Game 43: Habs vs Wild

Minnesota 7, Montreal 1:

FIRST PERIOD LIVE GAME THREAD:

- Redmond in, Ryan Johnston out, which is most definitely a move in the right direction.

- Habs getting "network" coverage tonight, as the game has been picked up by NBC (for what it's worth).

- Folin scores early, 1-0 Wild. Habs were not very good last night in their own zone, in spite of the victory over a relatively meek opponent. The Wild are a different kettle of fish, so it's more bad omens that Minnesota opens the scoring with a pretty easy goal, with the Mitchell line coasting in their zone, and Weber/Emelin playing pretty soft in front of Price.

- Gonna be one of those back-to-back game efforts tonight, I can just see and feel it coming. Unless the Habs start moving, and so far they're not, this game could get ugly fast.

- Too much open ice in the Habs zone - Price is headed for a busy night.

- 9 minutes in, game settling down a little, after a pretty craptaculour start by the Habs. Seem to be tightening up their play in the neutral zone, which is always a good fallback if you're hoping to slow down your opponent's attack.

- They had an excellent game last night, and so far, pretty decent game tonight. That's Plekanec/Byron and Lehtonen, whom appear to have found a little chemistry lightening in the bottle.

- Lehkonen - a forward whom you can visually see is taking strides forward every game he played. How good is this kid gonna be in a couple of years?

- Wowzers, Habs have played a pretty decent game since the Folin goal - they've definitely tilted the ice towards the Wild's zone. Sometimes these poor game starts can rattle a team into gear. Might be what's happening tonight.

- Habs stumbled out of the period, just 30% CF the first 5 minutes. The last 15? Almost 75%. That's a pretty impressive turnaround, and while the Canadiens might be down by one on the board, they have been the better team. So lots of hope still left the Habs might squeeze some points out of tonight's game.


SECOND PERIOD LIVE GAME THREAD:

- Habs started poorly, but as we mentioned earlier, actually started taking it to the Wild at about the 5 minute mark, finishing the period with a 57.6% CF (5v5). Habs top two lines (Danault and Plekanec) were especially good:

- Habs start the period pretty well, seem to have picked it up where they left off, Plekanec line looking sharp, McCarron line just had their best shift of the night.

- Habs get caught off a bad change, with Petry caught out with Beaulieu. Petry overplays Beaulieu's side, springing Stall free down the opposite side, snapshot beats Price high, and it's 2-0.

- Woah, Carey Price. Schroeder with a deflection that somehow squeaks through, at boom, it's 3-0.

- To be fair, the Schroeder goal was off a pretty incredible deflection, but then Staal goal might raise a few eyebrows and questions about Price's lacklustre play of late. Maybe something isn't right, health-wise. Maybe it's just a cyclical thing - even superstars have slumps. Still, I'm sure questions and musings are going to start in earnest after tonight's game.

- Radulov's gets nailed for a 4 minute high stick, Wild a chance to bury this thing well beyond 6 feet under.

- Habs survive the 4 minute penalty, but Niederreiter has all day and night to stickhandle around a flailing Carey Price, eventually finding the back of the net to put this game on permanent ice.

- Period started well, but more or less ended up a disaster for the Canadiens, who have again been guilty of some questionable defensive zone play, haven't done much to test Dubnyk, and with Price having what can only be described as a forgettable night, the Habs are getting trounced. One of those nights, I suppose.

THIRD PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- One of those nights were possession doesn't mean a hill of beans. The Habs just haven't mustered very many quality shots on Dubnyk, the Wild continue to get some excellent puck luck, which they've enjoyed much of this season:

- More back-to-earth fodder, Habs scoring chances through 2 periods are signified by the two blue dots on the right side. Which is to say, Carey Price's performance tonight is largely irrelevant.

- Zucker, 5-0. Beaulieu and Petry have been as a defensive pair, and let's been perfectly forthright here, pretty wretched not only tonight, but for the past couple of weeks. Andrei, are you ready?

- 6-0. Is there a reason why Price is in net? Is there a reason why he started this period?

- So file this one in the books under "F" for Forget It. No point in dwelling, and by no means trying to make excuses, but the Habs are injury riddled, and likely very road weary, given that 9 of their past 10 games have been on the road. The team just waved the flag to start the 3rd, and the Wild are just padding their lines. Stuff happens.


GAME PREVIEW: ARE THE WILD REALLY THIS GOOD, OR JUST LUCKY?

The Montreal Canadiens finish up a very quick back-to-back games road trip tonight as they take on the top-flight Minnesota Wild in St. Paul.

The Wild have been one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League the past few weeks, most recently coming off a franchise 14 game winning streak, which has boosted Minnesota to elite heights in the NHL point standings.

