Montreal 2 Toronto 5 (Bell Centre)
Rocket:
Jump on Carey Price. Go ahead. Just pile on. You will have plenty of company. In fact if you hold an ‘I-hate-Carey-Price’ party, you are guaranteed that Craig Simpson, PJ Stock and Murray Wilson will show up.
But before you send out the invitations, consider a few things.
Luke Schenn scored the Leafs first goal (and his first in the NHL) with 5:23 left in the first. Up to that point in the game, Toronto was outshooting Montreal 16-2. Price was standing on his head to keep his team in the game including two point blank chances for Nik Antropov. The Leafs ended the period with 18 shots on goal and 27 directed at Price. Overall Carey Price faced 41 Leaf shots.
The Canadiens had 5 shots in the first period. A weak effort against Vesa Toskala who was playing with shattered confidence as a result of poor play and being criticized publicly by his coach and GM. The Leafs are last in the league in goals surrendered and save percentage.
Josh Gorges and Francis Bouillon were a combined -7. Both played awful. Gorges deflected a shot into his net for the second night in a row. Bouillon failed to bury a puck with an open net early in the first, hitting the crossbar instead. It could have been a turning point. The Canadiens are a much different team when playing with a lead.
The Canadiens power-play was 0 for 7 with a five on four advantage. The Maple Leafs are 30th in the league in penalty-killing. Guy Carbonneau experimented with George Laraque on the power-play with less than favorable results.
Alex Kovalev started the game with an energetic hit on Jeff Finger. After, their play went in opposite directions. Things went downhill for Kovy. Finger scored a goal and was +3.
Georges Laraque took two dumb penalties including a head shot to Grabovski just after Kostopoulos had scored and the Canadiens were gaining momentum. Laraque won a pre-arranged fight against 37 year old Brad May. It was simply a sideshow with zero effect on the game. He is a waste of a line-up spot.
So criticize Carey Price if you wish. He is an easy target. Craig Simpson knows that. Guy Carbonneau also knows that. Because to identify what is really wrong with the Montreal Canadiens is something that is beyond the capabilities of Carbonneau.
For his part, Carey Price knows that he carried the team alone in the first period when his teammates didn’t show up. Price knows which goals eluded him with the help of poor defensive play and which ones he should have stopped. And Price will be harder on himself than anyone else. As Carey said after the game “It’s just not going the way I planned. I have to find a way around it.” Mike Komisarek added “It’s just not one guy. Pricey has carried this team long enough.”
A few Canadiens did show up to play tonight. Matt D’Agostini and Max Pacioretty continue to impress. D’Agostini had a goal and 5 shots while Pacioretty created scoring chances. Tom Kostopoulos works hard every shift and scored tonight while diving to knock the puck past Toskala.
Roman Hamrlik’s play was on the decline for over a month until reunited with Ryan O’Byrne a few games ago. The defensive pair have been solid over the past 3 games and were placed in the starting line-up tonight. Hamrlik had 4 shots on goal. On a team that was a collective -20, Hamrlik and O’Byrne were the only plus players for the Canadiens, each finishing the game at +1.
The much-hyped bout between Sergei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski was a non-event with coaches Wilson and Carbonneau not facilitating an opportunity.
The Canadiens now embark on a 6 game road trip which will decide which direction the team is headed.
Pre-game:
Starting line-up: Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, Alex Kovalev, Ryan O’Byrne, Roman Hamrlik, Carey Price
Vesa Toskala in goal for the Leafs.
Laraque will play, Dandenault scratched.
Brisebois, Latendresse, Tanguay, Lang out with injuries.
Rocket’s 3 stars:
1. Jason Blake
2. Niklas Hagman
3. Matt D’Agostini
(photo credit: AP)
No question, Price does not deserve all the blame. And there may well be lingering issues with his injury and it looks like he did come back too soon. But when he goes through those dopey/mopey periods where he seems to have no clue and no cares, you want to just slap him until he snaps out of it.
Thanks for the comment Lambert. You are right..others on this team should share the blame.
I don't buy the theory that Price doesn't care. A competitor like Price wouldn't be so distraught after the game if he didn't care.
Price got criticism from Simpson last night for not playing desperate. Simpson played with goalies who were floppers: Grant Fuhr & Bill Ranford. So it appears that he is not current regarding positional goaltending.
The comments by Simpson, who usually calls the late game out West and didn’t seem to know the Habs very well, don’t mean that much to me. And I totally get the observation about a “busy” goaltender looking better than one who is simply well positioned. I still recall arguments with Leafs fans who claimed the acrobatic Mike Palmateer was a better goalie than the “boring” Ken Dryden.
And while I wrote that Price sometimes creates the impression he is lackadaisical and indifferent, I seriously doubt that is the case deep down in his heart.
That said, I still believe Price is guilty of occasional streaks of dopeyness and I’m not sure what the problem is. Maybe he’s simply overplaying the calm, cool and collected card.
I completely agree that becoming a flopper isn’t the answer, but I wouldn’t mind just a little more urgency mixed into that wonderfully sound technique when the occasion calls for it.
Man that game had me curled up in feotal position crying myself to sleep.
It Toronto man… f*$&%?* Toronto. And it looked as if they didn't care all that much. 5 shots in first period. Against a team that doesn't have a prayer to make the playoffs.
You know me, every single article I write, I try to be positive. I don't lash out on many players, never did on the coach or the goalies but honestly, I was wondering if it wouldn't be better to just get the whole Bulldogs team back up. Because outside of rookies, not many players seemed to play like they want to f%$?&$% win. Oh yeah, Saku and maybe two or three others but as a general rule, something is wrong. Just very very wrong.
And Price was bad. Real bad. None of those goals were impossible to stop. Most of them should have been routine saves.
I'm not saying he's the only reason the Habs lost, but he had his worst game in a very long time. I would love to say Carbo should have gave him a night off but considering he was and Halak got sick, I'll have to just call this one bad luck.
I was happy to see Laraque fight May early in first. Considering what he did to Bouillon I was glad to see Laraque righting some wrongs. But he can't do that when he freakin play powerplay minutes. At the very least, if he does, he should screen Toskala. I'm always wondering what is the thought process of some of these players. They get in front of the net but instead of staying in front of the goalie, they stay to the side. Why? Your f%$?&$% ass is blocking part of the net!!! How is that helping?
And why are we so unlucky with injuries this year? Komisarek. Koivu playing some of his best hockey in his career. Dandenault playing some of his best hockey since wering blue on top of red and white. Latendresse playing his best hockey of the year. Price. Lang playing as our number one center… Why can't we get injuries to a slumping player at the very f%$?&$% least?
I'll stop right now, I've already reached my quota of swearing for the year…
Have to be impressed with Pacioretty, he is the third best producer (on a point per game basis) this season in the NHL of all the players taken in the 2007 draft. Behind Patrick Kane and David Perron, who are both a bit older than he is, and don’t have nearly as many other assets to bring to the game. The strides that Max has made in the past 3 years have been phenomenal. In 2006 he had something like 5 goals for the season in a Connecticut high school league.
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