Originally Posted by
mister_mcgoo
[clip] There's no need to stoke the fire, you've already won the game handily so what's the point in going 'nyaaa nyaa nyaa' and possibly inciting more violence?[clip]
[clip] At some point as a head coach you need to use your head and recognize that keeping your players healthy is half the battle in the playoffs and he seems to think its more important to antagonize the opposition than to do what is best for his team. [clip]
Just curious mcgoo, what makes you think that McLean's intention was to solely rub the 6-1 win in Therrien's face? A coach's job in situations like the one last night is to protect his players. Montreal was turning it into an absolute goon-fest at the end there, and I'm sure all of their players were frustrated as hell (and rightly so, they were getting their asses handed to them). But like MacLean said in his interview, he called the timeout to regroup, protect his players, and told them to not do anything stupid. You think Kyle Turris (as well as other Sens players) was running on high emotions after the penalties that Bourque took with 18 seconds left in the game? Maybe someone wanted to take a stupid penalty and get revenge on a Canadiens player? I don't know about you, but I'd get my team together and tell them to cut the shit, no matter what Montreal was trying to do. Montreal had every right to be frustrated, and it's not like the Sens were perfect angels themselves, but regardless of whether it upsets the opposing coach or not, a good coach calls a timeout when MacLean did to gather his players and prevent them from doing anything stupid in the final seconds of the game. It astounds me that Therrien couldn't see that he would do the same thing if he were on the other end of things...unfortunately for him, he comes off as a whiny bitch in his press conferences, trying to make this about him vs. MacLean. MacLean doesn't give a flying f*** about what Therrien thinks, and it just goes to show that MacLean is in Therrien's head. As the head coach of an NHL team, you've got to have a more level head Therrien's right now. Sure, emotions are flying high, but as coach you can pass those emotions down to your players, and I'd hate to see the Canadiens stink it up next game because Therrien's worried about everything the Sens/MacLean were doing wrong, and not about his own team. How about some accountability for what happened in the 3rd period? Or at least acknowledge it was a shitshow and move on. The playoffs are too short to create stupid made up coaching battles, and to me the little quips that Therrien is throwing at MacLean show that the Sens are mentally winning this series (as well as actually winning as of right now).
I started this thread because I had heard so many good things about Therrien all year long, but I think the way he has handled himself this playoffs is disgusting. Focus on the hockey and your own team and try to win some games without disgracing your franchise and its fans. I guess there's a reason why people call Canadiens fans drama queens...I know it's hard to be objective in the playoffs, but damn, any sensible fan would understand that A) MacLean had every right to call that timeout, and any good coach would've done the same in that situation and B) Therrien had every right to be upset, but his bitching and whining about it does nothing but harm to his team's and his reputation. I personally hope Montreal doesn't fold like a flan in a cupboard the rest of the series because there has been some really good hockey...and who knows, maybe Montreal uses the now infamous "timeout" as motivation to win the next game and even the series. But it's stupid to me that Therrien has turned this into "that mean MacLean guy took my toys and won't give them back" instead of ignoring the distractions and media drama and getting his team ready for business. If you watch the interviews closely enough, it looks like Therrien is going to cry because he's so personally offended by MacLean's timeout...if I were a Habs fan, I would be pretty embarrassed by that alone, much less my team's play last night.
For the record, I'm an Avs fan and thus have little to cheer about right now (except the #1 overall!). I liked the Sens coming into this series, and I like them even more now that I've seen what Therrien acts like when the pressure's on.
Yahoo 12 team Keep 7 League (keepers in bold)
Cats: G, A, PPP, SHP, +/-, PIM, SOG, Hits, W, GAA, SV%, SHO
Start 10F, 4D, 1 Util, 2G, 4 Bench
F: Malkin , Neal, Parise, Benn, MacKinnon, Pavelski, van Riemsdyk, Tarasenko, Yakupov, Hanzal, Scheifele, Palat, Zuccarello,
D: Giordano, Seabrook, Gudas, Gologoski, Ehrhoff, Bieksa (IR)
G: Rask, Lehtonen, Mason