Game #34Price Proves His Value To The Team With Rare Off-Night

Details

Date: 21/12/2010
Opponent: Stars
Location: Dallas

Loss: 2-5

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

Habs goalscorers: Darche, Gionta
Opposition goalscorers: Burish, Benn, Skrastins, Richards, Eriksson

Play of the game

Price made a great save on Eriksson in the second, but I felt that our second goal was a nicer play. That goal gave the Habs hope; hope for this game, hope that we haven't completely lost it. The goal was crafty and was scored on the PK to boot. Good work by Gionta got him the puck and he quickly fed Gomez. Scott then went u the right side and waited for Gio. Brian took the pass and placed a perfected slap-shot up and over Lehtonen.

Dome hockey team

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

Brian Gionta - Game Puck
His goal clinched him the Game Puck, but I felt that a Dome was a certainty. He played well with Scott again tonight and they both benefited a lot for MaxPac too. Gionta now has 12 goals and could still very well hit 30 by the time all is said and done.

Tomas Plekanec
Remember when Gomez's line had nothing going? I think that the main reason was Moen being there or when Gomez himself was missing. Well it was more of the same tonight. By benching Kostitsyn we have taken a legitimate sniper away from Pleks and replaced him with a rookie that will be lucky to end with 10 points. Despite it all Tom still played a good game, but when his line is going (with its potent regulars) they can be a whole lot better than good.

Max Pacioretty
With 7 shots (and another 4 misses) Max was looking like he would be bringing home the Game Puck. He unfortunately failed to capitilize though, but he was still worthy of the Dome. He is a different player than the one we saw last year and if he can keep this up it will only get better from here on in.

Defencemen

Hal Gill
Some off-nights left the door open for Gill. He also did well to end with a +1 rating. I can't say that I noticed him much, but in a game like this that is about all that I can ask for. It is still frustrating for me that he doesn't use his size or ever shoot hard, but after a season and a half of play like that I can't say that I am surprised.

Jaroslav Spacek
Jaro did well to stay out of the trouble that his partner was getting into. I actually thought that he didn't have a horrible game in his own end. One thing that I would like to see change, however, is that it would be nice to see him use that shot of his to hit the net. It seems that a lot of his one-timers miss high or wide and that is something that shouldn't be happening so often.

Goaltender

Alex Auld
Well that is a blow to the stats. 5 goals on 17 shots (and a few of them weak) is what I call a bad game. Now, he didn't get bounces and not everything was his fault, but it shows that when he isn't on we aren't quite the same team. I won't go on much as we all saw what happened, but if his team can't bail him out of games like this the season could go south (much like it often does around Christmas time) very fast.

Comments

Martin listened to Brunet and the rest of the media (mostly the French media) and Kostitsyn sat. It addressed one problem (shut Ben up for one night), but didn't see to help the team. Maybe it will be a wake-up call for AK, but I doubt it. That is because I don't think that he is doing too much different from when he is playing well (scoring goals). We know the type of player that he is and that bothers a lot of people. In an ideal world we could have Darche, Brunet and Patrick Poulin on every line, but we aren't that lucky. We may not be as good of a team with AK the non-50-goalscorer instead of AK the 50-goalscorer, but I think that I can say with certainty we are better with him than without him. A team is made up of a lot of different pieces; tonight we took away a very interesting piece because the people that really run this team yelled quite loud for a change. It is funny that the people that bleed Bleu-Blanc-Rouge the most are those that try and pick apart the team one piece at a time, but it is a sad fact. Once they have their way with Kostitsyn (like they did with Koivu and Kovalev) you can bet that Plekanec could be next. Ridiculous? Just try and remember when they were telling us that we don't need Markov. Still believe them Pierre Gauthier? I hope not.

The Picard Nonsense

If reports from Brossard are to believed, Jacques Martin is on the verge of making a mistake with his defensive pairings.

