Game 54: Oilers vs. Habs

Edmonton 1, Montreal 0 (SO):

FIRST PERIOD:

So Danault is good to go today, but ah, there's a twist with Habs lineup today. With Danault confirmed in, Galchenyuk will play *wing* on the 2nd line, with Desharnais drawing back into the lineup to center him. 

So near as we know, this is Therrien's thinking today:

Pacioretty/Danault/Radulov

Galchenyuk/Desharnais/Byron

Lehkonen/Plekanec/Shaw

De La Rose/Mitchell/Andrighetto

So Brian Flynn is the healthy scratch.

- So for about 3 years, Michel Therrien had Alex Galchenyuk play the wrong position as a winger before *finally* getting it right, and moving him up the middle. So putting him back on the wing is a rather baffling decision. No less, next to Desharnais. 

- Pretty meek shifts so far from the Desharnais line, Danault line looks pretty good early- Radulov as per usual with his spark plug impersonation.

- Awful tripping call on Weber who made a good play checking McDavid, but the officials follow their orders and call their biases accordingly. Bad, bad, bad.

- McDavid clearly trying to draw penalties, flopping down on minimal contact. Shaw his latest attempt, the officials not buying (this time).

- Let's add Plekaenc to the attempt to penalize list. Pathetic.

Plekanec/McDavid contact pic.twitter.com/DYJnb29bk0

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 5, 2017

- Kind of an unsung acknowledgement, but Plekanec has done a good job keeping McDavid mostly in check this period. Oilers trying to match the McDavid line with the Mitchell line in response. Last change especially important today, will Therrien use it to maximum effect?

- Habs weakest link continues to be their blue line - Weber and Emelin still prone to significant breakdowns in their own zone. 

- Canadiens survive the first period, with Montoya playing very well in stopping 15 shots, although not many of them were high danger opportunities. Even though the officials seem to be missing calls, it's imperative the Canadiens stay out of the box from here on out, if only to keep the score close. Meanwhile, the Habs offence with a pretty quiet period - the adjustments made by Therrien showing little sign of success. Will Galchenyuk return to center as soon as today? We can only hope.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs ES CF was 44.1% in that first period, which had a nice little vibe you sometimes feel as you get closer to the playoffs:

- McDavid is on pace to play 24+ minutes today, which is an incredible total for a forward. Sure, at his age he could probably play 40 minutes a night, but this stuff tends to be cumulative, even for a young body. 

- Habs offensive woes continue to originate from the backend, with the Canadiens defenders doing a hapless job feeding the puck up ice. Oilers are doing a very good job at centre ice intercepting mostly long bomb passes. It's only a matter of time one of these turnovers will lead to an Edmonton goal.

- Oilers 4th line, centered by Letestu, having a very good game - not only stifling the Habs with an aggressive forecheck, but also generating some decent shots on Montoya. Canadiens would love to have this kind of performance and production from their 4th, but with Mitchell and Flynn, there's not much you can do.

- Hate to be a paid customer for tonight's game. The super-paranoid Habs are trying to draw the pace of the game into a crawl, while struggling to put together even a simple rush with the puck. Oilers are just pecking away at Montoya, a good strategy since they know their opponent isn't posing any danger. Eventually something will beat Montoya.

- Don't understand the Habs strategy here - a defence-only game doesn't work if you can't even muster up shots against your opponent. Canadiens, the few times they have the puck, are dumping it in from center ice, and more-or-less retreating back to their end. 

- Try, try, try again. McDavid now suckers another penalty, this time Emelin for a "hook". 

- Referees Dan O'Halloran and Francois St. Laurant are being made fools of today by McDavid. They're not very good, they never have been, never will be. McDavid knew this, and has exploited it to maximum effect.

- Just. Kill. Me. Habs totally camped in the Oilers zone on the powerplay for well over a minute, registering zero shots on Talbot. Looking for cute plays. Just stupefying.

- Second period not unlike the first, Oilers with the initiative and most of the scoring opportunities, while the Habs more or less just sat back and tried to contain. I guess "mission accomplished"? Assuming that the goal was to keep the score "close" going to the 3rd period. Who knows. What is apparent is the Habs have driven themselves into a serious offensive rut, poor puck management by the defence, and a passive attack by the forwards who seem more interested in developing pretty scoring attempts over just getting the puck on net. It's frustrating to witness.

