Habs leave St. Louis singin' the blue and yet again find a way to lose

Date: 09/01/2016
Opponent: St. Louis
Location: St. Louis
Loss: 4-3(OT)

Habs Goalie: Condon (L)
Opposition Goalie: Elliot (W)

Habs goalscorers: Subban, Pacioretty, Plekanec
Opposition goalscorers: Fabbri, Stastny, Rattie, Lehtera

Some Wins Now For Briere

If the Canadiens need some inspiration, and it seems that they may do, they should think about this:

Daniel Briere is 36 years old and not looking at too many more contracts in his future. He also happens to be one of the premiere playoff performers of all time to never hoist a Stanley Cup.

Canucks Video Day: Watch Habs, Lightning

The Vancouver Canucks, the team we have entrusted to spare us from endless braying of the mindless Bruites, have been abysmal of late. It seems their goalie can't make a save and their envy-of-the-league offence can't crack the two-man crew Boston has assembled.

Before this gets too desperate and we need to call on the spirit of Kovalev to undo the black and gold yellow, some sage advice for the former Canadiens coach we all liked better anyway.


Get yourself some video of the Bruins playoff losses

The Canadiens will be more than happy to oblige, I'm sure, plus if you didn't know it's public access now, and you can probably afford the NHL Centre Ice package.

Tim Thomas must appear to be unbeatable right now, but he has weaknesses. Watch a Canadiens game (the Habs scored in every game despite lacking 6 good forwards), watch the Lightning play Tim Thomas to a pedestrian 0.916. Heck watch Toronto figure out the old man in their last three regular season meetings.

Tim Thomas thrives on first stops. First stops from lousy positions. His team ushers players to these places knowing that Tim will make the save. He's good at the rest too, but he has his dislikes:


1) Cross-ice passes

Because he flops rather than shifts across ice, he relies on percentages on cross ice rather than eyesight or other skill. The Canadiens worked the cross-ice pass to near-perfection when they figured it out, even getting a goal from the stingiest goalie in the final two minutes of a game that should have ended in regulation.


2) Low shots

Games 1 and 2 of the playoffs put Thomas's deficiencies into neon light for all to see. With the Habs low shots were rebounds. Always.


3) Patience on the PP

Thomas may be riding an astounding 0.936 for the playoffs, but he's not otherworldly when on the PK. His 0.877 there is Roberto Luongo/Corey Schneider level and behind such luminaries as Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. He's saved his team's bacon a few times, but when it's been PK time, often Boston took a loss. Still, a goal is not a given and patience can allow the team to wait for opportunities to exploit weaknesses 1) and 2).


Well this is easier said than done, isn't it? Because in order to get a cross-ice pass in, or take a good low shot, one has to first beat Chara.

But Chara has his weakness too, you know. Being punched being one of them, of course (good show Kesler).

A rational person might see 6'9" and come up with the idea that the only way to beat Chara is with someone who can match his size and physicality.

This is wrong. He is so much bigger than anything most teams can throw at him, and so conservative and efficient in movement that this actually plays into his hands.

Take the opposite approach. Go small. Small as can be. Cammalleri was the player of the first round despite Chara's protestations. Gionta gave Zdeno fits at times with hits to the knees. Who led the Lightning against Thomas in their series? St. Louis.

Obviously part of the advantage these players have on a guy like Chara is speed, and more importantly maneuverability. I am not so intimately aware of the Canucks line-up, but as long as you don't ask Higgins, find a shifty player to turn Chara inside out a few times, hit him low and bingo, the vast advantage he usually gives his team is diminished.

From there the Canucks can start to pick on judgment-sink and uber-hypocrite Andrew Ference and his band of journeymen.


I'm not saying this is a guaranteed recipe for success. But when one can't see the forest for the trees (or tree-sized skaters) then one sometimes has to be told obvious little things like these. Vancouver has been poor against the Bru9ins largely because they haven't adapted their game to reflect Bruins weakness. No time to waste in seeing that happens now.









Down the Bruins.

RDS's Team Comes Home Set To Play Habs In Montreal

Steve Yzerman is a man after Bertrand Raymond's heart. How else to describe a GM who retains a core of French Canadian superstars to build on with Simon Gagne and the biggest coaching star to come out of the province in a decade?

The Lightning play the Habs tonight in the arena RDS would be happy enough to hand over to them this very evening. I don't think I'll be among those fawning over the Yzermen, but we still need a preview, right?


Key match-ups

Boucher and Martin
It's possible that everybody has already forgotten that they wanted an experienced NHL coach. As Guy Boucher takes to the NHL bench for the second game of his career, it seems the fear that he might be the one who got away is now trumping all those years of growing coaches to no avail. Martin will be in tough tonight, though. Not only is Boucher riding in on a wave of good feeling, he is also a crafty coach, and one that can call Steven Stamkos' name.


St. Louis and Cammalleri
Two very good scorers, Two very effective offensive players. But Mike Cammalleri's deficiencies are known because he plays every other night on Quebec TV sets. The grass is greener with St. Louis, since he doesn't. Within the game, both players are now the ones who make their offenses tick. Cammalleri is the Canadiens most dangerous finisher and St. Louis the generator for the Stamkos powerhouse.


