Post-Game Talk: Habs lose season opener to Leaves

[sheed36]

Burrows should take a lot of the blame. But I'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard Marty talk about how he's involved in the PP formations as well.

I was reading a Q&A with MSL from Sportsnet from Tuesday and this is what he had to say regarding the Habs PP. I was a bit surprised to read the bolded about not working on the PP last season.

SN: What makes a power play good, and how do you get it there?

MSL: We didn’t really work on the power play last year because it didn’t really matter, because we weren’t ready to win. We focused on five-on-five, and you can tell our five-on-five game in pre-season was pretty good.

This year we’re diving in more to the special teams. Me and Alex (Burrows) run the power play and I’m as much to blame if it doesn’t do well, but the answers are everywhere, and we’ve got to find them. I know it’s an important part of the game, if we’re going to be successful.

What makes a good power play? It’s a little bit of that one-brain mentality.

But every position on the power play has different nuances of how to play it, and you almost have to teach those positions alone. At first, you’re teaching the five guys together, and we have our concepts about the point of attack. What makes for a good PP is understanding how the other team kills and how do we break that.

Sometimes a PK will break itself. They make mistakes and break themselves.

But can you take advantage of that versus having a set play? You have to find ways to break good PKs, and the way you break a fronting diamond and the way you break a pushed-down formation is totally different.

So, I feel last year we dabbled into learning the rules of how to break different kinds of PKs. Now, once you’ve figured that out and, conceptually, you’re on the same page, now you work on the individuals in their positions and the nuances.

Can't link to the full Sportsnet Q&A article for some reason and only getting a preview video..

 

[Habs10Habs]

I was reading a Q&A with MSL from Sportsnet from Tuesday and this is what he had to say regarding the Habs PP. I was a bit surprised to read the bolded about not working on the PP last season.



Full Q&A..

I hadn't read the first bolded part, where MSL states they didn't really work on the PP. But from watching it, I can believe him.

The second bolded part is what I remember reading. Which is why as much as we blame Burrows. MSL should be taking some of the blame as well.

 

[abo9]

That was a fun one! Sucks to lose but shootouts at shootouts... kid scored is all that matters

 

[Riddick412]

Hey guys, I think this is Toronto's year. I've heard from multiple sources on this.

 

[BergevinBurner]

Glad to see Newhook off to a hot start and that 2nd line looked solid, which is scary considering all 3 guys are far from reaching their potentials.

 

[SlafySZN]

Glad to see Newhook off to a hot start and that 2nd line looked solid, which is scary considering all 3 guys are far from reaching their potentials.

Dach is 100% taking the next step this season, he looks very confident. Way more than at the start of last year!

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

We need to use our three best centers as centers and drop the boat anchors to the press box. I'd use Newhook as 3C and drop our current 3rd line wingers either to 4th or press box. Have a chat with Gallagher about LTIR if he won't be demoted. Give Anderson to Newhook and play Monahan on the first line. Profit. And make Monty the starter. This game was winnable with incrementally better goaltending.

 

[Aces on the road]

Gallagher needs to be sent home forever.

This is hilarious, he is totally useless. Much better players are sent down. There is no use for him.
Pk could be easily better by #40

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

Meanwhile, I'd start playing Woll if I were the Leafs coach. Samsonov looked very pedestrian.

 

[HabsAddict]

I was a huge fan of Gally but at this point, he shouldn't be in our lineup. By far the worse player. Better if we had Pez in the lineup.

Dach...played like our real 1C. If he keeps this up Suzuki will be be our 2C

Slaf...needs to work on his balance but far better then last year. Heads up pass.

Newhook...nothing extra noticeable but now has two goals

Allen...lost the game for us. Two AHL goals doesn't cut it anymore

Armia...totally invisible

X...now officially the heavyweight of the NHL.

The extra point flatters us because there were stretches were we were looking for our jockstrap. We're still fielding too many rookie defenseman that can't seem to kill the play. Part of that problem was Allen and freezing the puck. We were so use to seeing Price act like a black hole were pressure went to die.

PP...still needs work. We have too many assets now to be bottom dwellers on the PP.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

The Leafs PGT is hilarious, this is their Stanley Cup. What a pathetic fanbase lmao, their team is as soft as ever and will get bounced early once again, enjoy the regular season clowns.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

We need to use our three best centers as centers and drop the boat anchors to the press box. I'd use Newhook as 3C and drop our current 3rd line wingers either to 4th or press box. Have a chat with Gallagher about LTIR if he won't be demoted. Give Anderson to Newhook and play Monahan on the first line. Profit. And make Monty the starter. This game was winnable with incrementally better goaltending.

