If it was better/more consistent, we would have finished the Bruins earlier and likely would have beat the Flyers (or at least forced them to play from behind).
Grit.
Yeah, I think a little more sandpaper would help. Crashing the net is just what the doctor ordered for the Flyers series. We need guys who will do this consistently.
I want to see Gainey make some trades this Summer, or pick up some UFA's. I know his record says otherwise, but we need to add some things and I think we'll have the cap space to do so.
Gainey has never given up on anything in his life....
He tried to get an impact player three times for this team...
The summer he signed Samsonov we knew that wasn't our first choice.... it ended up a failure.
Last summer we tried to get Briere, Ryan Smyth... etc....
This year we went after Hossa hard...
I bet he tries again.... Like I said; Gainey is not a quitter.
Gainey has never given up on anything in his life....
He tried to get an impact player three times for this team...
The summer he signed Samsonov we knew that wasn't our first choice.... it ended up a failure.
Last summer we tried to get Briere, Ryan Smyth... etc....
This year we went after Hossa hard...
I bet he tries again.... Like I said; Gainey is not a quitter.
Yeah I think your right, just pisses me off that it seems like every other team can do it.
I failed to see an emoticon, so I assume you're serious and should be answered the way you deserve. To put it bluntly, there are very few Habs with leadership qualities. One of them is Saku Koivu.
My dear uninformed little nativist, I suspect that the people you listen to got their media jobs through political connections, not through merit, and they harbor unsupportable biases. As the neutral broadcasters, commentators, and reporters pointed out, the weakness was in the D corps and the goaltending. If you're impugning Koivu, just remember that the Habs were in deep trouble against the Bruins until he returned. He had a great faceoff percentage and scored at least 1 point in each of the 7 games he played. He never took a night off. If not for Koivu the Habs would have gone the way of the Washingon Capitals in the 1st round.
You're absolutely right. Not to mention that Biron was astounding in that series.
He was not so outstanding in game 5. The Habs kept coming at him and they punctured the shell he had around him. With better goaltending and decent performances from Brisebois, Hamrlik, and Streit, the Habs should have won the game.
The lack of size is being overplayed. It was more than overcome by our superior puck-handling and passing, as evidenced by the shot counts. This series was decided by a combination of two things:
60% bad breaks
40% shaky goaltending
Please add: Brisebois pinching and allowing Umberger to zoom past him. Bad coverage by Hamrlik. Bad control of the point by Streit and Markov on the PP. What's the matter, you didn't notice?
it wasn't one thing. it varied from game to game - as it usually does with a TEAM. we lacked sand paper, some grit - certainly on our scoring lines where guys weren't going into the danger zones and traffic to score.
we lacked timely goaltending.
we lacked on special teams, when we didn't get timely Penalty kills and timely goals on the PP.
we lacked size down the middle at center - which relates to point one.
we lacked discipline as noted by begin's penalty
but most of all i believe we lacked experience. this is and was a young and nervous team. you can't expect kovy and saku to carry an entire team. kovy was double teamed all series.
ps...judging from tonight we seemed to lack a cohesive defensive system. we had many many d-zone breakdowns..the kos jr give away on the breakaway to briere, the upshall tip in left ALL alone with 3 mins left in the game..
lack of experience and d-zone breakdowns over and over again
I disagree on the size down the middle. The centers did all right. The D men were not so solid. The point men on the power play were lousy.
Okay. THIS TEAM DID NOT LACK LEADERSHIP OH MY GOD.
Here's what the team lacked:
-About 3-5 years of NHL experience for its goalie.
-Playoff experience for much of its roster.
-A willingness to get down and dirty and win at all costs.
-Luck.
Guys like Koivu, Kostopoulous, Higgins, and Begin I thought showed great leadership on the ice. None of them has enough talent to win games by themselves and yet each of them still contributed on the score sheet.
Plekanec was right. He played like a girl. It must be an incredibly disappointing playoffs for him. I expect a lot more from him and both Kostitsyn brothers next year.
What the team lacked was what got it to first in the conference: the power play. It was shabby and terrible. I also think this young team lacked the mental toughness necessary to win. Next year should be better, but in the meantime, I am going to be pissed off and bored for at least the next 5 months.
Plekanec played better than you think. He scored goals in games 3, 4, and 5.Unfortunately, his 3rd period heroics in game 4 were ruined by someone else's stupid penalty.
Okay. THIS TEAM DID NOT LACK LEADERSHIP OH MY GOD.
Here's what the team lacked:
-About 3-5 years of NHL experience for its goalie.
-Playoff experience for much of its roster.
-A willingness to get down and dirty and win at all costs.
-Luck.
A better goalie performance, veterans and what we missed the most : A DEFENSIVE LINE. With a Radek Bonk in our lineup, we would have shutdown Umberger's line...
You didn't noticer than Bonk played like crap in the latter part of the season after a promising start? It echoed what he did in Montréal. Down the stretch and in the playoffs, Smolinski was far better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by googlymoogly
Well Roy had some good players to help him. Larry Robinson. Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau for leadership and a young Chris Chelios and Ludwig the shot blocking machine.
Oh, but the Habs have Brisebois!
Last edited by Beakermania*: 05-04-2008 at 12:16 AM.
They had RJ Umburger. This is the guy that kept looking at his stick after he scored a goal and not believing what had just taken place. What did we have? Chris Higgins and Gui Latendresse. Series over.
Their goaltending was just a tad better than ours. I say tad, because Biron had a lot of luck bounce his way, not so much for Price.
You didn't noticer than Bonk played like crap in the latter part of the season after a promising start? It echoed what he did in Montréal. Down the stretch and in the playoffs, Smolinski was far better.
you didn't notice bonk was not used properly in nashville ? he wasn't even playing on the PK and was used in a offensive role with mediocre linemates. that explains his stats. everyone who saw him play last season knows he's supposed to play only in a defensive role. btw, is that you're first year you're a fan of the habs ? because it seems you already forget how great was bonk for us last season.
They had RJ Umburger. This is the guy that kept looking at his stick after he scored a goal and not believing what had just taken place. What did we have? Chris Higgins and Gui Latendresse. Series over.
Their goaltending was just a tad better than ours. I say tad, because Biron had a lot of luck bounce his way, not so much for Price.
