Post-Game Talk: Habs defeat the Preds, pad lead in WC2

[BLONG7]

shoutout to the coaching staff on the coaches challenge in period 1 - could have got ugly. Dobes settled in after that.

Yup..........and in fact, Dobes is the only reason we won..........Nashville buried us all night in our own end.
20 guys dressed, and really only one guy showed up.......Thx to Mr Dobes.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Just watched the game , nice to win a game when we clearly have no juice.

Dobes was good , our two snipers delivered. Laine wouldn't score a goal this year without the legendary Lane Hutson hehe

Its a shutout if Matheson doesn't give them a free goal, what a brutal game by Matheson again

 

[morhilane]

Habs are -20 as a team and their Captain is a +17. What a season from the Captain.

Suzuki's lowest this season was -5. He's been good defensively all season long really.

 

[Favster]

The crux of the matter - Matheson’s being asked to perform above his pay grade & be this teams Lidstrom / Hedman etc. it’s not who he ever was or will be.

He’s being unfairly criticized, admirable job for a $4.8M Dman…

I don't care where you are playing in the lineup, plays like he did on the first goal cannot happen regardless of ice time. All he needs to understand is the puck has to be off his stick quicker, it isn't complicated. They should do everything in their power to move him this summer.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Just watched the game , nice to win a game when we clearly have no juice.

Dobes was good , our two snipers delivered. Laine wouldn't score a goal this year without the legendary Lane Hutson hehe

Its a shutout if Matheson doesn't give them a free goal, what a brutal game by Matheson again

Brutal game? Matheson played 31:46 minutes last night, had 7 block shots, was charged with 3 give-a-ways and 1 take-a-way. Guhle and Hutson each had 2 give-a-aways with no take-a-ways. Why wasn't it a brutal game for them?

Montreal played like a tired team and spent most of the game pinned in their zone. Nashville hit 3 goal posts when Dobes was clearly beaten and missed a handful of other prime scoring chances. To pick out and harp on Matheson's one gaff that resulted in a goal is, frankly, being very selective in one's criticism of what was a bad game by a collectively tired team.

 

[Erika]

Just watched the game , nice to win a game when we clearly have no juice.

Dobes was good , our two snipers delivered. Laine wouldn't score a goal this year without the legendary Lane Hutson hehe

Its a shutout if Matheson doesn't give them a free goal, what a brutal game by Matheson again

Which game did you even watch ?
Matheson played 31 minutes... he literally was on the ice for half time. Of course anyone playing that much will make mistakes. At this point, I'm convinced all the Matheson haters just goes with the popular opinion without even watching him play. They watch the 2 mins highlights, see Matheson and will say he sucks without even watching the game.

 

[ahmedou]

 

[salbutera]

I don't care where you are playing in the lineup, plays like he did on the first goal cannot happen regardless of ice time. All he needs to understand is the puck has to be off his stick quicker, it isn't complicated. They should do everything in their power to move him this summer.

Which game did you even watch ?
Matheson played 31 minutes... he literally was on the ice for half time. Of course anyone playing that much will make mistakes. At this point, I'm convinced all the Matheson haters just goes with the popular opinion without even watching him play. They watch the 2 mins highlights, see Matheson and will say he sucks without even watching the game.

 

[Favster]

Lol this is ridiculous. I understand taking risks but if you think trying to beat 2 opponents as the last man back is the type of risk worth taking you don't understand anything about hockey. He needs to move the puck quicker, there is absolutely no defending plays like that and they've been way to frequent lately. If it was a one off, alright, shit happens but that isn't the case.

Outside of that play he had one of the better games I've seen him play in a while. He really just needs to simplify his play - move the puck, move your feet. If he kept it at that he would be wayy more effective. It's almost as if he sees Hutson play and tries to play with a "I can do that too" mentality. Just move the puck Mike.

 

[salbutera]

Lol this is ridiculous. I understand taking risks but if you think trying to beat 2 opponents as the last man back is the type of risk worth taking you don't understand anything about hockey. He needs to move the puck quicker, there is absolutely no defending plays like that and they've been way to frequent lately. If it was a one off, alright, shit happens but that isn't the case.

