Pants are off as the Habs blow out the Sabres edition

[Mrb1p]

For all the MT haters who wished we got Bob Hartley instead, remember that the Flames still only have one victory so far.

Look at their line up.. Their best center is.. Heck, I don't even know who he is.
They're bad.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Yeah, that two year injury - an injury that apparently severely affected his decision-making as well as his fitness/conditioning. And not only that, it was so bad that he has missed, what, 8 games total in the past two seasons? ...

Nice attack tossed in on the end there, too.

Come on man last year he was clearly hampered by something. Just quit ragging on the guy with a great contract and a big frame until he really deserves it.

 

[Sorinth]

That's the thing though. No contest that Bourque has talent. He showed it on every team he's played. But teams had against his consistency....which is great to see A POSTER coming hard on people about Bourque when what we're actually seeing now is THE GOOD Bourque....Will the bad one arrive soon? We still have no idea, NO MATTER HOW GREAT HE'S PLAYING NOW. But you do hope that there will be no inconsistent Bourque anymore....That's the wish. That he FINALLY gets it.

I'm sure we will see the bad Bourque at some point but that's why he's a $3m player instead of a $5m. He's at least proven that last year was not the new normal for him and that's a good thing.

 

[Price is Wright]

That's the thing though. No contest that Bourque has talent. He showed it on every team he's played. But teams had against his consistency....which is great to see A POSTER coming hard on people about Bourque when what we're actually seeing now is THE GOOD Bourque....Will the bad one arrive soon? We still have no idea, NO MATTER HOW GREAT HE'S PLAYING NOW. But you do hope that there will be no inconsistent Bourque anymore....That's the wish. That he FINALLY gets it.

I've heard Marble once argue that if he was consistent he wouldn't be only making $3M. Well sure, if Kaberle was consistent (or better defensively) he'd be making much more than $4M as well and Montreal wouldn't have acquired him for a player no longer playing in the NHL.

But the fact is, Bourque is an inconsistent player who thankfully is playing very well right now. I hope Marble gets to claim he's right and Bourque stays good for the rest of his tenure with Montreal. However, historically for anyone who has watched Bourque for longer than when Pierre Gauthier acquired him, he just doesn't. He's very streaky.

 

[Sorinth]

After being at the game today, I can tell you it's Prust. Scott was picking at Gallagher before the faceoff (may not have been shown on TV) and scott pushed Gallagher to the ice. The refs move Gallagher to the LW and put Prust to the RW to prevent more drama before the puck drops and of course Prust drops the gloves and takes on Scott. Prust is not only making space for the two Gallys, but he's also protecting them....i would keep him on that line.

Interesting tidbit. Prust told the Gally's to play there game and he would back them up, it's nice to see his words put into action.

 

[NewHabsEra*]

Cole is playing just fine.Not everyone can be hot at the same time.

Nope, he is struggling big time, but the team is playing well and wins so we will give him a break, especially knowing he is a slow starter..

I gotta admit I was wrong on Bourque, I had no faith in this guy and he sure is proving me wrong, another solid effort from the guy..

Guys we have depth!!

 

[DAChampion]

I've heard Marble once argue that if he was consistent he wouldn't be only making $3M. Well sure, if Kaberle was consistent (or better defensively) he'd be making much more than $4M as well and Montreal wouldn't have acquired him for a player no longer playing in the NHL.

But the fact is, Bourque is an inconsistent player who thankfully is playing very well right now. I hope Marble gets to claim he's right and Bourque stays good for the rest of his tenure with Montreal. However, historically for anyone who has watched Bourque for longer than when Pierre Gauthier acquired him, he just doesn't. He's very streaky.

Well, he had two consecutive 27 goal seasons. 54 goals in 153 games is very consistent, and the year before that he had 21 goals in 58 games, which is the same production rate.

So basically he was consistent from 2008-09 to 2010-2011.

 

[Wats]

Uhh Emelin and Diaz were both Gauthier moves, try harder that was pathetic. Nice to see you coming around to the Bourque trade, I guess you got tired of being embarrassed.

