Game 43: Pens vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Pens after 40. Pretty much more of the same, only not quite as bad as the 1st period:

- Lars Eller getting lots of ice time tonight, since being moved to the Desharnais line, and it's certainly helped that 3rd unit improve possession numbers. Meanwhile, the 4th line is just a black hole. 0% CF (5v5) over 40 minutes. That's ... well ... they really shouldn't be getting very many shifts for the rest of the night.

- If Therrien is going to start spouting out line combinations with the ol' blender, would it hurt to maybe try 67/27/11? Just a little bit? Or maybe 27/81?  Eller is carrying Desharnais at the moment, so put him with someone capable of scoring. Just thinking out loud.

- Pretty listless period so far, 7 minutes in. Pens not really gunning hard for an insurance, Habs not really playing with any sense of urgency. Both teams trading mild punches. 

- Well hey there, Eller is with Galchenyuk. Just like we asked for? Annnnnnd .. first shift Eller nailed for a trip (head on desk).

- Mike Condon doing a very good Carey Price impersonation tonight. Might bail Habs out of another poor PK again.

- Why is Therrien putting Smith-Pelly out on the PK? If not for Condon, it would be 3-1 (actually, 5 or 6-1).

- Habs showing some push here with 7 minutes left in the 3rd. Eller/Galchenyuk reunification looks good. Really good.

- Subban playing the left side of the powerplay tonight, and he looks great. It's kind of crazy that it's taken half a season for the braintrust behind the bench to figure this out, but here we are. Game 43.

- Pens basically hung on for the final 5 minutes, and hang on they did. Excellent start by Condon wasted, because this team has reverted right back to December's form - unable to put the puck into the net. It wasn't a complete whitewash tonight, but the game is a pretty stern indication that the Habs are no longer icing a competitive hockey team, even though, sans Price and Petry's day-to-day injury, they have a healthy lineup. Something's gotta give. The situation is now getting serious. 

SECOND PERIOD:

- So just how bad was that first period for Montreal? This bad:

- Habs 4th line, which has been a disaster zone since Therrien cobbled together Mitchell/Flynn/Smith-Pelly, was 0.0 CF% in that period. They were absolutely owned by the Pens every time they stepped on the ice. Therrien cannot, and must not, put that unit out against either the Malkin or Crosby line, AGAIN. 

- Crosby gets nailed for an early trip and while it (again) does not result in a powerplay goal (Therrien steadfastly refusing to not remove Desharnais from that unit), it does appear to have given the Habs a little momentum. Canadiens are at least competing with the Pens now with their legs. That's something.

- The tire fire that's passing as the Habs 4th line gets nailed for a penalty, and the Pens (finally) strike with the man advantage, some slopping PK zone coverage, and Hornqvist with an easy shake and bake around Condon to make it 1-0. In light of how one-sided this game has been, I suppose that goal was merely inevitable.

- P.K. Subban. It finally goes in for him. Subban almost looked in disbelief as he raised his arms down on the ice. Tie game.

- The shocker Subban goal seems to have energized the troops. Habs are actually competing right now. Who knows? This game might not end up as a disaster after all.

- Uh, maybe hold that thought. Monumental defensive breakdown between Pateryn and Beaulieu, with both defenders going left, leaving, well, pretty much the entire ice in front of Condon completely wide open. Pateryn, perhaps inspired by the foolishness of Emelin, tries for a big hit, instead of making a responsible play. Brian Rust, an unlikely candidate, scores to make it 2-1. That was pretty awful. 

- Habs can't afford to keep taking penalties. The Pens powerplay has been dangling the puck on a string tonight. 

- Well, I guess that was something of a better period for the Habs, which still isn't much. Pittsburgh isn't playing a particularly extraordinary game, it's just that Montreal looks completely disorganized, as though they've only just strung together a roster. No rhythm to their game, the breakouts have been pretty awful, and now the team seems to be more inclined to dump and chase pucks, which is a bad strategy against Pittsburgh's skill-based offence. Sure, it's only 2-1, but I can't fathom for a moment this Habs team getting anything but an L tonight.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Obvious key for the Habs tonight will be keeping guys out of the penalty box. Also, deployment. Doing it well, for once.

- So Michel Therrien, the luxury of last change, sends out Emelin against the Pens top line, and within seconds, he hooks a speeding Crosby in the Habs zone. Oy.

- Pens definitely outskating Habs early, the loss of Petry is also having an impact on Montreal's ability to make effective transitions. 

- All Pens in this one, shot attempts are nearly 4-to-1 ratio, as the Habs haven't had much of a forecheck going. This could be shaping up to be a long night for the Canadiens.

