Game #66 Falling Leafs Bury Habs

Details

Date: 3/03/2012
Opponent: Maple Leafs
Location: Montreal

Loss: 1-3

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

Habs goalscorers: Cole
Opposition goalscorers: Frattin, Grabovski (2)

Play of the game

Pacioretty held up his rush and threw in a shot with Desharnais crashing Gustavsson. The centreman grabbed the loose puck and threw it over to the slot, where a waiting Erik Cole buried his 23rd of the year.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Max Pacioretty
He's been the quiet one of his line the last couple games I've watched, but the fact remains that this trio is the only one the Habs have running that can actually score.

Erik Cole
Came through early to put the Habs up in the first period. Had a lot of great rushes at Gustavsson and although I wish he'd been able to put one of those away, there's no one else generating the offense he does every game. Wish he hadn't taken that bone-headed penalty at the end.

David Desharnais
The final cog in what seems to be the entirety of our offensive machine. Desharnais is a smart, tough player with a nose for the net and great hockey sense. A key piece of the team's future.

Defencemen

PK Subban
Hit, shot, played good defence and quarterbacked the power play. Got under the Leafs' skins. What else do you want?

Chris Campoli
Actually liked what I saw from Campoli tonight. Led the team in hits (5) and tied for the lead for blocked shots (3). Liked Weber tonight too, but I gave Campoli the edge.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
Made some tremendous saves, even if the 42 shots recorded for the Leafs was a little misleading. I didn't feel like any of the goals was particularly weak, but neither were they particularly spectacular. Still, Price was one of the few positives of the evening.

Comments

A bit of a sleeper, which is a surprise given we were facing the Leafs. We really didn't seem to have much killer instinct, and we missed some serious assignments in our end. Kessel was left wide open in 2nd only to be robbed by Price, but Grabovski buried his opportunity on the PP late in the 3rd. On our side, Gustavsson made plenty of mistakes and we failed to take advantage.

We still didn't see much offense from anyone beyond the Cole/Desharnais/Pacioretty line, although the last 2 or 3 minutes featured a little bit from the Eller and Plekanec lines. We'll need to find some secondary scoring if we expect to improve our record.

Game #7More Breakdowns Than On The Side Of The 401

Details

Date: 22/10/2011
Opponent: Maple Leafs
Location: Montreal

Loss: 4-5 (OT)

Habs Goalie: Price (L)
Opposition Goalie: Reimer, Gustavsson (W)

Habs goalscorers: Moen (2), Kostitsyn, Cammalleri
Opposition goalscorers: Steckel, Kessel, Phaneuf, Grabovski (2)

Play of the game

I have to hand it to Travis Moen, because of all of the Habs he may be the one that is playing the most above his usual. He covered up another poor play by the team (an opening minutes penalty) with a spectacular effort to get open and score the first goal. On the PK, he an Eller were off. Lars was gone, but could Travis make it a 2-on-1? Yes, he did incredible work to get in front of his man and then did even better once he got the puck. He fought off the D very well and beat Reimer with a perfectly placed backhand shot.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Travis Moen - Game Puck
I didn't think that I would be saying this (and had actually hoped that I wouldn't have to), but Moen was our best player tonight. No offence to Travis, but there are a few players that should be ashamed of themselves because it isn't like Moen is playing like Crosby and that is why he is standing out, no, he is just playing good, solid hockey. Tonight it was 2 goals and a +3 - maybe not my first choice for top-6 winger minutes, but he is certainly earning that time now.

Lars Eller
He played a good game tonight and demonstrated that he is also capable of being a top-2 centre on this team. It may be unclear where he really stands when all are healthy, but if he keeps playing with the energy and passion that he did tonight then I think he'll keep getting his minutes. He had a 2-point night tonight, was very dangerous in the offensive zone and, like his linemate, was +3.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Kostitsyn should feel pretty good about the start that he has had. JM keeps moving people around to try and get others going (and appears to be demoting Kostitsyn each time he does that), but Andrei answers by continuing to be a main part of our best line, night in, night out. He picked up a very nice goal tonight and added an assist on Moen's second (the Gorges shot).

Defencemen

Yannick Weber
Yannick was on for no goals against, was +1 and played 22+ minutes. I didn't notice him much in our end which tonight, was a good thing. He is being used in all situations and is certainly making a case for himself to remain as a defenceman. He has probably been a top-3 D-man for us this year so it will be interesting to see what happens when Spacek, and later Markov, get back.

PK Subban
PK has to be better, he needs to. If he doesn't give us more than he has then this Habs team is a lot worse off than we all thought they would be. Right now he is playing one game as a top-2, one game as a solid depth player and another as a rookie. We, whether it was right to do so or not, have put a lot on this kid and I think our season will depend a lot on his progression. Tonight he was a top-2 for us, but that is mainly due to the mistakes of others and his decent puck control on the PP. There are still 75 games left, lets hope he gets it going, and I mean really going, before it is too late.

Goaltender

Peter Budaj
The one player that we need to be better than PK this year is Price. We were good last year, but it is no stretch to say that if we had this goaltending we would not have made the playoffs at all. He has to find ways to win despite the players in front of him because, for the most part it is the same group that he has won behind before. The team is certainly playing worse, no question, but we can't keep losing games in which we score 4+ goals. Expectations are high on this kid because at this point, he is really all we have going for us.

Comments

Just like the team I play on; too many penalties. It is an embarrassment that we got 2 too-many men on the ice penalties today...what is that? I can't stand that we continue to be one of the most penalized teams in the league despite the fact that we have no real dirty or rough players. I don't know how many times I have said this, but penalties must be JM's main concern. I reckon that if this keeps up he may be in his last 2 weeks in the NHL, so he had better find a way to win games and I strongly believe that taking less penalties is the best way to start. So, in my opinion, he must do whatever it takes to get his players to be scared, scared as hell of taking any sort of penalty. Perhaps always siding with your player and always disaggreeing with the ref after a call isn't the way to get your players to change their ways? Just a thought.

Now, penalties aside, we continue to play poorly in our own end and we play an awful lof of hockey in that 1/3 of the rink. We can't get it out with any sort of consistency and our inability to maintain prolonged attacks means that we simply get overwhelmed in our end. I hate this cliche, but I honestly think that we just have to keep things simple, we have to play the most basic and safest type of defensive hockey. It seems that we are able to score despite all of our problems throughout the line-up, so we must focus on defence, full team defence. That means a lot of work for Price and the D-men, but also a big focus on our defensive zone play from our forwards. Until we win I would actually exclusively work on this aspect of the game during practice.

We're probably a few losses away from major moves, so lets hope (unless we want major moves?), we turn it around fast. If we keep this play up for another month the season could be ruined, if we turn it around in the next few days it will simply look like a blip on our overall record.

Game #78Markov, Schneider Fall in What Could Be Costly Win

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Saturday April 4th, 2009
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs
Venue: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

Team Stripes

Score: 6 - 2 Win

Habs starting goalie: Jaroslav Halak (W)
Opposition starting goalie: Martin Gerber (L)

Habs goalscorers: Alexei Kovalev, Guillaume Latendresse, Alex Tanguay, Christopher Higgins, Maxim Lapierre, Josh Gorges
Opposition goalscorers: John Mitchell, Boyd Devereaux

Play of the game
The play you're straining to see on the press catwalk monitor...

