Montreal Canadiens

[habs83]

I'd go two scoring lines. I'd hate for this to mean Moen gets first or second-line minutes (which will probably happen).

Maybe Pleks-Bourque-Ryder and DD-Galch-Gallagher.

I'd swith Bourque with Gallagher...

If they go with three it would look like:

Bourque-Desharnais-Dumont
Ryder-Pleks-Moen
Prust-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Blunden/Armstrong-Halpern-White

[Thunder]

I'd swith Bourque with Gallagher...

If they go with three it would look like:

Bourque-Desharnais-Dumont
Ryder-Pleks-Moen
Prust-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Blunden/Armstrong-Halpern-White

Oy vey...

[ericdaoust]

The top nine will get more minutes this time. The fourth line is terrible. Hopefully they play about 5-6 minutes while the rest get the bulk of the minutes.

[robmyatt]

oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no.
My stomach has been turning over all day.
Poor habs. Poor fans.
Not a great start.
Hat trick subban tonight would be nice.

[ericdaoust]

Hat trick subban tonight would be nice.

Let's start with any combination that gives three goals.

[Thunder]

Let's start with any combination that gives three goals.

Ok. I get the van with tainted windows, you get the rope and duct tape. Now, does anyone know what hotel Anderson is staying at?

[ericdaoust]

Ok. I get the van with tainted windows, you get the rope and duct tape. Now, does anyone know what hotel Anderson is staying at?

Just give Anderson a steak knife and he'll take himself out of action.

[ericdaoust]

FYI: Gryba gone for 2 games.

[TavesSoul]

I'd swith Bourque with Gallagher...

If they go with three it would look like:

Bourque-Desharnais-Dumont
Ryder-Pleks-Moen
Prust-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Blunden/Armstrong-Halpern-White

I threw up in my mouth a little at this. Dumont and Moen playing that big of a roll is not good new. Can we call up Hudon?

[ShawneePanthers]

This pretty much sums up Game 1 from the NHL.com preview article:

Coach Michel Therrien couldn't find much wrong with his team's performance in Game 1, except for the result. The Canadiens outshot Ottawa 50-31, including 27-7 in the second period, and dominated play for most of the game. But Anderson's brilliance and a so-so night by his Montreal counterpart, Carey Price, turned Friday's game into a must-win contest.

"I would say Anderson was better than him," was all Therrien would say when asked to assess Price's performance.

Anderson had so many more shots against. I had predicted Price to play subpar, but even I thought he'd be better than this.

[TavesSoul]

Carey! Carey! Carey!

[ericdaoust]

Series tied 1-1.

Much better game this time. Contrary to last game the guys were really paying the price to make the plays count. Really happy with how the Habs are playing.

Player of the game: Carey Price 29/30 (.967). Great bounce back from last time. He was battling all night and the sight of him handing his tooth over at the bench before immediately returning to the crease was just awesome. He was the better of the two goalies.

Again major props to PK Subban and Brendan Gallagher who are basically the heart of the team. One controls the play so well and creates so many chances and the other makes so many plays around the net. Both had a point tonight.

Rene Bourque played his best game in a while. Big hits and a nice pass to Ryder for the third goal.

Ryan White is showing his potential right now. Relentless on the forecheck and a pretty good defensive player too. A couple weeks ago it looked like he could be on his way out.

Francis Bouillon and Jerred Tinordi were great. Lots of grit here which works well in this kind of series.

[ericdaoust]

Series is 2-1 Sens

I hate having to analyze games like this one. A times it looked like a bunch of angry children in a sand box throwing sand at each other. The Habs dug themselves into this 2-1 hole. Nobody to blame but themselves.

Player of the game: Rene Bourque (I guess). Not sure who else to put here but he scored the goal. It was his second of the series.

Goaltending: Carey Price 24/30 (.800). Not a great game but the loss can't be pinned on him. He made a lot of nice saves and kept battling at the end. The number of uncontested shots from the slot is concerning.

Too many open rushes up the middle. Markov in particular was caught a few times including the second goal. I'm not sure if it's just a spacing issue with the defensemen or one of the forwards not backchecking but it needs to be fixed.

I'm not sure if Michael Ryder made a positive play all night.

Alex Galchenyuk had a rough game. Not sure if he's playing through an injury but he didn't look himself.

Brian Gionta looked good playing through pain.

Max Pacioretty... not so much. And he deserved to get chewed out for the bad suicide pass.

PK Subban is passionate but when the game gets physical he tends to forget to play hockey and looks to stir something up. How about focusing on scoring a goal?

[ShawneePanthers]

Horrendous performance by the Habs overall, despite entering the game with the momentum. There's still a lot more hockey to be played, but my Sens in 6 prediction is seeming more likely by the day. Price's woes + lack of a good defensive system is going to cost them the series unless things change drastically.

[ericdaoust]

Brendan Gallagher has been nominated for the Calder. I usually get a good feel for this thing regarding the media hype (had a sense about Karlsson winning the Norris last year, etc) and I think Gallagher ends up winning it this year. Just a prediction though. I refuse to pay any money if I lose and I am not responsible if you use my advice irresponsibly.

The key here is that win or lose Gallagher is the type of player who will be in the league for a long time. The way he plays makes him valuable with any line combination. You never have enough net presence.