Game Forty: Bolt's vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs with 40% possession through 40 minutes. On pace for sub 20 SOG night. It's classic Therrien hockey and we're getting our clocks totally cleaned.

- Could easily see this game finishing 7-1 in favour of Tampa. Again. 

- Faint glimpse of life. Gallagher with a nice tip pass at the Tampa blue line to spring Paxioretty in alone, who beats Bishop high, and it's 4-2.

- Absolutely atrocious crosschecking penalty on Pacioretty, who was doing nothing other than sturdying himself after being hauled down. Bad, bad officiating. 

- Tyler Johnson is going to be a big reason why Tampa will compete for a championship in the next year or two, if everything goes according to plan.

- Tampa pretty sloppy in their zone this period. Very lucky their lead isn't down to one goal.

- While Tampa has visibly regressed this period, the Habs seem intent on frittering it all away. Can't gain any kind of puck possession in the Tampa zone, and their neutral zone transition game is in shambles. Lightening can fumble their way to victory. They will.

- Tampa pretty much set the puck up a tee for Habs final powerplay, and even with a 6-on-4, couldn't deliver. It's beyond abysmal. 

- All good things must come to and end, and tonight the Habs luck which has helped them rise to the top of their Division, ran out - hard. This team cannot continue to be out possessed and out played night after night and expect to still compete for a top playoff seed. Also, the powerplay is a total mess. This team continues to play the wrong kind of hockey, and eventually, ultimately, they're going to lose a lot of gems very quickly.

SECOND PERIOD: 

- Poor puck control off a routine shit gifts JT Brown his first of the season. Very un-Pricelike goal.

- Galchenyuk line only one for Habs so far to sustain some offensive pressure against Tampa's offence. Very lucklaster game by the Canadiens so far.

- Dale Weiss with a semi-breakaway off the wing, manages to release a shot six feet wide from 15 feet out. That's not easy to do.

- Subban with a dumb, dumb slash of Connoly. Dumb even by Subban's standards. 

- And Tyler Johnson makes Subban and the Habs pay for that brain cramp slash. 2-1. Therrien is fuming behind the bench. P.K. best keep his distance.

- Habs firmly on track for a sub 20 SOG night. Odds of winning with such output? Almost nil.

- Tampa playing a classic road game. Close checking, patient, basically suffocating their opponent into submission. Makes for a dull game, but two points are two points.

- Gonchar needs to play smarter. He's too old and lost too many steps to be so casual with his pinches. Tampa ought now be up 3-1 if not for Price. 

- Connoly. Off the wing. Absolutely nobody there to defend. Gilbert couldn't scramble over in time after making a bad turnover at centre ice. Not sure where Emelin was. Sleeping on the bench? It's 3-1.

- As we noted in the preview, this Tampa team can score quickly and mercilessly. Why Therrien had Gilbert and Emelin out on the PK, however, is a total baffling mystery. 4-1.

- Welp, that was pretty much a disaster of a period. Habs winning streak will end at 6. 

FIRST PERIOD:

- Andrei Markov. One shot, two posts. I'm wondering if this powerplay is as cursed as it is bad.

- Don't think the officials target Subban? Check out his first penalty of the evening.

- Referee assistance aside, Tampa not helping their own cause early. Clunky and disorganized start.

- Second powerplay truly dismal. Habs can't gain the zone, Tampa actually had more pressure. It's as though nobody has even noticed there's a tire fire. 

- Dale Weiss finally scores again. Foot at the right place, right time. Still doesn't excuse the fact this 4th liner continues to get 3rd line playing time. 

- Checking is tight, very tight. Game has very little flow or sustained pressure by either team. Not exactly entertaining hockey.

- A period to forget, both teams struggled to organize anything resembling sustained pressure. Defenses played well, Habs D kept most shots to long distances and blocked much of the rest. Beaulieu and Markov looked solid. Was expecting much more of a jump by this Tampa line, but saw very little - in particular the Johnson line.

GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW:

Well, how long can this continue? How many wins in a row can this underperforming Habs team pile up? Tonight, they'll be gunning for their 7th straight, which unless my memory is totally shot, will be the longest club winning streak in 11 years.

