Canadiens Come Up Dry in San Jose

Date: 17/10/2017
Opponent: San Jose
Location: SAP Center
Loss: 5-2

Montreal Goalie: Price (L)
San Jose Goalie: Jones (W)

Montreal goalscorers:  Drouin, Weber
San Jose goalscorers: Couture (2), Pavelski, Hertl, Thornton

Shark Bitten

Date:  15/12/2015

Opponent: Sharks

Location:  Montreal

Loss:  3-1

Habs Goalie: Tokarski (L)

Opposition Goalie:  Jones (W)

Habs goalscorers: Weise

Opposition goalscorers:  Marleau, Pavelski, Zubrus

Game #26So Close, But Another Loss; On To LA

Details

Date: 01/12/2011
Opponent: Sharks
Location: San Jose

Loss: 3-4 (SO)

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

Habs goalscorers: Cammalleri, Desharnais, Cole (Gionta, Desharnais - SO)
Opposition goalscorers: McGinn, Couture, Clowe (Havlat, Handzus, Pavelski - SO)

Play of the game

The Habs got off to another good start tonight with the first goal, again, going to them. It was Cammalleri who really got the ball rolling on that goal as he made a nice play to enter the zone. It was then a quick pass to Cole who almost tucked one in. The save that Niemi had to make, however, took him out of the play and Desharnais and Subban were quick to react. David got the puck quickly to the point, PK spared us all 3 seconds and got off a quick shot and Camms was there to finish the play he started by deflecting the puck past the out of position 'tender.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

David Desharnais - Game Puck
He was back a little late on the tying goal, but offensively he was fantastic tonight. He scored a goal, a shootout goal and had two very, hard-earned assists. It doesn't matter if some think he is good enough and others don't as the fact of the matter remains that he has been the Habs's second best centre all year; the best tonight.

Erik Cole
If Cole took shootouts like he plays the games we would have won. He was great throughout and is once again turning his linemates into the hottest players on the team. Tonight he collected his 8th goal and 8th assist in a good game for him; it was really what we needed from him in the absence of Patches.

Michael Cammalleri
He wasn't happy with the way that he played last night (nor was I just so he knows). Well, tonight he turned it around as he and his line were our best. What I liked tonight was that he took initiative and because of it things happened. Next up is a trip to his former home, let's hope that he keeps the good play up and shows them a thing or two.

Defencemen

Raphael Diaz
An honourable mention goes to Subban (who was miles ahead of where he was last night) and to Gorges who was his same solid self. I liked Diaz tonight, however, as he played 27:48 (99.5% of which which was at even-strength) and wasn't on for a goal agaisnt. He will be a difficult player to take out of the line-up and seems to clearly now have the upper hand on his countryman Weber.

Alexei Emelin
Alex continues to grow in confidence and looks to be the NHL-ready player we had expected. There were a few defensive mess-ups, but most players had a few tonight. He made up for it with hits (one particularly good, clean one) and strong positional play. He even got quite involved (more so than usual at least) offensively which is a very, very good sign of him being comfortable with his role and abilities.

Goaltender

Carey Price
Price was great throughout the game as he stopped 38 of 41 sots. He made a few saves that were simply spectacular. He did, however, show his weakness tonight in the shootout. His lack of movement seems to make it easy for all shooters. When Handzus can make you look like a fool you know you have some work to do.

Comments

I was really hoping for a win tonight and after the 3rd goal, Cole's, I did think we had it. The odds are never going to be in our favour in the shootout, though, but a rare goal from Gionta seemed to give us a serious chance. At the end of the day we lost to a pretty good team. This isn't a game that slipped away as we were never really in full control. It is just a loss, a loss that could have been a win, but not a heart-breaker. In fact, 1 point isn't a bad result, especially when we look at in in isolation. Other positives from tonight are the fact that we played quite a bit better than yesterday, which is a sign that the players care (we all know that they are capable), and that our PP (all 1:29 of it) looked good. With the extra man we had good movement, quick passing and multiple attempts on net. It is the best sign that I have seen from that unit in weeks. Now, let's get Markov in there to continue with what was started tonight.

