Mitch Melnick's Blog

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 42

2012-01-21T00:44:00.002-05:00

I'd rather listen to Etta James.

THE GOOD

Max Pacioretty. Got right into it after Erik Cole was sent flying.
Erik Cole. Best player on ice for 40 minutes. Seemed to get really frustrated by referees Kevin Pollock & Francois St. Laurent. Took two bad penalties in 3rd and was stripped of puck by Kris Letang deep in Pittsburgh zone which eventually led to an Evgeny Malkin slapper that tied game late in the third.
Andrei Kostitsyn. One of his better games of the season. Scored on the power play where he should be getting more ice time.
Tomas Kaberle. Two assists, including the one to set up the Kostitsyn goal. Played 18:00 instead of 8. Will somebody please get him a real hockey stick?
David Desharnais. Ho hum. Usual heady performance and only Montreal centerman to win the majority of his draws (60%).
Only 35 games left to play.

THE BAD

Thomas Plekanec. Seems his only legit scoring chances of late come when he's killing a penalty. Not that long ago (November) he was considered one of best two way centers in NHL. No clue what's happened. Must have been Mike Cammalleri's fault.
Rene Bourque. Did he play? ("Cammalleri is a one trick pony. If he doesn't score what else does he do for you? Bourque gives you another element or two") Bourque had 0 hits and 0 shots on goal.
Randy Cunneyworth. Had Plekanec & Travis Moen out for a good chunk of the overtime in an effort, I suppose, to counter Evgeni Malkin & James Neal. Habs are 10 points out of a playoff spot, having already blown a two goal lead and he's worried about not losing in overtime so he can take his chances in the shootout? This is precisely the attitude Cammalleri was trying to articulate. Then, in the shootout he plays another hunch and goes with Scott Gomez. Is it asking too much for the Habs to practice this skills competition a little more often and/or use their best offensive players instead of playing a game of blindfolded darts?
Another 3rd period lead flushed down the playoff toilet. How is it that the Habs have struggled so mightily in the third period all season, especially against teams that have played the night before? They're either too fat or too weak. Maybe both.

THE UGLY

Another PK Subban brain fart. Blindly giving the puck away while the Habs enjoyed a man advantage and an opportunity to take a 4-1 lead. What's worse was his reaction. First on the ice, waving his left arm as if to say to Scott Gomez "Where did you go, Gomer?!" and then on the bench trying to sell his version of "it wasn't my fault" to assistant coach Randy Ladouceur who had to tell Subban to zip it.
All of this drama giving more ammunition to those who believe Subban is too self centered to develop into a top flight defenseman. The idiocy of the "let's trade PK (and Price)" brigade embarrasses this market more than Pierre Gauthier does. Subban is in his second NHL season. What's Drew Doughty doing in LA? Ok, I'll tell you. In 43 games Doughty is 3-17-20 pts +1. Subban, in 46 games, is 3-16-19 pts -1. Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers has 8 points in 27 games this season, has been a healthy scratch, and is -8. In his 2nd NHL season Jack Johnson had 11 points and was -18. Second year defenseman Cam Fowler has played 45 games this season. He's 3-15-18 pts -13. And to save us both a lot of time I'll just jump ahead to Zdeno Chara who, in his second full season, played 65 games and was 2-9-11 pts -27. Chara had a similar third full season before his imbecile of a GM lost his patience and dealt him to Ottawa. What's that old saying about history?
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 41

2012-01-18T23:11:00.003-05:00

Not much to say other than this is not fun. I started blogging after games because I thought it would be fun. I get paid to do a daily radio show. This blog has been helpful in reaching and reacting to the blogosphere/twitter. Even on bad nights there has usually been something to discuss. I think there was one instance earlier in the season when I nodded off watching the Habs and couldn't really say anything about the game other than it truthfully put me to sleep. But it's been a treat to be able to share my thoughts with fellow hockey fans. But I don't think I can keep this up. Not because I'm looking for added incentive but I can think of better things to do on nights like this than to tap away on the keyboard to describe another miserable night. It's just not fun.

So, when the inspiration hits - perhaps as early as Friday night in Pittsburgh - I'll follow the muse. But expect more of what might be happening elsewhere, whether its a meltdown by Ryan Miller and the Sabres or the NHLPA vs NHL or the NFL playoffs or Ryan Braun proclaiming his innocence. I'm restless by nature. But the 2011-2012 edition of the Canadiens already has me looking elsewhere. I can only hope Geoff Molson feels the same way.