That the Wild are a winning team isn't much of a surprise - they were roundly pegged by many entering the season to be one of the better teams in the Western Conference. But at 25 wins in 39 games, a pretty impressive clip, are they really that good?

The jury, as they say, is out. The Wild have been getting some pretty solid goal production from a lineup that was thought to be more defensively oriented (although the addition of Eric Staal to the team during the offseason was a terrific pickup), which is great if you're a Wild fan. However, some of the underlying numbers strongly indicate that while this Minnesota team is good, they're likely not .641 winning % good.

The first warning sign that the Wild might be overachieving are their possession numbers. Their 48.3 CF (5v5) is only 22nd ranked in the NHL, behind much lesser light clubs like the Flyers, Jets, Panthers and Canucks.

Second warning? Unsustainable production levels. The Wild have a 9.18 Sh%, 2nd only in the NHL to the NY Rangers, further supported by a lights out .940 SV% behind the likely Vezina Trophy winner next spring, Devan Dubnyk. There's nothing wrong, as many Habs fans can attest, to having your goaltender carry more than his fair share of the load, but that's only an advantage as long as your other stats are above the mean, or at a sustainable level.

So when your key forwards like Mikko Koivu has a 20.45 shooting percentage at even strength, well - that's simply not sustainable.

But hey, neither are 14 game winning streaks.

So tonight the Habs take on the suspiciously good Wild. Again, the Habs will be parsing together the same lineup that pretty much walloped the Winnipeg Jets last night, hoping for more production from the likes or Artturi Lehkonen, Phillip Danault and Sven Andrighetto. The Habs will be facing off against this expected Wild lineup:

Parise/Staal/Coyle
Zucker/Koivu/Granlund
Niederreiter/Haula/Pominville
Stewart/Schroeder/Gabriel

Suter/Spurgeon
Brodin/Folin
Scandella/Dumba

Devan Dubynk.

Hey, Carey Price, he of the .904 Sv% since the beginning of December, will start for the Habs tonight.

Puck drops at 8:10, EST.

Game Fifty-Nine: Habs vs. 'Canes

Second Period:

- Pretty dismal sloppy start to the second period by both teams. Lots of poor passing generating turnovers. 

- First goal, Ruutu creating the perfect screen on Price on point shot - Habs defense yet again indifferent about opposing forwards in the crease, and this time in burns them.

- Subban was at least near Ruutu, his partner was literally off in the corner, for some reason. Yes, it was Doug Murray.

- Habs had 54% Fenwick after 20 minutes. With shots on goal this period now 8-2 Carolina, that advantage is almost certainly gone. Miserable period for Montreal.

- Habs accumulative Fenwick now barely north of 40%, which means they're probably around 73% in the second. That's how bad the Habs have been.

- Eller quite simply has lost his game. It's just totally, totally lost - and I'm not sure what can possibly be done to salvage it.

- Carolina running away with this. Habs just chasing, chasing. Fruitlessly, chasing.

- Signing off now - but the way Habs are playing, I fully expect the final score to be at least a 2 or 3 goal margin for Carolina. No contest tonight.

First Period:

- So Bouillon gets a start tonight, 7 defense dressed, for reasons that are of compete mystery to yours truly. I guess to keep Frankie from completely rusting up.

- Sums up their seasons. Bourque with empty net wraparound on the backhand, but fails to deposit the puck in because Lars Eller is standing in the way. 

- More reasons why Ryan White's value is vastly undervalued. His work on that (and others) PK.

- Oy. Pacioretty hits the Canes net hard, looks to have sustained a serious injury. Has left the game.

- Ergo the folly starting 7 defense. If a forward goes down, especially a leading one, is hurt, then you've lost an entire line.

- Weise it appears, will take Pacioretty's spot on the DD line. Habs don't have any room to maneuver.

- meek period all around. Canadiens though, are more concerned with Pacioretty's injury status. Without him, this offensively starved hockey team will be doubly affected. 

================================================================

Game Day Yay:

Last game before the Olympic Break. I'll be covering this game. The first half, give or take. Then like the rest of the NHL, I'M OUT.

Habs look to pad their playoff lead tonight. They really ought win this game, but you know ... the Habs ...

Puck drops at 6:10 EST. LAST GAME FOR LIKE ALMOST EVER. So watch it.

Game Forty-One: Habs vs. 'Canes

Okay, it wasn't the greatest finish to the year, but that still doesn't take away from my wish to you all for a very VERY Happy New Year. We'll see you in 2014!!!!!!


Carolina 5, Montreal 4 (OT)

Overtime:

- Desharnais time?

- How much will it take to get Gionta in the pressbox?

- If Eric Stall is out there, I'm probably not gonna send out Emelin. But that's what they pay Therrien the big bucks for. 'Canes win.



Third Period:

- Sweet jesus, Markov now called for a hook and the Canes once again back to the powerplay.

