Montreal Canadiens

[ericdaoust]

RDS speculates that Wisniewski could be out for a month with facial fractures. So the only opening night dman still healthy is PK Subban. Markov, Gorges, Gill, Spacek and Wisniewski are out.

[PriceCrazed]

If Wis is out, that hurts. If he's day to day could be he'll play through it with a full face mask.

Second I completely agree with the Gomez observation in the EDM game. Interesting coincidence day before the game I read a few tweets that his camp was told he would be traded by Monday. Maybe there's some truth to these tweets and he finally put in the effort.

With his contract having a limited NTC, and entering stages of affordability but high cap hit, I see him on his way out by end of next year unless he produces.

For example the way his contract is set up he would be good for teams wanting higher talent but with budget restraints like NSH, PHX, Islanders (cap floor issues).

[ericdaoust]

Watching the live outdoor practice right now. Cammalleri is on the ice and skating with Desharnais and Pouliot. No sign yet of the other injured players though. It's tough to identify the players on the ice because they're wearing black, red or white jerseys with no numbers or names on them.

Random notes:

-Wisniewski is on the ice with a face shield. Looks like he's OK.

-Hal Gill is on the ice as well.

-Cammalleri just said he'll be playing tomorrow.

-Carey Price is using a new mask with the original Jacques Plante facemask painted on.

[ericdaoust]

If Wis is out, that hurts. If he's day to day could be he'll play through it with a full face mask.

Second I completely agree with the Gomez observation in the EDM game. Interesting coincidence day before the game I read a few tweets that his camp was told he would be traded by Monday. Maybe there's some truth to these tweets and he finally put in the effort.

With his contract having a limited NTC, and entering stages of affordability but high cap hit, I see him on his way out by end of next year unless he produces.

For example the way his contract is set up he would be good for teams wanting higher talent but with budget restraints like NSH, PHX, Islanders (cap floor issues).

If you can convince one of those teams to take Gomez to help them with the cap floor, you deserve to be a GM in the NHL. I'd fire Pierre Gauthier and name you Habs GM if you can pull that off.

As much as he is talented, it would be overall a huge net gain to get that salary off the books.

[ericdaoust]

RDS confirms that both Gill and Cammalleri will be back tomorrow while Wisniewski is more of a "probable" case although based on today's televised practice he looks good to go.

[MoreCanadianTeams]

RDS confirms that both Gill and Cammalleri will be back tomorrow while Wisniewski is more of a "probable" case although based on today's televised practice he looks good to go.

Excellent news Eric. Let's hope the cold weather kills the f#*@^%~ injury bug that's been haunting the team since Marko went down.

[ericdaoust]

For anyone that has not see Price's new mask yet, here is a good picture:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...52/?cmpid=rss1

[ericdaoust]

Excellent news Eric. Let's hope the cold weather kills the f#*@^%~ injury bug that's been haunting the team since Marko went down.

Sometimes the mid-season injuries are a blessing in disguise. It gives experience to new players and teaches guys how to win without the crutch of relying on vets all the time. Guys like Subban, Pacioretty, Weber and Desharnais would not be playing at as high of a level right now if everyone was healthy. When the vets come back I think the team will be even better.

[ddp]

Love the Carey Price mask...awesome! Gomez must go!

[LeTrefle]

Gomez must go!

We'll hear this until 2013-2014...
I want to cry!

[MoreCanadianTeams]

Sometimes the mid-season injuries are a blessing in disguise. It gives experience to new players and teaches guys how to win without the crutch of relying on vets all the time. Guys like Subban, Pacioretty, Weber and Desharnais would not be playing at as high of a level right now if everyone was healthy. When the vets come back I think the team will be even better.

I agree Eric, we've been mentioning the same thing on some of the Canucks threads with their D-men dropping like flies. We've seen a few prospects come up and perform above expectations. As for the Habs, I just hope when they get these guys back they can keep them for the run up to the playoffs in order to win the NE division to get home ice advantage for the 1st two rounds anyway.

[ericdaoust]

Game Notes:

-Very poor effort despite the shot total being pretty even. Even in the second period when the Canadiens fired 21 shots, the quality just wasn't there. Offensively they failed to adapt to the conditions. The east/west finesse game that they play cannot work on poor ice conditions. Defensively they were atrocious, especially in the transition game. The Flames are not a team that should beat you with counter-attacks but that's what happened tonight.

