Game Six: Avs vs. Habs

Third Period:

- Decent start by Avs to the period, Habs generally doing a good job preventing high percentage shots. 

- Avs intensifying their push. I'd be tempted to take a timeout if I was Therrien.

- Period now steadying itself as Habs start to grind out possession. Game slowing down significantly, which is just fine from Montreal's perspective.

- Malhatra contines to demonstrate he was an excellent cheap pickup during the summer. Giving the 4th line a nice little offensive boost.

- Really impressive Habs powerplay - again with the intense passing, but shots are also being taken, Pickard doing a nice job keeping his team alive - however barely.

- Price with a ridiculous left pad save on the empty side of the net. He's been quietly excellent tonight, but that save was loud enough to get the Bell Centre buzzing. Outstanding.

Second Period:

- The Avs might have the speed advantage but their talent is too raw to maintain discipline, especially on the transition. Habs ought to catch and pull away tonight.

- So how about that - a powerplay goal. Subban from the line, Pickard handcuffed. 1-1.

- Gilbert is getting alive by the Avs speed, probably his weakest game so far as a Canadien.

- Speaking of, Therrien really should reconsider using him on the PK - at least tonight.

- Horrid neutral zone turnover by the Avs spings Galchenyuk out of the penalty box, who welcomes Pickard to the NHL. 2-1.

- Tinordi pretty much manhandling McLeod in fisticuffs. This is the kind of play that will go a long way towards establishing himself as a regular.

- MacKinnon is pretty much the only player in the NHL that I'd trade P.K. Subban for. MacKinnon's speed and smarts are dazzling.

- Sometimes P.K. Subban does things that leave you at a total loss for words. He's done just that putting the Habs up 3-1. I've never seen a goal like that. Might never again. Just wow.

- Apart from taking some silly penalties, dominative period for the Habs, who've been head above shoulder the much better team since the halfway mark of the first. Avs simply don't have the horses.

First Period:

- So Beaulieu and Weise are the healthy scratches tonight. Calvin Pickard gets his very first NHL start in net for Colorado. Talk about the deep end.

- Tanguay opens it early, after Subban gets caught on a pinch. P.K. oughtta know he can take those risks if Emelin is his partner.

-Terrible zone coverage by Habs so far, yet another terrible start to a game. It's a perplexing pattern. 

- Price keeping it 1-0, but only just. Avs have a frewt chance of extending the lead against such a slat-footed opponent.

- It's astounding to think this MacKinnon kid is only going to get better. The League's next big superstar you'd have to believe.

- This Pickard kid is making a good early impression, including a sparkling breakaway save off Pacioretty.

- O'Reilly with an obvious dive, Desharnais penalized. How the officials can't spot something so obvious is mystifying.

- When he's not almost scoring, Rene Bourque spends an awful lot of time making terrible passes.

- Avs now playing some pretty disorganized hockey, mainly chasing the puck. Shoe's on the other foot- Habs should be scoring right now.

- Habs powerplay would really benefit by winning a faceoff once or twice a year.

- A poor start again by the Habs, but at about the 8 minute mark, they started to overtake their opponent. Just need to solve Pickard, and they should be fine.

 

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Gameday Game Preview:

A lot can happen in the span of a year.

It was just over a year, actually, that Patrick Roy took over the head coaching reigns for the Colorado Avalanche. And man, did they have one heckova start. Through the month of November, Denver put up a League-leading 10 wins in 11 games. Even though their torrid opening season paced cooled down as the season progressed, the Avs still managed to finish 2nd in the tough Western Conference with 113 points.

This season? Well ... things haven't exactly gone to plan so far. Five games in, Colorado has only mustered up a single win. Perhaps even more worrisome for the Avs, they've only scored a piddly 7 goals, which is quite a comedown for a team who had the 4th rated offense in the League last year.

What's gone wrong in the mile high city? The issue probably lay with the moves Colorado made over the summer, which have significantly thinned their roster, especially on offense. The Avs made a splash early in the summer in picking up free agent Jarome Iginla, who is unquestionably one of the finest wingers to every play the game. However, at age 37, it is unrealistic to expect him to continue to score at a 30+ goals per season pace, although playing alongside the incredible Nathan MacKinnon will give his numbers a boost. We'll see.

