Game 11: Habs vs. Blue Jackets

THIRD PERIOD:

- Really no point blogging the 3rd period - the Habs dues all came back at them, and then some tonight. There is an upside, of course - it will give this team a good dose or reality about how badly it's been playing hockey this season, in spite of what was an undefeated record in regulation. Now that we see the real Montreal Canadiens - a hockey team that relays far too heavily on goaltending, with some puck luck tossed in - are no match for even average NHL hockey teams playing an average game. Now the Habs have to hop on a plane, totally humiliated, and face the Flyers in less than 24 hours. How they perform tomorrow could give us another good glimpse into whether this Habs team is truly as dysfunctional this season as it was last.


SECOND PERIOD:

- Ah, the horror that was the first period. Habs fenwick 33.3%, just a few ticks higher than the first period against the Canucks.

- It would appear that Therrien is pulling out the stops to get Plekanec producing - Pacioretty and Gallagher on his wings now.

- Emelin with a dum-dum trip. Habs have their non-thinking hats on tonight.

- Columbus converts, of course. Their powerplay is off the charts successful this year. 4-0.

- Don't put Carey in, Michel. Even if they score 12 - just don't do it.

- Now Gallagher with a very careless high stick sends him to the box for 4 minutes. Habs playing beyond stupid here.

- Foligno. 5-0. Powerplay.  I've never seen anything like this.

- Hartnell, 6-0. Again, on the powerplay. Emelin literally just standing around. Laugh for cry? I'm doing the former. At the moment.

- Foligno. 7-0. Habs would probably be best just to take their goalie out and go with six skaters.

- Josh Anderson, 8-0. Montoya hadn't the slightest clue. Columbus would be wise to lift the foot off the pedal. This is well past an humiliation.

- You know I was joking earlier about Columbus scoring 12, right?

- Worst period of hockey by a Montreal Candiens hockey franchise in 106 years. Maybe 107. No point even going into details. The score speaks for itself.


FIRST PERIOD:

- Lehknonen is starting to get heat for his lack of production, but truth be told, he's been put on what has amounted to the Habs checking line this season. In other words, he isn't being used right.

- Karlsson line just routed the Mitchell line, and the Jackets are off to a pretty good start, the Habs, as the broken record says, getting outskated and out possessed.

- Columbus' 35.0% powerplay, rated best in the League, rebuffed their first attempt. It goes without saying, the Habs must stay out of the box tonight. Max Pacioretty wasn't listening.

- Andrew Shaw is terrible handling the puck. Not that you didn't know that already, but it's on pretty good display this first period.

- The game so far. Eerily similar to the dismal 1st period effort against the Canucks:

- Somebody needs to send the Desharnais line a memo to STAY THE HELL OUT OF THE PENALTY BOX.

- Eriksson puts home the puck short side, ON THE POWERPLAY.  1-0 Columbus. STAY OUT OF THE BOX GUYS.

- Jones, one timer, top corner, Montoya down too soon. 2-0. It matters not, the Habs are finally paying a well overdue price for its terrible possession play. Finally.

- Very early line shakeup! Galchenyuk centering Radulov and Lehkonen. We approve of Lehkonen not being next to Plekanec. It's worth a look.

- Calvert with a softie, Montoya totally shell shocked, and it's 3-0. Habs PDO hurtling back to the surface of the earth. Which is good. This team deserves a wakeup call about how it's actually playing.

- Karlsson hits the post off another relatively soft shot that Montoya totally misplays. He's just trying to get to the end of the period. The first of the Habs are too.

- An "okay" first powerplay, Plekanec line at least got the puck to the net. That's about the only highlight of the period for Montreal.

- Liking what I've seen so far with Lehkonen next to Galchenyuk. Looking much more involved than he ever was next to Plekanec.

- Disastrous period of hockey for Montreal - it appears the law of averages have caught up. 17-7 SOG, pretty much reflecting the actual lopsidedness of the period, with Habs goaltending not up to its usual snuff. We knew this time would arrive, but we probably didn't think it would look quite this ugly.



GAME PREVIEW: WHEN WILL THIS HOUSE OF CARDS FINALLY FALL?

Are the Habs *still* winning? Yup. Are they still winning leaning almost totally on their goaltenders while giving the opposition most of the puck possession? YUP. Has this team learned nothing about its bad, bad, evil, bad ways from the past four seasons? NOPE.