THE GOOD

Scott Gomez. Skated well all night. Actually fired 5 shots on goal. His game looks ok. But then again, he's well rested. On the other hand, Gomez was -2 and a pathetic 2 for 9 on face offs.
Rene Bourque. Challenged on his first shift by Matt Hendricks and became the first member of the Canadiens since - who? - to decisively beat an opposing fighter. Three minutes later Mathieu Perrault scored on a screen and it was game over. Why did Washington gain momentum from a scrap their fighter lost?

THE BAD

Too many to single out. Carey Price looked weak on the second goal (And to those who say he should have stopped the first one I can't agree. The Caps entered Montreal territory with a lot of speed and way too much room while Josh Gorges found himself backing up almost at full speed. Perreault showed a veteran goal scorer's touch by firing the puck through Gorges' feet. That is a very tough shot for a goaltender to pick up. He has to guess.) and made just 13 saves. The way the Canadiens are playing right now they need Price to stop almost everything. He might just be too gassed to provide that kind of elite goaltending.
Andrei Kostitsyn. Had his man Marcus Johansson tied up. No he didn't.
Lars Eller. In a zone right now. A no fly zone. Seems distracted. Just 3 for 12 on face offs (25%).
10 points out of a playoff spot. Two points out of last place.
Darren Dreger's list of potential new GM's. Nothing wrong with compiling a list. But Jacques Martin? John Ferguson Jr? Doug Risebrough is one of my all time favourite players but under which scenario could he possibly become the Habs go-to guy? (If Bob Gainey has something to say.) Marc Bergevin? Claude Loiselle? (Can't help but wonder if any of these guys are "sources".) Two most legit names on Dreger's list - from the outside looking in to Montreal - are Julien Brisebois (not happening) and Pierre McGuire (An entire blog on Pierre coming up soon). See a much earlier blog for my own "outside the box" list. ***(TAKE 25 See COMMENTS)***

THE UGLY

Montreal power play. 0-7. It stinks. The worst I've seen. I've been watching since 1965. Seriously. I cannot remember a Canadiens team with a power play percentage as low as under 13%. Can't pin this on Mike Cammalleri.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKES 39 & 40

2012-01-16T00:10:00.000-05:00

Just like you figured. The Habs would lose to Ottawa and then beat the top team in the conference. Following a near perfect victory in Toronto Saturday night the Rangers didn't seem prepared to deal with the Canadiens' top line. And once Montreal put the game away in the second period, New York showed nothing other then a couple of bursts while killing a penalty with just over two minutes to play. Frankly, it looked like the Rangers scattered directly to their favourite late Saturday night Montreal hang-outs instead of heading directly to their hotel rooms. Even John Tortorella might admit in a quiet moment that they had earned it. Taking nothing away from the 12th place Canadiens of course who were and are the more desperate team. Away we go.

THE GOOD

David Desharnais, Eric Cole & Max Pacioretty. Brilliant night as the trio combined for 9 points and were +9. Excellent production as they needed just 5 shots on goal to score their 3 goals. And credit Randy Cunneyworth for getting them on the ice when the likes of Kris Newbury and Wojtek Wolski were out there for the Rangers.
Scott Gomez. He's alive! Best game since, when, last February against the Rangers when he scored his last goal? He sure is smiling a lot for a guy who hasn't scored in nearly a year. Maybe he's just that happy to be playing again. But it would be nice to see more of a fire-in-the-belly attitude instead of yukking it up with opposing centermen. Still on pace for a 0 goal season.
Peter Budaj. Doesn't play in nearly a month and is asked to help beat the number one team in the conference. Thankless job. He was razor sharp.
Michael Blunden. If the HBO cameras were still around the Rangers we might have been treated to something like this from Tortorella: "Michael Fucking Blunden? Jesus Effin' Christ! Who's man is that? Rupper-bury that fucking mic where the sun don't shine! We're making Michael fucking Blunden look like he belongs in that fucking all star game I'm coaching! Michael Blunden! This is fucking ridiculous! What the hell am I supposed to say to Brooksie about Blunden? Fuck!"
Josh Gorges & PK Subban. Both played a very strong 25:00.
Hal Gill. Heroic shift midway through the second when the Rangers had Habs hemmed in for what seemed like two full minutes. There was Gill sprawling to finally knock the puck out of his zone but he still couldn't get off the ice until Budaj froze it. Impressive 16:30 for a 36 year old in a back to back situation.
Thomas Plekanec. Followed up terrific game Saturday by winning 10 of 13 face offs. Is 40-31 in last three games in face off department to raise his season percentage to nearly 51%.
Rene Bourque. Good start. Noticed him right off the bat with a strong burst of speed on his off wing testing Henrik Lundqvist with a backhand shot. Went to the net. And hit rookie Carl Hagelin with a strong check into the boards. Apparently not the selfish type.
Montreal's 2nd Period. Outscored NYR 3-0. When was the last time the Habs outscored their opponents 3-0 in one period, especially at home?
Montreal's 3rd period. Didn't back off. Even when the bench dropped to 10 forwards when Travis Moen didn't come back after suffering what looked like a knee injury and then down to 9 when Plekanec was clipped and left with over nine minutes to play.
Randy Cunneyworth. It's all about accountability. Lars Eller screwed up on the Rangers goal so he didn't play in the second period. Head coaches have to send messages without destroying their players. Eller was back in the third. Andrei Kostitsyn also sat out much of the second period but he might have been guilty by association.
Habs' record with Rene Bourque is 1-0. Without Mike Cammalleri it's 1-0-1.