The Avs next move was their trading of P-A Parenteau to the Canadiens, in exchange for the underproducing, and rarely played Daniel Briere. The move was a bit of a puzzler, since Parenteau was producing the same offensive numbers as Briere, and is 6 years younger to boot. If the early season numbers are any indicator, the Habs won this deal hands down, and that's still not considering the fact the Avs also tossed in a 5th round draft pick to obtain Briere.

The Avs also picked up a free agent centre in Jesse Winchester, who's a cheap and versatile guy, but isn't nearly talented enough to have a good fit with the Avs high octane offense.

So tonight, the Avs head into the Bell Centre hunger, perhaps even a little desperate for a victory against the 4-2 Canadiens, who are coming off their biggest win of the young season, a 6-4 triumph of the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. It's not all roses in Montreal, mind you - the Habs much like last year, are struggling to generate a positive possession game, while their specialty units, in particular their powerplay, has looked for the most part, kinda pretty really bad.

It's always interesting when Patrick Roy comes to town, so it's reasonable to expect a pretty entertaining game tonight. Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

Game Two - EC Quarter Finals: Habs vs. Bolts

 

THIRD PERIOD:

 

- Price picking right up where he left off. If he sees it, he will be stopping it.

- Emelin has made a couple of devastating bodychecks tonight, but he still is by far making the poorest defensive decisions tonight, masked by many fine Price bailing saves. 

- I have to say, I expected more from Tampa this period. Seem to be playing very cautuious, as though the score were actually tied.

- Crowd breaks out in a USA! USA! chant because ... ???

- Habs powerplay, three golden scoring opportunities missed .., a third goal would be the death nail. Let's hope that doesn't haunt us later.

- Gallagher with the death blow. Lindback has to stop that. And he gets yanked. Wow. 

- Rene Bourque. A monster game. Icing on the cake. Might be his best game ever in a Habs uniform. Rest assured, Rene won't be a healthy scratch for the rest of he year.

- Habs have too much depth. They're overwhelming Tampa. Four rolling lines, the Bolts have no answers. There are no answers. 

- Bah. No shutout. Too bad, Price deserved that.

- Bourque ... Bourque ... Soooo close.

- Dominating win. Stranglehold series lead coming home. Habs looked amazing this week. Habsland ought to be getting excited about what might be ....

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs powerplay finally comes to life. Set play Subban shot pass redeflected in nicely by Desharnais. 1-0.

- How the heck does Prust draw a rough on that scrum??? Tim Peel, that's how.

- Tampa forwards are simply going around Emelin at will. One of these times, they're going to score because of that. 

- Pacioretty went down awkwardly off a hit, as in right on his tailbone. He's sitting on the bench in great  discomfort.

- Gorges with a terrible shift - giveaways and soft slot coverage galore. Yikes.

- Tim Peel with an absolutely brutal trip call on Desharnais. Amature officiating at its best (or worst).

- Rene Bourque. Almost no more. That was one of the best Habs goals seen all season. That might have been the best by any Hab this year.  Amazing score. 2-0.

- Weaver and Bouillon a mess, and Price with an incredible left pad save on Pauquette to keep Tampa off the board. Not sure who's the weaker link, but Weaver has not been meshing well with Frankie this series. 

- Habs bench looks really uptempo very energized, very positive. Tampa bench very quiet, subdued, pretty much the exact opposite.

- Habs controlled much of the 2nd - neutral zone checking has really been a significant differing factor in this series. It's giving Tampa's speedier forwards fits in trying to organize any kind of transition, and helping the Habs to gain a defined possession edge. Also, Carey Price. When he's on, this team becomes exceptionally difficult to beat. 20 minutes left and the Bolts are now faced with a desperate situation. Expect them to come out full flung to start the 3rd. They've got nothing left to lose.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Palat is out, Tampa going with 11 forwards and 7 D. 

- Tampa comes out stormin, no surprise. Price steady.

- Lindback doing a decent job so far with rebound control.

- Bourque with an excellent backcheck to possibly stop a goal. Continues to play a strong series.

- Sweet breakaway save by Lindback on Gionta. And even better pass by Bourque to spring the Captain, who was completely and absurdly free.

