Game 53: Caps vs. Habs

Washington 3, Montreal 2:

FIRST PERIOD:

- Well, those lineup questions we asked have been answered, and while adjustments have been made (highlighted), it's not what we were speculating. Desharnais is a healthy scratch (!!), while 2nd and 3rd lines have been blendered up:

Pacioretty/Danault/Radulov

Lehkonen/Galchenyuk/Byron

Andrighetto/Plekanec/Shaw

De La Rose/Mitchell/Flynn

Weber/Emelin

Beaulieu/Petry

Markov/Nesterov

- His point totals aren't very high, but Lars Eller is having one of his best seasons ever - he and his line have had excellent possession numbers - Lars has really established himself as one of the better two-way players in the NHL.

- Beagle top corner beats Price, and barely 3 minutes into the game, it's 1-0 Caps. Mitchell line just too soft in coming back to cover the zone, Beaulieu also not playing the slot nearly tight enough. This could be a long afternoon ahead.

So that's where Brad Marchand stays when he is visiting the Bell Centre. pic.twitter.com/pOgubGuyy2

— Mitchell Tierney (@mitchelltierney) February 4, 2017

- Caps are playing a rigorous trap right now, the Habs offence has been almost totally snuffed out. 

- But it's Radulov to the rescue with a Beagle-like snap shot of his own, beating Holtby blocker side to tie the game. Great work by Danault to work the puck to Radulov in the slot.

- Plekanec somehow misses a tap-in goal. That's the kind of play he was making while mired in a near half-season long slump. 

- Galchenyuk seems to be struggling, still not convinced he isn't deal with some issues related to that knee injury. His linemate, Artturi Lehkonen, however, has played a rambunctious period. 

- Caps stormed out of the gate, and looked intent on putting this game away early - and then the board behind Holtby broke, and it seemed like everything just ebbed away. So while the Caps were the discernibly better team in that first frame, it could have been a whole lot worse. Canadiens will be very happy to go to the 2nd tied up, especially against a team that so far this season, has dominated their opponent in the first period.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Caps with a very good, not-quite-dominative first period, Habs really hurt by some struggling shifts by the Danault and Mitchell line. Plekanec and Galchenyuk lines were "okay", Lehkonen playing some hard, fast shifts. Meanwhile, the Eller line (Lars included) has been a Habs-killer today.

- Habs first powerplay comes up blank, with Bordeleau matching up Eller against Shaw (no contest) on the first wave. Canadiens still hurt by the ongoing issue of disorganized zone entires with the man advantage. It's difficult to generate offence if you can't set up.

- Galchenyuk line being taken to the shed defensively - they've been a two-way mess today. So it's little surprise that the Caps take the lead, with Burakovsky (that Eller line!) with a nice snapper that beats Price top corner. That goal doesn't happen if the Galchenyuk and his mates make a simple play gaining the Caps zone, and bother hustling back after coughing up the puck. They did neither. 

- Andrighetto does a nice little pirouette do fool the ref into giving Orpik a tripping penalty. I guess we'll take it.

- Another zippo powerplay, Galchenyuk made a brief appearance and looked ... not good. I just don't see how he's playing at 100%. He's almost certainly still hurt, which begs the question, why the hell is he even playing?

- Eller line is having a monster day - just dominating the Habs almost every shift they've had in this 2nd period,

- Okay, Caps *dominated* that 2nd period, if not for a couple of goalposts saving the day, the score could easily be 4-1 Washington. Canadiens really hurt by some very sub-standard performances, most glaringly Alex Galchenyuk, who almost appears to be hobbling around the ice. When he's barely skating, he's been making bad decisions with the puck. Just no idea what's happening there (well, pretty sure he's still playing with a not-healed knee injury, but I digress). Canadiens have no answer to the Caps top three lines, which beside their offensive abilities, have had little difficulty in snuffing out an semblance of a Montreal attack - bottling up the neutral zone, and forcing the Habs to make mostly fruitless puck dumps. Everything is pretty much set up for a very ugly 3rd period for the Canadiens.

THIRD PERIOD:

- That 2nd period, woah ... so much ugly. The Eller line has been fantastic, the Caps defence across the board has been excellent, the Habs defence, also across the board, has been miserable. There's been some speculation the past couple of weeks about Marc Bergevin going "all in" for a Stanley Cup this spring, which if fine, Marc. Go for it. But if you want to win a championship, you'll have to find employment with another team, because as this game is illustrating, the Canadiens aren't even close to competing.

- Not sure why, but NHL refs don't like Alex Radulov. So many borderline (or just plain wrong) calls against him this season. Radulov goes to the box for a (very) borderline hook on Ovechkin behind the Caps net.

- Backstrom, 3-1. Habs PK again a weak link, just too much traffic is being allowed in front of Price. 

