Game #23Flyers Wanted It, Flyers Got It

Details

Date: 25/11/2011
Opponent: Flyers
Location: Philadelphia

Loss: 1-3

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

Habs goalscorers: Nokelainen
Opposition goalscorers: Giroux (2), Voracek

Play of the game

One big problem with our PP is that we let up chances, a lot of chances, against ourselves. It is bad enough that we can't score, but for some other reason the other teams are getting their fair share of attempts on Price. Today, in the first period, with the score locked at zero Price made a fantastic save on Matt Read on a 2-on-1 while we were a man-up. We could have been down at that point, but instead Carey kept us in the game, and did so for much of the second period too.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

Erik Cole
Cole tried hard today, he wasn't at his best, but still looked the best among our top forwards. He led the team in shots with 5 and had some of our best chances. He can't do it himself, though, that was plain to see.

Petteri Nokelainen
I hardly ever notice Petteri, which I suppose for a fourth-liner is a quasi-good thing. It could be better, however, as we have had players in his position work their way to the top-3, even top-2 lines. That isn't going to happen in his case, but he still can be of use as he was today when he put the Habs in the lead.

Lars Eller
A better game from any of the 'big-name' forwards would have probably earned a dome today, but instead Lars, who played alright, gets in. Let's just say that he was one of the players who played the closest to his best and, dare I say, competed in this one. He is still looking for a home on this team, but if he keeps being a top-3 forward, as he was today, they'll have to give him more ice-time and more opportunities than he is currently getting.

Defencemen

Hal Gill
I almost gave the game-puck to Gill today. It wasn't for the weak (as always) shot that he took that became an assist, but instead for outstanding play in his own end, particularly on the PK. Earlier this week I started to wonder if he had his place in the top-4, top-6 or even top-7 D-men on this team. I concluded that he did, but just. Today, however, he reminded me what he can do against strong teams and I am suggesting that if he plays like he did today he will be as valuable to us this season as he ever has been.

Josh Gorges
Diaz, Weber and Subban all looked unprepared throughout the game. They were making mistakes that they shouldn't be making and were making quite a few of them. Emelin was good for the most part, but also didn't look his best. That leaves me with Gorges who I realized didn't look bad at all. It was another solid game from Josh and he even picked up a whopping 10th point.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
Price has played much better than this, but, this afternoon, he was our best player by quite a bit. In fact, apart from some more poor puck-handling adventures, he was dominant for half of the game. It was big save upon big save early and I certainly felt that this was the type of game in which he wouldn't be beat. Maybe his teammates felt the same way because at one point (sometime early in the second) they just stopped playing. The onslaught was too much and no goalie would have had the solution.

Comments

It was never going to last, was it? A 1-0 lead against Philly, in Philly, just wasn't going to be enough. When we scored that lucky goal, however, we tried to hold on. The Flyers, however, have too much offensive power to just sit back and hope for the best, but that is what it looked like we were doing. Our only sustained chances came on the PP (just not as good chances as we are used to) and towards the end of the game which is becoming predictable as this team seems to wait far too long to go all-out for a goal. It almost seemed, from the start, that this was a game that we couldn't win. The question, of course, becomes why good one night and bad the next? The answer, as usual, is that this is the NHL. Teams like Columbus can win, ones like Detroit can lose. It wasn't a fun game today, but I am in no way worried that because of it we will play poorly tomorrow.

Next up are the Penguins at home. Yes they have Crosby back, but we have beaten the Crosby-led Pens before. I really believe that we have to find a way to get the two points tomorrow. Otherwise, it will be 3 losses in 4 games this week with the only success being a shootout win vs. the 'Canes. It's not a must-win and the season won't be lost if we don't win, but a win, a hard-fought one, would be very good for our beat-up squad and would just be more fun to watch.

Cole Shoulders High Expectations in Montreal

Two somewhat paranormal coincidences to report, one being my comment on Topham's Thursday post about my "dream signing" being Erik Cole; and him being signed hours later. The second is that I apparently agree with Jack Todd, for once. Eerie.