So much of this is smoke and mirrors. The Habs have a sub-50% Corsi possession mark, which makes them totally unlike every other NHL team in the League's top 15 in points. And here they are - 2nd overall. It's ... well ... Carey Price. The Habs have a team SV% of .934 which is kind of crazy fantastic, but almost certainly unsustainable. They also have managed to post an usually high shooting percentage, better than 9%. Add them up, and the Canadiens have the second highest PDO in the NHL, 102.4. Only the Nashville Predators are higher.

Can the Habs keep floating on air just one more game? It would be nice. A win tonight would move the Canadiens two points clear of the Bolts, with two games in hand to boot (or for that matter, 7 points clear of 3rd place Detroit and a whopping 11 points ahead of Toronto).

It won't be easy. Recall, the Habs were already taken to shed earlier in the season when they were manhandled by Tampa 7-1. The Lightening are, unquestionably one of the Conference's best teams, bolstered by an exceptionally good season to date by their top line that doesn't have Steven Stamkos. I'm referring to the Tyler Johnson line, who along with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, have combined to become of the most dangerous scoring sets in the League. This team has the ability to score, very quickly, and relentlessly.

Over in Habsland, the Canadiens continue to be led by the usual suspects (Galchenyuk line), but have been receiving some much needed extra support by their 4th line, in particular Michael Bournival, who's had an exceptionally good streak of games of late. Meanwhile, the Habs defense, coming off one of their better performances of the season Saturday night against the Pens, seems to be settling in nicely with Nathan Beaulieu and Sergei Gonchar solidifying their position as the team's 2nd unit in command.

And then, of course, there's Carey Price. At what point does he start to enter the conversation for the Hart? He's been borderline incredible for most of the season - really, since Sochi, don't ya think? He'll be going up against Ben Bishop, he who probably might have helped Tampa give the Habs a run for their money during the last playoffs, but was knocked out due to injury. He's healthy now, and he'll start tonight.

Home! Back home at last! Will it be for 7 in a row??

Puck drops at 6:40 EST.

Michel Therrien on Tampa: "When I say it's a rivalry, we're not in the same division so it's tough to say." … Wait, what ?
— Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) January 6, 2015

Sigh. Yeah. We kinda figured. Maybe Michel thinks Tampa is Carolina? Who knows? He collects his paycheck, sends his lines out, doesn't fix the powerplay, and hopes Carey Price does all the hard work. Coaching is difficult!!

Anyway .. time for:

News 'n' Notes:

- Bryan Allen cleared waivers today. He's in Hamilton. THANK GOD.

- Randy Carlyle was fired this morning. If you just found out, welcome back from the moon. Now let the Leafs fans fantasize about hiring Mike Babcock (hint: it's not going to happen).

- F.A. Parenteau is still hurt. Which means he won't play tonight. Which means another night where he doesn't score a goal. But we're used to that.

- Tampa got some bad news today, defenseman Radko Gudas will be out at least a month following knee surgery.

Hey, showdown for first place in the Atlantic tonight. We're involved!!

More in a bit.

Game Twenty-Four: Habs vs. Sabres

THIRD PERIOD:

- Well, well, well - miracles never cease. Subban involved in a penalty call, only this time, he drew.

- And the miracles just keep on coming. Parenteau scores off a mad scramble, Enroth failing to propriety cover the puck. As greasy a goal as they come, but it's a goal. Desperate times. Desperate times.

- Therrien absolutely tearing a strip off the linesman. Can't fathom what for, or what he hopes to accomplish.

- Sans the early powerplay goal, Habs mailing in another uninspiring period of hockey. Almost as though they're playing for the tie. Against the Sabres.

- Wow. Prust was given a match penalty in the second period. That's pretty serious. Must have been something he said - to an official? 

- One of the big problems with Desharnais is he carries the puck around with no rhyme or reason. His wingers seem to have trouble figuring out what he's going to do.

- Emelin with the stupid play of the night. Really, really stupid hit on Gionta that looked intent as a headshot.

- Just desserts. Habs get burned by fluky bounce off the backboards. Emelin the root goat, though.

- Sabres win. Unbelievable. With Gilbert a healthy scratch. With Beaulieu in the minors. With Tinordi in the minors. With Emelin getting regular shifts. Just crazy, unbelievable.