- Pacioretty via Radulov makes it 3-2. The Habs dare to dream of somehow making something out of this nothing game? Stay tuned.

- Alex Galchenyuk appears to have woken up in this 3rd period, thereby making the first 2 period all the more mystifying. Anyway, Habs been pushing pretty hard here past three minutes looking for the tying goal. 7 minutes left on the clock. We still have hope.

- Annnnnnnnnddddddd ... que Andrew Shaw ill-timed penalty. 

- Not a good day for the referees. Sure, call Shaw for that hold, but then you can't let the other team get away with pretty clear-cut holds and hooks and "let it go". You set a standard, you have to live by it.

- Price pulled, Habs swarm, Holtby holds. At least unlike the Flyers game, they're not going out with a whimper. 

- Two point blank shots with less than 5 seconds left for Shea Weber, and he fans on both. Caps hold on for the victory, deserved. But still, one gets the feeling that an opportunity missed for the Canadiens to pull a game out of the fire. Are you getting a sense that must-wins are now arriving for this team? I do. Tomorrow's game against the Oilers critical in helping this Habs team find the winning track, which somewhere along the line of getting healthy again, they've lost.

GAME PREVIEW: UGH. THE CAPS. I GUESS IT'S TIME TO GET SERIOUS

So how's everybody feeling after the debacle in Philadelphia Thursday night? Hey, it could be worse - you could be Andrew Shaw. Feel the shame, Shaw. FEEL IT.

Therrien on Shaw - "We can't accept to take that type of penalty as a team. Pretty simple."

— Dan Robertson (@DRTSN690) February 3, 2017

Five more years. Five. More. Years. That's how long Shaw's contract extends. That's how long Shaw will be playing in Montreal, unless somehow, some way, another G.M. believes his team's fans "will love" having Andrew Shaw.

Anyway, enough about that. It's time to get serious - and hoo boy, what a weekend awaits for the less-than-stellar Habs, as per the now Super Bowl tradition, they host back-to-back afternoon games, starting Saturday with the League's best team, the Washington Capitals, and then Sunday, Connor McDavid and the actually-gonna-be-in-the-playoffs-this-year Edmonton Oilers.

The Caps have, on most nights, dismantled their opponents this season, the latest being the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. The Caps have only lost 3 times this calendar year - interestingly enough, to underwhelming opponents that included the soon to be Hartford Whalers 2.0, the New York Islanders and the Ottawa Senators (oh yeah, and a thumping from the Black Hawks). Anyway, there's hope for the Habs!!

Across the line, the Caps are putting up elite League numbers. 7th in possession (51.2%), 5th in offence (3.22 GF60), 1st in defence (2.09 GA60), 4th best shooting percentage, 2nd best save percentage, on and on it goes.

The only "weak-ish" spot are the Caps specialty units. Their powerplay, is currently ranked "only" 14th overall, and their PK, which is 5th best, has struggled of late, having surrendered 7 goals the past 10 days. Otherwise, you've got roster world beaters like Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller having another excellent (and as usual under-the-radar) season as the 3rd line center ... defending Vezina winner Braden Holtby putting up more trophy-worthy numbers, and going into Montreal, winner of 10 straight. Yi. Yi. Yi.

The Habs - what to say. They're almost totally healthy for the first time in almost 3 months, and then they go a drop a turd on Broad Street. Apart from Shaw doing his stupid thing, the Canadiens were held to a pathetic 16 shots, the low mark for the season, against a Flyers team that's on the playoff bubble.

Will adjustments be made? Will Alex Galchenyuk be put back on the top line between Max Pacioretty and Alex Radulov? Will Michel Therrien shift the defensive deck chairs, splitting apart the struggling duo of Shea Weber and Alexei Emelin? Will the penalty killing unit under the eye of J.J. Daigneault stop being terrible? Will the powerplay be not as terrible as it was Thursday night? Will Carey Price do all of the work again and carry his team almost single-handedly to victory?

Eh. Probably not. But watch, we will.

Price vs. Holtby. Puck drops at 1:10 EST.

Game 44: Rangers vs. Habs

Montreal 5, New York Rangers 4:

FIRST PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- So we got it all wrong about the Rangers starting goaltender, it's Antti Raanta between the pipes.

- Alex Galchenyuk taking short (very short) shifts to start the period - which isn't altogether unusual given how many weeks he's been out.

- Danault scores, Shaw had made contact with Raanta a second before the goal, but it looks like Shaw was bumped into the crease. Close call here.

- Hrmmm ... Shaw was definitely bumped towards the Raanta, but they still waive it off. Oh well. NHL needs to be black and white about this - Klein definitely hit Shaw, which moved him towards the Rangers's crease and into Raanta - and while Shaw made little attempt to avoid the contact, nonetheless he was bumped. If you're bumped or pushed by the defender, it should be fair game. Certainly for a league that continues to be starved for offence.

