Post-Game Talk: Habs lose to the Leafs

[sheed36]

I was so looking forward to watching Dach hopefully take an even bigger step this season and him going down early kinda killed a bit of my interest in watching the Habs this season.

Although watching Slaf's progression from the start of his season until now has been very fun to watch and to see how far he's come, along with Suzuki taking his game up another notch.

I'll be happy now though when this regular season finally ends at this point so I can watch some intense and meaningful playoff games which is always fun and great, especially round 1.

 

[SlafySZN]

CC will be 2nd line when more talent arrives.
His salary is a bit high...we see I guess

You won’t have a minimum 35 goals scorer 75 points guy for less than what he makes.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Flawed take. Those numbers were calculated when CC had only played 100 games in the league, it's not like we are looking at a guy with 500 games in the league with 250-300 goals.

They even showed a graphic during the game that him, Ovechkin, and Tavares have super low shooting percentages while all having around 20 G's. Caufield has proven throughout his entire life that he's a great goal scorer. I still think he is. I expect his shooting percentage to go up like many who expect the opposite from players on hot streaks

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Do you think his shot has the same velocity as previous years because I don't.
As a matter of fact I'd say right now that Nick Suzuki is the better sniper and I would never have said that two years ago.

I'd like to see him get in better areas. Not be as puck dominant. Playing with Dach last year allowed him to be the 3F all the time. I suspect as Slaf becomes more confident, his goals will go up. He needs two puck dominant linemates to really thrive. He's a great complimentary player not a play driver so when he's forced to act as a play driver, his assists will go up like this year but his best attribute will be underutilized

 

[SlafySZN]

Do you think his shot has the same velocity as previous years because I don't.
As a matter of fact I'd say right now that Nick Suzuki is the better sniper and I would never have said that two years ago.

Of course it doesn’t have the same velocity. He’ll have the summer to work on his shot and getting it to where it was before the surgery.

I'd like to see him get in better areas. Not be as pick dominant. Playing with Dach last year allowed him to be the 3F all the time. I suspect as Slaf becomes more confident, his goals will go up. He needs two pick dominant linemates to really thrive. He's a great complimentary player not a play driver so when he's forced to act as a play driver, his assists will go up like this year but his best attribute will be underutilized

Exactly this.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

When everyone was seeing Caufield as a 50-goal scorer I saw him as a 30-goal guy and many of the posters here disagreed. I am interested in knowing if many of you are willing to temper your expectations now.

nah there’s clearly something off. Even with that the production isn’t half bad considering.

He’s done nothing but show to be an elite goal scorer until this year. A brief spell with DD too. Plus he’s still a kid.

Don't worry we’ll be revisiting this one in a year and I’ll be asking what you did but vica versa!

 

[Habano]

Hopefully Dach stays healthy from now on. That will go a long way in giving us a legit 2nd line. We all know we're a one line team and so does the opposition yet, we can still compete against most teams.

A legit 2nd line will take a lot of pressure off our first line and that's when we'll see Suz., Slaf and Caufield really blossom. Just my 2 cents lol.

 

[Tyson]

So tired of the dishonest referees. Tonight Armia got his stick broken right in front of the ref by Brodie, no call. The other night, clear high stick on Guhle, again no call. It's like that almost every game.

Incompetence not dishonest. I also dislike the game management mentality

 

[Rapala]

Of course it doesn’t have the same velocity. He’ll have the summer to work on his shot and getting it to where it was before the surgery.

Thank You Doc.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

They even showed a graphic during the game that him, Ovechkin, and Tavares have super low shooting percentages while all having around 20 G's. Caufield has proven throughout his entire life that he's a great goal scorer. I still think he is. I expect his shooting percentage to go up like many who expect the opposite from players on hot streaks

Caufield needs to be between two Sequoia threes. He's too smallish to be exposed to the top players. He needs a Beliveau and a Nieuwendik as partners forwards. Then he could put 60 like Shutt.

 

[the valiant effort]

Matthews just doesn't drive play like Mac and McD. He's a shooter with a great shot who can look disengaged all game and then finds a little open ice for a split second, gets a couple of passes and bang he finishes the game with 2 goals even while playing an overall mediocre game.

