Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

Team record: 5-2-0

Overall Thoughts

I often bitch about sitting on leads. In Winnipeg it worked. Tonight it didn't. The Habs allowed the Blue Jackets back in the game and had to wait till the final minute to pull ahead for good.

Overall there is plenty of good going on...

Carey Price

He stopped 30 of 33 (.909) but played much better than the numbers suggested. He battled hard and was in good position at all times. The three Blue Jackets' goals were very difficult plays for a goalie to stop.

PK Subban

He is one of the most interesting players to analyze. 10% of his game involves bad penalties and boneheaded turnovers. The other 90% of his game is at a superstar level. There are always things to criticize about him but all in all he is the best player on this team by a long shot. The plays he made tonight at the offensive end were outstanding. Definitely worth checking the highlights if you missed the game.

Rafael Diaz

I was a big critic of his earlier but he has really stabilized his game lately. He is playing well positionally to compensate for his lack of size. He is playing more of a defensive role with Subban/Markov getting the bulk of the power play minutes.

Lars Eller

He is not the same player since his line was broken up. Pacioretty's injury doesn't help at all as it forces even more chance on this unit. He was caught up-ice after a Subban pinch on one of the CBJ goals.

Brandon Prust

Another warrior night for him including some excellent gritty work on the PK to set up Markov's shorthanded goal.

Michael Bournival

Well-deserved first NHL goal. He had a strong night at the defensive end, in particular one shift where he blocked two shots and had another one snap his stick.

Any other thoughts/comments are welcome. This is all for me for now...

[ericdaoust]

One thing Therrien mentioned yesterday is that he will not be calling up anyone from Hamilton for the time being. At least those Blunden nightmares can go away for now...

[ericdaoust]

Sweet, you've got hockey blood.

You are wasting your talents in fantasy land... you need to be out there on the ice.

The games are far more entertaining when I'm not there to build an insurmountable lead in the first minute.

Melodie Daoust is actually pretty hot without her helmet on.

If you find out that she's in fact a distant relative do you think you could introduce me? Let her know that I'm a fantasy hockey stud... that should get her juices flowing.

Sure but I'll also include that you get cranky when poll results don't go your way.

[ericdaoust]

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/...ncussion-video

Parros back on he ice with Murray and Emelin...

[ericdaoust]

Team record: 5-3-0

Overall thoughts

Once again, the Habs are spending too much time on their heels. They had a chance to win this game because of the goaltending but the power play failed to produce in the third period.

Injuries

Briere and Prust both left, definitely with upper-body injuries. Briere it looked head-related and Prust was either hear or shoulder as he hit the boards.

Penalties

Seven minor penalties. Way too much. Subban is leading the way here which is the biggest negative against him at the moment.

Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher

Once again the best line on the ice. Gallagher scored the lone goal and Eller added one that ended up being disallowed. Produced chances all night.

Rafael Diaz

He was back to his opening-night act. Kept mishandling the puck and has a lot of trouble keeping the puck in the zone when he has a good enough chance to stop it.

Carey Price

He had another great night. He was peppered a ton in the first two periods and kept the Preds to just one goal. The winning goal came as a result of a bad defensive-zone breakdown by Moen (who else?).

[LeTrefle]

...
Injuries

Briere and Prust both left, definitely with upper-body injuries. Briere it looked head-related...

Confirmed: concussion

[newfcollins]

Penalties

Seven minor penalties. Way too much. Subban is leading the way here which is the biggest negative against him at the moment.

The diving call on him was well-deserved. It was horrible. Nystrom didn't even deserve the holding call. That should have been just diving. Ugly.

A few other thoughts:

To be outshot 30-17 in the first two periods are home is inexcusable.

The powerplay looked dreadful in the third period. Three powerplays in the third. No shots on the last two. On the one with five minutes left, they only took one shot toward the net, which went wide.

DD finished with a minus-one, one hit and three-for-11 in faceoffs. Horrible. Although he's been good this year in faceoffs, (53.8 per cent so far).

I harp on Pleks all the time for not being a great faceoff guy. He was nine-for-24 in this game, and is only 46.4 per cent all year. In only two games has he been at 50 per cent or higher (50 per cent against Vancouver, 66.7 per cent against Winnipeg). That's not good for a guy who takes more faceoffs than anyone else.

[ericdaoust]

The diving call on him was well-deserved. It was horrible. Nystrom didn't even deserve the holding call. That should have been just diving. Ugly.

When PK's workout videos came out everyone knew he's built like a truck. No reason for him to fall when a stick is touching his leg lightly. Plus he had Nystrom beat so he was better off charging ahead trying to score a goal.

[ericdaoust]

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/...ip-to-hamilton

Prust out four weeks. Blunden (barf) and Holland called up.

As I was saying forward depth is really hurting beyond the ones that started the year in Montreal.

[robmyatt]

The next 4 weeks could really make or break this season unfortunately. Losing Prust and Pacioretty is going to expose some huge depth issues here. I wonder how Christian Thomas's injury is coming along. I'd take him over Blunden as a callup. I also think we'll see more of Bournival now. He works his butt off out there and his linemates seem to feed off that energy. Price will need to be a wall this month to keep the habs' strong start up.

[habs83]

The wait is finally over Eric... Blunden has been called up, along with Patrick holland. Thety were both practicing on a line with White. Here is the projected lineup for tomorrow's game:

Gallagher-Eller-Galchenyuk
Bournival-Plekanec-Gionta
Moen-Desharnais-Bourque
Blunden-White-Holland

Subban-Markov
Gorges-Diaz
Bouillon-Tinordi

[ericdaoust]

Blunden has been called up

I'm scared...

[ericdaoust]

The wait is finally over Eric... Blunden has been called up, along with Patrick holland. Thety were both practicing on a line with White. Here is the projected lineup for tomorrow's game:

Gallagher-Eller-Galchenyuk
Bournival-Plekanec-Gionta
Moen-Desharnais-Bourque
Blunden-White-Holland

Subban-Markov
Gorges-Diaz
Bouillon-Tinordi

The other thing that scares me... you know Moen will be up in Bournival's spot soon. Life just works that way.

[robmyatt]

The other thing that scares me... you know Moen will be up in Bournival's spot soon. Life just works that way.

It's a cruel cruel world.

[habs83]

Beaulieu will be in the lineup tonight, while Tinordi will be in the pressbox. After a strong training camp, Tinordi is having a rough time since the start of the regular season. He'll probably be heading to Hamilton when Murray/Emelin will be healthy. This won't be a bad thing, since he needs to play a lot of minutes to continue to progress, which he won't do in Montreal.