- Habs first powerplay, and guess who's back as first line centre? Andrew Shaw. His presence there before injury was maddening because the unit was, more often than not, inept. Right back to the same losing formula. 

- Rangers don't look like a team who played less than a day ago, at least not on that PK, where they totally outskated and outworked the Habs PP unit.

- Lots of broken plays so far, not a lot of flow to this game. Rangers are playing a fairly frenetic game, Habs are just kind of stumbling to get organized.

- Price catches a slapper from the line high around the mask or shoulder. Looked stunned a little. More reason for concern.

- So Shaw takes a goal off the board for goaltender interference, then takes a penalty for goaltender interference, which Pirri scores off a very nice one timer, 1-0 New York. Yeah, Andrew Shaw. Welcome back?

- Danault is playing possessed. Man, what when Desharnais comes back, what to do, what to do?

- And now Shaw gets nailed for a 5 minute major for a high hit on Fast.  Good lord. What a catastrophic return.

Shaw hit on Fast pic.twitter.com/vstKmuwIRW

— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) January 15, 2017

- One bright spot for the Habs? Shaw is out of the game.

- Shame, real real real shame that Shaw's return wasn't Monday night, because he single handedly took a goal off the board, put a goal on the board for his opponents, then got kicked out of the game and a 5 minute penalty to boot, and yeah - one of the worst periods ever by a Habs forward. And we've got this numbskull for at least another 3 years. Heaven help us all.

SECOND PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Habs CF (5v5) was 55.6% in that first period, although it doesn't really mean a whole lot since Andrew Shaw was assessed 22 penalty minutes. 

- Rangers with clear sheet of ice to continue the Shaw major, which is always extra dangerous.

- Well, Lundqvist is now in goal, Raanta sustaining some sort of injury during that 1st period, be dammed if I saw anything. Lundqvist's career record in Montreal, for what it's worth, is pretty terrible. 

- Price makes a sparking pad save one end, Galchenyuk a sparking deflection off a Barberio point shot past Lundqvist, and the Habs tie the game. Lundqvist must be wondering if this Bell Centre is cursed.

- More awful Habs defence, a broken play and Emelin with his head in the cloud springs Hayes all alone. Price made the initial save, but then his stake hooked onto Price's pad, dragging him out of the crease. So ... technically speaking, how is that not goaltender interference?

- Unbelievable, Price dragged out of his crease, even accidentally, is not interference, while Shaw bumped into Raanta by a defenceman, is. Have no idea what the NHL rational or logic is, but it certainly is mystifying.

- Flynn scores after Rangers can't defend their crease, and Lundqvist can't cover the puck. And not even the League can take that one away. Tie game.

- Alexei Emelin has been a one-man tire fire tonight. When he's not making awful decisions, Ranger puck handlers are skating (literally) circles around him.

- Radulov is just a little too intense sometimes, firing a puck back to the point on the powerplay that Galchenyuk can't handle, spring Rangers with a 2-on-1 shorthanded break that's finished my Miller. Shea Weber was lone man back, totally misplayed the odd man rush. That didn't help either.

- Where was Weber on this play, and what was he doing? No idea:

Rangers score a shortie: pic.twitter.com/QLQYjAtADr

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 15, 2017

- Pretty messy period of hockey, Habs getting outplayed in that period, again failing to generate as many high danger scoring chances, certainly fewer than their opponent. Bright side, Galchenyuk looks right back on form, the kinds are again playing well. Bad news - the powerplay continues to look disorganized, and the Habs defence are making (again) for too many unforced errors that are leading to far too many goals against. 

THIRD PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Habs shots on Rangers net pretty meek tonight - lots of harmless shots from the point, either easily blocked, or slow, harmless wristers. 

- Nash nearly tips home a pretty passing play, puck hits the post. All started with a bad pass by Beaulieu entering the New York zone. The speedy Rangers will make you pay with that kind of sloppy play.

- Brian Flynn is back, he took a slash on the hand after scoring the Habs first goal, missed the 2nd period. I'm not a huge Flynn fan, as regular readers will know, but Montreal can't afford to be down two forwards for that much of a hockey game.

- Habs zone entries have also grown progressively worse. New York doing a really good job guarding their line, and in the few instances where the Canadiens have any kind of puck control, New York is doing an excellent job checking and tying up Montreal forwards. Scoring chances have become few and far between.

- Habs have got to try some other way of penetrating the Rangers zone - carrying it over the line hasn't been working.

- Emelin ties the game with a shot from the line off the draw. Puck just finds a way into the net, Lundqvist - it's been that kind of year for him.

- Pacioretty gets a breakaway off a broken play, and makes Lindqvist look kind of bad.  Boom, Habs take the lead.

