Pants are off as the Habs blow out the Sabres edition

[DAChampion]

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.

Last year he started with Cammalleri and Gionta as his wingers and finished with White and Staubitz as his wingers. That would slow down a lot of players, and I think it happens a lot.

 

[Kriss E]

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.

I expect fans to react that way. What surprised me last year was when people from the media started calling DD our 1st center. Those guys should definitely know better.

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.

I agree, but it's tough to know if that really comes from him or from not having stable linemates and constantly be dragged down by them. I mean, the only time he really had a great year was when he stuck with his linemates all year (both AKs).
Always felt bad for him, having to play with guys like Darche, Moen, Blunden, White, or struggling top 6 players.

Hopefully those guys can keep it up and this short year will be beneficial to them.
Having Plek play like he is now by the POs would be amazing.

 

[ottawa]

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.

IMO, we've mostly played bad teams so far. The only good teams we've played are the sens (blowout) and the NJD (barely beat them). I think we might be a playoff team but we haven't exactly faced good competition either yet so I really don't know.

For me the top tier teams and in no particular order would be:

Rangers
Penguins
Flyers (yes, I know they're struggling)
Sens
New Jersey
Boston
Tampa Bay (because of their offense)

If we can string a few wins against these teams, then IMO we're definitely a playoff team...but as for being contenders, that's a whole different story and still too early to tell.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

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.

It's mostly a March/April thing (sharp drop at April), and it's easy enough to pinpoint the specific seasons. January and February are the most productive months of his career, but his numbers have dipped (not much, mind you) in March of years when he was perhaps relied on a bit too much during the season, or another player (Koivu) simply earned more opportunities (like in '08/09 with Koivu-Kovalev, when Plekanec didn't have the best season on top of that). The difference we're talking about here is relatively small until the April drop: 62 pts in 84 career January games, 64 pts in 81 career February games, 53 pts in 94 career March games, 11 in 33 career April games.

 

[Dharvey33]

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

Playing with Moen and Darche tends to lower your total points.

If Plekanec was playing with Neal and St louis his point total would be 70-80 easy


I'm not a fan of him but he is our best 2way forward and one of the best in the game.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

Last year he started with Cammalleri and Gionta as his wingers and finished with White and Staubitz as his wingers. That would slow down a lot of players, and I think it happens a lot.

Two things.

#1 Cammy and Gionta were dog **** at the start of the season last year. They weren't doing much to help him but Plekanec was still looking really good.

#2 The year we acquired Gomez, Gio and Cammy, the first line was those 3 UFAs and Plekanec was lights out with AK and whoever was the flavor of the week until he finally ended up with Cammy. He was pretty awesome but then slowed down later that year.

I am not basing my comments on the play of those around him but on his play as an individual given the tools he's given and I'm drawing the conclusion that Plekanec has not paced himself properly. Maybe he felt he had to give 150% at the start for the habs to stand a chance to make the playoffs. That's legitimate and not really Plekanec's fault. I'm just hoping he realizes he has to pace himself a little better.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

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

Unless it's the gut of NHL GMs, and it prompts them to trade him. In that case, it's better than anything you, or any of us, can come up with. But I'm not even talking about gut feeling. I'm talking about observation.

 

[poetryinmotion]

wth was Price thinking on that goal anyway, this isn't soccer or some default NHL 2000 goalie move on a cross ice one-time shot. It's too bad he cost himself the shut out.

 

[No More Subban]

lol i thought after the sabres beat the bruins, habs would have a hard time today. boy, was i wrong! it was the opposite! I still wanna see how they do against the rangers, pens and bruins.

 

[Lshap]

Loved being at the game today!

- Eller played strong and confidently. Great to see!

- Bourque has found his groove! His three goals thus far equals his entire total for us last season!

- His line with Pleks and Gionta give us three (3!) legit scoring lines -- whoa!

- Desharnais was back to his tenacious, quick self.