Game #27No PP, No PK, No Problem; Habs Do Enough to Get by Sharks

Details

Date: 4/12/2010
Opponent: Sharks
Location: Montreal

Win: 3-1

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

Habs goalscorers: Darche, Plekanec, Cammalleri
Opposition goalscorers: Ferriero

Play of the game

San Jose are a good team, so I felt that a save Price made, on the PP, was the most crucial play of the game; the biggest reason we won by two. It was a point-blank save on Heatley who had just taken a nice feed from Pavelski. San Jose, in fact, worked the puck around very well and seemed likely to score and get back within one with about 3 minutes to play. Carey, however, followed the play very well and made a very hard save against a very good player and made it all look so easy.

Dome hockey team

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

Mathieu Darche
Darche had a very nice game today and he got it going early. His goal was another example of how this guy seems to know where to go and how he likes getting to the net. I was also quite intrigued by the goal as he had two cracks at it. The first was a miss which hit the back-boards and came right back to him. The second was an easy shot on a goalie who committed to the original miss. I wonder if this type of play, from where Darche was, could be used intentionally, because I see that play as having great potential to fool a goalie each and every time.

Benoit Pouliot
Has Pouliot been playing well enough to deserve a shot with Gomez again or should we keep his line intact while we are getting the most out of all three players? I think we should leave Ben with Darche and Eller as the three players all work hard, all have skill and are clicking right now. Today Pouliot didn't score, but any time you take more than 20% of your team's shots you know that you had a good game.

Tomas Plekanec
The Markov of the forwards, Tom just doesn't seem to have bad games. His goal was a prime example of his focus, skill, patience and determination. If you want to know how he played all game re-watch that goal.

Defencemen

Roman Hamrlik
It's official now that Markov is gone and, so it's official that the Hammer is our new #1. He gets the job done in all zones, every game, but to get a breakaway (or partial, at least) which leads to a goal tells me all that I need to know about this player - he cares. The effort is there on each shift and, with 12 assists so far, he is getting rewarded with a few points too.

Josh Gorges
Price was the best penalty-killer today, but after that it was Gorges. There was only 4 minutes to kill, but of that Josh was on for 63% of the time. He has been playing well lately and is often beaten out of a dome spot, but I felt that tonight he deserved a mention. He is rendering the Habs a great service and is essentially now playing like top-3 on every shift, a lot of times like a top-2.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
I am not sure what happened on San Jose's goal and I don't even think that Carey is, but aside from that this was a pretty flawless game. He made all the saves that he should and a lot that many goalies wouldn't have. He now has a .935 save %, a 1.96 GAA, 16 wins and 4 shutouts. Those are insane numbers for 27 games in and he is, obviously, the biggest reason that we are where we are today in the standings.

Comments

I didn't think that the Habs were going to pull this one off. We never got on the PP for a reason and that reason was that we played with little intensity, we gave the Sharks no reason to foul us. Now, that wasn't entirely our fault as San Jose is quite the good team. Other than that Hamrlik break I can't remember any odd-man rushes. Every time that I expected us to be on an odd-man rush (based on how they look in other games) I was shocked to see another defenceman come into the picture; he had been in position all along. What we did do, however, was make the most of our limited chances. These are the types of games that can as easily be losses as wins and the types of games that you just have to be thankful for. We are a good team, so when we are on we generally win. It is nice, though, to know that even when we are off we can beat some good teams too.

Game #65Montreal's Luck Runs Out 5 Minutes Too Soon

Details

Date: 04/03/10
Opponent: Sharks
Location: San Jose

Loss: 2-3

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

Habs goalscorers: Gionta, Gomez
Opposition goalscorers: Marleau, Heatley, Malhotra

Play of the game

Price had some ups and downs in this game, but, boy, were the ups very good/ The one that stands out for me was a save that he made on Pavelski on a breakaway. The save itself was spectacular as Carey stayed up for the whole play. Pavelski came in with speed from the left side, but a top-corner wrist-shot (somewhere all Sharks were advsied to shoot tonight) was snatched up by the suddenly active glove of Price. It was the best of a series of saves that helped put a big Price stamp on this game.

