Game 41: Caps vs. Habs

Washington 4, Montreal 1:

FIRST PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- It's official, Byron back in, and Carr is out. Habs lineup will look at such:

Pacioretty/Danault/Radulov

Lehkonen/Plekanec/Byron

Flynn/Mitchell/Andrighetto

Farnham/McCarron/Scherbak

- Not an enthralling start by the Habs first 5 minutes, Caps much faster and aggressive team - looks like the Canadiens might be a tad overmatched tonight.

- I'll be a broken record about this until the day I die, but Bobby Farnham is a massive waste of a lineup spot. Hudon, De La Rose, just about anything else, would be far preferable.

- Plenty of questions were raised about whether Nikita Scherbak was "ready" for NHL action - and while  these are very early days, I've seen nothing that justifies these uncertainties. He's fast, he plays smart, and as we've mentioned previously, he's excellent with the puck. 

- Habs "3rd" line (which really is barely an NHL 4th) of Mitchell/Flynn and Andrighetto getting their clocks cleaned so far this period. Looking pretty flat footed, and the Caps offence has taken advantage.

- And quite literally 5 seconds after that last comment is posted, the Caps Backstrom opens the scoring - guess who was on the ice for the Habs? 1-0 Washington.

- Is there a "top 6" forward in the NHL with a less dangerous shot than Plekanec? I'm pretty there there isn't.

- Habs pretty much totally overmatched in that 1st period. Sorry, Habs fans, there's little chance they'll be able to compete tonight, barring some lucky hockey bounces. 

SECOND PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Shot attempts don't really reflect this one-sided play in that period, in particular how badly the Mitchell line performed against, well - everybody.

- Danault line's first shift of the period as much of a total disaster as possible without actually giving up a goal - Caps swarming the zone, Habs basically chasing pucks with total disorganization, Price forced to make two hard saves. Washington continues to dominate.

- Caps about twice as fast on the puck, Habs are just taking punches turtled in a corner. It's nearly getting ugly right now, Washington on the cusp here of adding to their lead.

- Even Therrien has noted the disparity, but in true Therrien style, he's sending out puzzling line combinations - the first being Flynn/Danault/Andrighetto. 

- Tomas Plekanec. Just nothing left. Shot, finish - it's just gone.

- Farnham chipping in counterproductively, as anticipated. Gets nailed for an avoidable interference penalty. Caps to the powerplay.

- Habs first man advantage, whole lotta passin' going on, not a whole lotta shootin'. The Canadiens do realize they're facing the stingiest defence in the NHL, right? They know they can't take the liberty of looking for the perfect play, right?

- Habs forwards have done almost nothing to get in Holtby's face. I know this is part of the Gallagher effect, but could marginal guys like Farnham at least do something to mix it up, maybe get Holtby off his game - something? Anything??

- Maybe the Habs are hung over from their long road trip? This team looks not a whole lot more rested than they did the 3rd period on Saturday night. 

- Another pretty lopsided period in favour of the Caps, kind of amazing that the Habs are just a goal down, and could conceivably get a point or two tonight. Realistically however, Washington is owning this game - it seems but just a matter of time before they find some insurance goals in the 3rd  to wrap this night up.

THIRD PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- 2nd period was indeed, pretty ugly for the Habs, 5v5 CF just barely over 30%. Minor miracle the score is just 1-0.

- Scoring chances are interesting - Habs with some pretty choice chances right in the low slot, but Holtby has come up big:

- Habs 2nd powerplay, again looking too much for the perfect setup, lots of passing, no actual shots on Holtby. This is folly - the Canadiens are obviously letting Holtby into their collective heads.

- Lars Eller with a dumb penalty, which something Habs fans might remember him doing a lot of while in Montreal. Habs to their 3rd powerplay, will they actually get a shot on goal?

- Weber with a cannon drive so hard off the goalpost that the red light goes on. Tough luck for the Canadiens tonight.

- Plekanec scores (yes, that happened) on the powerplay, but Caps are challenging the goal, saying Byron bumped Holtby a moment before Plekanec put the puck in the net. Could be a close call.

- Challenge denied, and unbelievably, the Habs have tied the game.

- Not for long, as Jeff Petry makes a very bad play, getting snookered by some slick stick handling by Kuznetsov to make it 2-1. 

Great goal by Evgeny Kuznetsov to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/OEOv7pCPBX

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 10, 2017

- Price misplays the puck (a rarity), Jeff Petry with a meek poke of the puck creates deep zone turnover, Connoly finishes the play at it's 3-1. So, after the Habs threw us all a little shade for a minute by tying the game, the Caps have (finally) established scoreboard dominance. As we figured they would.