- Wow. Habs crash the net, puck goes in, I think Byron scores, and it's 5-3? Not sure if the Rangers will have this one reviewed.

- Byron indeed with the goal. No review, it was just a defence meltdown, with Clendening crashing into Lindqvist, who's having a nightmare period.

- No real big secret to the Habs turning the game upside down - Emelin's goal just found its way through a maze, Pacioretty off a broken play, and gate crashing to get the floodgates open. 

- Man, the Rangers pass awfully well, zooming the puck around with the powerplay, Habs lucky to have not surrendered another goal shorthanded. I think passing is likely the reason why New York's shooting percentage is so high, they set things up so nicely.

- Ain't over yet. Rangers get their own bounce, with Kreider tipping a shot from the line that goes overtop Price and is then deflected in by Stepan. Fluke goal, impossible to fault anyone.

- Marvellous lead-saving glove save by Price on Grabner on a breakaway (again, broken play, again sloppy reaction by the Habs defence - this time Petry and Beaulieu).

- So who predicted before the season started that both Lundqvist and Price would struggle this season? Anyone? 

- Habs are still being way too soft and sloppy in their zone, and are frequently abandoning slot coverage - too many players chasing pucks, not enough playing their positions and positioning correctly.

- Ranger empty net. Therrien goes with Weber/Emelin. Okay, then.

- Habs hang on for an incredibly untidy win - probably their sloppiest W of the season. This team is clearly eons better with Galchenyuk back in the lineup, Phillip Danault continues to play exceptionally good hockey, solidifying even further his name for 2C. Those are good things. Bad? Generally poor play, in particular defensive zone coverage, and passing, in general, is unsteady and uneven, creating far too many neutral zone turnovers, which are killer against a fast team the Rangers. The Habs are more or less lucky to have come away with the win tonight.

GAME PREVIEW: HABS HOST DONALD TRUMP'S FAV NHL TEAM

Hey, not that we needed a reason to hate the Rangers, there hasn't been much, if any, rivalry between the Canadiens and New York. Well, now that Donald Trump has arrived on the scene, we've got every reason to hate the Rangers, who shall not forthwith,  be referred to as the New York Trumpers. Tonight, revenge will be ours.

The Habs got two pieces of expected good news today - Alex Galchenyuk, who had been out with a LBI for exactly six weeks (minus one day), and winger Andrew Shaw, who's been out for 4 weeks, will return to action tonight at the Bell Centre. Woah, are the Habs actually starting to get ... healthy??

With both Galchenyuk and Shaw back in, Habs put Chris Terry on waivers this morning for purposes of demotion, and if he clears, he'll return to St. John's tomorrow. So, here's Montreal's lineup for tonight:

Pacioretty/Galchenyuk/Radulov
Lehkonen/Plekanec/Andrighetto
Byron/Danault/Shaw
Flynn/Mitchell/McCarron

Weber/Emelin
Beaulieu/Petry
Barberio/Redmond

One piece of not-so-good news, Andrei Markov, who's been dealing with a nagging groin injury, has been removed from participating in practices, and is strictly on rehab again - which beside Michel Therrien's proclamation this morning that Markov hadn't experienced a setup, is a pretty clear indication that Markov has experienced a setback. This is key, since the Canadiens defence has played some pretty disorganized and soft hockey in their own zone since Andrei was put on the injury list - the Jeff Petry and Nathan Beaulieu have been especially weak the past couple of weeks, their lacklustre performance against the Wild Thursday night serving as another example.

Okay, what's happening with the New York Trumpers?

The Trumpers are coming off a defeat last night at the hands of the (ha ha) The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Good. Too bad, so sad. That loss aside, it's been a decent season so far for the Trumpers - 28 wins so far, which in the crazy hard Metropolitan Division, puts New York in a wild card spot (the Habs with 26 wins by contrast, still enjoy a reasonably comfortable 1st place lead in the Atlantic).

The Trumpers, this season, like before - essentially since Alain Vigenault beacme head coach in 2013, haven't been a very strong possession team. At 47.7% CF (5v5), only the 24th best in the NHL, represents a surprising number because most hokey teams that play sub-par at even strength, tend to win at a .650 clip.

Add in the mix a somewhat disappointing season by New York's blue line - the Trumpers at 2.39 GA60 aren't even in the League's top half for rated defence. While Ryan McDonagh has put together another fine season, the same can't be said for New York's other key defenders Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, whose inconsistent play has given the Rangers fits on some nights (such as last night). Girardi, for example, has a 50.1% SA average this year, which isn't awful. But Girardi is prone to have awful games, a prime example was his effort on December 1st of last year, when Girardi got steamrolled by the (!) Buffalo Sabres, surrendering 2 goals, and a -28 (!!) corsi differential.