- Yeah, it's 3-0 but nagging old bad habits remain - 56 faceoffs so far tonight, Habs have won just 20 of them.

- 'Canes 4-on-3 advantage, Therrien elects to play just one defenseman, for some reason. Skinner scores to make it 3 to 1.

- Hoo boy. Habs called for a bench minor (Therrien?). Another 5 on 3, and it's Skinner, again.

- Hate to see a game where the officials make such a huge footprint on the outcome, but here we go.

- Staal. And it's all come apart. And so quickly.

- 'Canes are all over the Habs like cheap Champagne on a Hobo's breath.

- Both teams have basically thrown the game out the window. It's end to end now, last man standing.

- Might as well pull out this line just because. Therrien ought thank his lucky stars this team is six games over .500, because these are the games that coaches get fired over.

- 4-3.  Malhotra. Bouillon running around like a piece of headless poultry. The whole chain of events started after the Habs lost yet another faceoff deep in their zone.

- This might be the most chaotically played period by the Habs in 5 years. Everybody is in full-throttled panic mode, and the pucks are coming at Price from all possible directions.

- P.K. comes to the rescue. The blood flow has found a tunicate. Powerplay (as we predicted) scores again. Gallagher running a little goaltender interference there that wasn't spotted (or called). Tie game.

- Eller tries so hard, and more often than not, tries too much.

- Brian Gionta reminds me way too much of Scott Gomez' final disastrous seasons in Montreal. His shot ... he has none. I don't think his wrister is breaking 50 on the gun, which means he's easy pickings for any NHL goaltender.

- Defense out the window, bot teams have tossed caution into the wind looking for the game winner. Could be a pretty wild final 5 minutes.

- Staal interferes with Moen along the boards and then draws two more for complaining. Habs have the door open, can they step through?

- Just. Keep. Gionta. Off. The. Powerplay. PLEASE. Please?

- Catastrophic powerplay so far.

- Linesman calls deflect off puck in 'Canes zone. No contact was made - should have been delay of game on Carolina. In other words, another blown call. Just ... wow.

- Bottom line, if you have a 3 goal lead in the 3rd, you should win. Everytime. If you're a playoff-bound team, that is. Tonight's game makes me glad to be in the Eastern Conference. Otherwise, Habs would have no hope of post-season action.


Second Period:

- First period splits, 'Canes actually had possession edge by 4 percentage points. Sometimes the curve doesn't reflect reality, as Habs basically controlled play for 15 of those 20 minutes.

- Emelin was the low man on the blue line totem pole, getting less than 4 minutes in the first, least amongst Habs defenders. Safe to say Therrien has clued in, and has lost confidence in the Habs latest long-term albatross contract.

- Desharnais goes to the box for a trip, officials are calling a very tight game.

- Welp ... here we go again. Habs sitting back on the lead, and Carolina has outshot 5-0 so far.

- Gallagher got as about a clear a breakaway as you'll ever see. Ward keeping the 'Canes in this.

- Yet another penalty on the Habs - a not uncommon result when you surrender momentum and struggle to gain it back. Canadiens' PK can't keep coming through all night.

- Hoo boy. Too many men. Forget it. PK is gonna cave now.

- If I'm Therrien, I use my timeout to keep Markov and Georges out the whole 2 minutes. But Carolina burns their to try and nail this huge opportunity.

- Markov and Gorges doing an incredible job out there. Therrien, burn the timeout ... keep them out there.

- Crazy insane great kill by the Habs PK unit - that was almost 2 full minutes of 5-on-3 and the 'Canes barely got a shot on goal.

- Take away the Gallagher break, and the Habs have zero shots on goal in this period, 7 minutes left.

- No way you'll convince me that Rene Bourque is any better a player than Michael Bournival. If Bergevin is looking to move players, Bourque has to be your lead candidate.

- Who else to the Habs have for trade fodder? Bourque for sure, Bouillon .... would the Habs dare to move Gionta? Who else is an obvious candidate?

- It's a funny game some times. The value of winning faceoffs right there. Desharnais clean off the dot to Subban who carries and feeds nicely to Pacioretty to make it 3-0. Period totally dominated by the 'Canes, and yet they might be outscored for it.

- I guess tonight's game is as good as any to indicate that Subban has exited his scoring funk.

- Carey Price has been sneaky brilliant tonight.

- Way .. way too many unnecessary penalties by Montreal tonight. Poking the hand into the flames far too many times.

- Lopsided first for Habs, totally lopsided second for Carolina, yet the Canadiens hold a 3-0 lead through 40. Carey Price has been excellent, as has the Habs penalty kill, which surely is the best in the League. Habs need to clear the first 10 minutes of the 3rd before they can start thinking about cruising.


