Game Thread | Habs vs. Philadelphia | 03/06/06

Muller93 · Guru

RE: Game Thread | Habs vs. Philadelphia | 03/06/06

mikelong77 · Newbie

Muller93 wrote:

Actually great game! They killed the two man advantage and fought back for a point. Really happy with that effort. Huet was pretty good tonight. I actually thought he played well Ribeiro. Great game again. Not just becuase he scored but because he is going into the corners etc. Koivu. Like I said,he would require 1-2 off games now. Those are over. He should be back strong next game. Kovalev. He is frustrating. But at least a threat every time on the ice. Ryder. No more shootouts for him. He stinks at them. Rivet. Solid, Solid, Solid! Plek. Where are you? Zednik. Is looking a bit more like himself. Good effort again tonight. Perez. I said it before. He reminds me of Petrov( which is not a compliment).

Speaking of Petrov, I liked him, he was one of my favorite Habs a few years ago. I know he went to nashville, but is he playing in europe now?

plouf · Guru

Nice to see the defensemen pinching. We should have been up a couple goals. Then the pinching bit us in the backside with all those 2 on 1s.
Still, the pinching from Souray and Rivet's what got us into overtime.

Really a pretty good game from the Habs, if a bit sloppy at times. A lot of the guys look tired, especially the forwards. Zednik, Ribeiro, Higgins and Begin the exceptions.

Weakest games: Plekanec and Ryder. Ryder had a great finish to the game, but was totally invisible for the rest of it.

Best games: Rivet, Souray, Ribeiro, Zednik, Begin, Higgins

Best line: Perezhogin, Ribeiro, Kovalev

Bonk was good defensively except for one really bad giveaway. Koivu played a contained game, did great against Forsberg and won the key faceoffs at the end, but had stretches where he seemed to lack the final push in the offensive zone. We don't want him to be a safe, defensive centre.

Bulis was there for flashes, but disappeared for others.

Komisarek looks pretty good, but Markov seems to be in a bit of a funk, as And-o pointed out earlier.

Huet: great at times, zoned out at others. Definitely must be tired.

AB Habman · Guru

Notice how much better Flyers are with Forsberg. We couldn't stop the guy.

Notice how great that play by Higgins was? Rivet blasts it and it hit Higgins in the pants. He waits for it to fall to his feet then spins with it on his backhand. Great shot! Not too many players on the Habs can make that play.

Paolo · Member

I'll take the one point too. Let's hope we take less penalties in the future, but overall it was a nice performance, plus, that OT was the most exiting 5 minutes of hockey I've seen in a while.

Let's take one in TO

GO HABS GO!!!

plouf · Guru

Actually I thought Forsberg didn't look like himself. A lot of the time he wasn't a factor. He still had 2 points, but I guess I'm used to seeing him just dominate. Tonight he looked frustrated and he was diving and retaliating left and right.

barry33 · Guru

plouf wrote:

Actually I thought Forsberg didn't look like himself. A lot of the time he wasn't a factor. He still had 2 points, but I guess I'm used to seeing him just dominate. Tonight he looked frustrated and he was diving and retaliating left and right.

Actually I have been frustrated by all the Habs that were at the Olympics since they came back. Koivu had that one good game when he came back (probably still running on adrenylyn) but has been non-existent since. Markov has been just horrid and Kovalev has been his usual indifferent self. I hope the hangover is temporary.

Nil d · Guru

barry33 wrote:

Actually I have been frustrated by all the Habs that were at the Olympics since they came back. Koivu had that one good game when he came back (probably still running on adrenylyn) but has been non-existent since. Markov has been just horrid and Kovalev has been his usual indifferent self. I hope the hangover is temporary.

...... and Bulis continues to be in a funk. Zednik seems to be th only one playing better, but it's marginal at best.

The amazing thing is that the team is still winning - or at least not losing in regulation! Thanks to Huet, yes. But the supporting cast - Higgins, Ribeiro, Souray, etc. - have picked it up, no?

plouf · Guru

Nil d wrote:

barry33 wrote: Actually I have been frustrated by all the Habs that were at the Olympics since they came back. Koivu had that one good game when he came back (probably still running on adrenylyn) but has been non-existent since. Markov has been just horrid and Kovalev has been his usual indifferent self. I hope the hangover is temporary. ...... and Bulis continues to be in a funk. Zednik seems to be th only one playing better, but it's marginal at best. The amazing thing is that the team is still winning - or at least not losing in regulation! Thanks to Huet, yes. But the supporting cast - Higgins, Ribeiro, Souray, etc. - have picked it up, no?

Still, most of the team played well last night, even including the olympics players. They really dominated the Flyers in 5 on 5 a lot of the time. Was Kovalev indifferent? I didn't think so. He still does irritating things, like completely give up on plays that don't work out, but for the most part he was dangerous, and he was even tracking back more than usual. Koivu was excellent for the first half of the game, but did seem to disappear somewhat and concentrate on defense after his penalty. Still, the top two lines were both dangerous enough that each provided space for the other, if you know what I mean. The reason guys like Higgins and Ribeiro can even get the space they did last night is because the stickhandlers like Kovy and Koivu get the defense all in a knot. If Esche hadn't been so stellar in the first half of the game, Montreal could have been up by a few, and it was both Kovalev and Koivu who were victims of great saves in the first period. I agree the guys might be tired, but I think you can't overlook the fact that they actually gave us good games last night, full of skating, effort and purpose.

Markov did have his second straight bad game, it's true.