The winning goal was scored 61 seconds into the long-awaited showdown.
Your Montreal Canadiens, who scored eight goals in Minnesota, look like they might not get another one this season.
They were that bad in Boston, and it is painfully evident the Bruins are a better team, and the Canadiens are not going to catch them for the Northeast Division title.
This is the time of year when your best are supposed to be at their best. With the exception of Carey Price and P.K. Subban, the Canadiens’ best are Missing in Action.
Scott Gomez, Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta are earning a total of $18 million this season.
David Desharnais, Lars Eller and Ryan White are making $2,060,00.
Tomas Plekanec played hurt, looked slow and was minus-4, as was Cammalleri.
Ah, what’s the point of dwelling on the stats?
Here’s the crucial one: The Canadiens have seven games left, four of which are on the road.
Barring a total collapse – which can’t be ruled out – the Canadiens will make the playoffs.
But based on what we’ve seen this week, the postseason could be one and done.
The Canadiens did not show up in Madison Square Garden last Friday, and the consensus was: File it and forget it.
They scored eight goals, a week’s supply for this team, in Minnesota.
Ryan Miller posted his easiest shutout of the season at the Bell Centre Tuesday night.
And then the hated Bruins bent this team over a log in a part of the woods where no one could hear them scream.
Revenge on Zdeno Chara? He had three assists and was plus-3.
Revenge on Gregory Campbell? Two goals … including an unassisted shorty when the Canadiens had a 5-on-3 power play.
Revenge on bigmouth Mark Recchi? An assist … plus fun and games with Carey Price’s stick.
On L’Antichambre, they’re showing a third-period sequence in which, at even strength, the Bruins controlled the puck through a shift while white-shirted defenders poked tentatively at the end of their sticks.
“Pas d’effort,” lamented Michel Bergeron.
Gaston Therrien showed a clip in which Gomez, with no one checking him, circled in the Canadiens’ end, as his wont, and then made a nonchalant play that resulted in a Boston takeaway – whereupon Gomez took a frustration penalty.
The Bruin who picked the $8-million man’s pocket?
Shawn Thornton.
BRUTAL!
Gomez took two penalties. Plekanec took an early double minor.
The Canadiens are one of the most penalized teams in the league, and it’s all pussy-ass stuff that results from losing puck battles and lagging behind the play.
Two games do not a season make, but this is crunch time.
And the Canadiens are being crunched …. decisively.
Jacques Martin has a lot of work to do between now and Saturday, when the Ovechkin-less Caps visit the Bell Centre.
The team has sucked in three of its last four games, and this thing threatens to go pear-shaped.
OK, I’m done ranting.
More in the morning.
Loading ...
lfds
welcome to our website:
========== http://ta.gg/51m =====
if you like to order anything you like.
More details,
please just browse our website Quality is our Dignity;
Service is our Lift.
enjoy yourself.
thank you!!
======== http://ta.gg/51m ===========
======== http://ta.gg/51m ===========
dasfd
welcome to our website:
——– http://shortlinks.co.uk/3c5r —-
if you like to order anything you like.
More details,
please just browse our website Quality is our Dignity;
Service is our Lift.
enjoy yourself.
thank you!!
——– http://shortlinks.co.uk/3c5r ——-
The Canadiens have no heart. You have to be physical in the playoffs. They are one and done. Chara destroys one of your players and what do you do about it? NOTHING!
What we’ve learned tonight. One team is built for the play-offs. The other team is broken for them.
When Paul Mara is one of your 5 best players on the ice you know you’re in trouble.
The torch be yours to hold it high!
pyatt,moen,darche,pouliot,ak46,gomez,eller,halpern…..can anyone feel confident that these 8 forwards can be relied on to produce goals in the playoffs..to beat a team like boston we will need great goaltending and camm,gion,plecks,dd having a fantastic scoring run because they will not only have to out score the top forwards of the bruins but add goals that the bottom end forwards of the bruins produce because we have too many forwards on our team that are capable of playing like they are on an one goal every 10-12 game pace…
Here it is. The HardHabits perspective:
WED, 9 FEB 2011 :: FINAL MTL (6) – BOS (8)
Bruins thump the Habs in a blow-out but it’s not really a blow-out because the Habs scored 6 goals say the Habs apologists. But the Bruins say to the Habs, “if you score 6 goals and make it close we’ll clobber you.”