- Galchenyuk is starting to become comfortable makin' moves. His breakaway was impressive, even if he didn't score. He's looking great.

- Plekanec once again was the smartest guy on the ice.

- That 3-on-3 minute was weird but entertaining as hell. More a talent show than a hockey game.

- I've never seen Price so consistently solid.

 

[nyhabsfan]

So if someone said to you that after the first 7 games Patches and Cole would have 1 goal between them and asked you to guess what the Habs record would be, what would you say?

1-6
2-4-1
2-5

Anyone that would say 5-2 would have been laughed off these boards!

Give a TON of credit to Bergevin, Therrien and the rest of the coaching staff for changing the system and the culture so dramatically and so quickly!!

 

[Hackett]

I don't think Plekanec's issue is slowing down as the season progresses as much as it is being inconsistent from year to year. I thought he was consistent in 07/08. In 09/10, while Plekanec's offensive stats may not have been stellar during the stretch run or on that cup run, I thought he was vital in the role of a 2 way forward.

Judging by how self critical Plekanec is, I think the issue has more to do between his ears. He has a tendency to be very hard on himself when things are not going well, and that makes things go from bad to worse for him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Oh and it's not that big of a deal...though Montreal, we will make it a big deal....but I suggest that the 3 stars goes back to a journalist. Going with the crowd is way too predictable and not necessarily intelligent. Eller played an awesome game. Price wasn't THAT worthy of a star.

Price was 2nd star according to the CBC.

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.

All the tools. No doubt he can be strong when he wants to be. He just goes away for long stretches. Its great that he's playing well and I really hope he keeps it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. Then again he's playing with Plecs so that will help.

IMO, we've mostly played bad teams so far. The only good teams we've played are the sens (blowout) and the NJD (barely beat them). I think we might be a playoff team but we haven't exactly faced good competition either yet so I really don't know.

For me the top tier teams and in no particular order would be:

Rangers
Penguins
Flyers (yes, I know they're struggling)
Sens
New Jersey
Boston
Tampa Bay (because of their offense)

If we can string a few wins against these teams, then IMO we're definitely a playoff team...but as for being contenders, that's a whole different story and still too early to tell.

We have played bad teams throughout the year. Sabres are a pretty decent team though. Our schedule gets busier later in the year so racking up wins now is going to be important if we want to make the playoffs.

 

[googlymoogly]

bouque has impressed the hell out of me...he's been nothing short of brilliant... he;s using his tools to be the best he can be.

When he decides to drive the net he is a big powerful player to try to stop. Has a wicked slap shot as well. We needed big wingers like him, last year it looked terrible but it could of been a combo of poor coaching and the injury he spoke of.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

It's mostly a March/April thing (sharp drop at April), and it's easy enough to pinpoint the specific seasons. January and February are the most productive months of his career, but his numbers have dipped (not much, mind you) in March of years when he was perhaps relied on a bit too much during the season, or another player (Koivu) simply earned more opportunities (like in '08/09 with Koivu-Kovalev, when Plekanec didn't have the best season on top of that). The difference we're talking about here is relatively small until the April drop: 62 pts in 84 career January games, 64 pts in 81 career February games, 53 pts in 94 career March games, 11 in 33 career April games.

Thank you for the research on his point production. I wasn't aware that would corroborate my impressions. However it's not just the point production. He just seems to lack energy later in the season. But that's probably because he's overused by the coaching staff.

 

[HarlemsFinest]

IMO, we've mostly played bad teams so far. The only good teams we've played are the sens (blowout) and the NJD (barely beat them). I think we might be a playoff team but we haven't exactly faced good competition either yet so I really don't know.

For me the top tier teams and in no particular order would be:

Rangers
Penguins
Flyers (yes, I know they're struggling)
Sens
New Jersey
Boston
Tampa Bay (because of their offense)

If we can string a few wins against these teams, then IMO we're definitely a playoff team...but as for being contenders, that's a whole different story and still too early to tell.

thats kinna it...how many bad teams are there? seems like a lot. seems like more than half the conference is already not good enough for us. sounds like by default we're a playoff team if we have yet to encounter a good team, and we've played half the teams we're gonna play against already. (not the same number of times each, but y'know..). we're running out of bad teams to face. or maybe we aren't!

