Montreal 5 Dallas 3 (Bell Centre)
There’s the scene in a disaster movie. You know the one. The alarm goes at the station. Firefighters scramble to get to the trucks. Guys bump into each other, and some stumble as they struggle to put their gear on. Adrenaline is pumping but is competing with the fog of being awakened from a deep sleep.
Now imagine that the firehouse alarm is the drop of the puck to start tonight’s game. That will give you some idea about the play of the Montreal Canadiens. Quite simply, it was a train wreck. Can professional hockey players forget how to play together without a game in four days? It makes one wonder if they were burning the candle at both ends during their mini vacation.
Simple things like puck-handling and accurate passing proved to be very, very difficult tonight (as if smoke was clouding their vision).
So who came to the rescue? (is it time to end the firefighter analogy? no?) It was the usual sources, special teams and goaltending that led the way, with one important addition. A very emotional Georges Laraque scored his first goal in his 59th game in a Canadiens jersey on his first shot on goal of the season.
“It was embarrassing that it went on so long,” said Laraque. “Every team I’ve been on I score six or seven goals a year.”
Laraque has had his mind on the disaster in Haiti, which is the birthplace of his parents. Laraque’s goal seemed to wake up the Canadiens’ bench as well as the Bell Centre faithful.
“To have that happen tonight was almost a miracle,” Laraque said.
Special teams, especially the power-play, was very effective going 2-for-2. Brian Gionta got both power-play goals in his 500th career game.
“Obviously, it makes it a little more memorable,” Gionta said. “I’m just fortunate to be here. I’m happy that I’ve been able to play that many games. I’m pretty blessed to be in the league for that long.”
Gionta’s linemate, Benoit Pouliot had a goal and an assist and was deserving of the second star. Mike Cammalleri, who hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire lately, had an assist and a goal after a nifty spin move. Tomas Plekanec both played their best games of the new year.
With the Canadiens defense in disarray most of the game, Carey Price was left alone and came up with a solid effort making 33 saves. On the opening tally of the game, Price overplayed a potential pass on a Dallas odd-man rush. It was a weak goal as he wasn’t in position to make the save. After that, Price bailed out his teammates with his strong play, particularly the defensemen, and earned his fourth career assist on Cammalleri’s goal.
The Canadiens giving up odd-man rushes was far too common. Bad passes, reckless decisions, and poor positional play characterized the mental breakdowns by the Habs. Max Lapierre, Paul Mara, Hal Gill, Josh Gorges, and Marc-Andre Bergeron were the worst culprits.
The Canadiens poor play got coach Jacques Martin so hot under the collar that in teh second period he took a timeout to rake his team over the coals. Perhaps they just thought the coach was blowing smoke, as the mistakes and the odd-man rushes continued afterwards.
Martin will have one day of practise to hopefully have the Canadiens much better prepared for their next game. His team can’t risk another sloppy effort.
The Habs end their four game homestand on Saturday night when they host Ottawa. Alex Kovalev will rekindle an old flame as he gets to play once again at the Bell Centre.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Brian Gionta
2. Benoit Pouliot
3. James Neal
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
In all my time as a Habs fan, I think I can say that this has been the most puzzling team that I have ever watched.
They say that the mark of a good team is that they manage to get wins even when not playing well. I would venture to say that the majority of the Canadiens wins have been on nights where they have not played particularly well, last night being a perfect example.
Is it simply goaltending that's saving them, or is it the power play as well? Should we expect more from this team, or is this it? At the start of the year I thought this would be a roller coaster year, and so far it has been just that. I simply don't know whether I think this team is capable of improving their weak areas. Part of me says they ought to because there are plenty of good players on this team. On the other hand, if it were to happen, shouldn't it have happened already?
On to your comment about burning the candle at both ends during their mini-break…I think it goes without saying that (and without spending too much time talking about it) this has been a problem for quite some time. Boys will be boys, and surely the Habs aren't the only team to burn the candle at both ends, but as we all know, Montreal is a town that is notorious for burning through those candles quickly.
I think the title of the article says it all: the Canadiens played with fire. I don't know when it all went bad for Turco, but he was simply awful last night. Considering the Stars were a team that had lost 4 of their last 5 on the road, last night was essentially a must-win. If you ask me, the 2 goal cushion the Canadiens walked away with actually flatters them.
Some questioned Martin on his decision to start Price after Halak played a good game vs New Jersey, but I suppose the 4 day layoff serves as a sort of reset button. I thought that given the Stars road woes and that they aren't a very strong team to begin with, that starting Halak would have been another good opportunity to boost his value. Anyone who thought that was evidently wrong, but at the start of the game it was looking like Martin may have erred. Price was almost universally panned for the 1st goal he gave up. He played the pass, while hockey 101 says that the goalie takes the shooter on a 2-on-1. He also gave up some sloppy rebounds and made some careless passes in his own end; lack of focus or the struggles of a young goalie? You decide, but as it turns out, he got better as the game progressed, shaking off whatever rust may have built up. He was there in the 3rd when he needed to be and gets the well deserved W. He had to have it, let's face it.
The defense continues to be a rudderless ship, even with Markov back in the lineup. Speaking of Andrei, does anyone else see him pinching an awful lot lately? More than he usually (or needs to) does?
He's still the most effective puck mover and coverage defenseman we have, by far, but it is still clear as day that he can't make up for the rest of the teams weaknesses, whether they are embedded in the player, game plan, or both.
After last night, I feel like taking back every mean thing I ever said about Laraque. Obviously it's taken far too long for him to score his 1st as a Hab (on his 1st shot on goal of the year!), but it's obvious that his mates appreciate him. His reaction, and their reaction to his goal is ample evidence of that. It doesn't erase all the useless efforts he's put forth, and it doesn't erase the fact that he's not protecting his mates, but it does show that he's a character guy, and that's something that still may be missing on this team.
With a struggling Senators and Rangers coming up, it goes without saying that these are 2 more 'must-win' games vs conference opponents that are in a world of hurt. We can probably expect to see a split this weekend; Halak on Saturday and Price on Sunday? Halak has been pretty vs Ottawa this year if memory serves. But it's 7:40 a.m. and I'm just not with it yet…
I agree with both of you completely… I don't know what has been going on with them lately, it just seems we are getting worse and worse.
You're right Kyle, if it hadn't been for the power play and the goalies in the past few games, we'd really be lost. Our defense has left the goaltenders stranded. Luckily they've been good enough for it not to show too much, but it's unfair to them and the rest of the team.
I'm curious to see how they'll play against Ottawa because they always tend to be tough and emotional games for us for some reason. And, since we are near them points-wise, we REALLY need the win.
Anyway, that said, I'm really happy for Laraque… he seemed so thrilled, so it was great!
I remember the discussion about the roller coaster season. While we acknowledged there would be a learning curve, no one imagined such wild fluctuations in performance this deep into the season.
It was a very good night for Georges Laraque. Through he Haitian crisis, he found his passion for the game for at least one night.
The defense is hard to figure out. With the addition of Spacek and the improvement of O'Byrne the defense is much better than last season. But it seems that the Jacques Martin system does nothing but expose the weaknesses of players like Gill and Mara. And its hard to explain why Gorges has regressed so much this season. He looks completely lost.
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