Post-Game Talk: The Price of victory. Montreal beats Calgary 3-2

[Simarino]

It's nice that Price was very good last night, but he needs to play like that on most nights.

If you guys expect Price to play like that most nights it explain alot of the bashing he’s receiving on this board. He stopped 43 shots and many of them we’re grade A scoring chances, that level of play would be just unsustainable, anyway i hope we will play better defense in front of him so he wont have to steal games like that too often.

 

[Tyson]

You see clearly my friend, it’s just not gonna happen. We need better in our top 4, I’m not even sure if he’s good enough at all, we probably have a few guys coming up that will be flat out better than him.

Brook and Fleury come to mind

 

[Tuggy]

It's nice that Price was very good last night, but he needs to play like that on most nights.

Well that's not true, because if it was then the Habs wouldn't be in 3rd in the Atlantic.

The Habs are 7th overall with terrible goaltending stats. If Price played like that every night, then they'd likely be in first.

 

[LaP]

Well that's not true, because if it was then the Habs wouldn't be in 3rd in the Atlantic.

The Habs are 7th overall with terrible goaltending stats. If Price played like that every night, then they'd likely be in first.

It's not that easy. For one if Price played like that every nights he would win the vezina and hart trophies. Can't ask that from any player on a yearly basis not even Crosby. This sort of seasons happen at best 4-5 times in a whole career.

I don't know how many grade a scoring chances Calgary had yesterday but the eye test tells me they had a lot. A lot more than what is considered normal.

To allow less goal on a regular basis with great but not hart trophy level goaltending (Crosby won the hart two times only btw) we would need better performances from price (920 saves %) but also better defensive performances by the whole team. Better defensive performances with the current lineup (defense) implies scoring less goals. The habs are 7th despite terrible goaltending because they scored a lot of goals by neglecting the defense a lot lately. If you want to improve goaltending on a regular basis you must realistically play better defensively and you wont score as many goals if you do that.

 

[OldCraig71]

Price was great but lets not get carried away.It was 1 game.When he plays 10 or more games like this one in a row then we can be a little more optimistic.After stinking it up the last couple years you can't just flip a switch and you are back to being one of the best in the NHL.What gives here?

If he or Niemi have to play behind that kind of tire fire on a nightly basis it is going to be tough to win games. The team needs help in many areas and October is over and other teams adapt.

 

[OldCraig71]

He needs to stop 45 shots every night?

Maybe find a cure for cancer while he's at it too.

No goalie can do that on a nightly basis because there are many other factors including luck that affect the outcome of a game, a goalie can stand on his head and 2 bad deflections can mean a loss in the record column. It is a terrible situation to be in to pin your hopes on a goalie while looking the other way about much of the roster. Price however did sign the contract and Bergevin gave it to him so there will always be arguments going back and forth and that's pro sports I guess. The score at the end of regulation oftentimes does not tell the whole story.

 

[Whitesnake]

HDCF are based on where the shot is coming from, not really the quality of it.
A one timer shot from a cross ice pass has the same value as a winger staying in his lane and taking a weak shot while trying to force his way trought a D. Habs gave up so many odd man rush it's not even funny and not to mention the Habsland in front of the net where it doesn't hurt to stay in our goalies faces.

I get what you're saying about good and great but as of today, Habs are 7th in the NHL.
Is Price as good or bad has his team is?
Or is this team suppose to be better than that and it's the goalies that stopping them?

Niemi is 4-2-0 with a .887
Price is 6-4-3 with a .899
Not normal that both goalies got those records with those stats.

Is our offense is that good that they can bail out two bad goalies....cause Edmonton, St-Louis and Pittsburgh can't do it right now.
I think all of this is by design. That's the only way this team would get some wins while waiting for Weber. They can't play shutdown hockey with what they have so it's all-in.

Subban, Markov, Weber....Habs at 2 of them most of the time, always one....now it's none.
Now it's Petry and Benn. If that doesn't matter that much, then why teams like Nash or SJ are dumb to put that much money there.

Actually, HDCA isn't about that. Look at how it is analyzed. An HDCA starts at a value of 3. So I'm not counting scoring chances here. I'm counting HIGH DANGER ones.

Natural Stat Trick - Glossary

 

[Schwang]

I cant

Did it deflect off the defenders stick??

I thought it did cause no way in hell should he score on him from there

You would think but it didn’t appear to change direction. From that far out and that low of a shot, there’s no way a goalie at any level should let that in. If it gets deflected and goes over his shoulder, then ok.