The return of Markov has gifted the Canadiens with its best defensive depth in months and the coach chooses to look the gift horse in the mouth. The coach is poised to remove Spacek from the lineup in favour of Alexandre Picard.

Normally, I don't take much issue with Brossard or the line changes that constitute the entirety of the news gathered by the full media coverage the practice arena gets. But on this occasion, I am riled.

I am riled because this is not only a case of the coach getting it wrong (that happens often enough), it is a case of the coach getting it wrong because he is bowing to media pressure.

When the date of Markov's return was made clear, there were a few articles about the returning Russian. To my surprise, those seemed to be outnumbered in the locales where I read by heartfelt cases made for Alexandre Picard's retention.

Picard, a player who was signed to fill the hole left by Markov when he departed earned his place on the NHL team in training camp because he had a cheaper contract than Yannick Weber. Since that time, he has done admirably, in that he is largely not as bad as we expected he might be. But let's not be fooled.

Picard's numbers look alright for a few good reasons.

First, he has been playing with PK Subban. Subban has had the kind of rookie debut we have not seen since the days of Gilbert Dionne. Flying out of the blocks, he has been a revelation on most nights. What's more he has made defense easy for his partner because he has carried the puck, he has kept it in the offensive zone and he has covered up mistakes.

Second, as Olivier so roundly pointed out (and I can't find where anymore), Picard has been facing lesser lights while Spacek has not. What's more, they have been lesser lights on what everyone seems to agree have been lesser teams.

If Spacek is an accident getting called out by the RDS fan club, then Picard is an accident waiting to happen. He plays hockey like a short order cook, planning is not his strong suit. He wants the puck on his stick like a knee in the groin and when he does pass, it's often to someone in coverage. He hasn't yet tripped at the blueline or been blown by for a scoring opportunity of great note, but the signs in his play tell me it wouln't be long before he did if you tried to play him against Malkin, Parise or Stamkos. Picard over Spacek is a nonsense that we don't need to indulge just because Benoit Brunet needs a new vendetta until Kostitsyn takes a mis-step.

Spacek is Hamrlik's regular partner (we're talking about hours and hours now) and they have only been on the ice for 6 goals against together in 9 games. All the while, the Canadiens have been winning.

Early season games aren't all about results, but they are all about building something for late in the season. If Martin truly believes that given these healthy D in April, he would prefer to start Picard over Jaro against Ovechkin again, then fine. If he can't answer that challenge in that way, then he's simply pandering to the loudest critics.

And panderin won't get this team anywhere today, tomorrow or in April. It's a mistake.

Rethinking Andrei Kostitsyn

Having a good scan of the Habs universe yesterday brought me to this very salient piece on Francois Gagnon's favourite player, Andrei Kostitsyn.

Take it from me, it's nice as a blogger to find a piece you wanted to write yourself. It gives time back to watch more highlights and read more trade rumours.

Anyway, I thought the piece was very well stated, a good indictment of those who relentlessly malign the young Belarussian. The aim of its writing, would also be as my own:

"The intention of this article is not to absolve Kostitsyn. He is responsible for his play, his attitude and his work ethic. It's simply to encourage a more balanced assessment of all players regardless of their birthplace."

I think this is fair enough, don't you?

I know that Andrei's had a sluggish start to the season relative to some others, but it hasn't been as abysmal as some commentators (Brunet, Gagnon) constantly suggest that it has been.

Gagnon, never missing an opportunity to continue the agenda he set off last spring, seemed to display real elation in his headline as wrote: "Kostitsyn demoted, finally". Brunet, as you know only takes breaks from boosting Guillaume Latendresse to sling insults at the Kostitsyn brothers.

Rather than ask those commentators to find nasty things to say about 1-goal men Latendresse and Pacioretty, I would simply prefer that they back off a little on Kostitsyn, as I think many do. After all, this season is 11 games long and our top remaining goalscorer from last year is only a three-point game away from springing back onto his usual pace.


Jacques Martin's move misread?

