posted by habsbloggergirl
Price’s expression at the end of the shootout Thursday night said it all. The game’s first star was a mixed bag of emotions; confident, tough, determined and even a little frustrated. And, he had every right to be.
For what seems like the millionth time, the Habs played one of their signature wishy-washy games: good enough, but not wonderful, for most of 3 periods, only to have it crumble in the last few minutes.
Another night, another trip to overtime. It’s so common this year that it’s not even that much of a novelty anymore. We have only had 1 win in regulation. ONE. It reminds me of those Leafs jokes that have been going around the past few weeks, you know the… “What does a triangle have that the Leafs don’t?” ones (the answer being 3 points)? Kinda sad that it can easily be applied to us (3 points in regulation anyway).
But then again, is it? Sad, I mean. We may not be able to finish during the game but we sure as hell finish during the extra five and the shootout. Our goalies seem to handle the extra pressure extremely well (in fact in most cases Carey and Jaro were the real heroes), and our forwards and D-men step it up. And we win. Every single time.
I don’t know about you, but lately I have almost felt relief when we went into OT. Sudden death OT should not = relief…. but for some reason, this year it does. We know how to finish and we want to, but can’t seem to do it in regulation… but in OT something changes.
Maybe we are just generous. Here Toronto… 2 games, 2 points on us, free of charge! Atlanta? Here’s one for you too, no need to even ask! And the Islanders… since we beat you by so much the first time, one for you too, no big deal!
Maybe we thrive in pressure situations.
Maybe we are only willing to take a risk when it matters most.
Who knows?
But more importantly, who cares? Its working right… why question it?
The thing is, there may come a day (cross your fingers that it’s not in the foreseeable future) where we won’t be able to finish. What then?
What then indeed.
Instead of waiting for that day to come, let’s hope the Canadiens can go on a scoring spree the next few games and rack up a few regulation wins. They have been working overtime this season (no pun intended), and with all the injuries on defence, they deserve a little bit of a break.
Though it’s a little too early to think about playoffs (though come to think of it, it’s never too early), today we sit in 8th, just one point ahead of Tampa. Coincidentally, we are playing them tomorrow night. We need to win, and although the Habs love to give, it’d be nice to be on the receiving end of two points tomorrow night, within the 60 minutes.
Though if we do go to overtime, I wouldn’t be too worried.
Nice work!
While it's always exciting to go in to overtime, and while a win is a win…there are some downsides to all this overtime madness.
The first and most obvious thing is that eventually these 'generosity' points that the other team takes will eventually come back to bite us come April, whereas if we had just finished them in 60 minutes, they'd be without those few extra points that we donated.
Secondly, we don't take in to account how all of the extra time accumulates and takes its toll on the players bodies. To this point the Habs have played 7 games through some portion of overtime. 3 have gone the full 5 minutes to a shootout, and if you throw in time spent in the games that ended in the overtime period, the Habs have played well over an extra period of hockey over other teams. Doesn't sound like much now, but at the end of the season it could add up to a couple extra games played. In a year compressed by the Olympics, I'm not sure that a couple extra games (disguised within other games) is a good thing. I also realize that the Canadiens are not the only team to play in OT games, but for a team that will be life & death to make the playoffs even when Markov gets back, it needs all the advantages it can get.
Lastly, and probably most pessimistically, is the good 'ol Law of Averages. The Canadiens are an unbelievable 7-0 after regulation. The Lightning are a weak 1-5 or something like that. The law of averages says that both teams are due for a leveling out. Let's just hope that isn't tonight. In fact, I hope we get a reprieve tonight and get a home win in regulation. Let's not give the kooks in this city any more ammo to call for Lecavalier in a Habs jersey.
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