Post-Game Talk: Habs lose in Boston

[26Mats]

There's nothing to overreact to here.. the pre-season left us with a situation where there weren't enough repetitions and we are seeing execution errors that will get solved, as we've seen them execute these plays before.

The first line just looks out of sync and not practiced at game speed.
We knew it'd be difficult for Dach on a back to back after not playing for a calendar year.

We've got to make sure we get pucks out when we have the chance to do so and if we got average goaltending from Primeau, we probably get a point out of that game. We still put up 4 goals on a Bruins team that was looking to bounce back from a loss to the Panthers on their opening night.

The biggest negative is Primeau isn't very good and his glove hand is a liability.

Plus we were on a back to back. I'm not sure if that's a factor this early in the season. But often it really is a factor that some call an excuse.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Feels a little wack to only blame Prims for this one , he wasn't great but we were awful in our own end again , pretty bad puck management from our D core , Barron Hutson and Math all had some pretty dumb clears/turnovers

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Monty should have played...............after a SO and playing so well the night before.
Sending Primeau into Boston and a home opener, not smart.

Please don't give me the b2b nonsense. It's the beginning of the season for gods sake.

As for the rest........there were some positives. Scored 4 goals, Guhlie was a +3 on a team who gave up 6 goals.

3 games in 4 nights. Monty's never played 60 games in a season. He'll need rest.

Pretty soon, they'll send Primo down and call up Dobes.

 

[morhilane]

3 games in 4 nights. Monty's never played 60 games in a season. He'll need rest.

Pretty soon, they'll send Primo down and call up Dobes.

Habs have 15 back-to-back this season (I heard it was the most in the NHL).

And if they send Primo down, he gets claimed. Half of the league backups aren't any better and he's younger than most.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

The biggest negative is Primeau isn't very good and his glove hand is a liability.

Not sure it's his glovehand per se. His reaction time is bad. On Pasta's goal, his glove hand came-up waaay too late, which is more indicative of the slowness for his brain to react to what was unfolding.

Habs have 15 back-to-back this season (I heard it was the most in the NHL).

And if they send Primo down, he gets claimed. Half of the league backups aren't any better and he's younger than most.

I couldn't care less if he gets claimed. He needs to pick it up fast.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Monty should have played...............after a SO and playing so well the night before.
Sending Primeau into Boston and a home opener, not smart.

Please don't give me the b2b nonsense. It's the beginning of the season for gods sake.

As for the rest........there were some positives. Scored 4 goals, Guhlie was a +3 on a team who gave up 6 goals.

I think we all would have preferred that Montembeault played last night.

But I understand MSL’s reasoning to go with Primeau. I think he realized that even if Montembeault played the team would have been hard pressed to have won in all the prevailing circumstances.

The conditions for winning in sport is part skill/experience and equal part psychology. Montembeault had just played a heroic near 50 shot shutout against a strong opponent . Montembeault’s teammates confidence in him is sky high. MSL’s decision to not play Montembeault in circumstances where a defeat was likely was an insightful move not to shake this very young team’s growing confidence in a player who will play a pivotal role in this teams’ on ice success this year. MSL didn’t want to burst that bubble of confidence.

Last night was largely seen by MSL as a throw away game. MSL’s team will feel and play more invigorated and confident when they see Montembeault in nets. No different than the team’s fans.

 

[Hannibal]

There's nothing to overreact to here.. the pre-season left us with a situation where there weren't enough repetitions and we are seeing execution errors that will get solved, as we've seen them execute these plays before.

The first line just looks out of sync and not practiced at game speed.
We knew it'd be difficult for Dach on a back to back after not playing for a calendar year.

We've got to make sure we get pucks out when we have the chance to do so and if we got average goaltending from Primeau, we probably get a point out of that game. We still put up 4 goals on a Bruins team that was looking to bounce back from a loss to the Panthers on their opening night.

The biggest negative is Primeau isn't very good and his glove hand is a liability.

Exactly this.

This trainning camp might have been the worst ive seen. They barely played any games. The first two weeks of the season is the preseason overtime for us. Genius St-Louis strikes again.

 

[GrandBison]

We just never know which Primeau we will see. He's very inconsistent. Hope he finds his game before his next start.

 

[Paddyjack]

Feels a little wack to only blame Prims for this one , he wasn't great but we were awful in our own end again , pretty bad puck management from our D core , Barron Hutson and Math all had some pretty dumb clears/turnovers

This.

Yeah Primeau was bad, but the way we were playing in our zone is inexcusable. Boston looked like in PP pretty much all the second period the way they were circling around and nobody, and I mean it, NOBODY was hitting them. We need Strubble to get back ASAP. After Savard and X, the likes of Barron, Hutson, Matheson makes us too soft. And we all know we need to keep Hutson.

And Matheson.... damn it but this guy makes dumb plays at the point. How many times did he try a shot only to get it blocked and we get to defend a 2 vs 1 afterward. And his play in the D-zone was bad last night.

 

[Egresch]

No need for panic. we are 0,500 after 2 matches against better teams. One heroic goaltending gave us 2 points, the other below-average goaltending did not give us a chance. We were out-played in both games, but that was pretty much expected. First line needs few more games, they had no pre-season. Currently, they were the weakest link. MSL should stop playing Matheson 26 minutes. That is totally crazy.