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs with that "defence-only" hockey really paying off dividends, huh? 39% CF at even strength. 

- Habs doing a better job in the neutral zone to start the period, which is generating a few more + turnovers. Still, passing is sloppy, and shot attempts are mainly coming from long distances.

- Therrien line juggling, Andrighetto taken from 4th line, now with Galchenyuk and Desharnais. Byron appears to be odd-man out.

- Byron back with DD and AK27. So that was a short-lived experiment.

- Habs at least generating some shot attempts here, Radulov doing some great hard work, but his linemates doing a lousy job getting into a shooting position. That's another issue today - the Canadiens, the few times they've been set up in the Oilers zone, are not setting themselves to receive the puck for a decent shot on Talbot.

- Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddd ... que the Andrew Shaw bad 3rd period penalty.

- 7 minutes left, Oilers are pushing, Habs bunkering in their own zone. Canadiens are getting outworked for the puck, especially at centre ice. 

- Shea Weber is officially a defensive liability. Put speed against him, you might as well have a pylon out there.

pic.twitter.com/waRNuNFAMg

— manu 🎨 (@MoeninGlory) February 5, 2017

- In addition to 1) having Galchenyuk on wing, 2) Desharnais 2nd line centre, Therrien really missed the boat with Andrighetto, subjecting him to 4th line play. He's been one of the Habs better forwards today (and yesterday). 

- Habs "best" period of the game, for what it's worth. At least a point gained from the weekend. 3-on-3 will heavily favour the Oilers. 

OVERTIME:

- I'd give the Habs a 1/10 chance of beating the Oilers in OT. And I'm being generous.

- No idea why Therrien decided not to put out his best checking forwards to counter McDavid to start OT. The Habs manage to survive.

- Therrien sends out Desharnais (sigh), boom McDavid gets a breakaway. Montoya with game saver. OT deployments have been awful.

- Whelp, shootout we go. We had to endure almost 3 hours of stifling hockey to get here.

- Radulov and ... Byron? Okay then.

- Habs made Cam Talbot look a lot better than he actually was today, including that shootout. Alex Galchenyuk not given a turn, which ... whatever. Another opportunity goes past the board.

- Just to recap and remind, the Habs, save Gallagher, have a totally healthy lineup up front. The Oilers are missing two regular top 4 defensemen, and this is your final result:

GAME PREVIEW: TWO SLUMPING TEAMS COLLIDE. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

Hey, have you heard the news? The Edmonton Oilers are going to be in the playoffs!! Well, that was pretty much a given last week. This week? Well ... the Oilers are still in a very good position in the Western Conference, but hold the phone for a moment, Edmonton has suddenly found itself in a bit of a losing streak, 3 straight entering this afternoon's game at the Bell Centre.

The issues are this week as they have been for about 10 years in Edmonton, mainly defensive. Matters were not helped after Matthew Benning suffered a facial injury during Friday night's loss to Carolina. With Kris Russel already injured, Edmonton has had to call up Jordan Osterle, a rather young and inexperienced blue liner, to fill the gap. Toss in Darnell Nurse, who had ankle surgery in December and won't return until March at the earliest, and the Oilers have some big issues at the blue line.

Still, Edmonton is built on, and thrives off, offence. You know the story. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisitl have been All-World this season. Toss in the usual cast of characters, the Jordan Eberles, the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins's, the Patrick Maroons, and you've got yourself a team that can beat anyone on any given night (or day), be dammed how many of their defensemen are on injury reserve.

For the Habbies, it's not been a fun week, even with the team returning to health, they couldn't compete with the Washington Capitals yesterday for much of 60 minutes played, even if the final score indicated a close game (it wasn't). Phillip Danault, who's played a big role this year in stepping up his game to help his team get through a dodgy injury crisis, was himself hurt during the 2nd period of the Caps game, with an undisclosed upper body injury. He'll be a game time decision.