Dome hockey team

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


Forwards

Brian Gionta - Game Puck
Brian, and his line were the best unit for us tonight. They had a rough few first 5-8 minutes, but after that they seemed to get comfortable with the flow of the play. All 3 members chipped in to create the first goal which was put in the back of the net by Gionta – it was a very well-placed shot. Gio also played a role on our second goal (an assist) and took 5 of the team’s 30 shots.

Scott Gomez
All in all Scott was a 32% on face-offs, but considering the team was at 31% for the night you can’t really blame just him. Like Gionta, Scott scored a goal and added an assist. His goal hit a Shark before reaching his linemate who was positioned in front of the net, primed to score himself. Scott’s actual assist, on his buddy’s goal, was the result of hard work and his great passing-eye. As usual, Scott shot a lot; in all there were 6. Most of his shots seemed easy to save, but he proved, yet again, that when you put pucks on net, good things can happen.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Don’t worry, I heard Brunet telling me that Andrei had a bad game, but I have stopped listening to that guy when it comes to certain players. I can acknowledge that it wasn’t a great game, but I do believe that he was our third best forward. The thing that helped to make up my mind was the fact that when he shot (4 shots in all) he almost scored. (Also, no one else was really that great) His brother, and even Plekanec (who Brunet is really worried about – I guess he forgot about his play before the Olympics) got him the puck all night and, through persistence, there came chances.

Defencemen

Andrei Markov
I am convinced that Markov is still not 100% as his two games since the Olympics (and the Olympics themselves) have not been played at the height of his abilities. He still, however, is finding ways to contribute and, maybe unsurprisingly, was, on this night, our best defenceman. Again O’Byrne looked bad, and again Andrei did his best to limit the damage. It is hard to impose yourself in your own end when you are dragging an anchor like Ryan around with you, but I think he is doing better than anyone else could. Offensively he seems almost all there - an assist and some decent power-play puck-movement makes me think that this is the area of his game that is closest to its best.

Roman Hamrlik
Hammer led the team in ice-time and was only one blocked-shot off the team lead. I thought that he was our best defender in our own end and felt that his pairing was the most consistent. He was involved on our second goal as he was just a pass or two off the scoresheet. If this game was any indication it would seem that, with Bergeron out, he’ll be seeing some serious PP time; by the looks of it, he should have a positive impact in that department.

Goaltender

Carey Price
At times during this game I was wondering what was going on with Price and at others I was wondering where we would have been without him. What I really liked was his involvement in the game. What I mean here is that he seemed focused on every shot, seemed to challenge every shooter and seemed confident in his abilities and choices. His puck-handling, too, was good as he didn’t bother with passing the puck (he usually gives hard to handle 5’ passes), but instead just left it for the defenders. The bad parts were of the final goal (it seems it always comes at the worst time for the kid), the throwing of the stick penalty and the fact that he was beaten a total of 3 more times (the post, luckily bailed him out and likely saved him this dome). All in all he gave us a serious chance to beat one of the best teams in the league and that was all I was looking for from our keeper tonight.

Comments

We played a strong game considering the situation, I think. We were playing a team that has lost less than 50 games in regulation in that building since the lockout – that is almost 5 seasons. So, the fact that we were leading for a good portion of this game is a positive for me. Yes, it would have been nice to hold that lead and get the win, but sometimes you can feel alright with a loss. For example, I would much rather lose that game than lose, at home, to the Thrashers by 3 or 4 goals. Both get you nothing in the standings, but you have to think that we feel pretty good, mentally, about this one. I guess the main negative was the fact that a good portion of our team didn’t really get too involved tonight. We held on and played well enough, but had we seen a good game from 5 more players I have no doubt that a win was doable. I never really like these West Coast swings as the times of the games is less than appealing, but mostly since the competition is generally pretty good. I feel that 2 points, however, in the LA region this weekend (out of 4) will set us up nicely for our return home on Tuesday.