So why Erik Cole?

In my opinion, the biggest need for the Habs up front this off-season was clear: a proven top-6 winger with size. We've all talked before on many occasions about the need for a power forward, preferably a good winger to play with the albatross that is Scott Gomez. Someone who can battle in front of the net, and not have Andrew Leighton simply look over their heads if they set a screen. Someone who can score at least 20 goals a season; the more, the better. Having another RH shot among the forwards would also be a big plus, as only Gionta and Ryan White currently qualify.

Now, we knew we were fooling ourselves if we even dared think about Jaromir Jagr or Brad Richards; and wonder idly if there was ever any talk from head office to, say, the Sharks about Setoguchi or Pavelski when they were moved. The UFA pool was fairly shallow this year, so Montreal didn't have a lot of great choices. Once Philly wrapped up RFA Claude Giroux, the market consisted basically of Cole, Michael Ryder, and Jamie Langenbrunner.

Michael Ryder
We've been here before. Ryder was a Calder-nominated rookie for us back in 2003-04, scoring 25 goals and 38 assists. He had 2 straight 30-goal campaigns after the lockout, but a sub-par 2007-08 season (likely due to personal issues related to his brother) saw him benched by Carbonneau and left to free agency. He rebounded with Boston, scoring 27 goals and over 50 points again, but since has trailed off to 33 points last season and 41 this year despite around 15 minutes of ice-time. He's a proven scorer, and at 6' and 192 lbs is large for a Habs forward. Somehow I don't know that he'd welcome an offer from Montreal, nor that Montreal fans would be happy to have him back; and there's no guarantee he'll ever return to his 30-goal form. Dallas will pay him $3.5M per year for the next two seasons finding out.

Jamie Langenbrunner
The oldest of the trio at 35, Langenbrunner is a proven 2-way forward that's won two Cups (one with Dallas in 1999, and one with New Jersey in 2003). He fit in well with New Jersey's conservative style of play and Jacques Martin would probably love him for it. He's scored 20+ goals 4 times in 16 NHL seasons and twice came within 2 goals of the mark; and has 6 seasons with 50+ points. He's got good size at 6'1" and 205 lbs. Given that he's still unsigned, I'm left wondering why - he would have likely been a decent addition to many squads and his last contract was only worth $2.8M/yr. I am guessing Pierre Gauthier talked to him, but the fact he's still unsigned makes me think there's something a little fishy.

Erik Cole
At 32 years old and beginning his 10th NHL season, Cole has had his problems with injuries with an astonishing 86 games missed since the lockout. However, he's managed to clear 50 points 4 times in that span, and score 20+ three times (with another 18-goal season). However, he doesn't seem to play well with people who aren't Hurricanes: he had a pretty disastrous 27 points in 63 games with the Oilers in 2008-09 before returning to Carolina to put up 15 points in a mere 17 games. Still, he can be productive while playing tough minutes against hard opposition, and was one of only 5 players to score over 25 goals and deliver over 200 hits last season.

I reasoned that we need a big, RH winger that can hit and score. To me, Cole was the best choice. I think he's the biggest offensive threat of the three, he uses his size and at 6'2" and 205 lbs he's far from small. If he can stay healthy, and he did play 82 games last year, I don't think it's unreasonable to think he can put away another 25 goals and help Gomez pull his numbers up to reasonable levels - but I'm expecting a fair amount of line-juggling from Jacques Martin early on and the lines might not be what we're expecting. I was hoping to sign him for a little less than $4.5M for 2-3 years, but he'll be 37 at the contract's end and not exactly ancient. The reality is that we have to pay a premium to get players from the US that would rather not pay Canadian and Quebec taxes.

Maybe less like a "dream signing," and more like a realistic one. I guess I don't dream very big. But if Cole stays healthy, I think he can be the physical 25-goal scorer we could use so badly; and it least it's a dream that has a chance of coming true.

Let us know in the comments who I missed, and who you would have rather seen putting on the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge this past weekend.

Philly's Mess Catches Up With Them

Richards, Carter. Gone, gone.