So the lines today are more or less settled for Edmonton:

Maroon/McDavid/Draisaitl
Lucic/Nugent-Hopkins/Eberle
Pouliot/Caggiula/Slepyshev
Hendricks/Letestu/Kassian

Larsson/Klefbom
Sekera/Gryba
Davidson/Oesterle

Assuming Danault can play, expect Therrien to put out the same lines as yesterday. However if he can't, expect Alex Galchenyuk to reunite on the first line, and David Desharnais, who was a healthy scratch yesterday, to draw in to play the 3rd line. Until we know at game time, however, it's all speculation.

It's Cam Talbot against Al (Tony) Montoya.

Game 53: Oilers vs Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Oilers through 40 minutes. That 2nd period much better for the Habs, their possession numbers going from 38% in the 1st period, to 56% in the 2nd. 

- Habs powerplay strikes again, for all the wrong reasons. Pouliot, shorthanded, simply skates through the Habs retreating defenders, with Petry making a poor check attempt. Edmonton on the board, and the crowd suddenly gets nervous.

- Habs doing some lead sitting here, which for a normal team, might be the logical thing to do. But with this Habs team - they must keep pressing. More goals. More.

- Plekanec lines dazzling today. This time it's Galchenyuk with fantastic puck handling that completely tires out the Oilers in their zone, and Gilbert of all players, comes to the net to push the puck home. That's a clincher goal, for sure. 5-1 Habs.

- I can't quite possibly emphasize enough how bad this Edmonton Oilers defence has played today. One of the worst I've seen by any team in any game this year. 

- Once again, only Oilers line to really show up today was McDavid. Habs have basically swarmed every other Oilers player without a 97, 4 or 14 on their backs. 

- Habs live to see another day. And Therrien as well. McDavid line came up totally empty today, which was shocking, while the Plekanec line was simply fantastic. Habs also aided a bit by some decent puck luck, which they haven't seen much in more than two months. Habs win. Habs win.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Oilers after 20 minutes. It was pretty one-sided, but we'll take two goals anyway they come. 

- Just a little FYI, Habs PDO is now down to 27th in the League, just a tad over 97, so a whole lotta puck luck is due their direction. It might be coming in their favour today. We'll see. 

- Gryba: When he isn't dishing out absurdly illegal and dirty checks, he's play acting. Smith-Pelly brushes his face with an arm, and Gryba goes down like he's take 15 or 20 MK-47 bullets. What a trash player.

- Ben Scrivens with a couple of great saves, while Edmonton being very sloppy with the puck in their zone, Eller and Weise with breakaway chances within 20 seconds of each other. Habs really needed to capitalize there. 

- Habs soundly outplaying the Oilers in this period, which is mildly surprising. The downside is that no goals are being produced, which may come back to haunt this psychologically-fragile Canadiens.

- Relief. Sweet relief. Another poor defensive play by the Oilers, shooting the puck up the boards from deep in their zone, creating a puck turnover, and a quick transition Plekanec shot hits a defender's skate and gives the Habs a precious 3-0 lead. The Oilers defence looking a lot like the Habs - defenders blindly shooting the pucks up the boards, resulting in unforced possession giveaways. It's not exactly what you would call a winning formula.

- Guess what the Habs didn't do today? A morning skate. Why NHL teams do these is mystifying. They're not practices, and every NHL player is in superb physical condition. Which means these routines are pointless - if anything, detrimental. 

- Subban. What a beautiful goal. With the McDavid line on the ice. Habs routing the Oilers. I'm stunned. Never saw this coming. 

- I had been thinking the Oilers had a half-decent shot at actually making the playoffs this year. As early as today. But after examining their defence today, I'm ready to rescind that sentiment. Incredibly awkward, sloppy and disorganized. No way they can compete with that blue line. No way.

- Habs dominate the period, and we're just baffled. Oilers doing themselves no favours with too many unforced errors, and lack of offensive push, the only exception being the McDavid line. Otherwise, the other Edmonton lines, and in particular their defence, have been pretty awful. Habs also benefiting from puck luck - the stars really coming aligned for Montreal this afternoon. 

FIRST PERIOD: 

- Good crowd in the Bell Centre today, to be expected, Saturday afternoon and all, and with McDavid on the ice. Expect this, however, to be the exception as the rest of the season winds down. Habs will be a tough sell, and may struggle to sell out many more games this year.

