• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Scott Gomez 1 and 2 | Lars Eller
Pat Hickey reports from Brossard that there was little to report from Brossard. Same line combinations used in practice this morning that head coach Jacques Martin used yesterday, with the New Jersey Devils next up on Thursday at the Bell Centre.
Benoit Pouliot remained on the fourth line, but was skating with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta on the power play.
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myself as far as line tinkering goes, this is what I would try if it ‘s not working you can always switch back
1st line Cammy, Pleks, Halpern
2nd line Kostitsyn, Gomez, Gionta
3rd line Pouliot, Eller, Lapierre
4th line Moen, Pyatt, Boyd
Try it Coach, This could be what the Doctor ordered.
First let me say it is good to be back, and at age 45, I rememered my username and password! I was so impressed and I will be spewing my meaningless drival for you all…:)
Secondly, your post is so bang on – we are 3-1-1 and it feels like we are panic mode (now when I say “we”, I an referring to JM). Your post is almost word for word, the conversation I had with my wife…well she pretended to listen while I was yapping – that is a conversation right?
Line 1 – no brainer, leave them alone, play them more if you need more goals.
Line 2 – Gomez, Gionta and Boyd I think will work great – does everyone relish Boyd as much as I? (or mayne some Trenya – Star Trek joke) Great energy and good skills
Line 3 – Moen, Pouliot, Lapierre – tell them to hit everything that is in a different color – if you score, great, otherwise, make them hurt! I’d like them to convince Pouliot that preventing goals and hurting others is very good – I think he would be good at it as he seems to panic when in a scoring position right now. We need to take the pressure off him.
Line 4 – Pyatt, Halpern, Eller…let the youngsters have some fun, focus on speed and defensive and give them 12 minutes each…
Didnt really check positions and all, but very close to the above post…
DD…
And remember…
They say that marrige is like a deck of cards. In the beginning, all you need is 2 hearts and a dimond.
At the end, you wish you had a f’in clud and a spade…:)
Go Habs!
how soon we forget – Carbo switching lines combos every shift…
that said, I’m inclined to agree with you, with the exception that there are sometimes tactical matchups coaches like to make depending who we are playing.
that said, my personal inclination is to play open-face sandwich guy (Eller) and Poo (Pouliot) as much as possible in all combinations early in the year to find out what we have there — even at the cost of some short term pain.
I trust many posters will agree that we don’t want to be waiting for “potential” in March when the trade-deadline is looming and we may – or may not – need to make a move.
“insert tagline here”
Prefer Lapierre out there with Eller and Pouliot because he’s faster. If you put Moen on the 3rd with Poul and Eller than you would put Lapierre with g-g?
What about Eller,Pouliot and Moen. 3 good size bodies …2 slicksters + one corner guy . Has this been tried to date ? Potentially they have amuch fire power as our second line of G/G/Pyatt. What do you think out there
I like the 3rd line of Pouliot-Eller-Lapierre. They would compliment eachother well. If Boyd isn’t doing well then switch him with Eller or Pouliot ONLY (whichever 1 is doing better on that line).
Yeah 1st and 4th should stay intact, most of the time. But sometimes you need to make some adjustments depending on the team you’re facing.
Is it just me, or does Jacques Martin deliberately try to make line combinations that will put the MOST players in a position to fail?!?! JM will NEVER EVER do the simple thing. To start, he should have gave Pouliot – Gomez -Gionta ten games together to start the season, three games is a slump?!?! He seems to think they are magically going to develop chemistry with someone if he just throws a random grinder on their wing, if anything, they will have a lucky game with someone and produce once, and then it will be another game or two before someone else is there. Pouliot does not have the skills to play bottom 6, thats NOT where he was drafted nor is it where his talent lies, if we are currently winning games on the strength of one line, why not leave the other lines set and try to develop chemistry, if we lose 3 in a row or something THEN switch things up… all this line juggling is nonesense. If JM is suppose to be a great coach why can he not do the simple things. Is it not painfully obvious we have TWO players who have the skillset to play beside G-G??? Pouliot and Eller, GIVE THEM A CHANCE, 2 games doesn’t count!! For some reason- as with most young players- JM refuses to give Eller a chance, therefore he is not being given any hope of succeeding (sticking him on the fourth line) if JM wants to move Eller to the bottom six and demote Pouliot atleast give them SOME HOPE of being successful play Pouliot with Eller and move eller to his natural position in the middle!! The lines should be Cammy- Pleks – AK, Eller/Pouliot – Gomez -Gionta, Boyd- Eller/Pouliot-Lapierre, Pyatt- Halpern-Moen. There is absolutely NO reason to fiddle with the 1st and 4th lines, lets those lines work together for 10-15 games to develop chemistry. Since JM wont do this, move Boyd beside G and G and let Eller play his position!!
