Post-Game Talk: Habs shut out the Laffs in season opener!

[CaptainKirk]

Captain underpants 0-1 as captain and loses a 227 no shutout streak on his first game with the C. Classic.

Maybe it be the first of many.

 

[jaffy27]

Captain underpants 0-1 as captain and loses a 227 no shutout streak on his first game with the C. Classic.

 

[BergevinBurner]

It's nice to be in a playoff spot lol.

We're going to need a more consistent effort tomorrow night against the Bruins. If they can somehow manage to come out of this week 3-0 against 3 divisional rivals then that should give a pretty big confidence boost heading into the season.

 

[Runner77]

Agreed 100%

What is killing me is the ingrained hesitation in Matheson when he gets the puck, even with obvious options he gives the other teams coverage the edge by delaying and still going with the obvious pass.

Id like to see more reps with Suzuki getting the puck at the top of the circle on the right side and set him up for a wrister or cross crease in stride.

Biggest issue that was really glaring on the 5 on 3 PP is how immobile Matheson was, which only led to less passing options and teammates just rotating perimeter passes that did not lead to SOGs.

Hutson as a QB, is constantly in motion, turning himself into both passing and shooting options, keeping the PP dynamic.

 

[Skip Bayless]

Arent Price and Thomas pretty good buddies too? Not to get political but both are pretty conservative/libertarian, Price less so than Thomas who was living in a nuclear bunker lol

I think this is precisely the moment they became friends.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Lol Price isn’t conservative at all. He wears cowboy hats, does rodeo, and hunts. Oh and he drives a big truck . I guess that means conservative to some these days

Well it ain't like he's voting Trudeau lol

 

[WinterLion]

Hutson was very good tonight.

 

[BJCOLLINS]

I know it’s one game but it’s sooo nice to shutdown the leaf hype machine……even for just a minute.

 

[Garbageyuk]

Well it ain't like he's voting Trudeau lol

1. That doesn’t mean he’s conservative.
2. You have no idea who he’s voting for.

 

[Conflicted Habs fan]

At the beginning of hockey season the saltiness of the Leafs nation board is quite spectacular

 

[Rapala]

If we play this style of game every night we can kiss that dream of our having first PPG guy in like forever away.

 

[jaffy27]

Biggest issue that was really glaring on the 5 on 3 PP is how immobile Matheson was, which only led to less passing options and teammates just rotating perimeter passes that did not lead to SOGs.

Hutson as a QB, is constantly in motion, turning himself into both passing and shooting options, keeping the PP dynamic.

Not Mathesons best game, think he’s earned the right for dibs on first wave, give him 5-6 games and if it’s all the same, I’d definitely move Hutson on that #1PP.

Don’t think we are in must win so no need to panic on St-Louis’s part.

Hutson is a star in the making though, so crafty

 

[Habs10Habs]

My favourite play of the game? Savard annihilating Domi and making him swallow the two and a half teeth he had left in his mouth

Agreed, that hit for me is right up there with Kovalev on Tucker, PK on Marchand, A.Kostitsyn on Lucic.

 

[Licou]

No one would be saying this if any of his gaffes ended up in the back of our net and there were more than two of them.

He is being asked to play as a number one D on a pretty mediocre team... Of course the guy is going to look bad more often than not. He is still a trooper and has some very solid fundamentals. The guy would shine with lowered responsibilities.

 

[The Real Timo]

Folks, we are in da mix!!!

 

[Adriatic]

Forgotten in all this is Guhle. No camp and just walks in to 24 minutes of ice time. Guy is such a gamer.

 

[sampollock]

Wet figs wet...aka SN

 

[Habano]

Apparently, this is our Stanley Cup according to Leaf fans. That fanbase is so full of themselves.

Shhhhh, they're trying to cope

 

[Beendair Donedat]

I’ll tell you what, Monty and that fat f*ck Savard are going to be hitting the after game buffet hard tonight! They earned it!

