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Post by rocky on Jan 26, 2003 16:29:56 GMT -5
Exciting loosey-goosey game. First Hab goal by "sunny." Markov simply awesome! Oh by the way, I'm pinch-hitting for Marc who is not available right now.
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Post by PTH on Jan 26, 2003 16:31:10 GMT -5
A 1-goal game, and the 3 stars are Habs ? After the stars yesterday (3 Habs in a tie), I'm disgusted at the star selection...
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Post by rocky on Jan 26, 2003 16:33:10 GMT -5
A 1-goal game, and the 3 stars are Habs ? After the stars yesterday (3 Habs in a tie), I'm disgusted at the star selection... File it under squatters rights Paul. This nonsense is happening all over the league.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 16:33:39 GMT -5
A 1-goal game, and the 3 stars are Habs ? After the stars yesterday (3 Habs in a tie), I'm disgusted at the star selection... Renew your media credentials.
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Post by Rhiessan on Jan 26, 2003 16:33:46 GMT -5
Thought it was right on today if it wasn't for our 4th line sucking this one would of been a complete blow out.
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Post by Viper on Jan 26, 2003 16:37:36 GMT -5
Markov is incredible what a great game he played. The saku Zed line was great Hossa has some sweet hands that shot (and Markov's ) off the post was a sweet play. Bulis had a great game again did i mention he scored the game winner again oh ya eyes left people.
Traverse man he's frustrating to watch PTH as much as you and JV agree on him being in over his head i can't understand why he's so deep in the water. hopefully this recent improvement by Rivet and a returning Souray will put this guy back where he belongs in the minors or the press box.
Ribs. benched for the third his days are numbered trade bait i'll take the draft pick at this point.
overall with the exception of the first period it was a great hockey game.
oh and also Congratulations Niklas on your first goal as a hab !!!!
one last thing BULIS had 2 points ;D !!!
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Post by rocky on Jan 26, 2003 16:38:22 GMT -5
Ribs' line was a minus 2 today. Dacks playing on lw didn't look too comfortable. Oh well back to the drawing board.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 16:40:59 GMT -5
The win leapfrogs us ahead of the Islanders, Pens and Bolts. Also puts us only 3 back of the Make Beliefs.
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Post by rocky on Jan 26, 2003 16:47:51 GMT -5
The win leapfrogs us ahead of the Islanders, Pens and Bolts. Also puts us only 3 back of the Make Beliefs. Man one win and we move up that far, this is soooo tight. Lets hope that we can keep avoiding loses because every point is huge now. Anybody want T-Bo back? I'll stick with Theo thank you. Hawks looked very sliggish today, it would have been horrible not to win this game.
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Post by seventeen on Jan 26, 2003 16:55:02 GMT -5
In no particular order:
Traverse had on ok game today. A few things that are troubling about him are that he has a terrible panic threshhold. On one play where Chicago was putting on pressure, three hawks were tied up in front of Theo (Traverse was on the periphery) and the puck came to him. The Hab forwards started to take off and instead of taking two strides and then moving the puck, he panicked and cleaered the zone. Off the boards of course. It didn't hurt us, but it took away what would have been a 3 on 2 at worst. He's not the best guy at fighting people off the puck either. Hmmmmm, what does he do well? Stick check. He broke up a Hawks 3 on 2 with a good poke check.
Koivu is great, Keep Hossa and Zed together and that line will score a lot of points. Is the little guy creative or what?
Markov keeps improving. Nuff said
Ribs had a good game offensively. Defensively...well, he's Mike. Bad luck, too as Arnason's shot was going wide till it hit Quintal. The mistake happened about 5 seconds earlier when the Habs who were each checking a man (3 of them) got confused and moved back a bit to sort out who to take and that gave Chicago some extra time without pressure.
Bulis keeps getting better all the time as well.
So nice to see the Habs a bit bigger than they have been and competing along the boards and winning their share of battles, even against bigger players. The team speed has improved.
Our breakout and positional play is sooooo much better. PTH, it's going to be very hard to not compare CJ to MT. Just like poor Reggie. Two years later and the differences are still noticed. That's because the differences aren't minor. They're glaring...black hole to super nova. (The reverse of the usual process).
Did Chicago play Saturday? Second game in less than 19 hours for the Habs and though they slowed a little in the 3rd, they didn't peter out. (Sorry HA). Quick line changes? Using the 4th line? (though it hurt). Anyway. good effort, good result. Extrapolate the last 5 games and we're in like Flynn.
