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You had a feeling it was coming.
Ryan Miller played fantastically all through the Olympics and pretty well in the Sabres’ last few games in the NHL. He had to have a bad one sooner or later.
Luckily Ryan Miller’s “bad one” amounted to one bad period. After giving up three goals (and two leads) in the first period, Miller locked it down in the second and third periods in the Sabres’ 5-3 win over the Stars Wednesday night.
It was the first game since the Olympics that the Sabres didn’t need Miller to carry a sputtering offense through a low-scoring game. The goals finally came and the Sabres pulled back into a two point lead in the Northeast Division.
It looks like it may take awhile for Miller to regain his Olympic form. The question remains: Will the offense be able to bail him out when he has his “bad one”?
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Don’t look now, but your Montreal Canadiens are on a mighty three-game winning streak! Not that a three-game streak is the end of the world or anything. What is more important than the wins is the manner in which they were won.
Don’t be fooled by the 5-3 final score or the 31-28 shot advantage that Tampa enjoyed, because the game wasn’t that close.
In fact, the game wasn’t close at all, as the Canadiens simply dismantled the usually tough-for-the-Habs -to-play-against Lightning.
With homeboys Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Alex Tanguay in town, things are usually difficult for the Habs as those guys tend to play the role of giant-killer against the Habs .
Not last night, however, as Montreal dominated Tampa in every aspect of the game from the opening faceoff .
The Habs got on the board early as Glen Metropolit fired in a brilliant Scott Gomez pass on the powerplay to make it 1-0.
Gomez was again in on the action, scoring an unassisted goal as he walked in alone off the half boards, to make it 2-0. After that, the floodgates opened up.
The Habs got a goal from Pouliot and two from Darche to respond to Tampa’s Steven Stamkos , Scott Walker, and St. Louis, in closing it out 5-3. But the thing that was amazing was how strongly the Habs controlled the play and how few scoring chances Tampa had.
Jaroslav Halak wasn’t really tested early in the game, but came up big in the third as Tampa came to life a little. The big story of the game, however, was that the Gomez line continued to be on fire and that the third and fourth line players continued to contribute for the Habs .
Now if only they could get line No. 1 going, they could become a force to contend with .
Final score: Habs 5 – Lightning 3
Game Notes
1. Halak did his job. After receiving the Habs’ Molson Cup for January and February before the game started—based on leading the three star selections for the Habs—Halak was treated to a relatively easy night.
For a rare time this season, Halak didn’t have to stand on his head in order for his team to win. What he did do, however, was make the key saves that he needed to, in the third, to keep Tampa at bay despite having a sleepy first two periods.
I have said it before and will say it again: Elite goaltenders make key saves at key times and that is what sets them apart from the pack. Now, I am not saying that Halak is necessarily an elite goaltender yet, but he certainly seems to be heading that direction.
Jacques Martin needs to ride him until he loses or has a bad game. Carey Price’s time will come, but it will not be this year.
2. Hello, Scott Gomez and welcome to the party! While Gomez spent the first two thirds of the season giving fans every reason to complain about his ridiculous eight million dollar salary, he has spent the last two weeks making them forget all about it.
I find it amazing how a player’s salary can become so important when they are not producing and so irrelevant when they are. That is definitely the microscope that Gomez has been under this season.
Since the Olympic break, however, Gomez has been one of it not the best player on the team and is acting as the offensive spark plug for the Habs’ first line.
With one goal and two assists last night, Gomez is now in second place in Habs scoring with 50 points (12G, 38A) in 64 games. In addition, he has 15 points (5G, 10A) over his last 11 games and is the glue that makes that first line stick.
In case you were wondering, Gomez’s linemates are ripping it up over that same span too. Brian Gionta (20G, 16A) has 10 points (6G, 4A) over the same 11 games while Pouliot (14G, 5A) has 19 points over the 25 games he has played with the Habs—all on Gomez’s wing.
The trade of Guillaume Latendresse for Pouliot is starting to look like the turning point for the Habs season; he is clearly the missing ingredient from that line.
With the third and fourth lines scoring, all the Habs need is for the Plekanec line, and specifically Andrei Kostitsyn, to wake up, and they could become a dangerous foe.
3. The third and fourth lines are pulling their weight. With Darche scoring two goals last night and Metropolit getting a goal and an assist, the Habs offense looks balanced and this has been the case since the Olympic break.
Last night, playing in his 400th career game, Glen Metropolit scored his 15th goal of the season, a career high for him. His 15 goals are making up, in a big way, for the lack of production from Maxim Lapierre—who only has six goals this season.
4. No Paul Mara, no Lapierre , no Price, no problem. Last night was the third game in a newly founded winning streak for the Habs and the third game where Mara, Lapierre, and Price were out of the lineup.
Now, you can also add Michael Cammalleri and Marc-Andre Bergeron to that list, but I look at those two a little differently since they are integral to the Habs lineup.
For Mara, Price, and Lapierre, however, the coaching staff has been trying to find the right place for them all season long. Out of the three, Price is the one who is in a slightly different situation because the coach keeps throwing him the ball, hoping that he’ll catch it.
For most of the season, Price has been about 50/50 in that department. Now, however, with 14 games left in the season, I would not be surprised if Coach Martin rides Halak as much as possible.
When it comes to Paul Mara, he has struggled all season long. Mara has been in the press box as a healthy scratch since the Olympic break and the Habs defense looks much more stable as a result.
You just have to look at Mara’s atrocious minus-16 rating to see how he hurts the Habs five-on-five play. Here’s hoping that, barring injury, Martin does not reinsert him in the lineup as the current defensive pairing are working.
You’ve got to think the Habs tried to move Mara at the deadline but were unsuccessful. Good thing he’s on a one-year contract that is sure not to be renewed in the offseason.
Lapierre represents a different situation all together. Coming off of a career year, he has looked flat, tentative, and heartless all season long. Try as he may, Coach Martin has not been able to find the right linemates or ice time to turn Lapierre back into an effective player.
The four-game suspension that Lapierre received for his dirty hit on Scott Nichol last week is only showing how unimportant he has become to the Habs. If I were Lapierre, the sight of the third and fourth lines thriving without me would have me shaking in my boots.
5. Would someone, anyone, named Kostitsyn score a goal please? Despite the winning streak and the positive vibes surrounding the team, there is still the glaring hole that is the Plekanec line. While Pleky is doing his best, having AK46 firing blanks and Tom Pyatt as his other winger just isn’t cutting it.
Andrei again looks lost out there and needs to get that scoring monkey off of his back. A lucky bounce, an empty net goal, or anything to get him going!
6. Ben Maxwell is not ready for the NHL. Maxwell looks like he needs to go through the Steven Stamkos school of hard knocks by hitting the gym to gain weight and muscle. He gets knocked off of the puck way too easy and looks completely ineffective on the ice.
Send him back to Hamilton and bring up Ryan White.
7. Not only are the Habs on a three-game winning streak, but they have won four out of five games since the Olympic break. With 14 games left in their season and the majority of them against opponents below them in the standings, the Habs could be poised to go on a bit of a run here.
In addition, the Habs should be receiving Michael Cammalleri and Bergeron back in the lineup sometime over the next two weeks. Is this a team that is about to start peaking going into the playoffs?
If you’ve never watched any playoff hockey before in your life, winning is about peaking at the right time. In addition, there is nothing more dangerous than a team who is peaking headed into the playoffs as many first seeds have been toppled by streaking eighth seeds over the years.
Now, a three-game winning streak does not mean that the Habs are going to blow over the competition but maybe, just maybe, the stars are aligning at the right time. We’ll see what the final few weeks of the season bring.
Standings and Next Game
With 72 points in 68 games, the Habs are firmly ensconced in seventh overall in the East. Just ahead of the Canadiens in the standings are the Flyers with 74 points and three games in hand.
Behind the Habs there is the usual logjam with Boston (70 points, three games in hand), the Rangers (67 points, two games in hand), Atlanta (66 points, three games in hand), and Tampa (65 points, three games in hand).
While the games in hand make it difficult for the Habs to create much separation in the standings, all they can do is keep winning. A game in hand doesn’t mean much if you lose it and the Habs winning streak just keeps putting pressure on their competition.
The Canadiens enjoy a day off today before taking on the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow night in Montreal.
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Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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No one knows where the Red Wings will finish in the conference standings, but I can assure you that it will be in the top eight, albeit in the bottom half of those eight.
Which means one of the upper seeds will draw them in the first round of the playoffs.
May the hockey gods have mercy on that poor team’s soul.
Enough fooling around now. All you other teams in the Western Conference, you’ve had your fun. You picked on the Red Wings when they had one hockey gloved hand tied behind their backs. But now they’ve broken free from their shackles and you’d all better run.
