Game 17: Habs/Lightning

How badly does Montreal need a regulation win? The Lightning are in town and there may not be a team MORE likely to get up for the big lights of Saturday night in Montreal than Tampa. Vinny and Marty always find a way to elevate their games when they come home. The bolts trail the Canadiens by one point in the standings although they have played one two less games. Watch out for Stamkos who has been fantastic to start the year. This much is for sure – Montreal better not play the way they did against Boston. They absolutely need to get some pucks on the net (preferably passed the netminder) in order to give Price the chance to pick up a win without having to give a all-star performance.

Go Habs Go!

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10 Comments

#1 Joseph says:
November 7, 2009 at 5:49 pm

First, a small rant:

The league really needs to do away with this overtime loss point. The fact that a team earns a point by losing (who cares if they forced the game to go continue for an additional five minutes) is both stupid and illogical. The fact that the Leafs, for example, are 2-7-5 thus far this season is merely a trick of the light. They’re 2-12 and should have four points for their efforts thus far this season.

That being said, Lecavalier appears to have come out of his early season shell as of late and will no doubt be as inspired as ever tonight, so I agree that the Habs will need to find the back of the Tampa net more than once or twice tonight to earn a win.

Also, regardless of the Habs’s offensive efforts tonight, Prince might just have to put in another All-Star performance in goal to get the win. But I think he will.

#2 Senet1 says:
November 7, 2009 at 7:29 pm

well I agree we are going to have to skate better at home but then again we always seem to skate better at home. Now lets score some goals too.

#3 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 7, 2009 at 11:15 pm

Wake me up when lattendresse is traded

#4 Mats Naslund says:
November 8, 2009 at 3:04 pm

Halak’s agent trashed Price last night on twitter giving an ‘interesting stat’ that Price had a record of 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Pretty low considering his intent is obviously aimed at cutting Price down to the benefit of his own client. Especially low considering that during a recent stretch where Halak played a string of consecutive games over Price, Carey publicly supported the decision to play the hot hand in Halak. Furthermore, Price was fresh off of an incredible performance against the Bruins in which he might have been the ONLY reason for the win. Finally the comments came after a loss in which almost no-one could blame Price where the team missed on offensive chance-after-chance.

I’m not a Carey-over-Jaro guy. In fact I am fully in support of keeping BOTH goaltenders in an equal (or close to it) situation. The comments of Jaro’s agent are stupid at best, and incredibly underhanded at worst. Unfortunately for Jaro he is the one who ends up looking bad in this. He doesn’t need the bad press, and neither does Carey. The reality is that Jaro was poised to get LOADS of games this year anyways. I suspect the tweet had more to do with Jaro’s agent wanting a bigger cut of a contract next season than any feelings that Halak may have. The circus continues.

#5 Senet1 says:
November 9, 2009 at 10:14 pm

Well if we do trade Latendresse, I sure hope we are right in dealing him because the management of the day had no idea Leclair would turn out to be a 30-50 goal scorer when they traded him. LeClair left when he was 26 and up until that time only scored 46 goals, never 20 in a season. Latendresse has scored 46 goals in his first three years and now at age 22 he is struggling and being put on several different line combinations and is has also be on a struggling team for the last two years. Will he a ever be the power forward we are looking for probably but as long as my good friend pactum gets his way we may never find out at least as a hab.

#6 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 10, 2009 at 12:08 am

Ok then lets just hold on to lattendresse for the next 4 years and hope he turns out to be the next john leclair lol. Intill then he will be taking up a roster spot from someone who deserves it. If by some miracle he does turn out to be the next john leclair,trust me i will me the first one to admit i was wrong but i dont think i am wrong on this one.

#7 Mats Naslund says:
November 10, 2009 at 8:29 pm

Lets not forget that Lats makes just about the league minimum. Right now we’re looking for him to produce as a guy who makes much more. What is Latendresse right now? A league min player who has loads of potential, and lots of problems. While I’ve been fairly good to Andri Kost. He is one guy who absolutely needs to produce now that he’s back on the top lines.

#8 Senet1 says:
November 10, 2009 at 11:16 pm

If PK played as hard as he should and gets him mind in the game he would be the answer to our prayers, maybe he was only as good as Kovalev let him be????

#9 Senet1 says:
November 10, 2009 at 11:16 pm

not PK AK sorry

#10 Joseph says:
November 11, 2009 at 7:31 pm

It may also be possible that Leclair needed to get out of Montreal to realise his true potential.

Some players falter in high-pressue environments and thrive in less-pressure environments. Maybe Latendresse is one of those players? Maybe not.

