Gionta/By S. Bradley
As evidenced by their ability to get off to great starts in each of the first two games of their series with the Bruins, there’s no doubt the Montreal Canadiens have been the better-prepared team.
Canadiens forward Brian Gionta, who has had a large hand in the Habs grabbing a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, explained his team’s philosophy today as his club mostly rested for Monday night’s Game 3. It’s a philosophy that developed last season in the eighth-seeded Habs’ run to the Eastern Conference finals.
Sean Gordon of the Globe & Mail quotes Gionta:
“It’s just being ready, mentally prepared for the start of the game. Trying to initiate, not waiting, sitting back to see what’s going to unfold. But you have to get bounces too.”
That’s a mantra the Bruins might want to emulate heading into Game 3. There really shouldn’t be any surprises considering these two teams met six times in the regular season. But so far Montreal coach Jacques Martin is winning the bench battle with Boston’s Claude Julien in a match-up I thought was even when the series opened.
The Habs have looked ready for everything the Bruins have tried at both ends of the rink. Meanwhile, the Bruins have responded as though the Canadiens just came down from the planet Ork.
The Bruins need to stop galaxy-gazing and remember they were down 2-0 in ’08 before pushing the Habs to Game 7. In fact, the Habs have lost two series since 1996 after winning the first two games on the road. One of those was against Carolina in ’06. We all know what the Hurricanes did after winning that series.
I actually like the idea of moving Ryder to the Krejci line and Horton back to the Bergeron one. Ryder and Krejci have good chemistry and Ryder can shoot when he is fed the puck. Lucic is Lucic and he has to have a better game tonight.
I know Seguin isn’t perfect, but I do think his speed and ability to shoot would be beneficial against the Habs, but I actually think the line switch with Ryder, Horton and Recchi would be a bonus.
Given the fact that the team did not run through line drills though it is pretty clear that Julien once again is going to keep beating the dead horse that isn’t coming back to life. I was not one who wanted Julien fired each time the B’s lost during the regular season, but there really is no reason Julien can’t put together enough wins in the first round of the play offs against this team. The ability to adjust just doesn’t seem to be a component of his coaching.
If you’re gonna sit Kelly then you might want to move Recchi down with Ryder and Peverley. Otherwise you are gonna have Seguin centering either the third or the fourth line. Which doesn’t make much sense with his weaknesses and strengths. I think the Rex/Pev/Ryder line would look REAL good. Peverley looks smart with the puck and he is very creative. I can’t count how many times that I have seen him throw the puck to the front of the net to not have anybody home to recieve it. Thats where Rex comes in. Parks himself right in front and watch the chances happen. Seguin with the second line adds speed but still keeps a good defensive bonus with Bergy and Marchand. Thought?
I agree with David – Horton has at least hustled when in there while Lucic has been gliding around.
Sit KELLY – talk about a monster bust, just threw away a second rd pick for that guy….
also agree about moving Peverly up and dropping Recchi – Subban and Gill are matching up with the first line so if you add additional speed to the second line you can cause nightmares for the habs 2nd and 3rd d-pairings in their own end
I feel it between Marchie and Bergy still. They combined for the only goal of the series on the B’s side. If we look at team speed, our top two lines are quite slow with the exception of Marchand, while our bottom two are significantly quicker. Yet it seems our top two lines were more often in possession of the puck, albeit without potting one. That said, I think switching Peverly and recci in their positions would be a good decision since Rechhi is an assist machine, which should pair nicely with Ryder. Lucic has looked a lot more lost than Horton who just looked tired after the first because he was trying to win the game on his own (whenever he made a play to Lucic, to whom Krecji also passes more frequently) Lucic would give up the puck. So Horton decided to become a one man show in the first and put great pressure on for a while. We may need to start lucic on the 3rd line tonight or something drastic because he glided through the last game.
Ben I agree with you on Capmbell and Paille producing so far. I think that if you consider these guys ice time they are doing good. That´s why i would choose to remove Kelly.