Cammy- Pleks – AK
Boyd- Gomez -Gionta
Pouliot – Eller – Lapierre
Pyatt – Halpern -Moen
Atleast everyone will be in a position to somewhat succeed. Sorry about the long post, just venting…JM can get soooooooo frustrating.
Moved post.
You beat a guy in 1 round of a Fantasy pool and he never lets it go
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
I would if I was you make time for your Fantasy teams this week… You’re not looking good at this point
.
Week’s still young and my boys ramping up for some action tonight, Hossa and Kane are looking to knock Luongo around like a speed bag.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
lol
Hands up if you think that Andrei looked better at any point in his career than he has in the last four games.
He had brilliant moments in 07-08 and a bit in 08-09 when he lined up with his brother and Lang but I don’t think I’ve seen him really involved in active backchecking until JM got to work with him.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
First time this year all three of my goalies are starting on the same night.
You might just get a screw up out of me tonight.
He’s never played this well without the puck in my opinion.
And never moved his feet as much with the puck.
Best I’ve ever seen him. Not even close.
He’s backchecking, finishing checks, driving to the net, and finally looks like he’s engaged in the game.
Kosnipsyn is reborn
he has done this before….and his best hockey is usually a simple moving of his feet. ….and that starts with his play away from the puck. His sheer strength and size are huge assets when he is continously moving….when he slumps he is flatfooted and stationary a lot and is stop to start acceleration is not his best asset but when he has a moving start or gets ahead of steam he is surprisingly quick for a big guy..and his skill? incredible. His problems have always come in periods of apparent laziness….much like Kovalev actually….when Kovalev is playing well he plays the game with his feet, his head and his hands in that order…when not…much like Andre it is head, hands, feet….and that just doesn’t work. The last few games are Andre’s best…in a while…but I have seen similar glimpses and actually for relatively sustained stretches too from him….the key is continuing it and I don’t doubt injury, fitness and stress have been factors in the past but if anyone can ever get 82 games out of this guy it will be well worth it..and fun for everyone except the Habs opponents.
I must have missed an extended period with him then.
I don’t recall him being this good when he played with Lang and his brother.
Turnovers have always been something that have plagued him in my opinion, even when he’s going well. And as luck would have it, they always seem to be in the bad areas of the ice, like coming out of our zone or on entry into the attacking zone.
Outside of his true rookie year I’ve never seen this much effort from him defensively and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the whole package put together with him like this.
He is in the conversation with Pleks as our best player right now.
Do you guys think it’s actually a relief to him that his brother is gone and now he can concentrate on his own game?
It could be that simple. In fact, that would be a good answer as it would indicate that he is more likely to be able to sustain his game over the whole season (obviously everyone has lumps).
Whatcha think?
Does the middle finger count ?
.
JM always reverts to the same lines after a period of play , he gives a couple shift to make something happen , then BAM gio ,gomez and BP will be back together , i wish he would go at 1 full game if not more we played a couple games and here we go with the line changes try this try that ,
White/and Laps are RW’s can’t put them on the left side, love the idea of Boyd tho, he has some good hands and some good speed.
Pyatt on the second line and Pouliot on the second? Nice work JM. Bravo.
