Post-Game Talk: Niemi with the worst performance I've ever seen by a Habs goalie in 6-5 loss to Tampa

[Simarino]

Julien is such a bad bench coach, Drouin on the ice with 1min to go when hes been playing like shit all night!! He played Mete for 20:40 tonight even if he was playing like shit and he played 12:00 in Colorado when he was the best player om the ice!! Jordie Benn played 14:00mins tonight, playing great tonight and yesterday same thing the night he was atrocious he was playing 20:00.. Its like start the game and adjust from there, play the guy on his A game 20min not the bad one!!
So much randomness!!

 

[Megaforce]

No single Hab impressed me, which is unusual considering they were poised for an upset. KK and Benn looked ok I suppose. I love Mete but he wasn't doing much for me. Tatar was getting on my nerves. I'm ok with how DoDro played, cuz they both have skills even though neither did anything super spectacular. Drouin stopped Tampa from getting an empty-netter about 3 times in the last few seconds of the game, altho it doesn't matter cuz Habs couldn't get a game tying goal. Gallagher was bad, falling over all the time and missing the net from close in at a time the Tampa goalie was letting everything in.

 

[Habs]

Worst part of the game was having to listen to that commentary and colour duo. God sportsnet is awful. Jesus.

 

[LaP]

Boston also had like 5 of their starting Ds injured..they also lost Bergeron.

I swear the whole defense was injured at some point lol

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Dach this year Laf next year

I think someone has to step up and say you are low key the funniest poster on this site. I feel like I've seen you post some real gold on here. Hahaha and that gd profile pic!

 

[Kimota]

When I tried the goalie job in Novice, I looked exactly like Niemi.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Not really. Folks here prefer to complain and cry than to praise. That's it.

some complain and cry about games, others complain and cry about other posters.

to each their own.

 

[Kriss E]

Julien is such a bad bench coach, Drouin on the ice with 1min to go when hes been playing like **** all night!! He played Mete for 20:40 tonight even if he was playing like **** and he played 12:00 in Colorado when he was the best player om the ice!! Jordie Benn played 14:00mins tonight, playing great tonight and yesterday same thing the night he was atrocious he was playing 20:00.. Its like start the game and adjust from there, play the guy on his A game 20min not the bad one!!
So much randomness!!

Did you ever think Benn looked "good" because he played so little? Same for Mete. When those guys play more they look worse. Julien is just trying things but there is so much he can do with this very talent-limited team.

 

[jaffy27]

No single Hab impressed me, which is unusual considering they were poised for an upset. KK and Benn looked ok I suppose. I love Mete but he wasn't doing much for me. Tatar was getting on my nerves. I'm ok with how DoDro played, cuz they both have skills even though neither did anything super spectacular. Drouin stopped Tampa from getting an empty-netter about 3 times in the last few seconds of the game, altho it doesn't matter cuz Habs couldn't get a game tying goal. Gallagher was bad, falling over all the time and missing the net from close in at a time the Tampa goalie was letting everything in.

What about Shaw??....was he not good tonight.....heck, we outshot them....somebody MUST’VE done something right

 

[jaffy27]

When I tried the goalie job in Novice, I looked exactly like Niemi.

You should be in the NHL then.....at least play in Europe or Russia

 

[ECWHSWI]

and to think that at some point, people were advocating for trading Price cause Niemi was doing just fine...

 

[Schwang]

Not mad, but we honestly need a new backup badly.

True and it really sucked but losing 6-5 in the last minute against a top team really says something. They are capable of competing with the best. Last season it would’ve been 6-0.

 

[sandviper]

True and it really sucked but losing 6-5 in the last minute against a top team really says something. They are capable of competing with the best. Last season it would’ve been 6-0.

While the score was close, and Niemi DID LOSE it for us, Vas was complete horse turd last night. Not saying we’d lose for sure, but goaltending on both teams would keep coaches up at night.

 

[azcanuck]

No single Hab impressed me, which is unusual considering they were poised for an upset. KK and Benn looked ok I suppose. I love Mete but he wasn't doing much for me. Tatar was getting on my nerves. I'm ok with how DoDro played, cuz they both have skills even though neither did anything super spectacular. Drouin stopped Tampa from getting an empty-netter about 3 times in the last few seconds of the game, altho it doesn't matter cuz Habs couldn't get a game tying goal. Gallagher was bad, falling over all the time and missing the net from close in at a time the Tampa goalie was letting everything in.

Hab fans are so depressing.
Do you ever actually enjoy the game?
The team is playing very well and almost pulled off a win in TB last night. They had just played a hard fought game in a win against Fla. the night before.
I suspect your life is like a big turd in the bowl.

 

[Burke the Legend]

I don't like to whine about refs but those calls against the Habs were soft as butter.

 

[Lshap]

I think you guys did remarkably well tonight given the back to back with Niemi, who has been waived after facing the Lightning two times(?) before.

Rare incredibly off-night for Vasy from the Bolts perspective and your forecheck made the Bolts look tire-fire bad in their own end for 2 periods. From my view, the back to back showed up in the 3rd. Ran outta gas a bit and Niemi played like one would expect him to play on a back to back vs. a team that has almost sent him into retirement twice before.

We're ripping our eyeballs out because your team didn't do its job and take the lead early. Would've been easier on our nerves had Tampa followed the pre-scripted story, instead of keeping our hopes up until the very last minute. At least we can credibly dump the loss on our backup, which is less painful than the entire team sucking. It was an entertaining game and probably a blast from your POV, so congrats! And congrats on your team being the measuring stick for the rest of the league.