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Post by PTH on Jan 26, 2003 17:02:10 GMT -5
Our breakout and positional play is sooooo much better. PTH, it's going to be very hard to not compare CJ to MT. Just like poor Reggie. Two years later and the differences are still noticed. That's because the differences aren't minor. They're glaring...black hole to super nova. (The reverse of the usual process). Thx for a peek at the game. As to coaching, a real comparison between the two is one thing, taking cheap potshots just for the heck of it is another. It's like with Houle as you say - we all know Houle was not a good GM, but he wasn't completely foolish either. Not everything Houle or MT did was bad, and not everything AS or CJ does is good.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 17:05:57 GMT -5
7 of 10 possible points under Julien. A .700 clip. Wasn't it Demers who said recently that the Habs would have to play .600 hockey until the end of the season in order to make the playoffs? Looks like we can coast now
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 17:16:55 GMT -5
Habs led in shots 31-19 and faceoffs won, 52%.
Dackell-Ribeiro-McKay all -2 in under 7 minutes ice time for each player.
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Post by CalgaryHab on Jan 26, 2003 17:19:21 GMT -5
I agree Therien is gone now we can look to the future again. About time we start to see a aggresive forecheck with our speed. Sundstrom had a good game. Played like I was hoping he would. Nice to see him on the back check all the time. Him and Bulis seemed to read each other well also. So throw Pearrault between them. Juneau should be on the 4th when Kilger gets back. Ribs won't do much if he never gets a finisher to play with. Mckay and Dackall don't compliment him. Ribs with Gratton and Ward would look better. Dykuis played ok today so I think it's time for Traverse to sit for Hainsey on tuesday. Hainsey did nothing wrong for him to warrent missing more games. The worst he could do is be a Traverse anyway Was pretty happy with the team play over all.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 26, 2003 18:12:04 GMT -5
oh baby!!
great comeback. 3rd comeback since CJ took over. Habs did not deserve to be down 2-0 in the first and the game turned around in the 2nd. Our speed was great, we created all kinds of trouble for that mediocre Hawks D and did a great job with our transition game
Markov was a monster...Koivu played well once again...Zed had loads of chances..Gilmour played like he was 25 years old, viper's boy Bulis showed good hands on the goal and aside from the 4th line...this was an excellent game
That save Theo made on Sullivan with the game on the line was awesome. So was the job Hossa did with under a minute to go deep in Hawks zone. He must have killed at least 25 seconds off the clock just keeping that puck along the boards and killing time.
Great win. Great game to watch. Back in the playofs! WOOHOO. I wanted 3 points out of 4 this weekend and we got them ;D
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Post by legaspesien on Jan 26, 2003 19:38:12 GMT -5
The 2nd period of today's game was one of the verry best period of hockey that I listenned latelay
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Post by Doc Holliday on Jan 26, 2003 20:31:26 GMT -5
Well you don't have to wait for the second game of the HNIC double header to see an exciting game anymore!!! That's the best HABS game I've seen in a while. The boys are always looking to attack, the transition game is smooth and quick... Dmen continually help out offensively... Julien's system is the best I've seen in Montreal since Demers, it actually lies on creating offense (after 6 years of defensive hockey, it's a breath of fresh air)... I've been impressed with both weekend games.
The 4th line is the only line that don't give a 2nd effort... There will be changes...
Petrov... swirles and spins and hustles and achieves...nothing... blows chances, breaks offensive rushes... defensively never covers his men. Though you can't question the work ethic, I really don't like this player when he gets too much icetime. He could energized the 4th line though.
Hossa - Koivu - Zed Bulis - Gilmour - Chow Kilger - Juneau - Sundstrom McKay - Ribs - Petrov
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 26, 2003 20:57:41 GMT -5
I really don't know if Petrov has a place on a cup contending team..or a real good team for that matter.
For a skilled guy he can't score and for an energy guy he doesn't really hit...
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 21:08:50 GMT -5
I really don't know if Petrov has a place on a cup contending team..or a real good team for that matter. For a skilled guy he can't score and for an energy guy he doesn't really hit... No, but as Doc said, he sure does move around an awful lot. And quickly too.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 26, 2003 21:15:18 GMT -5
but his hands and decision making...that drives me nuts...