About the line-up changes I could go with your suggetion I just feel the 1st line need some improvement, maybe some shakeup. Bergie is by far our best center so far but if we put him up I don´t feel the chemistry between the second line happening anymore.
Campbell and Paille have been contributing well on the fourth line.
As far as line-up changes go the most important one by far (I think we can all agree) is hopefully Chara will be “in” the line-up tonight. I also feel that Bergeron has been our best centerman so far so I would place him in Krejci’s place & vice versa. I would like to see Sequin in the line-up as well if only for limited ice time on 3rd or 4th line & mostly to help our terrible powerplay. Sequin has a great shot & good net sense. I still don’t know for the life of me considering how crappy our power play has been all year why Julien has not used Sequin to help improve it. Bring Sequin into the line-up & don’t use him much even strength if too risky but get him out there on the powerplay & let him cruise the slot area with that speed & accurate shot.
Sit Campbell, Paille or Kelly.
Bruno the thing with the first line is that if you change up the second and third lines like we’ve been talking is that those two lines become much more offensive, so Montreal will have to change their game plan. It’s simply a way to dictate change even before you hit the ice. We all know that Seguin is much more offensive then Kelly and by replacing Recchi on the second line with Seguin Speeds that line up immensely. Recchi on the third line with a creative centre like Peverley, and a “sniper” like Ryder could do wonders with Recchi’s net crashing ability. Montreal is then left scrambling to protect against these changes. It stands to reason that the first line would then become much more open and free to go about their dominant ways.
Lucic/Krejci/Horton
Marchand/Berg/Seguin
Recchi/Peverly/Ryder
Paille/Campbell/Thornton
= Success!!!!
I like the Coachhhhh combination:
Looch/Krejci/Ryder
Marchand/Berg/Horton
Seguin or Kelly/Peverly/Rex
Paille/Campbell/Thorny
I would go with Seguin into Kelly place though but it looks good.
Ted Nolan gets my vote.
Scott Gordon or Joe Sacco will be behind the bench soon if the B’s don’t turn it around. They have great goaltending and good defensive talent… it’s time they get a good offensive-minded coach. Look at how the young Avs were producing earlier this year with Sacco, and even though they trended downward halfway through the year, you can’t blame Sacco for Fleischmann’s sickness or Hunwick’s ineptitude or the GM’s awful decision-making (aside from the picks, Stewart and Shattenkirk for McClement and E. Johnson? REALLY?).
My point is, I’m not happy. But I know with Seabass at the helm of this organization, the B’s will trend in the right direction. Maybe the B’s can turn this playoff series around, and negate this whole argument. Knock on wood.
The biggest problem with the B’s is that they are tentative. They must have mishandled the puck a dozen times in that last game. Nerves? Trying too hard? The good thing is that we can hope that will fix itself – it’s not like needing to all of a sudden be 10 mph faster or a foot taller, they could pull out of the funk.
Recchi is slowing down the best line they have, I’d put Horton there, because…
Krejci and Looch need either Ryder or Peverly to complete them, not a Looch-Lite like Horton. Ryder is still the only player on this team good enough with the puck to draw penalties, they need someone like that on L1.
Looch/Krejci/Ryder
Marchand/Berg/Horton
Seguin or Kelly/Peverly/Rex
Paille/Campbell/Thorny
Bruins have to get a lead for starters. Montreal is a different team when they don’t have the lead & so are we for that matter as we all have witnessed. You cannot let a team come out 2 games in a row & score early in your own building without facing severe consequences. The Bruins are not out of this series yet but it is imperitive that we get the lead & force Montreal to play catch up hockey in their own building. give them a taste of their own medicine so to speak. As far as preparedness is concerned obviously Martin is doing a much better job in that category than Julien. Claude does not seem to be able to adapt his game plan in a series to counteract what another team is doing to get the upper hand on us. Not just this year but last year & the year before as well, our coach doesn’t seem to be very quick on his feet. Don’t get me wrong, I like Julien but I think he has had his kick at the can more than enough, barring some miraculous comeback in this series & a decent playoff run (conference finals atleast) then it is time for a new coach in Boston. In my opinion a younger coach with energy, new ideas & a fresh approach to the game is what the B’s need. Corey Kluston, Ted Nolan or Scott Gordon are 3 that come to mind. Please do not hire like Pat Quinn or Ken Hitchcock, no disrespect to either or any other veteran coach but this is not what is needed in Boston at this time.
