Post-Game Talk: Another day, Another L. Habs lose 3-1 to the Caps

[MarkovsKnee]

Advanced stats for night are in:

Xhekaj had a very, very good night, which matches the eye test, as did Nick Suzuki. He was strong at both ends.

Kirby Dach was excellent defensively but didn't provide much offense, which, yeah, that was his game tonight.

Juraj Slafkovsky and Chris Wideman also had very good nights at both ends even if they didn't get points.

The pairing of Harris & Kovacevic provides excellent defensive play, but no offense, which is true. I like that pairing. I think they'll make a fine bottom pairing.

Brendan Gallagher was good defensively but not good on offense.

Anderson provided strong offense but was poor defensively.

Cole Caufield had an up & down night - mostly down.

Jake Evans, Jonathan Drouin & Mike Hoffman were neutral.

Dadonov was awful.

Savard & Guhle were worse; however I felt this was a terrible game by Savard and he dragged Guhle down with him & Caps were definitely targeting Guhle.

 

[Nicko999]

Is it just me or Dach looks good on paper but he seems completely uninterested out there.

No compete whatsoever in him.

There is a reason Chicago traded him. I am OK trading Romanov for the 13th overall. Definitely NOT OK with flipping that pick for Dach.

 

[Habs]

If MSL is dumb enough to keep implementing the infamous Drop Pass on the PP that fools nobody and is just an atrocious play, why not give Slav a chance while he's making up things out there?

There is a reason Chicago traded him. I am OK trading Romanov for the 13th overall. Definitely NOT OK with flipping that pick for Dach.

They traded Debrincat too, so your theory doesn't hold a ton of water

 

[SwiftyHab]

Mailloux is the only hope for a potential PP QB, there’s no one else in the prospect pool

Guhle did well in juniors on the PP

 

[Omar]

There is a reason Chicago traded him. I am OK trading Romanov for the 13th overall. Definitely NOT OK with flipping that pick for Dach.

Well they only traded Romanov for the 13th for Dach so…

 

[Belial]

 

[SnapVirus]

Fans shitting on Gallagher right now should est a fat deck. Man is a winner. He protected his captain like a real man would do. Hat off!

 

[Captain97]

TOI:

Suzuki - 18:17 (1 goal)
Caufield - 17:15 (1 assist)
Slaf - 12:41
Dach: 16:14

Guhle - 20:29
Harris - 15:35
Xhekaj - 15:05 (1 assist - 1st career point)

Considering Slaf is only 18, 13 minutes a game for the start isn't bad. Everyone else is getting pretty solid minutes. Once Slaf starts getting power play time (they said they want to start him slow) he'll be up to 14 minutes. That 12:41 was all 5v5.

 

[Captain97]

I'll say it.

St. Louis and not playing the youngsters is passing me off already.

I'd get it a month out from the deadline, want to showcase those players more but you're "trying" to win/build for the future and you're doing neither.

What are you talking about?

Suzuki - 18+ minutes
Caufield - 17+ minutes
Guhle - 20+ minutes
Harris - 15+ minutes
AX - 15 + Minutes
Slaf - 12:43

He was playing the youngsters, aside from slaf who played almost 13 minutes at even strength the young players played quite a bit.

 

[Wateredgarden]

We're going to see a lot of 3-1 this season.

 

[dasahgah]

If MSL is dumb enough to keep implementing the infamous Drop Pass on the PP that fools nobody and is just an atrocious play, why not give Slav a chance while he's making up things out there?

Did you find that they had trouble entering the zone tonight? The drop pass seemed to work very well, had to be at least 80% successful (just a guess). Caps were also drop passing every time, and it worked for them too.

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Ah there you go! There's my Montreal Canadiens.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I called it in the summer. This team is much improved haha.

 

[themilosh]

So im checking box scores around the league, and get this gents... calgarys backstop is D. Vlader !!

