Game Fifty-Seven: Habs vs. Sens

THIRD PERIOD:

- Subban, or not to Subban. The anticipation is the worst. 

- Subban starts the period. We breath. For now. Let's see how much he plays before we can collectively breath normally again.

- Subban really struggling out there. I fear they may shut him down for the night.

- No way Habs can run with four D the rest of the night, can they?

- Subban looks terrible. They have to take him out. This cannot continue.

- Sens powerplay goal. Tokarski with more rebound control issues. Been plaguing him his last few starts. 3-1.

- Well, well, well, Nathan Beaulieu gets his first NHL goal, a total fluke bounce in off a half dump, half chip towards the net. It's not pretty, but it gives the Habs hope. 3-2.

- If Subban ties this my head will explode.

- Subban can't keep the line, Sens bury the game. Well, it's a loss, but not overtly bad. Still think this team did a disservice playing its most valuable defenseman through an injury in a relatively meaningless game. On to take on Florida, and Carey Price.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Subban looks to be on pace for a 35 minute night. Maybe more as the game progresses.

- I'm all cool with Subban picking up slack, but Therrien needs to play Pateryn more. 3:46 in the period with just 5d is way too low.

- Pretty good start for Habs offense in the period, but play continues to be scrambly around Hammond. Nobody able to muscle a loose puck home (more 4th line please!).

- Guess what? Habs best scoring chance of the night generated by that 4th line, Gilbert given a wide open net off a sweet pass by, guess who - Jiri Sekac. Gilbert totally misses. Should be 1-0.

- Habs forwards have been going high, very high, on Hammond tonight. Not sure if that's the book, but it's not working.

- Habs powerplay. Everything but the kitchen sink. Just won't go in. Galchenyuk still looking awfully good. Com'on guys.

- 11-4 shots on goal for Montreal this period. Subban 15 minutes, we're at the halfway mark. 

- Well, let the floodgates open. Two goals in 8 seconds, tie game. Pacioretty goes low on Hammond. That's where you need to go, guys.

- Wow. Gryba tried to blindside Eller with open ice elbow to the head. Unbelievable. Total scum. Prust comes in to settle the score and gets thumped. Still, Gryba was totally targeting Eller. 

- Hoo boy. Subban takes shot off the foot and goes to the room. Breath deep everyone. Hold it. 

- Pageau. Tokarski no chance. Original mistake by Gilbert which resulted in deep zone turnover. 2-1.

- As we anticipated, another entertaining period, with 32 more shots added to the board. Now 59, and counting. There is only one thing that matters right now, and it's Subban. If he's done for the night, so are the Habs. If he's done for longer, so are the Habs. You get my point.

FIRST PERIOD:

- So Sekac is buried on the 4th line. I guess it's better than being saddled next to Malhotra.

- Ouch. Emelin goes for a foolish body check, stumbles and foes shoulder first into the boards. Methinks Pateryn might actually get more than 5 minutes tonight.

- Galchenyuk smartly trying to test Hammond early. Habs need to hammer shots at him every opportunity.

- Therrien appears to be favouring Gilbert to pick up the slack, with Emelin possibly out for the night.

- Prust. Just can't quite deliver. It's been that way for awhile. With de la Rose seemingly sticking, will he be the odd man out next season?

- Habs announce Emelin is gone for the game. That's almost certainly an indicator of a serious injury.

- Tokarski's and Price's styles couldn't be much different. The former battles the puck, the later just eases into shots.

- Spirted pace so far, Tokarski really fighting the puck.

- Both goaltenders doing quite a flop demonstration tonight. So far it's been working. Barely.

- That tight-checking, watch-your-butt every second game we saw against Detroit has basically been tossed out the window tonight.

- Galchenyuk looks great tonight. Even more so than usual. If there's on guy who's a good bet to make a couple of marks on the scoresheet, it's him.

- Well that was a fun period, 27 shots on goal, both goaltenders were a little bit fortunate to keep everything out, but regardless, both teams's strategies are clear - throw everything possible on net and let's see what happens after the dust settles. Should make for two more exciting periods.