The Trumpers blue line inconsistency has made life much more challenging for Henrik Lundqvist, who's also struggling through a sub-par season. Lundqvist's 2.60 GAA (a career high) and .910 Sv% (a career low) has placed additional pressure on the offence, which, for the most part, has delivered. New York's salvation this year has been their ability to finish plays - with a 10% Sh%, a ridiculous number this far into the season, on most nights this year, the Trumpers have, even with poor possession, have managed to score more even strength goals than anyone else in the League.

The key to the game for the Habs tonight? Obviously find a way of containing New York's uncanny shooting abilities by limiting high danger scoring attempts (not easy given the state of the Canadiens' defence of late), while hoping to score a goal or two with the man advantage (perhaps an easier task with Galchenyuk returning to the lineup tonight).

It won't hurt either if Carey Price can have a bounce-back game - if Price's career history is any indication, that will happen tonight.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

Game 1: Habs vs Sabres

5 #HABS THOUGHTS THE DAY AFTER

- Welcome to our new feature, 5 Habs Thoughts the Day After, which is pretty much exactly as the title suggests. We'll be doing this feature throughout the season, providing readers with a summation about the game played the night previous. So ... about last night ...

- It's always nice to start the season on a winning note, although the Habs win was, to put it generously, uneven. The Canadiens started very strong - for the first 15 minutes of the 1st period, it looked like they were going to totally overwhelm their opponent. But then the team seemed to go into a collective funk that lasted through the remainder of the period, carried through most of the 2nd period, and lasted through about the first 5 minutes of the 3rd before the Habs seemed to catch a second wind.  The Torrey Mitchell goal, which reestablished the Habs 2 goal margin, seemed to take the energy out of the Sabres legs. You'll see that often with young teams - they're easily disgruntled - and who can blame them? The Sabres really were taking it to the Habs for essentially the middle half of the game, and still found themselves trailing by 2 goals for all their efforts.

- So while the Habs letdown was not exactly a scrapbook highlight, there were many interesting positives. The brightest light of the night was Artturi Lehkonen, who played a tremendously, even more so if you consider it was his very first NHL game. Lehkonen really meshed well along side Tomas Plekanec (who played an excellent two-way game for the Habs), and if not for a couple of nifty saves by Sabres goalie Robin Lehner, would have scored at least one goal. Lehkonen demonstrated some keen hockey smarts - and seemed to have a good sense of when to drive to the net. I'm sure Habs management were delighted by what they saw from this young winger.

- Defensively, Habs also played unevenly, but they did have two very strong performances by Greg Pateryn and (surprise!) Alexei Emelin, the later of whom delivered many thunderous checks, mostly contained in the neutral zone, on Sabres forwards. Emelin's was smart with his physicality, delivering his hits in situations that didn't remove him from his defensive responsibilities. I'm sure that Therrien will go back with this duo on Saturday night, if only to see if there might be some good chemistry developing between the two. Keep in mind, 3rd line spots on the Habs blue line is very competitive this season - with the first 5 positions already spoken for by Weber, Markov, Petry, Beaulieu and Sergachev, competition for that 6th spot is going to be fierce.

- Or, maybe it won't. Speaking of Mikhail Sergachev, it was baptism by fire last night, and his NHL inexperience was pretty glaring. While Sergachev didn't make any errors that led directly to Buffalo goals, he frequently looked overwhelmed by the speed of the League, which was further complicated by some tentative passes that produced a couple of glorious scoring opportunities for the Sabres. It's just Sergachev's first game, so a lot of the criticism has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but if he continues to struggle with adapting to the NHL, certainly understandable given his age, the Habs may give him a year in the AHL to help him make the transition to the big league.

- Finally, Shea Weber. While his debut wasn't anticipated nearly as much as Subban's will be in Nashville, Weber gave a pretty standard Weber performance. Sturdy, physical, understated and utterly forgettable. What you saw last night is what you'll see for the rest of this season. Weber, unlike the player he's replacing, has little flair, flash or dash to his game. He eats time, does a decent job moving the puck forward, clears a little traffic in front, and that's it. Weber did pick up the point last night off a point shot - although ironically it came off a simple wrist shot that was deflected in by Gallagher, not off one of his notorious slapshot howitzers.

Habs now travel back closer to home to take on the Senators in Ottawa, before opening up the season at home Monday night. We'll be posting news, if there's anything worth noting, leading up to the game, and putting up a game preview later in the day.

LIVESTREAM





THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs CF% (5v5) through 40 minutes just 50.0%. Which is bad considering they were at 58% after one period. Basically the Sabres had significant majority of possession (12:18 to be exact), with shot totals accordingly showing a pretty large edge in favour of Buffalo.

- Sabres have an interesting little thing they do before the period starts, their line huddles up at the blue line, not unlike they do in football. Not sure what the purpose of this is, but it looks cool.

