Game #16Habs Back To .500 With Another OT Win

Details

Date: 12/11/2011
Opponent: Predators
Location: Nashville

Win: 2-1 (OT)

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

Habs goalscorers: Desharnais, Pacioretty
Opposition goalscorers: Weber

Play of the game

Our first goal was a beaut and was surely my pick for play-of-the-game, I swear. But, the Habs, once again, exceeded my expectations and pulled some magic off in OT. It was Subban, really, who made our goal possible with incredible poise, patience and control at the blue-line. With that came time and space for others as 3 defenders rushed to him. So, MaxPac was wide open when he took the pass and he even had about 2 seconds, while standing completely still mind you (Flyers trap-breaking still), to get off the perfect shot up and over the arm of one of the league's best.

Dome hockey team

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

Forwards

David Desharnais
David has been playing well, well enough to be on a top-2 line, but with the return of Gomez tonight it looked like he was out to prove that one more time. He scored our first on a very nice play and then was in on the winner too. He makes things happen in the offensive zone and with the solid D and goaltending we are getting lately that is really what this team needs.

Max Pacioretty
Max's best play was certainly his OT-winner (thanks PK), but he was pretty decent throughout. He hasn't been the red-hot player that he was in October of late, but has still been one of our best forwards on most nights. It would appear that he is settling into a partnership with Cole quite nicely which excites me as it is possible that we'll have 2 other equally good lines out there when we are healthy. Max took a lot of hits and contact tonight which is the thing that amazes me the most about his play this year. It would (somewhat remarkably) appear that he isn't afraid one bit to be out there and in a way is even playing faster, stronger and more courageous than he was before Chara assaulted him.

Erik Cole
I liked Cole again tonight and continue to like the new dimension that he is bringing to the Canadiens. He may not have scored or had many chances of his own, but one can never under-estimate the value that his fast, physical play has as it wears the opposition out and, more importantly, creates openings for his teammates.

Defencemen

PK Subban
We can't seem to go a game without an injury or a scare; tonight it was Subban's turn. When he wasn't out there to begin the third I was worried, not just worried for the next few games, but worried about how we would bag the win (or at least one point) tonight. Luckily his absence was short-lived and he was back taking regular shifts early in the third. He was a big reason that we held Nashville from going ahead and the biggest reason why we ended up winning.

Josh Gorges
Josh isn't the same player that he was a month a go; he is better. In fact, Josh isn't even the player he was a year ago; he is better. The biggest change for me is how he is getting involved offensively and how he is actually doing a good job of it. There was another assist tonight giving him 8 points, tops among our D-men. He has stepped up in Markov, Wisniewski and Hamrlik's absence which is good to see. I hope that it continues when Marky is back, however, as it doesn't seem to be affecting Josh's defensive play one bit.

Goaltender

Peter Budaj - Game Puck
He never had to be spectacular tonight, but made all but one of the stops that you would hope he would make. He has only played twice, but has delivered in both games (we lost the other one, but he did play well and only allowed 2 goals). I think that any person can see the value in Price getting 20 nights off this year rather than 10 and Budaj is telling his coach that that is quite alright. His rebounds at times were juicy tonight, and it may be lucky that they didn't cost us, but that also shows how well the D (and forwards coming back) have been playing. His numbers now speak for themselves, so let's hope we see more of him as the schedule ramps up.

Comments

Montreal played another good road game tonight by staying out of penalty trouble (have to do something about the SH goals though; how about D at the point?), for the most part, created chances in the offensive zone and imposed their game-plan on a pretty decent Nashville squad. The Preds certainly took over parts of the game with strong play, but with a combination of luck and hard work we weathered the storm. For our part we didn't generate too many chances (not enough really, considering the quality of their D and goaltending), but on the road if you can grab a point, I don't care how you do it. Winning in OT was a bonus that I wasn't expecting as I was already calling it a win with the 1 point. This team has talent, though, and surprising depth, so it wasn't too shocking, really.

Things seem to be settling back to normal around the East. We're back into that 6-12 range (2 points out of the playoffs) where I think we'll be all year, the Islanders are last and the Leafs only have 10 points in 10 games after 11 in 7 to start. The flip-side to that is that Boston is moving up and so are Tampa. It will be a battle, as it is every year, but that is good news. 3 weeks ago we wondered if it would be a battle at all. We have shown, however, that we are still an NHL-level team who can win on any given night. Our depth is showing and is paying off as is the play in our own end. Once the PP gets going (79 is surely the key) we'll hopefully be back to our old selves, back to that team that doesn't have to sweat until game #82.

To Watch Beyond Goal 1?

Last night the Habs allowed the Thrashers the first goal.

Then for the 4th time this season, they simply couldn't do anything to answer that.

Should we be surprised? I'd say no.

If you want to look for a weakness on this Canadiens team, beyond the PP and their "second" centre that is, the proven inability to be beaten by a first goal might be it.

This season, the record is clear enough:

2-7-0 now after being scored on first.
That includes 4 shutouts against, and 6 occasions where they never even tied the game up again.

Even the two games they won were quirky in that they scored rather quickly to negate that early lead. Vs. Phoenix, they answered within 5 minutes and had the lead within 8 minutes. In Buffalo, they answered the first goal within the minute, and the same for the second.

This season, at least, this is a team that plays like champions with a lead, but rather like chumps when chasing.


There's a history here too.

In the playoffs last spring, the Canadiens let the opponents score first 8 times. They lost 7 of those games in very similar fashion to the above scenarios, again being shutout 4 times over.

Last regular season, the team was ranked 23rd among the 30 in win percentage when trailing after the first period (It isn't exactly the same thing as being scored on first necessarily, but for someone who just wants to make a quick point without doing lots of work, it's a good approximation for now). A piddly 0.256 percentage, once again indicating their propensity to find brick walls to run into.