Toronto never looked like a threat tonight, but there is still nothing like a 3-goal lead. Therefore the timing of this goal, coupled with its beauty, made this a no-brainer. The play started from our own end and it was Kovalev who eventually redirected the puck to Saku near Toronto's blue-line. Koivu did well to control the bouncing puck and then went outside with speed. He got around the Leafs defenceman and sent a perfect pass to the front of the net. There, a very poorly-marked, Tanguay awaited. It didn't take much of shot to beat Gerber on this one as the pass was really that good.

Game puck
Trophies are for the end of the year, play well in the game, you get a lovely puck...

Alexei Kovalev
With 16 games left in the season I sensed a change coming in not only Alex's play, but in the team's as well. It was after our 66th game that I said this 'His goal was his first in 4 games and I know that as we move down the stretch we'll be seeing more of this. He currently sits at 16 goals and 31 assists and I wouldn't be surprised if he hit about 23 goals and 40 assists - I expect a strong push from the Habs over the next few weeks and Alex will certainly be at the centre of that.' The next day Carbo was fired and within a few more Kovalev and the Habs were back. Alex's goal and three assists on the night take him to 24-39-63 on the year with 4 more games to play. I am happy I was right when I predicted what I did, but not for my sake, for the Habs'. Without Alex playing the way he has done (and did again tonight) we may not be in such a favourable position.


Dome hockey team
We're going into the last minute with these 6 (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Guillaume Latendresse
Gui played another strong match tonight as he picked up a goal and an assist. He was stoned by Gerber on a penalty-shot soon after scoring, but did well on the preceding play to strip Schenn and draw the penalty. He and his linemates are providing a nice secondary option to Gainey which will take some pressure off the big boys. You won't, however, read any negativity about Plekanec and the Kostitsyns in here as they are not costing us wins right now. Latendresse is doing the job at the moment and is hopefully reminding people that our team is built around balanced scoring.

Maxim Lapierre
Max is exactly the type of player you need on your team. He fights hard on every shift, is quite decent offensively and rarely misses assignments in his own end. He went 6-3 on face-offs and also picked up 2 more points. His assist on Latendresse's goal came after some very hard work at the end of a penalty-kill and his goal was the result of a fantastic pass from Gui.

Alexei Kovalev
15 points in his last 6 games is no small feat. The fact that we went 5-0-1 during that stretch, however, is the more important stat. What Alex did tonight (and what he has been doing for awhile) was he took control of the game. He skates around so effortlessly, but still dominates the players around him. He made every one of his teammates better when he was on with them as he creates so much space for them. I wouldn't want our best player to be hotter at any other time of the year and can only hope that he can keep this play up right until the last game of the year, whenever that may be.

Defencemen

Roman Hamrlik
Who knows, but as of tomorrow this may be Roman's brigade. Injuries to two of our top four couldn't have come at a worse time and one can only hope they'll be OK. If needed, however, I think Hammer could step up. He has played that role with other teams and played well enough tonight to suggest that he is on form. He collected 2 assists tonight (and now has 30 points) and was +2.

Josh Gorges
When Gorges scores you know things are going well. Josh actually became the fourth of our defencemen to score in the past two games as we are now getting contributions from everyone. Josh also finished the game with a +1 rating and another point, an assist. Like Roman, Gorges could (and has done before) fill in and take on more of a role as he is back to his old steady self.

Goaltender

Jarsolav Halak
Tanguay really coughed one up towards the end on Toronto's second, but I am sure with the win in the bag he'll be forgiven by Halak. Jaro, once again, started the game very strong and set the tone; this was not something that Gerber was able to replicate. I never thought that the Leafs really got going offensively, but when all was told they did fire 36 shots Jaro's way. I liked how he played a simple game tonight and was virtually unnoticeable. Not noticing your goalie, especially when you concede 36 shots, is a very good thing.



Eye-Openers
In this new section we are going to try and shed some light on certain plays or events that would otherwise go unnoticed

You can thank people like Don Cherry if you are looking for anyone to thank for losing two of our top four. Tonight you had a team, Toronto, that has been eliminated from the playoffs and all but eliminated from the race for Tavares. Last night they let in 8, tonight it was 6; if one thing is clear it is that they don't care (don't get me wrong, they are really bad too). When people don't care about something you see them slack off as we saw with Toronto tonight. What players tend to do, rather than giving a 60-minute effort, is they try to leave their mark on the game with a play or two here and there. They therefore will do plays that they think the fans want to see and that won't cost them any effort, or heaven forbid, give anyone the impression that they are trying. That is where the words of Cherry come into play. What does Don want to see out of bad teams? He wants to see hits, fights, blocked-shots and someone playing hurt. Then 'in his books' you are alright. That is why players like May and Grabovski, who both played very little hockey tonight, will jump at the opportunity to make that big hit. They see two of our best players in vulnerable positions and they start drooling. I have nothing against hitting, but where is the effort the rest of the time boys? Those two hits were unnecessary and uncalled for, but were indeed legal. It was clearly a matter of two frustrated players, on a dead-end team, trying to bring some 'life' to their team without actually having to exert any effort.

Maybe being eliminated from the playoffs should mean being eliminated from the season? What is the point (other than money) of having these players, who don't want to be there, running around and hurting teams that actually have something meaningful to play for?

Overall Comments

I remarked during the game that it had been a long time since I have watched a Habs-Leafs game with so little energy in the building. It didn't start that bad, but by the time we were up 4-0 there was as much atmosphere as at a Thrashers-Lightning pre-season game. Montreal did well to go ahead early in this one and it is thanks in large part to the solid play of both Halak and our PP. Aside from losing two of our best players (it is still unclear what their injuries are) we played a complete game and did what was required. Toronto may have outshout us, but there was no doubt that we were not only the better team, but were also, by far, the more threatening of the two. Towards the end of the game we saw more and more of our lower lines as Gainey did not want to risk another injury to a top player. Koivu and Tanguay, in particular, spent most of the third period glued to their seats which I think was probably a wise move. Our four lines played well tonight, but, more importantly, skated and moved the puck well. We have some great chemistry on the first and third lines now as I think we have found some combinations that will stick. The second and fourth lines remain open to audition, but I believe that within our group we have the players that can fill those posts.

This ended up being another good week and we are now ever so close to a playoff spot. One more win by us and one more loss by the Rangers will clinch it for the Habs which is a nice feeling with 4 more to play. We can take care of business on Tuesday against New York in what will be one of the biggest games of the year for both teams. In the meantime we play Ottawa on Monday to start the last week of the season.

Game #53Halak's Illness Costlier Than We Had Thought

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Saturday February 7th, 2009
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs
Venue: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

Team Stripes

Final Score: 2-5 - Loss

Habs starting goalie: Carey Price (L)
Opposition starting goalie: Vesa Toskala (W)

Habs goalscorers: Matt D'Agostini, Tom Kostopoulos
Opposition goalscorers: Luke Schenn, Nikolai Kulemin, Jason Blake (2), Jeff Finger

Play of the game
The play you're straining to see on the press catwalk monitor...

