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What's going on with our first line?

As soon as Chara and Bergeron shift from shutting down the DD line to the Eller line, Vanek and Patches will start scoring again.

as it stands now, the bergeron line is stomping the DD line, the Pleks line is shutting down the Krejci line (kinda), and Eller's line is destroying the Soderberg line.

I wouldn't change anything because Chara and Bergeron will still have to focus on the Patches DD Vanek line as they can score whenever they are given day light... and Claude Julien knows it
 
hockeyfan2k11 said:
DD spent most of the night on his stomach. He is what he is. I don't care about battling if you're not effective. Put him as a winger and get a bigger, more skilled centerman to play with Max and Vanek. Too bad Galchenyuk's injured. Hell, even Eller would be effective in that role. They need a big guy that can bring the puck into the opposing zone and create scoring opportunities.
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If vanek and max need a big player to do the dirty work then they have problems. The line isn't working but they gotta engage even if Crosby is in the middle.
 
Pacman and Dd have no points vs Bruins this season and 1playoff game....So been going on a while.......just a matter of time.
 
Habaneros said:
Pacman and Dd have no points vs Bruins this season and 1playoff game....So been going on a while.......just a matter of time.
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I remember a handful of us freaked out at Max's pathetic performance against the Bruins the last time we met in the regular season.
 
Nobody is arguing that DD didn't compete last, he gave his best but he is not built for the playoffs especially against a team like Boston. Put Vanek and Pacioretty with Eller and they will produce.

THIS IS NOT THE REGULAR SEASON!

Prove me wrong David!
 
IMO result of not being used to facing top lines regularly and they need the time to adapt. Much easier to pull it off in the regular season where half the teams aren't playoff caliber. Come playoffs, you not only face the same team regularly, you face good teams with deep lineups. The way the Pacioretty-Desharnais duo plays to score relies too much on set roles of passer and shooter and Vanek seems like he's injured or doesn't like playing with them anymore for whatever reason. Much harder to score if all you can do is try to find Pacioretty in slot and too mediocre defensively to get puck back from good opposing lines.
 
hockeyfan2k11 said:
Exactly. Called it form day 1 and got called a hater.
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Same here....

Dirty Danglez said:
As soon as Chara and Bergeron shift from shutting down the DD line to the Eller line, Vanek and Patches will start scoring again.

as it stands now, the bergeron line is stomping the DD line, the Pleks line is shutting down the Krejci line (kinda), and Eller's line is destroying the Soderberg line.

I wouldn't change anything because Chara and Bergeron will still have to focus on the Patches DD Vanek line as they can score whenever they are given day light... and Claude Julien knows it
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The only problems.....look at the best saves from Carey Price last night and llok at who was on the ice.

Bergeron isn't only a shutdown guy....he's one of the best offensive player also and need to be shutdown. He finished the night at +2. DD's line didn't get into the O-zone and got destroyed in their own zone....by a shutdown line.
 
thebinne4pres said:
Same here....



The only problems.....look at the best saves from Carey Price last night and llok at who was on the ice.

Bergeron isn't only a shutdown guy....he's one of the best offensive player also and need to be shutdown. He finished the night at +2. DD's line didn't get into the O-zone and got destroyed in their own zone....by a shutdown line.
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Is he a shutdown guy or not? You say he's not only a shutdown line but the best offensive player. Then say the habs line were ineffective against a shutdown line.

You know you could've just continued the DD thread if this would be your topic of interest.
 
Watsatheo said:
IMO result of not being used to facing top lines regularly and they need the time to adapt. Much easier to pull it off in the regular season where half the teams aren't playoff caliber. Come playoffs, you not only face the same team regularly, you face good teams with deep lineups. The way the Pacioretty-Desharnais duo plays to score relies too much on set roles of passer and shooter and Vanek seems like he's injured or doesn't like playing with them anymore for whatever reason. Much harder to score if all you can do is try to find Pacioretty in slot and too mediocre defensively to get puck back from good opposing lines.
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It's not about facing a good shudown line. Patches and Vanek did not compete last night. If they put in the effort then I don't care if they got points or not. To score in the playoff, you have to put in 110%.
 
Watsatheo said:
IMO result of not being used to facing top lines regularly and they need the time to adapt. Much easier to pull it off in the regular season where half the teams aren't playoff caliber. Come playoffs, you not only face the same team regularly, you face good teams with deep lineups. The way the Pacioretty-Desharnais duo plays to score relies too much on set roles of passer and shooter and Vanek seems like he's injured or doesn't like playing with them anymore for whatever reason. Much harder to score if all you can do is try to find Pacioretty in slot and too mediocre defensively to get puck back from good opposing lines.
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But why is it so many knowledgeable Hab fans missed this? Why are people surprised that this line is getting shut down in the playoffs? :laugh::laugh: The line is completely useless if it's not scoring.
 
Probably going to be hated on but how about test breaking up Pacioretty/Desharnais for a few shifts to give them new looks. Pacioretty's only goal came with Plekanec while Desharnais' only assist came with Vanek.