This good news for the Habs is ostensibly bad news for the Flyers and their fans. Richards and Carter were a big part of the Flyers success and a huge reason the team ever got close to a Stanley Cup without a goalie.

But that's where it all goes wrong isn't it?

Without a goalie.

For most teams, not having a good goalie is a problem. For Philadelphia it's a brain-devouring complex. That's why instead of applying a bit of patience and recognizing what a good thing they may have pulled from thin air in Bobrovsky, they went out and did what they always did and signed, signed, signed.

Bryzgalov is a good goalie, don't get me wrong. I like him, I like his chances in Philly. But you will note that Anaheim let him go, that Phoenix let him go, that Phoenix doesn't have any Cups.

A goalie simply can't do it all. Let me rephrase that, a goalie not named Thomas or Hasek can't do it all. A team needs to put talent at all positions and use their salary allowance wisely to do that.


Philly's real problems

A lot of articles on yesterday's trades say things like "Holmgren managed to unload Carter's long-term contract/Richards salary cap millstone".

I think these comments are way off the mark. Both players were paid in the $5 million range and both performed to the level of their salary, which in the world of guys paid that much means they were bargains.

What's more, the salary cap hasn't been going anywhere but up, even through the worst financial period in modern US/Canadian history. As the proportion that a $5 million salary takes up shrinks, the better a long-term deal for a producing player paid at that level looks.

Saying nothing about intangibles at all, I can firmly say that Richards and Carter were not the salary cap problems in Philadelphia. If anything, they were among the contracts that permitted them to spend with abandon at times.

The real problems in Philly come in at the back end.

The Pronger deal wasn't expensive at the time, but it was a gaffe to sign him long-term past his 35th birthday. This contract is central to their problem.

Timonen is another. If Price/Halak was a luxury, Pronger/Timonen was a bigger one. Both players are paid to be #1 Dmen, but the name implies there can only be one #1 Dman. The other became the most expensive second fiddle in the league.

And it didn't stop there. Rather than fill out a roster like everyone else in the league would with prospects and a couple of cheaper contracts at the back (to defend other teams' fourth lines), Holmgren put $3 million players at every hole.

The Flyers biggest cap problem was their luxury defense, which got them 7th best D in the East with 6 less GA than Florida.

Other than their $22 million defence corps, Philly also took on the dead weight contract of Kris Versteeg. In fact, they repeated their luxury buying attitude up front with a third line that included double millionaires all around.


Fix is temporary

Philly found a temporary fix for immediate cap space, but based on the Bryzgalov signing, it won't be used for prudent and conservative rebuilding. In fact, when the grossly overpaid forward comes in as the replacement for Carter/Richards, fans will most likely be wondering what these deals were for.


Habs news more encouraging

The Habs did better in the last couple of days with their signings and seem less likely to implode their plan and go schizophrenically down the garden path. While I'll always lament Gauthier for not getting in on action like Ville Leino or Andrej Meszaros, I at least admire his commitment to the plan he thought was working last spring. Holmgren on the other hand...

The Flyers moves do also serve the Habs well since this team was a chief rival and those two players were chief nemeses. Some fans will point to the danger of the rebuild for the Habs more distant future, but the contracts at the back, together with the quick trigger of Holmgren seem to provide the insurance that this team won't be a perennial problem.


I guess this whole thing just shows that making a cap mess will catch up with your team at some point. Chicago's mess cost them a lot, but they have a Cup to show for it. Philly, mere games away, just got a mess.

The Flyers Success Story Building Tips For The Habs

The Canadiens and the Flyers meet for the fourth time this season. This time, the Stanley Cup finalists sit on top of the NHL (tied with Vancouver) and are doing it with offense.

The game promises to be a good one (they often are in this rivalry), but aside from that, it’s a chance for Canadiens fans to glimpse a very well-put together NHL outfit for the last time in the regular season. Why well put together?