THE BAD

Rangers goal by John Mitchell. It started when Eller had the puck in his own zone but softly turned it over to Derek Stepan. Then he made a half assed attempt to check Mitchell.

THE UGLY

Got my first look at those ugly back of the net billboards apparently exclusive to RDS broadcasts. I get the cash grab. Major League Baseball started using rotating TV-only billboards behind the catcher years ago. But what I saw last night was beyond intrusive. Do they really have to be that big?
Packers performance in Green Bay.

And A Quick Trip Through Saturday's Loss To Ottawa:

THE GOOD

Thomas Plekanec. Rebounded from an awful 5 game stretch, especially after being stopped again on a shorthanded breakaway, before finally nailing his first shorthanded goal of the season to get Montreal going. Had 5 shots on goal, finished +2 and played nearly 26:00.
Josh Gorges. Shortly after Jason Spezza's power play goal RDS had a great shot of Gorges on the ice talking to his teammates on the bench imploring them not to give up; that there was still enough time to tie up the game. True leader.
Max Pacioretty's goal to tie up the game with 39 seconds left with some help from David Deshrnais and Chris Campoli. Yes Campoli, whose shot from the blue line bounced to Pacioretty giving Campoli his first assist of the season.
Montreal PK Unit. Again. Yes Spezza's blast from inside the blue line past a screened Carey Price was a PP goal but overall Montreal held Ottawa to a 1 for 8 night with the man advantage. A Canadiens - like 12.5%.
San Fransisco 49ers - New Orleans Saints amazing NFL playoff match up at Candlestick Park. Made watching Ottawa - Montreal very, very difficult.

THE BAD

Randy Cunneyworth. Did he morph into Jacques Martin? Thomas Kaberle in the shootout, as one of the first 3 shooters? If he was looking for an extra special dramatic and redemptive ending why not Scott Gomez? But Kaberle instead of Andrei Kostitsyn, Desharnais, Erik Cole, PK Subban or Plekanec is beyond a head scratcher. When you go out on a limb like that it had better work.
Paul Devorski. For years I've heard about what a great ref and great guy Devorski is. I don't know him. But as long as I've heard that he was about the best in the NHL I've noticed how often he takes a crap on the ice during a game, especially at the Bell Centre. I understand the league has become ultra sensitive about protecting its goaltenders but that was a terribly bogus penalty he gave Kostitsyn who was clearly pushed into the crease by Milan Michalek.

THE UGLY

Montreal power play. 0-5. How can it be so bad? Maybe part of the answer is...
Montreal shootout record. Drops to 1-6, 0-5 on home ice. Carey Price has an issue or two (though he did make a save to his stick side) but Montreal shooters keep firing blanks. Where's Alex Kovalev when you need him?
Mike Milbury. Anybody see his hatchet job on Geoff Molson & Pierre Gauthier on NBC earlier in the day (he was strong but not as forceful on HNIC several hours later)? Gauthier is fair game (see below) but I don't recall seeing or hearing Milbury blasting NHL owners through the years let alone one who's last name reverberates as much as Molson's. Milbury's dripping hatred of the Canadiens is obvious at moments like this. I was hoping Pierre McGuire would take his shoe off and stuff it in Milbury's mouth (U.S. TV being what it is McGuire had to follow Milbury's rant by focusing on the Rangers. The NBC intermission was previewing the Montreal - NYR match up). I also believe Milbury gave up his right to dump on any NHL GM anywhere at any time considering how badly he failed in that department. (Next thing you know Doug MacLean will wind up in a TV studio talking about how crappy a certain NHL GM is. Oh wait.) There's a huge credibility gap. Except perhaps for U.S. hockey fans under the age of 30 who never heard of Alexei Yashin.