 

[Lshap]

It's not that easy. For one if Price played like that every nights he would win the vezina and hart trophies. Can't ask that from any player on a yearly basis not even Crosby. This sort of seasons happen at best 4-5 times in a whole career.

I don't know how many grade a scoring chances Calgary had yesterday but the eye test tells me they had a lot. A lot more than what is considered normal.

To allow less goal on a regular basis with great but not hart trophy level goaltending (Crosby won the hart two times only btw) we would need better performances from price (920 saves %) but also better defensive performances by the whole team. Better defensive performances with the current lineup (defense) implies scoring less goals. The habs are 7th despite terrible goaltending because they scored a lot of goals by neglecting the defense a lot lately. If you want to improve goaltending on a regular basis you must realistically play better defensively and you wont score as many goals if you do that.

Most of the Habs' defensive problems aren't even related to their increased focus on offence. Sure, some of it is -- the focus on quick breakouts, missed passes and gaping holes on the back check are all symptoms of being too trigger-happy. But the defence has been a mess even when they don't have the puck. Poor coverage in our zone. Inability to clear the puck. Fixing the basics in their zone would go a long way towards reducing the ridiculous number of scoring chances our D gives up.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If you guys expect Price to play like that most nights it explain alot of the bashing he’s receiving on this board. He stopped 43 shots and many of them we’re grade A scoring chances, that level of play would be just unsustainable, anyway i hope we will play better defense in front of him so he wont have to steal games like that too often.

We used to say it was unsustainable for Price to play the way he did and yet somehow he managed to do it. Then it just became expected of him. And that was behind a bad team but we at least had a good first pairing.

I still think he's capable of a very high level of play but this D makes it a hell of a lot harder to do. My hope is that Weber comes back healthy and effective. If he does, then that will go a long way to helping Price's numbers come back. It's one thing to play behind a weaker D... playing behind a really horrible one is going to kill you no matter what.

And again, a bad D doesn't excuse Price's play from last season. Last year he was inconsistent, playing well in some stretches and really bad in others. This season though, his play has been better even if the numbers haven't. I think if Weber comes back okay then Price will have a decent season. I don't expect anywhere near his career year but his numbers should get better than they are now.

 

[Adriatic]

Yes I expect Price to be very good on most nights, just like I expect Crosby or McDavid to be very good on most nights. He's had too many games where he's not been good. Apparently that's too much too expect from somebody we are paying 15 million this year.

 

[LaP]

Most of the Habs' defensive problems aren't even related to their increased focus on offence. Sure, some of it is -- the focus on quick breakouts, missed passes and gaping holes on the back check are all symptoms of being too trigger-happy. But the defence has been a mess even when they don't have the puck. Poor coverage in our zone. Inability to clear the puck. Fixing the basics in their zone would go a long way towards reducing the ridiculous number of scoring chances our D gives up.

Can't do that without the forwards helping the defense more though. That defense is just not good enough to perform without a 5men overly defensive system. Such system have an impact on the amount of goals scored. I like the system we have playing right now but with that system you will allow many goals if the defense is not good. Price can and must do better but he can't save that defense with the system we are playing right now. I'm fine with that and i prefer to watch a 4-3 win than a 2-1 win. Not sure Julien will be able to withstand 4-3 and 5-4 wins for a whole season though.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Most of the Habs' defensive problems aren't even related to their increased focus on offence. Sure, some of it is -- the focus on quick breakouts, missed passes and gaping holes on the back check are all symptoms of being too trigger-happy. But the defence has been a mess even when they don't have the puck. Poor coverage in our zone. Inability to clear the puck. Fixing the basics in their zone would go a long way towards reducing the ridiculous number of scoring chances our D gives up.

It's a talent problem. That blueline sucks.

 

[417]

Most of the Habs' defensive problems aren't even related to their increased focus on offence. Sure, some of it is -- the focus on quick breakouts, missed passes and gaping holes on the back check are all symptoms of being too trigger-happy. But the defence has been a mess even when they don't have the puck. Poor coverage in our zone. Inability to clear the puck. Fixing the basics in their zone would go a long way towards reducing the ridiculous number of scoring chances our D gives up.

Big issue in recent weeks has been the number of odd man rushes against...

The Habs are really struggling with their 3rd man in the offensive zone...I can't count the number of times the Habs have been caught with 3 forwards under the goal line and on the wrong side of the puck.

