Rocket:
Speed kills! Once again, the Canadiens played their brand of hockey and did their part to help their chances of winning the Eastern Conference Championship. The Habs put the pressure squaring on the shoulders of the Penguins who will now have to earn the #1 position with a win over the Flyers.
This was a great game for Chris Higgins who scored 2 and could have had at least 2 more. Higgins has really become a solid two-way hockey player who has picked up his game the last month of the season. Best of all, he seemed like he was having fun.
Alex Kovalev, Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec were dangerous each time they were on the ice. The KPK line started and controlled the puck in the Maple Leaf zone for the first minute of the game. The shift ended with Raycroft robbing Kovalev with the glove hand. It didn’t get much better for the Leafs each time KPK was on the ice.
Mark Streit had more icetime and seemed to be less hampered by his injury. He was the recipient of a gift goal when Raycroft misplayed his flutter shot. Streit made a nice pass to Higgins who made a terrific shot to put the Habs up 2-0.
Carey Price was solid once again. He was at times sensational especially on Toronto’s 5 on 3 in the first period. I can’t imagine that there are any detractors left of Price (or Gainey’s decision to trade the team’s #3 goaltender).
I can’t say enough good things about Ryan O’Byrne. He doesn’t get enough credit or nearly enough icetime. O’Byrne played 14 minutes and had 6 hits which is double the number of Hamrlik, Markov, Gorges, Streit and Brisebois, COMBINED! The other 5 averaged about 20 minutes of icetime. O’Byrne also had an assist on one of Higgins’ goals.
How impressive was Greg Stewart? He was in alone on Raycroft on both of his first two shifts in the NHL. He skated well, had a good physical game and set up his linemates after winning battles for the puck. He also showed that he wouldn’t be intimated when he fought Bryan McCabe after Stewart got a slash and a spear from the cheapshot artist McCabe.
Pregame:
Elliot Freidman drew out two great quotes from the interviews with Hamrlik and Carbonneau:
Carbonneau: “my job is to bring the team back to where it belongs”
Hamrlik: “we can still surprise lots of people in the playoffs”
Kovalev received the Molson Cup for this season for the most 3 stars points. His proud parents are visiting from Russia and in the Bell Centre for the first time.
Mark Streit received the Jacques Beauchamp Molson award for “unsung hero”. Streit deserves credit for his special team role but how can you be ‘unsung’ two years in a row? After you win the award the first time, don’t you move up to ‘sung’?
Rocket’s 3 stars:
1. Chris Higgins
2. Carey Price
3. Mark Streit
(photo credit: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)
Many times i wanted to post a comment in response to The rocket’s contibutions…
this is the time now.
I m reading all habs daily for almost one year now and I really enjoyed it. Thank you Habster for this terrific job, so complete information about our habs.
But what I prefer in all habs is the fact that hockey is analysed in a brainy way, i mean with objectivity and balanced point of view. It was not in the teenager style we find somewhere else “we will win the cup” after two wins or “this team is going nowhere” after two loss…
that s why i have been disappointed by your posts, rocket.
First you started to repeatedly complain about guillaume latendresse, (among many, for example “It would appear that Latendresse has figuratively skated himself perfectly into Carbonneau’s blind spot. Guillaume continues to underachieve yet has avoided a trip to Hamilton and rarely has been a healthy scratch.”)
then you repeatedly complained about carbonneau putting smolinski line’s to start the game, etc…. I completely agree you can debate on this point but why write things as if carbonneau is a stupid idiot to it in this way ?
and then, today you put Cristobal huet as goalie number 3… I quote :”Gainey’s decision to trade the team’s #3 goaltender”
This is just a short list of things that never happened before…
I completely understand that habster needs some help, such a big amount of work, but at least the blog should not lose its identity
I hope you will be able to change these things to avoid “all habs” to look like a RDS talkback
thank you
waiting for your posts on the playoffs
Thanks again for all habs
Go habs go !
Damien
Hey there,
I truly appreciate your feedback concerning All Habs as it is through these opinions that Rocket and I can improve the site to better inform readers like yourself about the Montreal Canadiens.
I completely understand where you are coming from with regards to keeping things balanced when we write about the Habs. I’ve always tried to keep “balanced reporting/writing” in mind when I write my articles but it can be difficult when emotions get in the way as we are fans as well……to a fault sometimes!!! I have also been critical of some of the Canadiens/Carbonneau’s moves during the season but we can’t argue with the result to date, can we??!!
In conclusion, I hope you continue reading All Habs as we value your readership and opinions. Once again, thanks for the feedback and long live the Habs playoff run!!!!!
P.S- I will be writing something about the Canadiens/Boston playoff series either tonight or tomorrow and preview the other series as well……..with some fearless predictions!!!!
Damien, thanks for submitting your comment. Habster and I thoroughly enjoy when we are able to intelligently debate Canadiens issues from a hockey perspective. I hope that you will join us.
I’m glad that you enjoy Habster’s articles, Damien. I do too, and have for some time. I think that Habster deserves a great deal of credit for his commitment to his blog, the team, and the sport. As you have noticed, I may have a different style and sometimes different opinions although we are both passionate about the Montreal Canadiens. Quite natural and understandable. I give credit to Habster for bringing in someone who would compliment his approach. Rather than invite his ‘twin’, Habster made an astute strategic move to broaden his audience.
I think that the issue of perspective is important towards understanding. In the interest of full disclosure, I provide the following guiding principles that I try to use when approaching an article for this site.
1. Write in an objective way. Does this mean it’s non-emotional? Hey, this isn’t hard news. It’s essentially editoral sports comment and it’s already been acknowledged that Habster and I are Canadiens fans.
2. Don’t use a cheerleader approach. Bandwagon jumpers (either on or off) are tedious after a while. [I don’t think I would ever be accused of this. As you know I have been critical of team play at times even when the Habs win as I am focussed on the way they win and the long term outlook.]
3. Do not write in a patronizing way to placate a particular fan view.
4. Opinions and analysis whether positive or negative should be based soley on hockey ability and performance in a way that is blind to the name on the back of the jersey.
It is my sense when reviewing articles over many years that few, if any, hockey ‘journalists’ follow these principles in this market. Perhaps that’s why my tone or style may appears foreign to you, without all of the usual sugar coating.
You highlighted some issues which, I assume from your comment, we have a difference of opinion. I would be pleased to hear your comments on Huet, Latendresse and Carbonneau (and others if you wish). I would be glad to then offer a counter argument from a perspective that, as always, will be as objective as I can. Who knows, we may even agree on some issues.
Prior to that let me clarify a couple of things. The #3 designation of Huet referred to his level of goaltending talent within the organization. It is acknowledged that Huet was a fan favorite but had fallen below Price and Halak in terms of internal evaluations. This was confirmed by GM’s around the league at the trade deadline who were lining up to offer substantial packages for Price and Halak.
I will take exception with one statement in your comment. I did not refer to Carbonneau’s starting lineup strategy as idiotic. I would be glad to enumerate my pros and cons about coach Carbonneau. I won’t repeat my arguments but when I raised the issue of Carbo not starting his top line at home, I ended with a question that I would like to pose to him. Here is the quote: “It’s a curious strategy by Carbonneau. I would be interested in his explanation.”
Damien, I encourage to continue reading “AllHabs”; whichever articles appeal to you. I commit that what you will get from my contributions, will be my opinion, primarily informed by fact and objective judgements.
Comments are closed.