TUE, 8 MAR 2011 :: FINAL BOS (1) – MTL (4)
Habs are running away with the game after those dirty Bruins clobbered them. Then Chara takes out one of the only Habs forwards with size that goes to the nets.
The Chara hit on Pacioretty is the check that was hear around the world. Habs ruffle their feathers. Bruins flex their muscles. Much trash talk ensues.
THU, 24 MAR 2011 :: FINAL MTL (0) – BOS (7)
Guess what happens? Boston scores 7 unanswered goals and the Habs dare not even try to make it look close lest they be pummeled with authority one more time.
The bottom line is the Bruins dominated the Habs when it counts, at the end of the season going into the play-offs.
Teams that finish outside the top 5 over-all have a less than 10% in 11 chance of winning the Cup. Not 1 in 11. 1/10 of 11.
I don’t think the players need to learn the culture of winning. It is the organization that needs to learn this culture.
if you had all your hockey knowledge about all players in the nhl but somehow lost memory of what players are on a particular team and you looked at all the present rosters in the nhl i believe most people would put the habs roster around 15-20 range
You’re an apologist. There are still a few games left to see if the Habs make the play-offs but even that doesn’t look guaranteed the way they are playing.
15-20 is not good enough. If a team is to finish 15-20 forever it better start finishing 26-30 if it intends to get to 1-5 sweet spot.
Same old middling crap year after year.
one tenth (or 10%, or 1/10) of 11 = 1.1. Are you saying they have a 1.1% chance of winning? Your use of numbers here is confusing at best.
__________________________
The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag
I am a Habs fan. Easy to forget the games earlier in the season, right? Easy to forget the Habs went 4-2 THIS season against the Bruins, right?
2011 is the Year of the Hab (can I still say that?)
What a great night to be a Canadiens fan. Demolished by our biggest rival in the biggest game of the year!
Thanks boys!
HardHabits ’til the day that I die.
Habs got a Low Self Opinion of themselves.
JM resign … the smoke and mirrors you pulled last spring have been exposed. You have no character, no emotion, no plan B, no adjustments.
Is Roy around?
———
http://www.sonofadonmovie.com
i know there were off ice issues and graboswki,dags and ak74 may never have produced the way they are producing now but imagine if these 3 were on the habs and having the type of year they are having we would be first in the division…
Oh please spare me.
Those three sucked as Habs, they would not have been the answere tonight, this season, in the playoffs or in the future.
But i’d still trade Gomez for any of them.
Boone, agreed it was a stinker. But, I believe the Bruins are a healthier team presently, not necessarily a better one. Habs have shown they can beat the B’s more often than not. After that goal fest (8-6), they soundly beat them 4-1 despite losing Patch and playing conservatively in the 3rd period.
Habs didn’t show tonight and played with some unhealed players in the lineup. Doesn’t excuse anything, I know.
while we are 4-2 vs the bruins we probably should have lost the o/t win game where we were trailing 2-0 with a few minutes left…the bruins have way better balanced scoring than we have…
What I want to know is, why don’t we hear Brad Marchand get called out for his playstyle more than he does? All I hear is P.K. this, P.K. that, but Marchand is 1000x dirtier than Subban.
Brad Marchand is still trying to figure out what’s going on after PK SMOKED him in December.
His comments regarding Matt Cooke after Marchand himself was returning from a suspension prove what an idiot he is
Hey has anyone else noticed that Milan Lucic looks a lot like Sophia Coppola?
LOL!
with a hunchback!
As horrible as it was to watch tonight, I think we should all calm down a bit. There is still plenty of time to get this slump sorted out and it’s just pessimistic to say the Habs can’t win a playoff series. I also think it’s silly to say it’s painfully evident the Bruins are a better team. What happened last time they played? They literally had to try to kill our guys to stop the scoring. The Habs are up 4-2 in the season series. If it were the playoffs, tonight’s game never would have happened because 4-1 wins it.
I know it’s been rough lately. The Habs haven’t been the same since the Chara assault. But there’s still time to steady themselves for the playoffs, which are virtually guaranteed. The worst that might happen, as I see it, is we slip to 7th and play someone else. While it would be no fun if that someone else were Philly, any opponent that isn’t Boston would be good for the health of our players. Those guys are just out for blood. I think the Habs could beat them in a series, but they would still try to kill us along the way. It’s also not unreasonable to suggest Montreal could still finish fifth.
I guess my point is, tonight really sucked but there’s no use stressing out about it. Why not try to be optimistic?