- Shea Weber with a disgraceful crosscheck from behind in the corner that the League really should be making an automatic game misconduct, but for whatever reason, chooses not to. Within seconds, the Sabres score, and we immediately see Weber's first game sheet contribution. Against his team. 2-1 now.

- Habs a slop fest in their own zone, horrid puck turnovers. Sabres haven't lost a step to start this period. Taking it to the Habs.

- Sergachev a little deer in the headlights in more than a couple of situations tonight. So much talent, but most of it pretty raw.

- Lehkonen has had a pretty good game - very involved offensively, and if not for a couple of outstanding saves by Lehner, would easily be on the scoresheet.

- Shea Weber just made a scoring contribution - the right kind, anyway. Sabres got all kinds of messed up in their zone, leaving their slot unprotected. Weber with a point shot, neatly tipped by Gallagher past Lehner to reestablish a 2-goal lead. Sabres inexperience showing through badly on that goal, a lot of hard work the past couple of periods undone.

- Gorges with a retaliation mugging of Mitchell, after Emelin delivered a hard open ice (clean hit). Mitchell still down on the ice, favouring his head? Hard to tell. Terrible relational by Gorges. Terrible.

- Reply shows that Mitchell kind of fell into the Gorges check, but it looked very clear that Gorges was lining him up for a blindside hit, so the dirty play still stands. Mitchell taking a knee to the head.

- After a rough first few minutes of the period, things have gradually shifted in Montreal's favour, Habs getting much more possession and more quality scoring chances, powerplays removed. 9 minutes left.

- Carr with a very dirty goal with Habs swarming Sabres net. Buffalo challenges for goaltender interference, but I don't see anything there. Likely 4-1 Habs now.

- Good goal, Habs with probably insurmountable lead at 4-1. They've dominated since 5 minute mark of this period, Sabres just couldn't keep up, and Lehner has struggled.

- Pretty decent outing for Emelin, I've counted 4 thunderous hits from his tonight, certainly much more physical than was Weber. He and Pateryn having games that exceeded normal expectations.

- Habs win, albeit it was an uneven victory. Team went into a 30 minute funk between the last five minutes of the 1st extending to the first 5 minutes of the 3rd, where the Sabres were the better team. Fortunately Montoya had a pretty solid start, and Habs did have some bright spots - mainly that of Arthur Lehkonen, who was frequently involved and if not for some excellent saves by Lehner, should have had a least one goal. Pateryn and Emelin looked sharp, and Shea Weber was ... hmm shall we say ... adequate?


SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs with defined possession edge in the first period, 57.9% CF% (5v5) in the frame.

- I suppose I should have mentioned Shea Weber right now. He was okay in that first period. Made a couple of good hits in the corners, made a couple of decent shot attempts on the powerplay. But still pretty low key performance, pretty much the exact opposite of the guy who was traded away to get him. 

- Sergachev clearly trying to adjust to a much faster game than he's every played in his life. Has made a few puck handling errors, but possesses the mobility to save himself. At least so far.

- 4th line production by the Habs which has looked pretty good tonight, Byron driving the net hard and buried into the boards as a result, Mitchell tucking home the loose puck and it's 2-0. Another spot the Habs really struggled with last year - 4th line contributions. Hopefully that's a sign of more to come.

- Habs aren't exactly squatting on this lead, but they've discernibly shifted their focus from being aggressive in the Sabres zone and centre ice, to covering their zone, and passing lanes. Sabres have had a significant edge in shots and possession since the 15 minute mark of the first period.

- Not good. Habs are losing puck fights in their own zone, and it's creating some defensive breakdowns in which the Sabres are getting good scoring chances. Montoya very solid so far, keeping Buffalo off the board. Still, this is a habit, the let downs, that we saw a lot of last year that killed the Habs season.

- Is Desharnais hurt? Unbelievably he has the least amount of ice time among all Habs forwards, a meagre 6:32 with just 5 minutes left in the 2nd.

- Sabres 2nd powerplay, Habs PK was pretty much chaos, and it not for dumb luck and Buffalo incompetence finishing plays, this game really ought be 2-1. At least.

- Habs plainly out skated and out hustled in the period - no logical explanation for the let down against such a lesser Sabres team, except that possibly the team went out to hard to start the game? I'm at a loss.

- Evander Kane who's been a bull in a china shop tonight, falling awkwardly going full steam into the corner, losing his footing as he was given a relatively mild shove by Emelin. No real penalty there, but Kane is clearly significantly injured.

- Habs might lead 2-0 on the scoreboard, but that was a very tilted period in favour of the Sabres, who were far more organized and aggressive than they were in the 1st period. Habs looked ... tired? It's absurd to speculate, but they just seemed to lose most of the battles for, and races to, loose pucks. One more period like that, Buffalo might fight their way back into this thing.


FIRST PERIOD:

- Well, here we go, game 1 of 82. Here's hoping it's the exact opposite of what we had to endure last year.