- It's been reported there are a whole lotta scouts from other teams in attendance today. It's a good bet they're not there to observe anyone from the Oilers. 

- Uh. This McDavid line. Oh. My. God. They're going to score about a kajillion points today.

- Just watch - let's see if (I'm assuming smart) Oilers coaching staff sends out McDavid line whenever Desharnais line goes out. I'm betting they will. 

- Yup. Mclellan is matching McDavid on Desharnais, and Therrien isn't picking it up. Woe are the Habs today. Woe are the Habs.

- Crazy. The Habs score first? ON THE POWERPLAY?! Plekanec with a one timer off a Markov pass, it probably should have been stopped, but still, WE TAKE WHAT WE CAN GET.

- Um, Plekanec is playing at another level. Not sure if he's enthused, mad or both. But it's working.

- Therrien madness. With last change, sends out Desharnais line against McDavid. Then Emelin gets nailed for a spear. With Beaulieu the healthy scratch. Good grief. 

- Scrivens, bless his heart, is doing everything possible to keep Edmonton off the board. He'll need the game of his life today. 

- Plekanec line is having an awfully good period of hockey. Still, it doesn't excuse Galchenyuk on the wing, which is an ongoing saga of deployment insanity. 

- Fleischmann with nifty pass to Lars Eller skating down the middle, a snap shot that Talbot muffs, and it's ... can we believe it ... 2-0 Habs?

- Oilers same old saga, incredible offence, but it's defence ... well ... it's still a mess. This has been going on for a remarkable 7 years, and counting. On full display this period. 

- Welp, Habs have a 2-0 lead after one period. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened. Of course, this game while the Habs were pretty soundly outplayed, but Edmonton let down badly by some pretty shoddy defensive zone coverage and some iffy net minding. Habs might actually catch a little luck reprieve today. Who knows. This team is so fragile, that it might (probably) take only one Oilers goal to start the walls caving in. Quite certain Edmonton knows this, so there's no reason for them to panic. 

STRAP IN TIGHT. TODAY'S GAME COULD BE UGLY. REAL UGLY

So yesterday (Friday) morning, I fired up the ol' twittermobile, and saw this on my feed:

I was informed that Guy Carbonneau met with the #Habs senior management last night for 3 hours.

— Peter Yannopoulos (@PeteYannopoulos) February 5, 2016

Woah! IT'S HAPPENING. MICHEL THERRIEN IS BEING FIR .. wait ...... Guy Carbonneau? Oh gawd, no. No. No. No. No.

Yes, only our beloved Habs could turn the thoughts of sweet merciful relief that would be the dismissal of Michel Therrien as head coach, into another nightmare scenario that would be the return of Guy Carbonneau as head coach.

Fortunetly, nothing transpired for the rest of the day. Well. Hold on.

#canadiens Nathan Beaulieu est frustré contre lui-même à l'entraînement ce matin. #tvasports a capté les images.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) February 5, 2016

 Oh, great. Our second best defenseman on a team loaded with defensive problems is mad. Great. What next?

Lineup changes for the Canadiens today: M. Barberio will replace N. Beaulieu on defence - B. Scrivens will be in goal. #GoHabsGo

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 6, 2016

Ya know, it's almost as though Therrien thinks of ways to make his team lose. Almost. So Beaulieu, at any given normal moment of time, a first line d-man, is getting scratched to make way for Barberio and Emelin?

Hey, Michel. Do you know who you're playing against today? It's the Edmonton Oilers. With Connor McDavid. Ring a bell? They've just come off a complete thumping of the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, a game I watched, and was absolutely stunned by the Oilers incredible ability to move the puck up the ice.

That means, on any given normal moment of time, you want your absolute best defenders suited up and ready for play. That means you don't allow Alexei Emelin or Tom Gilbert to come within 10 miles of the Bell Centre. That doesn't mean you scratch your second best defender ... oh ... who am I kidding?

Habs are, in all likelihood, going to be destroyed today, or at the very least, soundly defeated.

Puck drops at 2:10 EST.