THE UGLY TRUTH (As Recommended By @montrealdesign)

It's one thing for some NHL GM's to complain they had no idea that Mike Cammalleri was available. It's quite another when - as I'm told by somebody based out west - at least one general manager specifically asked Pierre Gauthier last Wednesday if he was trading Cammalleri. Gauthier told him absolutely not. Less than 24 hours later Cammalleri was traded to Calgary.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 39

2012-01-13T01:48:00.006-05:00

Mike Cammalleri had to know it was coming. I don't know that for a fact but when a veteran free agent signee is being shopped (Pierre Gauthier said "about a month" (didn't he say that about Andrei Markov?) but a Flames executive said three months), especially if, like Cammalleri, he has a limited no movement clause, then one can easily assume their agents keep them duly informed. And maybe that's what Cammalleri meant when he told Francois Gagnon & Arpon Basu to "read between the lines" following his "losing attitude" rant. It was perhaps understandable to think that Cammalleri was trying to talk his way out of town or just expanding on a recent trade request but it appears the exact opposite is true. My initial gut instinct was that Cammalleri knew the Canadiens had been trying to trade him and was hurt by it. A victim of a bad season to be sure but also the victim of a poorly constructed team.

Pierre Gauthier can't find anybody to take Scott Gomez and even if he could he would not get an NHL ready player in return. Brian Gionta is a salt of the earth character kind of player that is universally respected. Thomas Plekanec was just locked up. Max Pacioretty, PK Subban and Carey Price are not going anywhere. So, if the Habs were going to trade a top shelf player in an effort to get bigger and stronger physically I suppose it had to be Cammalleri.

Rene Bourque will score more ugly goals than Cammalleri. He'll hit more people. And maybe an old lunch pail captain like Randy Cunneyworth will get the most out of him because while on the surface Bourque's numbers look good, what's not seen on a stat sheet is work ethic. In that area Bourque has a less than stellar reputation. Gauthier might have just acquired Dustin Penner Light.

To be fair I like the money saved and I like the 2nd round draft choice but I don't think there's a scenario that will convince me that Pierre Gauthier is the right guy to be pulling the trigger for the Canadiens and their fan base. He just realized that the team he helped put together is too small? He just realized that the Boston Bruins are that rare beast in this era - a defending stanley cup champion that has actually improved? Did he just wake up to see his old team the Ottawa Senators running away from his current team? Did he really think that Chris Campoli at a salary of nearly two million dollars would help? Does he not realize that in acquiring Campoli and Thomas Kaberle for the blue line he made things so much worse for his franchise goaltender? Did he not think it might be wise, prior to introducing his new head coach that it might have been worth the effort to get him to say, at the very least, "bonjour"? Yes, Gauthier sure has been pushing a lot of buttons this season. But none bigger than the one labeled "panic".

THE GOOD

Yannick Weber. One day after telling reporters that he thinks he should be in the line up because he knows he's "better than some of the guys playing" Weber scored a late power play goal to give the Canadiens a chance to tie the game in Boston. It was Weber's 4th goal of the season which leads all Montreal defensemen. All four of his goals have been on the power play. Only Erik Cole (7) has scored more. Geez, if you're going to dress 7 defensemen and you have the worst power play in the entire NHL then wouldn't it make sense to dress a power play specialist?
Carey Price. Another strong outing in Boston. Unless you believe it's Price's fault that Zdeno Chara's dump in hit a stanchion and bounced in front of an empty net.
The Canadiens overall effort but especially in the third period when they were short a man and down to just 10 forwards after Cammalleri was informed that he had been traded. An NHL player traded during a game is something most of us had never seen.
PK Subban going nose to nose with Milan Lucic. Let me rephrase that. Subban not backing down while continuing to play the body whether it was Lucic or later on David Krecji. The hit on Krecji brought the usual response from Boston with Andrew Ferrence grabbing Subban by the collar. And PK was naturally slammed after the game for not swinging with Ferrence but he got a Montreal power play out of it which produced a goal.
Three big offensive wingers for Montreal - Cole, Max Pacioretty & Andrei Kostitsyn combined for 15 shots on goal but couldn't beat Tim Thomas.
The Canadiens PK unit led by the NHL's leading shot blocker Josh Gorges was perfect again (5 for 5).

THE BAD

Carey Price named to the Eastern Conference All Star team. He's played more minutes than anybody in the NHL this season. He needs the time off.
Twitterville exploding with erroneous reports of where Cammalleri was headed. At least nobody died.
The Bruins can thank Montreal for turning their season around. After losing back to back games to the Habs in November Boston has gone 25-4-1. I saw them at their dumbest vs Vancouver last Saturday. But how'd they lose the other three?

