Whatever "locker room" leadership that a player has should manifest itself on the ice somehow. I think a lot of fans use the term as a crutch to make excuses for old worn-out vets that bring nothing and are phoning it in.
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Tough loss for the Habs tonight. Price was simply outstanding and deserved a better faith.
Habs have got to get better in shootouts, they've just been awful for a few years now. Already 0-for-6 shooting-wise.
They were rightfully called but I hate the last two penalty taken by the Habs. Absolutely hate those rules. You can make a pass with your hand in your zone but can't win a faceoff with your hand? You can basically fall on the puck or pin the puck to the boards to delay the game and not get a penalty but if you launch it over the board accidently, you get 2 minutes. Urgh! Again, not complaining about the refs tonight, I thought they did a fair job but those rules are nonsense to me. Can't see the logic in them.
Otherwise, a bit worried about the Habs offense right now.
Overall thoughts
This was a classic example of a goalie stealing a point. Aside from that the team was pretty bad all night. It was a combination of numerous defensive-zone turnovers and a lack of punch at the offensive end. In L'Antichambre they pointed out that the Habs have 16 goals in their last nine games. Not good enough.
Carey Price
He was the star of the game despite not getting the W. Of the 45 shots he faced, there were a ton of high-quality chances. He made several highlight-reel saves and received a couple standing ovations. He deserved better.
Penalties
The team has really lacked discipline and this happens to break momentum. The late penalty to Bourque and then the overtime penalties to Eller and Markov are perfect examples. They know the rules. No reason for this to happen. They took away any chance they had to produce late offensive chances until the final minute of overtime.
Shootout
Again the team goes 0/3. I think it goes back to scoring fewer than two goals per game over the last nine games which comes from a combination of bad luck in some cases and lack of effort in other cases. The team is not going into the shootout feeling like it can score at will.
Daniel Briere
He was decent. Didn't really stand out. But kudos to him for going to the net hard to score the lone goal.
PK Subban
He was not high-risk but he was definitely a factor in creating scoring opportunities and it shows in the numbers where he had eight shots on net. His five-game points streak was snapped.
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Two thoughts of mine that weren't covered:
I think the Habs defer to PK on the PP too much. He's the only guy shooting, so other teams are adapting to this by either keeping guys in the shooting lane or keeping a guy high on Subban all the time. Yes, they're third in the league on the powerplay, but someone else needs to get involved, especially on nights like tonight.
Douglas Murray: Yes, he's slow, but except for that major gaffe against St. Louis, I think he's been a solid addition to the Habs blue line. He's perfect on the penalty kill so far (no powerplay goals have been scored against him while he's on the ice). He's sixth on the team in blocked shots, and first in blocked shots per game. And he's tied for third in hits. He's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing, and that's to be a solid sixth dman. Good signing so far.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
For some reason, I'm not getting e-mail notifications for this thread, so I'm hoping by re-posting, I'll start getting notifications again.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
For some reason, I'm not getting e-mail notifications on this thread. I'm hoping by reposting, this will work.
Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid
I think we should just sit tight until everything is ironed out. It's a painful but necessary process to get the software upgraded and keep the site running...
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Just heard on L'Antichambre that Diaz is negotiating a contract worth 3 million or more in AAV.
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Yesterday's practice lines:
Gionta – Plekanec – Bournival
Galchenyuk – Eller – Gallagher
Bourque – Briere – Pacioretty
Moen – Desharnais – White
Prust
Murray – Diaz
Bouillon – Gorges
Subban – Markov
Emelin
...with Prust and Emelin eyeing Saturday for a return.
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Prust is actually returning tonight.
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Gallagher is out tonight with the flu.
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Canadiens 3, Blue Jackets 2 (SO)
Overall thoughts
Solid road game despite having an early 2-0 deficit. It was not a spectacular game but it was one that earned two points. Oh and David Desharnais did something positive for a change. Admittedly I was not paying attention much during the game so I might have a few things missing in the report. Feel free to chime in.
Petr Budaj
I thought he was solid especially when the team was in the hole. He didn't allow the next goal which is key. Plus he was 3/3 in the shootout. Good work by the backup.
Douglas Murray
His play on the second goal is worth going back to see if you missed it. Awful play. Had the puck not gone in he would have been penalized for interference for basically pushing Boll into the side of Budaj's leg.
Alex Galchenyuk
He really screwed up in the shootout but he was great all game. He also scored the first goal for the Habs late in the first period which basically saved their game IMO. Nice shot in the arm for the group.
Rene Bourque
Lots of size, lots of talent, very little gets done.
Max Pacioretty
See Rene Bourque.
Last edited by Atomic Wedgy; March 27, 2014 at 8:18 PM.
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Emelin in, Murray out tonight.
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