Tampa-Montreal Game #4: Pacioretty Sweeps Habs Into Round Two

Date: 22/04/2014
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Montreal

Win: 4-3

Habs Goalie: Price (W)
Opposition Goalie: Lindback, Gudlevskis (L)

Habs goalscorers: Briere, Eller, Gallagher, Pacioretty
Opposition goalscorers: Palat, Hedman, Johnson

Tampa-Montreal Game #2: Singular Defending and Multifocal Attack Abet Habs Domination

Date: 18/04/2014
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Tampa Bay

Win: 4-1

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

Habs goalscorers: Desharnais, Bourque (2), Gallagher
Opposition goalscorers: Purcell

Game #80Tampa's Lack Of D Make It Hard For Habs To Lose

Details

Date: 04/04/2012
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Montreal

Win: 5-2

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

Habs goalscorers: Emelin, Cole (2), Pacioretty (2)
Opposition goalscorers: Lecavalier, Gervais

Play of the game

If I have to look for the best play tonight, the best goal (despite being fairly upset with the win) it would have to be Pacioretty's second. All of the goals were good, actually, but I did like the 5th goal where Max blew past his coverage down the wing and unloaded a bullet of a wrist-shot up and over Garon's replacement (was the requirement to find someone with as close a name as possible?).

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Max Pacioretty - Game Puck
The numbers were good tonight - 2 goals, an assist and +4. Could it be that Max isn't that keen on a top-2 pick as he is fairly happy with his status as top-2 winger on the team? I am fine with that attitude, but hope that next year he contributes more to team success and isn't simply remembered, again, for having a good year on a bad team.

Tomas Plekanec
People remember stats and don't remember when points were gotten, how they were gotten or the context in which they were collected. Therefore, I can totally understand Tom's desire to put a few more points up this week so when we look back in a few weeks, months or years we think slightly better of him than had he mailed it in. Unfortunately for him, however, I would rather we be a Cup contender within 3 years than he get an extra 3 points, but would he?

Erik Cole
Cole just can't help himself, can he? Unfortunately for the top-2 pick drive Erik is healthy and is playing at his usual level. Tonight he inched closer to 35 with 2 more goals and has two games to net one. He is all business on the ice and for that I respect him and look forward to another season with him leading the offence.

Defencemen

Alexei Emelin
I was happy that Emelin scored a goal tonight as he desrved some reward for his season. Is it possible that he is the most underrated and under-appreciated Hab? He has been noticed all year, but when you think of what this guy has done, as a rookie, you can't help but be excited for next year. I say, give him 3-5 more years of being labeled as underrated and then the trophies will start flowing.

Andrei Markov
It was very good to see how well the PP was doing tonight and that was thanks in no small part to the work of Markov. Tonight was his 11th game and he keeps looking better in each. I still hope he plays some more hockey this spring and has a good summer of hard, off-season work as opposed to the rehabbing he has been doing for the past couple of summers.

Goaltender

Peter Budaj
That pass to Lecavalier was right up there with O'Byrne's own-goal in the department of hilariously brutal plays. Aside from that play he was good even though Tampa played horribly. I am not sure if Mayer will get the start tomorrow or Budaj. It doesn't really matter, but I would say there is a good chance we'll need Mayer at some point down the road, so why not give him a taste now.

Comments

Tampa looked like the team playing to lose and we seemed to be fueled by a Bell Centre crowd that was ill-advisedly cheering them on way too much. It seemed like we couldn't help ourselves and it meant a few great chances for our top line. It even meant that Rene Bourque almost got more than one shot or stood in front of the net once in 18+ minutes. If only our team followed the lead of the bottom 3 lines we'd be gold. Now, however, it looks as though Edmonton will bag the 2nd spot and we'll have some work to do to stay in 3rd.

