2009 Playoffs Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: Game 2
Montreal 1 Boston 5 (TD Banknorth Garden)
Posted by: Rocket
AllHabs.blogspot.com
After the game, Hockey Night in Canada reporter extraordinaire Elliotte Friedman asked Bob Gainey “Aside from penalty killing, what else can team do better?” Gainey’s answer was simple and direct “Listen to the coach.”
I suspect that the Canadiens were listening to their coach and following the game plan for the first ten minutes of the game. The Habs were skating, forechecking and carrying the play. Shots on goal were 8-to-2 for the Canadiens. Tim Thomas looked beatable.
The Bruins then got their first of five power-play opportunities. Metropolit failed to clear the puck and Marc Savard scored for Boston.
After that, the wheels fell off for the Canadiens. The last half of the period, the Bruins outshot the Canadiens 13-to-3. Carey Price made several spectacular saves just to keep the team in the game.
Chuck Kobasew scored to give the Bruins a two goal lead. Roman Hamrlik, who struggled all game, was caught roaming high in the slot.
Georges Laraque delivered a blow up hit to Milan Lucic before the period ended.
The Canadiens showed some signs of life with a goal in the first minute of the second period. It was a weak goal for Tim Thomas who seems to lose all confidence when Kovalev has the puck.
The poor play continued for the Lapierre line. They look completely lost in the series. Lapierre, Latendresse and Kostopoulos got caught up ice, and Hnidy scored on the resulting 3-on-2.
Boston got their second power-play goal on a cross-ice pass to Marc Savard. Lapierre needed to get his stick in the passing lanes.
The Bruins scored their third power-play goal in five chances with only 2.3 seconds left in the second period. Dandenault was caught chasing which setup a 2-on-1 for the Bruins.
Jaroslav Halak came in to start the third period. Bob Gainey said it was simply a measure “to regroup as a team in the third period.”
Halak started the period with a solid pad save but only faced four shots the rest of the period, none of them difficult.
The Habs just played out the third without mounting a threat. Josh Gorges surprisingly lost a fight to Patrice Bergeron in his first NHL tilt. Even more surprising, Laraque stood by and watched without engaging anyone.
In the final minutes, Lucic continued his thuggery. He began with stickwork on Mathieu Schneider and then crosschecked Lapierre in the head. He skated away when Mike Komisarek arrived.
Given the timing and circumstances, expect Lucic to receive at least a one game suspension for a blow to the head.
The Canadiens finally received their first power-play of the night with less than five minutes in the game.
The Canadiens were beaten by special teams play. Three Bruins goals were scored on the power-play.
Saku Koivu was the only Canadiens player with success on faceoffs at 59%. Lapierre won only 27% and Metropolit won 19% of the draws.
Alex Kovalev was the Canadiens’ best forward with a goal on six shots.
Sergei Kostitsyn had some good shifts with his brother and was the co-leader in hits with four, including one on Lucic.
Francis Boullion played just over a minute and a half before retiring to the dressing room for the night. Presumably his groin injury was aggravated.
After the first ten minutes of the game, the Canadiens did not compete and they hung their goalie out to dry. As Komisarek said “I don’t think the responsibility falls to one guy, especially Carey. We lost tonight because we weren’t good enough as a group.”
The Habs’ special teams simply have to be better starting Monday night when the series shift to Montreal.
Pre-game
Starting lineup: Koivu, Tanguay, Kovalev, Dandenault, Gorges
Carey Price and Tim Thomas started in goal.
O’Byrne, D’Agostini, Plekanec, Brisebois and Stewart were scratched from the line-up. Markov was out with an injury. Lang is on injured reserve.
Lines:
Koivu-Kovalev-Tanguay
Sergei Kostitsyn-Andrei Kostitsyn-
Lapierre-Latendresse-Kostopoulos
Metropolit-Laraque-Higgins
Defense:
Hamrlik-Komisarek
Schneider-Weber
Gorges-Dandenault
Bouillon
Rocket’s three stars:
1. Marc Savard
2. Michael Ryder
3. Chuck Kobasew
(photo credit: Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Well, at least they get to leave that crumbling structure filled with fat undead zombies in baseball caps. Otherwise known as STD Bankrupt Gardens.
The wailing Brun Streak fans get their wish for a suspension. Trouble is, it will be one of their own. “Looch”, not to be confused with the other Bohunk, “Lurch” (from the same lab in Transylvania) will sit due to a short circuit in his faulty wiring.
Pity, that.
Lucic won’t be suspended. Players have done worse and not been suspended. Look for there to be a meeting, a warning, and a statement that says something along the lines of “Lucic realizes what he did was wrong.”
