Habitants Comeback

[TheBlueWhale]

I'd like to say I'm new to the Montreal Canadiens forum, and I hope this is the place to post this topic and hope people will forgive my ignorance if I am doing this wrong..

Anyway, I am a Flyers fan *puts bag on my head* and probably the soul reason I'm here is the playoff series these two teams are engaged in. I was silenced by the Flyers board for criticizing the team during the Washington series (I lost my posting priviledges there, for saying negative things about the Flyers...no fear I didn't cuss or nothing, nor insult no one..just pointed out team flaws).

So anyway I'm here to basically criticize the Flyers and let you Canadien fans know why I think the Habs still have a shot at winning this series.

Number 1 they are really a superior team. The Habs have out played Philly in every game, the only reason they are behind 3-1, is Biron has out played them (or perhaps the Habs have out played themselves). This series would more than likely be 2-2, if the Habs weren't fanning on shots when Biron is way out of position, or hitting the puck crisp, but with no accuracy. Those things can be corrected, it's not like Coach Carbineau's (pardon if I misspelled his name) x's and o's haven't worked, they've gotten the players in position with the puck and an open net to drive it home..but, they just didn't execute. Even your vaunted power play has had its opportunities..the Montreal players just didn't execute when the opportunity came up...so there for Philly ended up killing most of them. I'm expected with 2 days off, the Canadien coaching staff has had time to straighten those kinks out.

Number 2 is Carey Price. I know a lot of Habs fans have ripped him for letting in soft goals and not having a solid glove hand. They believe because he is so young, that the pressure is overwhelming him. I honestly don't think that's the case - look at how he handled game 7 against the Bruins. Even though they had a lower seed, Boston is a stronger team than the Flyers are. The reason Carey Price has had his downs this series, is because he was injured. That R.J. Cheeseburger that keeps scoring on you guys, gave Price a cheap shot with his stick across his glove hand in Game 1. I honestly believe that's why Price was "benched" in Game 4, was to let his hand heel. Despite his flaws, it's not like the Canadiens weren't in every game. Most of the games were pretty close. Don't worry about Price, Habs fans..I expect a shut out tonight.

Number 3. The Flyers have a lot of talent, but they lack discipline. The Habs can goat a lot of those Flyers into taking bad penalties. I know the Canadiens "vaunted" power play hasn't produced much, but if Philly keeps playing with fire, eventually they will get burned. Players like Hartnell, Hatcher, Randy Jones, Kukkonen, and Downie (I think he's scratched though), will all lose their lack of focus and take penalties if the Canadiens get in their head - and your team does have the personal to do that. Even with some craftiness, you might get the "Cookie Monster" losing his focus and taking an unwise penalty.

Number 4. The Flyers squander leads. Over the course of the regular seasons the Flyers have blown leads (whether it be 1 goal leads or 3 goal leads) in about 40 games, and have lost at least 20 as a result. I know they say what happens in the regular season doesn't always transend into the playoffs, but this little problem has reared its ugly head in the playoffs. They have had 7 games this post season in which they've coughed up leads and are 4-3 as a result. Not only do they blow leads in hockey games, but they blow leads in playoff series' - look at the Washington series, the Flyers led that one 3-1 and Washington caught them to force game 7. Washington is no where near as good of a team as you guys are.

Number 5. The Flyers will take tonight off, figuring they have a 3-1 lead, they feel they don't really need to play tonight, since Game 6 is back in Philly. They had this thought process with Washington, and look what happened. If you guys win tonight, I believe you'll regain confidence, and I don't see any reason why you couldn't take Game 6. I would shun to think would might happen if the Habs would force Game 7. I know..Ed Snider (Flyers Chairmen) would fire John Stevens for not winning the cup.

Number 6. You guys don't actually believe in Biron? I sure don't. The guy has had his spectacular moments through the season, but he's also had his questionable ones. The scariest thing is the Flyers' hottest stretch of the season (January) was with Biron riding the bench. He may be a Marty B., but he's not THE Marty B. and is very inconsistent. His east/west movement is not very good, and you Canadien fans got a good glimpse of it when the Canadien's scored their game tieing goal in Game 4. When he's out of the net challenging shooters, he committes to that butterfly early, so if the Canadiens set him up to do that, they should be able to skate around him and burn him by going high stick side. If you get him going east and west, the 5-hole becomes vulnerable and if he has to go too far over, you should be able to again burn him by going high on em.

So don't worry Hab fans, between Biron, a healthy Carey Price, two days worth of rest & practice, the Flyers' slacking off, Flyers' lack of focus, I don't see why the Habs can't win tonight. I expect a 0-6 Canadiens win. What do you people think?

[svetlana_mtl]

I'd like to say I'm new to the Montreal Canadiens forum, and I hope this is the place to post this topic and hope people will forgive my ignorance if I am doing this wrong..