Yet, here we stand, the Habs seeking their 9th (hard to fathom) straight win as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the guy who's actually worse than Michel Therrien at coaching, tonight at Nationwide Arena.

We've been saying repeatedly since week one - Habs can't sustain this Habs can't sustain this Habs can't sustain this WHEN ARE THEY GOING GO LOSE!?!? ... it really has become its own phenomenon. Even with a mediocre powerplay, even with an anemic CF% of 47.5, even with a sky-high PDO of 106.1, the Canadiens just can't lose. Might it all start coming undone tonight against a chump like John Tortorella?

Maybe. The Jackets aren't very good, but they're not bad either. Columbus enters the game with a nifty little 2 game winning streak, the latest being a win over the Stars (a good team) right in Dallas.

The Jackets feature a nice 4 line balance - no particular dominative line (although the Wennberg/Saad/Foligno line is off to a solid start), and not an especially potent threat to score at even strength - of the Jackets 21 goals scored this season, 11 have been 5v5, which is not a good ratio. Where Columbus has been making up for its offence is via their powerplay, which has a zooming conversion rate of 35.0%, best in the whole damn game of hockey.

So maybe there's a little sustainability issue for both sides to face. There's little doubt the Habs will eventually see their SV% and Sh% numbers decline - sooner rather than later, while there's little doubt the Blue Jackets will see their powerplay conversions also decline to more sustainable levels, meaning they'll have to pick up their 5v5 game if they hope to remain competitive in their division.

So here are the lines for tonight's game. Starting with Columbus:

Saad/Wennberg/Foligno
Jenner/Dubinsky/Atkinson
Calvert/Karlsson/Anderson
Hartnell/Sedlak/Gagner

Werenski/Jones
Murray/Johnson
Nutivaara/Savard

Sergei Bobrovsky

And the Habs, who are running the same lines tonight:

Radulov/Galchenyuk/Gallagher
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Shaw
Byron/Plekanec/Lehkonen
Danault/Mitchell/Flynn

Emelin/Weber
Markov/Petry
Beaulieu/Pateryn

Al Montoya

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

Game 49: Habs vs. Blue Jackets

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Blue Jackets after 40 minutes, with the 30th place team taking it to the Habs in the 2nd period:

- Clean sheet of ice, Habs powerplay to start the period goes absolutely nowhere. Not even to generate a little momentum. 

- Desharnais line with their best shift of the night, Barberio nearly backhanding one in, Habs appear to have some wind in their sails. Surely this team knows it cannot afford to lose two "easy" points.

- Puck luck still violently against Habs, point shot hits Petry and goes right on the stick of Saad, who has 6 feet of wide open net to choose from. This team, I tells ya ... 

- Less than 6 minutes left, desperate times ... so Therrien puts out the 4th line, which has been a train wreck the past two months. We shrug our shoulders.

- Sense of urgency? Habs trouncing the Jackets for shot attempts in this 3rd period, but nothing really urgent. Team needs to push with everything they've got.

- Columbus just dumping, icing, repelling pretty much every Habs "attempt" to attack the zone. Canadiens have 4 minutes left. You'd never know it watching right now, though.

- Why is Therrien sending out the 4th line with 3 minutes left? WHY.

- Dismal. Habs couldn't even gain zone possession. Just dismal. Habs lose to 30th ranked Blue Jackets. Just. Abysmal.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Blue Jackets after 20 minutes:

- More sloppy zone play by the Habs defence, coughing up the puck deep, with Atkinson with a meek backhander that Condon whiffs on. 2-1 Columbus. Sigh. Habs can't afford to surrender weak goals like that.

- Plekanec line, and Galchenyuk in fine form tonight, the later determined to do it all on his own (to his detriment, I suppose).

- Uh. Kay. Subban with a shot from centre ice that Korpisalo can't pick up, an incredibly weird goal. Then the officials give Subban a two minute unsportsmanlike call after he gives Dubinsky a little shove while going back to his bench. An incredible call by an NHL official, giving us all the fodder we require with the belief this League's officials target P.K. 

- Kendrick Nicholson, who officiated his very first NHL game 8 days ago, gave Subban that penalty. Not saying the League is breeding a new generation of targeting officials, but that's definitely not a good sign.