The Red Wings blitzed the mighty (for now) Chicago Blackhawks with a five-goal second period on Sunday in the Windy City, and they made it look ridiculously easy.
This is the Red Wings team that started the season, pretty much, but not the one that played together between games three and 60. Injuries made sure of that.
But this group of 18 skaters, plus surprise rookie goalie Jimmy Howard, is the team that all those Western foes have been fortunate enough to avoid.
Until now.
“We’re not where we want to be in the standings, but until we don’t make it back (to the Stanley Cup Finals), then yeah, we’re the team to beat,” defenseman Brian Rafalski said after yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks pretty much agreed.
“They’re still the team to beat in the West, I don’t care what anyone says. They have the lineup to do it,” said Chicago forward Andrew Ladd.
And this, from coach Joel Quenneville: “They got so many weapons, so many guys with patience and skill and speed. They’re very adept at turning something offensively against you the other way.”
The Red Wings’ explosion on Sunday was part shoddy goaltending, part opportunism, part raw skill. All facets of the Red Wings’ brilliance were represented in the five-goal outburst.
You like your defensemen scoring? Rafalski and Lidstrom tallied with long-range slap shots.
You prefer hard work and driving to the net rewarded? Check out Jason Williams’ goal after a perfect pass from Henrik Zetterberg.
You like to see soft hands? I give you goals by Valtteri Filppula and the dazzling Pavel Datsyuk, who was so alone on his breakaway that he looked over his shoulder, saw no one within the same area code, and had time to select from one of his hundreds of moves, discard some, and re-consider others before settling on a slick, clean, backhand through the five-hole of backup goalie Antti Niemi.
And still there was no Blackhawk near Datsyuk.
All this after the Red Wings fell into an 0-2 hole in the first period to a Chicago team that is battling for the first seed in the West.
The scary thing for everyone else is that the Red Wings scored their five goals with that apparent lack of effort that has been their calling card, but which has been missing for the most part until after the Olympic break. The now-healthy Red Wings are 3-1 since the Winter Games.
When they’re at their best with puck possession and passing, the Red Wings can drop multiple goals on you in a hurry. They can run goalies like Huet out of the building. And they won’t be a fun team to play when those best-of-seven soirees get going next month.
“Last time we played Chicago we outplayed them badly and they beat us (4-3 in a shootout on Jan. 17),” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after Sunday’s game. “They know, and so do we. The good teams in the league are hoping we don’t get into the seventh or eighth (playoff) spot.”
Good teams like Chicago and San Jose, who are likely to be the top two seeds in the West. The Red Wings schooled the Blackhawks in the conference finals last year, and the Sharks have had a devil of a time with the Red Wings as of late, whether the Detroiters have been healthy or not.
You think either of those clubs wants a piece of the Red Wings coming out of the playoff gate?
The Red Wings played a stinker last Wednesday at home against Vancouver, and it pissed them off. They took it out on the Nashville Predators on Friday, and got their dander up Sunday after the Blackhawks dared to take a 2-0 lead.
The Red Wings are like David Banner/The Incredible Hulk now.
“Don’t make me angry,” Bill Bixby/Banner used to say on TV. “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
The Red Wings are healthy, mad, and chomping at the bit. They’re loaded for bear.
Or Blackhawk, or Shark, or anything else ya got.
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Raise your hand everyone who thought that the Habs would have three out of four wins and six out of eight points on their post-Olympic West Coast road trip.
Not all at once now.
The good news is that in a room of one hundred people, there would likely only be five or six with their hands up, myself excluded.
Yesterday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks was supposed to have been an entertaining match, as two teams who were in desperate need of points clashed for their second game in 24 hours.
Unfortunately, the script didn’t quite play out that way.
The Habs definitely had jump to their game, from the opening faceoff, but were unable to capitalize on their numerous opportunities.
On the other side of the ice, however, the porous Habs defense was busy making Carey Price look bad, yet again.
While many fans in Habs-nation have already fit Price with goat horns this morning, we should be reminded that the lackluster performance of the team in front of him was the reason for the three first period Ducks’ goals.
Sure, Price could have been stronger along the ice on the first two, but it was ultimately a combination of missed assignments and poor gap control that allowed the Ducks’ players to have their way with Price. Try as he may, he just can’t seem to catch a break this year.
Trailing by three going into the first intermission, Coach Jacques Martin wisely put Halak in nets to start the second period. This move was in no way a reflection on Price but more a move done to try and shake things up for his team.
On the other end of the ice, Ducks’ goalie Jonas Hiller looked to be picking up where he left off during his Olympic stint with the Swiss team, as he made several spectacular saves to keep the Habs off the board.
Tomas Plekanec started the comeback for the Canadiens, however, by scoring at 7:48 of the second period. Despite the goal, you could see that neither team had much left in the tank as they had both played the night before.
The third period was a display of some of the most slow paced, boring, mistake-ridden hockey I have seen in a long time as both teams struggled to keep their legs moving.
Despite the molasses that both teams were obviously skating in, the Habs decided to make things interesting with less than two minutes to play. As Brian Gionta scored his 20th of the season at 18:08 to draw the Habs to within one, the Canadiens seemed to find their wings.
The drama was heightened as the Ducks’ Corey Perry rang the puck off of the outside of the post, with Halak on the bench for the extra attacker, for a missed opportunity that would have sealed the deal.
With the play back in the Anaheim zone and time running out, Markov, standing in the slot to the right of the crease, fired the puck past Hiller with just under 11 seconds left on the clock to send the game to overtime.
Overtime solved nothing and it was left to Plekanec to score the winner in the shootout, sealing the win for the Habs.
Final Score: Habs 4 – Ducks 3
Game Notes
1. Poor Carey Price. Just when we might have thought he was turning the corner with two solid performances—against Boston and San Jose—he gets shelled for three not-so-strong goals in one period and is yanked in favour of Halak.
I find it unfortunate for the young protégée as his confidence never really gets a chance to soar. For some sickening reason, the team just seems to play better in front of Halak—as my wife astutely pointed out last night.
It is hard to understand why, but the team just doesn’t seem to score very much when Price is in nets.
The difficult or not so difficult question now—depending on how you look at it—is who do the Habs start in their next game? Can Martin afford to try Price to see if he can do the job? Does Martin have to forget about playing favorite and just ride Halak?
Logic would dictate that the Habs best chance of making the playoffs will be on Halak’s back, but logic hasn’t always been the deciding force behind the Habs goaltending decisions this season.
2. Dominic Moore is looking like an excellent addition by GM Pierre Gauthier so far. With four points (2G, 2A) and a +2 rating in six games since joining the Habs, Moore has breathed life into the Habs fourth line. And not a moment too soon too, as the Habs need more balanced scoring if they are going to make the playoffs.
3. The first line of Gionta, Gomez, and Pouliot has been carrying the Habs since the Olympic break. Gionta (3G, 2A, +2), Gomez (1G, 4A, +2), and Pouliot (2G, 2A, +3) have been the offensive spark-plugs for them over the last four games, and look ready to do all they can to get the Habs into the playoffs.
Too bad they don’t have much secondary scoring support because a one-trick pony doesn’t usually get very far in this league.
4. Speaking of secondary scoring, while Plekanec has two goals over the last two games, his principle linemate, Andrei Kostitsyn, has zero points and has a -1 rating over the last four games.
That just doesn’t cut it as no team can have sustained success with one scoring line.
AK46 is getting his chances, mind you, he just hasn’t been able to bury them. It’s unfortunate too, because before his pre-Olympic injury, Andrei had 11 points over a nine game stretch.
The injury seems to have set him back to where he was a few months ago, and with time running out on the season that does not bode well for the Habs.
Aside from Michael Cammalleri, AK46 is supposed to be one of the best snipers on this team and if he can’t start finding the back of the net soon the Habs will have a hard time making the playoffs.
To his credit, Andrei has been getting his chances, he just has to start burying them. He looks like he needs a lucky bounce or something, in order to get the monkey off his back.
Let’s hope that bounce comes soon!
5. Spacek and Hamrlik are aging warriors. While both of them have moments where they are solid on the ice, they seem to have an equal amount of times where they look old and tired. In fact, the more the season progresses the more Spacek is looking like an old man out there.
Did they play too many minutes too early in the season when Markov was injured, and as such, have very little in the tank? Is the grind of the compressed Olympic schedule too much for their 35-year-old bodies?
Who knows for sure. But if those two can’t keep it together out there, whether the Habs make the playoffs or not becomes almost secondary, as a lack of a second defensive pairing will surely make any playoff appearance a one-and-done performance.
Standings and Next Game
The win last night gives the Habs 70 points as they sit in seventh overall in the East. Ahead of the Canadiens are Philly with 72 points and three games in hand while behind them are Boston (69 points, three games in hand), the Rangers (67 points, one game in hand), Atlanta (66 points, three games in hand), and Tampa (65 points, three games in hand).
