Game 44: Hawks vs Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Hawks after 40, that 2nd period might have been in the top 3 of periods played by Montreal over the last two months:

- Of note, I think it's safe to say nobody is communicating to Therrien some of the raw data. Thomas Fleischmann, who has the worst CF% among all Habs players after 40 minutes (38.1%), has the most ice time among all Habs forwards.

- Hmm. Galchenyuk now playing on the wing next to Desharnais. One of Therrien's baseless hunches, methinks.

- Looks like Therrien has the blender out and running. Eller centering Fleischmann and Flynn. Uhhh .. no idea. Dunno what to say.

- Anyway, crazy line combinations aside, Habs continuing to apply pressure here, looking for the tying goal. Credit Habs for their efforts, at least.



SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Hawks after 20 minutes. Pretty .. um .. bad.

- Well, it's not quite the same horrorshow as the first period, Habs seem to be settling down a little bit in their own zone, making it less of a freewheel for the Hawks offence.

- Pacioretty getting good looks tonight, just not clicking for him. We speculated last week that he was on the cusp of a big scoring outbreak, but that event never arrived. We're still waiting.

- Habs generating intense scoring flurry on Crawford, who just barely keeps his team ahead on the scoreboard. Barberio with some nifty passing courtesy smart decision making to set up the play. Habs getting close, here.

- Carr on the 4th line is just a total waste.

- Two shift, two huge bodychecks by Emelin, which may or may not give Habs some energy here. Plekanec with a chance that should have been buried. Habs winning the period, but not converting. You can only do this so long before there's a let-down.

- Quite a bounce-back period for Montreal - it's a very strange thing to witness. They looked so awful in the 1st, so good in the 2nd. Can't explain it, other than the defence doing a much better job covering their zones. Habs still a goal down, but reckon to have pretty good odds if they can carry the 2nd right through the 3rd. We'll see.

- Habs first powerplay of the night looked decent enough, but the unit struggled to set up any shots in and around the slot.

- Credit where it's due - Alexei Emelin has been excellent tonight. One of his strongest games in a very long time.

- It's only been happening for 15 minutes, but it's pretty clear that Galchenyuk next to Desharnais is a pretty bad move. Hopefully Therrien pulls the plug on this little experiment before it's too late.

- Habs with a pretty brave performance. After 1 period it looked pretty clear the Habs were well on their way to getting bombed tonight, but they've come out with two excellent periods against a great Chicago team. Will be very disappointing if they can't find a tying goal, given their tremendous efforts.

- Three minutes left, Hawks in full sit-on-the-lead mode. Can the Habs find a way?

- Nope. Exasperating. An heroic effort wasted, Corey Crawford was outstanding, but still, this Habs team can't use that an an excuse. The offence, once again, just couldn't bury their chances - and there were numerous ones generated tonight.

Eyes will again turn to Marc Bereavin. Will he do something, or will this season, with this incredibly deep Habs roster, be frittered away?


FIRST PERIOD:

- With final change, there is no reason for Therrien to get outmatched tonight. That is to say, no reason why Emelin or Desharnais line should be out against either of the Hawks' two two lines.

- Sloppy turnover by Beaulieu with Hawks forwards doing some pretty aggressive forechecking, Deshnarnais forced to take a hooking penalty. Surely the Habs knew this was going to be Chicago's game plan, right?

- Alexei Emelin seems to be more focused on delivering thundering body checks than he is defending Blackhawk rushes. It's that kind of decision making that will inevitable burn the Habs against a team like Chicago.

- Habs lose zone faceoff, and proceed to completely lose all sense of structure, Toews with an easy tap in goal. Pretty abysmal stuff. Hawks have won 25 of 30 games this season in which they scored first.

- Hawks absolutely dominating the Habs, and then Desharnais carries the zone and feed Byron who knocks the puck off his body behind Crawford to even the score. Montreal will need many small miracles tonight, and that the score is tied right now is one.

- Habs defence is just a mess tonight. Again its the Petry/Beaulieu duo, again they're blinding firing pucks up the boards to try to clear the zone, again the Hawks are easily anticipating this terrible strategy, and again they strike again to make it 2-1. Condon doing his upmost, but pucks are coming at him from all directions, rapid-fire.

- Just watching this team is painful. It's simply unfathomable how a roster with so much talent is being made to look like AHL fodder against most of the NHL.

- Therrien sending out Emelin to handle Kane, which is just all kinds of insane. Fans starting to get very restless in the Bell Centre. For good reason.