- It's EARLY going, but Sabres look ... uh ... not good. Offence is, shall we say, disorganized.

- Habs 4th line forecheck is pretty aggressive, with two forwards playing deep in the neutral zone. Not sure if that's accidental or experimentational.

- Lots of long-bomb passes blue line to forwards, same strategy used last year, to mostly unsuccessful result.

- Sergachev gets a little powerplay time, which is great to see. Looked a little nervous passing the puck, made one ill-advised pass that nearly gave Sabres a 2-on-0 breakaway. It's a learning process.

- First game goal, first season goal. It's Gallagher with a very un-Gallagher like goal, snap shot from 40 feet beats Lehner stick side. 1-0 Habs. Good passing key to the goal there, as it usually is for most NHL goals.

- There's the Shaw effect, icing called, and Shaw manages to troll Foligno into a roughing penalty.

- Habs powerplay is 0-2, but still looks markedly better than the hapless scenes we endured last year. Not sold on Markov paired with Weber - they got all kinds of mixed up at the line, creating a Sabres breakaway that was saved nicely by Montoya. When Petry returns, I'm hoping for more experimentation - with Beaulieu and maybe this Sergachev kid getting a few turns with different combinations. 

- Montoya has made a couple of nice saves this period - obviously the Habs are hoping for a bit more consistency from their backup this year - fully acknowledging that Mike Condon was forced into an impossible situation, and did the best he could given the circumstances. 

- Habs with a bit of a let-down last 5 minutes of the first period. One assumes you can only dominate a period for so long, but Sabres seem to be getting a little more organized as the period has progressed.

- Pretty one-sided period of hockey, Habs fans will be happy with what they've seen. Fast start to the game, the Canadiens carried the play through much of the first 3/4 of the period, giving the young Sabres defence fits. All said, one couldn't have hoped for much more.


PREGAME NEWS 'N' NOTES:

- The puck is dropping shortly for the first game of the year, a couple of things I'd like to mention in advance of the game. First, this site is going to be a little more content focused this year - we're going to be adding a few more pieces to provide readers with a little more in-depth content, and new features such as weekly team rankings, Habs player rankings, and a new post-game feature, "5 Points", which will offer post game summaries and observations for every Habs game. So, stay tuned and watch!!

- The news we've been hearing about all week has been, of course, the flu virus that has knocked Carey Price out of the start tonight, so Al Montoya will get the call. Which, given that the Sabres are likely the kind of team you'd start your backup against anyway, works out. 

- It'll be fun to see just how well Alex Radulov plays tonight. A productive top-6 winger on the right side will give this team an immense offensive boost that it sorely lacked through much of last year. If Radulov produces, the Habs are going to be a difficult team to beat.

- Also looking forward to seeing the new kids, specifically Mikhail Sergachev, and of course, Artturi Lehkonen. Expectations of both should be tempered - they're playing their first ever regular season NHL games, so even though both are talented, there will be a learning curve.

- Bottom defensive pairing should be interesting. Depending on how things to with Sergachev, there are too many bodies for the last pairings, with Alexei Emelin, Greg Pateryn, and Zach Redmond all fighting for one spot, when Jeff Petry makes his return to the lineup. Still think Marc Bergevin will be doing his best to move Emelin over the next few weeks, basically for anyone who'll have him, ideally for a pick or mild salary pickup in return.

- Puck drops at 7:10 EST.  But then, you knew that.


THE YEAR THAT WAS, THE YEAR THAT IS

We’ve arrived. We’ve finally arrived. The cusp of a new season, filled with renewed hopes for fans around the country that the upcoming season will bring them joy and fulfillment that goes with cheering for a winning team.

For those whose hearts are aligned with the Montreal Canadiens, the story this October is not unlike those of recent Octobers. Anticipation and belief that their championship drought will finally come to an end.

Unlike recent Octobers, this season brings a defined sense of melancholy for Habs fans, still many weeks removed from a massive deal that resulted in the heart and soul of the team, P.K. Subban, being dealt to the Nashville Predators for the hulking frame of Shea Weber. It was a trade that many had hoped would somehow be avoided, but the decision to move Subban, come hell or high water, was likely made well before the day he was dealt in late June.

Objectively, the deal likely will serve to benefit both teams – the Predators will now have a high powered, mobile blue line that will make them a force to be reckoned with, and in an instant, a viable Stanley Cup contender next spring. The Canadiens will realize an improvement in their defensive durability, and likely a slight increase in powerplay effectiveness. Whether they’ll be in the championship conversation next year is another matter altogether.

Long term, the trade will likely be highly regrettable for Montreal. While Weber is an excellent talent, Subban has 4 years on his side, and a proven ability to be an elite puck moving defenseman in a League that’s moving further away from “grit” hockey as a winning model.