Our second goal came after we were down by 3, but for the effort that I saw on the play it becomes the play of the game. A loose puck lying by Toskala's feet was just sitting there as the keeper had no idea where it was. One of the first players to spot the puck was Kostopoulos who dove to push it in. He didn't have to try that hard when we were clearly going to lose, but it was very much appreciated that he did. When I say that he didn't have to I only mean that, had he not, he wouldn't have stood out against this very ordinary group of Habs.

Game puck
Trophies are for the end of the year, play well in the game, you get a lovely puck...

Andrei Markov
This was a very solid effort by Andrei. His pass on D'Agostini's goal and on a Higgins breakaway were plays that very few players in the world can make. He was our most consistent player tonight in a game that was all about ups and downs.



Dome hockey team
We're going into the last minute with these 6 (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Matt D'Agostini
Matt was the fortunate recipient of a wide open net courtesy of Markov, but unlike Bou in the first, he made no mistake and buried it. He led the team with 5 shots and I felt played one of his more aggressive games of the past month.

Alexei Kovalev
No other player gained the zone as much as Alex did tonight and because of it we had a lot of quality scoring chances. On the PP rather than dumping it in Kovy was beating three men at the blue-line and stopping thus giving us possession at the point. He also added his 24th assist of the year on Matt's goal.

Tom Kostopoulos
Tom has been down on the 4th line for a few games now, but I felt tonight was his best proof that he could be back on the 3rd. In the end I think Carbo agreed with me as he gave Kostopoulos more ice-time than any other 3rd or 4th liner on the team. His 5th of the season was a great example of how you never know how or when goals will come and that in itself should be reason enough for everyone to keep trying right until the end.

Defencemen

Andrei Markov
Surprisingly enough Andrei was our only defenceman to get a penalty tonight - 2 minutes for interference (2 of our 37 PIM). That was, however, the only real low point that I saw in a solid game. He took a total of 3 shots (another 5 did not reach the net) and as usual led the team in minutes with very close to 25.

Roman Hamrlik
Hammer and O'Byrne were the only players to end the game with a positive rating tonight which does not surprise me in the least. Ryan has been playing well alongside Roman since his return and I think that most of that is due to the calming play of Hamrlik. Tonight he played such a solid game in his own end that I was actually never really worried about being scored on.

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
Wasn't expecting to play? Is that why he wasn't ready, is that tonight's excuse? 2 games in 2 nights in 2 different cities isn't something you want to make your goalies do, but when one is sick you would hope an All-Star could handle it. Well 5 weak goals and another 2 disallowed ones would make me disagree. I really don't know what is wrong, but what I do know is something has to change. Maybe Carey is the next Raycroft, maybe not, maybe this is the anomaly, his single rough patch of the year. What I do know though, is that we need wins and I don't think the Habs can keep letting up 4+ goals in every game. Right now we aren't scoring that much so it would help if we were getting some NHL-level goaltending. Carey's play was laughable tonight which is really disappointing considering the opponent and the need we had for 2 points.



Eye-Openers
In this new section we are going to try and shed some light on certain plays or events that would otherwise go unnoticed

Where has Josh Gorges been? Tonight he played 15 minutes and went a season-low -4. It wasn't, however, that far from the way he has been playing of late. To me it is worrying that someone we had hoped was a solid #3 is playing some very weak hockey. In his last 12 games he is -13, that is 34 points less than he was in his previous 35 games (+21). We can talk all we want about the need for more scoring and better goaltending, but at some point we need a third man to play well in our own end. This season has proven that O'Byrne, Brisebois, Dandenault, Bouillon and most disappointingly of all, Komisarek are, more often than not, liabilities in our own end. So, to see Josh slipping into that category makes me very worried, it makes me wonder how on earth we expect to win that Cup we all want when we are slowly playing ourselves out of the top 8.

I think that in Josh's case he is suffering from what O'Byrne suffered from earlier this year: very high expectations. Last year and at the beginning of this year we were all so impressed with Josh and saw whatever he did as a bonus. The casual hockey fan didn't even expect him to make the team last season and there he was playing as a valuable #4 or 5 man. With Komi's weak play, however, we have turned to Gorges too much in my opinion. We are asking way too much of a guy who has won our hearts by not being noticed. The overall minutes are up, the partner is worse and I think the most detrimental of all factors is the fact we are tiring him out on the PP. It doesn't take a hockey genius to see that he doesn't really belong on the PP and I just think we are wasting him (and the chances of our PP) by putting him out there. I think he needs to get back to the game he knew up until Christmas - behind the scenes, solid defensive play.

Overall Comments

When your goalie is unable to stop shots from 40'+ and when your offence is unable to score a goal before the other team you will get yourselves into trouble. Tonight was another one of those games that we were unable to impose our style on a team and they ended up having their way with us. It is like we lost the point tonight as we were often looking for big hits and fights rather than goals. More often than not that type of stupidity is reserved for the Leafs themselves which makes this one even harder to take. The whole Grabovski issue killed us tonight as we played right into the Leafs' hands. Trying to impress fans or the media players like Laraque, Komisarek and Bouillon went above and beyond to find Mikhail on the ice and I think that is one major factor why we lost this. Grabo was wise, however, as he didn't get involved and seemed more than happy with the 2 points. Another huge factor tonight, as it has been since Obama has been President, was the fact that the team did not look confident in front of a keeper who had even less confidence.

We are about to go on a 6-game road trip and I think this trip will make or break our season. If we can come home with 6+ points (please Habs, just go to OT once in a while) then I think we should be able to end the season strong. If the losing continues, however, and we come back with less than 6 points then I think we are in serious trouble and we will become a true contender for spots 9-15.

Habs LeafsGuest Preview

One of the wonderful benefits that the Score Sports Federation provides us with is a natural set of bloggers to argue and share thoughts with about hockey and the NHL in Canada. Ahead of only the second all-Canadian meeting for the Habs since LIW joined the Federation, I spoke with Sean of Down Goes Brown about the Leafs, our rivalry and the game tonight.

I put a few questions to Sean about some obvious topics and some that hopefully are not so obvious. Read on to see his responses.

Sean also put some very creative and cleverly worded questions to me, you can see my answers on his site now.

Q1) We look at your team a foreign fans and think Kaberle, Toskala and Antropov... Can you tell us from a Leafs perspective who the players to look for tonight will be?

Sean: Nik Hagman is just a solid, smart player who can skate and score and play defense. He's been the best of Fletcher's acquisitions. Jonas Frogren is a crazy Nordic viking on the blueline who doesn't score much, but is the sort of guy who likes to block shots with his face. Dominic Moore is having a career year on the checking line - he's got great wheels, and will continue to contribute until he's dealt at the deadline for a second round pick.

Also, this Grabovski kid isn't bad. You've probably never heard of him.


Q2) By the same token, who are the players you as Leafs key on when you think of a match up with the 2008-09 Canadiens (if you recognize anyone on our roster anymore)?

Sean: Well, the main guy we'll be keying on is Tom Kostopoulos. He's going down. You do not want to get into a "hitting-from-behind" battle with a team that employs Ryan Hollweg. Kostopoulos better hope that whichever purse he steals this week has a gun in it.

Other than that, we watch for the usual suspects: Koivu, Kovalev, Lang, and all the various other divers. And of course, we'll try to convince Carey Price it's a playoff game so that he'll completely wet the bed.


