Game 39: Habs vs. Stars

Montreal 4, Dallas 4 (OT)

FIRST PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Bobby Farnham gets his season debut start for the Habs tonight, he'll slot in on the left side on the 4th line. 

- I trust nobody is watching Canada right now, right? Okay. Good.

- Dallas gameplay apparent early - ice the puck every opportunity. You may have switch over to the team Canada game already.

- Plodding start of the Habs to start this game - likely indicative of playing last night, and this being the 6th game of a very long road trip.

- Gallagher continues to do the right things - much more aggressive positioning in front of opposing goal, something that was very absent during his extended scoring drought. Still hold the opinion that he was playing through an injury and was taking precautions avoiding high contact areas of the ice.

- Danault does the dirty work winning puck battles along the board, Pacioretty feeding Beaulieu who pinches in a beats Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen with a wrister to give the Habs a 1-0 lead. Dallas is the rested team tonight, so there's little excuse for losing battles. 

- Antoine Roussel, who's back from a few days off from injury, is flying for the Stars this period. Habs would be wise to keep a close check.

- So ... Bobby Farnham - yeah ... I'm not sure I'm understand this start he's getting tonight.

- Seguin. We warned you Habbies earlier today, but you didn't listen. Tie game.

- Dallas definitely the faster team tonight - Habs having trouble keeping up while defending their zone. 

- More or less a draw of a period, which for the Habs is an okay result given this is 2nd part of a back-to-back. Canadiens will need to do a better job containing Seguin and Roussel next two periods - because both are clearly on their game tonight. 

SECOND PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Habs continue to be impressive with possession, 61% CF in that first period:

- If I'm on the Dallas bench, I'm not exactly enthralled with confidence in Lehtonen. Goaltending has been another issue with the Stars this year, whether or not that'll factor into who wins tonight - we'll see.

- Habs fans are fully versed in Alexei Emelin's uncanny ability to do stupid things on the ice, but one area that he's improved on this season are outlet passes to his forwards. Any progression in transition helps significantly with puck possession, of which the Habs have slowly but surely become one of the best in the NHL. 

- Stars smarty get the Spezza line out against Barberio and Johnston, and if not for a couple of good Montoya saves, it would be 2-1 Dallas. Ryan Johnston continues to demonstrate that he's not NHL-calibre or capable. Very soft and shaky in his own zone.

- Al Montoya has been rather lucky tonight, misplayed two shots, one just from Seguin that Montoya wasn't remotely ready to handle, but caught a break as Seguin's shot hit is blocker. 

- Byron out with what we assume is a head injury from a blind hit he took from Patrick Sharp in the 1st period. Habs injury woes might be getting even worse before they get better.

- Soft penalty on Gallagher, Dallas takes advantage off the faceoff, with Klinberg beating Montoya with a 55 foot wrister. 2-1 Stars.

- Habs miffed that Spezza wasn't called for a pick after the faceoff that resulted in the Klinberg goal, and the ref calls Therrien for mouthing off. Stars back on the powerplay. Looking at the goal reply, the Habs have a point - Spezza pretty clearly tripped Plekanec off the draw, which prevented him from covering his mark, which would have been Klinberg.

- Maybe Montoya's all distracted by his newly minted contract extension, but he's just not on his game tonight - very scrambly with saves, mostly unnecessarily so.

- That was not a good 2nd period for the Habs, who I think are just plain out of gas. Montoya looking a little shaky, combined with a couple of questionable calls by the officials that led to Dallas's second goal. Tough road to haul for this team, especially in light of Byron's game-ending injury suffered during the 1st period. 

THIRD PERIOD LIVE GAME BLOG:

- Habs 2nd period totals not good. As we mentioned previously, pretty clear indication this team is just plain tired. So much travelling, back to back games - four straight OT games - it's all adding up.

- Habs powerplay going nowhere, until Alex Radulov steps on the ice, splits the Dallas defence, and slips a sweet backhander past Lehtonen to tie the game. As pretty a goal as you'll see in the game of hockey, by one of the League's best forwards.

- Eventually Radulov is going to get talked about for League MVP consideration. He's really been that good. 

- You can't be serious - Weber absolutely nailing Gallagher in the hand with a slap shot - the same hand (I believe) that was broken last year. Good lord. Terrible.

- Pacioretty scores with a brilliant snap shot top corner to give the Habs a 2-1 lead seconds after Gallagher is injured. A hefty price paid. 