Hedman and Hamrlik
Two well known Lightning top 2 draft picks. Two touted big-framed juniors. Not that the Canadiens could have had Hedman. He remains an object of admiration. Hamrlik will also be in focus as he returns tonight. Both should be anchoring the defensive end for the respective teams. Hamrlik will look to find early 2009-10 form, but will be an improvement over Picard with a mediocre performance. Hedman will be battling age and experience to tie together a mostly offensive minded blueline.


Price and GF
Carey Price is in a delicate place. This season he has a win and a loss taken from games where his team scored timely goals and didn't. In order for his belief in winning to return, the conquer of the idea that the team must decide (i.e., score 3 times) must be banished. Last year against Tampa, Price played 3 times. Twice he played well, once pretty well and he came out with one win, the Lightning got points in every game. As demons go, the Lightning games represent them very well. performing well against another team with straight shooting stars and giving his team a chance to win will be s big step.


Momentum

Little at all. The Lightning have only played once. The Canadiens twice. Neither team has played since Saturday. I don't know how the NHL schedule is made, but this seems a strangely long layoff given both teams have to be somewhere else within a night or two. Maybe there were Icecapades to accommodate? The media momentum is also split. The Boucher phenomenon is fueling the Lightning, while a single win has been enough to light the Habs fire.


Lightning the Habs covet

Steven Stamkos
Big, fast, scorer. When Stu Cowan wrote on the draft, this is the kind of player he was no doubt lamenting. But players like this are hard to come by without losing for a season. He'll be as hard to pry from the Lightning as Lecavalier ever was.

Simon Gagne
A few years ago, I'd have written St. Louis. Gagne is 5 years his younger, though and is just as reliable as a scoring threat. One of the biggest Quebecois stars of the past decade really should have been on the Habs radar when they did their reshake.


Habs the Lightning covet

PK Subban
Guy Boucher owes a lot to PK Subban. An NHL job for a start. PK is the dynamic skating defenceman that every team wants. But teams dressing Randy Jones and Brett Clark just scream it a little louder.

Tomas Plekanec
Last season the Lightning dressed Lecavalier and 50-goal Steven Stamkos at centre. A pretty good one-two punch. Last year the Lightning missed the playoffs by a clear margin. Tomas Plekanec is that rare centre who can swing between offense and defence with ease and in the team-building blueprint, he's a valuable piece to teams who can't stop shedding goals.


Ready-made excuses

Neither team will want to lose, but both can afford to for the moment. i don't think that will have stopped them getting their excuses all lined up:

If Montreal lose:
- Markov is injured
- Guy Boucher is a genius
- The Lightning were better rested
- The Lightning channeled the energy of their home province

If Tampa lose:
- Not in the rhythm of the season
- Boucher is a rookie coach
- Players are still learning system
- It's all written in Yzerman's plan


Impact of this result

I say that both can afford to lose. Of course they can, it's game 2 and 3 for the respective teams. That doesn't mean there won't be an impact.

For Tampa, I think a loss will be quickly swept away. They play Philly tomorrow and only ten fans will have watched it happen anyway (if you don't count their support in our province).

Auld will start the next game and may start to put a credible challenge in on Price. Martin will carry the loss until he faces Boucher again. Hamrlik and Spacek will be panned. And all the good feeling will be turned to bad.

Habs Management Get Fleeced in Unnecessary Trade

So we can put an end to discussions of RFA goaltending dilemmas. Today, Pierre Gauthier traded save percentage ace Jaroslav Halak for 2 St. Louis prospects in a move more reminiscent of the Montreal Expos than anything from the more illustrious periods of Canadiens history.

No explanations have been disclosed, but one must assume there was something in the contract talks that made this move necessary. Perhaps the young goalie was asking the moon.

But as much as I like Plekanec and all the other free agents, Halak's contract should have been the first one onto the books this summer. Adjustments should have been made afterwards.

It would even make sense in terms of trading, as a young star with a contract will most often fetch more than a young star without one (witness return on this trade).

More worrying, perhaps is that the team did not get a goaltender in return (though we still have months for that) as entrusting the full starting load to Carey Price at the moment is a gamble at best.


The return

Lars Eller is a forward from Denmark who once had his touts, but whose name hasn't been heard in these parts for some time. He's already been slotted in on the Canadiens page on Hockey's Future, with the discouraging rank of "Other Notable"

Here's what the scout said on him there:

Eller has decent size, is a good skater with very good technical skills. He also works hard and is in general very well-rounded as a player. His scoring touch is pretty good, but Eller is much more noticeable as a playmaker. He has really good hockey sense and has that special ability to find openings that few other players can. A team player, he plays a good two-way game, but could still use some fine-tuning in his defensive game and play without the puck.

Eller is projected to become a two-way forward, second line, in the NHL one day.

Blah.


Ian Schultz is even less exciting, and to be honest, this is the first time I've ever heard his name.

Hockey's Future has a line on him too:

Schultz gets noticed for his physical play more than for his offensive skill. Schultz could eventually become a power forward, but he may also develop into a solid grinding winger.

Not a great return. Not considering Halak's save percentage had been over 0.920 for near 8 months and his career record in the NHL suggests he might flirt with those numbers again.