Emelin and Diaz are Gauthier moves like Desharnais and Pacioretty are Gainey moves. Reality is they are Timmins/scouting staff moves.

Embarrassed? Pathetic? Yikes, you really need to relax. I find it ironic that people would defend Cole/Kaberle because it's only 7 games and turn around acting like 7 games of Bourque is going to be the norm. In both cases, the long run will give the real picture. As of right now, Bourque has pretty much become a non-physical version of last season's Cole and Cole has become last season's Bourque.

 

[HarlemsFinest]

i keep hearing 'when we play X team, that will be a good test'

either everyone is **** or and we're actually good, or we haven't met a team that's good yet. a bad game is a bad game (sens), but it's like we're going to go through the whole season waiting for 'the test' before we realize we might have a legit good team. not yet a perennial contender, but someone who has a shot once in the PO's.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Well, he had two consecutive 27 goal seasons. 54 goals in 153 games is very consistent, and the year before that he had 21 goals in 58 games, which is the same production rate.

So basically he was consistent from 2008-09 to 2010-2011.

Not necessarily. You have a mathematical construct that fits the description of "consistent" according to you. There's obviously a huge difference between that, and the reality that is Bourque's track record. He has quite a few extended absences from score sheets over the past couple of years, let alone career, and the knock has been on his effort level more often than his production in any event.

 

[Zeroknowledge*]

You don't put Eller on the 4th line after tonight, Therrien seems to be smart enough not to mess with his head. You put him with the Gally's at least for the next match or two and you put in Prust with them when playing aggressive teams.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

WOW! What a performance! I haven't seen Montreal pull off such a dominant victory since the Minnesota Wild game in 2011 where PK got his hat-trick. Anyway where could I begin: You could tell from their very first shift that Desharnais and Eller were gonna have a good game, their compete level was really high and it showed and they wanted to send a message and prove that they're better than what they've showed since the start of the season. They were buzzing in the Sabres zone, they had a shift where they controlled the puck behind the net for a good minute. They both had a good game, Eller and Desharnais have to play that way in order for them to have success. If they play the way they did tonight all season long, we'll have tremendous depth when Pacioretty comes back! Price despite the score had another solid game tonight. He made some key saves and the score could have been higher for Buffalo if it wasn't for him making those tough saves. PK had a great game for a 1st game, seemed to hit the net a lot more than last year and didn't struggle in his own end. Emelin was a boss tonight, I remember in the 1st period he had a shift where he stole the puck from a guy twice and got it out of the zone twice, made it look so easy. He's really turning into a solid #4 defenseman. Galchenyuk played a great game, tried things right off the start and showed more of what he can do in the stickhandling department tonight. Plekanec, Gionta and Bourque all had another solid game, been our most consistent and most solid line all season long. Gotta love the effort that every player brings every night and how they all understand what they have to do for the line to have success. It's also nice for a change to have the morale victory on top of everything, gotta love what Prust brings to this team!

Negatives:
- Cole was not only invisible tonight but he was horrible, kept turning over the puck, couldn't make a simple pass and he wasn't hitting anyone.
- If we're gonna give Armstrong top PK minutes, he's gonna have to make better decisions and be more aware of what's going on around him on the ice. He probably had one of the worst shift I've ever seen in my life I think it was in the 2nd. PK blocks a shot, he gets the puck and he has all the time in the world to clear it on his right side where there's nobody but instead he decides to take a slapshot so the puck goes along the boards and it gets intercepted by the defenseman. 10 seconds after that, he's moving his feet slowly, looking at the forward on his right at the hashmark and he's not paying attention to Hodgson who's coming from the back door behind him. Price makes the stop and lets him grab the puck and again he can't clear the puck out of his zone. It didn't cause a goal but Armstrong was playing with fire and he can't do that in a close game.

 

[Stive Morgan]

i keep hearing 'when we play X team, that will be a good test'

either everyone is **** or and we're actually good, or we haven't met a team that's good yet. a bad game is a bad game (sens), but it's like we're going to go through the whole season waiting for 'the test' before we realize we might have a legit good team. not yet a perennial contender, but someone who has a shot once in the PO's.

