Game #54Devils Show That They Are No Edmonton Or Toronto

Details

Date: 6/2/2011
Opponent: Devils
Location: New Jersey

Loss: 1-4

Habs Goalie: Price (L)
Opposition Goalie: Brodeur (W), Hedberg

Habs goalscorers: Subban
Opposition goalscorers: Zubrus, Kovalchuk (2), Zajac

Play of the game

The Devils made us look average, at best, today so there wasn't really much to choose from. I suppose, then, that I will go with our goal. The goal itself wasn't that special (a Subban shot that deflected off a Devil on it's way in), but the passes from MaxP to Gomez and then from Scott to PK were good. The Gomez pass, in particular was a nice play and he earned his assist on that one.

Dome hockey team

The 6 players we're playing in a no changes, do or die contest in the dome

Tomas Plekanec
Not a horrible game from Pleks, I thought. There wasn't too much going on, but I did like how he was trying to score. In all he had 6 shots, which led the game, and seemed to be involved in quite a few of our almost-scores.

Max Pacioretty
I liked pretty much everything that Max did with the puck tonight. He skated fast, made some nice passes and, more than any other player, made things happen. What I didn't like, however, were his 2 penalties, penalties that cost him the game puck.

Scott Gomez
This was a decent game for Scott against his old team. He led the forwards in ice-time (22:36) and picked up his 21st assist in this one. In general, his passes were good and a lucky bounce here or there for Gionta could have meant a multiple point night.

Defencemen

PK Subban - Game Puck
He stands out more in most other games (even ones in which he doesn't win the game puck), but tonight he was our best player even if it wasn't his best game. His goal, his sixth, gave the Habs hope, but luck, in the end, wasn't on our side. When PK can contribute with goals he is quite the force to be reckoned with, so that is one positive we can take from today.

Jaroslav Spacek
I wasn't sure who to put in here, but I knew that it couldn't be Gill and had no reason to make it Weber or Picard. So, that meant Jaro or Hammer. I went with Spacek because he stood out in my mind more tonight. I can't say that I remember anything too incredible, but I did notice some solid plays in our own end.

Goaltender

Carey Price
I thought that he looked a bit weak on the first goal, but beyond that it wasn't a horrible game from Carey. The Devils played well and we didn't in front of Carey; when that happens you generally lose.

Comments

After a great week I am not that bothered that we lost to the Devils. If they go on to win all their remaining games and make the playoffs instead of us then I'll be quite upset, but, in reality, we lost to a non-playoff team after beating 3 teams that are much closer to us in the past few days. The Habs didn't look horrible and there were times when we looked poised for goals, but at the end of the day we were the second best team on the ice. One thing that I saw, something that I have never seen, was a goal awarded without the puck ever going in the net. Kovalchuk was on a partial breakaway with nothing but an empty net in front of him. A Habs hook certainly impeded him and was destined to be a penalty, but when Ilya shot it hit the post. For a league that will change second assists 2 days after a game for accuracies sake I was surprised to see that this was allowed (I am assuming, as bad of a ref as Pollock is, that this is in the rule book). We all know that Kovy would have scored that goal and, that by that point, it didn't matter if they scored, but I still can't think of another rule like this; in hockey or any other sport. In soccer a defender's handball, on the goal-line, is a red card, but there is still a penalty shot as the ball was never in. This isn't too big of an issue, but after 2.5 hours of not too exciting hockey it did get me thinking.