Q3) We have an interesting history between our teams. But in all honesty, is this rivalry petering out a bit? Do you hate the Canadiens as much as perhaps you used to?

Sean: The rivalry has been pretty dormant since it's been a while since both teams were good at the same time. But it's still easily the Leafs best rivalry. There have been occasional mini-rivalries like the Senators, but at the end of the day nobody cares about Ottawa. I get more excited for Habs games than any other team, by far.

All that said, here's the weird thing: I don't actually hate the Habs, or their fans. I hate plenty of other teams, but there's a grudging respect for Montreal. The Senators could fold tomorrow and no Leaf fan would care, but the Habs are different. The rivalry still feels like it means something, and I hope it heats up again soon.


Q4) Mats Sundin. Open wound, I know. Would you have taken him back if he turned down Vancouver?

Sean: Leaf fans don't agree on Sundin, but virtually nobody wanted him back. Half of us are too mad at him, and the other half know that this season is about a high draft pick and Sundin would only hurt that. If he had re-signed after the deadline, or even during the summer, we would have welcomed him back. But once he finished taking fishing trips or shilling for gambling web sites and got around to actually thinking about hockey in November, he was dead to me. I look forward to him faking an injury to get out of the Canucks/Leaf game in February.


Q5) If you're not in the playoffs, I'm assuming you hope for a lottery position. Let's say the chips fall for you: Hedman or Tavares?

Sean: After watching the World Juniors, I've been sporting a Tav-erection for two straight weeks. Besides, the Leafs have far more blue-chip defensive prospects than we do forwards. Which is to say, we currently have one blue-chip defensive prospect.


Q6) Will Justin Pogge crack it soon? How bad will the save percentages have to be to pull the trigger on that? It looks to us, the casual observers, like you have a David Aebischer situation on your hands.

Sean: Pogge should play regularly in the NHL when he's ready, and it suits his development path. That's the only criteria. Toskala has been shaky this year, and Joseph has been brutal, but that doesn't matter this year. It's about the future, so if Pogge isn't ready then he should be in the AHL. And that's especially true since he hasn't been all that sharp the past few years, and is starting to look like he may not be the blue-chip prospect we were hoping for.

And if Toskala is traded and Joseph plays so badly the rest of the year that we drop into last place overall, well, that's a risk we'll just have to take. Cough.


Finally, as with the Calgary preview, we had a look at some players, people and places that mean something to either side. I asked both Sean from Down Goes Brown and our own Tobalev to state whatever came to mind (in a word or two) when they read the following list (the answers are good):

a) Shayne Corson
Sean (Leafs): Head-kicker
Tobalev (Habs): Bar fights

b) Jonas Hoglund
Sean (Leafs): Sundin's excuse
Tobalev (Habs): How was he good on the Leafs?

c) Ken Dryden
Sean (Leafs): Stop talking
Tobalev (Habs): Could have been the best ever

d) LA Kings
Sean (Leafs): Kerry Fraser high stick gretzky scores ears bleeding can't stop cutting myself argh i hate you...
Tobalev (Habs): 1993 Finals collapse

e) Conn Smythe
Sean (Leafs): Maple Leaf Gardens
Tobalev (Habs): Patrick Roy


Never one to shy away from controversial statements, apparently. Thanks Sean for taking part. As for you dear readers, Down Goes Brown is a great blog to get the pre-game and post-game analysis from the Leaf perspective and to correct Sean about some of his wild claims regarding the Habs (or just generally mock because he had to mention Dominic Moore in an answer about best players).

Leafs Rivalry ResuscitatedThanks Grabovski For Giving Us Someone To Hate Again

Say what you want about Grabovski. The guy has spirit.

Never happy to have lost Mikhail on the basis of talent log-jam alone, I am pleased that management set loose someone who could clearly have Ribeiro-ed the Habs again.


But you know what? I'm glad in a way he ended up on the Leafs. Especially if he's now going to be spewing all his nonsense every time we see them in Montreal and Toronto.

With the summertime losses of Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker, Andrew Raycroft added to Belak and Gill afrom last season – the Leafs had been getting a little bit blah. I can tell you, never before last weekend had I had a conversation with Tobalev with us both saying something to the tune of: "I don't think I hate the Leafs that much anymore".

Their revolution by devolution, even taking into account their annoying capacity to win and beat us, was leaving the fires of hatred in woeful neglect. I can't hate Dominic Moore, Niklas Hagman, Nikolai Kuleimin, Pavel Kubina, Ian White or Jamal Mayers. Fletcher had just gathered a collection of players I would be indifferent towards and sent more to hate to Florida.

In fact, as I was reflecting before the big match-up on Saturday evening, it felt like the Leafs were back in the Campbell conference. Back to a time when I couldn't care less whether they won or lost – it meant nothing to me compared to my all-consuming hatred of Boston and Buffalo.

Call me Darcy
But then a moment of serendipity: Grabovski over 3 periods metamorphosed from prospect gone astray to "Leafs Suck" poster boy.

Admittedly, I was still too impressed with his dismantling of a Hamrlikless defence with diagonal passing to take note right away. But this morning, with the articles stirring my distaste to life again, stoking the embers of the once white-hot abhorrence, I saw Darcy Tucker in his eyes.

His arrogance, his disrespect for our franchise, his enjoyment for play in Toronto, his smirk and even his annoying (paraphrased) quotes:

If Grabovski was taking special delight in playing a large role in the defeat of the Canadiens, he wasn't letting on. He said he got a bigger kick out of the first game of the season, a 3-2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

I am properly disgusted with someone on the Leafs again. And, isn't it funny how he took the Darcy Tucker road (in as much that we dismissed his skills, traded him for nothing and ended up with that team) to that dark place in our hearts, that place where we love to hate, where we need to love to hate.

All in all, I'm happy that he did. I wasn't ready to lose my love for hating the Leafs. Now, he gives me reason to look forward to playing the Leafs again beyond another 2 points. Reason to email and goad everyone from the city on the lake. Reason to worry about this rivalry again.

Taking Mikhail's lead, this self-styled internet star gets some real flames going again. Next game can't come soon enough...

Game #12Habs End Brutal Weekend With Worst Loss of the Season

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Saturday November 8th, 2008
Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs
Venue: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

Team Stripes

Final Score: 3-6 - Loss

Habs starting goalie: Carey Price (L)
Opposition starting goalie: Vesa Toskala (W)

Habs goalscorers: Robert Lang, Tomas Plekanec, Saku Koivu
Opposition goalscorers: Niklas Hagman (2), Mikhail Grabovski, Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina, Alexei Ponikarovsky

Play of the game
The play you're straining to see on the press catwalk monitor...

Let's take a look now. Goaltending - nope. Defensive play - nope. Effort - nope. Goal - I guess so, so which of the 3? I will go with the captain's, the third goal, a goal that tied the game and had me believing we were going to pull this one off. The goal itself was very nice. Koivu grabbed the puck from the half-boards, came into the slot and fired a perfect top-corner shot up and over Toskala's glove.

Game puck
Trophies are for the end of the year, play well in the game, you get a lovely puck...

Saku Koivu
Koivu has played far better games than this one so far this year, but of all our players, he was the best. He was the only one of our top-3 centres to finish anyway near respectable in the face-off circle (5/10) and scored his 5th goal of the year. There were times in the game where he looked very good in the offensive zone, but for whatever reason his line was not clicking.