- That was bad. Really bad. But pretty much what we feared. Hawks are playing at a completely different level than the Habs, who are mostly a defensive catastrophe. This game will almost certainly have a very ugly final result, unless the Canadiens are beneficiaries of some pretty spectacular puck luck, which isn't very likely (nor something you want to count on).

GAME PREVIEW: THIS SCHEDULE ISN'T GETTING ANY EASIER

Are we in last place yet? (no). Is Michel Therrien out of a job yet? (no).  Is Devante Smith-Pelly STILL in the lineup? (no). Is ... woah ... wait. No?!

In case you haven't been paying attention, and heaven knows you'd be forgiven for just turning your head the other direction and ignoring the whole sorted affair - Alex Galchenyuk and Devante Smith-Pelly have been making some pretty stupid headlines in Montreal this week, after it was disclosed that Galchenyuk's (ex?) girlfriend had been chaged with assault. Apparently, this woman, who shall not be named, discovered Mr. Galchenyuk and Mr. Smith-Pelly together, which is innocuous enough. However, in this instances, Mr. Galchenyuk and Mr. Smith-Pelly were in the company of, shall we say, other individuals of the XY chromosomal variety. At that juncture, things got out of hand.

Actually, things really got out of hand when Mr. Galchenyuk, for reasons that still baffle the mind, was made to apologize to the city of Montreal for ... his girlfriend assaulting him (I guess?). Or maybe it was because Alex was being a bad boy in the company of other women? Who knows?!? The bottom line here is that the Montreal Canadiens are fast become the backside punch line of a bad joke, notwithstanding their abhorrent displays of actual hockey the past 45 days.

In any case, Mr. Smith-Pelly, one assumes because he was a participant in this tawdry affair, has been scratched for tonight's game.

So now, the traveling circus that are the Montreal Canadiens host the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks tonight. The Hawks, even though decimated by cap mismanagement the past few years at the cost of some pretty darned good hockey players, continue to just roll along in the Western Conference. There is no other way of explaining the Hawks continued path of success, except to look at what hasn't changed - Chicago's most excellent head coach Joel Quenneville, who has an uncanny knack of being able to turn whatever is shoved on his plate, into a four-star, three course hockey team.

Hey, remember the time when there were rumours flying when newly crowned Habs G.M. Marc Bergevin was knocking on Quenneville's door about filling a vacant head coaching job in Montreal? But then Marc remembered that Quenneville didn't speak french? So instead he hired Michel Therrien? Remember that? Yeah. Good times. Good times.

Sigh.

So tonight, Les Habs will face the music of having to face another well coordinated, well structured, well coached hockey team. The Hawks starting lineup tonight:

1: Shaw/Toews/Hossa
2: Panarin/Teravainen/Kane
3: Panik/Rasmussen/Garbutt
4: Mashinter/Danault/Desjardins

And for the Habs? It's:

1: Pacioretty/Plekanec/Gallagher
2: Eller/Galchenyuk/Andrighetto
3: Fleischmann/Desharnais/Byron
4: Carr/Mitchell/Flynn

Keys for the Habs tonight? Hope for a miracle? Keep Desharnais away from the Toews line? Keep Desharnais away from the Teravainen line? Maybe lock Desharnais away in a vault until 10:30 p.m.?

Corey Crawford will start in goal for the Hawks. Mike Condon for the Habs. Puck drops at 7:40 EST.

CAREY PRICE WHEN-IS-HE-COMING-BACK!?!?-UPDATE:

Closer. He's getting closer. It's gonna happen. Don't worry.

Slow and steady wins the race. #TSN690 #CareyPrice pic.twitter.com/OTL3PFZpYO

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) January 14, 2016

TVA Sports

WHY, HELLO THERE

Got sore eyes? That picture oughtta help a little.

Game Fifteen: Islanders vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Islanders through 40 minutes. As you may note, Islanders dominated possession and shot attempts in that 2nd:

- Byron definitely not meshing with either Galchenyuk or Eller on that second line. And the merry-go-round of 4th liners continues.

- Brendan Gallagher is simply an outstanding forward in the attacking zone. I can think of few others, actually, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else, who has the same level of physical presence and puck command. He's borderline elite.

- Huge break for the Habs as a puck played up the boards on what would have been an icing, hits the linesman and gives Fleischmann an odd man break with Desharnais. 2-1 Habs. A quintessential puck luck play in favour of the team that's arguably been outplayed so far.

- This is very much 2014-15 Habs type of game - so the next obvious question is, will they try to sit on a one goal lead with 13 minutes left?

