Just got back from the game, long drive. I was right behind the habs bench, here are my close observations.
It was my first live habs game in well over a decade, and boy did it disappoint. Horrible game from both teams.
The stars did a good job in smothering our possession and not allowing us any room whatsoever. I guess they let the crowd dictate the game, wow, and I thought scotiabank place was quiet! No energy whatsoever in the building.
Likewise, the habs bench was dead quiet. No real body language, barely any talking between players, and little to nothing from the coaches (I'll touch on this later). The body language of habs players coming back to the bench between shifts said it all. Nothing positive whatsoever; only exhales and exasperated faces, it was painful to see. Even after a goal, barely a reaction. Even after PK came back from the box after his fight. Nothing. Watching the pre-game warmups, I got a sense that a few players are tired of PK. I noted 2 players ignore him completely during warmups as he tried talking to them. No team spirit.
I like Gio, but his hands are full.
Lastly, I don't know what's going on with the coaching situation, but JM looked paralyzed. He barely muttered a word on the bench, had his hands in his pockets the whole time. He talked to Pearn once, that was during the first period. Other than that, not much. A few glances up to some box seats to his right. I saw him catch himself doing nothing several times, only to say a few words and go back to doing nothing. I also got a sense that something strange was happening between him and Muller. There seemed to be a tension between them, almost as if Jacques was somewhat intimidated. I'm calling it now, if habs continue to slump, Muller is going to take over.
I actually thought we played better than the stars, but execution was horrible. We could have easily won this game, Lehtonen looked shaky, but simply was not tested. A lack of focus cost us this game.
Eller looked lost on the wing, Pyatt was useless; no hockey sense, no strength. Picard looked shaky during warmups, and it showed during the first half of the game. Can't say I blame him though, he's on a very short leash. To his credit, he got better as the game went on.
Actually i was surprised by the Stars, they have a good team this year, Richards-Morrow-Eriksson-Benn-Neal-Ribeiro are a real good Top 6, the weakest point maybe could be their defense, Skrastins is old, Niskanen and Fistric are average dman.
it happens.
they werent as good as they were a month ago, and they arent as bad as they played recently.
The habs live & die with their goaltenders. 4 goals on 12 shots wont win you games. Tonight was Price last season. Hit early and often and he couldnt recover. Bad body language and it spread to the team. Its pretty standard.
It would be nice for the team to bail Price out occasionally when he isnt on his game, but unfortunately unless he lets in a goal or less, were in trouble.
My wife and I noticed you guys behind the bench. To put a little debate to rest, are you or any of the people you were sitting with, rich businessmen or just a bunch of guys on a road trip? My wife was convinced you were all businessmen that took a flight out to Dallas to catch the game and they must have lots of money since they got those amazing seats. I just thought, bunch of guys on a road trip and tickets that low in Dallas must not be that expensive.
I won't lie, I didn't watch much of the game. Opted to watch the SNL Christmas special and was not disappointed.
Just got back from the game, long drive. I was right behind the habs bench, here are my close observations.
It was my first live habs game in well over a decade, and boy did it disappoint. Horrible game from both teams.
The stars did a good job in smothering our possession and not allowing us any room whatsoever. I guess they let the crowd dictate the game, wow, and I thought scotiabank place was quiet! No energy whatsoever in the building.
Likewise, the habs bench was dead quiet. No real body language, barely any talking between players, and little to nothing from the coaches (I'll touch on this later). The body language of habs players coming back to the bench between shifts said it all. Nothing positive whatsoever; only exhales and exasperated faces, it was painful to see. Even after a goal, barely a reaction. Even after PK came back from the box after his fight. Nothing. Watching the pre-game warmups, I got a sense that a few players are tired of PK. I noted 2 players ignore him completely during warmups as he tried talking to them. No team spirit.
I like Gio, but his hands are full.
Lastly, I don't know what's going on with the coaching situation, but JM looked paralyzed. He barely muttered a word on the bench, had his hands in his pockets the whole time. He talked to Pearn once, that was during the first period. Other than that, not much. A few glances up to some box seats to his right. I saw him catch himself doing nothing several times, only to say a few words and go back to doing nothing. I also got a sense that something strange was happening between him and Muller. There seemed to be a tension between them, almost as if Jacques was somewhat intimidated. I'm calling it now, if habs continue to slump, Muller is going to take over.
I actually thought we played better than the stars, but execution was horrible. We could have easily won this game, Lehtonen looked shaky, but simply was not tested. A lack of focus cost us this game.
