Montreal 0 Columbus 3 (Nationwide Arena)
“Tonight, we kept the foot on the gas. You have make sure you’re not just backing up and giving them 100 feet of ice. You want them to scratch and claw for everything they get. I thought tonight we did a good job of making them earn every inch of ice.” — Columbus coach Scott Arniel
MONTREAL, QC.– With all due respect, you have to wonder how the Blue Jackets do it? They have a lineup that beyond Rick Nash is devoid of stars. They play in front of a half-filled arena who have just strolled in from the fairways of the PGA — politely applaud at the right times but otherwise respect the “Quiet Please” signs of the marshalls.
The most noticeable change started last February with the dumping of old school head coach Ken Hitchcock. The trademark of his teams was a smothering defensive system. Hitchcock also was known as having difficulty relating to younger players — just ask Patrick Sharp, Simon Gagne, Derrick Brassard or Nikita Filatov.
Sound familiar?
In June, Columbus hired Scott Arniel, who along with Guy Boucher, was one of the most sought-after young coaching talents of the summer. Arniel has transformed the Jackets into an up-tempo, puck pursuit team. Like Boucher, Arniel is known as a superb power-play architect.
But perhaps the most significant impact of Arniel is what Nash describes as instilling confidence in the younger players of the team. Younger coaches like Arniel, Boucher and a recent visitor to the Bell Centre, Pete DeBoer, all three know how to motivate and get the best from their players.
In other words, they are the anti-Jacques Martin.
Tonight’s game against Columbus was similar in many ways to Saturday’s game against DeBoer’s Florida Panthers. The Canadiens squandered an early power-play opportunity. Buoyed by the kill the Blue Jackets scored 2:43 after the penalty expired, then for good measure added a power-play goal 1:23 later.
It was over. Game, set and match.
Oh sure, for two more periods we were treated to the line-juggling roulette wheel from coach Martin’s bag of motivational tools. But the guy who played the best for the Canadiens was at least 100 feet away from Martin’s influence. Carey Price wa superb as his teammates gave up one odd man rush after another.
The Habs were not prepared to be pressured at any point on the ice. They made poor decisions, committed turnovers and fired errant passes. The 5-on-5 offensive could not get on track and the league’s worst power-play continued to fire blanks.
It was a positive sign to see Lars Eller designated as a top six forward later in the game. But unfortunately the wheel slotted No. 81 alongside Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri. Andrei Kostitsyn was moved away from his most positive influence in Plekanec to lineing up with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.
With little going right Martin apparently wasn’t concerned about splitting up his best offensive line. Confusion reigned.
If fans are looking for innovative remedies, don’t expect any from the Canadiens coach. Following the game, Martin repeated a familiar refrain, “We’ll look at the video and analyze and see what we can bring as far as a solution for the next game.”
Plus/Minus:
▲ Carey Price is proving that he will continue to play at an extremely high level no matter what the Canadiens are doing in front of him.
▼ Hal Gill and Josh Gorges were both on the ice for all three Columbus goals. Gill had a particularly tough night with bad coverage and poor decisions.
▼ Max Lapierre and Dustin Boyd contributed nothing and were victimized for two Blue Jacket’s goals.
The Canadiens continue their road trip, playing in Buffalo on Friday before returning home to face the Senators at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
All Habs game stars:
1. Carey Price
2. Andrei Markov
3. Andre Kostitsyn
Roster notes:
Ryan O’Byrne, Alexandre Picard and Tom Pyatt were healthy scratches.
(Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images)
Price first star? I guess you are a forgiving soul. His play on the first goal is being the most criticized,yet I feel that was the least saveable. The second and third goals caught him defeinding at least a foot of the outside of the net.
Youc could add 3 goals on 24 shots not being anything to write home about. Or that he allowed goals on the 5th and 6th shots of the game. Or that he allowed goals on the 2nd and 3rd chances of the game.
With all due respect, you have to wonder how the Habs do it? They have a lineup that beyond Mike Cammalleri is devoid of stars. They are covered by a massive, and obsessive media throng that enters other buildings with an attitude that the rest of the league should just be honored to have their buildings graced by them. Then, after the Habs get outworked, outchanced and embarrassed, by a (*clutch the pearls!*) team from Ohio?!?!… the self-referential little circus retires in fashionable disarray.
Nice pearls JacketsRacket.. you don’t see those being worn very often at games up here. I appreciate you taking the time to write (although you’ll get no points for originality.)
I understand the defensiveness born out of your support for a teetering franchise. Media reports from Columbus focus on nosediving attendance numbers, Bettman’s concern that the McConnell family can’t stomach red ink, and Derick Brassard candidly revealing “I think our new owner does not like hockey much…When the team picture was taken, he was not there.”
That said, I think that Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta, Nashville are in deeper trouble. And of course, there’s always the circus in Long Island.
We can agree about the arrogance of the Montreal mainstream media. You’ll get no argument there.
