Montreal Canadiens

[Bighabfan]

Therrien?!?! seriously? I don't remember him achieving anything good as Montreal's coach. The guy couldn't even do well in Pittsburgh.

[ericdaoust]

Therrien?!?! seriously? I don't remember him achieving anything good as Montreal's coach. The guy couldn't even do well in Pittsburgh.

He did do well in Montreal and he took the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup final with Crosby. The biggest problem with his tenure in Montreal is that he wasn't given a great roster to work with. Does that sound familiar when thinking of a Habs' coach this season?

[ericdaoust]

Tonight was a game filled with benchings, injuries, a rare start from the backup and the debut of a new player. But above those sub-plots was a very impressive 4-1 victory over the NHL's best team.

Petr Budaj had a strong game in a rare appearance. He turned aside 28 of 29 and made several key saves including bailing out his team during long scrambles in their own end. Defensively the team had a lot of trouble clearing the zone which led to a ton of problems.

Lars Eller and Andrei Kostitsyn had reduced ice time from being benched during the second period. Both were on the ice for the lone goal allowed. Eller was particularly lazy on the sequence that led to the goal including completely blowing the coverage in from of Budaj. The man he was supposed to cover tapped in a rebound. Both would return later and played much better, especially once the injuries struck.

On the injury front:
-Travis Moen took a collision to his knee but finished the second period. He did not play in the third.
-Mathieu Darche took a puck to the throat and left the game before returning.
-Erik Cole collided leg-on-leg with a returning Darche. He might have missed one shift but stayed in the game.
-Tomas Plekanec took an accidental forearm/elbow to the face late in the game and most likely left for blood/tooth repairs. It did not look serious at all.

Lots of line juggling due to the injuries but the coaching staff and players did a good job adjusting because their level of play did not drop late in the game.

Scott Gomez had his best game this season. The bar was not set high but he skated very hard and for the first time in ages looked like an actual playmaker. He had an assist and four shots in 14 minutes.

Josh Gorges and PK Subban had strong games once again. Both finished plus-2 and Subban had an assist.

Alexei Emelin was back in the lineup to replace Chris Campoli. Emelin looked very tentative much like early in the season before he hit in stride. The coaches need to stop messing with his confidence. He brings a ton of passion and physical play, two attributes that are very scarce on this team.

The Pacioretty/Desharnais/Cole line took over the game from start to finish. They accounted for three of four goals (Pacioretty x2, Desharnais). Each had three points and finished plus-3.

Tomas Kaberle didn't score any points but had a couple of strong rushes early in the game to set the tone.

Rene Bourque had a solid game in his debut. He was throwing his body around and had a couple nice scoring chances. When he skates he reminds me of Cole a lot because he skates fast for a big man and does so in a very north-south manner.

[ericdaoust]

On the Habs' chances of seeing playoff hockey:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...187/story.html

Basically it sums up why I think it's not in the cards. This isn't like it was before the overtime points came into play. It's almost impossible to leapfrog so many teams while they're picking up points too.

[ericdaoust]

From TSN Ice Chips:

Tuesday's Practice Lines

Forwards:
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Moen - Eller - Kostitsyn
Bourque - Plekanec - Blunden
Darche - Gomez - Nokelainen

Defence:
Gorges - Subban
Emelin - Diaz
Gill - Weber
Kaberle - Campoli

Goaltenders:
Price
Budaj

I personally don't expect to see any changes for next game, except of course Price getting the start. Campoli and Nokelainen IMO should sit again. I don't know how long the Blunden experiment next to Plekanec will be in effect but he looked very good on Saturday. He seems to have decent speed (poor coordination) and some skills around the net. I thought Darche would be a much better fit in that spot but there might be more to Blunden than meets the eye.

[ericdaoust]

http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/blog.htm?id=261

Some rapid-fire news for tonight. As expected, Price is back in goal and the rest of the lineup remains unchanged. It's also Rene Bourque's first game against the Caps since the elbowing play on Backstrom that resulted in Bourque's five-game suspension.

[ericdaoust]

This was an awful game so I'll hit on a few points real quickly. But if you missed the game, just know that in general the team play was possibly at a season-low.

Carey Price allowed three goals on 16 shots. The first two were brutal as he was too deep in his net. Had he been covering the angles better he would have stopped both easily.

PK Subban showed me something especially in the third period. He showed the swagger that made him so successful at the end of last season. He moved around a lot in the offensive zone and nearly broke the shutout on a few occasions. It's a good sign moving forward.

Scott Gomez was back to some of his old bad habits. He is much improved offensively but his back-checking was awful once again. On the first two goals he is trailing the play lazily as the Capitals put goals on the board. Andrei Kostitsyn was also very soft on the second goal, allowing his man free way too easily.

Rene Bourque answered the call from Matt Hendricks early in the game and looked good in the fight. This was clearly revenge for Bourque elbowing Nicklas Backstrom a couple weeks ago.

The power play is horrendous. They were 0/7 tonight including a six-minute advantage in the third that was completely ineffective. A team with the deficiencies that the Canadiens have must take advantage of good scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, the team did everything it could to make Michal Neuvirth look good.

[ericdaoust]

Some news from today:

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/...ahead-for-habs

Of note is the speculation that Hal Gill might be a healthy scratch tomorrow. I just hope the intention is to dress a forward and not another dman. They need 12 forwards in the lineup.

[ericdaoust]

I'm starting to wonder if my game reports between now and the end of the season will be mostly the same. Tonight featured a lot of good moments for the Habs but also some poor moments that enabled the Penguins to tie the game. The difference between a 30-goal scorer and a 40-goal scorer is usually not talent, but rather consistency. Likewise, the difference between a bottom-feeder team and a playoff bubble team is not talent, but consistency. The Habs can't play 60 strong minutes, plain and simple.