Tonight was a big milestone for Cole as it was his 700th game and he celebrated with two more goals; bettering his best goal mark again and getting to 59 points, 2 shy of that record. It was another milestone round here. Tonight marked the 450th game report that we at LIW have written. We haven't missed one game since we started in the Fall of 2007 with a win in Carolina. That night, the first ever goal to be documented was scored by none other than Erik Cole, it was his 300th career game (playoffs included). The only other players to play tonight and then were Markov and Plekanec; all 3 of those players made the dome tonight.

I couldn't have kept that streak alive without the help of Topham, ian vitro, my Dad (uncredited, but he has written pieces) and a naturalized Habs fan for a wife. We started reporting on games to show a different, maybe more honest side of the game. In the beginning it was all about the thrill of the winning, but, just for a brief moment we have now started to hope for the opposite. There has been a conference win, a conference final, brutal trades, sad player moves a Centennial and so much more. So, thanks to all of you who read and keep this fun and entertaining after each and every win or loss.

Game #64 Geoffrion's Lineage No Magic Potion for Habs

Details

Date: 28/02/2012
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Tampa Bay

Loss 1-2

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

Habs goalscorers: Desharnais
Opposition goalscorers: Stamkos, Hall

Play of the game

Working alone, a canny Desharnais made a great steal to start a rush down-ice with Cole keeping pace. As a second defender hustled back to get a body on Cole, Desharnais used the struggling pair as a screen and snapped a beautiful shot past Garon.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Tomas Plekanec
Once again showed his desire to win, his impeccable penlty-killing skills, and some smart drives to the net. He actually beat Garon, but the Tampa goaltender got lucky as he managed to deflect the puck just wide.

Erik Cole
Carried a lot of offensive weight once again. Won battles that seemed already lost, and got stoned by an incredibly lucky Garon in the 2nd. Also sent a defender flying into the Tampa goalie for a comical finish to the 3rd period.

David Desharnais - Game Puck
Scored our only goal and did it by himself. Tied up a game that, despite the shots being pretty even, did not feel even at all. With Cole, again created most of the meager offensive threats we had.

Defencemen

PK Subban
Was hard filling out the defenders this evening, as no one really distinguished themselves too strongly. Subban is one of the few things that keeps our top power play unit looking even vaguely competent, and looked good enough in his own end.

Josh Gorges
A bit of a no-brainer. Gorges knows where to be and when. St. Louis looked like he might be breaking free and turned hard to shake Gorges, who just put the body to his opponenet and neutralized the play completely. Made some smart plays at the other blue line and didn't make mistakes behind his own.

Goaltender

Carey Price
Let down once again by the skaters in front of him. The Stamkos goal was a beauty, and so was the the saucer pass to Hall and his top-shelf marker. Price made some good saves, including a pokecheck to strip Stamkos in a dangerous-looking play in the 3rd. Price kept the team in this one the whole way once again, but there simply wasn't enough offense to cash in on his good play.

Comments

Credit where credit is due: The Lightning did a lot of things right in this game. Garon made some really spectacular saves, and his team did a good job of getting bodies around him to control rebounds, and to limit the Habs' effectiveness in the offensive zone.

It was fun watching Emelin provoke Malone into a total frenzy and not throw a punch back, but less fun watching the Habs being unable to score over the 5-minute power play that ensued. Frankly, we probably had better chances on the PK. Almost every team we play against seems to work harder and have more discipline, and as a result we lose a lot of those games.

Liked what I saw from Geoffrion, he played about 13 minutes, mostly beside Plekanec. I think Price might have tripped 2 or 3 guys tonight, which I almost like to see as I think a lot of teams take liberties with him. All in all, another hard game to watch as it seems we're just limping through the rest of the season.

Game #38 Lightning come back late to pound Habs

Details

Date: 29/12/2011
Opponent: Lightning
Location: Montreal

Loss: 4-3

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

Habs goalscorers: Cammalleri, Desharnais, Cole
Opposition goalscorers: Stamkos, Wyman, Bergeron, Lecavalier

Play of the game

Pacioretty and Eller hustled hard for a puck dumped in the far corner. As Eller opened up some space, Pacioretty smartly took a good look at the ice and sent a perfect pass to the slot in front of the far post. A streaking Cole had shaken his coverage and had all the space he needed to bury the prettiest goal of the night and put the Habs up 3-1.