Next up for the Habs is a well earned trip home to take on the Lightning on Tuesday evening.
A win against Tampa on Tuesday can go a long way toward knocking them out of playoff contention while simultaneously increasing the Habs chances.
Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Alex Tanguay always make it difficult for the Habs to beat the Lightning but with 15 games remaining, those two points are more precious than ever.
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Stat Trick: Bruins 3, Isles 2
7, Mar 2010Perhaps if the Isles had played the first period liked they played the last two the result would have been different. After being outshot 16-4 in the first 20 minutes, the Isles outshot the Bruins 35-18 over the final 40 minutes, but fell a goal shy, and lost to Boston 3-2. On to the trick:
1. The first period was all Boston. Milan Lucic scored the session’s only goal, with 1:34 to play. The Isles have allowed the first goal in four straight games, and they have been badly outplayed in the first period of their last two home games (38-13 combined).
2. Josh Bailey tied the game early in the second period with a power play goal. It was his 14th goal of the season (one more than Kyle Okposo, despite playing six fewer games), and was set-up by Mark Streit’s 200th NHL point. The deadlock lasted only 2:46 until David Krejci scored. Marc Savard added a powerplay tally off a bad bounce to give the Bruins a 3-1 advantage after two periods.
3. Matt Moulson extended his point streak to five games, when he scored the only goal of the third period, just 5:43 into the session. It was his 23rd goal of the season and fourth against the Bruins. Bill Guerin had 23 goals two seasons ago; no Isle has had more since four players had at least 25 in 2006-07.
…a few more…
4. Dwayne Roloson who was pulled after allowing four goals on seven shots Thursday, made 31 saves for the Isles. Tim Thomas, playing consecutive Bruin games for the first time since Jan. 30/Feb. 2, made 37 saves for Boston, including 21 in the second period. He is now 8-4-1 in his career against the Isles.
5. Michael Ryder was ejected after checking Blake Comeau from behind. The Isles had six shots on goal on the ensuing major power play but failed to score. Ryder received 15 penalty minutes on the play, one fewer than he had in 62 prior games this season.
6. Each team went 1-2 on the power play. The Isles have allowed five goals their last 10 times short. The Bruin power play goal was their only pp goal in 14 chances against the Isles this season.
7. There were only eight face-offs in the third period (including one to start the period, and one after Moulson’s goal). The Isles won five of them, but Boston won 30 of 46 overall. Rob Schremp had a rough afternoon in the circle, dropping 12 of 15.
8. The Isles are now 3-11-0 in their last 14 games. John Tavares does not have a goal in this stretch, having now gone 17 games without a goal. The Isles have been a streaky team all season as they opened 0-3-3 and had a 2-7-0 stretch in December. They have also had stretches of 5-1-2 in October/November and 10-3-1 in the fourteen games immediately prior to the current stretch.
9. Sean Bergenheim returned to the Isles’ lineup but was held without a point for the 15th straight game.
10. The season series ends deadlocked, with each team winning once in regulation and once in extra time. Marc Savard had the shootout winner in Boston’s other win other the Isles this season. He has scored the winning goal or the shoot-out winner in each of Boston’s last four wins over the Isles.
Up Next: The Isles head to Philadelphia to face the Flyers in a nationally-televised game on Tuesday (Versus/ 7:00pm). Doc Emrick will join Billy Jaffe in the booth for this one. The Isles will bring four long, nasty streaks into Philadelphia:
1. The Isles are 0-7-0 on the road in the last two months, since winning in a shootout in Phoenix on Jan. 9. (The Isles are 9-18-6 on the road this season; only four of the wins have been in regulation.)
2. The Isles have dropped 14 straight games to the Flyers (0-11-3, including once in overtime and twice in a shootout) since a 4-3 Coliseum win for Rick DiPietro on Feb. 12, 2008.
3. The Isles have lost nine straight games in Philadelphia (0-8-1, including an overtime loss on Oct. 30, 2008) since a 4-2 win in Philadephia on April 7, 2007. That 2007 win came in game 81; the Isles qualified for the playoffs with a shootout victory over New Jersey the following day.
4. The Isles have not won a divisional road game under Scott Gordon any place but Madison Square Garden. They are 3-16-1 in divisional road games over the past two seasons (0-5-0 in both New Jersey and Pittsburgh, 0-4-1 in Philadelphia, and 3-2-0 in New York)
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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Some games can be broken down and explained by statistics. Others offer learned lessons for future contests.
And then there are games like this one that can only be described as bizarre.
The Canadiens 4-3 shootout win over the Ducks Sunday night at the Honda Center was exciting, and in the end, satisfying for fans but truly bizarre.
Statistics are meaningless. There is nothing that can be learned to provide a blueprint for future wins. The Canadiens simply need to take the two points and count their blessings.
That’s not to say that there weren’t players worthy of praise. There were. But for long stretches, this game was rather boring. It also featured two teams who both exhibited dreadful play at times, and two coaches who made questionable decisions.
Some will try to make this game all about goaltending. It wasn’t. For whatever reason, these so-called fans lie in wait and relish the chance to heap abuse on Carey Price. I suppose that they were getting a little impatient the past few days because Price has been nothing but stellar in his two starts since the Olympic break.
In fact, coach Jacques Martin probably made one of his many mistakes by starting Jaroslav Halak against Los Angeles given how well Price played in the two games prior. Martin could have come back with Halak against the Ducks.
But no matter. The decision regarding the starting goaltender for both games played no part in their outcomes. It is time that “the most knowledgeable fans in the game” live up to their claim to fame and stop the nonsense. Focusing on goaltending and using it as a point of division is irrational.
As mentioned, statistical comparisons are not helpful in understanding the game. The Canadiens outshot the Ducks 15-to-11 in the first period. Yet one of the broadcasters pegged scoring chances as 9-to-2 for Anaheim.
While Price gave up three goals in the first period, it could have easily been a half-dozen more. Price made several spectacular saves. The problem was that the rest of his team didn’t show up.
Some may nitpick that Price should have stopped the first goal. Others may criticize Halak for being slow to react and failing to poke-check Anze Kopitar in the Los Angeles game.
Both would be wrong.
Putting Canadiens goaltending under a microscope is akin to ignoring the proverbial plank in one’s eye while focusing on a speck of sawdust.
The Canadiens’ defense and forwards simply abandoned coverage in their own zone in the first period of the game. They were spectators.
Want to dish out scorn? Target defensemen who played soft and backed in. Be sure to save some for the forwards who didn’t cover points or failed to backcheck.
After the first period, Marc Antoine Godin from La Presse said, “L’enclave dans le territoire du Canadien est un étang dans lequel les Canards pataugent allègrement. / The slot in Habs’ zone is a pond in which the Ducks love paddling.”
Those who were paying attention know that the responsibility for the Canadiens’ appalling first period performance rests solely on the shoulders of players like Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez (on the ice for all three goals against) and Benoit Pouliot, Roman Hamrlik and Andrei Markov (on the ice for two).
Then there is the role played by Coach Jacques Martin. The Canadiens had two power-play opportunities in the first period. Both were awful. The penalty kills provided momentum to Anaheim just ahead of their first goal.
It is painfully clear to everyone but Martin that Hamrlik and Josh Gorges are not the answer on the point of the power play. Yet Martin stubbornly refuses to play Sergei Kostitsyn opposite Markov despite Kostitsyn’s experience in the position.
Glen Metropolit, Tom Pyatt and Ryan O’Byrne all had small amounts of power-play time. Sergei Kostitsyn had none.
If Anaheim had nine scoring chances in the first period, they were fortunate to have half that many in the last two periods and overtime. For a stretch of 23 minutes, the Ducks had none. After the paint was peeled in the Habs’ dressing room, they tightened up to begin the second period.
For their part, Anaheim stopped skating. The Ducks defense looked weak, forwards gave up turnovers, and goaltending was questionable.
Halak’s handler tried to steal credit and fan the flames of hate by saying, “H-A-L-A-K!!!!! Perhaps his best game of the season and certainly one of his most clutch performances so far. Is Jaro the comeback kid?”
Either agent Alan Walsh is delusional, or he didn’t watch the game. Or both. With the lack of Ducks’ scoring chances, Halak wasn’t a factor. He simply didn’t have to be. And with a puck going through Halak and trickling by the post in the shootout, he also has the hockey gods to thank.
Walsh is also doing Halak a disservice. If the headline-craving agent presents last night’s game as Exhibit A during negotiations, he won’t be getting what his client deserves.
It’s clear that in Montreal, the hype and the hate with respect to goaltending are out of control.
The spotlight for last night’s turnaround should be on the player who has been the Canadiens’ most valuable all season long, Tomas Plekanec.