-The Canadiens were also weak when it came to supporting their teammates. When a forward would break out of the zone with the puck he was often alone and quickly lost the puck. This is something I wrote about after Thursday's game and the trend has continued.

-The Flames were superior in taking advantage of the things they could control in this environment, winning most of the one-on-one battles and being positionally sound all night. Even when the Habs were pressuring they were able to neutralize the threat quickly. I am very impressed with their defensive play.

-Both goaltenders were very good. Carey Price gave his team a chance in the first with a half-dozen outstanding saves. He couldn't do much more because he received no goal support. At the other net Kiprusoff was outstanding. Positionally he was there all night and his team helped clear the rebounds.

-Tomas Plekanec was solid all night. He had eight shots on goal and was the only Hab able to create chances consistently. His linemates Gionta and Pacioretty were as cold as the weather. Very poor effort by those two.

-David Desharnais was down to 11:14 primarily because of poor defensive coverage that led to a shorthanded Flames goal in the second. All five Canadiens were back in the defensive zone yet Glencross was able to feed a pass to an open Babchuk in the slot. That's not the kind of effort a team needs to win.

-PK Subban had five shots on goal which is great because lately he's been able to get shots through to the net consistently. His only issue right now is being over-aggressive defensively which leads to hooking and holding penalties.

-Roman Hamrlik definitely has a severe lower body injury. He can't skate anymore. He's slower than Hal Gill. It definitely doesn't help the struggling Wisniewski.

[ericdaoust]

Game Notes:

-First of all, I wasn't really paying attention in the 3rd period because I was busy with something else. But here's what I saw:

-Great effort early in the first period to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Then the team went into shell mode and the Canucks were the better team the rest of the way. Early in the game the shots were 13-1 in favor of the Canadiens, and 38-12 Canucks after that.

-Carey Price was sensational once again. His one mistake was clearing the puck over the glass which led to a Canucks' power-play goal. But from start to finish Price was outstanding and clearly out-dueled Luongo (who wasn't bad either).

-The Canadiens' penalty killing has taken a major hit since Josh Gorges went down. They were first or second at that point and have been getting shelled ever since. Both Canuck goals tonight were with the man advantage.

-With that said, the Canadiens have major discipline problems. They continuously take cheap penalties all over the ice. A lot of them are careless and put the team in difficult situations for no reason.

-Hal Gill was very gutsy tonight and put in a great effort. He had an assist, was plus-one and blocked five shots.

-Like I've been preaching all season, PK Subban took a WRIST SHOT on net and Brian Gionta tapped in the rebound. It's not rocket science. Shot precision trumps power in most situations.

-David Desharnais had a goal but only played five minutes. Like I said I was tuned out for the third so I didn't notice if it was injury or benching.

-Lars Eller and Andrei Kostitsyn combined for a beauty of a goal. Kostitsyn cut to the front of the net and Eller gave him a pass out of the corner which was one-timed past Luongo. This would stand as the game winner.

Forward lines for this game:
Cammalleri-Plekanec-Halpern
Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta
Pouliot-Desharnais-White
Kostitsyn-Eller-Moen

[LeTrefle]

Eric,
Spacek didn't play last night.

"Habs' Spacek (LBI) still under examination
Montreal coach Jacques Martin would not confirm a report that Jaroslav Spacek is done for the remainder of the year because of a lower-body injury.He is still being checked out by the team and a final evaluation is awaiting completion. Stay tuned for more details. Feb 22, 7:41 AMSource: Habs Inside/Out"

What do you think about that?
I know Spacek doesn't play really good lately, but Markov, Gorges, Hamrlik playing hurt and now Spacek!

[ericdaoust]

Eric,
Spacek didn't play last night.

"Habs' Spacek (LBI) still under examination
Montreal coach Jacques Martin would not confirm a report that Jaroslav Spacek is done for the remainder of the year because of a lower-body injury.He is still being checked out by the team and a final evaluation is awaiting completion. Stay tuned for more details. Feb 22, 7:41 AMSource: Habs Inside/Out"

What do you think about that?
I know Spacek doesn't play really good lately, but Markov, Gorges, Hamrlik playing hurt and now Spacek!

I think Mara is a suitable replacement for Spacek. He adds a bit of toughness which I like because the team lacks overall toughness. Personally I was in favor of using Picard over Spacek all that time.

I actually thought Spacek's injury was a concussion because he took a few hits to the head in his last few games played, including the repeated punches from a Bruins player (can't remember which one) after the ref was trying to break up the fight. Not sure how the LBI happened.