Rivals

As all the talk these days seems to be intent on declaring the Habs true contenders based on their November run, this must be a factor to consider, a serious chink in the armor.

Good teams, well the best teams, win from in front and win from behind (again, I'll use trailing after the first to illustrate): Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago are all above 0.400 when needing to come back after 20 minutes. Washington is above 0.600.


Being beaten

All athletes will tell you there are different types of competitor. Among them these that can be beaten with an early flourish and those you can never turn your back on. My own experience is that the resilient ones, the ones you can never count out are the opponents you have to worry about. Those that win from in front when everything goes right but give up when they trail are easy enough to build a strategy for. There's no strategy to put down the ones that keep getting up.

Yesterday, I was listening to some radio guys go on about the Canadiens resilience and their apparent ability to bounce back from anything. This was evidenced by good games after bad they proposed. I think this is at serious odds with the in-game findings that show an almost total requirement for that first goal. With it, they are league contenders, without it, they are peers of the Islanders.

I only hope that the coaches and the team take these frequent shutouts as lessons for future use. To find, I suppose, ways not to fall into the typical defensive traps that leading teams create to make the appearance of offensive generation. Heck, they could learn those lessons from their own wins.


Yes, losses happen and we mustn't fret. Trends in losses, however, are worth paying attention to. If the Habs don't buck this trend, they may have enough trouble making the playoffs, let alone contending in them.

At least, I suppose, we could all save on a lot of hours watching the games if first goals continue to spell out results.

Game #19: Nashville Introduce Montreal To Central Division Grudge Hockey

Details

Date: 18/11/2010
Opponent: Predators
Location: Montreal

Loss: 0-3

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

Habs goalscorers: None
Opposition goalscorers: Goc (2), O'Reilly

Play of the game

Sometimes, as with results, we get hung up with outcomes and miss the beauty and skill of hockey. Even before this game was 20 minutes old, I thought the play to beat o the night would be a nifty little thing from Tom Pyatt. In the record it won't be a goal and it won't be a shot, but if it were a goal, my goodness. The play was all Pyatt, he got a hopeful, but pretty awful pass into coverage. There he knocked down the puck for complete control broke the coverage and burst in for a shot. His shot beat Rinne, but ultimately not friction or gravity as it never made the goal line. Still, if this went in, it'd be a video to vote on in April.

Dome hockey team

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

Lars Eller – Game Puck
There's no point hiding this further down the list. For anyone who watched it was plain to see that Eller was inspired. Olivier will no doubt tell us that he had the softest coverage, but know what, he made a lot of them. He not only skated and danced but he alimented his linemates. He played to own the puck, and you know how much I like that. Only one shot, but a good one. 4 hits as well.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Andrei just played like Andrei in this game. He didn't jump out of the screen for his entire 18:25, yet he ended up with some of the most dangerous chances to score and just happened into a pretty solid looking stats sheet. The main difference between his play last year and this is he is driving the play rather than deferring to another all the time. Even when he doesn't he pops up in the slot with some hard shots on net. He continues to play well and even gets begrudging praise once in a while from RDS (his goal in Carolina doesn't really count though, that was in a game with a lot of goals).

Mike Cammalleri
This last choice yo-yo-ed a bit for me. At different points there were different forwards here, all except Halpern, Darche and Pouliot just about. The thing I liked about Cammalleri is that he seemed to be able to break coverage when Nashville were at their most suffocating. He released a few attempts and created a bit of danger during the 0-0 deadlock. That to me was the pivotal point of the game, so that's why I give him the dome.

Defencemen

Josh Gorges
A quiet game from Gorges. But if this were a 1-0 victory, which it could have been if everyone played like he did, then we'd be singing his sweet praises. He did what Canadiens defenders do nowadays and kept shots from nonthreatening positions.

Hal Gill
I was thinking tonight of the differences between this team and the team at this time last season. The player make-up isn't that different, but the feel from watching is changed. There was all that talk of players having to adapt to one another, the focus on Gomez, Gionta and Cammalleri. But in reality, there was probably no bigger adjustment for the 2009-10 Habs than the adjustment they had to make to welcome Hal Gill to the lineup. Where previously they had skating defenders, they now had an oaf who could barely turn. At first they expected him to be a standard defender and he failed. Now they seem to have adjusted, both in expectation and play. Gill played Gill's game and because Price now knows Gill and Gorges knows him well, that play can be counted as an asset.

Goaltender

Carey Price
This game was bound to come. It's not that Carey could have or even should have stopped any of those shots. but in recent games, he just did, somehow. Tonight he played in almost the same way and didn't get a shutout. Them's are the bounces as they say. He definitely gave his team ample chance to win and the nail n the coffin that was the second goal, though it wasn't done with a kicking motion was definitely intentionally put in with a foot. The huge positive from Carey was another first period shutout. The team must appreciate this.

Comments

Nashville tonight provided reminders to Montrealers of a few things we'd forgotten. The first is that the Central Division is a difficult place to play your hockey, and teams that come with CD practice tend to be pretty battle-tough opponents. The second thing they showed was that Montreal still has a ways to go as a contender. While the team has been thriving against opponents that stroll in, teams that come in with a clear game plan in mind stifle this attack. Nashville had a plan for every line and every player (with the notable exception of a suddenly inspired Eller) and it kept the game scoreless. Even after a goal, they had the numbers of the top two lines until Martin's belated reaction. This, I see as a warning shot. Not because we should worry about Nashville in any more important games, but rather because the playoffs are all about other teams preparing for the other. If Nashville can come in and see the way to defend on two days notice, then a team will surely spot weak points in a seven game series.

