Rocket:
Wasn’t it interesting? The bizarre line combinations of the past two weeks are shelved and suddenly the fog cleared. All of a sudden, the Canadiens looked like a reasonable facsimile of the team that we expect to see. Players were far more comfortable with each other. Passing was better because linemates knew what to expect from each other.
A trained monkey can turn the crank of a bingo machine to determine new, weird and wild line combinations. But after two weeks of that nonsense, we return to square one. The Canadiens still have the same problems that have existed all year long. We were temporarily distracted from those problems but they remain, and reared their ugly head again tonight.
You see, a monkey (even a trained one) has a much more difficult time figuring out breakout strategies, special teams systems, and motivating star players. Those are some of the reasons that coaches are hired in the NHL. I only wish that the Canadiens had one who was doing his job.
Overall, it was a much better effort by a Canadiens team that looked much less bewildered. I actually have praise for most of the team with only a few exceptions. And for the first time, in a very long time, a 4th line showed up to contribute.
Max Lapierre hasn’t played well at all since returning from the press box. Tonight didn’t start well either with Max committing a huge giveaway early in the first. Price bailed him out making a great save on John Sims. And Max had another tough night at the faceoff dot. But Lapierre got his game on track in the offensive zone. He was parked at the top of the crease on Begin’s goal and scored one of his own on a beautiful setup by Chris Higgins.
Chris Higgins was dominant in all zones of the ice and is fully deserving of the first star. Higgins had an assist, 5 hits and 4 takeaways. Andrei Kostitsyn also had a good game. His wrap around goal was called back on a very early whistle for a puck that was never frozen. He and Plekanec were keys to screening MacDonald on Josh Gorges goal. Plekanec had 4 shots and was 69% in faceoffs.
Carey Price was solid again in goal. He made some key saves especially at the start of the game and in overtime.
The minor powerplay adjustments have been an improvement. Markov is much better back on the left point. Sergei Kostitsyn has looked good as a playmaker on the right point but showed that he can shoot as well ringing one off the crossbar early in the second period. SK-74 had lots of PP time and was second on the team in shots with 3.
Overall, special teams are still a huge weakness for the Canadiens. Tonight the powerplay was 1 for 7 (that’s 3 for 34 over the past few games) and the penalty killers gave up 2 goals. At home, the Canadiens power play is 2nd worst, better than only Tampa Bay.
The Canadiens had chances but had a hard time finishing again tonight. Joey MacDonald was looking very beatable all game. Alex Tanguay refused to shoot and Robert Lang showed no patience or determination. And yet again, Alex Kovalev showed little interest tonight. Kovy is making some of the same moves as last year but without speed. His passes lack crispness and his shooting is not sharp. His defensive play in the Canadiens end is awful. After Markov slid into Price and took him down, the puck went back to Park. Markov and Kovalev stood almost side by side screening Price as Park scored. But it was Kovalev who should have moved out to cover the slot but remained frozen in his tracks in front of the net. He has to do much better than that.
In the middle of the third period, the Canadiens were dominating the Islanders. Three straight Habs lines had pinned the Islanders in their own zone and were creating chances. When the Islanders finally cleared, Kovalev took a very dumb penalty which killed the Canadiens momentum.
It was another weak effort for Patrice Brisebois. Five minutes into the game Brisebois hit Jeff Tambellini. A Brisebois hit is about as rare as football games at the Big Owe but that’s not why I highlight it. It is because Brisebois winced in pain and took precisely 29 seconds to slowly make his way to the bench leaving his team shorthanded. If Brisebois had to be immediately loaded onto a gurney and taken for x-rays (which he didn’t as he played the next shift), then I am somewhat sympathetic. Otherwise, it is a selfish move. A week ago, Andrew Ferrence fractured his tibia yet stayed out to play defense before hobbling to the bench. Brisebois certainly could have tolerated a back twinge. Brise is just not up to NHL calibre play.