Plekanec centered the Canadiens’ best line. He exploited the Ducks’ defense and scored on a breakaway in the second period to get the Habs back into the game. After the Canadiens tied the game with two goals in the last two minutes of the third period, Plekanec scored the game-winner in the shootout.
Plekanec had seven shots on goal, and his linemate, Andrei Kostitsyn, had five. The Canadiens were a one-line team in this game.
Sergei Kostitsyn is the other Habs forward who deserves special mention. Sergei created scoring chances but didn’t have linemates who could finish.
With an exciting comeback win after being down three goals, the Canadiens end their very successful road trip with a 3-1-0 record. The Ducks fall to 0-2-1 after the Olympic break.
The Canadiens return home to play the Lightning on Tuesday.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Tomas Plekanec
2. Scott Niedermayer
3. Andrei Markov
Special mention: Sergei Kostitsyn
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
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The Olympic break seems to have done a lot of good for the Montreal Canadiens.
Not only did they get their walking wounded back from injuries—with the exception of Michael Cammalleri and Marc-Andre Bergeron—but they seem invigorated for the stretch run.
Despite losing to the Sharks the other night, the Habs played some great hockey against one of the league’s powerhouses. Last night in L.A., they continued their speedy, aggressive game and the result was a well earned 4-2 road win over the Kings.
The best line on the ice all night for the Habs was the Gomez, Gionta, and Pouliot line. They seem to complement each other very well on the ice and as they get more and more comfortable, they are causing all sorts of problems for opposing defenders.
With Gomez’s incredible speed and on-ice vision, Gionta’s quick-step-and-release, and Pouliot always going to the net, these three have become a real force for the Habs.
The story of the game, however, was the three goals that the Habs scored within the first five minutes of each period. They say that goals early or late in a period can deliver the strongest killer blow to your opposition and the Habs did exactly that last night—Gionta scored his 19th, 22 seconds into the first, Dominic Moore scored his 10th, 4:43 into the second, and Pouliot scored his 15th, 36 seconds into the third.
For the Kings, Anze Kopitar got one back at 18:16 of the first and Fredrik Modin scored at 7:12 of the third to make it a one-goal game. Up until the Modin goal, the Habs were really limiting the Kings to shots from the outside and as such, Jaroslav Halak wasn’t tested all that much.
Once Modin scored, however, and as the Kings started to press for the tying goal, Halak was forced to come up big and he delivered in the same Olympic form that allowed the Slovaks to be the surprise of the tournament.
Thomas Plekanec scored into an empty net with less than two minutes left to play in the third, to seal the deal and that was all she wrote. This game was probably one of the most complete or 60 minute efforts that the Habs have iced all season. If they can keep playing like this they should have a good chance of make the playoffs.
The problem for the Habs is that their margin of error is non-existent. If they fall into a two, three, or four-game losing streak they can almost certainly kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Final score: Habs 4 – Kings 2
Game Notes
1. Halak looks to be picking up where he left off before the Olympic break. Despite having a relatively easy night, Halak made the key saves that you need your goalie to make to help deliver the win.
For most of the season we have gotten used to the Habs winning games almost uniquely on the backs of their goaltenders and special teams. Last night, however, Halak didn’t have to be a hero.
What he did do, however, was make the key saves at key times and that is what winning goaltenders do. With his play, and the play of Price the previous two games, the least of the Habs worries are in nets—despite what the panic-mongers would have you believe.
No, goaltending is not a problem for the Habs but five-on-five scoring is. That’s why it was refreshing to see the Habs score twice, five-on-five, last night. Hopefully this trend can continue, going forward, as it will greatly increase their chance of making the postseason dance.
2. Dominic Moore continues to show that Pierre Gauthier made a shrewd move in acquiring him.
Moore is a responsible role player who looks good in all situations whether killing penalties, grinding it out in the corners, or battling for space in front of the net. Moore is the type of player who isn’t afraid to get his nose dirty and who can chip in the occasional goal, as he did shorthanded last night.
Look for Moore to play a more prominent role with the team next year as Gauthier shuffles the lineup.
3. Last night was the second game in a row that the Habs played an aggressive, attacking style and it looks to suit them well.
Rather than playing the sit-back-and-wait Jacques Martin trap, the Habs used their speed and skill to wreak havoc on the opposition. Speed and skill are the hallmarks of this team and when the coach lets them play an aggressive game, they are much more effective on the ice.
Unfortunately, Jacques Martin doesn’t tend to coach an aggressive style but rather a more passive-resistance game. And, as I have said before, the problem with that style is that you need bigger bodies to play it effectively. Considering that the Habs are relatively small up front, it often gets messy for them.
Let’s hope that Martin continues to release the hounds for the rest of the season because if not, I fear they will continue to be a win one, lose one team and ultimately miss the playoffs.
4. The Plekanec line needs to start scoring. While there is no shortage of encouraging signs for that line, they need to start scoring immediately as the Habs do not have the luxury of time.
The last two games, this line seems to be on the verge of breaking out and last night things were the same for them. Both Kostitsyn brothers and Plekanec had scoring chances last night, but they have to start cashing in on them in order to provide some support for the Gomez line.
You can’t win with one line in this league and if the Plekanec line can’t find their wheels soon, the Habs might slide right out of playoff contention.
Standings and Next Game
Last night’s win gives the Canadiens 68 points in 66 games, good enough for sole possession of the eighth spot overall in the East.
As is always the case, their hold on eighth is tenuous with Atlanta (66 points, three games in hand), the Rangers (66 points, one game in hand), and Tampa (65 points, two games in hand) just behind them in the standings.
In front of the Habs are Boston with 69 points and Philly with 70 but both teams hold three games in hand.
Today, the Habs ride into Anaheim to take on the Ducks and former captain Saku Koivu. It should be an emotionally charged game between two teams who are life and death to make the playoffs.
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It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t certain. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t decisive. It wasn’t any of the things that a March matchup between an NHL conference leader and a team seemingly destined to be watching from the sidelines in mid-April ought to be. What it was was another encouraging sign of the evolution of the San Jose Sharks toward becoming a team worthy of claiming hockey’s ultimate goal.
Saturday night’s contest against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets started in a fashion that had to be all-too familiar for anyone used to watching the San Jose Sharks over the past several seasons. D
espite out-shooting the Jackets 29 to 13 through two periods and carrying the play through extended sequences of the first two periods, it seemed like the Sharks just could not catch, nor create, a break.
A missed wrap-around attempt on a short-handed rush by Joe Thornton in the first period with Columbus goalie Steve Mason uncharacteristically out of position and an ugly Blue Jackets’ goal by Andrew Murray at 1:00 of the second period following a Sharks offensive zone turnover extended the Blue Jackets’ streak of games scoring first to nine and the Sharks’ streak of games allowing the first goal to eight.
Stingy goal-tending by Mason kept the Sharks off the board for the remainder of the period and led to a 1-0 deficit for Team Teal into the second intermission. This followed on the heels of a 3-0, 40-save blanking of these same San Jose Sharks by Mason in Ohio on February 10 leading up to the Olympic break.
Mason’s luck seemed to continue into the third period, as despite a spirited onslaught by the Sharks in the opening minutes, Mason managed to keep the puck from crossing the goal line. It seemed certain that the Sharks had scored at one point midway through the third period. AHL call-up Ryan Vesce had a brilliant chance from the top of the crease off a Patrick Marleau face-off win at 7:35, but a sprawling Mason somehow made the stop.
Mason would not be as lucky on the Sharks’ next opportunity. With Antoine Vermette taking a hooking penalty on the play leading to the Ryan Vesce opportunity, San Jose took to a critical power play.
Leading power play goal scorer Dany Heatley soon added to his total at 7:53 when he one-timed a slap shot past Steve Mason from the right edge of the crease on a brilliant feed from Joe Thornton. Heatley’s 16th man-advantage marker of the season tied him with Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos for the league lead in that category.
The Sharks had solved Steve Mason for the first time since November 4, 2009, but were still far from claiming victory in the contest.
Their hopes of doing so seemed bolstered at 12:31 when Joe Thornton broke through the Columbus defense half way through a power play resulting from a Jan Hejda delay of game penalty for knocking the net off its moorings. Thornton roofed the puck past Mason and seemingly into the net.
The goal light came on the HP Pavilion faithful erupted in cheers, but the referee immediately waived off the goal.
An ensuing review revealed no indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the ice as every available camera angle revealed that the puck had bounced off the underside of the crossbar and nestled halfway over the goal line before Mason was able to amble backward on top of it. The Sharks alternate captain looked frustratedly skyward as Steve Mason had seemly dodged another bullet.