- Desharnais is so easily worked off the puck, even the defence-thin Pens line has little difficulty stripping him. This is a big problem, because it's constantly surrendering zone puck possession. 

- So the Habs powerplay appears to have taken a step backward, if such a thing was possible. Instead of carrying the zone, unit appears to be reverting to last year's strategy of the dump-and-chase. Looking forward to seeing team ranking to soon be amongst the bottom five.

- It's a disaster zone out there, if you're a Habs supporter. 4th line with a wretched shift against the Malkin line, Condon forced to make two very difficult saves to keep this game scoreless. It's a minor miracle right now that it's still 0-0.

That. Was. Awful. No other way of describing how the Habs played in that first period. The only glimmer of positive light was Mike Condon. Otherwise, not much. The Pens totally owning both ends of the ice, outskating, hitting, shooting, attempting, and possessing. One of the worst periods of hockey the Habs have played in a very long time, while still managing, somehow, to come out of it still even on the scoreboard.

NEWS ALERT: PHIL KESSEL IS STILL AWESOME

Yay. The Pens are in town. That means Phil Kessel! Hands of a master, body of a mushy hot dog. Phil represents the aspirations of every socially awkward, physically questionable hockey fan: HEY, if THAT guy can play hockey well heck, maybe I can too!

Sadly, it's not been a bed of roses season for Phil. Since arriving from Toronto, Kessel has bounced back and forth between the Pens first and second lines. For a good chunk of October and November, Kessel played along side Sidney Crosby, which not only resulted in the Pens sputtering out of the gate offensively, but inevitably cost Mike Johnston his job as head coach. Another Kessel coaching victim! The Habs REALLY needed this guy. Oh well.

Since then, Kessel has settled in nicely on the Pens second line next to Evgeni Malkin, while Crosby has readily started to change his season around. The Pens are now a better team than what they were to start the season, although their defence remains as immmobile as ever. Pittsburgh is facing an uphill battle to get a playoff spot this year, and even if they do manage to sneak in to the post-season, they'll be facing some big "?" marks surrounding how far they'll end up playing, given the poor shape of their blue line.

So tonight, the Pens, who can't afford to lose many more if they wan't to play in April, shall put forth the following lines:

1: Kunitz/Crosby/Perron
2: Hornqvist/Malkin/Kessel
3: Rust/Bonina/Kuhnhackl
4: Porter/Cullen/Fehr

Maata/Letang
Dumaulin/Lovejoy
Cole/Daley

Marc-Andre Fleury.

Over in Habsland, with Jeff Petry out for who-knows-how long, Greg Pateryn will get a start, and will play next to Nathan Beaulieu, behind the following forward lines:

1: Pacioretty/Plekanec/Gallagher
2: Andrighetto/Galchenyuk/Carr
3: Eller/Desharnais/Byron
4: Flynn/Mitchell/Smith-Pelly.

Mike Condon will start in net for the Habs.

Puck drops at 7:15 EST.





SO THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A HABS FAN

Okay, I've been away for LESS than 48 hours. Fourty-eight hours. What's GOIN OWAN?

Michel Therrien says Alexei Emelin played with a fracture in his foot for two to three weeks.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 7, 2016

Uh. So .. let's get this straight. Alexei Emelin, who would on a normal night would have a tough time cracking a lineup spot on a normal NHL team, was being played WITH A BROKEN FOOT over the perfectly healthy Greg Pateryn and Jared Tinordi?  Yeah. That one got me shaking my fist. Heaven help us. Anyway, what happened this morning? Let's see what the ol' Twittersphere is telling us.

#canadiens Jeff Petry is out with a lower body injury. Day-to-day.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) January 8, 2016

Great. Our second best defenseman out. Well, at least that's not a Therrien-stupidity thing. Anything else?

Fleischmann once again scratched. Condon in net on Saturday. #Habs

— Jessica-Lyn Saunders (@EarlxGreat) January 8, 2016

LOL. Wait, Therrien is again sitting the guy who's the 5th leading goal scorer on an offensively-starved team? What other madness awaits us?

#Habs practice lines Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher Andrighetto - Galchenyuk - Carr Eller-Desharnais-Byron Flynn-Mitchell-Fleischmann/DSP

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) January 8, 2016

Byron with Desharnais?? Good. Lord. Well, at least practice is over. We can at least carry on with the rest of the day. Hold on. What's that, John Lu? You have one more thing to tell us?

#Habs Therrien says the team is not expecting Price back before the All Star break.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) January 8, 2016

Anyone got a gun I could borrow for 10 seconds?

Game 42: Devils vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Not an ideal start for the Habs, as Devils outskate Montreal's defence to get puck possession - Henrique redeflecting a shot past Condon. 2-1. This is not the kind of goal winning teams surrender when holding 3rd period leads. 