Just getting it out of our system before the playoffs. No worries here. Just a bad night to have a bad game. What do you do?
-Dustin-
Well, for money, I’m a receptionist at a doctor’s office. But my real passion is writing. Screenwriting, short stories and criticism. Does not pay well. I also have a comedy podcast and a blog.
What do you do?
One thing boone didn’t mention is that ak46 was the only player out there, besides 76 and 31, that showed anything. In the second period he was the only one with any interesting, if not meaningful, plays. Major point of let down for me is gionta at the net with a point blank shot passing it to gomer. Just shoot the darn thing.
As a Montreal Canadiens’ fan I had to turn the game off @ 4-0. I have said this before and I continue to repeat this; why do the Habs lack heart whenever it comes to playing big games. They do not have consistency; lack grit, determination, muscle, skating, puck handle and control, pass tape-tape, and fail to SCORE! Wow, they really blew it tonight and credit goes to the Big Bad Bruins who embarassed the Habs big time. Can this team get any worse and should they make the play-offs and if they do will be be any good!? Something has got to change with this team and it is not merely injuries….poison is in this squad because they are flat and emotionless too often….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m sure I’ll feel better in the a.m. (maybe not) but right now I’m hoping that anyone who still wants to use their tix Sat’y night gives these impostors an earful on behalf of those of us who can’t be there. Anyone wanna bet the Leafs will put the Habs out on April 9?
Wow Reimer is lights out for Toronto…
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”–Winston Churchill
What we saw tonight was a Habs team that showed zero passion and zero fire coming into the Bruins home building. Maybe the Habs players are starting to hear and believe all the B.S. hyped by the media such as TSN and others…To be honest I am really sick of everyone talking about how the Habs need to get revenge or retribution for the Patches hit.
Lets all stop kidding ourselves, the Habs of 2010/11 are not built to physically challenge or rough up any team in this league and to even begin to think they will do that is ludicrous.
This team has been too small all season and everyone knows that. They are build for speed…but you know what – a lack of size does not make a team by necessity a better skilled or faster team…There are some pretty fast and talented bigger players out there. So our speed certainly was not evident tonight and any size we have was not to be seen this game either. So the skills? Where did they go…not to be seen tonight either.
Can anyone explain to me how Pittsburg can keep winning games and beat Philly tonight even as Malkin and Crosby sit out with injuries and the Habs can’t even show up in a late season game with a potential play-off match-up? I think it is pride…obviously the Pitts players want it more than the Habs players do.
I expected a lot more than we got shown tonight. With Sopel, Pleks, Halpern and Darche all returning to the lineup the team immediately became much more experienced and gritty…but alas, that experience and grit just never showed up.
This game was not about B.S. hype, retribution or revenge…no this game was about two division rivals battling in a 4 point game both supposedly reaching for that all important home ice advantage in the opening round of the play-offs and it was about pride to be able to hold their heads high above the ignorant ramblings of goofs like Recchi and Marchand. It was an opportunity for the Habs to show the league and the Bruins fans and media which organization has more class…
I still think the Canadiens have more class than any franchise in this league, but sadly it just looked like they played without spirit, skill, passion or pride out there tonight.
If they don’t do a serious gut check right now and regain their pride, sense of urgency, and take that through to the end of the season, I am afraid they may not make it into the post season at all, not with teams like Buffalo, Carolina and yes the Leafs making an all out push to get there.
Can they even buy a goal? I too fear that there are a few more shut outs left in this bunch and I don’t mean for Price.
Gomez, Cammy and Gionta represent 1/3 of the Habs salary cap and 2/3 of the height average for top 6 forwards in the league.
The small, speedy forward in the defensive system experiment is over.
So what happens when small speedy forwards are countered by big speedy forwards? What’s the advantage then?
The heart of the Bruins offense is the Bash Brothers tandem of Lucic and Horton at the moment. I certainly wouldn’t call them “speedy”.
Puck possession Timo, puck possession!, come on, we’ve been hearing it all year: “the Habs are a puck possession team!” Ha! LOL!
As in watching while the opponent possesses the puck?
“Sorry for being obnoxious, props for being generous,
y’all down, we booze hounds, take two drinks and pass.”
