Game 33: Kings vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Kings through 40 minutes:

- Markov's ice time tonight least amongst Habs defenders - so it's pretty clear they're attempting to scale back his time. Obviously wear and tear is taking an issue with his body.

- Crazy number of great scoring chances being generated by this team, but nobody seems to be able to bury it. It's pretty demoralizing.

- 40th shot registered. Still nothing on the board. Eventually you have to really start looking at who's taking the shots, and where they're coming from, because there clearly are Montreal players, mainly forwards, that are failing to deliver. 

- Lars Eller in a significant funk, it's showing with his body language and his decision making - doesn't seem to have very good game awareness tonight, and has made more than a few passes to nowhere. He's getting frustrated. A lot of Habs players are.

- During these offensive funks, which happen to all teams during the season, it's critical that you allocate ice times to lines that are performing well, and scale back those who aren't delivering. The Desharnais line should be scaled back to 4th line time status, until this log jam breaks. Leave it up to the players who are performing, to deliver.

- Habs swarm on the powerplay but again, have the wrong guys out there. Weise with an incredible chance off the rebound, which he can't bury, because it's Dale Weise. Deployment is mystifying.

- 45 shots, zero goal. And now the schedule gets *really* tough. We might not see another win this calendar year, if the Habs offence can't find a solution to this dire offensive problem.

SECOND PERIOD:

- As we mentioned, we're a little late to this game, but I've been watching the game over a stream, and was, at least up until the past two minutes, very impressed with the Habs - in that they've done everything you're supposed to do against an opponent like the Kings - but the finish just hasn't been there. The Kopitar goal to make it 2-0 an example of a defensive breakdown, with Emelin losing track of the slot, and Kopitar sneaking in behind him.

- Habs with clear edge in shooting, shutting attempts, and high percentage scoring attempts, but are being undone by some fine netminding by Quick, and some just plain old bad luck. 

- Kings 3rd and 4th line isn't especially strong, unlike its Stanley Cup years - so it'll be crucial for them to start playing their most effective lines against them - in other words, Montreal is the home team, they need to start behaving more like one.

- Montreal outshooting L.A. by a margin of 2-to-1 through 2 periods, although the ratio isn't quite as strong fro shooting attempts. It seems to me the Habs are floundering offensively because, while they're playing a strong system, they're getting too many chances by guys who have difficulty scoring. While it's nice that the Habs roll 4 lines, there comes a time when you need to push the peddle to the floor a little harder - that means, more time for the Plekanec and Galchenyuk lines, less for the Desharnais and Mitchell lines. Whether coach Therrien will heed the obvious, is another question.

GAME 33: POSSESSION-CRAZY KINGS ROLL INTO TOWN

Now, it begins. For reals this time.

The Habs host the Kings of Los Angeles tonight to kick off, what will be by far, the most difficult part of their 2015-16 regular season schedule. Tonight's tilt will be final home game for the Canadiens until January 6th. That's three weeks from today.

In addition to facing L.A. tonight, the Habs will hit the road for an eight-game trip, where they'll have to face some of the tougher teams in the League, including Minnesota, Dallas, Nashville, Washington and Tampa Bay. The Habs don't get any sort of reprieve until they face the Florida Panthers at the end of the month, and the Philadelphia Flyers on January 5th. Hoo boy.

What I'm saying here is over the next 9-game span, don't expect the Habs to be raking in the victories. I'd be very pleasantly surprised if the Canadiens were able to post 3, maybe 4 wins until the first week of next month, which means this team is due for a massive tumble in the standings.

Do we have bright news? Well, it appears that coach Therrien stumbled upon an excellent defensive pairing Tuesday night, when he yanked a clearly struggling Andrei Markov off the top line, and replaced him with Nathan Beaulieu. Along with P.K. Subban, the pair looked pretty damn magical together - in particular their seemingly unstoppable knack for helping the Habs continuously gain the San Jose Sharks zone.

The new pairing also appeared to liberate Subban, who more often than any game I've seen him play in maybe three years, was carrying the puck from zone to zone, which helped create significant offensive pressure on the Habs opponents. Unfortunately, Habs forwards were shooting blanks for most of the night.

Gaining the zone will be critical against possession-mad teams like the L.A. Kings. They are the League's Corsi Supreme Leaders, clocking in at 57.2%. When the Kings set the tempo, they are awfully difficult to beat.

The Kings, believe it or not, are on a small slide - losing their past two games to significantly inferior opponents - the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres. In response to this, the Kings have made a couple of minor changes to their line combinations, tonight Milan Lucic, President of the Alexei Emelin fan club, will slot next to Anze Kopitar and Marin Gaborik, which means the Kings second line will be compoased of Jeff Carter centring Tyler Toffoli and Michael Mersch.

