Game #31: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 Flyers @ Canadiens 7:30 Pm

[Forever_Habs10]

This calls for a new thread.

Enter here...

[Marathon.Man]

Good game HABBIES!

GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!

[BigTed3]

Stats are:

Flyers powerplay opportunities this season 139 vs montreal 104

times shorthanded Flyers 147 vs montreal 124

For a team that plays a very rough and dirty game the diff between PPO's and TSH is 8 Not much of a spread between the two

Montreal on the other hand has a diff of 20 and one of the least PPO's in the league

Pittsburg PPO's 137 TSH 136

Detroit PPO's 128 TSH 111

Thanks for the stats... looking at the way both teams play, I agree that it's surprising that Phi is only a -8 differential while Mtl is a -20 and has one of the fewest PP chances in the league. Again, the issue is not that we've been playing games where neither team is getting PP's, we've been playing games where the other team has typically gotten PP's early and then the refs have put their whistles away, leaving us at a disadvantage. The numbers prove that. I'm not disputing what Flyers fans say when they argue the refs missed calls against us too. They did. The best example was Pleks getting the stick up on Briere in the second. But relatively speaking, the refs missed more calls against Phi than against Mtl, with the two notables being the delay of game that was discussed and then rejected and the high stick on Pouliot at the end. In the first case, it was pretty clear the puck went directly over. We've been called for that penalty as many times as anyone, even once or twice when it actually deflected first. In this case, though, if a ref had clearly seen the puck deflect, it would have been an instantaneous call; one guy would have said to the others when they conferred, "I saw the puck hit another guy's stick." But it didn't happen that way... that meeting of the minds was a good two minutes long before they reached a decision, which tells me none of them actually saw what happened and they decided to err on not awarding a PP. But what does that say about the quality of officiating when all the Habs players raised their arms signaling they saw the puck go directly out and 0 of 4 officials had enough vision or positioning to dot he same? On the Pouliot non-call, the ref (I believe McCreary) was right in front of the play watching it and I am certain saw the stick go up in his face. The decision there, I believe, was that since it was a light deflection of the stick off the face, McCreary decided that it wasn't severe enough to warrant giving out a PP that late in a tie game, a very old-school decision and one not supported by the new supposed crack-down NHL. Yet 10 seconds later, Plekanec is signaled for a call, one that also should have been an automatic penalty whether you agree with the rule or not. The question is why the refs decided to blow one down but not the other. The high stick is in my mind a worse infraction because of the risk of injury, the high stick occurred first, and both calls are automatic penalties: unlike holding or interference, where the ref can use a certain amount of disgression to judge whether it affected the play or to what degree it impeded the player, a high stick is a penalty 100% of the time. In this case, the refs showed a lack of judgment at both ends of the ice and the inequalities in the decision-making are what directly led to the GWG. Flyers fans can talk about their team being opportunistic in a game when they were tired and out-played, but you can only be opportunistic when you get opportunities, and in my opinion, those opportunities need to reflect the situations created by the game and not some ref's interpretation of when the rulebook should and should not be enforced.

[Mathradio]

Yes, and the best way to prevent that is by screwing them in December.

The Habs are a cash cow for the league, there's no reason to conspire against them. A conspiracy that large makes no sense anyway, there's too many moving pieces and it's far too risky. There's potentially single refs with biases or even potentially more sinister issues but a league wide conspiracy just doesn't make a lot of sense. Anyway, poor officiating tonight.

Habs and Flyers are both cash cows for the NHL.

As far as the Habs are concerned, both Florida franchises practically owe their lives to the Habs.

[Habs_Hockey_Nutz]

Thanks for the stats... looking at the way both teams play, I agree that it's surprising that Phi is only a -8 differential while Mtl is a -20 and has one of the fewest PP chances in the league. Again, the issue is not that we've been playing games where neither team is getting PP's, we've been playing games where the other team has typically gotten PP's early and then the refs have put their whistles away, leaving us at a disadvantage. The numbers prove that. I'm not disputing what Flyers fans say when they argue the refs missed calls against us too. They did. The best example was Pleks getting the stick up on Briere in the second. But relatively speaking, the refs missed more calls against Phi than against Mtl, with the two notables being the delay of game that was discussed and then rejected and the high stick on Pouliot at the end. In the first case, it was pretty clear the puck went directly over. We've been called for that penalty as many times as anyone, even once or twice when it actually deflected first. In this case, though, if a ref had clearly seen the puck deflect, it would have been an instantaneous call; one guy would have said to the others when they conferred, "I saw the puck hit another guy's stick." But it didn't happen that way... that meeting of the minds was a good two minutes long before they reached a decision, which tells me none of them actually saw what happened and they decided to err on not awarding a PP. But what does that say about the quality of officiating when all the Habs players raised their arms signaling they saw the puck go directly out and 0 of 4 officials had enough vision or positioning to dot he same? On the Pouliot non-call, the ref (I believe McCreary) was right in front of the play watching it and I am certain saw the stick go up in his face. The decision there, I believe, was that since it was a light deflection of the stick off the face, McCreary decided that it wasn't severe enough to warrant giving out a PP that late in a tie game, a very old-school decision and one not supported by the new supposed crack-down NHL. Yet 10 seconds later, Plekanec is signaled for a call, one that also should have been an automatic penalty whether you agree with the rule or not. The question is why the refs decided to blow one down but not the other. The high stick is in my mind a worse infraction because of the risk of injury, the high stick occurred first, and both calls are automatic penalties: unlike holding or interference, where the ref can use a certain amount of disgression to judge whether it affected the play or to what degree it impeded the player, a high stick is a penalty 100% of the time. In this case, the refs showed a lack of judgment at both ends of the ice and the inequalities in the decision-making are what directly led to the GWG. Flyers fans can talk about their team being opportunistic in a game when they were tired and out-played, but you can only be opportunistic when you get opportunities, and in my opinion, those opportunities need to reflect the situations created by the game and not some ref's interpretation of when the rulebook should and should not be enforced.

The non-call when Pouliot was high sticked was followed by a slashing penalty against the Habs that leads unfortunately to the winning goal. Once again I agree the refs' actions/non-actions hurt the Habs at crucial times.

Rulebook enforcement... that's a laugher the refs are window dressing at the best of times and meticulously selective at other times. And that's just how the League Top Brass want it... selection allows for control of the overall outcome... and is based on the all-mighty dollar return on investment.

[CanadianMike]

don"t want to talk about this game.....my hate for the Flyers isn't good for my health.

Let's move on..thank god there is a game tonight. tourne la page...let's go!!! (GDT ??)

[HabsRuleForever]

don"t want to talk about this game.....my hate for the Flyers isn't good for my health.

Let's move on..thank god there is a game tonight. tourne la page...let's go!!! (GDT ??)

you're wish is my command sir