Thursday April 4th, 2013
Game Recap: Eller steps in for Plekanec and with Ryder, Gionta leads Habs to victory over Jets.
| MONTREAL CANADIENS 24-8-5 53 POINTS 2nd in the East |
WINNIPEG JETS 18-19-2 38 POINTS 10th in the East |
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| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Canadiens | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Jets | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 |
Top Scorers:
| CANADIENS | JETS | ||
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Scoring Summary:
| G | Per | Time | Str | Team | Goal Scorer | Assist | Assist |
| 1 | 1 | 8:16 | EV | WPG | 8 A.BURMISTROV(4) | 24 G.CLITSOME(9) | 16 A.LADD(19) |
| 2 | 1 | 10:47 | PP | MTL | 73 M.RYDER(14) | 21 B.GIONTA(11) | 81 L.ELLER(14) |
| 3 | 2 | 2:03 | EV | MTL | 73 M.RYDER(15) | 76 P.SUBBAN(19) | |
| 4 | 2 | 5:51 | PP | MTL | 21 B.GIONTA(11) | 81 L.ELLER(15) | 76 P.SUBBAN(20) |
| 5 | 3 | 7:43 | EV | MTL | 27 A.GALCHENYUK(4) | 32 T.MOEN(3) | 73 M.RYDER(16) |
Shots on Goal:
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Canadiens | 11 | 4 | 2 | – | 17 |
| Jets | 8 | 12 | 14 | – | 34 |
Goaltending:
| CANADIENS | JETS | ||
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Record: 6-1-1 SA: 34 Sv%: .971 |
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Record: 15-18-2 SA : 24 Sv%: .833 |
Lineup Notes:
- Habs starting six: Lars Eller, Brian Gionta, Brandon Prust, Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Peter Budaj
- Scratched: Tomas Kaberle, Tomas Plekanec, Yannick Weber, Gabriel Dumont
- Max Pacioretty was able to play despite an ankle injury. Tomas Plekanec sat out with a groin injury.
- Winnipeg’s Tobias Enstrom played his 400th NHL game.
- Mike Santorelli played his first game as a Jet. He was claimed on waivers from the Panthers on Wednesday.
What you need to know:
The headline wrote itself: After an Early Strike, Jets Flameout in Montreal, Nose-dive in the East.
Given the silly playoff seeding system and the woeful record of the Southeast division, the Winnipeg Jets dropped from third place in the Eastern conference all the way to tenth with their loss to the Canadiens. Winnipeg has now lost five straight and seven of their last ten. If there was any playoff-hopeful team that was in need of an injection of talent on trade deadline day, it was the Jets — it didn’t arrive.
Well, unless you count Mike Santorelli picked up on NHL waivers from the Florida Panthers. Waivers seems to be the tool of choice for Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff: Santorelli, Antti Miettinen, Grant Clitsome, James Wright and Anthony Peluso were each waiver wire pickups.
For the Canadiens, a team that had been flattened by the Flyers the night before, was missing its injured No. 1 center and was resting its star goaltender, Winnipeg was just what the doctor ordered. After scoring the opening goal of the game, a one-timer from Alexander Burmistrov, the Jets faded badly. Winnipeg, the NHL’s 25th best penalty-kill squad gave up two goals in two short-handed situations. With the 29th-ranked power-play, the Jets didn’t make a dent on any of their three chances.
Taking advantage of Montreal fatigue, the Jets fired 17 shots in the third period but had very few second chance opportunities. Oh, and there were numerous opportunities as Peter Budaj was a rebound machine. His style wasn’t pretty nor technical but Budaj got the job done registering his sixth win of the year.
The Canadiens defense played well in front of Budaj. An exception was on the opening goal where Davis Drewiske and Francis Bouillon found themselves on the same side of the goal leaving an open path for Burmistrov. It was also a coverage mistake by Michael Ryder, one that he would make up for many times over.
The line of Ryder, Lars Eller and Brian Gionta scored two power-play goals. It was a fine performance by the trio, but look at this interesting statistic: the two goals came in only 18 seconds of power-play time. Perhaps they deserve more on Saturday night?
Another player used his ice-time very efficiently. Alex Galchenyuk played just 10:00 minutes, the least of any Canadiens player, but scored his fourth of the season and looked comfortable back at his natural center position.