- We have our answer, and it is no. A beautiful shift by the Plekanec line, and even more beautiful is the way they cycled the puck in the New York zone. Gallagher to Plekanec to Pacioretty to Gallagher for the tip in. A work of art. And a 3-1 lead.

- Condon has had more than a few strokes of luck this season, giving up rebounds from the point, and diving on his belly. Lots of missed opportunities by his opponent so far, but eventually, that luck is going to run out.

- Habs now trying to protect the lead by stacking their blue line - which is an okay strategy as long as you ensure your opponent can't gain the zone. If they do, you're in trouble. Islanders have done it a couple of times.

- Habs just chipping everything away in sight. Islanders are generating more and more chances, as Montreal is pretty much surrendering two-thirds of the ice. Four minutes remain.

- Apart from the sit-mode that the Habs are working on right now, Montreal much better with zone exits this period. It certainly helped them to sustain some pressure after taking a one goal lead.

- Plecks with the empty netter, a conservative victory tonight against a pretty fast and skilled Islanders team. Sometimes you don't aways have play better to win games. Habs simply took advantage of the chances that were provided (puck off the linesman), while the Islanders did not (Tavares missing the empty net). Good teams, really good teams, tend to do that a lot.


SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Islanders after 20 minutes, Montreal with a distinct edge:

- Still not convinced Tavares isn't 100%, missing a wide open net during the Islanders first powerplay.

- Okposo opens the scoring off the rush with the powerplay running out, Subban/Markov a bit too passive retreating on the rush, and Condon is caught flat-footed. That's Condon's big weakness - there are periods where he's not moving his feet enough, making him particularly vulnerable on snap shots and breakaways.

- Powerplays, even if they don't score goals, can help produce lots of momentum, and get forwards moving their feet faster. The Islanders, since that man advantage, are distinctly quicker than the Habs right now.

- Almost halfway though the 2nd, it's been almost all New York this period. Shots, shot attempts, zone pressure. Habs are getting steamrolled.

- Fans definitely not getting their money's worth. Islanders have focused on carrying the zone, but haven't been able to string together those passes to finish scoring plays. Habs are looking like last year's team - lots of puck dumps, lots of chases. Very boring hockey.

- Most exciting part of the period comes with less than 10 seconds left. That pretty much sums it up.

- Islanders much better period - they're implementing a strategy that focuses on their speed advantages, Habs playing very much a road game at home tonight. Very close checking, very risk-adverse. Makes for a pretty ho-hum game, which is probably just fine from New York's perspective.


FIRST PERIOD:

- Islanders seem more determined to hit bodies than to construct meaningful offensive rushes. At least so far. If this is the Islanders "formula" for winning, that is, hitting like it's 2006, then they're in for a shock come the playoffs.

- Pretty tight checking period - both teams doing a very good job forcing wingers wide on the rush. Shots are either being easily blocked, or easily saved.

- When the play isn't being forced to the permitter, it's being dumped in. Both teams doing a lot of that in this period, Habs especially so. Their strategy tonight looks to be very, very conservative.

- Islanders penalty kill is a clinic. Absolute perfection covering passing lanes in their zone.

- Amazing how many times Subban has hurt his own teammates with that cannon from the point. I know this is a terrible thing to write, but are they shots impossible to avoid from 40 feet? Smith-Pelly the latest victim.

- Smith-Pelly might be able to drive the net, might be able to draw penalties, but he has almost no ability to score actual goals. Therefore, he's no business playing on that 2nd line. Oh well.

- I give up arguing that Dale Weise should never be on the powerplay. He scores yet another one off a nifty deflection off a Petry point shot, Weise's 8th of the season. He's having a crazy incredible season so far.

- To put Weise into perspective, most reasonable estimates would have Weise top-end season goal production at 15. He's already more than halfway past that mark, 1/6th of the way through the season.

- Good period for the Habs, they played it very safe, but still had control of the tempo with the Islanders focusing more on hits. Net result, the Canadiens had most of the offensive zone play, leading eventually to the opening goal. So far, so good.


HABS AND ISLANDERS GAMEDAY GAME STUFF

You know, I'm still bummed out about the whole Semin situation, so I'm going to keep this to a minimum, in point form.

- First big story - John Tavares, who was reportedly sick as bedridden dog over the weekend, will play tonight, although there's no indication he's at 100%.

- Habs will play the same lineup tonight, which means it's Smith-Pelly on the 2nd line.

- Here's some things to keep an eye out for as you watch the Islanders tonight: The Islanders' numbers into this season are slightly worse than last, possession-wise. But then again, they've been a little Jekyll and Hyde, winning and losing by larger than average margins.