 

[salbutera]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1844000693109264476

 

[hvac412]

Just caught the highlights. Primeau, Savard, Matheson, Barron... don't look good on those, not at all. Boston didn't look good in terms of their marking and coverage either. Can't imagine they would accept giving away some of those goals.

Without having seen the actual game I can't add more but it felt like it was a sloppy match with little focus from the players.

One thought: there is a lot of talk about playing on the rush, etc. but too often we forget how much space there is in the zone and how set-plays and positions can impact things. In short: we need better defensive tactics, and less peewee style puck-watching/puck-chasing, and we've needed it for years.

pee-wee coaching at every level =pee wee performance,very painfully to watch last night and only the second game inits not that Boston was so great its that we allowed them to skate around effortlessly,lost most of the faceoffs and we were chasing the puck all night.

 

[RandR]

Goaltending made the biggest difference to win the first game and then again to lose the second game.

Agree with the comments that this was not an expected win. Boston didn’t get the goaltending but it was a bounce back game plus their home opener; and they are a good team with a quite a few really good players. And the Habs were on a back to back road game coming off a game that they chased more and more as it went on. So I am not surprised that Savard and Matheson who were a big part of preserving that win in the third fell back this game. Thank goodness Gallagher never lets up in any game.

It’s not from a lack of effort and he has some offensive skills, but Barron is way too much of a liability and I have serious doubts he will ever get there.

 

[Andy]

I've never seen a team look so exhausted. Dach was completely gassed in the 3rd. Nick and Slaf don't look in regular season shape just yet.

Big props to Gallagher. Still tough as nails and finding ways to contribute.

Hutson and Guhle were fantastic.

Cole is the only top 6 forward who seems in game shape right now.

Also, Primeau was bad. The habs got peppered with shots, but I felt like only a handful of them were actually dangerous. We ran around a lot in our zone, but a lot of the shots were perimeter (unless I just have a different memory of last night)

 

[rickthegoon]

Primeau will not last the whole season. This guy is not an NHL goaltender.

I realy don’t get why the Habs have been bending backwards for the last 2 years to keep him on the roster? Dobes is a much better and more consistent goalie.
We have an infinite quantity of goalies in the pipeline spread out in all leagues.
Just put Primeau on waivers and bring up Dobes.
If he gets picked up , just give anybody the net in Laval.

 

[morhilane]

I'm starting to think Matheson is showing mental cracks over knowing he's losing his first pair and PP1 billing very soon. Similar to Allen last year.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Plus we were on a back to back. I'm not sure if that's a factor this early in the season. But often it really is a factor that some call an excuse.

It's a factor when you haven't gotten in to game shape yet. Which they clearly didn't because of pre-season shenanigans.

Feels a little wack to only blame Prims for this one , he wasn't great but we were awful in our own end again , pretty bad puck management from our D core , Barron Hutson and Math all had some pretty dumb clears/turnovers

He's not solely to blame but he was terrible.

Not sure it's his glovehand per se. His reaction time is bad. On Pasta's goal, his glove hand came-up waaay too late, which is more indicative of the slowness for his brain to react to what was unfolding.



I couldn't care less if he gets claimed. He needs to pick it up fast.

Multiple games we've seen where he just continuously gets beat over his glove hand.. and even the glove saves he did make last night, popped over the net, bobbled and dropped it.. just a weak element of his game. Reaction speed might be part of it, but particularly he is susceptible on the glove hand.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

They did better than I thought and might have won with goaltending

 

[morhilane]

So Habs have an off day today. Nice way to start the season, 3 games in 4 nights and zero practice to work on the issues found in the first two games.

Saturday game will be ugly too.

 

[GrandBison]

I realy don’t get why the Habs have been bending backwards for the last 2 years to keep him on the roster? Dobes is a much better and more consistent goalie.
We have an infinite quantity of goalies in the pipeline spread out in all leagues.
Just put Primeau on waivers and bring up Dobes.
If he gets picked up , just give anybody the net in Laval.

If he continues to play like that, it will be a surprise if a team pick him on waivers.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Matheson era is over.

It’s just a matter of time before MSL has no choice but to pull his head out of his ass.

Hutson is light years ahead of him offensively and Guhle is light years ahead 5-on-5.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

Hutson-Guhle is a thing now and I like it
put Savard with Matheson and Barron(Struble) with Xhekaj
Barron with Matheson and Savard with Xhekaj was non sense yesterday

 

[Habs]

Anderson haters in denial, give the guy props when they are due.

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

I realy don’t get why the Habs have been bending backwards for the last 2 years to keep him on the roster? Dobes is a much better and more consistent goalie.
We have an infinite quantity of goalies in the pipeline spread out in all leagues.
Just put Primeau on waivers and bring up Dobes.
If he gets picked up , just give anybody the net in Laval.

Dobes needs to play and rack up pro experience, not sit on the bench in Montreal

 

[Natey]

Barron's a young RHD on a team that lacks RHD. He can sit in the pressbox and be fine depth. Maybe he figures it out at 24-25.

The issue is hanging onto Matheson past his peak value to retain 5 LHD on a 7-man Dcore.
As soon as he gets dropped from PP1 he's going to be worthless. No one's trading anything for a 30 point, 30+ year old D who'll be -20 on the year yet again in a few months.

Fine depth? He's garbage depth. It was a terrible trade from Day 1.

Biggest mistakes of the new regime so far - trading Lehkonen for garbage. Not trading Anderson or Matheson when they had value.