- Yup. Same hand. Weber's shot was clocked at 100 mph, and it likely shattered Gallagher's hand into many pieces. That's a massive loss for the Canadiens. Almost certainly long-term.

Gallagher takes a Weber shot to the hand. Not a doctor but that doesn't look good... #Habs pic.twitter.com/E9MrhQObmU

— Shayne Pasquino (@shaynepasquino) January 5, 2017

- Not a doctor, but this looks bad. Very, very bad: 

- Anyway, back to the game. Dallas should be skating the Habs into the ice right now, with the Habs down two forwards, on zero rest, 4 straight OT games on the 6th game of a 7 game road trip. But they aren't. 

- Halfway through the 3rd, Stars have twice as many shot attempts in the period, but two goals scored by the Habs. That's hockey for you.

- 5 minutes left, Habs, maybe because they're road weary, trying to grind this game to a halt, lots of dumping, not much chasing. 

- Just under 4 minutes left - can the Habs cross the finish line with lead in tact? It's going to be very close.

- Dallas applying considerably more pressure here, Habs hunkering down around Montoya.

- Nope. Just not enough juice. Rousell ties it up. Too many bodies in front of the net, too many exhausted Habs players unable to clear the way for Montoya to see the shot.

- I think the Habs would be pretty happy to take the single point. Forget OT. This team is totally spent.

- Wow. Patrick Sharp missing a totally open net with 40 seconds left, hitting Montoya in the head. Incredible miss, and it gifts the Habs at least one point in the standings. Kudos to the Habs for at least picking that up tonight, I have the feeling the OT won't last very long.

OVERTIME LIVE GAME BLOG:

- 5th straight OT for Habs. Even more reason why their chances of winning the extra point are almost entirely resting with winning via a shootout. 

- Max Pacioretty after the Stars complete misplay a deep zone faceoff, sprung on a break, and incredibly the Habs win in OT. What an incredible victory, but oh - at what cost?? Now we await the prognosis for both Byron and Gallagher, the later appears to have sustained a long-term hand injury.

GAME PREVIEW: WATCH OUT HABBIES. TYLER SEGUIN IS COMIN' AFTER YOU

Tyler Seguin. Whooot! Aren't you a pretty one? Say, is that how you practice on your off days? Shirtless with those slim fit khaki's? You're so cool. And what's that? When you're not training that hard, greased up bod, you like putting your feet up and crackin open a cold one?? Well, aren't you special. My mom would like you.

Truth be told, with shirts on or off, Seguin likes playing against the Montreal Canadiens. With exception to the Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers, no team has been scored on more by Seguin than the Montreal Canadiens over the span of his 7 year career.

Which is to say, the Habs would be well-advised to keep an eye on the Stars's leading point getter this season - 38 points in 38 games. Just your typical production levels for one of the League's best forwards.

So while Seguin continues to do what Seguin does best, it's been a slightly disappointing year for Dallas. The Stars, who have spent the past few years attempting to build from within, this season it's been, Seguin aside, their lack of scoring which has mainly led them to a less-than-mediocre 16 wins in 38 games.

The Stars enter tonight's game with a 1.92 GF60 average, only good for 25th in the League. That contrasts loudly with Dallas' 2.42 GF60 average they spotted last season, which ranked as the League's 3rd best offence.

What's the root of the problem? Likely it's a combination of factors. The Stars have a meagre 6.55 Sh%, 5th worst in the NHL, a stat that tends to become magnified when you're not a very good possession team (the Stars are ranked 18th in 5v5 CF%). Other issues? A disappointing season so far for Jason Spezza, who has just 22 points on 7 goals in 39 games. If you consider that Spezza has averaged around 1.0 PPG in every season since 2005, 2016-17 is the first real indicator that his decline as an NHL forward has begun.

Complicating the Stars offence issues tonight will be the loss of captain Jamie Benn, who's out day-to-day from an ankle injury. With Benn out, the Stars lines will look like this:

Sharp/Spezza/Seguin
McKenzie/Faksa/Ritchie
Hudler/Eakin/Eaves
Roussel/Shore/Cracknel

Lindell/Klingberg
Hamhuis/Johns
Oduya/Benn

No indication yet as to who the Starts will start in goal.

