Game 77: Habs/Islanders

Must win. Nothing else to say.

The Canadiens simply can’t lose twice to the league’s worse team in the last stretch of the season.

Related Bookmarks Tags

There are currently no tags for this post.

Leave a Comment

8 Comments

#1 Joseph says:
April 2, 2009 at 9:38 pm

Powerplay – Check
Penalty Killing – Check
Goaltending – Check
1st line – Check
3rd line – Check
4th line – Check
Georges Laraque – Check
2nd line – ?

#2 Senet1 says:
April 2, 2009 at 10:34 pm

Well I hate to blow my own horn but when everyone was wanting to get rid of Dandy, I was saying how valuable a player like him can be when it comes to versatility. I must admit that I had some weak moments when things were going badly and trying to find a package of players that we could trade to get some offensive help. But overall I have always said that I like what Dandy brought to this team. Unfortunately or fortunately you never get to see this value until our defence gets injured and we need someone to step into playing defence. Dandy is a natural defenceman and remember he helped the wings win a cup not too long ago.

#3 Senet1 says:
April 2, 2009 at 10:36 pm

Well it is onto Toronto, we need to show them that we are a good team and win that game. They were the team that woke us up two weeks ago when we got out played badly. It was like we hit bottom and suddenly realized that you cannot win without 100% effort. So now lets show them how a real team plays.

#4 Donnie says:
April 3, 2009 at 12:15 am

You’re noticing the exact same thing I am Joseph….no second line scoring. We are playing much better all round hockey than a few weeks ago, but is this lack of secondary scoring gonna be our Achilles heel again this post-season?
Even finishing first last season, we were still bounced rather easily from the playoffs. Hoping for the best here, but looking at last season as a guide, it’s probably gonna go something like this….shut down our first line, hit, bang and crash all of our forwards into submission, and get bounced once again.
Kudos to Gainey and our squad for turning things around, but we have 5 games left to get our 2nd liners hitting the scoreboard or it’s gonna spell trouble. GO HABS GO !!!

#5 Mats Naslund says:
April 3, 2009 at 7:31 am

It was a solid effort against a team that is simply decimated by injury and trade. The Islanders had two more rookies make their pro debut last night – which brings the running total to 18… wow. This team needs its goaltender, its best defenseman, and one of its best forwards back, as well as about 6 years worth of #1 picks. Hopefully they can get the new Arena built, because it would be really sad to see a franchise with such rich history die such a painful death – especially if that means another franchise in a football market like Kansas City. I won’t get into the lunacy of the NHL’s desire for #4 status in mid sized American markets (behind football, college football, college basketball – and probably NASCAR, golf, arena football, poker ..yadda yadda).. Not that there are any ACTUAL hockey markets without teams right now..

Back to the Canadiens. It has been refreshing to watch them lately. The brutal unconfident team of the past few months is gone. The swagger is back and now we are in the driver seat as far as the playoffs goes. The 2nd line is stalled right now, but if it wasn`t for a post last night Kostitsyn would have had his 24th and an enormous monkey off of his back.

Personally I think it is unlikely that the habs will move any higher in the standings. This isn`t due to a sense that they will stop winning so much as I don`t see the teams ahead losing. The most likely candidate to fall is the Flyers, but since we don`t play them, and they have a game in hand over the rest of the conference, I think 7th may be our resting place which to me is fine because it gives us Washington in the first round. I think the Habs match up as good with Washington as anyone in the conference. It would still be a crazy series, but they lack the physical grit that has given Montreal problems in the past. Speaking of which – if the 4th line continues to play with such efficient handling of the puck, there will be no need to talk about Montreal`s lack of physicality. I`d love to see a guy like Lucic or Hartnell or Avery take liberties when he`s matched up against Laraque and Stewart.

#6 kevin77 says:
April 3, 2009 at 7:54 am

If we continue to play like this I believe we could make it to the finals and even win it all.

#7 Senet1 says:
April 3, 2009 at 8:56 pm

Well Kevin77, your my kind of guy talking positive is what we need. It may be over the top but as hab fans you got to believe. Here is how I see things playing out.

Rangers beat Boston in seven,
Canadiens beat Washington in six
Carolina takes New Jersey to seven and win
Pittsburg wins against philly in six.

Pittsburg beats rangers in seven
Canadiens beat Carolina in seven
Montreal beats Pittsburg in six

The West will be just as vcrazy with either Calgary or Vancouver surprising everyone and we have a All Canadian final.

Now how is that for optumism?

#8 Mats Naslund says:
April 4, 2009 at 11:55 am

All upsets huh Senet1? !)

I personally see it shaking down this way:

Boston over Rangers in 5
Canadiens over Washington in 7 (who would i be if I didn’t pick us to upset in the first round?)
Pittsburgh over New Jersey in 7
Carolina over Philly in 6

Boston over Montreal in 7 (sorry fellas I think they’re for real this year
Pittsburgh over Carolina in 6

Pittsburgh over Boston (who are so banged up after a knock-down-drag-out series with the Habs) in 6

A useless prediction, but one I can see happening!

Leave a Comment

ShoutBox

Last Message 1 day, 17 hours ago

muller93 : MB is forced to go out and get a big D-man. Missing Emelin for almost half the season is the last thing we needed to hear. Now going out and getting a big D-man is a MUST!!!
muller93 : Now for the Fu**en Bruins who have no business even being in the second round are going to get a nice rest. Yes the same goons who took out one of best D-man for 6 more months. There is NO Fu**en justice. Just venting--Ok i feel better now.
muller93 : So pissed to see the Rangers lay down and play like total crap. How did the Rangers beat the Caps? This team is playing with no heart--a must win and can only muster 23 shots...PATHETIC !!!
muller93 : Senet I did see Galchenyuks goal--Made a great move for the game winner. You can see the kid has so much confidence.
goalie : If Rangers get swept I wonder if Tortorella will get his walking papers? Or Glen Sather? They have tons of 'talent' but zero wins in this series.
goalie : It's really too bad we lost to the Sens as we would have played the Rangers and the way NYR are playing we would have beat them too. If only. If only!
Senet1 : Actually I agree it was a good move for them to play a shorter season and get the experience. He could not have played in the minors this year he would have had to play junior or the NHL. However, he now has a year under him and knows what to expect next year and hopefully take a bigger responsibility on the team. Did you see those two goals in the bronze game? Wow.
muller93 : Good move by the Habs not having Galchenyuk play in the minors. Now Galchenyuk has 1 year in the NHL and playoff experience this is going to pay off big time come next year.
Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year