 

[Simarino]

Did you ever think Benn looked "good" because he played so little? Same for Mete. When those guys play more they look worse. Julien is just trying things but there is so much he can do with this very talent-limited team.

You have 3 no5-6 dman on the left side, for me playing the one who’s having the best game the most minutes is just logical and that’s coaching, Julien is almost never making changes inside the game.. Benn played 21Min in Colo and played a good Game, same thing for Kulak when he started playing with Weber its not because their not top 4 D’s that they cant play 20 good minutes on any giving nights but damn if they play like shit adjust!! Schlemko played 20Mins in Colorado when he was having one worst game ever played by a habs d-man!!

 

[Lshap]

The game was like an episode of Gilligan's Island. Against all odds, the skipper, professor, Shaw and Danault build a seaworthy ship, but just as the Habsaways are celebrating leaving the island, it sinks. Turns out Gilliganiemi stripped the hull and used the wood for a marshmallow roast. Gilliganiemi!!

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

So I watched the highlights of this game. I see a bad rebound by Niemi which leads to the fifth goal, but not anything else egregious outside of that. The Tampa goals seemed to mostly be on very well executed plays (they score a ton of goals as it is). Didn’t look like Vasilevsky was that great either.

Do you guys put this more on Niemi just because he wasn’t making huge saves against a strong offense or did you think more goals than I thought were really bad? To me, they just all look like they came on grade A chances.

Just looking for some honest takes (which as we all know are way more possible the day AFTER a loss).

 

[Milhouse40]

You have 3 no5-6 dman on the left side, for me playing the one who’s having the best game the most minutes is just logical and that’s coaching, Julien is almost never making changes inside the game.. Benn played 21Min in Colo and played a good Game, same thing for Kulak when he started playing with Weber its not because their not top 4 D’s that they cant play 20 good minutes on any giving nights but damn if they play like **** adjust!! Schlemko played 20Mins in Colorado when he was having one worst game ever played by a habs d-man!!

Criticize the oaching staff all you want, IMO they are one the biggest reason that we're not in the bottom of this league. As you are saying, we have 3 numbers 5-6 D on the left side......is it Julien's fault to overplay them or is it Bergevin's fault to have done nothing about it yet?

 

[Milhouse40]

So I watched the highlights of this game. I see a bad rebound by Niemi which leads to the fifth goal, but not anything else egregious outside of that. The Tampa goals seemed to mostly be on very well executed plays (they score a ton of goals as it is). Didn’t look like Vasilevsky was that great either.

Do you guys put this more on Niemi just because he wasn’t making huge saves against a strong offense or did you think more goals than I thought were really bad? To me, they just all look like they came on grade A chances.

Just looking for some honest takes (which as we all know are way more possible the day AFTER a loss).

Price or Niemi....the story of letting the opposing teams walks in the slots and getting tons of grade A scoring chances is the same. Still, Niemi let in my book at least 2 goals that shouldn't go in (There's the 5th one.....and i think it's the 2nd one which should have been a routine save if Niemi wasn't clearly out of position).

 

[Habs Icing]

Not lights out, but at least dim them a little. He was a tire fire in there.

I think that was the problem. The way he was tracking the puck it seemed like he was playing in the dark.

 

[Habs Icing]

Criticize the oaching staff all you want, IMO they are one the biggest reason that we're not in the bottom of this league. As you are saying, we have 3 numbers 5-6 D on the left side......is it Julien's fault to overplay them or is it Bergevin's fault to have done nothing about it yet?

What do you mean he has done nothing about it? Get your facts straight. He created the situation.

 

[Simarino]

Criticize the oaching staff all you want, IMO they are one the biggest reason that we're not in the bottom of this league. As you are saying, we have 3 numbers 5-6 D on the left side......is it Julien's fault to overplay them or is it Bergevin's fault to have done nothing about it yet?

I think the coaching staff deserve alot of credit for what they are doing to prepare the team for the game, i like the way the team play 90% of the games, that said there’s another part in coaching, the inside the game coaching, that i think they deserved criticism. They dont adjust, never change lines or dpairing depending on players performance, dosnt cut his bench in the final minutes of a game etc etc

For the MB’s part, i dont want to pay future, picks/prospects to get Duncan Keith or an over 30 dman, pay a premium to get Cam Fowler or Shea Theodore or another 23-26 yrs old left d, not a guy who wont be here when we’re gonna be ready to be a contender in 3 years.

 

[Lshap]

So I watched the highlights of this game. I see a bad rebound by Niemi which leads to the fifth goal, but not anything else egregious outside of that. The Tampa goals seemed to mostly be on very well executed plays (they score a ton of goals as it is). Didn’t look like Vasilevsky was that great either.

Do you guys put this more on Niemi just because he wasn’t making huge saves against a strong offense or did you think more goals than I thought were really bad? To me, they just all look like they came on grade A chances.

Just looking for some honest takes (which as we all know are way more possible the day AFTER a loss).

Very few saves are outright fantastic and very few goals are outright terrible. It's how a goalie handles the vast middle-ground of shots that determines whether he's good, bad, great or terrible. Niemi allows way too many goals that are on the edge of difficult, but not quite. You can almost excuse him for most, until you realize that his peers stop more of them than he does.