A good defense is a good offense

By
Rick Stephens
-
8
68


Hello everyone. I’m Big Brother, the newest addition to the All Habs family. Allow me to take the first couple of lines for personal mentions. First off, thanks Habster for the opportunity to write here and Rocket, I’m looking forward to have our first official head to head game review later tonight.

Some of you may know me on other various websites, I wrote as Big Brother on a multitude of subjects. If you are a long time reader, please drop a line.

Now, as Habster already mentioned in my introduction, I have a good knowledge (and big love) for statistics. I read them all the time, devour them you could say, and try to understand even more about my team, my coach and the sport I love.

Looking at the year so far, the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge is, on paper, impressive. 8-2-2 for 18 points in 12 games is more than I was asking for. Markov, Kovalev, Koivu and Tanguay are all playing for a point per game or better. So why on earth am I cringing every time I watch the Sainte-Flanelle?

Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against an offensive minded team if you have enough talent. And the Habs happen to have that. They can win games against two thirds of the league by relying on their talent only. But they have to rely on talent more than 20 minutes per game. Right now, they rely on talent… and luck.

As much as it pains me to admit, I enjoyed the humiliating loss to the Lafs on Saturday. A team who rely on Grabovski as second center clearly shouldn’t beat the powerful Centennial team, right? Well as it was showed last weekend, the team who work harder will get the puck more often and get more scoring chances.

Early this season Guillaume Latendresse was working hard to prove to his coach that while Higgins was injured, he belonged on the second line. Higgins replaced him well on that line. Tom Kostopoulos rewarded Carbo’s decision to put him on the third line by offering some of his best effort. None of them have the stat sheet to prove how good they were, but they made their teammates look better by applying good forecheck and creating turnovers.

And even when talking about the dizzying KPK line, goals come with hard work. Kovalev’s goal against Boston early this season was created by Andrei pushing Zdeno Chara from the front of the net. His own goal against Philly was created by flattening Mike Richards. (see video)

Tonight things have to change. Not that the team has to stop being a menacing offense, on the contrary. The reason this team was so succesfull last year was because they were thinking offense as soon as they got the puck, creating odd man rushes. But starting tonight, they have to be more aggressive. They have to be an offense that controls the game. Not one that wait for their opportunities, one that creates them. A team whose forecheck is feared. A team that give it all.

Sometimes I wonder if they don’t need another coach. One that comes from curling. Just to hear him scream.

Hurry. Hard. HARDER!

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Welcome Big brother! :)
    Happy to have a new writter and I loved your first post.
    And Habster, Good change for the presentation of all habs collaborators articles, easier to read :) (by the way, “artciles” has to be corrected)
    thx
    go habs go

    Dams

  2. Hey Dams,

    Thanks, we aim to please All Habs readers and I think with the addition of Big Brother plus Rocket, we should have a great mix of writing styles!!

    I’ve corrected the word (article) but you might want to make your own correction (Writer)……LOL!!

    Enjoy and thanks for your readership!!

  3. Hey BB..more curling references..I like it. The last one was when I wrote that Plekanec and AK-46 acted as sweepers on Brise’s point shot. :)

  4. Welcome Big Brother!!

    It’s now official, your first All Habs blog article and it’s a solid one with great insights and thoughtful analyst of what Les Habitants need to do to improve their play.

    I would like to see Kostopoulos back on the Lang line with SK-74 as they played well together in the limited time they played together. Granted, Guillaume had a good night’s work by hitting everything in a Sens jersey and scoring on a great face-off win by Lang but if he slumps, Carbo could always go to TK again!!

    Anyhow, keep up the great work BB!!!

  5. Thanks for the support Dams. I felt the article was a little rushed as I wanted to answer to Habster article and still needed to translate two more before going to the game. Glad you liked it.

    Rocket! I can’t garantee more curling references but I’ll do those little jokes every once in a while. And I remember the goal you are refering to. Good one!

    Habster… funny mistake, good correction. And yes, it was my first official article and I’m glad it went smoothly. Kostopoulos is a solid defensive player who excel on the forecheck. I still dream of him, Smolinski and Begin circling the puck deep in the offensive zone as they did well late last year. But Gui is playing well enough IMO to keep his roster spot.

    Thanks for the comments guys. Appreciated.

  6. Hi Big Brother.
    Happy to see you writing again!
    I will read your here as faithfully as I read you in school papers all those years ago.

    Luv,
    Rox

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