Peter Budaj made the start and was OK. Not bad, but not great either. He made some nice saves but had he made an extra key save the Habs would have won the game.

If you missed the shoot-out, go find a video that replays it from start to finish. First out was David Desharnais who made a decent move but was stopped. Then the wheels fell off. Andrei Kostitsyn was having a strong game but broke his stick on his shot. Then, out comes Scott Gomez who has not scored a goal in almost a full calendar year. Of course, he shot on the goalie and the game was over. Good call, coach!

PK Subban was a major talking point for a bad giveaway on the Pens' second goal and this part of his game was way overblown. Basically there should have been a forward in the spot where he passed to help break out of the zone. Instead, everyone was on the opposite side. Still, it's up to Subban to see this and not fire a weak pass into an empty space. He then had an argument with assistant coach Randy Ladouceur over the play. What upset me about this is that RDS made it seem like players never argue with coaches ever. They are having a field day making the team look like the circus that Jaro Spacek said it is.

That said, Subban again did the slew-foot move that has a lot of people upset. Here is the link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...medium=twitter

If the league tells him to sit out a few games, fine by me. I think he will be hit with the max fine much like Brad Marchand was a few weeks ago.

Erik Cole was a man possessed, even over-aggressive. He had a goal and an assist, but also took two minor penalties. I'll take the passion with whatever aggressive penalties that he takes on occasion.

Max Pacioretty fought Kris Kunitz and appeared to hurt his hand/wrist. He left the game but quickly returned and scored a goal. Maybe he just left to get a brace or some tape?

Tomas Kaberle quietly added two assists. He has 11 points in 18 games since the trade despite seeing very limited minutes on some nights. He played 18 minutes last night.

Rafael Diaz and Yannick Weber were scratched. Chris Campoli and Petteri Nokelainen were dressed. Personally I prefer Diaz over Campoli by a wide margin.

Rene Bourque is point-less in three games since the trade. He was not very visible in this game.

[ericdaoust]

For those of you Habs fans looking for something to cheer for, I found something for you:

http://www.celebrations-gomez.com/en/

Let's celebrate!

[ericdaoust]

Tonight marked the first time in a while that Carey Price looked unstoppable. It's a simple feeling that I get when watching a goalie - when the opposition is rushing up-ice, does my gut tell me that the goalie will stop a good scoring chance or not? Tonight, Price was the difference. He stopped 32 of 33.

Rene Bourque scored his first goal with the Habs by simply going to the net. A mis-timed shot by Tomas Plekanec bounced off the boards and dropped in the slot in perfect position for Bourque to tap in a goal.

PK Subban - MUCH BETTER. He still makes mistakes but I've seen great improvements of late. He certainly brings more good to compensate for his flaws. He made some great up-ice passes and for the most part was mistake-free in his own end. The lone error was more of a team mistake as a bunch of guys were caught up-ice leaving Subban alone to deal with several Maple Leafs. The Leafs scored on a breakaway.

That said, he needs to stop swinging his fist while trying to finish a check though. The motion always catches the referee's eye and makes Subban prone to getting roughing penalties.

Lars Eller looked great all game. He missed on a shorthanded breakaway in the first but made up for it later by scoring the insurance goal in the third. Good two-way play as usual.

Rafael Diaz was back in the lineup and scored the winning goal. It was a simple wrist shot through traffic that found the back of the net. He should be part of the regular starting six.

Tomas Kaberle did not get any points but his ice time is up from the ridiculous numbers he has seen of late. He played 17 minutes last night.

Erik Cole had another great game. He had an assist, three shots and five hits. Equally impressive was his work both in the forechecking and backchecking areas.

Alexei Emelin is back to his old ways. Four blocked shots and five hits in 18 minutes.

Yannick Weber sat out again. I think he will be traded at some point. There is no room for him and even though he has had success on the power play, it comes at a high price because he does not have enough confidence right now to exceed in other areas.

[ddp]

That was my little stanley cup for the year...seeing Leaf fans so upset with their team.

Note: just rumour of course but a buddy tells me he knows Markov's FINANCE guy...not agent...and he says he's D O N E. Knee is finished. *I was pretty hammered friday when he told me so take whatever you want from it. Gauthier, mind boggling! (um yes lets see if Georges knee holds up before we sign him)

[ericdaoust]

That was my little stanley cup for the year...seeing Leaf fans so upset with their team.

Note: just rumour of course but a buddy tells me he knows Markov's FINANCE guy...not agent...and he says he's D O N E. Knee is finished. *I was pretty hammered friday when he told me so take whatever you want from it. Gauthier, mind boggling! (um yes lets see if Georges knee holds up before we sign him)

Well clearly whatever the team is saying is a complete lie. In training camp he was not ready but nearing a return. Then that kept being pushed back. Then he had surgery. Now his latest rehab time keeps being pushed back. I'm guessing that right after the trade deadline he is announced out for the season. I have about zero hope of seeing him this year.

Meanwhile there were a bunch of healthy UFA defencemen to sign last summer... At least if Markov retires the contract is basically void and the team can move on to other things.

Thanks a bunch for the tidbit!

[ddp]

Its sad, Markov was such a force on the back end controlling the play. Truly amazing. I sure hope he can make a recovery.

[ross10019]

This is the wierdest feeling for me. I have NEVER pulled for the Habs to lose, but now I find myself cringing with every point that gets them away from the cellar. Tank already, we need a top 3 or 4 pick next year, and preferably top 2!!

The only exception is the Leafs game, it is such a pleasure to be a spoiler for the Leafs (God only knows they have been a spoiler at times against the Habs in the past).