Post Game Thread | Ducks vs. Habs | 12/10/05

SpiderManNL · Guru

Post Game Thread | Ducks vs. Habs | 12/10/05

barry33 · Guru

RE: Game Thread | Ducks vs. Habs | 12/10/05

Figaro · Guru

I dont know what's more unbelievable - that Dagenais will score or that Barry is sober!

4-1 Habs sounds good to me. I don't think Ana has what it takes to play with the boys.

ray · Senior Member

barry33 wrote:

Let me be the first to post. Habs will get off to a slow start tonite after a week off. That is where Theo has to be sharp. 1-0 Ducklings after 1. Habs get their game legs and score 2 in the second (Zednick and Begin). 3rd period Dagenais scores again (yes I am sober) and Begin adds empty netter. 4-1 Habs

I agree Barry a slow start will happen tonight, with such a long layoff teams struggle out of the box. So much for the week helping us, we still lose Koivu, Markov and Komi were coming back anyway and to top that off we lose Bonk during the week off. Barry I hope your prediction comes true, Theo needs to win this one.

Nil d · Guru

Figaro wrote:

I dont know what's more unbelievable - that Dagenais will score or that Barry is sober!

I think we all know which is more believable. Dagenais scoring does happen occasionally.

I've been posting about connections lately. I have one to Jean - Sebastien Giguere. I know his father-in-law very well. He used to be an audit client - he's the General Manager of White Point Beach Lodge on the South Shore of NS. His daughter met Giguere while he was playing for the Halifax Mooseheads, and they were married right after he won the Conn Smythe Trophy.

barry33 · Guru

Figaro wrote:

I dont know what's more unbelievable - that Dagenais will score or that Barry is sober! 4-1 Habs sounds good to me. I don't think Ana has what it takes to play with the boys.

Ahhh ye of 'lil faith. I would love to say that I am going to prove you wrong but my beer league hockey team is having their Xmas party tonite and when you are sponsored by Alexander Keith's Brewery well.....but once again I will find a tv to watch the boys win.

Johab · Guru

All i have to say is after having an entire year off from hockey this week without the habs didnt seem that bad after all. If this were 2 seasons ago i would have gone insane. I was kept happy this week with baseball news. My Blue Jays signed Ryan, Burnett and traded for Lyle Overbay. Not sure how many of you follow Baseball but thats quite the re-vamping :D Normie!!! your Sox better watch out this year!!!!

Figaro · Guru

Johab wrote:

All i have to say is after having an entire year off from hockey this week without the habs didnt seem that bad after all. If this were 2 seasons ago i would have gone insane. I was kept happy this week with baseball news. My Blue Jays signed Ryan, Burnett and traded for Lyle Overbay. Not sure how many of you follow Baseball but thats quite the re-vamping :D Normie!!! your Sox better watch out this year!!!!

Ya, Johab, it was a tough year with no hockey and no baseball team! I am very excited about the Jays for next season. We need a baseball thread apart from this, to get into details.

davidb · Guru

Please please everyone lets not take anyone for granted. I cannot tell you how many times this year I read a post that we were going to blow someone out, just to struggle for the win or in fact lose. I hope the Habs come out strong and take it right to the Ducks. If the D can rebound after getting Markov and Komi back and we get the PP going we should be ok. Oh and did I mention, a strong game from Theo I say Habs 5-3

Johab · Guru

Well i guess ill be the realistic one here and being we have yet to blow out ANY opponent this season, we're about to watch ANOTHER game in which the habs struggle to win, will score a maximum of only 3 goals, 1 in each period and IF they win it will be by a 3-2 final. Theo plays an average game 2 goals on 25 shots. Markov, Ryder and Perezhogin score for montreal. Selanna will get 1 assist on the night. Giguere will have a good night but get the lose because the Ducks offense is worse than ours. The refs will seem quite after the 1st period but come out playing the flute in the 2nd and 3rd with non stop blowing. Really hard for any team to get momentum in this game beause of the calls. When all is said and done, it was a draged out game with the habs barely getting a win.