Dome hockey team
We're going into the last minute with these 6 (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Sergei Kostitsyn
I thought that Sergei played quite a good all around game tonight. He made a fantastic pass to Plekanec on the Habs' second goal, a pass which left the Czech with a wide-open net to shoot at. I was intrigued, however, at the end of the game to see him unnecessarily hit ex-teammate and fellow Belarusian, Mikhail Grabovski. I like seeing spirit in young players, but never like seeing stupid or dangerous acts, let's hope that Sergei knows the difference.

Saku Koivu
Offensively he was pretty good tonight and even played quite a good transition game too. His play on the PK was definitely sub-par by his standards though as he was totally out of position on Kubina's goal. I felt, however, that he led tonight by the best way possible - by setting a good example.

Tomas Plekanec
He scored a goal tonight which was good to see as we need him to get us at least 20 this year, but more realistically, probably 25-30. He was the best player on a line that couldn't find their groove. It has been hard for those 3 boys to all get it right on the same night, but I think that things are improving. It was Tomas that had the slowest start of the 3 players and he is now looking like he is ready to take-off.

Defencemen

Josh Gorges
To pick the dome tonight I made a list of defencemen who definitely could not be in here, that left me with 2. Gorges didn't have a very good game as I didn't notice him nearly at all. That is, however, a good thing as I don't remember yelling his name and almost throwing the remote at the TV when he had the puck, unlike le-gang-de-quatre.

Andrei Markov
Poor old Markov had to play with Brisebois tonight. To me that is like putting Kovalev with Laraque, or maybe someone not even in the NHL. Markov was burned by his partners all night, but frankly didn't have a very good game himself, still however , he was our only real hope back there. He did as usual play very well on the PP even if his partners at the point didn't.

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
Did Price want Halak to feel better about last night? What was that? What is going on right now? We have already determined that our defence isn't very reliable at all, but not our goalies too. Yes he faced 41 shots, but come one, he let in 6 goals...to the LEAFS! I think that Carbo has to sort out our goaltending fast as it has not been very strong at all over the past 3-6 games. I think I would have given Price the hook after 4 tonight if I were Carbo, or is that just the policy when Halak is in goal?



Eye-Openers
In this new section we are going to try and shed some light on certain plays or events that would otherwise go unnoticed

2 things intrigued me about the Leafs tonight, things that I haven't seen from them in years. Class and Talent.

It was Hall of a Fame night in Toronto, hockey's mecca, and before the game the Leafs had quite a touching ceremony that incorporated both hockey's hall of famers and Canadian war veterans who were in attendance to mark Remembrance Day. The announcer still sounds like he should be at a Thrashers-Lighting game, but all in all it was a good show. From what I remember the Leafs ceremonies have always been quick, shallow and unmeaningful, but tonight was a pleasant change. My favorite part was actually a reading of 'In Flanders Field' followed by a moment of silence and then some pipes. It was a good reminder of how the Leafs, although our most bitter rivals, disliked by us as much as we like the Habs, are still our Canadian brothers. At times like this you think of our Grandparents and their parents and how there is so much more to the world than hockey and of how lucky we are that for us, now, today, we can enjoy the game as we do.

On the talent front it was interesting to see the team that the Leafs put out. This is a team of relative no-names, but still there is more talent than meets the eye. Of all the players, however, the one that impressed me the most was one that was impressing me all of last year - Mikhail Grabovski. Apparently we had no room for this explosive talent on our team, a team that I remind you is carrying Latendresse, Kostopoulos, Laraque, Dandenault and Begin, and Toronto basically knew it and ripped us off. I understand that you can't keep all players forever and that sometimes some good ones get away, but come on, how obvious was this? Grabo excelled for us and Hamilton last year and I believe was worth holding on to. It may be too early to tell if he will spend his career as a Hab-killer, as so many ex-Habs have done in the past, but he hurt us tonight and for me that is enough to make me pay a little more attention.

Overall Comments

That was our worst effort of the year by far. In our loss to Anaheim we at least looked strong for a good portion of the game and still managed some good goals. In our 2 OT losses we at least kept things close and showed moments of encouragement, but that was not the case tonight. We went into the ACC expecting a win, but instead we were bossed around by a far worse team. I know that standings and rosters can be thrown out the window when Montreal and Toronto meet because the games are usually close and it is usually pretty good hockey, but I think tonight we should have done better. It begs the question are we great, good or OK? With only 3 wins in our last 6 games I think that all 3 are still possibilities, especially if our defence and goalies keep letting us down. The good news, however, is we had a good start and no one can take those points away from us - just ask Ottawa about last year, a good October and November meant playoffs for them.

I think we will find out what the Habs are really made of this week, we have 3 games against pretty big rivals (Sens, Bruins, Flyers) and I think we need to get 4+ points out of these games. I will set that as our goal for the week and we'll see if the team can answer it. Maybe by this time next week we'll have a better answer for our looming question - great, good or OK.

A Day To Forget

It was all going so well. Well, not bad anyway.

Now, 2 days after resisting the lunacy of UFA signings, Gainey has done about face.

After proving we didn't need a fighter by winning the East and then ignoring Philadelphia toughness in the playoffs, Gainey made his first move of free agency the signing of a fighter. Georges is a great personality, but on this team he's blocking a better player from playing. I'll be thrilled if Georges rediscovers his 2000-01 form and scores 10+ goals, but 8 years is a long time when you're talking about form.

Predictably, many commentators are lauding Gainey for finally filling a need that the Canadiens have had sine (I read this on one unbelievable piece) Darren Langdon! They should be proud of their work as they refer to our lack of toughness against Philly, conveniently forgetting that it was a straight-shooting scorer that we lacked, not a big-bodied enforcer.

Only 2 good things can come of this move really - there is no money left to sign Brisebois and PJ Stock will finally shut up about the topic.

Other signings
The signings of Denis and Henry are hardly worth commenting on. Denis if he returns to his peak will not touch Halak at his best, so Hamilton is where he'll stay. Henry is already a journeyman defenceman and could well play a bit - hopefully no one will notice.

Grabovski trade
Now I'm not deluded enough to think that Grabovski would have had a long future in Montreal, but for a guy who showed a bit of speed and flair, it was disappointing to see him get the old prospect treatment. Sure he was truculent, but so was Dandenault, he's on the books.

What I don't like about this trade are the partner (Leafs) and the return (American defencman). Trading to a division rival is silly when the trade is so unnecessary unless what you can get in return is impossible to resist. Pateryn is no such prospect. He is a decent-sized, decent playing defenceman. That's all.

But seriously, can we stop it already with the American defencemen? Take a minute to ask yourself (Trevor Timmins) how many good American defencemen there are in the league. Take some time to watch the US National team play - there are some to stay away from even among the elite. Does Timmins really think more than one of our defencemen from the US will ever make the club? There must have been a more intriguing prospect out there for Grabovski's rights than a middling US college boy.

Poor show on this trade. I suppose we did get more than we got for Huet...


Not a good day for the Canadiens in my books. We are still in very good shape (avoiding big salary millstones and signing Kostitsyn), but hopefully boredom will not creep in tomorrow with more roster blockers eating millions.