The Sharks would finally respond even strength at 15:20. Ryane Clowe broke in on a rush to the left of the Columbus goal and fired a shot from short range at Mason. The Jackets goaltender allowed a juicy rebound to former Sharks Captain Patrick Marleau but made the ensuing save.
Team USA Olympian Joe Pavelski swept in to corral the second rebound and darted behind the net and out under the right circle. There he unleashed a beautiful wrist shot, which beat Mason over his glove side to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks were able to fend off a desperate onslaught from Columbus in the last several minutes of the game, finally clearing the puck down the ice with under five seconds to play to seal the victory.
The Columbus loss marked their tenth blown second intermission lead of the season, a mark which leads the NHL. The Sharks win was the second consecutive impressive comeback in which the men in teal found a way to wrest victory out of a game where they seemed to be snake-bitten and facing a goalie on the very top of his game.
This bodes incredibly well for the Sharks moving forward. Where previous Sharks squads would have folded under the weight of facing such adversity, this year’s roster has consistently found creative ways to rise above the odds and win critical games.
Am I ready to say “This is the year the Sharks win the Stanley Cup”? No. And I won’t be until that silver chalice parades its way down West Santa Clara Street. Am I excited? You bet!
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Montreal 4, Los Angeles 2 (Staples Center)
Sometimes your opponent pitches a dud.
It hasn’t happened very often this season in games involving the Canadiens, but tonight the Kings were a shadow of the team they have been so far this season.
Kings fans, who hadn’t seen their team in person for three weeks, were expecting a better effort for the homecoming. Canadiens’ fans who showed up in red at the Staples Center were happy to celebrate loudly throughout the game.
“The Montreal Canadiens are a very desperate hockey club,” Murray said. “They’re on the bubble, so you’ve got to recognize that and know that the intensity is going to be high. They showed it in the first shift, and we weren’t ready to match it.”
Full marks to the Habs, who showed intensity with a strong start by attacking the L.A. net, resulting in their first goal only 22 seconds into the game. The line of Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, and Benoit Pouliot gave the Canadiens an early lead.
“Anytime you can jump on a team like that early in the game like that, those things kind of set the tone,” Gionta said.
But the goal that really seemed to deflate the Kings was a short-handed marker by Dominic Moore five minutes into the second period. It was a weak goal given up by L.A. netminder, Jonathan Quick. The Kings only managed five shots on goal in the second frame despite having three power-play advantages.
The Gomez trio was also responsible for a goal in the first minute of the third period, giving their team a two-goal lead. The Kings were unable to manage a shot on goal for a ten minute stretch in the period.
The Canadiens penalty-killers were perfect on four Kings’ opportunities in the game. The Habs had several scoring chances while short-handed, in addition to Moore’s goal.
Los Angeles forwards dominated the faceoff dot, with Jarett Stoll and Michal Handzus combining for an impressive 83 percent success rate. Tomas Plekanec was the best Habs center at 50 percent. Moore, acquired for his faceoff prowess, was a disappointing 31 percent.
Coach Jacques Martin shortened the bench with Glen Metropolit, Ben Maxwell, and Mathieu Darche each receiving just over five minutes of ice-time. Martin was not at all pleased with Metropolit, who got caught standing still and let Anze Kopitar wheel around him for the Kings’ first goal.
Jaroslav Spacek and Ryan O’Byrne were the two strongest defensemen for the Canadiens. Spacek had a plus-3 rating, while O’Byrne led the team with four blocked shots.
“We played a strong game defensively,” coach Martin said. “It was one of our better games away from the puck as far as getting good protection for our goalie.”
Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves, but was not seriously tested until late in the third period.
It was the Canadiens’ fifth straight victory over the Kings. With the win, the Habs take over sole possession of eighth place in the Eastern conference.
The Western road trip concludes Sunday night with a game against Anaheim.
Rocket’s three stars:
1. Brian Gionta
2. Scott Gomez
3. Jarret Stoll
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
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Game 63: Predators 4, Kings 2
Don’t look now, but the Predators are making noise down in Nashville. And it sounds more like Old Time Hockey than the Grand Ole Opry.
For some reason, the Kings don’t play the Predators particularly well. They have lost five games in a row to the Preds, reaching back into last season. But that was before the Kings really started to gel and come into focus as the fourth best team in the West (and in the league, according to some ).
The Kings pick up where they left off last game , playing with a white-hot intensity that seemed to stun the Nashville bench. And when Alexander Frolov scored with less than 60 seconds gone, it looked as if this game was going to be different.
But four minutes later, Jonathan Quick mishandles a puck behind the Kings net, and Sean O’Donnell blows a tire and falls to the ice. That allows J.P. Dumont to pop in the tying goal.
At first it was an unassisted goal, but then they added two assists to Steve Sullivan and Dan Hamhuis. That left me scratching my bald dome. Once Quick touches the puck, doesn’t that negate whoever touched it last for Nashville?
Whatever. Dumont’s goal had the same effect on the Kings bench as Frolov’s goal did earlier. The Kings were completely dumbfounded, and played the rest of the game playing catch up.
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Newly acquired Jeff Halpern and Fredrik Modin were both in the lineup for the first time as Kings on Thursday night, when the Kings faced off against the Predators in Nashville, TN.
Unfortunately, it seemed that only the Predators were informed that an actual hockey game was to be played that night.
Jonathon Quick uncharacteristically misplayed the puck multiple times, two of which directly resulted in goals.
Perhaps these miscues caused the rest of the Kings to play erratically and carelessly throughout the game.
Sometimes, the way a goalie is playing really dictates the play of the skaters, either contagiousl, or perhaps if they are concerned about the state of mind the goaltender is in.
Whatever it was, the entire group of Los Angeles Kings did not look like a playoff team Thursday night in Nashville.
Halpern and Modin were thrown together on the fourth line with Scott Parse and though that line did not play badly, they certainly were not on the same page.
This is not to say that the loss and the poor play is to be blamed on the newcomers. In fact, it was quite the quite the contrary.
Many might say that Jonathon Quick should own up to this one and take the blame for the lost, since he did make two critical errors.
But that’s not the way it works with the goaltender and a team.
Quick has been a consistent backstop all season, putting the Kings in position to win night after night and has even stole some games that the Kings did not perform particularly well in.
Because of that, if Quick is having an off night, it’s up to the players in front of him to step it up and make some plays to keep them on top. Actually his play in net wasn’t bad at all, it was simply a couple of errors while trying to play the puck.
But, nobody stepped up.
It was as though the Kings were waiting around for Halpern and Modin to step in like the second coming of Jesus and take the game over. But, that’s not what they were brought in to do.
They were brought in to supplement the current system and help out defensively and with the mentality of the team.
I love Dustin Brown, but in situations like this, the team captain needs to step in and either talk some sense into his team or make a big play on the ice to snap the team out of it. He is so versatile that with his skillset, he could make a huge hit on someone or make a hard play to the net.
I hope he learns soon that the pressure is on him to keep his team focused and motivated, because as terrific a player as he is, he has failed in this area a few times this year.
It will be interesting to see what time of game the team brings back to Staples Center on Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens. Game time is 7:00pm PST.
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They say that a loss is a loss no matter how well a team plays. On paper there is no question that last night’s 3-2 loss to the Sharks hurt the Habs tremendously in the standings. That being said, there were no shortage of positive and encouraging signs for the Habs but unfortunately you don’t get points for effort in the NHL.
Both teams had their chances in the first period with Carey Price—who was getting his second consecutive start—playing the role of difference-maker as he came up with a bunch of key saves to keep the Sharks off the scoreboard.
Things changed around the halfway point of the first as Brian Gionta scored his 18th of the season off of a Scott Gomez feed. The play was created by Gomez on a Patrick Marleau defensive zone turnover and the result was a Gionta blast from the high slot past a screened Evgeni Nabokov.
Man, can he shoot the puck!
The Habs continued to buzz with Benoit Pouliot getting a semi-breakaway a few minutes after the goal. In addition, the Habs fourth line of Glen Metropolit, Tom Pyatt, and Mathieu Darche used the cycle to cause problems for the Sharks’ defense all night long.
Price continued to be the story of the first as he stopped Joe Pavelski on a break with less than two minutes in the period.
The Sharks got on the board early in the second, however, with Marleau scoring his 39th of the season shorthanded. His shot from the point deflected off of Jaroslav Spacek and past Price to tie the game at one.
The Habs got that one back quickly on the powerplay, as Gomez swept to the outside and fired the puck between Nabokov’s pads to make it a 2-1 game.
With the Habs clinging to a one goal lead, the Sharks were awarded a penalty shot on a bit of a strange play.
Price had dropped his stick and Hal Gill was trying to hand it back to him but saw that the play was turning around. In what looked like a reflex action, Gill dropped the stick but it landed in the San Jose player’s shooting lane, resulting in a Dan Boyle penalty shot.