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Post by AH on Jan 26, 2003 21:22:30 GMT -5
Ugh Oleg .. how many chances does he have to sqander ? As for Hossa being out there in the last minute, GREAT move by Julien to show confidence in his young player. Gave him specific instruction to keep the puck along the boards and he killed about 25 secods. Otherwise, I thought, Hossa had a tough game, missing some passes and fanning on pucks. It's little things like these that can make or break a kid's confidence. The boldest move Therrien ever made was send out Audette in the last minute with the net empty and a 2 goal lead, just so that Donald could get his second goal of the night. What a useless move that was ... ugh I hated Therrien. I still have to pinch myself some times just to remind myself I am not dreaming.
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Post by Bones on Jan 26, 2003 21:24:15 GMT -5
Ugh Oleg .. how many chances does he have to sqander ? As for Hossa being out there in the last minute, GREAT move by Therrien to show confidence in his young player. LOL Yeah Therriens really got the team on a roll now!!! ;D
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Post by AH on Jan 26, 2003 21:25:45 GMT -5
LOL Yeah Therriens really got the team on a roll now!!! ;D ok its changed now ;D
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Post by Viper on Jan 26, 2003 21:28:00 GMT -5
Speaking of that last minute i was totally impressed to see Saku, Zedd, Hossa, Markov, And Briser out there. go all offense in the last minute when holding a one goal lead finally a coach with a brain. As it was proven it's pretty tuff for the hawks to tie it when our offense has em hemmed in their own zone. hell they barely got thibault out of the net near the end.
CJ Welcome aboard. i held that back until i had a chance to see what you'd bring and i like it.
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Post by MPLABBE on Jan 26, 2003 21:30:51 GMT -5
yup no more Juneau and Dackell in last minute...small players with no speed against the other team's best player is not the way to go. Saku and Zed have great speed, will get those empty netters and are solid defensively.
Hossa did a great job taking 20-30 seconds off that clock keeping that puck down low in Hawks zone. Really impressive. he needs to score a goal soon to get his confidence going again
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 26, 2003 21:37:01 GMT -5
Speaking of that last minute i was totally impressed to see Saku, Zedd, Hossa, Markov, And Briser out there. go all offense in the last minute when holding a one goal lead finally a coach with a brain. As it was proven it's pretty tuff for the hawks to tie it when our offense has em hemmed in their own zone. hell they barely got thibault out of the net near the end. CJ Welcome aboard. i held that back until i had a chance to see what you'd bring and i like it. Julien's most repeated, by him, quote since he's been here: "We'll concentrate on doing what it takes to win. Let the other team worry about adjusting to us." Aggressive positivism, backed by a methodical, balanced system of play and intelligent on-the-fly improvisation. A breath of fresh air indeed. To paraphrase Juneau - no more rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a corner.
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Post by AH on Jan 26, 2003 21:57:35 GMT -5
All of a sudden our suspect, porous defense doesn't look so bad. Gee I wonder why ...
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Post by habwest on Jan 27, 2003 0:01:21 GMT -5
To follow up a point 17 made-
Ribs line was a -2 in less than 7 minutes ice time. Pretty ugly. We do need that 4th line. Presumably CJ will keep experimenting until he finds it or someone is brought up to make it work.
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Post by Rhiessan on Jan 27, 2003 0:18:42 GMT -5
Hopefully Kilger coming back will help the 4th on the +/- and physical side of things. If not we're gonna be watching 6-9 mins every game of us getting killed.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Jan 27, 2003 0:26:26 GMT -5
Thx for a peek at the game. As to coaching, a real comparison between the two is one thing, taking cheap potshots just for the heck of it is another. It's like with Houle as you say - we all know Houle was not a good GM, but he wasn't completely foolish either. Not everything Houle or MT did was bad, and not everything AS or CJ does is good. Well said PTH. Not everything Houle or Therrien did was bad, it just seemed that way. Not everything Julien does is good, but there's a lot more good than bad. Not everything Savard did was bad, but with his contract negotiations, support for Therrien, and hokey pokey trades his +/- is not good. The team is playing well and lets look forward to better times ahead. Deux questions? What is wrong with Ribeiro? It's gotta be in his head. He started training camp and the season on fire and now seems to lack confidence. Julien, give the kid a chance. What is wrong with Traverse? Julien, give him a chance, in Hamilton. Julien, use Brisebois properly. Use him on the point on the powerplay and use him when we are up by five goals. The rest of the time keep him on the bench beside Juneau and Dackell.
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