Olympic Implications

Seeing Nabokov yet again fall short in an important game brought back memories for me. Imagine what the directors of the San Jose Sharks must be thinking.

Coming up to the trade deadline, the Sharks are yet again flirting with the NHL lead, but yet again carry team members who prefer the December walks to the May slugfests. Between Joe Thronton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley the Sharks have a lot wrapped up in their current edition, and in a salary cap world, one can't expect that to continue forever.

Do you think that Doug Wilson shrugs off a Nabokov loss in a critical test, or will he now be hoping to bolster his back line of defence as he sets for a run with this set of big contracts before they walk?

I tend to think he'll stick – more out of necessity than choice. However, there's no telling how scarred he is from seeing Nabokov underperform (or simply never overperform) when the time is asking.

Roenick thinks Chicago has a dilemma, I wonder what he thinks of his former mates in SJ.

We're Out, But At Least We Didn't Think Joe Thornton Was The Answer...

A week ago, life on the outside was a lonely place. Us, Columbus and St. Louis, not exactly the company we thought we'd be keeping. But as the week wore on, we were able to greet (and taunt) new groups of fans, something that brought us (and will continue to bring us great comfort, however empty some will tell us that it is.

On the weekend, the Broad Street Braggarts were ejected to a synchronous cheer from everyone who cares about hockey but doesn't live in that corner of Pennsylvania. And yesterday it was the Calgary Flames and the San Jose Sharks.

What brings greatest pleasure, or perhaps solace is the more appropriate term, is that though building around Carey Price has not been the answer, nor has fashioning a complement for Mike Richards and his first 26-game superstar mirage partner Jeff Carter. Having Rick Nash does not save you anymore than having Alexei Kovalev does. Joe Thronton is not an answer, nor is having 2 big centres (not on its own, anyway).

All 5 of these teams will be feeling disappointment, just like we do. 2 more will join in tomorrow. Whereas, we were prepared and only had to deal with the pop from a bubble with a mere week's worth of hope inflating it; fans in San Jose are once again left in the tricky position of questioning their perfect franchise model, fans in Philly must be wondering why their built-for-playoff players can't score on Marc-Andre Fleury and Calgary has lost another Jarome Iginla year.

San Jose must be the worst of these. Back in January you couldn't turn on a computer without having to sit through or listen to accounts of San Jose's brilliance. This year they had got it right. Marleau was back on track, Thornton was still the best passer in the universe; their defence was impenetrable and Nabokov was avoiding his odd numbered off-year. Even back in January, though, people knew that as impressive as 5 losses to that point was, the Sharks might still be the more likely of any two teams to lose 4 of 7 just like all those times before.

And frankly, where can San Jose go from here. Every year they come in as dark horse favourites. Every year they don't disappoint in the regular season. How can a team evaluate their own playoff holes when the players refuse to play anything but top-notch hockey until April. On a normal team, you can run some tests, take a few losses and send the player back to the minors when it doesn't work. On the Sharks, sure you can jettison a few pieces, but the problem with their experiment is that it takes a year to get any meaningful results.

If you though Bob Gainey's job was going to be hard, spare a thought for Doug Wilson.

Game #63Halak Brilliant Against League's Best

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Saturday February 28th, 2009
Opponent: San Jose Sharks
Venue: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

Team Stripes

Final Score: 3-2 - Win

Habs starting goalie: Jaroslav Halak (W)
Opposition starting goalie: Brian Boucher (L)

Habs goalscorers: Andrei Markov, Josh Gorges, Saku Koivu
Opposition goalscorers: Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton

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

Sent into the zone by Saku Koivu Matt D'Agostini was off to the races. He beat his man to the outside, but had run out of room to get to the net. So, instead of a tough-angle shot he took the puck around the net. He then caught an edge and went down, he didn't, however, give up on the play. As he was falling he fed the puck out front to Gorges who had made a very timely pinch. Josh had a pretty wide open net to shoot at as Boucher was still on the other side thanks to Matt.