Well that's the warning. To close, I should speak to luck, or bounces as players so fondly name it. On a different day, the same shots and chances generated by each side in this game would have gone in the completely opposite direction. Instead of imagining a goal by Pyatt, we'd be praising it. Instead of complaining about a goal kicked in, it would have been disallowed. So what? Well, indeed. Sometimes after these games, these games after we've been spoiled to greater expectations, it becomes all about choosing the Blame Dome. And the heroes from 2 nights earlier are trod upon for sport. I think in this case, there's little need for that. The Habs lost to a team that played them tight and took their chances. It doesn't mean this will be the lot for the future.

Don’t Hold Your Breath for Dan Ellis

Dan Ellis’ rights, acquired as part of the Sergei Kostitsyn trade were just window dressing as far as I’m concerned. Ellis is both too good and too close to a free agent payout to accept any sub-par offer for his services, no matter what his twitter account says.


Robert L is already penciling Ellis in at $1.8 million in his ideal world. But I ask why a goalie like Ellis, who earned $2 million last season, would sign a day early to become a certain back-up at a lower salary. If he is really a man with no ambition, then perhaps we’d be better with Cedrick Desjardins. If, as I suspect, he does have aspirations, then $1.8 million won’t do it. Nor will a promise of 14 games.

Bob McKenzie agrees with my take on this (or rather I with his), and thinks Ellis has much more attractive options elsewhere. Others agree too.

To make it attractive for Ellis to miss the free agency he’s so far been determined to test, the Habs will have to make an attractive offer. Playing time is nice, but in this world attractive means $$$. Let’s assume then that Ellis and his agent are looking for somewhere in the neighbourhood of $3 million. The Habs with their tax, and the pressure of a single day to trade would do well to lock him up at that price even. At $3 million, this potential acquisition looks a whole lot different.

Now I know Halak hasn’t signed yet. And I know we’ve been told that Pierre Gauthier assumes he knows the market, and that he assumes he knows what Halak will be asking for, and that he assumes he knows what he will sign for. But with a $3 million range Dan Ellis suddenly sitting on the books, this lays the non-call to Halak as an even greater nonsense from the wayward GM. If Gauthier has to make a deal to stay under the salary cap because Ellis and Price push him over, it also makes mockery of the budgetary argument for trading the better goalie in the first place.

Anyway. We all knew that was smokescreen from the minute it was proposed. That the Halak trade had less to do with cap room than it had to do with other considerations. So let’s get on with it.

Coming out of the Halak trade we all made our own assumption. The assumption, based on sound bytes from a GM, was that a good goalie was traded for prospects because the organization felt it had another good goalie, possibly even a better goalie, to throw its money and effort behind. We all thought Price is the bona fide number one goalie now.

This facet of the Halak:Price decision was panned in some quarters, but by and large lauded by the denizens of this fair site. It was lauded for the transaction of potential (one ceiling alleged to be higher than another) and most importantly for its cost-saving realism.

I need some convincing on the former theory, but I am relatively comfortable with the latter. After all, even if we assume Carey will show a consistent level of modesty to match his 3-year introductory period, he still won’t wrangle the biggest raise out of the Habs. Yet even his $2.X million could be a problem under the cap. Should Halak have been around, most commenters seemed to gravitate to the conclusion that this team could no longer afford to pay two useful goaltenders. One would assume the same thinking would logically apply to the perhaps slightly cheaper Ellis.

There's the rub. Price and Ellis together is not a league-cheapest goaltender combination, despite what optimists may dream. Two free agents holding all the cards does not generally result in fiscally responsible signings. My guess would be that the two of them together would not be a $4 million combination but closer to a $6 million one. At this point, my annoyance over the original Gauthier (Gainey) decision on back-end direction is coming to boil again. Price/Ellis wouldn’t be cheap, and though it would provide the necessary insulation against a year of growing pains ¬ I thought that luxury was too rich for the team.

Perhaps then the Ellis maneuver is more to do with an impasse with Price than it is to do with Ellis himself. Perhaps it’s not Halak or Price, but neither Halak nor Price. I think even the most embattled goalie supporters among us might agree that if that is the case, then the Habs management needs to be reined in.

So between the salary cap and pending free agency, I don’t think there are many scenarios where Dan Ellis signs a contract in the next few hours. Certainly not many where both or even one of the two camps - Halakkies and Pricites - come out happy.

Seregi Kostitsyn Traded For... Nothing

So Sergei Kostitsyn was finally traded.

If anyone thought we’d seen the end of trading down after Ribeiro was traded for Janne Niniimaa then they’d be wrong. Sergei was traded as an RFA, mind you, for the chance to sign Dan Ellis and Dustin Boyd two days ahead of schedule. Consider that the Habs don’t even have room for Ellis (more on that later), and it’s the chance to sign Dustin Boyd.

But wait, if they do sign Boyd, it’s a compensatory draft pick due to Nashville.

So we’re down to Sergei Kostitsyn for nothing. Maybe we get a draft pick if Nashville manage to sign the Belarussian.

If the Habs wanted Boyd, they could have signed him first thing July 1st for the same salary and avoided having to give up a draft pick. If they wanted Ellis, they could do the same, though they might want to check back on all that talk about salary caps surrounding the last trade.

Whatever the case, it’s a downgrade in talent that was necessitated by the Canadiens inability to keep another youngster in line. Think the Habs are the only team with spoiled brats acting up at every turn? Hear of Patrick Kane? No, the Habs are only unique in their complete inabaility to contain matters and turn what may be a quiet and productive trade into nothing.

I didn’t love Sergei as a player. Nor did I subscribe to the idea that we should persist with his painful development. But trading players for nothing is a fool’s game. And our team is at it again…

Game #2055 Shots Against; But Price Softens The Blow

Details

Date: 14/11/09
Opponent: Predators
Location: Nashville

Loss: 0-2

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

Habs goalscorers: None
Opposition goalscorers: Sullivan (2)

Play of the game

Considering only one player came to play tonight it is fitting that he features in this section. You guessed it; it is Price. Remember that ridiculous save in the 2nd period? The one were he absolutely stoned Dumont? Nashville, on the PP, set this play up perfectly, but Price actually had the last laugh. He proved to me, and to all of us, that sliding across to make a huge save is in him and that it is indeed possible. The puck was passed from right to left and JP one-timed a low, hard shot. Carey, however, was too quick as he came across with a huge pad save.