 

[MasterDecoy]

the sabres should get an enforcer!!!!! hahahaha

 

[Team_Spirit]

Nice to see Bourque hustle hard every game, i think Therrien is the right coach for him.

Also glad to see DD and Eller produce, i have been hard on them

 

[PricePkPatch*]

I don't understand people saying "we are the same team".

Our Defender Depth has increased tremendously just by the addition of Markov. Having someone added that push everybody down the food chain is really important. Plus all rookie defensemen are now more experienced. Bouillon is also proving to be quite the universal energy plug that you can apply anywhere you see fit with effective results.


And for the forwards; we have 4 - I repeat FOUR - new forwards to this lineup. Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Prust and Armstrong. Add the return of a healthy Gionta, a Born-Again Bourque, that's 6 players who can change the face of our forward lines compare to last year.

Why should we be "the same"?

 

[Hackett]

Another note that caught my eye...

None of the D played 20 minutes today. I don't know if that might have been different if the 3rd period didn't turn into garbage time, but you can't ask for a better situation for the D-core going into the 2nd half of a b2b. I wonder if they will stick with 7D again.

Edit: i missed Markov... he had 24 mins

 

[Gally11]

Another note that caught my eye...

None of the D played 20 minutes today. I don't know if that might have been different if the 3rd period didn't turn into garbage time, but you can't ask for a better situation for the D-core going into the 2nd half of a b2b. I wonder if they will stick with 7D again.

Edit: i missed Markov... he had 24 mins

Missed Kaberle too

 

[Monctonscout]

Nice to see Bourque hustle hard every game, i think Therrien is the right coach for him.

Also glad to see DD and Eller produce, i have been hard on them

Yeah big time. I hope both have "wings" now that they broke the goose egg. The Plekanec line has been unreal so far when you consider they get the tough matchups and defensive faceoffs. I hope MT paces his ice time, he is playing a ton and it may catch up to him by year en with the condensed schedule.

Bourque...hate to say "I told you so" but I did! Since he got his 1st goal shots are going in for him. From no goals in 4 games to 3 in 3, hope it continues.

With Eller playing so well I would definitely hold Pacioretty out a few extra days.

 

[Et le But]

Two things.

#1 Cammy and Gionta were dog **** at the start of the season last year. They weren't doing much to help him but Plekanec was still looking really good.

#2 The year we acquired Gomez, Gio and Cammy, the first line was those 3 UFAs and Plekanec was lights out with AK and whoever was the flavor of the week until he finally ended up with Cammy. He was pretty awesome but then slowed down later that year.

I am not basing my comments on the play of those around him but on his play as an individual given the tools he's given and I'm drawing the conclusion that Plekanec has not paced himself properly. Maybe he felt he had to give 150% at the start for the habs to stand a chance to make the playoffs. That's legitimate and not really Plekanec's fault. I'm just hoping he realizes he has to pace himself a little better.

He also has averaged over 20 minutes a game for the past 3 seasons and plays on both special teams.

 

[MasterDecoy]

borker is playing well, great really, even if he's not scoring. 6 games of consistent effort has got to be a record for him right?

meanwhile in Calgary... *insert laugh track*

 

[Nedved]

by browsing hf boards you think the team started 2-5.

geez, relax. we're 5-2 and playing well. there are limited mistakes in all 3 zones and competitive almost every night. if you told me this at the beginning of the year I would have been more than sceptical.

People complaining about kaberle, diaz, dd, cole, eller, etc. we're 5-2 and playing better than the entire league expected. pacioretty is out and we will only get better if the team remains healthy.

I don't get it. why all the negativity? can we at least string 2 losses together before we blow this team up.