Post-Game Talk: Mon Lars leads Pens past the Habs 6-3

[Mrb1p]

Lane had a really rough night. Don’t freak out guys, it’s ok to say the golden boy struggled.

He didn't have a rough night at all, watch the games.

 

[Habby4Life]

He didn't have a rough night at all, watch the games.

Clearly you didn’t watch the game, lol. Even the most staunch fanboy would admit he had a tough night.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Monty wasn't great tonight. That second Eller goal can not go in. Halted the momentum and then we were back to bad habits.

Still gonna be a season of a lot of growing pains with the youth.

 

[Habs]

I don't care if they lose putting up a fight, losses like this are fine. I think they overused Hutson , gotta give that kid a break. Savard also looks really slow again

 

[Stive Morgan]

I don't care if they lose putting up a fight, losses like this are fine. I think they overused Hutson , gotta give that kid a break. Savard also looks really slow again

He played like 25 minutes which is insane for a rookie D (not to say he didn't earn it though)

They need to cut his ES ice time a bit and put him on PP1

 

[Nicko999]

I see people are back to bitching on Matheson despite him having 2 pts. We know he sucks defensively but he's helping the team offensively. He is not the reason we are losing games. Never forget we got him for Petry so price paid wasn't super high.
There are players way more invisible that need to be blamed before him. Savard tonight was our worst skater. Simply atrocious. Also when will people realize Xhekaj belongs in the AHL?

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I don't care if they lose putting up a fight, losses like this are fine. I think they overused Hutson , gotta give that kid a break. Savard also looks really slow again

It's probably what contributed to Guhles injuries in the past. They have to manage their young guys minutes more specifically on D. He went from a college to a professional schedule which means basically twice as many games against grown men. I'd rather see them up his PP time, and keep him at around 20ish min a game. Guhle can handle it now but he's two years older and a sturdy kid. It'll be the same with Reinbacher, it's not about easing them in, but about being smart with their deployment

 

[Runner77]

Barren wasteland.

The spectre of a dystopian future.

 

[Archijerej]

Maybe reunite the Armia-Newhook-Gallagher line. It wouldn't hurt.

Move Dvorak to Dach's wing with Anderson.

Evans to 4th line with kids.

Or go: Dach - Newhook - Gallagher

They need to mix it up.

As long as we are scoring 3-4 goals a game, I'm not sure this is what we should be focusing on.

We are leaking goals and scoring chances, despite prioritizing this area in the offseason. This is what's most concerning at this point.

 

[Guess]

The first goal Savard fell but Hutson played it wrong. You either commit to pressing the puck carrier or stay in the middle of the ice. He did neither. He simply skated half-heartedly towards the puck carrier. Anyway, I don't want to be right about this kid's flaws but the more I watch him the more I don't see anyone that can help us.

I would trade him for another Guhle in a heart beat.

Thank God you're not in charge of the Habs

 

[Guess]

I don't think so. Hutson will learn more playing in the NHL. We will make a lot of mistakes but with his hockey IQ will progress rapidly by learning from his mistakes + his teammates will learn how to support him better.

Yeah, it makes zero sense for Hutson to play in the AHL, he's already getting over 20 minutes per game in the NHL and playing with much better players, his teammates are going to need to learn to adapt to him whether he plays down there or not, might as well get the growing pains done up here early in the season.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Lars would have 1000 pts if he could harness the anger he has for Montreal against the rest of the league

 

[Egresch]

As long as we are scoring 3-4 goals a game, I'm not sure this is what we should be focusing on.

We are leaking goals and scoring chances, despite prioritizing this area in the offseason. This is what's most concerning at this point.

Right, we have two types of defensemen in our team:
Sparks- Hutson, Matheson, Barron guys who want the puck and create something
Stabilizers- Guhle, Savard, Struble
Guhle is our best D, Savard is terrible, we miss Struble a lot because Xhekaj is not playing well
MSL pairing Matheson- Barron did not help either yesterday. That 3rd Penguins goal was like 10year old kids playing pond hockey.

 

[BLONG7]

Monty wasn't great tonight. That second Eller goal can not go in. Halted the momentum and then we were back to bad habits.

Still gonna be a season of a lot of growing pains with the youth.

The first 3 goals, Monty was back too far in the net, he looked small on those goals.......rough nite for him.......absolutely growing pains ahead.
Next............

Lars would have 1000 pts if he could harness the anger he has for Montreal against the rest of the league

Hard to blame him, he was Therriened.........treated so badly.
I am glad he got a Cup and was good enough to score the Cup winning goal. Meanwhile at the time, Therrien was in Florida somewhere working on his spray tan.

