Thursday, April 16, 2009

Montreal vs. Boston Game 1

Notes on the third:

-I really like Metropolit. He had a horrible start with the Habs, but it's been all uphill from there.

-Koivu's got the sisu. Google it.

-After the first, the defence has been playing a solid, controlled game without Markov. I'm impressed.

-Stupid penalty by Gorges ruins the best sustained dominance the Habs have had against Boston all season.

-Plekanec has played one of the worst games of his career. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but it stinks.

-Price was good. Despite everything, he did what he had to do.

-I wonder if their hearts are broken or if they can come from behind and go back to Montreal with a split? Hard to say with this team, this year.

-I hate the Bruins.

Notes on the second:

-The Habs D hits less often than a drunk driver. I think even Bouillon would be helpful at this point.

-I think Lapierre's too keyed up for this one. His legs are skittering like a hamster in a wheel.

-In the battle of the blue-shirted, blue-tied coaches, Gainey's is much less blinding. But Perplexed Alfred Hitchcock never did have a lot of style.

-Price scares me when he whips his head around to find the puck like that. It's like it suddenly becomes invisible for him. He knows it's there, but if it's really quiet, he can't find it.

-Thomas is good if you announce by your position "I will be firing the puck from the right circle, high to your glove side." He *does* speak body language, apparently.

-Nothing he could do on Kovalev's shot, though. Kovy had to sign that shot out of the ammo repository at Petawawa.

-The PK is rocking this game. But they can't push their luck forever.

-I'm criticizing the Pleks line for being pretty invisible, but at the same time half expecting that if the Habs can pull it off, they'll score the winner.

-Good period. Another twenty like that, and the Habs have a shot.


Notes on the first:

-Lucic on Breezer: Elder abuse.

-Giveaways in the neutral zone will kill the Habs. The only way they can make up for the loss of Markov is to move the puck quickly and accurately through the middle. So far they've been giving it up more easily than a drunken nerd.

-Dumbass penalty by Plekanec. He looks like a little tiny Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He needs to chill out.

-I don't think I've seen Higgins win a fight for the puck on the boards all year. He's got to be 200 pounds of jello. He's money on the PK though. Funny how he's so much better down a man than he is even strength.

-Boy, I wish Carey Price could effectively smother a puck. He'll never be charged for murder.

-Higgins beat Thomas because he put a rebound high. That's the way to do it.

-Some of the Habs' aging Ds need bifocals because they have no clue where the puck is half the time.

-Not a bad start by the Habs, but the tide turned shortly before the first Boston goal and the Canadiens don't have the board skills or the transition game to push back.

2 comments:

pierre said...

I started watching our markovless Habs not hoping for much and the first period was indeed an ugly affair .. but the closing of it with Higgins's goal was anything but... and the potential of it being a disaster for the insecure home team with their their fans was high.

Boston was indeed a different team in the second ... so were we ... then a magnificent goal by Kovy before retiring for the third ! who could have asked for a better scenario.

The Bruins were nervous and the home fans were silent in the third and it seemed that all the CH had to do was to keep playing well until the Bruins shot themselve in their own foot ... wihout the over zealous Steve Bégin around to fuck things up, I though, time was on our side..... come on Gorges... what happened to you ? a team guy like you.... this was NO time for ruffing up ugly Savard.

The other thing I didn't like in that game was not to see Koivu playing with Tanguay and Kovalev used together in the third period for more time then we saw them ( one shift only )...... and to see Laraque still on Koivu's line after the Bruins had scored with only 8 minutes left to play made it even worse - a total aberration to me ( considering how hot the TKK line proved to be a while back ).

Without Markov our team has to be practically flawless... its a difficult way to play the game.

Chris Campbell said...

I'm pretty sure Tom The Bomb is the guy from Catch Me If You Can. He's currently impersonating an NHL hockey player, who somehow got himself on a third line and on the PK unit.

How can you put a guy on the penalty kill who can't raise the puck? He'll never get it out of the zone.

Love the guy as a 4th liner with his energy, but Gainey has him trying to do more than he's capable of.

Although Gainey also thought Laraque should stay on the top line when we're down a goal late in the third.

And I thought Carbo had issues.