Price again stood tall and gave Boyle little to shoot at as he rung the puck off of the post.
Despite being outshot 29-19 overall, the Habs took a one goal lead into the intermission on the back of a dominant performance by Carey Price.
While the Canadiens were being outshot, they were able to skate with the Sharks as they employed an attacking style over the first two periods. Unfortunately for the Habs, the Jacques Martin passive-resistance style kicked in for the third period as the Habs sat back and let the Sharks come at them.
The result was that as the Habs stopped skating, the Sharks heaped an offensive onslaught on Price. Despite his best efforts, Price couldn’t stop everything and the Sharks scored two quick goals, less than three minutes apart, to make it a 3-2 game.
With Price on the bench for the extra attacker, the Habs pressed for the tie but ultimately ran out of time.
Final score: Habs 2-Sharks 3
Game Notes
1. Price, Price, Price! Despite the loss, Carey Price was a difference-maker tonight. If not for his heroics, this game would have been over early in the first.
While Price has looked shaky on far too many a night pre-Olympics, he looks focused and confident in the net since coming back. Coming out to challenge shooters and looking big in the net, Price is giving the opposition very little to shoot at.
I said it after the Olympics and I’ll say it again: I predict that we will see a much better Price over the rest of the season than we did before the Olympics.
2. What the heck was Maxim Lapierre thinking? While he played his best game of the season the other night against Boston, Lapierre played more of a passable game last night. In addition, he was involved in a stupid, dangerous play early in the third as he shoved the Sharks’ Scott Nichol into the boards from behind.
Nichol had just rung a shot off of the post and was a good six feet away from the boards at the time. He crashed hard into the boards and went down in a heap. It was the type of play where you don’t expect the player to get up quickly.
Fortunately for Nichol, he was quick to his feet but he did leave the game favoring his shoulder and did not return. The worst part of it was to see Lapierre sitting on the Canadiens bench, laughing.
Disgusting. There is simply no place for that kind of dirty hit in this league.
Lapierre was, generally speaking, a hated man before the game and he likely just increased the size of the bullseye on his back.
3. The Tomas Plekanec line is coming together. Last night was only the second game that Plekanec has played with the brothers Kostitsyn on his wing and you can see them starting to gel. Both Andrei and Sergei had multiple scoring chances on the night and you get the sense that that line is on the verge of breaking out.
Give them another game or two and they should start being consistent producers for the Habs.
4. Plekanec is a marked man. If his stellar pre-Olympic play wasn’t enough, his excellent performance for the Czech Republic served to propel Pleky up the visibility chart.
From the drop of the puck last night, it was clear that San Jose had targeted Pleky as the offensive catalyst for the Habs. As such, they heaped tons of physical abuse on him. Unlike last season, however, Plekanec has learned how to fight through this additional attention and is able to create more space for his linemates as a result. This should lead to increased scoring chances for that line and should bode well for their future.
5. The plumbers continue to do their jobs. The Habs fourth line of Metro, Darche, and Pyatt look to be excellent complements to each other. Every time they were on the ice last night, they were causing havoc for the San Jose defenders.
They use their speed and grit to grind it out in the corners and tire the opposition. If they can continue to roll up their sleeves and chip in the occasional goal, they will become an important factor in balancing the Habs offense.
Standings and Next Game
With 66 points in 65 games, the Habs are now in 10th place overall in the East. In their rearview mirror are Tampa, with 63 points and two games in hand, and Florida, with 60 points and two games in hand.
The problem for Montreal is in front of them in the standings, with the Rangers (66 points; one game), Atlanta (66 points; three games), Boston (67 points; three games), and Philly (69 points; three games).
The Habs have Friday off before taking on the Kings in L.A. on Saturday night.
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They say that a loss is a loss no matter how well a team plays. On paper there is no question that last night’s 3-2 loss to the Sharks hurt the Habs tremendously in the standings. That being said, there were no shortage of positive and encouraging signs for the Habs but unfortunately you don’t get points for effort in the NHL.
Both teams had their chances in the first period with Carey Price—who was getting his second consecutive start—playing the role of difference-maker as he came up with a bunch of key saves to keep the Sharks off the scoreboard.
Things changed around the halfway point of the first as Brian Gionta scored his 18th of the season off of a Scott Gomez feed. The play was created by Gomez on a Patrick Marleau defensive zone turnover and the result was a Gionta blast from the high slot past a screened Vladimir Nabokov.
Man, can he shoot the puck!
The Habs continued to buzz with Benoit Pouliot getting a semi-breakaway a few minutes after the goal. In addition, the Habs fourth line of Glen Metropolit, Tom Pyatt, and Mathieu Darche used the cycle to cause problems for the Sharks’ defense all night long.
Price continued to be the story of the first as he stopped Joe Pavelski on a break with less than two minutes in the period.
The Sharks got on the board early in the second, however, with Marleau scoring his 39th of the season shorthanded. His shot from the point deflected off of Jaroslav Spacek and past Price to tie the game at one.
The Habs got that one back quickly on the powerplay, as Gomez swept to the outside and fired the puck between Nabokov’s pads to make it a 2-1 game.
With the Habs clinging to a one goal lead, the Sharks were awarded a penalty shot on a bit of a strange play.
Price had dropped his stick and Hal Gill was trying to hand it back to him but saw that the play was turning around. In what looked like a reflex action, Gill dropped the stick but it landed in the San Jose player’s shooting lane, resulting in a Dan Boyle penalty shot.
Price again stood tall and gave Boyle little to shoot at as he rung the puck off of the post.
Despite being outshot 29-19 overall, the Habs took a one goal lead into the intermission on the back of a dominant performance by Carey Price.
While the Canadiens were being outshot, they were able to skate with the Sharks as they employed an attacking style over the first two periods. Unfortunately for the Habs, the Jacques Martin passive-resistance style kicked in for the third period as the Habs sat back and let the Sharks come at them.
The result was that as the Habs stopped skating, the Sharks heaped an offensive onslaught on Price. Despite his best efforts, Price couldn’t stop everything and the Sharks scored two quick goals, less than three minutes apart, to make it a 3-2 game.
With Price on the bench for the extra attacker, the Habs pressed for the tie but ultimately ran out of time.
Final score: Habs 2-Sharks 3
Game Notes
1. Price, Price, Price! Despite the loss, Carey Price was a difference-maker tonight. If not for his heroics, this game would have been over early in the first.
While Price has looked shaky on far too many a night pre-Olympics, he looks focused and confident in the net since coming back. Coming out to challenge shooters and looking big in the net, Price is giving the opposition very little to shoot at.
I said it after the Olympics and I’ll say it again: I predict that we will see a much better Price over the rest of the season than we did before the Olympics.
2. What the heck was Maxim Lapierre thinking? While he played his best game of the season the other night against Boston, Lapierre played more of a passable game last night. In addition, he was involved in a stupid, dangerous play early in the third as he shoved the Sharks’ Scott Nichol into the boards from behind.
Nichol had just rung a shot off of the post and was a good six feet away from the boards at the time. He crashed hard into the boards and went down in a heap. It was the type of play where you don’t expect the player to get up quickly.
Fortunately for Nichol, he was quick to his feet but he did leave the game favoring his shoulder and did not return. The worst part of it was to see Lapierre sitting on the Canadiens bench, laughing.
Disgusting. There is simply no place for that kind of dirty hit in this league.
Lapierre was, generally speaking, a hated man before the game and he likely just increased the size of the bullseye on his back.
3. The Tomas Plekanec line is coming together. Last night was only the second game that Plekanec has played with the brothers Kostitsyn on his wing and you can see them starting to gel. Both Andrei and Sergei had multiple scoring chances on the night and you get the sense that that line is on the verge of breaking out.
Give them another game or two and they should start being consistent producers for the Habs.
4. Plekanec is a marked man. If his stellar pre-Olympic play wasn’t enough, his excellent performance for the Czech Republic served to propel Pleky up the visibility chart.
From the drop of the puck last night, it was clear that San Jose had targeted Pleky as the offensive catalyst for the Habs. As such, they heaped tons of physical abuse on him. Unlike last season, however, Plekanec has learned how to fight through this additional attention and is able to create more space for his linemates as a result. This should lead to increased scoring chances for that line and should bode well for their future.
5. The plumbers continue to do their jobs. The Habs fourth line of Metro, Darche, and Pyatt look to be excellent complements to each other. Every time they were on the ice last night, they were causing havoc for the San Jose defenders.
They use their speed and grit to grind it out in the corners and tire the opposition. If they can continue to roll up their sleeves and chip in the occasional goal, they will become an important factor in balancing the Habs offense.
Standings and Next Game
With 66 points in 65 games, the Habs are now in 10th place overall in the East. In their rearview mirror are Tampa, with 63 points and two games in hand, and Florida, with 60 points and two games in hand.