Timo is in fuego bravo……
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”–Winston Churchill
Eso
Gracias
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”–Winston Churchill
games like this are bound to happen in a season…
but
NOT in a game against a North Eastern rival
NOT in a game where your organization has been called out by grandpa Recchi
NOT in the game after teh others team captain nearly killed one of our players
NOT in a statement game that sais: no we are not intimated
this game I noticed 2 forwards who were trying to do something:
ak46 and eller
cammy has been invisible like he has all season.. so lets not start with “he was injured”
gomez = lol
gionta.. im sure that with two real teammates he would be effective.
the d.. well… can’t really fault those guys.. other then a few mistakes that usually happen overall they did not have a bad game
——————
GWG = game winning gionta!
Well said…I was going to comment, and then I read this.
__________________________
The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag
I think tonight was a night when we needed a coach like Pat Burns. Someone who could fire up the team and make them come out screaming and roaring to play. They had no heart tonight and played without passion.
If the Bruins had won 5-3 or something along those lines it would have sucked but at least it would have shown effort. This was just pathetic. I’m not going to write the team off just yet because I think we will bounce back.
If we do meet the Bs in the first round I still think we could take them now that this game (the first after the hit) is over and done with. I sure as hell hope they use this as motivation to kick their ass.
Now we have to put up with those meatheads laughing at us for the next few weeks.
Canadiens Express is starting on RDS. Anyone interested in giving this puppy another go?
Insomniacs, maybe?
Watch Toronto – Colorado or Duke vs Arizona, lotsa stuff on
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”–Winston Churchill
Anyone still think Price deserves the Vezina over Thomas?
Oh dude, come on. Price deserves 2 having that many wins playing behind this team.
It would certainly be interesting to see what Thomas’ stats would be if he was in Price’s shoes this season. Price has had it WAY tougher.
Maybe he has a little, but he’s been horrible in the 2 biggest games of the season against NY and Boston lately.
You’re gong to hang tonight on Price? And you wonder why folks around here don’t give you any credibility…
Where did I hang the game on Price? The team was completely dominated no matter how Price played. I’m just saying he’s been pretty bad the last few games and I think it’s not even a question that Thomas is the Vezina winner this season.
My point was that Price was far from horrible tonight. He was easily in their top two, along with Subban. Hard to blame him for anything that got behind him tonight. The screen on the first goal, the deflection off of Gill’s skate, Eller deflecting and scoring on him, Mara deflecting the pass to an unchecked bruin as Price was tracking the puck… Martin pulled him out of sympathy.
There’s the Timo I remember.
“Deserve” doesn’t factor in, just the numbers and like it or not, Thomas has the numbers over Price, but so does Luongo and Rinne.
Takes a hell of a game to bring an all-star (troll) out of retirement! Welcome back!
And again, where are questions from the “toughest” media in the NHL directly to Gomez or Cammilleri? Why nobody sticks their mic to their shameless faces and ask where the F where they tonight (or the entire season for that matter)? Seriously, you guys only brave to talk on radio shows or write blogs? Do you seriously think your media passes will be revoked?
Yup, some of these media types show about as much passion as Gomez or Pouliot with their post game questions. Simple questions, same cliches answers.
All of them… ALL. You know, for a media crazy town, there was not a single question to Gomez asking him to explain how he can look in a mirror every morning.
They’re afraid of losing out on all those clever “Gomer” sound bites and quips. The ones that are as funny as watching a Gomer Pyle rerun…..Goooooooooooooooollllllllllllllly!
I’d rather have Jim Nabors as the number two centre on the team.
Just saw Floppy interviewed. He says he will remember this night forever. Shutting out the Habs was huge for him after all the crappy games he’s played against them.
At least someone is happy. Forever…really Floppy? lol
Well, it’s not like he even had to work up a sweat tonight.
wanted to post this elsewhere… sorry.
You… don’t want to talk to me?
LOL… I believe tonight I am better off not talking to nobody
Sorry, but I also saw that interview. Thomas was insincere and said what the media wanted to hear. He even preceded that comment with “well, I have 25 shutouts in my career”. Gimme a break. that flopper better not win the Vezina – would be a disgrace.
You know what I think about blowouts. I also think it’s unwise to blow a single game out of proportion, all the more so when it’s a blowout. Not that this ever stops anyone, even though the demonstration is made time and time again.
It was perfectly illogical to expect the 8-1 shellacking of the Wild to start anything, and the same applies for this game.
The Habs may very well meet the Bruins again in the playoffs, and if they do, I still like their chances.
Bruins’ chances? Yes, me too.