Meanwhile over on the Habs side, no changes in the lineup tonight - it's difficult to argue otherwise, as the Habs have play magnificent possession hockey the past month, rising all the way up to 3rd in the NHL in 5v5 CF percentage. The only difference tonight is that Al Montoya will start in goal, with Carey Price getting a well-earned rest after an outstanding outing last night in Nashville.

Puck drops 8:10 EST.

Game Forty-Six: Stars vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs two period possession total, 36%. Granted, the play hasn't been totally lopsided, but com'on ... against a team like Dallas with so many defensive issues - this is just atrocious and inexcusable. Habs totally deserve to cough up this game.

- Stars have had at least three empty nets tonight, because of bad bounces and slow reactions by Habs defense. Everyone involved just plain lucky the Habs are leading on the scoreboard.

- Habs again being out-possessed in the period, and Dale Weise ain't exactly helping. Unless the Habs were hoping to have as little to do with the puck as possible.

- Just mind-boggling how Dallas has failed to score tonight off mad scrambles around Price. Habs really living off horseshoes tonight.

- Crazy great blocker save by Price. A mere mortal netminder would have had no chance. Habs are being outshot by a margin of 2 to 1, shots are 38-19 as we type.

- Bad too many call on Dallas for too many. Now down five on three. See how the Habs will muff this one up.

- Annnnnnd ... there you have it. Sekac high sticks Daley. Buh-bye 5-on-3 before it even began.

- Goligoski in a race for the puck, cuts out Price's legs. He's called for a trip, Dallas is furious, but it's the correct call. Habs have a 4 on 3 for 1:25.

- Desharnais on the ice for this 4 on 3, for some insane reason.

- Major mistake by Therrien putting Desharnais out there on the 4-on-3. He doesn't shoot, and guess what, when set up with a wide open net, doesn't shoot. Crazy bench management.

- Habs really, really, really should have buried this game. Somehow found a way of giving away some incredible advantages. This game is foreboding a bad end for the Canadiens.

- Don't know if anyone else has noticed, but since Emelin was ejected, this Habs team has played a better defense game. Huh, that.

- Dale Weise capping off a craptaculour game with a bad interference penalty. Foreboding ... we mentioned it before. Here we go ...

- Somebody with a brain cramp early jump off the bench with Pacioretty coming off, and the Habs get nailed for too many. 5 on 3 for the Stars coming up. 

- Outstanding muscle play by Subban to wrestle the puck away from Seguin, and help clear the zone. It kills the 5-on-3. Worth every penny of that $7 million.

- Dallas swarming here. It's a nail biter.

- Price excellent on the powerplay. But Subban the real star on the 5-on-3 kill. That one muscle play on Seguin might have well won the game.

- Habs just barely hold on for the win. Barely. An unimpressive, but entertaining game and victory. One more night, one more game, one more "we'll take the two points although we really didn't deserve it."

SECOND PERIOD:

- Well, well, Habs powerplay manages to strike, but then again, when you've got guys like Subban, Galchenyuk and Gallagher spearheading your attack, you're in pretty good shape. 3-1.

- Hoo boy. Alexei Emelin. With a dumb, dumb, dumb CFB on Spezza, and he gets 5 and a game. Don't be surprised if a couple more games are tacked on by the League. The important part here is that the Habs will now be down 5-3 for nearly two full minutes.

- I swear, Emelin has got one of the lowest hockey IQs I've ever seen on a Montreal Canadiens hockey team. Makes way too many stupid choices - the CFB only being the latest.

- Dallas with a pretty passive two man advantage, which they fail to score. Price excellent as usual, but no real sense of urgency from the Stars.

Well never mind that. Totally brilliant carry by Seguin, who feeds Eaves who has simple tap in to make it 3-2. Almost killed it. Almost. Still, blame that on Emelin.

- No Emelin. Addition via subtraction. Betcha high percentage scoring chances on Price stop happening so frequently from this point out.

- Hate just kicking this dog 'til it dies, but lots of speculation by some that Emelin ought be traded by Bergevin, as though somebody else would actually be willing to trade for him. Thing is, nobody would. The only guy in the National Hockey League with any say who seems to think he's a competent NHL defensemen is Michel Therrien, who stubbornly pencils him in every game.

- Another dismal night for Weise on the top line. He's killing their production, possession numbers are atrocious, and yet, Therrien just keeps playing him. Maddening.

- More sloppy defensive play by the Stars defense getting caught up ice unnecessarily, and Fiddler is forced to take a hook. If it wasn't for so many sloppy, slow plays by their blue line, they would probably be ahead on the scoreboard.