- Islanders' special teams are ... kinda really pretty good so far. New York has the 3rd best powerplay in the League clocking in at 27.6%, while their penalty killing unit is top-rated, with a 90.9% success rate. In other words, the Habs would be wise to just keep this game 5v5 for as much as possible.

- New York's goaltending has also been solid, running under a split system. Thomas Greiss, who's the Islanders' 1b netminder, has posted a .924 SV%, while Jaro Halak, goaltender 1a, comes in with a .936 SV%. Halak will get the start tonight.

- Even though he's missed 3 games from illness, Tavares still leads New York with 11 points. Contain Tavares, and you contain the Islanders.

- Well writing that didn't work. I'm still bummed out about Semin. This team ... I tells ya ...

IT'S OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN. THERRIEN BREAKS UP WITH SEMIN AFTER FIRST DATE

So this is how it ends? So abruptly? So rudely? So ingloriously and ignominiously?

Alexander Semin, if a report yesterday by a very, very old man are accurate, is done in Montreal.

And you know what? It's a shame. A total shame.

Semin's excommunication from the team seemed to start off innocently enough. Semin had a couple of "bad" games (at least by Therrien's standards), so he became a healthy scratch. Brian Flynn took his spot for a couple of games, a fruitless venture since Brian Flynn is, has, and will never be, a 2nd line winger.

Okay, back comes Semin ... oh wait ... nope. Now comes in Devante Smith-Pelly, who's had a few decent shifts besides Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. That's including the times when, for whatever reason, Eller wasn't benched by Therrien for committing some kind of heinous hockey crime. We're still not sure what Lars did.

Thing is, we're still not entirely sure what Semin did so wrong. Yes, he wasn't scoring goals rapid fire when he suited up, but then again, he didn't need to. The Habs have been one of the top scoring teams in the League this season, to an extent that they've been winning even in spite of also having the greatest goaltender on the planet. The Canadiens have enough depth to overcome periods when a particular line isn't scoring many points.

Besides, when he did take his shifts, Semin, as well as his linemates, did well with puck possession. In 10 games, Semin's 5v5 close adjusted Fenwick was a very solid 56.6%. If Semin can be found at fault, it was for his luck, possessing a 98.6 PDO, on a team whose total average is frequently above 104. In other words, the points were eventually going to start arriving for Semin, given enough time.

However, 10 games are all he got. 107 meager minutes of ice time to prove his worth, which by the way, was and still is a bargain. $1 million for a guy that's a former 40-goal scorer. Of course, we never expected Semin to score that many this year, or for that matter 30 goals. Or possibly even 20.  At the end of the day, Semin was serving a purpose on the Habs second line - he was an asset to his linemates - his line was generating very good possession. Semin was doing what he hoped he would do.

Coach Therrien, however, saw it differently.

And now, with 4th liners trying to fill the 2nd line gap, the Habs are a slightly worse team because of Therrien's decision.

Game Sixty-Nine: Habs vs. Islanders

THIRD PERIOD:

- Parenteau has needed some time to find game legs, and he's gradually improving with each period played. Seems to be meshing well next to Plekanec.

- Habs powerplay looked so good in the second, now firmly pinned to perimitor and unable to get anything meaningful on goal.

- De la Rose high sticked right in front of the official. Comes up slowly. No call.

- Pacioretty might be the most dangerous PK forward in the League. He's been awesome on that unit tonight.

- Islanders dominating possession and momentum with 8 minutes left. Habs desperately need that third goal and fast, or this game could flip very quickly.

- First order of business this summer for DSP: lose 10 pounds. Because right now, he's lumbering around the ice more than he is skating.

- Looks like the Habs are just going to try to hang on, instead of working on getting that killer goal. And now Markov has been penalized. Hold on to something, because Montreal once again is doing everything to make this closer than it should be.

- Just when you think Carey Price can no longer amaze you, he goes and amazes you again. Incredible.

- Plekanec can't get it into the empty net, Pacioretty passes the puck into the middle right on the stick of Bailey, and it's 2-1. And here we go again.

- Lars Eller, thank god. Selfless play by Gallagher to feed him after intercepting the puck at the Islanders blue line. Habs survive themselves and manage to get the win. Good to see the struggling players back on the horse again. Parenteau, Plekanec and Eller. Habs will need more of that if they want to keep ahead of Tampa.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Sweet three way passing play, Galchenyuk showing why he's a natural centre with a perfect pass to the right side right on Plekanec's tape, nothing but empty net. 1-0.

