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It wasn’t surprising to see the goalies steal the show on St-Patrick’s jersey retirement. Tim Thomas just happened to be a better thief tonight. The all-forgotten All-star was spectacular at times and lucky when he needed it. Markov’s open net late in the third period had me curled up in foetal position for hours after the game. But then again, it’s not like he was the only one missing chances. Kovalev had a breakaway and the puck slipped on his stick. Again. I am wondering if it’s Kovy’s bad luck this year or if the ice at the
But back to the game, I cringed when I saw that Carbo’s option to replace Guillaume Latendresse was Georges Laraque. I don’t like Georges. I would rather have him lose it on Lucic and scare him and the rest of the league but instead, he politely asked for a dance. And as the reject he is, he can’t get a partner. However, no matter how painful it is to admit it, when he was shadowing Lucic in the first period,
To an even bigger surprise to me, Laraque Koivu and Tanguay had one of the best scoring opportunities in the first period with Tanguay barely missing a backhand rebound. I hate to say it but for the 6 minutes he was on the ice, the Habs 17 was effective. It’s a shame we can’t say the same of 27. On Lucic goal, Kovalev was replacing Bouillon who ventured in the offensive zone to keep the pressure. That’s the perfect play. But when he had to backcheck and keep it up with Lucic, he failed. That’s on top of many missed opportunities. I can live with giveaways from Alex, his style of play will create as many scoring chances as turnovers. I expect that. But losing the puck on breakaways, that’s a problem. Another big surprise was how totally ineffective Lapierre was tonight. No shots, no hits and a very poor 33% on faceoffs. Keep Begin if Max can’t get the message after missing 3 games.
Sometimes I feel like I’m saying the same stuff over and over. Again tonight the captain of the ship was good. His hit one Wideman was a highlight moment and created a turnover. I loved it. Again Price was solid. He can’t do everything by himself. Again, I’m wondering where the hell is Higgins (good job of closing your eyes on that one Rocket). Again O’Byrne looked bad on the first goal. I’ll give him some room, again, for not having support but that’s got to stop. Maybe he’s not as ready as we all hoped he was. Again the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge was playing in shootout. 7 games already. That’s way too much. With the talent this team has they have to score that goal that gives them a clean win and avoid giving points. Although tonight, the shootout was a point the Habs could have lost.
The Lang, Andrei K and Tom Kostopoulos combination seems to be working better than I expected. Hell, Tom even looked liked a superstar with that deflection from Breezer point shot. But Tom is working hard every night. Every shift. He deserve the credit for never giving up. That’s a positive.
And I think I’ll leave it on a positive note. Against the red-hot Bruins, the slumping Habs came out with a point. They played their better “jersey retirement game” in a long time. They failed to score on many occasions but the occasions are there. It’s only a matter of not losing the puck next time…
Bell Centre ice should be the best in the league. Excellent point BB! I love the new score clock and the new practise facilty will be great, but the Canadiens should spend whatever it takes to upgrade the ice plant. A speedy team needs and deserves good ice.
O’Byrne had one of his best games of the year. Ryan was on his wrong side and Kessel made a good move so I can excuse him for that one. What I can’t excuse is Bouillon’s play. He was at the end of a very long shift. Defensemen are taught never to pinch then because they can’t get back. And he didn’t. Hamrlik was standing on the bench waiting for him. And Kovalev was very soft in his defensive coverage of Lucic.
Speaking of Kovalev, he is playing so poorly right now that it is affecting his linemates. I watched Higgins in front of the net but to no avail because Kovalev never got the puck to him. You are right though. It is only when Higgins played with Koivu and Tanguay that I noticed him without having to look for him. Then he was digging in the corners springing the puck loose.
Carbo needs to go back to the standard lines. There’s just to much confusion out there. Koivu and Tanguay had 4 different wingers.
I also cringed at the open net with only a few minutes left. It was a rolling puck and hard to control for Markov.
Just re-read your article BB. I agree that Price was superb but can you really say that Tim Thomas was spectacular? Thomas plays goal like a beached mackarel…flop around enough and he’s bound to save something.
I think a lot of people are uneasy about having Roy’s number retired. Not that there would be much demand for it in any case. I don’t think he was very well liked in Montreal by his teammates and the media even when he played there and was winning.
Martin Brodeur isn’t often spectacular. Why? He’s mostly always at the right place. Price spectacular save against Ruutu in shootout was because he was caught off gard and had to fight it back. Thomas is a goalie who is often spectacular because he often has to correct his bad positioning.
About O’Byrne, we are excusing him a lot of times but if you are truly honest, he looked bad one at least one goal for something like the past 6 games (could be wrong but you get the point). He’s young and I hope we’ll see him get better and better. And he will. But to me it’s becoming more clear every day that we won’t have another Komisarek here. He’ll end up closer to a Bouillon. It’s not bad, I would love to have Bouillon with an extra 6 inches and 35 pounds.
Rob, Roy number was to be retired at one point. I don’t think anybody else would wear it in Montreal even if it wasn’t. Especially not a goalie. I think it was too soon, but because of the Centenial, the organization decided to do it now. Meh. Too soon, but it would have happened later anyway
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