Notes on the third:
-One difference between this and the other losses is that the Habs stood up and gave it their hearts and guts tonight. This is an honourable defeat. It still stinks, but at least we can be proud of them this time.
-Would it have been any different with Halak in net? Add it to the pile of "what ifs" with which we'll console ourselves this summer. Still, it would have been really nice to test that "any goalie would have given those up" theory.
-Oh well...it's still 24-8 for the Habs in lifetime playoff matchups against Boston, right? Rah-rah! Then again, perhaps going down 3-0 is Fate because coming back from that deficit would be a franchise first, and a great way to celebrate the Centennial. Okay...hahahahaha...couldn't hold it in.
-Mike "Icing" Komisarek. How much would YOU pay?
-Helluva time for the Lapierre line to come back down to earth, wasn't it?
-You know what's not fair? Because of Gainey's silence on the state of the lineup, I spent all day hoping Lang and/or Markov would be in tonight. Instead, I tune in to the pre-game show to find out not only are they NOT back, but Tanguay and Schneider are out as well. This whole season has been such a massive disappointment.
-Still, nice to mark the hundredth year of the team by getting pounded by a traditional rival.
-Timbits hockey's motto is: The first goal is having fun. And you know what? This year hasn't been fun. At all. Last year was excellent. This year has just been one disaster after another. I wonder what's coming next?
Notes on the second:
-The Bruins are a truly classy, well-behaved team of Lady Byng candidates. It's nice to see the refs recognizing their clean play by not mistakenly putting them down a man for more than half the game.
-Then again, with Lang, Tanguay, Schneider and Markov out I think I'm more afraid of a shorty against than expecting a goal for our guys.
-That sniper Shawn Thornton, kills 'em every time.
-Yannick Weber is making an early case for himself as the receiver of Markov's PP one-timer passes next season. What a bomb!
-It might be too early to say this, but Ryan O'Byrne is not playing a bad game tonight. I think we can at least say he played a helluva two periods.
-Komisarek handles the puck like an elephant doing brain surgery.
-Kovalev even dives artistically.
-It would have been nice to come out of that period even, but the patchwork quilt of a D the Habs are icing is too easily ovewhelmed in their own end. Anyone doubting Markov's the team MVP now?
-Price's save percentage must be better tonight. He's only allowing a goal on every seventh shot, rather than every sixth.
-One last gasp for a foothold in the series remaining. But I fear Ryder's Revenge has unofficially buried his old team. And Carbo wasn't even there to appreciate it.
Notes on the first:
-O'Byrne, D'Agostini, Weber and Stewart in the lineup. Expecting the Hamilton Bulldogs to beat the top team in the Eastern Conference is like expecting Zdeno Chara to have a handsome child.
-Nice of the marketing department to hand out white towels. Could be handy in case of a need to surrender.
-In the absence of Sergei, it was handy of Andrei Kostitsyn to provide the early momentum-killing dumbass penalty. Bold PK though.
-It's amazing what a difference there is in this team when the players don't stop moving.
-Metropolit skates like he's been shot out of a cannon.
-Stewart runs Thomas, then looks at him with that big goofy "Whoops, man" look on his face. He's going to be a really good instigator when he gets some more experience.
-Chris Higgins could redeem a really crappy season with a really good last month and a strong playoff. He seems to have finally found his role.
-Laraque is playing the best Laraque-hockey possible. But it feels like you're cheering for a one-legged swimmer, and it's great that he just gets across the pool without drowning.
-Price made a couple of game-savers tonight. I wish I could shake the feeling that it's only a matter of time...
-I was just thinking how well the depleted defence had been playing when Komisarek served up that giant brain fart for One-Ball Phil to deflect. I hate that guy. I'd honestly like to kick him in the nut.
-If there were any justice in the hockey world, there's no way this game should be tied. But, so goes the Centennial I guess. Now let's see if this fragile team can put the bad goal behind them and rally for another two brilliant periods.
Monday, April 20, 2009
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4 comments:
Yup. Proud of my team tonight.
Well, I watched the game, like I've watched probably 90% of the games, here in Montreal. What can I say? The pub agreed that Gorges had a good game; we all felt bad for Captain K during that final minute; several of us defended Price; several of us did not. All of us agreed that the team will likely see big changes next year. And after watching some of the other games with other teams, and witnessing mad blocked shots and other analogous sacrifices, we all agreed that this team requires a big bad heart. May it come before I'm old and grey.
I feel strangely at peace. The third was a disappointment, but considering that we were missing our two top scorers, our PP shooter and our top playmaker, as well as one of our top 4 D -- I guess we were just fresh out of miracles.
I was amazed to see us take to the body like we did. THEY were supposed to be the ones laying on the body, and here we are giving them a clinic. And I'll have to say that I give the bruins as much respect for conducting themselves honourably as any boston team I've seen (NO, I will not follow that tradition of rooting for the team that beats us). Anyway, simply not enough horses under the hood, tonight, but at least we had a tiger in the tank.
Sadly, I hear through a personal grapevine that Gainey is done after this year. He's just such a stand-up guy and I shudder to think about a lesser man (Brian Burke? Mike Milbury?).
Finally, the other consolation was don cherry's summation -- he still cannot talk about the Habs. Maclean had to hogtie him in a corner to get him to comment and all he could say was that we had a lot of injuries. What that tells me is that that silly old buffoon will never forget the Habs team that cost him his job and his only shot at a Stanley Cup. His loud clothes don't bother me because the diamonds from all our Stanley Cup rings are shining in my eyes.
Like you, J.T., I spent the day hoping that Gainey's silence meant Markov and/or Lang would be in the lineup. When I heard they wouldn't, and neither would Tanguay and Schneider, I knew we were done. But I knew that when it was announced two weeks ago that Markov would miss three weeks. Without him we can barely compete. That rat Grabovski ended our season.
But I can't fault the effort last night. It was an honourable defeat, the team giving it everything they had. It just wasn't enough. Would it have been with stellar goaltending? Not that Price was bad last night; he made some brilliant saves, but I thought the second goal was a bit soft. But that's where Price is at right now. He can't make the crucial game-saving stop that might make the difference. I just hope his problems this year haven't screwed him up long term.
It'll be a long summer, but for a while it'll be a relief to stop agonizing.
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