Game Eleven: Habs vs. Oilers

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Oilers through 40 minutes. That second period was just about as bad as you thought it might be for Montreal:

- Subban with a ridiculous stick scoop to keep the Oilers from narrowing the lead to one goal. That's how much the Habs are flirting with blowing this.

- Oilers matching McDavid line against the struggling Desharnais line. It's a good matchup, with Montreal's 3rd unit really sluggish to match Edmonton's speed.

- Here we go. Davidson a blast from the line on a four-on-four where a second earlier, there were four Habs in the corner puck chasing, and the lead is one. Good riddance for trying to sit on a lead for nearly 30 minutes. 

- Oilers pushing hard, mighty hard now, and Montreal is reeling, just barely hanging on in their own zone. Edmonton on the cusp of tying this game.

- Weise, puck on his stick, close to two seconds to shoot the puck into an empty net two feet away, somehow, someway, misses. Simply putting the puck in would probably had ended this game. But now ...

- And there is it. Pouilot. Another Habs offensive breakdown. Habs fully deserved blowing this lead. Didn't bother playing in the second, and basically handed everything to Edmonton in the 3rd. Collapse is nearly complete.

- Habs seem to be resigned to OT, which isn't much of an option, given that McDavid is playing out of his mind right now. Montreal will almost be certainly curb stomped 3-on-3.

- Collapse compete, Oilers shoot in, Desharnais is easily stripped of the puck, as though he wasn't even there, and one second later, the Oilers win the game. 

- Disgrace. Total disgrace. The Habs had a 3-0 lead, were skating circles around their opponent, and then took a collective vacation at the start of the 2nd period. Instead of continuing to be aggressive, they went into a total shell. And it cost them an easy win. Scratching Semin, putting Flynn on the 2nd line, looks like a catastrophic move, as Flynn gave the Habs close to nothing tonight. This is the kind of a loss that can send a team reeling for weeks. And given how this team was prepared, and how it held it huge lead, it'll be fully deserved. Awful, awful, awful game for the Habs.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Oilers through 20 minutes:

- Remember how we mocked McDavid for that dive in the first? It really was that bad:

- I know Scrivens' career took a dive off the cliff, but Talbot doesn't look like much of a solution. 

- Habs increasingly passive as the period goes on, allowing Oilers free reign to carry the zone and take shots at Price. Three goals ain't insurmountable, guys. Punch your cards when the clock hits zero.

- Dale Weise playing the kind of game tonight that likely got Alexander Semin scratched earlier today. Fair is fair, right coach?

- Habs really going through the motions, on pace for two shots in the period. Pretty dismal effort by a team that's clearly trying to coast their way past an inferior opponent.

- Desharnais has been a possession dearth tonight - constantly getting pinned in their own zone. Brian Flynn next to Desharnais has lacked any form of cohesion. 

- Habs lone powerplay a hot mess, which isn't exactly surprising since this team has been so focused on slowing the game down to a crawl this period that passing accuracy has pretty much fallen into an abyss. 

- Referee TJ Luxmore, who's only called 30 NHL games, nails Fleischmann for high sticking, which never goes higher than his waist. Oilers convert on the man advantage to make it 3-1. Luxmore looking a bit over his head tonight.

- Well, Habs three goal lead is now two, and it could have been worse, given how much they sat on their lead in the period. Coach Therrien needs to remind his players that their formula for success this season has been to not sit on any kind of lead. They cannot afford to coast another 20 minutes against this Oilers team, which has the capacity of scoring goals in bunches. 

FIRST PERIOD: 

- So how long before Therrien gives up on playing Flynn on the 2nd line? How long afterward does Dale Weise take that spot? Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how that line produces. Fans might pine for Semin at the end of the night.

- Both teams sputtering badly out of the gate ... no rhythm at either end of the ice, scoring chances have been next to zero so far. This is the type of game you like to play if you're an overmatched visiting team. Thing is, it's the Oilers who are overmatched.

- Habs strike on the powerplay, doing a pretty impressive job passing in the Oilers zone, before Subban releases a point shot that's deflected in by Gallagher. Habs man advantage continuing to show improved confidence. Maybe this 18 month long powerplay nightmare is finally over. 

- Darnell Nurse looks like the real deal. The rest of the Oilers defence, though ... yikes.