My takeaways from the game:

Powerplay remains atrocious. The 5 on 3 was not pretty to watch and is a serious concern. The others weren’t great either.

Up front: Suzuki didn’t have his best game. But still played a workmanlike 20 mins. Slaf was physical and had one good shot. Caufield scored a beauty and looked the more dangerous of the three. Really liked Slaf’s response to Ekman Hyphen’s stick work.

Thought Newhook looked much better tonight than in pre season. Dach was up and down but needs to shoot more. He telegraphed a few passes when he could have shot. Played physical though and looked decent. Armia was terrific killing penalties and had a couple of nice shots.

Anderson was great killing penalties. Not much else to note on his game. Was surprised to see he never threw a single hit. Barre-Boulet looked alright on the powerplay but was sheltered. Gallagher had some chances and looked good in a limited role. Heineman has speed but isn’t processing the NHL game quickly enough yet. Will improve. Jake Evans was solid while Dvorak was fair.

On defense the story was Hutson and his coming out party. He already looks like he’s the biggest offensive threat we’ve got on the point and made some terrific plays,
also looks like he should be the PP QB, and easily at that… Savard covered for him nicely a few times and made the play of the game when he ran over Domi and made him bounce like Wil E Coyote. Matheson was up and down like a yoyo all game. Used his smooth skating to cover a lot of ice and make some nice plays but was putrid on the 5 on 3 and made his usual blunders/bad decisions. Guhle was quietly impressive. Was extremely physical in the first half of the game and understandably seemed to tire out quickly. Made a lot of nice and smart plays. Xhekaj and Barron were an adventure. Xhekaj played a much smarter game than in pre season and didn’t go looking for the big hit. Engaged Reaves early on but Reaves wasn’t a bit interested. Covered for a few Barron Blunders. Barron was an adventure. I don’t see this player as having a future in Montreal unless he vastly improves over the course of the year.

Montembeault was absolutely terrific.

 

[Saundies]

Forgotten in all this is Guhle. No camp and just walks in to 24 minutes of ice time. Guy is such a gamer.

Guys like him and Dach are going to take a while, Guhle with no camp and Dach being off for a whole year essentially.

Good effort tonight though like you mentioned.

 

[Runner77]

Decisions, decisions ...

 

[Gustave]

Solution to our 5 on 3 is Hutson . He literally came out of the womb to lead a 5 on 3.

Nah, he’s gotta learn. He’s good enough to play 18 min, but not good enough to get used in his strength and best feature. /s

 

[Runner77]

Laraque has been pimping a guarantee for weeks now, that on this game, Reaves and Xhekaj would fight. So much for that, Georges -- come up with something better next time.

 

[Andrei79]

So...still worry about Hutson's size ???

Maybe one day some people will wake up and finally see that he has a great stick, he has stong legs and he does not fall on the ice at all.

Since 2 years I am a lot more worry about his shot than his size.

The problem is soon enough the teams will let him dance and the defensemen, goaltenders will cheat a bit for the pass cause Hutson is not a treat with his shot.

He will get points cause he is just to good but he needs to offer a double treat to be even more efficient with his passes

He has to work a lot on his shot ine the next 2 Summers.

He was one of the worst tonight defensively, but the rest of his game easily makes up for it and much of it is a lack of experience. All of the young defensemen I thought made some terrible reads, turnovers and bad decisions without the puck. Savard and Matheson made some bad plays, but by and large are still necessary as they do quite a bit of heavy lifting, that I've noticed many posters here just don't see at all. Matheson shouldn't play on PP1, he's not good enough.

Matheson played a great game outside of the PP.

He is a really good D man honestly, would be ideal leading a second pair.

Edit: Our whole D squad was solid outside Barron thinking about it.. Looking forward to some more Hutson all day every day

I agree about the first part. Second part I find the younger guys need a lot of reps still. The talent is there though.

 

[Habs]

Lets not pretend we played a good game, this was all Monty's win, he bailed the team out so many times.