Outside of that play he had one of the better games I've seen him play in a while. He really just needs to simplify his play - move the puck, move your feet. If he kept it at that he would be wayy more effective. It's almost as if he sees Hutson play and tries to play with a "I can do that too" mentality. Just move the puck Mike.

You can’t change a players DNA - high risk is part of Matheson’s DNA.

It’s why he earns $4.8M and not $8M…

Too many want Lidstrom / Hedman performance for a pittance of their pay

 

[Naslundforever]

My goodness the rebounds and punching at the puck made it exciting. Stopped all but one in the end but I was even laughing at some point.

 

[Naslundforever]

The colour guy for tsn 690 is doing a passionate rant on guys who spend their time shitting on Matheson on a daily basis.

He’s still the only hab D that can skate and muscle with the biggest fastest forwards. Hopefully Reinbacher becomes that…

 

[Favster]

You can’t change a players DNA - high risk is part of Matheson’s DNA.

It’s why he earns $4.8M and not $8M…

Too many want Lidstrom / Hedman performance for a pittance of their pay

No, all we want is a player who plays within his limits. If he did he would be extremely effective.

Whatever, I'll stop on this subject but I don't see how some can defend the mistakes he makes. He seems to get a pass on all those high danger blunders.

 

[salbutera]

No, all we want is a player who plays within his limits. If he did he would be extremely effective.

Whatever, I'll stop on this subject but I don't see how some can defend the mistakes he makes. He seems to get a pass on all those high danger blunders.

It’s not about defending any mistakes it’s about looking at the 31TOI collective for a player who is not & never will be a 1D but is being asked to play that role due to sheer necessity

Here’s another observation: PK did a good job without Savard, but there were a couple of times the Preds just walked right into the crease uncontested. Savard would not have allowed that. Savard gets ripped as nauseam but on a sum of all parts team, those little extra details players bring to help the collective over perform is vital.

 

[Rapala]

lolz, team's still sitting at -20 goal differential

- they were pretty bad in the first half
- they got very good at winning 1-goal games in the second half

I've been tracking the goal differential all season as I hoped we'd get it close to flat.
We were at -31 before the run that saved our season over the holidays.
We got it down to -12 then Guhle went down and we limped in to the break at around -25.
Suzuki went on his Elite run dragging Lane Hutson with him and here we are.
We'd be flat right now except for those early blow outs where nobody seemed to care.

 

[Rapala]

Just finished watching the game... god family is exhausting.

Well, they don't ask how... they ask how many. That was fuuuuugly! But win's a win.

And you people were saying about Dobes? Dude totally settled in and bailed their asses. This was a bad game by most of the team. Like what... 17 shots agaist the defense led by Justin Barron?

Also, I thought Yoel played a much better game. Controlled a puck with authority and was awesome on the PK.

And Pezz... oh man... god bless his heart.

Oy ok. No much rest, but I want to see a much better team effort on Tuesday. By better I mean better execution RIGHT FROM THE START. Detroit will be super hungry.

Yeah Yoel's stick looked stronger overall than it's been in quite some time.
He was able to steal and keep pucks away from Nashville which is his strength.

 

[schwang26]

But that pass man, that pass... Hutson is a maestro. Wow

I was also impressed with Newhook. He could’ve messed it up but he had the smarts to let it go though. Very heads up play

 

[schwang26]

Which game did you even watch ?
Matheson played 31 minutes... he literally was on the ice for half time. Of course anyone playing that much will make mistakes. At this point, I'm convinced all the Matheson haters just goes with the popular opinion without even watching him play. They watch the 2 mins highlights, see Matheson and will say he sucks without even watching the game.

The issue with Matheson is that his mistakes often end up in our net. His TOI was just ridiculous. Stats show he had a good game, but that’s way too much time for anyone. Maybe the coach doesn’t trust Arber, but the shots against and time Nashville spent in our zone tells me that we had a hard time in our own zone. Not all on Matheson of course.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I heard the announcers mention Dobes seemed shaky and unable to control rebounds. I assume a bunch of enlightened posters were talking about how shaky and rebound prone he was?