- 4 minutes into the period, Habs offence finding a little mojo, Plekanec batting a puck past Schneider with a high stick, but following shifts, additional pressure being applied in the Jersey zone. Habs are going to need at least 1 more tonight to secure a victory.

- Desharnais sent flying into the boards with a hit from behind by Severson -  and nothing called. Yet again, another example of NHL officiating letting the players down by not refusing to call the most egregious, violent violations. 

- Pretty low intensity period, given the score margin is just one goal. Long 12 minutes ahead for the Habs, who need to find a way of putting an insurance goal behind Schneider. 

- Beyond shooting or shovelling pucks up the boards, Alexei Emelin might be one of the worst defensemen in the NHL for feeding pucks to the forwards. It's a glaring weak spot on this Habs team, which for whatever reason, is never addressed.

- Looking for New Jersey to open things up a bit, perhaps a few pinches. So far, they're only playing their usual grinding, defence-first game. There are only 7 minutes left in the 3rd.

- Alright, Jersey finally now pinching defence, which might give Habs some chances here. 

- Beaulieu/Subban reunited!! 

- Less than 5 minutes left, Devils generate very good scoring chance off a Condon rebound, but the Habs netminder makes a nice save to keep his team ahead. Quiet, but solid night for him.

- Habs 4th line gets time with 3 minutes left, which is just all kinds of poor deployment. Not surprisingly, the Devils pin the Canadiens in their zone for almost all the duration of the shift. 

- Well, less than 2 left. I guess the Habs are going to try to squeak this one out.

- 1 minute left. Okay Jersey. You're going to have to open up .. like .. now.

- Why is Desharnais on the ice with less than a minute left??!?

- Habs hang on for a less than inspiring win. Offence continues to look pretty meek, which does not bode well for this team as we head into January. Still think something meaningful, if not profound, will need to be done if this Habs team is going to turn their season around. That might mean a coaching change, or a significant player trade. We'll see what happens in the days ahead.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Okay, let's see how this clean, fast sheet of ice works for the Habs to start the 2nd on the powerplay.

- Lots of talk about P.K. Subban this week, and that he's got just one goal this season. P.K.'s shooting percentage this season is 0.9%, which is atrocious when you consider the average percentage is around 7-8%. I think much of Subban's problems has been often having to shoot from the off-wing (a Therrien decision), and just plain bad luck. Habs 2nd powerplay, as seemingly per usual, goes nowhere.

- Habs 4th line is generating almost no energy. That line needs some serious restructuring.

- This period. Zzzz ... Mike Condon barely tested with a shot first 6 minutes.

- Ruutu with a terrible tripping penalty (to take) in the Habs zone. Very bad decision making on his part, but it's tempered by the fact that it's the Habs on the powerplay.

- Oh, P.K. Flubs a pass to the point, and then gets nailed for a hook while - retreating. Thus endeth the powerplay.

- Therrien sends out Mitchell/Byron on the 4-on-4 because ... (?)

- Note to self: Do never use Jeff Petry in a shootout. 

- Jersey has been doing a decent enough job gaining the zone, but has struggled to set up high percentage shots on goal - they love to grind out scoring chances, it's definitely not pretty to watch.

- Oooh, did Mike Johnson just drop mention about Michel Therrien's future? I think he just did.

- Great rush by the Habs, with Subban joining the play, Beaulieu with a wrist shot that generates a huge rebound that Subban would have easily put in, if he had continued the rush. But he peeled back. That's part of the Subban issue - playing too conservative. But that's been specifically designed by Therrien in the 3 years he's been behind the bench. To squeeze any semblance of creativity out of the Habs best defenseman in 25 years.

- Galchenyuk line seemingly the only one able/capable/desiring to implement an aggressive forecheck. Not surprisingly, they're earning the lion's share of Habs scoring chances tonight. 

- Andrighetto's stick literally slashed into two pieces, and nothing called. NHL officiating drives me crazy - why nobody seems willing to crack down on violent stick work is dumbfounding. There should be zero tolerance for this kind of nonsense.

- Hah. Irony. Tootoo played that broken stick that was slashed out of Andrigehtto to break up a play, and Desharnais gets a penalty shot as a result. Big opportunity here.

- Good lord. What a terrible attempt by Desharnais. Words escape me of how poor that was. And another opportunity lost.

- Desharnais laughing on the bench about that attempt. Not sure what's so funny. This team is starved for any kind of goal scoring, and is in danger of slipping out of a playoff spot. Har, har?