They're being very aggressive, sometimes overly-aggressive on the forecheck...it's great when it works and over the first 10 games or so they were great at forcing turnovers and capitalizing on them.

But teams have adjusted and the Habs haven't.

Up to the coaching staff to find a way to remain aggressive but in a more strategic way.

 

[tooji]

This team reminds me a lot of the leafs the first year under babcock. High excitement but horrific defensively

 

[Perrah]

Actually, HDCA isn't about that. Look at how it is analyzed. An HDCA starts at a value of 3. So I'm not counting scoring chances here. I'm counting HIGH DANGER ones.

Natural Stat Trick - Glossary

Yeah and a weak shot from the green area is rated the same as a cross crease one timer from the red area. It says add 1 point if an event occurred with in 4 seconds. If I am seeing the chart right a cross goal line one timer would only be 2 because it is in the yellow area. Meanwhile if a guy just skates into the red area it is only counted as 2. The habs are pretty good at that. You dont see how this can be misleading into the quality of HDCA?

 

[Perrah]

Big issue in recent weeks has been the number of odd man rushes against...

The Habs are really struggling with their 3rd man in the offensive zone...I can't count the number of times the Habs have been caught with 3 forwards under the goal line and on the wrong side of the puck.

They're being very aggressive, sometimes overly-aggressive on the forecheck...it's great when it works and over the first 10 games or so they were great at forcing turnovers and capitalizing on them.

But teams have adjusted and the Habs haven't.

Up to the coaching staff to find a way to remain aggressive but in a more strategic way.

They are also getting pinned in their zone a lot more now. People are just jumping their break outs. Whether it is the coach telling them to do the same one or the players cant adjust I dont know, but something has to change.

 

[417]

They are also getting pinned in their zone a lot more now. People are just jumping their break outs. Whether it is the coach telling them to do the same one or the players cant adjust I dont know, but something has to change.

Dmen really struggling to make a simple pass out of the zone though...

Jordie Benn can't make a breakout pass if his beard depended on it (and you gotta love that **** to have kept it so long)

 

[Perrah]

Dmen really struggling to make a simple pass out of the zone though...

Jordie Benn can't make a breakout pass if his beard depended on it (and you gotta love that **** to have kept it so long)

Sometimes, other times its a shitty tip to the middle by the winger. It is bad all around at points.

 

[Adriatic]

He needs to stop 45 shots every night?

Maybe find a cure for cancer while he's at it too.

Not at all. He can have stinkers from time to time, that's fine...however he needs to be very good on most nights and from time to time he needs to steal a game like he did last night. That's what I expect from a goalie that is getting paid 15 million this year. Is that too much?? I can care less about his numbers to tell you the truth, I care more about him not killing the team's momentum on most nights. Up until this point he's not been good enough imo.

 

[417]

Not at all. He can have stinkers from time to time, that's fine...however he needs to be very good on most nights and from time to time he needs to steal a game like he did last night. That's what I expect from a goalie that is getting paid 15 million this year. Is that too much?? I can care less about his numbers to tell you the truth, I care more about him not killing the team's momentum on most nights. Up until this point he's not been good enough imo.

That's fair...

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Not at all. He can have stinkers from time to time, that's fine...however he needs to be very good on most nights and from time to time he needs to steal a game like he did last night. That's what I expect from a goalie that is getting paid 15 million this year. Is that too much?? I can care less about his numbers to tell you the truth, I care more about him not killing the team's momentum on most nights. Up until this point he's not been good enough imo.

That's reasonable.

I also think that's it's reasonable that we should do a better job supporting him. If we did that we'd see better results.

 

[Max2]

Price was great last night.The fact of the matter is he should be playing like that 85% of the time.Of course,he is allowed a few off games here and there like every player, but at his contract,it isn't much to expect him to play like a superstar for 4 games out of every 5 for example.I'm not ready to say he's back just yet.He's had one excellent game out of dozens of horrible ones going back to last season.I want to see consistency over the coming months.

 

[Runner77]

If I am strong, Price is strong. If I am strong, Price is strong. If I am strong, Price is strong.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Price was great but lets not get carried away.It was 1 game.When he plays 10 or more games like this one in a row then we can be a little more optimistic.After stinking it up the last couple years you can't just flip a switch and you are back to being one of the best in the NHL.What gives here?

The point is Mike Smith was atrocious.