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

Jaroslav Halak
The kid did it again tonight, he stole a game we probably shouldn't have won. It was another 40+ save performance (46) for the man that has suddenly become our best player by a country mile. He let in 2 quick goals early in the second period, but really shut the door after that. It was a dominant performance and I think everyone who has watched this team over the last 2 weeks knows that in Jaro we have something very special.



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

Saku Koivu
The captain played as strong a game as anyone of our forwards tonight as he scored a goal (a gift from Markov) and added an assist. The 2 points give Saku 5 in his last 4 games - all wins. I felt that during our losing streak Koivu was the one player still working hard each night and he was the one leading this team. It is no surprise that now, with the team winning, he is, again, leading the way. His line played well against a very talented San Jose team.

Matt D'Agostini
I saw great energy from Matt tonight, it was the type of energy and play that I believe has won him a permanent spot on the roster. Tonight we saw with his speed, passing and shooting that he is the complete offensive package. He also knows how to fore-check and isn't a liability in our own end. I think MaxPac has a place in this team's future, but when Tanguay comes back Matt gets my vote to stay on one of the top 3 lines.

Christopher Higgins
Chris has found a way to stay off the scoresheet this year, but that doesn't mean he isn't involved. Tonight he was right there on 2 of our goals, but he didn't get any points. I for one don't mind that at all. If he can do what he did tonight - check, skate and win battles - then I am not too worried about points. I think he is the digger that Saku needs on one wing and soon I think we'll see the scorer he needs on the other.

Defencemen

Andrei Markov
Andrei got the ball rolling tonight with a PP goal and then added an assist, on a sublime pass to Saku, to give him 2 points on the night. In all he now has 50 points and continues to lead the team. After that he went on to have a very strong defensive game as he was paired with all sorts of people throughout the game. He was our best player at making sure that San Jose's chances weren't dangerous as when he was on the ice there were shots against, but very few quality chances.

Mathieu Schneider
Mat was +2 tonight as he was on the ice for all of our goals and none of theirs. He probably has Jaro to thank for that, but you don't play 20+ minutes of calamity-free hockey by accident. Tonight as our team looked worried in front of a scary Sharks team Schneider was the calming influence that we needed in the back end. There were no major mistakes, no give-aways, just sound, defensive play. Offensively he was quiet (we only had one PP), but he did pick up a single assist to give him 6 points in 6 games in his new uniform.

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
Beating San Jose doesn't just happen by chance you know. They had only lost 10 games, of 60, in regulation prior to tonight and it seems that they are there in every game. Tonight they didn't have a bad game by any means, but it does show that one player can make a difference. Halak's play was the only reason the Sharks weren't celebrating their 94th and 95th points of the year and that we were instead celebrating our 74th and 75th. In his last 6 games Jaro has been incredible as he has gone 5-1, he, in fact, is the main reason we have turned things around in the past 2 weeks. His save % over that stretch is an incredible .944; how can you argue with that?



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

What we did tonight was we not only beat the best team in the league, but we proved something very valuable to ourselves: anything can happen in hockey and you are never down and out. This version of the Habs looked ready to pack it in 2 weeks ago as the world was falling down around them. There were scandals, trade-requests, fractures within the team and worst of all losses - a lot of them. Well the recent wins, and especially the one tonight, will do a world of good for this group. Not only do we get the points and move that bit closer to the playoffs with these wins, but we also prove to ourselves that we can rebound from anything. I mean if we can win 4 in a row in the fashion that we did, after what we went through, then we can do anything. If we make the playoffs then I think a lot of people will look back at the rough patch as a good thing. It was a time for the team to hit rock bottom, and at some point they realized that the answer to success lay nowhere else but within. Confidence is everything in sport and tonight, by beating the Sharks, we went and got ourselves a whole lot of that precious commodity. Right now the team must think they can beat anyone on any give night, and you know what, they are right.