THE UGLY

With everybody's favourite whipping boy now back in Calgary (just in time for Scott Gomez to return to the line up) where is the microscope on what has been a terrible season for Thomas Plekanec? When exactly did he start playing like "a little girl" again? He's now a team worst -13 while recently generating next to no offense. With the schedule and his teams' playoff hopes slipping away Plekanec has managed one assist in his last five games. In Boston he failed to get a single shot on goal, was terribly soft on Boston's second goal by Lucic and picked up a stupid, lazy holding the stick penalty in the Boston zone with just 1:12 to play and the Habs pressing for the equalizer.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 38

2012-01-11T01:01:00.001-05:00

It was oddly subdued in the rink tonight, even before Jason Arnott opened the scoring midway through the game. I thought the mood would be festive, and perhaps it would have been had Thomas Plekanec beaten Jaroslav Halak early in the first, but one gets the feeling that reality has set in for the vast majority of Canadiens fans - that it's going to take a minor miracle to reach the playoffs. And after a thin Slovak kid did his thing three years ago, asking for another one of those miracles is just being too greedy. Especially in the year of Tebow.

THE GOOD

The Canadiens PK Unit was perfect (4 for 4). Come to think of it, that's where the St. Louis Blues might go shopping at the trade deadline. Because other than their power play the Blues look to be championship calibre.
Josh Gorges was best Montreal player. Nothing against Gorges but that's not saying much on this night.
PK Subban shift in the second period when he laid out Barret Jackman with his best body check of the season, followed moments later by a key shot block.
Mathieu Darche shift in the third when he sprawled to block a shot in his own end then forced a turnover deep in St. Louis territory. All that work but no shot on goal.
The tributes pouring in all day for "The Professor" Ron Caron, culminating in a moment of silence prior to the game involving the two teams Caron worked so hard for.
Halak fans who waited through the final 20 minutes to pay tribute to their man. And the Blues forcing their #2 goaltender (at the moment) to take a post game bow even before the three stars were announced.

THE BAD

Plekanec's inability to beat Halak on that shorthanded breakaway in the first three minutes. Turning point of the game. Credit Halak with a terrific save but of all the people in the Bell Centre nobody should know better than Plekanec that you cannot beat Halak low along the ice. Typical of the kind of season Plekanec is having.
PK Subban allowing 4th liner Ryan Reaves to blow by him leading to the winning goal by Arnott. Reaves, in picking up his first point of the season, looked like Mason Raymond.
Alexei Emelin. Terrible give away led to final goal of the night by Chris Stewart. Truth is the game was over long before that. First rough night in over a month for the Russian rookie.
Hal Gill. Beaten badly by Stewart to the outside then set up to block a shot by David Backes only to fully screen Carey Price who was easily beaten on the stick side to make it 2 - 0. Gill played under 12:00 and was -2. If I'm a contending team looking for some veteran help on the blue line but especially to help kill penalties I'd surrender a low draft choice to get Gill. Way before I pay any price for Chris Campoli.
The Plekanec - Gionta - Cammalleri trio. Again. Combined to go -6.
Mike Cammalleri. Just when it seemed he had turned a corner. Late in the second period Cammalleri was set up alone in the high slot and fired the puck...wide.
Gionta re-injuring his shoulder or collarbone or elbow or arm or whatever it is they merely refer to as an "upper body" injury.
Bell Centre music. Was that a set list from the lamest ipod in Montreal? Just awful.
Blue Jays tribute. Nice touch by organist Dorothy Bibeau to play "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" as the scoreboard showed a bunch of guys sitting in a lodge wearing Habs jerseys. Those guys were Ricky Romero, Brett Lawrie, Casey Janssen & J.P. Arencibia who were in town as part of the Toronto Blue Jays winter caravan. If you're going to show them on the scoreboard at least put their names up there. Reaction in the rink was like the sound of one hand clapping.
No birthday gift from the Habs to TSN 990's Sean Campbell. Presumably Campbell celebrated elsewhere.
Finding out at game time that Pat Hickey was on the injured list following a car accident. Get well Pat.

THE UGLY

The boos. They began late in the second period after Cammalleri missed the net on that scoring chance and continued through a good chunk of the third with Cammalleri again being the main target, or so it seemed.
Montreal power play. The NHL's worst power play (and that includes Thomas Kaberle & Campoli) went 0 -3 with one single shot on goal. Season percentage is 12.8, only team in the league under 13%. Maybe Kaberle will turn it around Thursday in Boston.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 37

2012-01-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

Tough act to follow on home ice after all that offense and all that jazz Wednesday vs Winnipeg but a vitally important two points for the Canadiens, especially for showing themselves -again - that they can protect a one goal lead heading into the third period and this time maintaining that slim lead for most of the final 20 minutes.

