Game #35Must It Get Worse To Get Better?

Details

Date: 21/12/2011
Opponent: Blackhawks
Location: Chicago

Loss: 1-5

Habs Goalie: Budaj (L)
Opposition Goalie: Crawford (W)

Habs goalscorers: Kostitsyn
Opposition goalscorers: Brunette, Sharp. Stalberg, Toews, Bickell

Play of the game

The final horn was the feel good moment of the night for me, but it wasn't the play of the game. That honour actually goes to a hockey play; our goal. The best parts about the goal were that it was scored on the PP and it gave us a lead against the league's best team. The play itself is noteworthy too as it was indeed a good goal by Kostitsyn as he was able to redirect a quick pass from Plekanec up and over a well-positioned Crawford.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Andrei Kostitsyn - Game Puck
I had to give the game puck to someone, didn't I? It wasn't his best game and he wasn't too much a threat throughout, but tonight, when nothing was going on, a goal is really all we have to go on. Would you give 13 minutes, 4 less than Camms, to this player? I think that Cunney has to re-evaluate this one, after all he was on for no goals against (unlike 9 other forwards).

Max Pacioretty
What do I want? Goals. Well, if I can't have that I at least want shots. Tonight he took 38% (8) of our shots and, although he didn't score, came closer than pretty much everyone else. The thing is, however, we need him to score, he is not being paid to simply shoot; I hope he picks it up soon.

Erik Cole
When no one on the depth chart below you steps up you can sometimes squeeze into the dome. That is what has happened here with Erik. He wasn't good, but I'll take a bad Cole over a bad anyone else at this point.

Defencemen

Raphael Diaz
On for a goal-for and no goals-against gets Diaz another dome. Oh, it also helps that the other D were pretty bad throughout. I am not pleased that a rookie who isn't really doing much positive is becoming a regular in the dome halfway through the season, but that is what seems to be happening.

Hal Gill
Like Diaz he wasn't on for any of their goals. I am not sure if that makes him a logical choice for the dome, but I really didn't like the others tonight. The sad thing is that he got 16 minutes and, contrary to most dome selections, I likely wouldn't want to use him for much more than that. (I think I just implied that we need some people to start seriously stepping up).

Goaltender

Carey Price
I didn't expect Budaj to win this one and would only think that 2 of those goals were stoppable, but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough. His team was horrible in front of him, but I still look at his performance and can't say that I was filled with too much confidence.

Comments

I don't have much energy to write too much in here and I am sure that not too many of you have the energy to keep reading about the latest way we learned to lose, so this will be short.

Chicago is a good team, even a great one and we were probably doomed from the start. It was nice to go up, but staying on top and winning was always going to be a tall order. We certainly didn't compete the way that one would have hoped and that seems to be the problem, again. Coaches, players available and opponents aside the least we fans can ask for is an honest attempt at a win. Now, I think that we do show that in a lot of our wins (even if that means playing defensively), but tonight I didn't see it. I don't think this loss means that the season is over or that more changes are required right away, but I can't stress how important a win in the Peg tomorrow is. There is a bad taste in Montrealers' mouths right now. It is quite the potent bad-tasting hockey/political tonic that I for one don't want in my mouth over the weekend. So, come on Habs, send us on the break with some hope, give us something to forget about so we can enjoy all the stuff that really matters without fretting about what may be happening to our beloved team.