little - Wheeler
Ladd - Scheifele - Frolik
Tangradi - Jokinen - Setoguchi
Halischuk - Slater - Wright (could the Thorburn or Peluso)

Enstrom - Byfuglien
Bogosian - Trouba
Stuart - Postma (could be Clitsome)

Pavelec is the likely starter.

G'luck tonight! Habs seem to have the Jets number.

AHHH ahh nice try with jynx ..oh no guys since you moved from the east you look like the good old line-up that the habs struggle so much ( big western team.with hands )

 

[CH25]

Should be a decent game. Habs should be able to finish off the trip in a good way

 

[Habskrieg]

I actually like Gionta in Briere's place. Costs that line a lot of playmaking and creativity, of course, but it makes them far more defensively responsible, which might allow Eller to actually focus on his possession game.



At the expense of who? Desharnais actually looked decent now that he's back playing against soft competition with two big forwards.

Briere has done nothing to earn a promotion.

Who said anything about a promotion? All I know is, Brière is the type of player who plays at his best when at the center. Watching a couple of his games, he's just way better at that position than he is on the wing. Also, any Flyers fan could tell you that. A couple even did say so on our boards the day we signed Brière.

I do agree that the guy hasn't done anything to merit a promotion. But last year, Eller was put on the wing, and he sucked there. When we put him back in center, he started playing better. Therrien also keeps giving plenty of chances to DD, why couldn't he extend the same favor for Brière as a way of trying to get him out of his rut? He's been playing on the wing for too long, let's try him back at the center. I don't know who takes a back seat... I'm just saying... After all, we have a 4mill veteran center who's proven to be good and better than some of our players. And yet, we keep him on the wing when we know he's a much better player at the center. In addition, the only reason we aren't putting him back where he belongs is because he hasn't played to the production we expect of him?

DD has been playing better, I'll agree. But how can we justify not trying to give an actual chance to Brière as a center after 5 games with his new team, when we've been giving DD second chances since last year? At least, last year we could have said that there wasn't any legit replacement for DD on his line.

 

[Et le But]

The Jets have a great top 4 on defense.

Yes and no. Bogosian and Trouba is as high risk, high reward as you get - Trouba already plays better than his age suggests, but both are still mistake prone and this can be exploited, especially because the Jets have erratic goaltending.

I like this Jets team but they are erratic and like last year, we have the speed to be a difficult matchup against them.

Who said anything about a promotion? All I know is, Brière is the type of player who plays at his best when at the center. Watching a couple of his games, he's just way better at that position than he is on the wing. Also, any Flyers fan could tell you that. A couple even did say so on our boards the day we signed Brière.

I do agree that the guy hasn't done anything to merit a promotion. But last year, Eller was put on the wing, and he sucked there. When we put him back in center, he started playing better. Therrien also keeps giving plenty of chances to DD, why couldn't he extend the same favor for Brière as a way of trying to get him out of his rut? He's been playing on the wing for too long, let's try him back at the center. I don't know who takes a back seat... I'm just saying... After all, we have a 4mill veteran center who's proven to be good and better than some of our players. And yet, we keep him on the wing when we know he's a much better player at the center. In addition, the only reason we aren't putting him back where he belongs is because he hasn't played to the production we expect of him?

DD has been playing better, I'll agree. But how can we justify not trying to give an actual chance to Brière as a center after 5 games with his new team, when we've been giving DD second chances since last year?

Mostly because getting DD's value up means we can potentially trade him. I've wanted to see if Desharnais at wing for a while now, since it would go a long way in determining his future, but the organization seems to refuse to do so.

I'm not even convinced Briere is an upgrade on Desharnais at this point honestly, maybe he would, and of course we all know about his track record at being clutch, but he's been more bad than good for a while now, and he even looks slow out there.