Overall Comments

With 2 wins this week and 3 in a row a win wasn't a must tonight, in fact, all I was looking for was evidence that we could once again play with the league's best. Well that proof came early and it came fast. Within an 8 minute stretch during the first period we scored 3 goals and were all over San Jose. We spent the first part of the game being slightly intimidated by these giants from the west, but after the novelty wore off we played our game, and we excelled at it. 3-0, however, is a dangerous lead (ha, aren't they all) as we thought we had won. We spent the next 40 minutes watching our goalie stand on his head as we hoped they would score 2 or less. 2 minutes into our last 40 our plan didn't look like it was going to work. The Habs, however, kept at it and in the end held off the mighty Sharks. Now, we may have let up 48 shots, but a lot of those were weak attempts. There is no doubt that we were outplayed (save goaltending), but I don't think the shots tell the whole story. The quality scoring chances were few and far between for SJ as I felt we played a half-decent defensive game. There are obviously things to work on, but it is great to get the 2 points while hopefully learning a lesson or two at the same time. Next up is the trade-deadline and it will of course be interesting to see what happens with that. Following that comes 3 road games (of which we need 3 points - BUF, ATL, DAL) and then we are into the final 16 games of which 11 will be played in Montreal.

Sharks Reinstate Claude LemieuxWilson: "Thinking How To Mess Up The Season Is Hard"

Thinking of ways to keep people interested while winning streaks drag on is the burden of the San Jose Sharks. Unaccustomed to actually starting well as finishing well, the Sharks have found their minds wandering to keep themselves occupied. Their most recent move cannot be described any other way:

The NHL-leading Sharks recalled the four-time Cup winner Monday from their minor league affiliate in Worcester, Mass. Lemieux practiced in San Jose, and he's likely to play Tuesday night against Vancouver in the Sharks' final game before the All-Star break.

Claude Lemieux should add an interesting piece to an already interesting team – one that already has two elite centres and Jeremy Roenick.

But is there anything beyond an interesting story here? Can Claude Lemieux help this team be better – in the playoffs that is.

One would have to think that was Doug Wilson's actual logic. But can we really attribute logic to a man who invites a 43-year-old, 5.5 years into retirement, to come back and play for his stacked team? Can we really say that Doug Wilson is doing anything other than rolling the dice? After all, he built a team he hopes will win the Cup around Joe Thornton (not to mention Patrick Marleau).

I get the thinking too:

My players = All chokers
Claude Lemieux = Has always found ways to win (even Conn Smythes!)

Despite that, in my humble opinion, Claude Lemieux will not help the Sharks. You can't expect a reclamation project like him to come in and turn a team's stomachs around. Nor could you expect him to fare very well in the new faster NHL. He didn't help Phoenix at the end of his real playing days, did he? His effectiveness was spent more than 9 years ago.

If anything, with Thornton and Roenick already crowding the dressing room; I think he's a personality too far. What's more, some poor youngster who could be learning the ways of winning will now be relegated back down so Claude can exorcise his whim.

I wish Claude all the best, but I'm infinitely glad we didn't sign him. Normally, I'm the first to criticise Bob Gainey for canny manouevres he missed out on. But this is not a canny manoeuvre in my book, and I wholeheartedly disagree with JT's fanciful take on the matter:

If Gainey passed over Lemieux without at least considering making him an offer, I worry the Habs GM is too conservative or unimaginative to give his team a leg up on the other teams scrabbling to be the best...

And, what is it about the late 80s Habs that just won't retire. Chelios, Richer and his repeated attempts at comebacks and now this. If Larry Robinson wants back in, we have a gaping place open for him at 6th defenceman...

First, But Not Home and Away

All's rosy in Montreal. First place in March. It has been truly impressive.

However, a couple of nights ago, it was the West who clinched the rights to the President's trophy.

Even with all the positives floating around, I thought it would be worth a look at the reasons (I believe) that the Habs are not Detroit, not running away with the league or, indeed, the East title. In keeping with the accepted format, I'll list my 10 reasons here:

1. Michael Ryder – he's had some great games, even playing the standout role in a few important wins over the season. But, it remains that up until February or so, he was not playing first-line calibre hockey. He has scored 10 less goals than he normally would have, and less than half of what we might have hoped. His play in November in particular, before line 1B got going, probably cost the team some possible points. His play since February, however, probably played a big role in that much vaunted 10-3-1 since the Huet trade.

