Game Seventy-Five: Habs vs. Jets

THIRD PERIOD:

- Not sure if there's much of a point watching is period, I'll probably exit early. But if there's a Habs player out there right now who's due for a benching from awful play, it's Desharnais.

- Jets have been playing the trap since the start of the period because, hey, why not? 

- No rationale right now for the Habs to give the Malhotra line one more shift in this game.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs a shade under 60% possession in the first, to give you an idea of how much they dominated Winnipeg. Just need to keep doing what they're doing, and Montreal should start taking over in the category that's most important - the score.

- Pavalec with his best save of the night on Plekanec. Price looks on and says "that was it?". Anyway, Jets goalie is having a pretty good night, Montreal might want to consider doing a little net crashing.

- Peel appears to have green lighted Winnipeg to haul down anyone they please, without consequence. Fine. As long as that goes both ways, Tim.

- Byfuglien high sticks Subban right in front of Peel. Not called. 

- Maddening night. Jets are getting railroaded, and then Desharnais runs into Petry behind his goal, point .5 seconds later, it's 2-0. 

- Sweet mercy. Markov with a screen wrister that Pavalec can't pick up, and the Habs are on the board. 2-1 Jets in a game they should be trailing by 2 or 3.

- Jets luck train an unstoppable force tonight. 3-1 as puck is footed in. Shots are currently 26-9 Habs. 

- Ladd takes five hard strides and blindside hits Petry in the head. In front of Peel. Assessed two minutes. Incredible.

- Tim Peel. The game has been so poorly officiated that players are now taking numbers, scrums after every whistle. Somebody may very well get hurt before night is done.

- Wheeler. Tokarski whiffs. I ... can't ... begin ...

- Whelp. Ones of those nights. Tokarski bombs, Habs dominate the Jets on the ice and are royally rewarded with a three goal deficit. Time to turn in early, I suppose.

FIRST PERIOD:

- When the Habs gain the zone, their powerplay actually is pretty good. Their big problem, is, or course, gaining the zone. Dump and chase teams like the Habs struggle. Why nobody on the coaching staff has figured this out is a mystery.

- Habs controlling tempo of the first half of the period, doing a good job at centre and entering the Jets zone. Winnipeg hasn't had much on Tokarski, mostly long range tries.

- Byfuglien with a slapper, yes hard, but it gets through Tokarski. The Habs are not a team that does well when weak goals are surrendered. Night looks ominous.

- Winnipeg going very hard physically, the hits are borderline, the interference is not. Tim Peel not picking the dirty play up. As expected.

- Habs powerplay looks great with passing. Petry has been a fine acquisition, but he really struggles putting shots on net.

- Habs borderline dominating this period, the Jets overly focused on hitting bodies. Montreal has had most of the puck possession as a result. 

- Habs with 20 shots in the period, which they dominated. Habs outskated, out-passed, out-possessed, outshot but find themselves down on the scoreboard. If Montreal contines to outshoot the Jets 4-to-1 for the rest of the night, they will win. Even with a struggling Tokarski in goal.

GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW: HAPPY 1,000th TIM PEEL!

Have you ever been awful at a job? I mean, consistently terrible? I have. I don't have that job any more, because like just about everyone who is terrible at their job, they get fired.

Note, I said "just about" everyone. There are, of course, some exceptions.

Tim Peel is an exception.

Let's look at the tape.

Exhibit one: PENALTY. OOOooh .. maybe .... ?? AAAAhhhh ... naw!

 

Okay, TOTALLY NAILED IT. Moving on ...

But those are just blown calls for regular season games. How about stuff that matters, like ... the playoffs? Glad you asked:

And if you've got a little time, how about this classic from just last week!

I could paste examples all day long, but I think you should have the idea by now. There's no way Tim Peel should be officiating NHL hockey games, and yet ... tonight, in Winnipeg, Peel will be there at centre ice, dropping the puck for his 1,000th game.

Safest job in the universe? NHL referee!!

Puck drops at 8:10 EST. Jets need this one bad. Habs?? Eh. Whatevs.