Anyway, I am a Flyers fan *puts bag on my head* and probably the soul reason I'm here is the playoff series these two teams are engaged in. I was silenced by the Flyers board for criticizing the team during the Washington series (I lost my posting priviledges there, for saying negative things about the Flyers...no fear I didn't cuss or nothing, nor insult no one..just pointed out team flaws).

So anyway I'm here to basically criticize the Flyers and let you Canadien fans know why I think the Habs still have a shot at winning this series.

Number 1 they are really a superior team. The Habs have out played Philly in every game, the only reason they are behind 3-1, is Biron has out played them (or perhaps the Habs have out played themselves). This series would more than likely be 2-2, if the Habs weren't fanning on shots when Biron is way out of position, or hitting the puck crisp, but with no accuracy. Those things can be corrected, it's not like Coach Carbineau's (pardon if I misspelled his name) x's and o's haven't worked, they've gotten the players in position with the puck and an open net to drive it home..but, they just didn't execute. Even your vaunted power play has had its opportunities..the Montreal players just didn't execute when the opportunity came up...so there for Philly ended up killing most of them. I'm expected with 2 days off, the Canadien coaching staff has had time to straighten those kinks out.

Number 2 is Carey Price. I know a lot of Habs fans have ripped him for letting in soft goals and not having a solid glove hand. They believe because he is so young, that the pressure is overwhelming him. I honestly don't think that's the case - look at how he handled game 7 against the Bruins. Even though they had a lower seed, Boston is a stronger team than the Flyers are. The reason Carey Price has had his downs this series, is because he was injured. That R.J. Cheeseburger that keeps scoring on you guys, gave Price a cheap shot with his stick across his glove hand in Game 1. I honestly believe that's why Price was "benched" in Game 4, was to let his hand heel. Despite his flaws, it's not like the Canadiens weren't in every game. Most of the games were pretty close. Don't worry about Price, Habs fans..I expect a shut out tonight.

Number 3. The Flyers have a lot of talent, but they lack discipline. The Habs can goat a lot of those Flyers into taking bad penalties. I know the Canadiens "vaunted" power play hasn't produced much, but if Philly keeps playing with fire, eventually they will get burned. Players like Hartnell, Hatcher, Randy Jones, Kukkonen, and Downie (I think he's scratched though), will all lose their lack of focus and take penalties if the Canadiens get in their head - and your team does have the personal to do that. Even with some craftiness, you might get the "Cookie Monster" losing his focus and taking an unwise penalty.

Number 4. The Flyers squander leads. Over the course of the regular seasons the Flyers have blown leads (whether it be 1 goal leads or 3 goal leads) in about 40 games, and have lost at least 20 as a result. I know they say what happens in the regular season doesn't always transend into the playoffs, but this little problem has reared its ugly head in the playoffs. They have had 7 games this post season in which they've coughed up leads and are 4-3 as a result. Not only do they blow leads in hockey games, but they blow leads in playoff series' - look at the Washington series, the Flyers led that one 3-1 and Washington caught them to force game 7. Washington is no where near as good of a team as you guys are.

Number 5. The Flyers will take tonight off, figuring they have a 3-1 lead, they feel they don't really need to play tonight, since Game 6 is back in Philly. They had this thought process with Washington, and look what happened. If you guys win tonight, I believe you'll regain confidence, and I don't see any reason why you couldn't take Game 6. I would shun to think would might happen if the Habs would force Game 7. I know..Ed Snider (Flyers Chairmen) would fire John Stevens for not winning the cup.

Number 6. You guys don't actually believe in Biron? I sure don't. The guy has had his spectacular moments through the season, but he's also had his questionable ones. The scariest thing is the Flyers' hottest stretch of the season (January) was with Biron riding the bench. He may be a Marty B., but he's not THE Marty B. and is very inconsistent. His east/west movement is not very good, and you Canadien fans got a good glimpse of it when the Canadien's scored their game tieing goal in Game 4. When he's out of the net challenging shooters, he committes to that butterfly early, so if the Canadiens set him up to do that, they should be able to skate around him and burn him by going high stick side. If you get him going east and west, the 5-hole becomes vulnerable and if he has to go too far over, you should be able to again burn him by going high on em.

So don't worry Hab fans, between Biron, a healthy Carey Price, two days worth of rest & practice, the Flyers' slacking off, Flyers' lack of focus, I don't see why the Habs can't win tonight. I expect a 0-6 Canadiens win. What do you people think?

wow, you got put on a loss of posting privileges on the flyers board for constructively criticizing the flyers?

i've only been here on this habs forum a short time but even I can see if thats a crime, constructive criticism of your own team, then a bunch of us here should've been indicted and banned lol. I'm thinking the flyers board cant be very nice if they dont even allow constructive criticism.

That being said, I agree that what you said about the flyers is spot on. MOntreal can beat them, it isnt as if the flyers are even very good, even with biron and the cheeseburger. The flyers do indeed have their issues and problems.

[royownsall]

I bet that the habs are going to win game 5 and make the next round.

[Captain-Crunch28]

The only team beating Montreal is Montreal.