2. Young players – when you start the season with so many players under the age of 23, you should expect some nights dedicated to learning from mistakes. Carey Price certainly had a few before his competition for the number one job came from Slovakia, not France. Andrei Kostitsyn took a couple of months more learning than some might have hoped. Latendresse, also a mere 20 years of age, is learning how to play nightly.

3. The West – better than the East at the moment. When I say better, I refer to their top few teams, that is Detroit, Dallas, San Jose and Anaheim, all of whom handled the Habs with relative ease. More wins in the West would have added daylight between us and the pack. Not to worry, we have a couple of months to figure out how to do it...

4. Christopher Higgins – obviously not a bad player to have around. However, if Koivu was given a star winger, Higgins would not have to play the role that he has been trying to play for most of the season. Chris is a great player, but in only his 3rd season, may need more time to figure out how to be a top-line goalscorer. Chris has also done exactly what should have been expected of him, with steady improvement of his totals. Some wild predictions for him early, which had they come true, would have made him a 40-goalscorer and earned the Habs points in the standings.

5. Too many defensemen – signing Brisebois, playing Dandenault, these were early season mistakes. Now on the radio you will hear about rolling 4 forward lines. Well, that's not how it started in October. Playing 8 defensemen (sometime 2 up front), in hindsight, was clearly holding back the best offense in the league. The change, I think was made around the Sergei Kostitsyn move, what I think was an admission the original plan (including overloading with D) was going awry.

6. Goaltending choices – first and foremost, not playing Halak. Halak could have and should have played. He is a very good goalie who could have stolen points. Instead, Carey Price (in December) and Cristobal Huet (in February) were played, even when they probably needed some rest and recalibration.

7. French Canadians – Pascal Leclaire, Dany Sabourin, Martin St. Louis. Come on. Every French Canadian seems to play that much better in Montreal than anywhere else. Their superhuman efforts on some nights have cost the Habs.

8. Summer signings – Smolinski, Brisebois and Kostopoulos. Initially these players played more than they do now. Clearly, as the season progressed, they have found their proper roles. In addition to the signings that were made, consider the signings that were not made: Brian Rafalski, Teemu Selanne. These moves could have helped the Habs in the short-term garner more wins.

9. The plan – most of the above also fall in some way into this category. We didn't sign a scoring winger for Koivu because we chose to develop young players instead (NOTE: Gainey would have gladly obtained someone, provided the cost was acceptable – see Hossa – but not at the expense of people integral to his plan). Basically, I think even Bob Gainey would tell you this year has come sooner than anticipated. But consider that if Buffalo and Ottawa were gunning for 110+ points like a year earlier, the Habs would be in a fight for 5th. The Canadiens, in essence, are right where they planned to be, it's the rest of the teams that have slipped or fallen.

10. Jason Spezza and the Ottawa Senators – the antithesis of the Bruins. The Senators know the Canadiens have weaknesses and exploit them. They, as the best team in the East coming in, understand how to exploit a rookie defenseman and goalie. It's not magic what they do, it's called setting the tone. They know that if they set the tone, the Habs will begin to question how they can possibly climb back against Spezza, Alfredsson and co. Last game, the Habs set the tone and won. Is the lesson, therefore learned? Let's hope so.


All that realism, here's my disclaimer. As I said, I believe the Habs are right where they wanted to be and should be (maybe 4-5 points better, or a couple of Boston wins). This list should not be seen as a negative piece, but rather as a list of things that, in some cases could be improved, in order to step up to Detroit's level.

In some instances, the lessons have been learned on the fly. In fact, if you look at the pace since Game 29 or so, you'd see an upturn in the points-per-game average of the Habs: the 8 D is out the window, Price has learned a lot (as have other youngsters), Ryder has been steadily improving. To call it a season of two halves would be an exaggeration, but it would not be crazy to say this team has, especially since January, taken big steps beyond some its Eastern rivals.

As we know the quest for 96 is over, so we can look for 100+ and first and more importantly then move onto the quest for 32 more big points this spring...