- Devils powerplay is indeed,-  a mess. Poor cross ice pass at the line gives Habs shorthanded two-on-one, Byron with a sweet toe drag and pass to Mitchell for the goal. 2-0 Montreal on a semi-gift goal.

- Habs enjoy a 2-0 lead at the break, in yet another period that they were arguably outplayed by their opponent. Still waiting for some signs of life from forwards who need to start making contributions to the scoresheet sooner rather than later. Desharnais and Eller at the forefront there.

FIRST PERIOD:

- I don't care what anyone says, Sara Diamond is one of the best.

- Smith-Pelly on the 4th line, it's becoming increasingly clear that the number of chances he's got left finding a way into the lineup, is getting pretty small.

- Pacioretty nearly sent in all alone, and almost benefits from an empty net, nearly identical to last night when he nearly tied the game with 10 seconds left. Patches continues to show all the signs of being on the cusp of breaking out big-time. He's always scored in bunches, and another bunch is overdue.

- I cannot imagine how anyone could be a rabid fan of the Devils. Their style and structure of hockey is as boring as ever. Has been for more than 20 years. This game, with checking very tight, is already shaping up to be a snoozer.

- Galchenyuk lines certainly looks like the most sprite for the Habs tonight, so far they've really been the only unit to give this structured defensive-first Devils team something to handle.

- Devils have a pretty good 4th line - something the Habs have been searching for since their excellent October. Torrey Mitchell's game has clearly fallen off since coming back from injury, while plugs like Smith-Pelly aren't really bringing much to the table.

- Devils doing a much better job in O zone, out checking the Habs by a considerable margin, and generating a significant possession edge. 

- There really should be no good reason for Jersey to be out-skating the Habs, but 15 minutes though the 1st, they're winning most of the races to the puck.

- Alexei Emelin, being stupid again, goes for the big hit instead of the smart play - the hit being too late, and it gives the Devils a powerplay. How Emelin continues to get starts over more capable bodies like Pateryn and Tinodri, I'll never understand.

- Pretty unimpressive powerplay for New Jersey - this unit has taken a dip of late, just seem to lack any kind of organization. Teams go through these funks, it looks like the Devils, who are actually pretty good with the man advantage, are stuck in one.

- Beaulieu/Petry unit doing the best job moving the puck out of Habs zone, also feeding forwards at centre. Still waiting for the Subban/Beaulieu reunion, whenever that happens.

- Habs powerplay - Markov and Subban working the point, which we haven't seen in a couple of weeks.

- Therrien sending Desharnais out on first unit, which is just an anchor on everyone else - still can't figure out what Therrien sees with DD on the PP unit. He's done nothing there for nearly two months.

- Pacioretty gets a little break redeflects a pass to the slot, with Gallagher right in Schneider's face. The Devils think it's interference. I don't see any. Devils are challenging the goal. I think this won't go anywhere.

- Man, if Gallagher is nailed again costing another goal ...

- I don't see it. What a pathetic challenge by Jersey. No way they're going to call this one off.

- Good goal. No surprise. 1-0 Habs. 

- Late interference goal on the Devils, which gives the Habs a clean sheet of ice to work with for nearly 2 minutes, to start the 2nd period (a significant advantage).

- Nice to see the Habs come out ahead after 20 minutes, although the Devils did have a defined edge in possession for most off the period. Montreal needs to do a better job on the forecheck, in order to generate a bit more pressure and game time in the New Jersey zone.

HEY GUYS ... WE'RE HOME.  BE HAPPY?

Last night was a pretty sad indictment of this team's fortunes, or lack thereof. Will tonight be any better? Will a return to home base make this lost Habs team suddenly found again? Will Devante Smith-Pelly make an actual valuable contribution? Many questions, few answers.

Also, live blog will be delayed a few hours. So don't come lookin' here for any live analysis.


GAMEDAY NEWS 'N' NOTES:

Oh man, is it nice to be home. Finally. Game tonight (early start!), so here are notes that we'll update as the day progresses:

- Devante Smith-Pelly had one heckova terrible game last night, coming off the healthy scratch list - which is quite amazing because you'd kind of expect somebody in his position to do everything to avoid stinking out the joint. So it came as no surprise this afternoon when Michel Therrien announced that Sven Andrighetto, who sat out last night to make way for Smith-Pelly, would be in the lineup tonight. What really came as a surprise is that Tomas Fleischmann will be in the pressbox, and Smith-Pelly is getting another start. Oookay then.

- Mike Condon will start in goal. Ben Scrivens, it should be noted, is 2-for-2 in giving the Habs solid starts.

- Apparently Vincent Lecavalier is on the trading block, and for the love of everything precious, let all all hope that he's not on Marc Bergevin's panic button radar.