No. Can't screw Newhook over by sticking him with Anderson.

 

[Habssince89]

I think we all want Monahan on the suzuki line, but to me you keep Newhook-Dach-Slaf glued together regardless.

 

[holy]

I'm still wearing my Habs jersey to work tomorrow. Feeling like too much of a G not to.

 

[Guess]

Are people complaining that we got Newhook and Dach for draft picks now?

When you can't draft well, it makes more sense to go with players who are further in development and easier to predict.

 

[Scriptor]

I think we all want Monahan on the suzuki line, but to me you keep Newhook-Dach-Slaf glued together regardless.

I'm okay with that, but I want Monahan with Caufield and Suzuki, personally, as soon as Dvorak is back.

Caufield - Suzuki - Monahan
Slafkovsky -Dach - Newhook
RHP - Dvorak- Anderson
Pearson - Evans - Ylonen
Gallagher

 

[admiralcadillac]

Ylonen had a good game. He has handles. If he can keep packing weight on I think there’s more to be had with him.

 

[The Real Timo]

Here is my hot take... if Habs young prospects and established youngsters take another solid step forward this season, i vote for replacing the entire coaching staff. The purpose of MSL was to instil some positive energy and perhaps some solid working habits etc. And it is somewhat there. But at certain point you gotta get to the next step and start winning. That starts with scoring on PP, shutting down on PK - neither of which Habs can do to save their lives.

Armia...totally invisible

Love it! 100%

 

[windycity]

Armia...totally invisible

And for once that's a good thing

 

[Guess]

I was reading a Q&A with MSL from Sportsnet from Tuesday and this is what he had to say regarding the Habs PP. I was a bit surprised to read the bolded about not working on the PP last season.



Can't link to the full Sportsnet Q&A article for some reason and only getting a preview video..

Nice quote, so I guess give them some time if they've just started to work on PP details which take a while to teach.

 

[RationalExpectations]

My neighbours (who happen to be Leafs fans), are pretty damn quiet tonight. They know they got lucky.

TOR had twice as many shots as MTL… as soon as they accelerated MTL was completely outplayed. If anything MTL got lucky not to experience a heavy loss given how they played in the second period / early third period…

 

[JeffreyLFC]

When you can't draft well, it makes more sense to go with players who are further in development and easier to predict.

Agreed 100% but even if you draft well.
Further development is very important in the grand scheme of things, in the best case scenario, you want your core to hit their peak at a similar age.

 

[TheBuriedHab]

Hughes big moves so far look really good. All of the 2nd line and Matheson are just great additions.

We are in good hands

 

[RationalExpectations]

Lot's of overreaction.

Leafs had 1 even strength goal and Allen gifted 2 goals. Game was pretty even except for 2nd half of the 2nd period where we lost some momentum with 3 straight penalties.

Lot's of positives tonight but let's not lose sight that we played against one of the premier teams in the NHL

I wouldn't trade our D for theirs. Matheson is better that Reilly and three of our D's are under 22 abd playing huge minutes. Harris did not look out of place playing right D and Jackeye is a going to be a real stud.

Allen gifted 2 goals but made several great saves. The game was not even given (40 shots to 20 seriously ?)

I think the loss is not the issue. My issue is rather with the lack of defensive structure, the inability to have a dynamic possession game (except some rare moments with the Dach line). From my point of view Slaf was the best player on the ice tonight, Newhook a close second, and then Dach.

MTL D was so bad, did we watch the same game ? Goal number 5 they let Matthews all alone in front of the net, goal number 4 is for Allen, they were out of position on several PK plays. For me it was one of Harris worst games, he was outplayed several times close to the boards, Kovacevic could not clear a puck for his life, Guhle had ups and downs same for Matheson, Xhekaj was likely the best of them tonight. Savard was so slow but to his credit most of the goals were not due to him losing his duels or sight of his player. Allen saved their asses a few times tonight…

 

[Habano]

Actually, somewhere in the 2nd after X was back, they met at the blue line and X pushed him backward. Reaves made some kind of gesture but it was the last time I saw them interact.

Reaves wanted nothing to do with wifi after he got rag dolled. Man this kid is strong!