Habs Season: Ready, Set, False Start

By Stevo, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — I’m not one that believes that many conclusions can be drawn from one hockey game alone, but it’s safe to say that the Montreal Canadiens’ opening game on Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which ended in a 2-0 defeat, was a god-awful start, on many levels.

Before the game had even begun, questions were on the lips of many as to why Erik Cole had not been practicing on the powerplay, and why he had been etched in on the third line for the opening game. Fair questions.

Had Erik Cole not in fact been signed by Pierre Gauthier to be that big tough forward that could stand in front of opposing goaltenders on the powerplay? Is Cole not that guy that can score 30-goals, who had 26 last season, more than any player on the Canadiens’ roster with the exception of Brian Gionta who had 29?

None-the-less, Cole was in fact playing on the third line, and only four Canadiens on the active roster that night, ended the game with less ice-time than he did. What was the result? 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 shots on net and a ranking of minus-1 for Cole. I guess David Desharnais is no Eric Staal, and Mathieu Darche is no Jeff Skinner.

It should be noted that in the Canadiens practice today, Cole was practicing with Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec. Well, about time.

Then, we have the curious case of Blair Betts. What many claimed was a great fourth-line acquisition for the Habs, has now mysteriously disappeared from the roster before even appearing, with what appears to be a shoulder injury, disguised as a lower-body injury.

RDS’ very own Renaud Lavoie, who is probably closer to the Montreal Canadiens than any other journalist initially tweeted the following:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/renhockey/status/121972999422361600″]

Although he actually made that tweet in both languages, it should be noted that in the French portion, the word in brackets is not “injury” as put in the English version, but “shoulder” (épaule).

He would later follow suit with the Canadiens on the lower-body injury claim but for a player like Betts, with a long history of separating his shoulder, the theory that his shoulder would be what is injured is not far-fetched.

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As for the game itself, there was nothing impressive about the Canadiens that night, barring some buzzing around James Reimer’s net in the first period with some missed opportunities. That came at a time that they were skating and keeping their feet constantly moving in the opposing end. They were first on the puck, and constantly had the Leafs chasing them around the ice.

The tables were reversed from the second period on, where the Canadiens stopped moving their feet, and began coasting across the ice. No longer were they first on the puck, they were now losing all of their one-on-one battles.

Don’t be fooled by the shot total. The Canadiens out-shoot the Maple Leafs 32-18, but of those 32 shots, not many of them were quality scoring chances, the Canadiens often finding themselves shooting the puck to the net from outside of the red zone.

The Canadiens lost another player to injury as Chris Campoli, recently acquired off waivers went down for the count. Victim of bad-ice, is the story they are going with, his skate appeared to have caught in the ice, and it now seems he’ll be about for two, possibly three months.

It should be noted that the Canadiens and their medical staff are still silent with regards to the Andrei Markov situation, which in itself is getting quite worrisome. We can only speculate as to when he might return, but all signs indicate it won’t be anytime soon.

Alexei Emelin, or Yemelin? You know, the Gremlin from the Kremlin! Well, he should be dressed for the next game against the Winnipeg Jets. He should now have his chance to prove what he can do on the ice, and show the Canadiens brass that he can bring that tough gritty play to the Montreal blue line.

It’s safe to say the Canadiens did not get off on the right foot this 2011-12 NHL season. They had won only two games all of preseason. Campoli and Betts who were both brought in to help out find themselves injured. Players in this first game, were used in ways that are just down right confusing, and this offence which was known to have a difficulty scoring goals last season, was shutout in it’s first game. Shades of last season?

It’s just one game, I don’t want to draw any conclusions, but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little bit worried about how this season will go, for the Canadiens.

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Goaltender Report:

Carey Price
	Season Record: 0-1-0Oct-6: Shots: 18 Saves: 16 Sv%: 0.889% TOI: 58:16 Even Strength: 10-11 Power Play: 5-5 Short-Handed: 1-2
Game Report
Carey Price had a strong showing, in comparison to his teammates in this first game of the season. He looked calm, poise and focused throughout most of the game, even after being hit into his net a couple of times. Price is so big and strong in his crease, that he makes it difficult for opposing forwards to be that much of a disturbance to him in front of the net. What Price can be faulted with in this opening game is his overall balance. On a few shots, his balance was too far back on his heels, causing him to fall into a seated position after the initial shot. The best example of this was Toronto’s first goal (Matthew Lombardi). Price made the initial stop on the two-on-one on his right post, but fell back into his net. You could argue that he made the first stop and that his defencemen should have been able to clear the puck, but the defence went into a complete breakdown on the play and Lombardi was left with a wide open net to shoot at. On the second goal, facing a three-on-two, Dion Phaneuf was left all alone to rip a one-timer from the top of the slot. Price was maybe a foot too far back into his crease, as you like to have a goalie at the top of the blue paint for those shots, but the shot was perfect, and Price an hardly be faulted for the goal.

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James Reimer
	Season Record: 1-0-0Oct-6: Shots: 32 Saves: 32 Sv%: 1.000% TOI: 59:58 Even Strength: 25-25 Power Play: 6-6 Short-Handed: 1-1
Game Report
James Reimer had a solid outing in his first game of his sophomore NHL season. He had a very shaky preseason with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and had a lot of pressure going into this opening game, at home, against their famous division rivals. The Canadiens needed to get to him early and although they were able to buzz around his net early on, they didn’t get the quality chances to really test Reimer, or put him to the test I should say. None-the-less, Reimer was solid, and made the saves he needed to make. He looked sharp, aggressive, and was always square to the puck. One thing is for certain, there’s nothing like a shutout to get your confidence up, and this shutout alone could have a tremendous impact on Reimer’s confidence in this early portion of the season. This will have a direct effect on the road that will be taken by the Maple Leafs this season, and their chances of making the playoffs.

(Video: nhl.com)