Dome hockey team

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



Forwards

Tomas Plekanec
Not his usual self, but still better than most. Why on earth Martin took Andrei away from him I'll never know though. Was Andrei really playing that bad? Look around you Jacques, there was plenty worse. What I liked most about Pleks tonight was that he tried, he didn't deliver, but he tried.

Glen Metropolit
Good effort by Glen again, but we shouldn't be surprised that he didn't score. A third (sometimes fourth) line guy like him shouldn't be expected to score nor should we expect him to be one of our best players night in, night out. He has been really good till now, but I think relying on him is unfair to him and, overall, it won't do the team well. I'll take this level of play from him for the rest of the year, but I also need to see better players play better than him ALL of the time; not just some of the time.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Man, could we use a goal from our once most touted scoring prospect. Well, the goals aren't coming, but the shots and the attacks are. That is more than I can say for most players on this night. He is doing OK right now, but, let's face it, we need him to be great.

Defencemen

Josh Gorges
It is hard to really say anyone did well in our own end tonight, but I will. That is because I think that Josh played a decent game defensively; there were a couple of plays that stood out to me when he broke up odd-man rushes. He happened to be our most used penalty-killer (5+ mniutes) and wasn't on the ice for any goals.

Marc-Andre Bergeron
Not great in his own end, but not that much worse than the rest. He did, however, give Rinne something to think about as he took 4 pretty decent shots on net. I am still not sure if his offensive upside is worth having him in the line-up each game, but if he gets four shots on net every night it will help to convince me otherwise.

Goaltender

Carey Price - Game Puck
Unbelievable. The only reason this game wasn't a blowout (and I really mean the ONLY) was Carey Price. The Habs surrendered the second most amount of shots in team history (55) and matched that with a pretty invisible offence. This game could have been put out of reach very early on, but Price kept us within one-lucky bounce of actually getting points for a very long time. I am pleased with his play as of late and only wish that the team will start to give him the support that he deserves.

Comments

Not much to say really. I guess this is just another case of one team being way better than the other. It has happened to me and my team this year where we have either been way too good or way too bad for opponents. In these types of games there is little that can be done to alter what seems to be a pre-determined result. Their D was solid, ours lacked structure and conviction. There O was quick, fluid and dangerous, ours seemed lost as passes and shots often went way off target. Their goalie, however, wasn't better than ours, maybe as good, but he wasn't challenged nearly as much. Our lack of ability cost us penalties (6 to their 2) as we just couldn't keep up. I am starting to think that we need some help on offence because maybe, just maybe we aren't as strong as we had hoped. I mean, if only we had a guy who could gain the zone at will, hit puck-sized holes or steal a game single-handedly or maybe a guy with the heart of a lion, the ability to pass to more than one of his wingers or the tenacity to go to the front of the net and stay there. If only.

Who Won The NHL Draft?

Now that all's said and done, who won the affair the other night?

I have looked around for a verdict from someone else, and only found this so far. An article full of obvious choices that could have been entitled: "Who won the Draft Lottery?".

Given that the team who wins the draft is a bit subjective and very hard to ascertain until about 5 years on, it's difficult to say. For me, the winners are the ones who punch above their weight, who get good players without having to put in a dire season, who uncover players others didn't.

As we all know the first round was a bit of a formulaic affair, with most picks coming in the order that has been anticipated for near 2 months. So coming out of the first round, there wasn't really a clear out-and-out winner for me.

Some would be tempted to go with the Anaheim Ducks who made Philly overpay for Pronger to an almost criminal level. That may be, but they also have two picks that I don't rate at all – 2 two-way forwards in the first round is not good play. Paradoxically, some also rate Philly in the same sentence for nabbing Pronger. It certainly is a big pick-up, but they've dug themselves a mighty hole and anyone who do basic arithmetic can see that getting out will undo any good that it seems they've done right now.

Others might say the Islanders. And while they did the right thing by picking the prodigious Tavares, they traded up repeatedly only to get a player that should have been available later. That, and they took De Haan ahead of Kulikov, which I consider a massive slip.

The Canadiens are a winner in that they managed to get a Quebecer who may one day be a star (and thus unlikely to want to sign with us). They struck a PR coup and should have silenced all but the most possessed RDS commentators for the next while. A small victory.

I have this round in an almost dead-heat.


The second round and beyond really started to separate the men from the boys of NHL scouting departments.

In fact, the first two picks were very solid. The Islanders took the pro-ready Koskinen at #31, which for them is gold dust at this point. Detroit followed with a first rounder in the second thanks to some iffy picks from Calgary, Boston, Anaheim and Carolina.

By the end of the second, I like Atlanta, Colorado, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, Islanders, Ottawa and Tampa Bay. Each had produced a minor steal. Each had largely avoided drafting players that could be signed on August 8th of any given year and each had risked a bit.

It didn't look good for Montreal really, but they'd only had one at bat. The third and beyond saw the Habs and Timmins come out with some massive swats, trying to hit home runs while others tried to bunt a single.

You all know my biases from the previews, and so you know I think that Montreal did get contact with Leblanc but that also they hit a few potential homers on the weekend. Nattinen, given his size and talent should not have been available at 65th, and I'm not surprised that Timmins was as shocked as I was. We can thank a myopic view of Europe (with vastly overvalued Swedes) and teams settling into present-day hole filling mode far too early.