Exactly.

I'm just glad we don't play outside of the conference this season, if we played the Blackhawks or Sharks we'd either win and be amazing or lose and be ****ed.

 

[JSBach]

"The Force is strong in these ones."

 

[DAChampion]

Not necessarily. You have a mathematical construct that fits the description of "consistent" according to you. There's obviously a huge difference between that, and the reality that is Bourque's track record. He has quite a few extended absences from score sheets over the past couple of years, let alone career, and the knock has been on his effort level more often than his production in any event.

Not sure why:

1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0

is so much better than:

0-0-2-1-0-0-0-1

In terms of goals scored per game. I think consistency is overrated, in particular since what people mean by consistency is their gut feeling of consistency, rather than any actual measurement.

 

[Dominator13]

Nope, he is struggling big time, but the team is playing well and wins so we will give him a break, especially knowing he is a slow starter..

I gotta admit I was wrong on Bourque, I had no faith in this guy and he sure is proving me wrong, another solid effort from the guy.. Guys we have depth!!

You were more then just "wrong". You spent the whole summer trashing the guy while a bunch of poster like me were telling you to calme down, that we had a no confidence 15th place team and that he would produce once he had a shooter on his line to get those juicy rebounds..

Now relax with Cole, he's not struggling at all, it's just a matter of finding his groove so that the puck starts going in instead of on the goalie. He's making great rushes with the puck every game and works hard in those corners. Elsubz is 100% right, not everybody can be hot at the same, luckily for us we can roll the dice with 3 lines that can be "hot" on an given day.

 

[Dominator13]

You don't put Eller on the 4th line after tonight, Therrien seems to be smart enough not to mess with his head. You put him with the Gally's at least for the next match or two and you put in Prust with them when playing aggressive teams.

So our 4th line becomes what ? Moen-Prust-Armstrong? Could be good against the tough Sens tomorrow. We know for sure that Prust is dropping them against Niel, should be a fun game...

 

[muzion]

PK gained close to 20 pounds this offseason... I wouldn't be surprised if his shot clocked at 104 mph this afternoon, it's unreal how much stronger it is. MB is going to regret not buying a couple UFA years.

 

[Kriss E]

I gotta say, Plekanec is such a great player. One of the most underrated players in this league.

 

[De Montreal]

I hate myself for being such a pessimist during summer. Surprising start to say the least. Convincing wins.

I can't wait for Pacioretty to be back into the lineup.

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Eller
Gallagher - Galchenyuk - Cole
Gionta - Plekanec - Bourque
Moen - White - Prust

Markov - Emelin
Gorges - Diaz
Bouillon - Subban

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Not sure why:

1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0

is so much better than:

0-0-2-1-0-0-0-1

In terms of goals scored per game. I think consistency is overrated, in particular since what people mean by consistency is their gut feeling of consistency, rather than any actual measurement.

It's more about the 0-0-0-0-0-0s, and 0-0-0-0-0-0-0s, but also the effort in a lot of the 0-1-0-1-0-1s and 1-0-1-0-1-0-1s.

 

[DAChampion]

I gotta say, Plekanec is such a great player. One of the most underrated players in this league.

He's our best center at both ends of the ice.

I still remember last year, a lot of posters were saying that Desharnais is better offensively than Plekanec, lol.

 

[Price is Wright]

I gotta say, Plekanec is such a great player. One of the most underrated players in this league.

For some reason him and Krejci never get the respect they deserve, just like Andy McDonald never got the respect he deserved either.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

I gotta say, Plekanec is such a great player. One of the most underrated players in this league.

I love Plekanec, always have but he has one big flaw. He tends to slow down as the season progresses. He always seems to be lights out at the start and always ends up slowing down. Maybe the shortened season will help with that.

 

[DAChampion]

It's more about the 0-0-0-0-0-0s, and 0-0-0-0-0-0-0s, but also the effort in a lot of the 0-1-0-1-0-1s and 1-0-1-0-1-0-1s.

Gut feeling is not a good way to measure players' performance imo.