While I can’t necessarily disagree with Pouliot, I think that Pyatt just doesn’t fit on the 2nd. Why not try Boyd, or Eller or Lapierre or heck, call up White and put him in the spot.
Any of those players would do a much better job than Pyatt because they are bigger than him and have better hands.
Sigh…
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Yannick Weber is tearing it up in the AHL, trade bait?
Or a 5-6 defencemen next season. If the Habs can lure in Alexei Emelin, pairing the bruising KHLer with Weber could give the Habs a pretty solid 3rd pairing. Right now we’re looking at Spacek, Gorges, Markov and Subban as the returning cast for the 11-12 season.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
Ya, Boyd has skill,speed and bring size and a little jam to his game. He would be a great complement, I think.
As for White and Lapierre, yes they RW’s but I still think they could excel on the left on that line. That being said, Boyd might be the better option and, if things don’t go well with Pyatt (which I doubt they will) then Boyd might be next in line.
Fingers crossed!
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Well said and sadly very true! He wants Pouliot to work SO badly but, at the same time, he demoted him to the fourth line right after he played his best game of the season (third game).
With the back-to-back weekend games against Buffalo and Ottawa I, personally, would have kept that trio together for the weekend and if they still couldn’t get it going, then I would have taken them apart.
The problem now is that since he pulled them apart prematurely, he is always wondering if they can still get it going, which is why he keeps throwing Pouliot back out there.
Oh, JM….will he never learn?
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You’re on the right track but Dump Spacek and hang on to Gill.
Pouliot-Plekanec-Kostitsyn
Cammalleri-Gomez-Gionta
Come on Jacques, you know you want to…
Except Cammy-Pleks-AK is our top offensive line right now so it doesn’t make sense to disrupt chemistry.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
OK, Dog, you tell me how to better phrase Pat’s “same old, same old” note to me. Look at the bright side: on The Rock, you lived 90 minutes longer than readers in EST before you got that life-altering non-news.
Dave Stubbs
Habs Inside/Out
Sports Columnist/Feature Writer, Montreal Gazette
• On Twitter: twitter.com/habsinsideout1
Understood, I just think we need both lines going, Pleks and Kostitsyn might be able to get Pouliot going, and Pouliot’s increased physical play would compliment that line.
With Cammialleri on the Gomez line they might contribute more.
Hasn’t been tried yet to my knowledge.
Not yet no but I think JM wants to find a physical impact player for each line, Cammalleri creates a wider set of passing options for Gomez but each line needs a guy who can do corners work and deliver solid hits. Missing element from last year’s squad is having a guy who can do the dirty work on each scoring line.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
If only we had Kesler to play with G-G =P
Kesler’s a Center, why make him a winger? Now if we’d lured Knuble last season… Oh that would be sweet.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/
If no news is good news, this is golden Mr. Stubbs.
“Hey Richard, two minutes for looking so good!”
I am totally digging the more “assertive” HIO crew that has recently surfaced. Definitely livens the place up.
Wasn’t trying to be snide. It’s just this manufacturing of news during a four-day break that’s a little ridiculous.
Dave Stubbs
Habs Inside/Out
Sports Columnist/Feature Writer, Montreal Gazette
• On Twitter: twitter.com/habsinsideout1
So Pouliot is skilled enough and working hard enough to be rewarded with second unit PP time, but he isn’t skilled enough or working hard enough to get normal second line minutes. Got it. TOTALLY picking up what you’re putting down, Monsieur Martin.
Im glad you understand what JM is doing.
Begin to clear waivers with NAS. We should pick him up and insert him with G-G! loooooool
It is clear that JM is not going to teach anybody anything. I won’t say he can’t, he just won’t. So Pouliot is hitting but not shooting or scoring – third line. Eller makes mistakes but skates - fourth line. As soon as someone ”appears” who can shoot, score, hit and skate without any instructing from JM – With Gio and Gomer on line 2.
What a plan!
Hands up those of you who remember Andrei Kostitsyn doing any backchecking before JM took over.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu.
http://habsandhockey.blogspot.com/