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I think the last Habs game in LA Mathieu Garon made 70 saves.
Woops. It was 46 saves. Habs won 4-2 (Cristobal Huet was in nets for LA). But Here's a youtube of highlights from Ron Tugnutt's 70 save game.
It sure sucks being a Habs fan and living in Calgary. I am forced to watch two of most mind numbingly boring teams in history, the Oilers and the Flames. The Oilers just won in overtime 2 to 1 over the Bluejackets. Now Sportsnet is showing the Flames, they are playing at home against Nashville. This should be an intense game, it is 15 minutes into the first and the Flames have ZERO shots on net. The crowd is so quiet you can hear the players yelling to each other on the ice. I have had the misfortune to watch many games in the Western division and I am not impressed. None of the teams have any pizzaz or offensive creativity. The teams are all built around a great goalie and trying to win 1 to 0 games. When they do score it is invariably off the low cycle game, they do not have the talent to score off the rush like the Habs.
I really think this Western division is over rated. Why does everyone think the Ducks are so great? The Ducks play the same boring style as every other team in this division. I think they are vulnerable to a team with speed and creativity.
Dude, I can't say I feel your pain since you're way out west. But I'm from Mississauga, and all I EVER hear about are the Leafs.
With regards to what you said about Anaheim, they are a tough team. They don't back down from fights or dirty hockey and they have the firepower to score a lot.
If the Habs can get tougher, I definitely think they can beat the Ducks.
This is how it works. We would dominate them, they would get pissed, get physical or fight, then we'd back down, they'd capitalize.
You know who else uses this game plan against the Habs: The Rangers, which is why the 5-0 comeback was such a landmark game because they were able to exercise their "fear" of the Rangers and absolutely dominate them.
I hope Halak owns tomorrow and I really hope they beat Anaheim on Sunday.
_____________________________________________________________
1. February 19th, 2008, a day which will live in sublimity.
The Ducks, like several other western teams, are not as tough as they are dirty. It would be impossible for the refs to call all the infractions. But you know, they would only have to do it once or twice and the dirty stuff would definatey be cut down. Watching the west play is like watching American Gladiators. The refs put their whistles away for some reason and the eastern teams struggle against them out there. I don't think it has as must to do with travel as dirty play.
Watch Sunday to see what I mean. Not sure if LA is as bad.
I hope rthe team plays confidently with Halak in today, should be a good game for the offensive guys.
Go Habs Go
You know, we DO LIVE in the GTA. One would certainly expect that the local media would cover the leafs, almost exclusively. Now, the publically funded national media......
Anaheim IS a boring trap team with a suspect goaltender, that can't seem to win without Neidermeyer or Selanne. I guess they figured that they need to score goals to win also, not just bully the opposite team and keep their own goalie from facing too many shots.
on a completely different topic...
i was just snooping around the NHL stats site and saw that we are actually TIED for the LEAD with Ottawa in Goals Per Game.
http://www.nhl.com/nhlstats/app?fetchKey=20082ALLAAAAll&page=Stats&servi...
so we now lead (or share the lead) in 2 categories: PP, and G/G, and are 3rd in terms of fewest Losses.
yawn. :)
It doesn't matter if the Grabovski story is true or not. Why does french media always blow everything out of proportion?? For once, there was no contrevercies,players are happy as a team, and you go and report unsubstenciated story like this?? They are on the other coast, just let them be and let them deal with the issues themselves. It seems nowhere is far enough, when you want to get away from french media. French players on the other hand can do no wrong in this city...
Before you shoot your mouth off about the French media and french players you should get the facts first,we as fans deserve the right to know what is going on with our team ,no matter if they are French or Irish.
Hey guys and gals,It is nice to see all this hype about Halak playing,but you have to remember who our #1 goldie is and we finally do have a #1goldie, sure hope that if Halak loses that you will be easy on him because he is a rookie,I hope he dosen't let in any easy goals, or look out of place ,or go down to early,because he will know about it from his fans on here,because that is how you treat Price.When he wins please find all the good points he has done and praise him for that.
grabs can kiss my ass. ride the fckin bus all the way back to hamilton and take a flight back to the mother land of where ever the skinny whiny baby is from. He is a rookie for one, not even that good on NHL level, did NOTHING at all for the habs this year or any other year. So what he had a good week in hamilton , that only bought him a ticket to atlanta where is was supposed to be going. After Ryder handles his benching with so much class this little piece of crap never deserves to wear the montreal jersey again. p.s. this rant only counts if the story is true , if not, grabs can still kiss my ass if he wants.
Probably best to wait and see if all this crap about him is true before you burn all your Grabs jerseys.
guess ya forgot to finish reading. check the p.s part.
how true .
LMAO, this was funny
"Are the Habs ready to pay the Price?"
Great I get to see my second favorite goalie tomorrow. He will do just fine. Halak's got the cool calm that runs through the veins of all our goalies. He will do just fine. Last year he only lost when the D let him down, I watched every game. The D doesn't take nights off this year like they did last year. Everyone lets in the odd weak goal. He'll do just fine. If Kalak was in net on the final game last year, we would have made the playoffs. I'm positive of this. He'll do just fine.
Go Habs Go
Yeah that 4 minute penalty that Begin took right at the end of the second probably had nothing to do with the loss, or the fact that Montreal mustered ZERO in the third period of that game. Leafs wanted that game more then us, period.
If you're trying to give Huet a by on that game, it's not going to work. Carbo doesn't get one either. It was the wrong goalie and bad decision.