THE GOOD

Andrei Kostisyn. Best player on the ice showing that yes, over 20,000 fans can be wrong. Some will point to his contract year. I will say again that an offensively gifted player like Kostitsyn will benefit greatly from a new head coach. And because we've all complained ad nauseam about how the Habs mucked up big time in the 2003 draft, it might be a good time to point out that Kostisyn's production through just 31 games played this season (10-8-18) compares favourably to at least some of the big name players drafted after Montreal selected Kostitsyn 10th overall including Jeff Carter (29 GP 10-7-17), Ryan Getzlaf (39 GP 7-19-26), Mike Richards (34 GP 13-10-23) & Dutsin Brown (42 GP 10-11-21).
Max Pacioretty. Received his wake up call just in time.
Alexei Emelin. Think he would have progressed this much if Jacques Martin was still behind the bench?
Carey Price. Saved everything except a Vinny Lecavalier deflection.
Josh Gorges & PK Subban. Played a near perfect game as shutdown pair. Nothing exemplified their "partnership" more than the play that took place about 11:00 into the game when PK had his shot blocked at the Tampa Bay blue line, allowing Steve Downie to break in alone until Gorges caught up to him. No way Gorges moves that well prior to his knee surgery.
David Desharnais. Earned more minutes (21:12) than any Montreal forward. Finished +2 and won 58% of his face offs.
Erik Cole. Finsihed the first half of his first season in Montreal with 17 goals including 7 on the power play.
Mike Blunden. Scored his first goal as a member of the Canadiens in front of his parents.
Lars Eller. Put the puck in the net for the 5th time in two games. So what if he directed it in with his skate? Silly rule.
Pre - game ceremony honouring Vladislav Tretiak, Yvan Cournoyer & Paul Henderson.
Elliotte Friedman pre-game HNIC piece on Randy Cunneyworth.
Shane Murphy Band. Post game set(s) at Brutopia kept me out for one of those rare "last call" nights. Mitch Gallo & Sean Campbell as well.

THE BAD

Discovering that Paul Henderson is not a member of the Order of Canada. Shameful. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/paulhenderson19/
Thomas Plekanec - Brian Gionta - Mike Cammalleri. Maybe they need a game or two to get going. Gionta was definitely rusty in his first game back from a groin injury (broke in alone on his off-wing in the third period only to hit the outside of the net). But this trio needs to generate more than a combined five shots on goal.

LE LAID

AND THE FUNNY

http://abdulbutt.com

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 36

2012-01-05T00:43:00.002-05:00

(Subtitled "A Star Is Born"?)

Holy shit.

