Originally Posted by
newfcollins
I'm a Habs fan, just so you know where I'm coming from.
I have no issue with Ottawa taking the timeout. Although I did remark to my wife that it could potentially add fuel to the fire in the next game. But at the time, for whatever the reason for taking it (to draw up a play, to warn his players to not get involved, to get the shortened bench a little bit extra rest, to rub it in, whatever), I had no issue with the timeout. I still don't. Whatever the reason for the timeout, it worked.
On the flip side, I love the fact that Therrien lost it and is angry. I'm loving the fact that the Habs have a coach who wears his emotions on his sleeve. After four years of Gainey and Martin coaching the team, it's good to have a coach that seems like he cares what is happening on the ice instead of being stoic all the time. Sure, eventually it will run thin and players will tune him out. But it's not happening yet. So let him get emotional. It's what the team needs after the last four or five years.
I'm not really digging at Therrien for showing emotion, because I do think that's important. After all, it is the playoffs, and if he isn't upset after a game like that he doesn't have a soul. What brought down my opinion of Therrien is how he's handling his emotions--directing them at Paul MacLean and trying to create this "MacLean vs. me" drama that's only true because he created it in the first place. I would have loved for Therrien to take all of that negative emotion he had and instead been visibly pissed off about how his team played during the game...instead, he chose to highlight Paul MacLean's timeout and focused on the Senators.
In my mind, there's a difference between showing emotion and what Therrien is doing. He's made this series more about himself and what MacLean is doing to antagonize him rather than about his team and what they can do to win, and to me that's just sad. Granted, I've only seen select clips of the press conferences, but I would love to see Therrien take a little more ownership and responsibility for losses rather than put the focus/blame on those bullies named the Senators and Paul MacLean. Therrien seems like a very good coach, and I honestly don't know much about him...I hope for Habs fans this is just a bump in the road and that the drama of this series stays on the ice instead of in the press rooms.
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