Habs vs Caps, game 7, on NHL Network

[DekeLikeYouMeanIt]

Awwww... unfortunately that playoff run was the best one I had seen. Way too young for '93. I was so heartbroken after the Flyers destroyed the team

[The n00b King]

Originally Posted by Analyzer

Gonchar couldn't do anything on the play, or else he would have gotten a penalty.



I'm not sure of any team that's strategy was to sit back and block a ton of shots while the goalie is making 40+ saves without overtime.

Hal Gill had 30 blocks throughout the first series.

Philadelphia man handled us. There's no "We could have gone all the way" that year.

Honestly, this has to be the most cliched line ever. People pointed out with facts that this was absolutely false and yet...it persists.

[MasterDecoy]

Originally Posted by Dominant Hegemony

Honestly, this has to be the most cliched line ever. People pointed out with facts that this was absolutely false and yet...it persists.

im not one to buy into the whole "toughness fighter habs too small rah rah ********", but from what i remember, that's pretty much what happened no?

and a failure to score.

[MathMan]

Originally Posted by MasterDecoy

im not one to buy into the whole "toughness fighter habs too small rah rah ********", but from what i remember, that's pretty much what happened no?

Not at all. Besides Philly's offense was actually built around small forwards.

The reality of the 2009-2010 run is that the Habs had no business beating the Capitals and even less beating the Penguins. They were getting thoroughly dominated by both clubs. Only incredible good fortune and an awesome goaltending performance allowed them to steal both series. Much has been made about the Habs' defense, but considering how much Halak was bombarded, you have to wonder how much worse it could've been without all these blocks. Most of those series were played in the Habs' zone.

Philly was the weakest of the three teams the Habs faced, but they were still better than Montreal. The Habs' luck simply ran out; they were unable to get the early lead and utterly unable to penetrate Philly's defensive system once they got behind. Blame it on bad coaching on tiredness or whatever, the problem wasn't that the Habs couldn't penetrate the slot; they couldn't even enter the offensive zone!

Montreal was awful in 2009-2010, from around game 20 of the regular season right up to the end of the playoffs. Outside of goaltending they were one of the worst 5-on-5 clubs in the league. Thankfully, 2010-2011 represented a complete turnaround of their 5-on-5 game and they became an outchancing, puck possession team. It coincided with amazingly bad shooting luck (call it karma for that playoff run if you're superstitious) but the Habs' improvement in the standings was no accident.

[1UP]

Originally Posted by MasterDecoy

im not one to buy into the whole "toughness fighter habs too small rah rah ********", but from what i remember, that's pretty much what happened no?

and a failure to score.

No. A very solid left-wing lock system had us bottled and a great defense that made Leighton look like a superstar.

However, as soon as we took the lead in a game, they had to break down. It wasn't physicality that lost us, just that they had a great system and players bought in that system. Plus, well, a 1st year Subban had already done a lot vs Pittsburg, but without Markov, it was hard to go against such a fast and effective, monstruous offensive machine. Halak's bubble deflated and he came back to earth, and that was expected.

Philly's offense was as small as ours, and their defense not THAT much more physical.

Moreover, Washington and Pittsburg tried to intimidate the Habs left and right, and our boys just kept going. They would have caved vy Philly, in the semi finals no less?

Nope.