Though Gagnon leaped on the practice alignment for his agenda-fitting headline, I think it may just be possible that Jacques Martin's move was blown out of proportion. For one thing, the "demotion" from Plekanec's line where he wasn't clicking anyway only lasted 30 minutes. In the end, Andrei played only a shade less than Latendresse at even strength, and saw a lot more ice than new golden stick Glen Metropolit, which doesn't exactly scream doghouse.

Secondly, Chipchura had been a warrior the game before, a possession centre without a finisher – the demotion for Andrei was also a nice attempt to see if Chips could benefit from some extra talent around.


Patience

As a frequent winner of my hockey pool's October standings, and a very infrequent winner of the April edition, I've learned a lot about patience. The players we rave about today will not be the same group we rave about on the eve of the important games. Nor will the players who are dogging it in our minds now there interminably.

Some patience needs to be exercised in watching and evaluating young Andrei Kostitsyn, before we boo him off the team in a trade we may regret because:

"By all accounts, the Canadiens are short a top six forward. It would be a shame to lose another one."

Apology

Just as a note on something else that the AllHabs article brought up for me. I hadn't really thought about it before, but Rocket at AllHabs puts it very well when he asks just why there hasn't been any sign of apology from the reporters who slandered (and continue to slander) the Kostitsyns as criminals:

"Both Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik were the victims of rumours, embellished associations, and shoddy journalism by the Montreal media last season. To date, there has been no public apology for the outrageous accusations made by certain journalists and commentators. Some even continue to defame the three by referencing the false stories."

And to requote myself:

"No one really cared whether they were criminal or not, what will be remembered is that game with frenzied hacks claiming the scoop of the century – and that said scoop implicated the Belarussians. It's propaganda 101, people don't care too much about the facts. Give them a "juicy" (to borrow a term from the man himself) headline and they'll remember that."

Come to think of it, I do think an apology is due. And though I never expect one, perhaps in lieu of one, Gagnon and Brunet in particular could offer some peace for the winger trying to crack a 5.3 shooting percentage slump.

Right On CuePundit Panic Button Pressed

They lost. They panicked:

Is it time to panic yet? (Arpon Basu):

Um, yeah, I would say so.

About last night... (Mike Boone)

I hate to sound like an alarmist, but YOUR MONTREAL CANADIENS ARE IN TROUBLE!

They are six points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference – and eight points out of 10th.

Predictable as a Brisebois' zone clearance strategies.

Had they read yesterday's post: Streak Three; then the illuminated ones would know that steaks happen. Streaks are good and streaks have to be endured.

All this blowing up the roster BS is nonsense. Pittsburgh didn't blow up the roster, and mark my words, they will be in the playoffs – despite that nasty losing spell of theirs over the holidays. The Habs have solutions at their fingertips, and are just waiting for their timing to get them streaking the other way again.


Bandwagon

I have been tracking the website traffic for more than 2 years now and I have been compiling a fairly good study on the bandwagon. It's better data this year with more readers.

I can tell you fairly definitively that about half as many people are reading this site now compared to the heady days of our past winning streak. Of course, the hysteria of the playoffs (first round) is still the pinnacle of game review viewing).

If you are reading this post, on a day after the fourth loss in a row, you can rest assure you are a getting dangerously close to the core of Habs fandom.

Sorry I don't have it today, my correlational study on bandwagon traffic is in the statistical gears for the moment...


Benoit Brunet

It's not all optimist from me. I'm annoyed too. If Benoit Brunet claims one more time that what the Habs must do to erase a 2-goal deficit and vast margin in play:

"N'est pas complique"

I think i will explode. It is complicated Ben. The other teams have plans to beat us and we are getting foiled by them. Someone will work them out, but it won't be a matter of dumping the puck in.

That my friend is just about the single easiest play to defend.


It's complicated, but it ain't dire.

