Pre-Game Talk: Habs vs Lightning Jan 21

[waitin425]

TB plays us hard
Kuch is a knob and always cheap shots someone.
Go HABS

If he cheaps shots anyone tonight......I hope we send Xhekaj to destroy him.

 

[EveryDay]

Hoping for Dobes tonight.

 

[417]

Hoping for Dobes tonight.

Man it's been awhile since we've had goalie debates in Habsland...probably for the first time since the good ol' Price vs Halak days.

WE ARE SO BACK!

 

[Tyson]

I expect Monty to start and that he will face a tough challenge. I expect him to rebound and play well.

 

[CharleyHorse]

If he cheaps shots anyone tonight......I hope we send Xhekaj to destroy him.

I’m hoping that if he cheap-shots someone (without injury), he ends up sitting for a solid stretch in the penalty box, or better yet, gets tossed from the game entirely and Laine scores on the power play. If we go your route, Xhekaj gets 5 for fighting, possibly a game misconduct, and Tampa ends up scoring on the man advantage. Let’s play smarter, not harder. However, if he injures someone - your way 100%. We'll worry about the playoffs next year.

 

[sampollock]

I expect Monty to start and that he will face a tough challenge. I expect him to rebound and play well.

monty needs to wake up after the fig game

 

[Bouboumaster]

Habs will win because they need to

 

[Tyson]

monty needs to wake up after the fig game

Is it that he isn't built for a large workload? He has been wildly inconsistent this year.

 

[donghabs98]

I expect Monty to start and that he will face a tough challenge. I expect him to rebound and play well.

I agree, I expect Monty to start and he'll be motivate to rebound from Saturday and impress Jon Cooper.

Barring a Monty shutout, I expect Dobes to play against Detroit.

 

[donghabs98]

Is it that he isn't built for a large workload? He has been wildly inconsistent this year.

Judging by how his play was dipping when they rode him for about 2 weeks straight, I dont think he's ready for a big workload. Which is fine in today's NHL. Monty to me is always more of a 1B type of guy.

 

[Habs Halifax]

monty needs to wake up after the fig game

I don't think that was entirely on Monty though. That was a team failure. Habs couldn't win a key faceoff after those first 3 goals and the Leafs clearly up their game to another level. We gave them puck possession at key areas of the game and could not derail their momentum.

Don't know about you or others, but that loss was not on Monty allowing soft goals.

 

[sampollock]

I don't think that was entirely on Monty though. That was a team failure. Habs couldn't win a key faceoff after those first 3 goals and the Leafs clearly up their game to another level. We gave them puck possession at key areas of the game and could not derail their momentum.

Don't know about you or others, but that loss was not on Monty allowing soft goals.

yes you are correct too
the team imploded as well

Monty is a B type goalie, I like him but he is not a bigtime #1

 

[morhilane]

Monty life stats vs Lightning: 2-2-1, 0.898 3.14 GAA

 

[Habs Halifax]

Is it that he isn't built for a large workload? He has been wildly inconsistent this year.

I personally think that we just ran into a team that had multiple levels. Levels we could not match. It was an eye opener for the Habs and Matheson talked about that as well. Yeah, we beat some good teams but we are not a top 10 team in the NHL. Leafs showed us that.

How about we talk about Suzuki and Evans loosing key faceoffs to Domi and Matthews multiple times in the game? With Tavares not in the line-up? Because for me, that was a huge factor... we gave them puck possession at key times in the game over and over again.

 

[JianYang]

Habs will win because they need to

And the lightning don't need to win? They are getting dragged into this chaotic wild card race if they lose this one.

 

[ahmedou]

WHEN MONTREAL CANADIENS SCORE 4 GOALS: 14-2-0

WHEN MONTREAL CANADIENS SCORE 5 GOALS (AND +): 7-0-0

 

[sampollock]

JUST watch the dirty Kuch...

 

[JianYang]

I personally think that we just ran into a team that had multiple levels. Levels we could not match. It was an eye opener for the Habs and Matheson talked about that as well. Yeah, we beat some good teams but we are not a top 10 team in the NHL. Leafs showed us that.

How about we talk about Suzuki and Evans loosing key faceoffs to Domi and Matthews multiple times in the game? With Tavares not in the line-up? Because for me, that was a huge factor... we gave them puck possession at key times in the game over and over again.

I disagree. The habs have made a living during this run against really good teams in much tougher environments.

The difference to me was that that they didn't know how to handle the early 3-0 when things started to turn.

They have looked comfortable in tight games but the Saturday game had a different psychology to it and the team got rattled when the leafs began to close the gap. They never really experienced this type of early lead buildup during this run except for one of those Detroit games, way at the beginning.

 

[red devil]

 

[Tyson]

I know he is only a rookie, I know he only plays 4th line minutes but I really miss seeing Emil Heineman in the line up.

 

[JianYang]

Is it that he isn't built for a large workload? He has been wildly inconsistent this year.

It was a league leading workload and there's a reason why most teams elect not to do that with their goalies.

Only a very select few can handle that type of load without too much adversity, notably hellebyuck, but then his playoff history has been spotty too.

 

[Holystik]

So is it Cristobal Huet or Jaroslav Halak in the net tonight?

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Is it that he isn't built for a large workload? He has been wildly inconsistent this year.

He was the same in the last 2 years. I don't know what people expect from him. He's a backup goalie playing 2 much. He only got paid 3m a season for a reason

 

[Be a Hab]

Caufield scoring tonight. He has been playing so well of late.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

You fail to realize that the habs and the bruins were in complete different positions. One was rebuilding and the other was in win-now mode. Obviously, the team in win-now mode will try to upgrade every position as much as possible. The team rebuilding or just exiting their rebuild isn't going to do that, especially if its just for short term help and will cost good assets.

You keep talking about Dvorak and mediocrity, but if you really wanted the habs to make the playoffs and go far, you wouldn't be talking about Dvorak, you would be talking about upgrading on Newhook. You know that player who has been in the top 6 all season, but has even less pts than Dvorak.

I talk about Newhook too but that player is still young enough to improve. I think he must be traded too. It's not that Newhook have zero qualities, I like his speed and energy but he doesn't bring success at the end. How many goals he missed on silver plate occasions?

Dvorak plays a more important role, he's a center and he have to check the best opponents. Evans and Suzuki have to do that job to be well done and Dvorak is paid for that duty with his 4,5m. His linemates are doing better overall (Anderson and Gallagher).

An hockey team is a team, every player have some importance at the end. I come here to post my ideas to improve the team at every position possible, from the top lines to the bottom. But some bad players jump at my eyes and they become obvious. I could talk about Savard who is getting slower but in some game situations he can stil make good basic moves and protect the goalie area. I'm not against the idea of trading him at tdl but in another hand if Habs makes the PO, he can be useful with limited ice time. I could talk about Gally but it's worthless. He's untradable, he's done and I have no motivation talking about him. But he's a true warrior who does something good once in a while. He's trying hard and never gives up. His body doesn't follow his mind.