I'll forget this day happened if you will. By the playoffs, hopefully we won't remember who these additions were, as we carry our best roster forward.

Habs Review 2007-08: Mikhail Grabovski

The numbers

2007-08
24 GP: 3 G, 6 A, 9 Pts, 8 PIM, -4, 23 Shots

Career best year - 2007-08
24 GP: 3 G, 6 A, 9 Pts, 8 PIM, -4, 23 Shots


Plays of the game: 3

Game pucks: 1

Domes: 4

3 Star selections: 0


The story

Where he started the season
Making the big club in October still seemed like it was going to be out of reach for Grabo, but an impressive preseason left our management with no other choice than to put him on our opening day roster. The problem had always been where would we fit in another small centre? Believe it or not, however, it wasn't Plekanec who was centering Kovalev and Kostitsyn in October, it was Mikhail. He was given an enormous chance as he had just bumped Tomas to #3 centre (something Carbo has been trying to do for years). Unlike other players who have to play their way off the team before Gainey will ever move them, Grabovski had to perform to remain with the team or it would be back to Hamilton for the Belarussian.


The season
He didn't really blow anyone out of the water early in the season and he was soon moved to the third line and was making more frequent press-box appearances as the season went on. His play in his first 12 games was at times spectacular, but he was failing to put up the numbers we would expect from a top-6 forward. In those 12 games he was -5 and scored just 1 goal to go along with 1 assist. It was off to Hamilton for the 23 (almost 24) year old and he maybe had just hit a wall in his NHL dream. To make matters worse for poor Mik he got himself injured almost immediately upon his return to Hamilton.

Something happened, though, once he was healthy, something that Bob couldn't ignore - he started lighting up the AHL. During the months of January and February Grabo was Hamilton's best player by far and probably even the best in the league. His exceptional play earned him a late February call-up and that is when we saw a different player. In his last 12 games of the season he was +1 and scored 2 goals and added 5 assists - he was a changed player. His play was exciting, it was dynamic and he definitely played a role in our bid to win the conference as we were 8-3-1 in those last 12 games he played for us. Sadly Carbo decided to go with 'experience' and age in the playoffs rather than speed and skill (the 2 areas in which we clearly held an advantage over Philly and Boston) so Mik didn't see any playoff action. When we couldn't find the back of the net to get to the third round there were quite a few people wondering why we left out such a dangerous offensive weapon.


Grabovski by the numbers: N/A (why we're not sure...)

Lions' links on Grabovski:
From Belarus With Love
We used to be Lions in Winter
2006 to 2008: Strides Ahead


Grade: C
Grabovski didn't have the type of season that the Kostitsyn's had, but it wasn't a failure either. He showed a lot of determination after his mid-season demotion to go to Hamilton and put up the numbers that he did. To me that shows a winning attitude, it shows a certain mentality that can't be taught and to me he epitomizes the type of player we want on this team. He didn't give up, he fought and he won. It did, however, become more and more obvious that there isn't too much room for him on our team. He will never be a checking line forward and as long as he plays centre he will have to be one of our top 3. He proved by the end of the year that he can fill the role as 3rd line centre, but it seems like the team has different ideas for that spot as they looked to players like Smolinski, Lapierre and Begin to play that spot in the playoffs.



Where we'd have him next season
There has been much speculation that we would lose Grabovski to the Russian league this summer and the more I think of it, the more it makes sense. I would hate to lose a player of his calibre, but with the recent addition of Tanguay and the team still looking for another top-6 forward I find it hard to believe that this player would earn a spot. At 24 years old I am pretty sure the team will let him walk as he is slowly distancing himself from the title of prospect. It would be a shame to lose Grabo as I believe you can never have enough offensive potential, but if you look at the numbers it is clear that only 2 of him and the Kostitsyns will make the team and after the season and playoffs that those two had I would say it is a stretch. Mikhail is a restricted free agent so don't be surprised at all if by July 1st he does not have a contract. Like Perezhogin before him he will be able to go to Russia and make way better money and play way more hockey.

Look to the East: The Looming Threat of European Money

Having briefly touched upon the subject of IIHF treaties and transfer agreements in a piece more than a week ago (see The Future Habs D: Transfers and Treaties).

Interestingly for Tobalev and I, this sparked a number of conversations with people actually at the tournament and who had been reading our piece. What's more, one friend who is closer to the game than us was able to enlighten us quite a bit on this topic. He mentioned that he found our piece timely, seeing as the IIHF transfer agreement was the talk of the town in Halifax and Quebec, where the Europeans were gathered for the games.

Obviously since I wrote that last piece, the championships have ended, Russia has won and celebrated like it mattered to them and no Habs are playing hockey anymore. Even so, the transfer agreement looms over the NHL, and indeed the Canadiens off-season planning, and deserves a second look.


The talk of the tournament

At the moment, apparently most of the talk on the transfer agreement is focused on which players from the NHL will jump ship and take a payday in Russia. This is because Russian teams, already in their off-season, have been making offers to many top players in Europe and North America. The money may be such that NHL will be left with no choice but to let these players go.

Far from being the only concern for the NHL, the Czechs are already looking at not entering into a new agreement, and the same might be true of Sweden. The general feeling at the tournament, apparently, was that no agreement would be reached in the near future, at least. So, one would speculate that even the teams from other leagues in Finland, Germany and Switzerland wouldn't be far behind either once the big players drop out.

Personally, I think this is serious, and I see the absence of the agreement with the European clubs potentially affecting the league in three ways:

1) A temporary drop in Europeans across the league

2) More aggressive (and possibly longer-term) NHL contracts with flight risk players

3) A shift in power among clubs (those that can still tap European talent vs. those that resort to North Americans who would be classed as minor leaguers at the moment)


Less Europeans

A drop in the numbers of Europeans in the league could be viewed as a good or a bad thing. I can hear Don Cherry's "Let them go!", even now.

For me, I would consider it to be a large step backwards. After all, the last time the NHL was replete of Europeans, there were only 21 teams. At that time, the top teams were the top teams, but the argument could have been made that there was still not enough NHL-level talent coming out of Canada and the US (to some degree) to support so many teams. Imagine now trying to stock 30 teams with Canadian and US players only. The initial drop in play would be difficult to take. Never mind that many European players are also among the more skilled and most excellent at skating – the direction we thought the league was meant to be headed.

Interestingly, in our discussion it also came up that Russia, after all, is not currently the greatest place in the world to spend your youth. This is particularly true of the Siberian towns where the oil magnates operate their mega clubs. Other than Russians, the feeling is that no one wants to sign for more than one year in Russia right now. The lifestyle has not improved to the point for anyone to go there too long.

NHL GMs should not be resting on their laurels,though. This situation could, and will likely, change as Russian living conditions improve and as the list of overseas options includes countries like Sweden and Switzerland. Indeed, one need only ask the North Americans who have made tracks over to those leagues rather than toil in the AHL or lower leagues. We speculated about Finns and particularly Swedes (who already show their desires to return home on plenty of occasions – Naslund, Forsberg). If Sweden and Finland drop out of the agreement, the problem of losing players could get more serious.

The inevitability of the drop is real, though – even with only Russia and the Czechs on the outs. People in the know keep stating how the money coming out of the European leagues is bigger than before and those teams can afford to poach a player or two from "big" NHL clubs. The simple fact there are many times more clubs in Europe will put the onus on the NHL to stem the tide – as opposed to hoping all European clubs run dry of cash.