The problem for Montreal is in front of them in the standings, with the Rangers (66 points; one game), Atlanta (66 points; three games), Boston (67 points; three games), and Philly (69 points; three games).
The Habs have Friday off before taking on the Kings in L.A. on Saturday night.
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While the San Jose Sharks have been a fixture in the NHL playoffs for more than a decade now—despite some infamous disappointments once there—two phenomena have been all too prevalent in their games in recent years: less-than-stellar opposing goaltenders looking like Vezina winners, and lack of fire in critical situations.
Perhaps nowhere were these more evident than in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year against the rival Anaheim Ducks.
Despite being peppered with shots, Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller made a name for himself starting ahead of former Conn Smythe Winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere and consistently frustrated the Sharks, almost single-handedly stealing Games 1 and 2 in San Jose. The Sharks’ collective response was less than impressive and by the time they showed any real measure of fire, they were already in too deep a hole to be able to recover.
They lost the series in six games, despite having claimed the franchise’s first President’s Trophy and accompanying No. 1 overall seed that season – albeit in less-than-dramatic fashion, limping to the end of the regular season and clinching the top seed due to a Boston loss. Thus Todd McLellan’s first season ended in a first round playoff loss, after Ron Wilson had been dismissed a year before, following his third consecutive defeat in the second round.
Thursday’s game against Montreal started much the same way for the Western Conference leaders. Despite seeing his team get outplayed for most of the first period, Carey Price seemed unbeatable in net for the Canadiens, keeping the Sharks off the scoreboard. At the other end of the ice, Evgeni Nabokov was strong when he needed to be, but let in a weak at goal on a slapper from the high slot by Brian Gionta at 10:20, following a Patrick Marleau turnover. Price stopped 15 shots while his defense managed to block 11 more and the visiting Canadiens led 1-0 at the first intermission.
The Sharks would show some spark early in the second period with alternate captain Joe Thornton in the penalty box, when Patrick Marleau scored short-handed by redirecting a shot by captain Rob Blake in the first minute of play at 00:53. The short-handed goal was the eighth for the Sharks and the fourth for Marleau on the year, putting him one behind the league-leading Marian Hossa of Chicago.
The 1-1 tie was short-lived, however, as the Sharks quickly allowed an all-too-familiar deflating goal when Scott Gomez was credited for a power play tally one second before Joe Thornton was set to step back on the ice. The puck redirected off the stick of Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray in front of the net off a shot by Scott Gomez from the corner and snuck through the five hole on Evgeni Nabokov at 2:06 with Brian Gionta screening in front. Gionta had set Gomez up on the wing with the entrance pass and earned his second point of the game with an assist.
The score remained 2-1 into the second intermission thanks to stellar goal-tending by Carey Price. Price fought off an extended 4-on-3 Sharks power play opportunity and survived a penalty shot from Dan Boyle resulting from a very odd circumstance.
Price lost his goalie stick on the penalty kill and Hal Gill picked it up to return it to him, but ended up tossing it in the direction of the puck on a shot by an on-rushing Sharks forward, leading to a penalty shot. Dan Boyle beat Carey Price soundly over the shoulder on his glove side on the penalty shot, but was dejected as the puck rang off the crossbar. Carey Price’s luck would continue on the ensuing continuation of the power play, as a Dany Heatley slap shot from the high slot rang off the left post less than a minute later.
Circumstances got more heated in third period at 1:56 following a breakaway by Scott Nichol and a third shot off the post. Trailing the play, Maxim Lapierre took an inarguably cheap cross check at Nichol’s back, forcing him awkwardly into the end boards and causing him to leave the game. The officials blatantly missed the initial call, and the only penalties resulted from the ensuing scrum after the play with former Canadien Jay Leach and former Shark Travis Moen taking offsetting roughing minors. Concern arose in the crowd at the lack of clear response to Maxim Lapierre, but the Sharks would eventually muster the best kind of answer.
Following a Roman Hamrlik hooking penalty at 11:18, the Sharks finally broke through on the power play after they had been shut down on their first three attempts in the game. Dany Heatley atoned for his earlier post shot by redirecting a Dan Boyle shot from the right circle. The puck tumbled between the pads of Carey Price while Heatley was camped in front of the crease. The power play goal at 12:32 tied the game for San Jose and brought Heatley’s team-leading power play goal total to 15 (33 total goals).
The Sharks thoroughly dominated play for the remainder of the game, concentrating possession in the Montreal zone and generating strings of chances. Manny Malhotra became the hero at 15:05 as he cleanly beat Carey Price with a one-timer from the slot on a strong setup from Kent Huskins, notching his tenth goal of the season. HP Pavilion erupted as the Sharks enjoyed their first lead since Feb. 11. The Sharks fended off the last rush from Montreal over the closing five minutes to win the game in regulation 3-2.
This was an important win for the Sharks, as it brought them to 91 points on the year, two clear of the Chicago Blackhawks (though the Blackhawks still have one game in hand). But perhaps what the Sharks have shown coming out of the Olympic break could give long-suffering Bay Area hockey fans a glimmer of hope that maybe this year will be different. Coupled with their near-incredible comeback Tuesday night against New Jersey, the Sharks have shown a will and resolve in the last two games which have been missing on previous squads.
With the roster set going toward the playoffs, it seems that the Sharks may finally have that intangible grit to be a force come April, May and June. I’m not one for making wild predictions, but at least these games have suggested some positive progress compared to previous years. Cohesion, communication, and giveaways remain the primary issues for this team, and Todd McLellan will need to correct these if he hopes to advance very far come April. Still, Sharks fans seemingly have more reason than ever before to be optimistic headed toward the playoffs. GO SHARKS!
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Montreal 2 San Jose 3 (HP Pavilion)
The Shark Tank has proven to be an inhospitable place for the Canadiens, who haven’t won in San Jose since Nov. 23, 1999.
However, the Sharks came into the game with two consecutive regulation losses, a season-high streak. San Jose’s coach Todd McLellan was very critical of his team’s effort Tuesday night against New Jersey and had challenged them to get more shots on goal.
The Sharks fired everything they had at Carey Price and after two periods trailed the Canadiens 2-1 despite outshooting them 29 to 19. San Jose had excellent scoring chances, but the play of Price was simply sensational. The Canadiens were riding the brilliance of their goaltender, who made many highlight-reel saves.
The Sharks were showing signs of frustration. Play became chippy. The Habs were gaining confidence and moved to the third period with a record of 19-1-0 when leading after two periods.
“It’s very good for our preparation for the playoffs,” Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said. “You’re going to play in one of those games where the goalie is making big save, save after save. You can possibly get a little frustrated, which is easy to do.”
Then early in the third period, after Scott Nichol hit the post, he was driven into the boards from behind by Max Lapierre. It was a dirty and potentially dangerous hit by Lapierre. Although the play went unpenalized, expect it to be reviewed by the NHL’s Colin Campbell for possible supplementary discipline. Nichol did not return to the game.
The Sharks’ outrage was amplified as Lapierre sat laughing about the incident on the Canadiens bench. San Jose’s frustration was replaced by determination. The team had a rallying point.
“It was an Eastern Conference team so you don’t really expect that,” Boyle said. “They’re fighting for their playoff lives and we’re fighting to get our game back on track. It was a chippy game out there. Sometimes it’s good for the team to rally around that and get together. It was a very weird game, a lot of weird things happened out there but we stuck together and won the game.”
The Canadiens were on their heels for a good portion of the third period. Price continued to keep his team in the game, including getting the better of Boyle on a penalty shot.
The Habs’ old nemesis, referee Chris Lee, was determined to grab some headlines with his usual brand of officiating. A weak call on Roman Hamrlik was all that was needed with San Jose getting a power-play goal from Dany Heatley to tie the game.
Two-and-a-half minutes later the Sharks took the lead for good with the Canadiens running around in their own end. The Sharks took some satisfaction, victimizing Lapierre on the winning goal.
While Price made 37 saves, the Sharks directed a whopping 85 shots on net. Hal Gill, Hamrlik, and Jaroslav Spacek combined for 13 of the 26 blocked shots by Canadiens.
The Canadiens spent a good deal of the time trying to retrieve the puck with their six centers in the lineup recording a dreadful 31 percent at the faceoff dot.
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta had strong games for the Habs, each getting a goal and an assist.
“We had a chance to take two points,” said Gomez. “Carey held us in there and they just got one by there at the end. We know we can play with anyone. That’s a great team over there.”
San Jose, the “great team,” is in second place in the league after tonight’s game. While the 23rd-place team kept the game close, they spoiled a gem of a performance by their goaltender.