- Eller line by far the Habs best so far - driving the Bolts nutty with aggressive forecheck, and generating quality chances. 

- Lindback looking far more relaxed and confident tonight. 

- 4 minute high stick to Stamkos. Habs PP can now be doubly inept.

- Too many men. On a four minute man advantage. We have just reached PP rock bottom.

- Putting Weaver on the man advantage with a minute left won't help much.

- Pretty even first, Tampa coming out much harder than game one, and Lindback looks good. This one is stacking up to be a close final score. 

GAME TWO GAMEDAY NOTES

Happy game day!! Anyone else still doing their happy dance from Wednesday night? Oh, poor Steve Yzerman! Awe. Keep your chin up Steve. It'll be okay Steve.

 

Actually, maybe it won't. Couple of injury notes out since Game 1, none of them particularly encouraging for Tampa. First, Ben Bishop won't play for Game 2, and while he "hasn't been ruled out" for later games in the series, whenever you hear a team say "maybe he'll be back!!", it almost always means he ain't coming back.

 

The other bit of bad news is rookie star Ondrej Palat, who was injured in game one, is probable no tonight ... we think? Jon Cooper made that announcement after practice this morning, and after quizzing a reporter as to whether he tweeted the information out, he (humorously?) then did a 180, and said "okay, Palat's in".

 

We're pretty sure Palat's out. Which is huge, because he comprises a significant portion of the Lightening's offense this year.

 

So less offense, and no starting goaltender. It's a rough situation for Steve and his troops.

 

OTHER NOTES:

 

- The Lightening have placed white t-shirts on every seat in their arena for a "White Out" tonight. That'll go just great because nothing instills fear into the eyes of an opponent than the intimidating colour of ... white. Amiright?

 

- Habs scratches for tonight. Doug Murray, George Parros, Ryan White, Jarred Tinordi, Travis Moen.

 

 

 

 

Game Thirty-Four: Habs vs. Islanders

Overtime:

- Desharnais win brilliant determination battles for puck, feeds Pacioretty for the winner. That was all Desharnais.

- Pacioretty with the holster move after potting the game. Nice touch. 

Third Period:

-Eller with thunderous hit on Tavares who didn't have his head up. The contact looked clean but Eller is being given an extra two for head contact.

- Without Price how many wins would the Habs have at this point? I'd reckon no more than 12.

- Tavares looking dangerous out there since that hit. Watch out.

- With Parros gone before he even really began, and Bournival nailed to the bench most of the night, Habs have essentially been running just three offensive lines tonight. Look at the scoreboard. Tells you all you need to know.

- Plekanec with Habs best scoring chance of the night, courtesy a sweet feed by Galchenyuk. Nabokov with brilliant save. 6 minutes left.

- And Navokov flashes the glove off a Markov blast. Just ain't happening.

- So Price tosses a goosegg tonight and he still might (probably) lose. 

- What the hell is Briere doing out there with 90 seconds left??

- A point in the standings. At least. Habs have one goal in last 3 and 1/2 games of hockey played. 

Second Period:

- Parros, one shift, 30 seconds, and he's done for the night. So the Habs have a shortened bench, because Therrien for whatever reason, believes that starting Parros instead of Ryan White makes the Habs a better team. 

Now they have to play the rest of the game without a 4th line.

- Still hard to understand why the Habs' powerplay, which looked so good two weeks ago, looks so flat now. Team seems adverse to dumping and winning the puck.

- Bournival given two minutes for phantom trip. 

- Horrible and foolish pinch by Markov creates a 4-on-2 Islanders break -  they should have converted. Markov ought know better.

- Habs powerplay is oozing zero confidence, or for that matter, coherence. Atrocious.

- So many producers, so much power outages. Eller, Gallagher, Pacioretty, Plekanec. Habs one goal in last 190 minutes. And counting.

- Eller is a mess, and a headcase. Playing with almost no confidence, it's bizarre how things have gone so sour for him this month.

- When two teams utterly incapable of scoring clash. This is what you get. Two periods of frustrating hockey. 

 

First Period:

Couldn't make it to see the first. What did I miss? It would appear not much. Nobody scored, Habs marginally outshot the Islanders by two, but Habs did appear to return to something resembling early season form with their puck possession - 58%, which isn't too bad.