I think Timmins also cleared the monster with Avtsyn, though he played a dangerous game by taking a Connecticut high schooler before him. I suppose he put a man on base for Avtsyn to knock in. Russia has tough leagues that are only stocked full of more talent at the moment given the lack of flow to North America. For a 6'2", 200 lb winger to put up 56 goals in as few games as he did could not be passed up. From that point, Timmins hit a double to the wall to meet an important organizational need in Gabriel Dumont and took 3 more whopper swings on unknowns, including a goalie that could be a very good gamble.

Montreal wasn't the only team swinging away, though, and they were hardly the winners of this draft at all. They do in my opinion fit somewhere in the second echelon of teams, though we'll have to see whether their home runs clear the fence or even result in a hit before the final verdict. At least they swung!


My top 5

The best 5 teams, in no particular order, over the two days were:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Kept their pick and took Hedman, a number one caliber player at number two. But then they traded for another first and rounded out by taking two players I rate: Panik and Hutchings. I think they have at least 4 NHLers from this weekend here.

Ottawa Senators
Despite missing Kadri (Burke's never heard of reverse psychology) they got the better player in Jared Cowen. They then made up for missing Kadri by picking Jakob Silfverberg and stealing top goalie Robin Lehner. To add to their haul they nabbed 52-goal man Mike Hoffman from Drummondville (9 picks ahead of teammate Dumont).

Atlanta Thrashers
Evander Kane had an amazing year and is a top caliber player. But their kudos really come from picking Klingberg and my favourite Jeremy Morin – 2 very good players that shouldn't have probably fallen as far as they did. Add goalie Pasquale, who many thought could be the first goalie taken and they had a good draft indeed.

Edmonton Oilers
Award for being most on my wavelength. They also got the first mini steal in Paajarvi-Svensson, only to go on and nab Olivier Roy and Toni Rajala very late. Add to that Anton Lander – one of those Swedes Timmins surely coveted. Edmonton is stocking well and will start to make noise very soon, surely.

Nashville Predators
Solid right the way through, they never really batted safely. Their first pick Ryan Ellis will be very good, but fell past more conservative GMs. Ditto Zach Budish and Charles-Olivier Roussel (who I really thought would be a nice Hab). Their late picks were taken in the same spirit.

Game #43Montreal Holds On Against A Feisty Nashville Lot

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Thursday January 15th, 2009
Opponent: Nashville Predators
Venue: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

Team Stripes

Final Score: 3-2 - Win

Habs starting goalie: Jaroslav Halak (W)
Opposition starting goalie: Pekka Rinne (L)

Habs goalscorers: Guillaume Latendresse, Andrei Kostitsyn, Andrei Markov
Opposition goalscorers: Jean-Pierre Dumont, Vernon Fiddler

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

Plekanec, who was 10/16 at face-offs on the night, won a very big draw with about a minute and a half left. The Predators had already pulled their goalie which meant it was our 5 skaters vs. their 6. Because of the face-off win the Habs were able to take the puck into Nashville's end where they spent most of the rest of the game. In fact, I have never seen so many chances on an empty net before. The face-off win, thus the possession, allowed the Habs to avoid what may have very well been a 90-second onslaught which would have surely resulted in quality chances and quite possibly a goal. From what I have seen so far from the Habs this year we aren't a very good team at getting the puck out (without icing it) when we are down a man. So, for a change the play-of-the-game is neither a save nor a goal, it is simply a clutch play that avoided what could have been a very bad situation.

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

Alexei Kovalev
For those referring to stats (0 points, 1 shot, 17 minutes) I may have chosen the wrong man. For those of you, however, that watched the game I think you'll agree with this selection. This was a game that Kovy probably shouldn't have played. He has felt ill for a few days and was actually sent home earlier today and we all thought he wouldn't play. Being the warrior that he is though he came and played and he not only played a good game considering his condition, he genuinely played a great game. Kovy wasn't on the ice for any of our goals, but then again he wasn't on for any of theirs. His solid defensive play - which included a lot of possession in the other end - was evident both on the PK and again when we were man down at the end of the game. He gave everything he had tonight and I think it was another great example of just how good of a leader he really is.



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

Robert Lang
Robert bounced back from a difficult game in Boston with a fine performance tonight. He was at the centre of the Habs best line as he and the Kostitsyn's really made it hard for the Nashville defence. He assisted on two goals tonight to push his total to 18 and was able to keep pace with Markov for the team lead in points at 34. There was one play in particular where he batted the puck out of the air and then with a second mid-air touch got it to one of the brothers. It was a simple play for a player who is obviously a lot more talented than we all thought.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Andrei's strong play continued tonight with yet another goal. All of a sudden he has 15 goals and is almost a sure bet to hit 30 this year. In fact, if he keeps playing the way he is now for the last 39 games he may very well net 40. His goal was another great example of his incredible accuracy - it was a far-side, top-corner wrist shot. He was fast, hit and led the team in shots - another perfect game.

Alexei Kovalev
So, no points, but Alex did put together the two best offensive plays of the night. Considering how strong he was in the courage, leadership and defensive departments this was merely a bonus. The first play ended with a great save from Rinne, but started with some classic Kovalev moves around 4 Predators. It resulted in a PP as Kovy was tripped as he unleashed his shot. The second great play came with Nashville's goalie on the bench. Alex was able to fight off two defenders on the right half-boards before sending a perfect pass to Lang in the slot. A missed empty-netter by Robert cost Kovy a point and, thus some justification in a lot of people's minds for him being given the game puck.

Defencemen

Mike Komisarek
Can someone give a tape of this game to Mike. Tell him to watch it over and over and that if he plays like that from now on he may actually make the all-star game legitimately one day. Mike was very, very solid tonight. I really, at times, couldn't believe my eyes. He was able to get in his 4 hits and 6 blocked-shots, but it didn't cost him or the team. In addition he worked quite well in the offensive zone. He picked up an assist for his efforts and also put 2 quality shots on net. I think Carbo must have noticed this solid play too as he used Mike for almost 26 minutes; more than any other Hab.