…or Kucherov, Pastrnak, Draisaitl, Panarin, M. Tkachuk, and even his lowly teammates Marner and Nylander

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

…or Kucherov, Pastrnak, Draisaitl, Panarin, M. Tkachuk, and even his lowly teammates Marner and Nylander

Was Marner even playing lol. Nylander is better than him now imo. Dude is a ghost

 

[Pomee]

It felt like Suzi and Slaf were carrying the team whole night.
We could have won if Monty played little better.
Xhekaj and Roy were bad tonight.
Harris, Pearson and Anderson were just terrible, which is getting a norm for most nights.

 

[Runner77]

Whatever happened to you, Max Domi?

 

[Rapala]

It felt like Suzi and Slaf were carrying the team whole night.
We could have won if Monty played little better.
Xhekaj and Roy were bad tonight.
Harris, Pearson and Anderson were just terrible, which is getting a norm for most nights.

They scored one against each of our 3rd 4th and 5th lines.
Damn I knew Nick had a good game on the dot but 70%

 

[JianYang]

How did canucks go from being Habs' bitches to 1st in the league?

Tocchet brought some structure and turned an underachieving team into a team of overachievers.

They have also been fairly healthy this year. They lost demko for much of last season and didn't have a legitimate backup behind him.

I really hope we get to see a Canucks/Oilers playoff series.

It's long overdue and should be dynamite.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Was Marner even playing lol. Nylander is better than him now imo. Dude is a ghost

Marner didn't play. He's day to day with an injury from the Bruins game.

 

[MasterD]

Caufield, Suzuki and Slaf can all snipe it.

imo it's on PP coaching to not have them execute the play better

That's very unproven at this point. He scores goals by hanging around the net and and getting garbage goals. Which is very fine.

 

[MasterD]

Newhook is showing he has really good upside. Built like Mark Recchi but a much better skater. Recchi had great hands but was also blessed with playing with star players. Newhook is showing good promise.

I usually agree with you on most things, but I don't see Recchi at all when I see Newhook.

It's a very short window so I reserve judgement, but so far to me he looks like a goal scoring version of Drouin (mental health and confidence issues aside). Very talented, shies away from physical play, not very engaged most of the time, good skater. Not great defensively, mostly because not engaged.

 

[MasterD]

When everyone was seeing Caufield as a 50-goal scorer I saw him as a 30-goal guy and many of the posters here disagreed. I am interested in knowing if many of you are willing to temper your expectations now.

I don't know about 50, but I think he can touch 40. The problem right now is we have a 1st line, a bunch of overpaid, done vets, and a 4th line. Every team can put their best dman constantly on Caufield.

If we had Dach and 2 productive wingers on the 2nd line, Caufield would get more space and face weaker dmen sometimes.

Matthews just doesn't drive play like Mac and McD. He's a shooter with a great shot who can look disengaged all game and then finds a little open ice for a split second, gets a couple of passes and bang he finishes the game with 2 goals even while playing an overall mediocre game.

Matthews is in the same group as Ovechkin. Great scorers, but they just kinda stand there and wait for the team to do all the work, and then they'll shoot it in. If the team can't get it done, they're pretty much useless.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

It felt like Suzi and Slaf were carrying the team whole night.
We could have won if Monty played little better.
Xhekaj and Roy were bad tonight.
Harris, Pearson and Anderson were just terrible, which is getting a norm for most nights.

I thought that Anderson had one of his better games and was a disruptive force all night as his physical play led to multiple turnovers and one goal.

If I was a Leaf fan I would be very concerned. Their defence was very vulnerable. It wouldn’t surprise me if they go out in the first round.

 

[calder candidate]

Anderson hit the post and Slaf hit the post at the very end this game is close, Toronto is a contending team, we battling for a top 5 pick and we didn’t get outplayed I think we are building Flo good momentum.

 

[Runner77]

I had the misfortune of tuning in to AC after the game.

Only to find Norman Flynn outdoing himself again with his footwear choices. This time, he went a step further and sported no show socks. He never fails to disappoint.

These beauties deserve a closer look ...

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

I had the misfortune of tuning in to AC after the game.

Only to find Norman Flynn outdoing himself again with his footwear choices. This time, he went a step further and sported no show socks. He never fails to disappoint.

These beauties deserve a closer look ...

He's sending a society message? He just joined QS, lol.

 

[SlafySZN]

That's very unproven at this point. He scores goals by hanging around the net and and getting garbage goals. Which is very fine.

Take a look at his last 6 goals. All snipes and a one timer.