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
An offensive sparkplug from the outset. Set up Cammy's PP goal and scored one himself to overcome the 1-0 deficit early on. Helped create some of our better offensive moments late in the game. Frankly I think I've seen him play better games, but he certainly wasn't outplayed by anyone on this outing.

Michael Cammalleri
If you heard the same stat I did, you would have double-checked it and freaked out a little when you found out it was true: Cammalleri only scored his first power play goal of the season tonight. We're going to need him to pot quite a few more of these to have a chance at salvaging this season.

Eric Cole
This could just as easily have been Eller, but Cole put one in tonight and Eller didn't. Their line was our secondary threat but didn't score as much as we needed them to. However, Cole continues to be a primary source of offense and continues a tear that has seen him score 7 goals and 10 points in his last 10 games.

Defencemen

P.K. Subban
Subban is beginning to look like a seasoned veteran these days. He is obviously being asked to play more conservatively, and he's making excellent adjustments to be more defensively-minded and to make safe decisions about joining the rush. Despite finishing -2 tonight, Subban is continuing to impress me by facing the strongest opposition week after week and developing into something far beyond the flashy offensive phenom we saw in the playoffs some 18 months ago.

Alexei Emelin
Still loving almost every shift this guy puts in. Saw him joining the rush in very intelligent fashion tonight and delivering yet another 6 hits, putting him 17th in the league after only 27 games. He recovered well from his error late in the 3rd, and I continue to like what I see from this journeyman Russian player.

Goaltender

Carey Price
Honestly, I have no complaints about Price's performance tonight. The first goal was a bit of a fluke, and the second wasn't weak and he did get a good piece of it. The defence really let him down on the 4th, the way that Lecavalier stepped around Gill was a little shameful. He had some solid play throughout but suffered the consequences of his team slowing down in front of him through the last 20 minutes.

Comments

The game felt pretty good just after the halfway point. We were up 3-1 and outplaying an uninspired Lightning side. Once again, the Habs started to fade late in the second and the Lightning were all over a dogged-looking Montreal team. They took advantage of some lazy plays for some of their goals, and also managed to beat Price with a couple of lucky shots on some instances. While the Habs did a good a job of shooting the puck early in the game, it seems that Lady Luck was a bigger Tampa fan this time around.

Again, the team looked slow and unsteady later in the game. While they looked slightly more defensive after going up 3-1, they didn't look organized. Cunneyworth has juggled the lines, but kept them together from the Ottawa game the other night. Maybe we can look forward to some chemistry developing and some consistency of units so players can get used to their roles; and some of this confusion will disappear as time goes on.

If only I thought I could say the same about what seems to be an ongoing fitness issue...

Free Agency II: Tanguay Finds Fit To Further His Career

After exactly two months in purgatory, bleeding earning power like a Harlequins rugby player with a sack of red dye, Alex Tanguay has signed with the Lightning.

For the Lightning, the deal was a steal. They get a player who has proven he can play with talented guys (which Tampa can provide) and at a price that is very un-2008 free agency for their parts.

For Tanguay, the deal makes a lot of sense too. He could do worse than Stamkos at centre, and he may ride with Lecavalier if he keeps his game up to the right standard. Either way, he'll be wingman to someone who can finish his crafty centering efforts. What's more, he won't be asked to do the labour on the line of carrying the puck, digging it out and other elements of hard work.

The details of the story have emerged with stories of other offers, interest and intrigue. Pierre Lebrun covers it well as he answers the pertinent Alex Tanguay question:
Why did Tanguay choose Bolts over Isles, Wild?


Salary win-back

It's Tanguay's needs being filled here that really answer Lebrun's question most fully. If he's to scale back into the salary zone he covets, he must have a good year. He can't very well risk that on John Tavares or Martin Havlat, for that matter.

If Tanguay signs with the Wild, sure he's a first line player, but he has to cobble out a living with Mikko Koivu and Cal Clutterbuck. He'd be part of a project with a new GM and a team without Lemaire for the very first time. In other words, it could be an adventure.

