A strange game salvaged by unlikely sources

credit La Presse

Talk about a glass half empty type of game. Yes, they won. Yes, they got the two points but no, it wasn’t deserved. If it wasn’t for a very solid third line, your Canadiens would have been humiliated by a team that should not even have a chance against them. Even with all the injuries the Habs suffered.

The game started off badly with a shaky goalie many saw as being a sure-shot starter in the NHL this year and some bad penalties to give a 5 on 3 and before the kids in the Bell Center understood what was happening Florida was controlling a 2-0 game. But thankfully during the intermission the coach asked his team to make a statement and he sent the right men to do the job. Maxim Lapierre, Tom Kostopoulos and Guillaume Latendresse started to put pressure on their opponent and it seemed to work. Bouillon scored on a slap shot right after a faceoff won by Lang.

I don’t know if many will remember but I said some time ago that some players did more than their stat sheet showed. I was talking at the time about how Latendresse created space for Koivu and Tanguay. Well today Lang was pretty much in the same situation. His 1 goal and 1 assist was only the surface. On the second goal Lang skated strongly towards the offensive zone to get a lose puck which forced Anderson to get out of his net. Sergei Kostitsyn then took the puck and gave it to his brother who scored. No assist for Robert but an important play nonetheless.

Then the heart and soul of the team (at least until the captain comes back) went back to work. Lapierre won a faceoff and seconds later Latendresse sent the puck to Tom Kostopoulos in front of the net who was stopped twice at short range but third time was definitely a charm as he gave the lead to his team. Two minutes later Lang got into the offensive zone on the wing and zipped one past Anderson to make it four unanswered goals from the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge.

Sadly enough, this would prove to be too little to guarantee a win. Early in third period Kovalev lost the puck on the powerplay which lead the a breakaway goal form Radek Dvorak, who played a hell of a game. Andrei Kostitsyn answered by beating Anderson with a wrist shot. Did I ever tell you I think this guy needs to shot more? But then Halak let another one through, from Jason Cullimore. A player we traded for, and bought out, only to get rid of Sergei Samsonov! And with less than two minutes to go Dvorak finished his great game by tying it up as the Habs looked as disorganized as my Wednesday floor ball team in their zone.

And in shootout, Halak finally made the difference. Both teams had a player losing the puck and another one hitting the post but unlike Anderson who was beaten by Andrei Markov, Halak made one save. Yay! A goalie “saving” his own ass in a game he allowed 5 goals, a shootout goal from a defensemen, a defensive defensemen opening the score and a third line who just doesn’t want to quit and dragged the whole team with them. At least we got the W.

Okay, time for some random thoughts.

• How many freakin post can Alex Kovalev hit this year? How often can he be “that” close to scoring only to hear “ping” instead of a goal horn? If you would add all those half-inches together, Kovy is probably about two feet from being the league leading scorer. Then maybe he would deserve his All-Star starting spot. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see him in the skills competition.
• I miss Carey Price. With him in the goal, the Habs stand a much better chance of winning. 6 of the team 10 losses came when Halak was in the goals. His 6-6-1 record is nothing compared to Carey’s 16-4-5. Hell… Halak’s 2.72 goal against average puts him behind Ottawa’s Martin Gerber. That should tell you something.
• I miss Saku Koivu. Obviously the team can win without him but there seems to be something missing. Oh yeah! The entire first line. Higgins, Koivu and Tanguay. Nothing against D’Agostini, Maxwell or Chipchura but they aren’t on the same level here. Speaking of which, I was happy with Chipchura’s work on the fourth line. I think he’ll be fine there next year as we lose one of our top 3 centers.
• Maxim Lapierre is also getting better and better. 9^th in the league in faceoffs and improving every day as a penalty killer, this will be the Habs third line center for years to come. I said it a little while back but he makes me think about a grittier, less talented Guy Carbonneau, another one who’ll do anything he needs to win. He’s the Montreal forward with the most blocked shots and fifth in hits. I absolutely agree with Carbo’s decision to give that line powerplay time. They aren’t scoring often there but neither are the other players. And with the effort they are giving, I hope it will be understood as an important message. Give as much as these guys and you’ll deserve powerplay time.
• The leader in hits is… Guillaume Latendresse? Okay. Frankly, I’ll have to give props to Rocket on that one. I hate how he bashes Patrice Brisebois all the time and praise O’Byrne like he’s the third coming of Jesus (Carey is the second one) but I clearly remember Rocket saying that Guillaume would benefit from playing alongside players with a north-south attitude and it shows, the guys knows his hockey. I still believe Gui has the potential to be a decent second line winger but right now he is playing some of his best hockey position wise.
• I love Markov. As much as Kovalev is one of the best stickhandler in the game, Markov is one of the best blueline player. When he stops a clearing attempt at the blueline he makes some of the best decisions, and best moves, that I’ve seen from any defensemen. I cream my pants everytime he use the spin-o-rama there. But honestly, he needs to learn a new move for the shootout. But with games like today, he clearly shows why he is a second-time All-Star starter in a row. He absolutely deserves his spot there.

And that’s all she wrote for now. I’ll see you all after the Rangers game on Wednesday.