Dobbys First Loss Montreal Loses to Devils Falls in Po Race

[morhilane]

This new fangled thing of waiting till the 2nd period or later to start playing has got to stop for any chance of success.Can't have Laine in overtime .Besides the turnovers he is just way too slow

It's not a new thing, they have been doing it for years. Either they don't start until the 2nd/3rd period or they have a really bad 2nd period. MSL moved to start games with Evans's line to fix it, but looks like Heineman was the actual sparkplug there.

Their dzone play is basically back to pre-November 11th too, but I suspect that's because they don't hold practices (most of the practices in the last 3 weeks have been cancelled or made optional).

 

[Habs Halifax]

Matheson was exhausted in that last play where Laine passed it a bit behind him. Not blaming Matheson because I value what he brings but the combo of the pass being behind him and him being exhausted, prevented a real chance for us to end the game.

Oh well, We got 1 point and I'm proud of the team coming back from 0-2 and 1-3.

Wings loosing streak and then Allen's loosing streak. Can we face a team that is actually on a winning streak for change? lol

 

[jrom]

We really have issues on our D roster despite all the praise that « this young Habs D core coming up » were getting 2 years ago.

Guhle is great but either a 2 or 3. Same with Hutson eventually (he will always need a specific D partner to enable his play).

Matheson is a river boat gambler 2nd pairing guy, Carrier is a 4/5, the rest are 5/6. Reinbacher is the ideal partner for Hutson but likely not a 1D.

If MSL had better D guys to send on ice he would do it but right now in the team roster Matheson is probably considered the 1D guy (which he isn’t). Really hope we keep shoring up that D core, it’s not sexy to draft D men but that’s how you win.

 

[The Real Timo]

Patience , it will come. Important they keep learning and playing hard
This year rise is a bonus

Why not now? I don't understand why matheson is so irreplaceable. Besides being a total disaster on defense and costing games he also brings nothing offensively? When was the last time he shot got through? He is like gomez or newhook... skates, skates, skates, and then... turnover. St Louis is a moron for his blind obsession with matheson.

I'm calling it: 7 games losing streak in-coming, already 2 on the counter.

Sadly you're probably right. Like the stock market... the inevitable correction...

 

[GrandmaCookie]

Why not os?

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Im asking, has Laine ever been that slow or the knee injury made it worse?

Knee injury has made his skating significantly worse, imo. We'll see if he gets better the more he plays.

 

[Tyson]

Knee injury has made his skating significantly worse, imo. We'll see if he gets better the more he plays.

In the meantime I would think hard about playing him 3 on 3.

 

[morhilane]

Sadly you're probably right. Like the stock market... the inevitable correction...

Not really a correction, the team is dead tired and skipping practices. Just a recipe for errors creeping in.

 

[Tyson]

Not really a correction, the team is dead tired and skipping practices. Just a recipe for errors creeping in.

The 4 nation tournament will help these guys immensely

 

[The Real Timo]

In the meantime I would think hard about playing him 3 on 3.

That's a lot of thinking. St louis has to think about that, matheson 3 on 3, dvorak 3 on 3, evans 3 on 3... I mean, only so much one can think about.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

That doesn't mean much. Habs are a one line team with the 2nd contributing a little at even strength and more on the PP. Bottom 2 lines are made up of stone hands and forwards with no hockey sense.

I think you just convincingly explained why we were largely overwhelmed by a much deeper/faster/ more skilled opponent.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

St Louis is not the guy, how does this team come out looking so bad every game? They’re asleep for 40 minutes every night

Doesn’t help that for PP and overtime we only have one unit to deploy

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Yikes the first posts of this thread read like a leafs thread after a loss, where they just destroy their own players. Go easy on the "hate" word guys, it's okay to be going from an end to the other in 20 seconds in overtime. Matheson isn't prime Markov, but at 4.875 M$, he's worth every penny

It's always refreshing to read an enlightened post.

Matheson played over 24 minutes last night, paired with a talented rookie who has, at least for the last two games, looked decidedly mortal. New Jersey is a fast team and most of our defenceman played the game on their back heels or with their face plastered against the glass. Matheson was one of our few defencemen who could match the Devil forwards' speed. Did he make mistakes? Of course. But I suggest that people watch the tape of the game and see the huge number of turnovers and missed defensive assignments all our defencemen committed. We were outskated most of the game. Every zone exit was a fire drill. Matheson was the least of our problems.

 

[sampollock]

Thanks Matheson.
the end.

 

[The Real Timo]

It's always refreshing to read an enlightened post.

Matheson played over 24 minutes last night, paired with a talented rookie who has, at least for the last two games, looked decidedly mortal. New Jersey is a fast team and most of our defenceman played the game on their back heels or with their face plastered against the glass. Matheson was one of our few defencemen who could match the Devil forwards' speed. Did he make mistakes? Of course. But I suggest that people watch the tape of the game and see the huge number of turnovers and missed defensive assignments all our defencemen committed. We were outskated most of the game. Every zone exit was a fire drill. Matheson was the least of our problems.

Disagree. Matheson and Hutson were the cause of the majority of the fire drills. As a team though, Habs tend to overhandle the puck when existing the zone. Chip it out, pass it out, get the f out... How hard can it be?