In the illustrious words of The Hitchiker's Guide: DON'T PANIC

Habs SensGuest Preview

The Canadian match-ups will start to come fast and furious soon, but until that time we must enjoy the last for a while. The last one for a while, though will be tonight's meeting with our friendliest rivals, the Senators. I asked Sens Chirp, fellow Score Sports Federation member, a few questions in the usual format, and he asked me some too, to be posted at his site before the game (as usual): Sens Chirp.

Sens Chirp's answers to my questions follow below.

Q1) We look at your team a foreign fans and think Spezza, Heatley, Alfredsson... Can you tel us from a Senators perspective who the players to look for tonight will be?

Sens Chirp: I always expect great things from Antoine Vermette when these two teams meet. Like all Francophone NHLers, deep down inside him burns a desire to play for Les Habs. I'm sure a similar desire exists in a certain Tampa Bay Lightning forward.


Q2) By the same token, who are the players you as Senators key on when you think of a match up with the 2008-09 Canadiens?

Sens Chirp: Every time we play the Habs it seems like that Kostitsyn guy is two places at once. Other than that its the usual suspects; Kovalev, Koivu, Higgins. Although with Kovalev I only worry about him every third or fourth match up; something I am sure Habs fans are use to.


Q3) This rivalry has been an interesting one, if not fully engulfed in flames of passion. The Senators won their first ever game against the Habs and since then have outplayed the Canadiens on many occasions (from early times to your total dominance of us for a while). How do the people of Ottawa feel about this rivalry and why do you think our two cities can't hate each other as much as say Toronto or Calgary?

Sens Chirp: Like every good rivalry, these teams will need to meet in the playoffs to really get things going. Habs fans still pack our barn every time these two teams play and to be honest with you that freakin Ole chant boils my blood. I think as it stands now Ottawa fans love to beat Montreal but Montreal fans don't quite take Ottawa seriously yet. Its a developing rivalry.


Q4) After all those playoff dead ends, someone decided to blow up the identity of the Ottawa team. Out with Euros in with grit. It got you a final, but has it set you back? Do you look at Euro-centered teams now and say - we built a better one than you once?

Sens Chirp: Its hard to say. See after getting kinda pushed around by the Ducks in the final we vowed never again. Then the following year while we were trying to get bigger and stronger the Euro-centric Detroit Red Wings won it all. Its kinda like that old Nintendo game, Ice Hockey. We lost to the Ducks and decided to stock up on all fat guys, meanwhile the Wings won it all with a team mostly made up of those fast skinny guys. Really we should have tried to stay somewhere in between with those middle sized guys. I really hope your readers remember this game otherwise this Q&A may have just gone off the tracks.


Q5) The fall happened so quickly, it took everyone by surprise. Which piece from the best years do you think would have kept this franchise holding firm? Zdeno Chara? Jacques Martin? Todd White?

Sens Chirp: Zdeno Chara, plain and simple. The guy was a one of a kind talent and we let him get away for nothing. Instead we kept Redden and eventually he got away for nothing too. Add to that the departures of Corvo and Preissing (also for nothing) and you see why we are where we are right now. Its the bad decisions on defence that have this team struggling right now.


Q6) Ray Emery was a massive pain in the butt, but how much would Sens fans enjoy having a hood young goalie again vs. the reclamation projects that hark back to earliest (Beaupre) years?

Sens Chirp: I really hope that was a typo because if it was its one of the funniest of all time. Umm in Brian Elliott we like to think we have something special and so far we have not been disappointed. Tonight should be a good test for him.

[I'll let you all judge if it was a typo...]


Q7) You haven't had a big draft pick in a while (Spezza, I guess). Hedman, Tavares or playoffs?

Sens Chirp: This is a tough question for me because unlike a lot of Senator fans I have yet to come to terms with the idea of missing the playoffs. I guess if I had to choose between the two of them I would say Hedman. The idea of a Hedman/Karlsson defence pairing is just too good to pass up although Tavares wouldn't be a bad consolation prize. All that being said...playoffs.