It’s been noted here before, and elsewhere, that balance has been a key with the Flyers. Their top three centres on some nights are Daniel Briere, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. All first round picks, all having great seasons. Their wings are just as deep with Claude Giroux (the envy of a province), Scott Hartnell, Ville Leino, James van Riemsdyk and Nikolai Zherdev.

Surely a team like this would suffer at the back? Nope. Pronger, Timonen, Carle, Meszaros, Coburn and O’Donnell at its healthful best.

It’s a line-up with oodles of pre-professional pedigree and experience (10 first rounders) to go with their recently gained Stanley Cup teeth.
When one looks at this team, one has to wonder how Philadelphia came out on top over Atlanta, Florida, Islanders, and other perennial lottery seekers. They’ve had their high first rounders (Pitkanen, van Riemsdyk), but Philly has built this group through hard work, some good drafting and a commitment to a formula. I think there are some good lessons for Montreal managers here:

1) Big draft coming – be ready
2003 was one of the most talent laden drafts in the history of the NHL. There’s hardly a player drafted in that first round who hasn’t played in the NHL. It has more than its fair share of stars. Montreal media will never tire of telling us about how Andrei Kostitsyn (picked 10th) could have been Jeff Carter, or Mike Richards, or Zach Parise. Philly was one of a few teams that positioned themselves superbly for this draft. Prior to it taking place, they managed to turn Daymond Langkow into a first rounder from Phoenix. In doing so, they nabbed the #11 pick. In addition, they accumulated 7 picks in the top 3 rounds. Doing this affords a team with the freedom to cater to more scouts and take chances, while leaving those annoyingly unsuccessful hole-filling picks for later rounds.

2006 was the same story, deep draft and Philly was there with a boatload of picks. I’m not sure the Flyers go for Giroux at that time in the first round (their D was a big, big weakness) without the surety of 5 picks in the first 3 rounds.

Montreal’s done an OK job of this in the past (and 2003 and 2006 were pretty good hauls for them too), but this lesson just needs to be drilled in a little more.

2) Draft forwards, acquire defencemen
The best forwards are young, fast and dynamic. The best defencemen are old wise and efficient. It’s right there for NHL GMs to see, yet some still insist on picking defensive defencemen in early rounds (Komisarek, Fischer, Tinordi).

Philly has about 8 dynamic scoring forwards, any or all of which could score 30 goals. Add 9-goal Nodl and that’s nine. Of the nine, 4 are Philly first rounders, Nodl is a second rounder. Yes they added Briere, Leino and Zherdev through a variety of means, but their core is from their own scouting and commitment.

The contrast is their defence. Pronger (trade and sign), Timonen (trade and sign), Coburn (trade), Meszaros (trade), Carle (trade), O’Donnell (sign). Not a draft pick there.

Since the Pitkanen choice in 2002, Philly has had 6 first round picks. 5 were forwards. 6 times in 8 drafts their first selection was a forward. The Habs are all over the map in their first round strategy. Scoring has been a need for as long as I can remember (2008 was a blip, I admit) and the team is still drafting big Dmen.

3) Don’t be precious about prospects
Philly has had its fair share of name prospects pass through over the years. Once they may have been precious about them, but their recent attitude seems to treat them like assets until they are established. Pitkanen keeps getting mentioned and he was one. He was turned into Lupul, essentially. Other prospects that have been leveraged include Upshall, Sbisa and Lupul himself. A sentimentalist might have kept these and missed the opportunity their trading presented.

Montreal fans get very precious about prospects. Some still lament McDonagh and Valentenko. No one wants to throw away a prospect in a bad trade, but holding onto an average prospect may leave you with an average team.

4) Salary cap, schmalary cap
I’ve said cap space is overrated. Philly walks the walk. They pay the price for big parts of a team and they often go very close or over the cap. On at least one occasion, they’ve had to call in amateurs to avoid actually exceeding the payroll limit.

With penalties for going over so slack, and opportunities to bury salary in long recoveries from injury, it seems one way to create good depth is to rehab a ton of salary for the playoffs. Montreal missed the boat on this by pressing Markov to return and not insisting earlier on Gorges’ surgery. Both might have been available for later along with the depth their salary space would have left. Instead, Montreal lines the Molsons pockets as it carries cap space month over month.