GAMEDAY NEWS 'N' NOTES

- JIRI SEKAC IS BACK. Hard to believe, but he's starting tonight. Yay.

- Manny Malhotra is FRICKIN' FINALLY OUT. I mean, what .. why .. who ... how ... is this guy still getting dressed for game action? Monday night against the Wings, Malhotra won 4 faceoffs. Out of 16. I mean, he has no other purpose other than to win draws. He can't do that. He must never play in a Habs uniform again. It's that simple.

- Greg Pateryn is in!! Yay. He'll replace Mike Weaver, which is kind of a boo, since Alexei Emelin will still be playing tonight. Still ... it's progress.

- Dustin Tokarski will get the start tonight. Welllllllllll ... we'll see how that goes.

- On the other hand, Sens will start their backup Andrew Hammond. So that evens that.

More in a bit!!!

Game Thirty-Four: Sens vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Math is pretty simple for a tired team like Ottawa. They'll need to score reasonably early in the period, otherwise, the hill will only get steeper as play drags on.

- Habs being very conservative, defensively. Basically folding up their tent and hoping the storm never arrives.

- Sens have a pretty atrocious transition game, basically firing darts in the dark, feeding the line and hoping a point shot makes its way through.

- Habs huge defensive breakdown, Chaisson misses a completely empty net. Game should be tied.

- Habs doing their best to not salt this game away. I guess they're wanting to keep their fans on the edge of their seats?

- Nothing more satisfying than seeing someone named Gryba going to a penalty box.

- This team would probably be sitting at 24 -25 wins with a properly functioning powerplay. That I have little doubt.

- Man, the Sens are just a disorganized mess tonight. Too many men with four minutes left, trailing by one lousy goal to an underachieving opponent. Long year ahead in Ottawa. Long, long year.

- Subban and Markov have not been on the same coordinates at the line tonight. It's hurt this team's scoring chances.

- Plekanec with a simple wrap shot, Lehner ... who knows? Insurance goal, Habs should be able to cruise to the finish now.

- Sens just throwing in the towel. Galchenyuk finishes a nice little three way passing play, Ottawa defense not even bothering to skate back to cover their zone. 4-1.

- As we speculated earlier, tired Sens team only had one shot in the third - to score early, or forget about it. Habs had the legs with the extra rest, and Ottawa could do nothing to compete. A relatively easy win, although given the circumstances, it should have been a whole lot more comfortable of a victory for the Canadiens. 

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs Corsi rating halfway through the first was 83%. End of period, it fell to 50%. Yuuuuuup.

- Emelin is just so sloppy, has such a low hockey IQ. The day Bergevin is able to unload his services on someone else will be a major step forward for this franchise's championship hopes.

- Second period mirroring the first, Habs dominated up until the 8 minute mark before switching into sleep mode. We're approaching same time mark of second period right now.

- Oh baby, what a beautiful goal, Patches, Galchenyuk and Gallagher finishes very pretty goal, assisted by clunky Sens line change. 2-1.

- Safe to say the Habs are extending their strong play beyond what we saw in the first frame. Actually, 5-on-5, Habs have looked very strong tonight (yeah yeah Sens are tired, but still, Montreal playing a much more coherent goal than we're used to seeing).

- Sekac with Plekanec does nothing for me. Wonder how long Therrien is going to stick with this combo. Then again, we thought he wouldn't play Weise on the top 6 for more than a week, and here we are, more than a month later.

- Deaharnais having big troubles figuring out how to play the wing. He's just not working out anywhere. So like Emelin, Bergevin really needs to think hard about this team's long-term competitive prospects if he isn't wiling or able to move him somewhere else.

- Sens have no business even having a sniff at a win, but if not for Price, this game really ought be tied.

- Habs mailed in last seven minutes of the period, which is really disheartening and unimpressive. Third period coming up and this game is still up for grabs. Sigh.

FIRST PERIOD:

- As we didn't remotely expect but aren't entirely surprised, Pacioretty will play tonight. The guy is incredible.

