Go Habs Go!

[EagerBeaver]

Although most empty net goal are easy stat gravy, this one by Slafkovsky was not, as he scored on two defenders who were trying to prevent him from scoring:

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/48840754

Unsung player of the game with 4 blocked shots and 3 hits:

 

[TheBlob]

It's so good to see so much offence from our top players in game 1! Slaf, Demidov, Caufield, Suzuki, all on fire! By times it looked like what they gave us in many regular season games. Add some Danault spice into the mix and there you go, 6-2 win in the first game of the Eastern Conference final.

Andersen was supposed to be on a cloud. I guess he was, so far. But he didn't look like a god at all last night.

We'll see on the long term if it helps them, but the whopping 12 days break certainly did not help the Canes last night. Habs are on a mission.

But......these damn goals against in the first minute, i'm so sick of it. Again last night, after 30 seconds......

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

I cant imagine Rod Brind’Amour’s speech between the first and second period. Besides their quick first goal, the Canes didnt show up at all in the first 20 minutes.

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

We'll see on the long term if it helps them, but the whopping 12 days break certainly did not help the Canes last night.

The Canes will be back strong and tough for game #2! We should see a completely different team saturday night. Looking forward to it, we will have another amazing series!

 

[EagerBeaver]

The Hurricane warning has been sounded in Lenovo Center. We will see if the storm has any strength.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I heard Martin St. Louis interviewed between periods and this guy speaks excellent English. His accent is 99% imperceptible. This is a guy who was born and grew up in Laval. I do understand that he went to college in Vermont and lived in my home state of Connecticut for many years (having married an American woman from CT), but he really does well with the English language. Better than many other French Canadian players who have played in the U.S. If I didn't know who he was and ran into him in a bar, I wouldn't know he was from Canada. I hear CT, Anglo-English coming out of his mouth.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Tortorella on Marty St. Louis:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Habs/comments/1tkye9e/john_tortorella_on_martin_st_louis

 

[TheBlob]

We got Hurricanned last night. This is their style. Like a bee hive, they move in group and do not give you a second to rest or think about your next move. But it stil ended in OT.

The follow-up games will be interesting. May the Bell Centre be a place of success in this series, we need it.

 

[Cap'tain Fantastic]

Still trying to understand why Kapanen’s line was on the ice in OT!

 

[EagerBeaver]

Getting outshot 26-12 is not really what you want. I don't understand why Montreal has been getting severely outshot in these playoffs and why they only put 12 shots on Freddy Anderson, who is not a great goalie.

Winning opportunistically is great, but I think it has a shelf life. In Montreal they need to generate more shots on goal and take 2 games.

 

[Womaniser]

Getting outshot 26-12 is not really what you want. I don't understand why Montreal has been getting severely outshot in these playoffs and why they only put 12 shots on Freddy Anderson, who is not a great goalie.

Winning opportunistically is great, but I think it has a shelf life. In Montreal they need to generate more shots on goal and take 2 games.

Am I the only one that find the HABS a the small and light team ?
In the regular season it can work but in the séries it seems to doesn't.
What Caufield achieve in the series ? Not much. The Habs defencemen are surely the lightests in the league. The heaviest and toughest isn't even on the ice.
The other teams players don't fear at all to assault Dobes without consequences !

 

[EagerBeaver]

Am I the only one that find the HABS a the small and light team ?
In the regular season it can work but in the séries it seems to doesn't.
What Caufield achieve in the series ? Not much. The Habs defencemen are surely the lightests in the league. The heaviest and toughest isn't even on the ice.
The other teams players don't fear at all to assault Dobes without consequences !

When you see shots are 26-12 and 38-13 in 2 straight games, there is a problem. Montreal's strength as a team is speed, but the opposite of speed is strength. In almost every sport there are tradeoffs between speed and strength and the trick is to find the ideal combination of both.

 

[Obvio-0bvio]

If I had paid to watch that game, I would’ve asked for my money back.

 

[Dionysos_]

One person who must be thrilled about the Hurricanes' victory is Gary Bettman, commissioner since February 1, 1993, who will once again be attending a Stanley Cup Final in the United States – and this time, in Las Vegas!

Since that 1993 victory, only one Stanley Cup win has been by a Canadian team, and only six Canadian teams have reached the Final.

Professional hockey in Canada is well and truly dead, because they managed to sell it to the United States.

At least I had the chance to see the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 parade the Cup through the streets of Montreal, on René-Lévesque Boulevard, near Stanley Street.

On the night of the victory, it wasn't me who smashed and ripped off police car lights, nor uprooted the tree and tore down the traffic signs that were toppled in the streets of Montreal.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Outshot 42-18 at home, after being outshot 38-13 the prior game, and being down 3-1, is not what you want.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Professional hockey in Canada is well and truly dead, because they managed to sell it to the United States.

Hockey is a business, analagous to a sports corporation, and the teams are franchises. Just like some McDonald's franchises do better than others, and sell more burgers and shakes, so too does this economic competition take place in hockey. The Canadian franchises just have not done as well. The American teams are better managed, and have the ability to attract free agents that some Canadian teams do not have because of the very high taxation in Canada, which that turns off these rich players who do not want to share their income with the government.

I do think that Montreal has a good young team, however, (1) their time has not come yet; (2) I think they need to add a free agent veteran or two for leadership purposes; and (3) they need to bring in a bit more size.

 

[redfried]

Hockey is a business, analagous to a sports corporation, and the teams are franchises. Just like some McDonald's franchises do better than others, and sell more burgers and shakes, so too does this economic competition take place in hockey. The Canadian franchises just have not done as well. The American teams are better managed, and have the ability to attract free agents that some Canadian teams do not have because of the very high taxation in Canada, which that turns off these rich players who do not want to share their income with the government.

I do think that Montreal has a good young team, however, (1) their time has not come yet; (2) I think they need to add a free agent veteran or two for leadership purposes; and (3) they need to bring in a bit more size.

I wasn't ecpecting they would go that far. And was caught by the spring fever !
I agree they should get more weight and maybe don't rely as much on their two lightweight stars.

 

[EagerBeaver]

RIP Claude Lemieux, age 60

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/48901936/4-stanley-cup-champion-claude-lemieux-dies-60

I remember him most for his heroics with the NJ Devils in 1995, playing for Jacques Lemaire. I will never forget that team or their upset of the Detroit Red Wings that year. Lemieux had 13 goals in 20 playoff games that year.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Sadly, Claude Lemieux committed suicide.

Claude Lemieux’s death revealed as suicide — just days after carrying torch at Eastern Conference finals

The NHL Alumni Association announced the four-time Stanley Cup-winning forward’s death on Thursday.

nypost.com

 

[TheBlob]

If I had paid to watch that game, I would’ve asked for my money back.

I was at the game on monday. It was not pretty, but at least we got some goals and went to overtime. Wednesday night was much worse, i would be pissed.

RIP Claude Lemieux