Finally, as with the last two Canadian match-ups, we had a look at some of the common threads and divergences between our two franchises. I asked Sens Chirp and Tobalev what came to mind (in a word or two) when they read the following:

a) Radek Bonk
Sens Chirp (Sens): Quite possibly the best Las Vegas Thunder to ever make the show
Tobalev (Habs): Solid defensive player

b) Benoit Brunet
Sens Chirp (Sens): Horrible Helmet
Tobalev (Habs): Crummy player, crummy commentator

c) 1992-93
Sens Chirp (Sens): Opening Night. After that the rest was a blur. (10-70-4)
Tobalev (Habs): Habs Cup

d) Oldest team name in the NHL
Sens Chirp (Sens): Ottawa Senators
Tobalev (Habs): Ottawa Senators [Well done Tobes, not too biased here to appreciate history...]

e) No-trade clause
Sens Chirp (Sens): Hand-cuffed
Tobalev (Habs): Brisebois


Always good to get a vastly different point of view. One not coloured by Pierre Houde/Benoit Brunet or the 110% guys. Thanks to Sens Chirp for taking part. Make sure you go by his site (Sens Chirp), dear readers, as it's a good old Sens blog with a taste for the rumour (which we'd all guiltily have to admit we love too, I think...)

Good game. GHG.

No RespectSergei Kostitsyn Evaluated Unfairly, Considering

Last game was Sergei Kostitsyn's 87th in the NHL, 2 years ago at this time, he was lining up beside Sam Gagner and Patrick Kane on the London Knights.

It seems that these two little pieces of information may have gotten lost in the brief prepared for RDS commentators Benoit Brunet and Pierre Houde, not to mention Joel Bouchard and Jacques Demers. They were particularly harsh on him two games ago, and then gave him little credit following a plus 4, 2 assist night on the de facto best line of the night.

It is especially interesting when you juxtapose Sergei's "plight" against the "return to dominance" of teammate Guillaume Latendresse. Guillaume for his part had a very good game a couple of night ago (his 184th in the NHL). In fact, he has had a good string of games. But all in all, his season has been no better or no worse really than Sergei Kostitsyn's.


A look at their stats will show you that both players are in the same neighbourhood:

Kostitsyn 35GP 6G 9A +4
Latendresse 31 GP 5G 9A +3

Last game, we were told that along with Molson Cup winner Lapierre, Latendresse was a stand-out for December. A look again shows that Sergei kept pace here too:

Kostitsyn 10GP 3G 2A E
Latendresse 9GP 3G 1A E

If I look to subjective records, such as 3 stars, I find that Sergei had a first and a second star game, whereas Guillaume only had one mention – a third star (in the non-Bell Centre rankings that is*)

The two players, in a nutshell, have both had dry spells and boons, benchings and streaks. Yet one is left wanting for praise and the other has his name singing from the pressbox.


What's up?

My take is that it all comes down to expectations and a certain flexibility and generosity in the setting of them. Expectations for Sergei are set rather high, given the way he took to the NHL last season and the way he led the team in playoff scoring. Guillaume, in contrast, has commentators lauding his capable checking and occasional goals from the third line.

Personally, I think this is a bit unfair. While I do agree Guillaume is turning a corner and we must acknowledge his actual potential and adjust our expectations, I feel Sergei is not being given the same lee-way. I would think that it's time to accept certain things about Sergei in order that we judge him in a fair light:

1) He is being thrust into uncomfortable situations at a very young stage of his career. While, it's natural for us fans to holler at the TV for greater PP success. It is hardly reasonable to expect a 21-year-old forward barely a year into a career to man the open point and turn the PP around, certainly not without a bit of a grace period to learn the position.

2) He tries things on. By this I mean he tries to be creative to take the defenders by surprise. Sometimes this means he makes a move and his pass hits a shin pad for a clearance. Given time to develop, it could mean great things.

3) He's still learning NHL defence. As we said, two years ago he was in junior, on the highest scoring team, on the highest scoring line. He didn't come in with a feel for NHL defensive play, and a season is an awfully short opportunity t perfect the task. That said, he still earns the coaches' trust on the PK, which is more than you could say for some of his peers.


