[PST] Quarter Finals: Montreal Canadiens vs. Winnipeg Jets - HABS WIN SERIES 4-0

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Part of the "anything can happen" approach is that maybe you have a lucky run but those teams tend to fall back to the pack and out of contending status pretty quick. The teams at the top of that list above, have had very long stretches of being competitive. Teams that go on a fluke run, don't achieve that. The Kings are different mind you as they won two cups and you cant ignore that.

But I'd love to see this franchise become a team that expects to compete regularly - at least for a stretch.

Agree, we would all love to see that

6 of the teams on the top of that list also have 1OA picks (Crosby, Ovechkin, Stamkos, Kane). Seems to be a correlation there.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Agree, we would all love to see that

6 of the teams on the top of that list also have 1OA picks (Crosby, Ovechkin, Stamkos, Kane). Seems to be a correlation there.

Yup those guys give you a chance to win on every night. A difference maker to build around over the long-term.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I thought the Knights/Avs would pound the Leafs too so the Habs squeaking one out against them doesn't change anything.

They were 18th out of 31 teams. I suppose they have a chance, would be the biggest upset in NHL history though IMO.

I wouldn't go that far.

For the Habs regular season, Price was injured all season and was very mediocre. The Oilers concussed him and he had the last month of the season off to finally take care of those nagging injuries.

Ben Chiarot was out over a month with a broken hand from a stupid fight.

Weber finished the regular season missing a bunch of games and was in a cast.

Gallagher broke his thumb and missed a ton of time.

All of those guys are healthy and back in the lineup. This team isn't as bad as their regular season record shows.

[SuperMatt18]

Habernac has it right.

Habs are a weird team that got horrible goaltending the last two regular seasons, and then Price looks like his old self come playoff time. But their underlying numbers are good and in the regular season the shooting/save percentage and special teams has held them back.

This is over the last two seasons - so wouldn't just be against North Competition.

5v5 Corsi For: 54.46% (2nd - just behind Colorado and ahead of Vegas)
5v5 Expected Goals For: 53.6% (3rd - behind Colorado and Vegas, ahead of Tampa)

Shooting Percentage: 8.78% (25th)
Save Percentage: .898 (25th)

It's hard to look good when your shooting percentage and save percentage are both ranked 25th in the league. But they are a team that has been able to carry play at 5v5 in the regular season, and they get a .931 save percentage over the last two playoffs (ranks 2nd in the NHL) and suddenly the team looks a lot better come playoff time.

And it's not like it's just Carey Price that stood on his head that led them past the Jets. They dominated play in that series with a 63.74% xGF in all situations and were well deserved of the sweep. Against the Leafs they got a bit lucky, but Leafs are a strong team and sometimes you need that in the playoffs.

[calumniate]

They are good 5 on 5 but their special teams were horri-bad during the regular season. Hopefully they get some mojo going with special teams

[Tron_fdc]

Without really digging into it, the Habs kind of remind me of the 04 Flames. Underdog status, strong leadership, elite goalie, defensive system with total player buy in, good coaching, and are hot at the right time. They lack an Iginla, but Toffoli has put up 10 points in 11 games which ain't too shabby. They even have a Niemenan and Montador.

I think they have zero chance against Colorado or Vegas, but we all said the same thing about Detroit. And San Jose.

Maybe they make it to the finals vs Tampa, the bolts win in Montreal, and this effin curse moves to TB from us.

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Without really digging into it, the Habs kind of remind me of the 04 Flames. Underdog status, strong leadership, elite goalie, defensive system with total player buy in, good coaching, and are hot at the right time. They lack an Iginla, but Toffoli has put up 10 points in 11 games which ain't too shabby. They even have a Niemenan and Montador.

I think they have zero chance against Colorado or Vegas, but we all said the same thing about Detroit. And San Jose.

Maybe they make it to the finals vs Tampa, the bolts win in Montreal, and this effin curse moves to TB from us.

Urgh....###### Tampa Bay

[hwy19man]

Game 4 final score
Jets 2 at Canadiens 3 in overtime
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl...ne-7-1.6056985
http://sportsstats.cbc.ca/hockey/nhl...cap136168.html
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/games/2347032

[habernac]

Originally Posted by calumniate

They are good 5 on 5 but their special teams were horri-bad during the regular season. Hopefully they get some mojo going with special teams

PP got on track at the end of the Leafs series and their PK has been excellent.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

You're a good long time poster here habby, for your sake I hope the Habs make the next series competitive. But I just don't see it being a very long series, regardless who they play. I watch that Vegas/Avs series and then the Habs/Jets and it was like NHL vs AHL. The North division games just seem to be so much slower, less competitive on the puck, just a lower skill level. And I'm not saying that to bash the Habs, those other teams are just very very good with a lot of highly skilled players.

