You know what? The Habs played like shit against the Oilers. They did it for the better part of 3 periods. They went up a goal, gave up a late period goal, and to their credit, came back and got a couple of what should have been insurance markers. The problem with this year's Habs is they seem to have some severe short and long-term memory issues.
Remember Gio during last year's playoffs saying they got in trouble a lot last year cause they sit back when they shouldn't? I remember it. This is why I cringe when they go into the third with a 2 goal lead. I'd like not to do it, but it's pretty much Pavlovian at this point. If they're skating hard and controlling the play, making crisp passes, I'm less pessimistic. Tonight they weren't, and I was, and they lost.
It is what it is. I don't Pollyanna Sunshine their shit play just for the sake of yelling Go Habs Go. Of course I want them to win. Of course I root for them. But I'm not blind to what I can see with my own eyes on the ice, which is when they sit back, try their 3rd period lock down shell and the game goes to shit. It's hard for me to remain optimistic in the face of what I clearly see as a meltdown.
Price - who is on the ice - looked to me to be visibly mad about his team's play in front of him. It was another crap effort for the most part by this team. I think the Oilers played well and deserved the win. They never gave up, they fought for every loose puck, and they continued to play desperate and hungry hockey. The Habs didn't do that for most of the night.
And despite the blown calls by the refs, the Habs PK got too cute, too cocky, and dropped the ball. If you can't control the play with a man advantage to the point where you give up a shorty on one of the league's top goaltenders, then you're doing something wrong.
The Habs are a better team than what they showed on the ice tonight. They know better. They just keep forgetting. And it's the "weaker" teams that keep reminding them. A good team will take advantage of a team that it can and should be able to defeat soundly. The Habs have yet to do this with any sort of consistency this year. That worries me. We're a quarter of a way into the season and the only consistency the Habs have shown is that they have none.
Sure they play great against the top tier teams. They really have to bring their A game to that level of play. But they seem to think they don't have to bring their A game otherwise, and that is defeatist thinking. So if I'm thinking negatively at times, then maybe it's because I took my cue from this team itself.
And while I'm on a rant let me say that while I love my twitter followers and friends, I could really do without us all turning on each other like a pack of rabid dogs every time someone says something during or after a bad game. I like the different points of view. It's what makes twitter fun.
So if I'm posting a rant, it's probably because of something specific - like the Habs sitting back and letting the Oilers run them for most of the game. It's not because I think the Habs suck. If I thought the Habs sucked I probably wouldn't waste the time and energy following this team, let alone all the coin I've dropped for fangear, tickets in the Bell Centre reds, or the cost of a 16 hour road trip in effing January of all things.
For what it's worth I love this team. I no longer doubt they'll make the playoffs. I fully expect them to do it without having to do the single-point-in-overtime-scrape-in like they did last year. I'm just hoping they rank in the top 4 really at this point.
That confidence in them does not mean I'll fail to call out the Habs if they continue to pull this nonsense. It does not mean I'll stop critiquing and assessing them. I choose to write about and address the issues that I see with this team. It's part of my fun and it's part of my passionate nature. And hey, no one is forcing you to read or follow me on twitter or Facebook, okay?
I've posted positive things about this team too, but that never gets thrown back in my face for some reason. But in the heat of the moment during the game I'm reacting to the play in front of me, and when it's shit I'm damned well gonna say so. If you want Pollyanna Sunshine blowing smoke up your ass you're in the wrong place, talking to the wrong girl.
Maybe you wanna go find yourself a delusional Leafs fan instead who's still planning Toronto's next Stanley Cup parade.
The Oilers haven't always been playing a consistent 60 minutes of tough hockey this year either. In fact, they've had a bad habit of sleeping through periods 1 and 2 and trying to come back from some bad deficits late in the games. On Lowetide (an Oilers blog), the writer predicted the Habs would "win it in the first period". I posted that if the Oilers played their 20 minutes of hockey in the 3rd, they could come out with a win because the Habs always sit on their leads. It's ridiculous. There was no reason the Habs shouldn't have won this. The team needs to be embarrassed by this, because I sure am.
ReplyDeleteGood post Tyg. Believe me. I too feel the rage burning inside. It's not so much that we lost to a lesser team, it's that the team totally collapsed after 30 minutes of play instead of sticking the dagger in deep. How many times do we have to get burned sitting on a lead before we finally learn our lesson? And whether we do that to a top team or to a cellar-dweller it's just unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, it IS worse when we do it to a crap team.
Hi despisethesun - and yes, you nailed it. Habs sat back while Oilers continued to play. I actually thought the Oilers played longer than 20 minutes - they had 11 scoring chances in the last half of the 2nd period, and I said then if the Habs didn't nip it out of the gate in the 3rd they'd be in trouble.
ReplyDeleteI think, based on video I saw last night, the team seems largely mad. I like it. It's a nice change from the mea culpea shit-eating grinning they've been doing as of late. Let's hope they start playing better than .500 hockey this month. I agree - there's no reason for this at all.
Danno, I'm not sure if this is JM's system anymore or just a mental block the Habs are having. Either way it has to stop. Gio said it had to stop LAST year. And yet here we are, still griping about it.
ReplyDeleteIf the Habs truly want to contend, they need to follow examples of Washington, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - who routinely crush bottom dwelling teams instead of regularly losing against them. We do the latter. And this concerns me, because the pattern seems in no danger of being broken. Thanks as always Danno.