kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 TONIGHT,,, AT THE BELL CENTER (OR CENTRE BELL IF YOU WILL), YOUR/OUR HABS WILL WELCOME THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS,THE SAME TEAM WHO'S BUTT WE KICKED A WEEK AGO. OK,,, LET'S SEE WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE. Interesting, or not so interesting stuff: The rematch: These teams are meeting for the second time in a week. The Canadiens’ aggressive forechecking caught the Penguins off-guard last Saturday in Pittsburgh and Montreal skated to a 5-1 victory. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan described the Canadiens as hard to play against and Montreal will have to duplicate that performance at home. The Canadiens are coming off a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles in their home opener Thursday, while the Penguins beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2. Shuffling the deck: Claude Julien made his first lineup changes of the season, inserting veteran Tomas Plekanec on the fourth line in place of Matthew Peca. He also followed up on a change he made in the third period of the L.A. game. Paul Byron replaces the struggling Jonathan Drouin on the de facto No. 2 line with rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia. Drouin, who is looking for his first point, is with Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen. Offensive woes: The loss to the Kings underlined the Canadiens’ inability to score goals, which was a major concern last season. Montreal fired 40 shots at Kings goaltender Jack Campbell, but the quality of the shots didn’t match the quantity. There was a crossbar and a disallowed goal — yes, Andrew Shaw did interfere with Campbell although the replay process was mishandled — but there were too many harmless shots from the outside and very little net presence. Some random stats: Montreal has allowed only one power play goal and ranks eighth in penalty-killing after posting the second-worst record in the NHL last season. Some other stats aren’t as encouraging. The Canadiens have scored only one power-play goal and rank 24th, while faceoffs continue to be a problem. Extra practice has boosted rookie centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi close to 50 per cent, but the Canadiens as a team are dead-last with a success rate of 39.8 per cent. Penguins power: Sullivan hasn’t been happy with his team defence, but there’s no doubt this is an explosive team. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have each won two league scoring titles and Jake Guentzel is one of the best third-line centres in the league. Phil Kessel provides power on the wing and he’s coming off a hat-trick Thursday against Vegas. Kris Letang is healthy and provides offence from the back end. Matt Murray will travel with the Pittsburgh Penguins for their game against the Montreal Canadiens. The goalie, who missed a 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday with a concussion, remains day to day. He was a full participant in practice Friday, one day after he took part in an optional morning skate. Lines at practice: Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Drouin - Domi - Lehkonen Byron - Kotkaniemi - Armia Hudon - Plekanec - Shaw De la Rose - Peca - Scherbak Mete - Petry Reilly - Juulsen Ouellet - Benn Alzner Niemi Price is absent (therapy day). Enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Price out with the flu. Niemi to start, Lindgren recalled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maas_art Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 2 hours ago, BigTed3 said: Price out with the flu. Niemi to start, Lindgren recalled. Glad to hear Price just has the flu (that sounds wrong, not wishing him ill will) - i was a little worried when i heard he took a therapy day yesterday but that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maas_art Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 3 hours ago, kinot-2 said: Shuffling the deck: Claude Julien made his first lineup changes of the season, inserting veteran Tomas Plekanec on the fourth line in place of Matthew Peca. He also followed up on a change he made in the third period of the L.A. game. Paul Byron replaces the struggling Jonathan Drouin on the de facto No. 2 line with rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia. Drouin, who is looking for his first point, is with Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen. While i like the idea of Drouin-Domi-Lehkonen, i cant help but think that JK would do better without Armia. Id love to see him between say Tatar-Gallagher, or even Byron-Hudon or give Sherbak a chance, although I understand they probably want to surround JK with veterans. Interesting that he's played pretty much all year (preseason too) with at least one Finn on his line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 2 hours ago, maas_art said: While i like the idea of Drouin-Domi-Lehkonen, i cant help but think that JK would do better without Armia. Id love to see him between say Tatar-Gallagher, or even Byron-Hudon or give Sherbak a chance, although I understand they probably want to surround JK with veterans. Interesting that he's played pretty much all year (preseason too) with at least one Finn on his line. Armia's a guy who looks like a useful 3rd-4th liner but he hasn't impressed me yet. He goes to the net, and I worry the coaching staff overvalue him like they did Shaw just because he goes to the dirty areas. Not enough skill shown yet to be in the top 6 IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habberwacky Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 I think Armia has done enough to earn his role so far, but that isn't saying much. He has some skill, but I think we will find better fits for the top 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs=stanleycup Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 4 hours ago, maas_art said: Glad to hear Price just has the flu (that sounds wrong, not wishing him ill will) - i was a little worried when i heard he took a therapy day yesterday but that makes sense. He's getting older and slower. That first goal he allowed against us during the LA game was a soft one IMO. Trade him now while he still has value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archey Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 I'll be amazed should we win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptWelly Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 GO HABS GO!!!! 4-3 Montreal Druin gets his first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Byron got hooked,,, no call as per usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs_93 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 That's not the start I was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Just now, habs_93 said: That's not the start I was looking for. Nope,,, but was exp ected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Dam ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Cole calling it,,,, so mute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs_93 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 According to the Pittsburgh broadcast, the Penguins goal is was a huge Habs fan growing up. Had Dryden on his mask in college. You all know what that means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Man down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs_93 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 That wasn't good. Don't think Plekky meant for anything like that to happen, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Too many passes and not enough shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinot-2 Posted October 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs_93 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Just now, kinot-2 said: You can say that again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netcase2 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Niemi was slow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketbelifleur Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 What was Byron doing there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs_93 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Just now, rocketbelifleur said: What was Byron doing there? Regressing to the mean, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketbelifleur Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 2 minutes ago, habs_93 said: Regressing to the mean, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 7 minutes ago, kinot-2 said: Too many passes and not enough shooting. Yup. Couple of times Domi had great looks and was just looking around for a pass like he was David Desharnais. Gotta learn how to pull the trigger too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigTed3 Posted October 13, 2018 Report Share Posted October 13, 2018 Plekanec has already made his way up to the 3rd line and JK down to the 4th... and it starts. CJ is afraid to match JK up against Sid or Malkin's lines, but he's forgotten our other centers are worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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