Over in Habsland, no changes of significance tonight, other than the Habs blue line combinations. That means Charles Hudon will be the heathy scratch.


Goaltenders? It's Jonathan Quick against Mike Condon.

Puck drops at 7:40 EST. We'll be missing the first period because of an unrelated time conflict, so live blogging in ernst will begin about halfway through the game.

Game Sixty-Five: Habs vs. Kings

OVERTIME:

- Well, whatever happens, even just getting a point was an accomplishment. Or a miracle. Or a crime, depending on your perspective.

- Eller with a desperate OT shift, I suspect trying to make amens. We're all pulling for him.

- Tokarski with a disasterous shootout, and that was that. Carey Price Saturday night.

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs improved their possession to 32% in the second period. Yeah. "Improved". I suppose if you dig the hole deep enough, you eventually see sunlight.

- Habs actually off to a spirited start in the period, first three minutes anyway. Zone entries improved. Puck maintenance is better. Blue line defense much cleaner. Uh ... kay?

- Well. I'm fit to be tied. Jeff Carter was some kind of space cadet, allowing Desharnais to make a sweet pass behind Carter to a totally unmarked Pacioretty for an easy tap in. The Canadiens lead the game 3-2. Stupefying. 

- Pacioretty called for playing with a broken stick, even though he didn't. Chris Lee! 

- 9 minutes left, Habs would be very unwise to sit on this, although given how their lead is already grand larceny, it would seem only fitting they coast to victory. I still, however, think the Kings have one more goal in them before the clock runs out.

- Petry has looked great tonight. Looks just as much a first liner on this Habs team as he did for the Oilers. Great command of th puck, picks the right time and place to use his body. We gotta re-up this guy.

- 2 minutes left. Crunch time. Kings having trouble gaining the zone. Not a good point of the game to be struggling in that area. Just slap it at Tokarski. It might go in.

- Oh, Lars. Oh, Lars. With 95 seconds left. Oh, Lars.

- And Gaberick ties it up. Oh, Lars...Tokarski needs to do better there, but still. Oh, Lars.

SECOND PERIOD:

- First period possession was 17%. Two more than my original projection. Still. LOL?

- Habs zone entries, the few times they actually have control of the puck, are absolutely horrible. Even more so than usual. This looks like a team that hasn't practiced in a month, or is holding practices that are clearly poorly organized. This is baaaaaaad.

- It wouldn't be a complete Habs game without one badly surrendered clear-cut breakaway for the other guys. Literally 8 seconds later, they do it again, but this time, De LamRose hustles back to break it up, which is an even greater indictment of the defense.

- Tom Gilbert, of all players, with a magnificent solo effort to score a pretty goal to put the Habs on the board. Their 7th shot, with 4 minutes left in the second period. You know you're in trouble when it's Gilbert who has to set the example.

- Gallagher, off a juicy Quick rebound. Astoundingly, incredibly, the Habs tie the game. I'm not sure for how long they'll stay on even terms, but this game is already completely ridiculous.

- If I'm a Kings fan, I'm ticked. Very, very ticked. But then they've done this all season in coughing up two goal leads, haven't they? It's certainly been one big reason why the Kings find themselves fighting for a post-season spot. In any case, with the Kings outshooting the Habs 21-9 through 40 minutes, there's no good reason why the Habs should even have the scant whiff of a victory tonight. Maybe the 3rd period will tilt the scales back to normality, and L.A. will put in two or three more. Otherwise, it's been a crazy night.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Annnnnnnnnd ... even with all of these trade deadline pickups, Dale Weise will start the game playing on the number one line. Okay. Breath. Everything will be okay.

- No. No it won't be okay. Chris Lee is a referee tonight.

- Annnnnnnnnd ... it takes Lee just over two minutes to make his first terrible penalty call.

- Annnnnnnnnd of course, the Kings score on that powerplay. Tokarski had no chance, for what it's worth. Redeflected in.

- Weise forgets his check (Carter) who's all alone in front of Tokarski for a tap-in goal. 2-0. Not even nine minutes gone. This might be a slaughter. 

- Another awful Chris Lee penalty call, this time for interference on Prust. Replay shows the call was indeed, absurd.

- Well, then. We thought Monday was a low point? We ain't seen nothing yet. Habs outshot 13-2 in the first period. Possession will be somewhere around 15%. Michel Therrien hockey. TO THE EXTREME!!!