Eller looked lost on the wing, Pyatt was useless; no hockey sense, no strength. Picard looked shaky during warmups, and it showed during the first half of the game. Can't say I blame him though, he's on a very short leash. To his credit, he got better as the game went on.
My wife and I noticed you guys behind the bench. To put a little debate to rest, are you or any of the people you were sitting with, rich businessmen or just a bunch of guys on a road trip? My wife was convinced you were all businessmen that took a flight out to Dallas to catch the game and they must have lots of money since they got those amazing seats. I just thought, bunch of guys on a road trip and tickets that low in Dallas must not be that expensive.
There were far more rich businessmen than road trippers, but there were definitely some great deals on seats. I got 2 right behind the bench for $220!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrimsonSkorpion
I won't lie, I didn't watch much of the game. Opted to watch the SNL Christmas special and was not disappointed.
I hope it was funnier than me paying $6 for a red bull
So now that the doom and gloom period seems to be over, I'd just like to say that I thought Pacioretty played a real solid game last night. Just couldn't bury his chances. Lehtonen put up a wall last night.
Even after PK came back from the box after his fight. Nothing. Watching the pre-game warmups, I got a sense that a few players are tired of PK. I noted 2 players ignore him completely during warmups as he tried talking to them. No team spirit.
Where's the veteran leadership? Oh yeah, they are the guys who are telling the coach to sit PK, and didn't that work well. Hopefully someone grabs control of this team soon because it looks in complete disarray now.
Funny thing is, Gomez is playing his best hockey since the team acquired him. Not helping much though, his rejeuevenation coincides almost perfectly with the team's slump. Can't figure that one out.
I don't care about the Habs' traditional Christmas slump since it always happens when the World Junior starts.
......But I'm eager to see how Kost will respond to the benching. That was a risky move by Martin since he may have "lose" him for a long period if he doesn't react properly.
There's things that obviously need to be ironed up... I don't think having a plugger for much of the year rounding up the Top-6 has helped. It made some veteran scorers' bad starts look worse and was likely one cause of the frustrations boiling over despite the wins. I'm looking forward for the coaching staff to discard that bad idea for good.
I don't know what Martin has done to this team...
It seemed like he was in complete control, everything we going right for him. Then he started taking one bad decision after another.
To some extent the playoff record last year may have fooled us into thinking that Martin was a coaching genious. We had the 19th best record in the league, we were 23rd in goals scored and 17th in team plus/minus.
While the current standings show us third in the conference, we really 13th overall in the league. So far this year, the vast majority of our wins have been against teams not currently in a playoff position. We have also had the benefit of playing far more home games than road games.
In reality, the way this team is going we could once again be on the bubble as playoff time approaches. Rather than develop our youth through the season and keeping our vets rested, the coaching staff seems to be taking the opposite approach.
Under the Martin approach young players seem to regress (or are benched or traded). Veterans are given a lot of slack and a lot of ice time. By the time playoffs roll around, the veterans are exhausted and the younger players have lost a lot of their confidence.
Having said all of that, AK is probably lucky he didn't play last night. Somehow the loss would have been his fault and I don't think he would have made the difference.
Fire Martin please. He just helped that team go the ECF last year, now we are only in 3rd place. He is the responsable of Markov's injury, i hate that man. Get him out of here and bring another coach that will turn this team all around in one game. That's what we need, no question!
There's things that obviously need to be ironed up... I don't think having a plugger for much of the year rounding up the Top-6 has helped. It made some veteran scorers' bad starts look worse and was likely one cause of the frustrations boiling over despite the wins. I'm looking forward for the coaching staff to discard that bad idea for good.
Agree completely, it's a terrible idea.
Moen/Darche are solid 3rd/4th liners but completely lost on the top 6. They don't have the hockey IQ and skills to keep up with the skilled guys who play hockey on a higher level.
Kostitsyn, Patches and Benny may be flawed but at least they can keep up with players like Gomez & Gionta, while Moen cannot.
Fire Martin please. He just helped that team go the ECF last year, now we are only in 3rd place. He is the responsable of Markov's injury, i hate that man. Get him out of here and bring another coach that will turn this team all around in one game. That's what we need, no question!
OTOH, that the ECF finish fooled people into thinking last year's Habs were actually any good, so the team doesn't get enough credit for the massive turnaround in their game they've had this year -- and boneheaded lineup decisions aside, Martin has to get a big chunk of that credit.