More aggressive contracts

An initial reaction will no doubt be to hold onto the Europeans who figure large in the plans of your club. Pittsburgh and Washington will likely ante up big for Malkin and Ovechkin, and why shouldn't they. However, teams like Montreal, New York, Dallas, etc. who are currently riding a cast of middle range European talent may be asked to pay over the odds for their players.

While the tactic of aggressive contracts to Europeans could indeed help to stem the tide of Europeans out of the NHL initially, there are only so many big contracts a team, and the league can sustain.


Power shift

Following a partial loss of talent and vain attempts to offer contracts, I see certain clubs giving up on the Euro game. Others will stick it out. This is the power shift – with access to more talented players open only to those willing to put up with the hassle. I spoke about this potential shift in power in the last piece as well. I truly believe that with any change in circumstances there comes a pressure to adapt. The teams that adapt the quickest and best will be the ones who form "dynasties" in the near future.

I cited the scouting of Detroit (particularly in Sweden) as the foundation of their rise to prominence once the NHL opened its doors wholesale to the European leagues in the early 1990s. Similarly, a team who positions itself to perform real and serious negotiations with Russian teams now – and other European teams later – will reap the harvest of European surplus fed by the exodus of Euro NHLers.

When asked, our friend in the know agreed that having someone who knows how the system works would be very valuable to any team. He noted how teams in Europe do things so differently, an NHL team trying to negotiate the situation would need an insider who knows how the system works.

"Everyone calls it the wild west cause there’s no rules, it’s all gangsters and making/taking bribes."

Really, he said, it’s just a matter of being smart and getting a good Russian (for the current situation anyway) on your side.


What now for the Habs?

Obviously, it comes back to the Canadiens. While I am concerned about the NHL as a whole in so far as it provides the Canadiens with a league to compete with the best clubs in the world; I am not overly concerned with the plight of teams who may fall down because of a resistance to change or lack of adaptability. What concerns me is that the Habs get a leg up here for the next 10 years.

In terms of current players, the Habs probably have to resign themselves to losing Grabovski. We have been hearing that the word on the street is that he is at least entertaining offers. The writing seemed on the wall for him, as he keeps coming up short on lower lines and is not likely to unseat either Koivu or Plekanec for a top line spot.

The Habs will have to make serious strategic decisions, however, about key players like the Kostitsyns (are both to be kept???), Halak, and the youngsters in the pipeline (notably Valentenko.

As for mining the Russian league for talent at the current time, my friend and I were at a loggerheads. I suspect this is because there is no right answer.

My feeling is that the Habs should take advantage of the mass of NHL clubs who are clearly shying away from Russians by having a look at what's available – or at least letting young Russians know that Montreal is interested in players who want to play for the Stanley Cup.

My friend, who not only works in hockey, watched the World Champs and just generally is much better versed in this kind of stuff than I am warns the Canadiens GM to stay away:

There’s a reason these guys don’t play in the NHL. They aren’t driven by being the best in the world, or part of the best team in the world or a need to be challenged by the best. You don’t need someone or your team who plays the game for a living and cause it’s all he knows.

While I find his argument very convincing, I still find myself looking at Detroit again and thinking about finding the Russian Kronwalls, Franzens and Zetterbergs.

I don't know. What do you all think?

If nothing else, I think we'll all be talking about this soon enough, if not just now...

Game #1-5Habs Biggest Loss in 2 Months Gives Boston New Life

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Thursday April 17th, 2008
Opponent: Boston Bruins
Venue: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC


Team Stripes


Final Score: 1-5 - Loss

Habs starting goalie: Carey Price (L)
Opposition starting goalie: Timothy Thomas (W)

Habs goalscorers: Alexei Kovalev
Opposition goalscorers: Phil Kessel, Glen Metropolit, Zdeno Chara, Marco Sturm, Vladimir Sobotka



2007/08 first
There's a first time for everything, so they say. What they didn't tell you is that every game, something happens for the first time, you just have to look harder in March...

1st Regulation-Time Win for Boston vs. Montreal this year
1st Goal for a Hab without a helmet this year (Kovalev)
1st Loss for either team this year after scoring 1st



Play of the game
The play you're straining to see on the press catwalk monitor...

The play of the game was quite simply the only play of the game tonight. Kovalev started and ended the play that got the Habs off to a great start in this one. He had the puck in the neutral zone when he was hit at the Bruins' bench by Chara. On the hit his helmet flew off and the long, blond hair came out. Kovy quickly got the puck back and was soon in on the left wing working his way through the Boston defence. He then dropped the puck back to the point where Hamrlik quickly passed it to Brisebois at the other point. Patrice let a knuckler go which ended up being head-high and about 10' off target. Luckily Alex was skating by and grabbed the puck with his glove and put it right down to his stick. As he skated across the high-slot he sent a low-backhand in past Thomas.



Game puck
Trophies are for the end of the year, play well in the game, you get a lovely puck...

Alexei Kovalev

Alex may have been our best player tonight, but this was not a great game for the Russian sniper. His goal was the single bright spot for him and his teammates tonight, and granted it was nice. There were a few other scoring chances, and though they weren't much, they all seemed to start with Kovy.



Dome hockey team
We're going into the last minute with these 6 (and they're attached to the ice, so they're not coming off)...

Forwards

Andrei Kostitsyn
- He continues to play well, but didn't see enough of the puck tonight. He is a scorer more than anything else, but to score he needs passes. When he did have the puck he did well as he put a couple of challenging shots on Thomas

Alexei Kovalev
- He was our best player tonight, but at the same time played quite an individual game. I think he is trying too much these days. He is trying to prove that he can handle the intense coverage from Chara by often times trying to beat him (or other Bruin defenders) 1-on-1. He is a great player, but a lot of his greatness comes from passing, something we need to see more of

Tomas Plekanec
- Plekanec was our most creative player tonight, although nothing much came of it. He played a lot in this game as Carbo is all of a sudden realizing that he only has one good centre in the line-up. He played with the most heart of anyone out there and had another strong game in the face-off circle (13/22)

Defencemen

Josh Gorges
- More than anyone on our team Josh understands his role. He doesn't think he is Bobby Orr (Brisebois), Chris Pronger (Komisarek) or Dion Phaneuf (Ryan O'Byrne), he just simply realizes he is a 3rd pairing defenceman and he plays like it. He played a very simple game which meant few chances around our own net and few giveaways. If the rest of the defence played with this caution the series would have been done

Roman Hamrlik
- Like a player playing without a stick or skates Hammer was paired with Brisebois. Now that the french media wants to knight Lord Breezer there is no measuring his arrogance. Tonight Patrice played one of his worst games in his NHL career (extremely hard to do) and it was Roman who was forced to clean up the mess. Roman played 27 minutes and was the only player to end with a + rating

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
- Price played his worst game since December tonight and quite possibly of his NHL career. I can tolerate 5 goals against and I can certainly understand that we will lose games. What I have no patience for, however, is cockiness, arrogance, but most of all players who give up. All game long Carey he was the goalie the media is saying he is - the next Dryden, Roy or Brodeur. He wasn't playing with his same assured confidence, and this was new. There were two plays in particular that make me really worried. The first didn't result in a goal, but came very close - it was a poke check right back to the streaking Bruin on a break-away. The second was releasing the puck in his crease with two Bruins behind him, done simply to avoid a whistle - it gave Boston the lead. No player should ever make a blind pass in front of the net (or in the crease!), let alone the goalie. The fact that he stayed standing up on this play showed the arrogance I speak of more than any other play. After that play, when he'd realized he blew it for us, he didn't seem to try, he just gave up. To me that is not a champion's attitude, that is a child's attitude. At 1-2 we had a chance, but thanks to Price we no longer did at 1-5. The rest of Carey's game was pretty bad too, especially his puck-control. If I were Carbo I would seriously consider putting Halak in for game #6. Young players have a tendency to easily lose confidence (Raycroft -2004) and once they do there may be no turning back. While I hope this isn't the case for Price I don't really want to find out in game #6



Eyes on Kovalev
Did he flit and float? Someone ought to keep track...

