Pre-Game Talk: Habs vs Lightning Jan 21

[Lshap]

How is it jumping the gun? He doesn't get the starters job, nobody does.. they keep playing as they keep winning. If Dobes loses on Tuesday, Monty gets the next net.

It's a completely fair situation when the younger goalie is playing hot and winning games. You don't just leave that on the bench. If you want to establish a meritocracy, that's what you do.

It's healthy competition. No one gets a start they didn't earn.

Dobes should be focused on developing his technique, not battling for a spot against his teammate. He's a kid with barely any NHL experience who hasn't yet faced adversity. He will inevitably have a bad game. When that happens, he should focus on learning from it and moving on. Last thing he needs is to worry that he just lost his next start.

It's too soon for a meritocracy. Again, if we preach patience with every other aspect of the rebuild, why not with our goalie development?

 

[Habs 4 Life]

The Lightning will be on a back to back as they play Toronto on Monday so Johansson will play against the Habs on Tuesday.

Historically we always do great against backup goalies!!

 

[The Real Timo]

Two words:
Start. Dobes.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Tampa is still a really good team, but they will be on the 2nd part of their back-to-back, so gotta get on them early and don't f***ing let up.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Dobes should be focused on developing his technique, not battling for a spot against his teammate. He's a kid with barely any NHL experience who hasn't yet faced adversity. He will inevitably have a bad game. When that happens, he should focus on learning from it and moving on. Last thing he needs is to worry that he just lost his next start.

It's too soon for a meritocracy. Again, if we preach patience with every other aspect of the rebuild, why not with our goalie development?

He had a bit of a bad game last night and still found a way to battle and win. Which is something Monty didn't do in his last start.

He's not going to worry that he 'lost his next start', he's going to get back on the ice to practice and get better while waiting for his next opportunity.

It's not too soon for Meritocracy, they are fighting for a playoff spot and if he continues winning games, putting the lesser goalie in net, during that push, is not the right move.

There's nothing wrong with healthy competition and if either of them wilt under such an arrangement, it means a lot about whether or not there's a long term solution in there.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

The Lightning will be on a back to back as they play Toronto on Monday so Johansson will play against the Habs on Tuesday.

Which is good news, he's not as good as Vasi, but he has above average numbers (.903).

Hopefully Monty has a bounce back game. We need him to play like he did against Dallas.

I think they go Monty vs TB. Dobes @ Detroit.

 

[Rapala]

I'm hoping they deploy him on the 4th line with Dvo at LW, and they can trade draws.

Anderson-Evans-Gallagher
Dvorak-Beck-Armia

Not a chance they will not break up the Evans Armia duo.

 

[Rapala]

The goalie issue, is getting close to a crossroads.........
My hope is we get a good thing going between Monty and Dobes where they drive each other to be better.
The Bruins got a few years out of Ulmark and Sway.

Soon, maybe not quite yet, but soon the team will have to take anyone's feeling out of the goalie issue, and play the guy who is playing well. Monty or Dobes.
The pressure is firmly more on Monty than the kid.

There is absolutely no goaltender controversy. The players said it last evening "no matter who we put in goal we believe we have a chance to win." If this sentiment goes away like it did with Jake Allen or like it did with Cayden Primeau then you ride the hot hand.

 

[Kennerback]

 

[Rapala]

Suzuki go ahead and flatten Kucherov again just watch out for cheap shots. Anderson go ahead and smack Hedman. Neither of these players like to be hit and I've seen both of them lose it when they do get hit.

 

[Lshap]

He had a bit of a bad game last night and still found a way to battle and win. Which is something Monty didn't do in his last start.

He's not going to worry that he 'lost his next start', he's going to get back on the ice to practice and get better while waiting for his next opportunity.

It's not too soon for Meritocracy, they are fighting for a playoff spot and if he continues winning games, putting the lesser goalie in net, during that push, is not the right move.

There's nothing wrong with healthy competition and if either of them wilt under such an arrangement, it means a lot about whether or not there's a long term solution in there.

It's not like Dobes is stuck on the bench behind two other goalies. He's already getting regular starts against top teams. He's developing his skills and his confidence at the NHL level. He's already become our de facto 1B. So why change a rotational system that's working?

We talk about the value of patience and coaching and development. So why are we talking about piling more onto this kid's plate after five games? In a couple of months... okay, he'll have quadrupled his NHL experience by then. But now feels like too soon.

As for Montembeault, yes, he was crap against the Leafs, but he's played over 150 games for us. We know he's generally solid and can redeem himself. If we want a shot at the playoffs, we need to give him that chance.

 

[WeThreeKings]

It's not like Dobes is stuck on the bench behind two other goalies. He's already getting regular starts against top teams. He's developing his skills and his confidence at the NHL level. He's already become our de facto 1B. So why change a rotational system that's working?

We talk about the value of patience and coaching and development. So why are we talking about piling more onto this kid's plate after five games? In a couple of months... okay, he'll have quadrupled his NHL experience by then. But now feels like too soon.

As for Montembeault, yes, he was crap against the Leafs, but he's played over 150 games for us. We know he's generally solid and can redeem himself. If we want a shot at the playoffs, we need to give him that chance.

Because in a tight playoff race, you should be putting the guy in net that is giving you the best chance to win. Right now, that is Dobes. He's come in and played the top teams in the league, most times on back to backs, and won. There's nothing wrong with a win and you keep the net system when you have a tandem that we currently do with no real #1 goalie.

Again, we aren't piling more on his plate. We are saying, you've earned the right to get the next start, so take it and run with it. If he doesn't, then it's back to Monty for the next game with an opportunity to win.

No one is advocating for giving him the #1 goalie spot and playing him like that. He has earned the right to get the net more and if he keeps winning, he should keep playing.