5) Goaltender not cast as hero/savior, a real possibility
Philly doesn’t just happen into these goalies, they have made the choice to put money elsewhere. This year it’s Leighton, Boucher and Bobrovsky, last year it was Emery and co., Biron before that, and on into eternity. Philly hasn’t been able to hold a candle to the goaltending the Canadiens have put forward in the last two decades. Yet Philly has often been contending and making deep playoff runs, while goalie-driven Montreal has not.

Having a good goalie is not a weakness, but perhaps overpaying for one is. Turning goalie money into an extra goal for a game will pay the bills when good = 92% of saves and bad = 90% of saves.


This article could be way off. Philly made the Stanley Cup final last year, yes. But they barely made the playoffs and didn’t really beat anyone too good (sorry Habs fans). What’s more, their 69 points today is actually only 10 points out of 7th (hello Montreal) and their lack of goaltending could yet topple them from their perch.

Still, I think these lessons are good ones. They are not the only rules of operation, but rather 5 among many that Philly have exploited to find a bit of success and bottle it. They’re also good ones as there’s nothing stopping a team like Montreal from approaching things from this way right away. No one is saying they need to lose for 6 seasons (Oilers) to win, or anything.

The Auld Enemy Flyers Preview

Ever since the Flyers have existed, they have been the enemy of the Montreal Canadiens. The city that was once home to some of the greatest intellectuals the world has seen now has a hockey team that leaves intellectuals cold.

If Montreal builds hockey teams that inspire poetry (maybe not lately), then Philly has always been a tabloid team. The two philosophies may never be reconciled, but when they intersect, it is always interesting. So tonight.


Key match-ups

Montreal goalie vs. Philadelphia shots
No matter the record, the momentum, two of the last three playoff exits happened because Montreal goalies went stone cold when facing Philadelphia shots. Some might dismiss this as simple coincidence, as luck catching up with people. I wonder as Philly locks up another sharpshooting duo, whether it's so simple.


Plekanec vs. Pronger
Plekanec is the best player on the Canadiens. Pronger (given the right refereeing) is the best at his trade. Last playoffs, Plekanec was not his regular season self under the stifling Philly blanket. This game is a chance to prove either a) he has learned from that, or b) refereeing is critical to how this match-up goes.


Picard and Mike Richards
Throwing Picard out against most teams' third lines is a relatively safe bet. You get the match up, you can limit his exposure to true skill. Philly has depth with Carter, Briere and Richards down the middle to go with Giroux (11 goals), Leino, Hartnell, Zherdev and van Riemsdyk. I'm only going by message board lines for Richards, but any third line pair from those 8 poses a challenge.


Price vs. Bobrovsky
The NHL first star of the week and the NHL rookie of the year to date. As Montreal revels in their goaltending choice, Philly may at long last finally be revelling in a good decision at the back end. Bobrovsky brings in a 2.01 and 0.930 in 14 games , so this should be a match-up of two of the hottest so far this year.


Momentum

Montreal had something very good building until that crushing knee collision. With Markov firing, this team was quietly and not so quietly dominating games. Philly has their own, of course. They haven't lost in November (fully) and have scared the league with their out-of-town scoreboard updates. It's two hot teams, tow hot goalies, but only one having to deal with the loss of a keystone player. Advantage Philly on momentum.


Flyers the Habs covet

Claude Giroux
If Pierre Gauthier could have his scouts redo one pick in his tenure, it might be this one. Kostitsyn vs. Carter or Richards, well at least Kostitsyn plays. Mr. High School Hockey vs. Franco-Ontarian QMJHL scoring star, now that's a flub. His 11 goals lead one of the most solid teams in the NHL. Fischer plays for the Florida Everblades...

Andrej Meszaros
The Canadiens have thrown around second round picks like it's nobody's business recently, but they have never made one into a defender like Meszaros. Meszaros is expensive, but he has potential and youth. After this season when Hamrlik, Gill and others depart, starting a stable with someone like Meszaros beside Subban would feel better than say Mathieu Carle.