- Ovechkin ties the Rocket with his 544th career goal on the powerplay, icing on the cake.

- Not the Habs worst loss of the season, but a little wake up call from reality that they're still a step away from being legitimate contenders. The Caps (yes, they are healthy) totally overmatched the short-handed Habs, who are doing themselves little favours by playing AHL-level fodder like Bobby Farnham, instead of younger, more capable hands. Habs head west to Winnipeg to play the Jets, hoping to have Andrei Markov back in the lineup, and hopefully sooner rather than later, the return of Alex Galchenyuk.

HALFWAY HOME: CAPS - HABS PREVIEW

Wow, we've reached the halfway mark of the 2016-17 NHL regular schedule. What a season it's been for the Montreal Canadiens. Filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups, the Habs will be home for their 41st game tonight, as they take on the top-flight Washington Capitals.

The Caps, very much unlike the Habs, enter tonight's game riding the wave of a virtually injury-free season, while the Canadiens continue to deal with an onslaught of hurt bodies that has made putting together a full game lineup a slightly challenging task.

The Habs, who on Saturday were down 7 regular skaters, managed to string together a victory, albeit against a not-very-good opponent in the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens won't enjoy the luxury of inferiority tonight with the Caps, who sit, amazingly enough, in 4th place in the Metropolitan Division. If the playoffs were to start tonight, the Caps, with 55 points, just one fewer than the Habs, as the 7th seed in the 2017 playoffs (and would if the post season started today, face the Canadiens), testament to a playoff format the NHL might want to reconsider this summer.

The Caps key to success this year? Playing low event games. Through this weekend's games, the Caps have the League's lowest shot event total (comprised of shots for and against) at 42.2.  St. Louis ranks second at 42.1, while Pittsburgh, with their high-octane offence unsurprisingly rates the highest at 52.0, with Montreal not too far behind at 48.5.

Not that there's anything wrong with playing "boring" hockey - it's usually a pretty good formula for success, born out from the expertise of Caps head coach Barry Trotz, who's well established for developing teams that follow a fairly structured, if not rigid approach that's very emphatic on checking and being responsible in your own zone.

The key to beating the Caps? Open them up - find a way of making the game faster and freewheeling. The moment Washington stops playing their system, they become vulnerable.

Which means the return tonight of skilled and speedy Paul Byron, who'd missed the past couple of games from an undisclosed injury (likely concussion) all the more important for the Canadiens, who are hoping to extend their 3 game winning streak. With Byron returning, Daniel Carr will be a healthy scratch (which means, amazingly enough, Bobby Farnham will get another start - oh well).

Back to the Caps for a moment, here's their lineup for tonight

Ovechkin/Backstrom/Oshie
Johansson/Kuznetsov/Williams
Connolly/Eller/Burakovsky
Winnik/Beagle/Wilson

Alzner/Carlson
Orlov/Niskanen
Orpik/Schmidt

Braden Holtby

Speaking of Holtby, tonight's goaltending matchup should also be a dandy - featuring Carey Price, the 2015 Vezina Trophy winner, against Holtby, who is the 2016 Vezina Trophy winner.

Oh yes, one more thing - the Caps are hoping to extend their current winning streak - to six games.

Puck drops at 6:40, EST.

Game Thirty-Eight: Habs vs. Preds

And now, a message from his Worship, Rob Ford: Just put down the crack pipe.

Consider that a Holiday message to anyone and everyone that's circulating the Max-Pacioretty-in-on-the-trading-block rumor mongering.

Just put down that crack pipe. No, you cant take a hit. Not even a little one. Just put it down. Right now.

Merry Christmas.

Montreal 4, Nashville 3

Overtime: 

- I don't think it's a stretch to say if Josh Gorges was able to play tonight, the Habs would already be in the showers with 2 points in the bank.

- Markov goes back to the box. He can come out of the box with 1:20 left in overtime, assuming we get that far.

- Desharnais saves the day. Great work in the Preds zone creates the turnover and Ekholm stumbles, and blasts it home with a slapper top of the circle. Heartbreaker for Nashville who fought so hard to get back to even against the Habs. They really deserved the extra point. Oh well.

- 7 DAYS OFF. HAPPY HOLIDAYZ EVERYBODIES.

Third Period:

- For the most part, Habs doing a decent job containing the Preds the first 10 minutes of the period, but they're still in sitting mode. Just awaiting the tying goal here ...

- Subban gets nabbed for a trip ... here we go.