Did you find that they had trouble entering the zone tonight? The drop pass seemed to work very well, had to be at least 80% successful (just a guess). Caps were also drop passing every time, and it worked for them too.

Tough to prove successful when we still have players skating the speed limit in the left lane.

 

[Hostile Offer]

I called it in the summer. This team is much improved haha.

They actually look considerably better than last year even though the roster is worse on paper. Decent game last night, apart from the 2nd period breakdown and the brutal PP (which is nothing new). Our young defense is doing a surprisingly good job out there.

 

[dinodebino]

Fantilli is another player I would love to get into the fold

How has he been doing?

One of them will be fine...

We all see the posts about Bedard, but what about the other three?

 

[Tyson]

How has he been doing?


We all see the posts about Bedard, but what about the other three?

4 point in his first 2 NCAA games

 

[WeThreeKings]

Just what I suspected would happen. Dach would play really good hockey but because he's tall, people will disregard everything he does and get mad he isn't running around playing like Pezzetta.

Yeah, he doesn't compete. Just repeated stripped pucks off players, got into many physical altercations with the other team and back checks hard to prevent goals against. What a dilly dallying loser! I hate that he's leading the team in xGF% and is gaining the zone better than anyone on the team and constantly putting teammates in positions to score.

 

[Ghetto Sangria]

Just what I suspected would happen. Dach would play really good hockey but because he's tall, people will disregard everything he does and get mad he isn't running around playing like Pezzetta.

Yeah, he doesn't compete. Just repeated stripped pucks off players, got into many physical altercations with the other team and back checks hard to prevent goals against. What a dilly dallying loser! I hate that he's leading the team in xGF% and is gaining the zone better than anyone on the team and constantly putting teammates in positions to score.

The Dach hate makes no sense to me. Are you guys watching the games? He’s the best puck mover on the team, makes 2-3 great passes a game, while being defensively responsible.

He doesn’t run over people but doesn’t seem to shy away from contact either. Caused a few scrums the past two games cause he was hovering around the net.

 

[rickthegoon]

And 1st point in the NHL for jack-eye

First point is a bonus, and more importantly, he played like in the pre season ; calm and confident. Yup, he did fumble the puck a couple of times, but that’s expected from a 20 y.o.
I thought against Toronto and Detroit he looked nervous and rushed plays which led to many turnovers. But tonight we saw that he is adjusting and progressing in the right direction.

 

[ArtPeur]

We got a first from Toffoli because he was place in a position to succeed. We need to let Drouin, Hoffman and Dadonov play until they get us a good return. Next year will be the time to get better not now. Not with the kids available in the next draft. Fixing this team now will serve nothing.

Toffoli played great with the ice time he had. Drouin, Dadonov and Hoffman are getting almost the same opportunities but they don't deliver.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

They actually look considerably better than last year even though the roster is worse on paper. Decent game last night, apart from the 2nd period breakdown and the brutal PP (which is nothing new). Our young defense is doing a surprisingly good job out there.

We suck snd 3/4 of our games we will score 2 goals or less. The team is a complete train wreck just like last year.

 

[morhilane]

I really don't like how the team plays. We are back to the Julien/Ducharme era of two forwards with zero support against five trying to score on rushes unless someone dump/bring the puck deep and manage to get it back and keep it. Mixed with forwards waiting at the bluelines to attack so they enter the zone with zero speed to create space for themselves.

When they start to pass the puck to each others, they can't open lanes. Only a few on this team tries to fake (or not) shots/passes or are able to attract defenders to themselves and complete a pass without losing the puck.

And lets not talk about how they play defense, way too passive to stop zone entries or when trying to apply pressure on the puck carrier. Don't they understand/see how/why they lose the puck every time in the ozone?

 

[bobholly39]

Damn 2 losses in a row - we gotta be careful or we'll fall behind in the standings

 

[salbutera]

We suck snd 3/4 of our games we will score 2 goals or less. The team is a complete train wreck just like last year.

Habs 6th best in NHL @ 56.7% faceoffs… does that count?