GAMEDAY GOO:

Should we even bother staying up late one more time? You know how this is going to end, don't you?

We're suckers for punishment. So the live blogging will go forward.

Some notes:

- Dustin Tokarski will start. He hasn't looked particularly sharp the past couple of months. Maybe this is the night he turns it all around?

- Mike Weaver will get a rare start tonight. Sergei Gonchar will sit.

Are you really sure you wanna stay up for this? Sleep is good for you. Watching the Habs get stomped on a west coast trip is not.

Puck drops at 10:40 EST. That's pretty late.

Game Sixty-Three: Habs vs. Kings

Third Period:

- Weak cross call on Carter, Habs escape the PK, now head to the PP.

- Can't figure out Therrien sending Gorges out on the powerplay. That's basically surrendering the man advantage.

- Markov has easily been the Habs most dangerous forward tonight.

- Budaj half reaction, half dumb luck, keeping the Habs in this. But only barely.

- Gorges is hurt? In the dressing room.

- Apparently hurt falling into the corner. Hasn't returned.

- Habs with spurts of pressure in this period, but nothing sustained. Kings are still owning the tempo.

- Unvelievably, Doug Murray might end the night with the most shifts of any Habs player. Yeah, that's actually a possibility.

- Lars Eller has 16 seconds in the 3rd. The doghousing is complete.

- It appears that Gorges had an equipment problem, not an injury, and has returned. Here's hoping that means less of Murray.

- Can the Habs find one more to pull out of their butts? I see little reason to believe this will occur. Habs just no mojo tonight, not being helped by some terrible bench management by Therrien.

- So with Budaj pulled, and puck in the Kings zone, Therrien has Emelin and Gorges out. Mmmkay then.

- And the Habs lose with a whimper. Seems fitting.

Second Period

- Okay, so even though he was terrible retreating to his zone for the Kings' first period goal, Emelin ended the period with nearly 10 minutes of time. Subban. 5. Normally I'd be baffled, but you know ... Therrien.

- Habs clogging up the neutral zone win great effectiveness, really hampering L.A.'s zone transition.

- Habs unable to clear their zone on the PK, exhausted, and not aided by a flip flopping Murray, Kings' Carter buries a wrister. 2-1.

- Habs powerplay,  unable to setup once in the L.A. zone. Easy kill.

- Yeah, Eller needs an intervention. We're past that point. A game off. Something. Because at this rate, he's headed nowhere. 

- Stoll head down, gets railroaded by Subban. See if that inspires his mates.

- Habs PP, let's see if this can be any worse than the previous.

- Yup, so far, so worse.

- Sweet tape pass by Markov to Galchenyuk in the slot, shot off the bar. Markov with a tremendous PP shift.

- Lars Eller given a two minute penalty for trying to score a goal. Beautiful.

- Therrien puts Emelin and Tinordi out for the PK, and chaos ensues. Minor miracle Kings didn't bury their third. Posts hit and empty nets missed. Habs, I suppose, are pleased enough to be down just one after 40 minutes. Therrien also appears to be severely limiting Subban's minutes tonight, for reasons that only he could possibly know.

First Period

- Well here we go. Breakout for Kings from their own zone, Emelin agonizingly slow skating backwards, Muzzin with a reasonably soft wrister that handcuffs Budaj. Another question all opposition goal to start a game - 1-0.

- Eller, is this a snakebite forward or someone who has confidence that's been completely destroyed? Misses a wide open net.

- Timordi shows some of that scrappiness that seemed to be missing during his previous call up, scraps with Clifford - and holds his own. Good stuff.

- Pace is pretty fast, not exactly the best model if you're the road team (with your backup in net).

- Lars Eller, badly outskated and outhustled, hauls down Kopitar. The spiral continues.

- Shoot it on net. Just shoot it on net. Subban just directing it to the net, crazy redeflects and game is tied.

- Off an icing, like how Gallagher "gets tossed" from the circle to buy time. It's a clear bend of the rules, wonder if the League might look at a rule adjustment that only starting centres can take the draw first.

- Pretty good pace to the period, Kings had possession edge - in particular the early part of the frame, but the Habs seemed to gather momentum and control the later half. More or less a wash - for a road team! you'll gladly take it.

Game Day News 'n' Notes:

Ho, boy. Here we go. L.A., Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose. All on the road. All in five days. This could be a very, very ugly week.

Anyway, first stop is Los Angeles. And the Habs lineup tonight is such:

Line 1: Galchenyuk/Plekanec/Gionta; Line 2: Pacioretty/Desharnais/Gallagher; Line 3: Bourque/Eller/Brière; Line 4: Moen/White/Weise Annnnnnnnd ... on the line: Markov/Emelin Gorges/Subban Murray/Tinordi Annnnnnnd between the posts:

Peter Budaj.