THE GOOD

Lars Eller. The stat sheet - as usual - only tells part of the tale. First Hab since Jan Bulis to score four goals in one game. First since Alex Tanguay to register five points. First Montreal forward to score a hat trick since Mike Cammalleri on Centennial night 2009 versus Boston. First since, unofficially, Cammalleri in 2010 to score on a penalty shot (obviously saving that move he made on Chris Mason for a shootout. Eller did know it was Mason in goal by then, didn't he?). Finished the night +4. But I think the game turned when Eller scored his second of the night at the 2:41 mark of the third period. That moment actually began deep in the Canadiens zone with a face off to the left of Carey Price after Josh Gorges had iced the puck (after the Canadiens had just killed off a penalty to maintain their slim one goal lead). Eller initially lost the draw but the play was whistled dead. He didn't lose the do-over and the Habs took the puck all the way to the Winnipeg net with Eller finishing off a brilliant play with his linemates to give the Habs some much needed breathing room and the first of three goals in a span of 50 seconds to bust the game wide open. Eller's performance was magical on several fronts. It gave his team a much needed victory in their first game on home ice following a dreadful road trip to finish up 2011. A trip that featured Eller as a healthy scratch in Winnipeg. It gave long suffering Bell Centre fans something to remember during an otherwise totally (so far) forgettable season. It was a moment to cherish and even milk a little, as Eller took in the loud, long post game ovation after being named the game's fist star. A lasting image. And, lastly, Eller provided some rare smiles all along the players bench after his penalty shot goal. Those grins have been a long time coming. And I suspect the man who traded for him, who must be feeling awfully lonely these days, even managed to crack a smile.
Andrei Kostitsyn & Travis Moen. Any other 3rd line in the NHL combine for a 10 point night this season? No single Montreal player figures to benefit from their coaching change more than Kostitsyn.
Erik Cole. A fiend on the puck all night. I actually thought he was the best player on the ice. Evidently his coach agreed playing him more than 27:00. I'll say it again - there were numerous reasons why Jacques Martin had to go. But at the top of the list was Martin's inexplicable treatment of a popular stanley cup winning veteran who had just signed on as a free agent.
Mike Cammalleri. Two feet in front of Ondrej Pavelec 15:00 into the first period and Cammalleri has a shot blocked by a defenseman. The puck bounces right back to him and he fans. Early in the third he throws a backhand pass to the net and it deflects in. Go figure. It's starting to turn. Three goals in his last four games.
Josh Gorges. Celebrates a hard earned new contract by scoring the much needed first goal of the night by the Habs.
Tomas Kaberle. First goal as a Hab. First goal since last March against Montreal. Nice shot from the left side but it was tremendous work by Moen in the neutral zone that made the play.
Randy Cunneyworth. Notice a difference yet? Other than the meltdown in Winnipeg the Canadiens' effort has been there. What I really like about Cunneyworth as a coach - without the benefit of attending a practice - is evident to anybody who's paying attention. A more aggressive approach to pursuing the puck, often having two players surround the puck carrier (something that at least one former Montreal assistant coach kept preaching only to have it fall on a pair of rather large but seemingly deaf ears); a willingness to use his fourth line more than once or twice a period which hilights his overall intelligent approach to player usage. Martin was killing Thomas Plekanec, often using him close to 25:00 a night. Plekanec is down to a more reasonable 16 minutes. Cole, the big strong winger the Habs have waited years for, gets rewarded with well over 20:00. He is Montreal's best player, he deserves more ice time than anybody else. Thirty six year old Hal Gill has seen his minutes drop to just over 12 or so. Veterans Kaberle & Chris Campoli, neither very strong in their own end, played about 13:30 while Alexei Emelin (+3 and still waiting for the official scorer to give him an assist on Eller's first goal) played over 18:00. No way Martin was going to cut into the ice time of his veterans.
Larry Carriere. Loyola's own was behind the bench at the Bell Centre for the first time. And gave his first RDS in-period interview with Marc Denis with a definite twinkle in his eye.
Brian Gionta. The captain is ready to return Saturday against a defensively weakened Tampa Bay Lightning team. Louis Leblanc returns to Hamilton knowing he can play in the NHL. Now he has to dominate at the AHL level.
Geoff Molson. Habs' owner now on twitter @GMolsonCHC joining AOL founder Ted Leonsis of the Capitals (21, 513 followers as I write this) and Terry Pegula of the Sabres (88 followers). Since opening up his twitter account shortly after 5:30 Wednesday afternoon, Molson has been tabbed by 8,284, oops, make that 8,285 followers. Now, about that planned boycott on Saturday...

THE BAD

Not much really. The power play was 0 - 3 but looked good late in the first period. And all three goals scored by Winnipeg were the result of forwards left alone in front of Carey Price.

THE UGLY

James Duthie, on a special Junior Hockey Championship edition of The TSN Quiz, pointed out that Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of "the punch up in Piestany" when Canada and the Soviets were thrown out of the World Hockey Championship following one of the ugliest brawls in hockey history. Duthie, warped genius that he is, is holding out hope that our Juniors can still win a gold medal if they can beat Finland in the bronze medal game then wait for Russia and Sweden to stage a similar brawl Thursday in Calgary.

I NEED A BREAK

2011-12-28T12:53:00.003-05:00

Won't be watching much Habs or anything (except catching up on some movies) while I'm off for holiday break but I will be posting a couple of times - just not The Good The Bad And The Ugly - until Habs - Jets post game the night of January 4th.

Really not much to say about that December 22 loss in Winnipeg other than "rock bottom". Hugely important bounce back in Ottawa as Habs finally find an opposing goalie(s) they can beat. Even more important for Mike Cammalleri to hit the scoresheet after some stinging - but in my opinion - truthful quotes following the loss to the Jets. Among them (courtesy Pat Hickey game story December 23), "I think we have to get a little more creative (on the power play). I think it's a cop-out to say we have to get more shots, more bodies to the net. I think we have to move bodies around and look for shots from different spots."

And on the lack of apparent chemistry, "I think we're walking a fine line between keeping it simple and hard and not creating any hockey plays. You say let's keep it simple and forget you're in the NHL. If you keep it too simple, the other team just regroups and comes at you all night."

