The big thing I took away from last night's game was how ineffective the Habs were on the powerplay, especially in the first period. They seem to have a tendency for the defenceman to carry the puck, cross the blue line, and then dump it. But the Habs forwards have stopped moving, so it's almost always a turnover.
The other thing is the Sens are keeping their forwards high to keep the dmen from shooting on the PP. So adjustments need to be made to get the puck down low and go from there.
And I know this looks wrong in hindsight, but Galch had a rough night in the faceoff dot (he was one-for-10). He should have been getting more looks in the regular season. With the Habs situation (Pleks, DD, Eller), he wasn't really needed. But maybe they could have gotten him some faceoff reps in blowout games to help him prepare.
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12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.
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For years, Montreal's PP had a dissuasive effect on oppposite teams that were trying to goon them out of the rink. It was so lethal that the Habs opponent had to refrain themselves to take liberties on the smaller players, giving them more space to work with.
When that PP is inept it allows guys like Neil to charge anyone like a bull without caring if he'll get a call or not. Yesterday, the refs were horrible (on both sides) so Ottawa's players felt free to give every shot they could.
Like you said, other teams adapted, and they now need to work from down low. Neither of their PP goals in the serie resulted from a shot from the point.
Subban gets Norris nomination. Using the same logic as with Gallagher above, I think this one goes to Suter. It's just a hunch based on the vibe going around.
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From canadiens.com:
- The Canadiens held an optional skate at Scotiabank Place on Tuesday morning. Max Pacioretty, Ryan White and Rene Bourque did not take part.
- White and Gionta will not be in the lineup in Game 4 (upper body).
- P.K. Subban was named one of the finalists for the James Norris Memorial Trophy on Tuesday morning, given annually to the NHL’s best defenseman. Subban will look to become the sixth blue-liner in Habs history – and the first since Chris Chelios in 1989 – to win the award.
- Subban is squaring off with Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul in the EA Sports NHL14 cover vote. Cast your vote HERE.
- Carey Price will get the start against the Senators in Game 4. It will mark his 30th career NHL postseason game.
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Hopefully the team shows up tonight and at least tries to win the game. Otherwise the season could be done on Thursday night.
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Much better so far. At least they are playing hockey. Having the two penalty kills with a few easy misses the other way is frustrating but overall can't complain. Still a very winnable series.
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Up 2-0 after two periods. Great effort by the team including Subban and Galchenyuk who scored their first goals. Subban took a dumb penalty at the end of the period though. He should know the interference rules. It's been called since the end of the previous lockout.
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Habs play stupid trap game and get burned. Price hurt on tying goal. Unsure if he comes out for OT.
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G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG
W, L, GA, SV, SO
C: Toews, Skinner, Eller, Hertl, Granlund, Jenner, Lindholm
LW: Boedker, Galchenyuk, Silfverberg, M. Richards
RW: Yakupov, Nichushkin, Gaborik, Setoguchi, Niederreiter
D: Karlsson, Subban, Goligoski, D. Kulikov, Carlson, Brodin, Trouba
G: Price, Varlamov
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Budaj in for overtime.
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Why would Therrien not call a timeout after the icing call? I don't ****ing get it.
Series is 3-1 Sens.
An entire season is being washed away because of stupidity. Last game everyone forgot how to play hockey and this time they stopped trying to score in the third and were beat in the end. Stupid coaching decision to change course from what gave the team a 2-0 lead in the first place. Maybe in the last 3-4 minutes you go into a shell but not for the whole third period.
Player of the game: Carey Price 30/32 (.938). Great game until the injury happened. He did everything he could to keep the team in the game after they phoned it in.
PK Subban had a good bounce-back game despite the bad penalty late in the second. He scored the first goal of the game and did well controlling the game. He played strong in his own end for the most part.
The first Sens goal was a blown call but whatever. Hats off to them for sticking with it after that. Again, no excuse for the Habs to go into a shell.
Another stupid coaching decision is limiting Alex Galchenyuk to 10:30 in ice time. Let him play!
Current list of passengers: Michael Ryder, Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais. Need more effort from these guys.
Jerred Tinordi is really stepping up. Great future for him in Montreal.
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What an unbelievable end to this game.
Zibanejad goal, on what planet is that not a distinct kicking motion? Ridiculous.
Two icing calls where the Dman was gliding like he was skating with his 2-year old kid out there, those icings would get waived off 10 times out of 10 in my beer league.
Turris interference in the crease on the game-tying goal.
Habs got totally reamed.
And with Price, Prust, Pacioretty now looking like they could be out, things are looking mighty dicey.
Got to hand it to the Sens though, plucky team, and well-coached, Maclean deserves the Jack Adams with the job he's done this year.
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G, A, PPP, SOG, BS, +/-, GAA, W, SV%
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C: Tavares Hintz Larkin Jenner Seguin Schenn Backlund
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D: Josi Hamilton Weegar Montour Ekholm Myers Parayko Pettersson Seeler
G: Vasilevskiy Swayman Kuemper