- Welp, Bornival is a scratch. Sigh. And Sekac won't play alongside Eller, because why would you want to keep doing something that works?

- Habs storm out of the gate against an already visibly tired Sens team. Karlsson with a tired hold goes to the box.

- Um, okay. Andrighetto falls with Habs well set up in the powerplay, a routine 65 foot flip shot by Condra on Price who completely muffs it up and Sens take a 1-0 lead. Quite possibly the weakest goal ever surrendered in Price's NHL career.

- Energy kind of just totally left the building after that goal. Game turns on a dime.

- Lehner trying to make Price feel better about his first goal. Prust from almost behind the red line. Tie game.

- Habs are kind of overwhelming right now - constantly on the attack, Sens in survival mode right now. Eller looking extra fast tonight.

- Sens righting the ship, pressing the zone and now drawing a powerplay. Momentum, she's a fickle lady.

- So Habs dominated first half of the first, Ottawa the later. One thing, though. Habs have no excuse not to be dominating most of this game.

- This game should have been tagged and bagged for the Habs. Getting the sinking feeling this team is going to have to scrap for all their might to get points tonight. 

Oh Ottawa. Why do we not like you so? We've little reason to feel this way. It's not as though you're a perennially winning franchise. It's not as though you've repeatedly dashed our championship dreams on an almost annual basis. It's not as though we even give two figs about your mediocre city that has virtually nothing to brag about.

And yet, we just don't like you. Maybe it's because of all of your dirty players and dirty hits over the years, like this:

Or maybe it's because of your inability to lose with class:

The lack of class certainly seems to be systemic. On this rare occasion, we'll let Michel Therrien take the microphone:

Better yet, let's let Brandon Prust sum it up:

Ah, who cares. You know what? The Senators aren't a very good hockey team. 11th overall in the Conference, 17th rated offense, 16th rated defense, 12th rated powerplay and penalty kill, their top scoring players is a defenseman, yadda yadda.

So tonight, the Sens will finish a back-to-back set in Montreal, coming off a pretty resounding win last night against the Ducks, whom themselves were playing their 2nd game in two days. I think the League is going to need to take a serious look at scheduling teams two games two days in a row. Teams playing the 2nd game have put up a dreadful winning record this season. Which means, of course, that the Sens ought to be ripe for the picking tonight.

Habs have a couple of things going their way tonight. First, Lars Eller will make his return to the lineup, hopefully reuniting him next to Jiri Sekac. Also, probably to nobody's surprise, Max Pacioretty, who took a brutal (and sadly unpunished) hit on Thursday night at the hand of career thug Clayton Stoner, may actually start tonight. Max Pacioretty, is without a doubt, OUR HONEY BADGER.

Carey Price will start tonight, with Joey McDonald as backup! Welcome back to the NHL Joey! Enjoy the extended view from the players bench!

Robin Lehner will start for Ottawa because ... the Sens are too scared to start Craig Anderson? I'll bet you that's why.

Puck drops 7:15 EST.

Game Seventy-Eight: Habs vs. Sens

THIRD PERIOD:

- Mad Max. 38. Brilliant. Great feed by Desharnais right in the tape. Sens über soft slot defense giving Anderson nightmares. 6-3.

- This line is having a killer night. Vanek to Pacioretty to Desharnais who has all day to make Anderson look like a fool. 7-3.

- Zach Smith doing his best brainless Chris Neil impersonation tonight.

- Habs just need to play safe. Avoid injuries courtesy Ottawa head hunters.

- Hey now, just 4 more to that 15 goal night I'd mentioned earlier. 

- Emelin is +4 tonight. How he managed to get that is completely baffling.

- A comfortable but disconcerting win for the Habs tonight. Badly outshot, and sloppy zone play are not the way you want to head into the post season.The analytics will cause some hand wringing, as thoughts turn towards the series against Tanpa. Anyway, Montreal now firmly controlling their own destiny in claiming the 2nd spot and home advantage. Home ice might be the series decider.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Well, at least Subban is playing. Still doesn't forgive Therrien for his absurd abuse of his star defenseman.