- Once again, faceoff next to Price with just a few seconds left on the clock, and once again, Malhotra fails to deliver on his mission of winning a draw. Dallas nearly scores again. If Malhotra can't win faceoffs when they matter, what exactly is his purpose in this lineup?

- Habs same old formula. Outplayed, outshot, out-possessed, leave it to Price to win the game. Meanwhile the first line is drifting aimlessly with Weise pulling them under the surface, and Alex Emelin manages to finds creative ways of being stupid, game in, game out. Habsland!

FIRST PERIOD:

- Prust opens the scoring, although he shoulda scored off a brilliant setup by Sekac, who looks fantastic early. 1-0.

- Correction. It's Emelin who gets credit.

- And Emelin saves a goal on an empty net, although he was horribly beaten by Seguin leading to a wild scramble in front of Price.

- Good lord, Alex Galchenyuk, with a highlighter. Nail Yakopov who?? 2-0. Stars defense has been soft, soft, soft.

- Man, this Dallas defense, has it been this bad all season? It's a minor miracle they have 49 points.

- Dallas had better close up their passing lanes, or guys like Pacioretty are going to score three or four more.

- Desharnais carries the puck like a winger. But then we already knew that.

- Sweet Jesus. A ridiculous intentional offside call against Subban, and wouldn't you know it, the Stars score off the faceoff. Incredible.

- Therrien going nuts at the officials for that call. For good reason. Should be 2-0 after the first. 

HOCKEY IS BACK. YAY!!

Hey! Did you watch the All-Star game this weekend?!? You did? Then get out. LEAVE. There's the door. NEVER RETURN HERE AGAIN.

Wow, he actually left. Man, I just lost half my readership. Oh well. That "game" this weekend, they scored 29 goals? Com'on already. The whole enterprise is a ridiculous and unnecessary distraction. Instead of wasting a week just to play a stupid game, scrub this silly All-Star nonsense, gain a week, and actually end the season before we start buying Halloween decorations.

It feels so great to return to normality. And tonight, the season's second kicks off in Habsland with a visit by the Dallas Stars! Hey, you know who plays for the Dallas Stars? Tyler Seguin (seen above munching on his hockey stick ... com'on Dallas, feed your hockey players! Sheesh). You know how many points Seguin has scored this year? 52! You know who wishes Tyler Seguin would play for them? The Boston Bruins!

HAH-HAH. Oh man, what was Peter Chirelli thinking??? Oh well. Boston's (huge) loss has been Dallas' big gain, Seguin is having a masterful season, and while he's playing for a team that isn't going to make the playoffs this year, he's going to be a critical piece of the Stars' rebuild. This could be a pretty decent team in 3 to 4 years (although we also kind of said that about Dallas 3-4 years ago).

So tonight! Dallas rumbles into Montreal to take on the Habs, who continue to remain a very healthy team, with only P.A. Parenteau on the sideline recovering from concussion. The Habs lines will be as follows:

Line 1: Paciorety/Plekanec/Weise (OH GOD REALLY, MICHEL?)
Line 2: Galchenyuk/Desharnais/Gallagher (sigh)
Line 3: Sekac/Eller/Prust (we're okay with this one)
Line 4: Bournival/Malhotra/Thomas (meh).

Markov/Subban (yeah, yeah).
Beaulieu/Gonchar (fine, fine)
Gilbert/Emelin (sigh, sigh).

Carey freakin' Price.

So while Therrien continues to put out the wrong combinations, we say hello to our old pal and Saskatchewan boy, Travis Moen! Travis, I'd say we really miss you, but this team had way too much depth. Hope things are going well down south!

Also a welcome back to Patrick Eves, who is in his first game since December 2nd, where he sustained an ankle injury in Toronto. Erik Cole (remember him?) won't suit up tonight, he's nursing an upper body injury.

Kari Lehtonen will get the call in nets for Dallas.

Puck drops at 7:40 EST. HOCKEY IS BACK!

Game Forty-Two: Habs vs. Stars

Third Period:

- Habs PP looked pretty decent in their 2nd period attempt. Let's see if the unit can get an insurance marker.

- Habs need to win a damn faceoff on the powerplays.

- There it is - Gallagher finally finds the scoresheet, lucky puck bounce for Habs off the backboards to give Habs 2 goal lead. More importantly, Gallagher scores.