Game #67The Habs Score 4, But it Isn't Enough

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Monday March 3rd, 2008
Opponent: San Jose Sharks
Venue: HP Pavilion at San Jose, San Jose, CA


Team Stripes


Final Score: 4-6 -Loss

Habs starting goalie: Carey Price (L)
Opposition starting goalie: Evgeni Nabokov (W)

Habs goalscorers: Tomas Plekanec (2), Ryan O'Byrne, Maxim Lapierre
Opposition goalscorers: Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton (2), Jody Shelley, Jonathan Cheechoo, Brian Campbell



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 Career Goal for Ryan O'Byrne



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

It wasn't goaltending and it wasn't defence, I promise you that. Our nicest goal, the play of the game, was Plekanec's second.

Markov made a great play to keep the puck in at the blue-line and made a perfect pass to Kovalev. Alex then one-timed another perfect pass to Plekanec who was standing in the high-left slot unmarked. Pleks put his 5th in 3 games home to tie the game at 3.



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

Tomas Plekanec

He scored 2 goals and was 56% in the face-off circle. He often surprised a slow Shark defence with his speed and acceleration. Played a very creative game offensively, both with the puck and without. Without the puck he is one of the best on our team at knowing where to go to find open ice.



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

Saku Koivu
- Was the best player on his line, a line that on a whole didn't show up tonight. Had a great pass on O'Byrne's first to give him 49 points on the year. Was good again at face-offs, especially when the draws were crucial

Maxim Lapierre
- I thought Max showed a lot of spirit tonight. The Habs looked tired and unmotivated for this game and it was Lapierre who was trying to get the troops going. His pest-like play is what we need out of him from here on in, the scoring is just a bonus. He scored a late goal to bring us back within one and give us hope

Tomas Plekanec
- He had chance after chance and could have easily finished the game with 4 goals. For a rare time this year it looked like he was the one carrying Kovalev on the ice rather than the other way around

Defencemen

Andrei Markov
- Had a nice assist on Plekanec's second goal. Late in the game he got a 10-minute misconduct which, given the time of the call and the Habs' situation, wasn't such a bad thing. I like to see players get into the game and it looked like Andrei was fired up all night long

Ryan O'Byrne
- He played another solid game defensively as he avoided a negative +/- rating for the 12th straight game; all since his return to the line-up in February. His goal was a bit lucky, but it was well deserved as he has been playing some good hockey for the Habs this year

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
- I think that it is finally time for Halak to get his first start of the year. After bringing his team to within one game of the playoffs last year as a rookie I would say that his chance is long overdue. Price looked horrible tonight - his positioning was weak, he looked disinterested and he couldn't stop a beach ball. Once again he was unable to string 4 good games in a row, showing serious signs of fatigue. His play behind the net was again too lazy and although it didn't cost us a goal it did cost us chances; you can mark my words that it will eventually cost us a goal. He didn't give the Habs any chance whatsoever at winning tonight in what may have been his worst game in the league



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

This was not one of Alex's better games of the year, but was still a decent game by normal player standards. He managed just one point, but came close on a few occasions to add to that. His defensive work wasn't as sharp tonight as usual - I think the 3 games in 3 cities in 4 nights may have caught up with him. Look for a very good or excellent performance on Thursday.

Kovalev's Assessment - Good


Overall Comments

This was a game that we could have won. Even despite our poor power-play display tonight (0/7) and Price's willingness to give away goals we came pretty close to pulling it off. I have been amazed all year at how the Habs are often 'in' the games in which they are being outplayed. This was a bad game for us and we still managed 4 goals on one of the league's best, only losing by 2. That in itself is as encouraging as anything from tonight.

Well, we need 4 points from this trip out of 8 and so far we are 0/2. All that means is that we have to make sure we are ready for another round of 3 games in 4 nights in 3 cities this weekend. The next game is pretty much a must win as far as I am concerned, especially if we are still thinking about first in the East. Let's forget about this loss, stay on the bandwagon and hope for a more convincing performance against the Coyotes.