SpiderManNL · Guru

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect.cfm?sectionID=habsNewsDetails.cfm&newsItemID=4559

Game Preview: Canadiens vs. Mighty Ducks

MONTREAL – After a week without any games, the Canadiens are back in action tonight as they host the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Montreal (15-7-5) headed into its week off on a high note, snapping a season-high four-game slide with a 3-2 win over Los Angeles last Saturday. Jan Bulis scored shorthanded for the game-winner while Pierre Dagenais notched his first multi-goal game of the season.

The Mighty Ducks (12-12-5) might need some directions on how to get to the Bell Centre, with their last visit coming in October 2002. Tonight’s contest is the second of three on the road against Northeast division opponents. Thursday in Buffalo, the Ducks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Sabres in overtime, bring their record to 5-5-2 since Sergei Fedorov was traded to Columbus on Nov. 15.

Tonight’s match-up is the 17th meeting between these two clubs since the Mighty Ducks joined the NHL in 1993-94. The Canadiens are 4-2-2 at home against Anaheim, and remain unbeaten in their last four, with three wins and a tie. The Ducks have not won in Montreal since March 21, 1998, when Pierre Page was behind the bench.

Good things come in small packages: While they may not physically be the biggest guys on the ice, Steve Begin and Francis Bouillon don’t let that affect the way they play the game. Begin is second in the league with 83 hits, behind only Zdeno Chara, the Senators’ 6-foot-9 defenseman, who has 86. At 5-foot-8, Bouillon, is 13th in the NHL in hits, giving his opponents a taste of his medicine 62 times so far this season.

Mr. Opportunity: With the injury bug creeping its way through the Canadiens’ dressing room, Pierre Dagenais couldn’t have asked for a better time to regain his scoring touch. After going 14 games without finding the back of the net, No. 26 has scored three goals in his last two games, during which he has been reunited with Mike Ribeiro and Michael Ryder.

In and out: Saku Koivu will sit out his third straight game tonight. The Canadiens’ captain, who leads the team in scoring, continues to nurse a groin injury. A torn groin muscle will keep Radek Bonk out of the lineup indefinitely. On the other end of the spectrum, Claude Julien’s defense corp will get a big boost as both Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek return to the lineup. Markov missed three games serving a suspension while Komisarek makes his first appearance since his mother passed away at the end of November.

With his three-game suspension complete, Andrei Markov will be back on the Canadiens' blue line against the Mighty Ducks.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

I'm going to go for us trying hard, but victim of a cold goalie suddenly hot - yet again. MOre shots, less goals. My bet - 3-1 Mighty Schmucks

Theo will be great except for those 3, Markov will impress, groins will flutter, youppi! will amuse

Nil d · Guru

brooklynhabfan wrote:

I'm going to go for us trying hard, but victim of a cold goalie suddenly hot - yet again. MOre shots, less goals. My bet - 3-1 Mighty Schmucks Theo will be great except for those 3, Markov will impress, groins will flutter, youppi! will amuse

Groins will flutter? Sounds amusing, if not downright randy!

I hope your prediction is wrong, however. In any event, it will be nice to see a team from outside the division for a change (other than LA last week). I don't remember the last time I saw Anaheim on TV. I forgot they had a team.

Johab · Guru

10 to go?

plouf · Guru

Johab wrote:

Well i guess ill be the realistic one here and being we have yet to blow out ANY opponent this season, we're about to watch ANOTHER game in which the habs struggle to win, will score a maximum of only 3 goals, 1 in each period and IF they win it will be by a 3-2 final. Theo plays an average game 2 goals on 25 shots. Markov, Ryder and Perezhogin score for montreal. Selanna will get 1 assist on the night. Giguere will have a good night but get the lose because the Ducks offense is worse than ours. The refs will seem quite after the 1st period but come out playing the flute in the 2nd and 3rd with non stop blowing. Really hard for any team to get momentum in this game beause of the calls. When all is said and done, it was a draged out game with the habs barely getting a win.

Brilliant description of most of this year's games!

Nil d · Guru

Johab wrote:

10 to go?