There will be a lot of media attention on Ryan O’Byrne’s play that led to the tying goal. It was simply a mistake by a young player who is trying hard not to make mistakes. As he develops more confidence (which will come from his coaches) he won’t make those mistakes. I hope that Carbonneau doesn’t dwell on it too much. However, I think that Carbo must say something to his team about communication on the ice (and from the bench). It was their responsiblity to let O’Byrne know that Price was on the bench. Regarding the fan’s reaction to O’Byrne, I think that Higgins said it best calling them “gutless”.
I would hope that O’Byrne’s mistake would not be yet another distraction from the real reasons that the Canadiens lost the game: special teams play, defensive zone coverage and star players who are not putting the puck in the net.
Pre-game:
Latendresse is still out with shoulder injury. Komisarek injured. Laraque – healthy scratch. Dandenault – will play.
Carbonneau promised some sanity with his line combinations tonight:
Higgins — Koivu — Tanguay
Andrei Kostitsyn — Plekanec — Kovalev
Kostopoulos — Lang — Sergei Kostitsyn
Begin — Lapierre — Dandenault
Rocket’s 3 stars:
1. Chris Higgins
2. Richard Park
3. Josh Gorges
(photo credit: AP Photo)
Sorry to disagree with your three star selections, Rocky, but here are my choices:
1. Ryan O’Byrne
2. Ryan O’Byrne
3. Ryan O’Byrne
At least from a Islanders’ perspective!!!
Wow, I still can’t believe he would throw the puck toward the net with or without Price in the net. He wasn’t even being overly pressured by an Isles player….Gheeez!!!!
Hey Habstar, can you imagine if it was Patrice Brisebois instead of O’Byrne doing that shit? Rocket would rip him appart.
Hey BB..I wouldn’t have much to say if Brisebois shot the puck toward his own net. His shot is so weak, it wouldn’t make it across the goal line without his ‘sweepers’. Hurry hard!
Habster..please watch your BP. :) I realize that O’Byrne’s mistake gets the blood pumping but by focusing on him, we are giving others a free pass who were far more responsible for the loss..i.e Kovalev, Lang, Tanguay, PP, PK, …
From the Islanders perspective, even a guy like Joey MacDonald, who had a very shaky performance, can fly under the radar with all the attention on one play.
Rocket- Oh man that was tough one last night! O'Byrne's obvious and huge mistake aside, I thought Price played well overall but you have to give the Fish Sticks & Joey MacDonald come credit too as they seem to be one of those less than talented teams that's found some success grinding it outt and as such have been coming on a bit of late.
The question for me is WTF with only 23 SHOTS by the Hab's in regulation & the OT and yet another dreadful PP preformance going only 1-7 on the advantage. That's what's killing them. What's going on up there?!
This must be especially tough with Carbonneau now juggling his lines like he's a member of Cirque Du Soile without much success of late…Still a long season though.
On another note, I loved seeing Georges Laraque where we should be, in the press box… Might be time to cut him loose and bring up a kid from Hamilton to give your 4th line some jump like a Mike Glumac or someone similar who'll throw his face 1st into crease without hesitation and happily do some dirty work.
I'm a B's fan so what do I know right :-) regardless great recap as always & keep well up there! – Krej
Hey, I just realized something. O’Byrne had his first hat trick. Not a real one, not a Gordie Howe one but a McCabe one. A hit, a bad penalty and a goal in your own net.
You know BB..I’m a reasonably tolerant guy…but I can’t let something like that pass. That really was an idiotic thing to say.
So it seems that its ok for some people to irrationally praise some players without justification based on the name on their sweater, but I can’t criticize them for their play on the ice.
I shouldn’t have to defend myself but if you have actually read my articles you would have noticed nothing but praise for Alex Tanguay until last night. How can you possibly say that I hate him? Strangely enough, you said the same thing yourself about Tanguay not shooting last night. But its ok for you and not me, I guess.
And as far as who was to blame for the loss, I said it was Kovalev and to a lesser extent Lang…and last time I checked, they aren’t francophone. In addition, I said that the special teams are to blame.
