Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

He has been amazing on so many levels. At the game last night, we were 7 or so rows behind the Habs bench, and on one occasion you saw Cole come off the ice and kind of throw up his hands at Cunneyworth as if to say "it's like I've been telling you". But it wasn't a primadonna thing or anything, it was obviously Cole trying to help Cunneyworth resolve some issues, maybe with one of the younger players, or maybe in terms of some on-ice strategy. Anyway, it was pretty cool. Gill also is quite vocal back there, you can easily tell the leadership skills these guys have, and it's so obvious that they are both so well-respected by their teammates, especially the younger guys.

Also great to see Desharnais up close, man is he perfect for Cole and Pacioretty, the pass to Patches on his 2nd goal was a beauty, perfect little dropper through a few legs and Pacioretty fired without a moment's hesitation.

Did notice though that they had Plekanec taking some D-zone faceoffs instead of Desharnais, so looks like Cunneyworth trying to maximize Desharnais' offensive zone starts, and this may explain why Desharnais' total icetime tends to be lower than one would think for a 1st line centerman. It makes some sense to me, at least until Desharnais can improve on the D side of things, right now Plekanec is much better and more experienced in that area and still a better faceoff man although Desharnais isn't far behind.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's amazing how much the in-person experience differs from the TV experience. The camera decides what people see, so you don't get to check out what happens at the bench and you don't get time to digest all the different situations. I've been to two Habs games in my life, but both were higher up in the building. I was however in Ottawa the first time David Booth was taken out on a stretcher. I was sitting 10th row in the same corner where he hit the boards.

[ericdaoust]

I hate to say it, but if the Habs win tonight the P-word will start resurfacing in Habs circles.

[ericdaoust]

I don't have any statistics to prove this, but in my experience visiting teams gain an edge in games having a long pre-game ceremony. Tonight Mats Sundin was honoured by the Maple Leafs and deservingly so. But the present-day Maple Leafs appeared to be sitting next to him in the stands. The 32-18 shots differential means nothing. The Leafs did not show up and the Habs had a rare full-team effort.

Carey Price achieved shutout #4 and his save percentage is creeping up to last year's number. He was outstanding. Nothing fancy. He kept it simple and was in perfect position all night.

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Cole were great again. The line produced two goals and controlled the play most of the game. Cole was especially great in the transition game using his speed to cause problems for the Leafs' defencemen.

Darche-Plekanec-Bourque were also very good. They did a good job defensively and Plekanec made two great passes to set up goals by his wingers. I have been saying that Darche could be a nice short-term pickup for deep roto leagues and tonight he proved me right.

Alexei Emelin had nine hits.

PK Subban is playing great hockey of late. Most of the unnecessary complications are out of his game and it is paying dividends. My only gripe is the slewfoot on Phil Kessel late in the game. It was not much, but it's another one in a large pile.

Lars Eller scored an outstanding goal around Dion Phaneuf. It is worth a look if you did not see it. He did great work on the PK all night and the goal shows what he is capable of. I really like his future.

[ddp]

WOOOOH! what a f#ckin day!

[ross10019]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's amazing how much the in-person experience differs from the TV experience. The camera decides what people see, so you don't get to check out what happens at the bench and you don't get time to digest all the different situations. I've been to two Habs games in my life, but both were higher up in the building. I was however in Ottawa the first time David Booth was taken out on a stretcher. I was sitting 10th row in the same corner where he hit the boards.

If you live anywhere near New York City and are a big hockey fan, there is no better alternative than to go to Isles games. For the Habs game on Thursday, I paid a grand total of $57 per ticket (5 tickets) to sit 7 rows up just right of dead center ice. These are tickets that cost $350 at MSG and more at Bell Centre or ACC. If you are on the Section 116 side, you are directly behind both player benches, which are very close together, and you see all the coaching, the sniping back and forth, line changes close up, coaches talking to players after plays, it's really a great vantage point. And for non-Habs games, you can get those same tickets for closer to $30 or $40. It's a no-brainer.

Plus, I like this Isles team and it's fun to watch a superstar like Tavares ply his trade, a real phenom that kid.

[ross10019]

OK so we're talking the P word now Eric. It's all well and good, but it will really suck if we end up 9th or 10th.

Anyway, last night was interesting, many years it's the Leafs spoiling the Habs playoff chances and all the pressure on the Habs as a result, this year it's the opposite. You could see the Habs playing free and fast hockey, and the Leafs holding their sticks very tightly, and it showed in the results. Always great to beat the Leafs, especially in a tight playoff race.

That passing sequence from Price to Plekanec to Darche for the breakaway 5th goal was sublime, and cement hands Darche finally finished one nicely.