- Weber. Lead. Gone. What a shocker. Markov hit hard along the boards, incensed that it wasn't called,

- Watching the replay, Markov was hit on the numbers from behind by Hornqvist, sending Andrei spiraling dangerously into the boards. Could have been called boarding, but officials let it go. And Nashville scored as a result.

- Preds were 0-14 this season when trailing after two periods. But then again they weren't playing Michel Therrien and the Habs in any of those games.

- Doug Murray on the ice for the final game shift. Therrien is just ASKING for trouble.

- Habs will earn at least one point. No way they should have been in this position, but given how the lead was blown, they really deserve nothing from tonight's game.

 

Second Period:

- So from what we've seen tonight, who'd you rather have on team Canada? Subban or Weber?

- The Diaz/Murray combo isn't installing me with confidence. Wilson getting way behind them and receiving the breakaway pass, only Prices' heroics are keeping the Preds off the board. Murray looking especially slow tonight.

- Emelin continues to play some petty lousy defense in his own zone. Post-injury Emelin really no better than a 5 or 6 slot blue liner. Emelin fortunate the Habs don't have strong depth at his position, although in the next year or two I can foresee him having competition starting on the second line.

- Plekanec is one of those guys that has less chance of succeeding on a play the more opportunity he has to think about it. It's why he's so lousy on breakaways.

- Doug Murray. Not sure what he was doing or thinking, but it comes with little surprise the Preds' Bourque gets his team on the board courtesy Murray's bumbling. Can't say we weren't warning about this.

 - Now Nashville is pumped. Price might have busy rest of the second.

- Bad high stick by Desharnais, resulting PK, Price hung out to dry. Spaling makes it 3-2. Habs really have been sitting on it, their forecheck has totally disappeared, and Murray's incompetence - potent combination for a big lead blown.

- Wilson very very nearly tied the game in the waining seconds of the period. How much did the Habs sit on that lead? Try 20-6 second period shots, for Nashville, on for size.

At this point I'd be surprised if the Preds don't win this game. Their opponent roundly deserves to lose.

First Period:

- Gorges can't start tonight for the first time in years, which means Murray starts. Ugh.

- Habs first powerplay, dismal.

- Subban strikes, courtesy some nice forechecking by Eller and Briere. Habs actually score a first period goal.

- Brilliant pass by Gallagher to streaking Pacioretty ... Preds defense completely flat footed. 2-0.

- Nashville defense all that cures Habs wretched offense, it seems. Plekanec plays give and go with Gionta, redeflecting the return pass, and it's 3-0. Habs flying, Preds look abysmal.

- With Murray and Bouilllon both in the lineup tonight, this 3-0 lead is by no means "safe".

- Jones takes a direct hit on the face off a near point blank slapper by Markov. Awful.

- Nashville actually came out well to start the game, the Habs as per usual, wasn't generating much of anything, just two shots the first 10 minutes. But then Subban scored, and the floodgates opened up. The Preds defense looked slow, unprepared for Habs attack and speed, none of the three goals was the fault of Mazenec. The next test will be to see if Montreal can maintain the pressure, or will they make the mistake of sitting?

Gameday Game Preview:

Did you know that the Montreal Canadiens haven't scored a goal in the first period since December 4th? That's 9 games ago. Since then, nothing. Not a single goal in the first frame.

This is to say that the Habs, for most of the month of December, have been playing catch-up hockey, which isn't a good thing under any circumstances, especially when you've been as offensively starved as this team has been this month.

So tonight, guess who's back? It's Daniel Briere, and he'll take a spot on the 3rd line, sliding along side Lars Eller and Rene Bourque. This means the Ryan White gets to sit healthy from the pressbox, along side Doug Murray.

Anyway, same old story. This team can't score. The droughts are all over the place. Lars Eller, Thomas Plekanec, Rene Bourque, Lars Eller, Brian Gionta, P.K. Subban, Brandon Prust ... it's been many, many games since any of them as made an kind of meaningful offensive contribution.

After a predictable defeat in St. Louis Thursday night, don't expect the ship to be turning around tonight in Nashville. Michel Therrien doesn't appear to have any answers to the puzzle - beyond, seemingly, tossing names out on the ice at random, hoping that a couple of forwards make some kind of connection. Emphasis on forechecking? Apparently gone. Puck possession? No longer a priority. The team just lists at sea, awaiting some kind of rescue ...

The Preds are a mediocre team in a very tough Conference - in a bit of a rebuild mode, with Barry Trotz in the unfamiliar position of coaching a team that's posting a sub .500 record. The Preds, like the Habs, have struggled offensively, with only David Legwand putting up respectable production this year - 25 points in 35 games.

In other words, don't expect the red light to come on very many times this evening.

Puck drops around 7:10 EST.