No, nine now.................

ray · Senior Member

Johab wrote:

All i have to say is after having an entire year off from hockey this week without the habs didnt seem that bad after all. If this were 2 seasons ago i would have gone insane. I was kept happy this week with baseball news. My Blue Jays signed Ryan, Burnett and traded for Lyle Overbay. Not sure how many of you follow Baseball but thats quite the re-vamping :D Normie!!! your Sox better watch out this year!!!!

yes Johab the Jays have picked up some names and good for them, but look at the Expos,oops i mean Nationals, Soriano that is huge buy they still need some pitching, Vazquez coming back? and Morris and the guy from the angels sorry forgot his name. Losing Wilkerson will hurt, especially seeing how good of a player and person he was. He loved playing in Montreal.

Habhead · Veteran Member

Zednik on the PP (2- man advantage actually works this time!).

Nice to see a call go the Habs way . . .

1-1

plouf · Guru

Well....the Habs have sure come out flat so far. I agree with all those who are saying Julien needs to get these kids to start a game strong. We've had too many crappy first periods.

Habhead · Veteran Member

Yup, they are INCREDIBLY sloppy in their own end. The Ducks seems to be 50% more faster than we are.

I really didn't like the idea of a whole week off with no game, apart from giving extra time for Kovalev/Koivu to heal, it was fairly apparent the Habs would come out slow for this game tonight. They had better get in the game quick, or it could be over before we know it.

But yes, in general the Habs do have slow starts. It seems Julien hasn't found the answer for that yet . . .

2-1 Ducks

davidb · Guru

Well 3-1 lets see what will the excuses be? Kovy and Koivu are still out We had a week off and were rusty? If we lose this game it, will set the tone for the next month or so. They needed to come out hard. You see, when people say they had a week off and were rusty. I say we had a week off to work on aspects of the game. Maybe I am wrong. The next goal is important we cannot come back from a 4-1 deficit

-- Edited by davidb at 19:54, 2005-12-10

SpiderManNL · Guru

3-1 Ducks after one period of play.

Nil d · Guru

Wow! That was the Habs' worst period of the year, in my opinion. The Ducks' forwards were buzzing around unimpeded, making the defensemen look silly, and the forwards simply did not show up. If not for Thodore, it would be even worse. I expect a better effort (any effort at all would be a start) in the second period.

By the way, does anyone else find that Yvon Pednault looks like Newman from Seinfeld?

Johab · Guru

so far so good. My prediction has been bang on except for the anahiem 3rd goal. Like i said IF montreal wins it will be a squeeker and 2 points we really dont deserve. Out shot 20-10 in the 1st? WOW!!! GO HABS GO!!!!...................

BRING SAKU AND KOVALEV BACK!!!!

flowerpower · Veteran Member

No leadership on this team at all!!!

barry33 · Guru

Our defense is to blame so far. Disorganized and SLOW

Habhead · Veteran Member

I don't like it one bit, but the fact remains this hockey club comes out sleep-walking in most of the games lately, so with a week off it was obvious we'd come out with their eyes half closed. Julien just doesn't know how to get this team up for the beginning of a game.

Now, we have to fight from behind with an offensively challenged team . . . it very well could be a 5-2 or 6-2 final for the Ducks. I'd say our GF/GA ratio is fairly indicative of this team. We have a hard time burying our chances & the goaltending has been nothing but average . . .

. . . and I'm not blaming Theo for letting in 3 in the first period, it could have been 6! I'm talking the goaltending for the season as a whole.

-- Edited by Habhead at 20:03, 2005-12-10

plouf · Guru

It is so sad that our number one line right now has Dagenais and Ribeiro on it.

Habhead · Veteran Member

Nice initial save Theo . . . BUT YOU LET THE REBOUND GO RIGHT BACK TO THE GUY!!!

Theo's poor rebounding and going down early have got to stop!!!!!!!!!

4-1 Ducks . . . I say it'll be 6-2 by the time this crap is over tonight.

It's obvious this team has no heart or leadership, and I'm afraid to say it's starting to appear from the coach on out.

-- Edited by Habhead at 20:42, 2005-12-10

plouf · Guru

how are we getting outshot like that again?

Wow.