- Eller banks in the rebound and Habs take the lead. Crazy.

- Oops, seconds later Neil banks in a rebound and it's ruled no goal off incidental contact. But the replay shows Weaver (mostly) ran into Budaj. Sens ought to have tied the game, there.

- Galchenyuk has no business being in a fight with anyone. Even if it's against a non-fighter than Karlsson.

- Bouillon is a d-zone disaster. Constant and wreck less puck chasing leaving Subban out to dry protecting the slot and crease. And yet, it's P.K. who's always getting the bench.

- Presence of Parros makes the Habs 4th line a shell of its former self. Ottawa offense eating that line alive.

- Also terrible tonight, the Emelin/Markov pairing. Sens are matching Spezza line against those two and it's resulting in some grade A scoring chances. 

- Tinordi and Gryba with a good ol fashioned tussle. Tinordi responding to a hit on Briere. 

- Tinordi with an instigator penalty? Really? 

- Who said Paicoretty couldn't score on breaks? Probably me. 37th of the year and it's 5-3.

- Quite the frame for the Habs. Three straight goals to take control of this game which just 90 minutes ago looked like a complete disaster for the Habs. 

FIRST PERIOD:

- If the first three minutes are any indication,the Habs seem intent on coasting against their opponent tonight. Lazy penalty after he puck is dropped, indifferent checking on the resultant PP.

- 2-0. Deflected? Budaj looks like his head is in the clouds. Horrible start.

- 3-0. Markov and Emelin with some horrid defense on a simple 2-on-2 Sens rush. Budaj might get a mercy pull soon.

- Markov gets Habs on the board with a shot behind the Ottawa net, Anderson off somewhere else. This might be a wild night ahead. It already is.

- Vanek a great screen, he might have redeflected the Weaver point shot, and it's 3-2. Not even at the 10 minute mark.

- Sens first and third goals were courtesy shoddy Habs defense, Habs two goals courtesy poor Sens netminding and soft defense. It's victory through attrition tonight.

- The way both these teams are playing tonight (mostly sloppy) don't be surprised if 15 goals are scored.

- So P.K. has been benched. For the grave crime of making a mistake, I suppose. Therrien reminding us why he has no business being an NHL head coach.

- Wow. Tie game. Vanek with a fine flip pass to Pacioretty who beats Anderson like a Sears rug. We're square. Unbelievable.

- Ottawa Sens and three goal leads. I'm sensing an issue, here.

- That was ... um .... interesting. Both teams looked terrible, the brightest lights being the Desharnais line (as usual) and a great period by Weaver, who now looks like a totally brilliant bargain-priced pickup. A great Habs comeback marred by Therrien's juvenile treatment of Subban. 

HAPPY GAME DAY

Happy Friday!! Back-to-back games, the first tonight in Ottawa against the golf-course bound Sens, tomorrow night against Detroit (finally back home) against the maybe-playoff-bound Wings. Yay weekend hockey!!

Even with the loss in Tampa Wednesday, the Habs are sitting fairly comfortably in their division, holding down 2nd spot with tiebreaker in hand. Tonight, there's really no good reason why the Habs shouldn't come out of Ontario with two more points in the bag against the rudderless Ottawa team. It's been a mess of a season for the Senators, whom many an "expert" picked to be near or at the top of the Eastern Conference this season. Well ... how's 12th spot fit ya?

Some reminders about tonight's game:

1. NO DOUG MURRAY. YAAY.
2. Nathan Beaulieu has been called up from Hamilton and will "fill in" for Murray. YAY.
2. Peter Budaj will start in goal (as expected).
4. Uhh ... George Parros might start? Let's hope not.

This game is important. A win tonight will give the Habs a firmer grasp on 2nd place (and home advantage for the first round against Tampa), PLUS ... it'll officially end the Sens' season.


YAY!!

Puck drops 7:10 EST.

Game Seventeen: Habs vs. Sens

Amusing: the Habs are 8-4 in games where Parros doesn't play and 0-4-1 in games where he does.
— Mathieu Roy (@Le_Matheux) November 8, 2013

Really? 'Cause I ain't laughing.