*eyeroll*
No, the Habs’. I still think they are generally the better club.
Timo is VERY clever.
EDIT: WTH? Can’t reply to a reply that’s embedded past a certain point?
Anyways, this is what I would’ve wanted to reply, to Mr. Boone’s post below:
Et tu, Boone? I’m surprised you’re standing up for this bozo. Don’t fall for the crocodile tears (if any), he’s happy the Habs got pounded tonight.
No, no… I know my place. Don’t worry.
Compared to …
Mike Boone
Hockey Inside/Out blogger
Gazette City columnist
mboone@montrealgazette.com
Everything goes back to management. They are the ones that put this team together. Gomez and Cammilleri, as much as they suck are what they are – shameless, gutless pukes that don’t deserve to breath the same air with 4th liners like DD and Eller. But it is the fault of Bobo for bringing them here. It is fault of Gauthier for not making this team any better when it was painfully obvious, even during last season lucky (yes lucky) run that we needed more size.
If Molson has any brains this management group won’t be back next season, but again… why wouldn’t they? Win or suck like tonight, there still will be 21K showing up at every home game.
This was supposed to be a statement game, and unfortunately, the statement was “you can nearly cripple one of our players, and we will respond by playing like complete pussies”.
The season series means squat. The Bruins just officially got the Habs’ number. They scored at will against a tentative – I would say intimidated and scared – little team. They even dominated the Habs during a 5-on-3 Habs power-play … says it all.
Carey Price, after getting pulled and sitting on the bench, had to be thinking, “How did I land on a team as uncompetitive as this?” If the Habs had 20 Prices, Subbans, and Maras, they would have delivered a knockout blow against Boston tonight.
Unfortunately, we saw too much money in the bank and not enough on the ice tonight. The Habs big three – tiny trio? puny posse? sissy squad? – contributed less than zero in return for devouring a third of the Habs payroll limit.
Were the Habs scared? I don’t know. I do know that all night long they were bailing on puck-chases early and looking over their shoulders. I know they weren’t driving into high-traffic areas. And I certainly know they weren’t responding – with the exception of Mara and Subban – when Bruins were shoving them around.
JM has had all season to address the penalty issue. Obviously it is not him on the ice taking those candy-ass interference penalties, but his “system” encourages it, and at the very least, he needed to deliver a message about it long ago. It hasn’t happened.
What bothers me most is how lame the Habs were. When they win, it’s easy to overlook what a bunch of Nancys they are, but on a night like this, the humilation is just too deep.
Some Bruins troll on the other thread sarcastically suggested the Habs should call the cops. I think they should call a proctologist first, just in case they ever want to walk straight again.
Full Breezer 4 Life
Boahahah, Bill! Loved your closing line
Everything you say is true. Current collection, with some exceptions, are a soft, heartless, shamelss, gutless, punchless, worthless, useless, etc, etc bunch that will never win anything in a million years.
All good comments. And I’m a big believer that this game is very telling about the type of team that we have going into the playoffs, UNLESS we play HUGE against Washington, win it and salvage some self-respect. If not, then the playoffs will be short-lived. Good-night.
Even if we beat washington, Bill’s point will remain valid going into playoffs. This team is not built for a deep run. They will only as far as their goalie will humanly take them. The system built around
your goalie is useless because, as much as JM would like it, Price can’t score goals.
That’s not Price’s fault. He’s being held down by The System.
Most of the penalties are a result of being small and outhustled. Hooking, interference etc etc etc.
Do you know what will make MTL move ? Toronto making the playoffs, and I think they just might. The last game might be the one for Toronto….. Hope they make it.
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”–Winston Churchill
Well said Bill, agree 100%. I’m embarassed to be Habs fan tonight.
great post
———
http://www.sonofadonmovie.com
Mr. Boone, please get the “new” in red feature that indicated new comments back on this site ASAP. Thank you.
I concur.
For whatever reason, this team is easily knocked off its rails when expectations are ramped up. The players seem to mirror their coach when under the spotlight: awkward and defensive. Occasionally, we see them come out of their shell, but the glimpses are fleeting.
Probably the thing that frustrates me most about this team. Quite the teases. After Sunday I was so excited about this weeks games, then Tuesday happened and I really lost most of the excitement I had about tonight. After tonight, meh. Wake me when the playoffs start.
I will be there on Saturday, and I plan to boo Gomez and any other player who doesn’t show effort. I will be in the cheapseats, I’m paying a pretty penny to fly up and see the game.