Plus
- It was a 7-point night for the line of Lars Eller, Brian Gionta and Michael Ryder scoring three of the Canadiens four goals.
- The smile and the celebration indicated both the happiness and relief of Alex Galchenyuk after scoring a third period goal ending a 18-game goal drought.
- Give the courage award to Alexei Emelin who dropped the gloves with a tough, angry Evander Kane. The frustrated Jet was assessed an extra 10 minutes for tearing off Emelin’s helmet and throwing it to the ice.
Minus
- It was one of those games for P.K. Subban who tallied two assists but struggled with turnovers.
- David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher gobbled up 2:33 of power-play time but didn’t get a sniff against a weak penalty-killing team. The Desharnais line was very quiet on the night.
Injury/Roster Report:
- No new injuries.
| NHL Three Stars | |
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| Post-game Chatter |
Coach Michel Therrien:
- “Lars played a good game tonight. He was intense, was battling hard. He filled his role really well. He put the puck at the net, was responsible. He’s a kid that’s getting better and better.”
- “Tonight we gave [Galchenyuk] an opportunity to play center. He was managing the puck well, was solid both sides of the ice. We wanted to pay attention to who he was on the ice against.”
- “I really liked the intensity of our fourth line. I gave responsibility to those guys and they assumed it really well.”
- On Plekanec playing Saturday: “He’s day-to-day. We’ll see.”
- “We don’t believe that [Bourque] will play this weekend but he’s close. Diaz is getting closer and closer.”
- “We believe Marc Bergevin did a good trade. Our scouts really like [Drewiske.] I didn’t know much about the player. He’s a kid who can kill penalties. He’s solid. He’s strong on the puck. He’s a smart player.”
- “We know Peter had to play this week [because of the schedule.] We decided to play him tonight because his family was here [from Europe.] Always treat a hockey team like a family.”
Alex Galchenyuk:
- “You always try to bring something. For the last month, it wasn’t goals. I try to work hard, do the little plays. Not scoring for a month and a half or whatever it was, it gets frustrating. Glad to have one tonight.”
Peter Budaj:
- “My uncle never saw me play before, so that was fun. I was glad I was able to get the start at the Bell Centre in front of a home crowd. I’m very appreciative of that, and the team played great in front of me.”
Brian Gionta on being credited for a goal shot by Lars Eller that glanced off his thigh:
- “I apologized to [Eller] for getting in the way, but I’ll take it any time. Good thing I’m tall, eh?”
Jets coach Claude Noel:
- “It’s not like we don’t know what’s going on. I don’t think you can expect to lose five straight games and think things aren’t going to change. It’s not like players don’t know what’s going on. We know that if we continue down this road it isn’t good, that’s why there’s urgency. We’re running out of games. We know that.”
Jets forward Blake Wheeler:
- “It shouldn’t be surprising; we’ve lost five straight games. You reap what you sow. We’ve played well enough to make the playoffs and now all of a sudden we’ve played ourselves out of the playoffs. I guess the good news is we know we’re capable of it. There’s time to fix it, it’s just a matter of getting it done.”
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Not sure how Subban ends up in the minus group when he had the same amount of turnovers as Markov (2 each), but had two assists where the struggling Markov had none…
One of those games for Subban indeed. 2 Points, +2 seems a day at the office for PK these days yet it warrants a minus? I can think of a few names more deserving of mention in his place. The consistent reluctance to give Subban credit for his achievements while pointing out every mistake is getting a bit painful to read.
Agreed. An inordinate focus on minute mistakes would be painful to read, just as blind cheerleading is monotonous. So neither was done here, instead a balanced view was presented. Subban was given full credit for his offensive contribution along with a recognition (painful as it might be to some fans) that he must be significantly better on the defensive side. Thanks for your comment Jamie.
Indeed, blind cheerleading is monotonous, as is the criticism of others required to counterbalance it. Fortunately, Subban has the skill and mobility to recover from many mistakes and brings a risk/reward game that’s a net positive. Pretty sure the Norris trophy chatter isn’t blind cheerleading but rather, recognition and appreciation of talent.
Cheers for the response.
Objectively, it’s fair to say that it wasn’t the best game for P.K. Subban; his offensive contributions were counterbalanced by his defensive liabilities. His turnovers and inability to hold the zone could have been exploited by a stronger opponent. Fortunately the Jets were not able to do that. Thanks for the comment Kyle.
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