Let's not forget who Kovalev is. He isn't Crosby, Malkin or Ovechkin, he is just a really good player on a really good team. He has been our best player lately, but he isn't the only reason we are where we are. My fear is that Alex thinks he should be doing more, and he seems to be forgetting how he had so much success this year. Shooting on the PP and using his teammates is something that worked all year, I just wish he would go back to that now. He needs help and he needs to be reminded that he doesn't have to do it all himself.

Kovalev's Assessment - Good


Overall Comments

The only difference tonight from games 2-4 was that Price gave up. Our team played a one-goal hockey game and it really probably should have ended 2-1 for either us or Boston. Defensively we weren't great, but when you consider that 3 of the goals were absolute gifts it doesn't look so bad. Offensively we only scored one, but what worries me more is that we didn't generate many other chances. We took more dumb penalties tonight which was a bit risky as it was only a matter of time until over PK returned to normal; we allowed 2 PP goals. Once again we didn't score on our PP, but I would argue that if Streit and Koivu were in we would have scored at least 2 more power-play goals so far in this series. What we are doing is ok in that department, we just aren't getting lucky yet.

The fans tonight were a bit much. Since when do Habs fans bring homemade Stanley Cups to first round playoff games? I thought we smart fans, classy fans. Also I heard fans singing 'Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah Good-Bye' before the game even started. I wonder if this arrogance or cockiness was somehow adopted by some of our players. The worst of all, however, was the clearing out of the Bell Centre after the 4th Boston goal. I am smart enough to realize that not every game will be a miraculous comeback and by that point tonight it was obvious we weren't getting the V. As a fan, however, you should never, ever give up on your team like that, it is simply disrespectful. We all have to realize that 4 wins (and hopefully 16 overall) don't happen in as many games. The other team is out there trying to win too and if we want the Habs to succeed they will need all of our support.

The time has come now for offence. Enough is enough with 3 non-offensive lines. Also, enough with defencemen playing forward. Before tonight we were 21-6-2 in our previous 29 games, and that didn't come by not scoring goals. That happened by having players like Grabovski, Koivu, Ryder and Streit in and players like Brisebois, Dandenault, Latendresse and O'Byrne out. Now that this series could go either way it is time to play injured players. I am willing to risk re-injury just like we risk injury with all of all players in each game. There is no point resting players for round 2 at this point, because if we do there won't be a round 2.

Playoff Hockey: The Talent Is Not Enough

Apparently everyone, talent is not enough.

Every time the playoffs come around, the pundits gather round a gaudy table in an overdone studio to explain in certain terms why the better teams lose. Rather than say something insightful or controversial they come up with the same old tripe year after year: talent is not enough.


What I read this morning from an unemployed coach who didn't see much talent beyond 2 or 3 players for a few years now is that, not only is talent not enough, it comes after the other four key ingredients for playoff success:

1. Intensity
2. Team work
3. Character
4. Discipline

To me, this recipe is omelet without egg. Talent is the primary, not a tertiary, ingredient for a successful hockey team. If a playoff round is an omelet-making competition, a team can mix intensity, team work, character and discipline together all they want, but without talent all they'll get is a pan full of fried garnish and spice .

If you don't believe me, ask yourself why Boston, a team that outplayed Montreal in all of Hartley's critical categories for 2 nights in a row, only won once, and needed to survive a real barrage in OT to do so. Ask why we're talking about how effective their PK is (with 4 guys pretty much standing still), but not about how great their winning goal was. Remind yourself about those years between 1999 and 2001.

When you look at an individual player, it amounts to the same thing: an intense player without talent would not be many peoples' choice when a goal is needed; and character is nice, but how many character 5-goalscorers can you possibly carry on a team. After all, isn't saying someone is a character player akin to saying someone is "a really nice person" after being asked what they look like? The 4 ingredients above only start to matter when you have players with talent – where those players can add little extra qualities to set themselves apart from other players of talent (think Koivu vs. Joe Thornton not Shawn Thornton).

While talent can be temporarily quashed with an overwhelming unbalance in all of the categories Hartley identifies above (see Game 3), ultimately talent will win. But you see, for coaches, talent can sometimes take a lower priority. I have coached people in a few different sports, and though I wish it were different, the one thing you cannot tell someone is: just be more talented.

In some ways, I think this is why talent scares people, and why unemployed coaches on TV will harp on about everything but talent. As a coach you are stuck with what you have. But don't try to tell me that Claude Julien is happier to have Shawn Thornton and Jeremy Reich to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes. Or that Bob Hartley wasn't happier coaching talent in Colorado to muckers in Atlanta. Sure they'll work out plans for what they're given, and they'll talk up the value of character, but they'd have more talent if they could get their hands on it.

So, you see, despite fears of unstoppable momentum and a team that may be big and dirty and bad, Guy Carbonneau and his staff are still in the driver's seat here. The Canadiens roster, if you line it up next to the Bruins by talent, they are superior to a man. All they need to do is find ways to get that talent into play – put the Bruins into situations where talent will decide the winner. Not into situations where one of the other four ingredients will show the victor. It should be less about answering the Bruins and more about making them search for an answer they are incapable of providing.


New Habs strategy

We even spoke about the importance of the Habs setting the tone of this series right at the beginning. Here's the adjustments I think Carbonneau and his crew should be looking to make for Game 4 and to take the Bruins well beyond what they are capable of doing:

1. Hold the puck more (as a team that is) – even Pierre "Bright New Idea" McGuire has come around to this revolutionary idea. Must be time. This, of course, means no dump ins...
2. Be patient – goes hand in hand with holding the puck more.
   
3. Ignore the bodychecking – Komisarek is big enough to take a hit. Oh sure, hit when necessary to win the puck, but not for the sake of hitting.
   
4. Eliminate no-chance shots – that's you Michael Ryder. A shot that never has a chance of going in is a turnover.
5. Don't squander the Kostitsyns – both have been playing well, both should be put in situations where their talent shines
6. Choose the best team available – I think Dandenault should watch number 54 from the catwalk.

By holding true to what got them to this stage (that's talent pundits), the Canadiens have the best chance at regaining the momentum in this series. After all, the Canadiens hold the eggs, if the Bruins want to make an omelet out of this series, they'll need to wait for some more to be dropped. Let's fire up the pan for Game 4...