Lars would have 1000 pts if he could harness the anger he has for Montreal against the rest of the league

Hard to blame him, he was Therriened.........treated so badly.
I am glad he got a Cup and was good enough to score the Cup winning goal. Meanwhile at the time, Therrien was in Florida somewhere working on his spray tan.

 

[BLONG7]

I see people are back to bitching on Matheson despite him having 2 pts. We know he sucks defensively but he's helping the team offensively. He is not the reason we are losing games. Never forget we got him for Petry so price paid wasn't super high.
There are players way more invisible that need to be blamed before him. Savard tonight was our worst skater. Simply atrocious. Also when will people realize Xhekaj belongs in the AHL?

Savvy was bad, real bad............I think the pairings were not done well at all.
We are missing Struble for sure...........I think the Sherriff, Barron, Struble, Hutson if all healthy could easily rotate in and out a game here and there, to get some rest and some better perspective up top watching
We have made progress, but..............

 

[sandviper]

Not really mad as much as I am maybe disappointed. Felt this was a winnable game but our consistency and structure (lack of) is still in its growing pains.

 

[Habs Icing]

You don’t think Hutson can help us?

Not now. He needs to improve his defence. He is a defenceman after all. Almost everyone on this forum thinks he can do it in the NHL. I'm someone who thinks he can't. I would send him to the A to work on it. The amount of time he spends there depends on how quickly he improves.

 

[Andy]

I thought the habs played super well from mid 1st period to goals 4-5 by the pens.

 

[WeThreeKings]

As long as we are scoring 3-4 goals a game, I'm not sure this is what we should be focusing on.

We are leaking goals and scoring chances, despite prioritizing this area in the offseason. This is what's most concerning at this point.

I don't think it's necessarily concerning but more a representation of a very young team. It's going to go in and out a lot, but we want to see progression through the year, mainly on zone exits.. I'd say most of the issues stem from failing to get the puck out and losing their details off that, and of course bad timing and coverage off offensive zone turnovers.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Exciting game! They kept at it.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We played two real NHL franchises and two clown franchises , not surprised we are 2-2

 

[Saundies]

We definitely gave that one away. It's going to happen with all of our young players and against a really experienced team like that, that's what you get. Plus I haven't watched a game (I missed the Sens game so forgive me if they did) where they've played well for more than 20-25 minutes. Terrible first, amazing 2nd and really disjointed 3rd. Monty not in hero-mode, this is going to happen.

Their chances went in and ours didn't. We had plenty, just missed some nets or didn't capitalize on what we had.

I see some back and forth about Hutson here and his night -- it was rough. You're allowed to criticize an exciting rookie player. All of the caveats of being an exciting rookie player apply (youth, inexperience, etc) but he did have a rough night nonetheless. So did Savard. We move on.

Matheson - Barron should be an illegal pairing. Robidas should be exiled back to his infamous island for that.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

The posters crying about Lane this morning are hilarious. You can tell they are not used to having a talented dman , I'm sure Makar fox Hughes have never been -4 in their entire careers , Probably 'can't win with Subban' type posters

 

[morhilane]

Overall, 2-2 after 4 games with 4 games in 6 nights isn't a bad start. They get a couple of days off now before they play the Kings on Thursday.

The important thing is to make sure they don't slump too badly. None of those 1-8-1 runs can happen this year.

A .500 year is a good step up.

Habs were like 10 points out of a wildcard by the time they moved Mohanan. Only needed to string a few wins in a row to make it. They instead collapsed for a few games and never managed to recover after.

Failing at winning more than 2 in a row has been a huge issue since this rebuild started. And I think one of the main issue is too many vets under-delivering. The 3 flotsams in 2022-2023, Allen/Anderson last season and looks like it's Matheson/Savard turn this season.

Savard and Matheson are playing their worst hockey that I've seen from them in 3 seasons and it's a huge issue, because it's not Barron and Xhekaj who are going to take their minutes. They aren't any better, but at least have the excuse to have under 100 NHL games played (well for like 1-2 more games ).

Eller never scored like that when he was a Hab, so goalie has something to do with that.

Eller always scored like that playing against the Habs.

 

[Archijerej]

Some forget that X is and will be a solid bottom pairing dman.

Is there anything to forget, though? Was he ever an NHL-calibre defender, outside individual games here and there?

The hope was he could develop into one.

I don't have the statistics, but I remember reading that Xhekaj is one of the most sheltered defensemen in the league.