First Period:

- Daniel Briere gets the pressbox treatment tonight. George Parros and Doug Murray will join him.

- So if Kirk Muller gets the boot either during or at the end of the season ... sorry ... just daydreaming ...

- Big part of Carolina's disappointing start is focused on Cam Ward - he was (just a small while ago) a sure-fire Olympic team candidate. Today? Not even a consideration.

- Sloppy puck control by 'Canes out of the gate. Strong forecheck would generate lots of chances.

- And just as I type that last comment in, Habs forecheck in the corner by Galchenyuk wins the puck in the corner feeding a wide open Lars Eller. For the first time in a month, Eller scores.

- Ice conditions look pretty rough - typical lousy Carolina ice is typically lousy.

- Eric Staal really ought have better control over his body, as he barrels into Price and gets nailed for interference. Habs horrible powerplay goes to work.

- No goals, but good puck possession, and Carolina was giving the Habs some pretty clear shooting lanes. If this continues, Habs should get some point production with the man advantage tonight.

- Hands of Moen strikes again. He just muffed handling the puck, and a terrible hooking call an Faulk who made a nice defensive play taking the puck off Moen's stick.

- And there you have it, Habs strike on the powerplay. Canes not protecting the lanes, and Habs are getting the puck on Ward at will. Pacioretty makes it 2-0. Desharnais with a nice feed towards the 'Canes crease.

- Gallagher has the hustle on tonight. Here's hoping he can find the scoresheet. As noted, just one goal the past month.

- Prust went down awkwardly after taking a hit from Murphy. Slow getting back to the bench.

- Canes getting very physical here, Habs need to keep their heads up.

- Hate playing second guesser, but Emelin on the PK?? Com'on. Predictably Emelin gets nailed for a hold after he gets beat wide for the umpteenth time, and sets the Habs two men down. Oy.

- Turnovers are killing Carolina in this period - Eller gets a break, Ward a nice save, but another penalty drawn.

- That was pretty much an all-Habs first, Carolina was very sloppy handling the puck, and when they weren't turning over possession, they were drawing penalties. Habs more or less in cruise mode, but will they sit on this lead the same way they did in Nashville? (and almost blew it?). Stay tuned.


Gameday Game Preview

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY HALF WAY POINT OF THE SEASON!!

So let's review. At the 41 game mark, the Habs are aiming to win their 24th game of the season, which is very good bordering on the absurd when you consider this team has scored since December 5, or 12 games ago, 10 goals not by Alex Galchenyuk or Max Pacioretty. Stick Thomas Plekanec and Brandon Prust, and that goal total drops to 5 ... over 12 games. That means, 1 goal by David Desharnais, Brenden Gallagher, P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov. Then we start hitting gooseggs - nothing from Lars Eller, Brian Gionta, Daniel Briere, and Rene Bourque.

There are a lot of guys wearing the C and H right now that aren't earning their pay.

Yet, remarkably, this team sits 3 games above .500 for the month of December, and has an opportunity to set a near 50 win pace with a victory tonight in Carolina.

Normally, the Habs would assume tonight's game to be one of those reasonably straightforward road contests - the 'Canes have a less than mediocre 14 wins, a relatively terrible record in the relatively terrible Eastern Conference. So let's run down the mediocrity: 26th rated offense, 20th rated defense, 27th rated powerplay, 20th rated penalty kill, 25th rated Fenwick, 17th rated Corsi. I'm pretty sure Carolina's ownership were hoping for better results, especially after making the big off-season deal for Jeff Staal, uniting him with his brother Eric.

Speaking of Eric Staal, he predictably leads the team with 30 points, 21 of them assists, mainly feeding Jeff Skinner on the 'Canes first line, he with 14 goals. The big problem for Carolina is that they really have only one scoring line - the Staal line. After that, the drop-off is steep, and more often than not, the 'Canes have been playing catch-up games most of the season.

But at least they have ONE producing line. That's something the Habs haven't had since early December.

We'll see what Michel Therrien has up his sleeve tonight. I suspect it's the usual - throw them out there and hope for the best.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

Game Thirty-Five: Canes vs. Habs

Gameday Game Update

Not much to post right now, but lots of speculation around Montreal today that the Habs are amongst three teams seeking Ryan Clowe, who hasn't scored in a year. Didn't the Habs already unload someone fitting that exact description to the Sharks a few months ago?

Ironic note, I'll be occupied near downtown Montreal tonight, not too far from the Bell Centre, and won't be able to post much, if anything about tonight's game. With Price slated to start, one would normally expect a win, but the Canes are playing desperate game right now, sitting outside of 8th place in the East. So you just know they're going to bring it (although there's also gameday speculation that Eric Staal is injured and might not play tonight).

- Update: Apparently it's not Eric Staal, but Tuomo Ruutu who's hurt.

More later.