Tomas - the strategy JM was referring to is rope-a-dope not quote-a-dope .
I don't believe in quote inspired motivation, at least as anything sustainable but the Habs best strategy is to quietly play their best as an underdog.
And hope for something crazy and unlikely to happen.
You know, the audio of Pleks' press gathering is in HIO if you want to hear it. At the very end, somebody asks him "You must be very glad you were able to avoid Miller and Brodeur and instead are facing the Capitals' goaltenders"
What is the guy supposed to say? That the Capitals goalies are at the same level as Miller and Brodeur?
The correct quote is "it doesn't matter who is in net when you don't generate chances 5-on-5".
I can't believe anyone on the Habs side of things is upset about this.
I was pumped to see this quote, Pleks is saying what we all know. Let the Caps players, staff and fans take what they want from it. Who gives a ****? No one is giving the Habs a chance anyway.
A lot of Canadiens fans will be reading this thinking "well he's right, they don't have a great goaltender, maybe we won't get embarassed?". How is that a bad thing?
I LOVE IT!!!
GO HABS GO!
I'm personally making an observation - it was a dumb thing to say. And sure the caps are way ahead - on paper. But they haven't won anything yet in the post season - I've seen great teams storm into the playoffs in the past and get ejected in the first round.
It's ****ing simple - don't give your opponent ANYTHING.
And as a hockey player I can guarantee you that when players make comments like this it has zero impact. Seriously, somone saying 'you suck' is what was needed to motivate your players? You mean it wasn't because it was the semi-finals instead of a round-robin game? Or that you were facing a team that beat you already?
Oh the HF experts...
You silly silly arm chair hockey person. You don't have a clue.
Just read what Cammy said , it confirms once again that YOUR hockey knowledge is limited to RDS !
Well maybe after all that quote isnt that bad what if this comment actually make them lose focus on offensive and try a more defensive game... In the end they Are the one with the pressure any quotes wont make them better they alreasdy are but anything to make them reAct isnt bad right now.. I am trying to be positive here...
Well, if they were already ready to sweep us, what does he lose by trying to destabilize their goalie? Posted via Mobile Device
Halak has been at his best when he has been unheralded and close to anonymous. Blowing smoke on the media hive only gets things magnified and overhyped. Let him quietly do his job.
Different comments motivate different players different ways IMO.. WSH has to know that we were one of the only teams this year to have a winning record against them so any comments could be seen as fuel to the fire.. Saying that.. I have to agree with Pleks on this one.. Our GOALIES have been better then their platoon.. its just our TEAM has let us down on so many ocassions..
I think it's out of context. On habsinsideout they have an audio of him and the reporter asks him:
Quote:
"Given the choice of your poision of martin brodeur, ryan miller or go on with the capitals who could be vulnerable in goal...does this match up actually work to your liking?"
Plek's reply:
Quote:
"i think so, i think we can look at it that way too. They didn't have a goalie that they...they didn't play their best during the year. I'm not saying their bad, but it's definitely going to be a good match up for us on the goaltending position for sure."
I assume it's not the same quote, but just to give some insight here's the audio file from habsinsideout.
I consider it more respect for Miller and Marty than a diss at Theodore.
Theo has been playing incredibly as of late (20-0-3) which is a record, but he'll probably have some shakey performances especially against his former club.
Comments like these have no weight unless Plekanec can back it up. Ovechkin can easily say that the Caps have 100 more Goals For than us (which they do). Posted via Mobile Device
Theo has been playing incredibly as of late (20-0-3) which is a record, but he'll probably have some shakey performances especially against his former club. Comments like these have no weight unless Plekanec can back it up. Ovechkin can easily say that the Caps have 100 more Goals For than us (which they do). Posted via Mobile Device
Pretty much. I don't mind the trash talk, but if they don't go out and score, it just shows it's all talk.
I don't mind this. Theodore seems to have a mental state made of glass. We should be doing everything we can to get in his head. See him on the street? Tell him to watch out for his five-hole. Will be good times.
Price played all 4 games this year vs the Caps and none for Halak. Is this gonna be a factor in this playoff matchup ?
Only Broduer had a better record against the Caps than that of Price. Price played all four games, winning 2 and losing on in OT, Broduer won 3.
If anything I would suspect this gives us a edge in that the Caps are unaware on what to expect while facing Jaro, game tape can be watched but to play against him would be another. The only disadvantage I would assume in Jaro not facing the Caps he too is looking at game tape only and hasn't faced this team and their potent attack.
Price maybe the wild card in this series if Halak should falter, his experience and record against the Caps would to be his benefit, and he would like to emerge as the "go to guy" if given that chance.
Habs have the advantage in net, D would be a push with a slight edge to the Habs and the forwards would be the Caps, but the Habs played this team well all year so anything can happen in a 7 games series.
I don't mind this. Theodore seems to have a mental state made of glass. We should be doing everything we can to get in his head. See him on the street? Tell him to watch out for his five-hole. Will be good times.
I believe with Theo already stating this it looks as though the Habs, fans and media are already in his head.
well Plekanec has to put his play where his mouth is , because if he plays like a little girl come playoff time he can be sure the media will be all over him not to mention it might factor in his new contract.
So true, we have the most talent we've had on this team in years and are at the beginning of a great rebuild. 3 years ago, wasn't that like mid way or towards the end of Gainey's rebuild? They had chemistry then, this is a brand new team that is still working on a few kinks.
What I find laughable is that people are so quick to blame the coach. Sorry but Carb was a terrible coach if you ask me, and the habs were 1st one time with him. Martin is a good coach, but people flame away because the team isn't doing good.
Coaching imo is overrated, the bottom line is your players have to play, the coach isn't on the ice and in the end coaching matters but you can't possibly be blaming Martin for the habs poor play this year, the habs are to blame for that, I do blame Carbonneau for our team being bad the year he got fired however because he kept shifting the lines around constantly, to be perfectly honest I find that to be a rookie coaching mistake, yes we had injuries, but I mean aside from that, players need to build chemistry with their line mates and if you're constantly changing them even aside from injuries, nothing is going to work. At least JM has been as consistent as he can be barring injuries. Somebodies playing badly, he sends them to the 4th line for a game, to send a message, he doesn't switch them around from line to line for a month straight, that's retarded.
And yet, the people who hate on JM so much probably loved Carbonneau and all the bone headed decisions he made.
Truth is, we got to 1st that year because our team played like a team that deserved to be 1st, not because of talent, not because of coaching, because we played like a true competitor and made it to 1st. That's how you get somewhere in the NHL, you play hard every night, if you don't, no amount of good or bad coaching is going to change that.
This is obviously off-topic but I find the central point to be interesting.
Does coaching make a difference? The job of a coach is to get the most out of his players. The coach's job is to motivate his players to play. If the players aren't performing then the easy answer is to blame the coach, but it's not far off in my opinion.
It's no different than a job we all do. Some people are very industrious and come to work every day and do their best - regardless of how they are treated or how their boss treats them.
Then there are other people who do the bare minimum not to get noticed for the bad things.
And lastly there are people who hate their job and want their boss to get fired so they're not going to do squat.
So maybe this team doesn't have enough of the first type of player...that's entirely possible, but I believe that it's up to the coach to somehow bridge that gap.
Tactics and line changes should be discussed as a team in my opinion...and I mean it when I say that. If I were coach, I would have a meeting and say "Ok guys, what do you guys think we should do to beat these guys?" That's the way you build a common goal for 3 sets of people. If a coach comes up with everything by himself, he might get some support, but he'll probably lose a lot more.