Hot Wet Habs Trade Rumor:

- Normally I don't pass these things on, but it's going around today, so we'd might as well address it - Jordan Eberle for Jarred Tinordi.

Dunno. It's a compelling proposition, but conditional on a couple of aspects - one, that the Habs do whatever possible to extend Markov's stay for another couple of years, and two, this organization's willingness to admit that the moves it's made the past year were mistakes. That means, a willingness to either significantly reduce or cut ties altogether with George Parros, and to sit Daniel Briere in the pressbox if and when he's invariably unable to produce the offensive numbers.

If there is a genuine weak spot on this year's Habs club, it's offensive consistancy. We flagged this earlier in the year while the Eller line was basically carrying the team's goal production. We asked, what will happen to the Habs when they invariably stop producing? The past four games, all losses, are supplying us with the unfortunate answer.

Eberle would undoubtedly give the Canadiens a significant boost at the red line, and the Oilers, who've made some incredibly poor strategic choices from the bounty of top-tier drafts pics, are beyond desperate for young, potentially very talented defensemen.

Tinordi fits that bill.

But it is enough to get Eberle?

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: A couple of people have emailed me pointing out that the Habs don't have the cap space to take on Eberle's $6 million annual salary - which is true. At the moment, the Habs' cap space is just a tad under $2 million, but their available cap space is slightly under $5 million (expanding to $11 million by the trade deadline). So while acquiring Eberle wouldn't be possible at this given moment, it technically could be possible in less than a month (by the way, only six teams are presently cap-able to take Eberle: Buffalo, Ottawa, Calgary, the Islanders, Florida and Colorado).

BUT ... and this is where it gets tricky, freeing up the space beyond this season would present some challenges. Gionta is a goner automatically. Subban is looking at a $7M annual return. So is there space left for Markov? Well, with Emelin recently rewarded with a $16 million deal, the answer is probably not. Unless Andrei is willing to provide the organization with a pretty generous hometown discount - (why should he?).

Soooooo ... in all probability, acquiring Eberle would come with a double-hit. Losing whomever it takes to acquire the Oilers' forward (say, Tinoridi), and losing Markov forever.

So how does the Habs defense look in the future, with no Markov and no Tinordi?

Not as good. Not nearly.

Above, we see Habs General Manager during last night's loss to the Senators, pondering over signing the very unnecessary George Parros, Doug Murray and Daniel Briere to contracts over the summer. He's possibly also thinking about Rene Bourque.

 

Ottawa 4, Montreal 1

Third Period:

- 2nd period close, Fenwick 51.7%, 53.5% Corsi. Not dominating, but still not reflective of the scoreboard. As per usual against the Sens.

- Subban needs 8:46 this period to crack the 26 minute mark. He'll definitely beat the 24 minute mark, unless Therrien again benches him the final 5 minutes.

- Sens in shut-down mode, Habs are driving the Ottawa net, but Lehner has been very good. Throwing hands in the air.

- Habs had Sens on the ropes trapped in their end, until Bourque was simply pushed off the puck, and Ottawa got their icing. Sigh.

- Suddenly Subban getting buckets of icetime. Therrien forced to play his biggest cards with time running out.

- Rene Bourque is officially in my doghouse. He's got to be entering Therrien's.

- Habs are +13 in shots, -2 in goals. Maddening.

- Another penalty, and that's all she wrote. Another loss, and while the pitchforks aren't yet out, the barn door has been opened.

 

Second Period:

- Subban on pace for at 21:12 night. Markov 26:00.

- Canadiens have blocked 48 shots the past 4 periods. 

- Ottawa's defense continuously setting the puck on a silver platter from these turnovers. Habs need to start cashing these in.

- Nice shift by Desharnais. That's one.

- That's two in a row for Desharnais. We're on a roll.

- I've often heard many an "expert" assert that Gorges wouldn't qualify for 2nd line defense for most NHL teams, not for a moment understanding the value Josh contributes by blocking all these pucks. The man is a machine.