Andrei Markov
Markov scored quite a lucky goal, the game-winner, which probably earned him 1st star honours. The star selectors (aka: stat readers) obviously think that shooting a puck off two defenders is what makes a player great. Although I don't agree that Andrei was our best tonight, I do agree that he was superb. In addition to his goal he made one heck of a pass to Kostitsyn on his goal; in my mind that was his big play of the game. Andrei was also on the ice for all of our goals and none of theirs which just shows how important of a player he is. My main point is that his goal was likely only the 10th best thing he did tonight. Even had he not scored he was already a lock for the dome and was a serious game-puck contender.

Goaltender

Jaroslav Halak
Thank goodness for a good back-up. Now that we know that Price will miss (and has missed) significant time it is such a relief to have a goalie like Halak there. Can you imagine if we had to turn to Aebischer or Denis? I think we could kiss about 6-10 points good-bye. Halak by no means stole this game for us, but without his solid play a win may not have been in the cards. He remained calm and collected all game long as I saw no real signs of nerves. Luckily for us he wasn't tested too much over the last few minutes, but I am sure, that had he been, he would have been up to the challenge.



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

One thing that I have noticed a lot of lately is our players' ability to take passes out of the air with their sticks or hands and to play the puck and receive passes in full-stride with their skates. Just a few years ago a pass to the skate meant a turn-over and a flying puck was often swung at to no avail. Now, however, it seems that even our 'weaker' players are able to do all of this stuff with ease. Tonight there was Gorges taking the puck off his skate at full speed and leaving it for Latendresse (goal). There was also Latendresse himself who used his skates so effectively to keep and move the puck in the corners and behind the net. Bouillon had a moment where he was able to catch a hard-shot flying puck and turn it into a rush in our favour. These skills are no longer reserved for the Kovalev's on our team it seems. I think though that Alex may have something to do with all of this. The main change I see over the past 5 years on the Habs (vs. the years before) is the addition of a player of Kovy's talent. I know for a fact that practicing with talented players only makes you better yourself and that in time you can catch up with some of their tricks. This stuff is of course all child's play to a guy like Alex who has surely moved on to bigger and better skills, but I am convinced it is his presence on our team that has led to a lot of these team-wide skills. So, after looking at Kovalev's goals and assists don't be too quick to evaluate, you should also take some time to think about how he led, and changed this team over the past 5 years for the better.

Overall Comments

I personally thought that the Habs had a better team effort on Tuesday against Boston, but tonight we got the result. That of course is likely due to the fact that the Bruins are the superior team, that game was on the road and tonight we benefited from a bit of luck. We started the game well and actually doubled the Preds in shots in the first period (12-6). It took us a while to get the lead, but at the end of the first a long shot from Gui found its way in. Until then Nashville had not looked threatening at all and I think everyone had the feeling that it was only a matter of time. A matter of time, yes, but still we couldn't just sit on our 1-0 lead. That is, however, what seemed to happen. Over the last two periods we were out-shot 19-8 as the Predators scored 2 goals to match our 2. The good thing for us is that we played a relatively clean game and that meant very few penalties or odd-man rushes. Jaro was positioned well enough throughout the game that when he got a good look at a shot we were fine. In the end it took a lucky bounce by Markov to win it, but I think that even without that we were never in a real danger of ending this game with less than 1 point. It was a solid game, but more importantly it was 2 points. Next up is a trip to Kanata to see if we can add to Ottawa's woes.

Gainey Does Admirably

One day into the NHL free agency season and one prediction right:

July 1 was an overblown let-down. How could it not be?

Very few people care about where very few of the names on those UFA lists go anyway. At the very least, TSN showed some good sense in airing Wimbledon instead of foisting Pierre Maguire on poor viewers for the entire day like the equally uneventful trade deadline.

Even with the disappointing lack of big-name contracts, it is still possible to start pointing to who the winners and the losers of this free agent "frenzy" (and I hesitate to use that word) might be.

Off-season winners (as of July 1, 2008)

1. Phoenix Coyotes
These guys probably would have been winners regardless of any free agency stuff. Adding Olli Jokinen for disappointmenting Dmen was a coup. The fact they added Sauer, who can easily replace Boynton, for nothing shows real planning and thinking.

2. Edmonton Oilers
How about we trade Pitkanen, Stoll and Greene for Visnovsky and Erik Cole? That's fan forum stuff, yet they pulled it out of the bag. Cole gives them a winger who can convert Hemsky passes. Visnovsky replaces Pitkanen and more.

3. New Jersey
Holding onto valuable players they like (Pandolfo) and acquiring Holik and Rolston make this team better. Intelligent moves from an intelligent GM.

4. Chicago
The Hawks fans are biggest winners here. Chicago could have easily ridden their prospects for another few seasons. Adding Campbell shows their commitment to regain respectability. Adding Huet is puzzling with Khabibulin in place already, but hey they have the cap room and just landed the best goalie available.


Off-season losers (as of July 1, 2008)

1. Nashville
What on earth is this team doing? Little more than a year ago they were vying for the league title, acquiring Forsberg and all. This off-season they've committed lots of money to a one-year wonder in goal, cutting loose their previous one-year man. They've also lost Zidlicky for peanuts. Adding nothing only adds to the sting. Maybe they are planning a surprise for us soon.

2. LA
Does Dean Lombardi know something we don't? Did the Kings actually win the league and Cup? Letting Cammalleri go was puzzling for a team with such dire quality up front. The players they added look like final last pieces for a Stnaley Cup contender, not the foundations for a new go.

3. Ottawa
Losing your best defenceman, the guy you thought would be the goalie of the future and your only proven talent beyond the first line hurts a lot. Adding Auld does nothing to assuage this kind of pain.

4. Atlanta
This pathetic franchise, which needs to lay down some kind of plan soon, has done nothing. Looking at their roster, it's still two wingers and no one else to lead the charge.


And Gainey?