So, if you're reading this Ben or Joel (ha), the next time Sergei lines up on the number one offensive unit, on the ice for 4 goals for and none against, perhaps you two could offer him a bit of slack, and hey, maybe even praise (not of the backhanded nature, like that montage of him last game). And Joel, if you insist on naming him every time a player goes down with injury as THE PLAYER who must step up, it might be nice if you recognised his 100-game older teammate as well.

Finally, for the love of everything sacred, we don't call you guys Benjamin, Peter, Jack and Joe; do you think you could extend yourselves to the point you might at least show his name some respect and stop calling him Serge?


* Does anyone know where one can get hold of the three stars that are announced after the Canadiens games at the Bell Centre. In my calculations from the "official" NHL archival rankings for December, Lapierre comes out tied third with 8 points, behind both Andrei Kostitsyn and D'Agostini on 10 each.

Canadiens Loss Analysed What Do The Non-Plumbers Think?

I am so frustrated.

Of course there's the frustration with the Habs loss – which I didn't think was nearly as bad as the media has since made out. But my main frustration is with the commentary at large, and particularly the one-track minds of Benoit Brunet and his RDS colleagues.


I liked Brunet as a player, I admired his work ethic and courage. I even thought he was pretty talented in his prime. I do not like him so much as a guy to insert comments above the play-by-play. He is a broken record, a guy with a dam in his mind where "forecheck, skate, forecheck" would normally proceed to "create a goal".

I think Benoit Brunet would be happy enough if every line played exactly like the Canadiens 4th line. A line that surely looks great in terms of battles won along the boards and possession won in the offensive zone. The problem for me is that the 4th line, for their valiant efforts, are incapable of winning us games. The chances they create are child's play for the goalie and defence of the other team. I unlike him, would not be.

Two things specifically bothered me during his coverage last night, things that prompted me to take note and get up to write this review:

1) On the first Carolina goal, Benoit Brunet instantly said, one can not blame the goalie or the defencemen on the play. The Kostitsyns and Lang had been on for a minute, and had blown their coverage. He went on to say that they should have done the sensible thing: skated hard, dunped the puck into the corner and gone off on a line change (what else?).

The line had just won the puck back and created a 3 on 2 against the Hurricanes. A line change? The score was 1-0. Too risky to try and score? Kostitsyn's pass was picked off, nothing more, nothing less – it happens 100 times a game. Anyway, you can watch the play yourself.



What I see was a fumbled chance, a recovery by the Hurricanes who went up ice with an innocuous rush. The forward did backcheck to make it 3-on-3 (Brunet mustn't have seen that) and the defence created a hole by committing to the right wing, then going for the blocked shot. I'm not saying Hamrlik, O'Byrne or Price must take the blame. The Hurricanes had a goal coming, I guess. I merely want to point out how ludicrous it is to suggest that creativity and attempting to score by means other than the "Brunet-advocated 4-man push in" are to blame here.

2) Unbelievably, Brunet revisits his earlier rant when he says something about how the Kostitsyns and Lang had put us behind in the game.

Huh? Even if you accept the first analysis, this is stretching things too far.

Andrei Kostitsyn was one of the best players on the ice all night. Sergei looked good too, though I wish he would shoot once in a while too. Lang, of course, scored the only goal on a nicely set up powerplay. How they cost us the game is beyond me. His issue was with their overly creative and "out-of-the-box"(we might as well call it "out-of-the-capability-of-Brunet") play.

(The second goal was a powerplay goal where the Hurricanes worked the puck quite well. Whitney – the uncovered man because we employ the simplistic passive box – simply claimed a rebound and shot it home. The Kostitsyns and Lang were not on the ice. If you want to blame people for this one, you have Hamrlik, Bouillon, Dandenault, Begin, Price and O'Byrne. Of course you could blame Carbonneau for employing the 4 he did too. I prefer to accept that penalty-killing is an 80% successful endeavour...)