The Canadiens continue their road trip with a visit to Los Angeles for a game against the Kings on Saturday night.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Carey Price
2. Dany Heatley
3. Patrick Marleau
Honorable mention: Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
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Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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Blake Comeau had never had a multi-goal game in his first 151 NHL games. One game after he scored twice against Ottawa, Comeau recorded the first hat trick of his career as the Isles defeated the Blackhawks 5-3.
On to the trick:
1. Dwayne Roloson made 41 saves, including twenty in the first period as he held the Isles in the game.
Brian Campbell, who had six first period shots, and Patrick Kane scored in the session for the Hawks, sandwiching Comeau’s first goal.
2. The game changed in the second period as the Isles scored twice in 25 seconds. Comeau tied the game at 2:27 and Jon Sim was credited with the lead goal at 2:52. Sim’s goal was enough to chase Hawk starter Antti Niemi after allowing three goals on 12 shots.
Richard Park beat Cristobal Huet at 7:06 and Comeau completed his trick with 18 seconds to play in the middle session.
3. Dustin Byfuglien missed half of the third period with an injury but came back with 4:17 to play to score a power play goal. The Hawks would get no closer, but Byfuglien’s goal made Huet, not Niemi, the losing goaltender.
…A few more…
4. The Isles have won six straight against the Hawks since a 3-2 loss to Chicago on December 10, 2002. The six straight wins followed a stretch of 22 games in which the Isles beat the Hawks only once. It’s the third time that the Isles have beaten Chicago three straight times, doing so six times from 1983-85 and seven times from 1980-82.
This was the only meeting of the season between the teams.
5. The Isles did not have a single power play. It’s the first time since a 3-2 shootout loss in Tampa on November 17, 2006 (292 games) that they have not had an advantage.
It’s the first time since the lockout that the Isles have not had a power play at home (January 27, 2004 vs. Boston), and the first time since November 10, 1999 in Carolina that the Isles have won a game without a power play chance.
6. The Isles complete their three-game, 18-day homestand with a 2-1-0 record. They scored 13 goals during the three games, including six by Blake Comeau. The 13 goals match their offensive output in the previous nine games (1-8-0).
7. Rob Schremp had two assists. He has seventeen on the season, tying John Tavares for the club rookie lead. Only four rookies have more assists in the entire league than Schremp; he has recorded 17 assists in only 41 games—his .41 assists per game leads all rookies.
8. Roloson recorded his 20th win of the season. It is the fourth time in his career that he has won 20 games (once for Minnesota and twice, including a career-high 28 last season, for Edmonton).
Roloson faced 44 shots, which is the most that the Isles have allowed at home since allowing 47 in a 2-1 overtime loss to New Jersey on April 1, 2008. The 44 shots matched the most the Isles have allowed in a home victory since 1999; the Isles also allowed 44 shots in a 3-2 home victory over Carolina on October 8, 2005.
9. The Isles scored four goals in the second period. It’s their first four-goal period of the season. They last scored four goals in a period on March 20, 2009 in Carolina, scoring all four of their goals in a 5-4 defeat during the second period.
It’s the first time that they have scored four goals in any home period, since scoring four times against St. Louis in the 2008-09 home opener.
10. The Isles improve to 26-29-8 and remain on the fringes of the playoff race. They finished last season with a 26-47-9 record.
Up next: The Isles head to Atlanta on Thursday night to face the Thrashers for the final time this season. The Isles have dominated the season series, winning all three games (one by shoot-out). The Isles will be looking for a fifth straight win against the Thrashers, which would match the longest stretch in club history (five straight wins from March 2, 2002 to January 19, 2003).
The Isles are also looking for their third straight win in Atlanta, which they have never done against the Thrashers. The Isles’ only three-game win streak in Atlanta came in the 1976-77 season, when the Isles swept the three games played at the Omni.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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Minnesota-Calgary: Wild Extinguish Flames, 4-0
4, Mar 2010With spectacular defense and consistent offense, the Minnesota Wild won for the second consecutive time in the Pengrowth Saddledome with a 4-0 victory over Calgary Wednesday night.
Minnesota came out strong in the first period and were physical from the first faceoff.
It was an even contest through the majority of the period until late in the first when, in transition, Owen Nolan set up Kyle Brodziak on a beautiful 2-on-1 to take the lead with just over a minute left.
It was all Calgary in the first five minutes of the second period as the Wild were unable to keep offensive pressure in the Flames zone.
Calgary came out hitting hard and forechecking, pinning Minnesota in their end.
The Wild weathered the storm with some great shot blocking from Greg Zanon and Brent Burns.
Even with that, Minnesota used their speed and great passing from Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen to give Andrew Brunette a easy tap-in goal to put Minnesota up by two halfway through the second period.
Brunette is second on the team in goals with 18 and second on the team in points.
Just five minutes later, it’s Koivu who is sent in on another odd-man rush and blasts a slap-shot by former teammate Mikka Kiprusoff off the left post to make it a three goal lead for the Wild.
The Flames didn’t let up as they increased their physicality and got some good offensive pressure but did not have anything to show for it after two periods of play.
Minnesota played impressive defensively not giving up many quality chances, especially odd-man rushes which have plagued the Wild all season long.
Goaltender Niklas Backstrom got great support from his defensive corps with blocked shots and blocked goals.
Greg Zanon and Mikko Koivu both blocked what would have been goals from shots that originally came off the unusually lively back wall and found their way in the crease for what could have been an easy tap in goal for Calgary.
Minnesota came out dominating in the third period controlling most of the gameplay, keeping the Flames in their defensive zone and creating plenty of quality scoring chances.
The Wild got into some penalty trouble midway through the third period taking two straight penalties, but Minnesota stood strong killing both.
The Wild this season have the best penalty kill percentage against Calgary this season at 96 percent.
Riding the momentum after the penalty kill, Martin Havlat put the killing blow into Calgary with Minnesota’s fourth goal with just over seven minutes to play.
The key to tonight’s victory over the Flames for Minnesota was solid defense—the Wild did not allow Calgary many good scoring chances and second opportunities.
Most notable was the play by Cam Barker, the newest member of the Minnesota Wild who played a solid game at defense. He had great positioning and did everything from blocking shots, blocking passing lanes, and using his sise to be physical with the Calgary forwards.
Niklas Backstrom gets his second shutout of the season and Minnesota wins its third straight game over Calgary this season.
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Minnesota-Calgary: Wild Extinguish Flames 4-0
4, Mar 2010With spectacular defense and consistent offense, the Minnesota Wild won for the second consecutive time in the Pengrowth Saddledome with a 4-0 victory over Calgary Wednesday night.
Minnesota came out strong in the first period and were physical from the first faceoff.
It was an even contest through the majority of the period until late in the first when, in transition, Owen Nolan set up Kyle Brodziak on a beautiful 2-on-1 to take the lead with just over a minute left.
It was all Calgary in the first five minutes of the second period as the Wild were unable to keep offensive pressure in the Flames zone.
Calgary came out hitting hard and forechecking, pinning Minnesota in their end.
The Wild weathered the storm with some great shot blocking from Greg Zanon and Brent Burns.
Even with that, Minnesota used their speed and great passing from Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen to give Andrew Brunette a easy tap-in goal to put Minnesota up by two halfway through the second period.
Brunette is second on the team in goals with 18 and second on the team in points.
Just five minutes later, it’s Koivu who is sent in on another odd-man rush and blasts a slap-shot by former teammate Mikka Kiprusoff off the left post to make it a three goal lead for the Wild.
The Flames didn’t let up as they increased their physicality and got some good offensive pressure but did not have anything to show for it after two periods of play.
Minnesota played impressive defensively not giving up many quality chances, especially odd-man rushes which have plagued the Wild all season long.
Goaltender Niklas Backstrom got great support from his defensive corps with blocked shots and blocked goals.
Greg Zanon and Mikko Koivu both blocked what would have been goals from shots that originally came off the unusually lively back wall and found their way in the crease for what could have been an easy tap in goal for Calgary.
Minnesota came out dominating in the third period controlling most of the gameplay, keeping the Flames in their defensive zone and creating plenty of quality scoring chances.
The Wild got into some penalty trouble midway through the third period taking two straight penalties, but Minnesota stood strong killing both.
The Wild this season have the best penalty kill percentage against Calgary this season at 96 percent.
Riding the momentum after the penalty kill, Martin Havlat put the killing blow into Calgary with Minnesota’s fourth goal with just over seven minutes to play.
The key to tonight’s victory over the Flames for Minnesota was solid defense—the Wild did not allow Calgary many good scoring chances and second opportunities.
Most notable was the play by Cam Barker, the newest member of the Minnesota Wild who played a solid game at defense. He had great positioning and did everything from blocking shots, blocking passing lanes, and using his sise to be physical with the Calgary forwards.
Niklas Backstrom gets his second shutout of the season and Minnesota wins its third straight game over Calgary this season.
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