Montreal 6 Toronto 2 (Air Canada Center)
posted by Rocket
AllHabs.blogspot.com
A team effort.
On Tuesday night, four different Canadiens’ players scored against Chicago. Five different scorers provided the offense on Thursday versus the Islanders. Tonight, the Habs got goals from six different players.
Each member of the team now has a role, is aware of the coach’s expectations, and in turn is contributing. They are also held accountable. Andrei Kostitsyn learned that lesson as he sat out tonight’s game.
Special teams are also an area of major improvement. Part of the reason is personnel but another factor is that it is a focus at practise. Defenseman work on finding lanes to get the puck to the front of the net. Forwards work on tip drills and cross ice passes.
Tonight the Canadiens power-play was 3-for-5. The only negative was that they gave up a short-handed goal on a Alex Tanguay giveaway. The penalty killers were perfect going 5-for-5.
In a previous article, I illustrated just how dependant Alex Kovalev is on getting points on the power-play. Given that the power-play has improved, so has Kovalev. In the past six games, Kovalev has 15 points.
After the game Kovalev said “I’m probably playing as good as I have been all year.” Tonight, he scored a goal (on the power-play) and had three assists. The line of Koivu, Tanguay and Kovalev has 34 points over the past six games.
Josh Gorges and Maxim Lapierre also had power-play goals as Gainey gave power-play time to players not usually on the first or second unit.
Guillaume Latendresse scored one goal but was not successful on a penalty shot.
Tomas Plekanec was the recipient of stick work from Mikhail Grabovski and Martin Gerber. Chris Higgins scored while Gerber was distracted enough to go after Plekanec.
I have been critical of Gainey’s signing of George Laraque but the past two games have shown that even Laraque can make a contribution if used in the right way.
Both Mathieu Schneider and Andrei Markov were unable to finish the game. Schneider has an upper body injury from a Brad Mat hit. Markov’s head hit the dasher after a check by Grabovski.
The Canadiens have solidified their position on seventh place, and now enter the final week with four games until the playoffs.
Pre-game
Starting lineup: Plekanec, Higgins, Dandenault, Gorges, Schneider
Jaroslav Halak and Martin Gerber started in goal.
O’Byrne, Andrei Kostitsyn, and D’Agostini were scratched from the line-up. Carey Price was ill with the flu. Sergei Kostitsyn was out with an upper body injury. Bouillon and Lang are on injured reserve.
Marc Denis was recalled from Hamilton again to back-up Halak.
Lines:
Koivu-Kovalev-Tanguay
Plekanec-Higgins-Dandenault
Lapierre-Latendresse-Kostopoulos
Metropolit-Laraque-Stewart
Rocket’s three stars:
1. Alex Kovalev
2. Guillaume Latendresse
3. Josh Gorges
(photo credit: CP)
Gainey has had no luck with his trade acquistions. Tanguay, Lang, Laraque, have all lost considerable time to injury, and now it appears Schneider may be in the same boat. “Unlucky” to a degree, but aside from Tanguay, age is a factor as well. Even Alex, who is not yet 30, has a lot of miles through 10 or 11 NHL seasons. I can’t fathom the logic of giving up premium draft picks for players in their late 30s. It never works out. At least Sundin didn’t show up to steal a few more millions, he has been less than mediocre in Vancouver.
Canucks are led by a grinder taken about 10 spots behind the benched A. Kostistyn 5 years ago, (Ryan Kesler), and an undrafted Quebecois forward who had to start in the ECHL, (Alex Burrows). Those two, who won’t earn half as much together all season, as Sundin will in half a season, have been worth 10 times as much in on ice contribution. There were probably close to a dozen franchise players and team leaders throughout the NHL who were on the board when Tiny Timmins Tremendous Mistake took place back in June of 2003.
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