Game #74That's More Like It; Habs Lose Properly

Details

Date: 21/03/2012
Opponent: Sabres
Location: Buffalo

Loss: 0-3

Habs Goalie: Price (L)
Opposition Goalie: Miller (W)

Habs goalscorers: None
Opposition goalscorers: Hodgson (2), Pominville

Play of the game

My favourite play was a rush by PK. It was in the third period when the game was out of reach, but it was still a solid individual effort. He did very well in his own end to break coverage twice before heading up the ice. Blunden, of all people, then found some space and Subban found him. Miller then made a great save on what would have been a goal against most others.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Tomas Plekanec - Game Puck
My goal this summer, once I take 3 months off from thinking about hockey, is for Plekanec to get some wingers. Bourque is not Cammalleri, Gionta is not Kovalev and Geoffrion is not Kostitsyn. The Habs owe it to this player, who always gives it a solid effort, to surround him with good players. Tonight was another good effort as he had 6 shots and was perfect, again, on the PK.

Petteri Nokelainen
I noticed him for once and I think it has something to do with 9 minutes of ice rather than 3. Another reason may be that he was playing for Jari Kurri and a spot on Finland's World Championship team. He may be playing his last few games as a Hab, so I can't say I am that excited about a decent game as I do think it is way too late to impress at this point.

Erik Cole
Erik squeaks in here as he really wasn't that good, but the rest of the forwards weren't just normal, most were bad. Has the team checked out for the year? It seems so, but for the first time I am starting to assume that Cole has done so too.

Defencemen

Josh Gorges
A good, quiet game for Josh that had a slight blemish on their first goal. He led the team with 4 blocked-shots and played the second most minutes. I know that I have talked a lot about World's for many Habs, but I may add Josh to that list. He is what Canada loves when it comes to stay-at-home D and I think that this may be his best chance to wear the Maple Leaf.

PK Subban
A no-brainer tonight is PK. He seems frustrated with the team's current situation and I get the feeling that this will be the exception year in what will be a great career. I liked how he stood up for Campoli at the end; it seems he has been doing more of that lately.

Goaltender

Carey Price
There wasn't much help from his teammates so this game was always going to be a loss for Carey. He did, however, put forth the type of effort that could have been worthy of a win. Interesting that he spent 2 minutes on the bench as it seems Cunneyworth wasn't afraid to try something slightly different than the rest.

Comments

Both teams got what they wanted (or at least what they should want) tonight, so everyone should be happy. It was a pretty dull 60 minutes to get to it though as Buffalo isn't exactly the most exciting team that the Habs could lose a game to. I felt that Montreal were in the game, but in a way weren't. There were some chances, but zero goals isn't that shocking as only two or three of those were really good chances. A lot of stupid penalties not only gave the Sabres extra chances, but also gave us time to keep working at our league's-best kill.

Two and a half weeks and eight games to go. It would appear that we'll finish 28th if everything goes according to plan which is still quite good (guaranteed top-4 pick). You then never know what the summer will hold beyond that; we could be looking at a new coach, GM, star 18 year-old and maybe a new vet or two. I am starting to get excited for the off-season, we just have to sit through 2.5 more months of hockey first.