If you watched them last year you would know it’s hard to plan for them. I’ve seen them give up 40 on Halak and then score on 3 of 4 good chances. Thanks for coming out. It’s hard to game plan for ghosts.
Can we say that Claude has lost the team, NOW? When a team looks like this one, its the leadership. That means, Captains, and it means Coach.
We have seen this team respond from train wrecks before – wasn’t long ago the D was a mess like it is now, but it seems to me the Bs are so scared to put the Canadiens on the PP, they’ve tried to become a finesse team overnight.
Marchand and Krecji to finishing school! For the love of God!!
I like Seguin with Bergie and Marchie. That could work. You can get REcchi with Peverley and Ryder and just let Kellysit for a while. So far his only addition has been the PK. Other then that he´s a no factor.
I feel like we need to change the 1st line too. But I don´t know what to do with them.
Do not forget to bench Thomas tonight Cloud. That’s what coaches are for. Ask yourself: Are my players confident with Thomas behind?
Still in Cloudy waters?? Ask yourself: Are my players confident with me standing behind them, displaying the type of body language I’ve been displaying?
Hope I have’nt lost you yet Cloud.
Recchi is still a good instinctive player-but the last portion of the season he just looks like he can’t keep up and is often behind the play. I think Marchand and Seguin winging Bergeron might be a good line-although I think there isn’t a chance in the world Julien would try it.
I also kind of liked the floating Marchand-when they had Marchand do a few shifts with Campbell and Thorton and a few with Bergeron (this was right after his suspension). Marchand brings speed and energy to any line he plays on.
MattK, do you think that the Habs will abandon the conservative play because they are on home ice?
Ben, I agree the lines need to be changed and the only place I’m comfortable seeing Seguin play is with Bergeron like you said. I also agree that even though he’s giving 100% Recchi does look slower than usual.
Insert Seguin to help against the team speed of Montreal. Demote Recchi from the second line – he cant keep up.
I think this is where coaching is the problem. I just don’t see Julien trying to adjust or change anything to counter the Habs’ plans. I haven’t seen the PP get any better (in fact I think it may look worse-or at least it did in the last game).
I also think putting Seguin in due to his speed and the fact that he doesn’t shoot at the middle of the net would be a good idea. So far what is out there isn’t working-something needs to change.
I still think when Chara went down on Sat they would have done better to have played 5 defense and dressed Seguin as an extra forward. Not like Hnidy contributed much and the 5 Dmen played all but about 5 of those minutes anyway.
Here is my wish. If we can not get the first goal or two goon it up. You need to turn the momentum and try and get a very disciplined Canadiens off there game. This is how you get 103 points in the regular season but then Claude goes into his playoff mode of no silly stuff. The Canadiens hate the silly play as advertised in our last two wins against them in regular season. The Hab fans are going to be all over us and Charra if he plays so send out the guys who do the physical side and bate the Canadiens off their game.
Julien needs to mae a statement. Time to sit Kelly because he is coughing up the puck All the time. Although I do like him on the PK the rest of his game is highly suspect. TIme to try Recchi on the third line and put Seguin up with Marchand and Bergy. Recchi is just looking kinda slow. I know you are skeptical about this Matt but Kelly is looking like a defensive liability(5 on 5) with little to no offensive upside. Seguin might provide that upside.
Marchand needs to replace Horton on first line. Peverly on second and Horton on third with seguin and Campbell.