Emelin, what a beast, our answer to Phaneuf on the hitting side of things.

Eller makes Phaneuf look pylonish, and Leblanc late in the game does the same (not for a goal but during a zone entry).

And yes, Subban has to stop this semi-slewfoot thing, Brown went after him and rightly so.

[ericdaoust]

Travis Moen will be out for a while it appears. He had what they call a "setback" which usually means it's not day-to-day anymore. Ryan White and Ian Schultz were both called up. Not sure who will play and who will sit as Aaron Palushaj replaced Moen last game.

[ericdaoust]

I know the P-word keeps getting tossed around, but as I've said before it's not happening. We've seen the Habs bridge the gap to an extent but that was a result of a perfect winning streak combined with some slumping teams in front. In order to finally get the 8th seed this exact trend would have to continue. Unfortunately, the teams currently in playoff positions are there for a reason. They are good hockey teams. The Habs don't have enough consistency as a team in my opinion to pull it off. If they were in 8th right now, I would have confidence in them maintaining their position. But I don't think this is a team that can climb in the standings.

This game was a classic example of lack of consistency. The Habs fell behind 2-0 and later gave away a lead to lose 5-3. Those are mistakes that are too costly with no margin for error.

I'll start with Andrei Kostitsyn. He played just four minutes and with recent call-ups Ryan White and Ian Schultz I wonder if he might be watching the next game from upstairs. He just does not bring enough to justify his lazy streaks.

The "minus-2" bunch includes Erik Cole, David Desharnais, Tomas Kaberle and PK Subban.

The top line was strong offensively but often caught in their own end for long stretches, which obviously results in a minus-2 outcome.

Tomas Kaberle had a bad mental lapse on a shorthanded goal by the Hurricanes.

PK Subban was great at setting up the attack. I don't remember any glaring defensive mistakes though.

Tomas Plekanec is playing much better paired with Mathieu Darche. Both had a point yesterday. As I said with Darche, he can heat up for two weeks at a time.

Not much else to say. Carey Price was not bad but was not superman either.

[ericdaoust]

I didn't notice initially, but Scott Gomez was down to under eight minutes. He was still on the power play in the third though.

[ericdaoust]

Schultz has been sent back to Hamilton. So if anyone gets removed from the lineup it will be Ryan White's season debut.

[ericdaoust]

Gomez and Ladouceur had an apparent shouting match at practice over a botched drill. This isn't the first time Gomez is seen coasting around in his three years in Montreal.

I wonder what the fallout of this will be. Ryan White is back and I suspect he will take the place of Gomez, Kostitsyn or Palushaj. It's possible that today's practice incident puts the overpaid guy in the press box.

[ross10019]

I didn't notice initially, but Scott Gomez was down to under eight minutes. He was still on the power play in the third though.

I can't believe they put him on the PP with the game on the line, really dumb, he's so useless.

As for Desharnais, great little player and neat playmaker, but he really needs to shoot the puck when he gets an opening. Twice with the game on the line he approached the slot and dished it off looking for the perfect setup, both times the puck bounces off into the corner. He's going to become much more effective if he shoots in those circumstances, teams will know that they can't just lay off him thinking he'll surely pass. It's much like Kaberle, if that guy would get a longer stick and crank the puck at the net at 2x the current rate, he'd be a million times more effective as an offensive dman.

[ross10019]

Gomez and Ladouceur had an apparent shouting match at practice over a botched drill. This isn't the first time Gomez is seen coasting around in his three years in Montreal.

I wonder what the fallout of this will be. Ryan White is back and I suspect he will take the place of Gomez, Kostitsyn or Palushaj. It's possible that today's practice incident puts the overpaid guy in the press box.

I think they just announced he'll be benched tonight in favor of White. Thank you, next step AHL.

[ross10019]

Emelin has been fantastic the past month or so, he's really coming into his own.

McGuire called him "an Ulf Samuelsson who doesn't speak Swedish".

169 hits in 45 games, prorated that's 308 over a full season. That would be good for top 2 or 3 in the NHL, pretty much every season.

[ericdaoust]

I think they just announced he'll be benched tonight in favor of White. Thank you, next step AHL.

I have not seen an announcement, but I found the end of a TSN article about this to be a bit interesting:

With the Habs struggling this year, this isn't the first tense moment at practice.

But veteran team observers say it's been many years since they've seen a spat like this, and compare it to a memorable 1996 argument between then-coach Mario Tremblay and enforcer Donald Brashear. That one got so bad that Brashear was sent to the dressing room, and was traded a few days later to the Vancouver Canucks.

Cunneyworth refused to say during a news conference after practice if Gomez might not play tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins, and he would also not confirm the presence of Andrei Kostitsyn in the lineup.