Habs vs Leafs [Round 1]

The first of what should be another six classic Hockey game’s gets underway tonight in Toronto.

The Leafs have no pressure and no expectations to do anything but be a horrible team this year. The Canadiens the opposite, already under heavy surveillance.

The Habs stumbled a bit out of the gate in their first game, but still managed a point on the road against a competitive Sabres team.

The Leafs come in confident after defeating the Cup champ Red Wings in their home opener.

The Habs begin with 4 games in a 6 day span and Jaroslav Halak will get the call in nets tonight.

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13 Comments

#1 PACTUM SERVA says:
October 11, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Leafs will come into tonights game a little to confident. Habs will have game faces on after a so so game last night. 5-2 final Habs win

#2 groundworking says:
October 11, 2008 at 3:40 pm

Higgins, Koivu and Tanguay were rusty. Higgins and Tanguay have something to prove tonight, as they were both outplayed by the likes of Latendresse and Lapierre. I don’t like how Tanguay quits on the play–hopefully Carbo breaks him of that habit (If Kovalev isn’t quitting, then frigging Tanguay better find some fight!)

I thought Price looked good, Komisarek looked good (that goal was a bad bounce, not his fault), and Markov and O’Byrne looked good, but a bit rusty. Gorges played well. If Brisebois finishes the year with the Habs, I’m trying out for the team next year and I’ll write comments here about how good groundworking is, how tough he plays, and how all you guys should stop complaining about his giveaways because they were all because of the bad ice, etc.!

The Kats, Kovalev, Lang and Plekanac looked very good! Fun to watch!

#3 PACTUM SERVA says:
October 11, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Higgins did not even play last night, and if you thought latalentless played good then you didnt even watch the game….

#4 Dancan81 says:
October 11, 2008 at 3:56 pm

I can’t believe that the rds commentators were talking about how good Lats passing was last night during the game. He simply dumps the puck off the board and chases into the corners where his slow *** speed gets him beat everytime. Seriously why is he there? Nobody besides the coaches and SOME french commentators thinks he’s any good. Max P, should be playing on this team before Lats, no doubt about it. Are we all watching him play through some anti-Lantendresse goggles or does he really suck? I’m so confused.

#5 groundworking says:
October 11, 2008 at 6:32 pm

My apologies to Higgins–whoever played with Koivu and Tanguay sucked last night. I definitely do not think that Latendresse played a good game. He is my benchmark for “anything below this” and you’re in the minors.

Brisebois is worse than Latendresse. I also don’t know what the RDS people see in Latendresse.

#6 alias says:
October 11, 2008 at 7:40 pm

Latendresse just made a nifty pass on the 1st goal by Hamrlik

#7 Dancan81 says:
October 11, 2008 at 8:39 pm

He still sucks, lol, despite putting up some points.

#8 Lebeau says:
October 11, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Tanguay just proved himself. Man, they looked good tonight!

#9 hab faithful says:
October 12, 2008 at 12:07 pm

yes they did!

#10 Senet 1 says:
October 12, 2008 at 5:07 pm

Even Lats played good for two periods. It looks like Lang is fitting in nicely as well. Sergie had a great game and I think he earner is way on the two lines. I still would like to see him on the Line with his brother and Plex. He actually brings a little muscle and spirit to the line. That would free Kovalev up to play with Lang and and Leave Koivu’s line in tack for now. Halak played well against Toronto, I believe that he will be traded sometime this year for a number one draft pick hopefully top five.

#11 alias says:
October 12, 2008 at 7:44 pm

Lang is fitting in very well. Halak will definitely be traded IMO only if 2 things fall into place. Price shows that he is a bona fide #1and can handle the work load, and Denis needs to show he can be a capable back-up and can step in when needed and play well. If those things happen he will be dealt. I never thought of going for picks which is interesting, I had only thought about making a trade to fill a need (ie. lack of defense or specialty shutdown man)

#12 James says:
October 12, 2008 at 10:16 pm

The Habs look fantastic last night. The movement on and off the puck looked fantastic, and the power play looked better than last year’s.

Lets hope we can keep that performance level up the entire season.

#13 hab faithful says:
October 13, 2008 at 12:10 pm

I know we’re all excited about the win, but let’s put this into proper perspective, It was the leafs, who are a horrible team. The real test is tonight against a good team. If we beat the flyers, then we’re in for a good year. But first we must exorcise some demons, especially Price.

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Senet1 : I want the Bruins to win anyway so that we pick ahead of them in the Draft.
Senet1 : Muller you got your wish NYR won game 4. So the Bruins will have to play another game at least.
Senet1 : He may just bring all three of the kids up.
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.