- Even though it might be a shocker, I won't be surprised if Desharnais pots one tonight. Really pushing for the Sens goal tonight.

- Price surrenders a juicy rebound off a Spezza shot, and Methot cashes in. 

- Oy, the hell? Therrien sends out the 4th line after the Methot goal, and Borowiecki gets his NHL first. 

- Nothing's changed since the playoffs against the Sens, has it? Habs dominate scoring chances and puck possession, and trail by two goals.

- That's a good call?? What's Gallagher supposed to do when he's being herded into the Sens' net?

- Sigh. Frustrating period against a team we consistently outplay, but always seem to end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard. Only area where the Habs are being trounced is in the faceoff circle. Just 11 wins in 38 tries. Otherwise, I'm really starting to hate this Ottawa Senators team.

 

First Period:

- Has there been a game where so much attention is being paid to one player's total icetime? None in my recent memory.

- Wow Sens really are a turnover machine - specifically their defense. Habs have been pelting Lehner like crazy, but nothing in yet.

- Doug Murray comes with an eyelash of scoring ... on his own goal.

- Pacioretty has been hooked and mugged by the Sens defense. No calls. 

- Paciorety has his nose in most of the Habs chances so far. He's looked really good since his return, but hasn't been rewarded. At least yet.

- So Gallager gets nailed for the marginal dive? That's NHL officiating consistency for ya.

- Habs 13 for their last 13 PKs.

- Tremendous puck movement by the Habs powerplay. Markov with the shot, but the Sens defenders simply couldn't catch up with the play. Dazzling goal.

- Bouillion went chasing after the puck, abandoning his defensive partner, giving Bobby Ryan a very clear shooting lane to blast one past Price. Habs lead lasted 28 seconds.

- Habs one significant defensive mistake costing them a deserved lead. Penalties hurting the team's ability to maintain early period momentum. Still, a pretty impressive road period.

Gameday Preview:

A few considerations.

- Erik Karlsson, vs. P.K. Subban. Karlsson is off to yet another great start, even though the Senators as a complete unit, have struggled. 17 points so far. Meanwhile, the whole Therrien/Subban drama continues, with the mainstream writers finally taking note of how Subban has, or more importantly, hasn't been utilized this season. On any other team, Subban would be an icetime stud, easily racking up the icetime he's imminently capable of delivering. That is, 30+ minutes a night. Instead, he's been reigned in at just over 24 minutes on average, and perhaps even more preposterously, has been subjected to late game benchings when his team is either tied, or trailing by just a goal to the opposition.

Will the "treatment" continue tonight?

- Ottawa has so far, been an early season disappointment in the League, posting a sub .500 record to date. This from a team that many had figured would be finishing very high in the Conference. It's a long season, of course, so the Sens might reach those lofty heights after the 82nd game is played, but there's no question the team right now is in a spot of trouble, what with Craig Anderson back on the injury list after suffering a neck injury last night. Robin Lehner is no Anderson.

- This will be Lars Eller's first game against the Sens since taking that brutal broadside check in last spring's playoff series against the Sens, courtesy Eric Gryba. Maybe a little revenge is in the offering, is Lars can produce some offense tonight.

- Carey Price continues to perform ridiculously well, with the League's 9th best GAA and 6th best SV% - a terrific .933. So the Habs, if this season is any indication, have a significant advantage between the pipes.

Gametime is 7:10 EST.

 

News 'n' Notes:

- We've covered this already, but it bears restating - Travis Moen returns to the lineup tonight, which is great news. Since his facial injury, the Habs 4th line has been nothing short of atrocious - with plugs like Mike Blunden, Patrick Holland, Louis Leblanc, and Martin St-Pierre failing to stem the bleeding.

- Habs announced this morning that Brandon Prust won't likely see any game action until late November, slightly longer than was originally projected. So, blah on that.

- Sens will start Robin Lehner, whom since the neck injury to Craig Anderson, has been suddenly become the Sens defacto number one. Lehner has had four starts this year, and has posted one win.

More later.