Meanwhile, Carey Price didn't practice today and was put on injury reserve, which is a pretty good indicator that he's unlikely to play any of these games on this western road trip.

It's gonna be a rough week.

Game Thirty-Two: Kings vs. Habs

The Night After the Day Before

Sooooooo .... how'd you sleep last night? When you awoke, did the Sun rise? Wait, what am I thinking?? we're in Canada in December. The Sun never rises. Still, we're still here, the world hasn't imploded, and Habsland, while hurtin' all over this morning, lives on.

But yeah, the sucktitude was strong last night. The horror-role was long - Briere got benched (fine), Markov and Emelin were atrocious, Gallagher can't score to save his life, Eller mysteriously is a bit of funk. Subban appeared little more than your average NHL defenseman ... Bournival didn't get a chance to show he deserves a regular shift. Even Carey Price, setting aside the argument the Kings 4th and most certainly, their 3rd goal came as a result of goaltending interference, didn't have a very good night.

So pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. But, nobody got hurt ...

... we think? Josh Gorges and Max Pacioretty didn't practice this morning, electing to take a "therapy day", which is another way of saying they're too banged up to do their drills.

Rene Bourque, who has some kind of injury, won't travel with the team to Philly tomorrow. Oh yeah - Philly. I guess this means George Parros will be back in the lineup. Le sigh.

Here's Oliver Bouchard's breakdown of last night's horrorshow. Oyoyoe is right.

Anyway, more in a bit. I'm going outside to see if the Sun has risen.

Third Period:

- What, you're still here? Why, aren't you a glutton for punishment?

- Therrien has decided to put the EGG line together again. Might as well - there's a good case to be made it shouldn't have been broken in the first place.

- 3rd period tonight at the Bell Centre strongly resembles any first period at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. About 1/2 empty.

- These blowout losses can have a cathartic upside. It might cause Therrien to pause to consider his blender deployment "strategy" might not be suitable against really good teams. Lessons to be learned here - is the coach adapt enough to understand, though?

- Okay, games like this call for drastic action. Puppy kitty time.

- More worryingly for the Habs tonight is how their powerplay has seemingly gone into the tank - and it's not just tonight. This has been building for awhile, the Canadiens were defying gravity with their specialty units, and the return to earth is having some pretty dramatic consequences.

- Okay. Major beef time now:

49

M. Bournival

5:06

Okay, coach. Your team is getting blown out 6-0. The loss was assured a long time ago. So what's the point of short shifting the young kid who you might wanna play out a bit more, if at the very least, to give him some development opportunities.

I mean, really.

- Oh well. Get 'em next time. We'll just pretend tonight never happened. Just move along. Nothing to see here. 


Second Period:

- Habs with 63% possession.

- How the heck was goaltender interference not called? Kings gifted a third goal by the officials. Just terrible.

- That non-goal zapped all the Habs' hopes and apparently their will to live. Nobody skating back and Toffoli makes it 4-0. Goodnight.

- Roll of shame: Emelin, Subban, Briere, Pacioretty, Eller and Prust all -2 so far.

- Not that it matters but the officiating this 2nd period has been uhhhhh ... bad.

- Can we go home now?

- Jones not nearly as impressive this period. Maybe it's got something to do with only taking one shot.

- Well if you're gonna lose, you might as well go big. Right?

- Oh well. Just one of those nights, when it comes right down to it. Habs will have a day to absorb, reflect, readjust and get back on the horse.

- Catestrophic 2nd period for the Habs - the blown call by the officials giving the Kings a 3-0 lead just killed this game to pieces. Not that it would have made much of a difference for the final result, but this is the big league, and stuff like that can't be missed by so-called professional referees. 

First Period:

- So Gord Miller says the reigning Norris Trophey winning defenseman is "on the bubble" for an Olympic spot. Don't even know where to begin with how dumb that statement is.

- Kings have been nearly unbeatable this year when scoring first. Just sayin.

- Jones killing that penalty. Kings goaltending really has been incredible this season.

- Nolan off a juicy Price rebound, gives Kings that first goal. Nolan was Desharnais' check.

- Hockey Gods evening the score here - Habs dominating play, losing on the scoreboard.

- Markov is the brain of this Habs powerplay. His setups are exceptional.

- Canadiens specialty units look very good, but Martin Jones is the Kings' trumph card. 15 saves so far, 8 shorthanded.

- And another Habs powerplay. They've been the more aggressive team and it's reflective the Kings are getting called. Gotta cash one in, here.