But all that aside, I suggest another read of the piece. I think that you will find that the main emphasis was a glowing (and sincere) compliment for your head coach, and by inference, for your GM Scott Howson for choosing him. I suspect that it is not common on another Montreal website.
Topham: After seeing last night’s game, and the way the Montreal Canadiens played, the only player you are able to criticize is Carey Price? Really?
Yes he allowed 3 goals on 24 shots, but he made quality saves throughout the night on break-aways, shots from the slot and odd-man rushes. Sure, Garon made 8 more saves than Price but fact is Price had to face a lot more scoring chances.
I’ll trust you on your 5th, 6th shot, and 2nd, 3rd chances, i honestly don’t know, but first thing that comes to mind is “so what?”. If the top scorer on the other team gets his best chance on the first or last shot of the game, it doesn’t really make any difference. Same for scoring chances.
That said, first goal was a perfect shot by a natural goal scorer. Price was exactly where you want him to be, on top of his crease. He played the percentages, goalie will make that stop 9 times out of 10.
For the second goal, the Columbus player broke through 2 defenders and had no other players to beat. For a goaltender, Priority becomes the shooter and only the shooter. Gill became responsible for assuring that pass could not get across, and he failed miserably on the play. Player never should have gotten through the defense, and after that, should never have been able to get that pass across. Defense to blame all the way, not the goalie.
Last goal, the defense were totally out of the play, worst then the 2nd goal. Moen was the last man back and the Habs could have had a cone and it would have made no difference. The pass got across, Price went for slide/cut and was beat. You can maybe argue he played his cards a little too early, but the Habs had already shown the 2 goal deficit was too much to overcome, and the game was already lost.
Whether you agree or not, can you please tell us who you’d give the first star to, and where you’d place Price in all of this?
Perfect description. He poke checked the 3rd goal but missed by a wee bit.
This tweet of the night summed up the game:
@amanada11 I give up. Seriously. A 2-on-Price AGAIN? F*ck. I can’t watch him try to do it alone anymore. I’m done for the night.
Garon faced maybe 1 or 2 scoring chances because frankly I don’t know how the Habs got 29 shots… How many shots did the BJs get? That’s how many scoring chances the BJs had. And when certain defencemen kept giving the puck away to Rick Nash right in front of the net, the fact it wasn’t 10-0 is thanks to Price.
It really hurts to watch them on the perimeter all game and in another timezone. Everything that gave them success in October, they’ve forgotten. They’ve been asleep since that 2nd period in Long Island. And no one goes to the net anymore.
Price isn’t the only player I criticized, just the only one I criticized here.
You don’t have to trust me on the 5th, 6th shot, it’s in the NHL records. As for the scoring chances, they are record by Olivier Bouchard, doing the job that many do around the league now. Does it matter that he let in the goals at that point? Well not if you believe that the score at any time has no effect on the run of play or outcome. Of course it matters when.
You don’t only nominate him as the third star but also used the words: “extremely high level” to describe the goalie’s play at one point. Extremely high level to me means more than that performance. Relative to the league this season, that was not extremely high level. Relative to price’s best this year, that was not extremely high level.
Anyway, my point as you come to at the end was not to say Price played badly, only that he was no first star. I personally thought Markov was the standout of the night for the Habs as he broke up several attacks and started to look dangerous at the other end. But defencemen will never win the Molson Cup because there’s no glamour in breaking up attacks and the selectors (now fans) prefer the odd highlight play.
Topham, It seems curious that with so many other targets during this game, that you have set your sights on Carey Price. Most fair-minded appraisals of the game pointed to Price as the only reason the Habs were in the game at all.
Consensus is that Price was blameless on the three Columbus goals, and that includes pundits who have been tough on him in the past.
As you mentioned, I selected him first star for the Canadiens. Truth is, I considered making him the only star given that his performance was so far beyond his teammates. However, I did add a distant second and third star. Markov was added to recognize his contribution in breaking up a couple of threats as you mentioned. But please, let’s be honest, there is a substantial difference between breaking up a pass that MAY have led to something, and the brilliant saves that Price was forced to make to rob Columbus from another goal.
I am amused at your ‘stats’ tossed about as if they, in isolation, have meaning. Three goals in 24 without context is, put kindly, misleading. As Number31 correctly points out “How many shots did the BJs get? That’s how many scoring chances the BJs had.” The shots were hardly the perimeter variety that Garon was facing.
As to the timing (5th/6th shots, 2nd/3rd s.c.), Price is in less control when he will face an excellent scoring chance against. That’s mostly driven by his teammates and the opposition.
Timing is relevant, however, when you consider that the first Columbus goal came quickly at the expiration of another failed Montreal power-play.
Perhaps its time to re-adjust your sights.
I’ll readjust my sights if you readjust yours.
We viewed this game differently and that’s fine. Anyway, I’d be satisfied knowing more fans in Montreal could admit a few saves do not necessarily elevate every average performance.
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