Yes, O’Byrne made a mistake. So did Lapierre. So did others duing the night. If Price doesn’t bail Max out, are we focussing on Lapierre as the goat? I don’t think so.
Up til the point of his mistake, and no question it was a big one, O’Byrne had played a good game. (By the way its delusional to say that Brisebois has a harder shot than O’Byrne. The commentators describe it as a ‘floater’ or ‘his shot flutters in from the point’)
You know, to be honest, I would have been much harder on O’Byrne if he had blindly sent the puck in the slot where an Islander put it past Price.
But my point is that to isolate that one play as the thing that is wrong with the Canadiens is burying our heads in the sand. We need to focus on the real problems that this team is experiencing and playing the language card as a way of discrediting someone is purely irresponsible.
Hey KingKrej…nice to see you drop in even when the Bruins aren’t on the schedule.
You are right that the power play has been brutal…not only this season, but it goes back to last year’s playoffs. The opposition solved the Habs PP system and figured out how to defend. Carbo and crew simply haven’t made the necessary adjustments.
Wow Krej…you are digging deep with Glumac’s name. I think that some callups are probable but it will likely be D’Agostino, Chipchura or Pacioretty.
And you are right Krej…Laraques hasn’t shown anything so far this season to get him out of the press box on a regular basis.
BB..I hope that you were listening to Pierre McGuire’s segment on Melnick today. When asked about the Ryan O’Byrne situation, he called it verbal abuse by the fans and the media.
McGuire said that communication was a prblem. It was the responsibility of O’Byrne’s teammates on the ice and on the bench to let him know that the net was empty. With an Islander breathing down on him, O’B couldn’t be expected to see a referee’s arm in the air.
McGuire said that O’Byrne did NOT lose the game for the Canadiens but rather it was the power play that let the team down.
McGuire went on to say that Alex Tanguay is just not ‘bringing it’ these day for his high salary. Pierre called Tanguay “Mr. Teflon” because he never gets any criticism in the media.
Any of this sound familiar BB? Obviously, its quite similar to some of the points I have been making.
And I defy you to accuse Pierre McGuire of being culturally biased. I have met him several times, and I think I have a pretty good idea about how he would react to such a ludicrous statement.
Rocket, I’m not sure which thing I said was idiotic. That Brisebois has a good shot? I believe that. O’Byrne never impressed me with his shot. His physical play impressed me and in his timing when he tries to break up a play with a slide. Actually, I saw his play go down when Gainey proposed to change the rule on shot blocking. Since then, O’Byrne tried multiple times to stay on one skate and got himself out of the play often. I don’t know if it’s related but it’s weird.
If you are referring to my McCabe joke and or the Cherry joke, learn to live with my sarcasm. I thought it was pretty funny. And in that article you were over Tanguay so I added him to make the joke more… complete.
And did I say that you were Pierre McGuire? No. I said you were Don Cherry. I have a lot of respect for Pierre McGuire although, he is a bit biaised towards the Habs. It’s a good thing though since he’s working for the Toronto Sports Network ;-)
If you’Ve read my articles, you should know I don’t like Tanguay’s play. I think he shy away from the play most of the time and his little backpasses are killing me.
And when you said “irrationally praise some players without justification based on the name on their sweater” I hope you weren’t referring to me because I always analyze the work of a player from his performances. I may be more lenient with some players than you are but it’s because I don’t think the mistakes you stick them with are as bad as you call them.
Oh and if a player get a free pass this year, it’s been Markov. I can’t even remember his last solid game.
And as for the fans booing… they are right. They paid to see the Habs win and they lost. Is it fair to blame it solely on O’bryne, probably not but the Montreal fans are the toughest in the league. I’ll have an article on that later on.
Take care dude
King: Hey man. Glad to see you back. you are right, the Isles played within their talent level and did a good job. The Habs had 26 shot on net but you have to look at the 25 blocked shots by the Islanders and the other 12 or so that barely missed the net (shots and deflections). They played well defensively.
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