From my viewpoint, Gainey's done a good job to hold off on signing the lesser lights of July 1 just for the sake of it.


If I look at what he has done so far, I think a case could be made that he signed the best player available yesterday in Andrei Kostitsyn – certainly if performance as well as potential for improvement are factored together. To sign him at 3/4 the cost of Michael Ryder is a bit of a coup, actually. To get his services for 60% of a Jeff carter contract shows the difference in quality of the respective GMs.

If we think about it, Tanguay is also one of the top three acquisitions made at forward since the end of the season, up there with Jokinen and Cole.

Sure losing Ryder hurts, but we were never going to be happy for a minute with $4 million for even 30 goals from Ryder. Losing Streit hurts more, but we hope this is pain for gain as the money saved is used to benefit the team.

And when you measure Gainey against his peers, he looks even better. He has resisted the AD/HD signings that the Rangers and Flyers cannot, he can apparently spot talent a whole lot better than anyone ever sitting in the chair of Leaf GM, and he hasn't overcommitted to third tier stars just to placate the screaming hordes. While we can lambaste him now, imagine if Gainey had signed Ryan Malone for 7 years, made Brian Campbell the highest paid player in Canadiens history or highly overpaid for Commodore. We should consider ourselves lucky considering how few teams came out of Day 1 unscathed.

So all in all, Gainey has done well. He's been sensible, just like we asked him to be. What's more, he's seen his rival GMs fill their cap space with no important free agents yet tied down. Well done. More of the same please...

Game #26

The Canadiens Game in Review

Date: Saturday December 1st, 2007
Opponent: Nashville Predators
Venue: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC


Team Stripes


Final Score: 4-5 (SO) - Loss

Habs starting goalie: Cristobal Huet (SO)
Opposition starting goalie: Chris Mason, Dan Ellis (W)

Habs goalscorers: Christopher Higgins, Tomas Plekanec, Guillaume Latendresse (2), (Saku Koivu - SO)
Opposition goalscorers: Jed Ortmeyer, David Legwand, Greg deVries, Radek Bonk (1, 1 - SO), (Martin Erat - SO)



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 Shorthanded Goal conceded by the Habs this season
1st 3 Goal-3rd Period Lead blown by the Habs this year
1st Multiple Goal Game for Latendresse on the year
1st Time Tom Kostopoulos has been a healthy scratch as a Hab



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

We managed to score 4 goals tonight, all of them even strength, all of them were nice. The play of the game goes to our first goal, Higgins'.

Markov hit Plekanec in the neutral zone and then he turned around and served Kovalev with a great outlet pass up the right wing. There Alex did very well to beat his man and cut towards the net. At the last second Kovalev lost control of the puck, but Higgins was right there to pick it up. Higgins, who had his back turned to Mason, spun around and swept a low puck right through the keeper's legs.



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

Guillaume Latendresse

Guillaume gave us something that we haven't seen in a while; a consistent even-strength performance. He scored 2 goals tonight, a season best, and was a threat on most of his shifts. At his best, which he was tonight, Guillaume gives the Habs something a little different - a robust checker with a good set of hands. He had great chemistry tonight with Chipchura and I would like to see that duo stay intact. Let's forget numbering the lines, let's just find some good combinations and role with all 4.



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

Alexei Kovalev
- He set up our first two goals and again stood out in Nashville's end. He had a chance on the shootout, but he didn't connect, can't blame him though because tonight without him it is just a plain old L

Guillaume Latendresse
- Something has happened to this young man in the past 2 weeks. After starting the season with just 2 goals in his first 16 games he has managed to score 5 in his last 8 and look more like the player we saw last season. The only problem is, however, as Latendresse is enjoying a good spell, the Habs are not. Scoring in a loss in one thing, being the reason we win is totally different, so far this year he hasn't won us anything

Saku Koivu
- He scored on the shootout with his patented move which continues to stun goalies. I felt that despite a 'demotion' Koivu played quite well tonight. He was reunited with Streit up front; a combo that worked very, very well for us last year while Higgs was hurt He created a ton of chances both on the PP and even-strength. We need Saku at his best to be a dominant team and tonight he was more or less there - the only problem is; he isn't the only piece to the puzzle

Defencemen

Francis Bouillon
- Unlike a few years ago Francis in no longer an impact player night-in, night-out. Tonight, however, he seemed to play with more of his old spirit than we are used to seeing these days. With Streit moved to forward and Markov not fully fit Bouillon was asked to play more the role of #3 D-man tonight and he responded to the added responsibility quite well. Great in his own end, but was nowhere to be seen up past our own blue-line

Roman Hamrlik
- Roman was on the ice for all 4 of our goals and finished the night with 2 helpers and was a +2. His play for Chipchura which led to Gui's first of the night was especially clever; he floated it off the boards into the neutral zone, hitting a top-speed Chips. Another solid night in our end and wasn't the cause of any part of the collapse

Goaltender

Carey Price
- I didn't think this one was happening. It seems like every game that we have lost recently can be traced back to the keeper. We are always told as kids not to blame the goalie, well back then I thought that was a load of rubbish and I still do today. Your goalie is what can make or break your night and if you score 4 goals you expect a perennial All-Star to keep you in it. If you are the worst player on the ice, I am sorry to all the coaches in the world out there, you get blamed. Huet gave us another sample of his sub-par puckhandling skills on our PP; the mistake led to their first goal. Had we ended that power-play with the scoreline still at 3-0 I bet it would have stayed like that right until the end. Cristo could not give us a chance to win in the shootout either, letting in 2 goals; 2 against in the shootout this year in the league means a loss. Price, it should have been you tonight, and would someone please tell Carbo to always do the opposite of what he thinks, I mean it can't get any worse. Where is Felipe when you need him.