Ditto for the Islanders. After Tavares, the talent reads remarkably like last year's AHL mirroring squad. Tavares has a lot to gain from playing with a smoothe game reader like Tanguay, but teaching John isn't going to make free agent season in 2010 a bigger bonanza than 2009 was for Tanguay really.

It's interesting to read in Lebrun's piece that Tanguay did indeed take less than he was offered from the two rival bids from the Lightning. Lebrun floats many reasons to suggest the fit: Lecavalier and St. Louis, Rick Tocchet's time as an assistant coach in Colorado, a wealth of linemates. All are plausible. All are likely. But it's Tanguay himself who sums up his reasoning best:

"Last year, I was hurt and didn't perform like I wanted," said Tanguay, who still put up 41 points in 50 games with the Habs. "The year before in Calgary, it wasn't my best year. I'm 29 years old and it's really important for me to have a good year and play at the caliber I know I can play at."

It's really important for him to have a good year. Not put himself in a winning situation. Not give himself a new challenge after riding some pretty hefty coat-tails. No, having a good year.

And make no mistake, he means a good year statistically. He means a year getting back above his average point totals. No mention of Cup, no mention of team having a good year. He's playing 2009-10 as a $2.5 million player in an effort to re-emerge with a $5 million contract.

Were I an agent, a wife, a child, a parent, an advisor I wouldn't blame him. As a fan of his former team, I have a different conclusion.


Gainey did the right thing

Up to this point, I've been pretty ambivalent about Tanguay. From an academic point of view, I knew we lost a very useful piece. His skating is good, his passing is at times sublime. And his timing is uncanny. He has the pieces.

Emotionally, however, it was less painful to see him go, simply because his loss pales compared to Kovalev, Koivu and even Bouillon for me. I never made a connection with the player beyond that academic curiosity, that superficial admiration. He did things proficiently and smoothly, but rarely got me up from my seat.

Reading what I've read from his mouth now, though. All that about having a good year and the importance of it happening this season for him -- it gives me a sense of relief to know he won't be around.


Why?

That does sound crazy doesn't it? Relief to have lost a player that wishes to rebound to new heights, a player that craves success. A player who I fully acknowledge has talent oozing from the pores.

Maybe it is. In fact, it probably is. But let me reason with you.

I think Tanguay has salary very much on the mind. Too much so. Salary, at least for this season may well take precedence to a Cup for the guy.

Oh sure, maybe once he's restored his reputation as a 75-point scorer, he'll turn his thoughts to a championship; but I find that to be too late.

You see, to win a Stanley Cup, I think it takes a burning desire from quite a number of players on the same team. It's not chance that sees Cupless veterans produce the form of their lives when they get their opportunity at a run late. It's not coincidence that teams celebrate scrappy (and unexpected) heroes year on year. The thirst for victory is that added dimension that makes the Saku Koivus of the world find two more notches in elimination games. The lack of that drive is what stifles gold-gilded and salary-bolstered teams when they face an opponent who plays with energy.

For this season at least, I think Tanguay seems to have lost the plot. Sorry, not the plot, rather my plot -- he has found a very different one to mine, and indeed I think to many fans.


Had the Canadiens signed Alex, there'd have been none of this you know. We'd never have known what he'd choose given the chance to select his own destination. He'd have been a very good winger pencilled straight in next to Scott Gomez.

But what might the season have held for Tanguay and the Canadiens? What if Alex and Gomez didn't hit it off? What if Alex looked at the prospect of his third season of decline in succession and thought first of years 30-40 for Tanguay and not games 83-99 for his Canadiens?

That's why I think Gainey did the right thing. After all, Bob may well have known of Tanguay's propensity to look out for #1, given that he'd just coached the player during the stretch of his first potential free agent win fall. What's more, he filled the vacancy he created with similar expertise.

A couple of months and a few interviews later and I'm resolved that the puzzling case of Alex Tanguay has ended the right way for this Habs fan.