- Don't know how bad this team's collective memory is, but now is not the time to sit on the lead.

- Good grief. Habs sit and Stars swarm the net, puck somewhere around Price, they're reviewing to see if it went in (officially originally waved his arms).

- Nonetheless, Stars generate a powerplay from the Habs' retreat and scramble.

- Lost count number of missed empty nets for Dallas tonight. 

- Seigun, under the crossbar from the blue line. One goal game. Here we go ... 

- ... and Dylan, his first goal in nearly two months, slapper from the blue line. Tie game. Sure didn't see that coming.

- 5-4 Dallas in 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

- Scratch that. Eller with a brilliant shot side wrister that had no business getting past Lehtonen. 5-4 Habs.

- Game is now end to end, which is not how you want to play a one goal lead.

- Habs are gonna need one more to cinch this, and Desharnais missed two golden opportunities to salt it.

- If there's one guy who I'd bet money on tying this, it would be Cole.

- Habs 33% in the faceoff circle tonight. #terrible

- Pacioretty into the empty net. Subban has 4 points tonight.

- Longest road trip of the year mercifully is OVER. Habs get home with 52 points. We'll take it.

Second Period:

- Desharnais. Subban doing incredible work wiling the puck to the Dallas slot, while Gallagher was creating chaos with two Stars players in front of the net. Gallagher sprung Desharnais free, Subban did the heavy lifting. 2-1 Habs.

- Stating the obvious but Subbban is on fire tonight. Erik Cole had a terrific first, robbed twice by Price. We'll see what either has to contribute to the second half of the game.

- Moen is a pretty good argument why George Parros was completely unjustified.

- Have no idea why that was called a penalty shot, as Nichushkin wasn't clear when checked by Gorges. He converts, of course. Tie game.

- P.K. Subban answers my question from earlier in the period. My goodness. 3-2 Habs.

- 10 minute mark: Gionta 9:53. Bourque: 8:57. Bournival: 2:50. Sorry, but no way you'll convince me Bounival is playing any worse than the others.

- Habs PP - Desharnas, Gallagher and Pacioretty had Stars on the ropes. Couldn't bury.

- Habs have significantly intensified their forecheck this period, and it's helped create many Dallas turnovers. Canadiens with good possession numbers this frame.

- Bournival stapled to the bench, still at 2:54. Galchenyuk barely 6 minutes. I'd throw up my hands but I've done that far too many times this season.

- Habs blue line, notably Markov, struggling to get fairly clear shots on net tonight. Another chronic Habs-related challenge this season.

- Josh Gorges showin' Carey Price how that goaltending thing is done. Stars totally robbed late in the frame.

- Good period for the Habs - they competed, and did well in the circle. P.K. doing what P.K. does so well - he, unlike any other Habs player in more than a generation, has the capacity to dominate a game. Tonight - he's dominating, and it's having positive spin-off effects on the rest of his teammates - at least the ones Therrien is willing to play.

First Period:

- Having tremendous trouble receiving a feed tonight, but a couple of troubling indicators - one being the Stars dominated most of the period, outshooting the Habs 11-6, but the ridiculous manner in how Dallas completely dominated the Canadiens in the faceoff circle, winning 15 out of the 17 drops.

Now, I'm not sure why the Canadiens struggle so much in the circle, but it has been hurting the team this season, especially in faceoffs deep in their zone. The Stars' opening goal in the first? Scored after winning the draw deep in the Habs' zone.

Who is responsible, I'm not sure, but if there's guy on the Habs' coaching staff who's responsible for faceoffs, I'd either have him reassigned or fired.

Canadiens are fortunate to be even through 20 minutes.

Pregame Goo:

Happy gameday. Happy New Year!

A few little notes about tonight's game.

- Grats to Max Pacioretty for his selection to the U.S. Olympic team. Way to go Max! We hope you'll have a grand time playing for the 5th or 6th place finishers in this year's tournament!

- Danny Briere is a healthy scratch again. 

- Here's a biggie - Doug Murray will start tonight - in place of (gulp!) Alexei Emelin, who's already made Bergevin look like quite the fool since signing his four year extension last month.

- Emelin being scratched means that Frankie Bouillon will also get a start. He'll play along side P.K. Subban, because Michel Therrien has no idea what he's doing.

- George Parros is seeing a concussion specialist - the speculation being he's still feeling the effects of his opening night injury, I guess.