The most frustrating thing about a percentages slump like this one is the panicked nonsense that gets written all over the place. Of course, when you keep losing by three it's easy to get fooled into thinking your team is playing a lot worse than it actually is, as the score colors every perception of the game.
It is, of course, a load of crap. Folks, this is nothing like the previous slumps they had back when they were actually bad, and would genuinely get pasted in all areas of the game. This time, they've outplayed teams more often than not and haven't been winning. They'll come out of this just like Washington came out of their own streak of bad luck. And they'll get to winning again... playing pretty much like they are now.
And I'm looking forward to the nonsense that will get written then to explain it.
I agree with this. Montreal has generally outplayed most of the teams this roadtrip, the only game they've won was the one they got outplayed(Carolina). The scores do not indicate the play in the slightest, the offense is completely snakebitten. I am not to worried at what is to come because as soon as the offense starts up again, Montreal will start winning games. Right now there are a lot of odd-men rushes because the defense is pinching way more than usual to help out the lack of scoring and are getting caught. Once the offense starts up we'll see less pinches and less odd-men rushes. Our forwards have 0 confidence right now, they are holding their sticks tighter and forcing their shots causing them to miss the net etc. The chances have been there, the finishing hasn't, but as usual things will get blown out proportion. Teams slump that's how sports work. Montreal is no different from other teams.
Anyway, MathMan I agree with your points. One thing I'd like to point out is that the start of this slump was due to coaching rather than the team. Martin panicked and sent this team in a spiral with stupid decisions after stupid decisions. He's a good coach when things are going well, but a bad one when things get rough. He's tries to pin losses on certain players and it looks like it just pisses the team off. He needs to relax and let his players get out of the groove especially since we were losing games because of a lack of finishing(we've outplayed most of the teams during our slump). A couple of fluke goals against and everything changes.
Habs should just be tossing more low, accurate wristers on net, looking for rebounds, screens and deflections.
Too many guys taking big slapshots and missing net, having them blocked, or setting up mediocre 1 timer passes that are intercepted or bad angle misses.
That's what happens during slumps, players get anxious and hold their sticks tighter and force their shots. I agree with what you've written here. Montreal's obviously in a slump and it is why I'm not too worried about what is to come.
To be honest I thought we weren't bad defensively tonight, Hamrlik and Spacek weren't spectacular but were solid and aside from the second goal Subban played pretty decent IMO.
Offensively we were an absolute joke, no creativity, everything on the perimeter and so many missed nets. Was happy with Eller tonight as I thought he looked very good offensively in the 2nd and 3rd and had a few good scoring chances.
Eller probably the only guy tonight that went to the net with the puck. We need more of that.
They are what they are. An average team. They have been playing .500 hockey since the beginning of November.
They were an 8th place team last year and really didn't do anything to improve, and one magical playoff run on the the back of Halak and Cammalleri fooled some people.
The biggest hope they can have is Wiz gets some life into the team and they snap out of this funk.
This is not a slump though. They're playing the exact same way now as they have before. The only difference is Price isn't standing on his head. I think he played a great game tonight too.
The difference is more than that. Not only is Price not standing on his head, but everything an opponent touches turns to gold while the Habs can't buy a goal, a call, or a bounce. It's very luck-driven. What we are seeing on the score in no way reflects what they are doing on the ice; it's a classic, percentages-driven slump.
CP's impact on the early Habs record is overstated; CP was perfectly ordinary for the first 10 games of the season and still the Habs won.
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Originally Posted by JayBee
We are what we are
And what the Habs are is a very good team. The big problem is that we went from a series where Price stopped everything to a really rough patch of percentages. So the superficial analysts on RDS put everything on his back, but while he's been pulling the team up, the skaters don't get the credit they deserve for a MASSIVE turnaround compared to last year's gong show.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayBee
Love what Tremblay is saying. The team plays perimeter hockey.
Yeah, right, and the Habs kept Washington to the outside during the playoffs. Nice explanation that sounds like it makes sense but isn't actually grounded in facts.
You can't fault Plek on either end, but he's no sniper and there's nobody reliable enough for him to create scoring opportunities for. He's not playing near his best but he's the only forward who is not disgusting me right now.
When Plek struggle on offense, he take shot when it's not the time and he have trouble finding his teamates in the zone.
When he play well on offense, he pass first and is the most creative player of the team.
I'm not blaming Plek but he's not a perfect player ,i'm confident he will bounce back real soon
You can see the guys are squeezing the sawdust out of the sticks, it seems like the shots are just a few inches off each time, either hitting the goalie in the shoulder or grazing the outside of the net.
You can see the guys are squeezing the sawdust out of the sticks, it seems like the shots are just a few inches off each time, either hitting the goalie in the shoulder or grazing the outside of the net.
Yup! This is exactly why I'm not worried is the slightest as to what is in store for the habs next. It's clearly an offensive slump that is preventing us from winning games. Less goals means more players pushing in the offensive zone which means more pinching from the D which is most likely to result in more mistakes. Once we start scoring we'll have less players forcing plays, our D will play more conservative and we'll start winning games regularily.
Highlights of the game if you have missed the game.
more positive highlights to come...
That third you tube video has Lapierre looking like he doesn't even care that they lost. I hope it's just the way it looks otherwise sit him and call up Ryan White, that get some spark in the team.
According to L'Antichambre, one of the reasons why the players are mad at Subban is because he didn't listen to them when they asked him to turn down the music's volume
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"Ah ha Lucic a employé le genou cassant la technique, 911 ! ! !" -A Bruins fan
I hope it's just the way it looks otherwise sit him and call up Ryan White, that get some spark in the team.