Habs the Flyers covet

Josh Gorges
The Flyers have names on D, but if they have a weakness it may be there lack of quiet (and cheaper) efficiency. Josh Gorges is what they need to complement their big D.

Carey Price
Bobrovsky or not, the Flyers could use Price. He's more seasoned than the rookie Russian (as they look to contend now) and it wouldn't hurt his skills to practice against the shooters he has most trouble with.


Impact of this result
Both teams at this point will shrug off a loss quite easily. Both teams are just about due. The value of winning in Montreal may be greater due to the playoff hangover and the feeling that the Habs have won against the lesser crowd so far (I don't agree with the latter). The impact of a win for Philly may be the firming up of an Achilles heel for the Montrealers, depending on the result.

The Karma Initiative

Last night the finale of Lost dominated the airwaves as recaps, interviews and the show itself were aired for nearly 6 hours. If the theme of the lengthy series was being lost (either in body or soul) then the ending, if it were a self-contained movie might be called Found.

One of the favourite devices of the writers of the TV program was to bring back long since "deceased" characters to resolve a plot line or move the story along. As the main protagonists all attempted to move to where they needed to be, these forgotten friends often appeared to help them along. Setting the whole thing in motion was Charlie, and then finishing the job were some cameos from Rose and even Shannon.

The Canadiens look set to dominate the airwaves in this house tonight. What, with recap videos, interviews and the game itself, it all seems a little familiar. Like the ABC moneyspinner, the Canadiens are seeking a resolution. Lots of things they once held are now lost. Their fans hope some may be found.

Habs fans hear ad nauseum how lucky they've been to beat Washington and Pittsburgh. Cammalleri has been shooting over 20%, Gionta at nearly 13%. Their goalscorers have been lucky. And Halak, maintaining a save percentage of over 0.930 after a season at only 0.926 – well he had to come crashing to earth.

Perhaps they have. Turn around and hear Philadelphia's wonderful system creating a team worthy of moving forward. No out of whack stats there...

While Cammalleri and Halak have done their best Jack and Sawyer impressions, the dwindling cast of contributors might need more help. Lost for some time has been Benoit Pouliot. Once the man to mark, he hasn't been that man since early March. And the goalscoring of others has been AWOL too. Andrei Kostitsyn (who Brunet reminds us about every shift) hasn't scored since an April hat trick. Gomez's goals even more distant. And you can add Plekanec to the mix. If you've lost count that's 2/3 of the top lines. Add Metropolit to the mix, a 10 goalscorer on the PP and 16 overall, as he has 0 in the playoffs (as long a stretch as 1/4 of a season). And you might as well think about Hamrlik, goal-less, and Darche too.

There's not a 50 goal-man in there, but there are a few 20 goal threats. And while 20 goal men will have 60 scoreless games in a season, and are not at all unfamiliar with 18 game slumps, the thing about them is they do score 20 goals. Sooner or later, one of these players will bounce one in off Ryan Parent or score a goal with an ankle. Sooner or later, their line change will be cut short by an unlucky Flyers bounce to spring a breakaway for the Habs – one on which they actually score.

If this series were long enough (80 games, say), I'd even expect all these things to happen. The interesting thing here is that time is running out. Will the Canadiens, lie the writers of Lost be able to resolve their season. Will karma, like the writers of Lost call on the Shannons of the team to move the plot along.

We'll see.

Karma sometimes comes back to you too at some point

Or at least, that's what I hear.

Perhaps a team that made the playoffs on the back of a terrible second half and a shootout, and the Conference final due to a heroic turn of karma should be careful what they wish for.

Perhaps a guy that plays on the very edge of the rules and looks to all but the NHL disciplinary committee to step on the ice to end careers sometimes shouldn't count his chickens before they've hatched. Or perhaps be wary of calling others cheats, as he did the Bell Centre staff just the other day.

After all, who in the hell do you think you are? A superstar? Well right you are...