I'm not saying the Habs have zero chance of winning the next series, obviously if Price is on his game and the team plays as well as it can anything can happen, but I would admittedly be stunned if they can pull it off.

[dino7c]

I would be doing the same mental gymnastics if the Flames were in that spot so I don't blame anyone for being a fan.

Truth is the Habs are the Champs of a division with no really good teams. As an 8th seed they should have played a Carolina in round one and a Tampa in round two or something...we said all year that the Canadian div was the easiest path to round 3 a team would ever have so I'm not about to crown them anything more than kings of the mediocre.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Habernac has it right.

And it's not like it's just Carey Price that stood on his head that led them past the Jets. They dominated play in that series with a 63.74% xGF in all situations and were well deserved of the sweep. Against the Leafs they got a bit lucky, but Leafs are a strong team and sometimes you need that in the playoffs.

I think stats v that sad excuse for a team need to be taken with a grain of salt. I don’t think anyone disagrees they were by far the better team and they dominated the Jets in every aspect. People are just saying it’s a whole new ball game. They were not dominant against the Leafs, and the Leafs, IMO, get beaten by pretty much every team in the other divisions. Maybe they beat St. Louis but that’s about as far as I can go.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I want Montreal to beat Vegas/Avs just for the CP meltdowns.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I want Montreal to beat Vegas/Avs just for the CP meltdowns.

I want Montreal to get swept because that's like Edmonton being swept three times in the same playoffs.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I would be doing the same mental gymnastics if the Flames were in that spot so I don't blame anyone for being a fan.

Truth is the Habs are the Champs of a division with no really good teams. As an 8th seed they should have played a Carolina in round one and a Tampa in round two or something...we said all year that the Canadian div was the easiest path to round 3 a team would ever have so I'm not about to crown them anything more than kings of the mediocre.

Did you happen to look at the division Colorado won? Montreal deserved to make the playoffs this year, and have fully deserved to beat the teams they have.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Did you happen to look at the division Colorado won? Montreal deserved to make the playoffs this year, and have fully deserved to beat the teams they have.

I never said they didn't deserve to beat the teams they did...just that those teams were not very good.

Montreal was 18th overall its a fact...even if they made the 2nd wild card in normal alignment they would have played Carolina in round one and Tampa in round two.

They have certainly benefitted from the north division, they took advantage of it sure but there is no way around it.


And yeah Colorado's division has Vegas in it...so two teams better than any Canadian team

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Did you happen to look at the division Colorado won? Montreal deserved to make the playoffs this year, and have fully deserved to beat the teams they have.

Avs
Vegas
Wild
Blues

were the top 4 teams in that division. Not exactly chopped liver, miles and miles better than the North division.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Did you happen to look at the division Colorado won? Montreal deserved to make the playoffs this year, and have fully deserved to beat the teams they have.

Colorado hasn’t won the division yet. If you’re talking about the regular season, you mean the division that has Vegas in it? The Wild? Even the Blues are a good team.

[dino7c]

8 teams is also harder than 7 when four make the playoffs
24 wins doesn't even come close in other divisions...NYR probably isn't too thrilled with the alignment this season

For the record I have been cheering for the Habs I'm not a hater. If you check the game seven thread I was thrilled they won and was hoping they would beat the Jets because lol Oilers.

With my head though, I expect the biggest ass kicking of round three history...especially if its the Avs with a fresh Kadri back.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by AC

In addition to showing how bad Edmonton is collectively, these 2 series also highlights the difference between Carey Price and Mike Smith.

Turns out there's a pretty significant gap there...

Meh, put Mike Smith in instead of Carey Price and the Habs still win over Leafs and Jets. The two goals that Price let in over a 3 minute span could've been routine saves. All I'm trying to say is that the team in front of Price did their job to win the 2 series and Price did his job at times when needed. That Habs team looked awesome in the Jets sweep. You have to give the team in front of Price credit since most of the plays were in the Jets end. Team in front makes a goalie's job easy and makes them look good.

The main differences between the Oiler and the Habs are obvious. Oilers relied on 4 players to try and win - McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, and Smith. Their defense sucked and they had absolutely no depth outside of those 4 players. Habs have everyone on board as a team, rolling 4 lines!

Again, if anyone is depending on a goalie to get past a series, sooner or later, that luck runs out. I think the Flames and the Oilers have shown us all too much of that in so many years.