Also, disagree about S. Kostitsyn. I didn’t think he played a strong game.
Dandedeault did though. He was all over the ice last night.
I mostly agree with your assessment of the game, but I disagree on Sergei Kostitsyn. I thought he was as effective as Price…which is to say not very.
Price was good for a short while, then fell apart, and continued with his poor body language and beseeching of the refs after every goal. Look for Halak in game 3.
Gainey is quickly running out of time to fix, or spark this team. Is Markov the only thing that can get this team on the move again?
I also believe that Lucic will not be suspended for his actions. Though I believe he’s making himself out to be a coward with each passing game, I don’t think Campbell will do anything. Really, would it help? The cross check to the face is one thing, that *could* have been an accident (though I suspect it was not). What really grinds my gears is him taking two shots at Mathieu Schneider’s injured left arm. That’s cheap and dirty; 2 words that I’m associating more and more with “Looch”. I’m very disappointed in him because I thought that as much as he’d terrorize us Habs fans over the coming years, that at least he could do it in “the right way”. Now he’s no better than any of the other punks in the league who need their face caved in.
Sorry, I said that Kostitsyn was as effective as Price, but I meant Plekanec. Sorry for the mix-up.
I have to agree with Kyle concerning Carey Price’s play.
Granted, some of the Canadiens defensive zone coverage was lacking once again, but the Hnidy goal and Savard’s first goal were very stoppable shots.
If Gainey remains as the Habs GM next season (which is a big question mark!), he has to add more size, grit, leadership and heart to the roster. It is very apparent this team is lacking in these areas and will have a hard time getting past team’s like the Bruins in the future without making these upgrades.
Player like Plekanec and the Kostitsyn brothers simply don’t have enough of a competitive edge, especially in the playoffs.
As far as Carey Price is concerned, he will have to re-evaluate his priorities when it pertains to reaching a higher level of play in his very young NHL career.
There are further off ice issues which will eventually come to light and hopefully they will be resolved during the off-season (enough said!!).
He is still young and hopefully will use these difficult times as a motivating factor. He has all the tools and talent, but now he has to get the mental aspect of his game re-focused and set for next season……..hopefully Gainey will help upgrade the rest of the roster as he certainly has the cap and roster space to make substantial moves.
This Rob Character drops the IQ level of this blog by at least half every time he posts one of his ignorant and unfunny comments.
Well, I guess it’s more important to be correct than in the majority.
Yes, Milan Lucic was suspended for one game for “careless use of the stick”. Hopefully that will tame some of the thuggery on the ice.
As far as the goaltending, it doesn’t surprise me at all to hear the Price-haters out in force today.
It is astonishing to me that so many of the passengers on the team get a free pass.
The penalty killing has been terrible yet the goals are Price’s fault.
The Lapierre line has been missing in action for three straight games against Boston yet the fan idols don’t merit any criticism. They made a reckless play to give Boston a 3 on 2, yet the Hnidy goal is solely Price’s fault.
Goaltenders from rival teams have played worse in the playoffs and get much more support from their own media and fans. Biron was awful in Game 1 and Fleury didn’t play well today.
As far as Sergei Kostitsyn, I wrote that he had a few good shifts, which he did. I did not write that he had a great game. He also had 4 hits which is 4 times the number that media darling Lapierre had.
It should be obvious that the 2nd line does not match up well against the Bruins (much better against the Capitals). Yet it is the type of game that is ideally suited for the 3rd line. Where is their playoff competitive edge? The 3rd line has size and grit, but you would never know it from this series.
Given that Price replaced a fan favorite (yet mediocre) goalie, the knee-jerk reaction is to take every opportunity to hang a loss around his neck.
The truth is that defense and special teams have killed the Canadiens in this series. It would also help if more than the 1st and 4th lines were competing.
Habs were outskated and outplayed through and through. PK didn’t have a chance in hell. Looked like the geek squad during recess (give me back my pocket protector). Might be time to rethink that old “take a break in the box” strategy boyz! Really, are you kidding me? And speaking of taking a break. Please somebody get Price a new stopwatch. Not much he could do about goal four but the fifth was a total embarrassment. Mind the clock man and the net! Literally a long shot that he shoulda seen coming if he was even looking. Sloppy. I don’t think he needed to get pulled though. The only other even strength goal coulda gone either way. Halak did his part in the third but was not seriously tested. Should be good in game three although goaltending was not the problem. Somebody take a memo for Bob. You have no penalty killing team. How about staying out of the penalty box? A little discipline please.
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