Which is to say, the window for ending the championship drought in Habsland is closing rather quickly. With Subban gone, and foundation pieces like Carey Price and Max Pacioretty moving into and beyond their prime productive years, the Canadiens likely have this season and the next to be a viable Stanley Cup contender. Beyond that, with Weber’s salary cap impacting the bottom line, and making it difficult for management to retain all of their key assets, the Canadiens are likely to enter a rebuilding phase.

Setting aside the Subban trade, the off season was productive for Montreal. The Habs, credit to G.M. Marc Bergevin, managed to snag free agent Alex Radulov from Russia. Albeit carrying some behavioural baggage, Radulov, who’s been playing overseas in the KHL since 2009, solidifies what was once the most glaring weaknesses of the team, a top-6 right hand shooting forward.

Although the KHL is no NHL, Radulov did put up some impressive numbers, averaging well over a point per game playing with CSKA Moskva and Salavat Youlaev (go fighting Youlaev!). He also had an impressive and productive camp, so anything in the 60 point production range for Radulov will be a huge bonus for the Canadiens.

Radulov probably represented the biggest player acquisition this summer, although there may be a case made for 1^st round entry pick, Mikhail Sergachev, who was the OHL’s defenseman of the year in 2015-16. Sergachev, whom some expected might go as high as a top-5 pick, was still up for grabs when the Habs came to the table with their 9^th overall selection. Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmons didn’t waste their chance and nabbed the young Russian, who they hope will eventually fill the shoes of the soon departing Andrei Markov, who’s entering the final year of a contract extension, possibly the last of his NHL career.

The big question around Sergachev wasn’t whether he was the best choice (he was), but whether he had the skill and maturity to actually crack the lineup this season. After an excellent camp, those questions were quickly answered, as the Habs announced that Sergachev would be suiting up to start the season. The only remaining question is whether the Canadiens will play Sergachev 9 games, which means this year would be counted in qualification for restricted free agency.

Speaking of draft picks, a big surprise out of camp this year was the performance of Artturi Lehkonen, who was signed to an entry level contract this May. Lehkonen, who was previously playing in the Swedish Hockey League, was picked 2^nd overall by the Canadiens in the 2013 draft. The lesson here is - players mature and develop differently – the time Lehkonen spent playing elite hockey in Europe served him well enough to earn him a starting spot this season.

Lehkonen’s gain is someone else’s loss – two Habs forwards may not hold much of a future in Montreal because of Lehkonen’s spot on the roster – Michal McCarron, he of six feel, two million inches stature, and Sven Adrighetto. While it’s likely either or both will be playing at some point this season to fill injury vacancies, their future with the Habs remains, at best, uncertain.

The Habs made a few more additions including signing UFA bottom-6 muckraker Andrew Shaw, to help, in the words of Bergevin, to give the team some “character”. While Shaw will do his best to mix things up on the ice, I don’t think his acquisition will give the Habs much, if any, strategic or “grit” advantage, largely because the grinding formula for victory has long passed in the NHL. Today, you win with speed and skill. Oh, well.

So in case you’ve lost, or grown bored reading this overlong analysis, let’s boil it down to who’s in, and who’s out:

Who’s out:

- P.K. Subban

- Dale Weise
- Tom Gilbert
- Ben Scrivens

Who’s in:

- Shea Weber
- Alex Radulov
- Artturi Lehkonen
- Andrew Shaw
- Al Montoya

What does this all mean? Well, without a healthy Carey Price, it means nothing. This, of course, is the biggest of many sizable questions surrounding the Canadiens this season – will Carey Price be healthy? If the World Championship of Hockey was any indication, in which Price helped lead team Canada to a championship, the answer seems to be a comfortable “yes”. But nothing is certain.

There are other big questions. Coaching remains a significant issue. After a disastrous 2015-16, many eyes are on Micheal Therrien, now in the 4^th year of his second stint as Montreal’s head coach. If the Habs stumble early, even with a healthy Price between the pipes, the pressure may be unbearable for Bergevin to endure, and Therrien could be an early season casualty. Which makes the off season acquisition of the adapt Kirk Muller as an assistant all the more prescient. If Therrien is turfed, Muller would likely be promoted to fill his spot.

The thing is, the Habs shouldn’t stumble early. This is still a very good hockey team that was bolstered this offseason by an excellent draft pick, the addition of a prized Russian forward, and the surprise addition of an earlier draft pick to the Canadiens’ starting lineup. This is a team that should have little difficulty in making the post season – perhaps even challenging for 1^st place in their Division. Beyond qualification, there remains only one objective that matters any more – and that is a Stanley Cup championship in Montreal – the first in what would be a 24 year drought.

Which, in case you’re doing the math, is the same number of championships won by this esteemed franchise.

It’s been a long six month wait, but we’ve arrived.