Love the picture Boone! Too funny. Did anybody hear or believe Recchi’s comments after the game about taking the “heat” off Chara? He’s no medical expert.
Taking the heat off? Right…
Still can not believe that Marchand gets away with a head shot without a single Hab responding! After everything that’s happened, no one had the balls to respond to what was clearly a cheap shot! Oh, I’m sorry – we’re going to let the NHL address it. Yeah, right!
he hit Gomez… maybe les boys were thanking marchand in their minds. maybe not responding was a statement…
I still want to know who voted Chara 3rd star.
???…Game was in Boston.
Yah but aren’t the three stars (rds’ molson ex 3 stars, anyway) voted by Habs fans, on the Canadiens’ web site?
You think Boston fans infiltrated?
They most likely did, I guess. I mean, even before the three stars were voted, like with ten minutes to go in the game, I was wondering if anyone would actually vote tonight… I don’t think many Habs fans would bother to log in and vote after a game like that.
My bad, I forgot about RDS, I watched TSN. But seriously, all three were Bruins right?
Yes I was watching RDS and all three stars were Bruins which is OK considering but I can’t believe any Habs’ fans voted for Chara.
My thoughts exactly. I wasn’t expecting any Habs player to be in the three stars, but Chara… really? Like you said, I don’t believe any Habs fan would have voted for him.
For years many of us have wanted this team to get bigger. The team has had chances to acquire size and never steps up to the plate. As much as I dislike Horton as a Bruin, he would have been a great pick up for the Habs. Everyone knew he was available from Florida last year, I am assuming since Martin worked for them, he also knew this as well. Instead of giving up a first round pick and an average defenceman (like Boston did), the Habs did nothing. Getting a big 25 year old winger who is a proven 25 goal scorer in the NHL is worth a 1st round pick. For some reason that I can’t understand, the team refused to get big players (and I don’t mean the George Laracque type). Instead we sign free agents like Gionta (who I like), Cammalleri (who f’ing sucks), Halpern, Darche, Spacek. Where is the toughness. The team was obviously intimidated by the Bruins tonight and it was a disgrace.
What happens if they get him. If he isn’t producing IMMEDIATELY and FOREVER, he’d be booed out of town. Get real, there is nothing this organization can do to NOT be criticized. Short of winning the cup, there is NOTHING that makes Habs fans happy.
ice a roster that competes every night and even without a cup fans can hold their heads up high… something we don’t have and can’t do often these days.
much of the Habs’ criticism comes as a result of half-baked efforts and brainfarts that happen way too often when a game counts for something. Horton, as ugly as he might be, is a good player who comes to play every game. we’d be fortunate to have a few players like him…
and the “we’ve got injured players” routine is getting old. Vancouver had a host of players lost this season yet look where they are. The Pens lost their 2 most potent goal scorers and playmakers, yet they remain strong in the hunt.
All the Bruins are on HGH. Gua
ranteed. Can`t compete with that.
The Habs have been outscored 15-6 at TD Banknorth in the last two games.
Is that really the team we want to see the Habs face in the first round?
It would take near perfection by this squad, with what they have, and up to Price to steal at least two, if not all of the wins in that series.
___________________________________________
Note the new digs! but yeah I’m still on Twitter!
A swift kick in the ass is exactly what this team needed. Get angry!
and do what, beat the Wild again?
___________________________________________
Note the new digs! but yeah I’m still on Twitter!
I don’t have a crystal ball. They could A) use this game as a reality check, use it as motivation and finish the regular season strong, or B) get demoralized, end the season in terrible fashion and limp into the playoffs. I guess we’ll see what this team is made of in the next few games; but once again, I don’t know what will happen. Time will tell.
Or C) Nothing special happens, as is usually the case, because ultimately it’s one game and you’re never as bad as your latest loss, especially when it’s a blowout.
The only reality check they need is to clean off their golf clubs
Sometimes a beatdown like this can have a positive effect. It shakes the team out of their comfort zone and lets them know they have a lot of work to do; they go back to basics and practise all the things that didn’t work tonight, something that might not happen if they were coasting along alternating wins and losses and feeling pretty comfortable. This team will not be comfortable now after this loss and with the Rangers snapping at their heels. They’ve shown at times this season that they have a lot of character, and I think we’ll see that in the last couple of weeks of the season.