- Connor McDavid does a grand belly flop looking for a cheap penalty. 

- Oilers sloppy defence strikes again, poor turnover at their line gifts the puck to Torrey Mitchell, who snaps the puck top corner. Mitchell continues his amazing season start. Whowouldathunkit?

- Wow. Edmonton's defence is just a mess, Markov a lovely pass to a WIDE open Galchenyuk, who has an easy tap in to give the Habs a 3-0 lead. Our pregame speculation about whether this Edmonton team has the defensive horses to get them to the playoffs? Not a chance.

- Brian Flynn looking mighty impressive on the PK. Really wish he'd get more time on that unit.

- Habs more or less taking Oilers to school in that period, with Montreal's forwards causing headaches and turnovers like crazy. Edmonton's defence is, to use a couple of words, pretty woeful. Their offence wasn't anything to write home about either, as the Oilers had difficulty setting up quality chances off the rush - which their scoring lives (or dies) on. Puck luck killed Montreal in Vancouver, tonight it hasn't been a factor, and it's been pretty lopsided.

OKAY. NO MORE MESSIN' AROUND. THE OILERS ARE DONE SUCKING!

Has the "City of Champions", and their beloved hockey team finally turned the corner? After 10 years in the NHL hinterlands, could these, the Oilers of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, finally ... FINALLY be icing a competitive team?

The answer, quite clearly is ... we're not sure!

Man, it's been a rough 10 years for this organization. Five bottom basement finishes in the standings, five first overall draft picks, 4 in the past 6 years, and still ... this team hasn't had much of a sniff at a playoff spot since they were (yes, it's true) in the Stanley Cup Final wayyyyyy back in 2006.

Ah, BUT THIS YEAR IT'S DIFFERENT cry out the Edmonton faithful. To a certain extent, they're right. This year's Oilers team is different - is unquestionably better.

Still, are they a playoff contender in 2016? Probably not. We think.

The Oilers big move during the summer was, of course, the drafting of Connor McDavid, who's, as you may have noticed, is off to a terribly good start in his rookie campaign. Five goals and assists in ten games, he's been playing so well that he's making his linemate, former number one overall draft pick, Nail Yakupov, look good. That alone is a pretty impressive achievement.

The story with Edmonton is the usual - an offence with awesome potential and a defence that ... well ... it's an ongoing project.

At the very least, unlike the years of doom and gloom under Kevin Lowe, Edmonton is actually paying attention to their blue line. Leading up to the trade deadline, the Oilers acquired Eric Gryba from the Senators (yes, he of the dirty head check to Lars Eller three years ago), and over the summer, signed Justin Schultz and Brandon Davidson to a (just) one year extensions, and picked up free agent Andrej Sekera and gave him a six year contract. Then there's prized defensive prospect Darnell Nurse, who scored his first NHL goal earlier this week.

So what's the effect. Well, the Oilers are no longer in last place, defensively, at least so far this season. Last year they were ranked 30th overall, this year, 23rd, in goal averages per game. In shots allowed per game, they've gone from 30th, to 22nd. Their penalty kill has also improved, now ranked a respectable 15th overall.

These are improved numbers, but they still aren't great numbers. The trend though, has been established, and it's mostly positive. If the Oilers don't make it to the post season this year, it's a pretty good bet they will in the very near future.

Meanwhile, over in Habsland ... the Canadiens are dealing with a one game losing streak, thanks to some bad bounces and generally sloppy defensive play in Vancouver Monday night. Tonight, the Habs will be making their first lineup adjustment of the season, with Alexander Semin (as predicted on this blog a couple days ago) getting a healthy scratch tonight, his spot on the 2nd line will be taken up by (drum roll please) ... Brian Flynn. WHAT? Yup. Brian Flynn. The Habs 4th line, which has been mostly awesome this season, is being taken apart by Michel Therrien - so hey ... don't look at me about this stuff, I'm just reporting.

Still, pound for pound, ounce for ounce, and on paper, the Oilers are heavily overmatched tonight. There is no *good* reason why the Habs shouldn't get back on the winning track tonight.

We're sure about that. Well, kinda sure. Actually, we have no idea!

Puck drops at 9:10 EST.