Pacioretty is good enough defensively to be with Plekanec while Vanek can still get all the O-Zone starts with Desharnais while playing his natural LW. Still keep the one midget per line rule, reunite the 4th line.

Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher
Vanek - Desharnais - Prust/Moen
Bourque - Eller - Gionta
Bournival - Briere - Weise
 
I thought it was a pretty average performance by them but Desharnais looked more then okay I thought. He was backchecking, skating and on the PP he made a pass to Vanek that he didnt see.

The positive is all of this is that DD is definitely not looking bad.
 
LyricalLyricist said:
Is he a shutdown guy or not? You say he's not only a shutdown line but the best offensive player. Then say the habs line were ineffective against a shutdown line.

You know you could've just continued the DD thread if this would be your topic of interest.
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Bergeron is a 2-way player....and one of the best in the league.
That makes him a good shutdown player and a good offensive player. He's both at the same time.

It's not just aqbout DD....i don't think Patches or Vanek has been good either so it's about the line.
And i would agree that DD isn'T the worst on that line.

Don't worry...DD's thread will come back this summer and you will be able to put all the blame on his wingers (again) for a (so far) mediocre playoff performance (again).
Then the season will start, and you will come and say how DD makes his wingers better cause he's the "best playmaking/best vision" on the Habs......but i don'T see any playmaking on that line so far...do you?

Thruth is....DD rely heavily on his wingers and not the other way around.
This playoff is another exemple.
 
VAN-HAB said:
Nobody is arguing that DD didn't compete last, he gave his best but he is not built for the playoffs especially against a team like Boston. Put Vanek and Pacioretty with Eller and they will produce.

THIS IS NOT THE REGULAR SEASON!

Prove me wrong David!
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That's what it has come down to now. "competing". We went from "results" a few months ago to "competing" now. Does competing matter if you're ineffective? It's not all on DD, he can't help his physical limitations, but we completely altered the team just so he could produce. Crippled the lineup for that reason. Now look at them. As you said, put Max and Vanek with Lars and watch them produce. You need size down the middle in the playoffs. It's clear as day.
 
DD is trying, but he is getting absolutely smothered out there. Boston D has no problem knocking him off the puck. Pacioretty is depending too much on DD to get the puck to him and that's just never going to happen in the playoffs. DD gets squashed like a bug no matter how hard he is trying.

Vanek played?
 
hockeyfan2k11 said:
They need a guy who is not dependent on them.
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So we have a guy who scored 40 goals and is an elite net front presence. We have another guy who is one of the best finesse/power forward hybrid goal scorers in the game and they need a big guy to do the dirty work? At that point put Alex Hemsky on the wing because that's embarrassing. One of the two PP goals they got in series 1, DD deflected it in front of the net. DD is going up against Chara, no fear. Vanek looks lost and max is doing the "I'm so frustrated" look every play instead of being willing to take a hit. The two big wingers, 2 of the biggest players on the entire team were scared to go into the corners. If they are injured then fine but otherwise that's embarrassing.

Smoky Thompson said:
I think what they both need is a good kick in the ass.
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No kidding. I think the line has been less than effective but this isn't from a structure stand point. They need to pick it up.
 
hockeyfan2k11 said:
That's what it has come down to now. "competing". We went from "results" a few months ago to "competing" now. Does competing matter if you're ineffective? It's not all on DD, he can't help his physical limitations, but we completely altered the team just so he could produce. Crippled the lineup for that reason. Now look at them. As you said, put Max and Vanek with Lars and watch them produce. You need size down the middle in the playoffs. It's clear as day.
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How is the lineup crippled?? Maybe eller would produce more on the top line, but as of now, he is on the best line the habs have and shouldn't be broken up.

DD is only really good at offense (and he's the best offensive center the habs have), so he should be on the pure offensive line. Eller can bring more to the table in other aspects and is producing like crazy against the team's bottom 4 defenceman. The habs need to keep exploiting this.
 
Tim Wallach said:
To me it's as clear as day that Vanek is playing hurt and probably shouldn't be playing.

He can barely move out there, he's not going anywhere near contact and he's peeling to the bench after 20 seconds.

I'm not sure it could be more obvious. It's worse than Pacioretty v. Ottawa last year with his separated shoulder.
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Agreed, there has to be an injury there...
 
Watsatheo said:
Probably going to be hated on but how about test breaking up Pacioretty/Desharnais for a few shifts to give them new looks. Pacioretty's only goal came with Plekanec while Desharnais' only assist came with Vanek.

Pacioretty is good enough defensively to be with Plekanec while Vanek can still get all the O-Zone starts with Desharnais while playing his natural LW. Still keep the one midget per line rule, reunite the 4th line.

Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher
Vanek - Desharnais - Prust/Moen
Bourque - Eller - Gionta
Bournival - Briere - Weise
Click to expand...

I always thought Patches-DD should be broke off
I always thought that Vanek and Pacioretty shouldn't be on the same line.

So, I would've no problem trying that.
 
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