- Hoo boy. The Islanders powerplay. Slow lazy change after the puck is shot into their zone, Eller says thank you very much and feeds Pacioretty in front for his 34th. Terrible goal to surrender. 

- Habs with that 2-0 lead, can they drive home the killer goal?

- Powerplay doesn't produce but looks good as Habs are able to maintain puck control. Progress.

- Carey Price up to his old tricks, making ridiculous saves to maintain the two goal lead. Habs sitting a bit and the Islanders are doing their best to take advantage. 

- De la Rose doing more excellent forechecking. Habs have as a whole, improved in this area in this period.

- Very good period for the Habs, they intensified the forecheck, giving them mastery in the neutral zone, which for the most part, contained the Islanders' oft dangerous rush. Carey Price as usual his Hart self. The bottom line is whether this Habs team can finally locate and deliver the knock-out 3rd goal? 

FIRST PERIOD:

- Pateryn gets a start, Gonchar sits, and DSP gets a demotion. 

- Tavares doing a nice dive club attempt with Subban and Plekanec following him closely. Officials not buying it.

- Nice work by Galchenyuk along the boards controlling the puck under fierce checking and eventually drawing a powerplay. 

- Habs approach to 5v4 is exactly the same as it is 5v5. The braintrust still hasn't figured out why that's a problem.

- Dale Weise with an incredibly stupid board. Gets just two minutes. League may review that blindside hit later.

- Price with more acrobatics to bail out Weise and the PK.

- Subban being very physical, but he's being smart about it. Islanders forwards are making appeals to the officials for penalties, but they're not buying. It's a bit of a New York weakness, their forwards are skilled and dangerous, but soft. 

- Brandon Prust can't score, and really struggles to skate at an NHL level. His fitness has really tailed off compared to earlier this season.

- Islanders defense needs to tidy and tighten up. Too many breaks surrendered this period. They've gotten away with it, so far.

- Habs doing decent job to prevent rebound shots. Not such a great job stopping the Islanders from taking the first shot, however.

- Habs now reverting to long bomb passes to generate offense. That's never a good sign.

- Islanders with the better period, which comes as no surprise. Price excellent, yadda yadda. Habs simply can't compete tonight with dump and chase strategy. They need to gear up their forecheck to create neutral zone turnovers. Otherwise, we're simply watching a game that will invariably swing in favour of New York.

GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW:

Welp. It's the final ever visit by the Montreal Canadiens to the only home the New York Islanders have ever known - the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The ancient building (by North American standards) is being abandoned by its pro hockey team for the glamor of Brooklyn.

The final year in Uniondale hasn't been the usual disaster for the upstart Islanders. They've been competing for top spot in the Metropolitan Division for most of the season, although their hopes for a top Eastern Conference seed has taken a couple of steps backwards in recent weeks, with New York winning just 2 of their past 7 starts.

Meanwhile in Habsland, it's the same old drama. After squeezing through 4/5ths of the season schedule mainly riding the back on future Hart Trophy winner Carey Price, the Canadiens' overreaching fortunes have come crashing back to earth. After taking an embarrassing thumping at the hands of the Senators at home Thursday night, local reports who are finally questioning coach Michel Therrien's "system" of surrendering the puck as frequently as possible, started asking the coach whether the Habs approach to hockey needs fixing. Well, yes, yes ... yes ... yes, very much, it does need significant fixing ... welcome to the club, boys. We've been waiting for well over a year for you to ask you these questions.

Therrien's response was predictable. To paraphrase, the system is fine and won't be changing. Alright then. Live by the system (riding Carey Price) die by the system (Carey Price being human).

So right back on that horse. The Islanders will be hungry for a win, and if Thursday night is any indicator of what's in store this evening, the Habs aren't particularly interested in two points.

Players to watch for? Well, it kind of starts and ends with John Tavares, he of 72 points in 70 games, including 33 goals which puts him dead even with Max Pacioretty (in goal scoring). Speaking of Max, he's the only player seemingly putting pucks into the net for the Canadiens, which is great if you're Max Pacioretty, but not so great if you're the rest of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are offensively starved, and badly need some goal scoring contributions by capable players like Lars Eller, David Desharnais and Devante Smith-Pelly, who's been an underwhelming presence since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks more than two weeks.

So it's the last visit to Uniondale! Unless, of course, these two teams meet up in the post-season, which is a distinct possibility, if the Habs were (as we expect) to fall down the Eastern standings to a 4th or 5th place finish.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.