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

Alex added 2 more points to his total for the year and finished at +1. He was strong all night against Nashville. The Predators are a fast team up front, but have a lot of question marks on their blue-line. Kovalev exploited their D tonight and gave the Habs a serious chance to win. No major body-checks this time, but I am totally okay with him saving those for The Leafs.

Kovalev's Assessment - Very Good


Overall Comments

Our offence was not a problem tonight at all. We had 4 good lines and we stuck with them all game. I really liked what I saw from Carbo this game, I thought it was very progressive of him. Like Buffalo (especially while they still had Briere and Drury) Guy looked for 4 good duos and filled the 3rd spot on each line with a lesser player. Duo 1a featured Plekanec and Kovalev or Kovalev and Higgins or even Higgins and Plekanec, it depends which way you look at that one. That was our best trio with 3 excellent players having great seasons. Duo 1b saw Koivu reunited with Streit; they worked well all last season and showed that again tonight. Duo 1c saw a pair of Belarusians - Kostitsyn and Grabovski. This duo offered us something we haven't seen much of this year - raw speed and raw talent, it worked well. Duo 1d is maybe the combo that I am most excited about - Chipchura and Latendresse. These 2 have been playing very well together as of late and really give us a viable 4th option.

Another great move by Carbo tonight was reassembling the former top 2 lines for power-plays. To me this is a genius idea. Instead of going with the same lines that we see at even-strength for the man advantage he is going back to the well of previous success. As we all know our PP has been doing well, so why switch those units up. This also gives us 6 lines of attack to work with rather than the usual 4, so if something isn't working on a particular night there are more options to look at. I like this approach way better than changing the lines in haste during the run of the game and I think with 4 even-strength goals most would agree.

Yes I had to say it, this is a game we should have won. Every one of you knows that and I guarantee that every Hab knows it too. Unfortunately having them realize that still doesn't get us anywhere. Will this loss make us play any better in our next game? Judging by precedent: no. Each game is so different; if you want proof look at last night and tonight. Last night we played horribly making us all wonder where the goals would ever come from. Tonight we were solid (offensively) showing no ill-effects of last night's loss. So, obviously we have the ability to put the past behind us, which is good, because that is what we are going to have to do, and fast. This game was lost by one player, a player who usually can be trusted, so he can be forgiven.

'We should have won that game and every one knows it' - to me that shows confidence, I hope. The game of hockey is nothing more than confidence and if the Habs truly believe that they could have and should have won the game then they aren't too far off from would have won. Let's keep the same forward-thinking approach for the Wings on Tuesday, choose the non-obvious goalie, play 8 D-men again and we should be fine.

Why I won't shed a tear for the Nashville Predators...

I just read Mr. Eklund's opinion about Nashville. It's a very nice account and bid for support, but I feel sometimes I feel there is a time to let go. If the fans don't show up this year, then I blieve it is probably time.

I'm not cold, just hardened. In Quebec, we lost the Nordiques and then the Expos. Bad things happen to good franchises, so to speak. Of all the nonsense of trying to force hockey on people in states that are closer to the tropics than the snow, Nashville isn't the worst (that would be Hartford to Carolina in my opinion, less passion for hockey and yes, less fans at the games), but Nashville is the second yougest NHL citizen, has been given a ten-year chance and still haven't been able to take to the game as hoped (a la Colorado this time around). I think they should be relocated to a Canadian city to be honest, now that Canada seems to be able to compete.

For perspective, Nashville is the 35th city ever to be associated with the NHL. City, not franchise – many cities have had 2 at one time (New York, Montreal), or franchises at different points in time (Pittsburgh, Ottawa). (Source: Rauzulu's Street)

1. Montreal
1. Ottawa
1. Quebec
1. Toronto

5. Boston

6. Hamilton

7. Pittsburgh
7. New York
7. Chicago
7. Detroit

11. Philadelphia

12. St. Louis

13. Minneapolis St. Paul (Minnesota)
13. LA
13. Oakland/San Francisco (California)

16. Buffalo
16. Vancouver

18. Atlanta

19. Kansas City
19. Washington

21. Cleveland
21. Denver (Colorado)

23. Hartford
23. Edmonton
23. Winnipeg

26. Calgary

27. Newark (New Jersey)

28. San Jose

29. Tampa

30. Anaheim
30. Miami (Florida)
30. Dallas

33. Phoenix

34. Raleigh-Durham (Carolina)

35. Nashville

36. Columbus


Looking at it slightly differently, you can see their historical claim is weak:

Northeast Div

Montreal (1917-)
Toronto (1917-)
Ottawa (1917-32, 1933-35, 1992-)
Boston (1924-)
Buffalo (1971-)

Atlantic Div

New York (1926)
Pittsburgh (1926-32, 1967-)
Philadelphia (1932, 1967-)
New York 2 (1972)
New Jersey (1982)

Southeast Div
Atlanta (1972-1980,1999-)
Washington (1974-)
Tampa (1992-)
Florida (1993-)
Carolina (1997-)

Central Div

Detroit (1926-)
Chicago (1926-)
St. Louis (1935, 1967-)
Nashville (1999-)
Columbus (2000-)

Northwest

Minnesota (1967-1993, 2000-)
Vancouver (1971-)
Colorado (1976-1982, 1996-)
Edmonton (1979-)
Calgary (1982-)

Pacific Div

Los Angeles (1967-)
San Jose (1991-)
Anaheim (1993-)
Dallas (1993-)
Phoenix (1996-)

A city like Hamilton, Quebec or Winnipeg, who have made the NHL work in the past and whose teams all left in different circumstances, deserve a chance. Even Kansas City who had a team before may deserve a second chance. If the current owner of Nashville wants out and no one person is leading a bid, it probaably doesn't look like a good business proposition. Rescue bids like the current one can work (Edmonton), but they can also go very wrong (Expos). I like Tennessee and would probably like Nashville, but if they don't turn out to the games this year, then theu should take their medicine.

Just my thoughts.