Boone. Congrats for picking on Gomez. It’s your tried, tested and true crowd pleaser.
Gomez sucks. Only the blind or the stupid can’t see that.
The highest-paid player on the team has seven goals this season. David Desharnais has eight. Mathieu Darche has nine. A dozen Bruins have more goals than Gomez. But I’m picking on him? Ah, that good West Coast grass …
Mike Boone
Hockey Inside/Out blogger
Gazette City columnist
mboone@montrealgazette.com
Mr. Boone:
That’s the East Coast logic? Scott Gomez has a certain salary so we can single him out (repeatedly) for abuse when he is playing manifestly better than [many] other players whom we spare the abuse?
That televised sequence was “nonchalance” only in the mind of the abuser: a deft pass that is luckily picked off can be described as “nonchalant” only by a prejudiced mind.
DD, Pouliot, Cammi, Pleks had far more giveaways than Gomez…again. But that bright shiny salary of Mr. Gomez really blinds you guys, doesn’t it.
Gomez was far from the worst Hab on the ice tonight, but you have to admit, up to this point he hasn’t had a great year. Match that with his salary, and it’s only natural that Gomez draws heat from the critics.
Unbelievable. How can you say Gomez has been so dazzling this year? He has actually had a terrible season. He has been amazingly ineffective. The salary? He would be a millstone at half the price. All year long he’s gotten premium minutes and linemates, tons of power-play time … it’s actually incredible he hasn’t been able to put up points. Yet you assail those who call him out?
I am sure that you actually ARE Scott Gomez. If so, please lend me a bazillion dollars from your hovercraft fund so I can bribe you to retire.
Full Breezer 4 Life
To be fair, Gomez didn’t force Gio to whiff on a wide open net tonight.
Ha ha! You should see my bank (non-) account ;–)
I don’t mean to say that he has been dazzling all year. I just mean that he was clearly the best forward tonight (and gosh were AK, Gio and Cammi God-awful), and that he has certainly underproduced all year but he has been on the whole an asset.
Dude, give it up. He makes the most on the team, he’s going to take the most heat. It comes with the territory. If he was even remotely contributing close to an elite centre he’d get a pass. God, Higgins has, what, 10 points less than him. Y’know that kid who’s so terrible. But if you listen closely, you’ll see that some other high paid stiffs are starting to get some (deserved) heat as well. Gio’s give away was absolutely stupid. Your still justifying the stance you had on the trade by defending Gomez. Just admit you were wrong.
[ Without your avatar your ID is incomprehensible :--) ]
But fair comments …. but I still think it could work for us with the Gomez trade IF he goes back to productivity next three seasons.
FFS man – wake up! There is a SALARY CAP in the NHL, and you can’t waste a HUGE chunk of the team salary on a 7 goal scorer. Of course we can single him out. And wish that this ridiculous trade never happened.
__________________________
The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag
What a disgrace!!!
We look so small and slow against the Bruins….gee we are small and slow compared to the Bruins. We will not be successful with so many “tiny tots” on our team. Leaders should be Gomez and Gionta….naa they got to go, too small and past their prime. Forget getting lucky in the playoffs this year we are done in the first round with this bunch. Clean house this summer.
Boone,you’re knitpicking..because aside from all this, Habs are looking pretty good!
Too many passengers tonight, standing around and waiting to see what was going to happen. Bottom line: The Bruins skated hard, and the Habs didn’t.
This undermanned team got to the point where they were challenging for 1st in the division on the back of hard work. We didn’t see that hard work tonight, or a willingness to out-hustle the Bruins.
Tonight wasn’t about Boston being better that the Habs; it was about the lack of hard work and intensity that would have seen any team in the league beat them tonight. To that end, tonight’s game wasn’t a real barometer of the skill differential between Montreal and Boston, as evidenced by their success against Boston this season.
All we learned tonight was that the Habs weren’t willing to work hard. The good news is that is something completely under their control, and completely fixable.
Nice to see someone else not espousing the doom and gloom theories so popular around here. Ya they lost. Ya they sucked. Ya it was likely their worst effort of the season. We’ve seen them work hard and pull off victories but like any other team when they don’t work they don’t win. Move on. Live and learn.
***Subbang Baby!!!***
Every team has a “worst game” and “best game” of the season. Tonight was their worst, and it just happened to come closely on the heels of their best.
Learn from it, put it behind you, and move on.
Cue up Lynrd Skynrd (sp)……….