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Last Message 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

goalie : Any thoughts out there? I watched the Oilers - Red Wings. THAT was excitement.
Senet1 : Gomez Buyout cap hi Scott Gomez buyout from CapGeek.com ◦ 2012-13: $3,523,810 ◦ 2013-14: $4,523,810 ◦ 2014-15: $1,666,667 ◦ 2015-16: $1,666,667 t.
Senet1 : Well I never thought he would see February but here we are and he is still there. The problem is and most people are like this they hate to admit that they made a mistake. A mistake of hiring PG.
goalie : Habs MUST announce that PG is fired well before the trading deadline. The trouble is is that we know we have to change players, we have a lame GM and the new GM coming in will then inherit players that Gauthier gets. FIRE his ass now! I am wondering, do Molson's know how to run an organization. Doesn't seem like it to me at this time.
HabsLoseAgain : Keep it french and keep it real lol
HabsLoseAgain : PG must be blowing jeff molson hard if he still has a job at this point.
HabsLoseAgain : Ans just think guys PG is gonna lead us to the trade deadline bahahahaha Scary eh?
goalie : One could go on adn on about our woes. Get in a new GM whow knows what it takes to win in the NHL (that would be size, skating and puck control Pierre)and try step by step to rebuild. and ... with a new coaching staff also.
goalie : Nice to see you also look at the stats as they don't usually lie. Unfortunately the |Gomez contract absolutely tied the GM's hands. We essentially have a cap of $7 M bveloew the other teams as Gomez may as well be tanning in Mexico. Gionat has NOT been a successful captain. Gill is aging (but at leats he gives 100%) Campoli adn Kaberle have not played as wella s I thought they would.
Senet1 : We need to draft a couple of star forwards who can score and become game breakers. It is hard to get these types of players in trades although Parise is available, so is Bobby Ryan. There is 60 goals a year. Gomez has now gone a full year without scoring a goal. So how much is that $7+ M per goal. So $7M divided by 0 is zero. So you see math does not lie. That is pretty good stat???????
Senet1 : You cannot win games unless with a team like this unless all 20 players I playing well. Even if you have 20 players playing well they still need guidance from the coaches.
Senet1 : PK played a H_ell of a game today Eller played well but had two wingers that were pretty useless on his line. To me there are a lot of positives on this team, put when you do not have any super star scorer like most teams then you need to play as a 20 man team.
Senet1 : We I have to disagree a little, I admit things do not look good, but until the second goal we were outplaying them but not finishing anything, when you look how hard some of the guys were working in the corners to get the puck out front and when they did no body was there to shoot it or deflect it. I thought that our #1 line played really well but when a team only has to worry about shutting down one line it usually is easy. Budia played well, could not fault him on any of the goals. PK played
goalie : is sinking!!!
goalie : ...and that boat
goalie : In other years there would be lots of partivipants on this blog. Our team's performance this season has been a total turn-off even for the bloggers. Mark my words.... we will NEVER know but I would bet my last cent that it will not be easy to sign a new coach in Montreal. This franchise is in deep deep trouble. Ther eare essentially no good veternas to build around, so we;re going to have to try and build using 20 year olds. Oilers tried that and were a complete failure. We're in the same boat
goalie : Can anyone come up with anything positive about our perforance today? I honestly cannot!
goalie : Even laayers like Cole, Pacs. Bourque seemed totally frustrated today. What we are seeng is the result of poor management over the past 5 or so seasons. The job wasnt dopne now we have a team that is probably the easiest team in the NHL to play against!
goalie : At least Deharnais is trying BUTR he is not and never will be a number 1 or even 2 center. When he goes up gainst bigger players he simply can't get anything done offensively. Thisis not to question his effort!
Senet1 : Basically we have one line and Washington was able to shut them down. We need a game breaker, even the other worse teams in the league have a game breaker we do not. Someone to bury the puck.
Senet1 : If you can score goals then eventually the defence and goalies will take care of the other end.
Senet1 : We need to go after goal scorers I would rather lose a game 6-5 and 1-0.
Senet1 : Well if you cannot score which has been our problem all year you cannot win games.
Mats Naslund : sorry - on replay he didn't touch the puck - which is an issue as well, but still as soft as can be in his own end. terrible play that probably does it.
Mats Naslund : BRUTAL giveaway by Kaberle kills the game.. soft as tissue.
Mats Naslund : Cole - dangerous shot.. but blocked again.
Mats Naslund : 18 blocks for WAS today.. all offense has been pretty chippy.
Senet1 : On the day before the trading deadline, I would put Gomez on waivers and see if someone selects him.
Senet1 : Oh better coaching and better attitude with some of the players. Some players like Plekanec seem to be working hard but not accomplishing anything.
Senet1 : Itn't it amazing how a coach has turned that team around. At one time Montreal had more points than they did. I have said it all year, if we could get a coach who could get these guys playing as a team we are a lot better team than we are showing. That is why I do not think that we have to do a lot to turn this team around, it is a matter of better scoring and better defensive systems 5-5. Lets face it you do not have a real bad defence when you have the top PK in the league. The kids are mat
goalie : In our rebuilding for nect year the FIRST things I would work toward is a new power play alignment - even if that means trading a guy like Plex. We need layers who can control the puck and do that thing called score. Then we go from there. Our PP has been the basis of player frustration that has now grown to virtually every apsect of the game.
goalie : Unfortunately for Budaj that was the correct call. Great save. Gomez must be totally embarrassed just like his play has been for the past year.--Yes the Blues are better than the Habs because they are COACHED BETTER not because they have vastly better talent.
Mats Naslund : no shots on that powerplay - if you can call it that.
Mats Naslund : 2 more chances after a brutal PP but they are blocked again.
Mats Naslund : More plekanec on the point?? come on!