And Geroge Parros started tonight, for some ridiculous reason. And he got into a fight. And he got concussed.

And so it goes ...

On Danie Briere

Alright, let's get the big news this morning out of the way. Word is spreading around Montreal like wildfire today that Daniel Briere has demanded a trade because he doesn't like the way Michel Therrien has been playing him. The source of this speculation comes via Luc Chenier, play-by-play guy for the Gatineau Olympiques.

Nobody has a solid idea about the validity of these rumors, but if they're even remotely true, well Danny - all I can say to you is join the line.

You think you've been short-shifted this season? Ask Ryan White, who's been very solid centering the Habs 4th line this year, but has on more than frequent occasions, been a healthy scratch to make way for the utterly useless George Parros. Go ask Michael Bournival how he feels about his ice time -  after cracking a lineup spot in training camp, and starting the year strong playing along side Thomas Plekanec, Bournival had two ... TWO less-than-average outings in November, and found himself relegated to marginal 4th line duty, and a healthy scratch in Thursday night's loss for ... yeah you guessed it - George Parros.

The point is - SHUT UP. Yeah, you've strung together 10 points this year, roughly the point pace of what you were doing last year in Philly (not many Flyers fans pine over you leaving, by the way), but you are one of the biggest defensively liabilities in the National Flippin' Hockey League. Your season Fenwick is a not-exactly-stellar -23. Your Corsi is -25.

But then Marc Bergevin knew this about you - he knew that you can't play hockey in your own zone - he knew that the Flyers were desperate to unload you while you played there. Or at least, he should have, when he tendered you that very - some might say, overly generous two year contract that most General Managers wouldn't offer to a player who's on the very backend of a slightly better than mediocre career. You and I and everybody else in this room knows why you got that contract offer, and it's got just as much to do with your place of birth as it does your supposed offensive hockey abilities.

So fine - bid yourself farewell, waive that NTC, and give your employer a way out of a mistake that ought not have been made in the first place.

Anyway. Game Preview shortly.

Gameday Game Preview:

Let's get this out of the way. The Islanders are a disaster. Here's a team coming off a hard fought playoff appearance last year, brimming with youth and enthusiasm and a future that looked bright instead of dark, as it has been (1993 removed) for nearly 30 years.

Losers of the past 11 out of 12, there's plenty of reason to believe that unless a total reverse in fortunes happens between now at the end of this calender year, the Uniondale front office will be swept away. The season we've had wasn't supposed to happen like this - the Islanders were pegged to claim a playoff spot. Instead, they're staring at a high draft pick next summer.

9 wins in 33 games, the Islanders can be found near the bottom in most important categories. Offense, 22nd overall. Defense, 30th overall (yes, worse than Buffalo). Powerplay, which last year was 11th ranked, is now 22nd ranked. Perhaps what's hurt New York most of all is their penalty killing unit. At barely more than 70% efficiency, opponents are killing the Islanders whenever they're sent to the box - New York is constantly playing catchup because of their woeful short handed specialty team, and it's turned their season of promise into a pretty big mess.

Not that matters are much better over in Habsland. Losers of two straight, a thumping courtesy the Kings, and then losing rather badly to the completely under-talented Flyers Thursday night, has started the drumbeat of criticism against Michel Therrien again - seemingly unable to figure out a way of getting his team back on track, other than constructing his lines during the game by drawing names out of a hat.

Did you know that a month into the season, the Habs were a top 5 possession team? They're now ranked 18th, and falling fast. Instead of controlling the puck and tempo, the Habs are now a team constantly on the defensive, reacting instead of imposing. The defense, once top-rated, is in free-fall, largely because of the incomprehensibly terrible play by Alexei Emelin, who seemingly dropped off the face of the hockey planet the *instant* he signed a four year contract extension with the team. Good grief.

The Islanders are horrible, but they're up against a Habs team in chaos. Don't be surprised if Montreal loses their third straight tonight, which ought to be good enough to send the city into a full flurry of hockey panic.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST from some rink in the middle of nowhere that will be abandoned next year. I'll be joining in a bit late - about the halfway mark of the 1st period.