I mean, there were a lot of rebounds. Good news is he didn't leave too many in the slot & if he did he pounced on it, or the D did.

Guhle in the last seconds shortened up his stick like he was using one of those hockey sticks you use for house hockey in the basement and flicked the rebound away from his knees. It was a great & hilarious play by Guhle.

Nashville was really aggressive down low. Probably too aggressive. Dobes is a big goalie. I don't think trying to power move around him was the right play.

 

[Tyson]

Yup..........and in fact, Dobes is the only reason we won..........Nashville buried us all night in our own end.
20 guys dressed, and really only one guy showed up.......Thx to Mr Dobes.

Nashville hadn't played since Thursday, the Habs had just won an important game, flew to Nashville, landed at 2:15 in the morning and still found a way to get 2 points. A sign of a good team is winning games that maybe you shouldn't.

 

[Tyson]

While the Habs made no moves at the deadline it feels like they acquired a top pairing D in Kaiden Guhle, his return has made a world of difference.

 

[Redux91]

You can’t change a players DNA - high risk is part of Matheson’s DNA.

It’s why he earns $4.8M and not $8M…

Too many want Lidstrom / Hedman performance for a pittance of their pay

And some people and even Engels himself seem to be missing THE ACTUAL big picture

Which is Matheson is going to need a new contract soon and we're overloaded at LD
Sure he's fine at 4.8M but once he's making 7+mill in his 30's still shitting the bed with these mistakes and blocking most of our LD's still
You and his handful of supporters left will be singing a different tune methinks..

Most of us are just preparing for the worst essentially
And that's 5-6 more years of a degrading and overpaid Matheson.
Can't happen.

 

[salbutera]

And some people and even Engels himself seem to be missing THE ACTUAL big picture

Which is Matheson is going to need a new contract soon and we're overloaded at LD
Sure he's fine at 4.8M but once he's making 7+mill in his 30's still shitting the bed with these mistakes and blocking most of our LD's still
You and his handful of supporters left will be singing a different tune methinks..

Most of us are just preparing for the worst essentially
And that's 5-6 more years of a degrading and overpaid Matheson.
Can't happen.

ultimate Big picture says Matheson’s performance this year in terms of overall growth taking on big TOI w difficult Dzone starts etc. have only increased his market value

Matheson’s overall game has grown significantly this year, which in the eyes of other GMs will be viewed positively & create more interest

This big picture view has been overlooked completely by the critical fanbase that’s only obsessed with offensive stats as the be all & end all.

 

[Captain Mountain]

And some people and even Engels himself seem to be missing THE ACTUAL big picture

Which is Matheson is going to need a new contract soon and we're overloaded at LD
Sure he's fine at 4.8M but once he's making 7+mill in his 30's still shitting the bed with these mistakes and blocking most of our LD's still
You and his handful of supporters left will be singing a different tune methinks..

Most of us are just preparing for the worst essentially
And that's 5-6 more years of a degrading and overpaid Matheson.
Can't happen.

Why? There's no real evidence to support that view.

Management has been exceedingly cautious about paying vets in either salary or term. There's still a need for a more veteran minute muncher, but its not clear that Matheson is that player.

They could re-sign Matheson for too much money and term, but it feels like a waist of energy to worry about it or preemptively complain based on what we know.

 

[The Real Timo]

While the Habs made no moves at the deadline it feels like they acquired a top pairing D in Kaiden Guhle, his return has made a world of difference.

Funny... I didn't think Guhle had a good game last night (just like rest of the team). But not disagreeing that overall his presence is of course better than his absence. But, gotta acknowledge that even without him, team held its own. But Habs DO need another top pairing dman, which in the ideal world I don't don't think Guhle is (at least not yet). #3 is his ideal spot with Hutson and a big tough mobile #1 dmen making the top pairing. Make it happen, Hughes.