Habster:
Here we go again, Carbo’s opened up the chemistry set once again!!!! I’m surprised he hasn’t blown up his laboratory or run out of ethanol for his Bunsen burners with all the line changes he’s made to find the right mix of CHEMISTRY!!!
I understand the Habs are slumping and I understand the coach(es) have to try different things to light a spark under the asses of these multi-millionaires (as if they need to be motivated……that’s an article waiting to be written in itself!!).
With 10 UFAs on the Canadiens roster, you would think that would be enough motivation to work hard and lay the ground work for a big contract offer in the off-season, but I digress and will save it until that article is written.
Now that I’ve released some of my pent up hostility, let’s take a closer look at the Dr. Carbo’s lab work:
Latendresse/Koivu/Tanguay
This move isn’t surprising nor is it a terrible one. In my humble opinion, placing Higgins on the line instead of Latendresse would have been preferable (deep breath, BB!!), but with that being said, Latendresse has shown “flashes” of chemistry with the Koivu/Tanguay duo (deep breath, Rocky!!). At least Guillaume was given more than a two game try-out on the line, something Higgins wasn’t afforded by Carbonneau.
I just hope Latendresse understands his role on the line: crash the net for rebounds, work hard creating space/time for the other two and please place his big body in front of the net!!!
Kovalev/Plekanec/Higgins
This line does intrigue me with the speedy Higgins and Plekanec along side Kovalev. When “Pleky” and “Higgy” played in Hamilton, they occasionally played on the same line with some success……now if Kovalev can stop overhandling the puck, creating more turnovers than a bakery and trying to deke the entire opposition, we might actually have something here!!!
How does that expression go……”the shortest distance between two points is from A to B, not A,B,C,D,E,F……..you get my point!!! More north/south momentum (please read: Forward momentum is a beautiful thing by Big Brother) and less east/west movement. The puck movement is done quicker with a pass as opposed to 5-10 dekes, Kovy!!!
A. Kostitsyn/Lang/Kostopoulos
?????????…..simply put, this is a “light a flame” under AK-46’s ass move….. nothing more, nothing less!!! Kostopoulos is on the line to create space and keep the other two honest with his hard work/constant hustle. Beyond that, this is a very short term line!!!
S. Kostitsyn/Begin/whoever??!!
See AK-46 “light a flame” situation above for his little brother!!!………beyond that, there isn’t much to say about the 4th line.
ENJOY THE GAME TONIGHT………HABS 5 SENS 2