Go Habs Go
Hey I didn't know you were the authority on who gets a "by" in this world, thats really cool. We were going to lose that game no matter who was in net based on how we played. Carbo had a tough choice, he's gonna take flack either way.
In the end, we left our fate to the last game of the season, the Leafs scored several lucky goals, we took very bad penalties, Huet let in a very weak second goal and we mustered zero in the third. We lead that game 5-3 and they scored the final two goals on the PP.
This all last year - who cares, we have the best team in the east this year focus on that.
I have this funny feeling that we may be playing the leafs in the first round...
that is we finish 1st and they 8th.
don't ever underestimate the power of the Toronto NHL Syndicate....
---------
1. WE ARE DEAD MEAT WITHOUT OUR OWN POLICING
1. Feb 19, 2008 - History was made.
2. Thank GOD we have Alex Kovalev.....at his PRIME
3. The BELL CENTRE should be rebuilt to sit 80,000 fans
4. We will win the CUP
OH PLEASE! Someone has been watching far to much TSN and Hockey Night in Canada. The Laffs are dead man walking but are too stupid to realize it.
I'm not sure if what is being reported on RDS.ca as noted by Fun Police and Jason M. about Grabovski intentionally missing the next flight (because he was benched again) is true or just the french media blowing another issue out of context.
If Grabovski deliberately missed the flight then he's wrong. Forget for a minute that he may score more points than Dandenault, be faster than Smolinski or work harder than Latendresse. Forget the debate of whether Carbonneau should play him or not. All that doesn't matter. What matters is that Grabovski is young and has to pay his dues and wait for his turn.
Look at players like Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. They played at least 2 years in the AHL before making the big show and being regulars. Earlier this season Grabovski did squat with the Habs and went down and rightly so.
I saw Grabovski play with the Bulldogs before his recent call-up and he was on a tear. I do admire him having the fire and passion of wanting to play. I recall one of our famous legends whose number hangs from the hallowed rafters went nuts when he found out he might not be playing.
Having said all that, if veterans like Ryder, Smolinski, Begin and even Brisebois can sit out in the press box without much noise despite being unhappy then a young player like Grabovski has to sit tight. Imagine Halak who hasn't play a regular season game yet or a player like Chipchura who is still down in Hamilton? Are they entitled to throw hissy fits as well?
It appears that Gainey and Carbonneau will not discipline Grabovski as I'm sure they have dealt with the issue as they deem fit. However, if Grabovski pulls a suck again I'd have no problem sending him back to the AHL. And if he doesn't want to resign or would rather go back to Russia like Perezhogin so be it as Teacher has aptly noted.
Great post.
I heard on the radio that Grabs had the flu (as did RDS' Pierre Houde). The last thing the Habs need is something contagious, except wins.
Although I agree that Grabs is wrong in this particular situation, I still think that we can't put the entire blame on him. We do not know the full story here, and who's to say whether or not Carbo provided him with a tangible explanation to his benching prior to the Phoenix game? As I recall, last year - or even at the beginning of this year - Carbo had enormous difficulty communicating with his players (see Kovalex, Alex). Of course, it seems that he has improved in that aspect, but perhaps he still does have some shortcomings?
I also believe that when dealing with young prospects, the coaching staff as well as upper management have a responsibility towards their development. If you deal with them in the wrong way, you may end up losing them. Every player has a different personality, and it's up to management to deal with each of them accordingly. To be honest, I am still rather disappointed with losing Perezhogin. Sure, he's a crybaby but the guy was still young and was having a tough time adjusting to North American hockey. Habs management could have done a better job while dealing with him.
What's past is past, we can't do anything about it. However, this Grabs issue is still in progress, and I seriously hope Carbo does not jeopardize another young talent. Maybe Gainey should have kept Grabs in Hamilton for a little longer? Or maybe he should have waived a couple of our extra veterans to clear up some space for him?
In the end, Grabs made a childish decision (if what RDS is reporting is true), but the world is not black and white. We can't blindly blame everything on him without having analyzed the whole situation. A lot of parties are at fault here.
He's the coach! If he says you're not playing, you're not playing!!! You wanna play, show up and work hard in practice. There are NO excuses for childish behaviour such as that, if it is true. ESPECIALLY from a freaking rookie who IMO should have been left on the Hamilton playoff roster. I was shocked when I didn't see his name there.
"Are the Habs ready to pay the Price?"
Thanks teach ,that is he is an adult and is working for a living and when the boss teaches you to do what he wants you to do and you dont listen then you have to pay the price.We dont need no mor of the kids acting like kids time to smarten the hell up,and be a true canadines player................
difference being that Richard had already proven himself at that point, and was trying to return to the lineup from an injury...and Irwin kept making him sit...so he TRASHED THE DRESSING ROOM....that is one of my favourite scenes...then Irwin says "Thats the passion I want!"...when everyone thought he was going to get mad at Maurice.
as for GRAB...buddy, make your statements on the ice...you can't even shine RICHARDS dust....
this GRAB issue must be a big misunderstanding...you don't just miss a charter flight!..everyone gets on the bus together etc....where the heck was he? taking a shi#?
---------
1. WE ARE DEAD MEAT WITHOUT OUR OWN POLICING
1. Feb 19, 2008 - History was made.
2. Thank GOD we have Alex Kovalev.....at his PRIME
3. The BELL CENTRE should be rebuilt to sit 80,000 fans
4. We will win the CUP
That's how I understood it - he voluntarily missed the flight. Is Mark Gandler his agent? :)
That was a pretty stupid move. On one hand I understand why he'd be pissed with guys like Lats still in the lineup. But dude... 19 games in the league and you pull shit like that? Not smart.