 

[JianYang]

In the meantime I would think hard about playing him 3 on 3.

He should still be played 3 on 3. It's the same guy with the skating issues who ended the game versus the Rangers. Strangley, I didn't hear any complaints then.

Laine simply has to make better decisions. Never mind the bad pass. He should have been focused on ending his shift to begin with because he was out there a long time. Regardless, his weapon should not be sitting on the bench with all that open ice. Sometimes, you will get burned. And sometimes he will get the W.

 

[Paddy17]

This was bound to happen with the crazy schedule. I hope nobody was expecting 7 wins out of 10 games rate for the rest of the season... which is why we should sell assets like Savard and Dvorak. Armia and Evans, it all depends on the return, especially Evans (I think he stays, which I'm fine with).

In reality, this team is not the one from November, nor the one from the last 30 days, but somewhere in-between. We're trending up, but there's no reason not to stay with the plan: building long-term.

That being said, we can still sell AND buy by making hockey trades ahead of the deadline.

 

[OldCraig71]

I'm not sure I agree with the assessment about NJ being a much better team than us because when we turned it up they had no answer, they had us on the mat but couldn't pin us for the victory.

The opinions expressed after a loss or a victory are usually too positive or too negative. I am in a glass house here because I do it regularly, especially on the negative side of things.

If Laine and Matheson score on the play instead of screwing it up, the opinions would have been much different. Dobes would be the future, Monty is the bum holding us back, and Dobes is a gamer giving us the best chance to win. Laine is worth extending, he's the reason why this team dragged itself off the mat in the first place. Matheson is like Meg from Family Guy, he never really gets much credit or praise lol.

If we asked the Devils players/coaches how they felt about the Habs, their response would be much different, probably more along the lines of the one that Jake Oettinger gave in our win against them.

This team is very close to becoming one of the better teams in the East despite the terrible start to the season. The desire to come back and not quit is something that is a very positive quality come playoff time, see the more Talented Leafs for a reference of what not to be. We just need a few tweaks to the roster which will come from Demidov joining and possibly a few off-season moves. We are on a good path.

 

[Guy Larose]

St Louis is not the guy, how does this team come out looking so bad every game? They’re asleep for 40 minutes every night

Doesn’t help that for PP and overtime we only have one unit to deploy

Oh are we back to this bad take? Funny he was the guy for a long stretch now and Habs are still in it. This place....check their record over the past 2 months.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Oh are we back to this bad take? Funny he was the guy for a long stretch now and Habs are still in it. This place....check their record over the past 2 months.

I never once said he was the guy

Playing well for 1 month is not that amazing, sorry to burst your bubble

 

[Guy Larose]

I never once said he was the guy

Playing well for 1 month is not that amazing, sorry to burst your bubble

Nobody asked you if you thought he was the guy, we level headed people can see he's fine. Is he flawless? No. Any chance you get to bash the Habs you do it. You admittedly once said you don't even watch a lot of the games so your opinion is moot anyway.

 

[JianYang]

I'm not sure I agree with the assessment about NJ being a much better team than us because when we turned it up they had no answer, they had us on the mat but couldn't pin us for the victory.

The opinions expressed after a loss or a victory are usually too positive or too negative. I am in a glass house here because I do it regularly, especially on the negative side of things.

If Laine and Matheson score on the play instead of screwing it up, the opinions would have been much different. Dobes would be the future, Monty is the bum holding us back, and Dobes is a gamer giving us the best chance to win. Laine is worth extending, he's the reason why this team dragged itself off the mat in the first place. Matheson is like Meg from Family Guy, he never really gets much credit or praise lol.

If we asked the Devils players/coaches how they felt about the Habs, their response would be much different, probably more along the lines of the one that Jake Oettinger gave in our win against them.

This team is very close to becoming one of the better teams in the East despite the terrible start to the season. The desire to come back and not quit is something that is a very positive quality come playoff time, see the more Talented Leafs for a reference of what not to be. We just need a few tweaks to the roster which will come from Demidov joining and possibly a few off-season moves. We are on a good path.

You are bang on about the narrative if Montreal won the 3 on 3 competition. It's funny how much the narrative shift hinges on 3 on 3 play.

The Habs had some fleeting moments where they looked like they were going to break through. As I mentioned before, the end of the 2nd period particularly came just in time for new jersey because the habs were coming in waves and it looked to be a matter of time before they cash at least once.

But the Devils certainly carried the play for most of the game.

I don't think anyone would genuinely contest that the Habs are not on the right path at this point, but the issue is once you get a taste of winning, it's hard to let it go so it gets hard to distinguish the forest from the trees.

 

[1909]

The Habs are a better team then what they showed in their first 30-35 games, and they are not as good as they have been since game 36 +. They are a .500 team with some good sides and some awful ones still.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Nobody asked you if you thought he was the guy, we level headed people can see he's fine. Is he flawless? No. Any chance you get to bash the Habs you do it. You admittedly once said you don't even watch a lot of the games so your opinion is moot anyway.

I haven’t missed a game in almost 3 months lmfao

Awfully sensitive, maybe this forum is too much for you to handle

 

[Guy Larose]

I haven’t missed a game in almost 3 months lmfao

Awfully sensitive, maybe this forum is too much for you to handle

Yeah sure....