- Puck luck (negative) continuing the hamper the Habs - Eller a crossbar in the first, Petry a post in the 2nd. 

- Win or lose, there will be conversation about that Subban penalty, because his minor denied the Habs of momentum they would have enjoyed from tying the game.

- Not a good period for the Habs, started slowly, then made more deep zone errors, undisciplined penalties, and Condon failing to stop a routine backhand shot. Subban managed to get the Habs back on even terms, but the Habs simply can't afford to play the 3rd like they play the 2nd, or another loss is on the way.

FIRST PERIOD:

- So Subban will start after all, the question being, will tonight's Subban be the regular P.K., or the one we saw struggle through much of the game Saturday night.

- Jackets starting their backup tonight in Korpisalo, so Habs would be wise to shoot early and often.

- Habs defence continues to struggle effectively moving the puck out of their zone, doing the usual bank job along the boards, which two times out of three, results in a puck turnover. Columbus' defence by contrast, more patient, more effective moving the puck forward.

- A Habs-friendly bounce? Yup. A Habs-friendly bounce, with Gallagher a shot that goes off Jack Johnson's foot and in. 1-0 early. 

- Lars Eller continues to play excellent hockey, especially so since his return to his natural position at centre. Hopefully that will be the end of his endless shuffle from there to wing.

- Habs with blind attempt to clear the zone by firing the pucks up the boards (Barberio) results in, you guessed it, a direct turnover, and zone coverage chaos, with Atkinson burying the puck to tie the game at 1. It's maddening to see again and again, how poorly this team handles the puck in its own zone.

- Carr takes an awkward spill into the boards, his leg getting pinned under his body. On the bench in obvious discomfort, has missed two consecutive shifts. 

- Now Torrey Mitchell is off to the room, with a leg injury. 

- One period down, Habs the better team, much more puck possession and shot attempts, but it still isn't going to mean a hill of beans unless this team takes firm steps towards correcting its sloppy play, specifically in its own zone. This team is getting killed firing pucks up the boards, giving the puck away, and scoring chances. 

GAME PREVIEW: WE CAN'T LOSE TO THIS GUY. WE JUST CAN'TJohn Tortorella! How is this guy even employed? Well he is, and he's the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. I'd had this date circled with great anticipation because it always brings joy to my heart to have my team beat one of his teams. So I've been, to say the least pretty bummed out this week because Tortorella won't be behind the bench tonight because he's recovering from broken ribs. DENIED. Gawd. This season has sucked.

Anyway, besides not getting to beat Tortorella, are we dream to dream the undreamable? Dare we think the unthinkable? A Montreal Canadiens winning streak?

Well hey, that's what's up for grabs tonight as the Habs take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio. The Canadiens, fresh off their skin-of-the-teeth win over the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, look to get back into the playoff race with a (count 'em!!!) 2nd straight win.

The Jackets, in case you somehow missed it, pulled off a rather large trade three weeks ago, in which they sent young star forward Ryan Johansen to Nashville, in return for young star defenseman Seth Jones.

The net effect from this trade since it was announced? Both the Jackets and Predators have fallen off the cliff, with Nashville putting up a 3-5 record, being outscored 21-23, while the Jackets have faired even worse, going 2-6 since the deal, in which they've been outscored 18-28.

See? Making big deals does not necessarily cure all that ails a team, something every Habs fan should take to heart, and Marc Bergevin ought readily consider.

So the Habs might, yes ... just might have a decent shot of actually winning their second straight game tonight. Although even that hope is being tempered by news that P.K. Subban has been puking his guts out the past 24 hours, and may or may not be available for play. If Subban can't play tonight, it'll be the first time ever, yes ... ever, that Subban will miss a game because of injury or sickness.

In any case, with or without Subban, the Habs will tackle this Blue Jackets lineup:

L1: Junner/Dubinsky/Atkinson
L2: Hartnell/Wennberg/Saad
L3: Foligno/Karlsson/Rychel
L4: Calvert/Campbell/Bourque

Murray/Jones
Johnson/Falk
Tyutin/Prout

Korpisalo.

Habs will be playing same lineup as Saturday, and if Subban can't go, Greg Pateryn will probably slot in for third line duty, likely promoting Beaulieu up on the first line next to Markov.

Mike Condon in goal for the Habs.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.