- Deaharnais fails to hit the open net, and there you have it - tired Habs line can't come back to cover the always excellent Hawks transition, and Saad stabs the Habs through the heart. Also loved the way Desharnais coasted back from one end of the ice to the other. 

- Another loss. But this one had extra bite and hurt. 

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs first period Corsi registers in at 53%, which again, isn't bad - against an average team. But Buffalo isn't an average team.

- Habs have plenty of possession in the Sabres zone so far in this second period, but are failing to generate many good scoring chances. Plenty of puck lobs, low percentage cross ice passes into feet, but no actual productive offense.

- Habs forwards making Enroth look way better tonight than he's actually been.

- Price hasn't faced a single difficult shot this period, and yet still, the Sabres are comfortably sitting on a 1-0 lead.

- Nifty pad save by Price on Moulson, his first difficult shot faced this period, now with 8 minutes left.

- For some inexplicable rationale, Therrien has dramatically scaled back the ice time for the Eller line - the best line this team has had much of November. Net result? Sabres 1, Habs 0. Shocking.

- And so the Habs head to the dressing room after having been outplayed the first 40 minutes against one of the worst teams in NHL history. Yeah. It's just like that.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Hooy boy, here we go. Ennis just skates around the slowfooted Emelin and makes a pretty backhand play off the rebound to put the Sabres up early

- Habs "new look" powerplay features Desharnais at centre and Gonchar at the line. Brilliant.

- Habs forwards are seemingly trying to drive the net, which against this terrible Sabres defense is quite sensible. But it's generating so far ziltch on the scoring chance ledger.

- And Emelin takes a hooking penalty for not paying attention to his fundamental responsibilities. The Horrorshow continues.

- Habs "new look" powerplay gets a second chance. This should be fun.

- Powerplay looks, in a word, atrocious. In five words, just as bad as before.

- Agaainst a good team, this first period would barely qualify as mediocre. Against this terrible Sabres team, it's more of the same from this team: a terrible first period.

SWEET JEBUZ WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO OUR DEFENSE?

Haha. We love the Sabres. Not because they're so lovably awful, but mainly because they thoroughly thrashed the Leafs last week. As you can see, it was a pretty embarassing night for all involved at the Air Canada Centre. For that, we are forever grateful to the Sabres organization.

Well, except for tonight. Tonight, you Buffalo people will twist in the wind. Or perish by drowning in seven of the 248 feet of snow you have on the ground right now. We don't care. We just want the two damn points, and you're gonna hand 'em over, see?

Well, maybe you'll hand them over. We Habs fans have a little problem right now, and it's mainly to do with the guy who stands behind our bench. See, he grasp on how a defense is put together is rather, shall we say ... rudimentary?  The coach, as we pretend to call him, was given a pretty sweet list of players to select from at the start of the year that included superstar P.K. Subban, and two up and comers by the name of Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi. He was also given the solid but sturdy Mike Weaver, and savvy veteran Andrei Markov - still one of the best of the business.

Add to that, G.M. Marc Bergevin added to the roster a pretty solid free agent signing in Tom Gilbert. He brought to the table pretty sound defensive abilities, and a little offensive punch.

So there you go. Pretty good slate to choose from. Oughtta win more than a few games with that.

So hey. Guess what? Almost none of those guys are playing. Nope. Beaulieu and Tinordi have spent much of the year in Hamilton, and Gilbert, who's played as well as many of us expected him to (i.e. pretty good) has been scratched tonight, in favor of 40 year old Sergei Gonchar, and the newly acquired, but slow and bumbling Bryan Allen.

So instead of having a 1a) (Subban), 1b) (Markov), 3 (Gilbert),  4 (Beaulieu), 5 (Weaver) 6 (Tinordi) defense, our coach has decided to run with a 1a) (Subban), 1b) (Markov), 6 (Weaver), 7 (Emelin), 8 (Gonchar) 9 (Allen) defense tonight.

It just makes you scratch your head, or run away and cry.

So yeah, Sabres fans - we love you! And in recognition of that love, we're doing everything possible to ruin our defense. Tonight, you're the lucky first recepient of this gift of a terrible defensive lineup. ENJOY.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST. The hand wringing will start around 7:15.