What his issue is with offensive hockey, I have yet to understand. His fixation on hitting the net with shots warms him to players like Tanguay who were constantly trying ill-advised shots on the PP, but cools him on players like Kovalev and Kostitsyn who might have other methods up their sleeves. I would have thought there was evidence enough for Brunet on the powerplay where constant shooting (Tanguay from the point) lead to turnovers, whereas patient puck management (Kovalev) led to a goal.

With another loss for the Habs, I can't say I'll be watching the pre-game on Thursday for any of the former wisdom spewed over and over again.


Others not off the hook
My frustration does not end with Brunet and his up-down method on hockey that would leave the Detroit Red Wings salivating. There's the 4th line worship too.

Take RDS:

Le meilleur trio a été celui de Guillaume Latendresse, Steve Bégin et Mathieu Dandenault.

"C'est toujours ce qui arrive lorsqu'on traverse une période difficile. On oublie les détails, a expliqué Bégin. On le répète à chaque année. Mais c'est ce qui nous fait perdre. On se promène de gauche à droite sur la glace."

The best line was Guillaume Latendresse, Steve Begin and Mathieu Dandenault.

"The same thing always happens during a slump. We forget the details, explained Begin. It's the same every year. It's what causes us to lose. We skate from left to right on the ice."

Ce quatrième trio a souvent donné le ton au match.

"Notre jeu est simple. On sait ce qu'on doit faire pour rester sur la glace, a-t-il dit. On doit être fort le long des bandes et y aller d'un deuxième et d'un troisième effort. Mathieu est vraiment rapide tandis que Guillaume a joué un fort match. Il s'est impliqué physiquement."

This line frequently set the tempo of the game.

"Our game is simple (you don't say??). We know what we have to do to stay on the ice, he said. We have to stay strong on the boards and give a second and a third effort. Mathieu is very fast and Guillaume payed a good game. He got involved physically.

RDS buys what Begin had to say, but didn't they notice he just gave an explanation of exactly how not to score?

If I am a defence coach (remember those?). My plan is to usher the opponents to the boards, create battles and negate cross-ice movement. Play against this line and they do it for you.

The clue is really in what Begin says: "We know what we have to do to stay on the ice...". Their goal is not to be benched the next game, nothing more, nothing less. These guys are told to go and not do any damage. if they do, they pay with a game off. if they succeed, well not much.

I don't care whether Begin plays or not, but why do we have a line on the ice for more time than Plekanec and Higgins that has absolutely no interest in scoring? This is a coaching error.

(I should be fair here, Latendresse did play a good game, he was great at points, and did have an interest in scoring. But Steve "the robot" Begin is clearly programmed to do one thing now: not get benched.)

I am frustrated with RDS for perpetuating the myth that the 4th line holds the key to our resurgence. They do not. It is their mantra after every loss. I really wish it would cease.

I can't pretend that effort like that shown by Begin, Latendresse and Dandenault would be good to see from everyone. But in order to score, we need to let the players do what comes to them instinctually – that is why we drafted, signed and traded for these specific players.

And guess what RDS commentators, hockey is not simple. If it were simple, Florida and Columbus might have made the playoffs in living memory. Hockey goes beyond hard work (maybe take another look at Detroit guys). Goals occasionally bounce in, but very often they are the result of a conceived play. Hard working 4th liners are necessary because there isn't enough talent to spread around 30 teams – not because they are integral to successful hockey.


Different views
It's time for them.

What's good about the Habs bloggers on the internet is their different views. Agree or not, you can be sure there will be someone saying something original. RDS and the general coverage is the complete opposite. I really long for a shift in that. It's getting to the point that inane commentary can become my focus sometimes.

I want to know what a non-plumber thinks of the situations. I want to see a colour commentary from someone who was creative enough to set up plays like our powerplay goal, not guys who were the pylons defence that watched them happen.

RDS, please call Denis Savard.