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Two more points! Before the season started the sports analysts were all saying that 55 points was the target to earn a playoff spot. As of tonight the team has 55 points. With 10 games to go.
Player of the game: Carey Price 26/27 (.963). Excellent goaltending that made the difference. He was rock solid.
Honorable mention to PK Subban who is running away with the dman scoring title. He is up to 32 points in 32 games and in the team lead.
Another honorable mention to the five defensemen who stepped up when Alexei Emelin went down. The way they played defensively to protect the lead was outstanding.
Emelin went down after delivering a hit to Milan Lucic. It's tough to tell what happened until we know the injury but Lucic's knee went up at the last second and made contact with Emelin's knee/thigh. I am not sure if this caused the injury though.
Michael Ryder had another goal deflecting a Subban shot from the point.
Alex Galchenyuk has been outstanding the last two games. Have patience people, he is worth the investment.
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Agreed on Galchenyuk. I've been very patient with him this season, ignoring most trade offers sent by "rebuilding" teams.
He's looked very good lately and it's only a matter of time before he starts picking corners with that snapshot of his; very quick release.
I'd like to see him and Gallagher playing together again but it's understandable given how effective the trio with Eller and Prust has been. Can't understate Prust's presence out there.
ps. Really loving this team this year. Used to only follow them cause Price is my favorite player, but now I even watch the Budaj starts!
10 Team Roto Keeper League; 20 Keepers;
Stats: G,A,Pts,ppg,ppa,pims,+/- ; W,sv%,svs
C: Seguin, Panarin, Carter
LW: Benn, Hall, Buchnevich, Coyle, Zucker
RW: Kane, Simmonds, Stone, Nino, Gallagher
D: Subban, Doughty, Byfuglien, Jones, Mcdonagh, Fowler
G: Price, Holtby, Halak, Reimer
The thing with Gallagher is that the team is three lines deep and he can only play on one of them. He is better than a third liner. He will be reunited with Galchenyuk when they are both on the top line one day.
Budaj has been an outstanding backup. Last year was his first where he was in full backup mode and this year he looks much more comfortable in the role. I would like to see his contract extended.
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Emelin season is over. He will have surgery on his knee to repair a ligament tear.
Bourque will probably play on Tuesday. The lines at practice today were:
Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-Brendan Gallagher
Michael Ryder-Tomas Plekanec-Brian Gionta
Brandon Prust-Lars Eller-Alex Galchenyuk
Rene Bourque-Jeff Halpern-Travis Moen
Andrei Markov-Davis Drewiske
Josh Gorges-P.K. Subban
Francis Bouillon-Nathan Beaulieu
It's up on TSN now. Bourque returns after missing 21 games.
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On the Emelin front, it's good news that both Tinordi and Beaulieu have looked good in their games, and that Diaz looked so good and confident earlier.
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Theme of the game: The 50/50 goes the other way. All year this type of game has been falling the Habs' way for the most part. The puck bouncing through the crease goes into the net, or the last-minute effort turns into a goal. This time it didn't. The team did not play a great game and was caught in the defensive zone for too long. It was still nice seeing the game end with a bunch of players diving into the crease trying to push the puck in to tie the game.
Player of the game: Lars Eller. He scored both goals and has clearly taken a step forward from where he was a year ago. He is playing with far more consistency and has become a much better passer.
Goaltending: Carey Price 24/27 (.889). Overall it wasn't a spectacular night but his play early in the first cannot be praised enough. This game could have been a blowout. That was his best 20 minutes of the season.
Honorable mention to Alex Galchenyuk for player of the game. He is playing excellent hockey of late and you can see the skill every time he has the puck. He is going to put up a lot of points in this league.
Nathan Beaulieu's assist gives him two in three games. He was also plus-2 tonight.
Davis Drewiske led the team with three blocked shots.
Rene Bourque had a great return with four shots and six hits.
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I really like Montreal's depth at forward. Rene Bourque on the fourth line!? Nice.
That is one of the things that I look for when seeking playoff darkhorses. Emelin's injury will hurt for sure, but damn, there's this guy I like to call Carey Price and he's pretty good.
Montreal might be able to do some damage in the playoffs, depending on the matchups.
"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary, full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen." - Sterling Archer
"Don't spray that urine on my sons window. If you want a dollar for doing nothing, walk to Canada." - Malory Archer
“Anyone who thinks the pen is mightier than the sword has not been stabbed with both.” - Lemony Snicket
At practice today, Therrien reunited the line combination tjhat he used in the third against the Caps:
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Gallagher
Bourque - Plekanec - Gionta
Galchenyuk - Eller - Ryder
Moen - Halpern - Prust
Gorges - Subban
Markov - Bouillon
Beaulieu - Drewiske
Ryder now play on his natural right wing spot, and Bourque returns on Pleks wing, where he had good success earlier this season, before his concussion.
Not sure about the Beaulieu-Drewiske pairing. I thought Drewiske did a good job with Markov. This could lead to massive ToI for the top two pairings, and minimal ice time for the third pairing, especially on the road.
Budaj will be in nets tomorrow against Buffalo
Budaj extended for 2 years.
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Writer of the weekly Top 10 column.
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.
League champ in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.
We keep 15 players (any position) plus two rookies.
Forwards: Panarin, Ovechkin, Kopitar, Stamkos, Tuch, Rust, Marchessault, Pavelski, Miller, Bertuzzi, Stone, Kakko, Brown, Stankoven, Kovalenko
Defence: Hedman, Fox, Matheson, Thrun, Jiricek
Goalies: Kochetkov, Talbot, Vasilevskiy, Campbell, Schmid