- Habs doing the right thing driving the net, but Jones. Sheesh.

- No way Bouillon should be on any powerplay, and yet ... would perfect even Emelin as the 4th option.

- Kopitor. With 12 seconds left. What a killer goal. Habs in a massively huge hole against a team like L.A.

- Well what can ya do? Habs dominated possession and scoring chances, on pace for 50+ shots, and zero goals. Martin Jones excellent but can he hold it up for 3 periods?

Gameday Game Preview:

Okay, so tonight the mountain is a little bit tougher to climb. That goes without saying since the Habs' most recent victory came at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres, who this year might be the worst team this League has seen in 40 years. Or maybe forever. Yet, even with all that awefulness .. ness ... the Habs only managed to squeak out a 3-2 win, extending the team's winning streak to five games, including just one regulation loss in their past 11. We are the HOTTEST THING IN HOCKEY.

I think?

Just getting past Buffalo, getting outplayed and just getting past Boston, then getting outplayed twice in a row and just getting past New Jersey twice in a row, doesn't enthrall me with lots of confidence that this team is firing on all cylinders. Methinks that the current winning roll is something a mirage that's masking a problematic undercurrent - this team, given its talent, isn't performing as well as it should - or worse, given its lack of talent, is overperforming. 

Oh well. The next month or two will tell the tale. Maybe even this week, since after tonight's clash with the Kings, the Habs will then take on a string of less-than-impressive opponents.

So it's the same old same old. Saturday night the Habs 4th line, which not coincidentally was being centred by Ryan White, was easily the best of the bunch. White, as I have stated ad nauseam on this blog, isn't getting nearly the credit he deserves this season. When White plays, the Habs 4th line becomes an effective forechecking unit, wearing down the opposition's better lines. When White is taken out for the sake of George Parros, this team isn't nearly as effective.

So White had better be in the lineup tonight, because the Kings are no pushover.  Actually, they're a pretty darned good team.

The big story in L.A. this year is netminding - hoo boy have they struck it rich. After signing Johnathan Quick to a long-term deal, the Kings sent Johnathan Bernier to the Leafs in return for Ben Scrivens, whom the Leafs had basically given up on. Actually, the Leafs were so down on Scrivens they actually tossed in prospect forward Matt Frattin AND a second round pick.

Funny thing happened. You see, Quick suffered a groin injury last month, and Scrivens was pressed into duty. Guess what? Since getting the call, Scrivens has played out of his mind - putting up a 1.56 GAA (2nd best in the NHL), and a ridiculous .934 SV% (tops in the League).

Not that the Leafs are complaining - Bernier has performed admirably - but still, poor ol' Leafs. They gave up the best performing goaltender this season in return for another goaltender who's been good, but not nearly as good to warrant Toronto also tossing in a prospect and a pick.

It's a pretty interesting matchup. Scrivens with his terrific save percentage, against the stingy Habs, who like the Kings, have given up an average of just 2 goals per game.

So don't be shocked if tonight's final score is 2-1. The only question is, who'll have 2?

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

 

Game Day Stuff:

- We'll update as long as there's stuff worth mentioning. This is what we have this morning: Frankie Bouillon will be in the lineup tonight, Doug Murray shall sit.

- Kings' lines for tonight:

Line 1: King/Kopitar/Carter
Line 2: Brown/Stoll/Williams
Line 3: Clifford/Richards/Toffoli
Line 4: Carcillo/Fraser/Nolan.

That's all we got. For now.

HAPPY MONDAY UPDATE

HAPPY MONDAY. You know (full disclosure), I live in Western Canada and the past week has been ... shall we say ... a tad frigid? So to say right now that I'm looking forward to the time of the year when hockey isn't played would be a slight understatement. Spring CAN'T come fast enough.

Actually, spring is looking pretty good in Habsland, isn't it? The Canadiens are on 108 point clip, which should more than enough to clinch playoff home advantage for a series or two.

Maybe we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but the Canadiens are easily the hottest team in the NHL, nay a single regulation loss in the past 10 games, putting them in the lofty heights of the Eastern Conference. The roster is healthy, the best players are playing their best hockey, everything is roses and panda bears!

Practice lines this morning - think of them as you will:

Line 1: Galchenyuk/PlekanecGionta
Line 2: Bournival/Eller/Briere
Line 3: Pacioretty/Desharnais/Gallagher
Line 4: Moen/White/Prust

ALSO, Josh Gorges left practice early in the session today, no word on why he departed so soon. Just when we mentioned the roster is healthy. Blecch.

More laters!