Rocket:

Guy Carbonneau now has his answer: Goaltending was not the reason for Philadelphia’s first two wins of the series. It’s something that many of us already knew. While Carbonneau was busy playing goaltending mind games with the media, the Flyers quietly prepared knowing that they were fortunate to be ahead in the series. Carbonneau’s fairy tale allowed John Stevens a free pass. Stevens was spared having to answer questions about his team’s slow footed defense, undisciplined play, and generally being dominated on the ice.

It may not be fair to be too critical of Jaroslav Halak. Halak is a good goalie and a more than capable backup. I’m sure that he will get the sympathetic treatment from most of the media. Yet, Halak played like a goaltender who hadn’t played a full game in a month. Jaro started well with a great save on a shorthanded Jeff Carter breakaway (after a bad play by Streit.) But later in the period, even when he was making saves, Halak was out of position and occasionally overplaying the shot. His puckhandling was not good. Umberger’s first was a power-play goal. It wasn’t deflected or screened but was simply a soft goal with Halak deep in his crease. On the second Flyer goal, he was cleanly beat with a good shot by Prospal that rang off the post right to Hartnell, who buried the rebound. On the winning goal, Halak did not look sharp. He was caught looking the wrong way which left an easy tap-in for Briere.

With other issues that should have been his focus, it was Guy Carbonneau’s decision to start a goaltender who had played only 4 full games in the past 4 months. After the game, Carbonneau said “You have to give him (Halak) credit. He was good, but not good enough.” He added “the kid was in a tough situation” said innocently as if John Stevens had been given the privilege of choosing the Canadiens starting goalie. Carbonneau was the architect of the “tough situation.”

John Stevens said that they had to scramble to find information on Halak. He then quickly gave the scouting report on Jaro: a reflex goalie, not as big, plays deep in the net, not as skilled with the puck. Not a scramble at all. Stevens is quite familiar with Halak having coached against him in the AHL.

Carbonneau was asked about Carey Price and said that he has not been satisfied by Price. If Carbo truly believes that Halak played better than Price then he is simply not qualified to make that decision. When Price was giving up goals his positioning was still good. He was getting beat by deflections and screened shots. Even then, Price was able to get a piece of every goal.

Coach Carbo has really put his stubborn streak on display during the playoffs. He has not had his best players in the line-up on most nights choosing instead to play his favourites or ‘hunches’. One good move was to put Kovalev with Koivu for game #7 of the Boston series. But that was 5 games ago, and they have done nothing together in the Philly series, yet Carbo sticks with them.

A good coach is always one move ahead. Why is Carbonneau always playing catch-up? He is not proactive but instead, Carbo is emotionally reactive. He was not looking ahead to tonight’s game. Instead he was a frustrated coach after game #3 and he was looking for someone to punish. He chose Carey Price as his scapegoat. Carbonneau’s behaviour can only hurt Price’s confidence. The normally calm, cool, unflappable rookie was “stunned” when told he would not start tonight’s game.

Did Carbonneau’s goaltending change: miraculously fix the Canadiens power play? ..help his players win battles for the puck? ..position his forwards in front of the crease? ..ensure better defensive zone coverage?

None of these things seem to be on Carbonneau’s radar, but should, because they have been apparent all series long. Instead, Carbonneau chose to focus on goaltending and after the game, he was blaming the loss on the referees. At least he inferred that was the case as he said “I don’t want to get fined.” But Carbo has lost all credibility with the officials. Begin deserved a penalty as it was clearly a late hit.

The TSN panel was unusually unanimous on two issues. The penalty on Begin was legitimate. As well, all agreed that Carbo should now go back to Carey Price and that he never should have left him in the first place. They added that it is the power-play not goaltending that has been the major problem for the Canadiens.

By getting in front of Marty Biron early in the series and burying their chances, the Habs could have exposed him. Biron is now playing with confidence. The Canadiens did prove tonight that with bodies in front of the net, Biron is beatable. Both Plekanec’s goal and Koivu’s came with traffic. Carbonneau sounded exasperated after the game when he said “We did what we had to do, but couldn’t get the puck past Biron.” Perhaps Carbo could be introduced to tape of Tomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen and Brenden Morrow (and the Canadiens two goals tonight).

Canadiens fans can only hope that in the next two days, the coaching staff focusses on rectifying the real on-ice problems that right now, have allowed an inferior team, to have full control of the series. Fewer hissy-fits, rhetoric, and impulsive moves would be appreciated.

Pregame:

Halak was announced at 5 p.m. as the starter in goal. Other change: Brisebois in, O’Byrne out. Flyers changes: Knuble in, Downie out.

Lauren Hart and Kate Smith sang duet of God Bless America. Smith’s record (live and taped) is 73-19-4 (5-1 this season).

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. R.J. Umberger
2. Marty Biron
3. Saku Koivu

(photo credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)