NHL Canadian Corner – February 2, 2015

Game recaps and notable news involving your favorite Canadian NHL teams.

MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Montreal Canadiens blew a 2-0 lead to fall 3-2 to the lowly Arizona Coyotes.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: No excuse for this loss. Yes, the Habs played the day prior but so did the Coyotes, who were coming off a humiliating 7-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Canadiens built their lead, thought they had the game in the bag and stopped skating.

Minnesota Wild celebrate one of their four goals against the Canucks.

Minnesota Wild celebrate one of their four goals against the Vancouver Canucks.

THE VANCOUVER SUN: The Canucks fell 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild. A disallowed goal by Canucks defenseman Alex Edler seemed to change the outcome, for if it had counted the Canucks would’ve been down 2-1 early in the third period.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A tough break for the Canucks, who’ve been struggling to score of late.

WINNIPEG SUN: After dropping three straight games, the Winnipeg Jets could start feeling the heat from the Calgary Flames, who are only three points behind them in the standings.

CALGARY SUN: Among the five burning questions facing the Flames this week: Has starting goalie Jonas Hiller regained his form? And will Paul Byron regain his scoring touch?

OTTAWA SUN: The Senators are hoping to build momentum off their 7-2 thumping of the Coyotes on Saturday.

EDMONTON SUN: The Oilers continue to struggling hanging onto leads.

TORONTO STAR: The defensive system implemented by Maple Leafs coach Peter Horachek has negated the club’s speed advantage.

5 Comments

Shticky on February 2, 2015 at 1:35 pm

Scoring chances are down by maybe 1 per game shots against are nearly down by 10..shootng % is about 3% most of the league shoots around 10, its ridiculous to pin shooting % on a coach. This all goes back to what I said earlier, doesnt matter what happens the media is going to bitch. “Cant win as a rush team, play better defensively!” They play better defensively, “cant win this way they need to use their speed…” fact is good teams in the NHL dont win playing a system like Carlyles over the past few years with stretch passes swarm Defenses and rolling 2 or 3 lines and this team is built wrong (weak down the middle) little in the wayof defensive depth or top 2 type dmen. Until they adress the whole thing they are going to lose lots of games, firing Carlyle was a start a little too late but a start none the less, now its time for the work to begin figuring out the personnel. The team is not as bad as the results show everyone take a breath, shooting % will improve they will score again always does when its that low, hopefully not too much too soon because they need the pick.

tml_gm on February 2, 2015 at 2:43 pm

Surreal moment yesterday reading Damian Cox’s column in the star saying that one of the problems in Toronto is the media….um….one of the problems is Damian Cox. That guy flip-flops his opinion so much that he could have a helluva good fight in the rumours section here.

Bowman on February 2, 2015 at 3:40 pm

Seems like ages ago, but back when the Leafs were riding a 10-1-1 streak, all the analytics people and the media who were so quick to jump on that bandwagon, were relentless in dismissing the victories because the Leafs “weren’t winning the right way”. Now, in the midst of the team’s free fall into what appears to be a bottomless pit, I wonder if these same proponents of proper play can take solace from the fact that at least the Leafs are losing the right way?

Shticky in a plow! on February 2, 2015 at 5:06 pm

lol I am on here daily saying yes, yes I can…Those same proponents also realize that the outcomes of these games are way worse than they appear, and the team has been constructed wrong for sometime now and this is no easy fix or is further away than alot of the mainstream media thinks it is… if you are curious about how some hardcre analytic type Leaf fans feel (way more militant analytical types than I am) look at whhat pension plan puppets or others like Mirtle or Travis Yost even say about the team, generally pretty rosie outlooks now, except for nonis fears.
- tml_gm on February 2, 2015 at 5:23 pm
  
  Dave Feschuk, the guy who Kessel called an idiot, has a column today about how Carlyle was getting the most out of the players, had them in the playoffs and had them scoring more goals than any other team in the league…of course back then he said they were winning the wrong way and Carlyle should be fired. Now he thinks Horachek is playing them the wrong way….Toronto media at it’s finest, Kessel was right, he is an idiot.

Shticky on February 2, 2015 at 1:35 pm

Scoring chances are down by maybe 1 per game shots against are nearly down by 10..shootng % is about 3% most of the league shoots around 10, its ridiculous to pin shooting % on a coach. This all goes back to what I said earlier, doesnt matter what happens the media is going to bitch. “Cant win as a rush team, play better defensively!” They play better defensively, “cant win this way they need to use their speed…” fact is good teams in the NHL dont win playing a system like Carlyles over the past few years with stretch passes swarm Defenses and rolling 2 or 3 lines and this team is built wrong (weak down the middle) little in the wayof defensive depth or top 2 type dmen. Until they adress the whole thing they are going to lose lots of games, firing Carlyle was a start a little too late but a start none the less, now its time for the work to begin figuring out the personnel. The team is not as bad as the results show everyone take a breath, shooting % will improve they will score again always does when its that low, hopefully not too much too soon because they need the pick.
- tml_gm on February 2, 2015 at 2:43 pm
  
  Surreal moment yesterday reading Damian Cox’s column in the star saying that one of the problems in Toronto is the media….um….one of the problems is Damian Cox. That guy flip-flops his opinion so much that he could have a helluva good fight in the rumours section here.
Bowman on February 2, 2015 at 3:40 pm

Seems like ages ago, but back when the Leafs were riding a 10-1-1 streak, all the analytics people and the media who were so quick to jump on that bandwagon, were relentless in dismissing the victories because the Leafs “weren’t winning the right way”. Now, in the midst of the team’s free fall into what appears to be a bottomless pit, I wonder if these same proponents of proper play can take solace from the fact that at least the Leafs are losing the right way?
- Shticky in a plow! on February 2, 2015 at 5:06 pm
  
  lol I am on here daily saying yes, yes I can…Those same proponents also realize that the outcomes of these games are way worse than they appear, and the team has been constructed wrong for sometime now and this is no easy fix or is further away than alot of the mainstream media thinks it is… if you are curious about how some hardcre analytic type Leaf fans feel (way more militant analytical types than I am) look at whhat pension plan puppets or others like Mirtle or Travis Yost even say about the team, generally pretty rosie outlooks now, except for nonis fears.
  - tml_gm on February 2, 2015 at 5:23 pm
    
    Dave Feschuk, the guy who Kessel called an idiot, has a column today about how Carlyle was getting the most out of the players, had them in the playoffs and had them scoring more goals than any other team in the league…of course back then he said they were winning the wrong way and Carlyle should be fired. Now he thinks Horachek is playing them the wrong way….Toronto media at it’s finest, Kessel was right, he is an idiot.