Here's hoping the following list of people found what they were looking for under the Christmas tree/ Chanukah bush:

Mike Cammalleri - His touch.
PK Subban - His smile.
Scott Gomez - A milk carton.
Randy Cunneyworth - Respect.
Jacques Martin - Ken Hitchcock's phone number.
Geoff Molson - Pierre McGuire's phone number.
Pierre Gauthier - Nuts.
Andrei Markov - Playoff games.
Anthony Calvillo - A healthy offensive line.
Marc Trestman - A healthy Anthony Calvillo.
Joey Saputo - Not an empty seat.
Noel Butler - A new seat.
Chris Nilan - Success at Sundance.
Rod Francis - Three more Bills wins.
Mitch Gallo - Three more Leafs wins.
Jennifer Heil - A business degree.
Andie Bennett - A HNIC gig.
Pete Marier - A gig.
Terry DiMonte - A Mark Twain handbook.
Ted Bird - A new bridge.
Montreal - Three new bridges.
Montreal Music Fans - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Tom Waits, The Allman Brothers, Lou Reed (without John Zorn and without Metallica).
Shane Murphy - A live album.
The National Hockey League - Sidney Crosby.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 35*

2011-12-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

*(Yeah I know. So I missed one. I don't get paid for this shit. But I do thank you for reading).

Is it possible the 2011 - 2012 Montreal Canadiens have just gotten too fat? These third period meltdowns are beyond inexcusable. I hope somebody - Carey Price, perhaps after watching his back up get hung out to dry - tossed some sticks around in the dressing room before heading to the shower. Somebody needs to get angry. And at least a couple of guys need to be benched.

THE GOOD

Peter Budaj. Made some great saves early. Gave his teammates a chance to win before they bailed on him.
The power play. Produced the only Montreal goal. Andrei Kostitsyn scores his 10th.

THE BAD

PK Subban. Maybe it's fatigue. Maybe it's a real sophomore slump (it happened to Tyler Myers who's still searching for his 'A' game in year number three). Maybe it's too much too soon. But whatever it is he needs a break. After the weak ass hot dog back pass shenanigans he pulled in Boston which led to the winning goal by David Krecji, the last thing he could afford was a repeat act. With the game still close at 2 - 1 he pulled almost the exact same move (without the mustard on the left leg lift) which led to the Viktor Stalberg back breaker. Subban cannot be rewarded with ice time for play(s) like this. I'd sit him down against the Jets and put Alexei Emelin back in the line up.
Mike Cammalleri. Looked totally disinterested in his own end, unless he was going out of his way to show how useless the "passive resistance" approach can be.
Chris Campoli. First game back in Chicago since putting the series winning puck on Alex Burrows stick last spring in overtime in game seven in Vancouver. Did his best fish out of water impression on Hawks second goal by Patrick Sharp, lying on his stomach while deflecting the puck past his own goaltender. With 20 seconds left on the game Campoli pinched in an effort to do what, exactly, make the loss 4 - 2 instead of 4 - 1? If Subban and Cammalleri can be dumped on for selfish play, with reason, then what the hell did Campoli pull at the end of the game? And this from an eight year veteran.
Campoli - Kaberle defense pair. Who's bright idea is this? Power play, ok. But five on five is laughable.

THE UGLY

If playing against the best is a measuring stick than the Habs know where they stand. They can play with anybody - for 40 minutes. For the second time in five days the Habs took on an opponent that had played the night before. And once again it was Montreal that looked like the tired team. Saturday night on home ice in Randy Cunneyworth's coaching debut Montreal was at least a step behind the swift Devils while New Jersey outscored them 2 - 0 to win 5 - 3. In Chicago, the Black Hawks, who had played an intense playoff - like game the night before in Pittsburgh, outshot Montreal 9 - 3 and outscored them 3 - 0. Maybe the Habs realize that Cunneyworth (more on his hiring following Montreal - Winnipeg game) likes to play the same system as Jacques Martin. Or maybe they've been brainwashed. They don't want to be, in the words of Cammalleri "back on their heels in the third. It's a hard habit to break". There you have it. Your Montreal Canadiens have become junkies.
Montreal's top two lines combined for a -14 night with the top line of Plekanec - Cammalleri - Moen going -9.

THE UGLY (Part 2)

SO LONG JACQUES

2011-12-19T11:01:00.001-05:00

I don't make a habit of yelling "Fire the coach!" It's too easy. Coaches/managers make mistakes. Some are costly. Most are not fireable offences. In close to 35 years on the air I can remember openly calling for the dismissal of five men: John McHale, Jim Fanning, Rejean Houle, Felipe Alou and Jacques Martin.

John Mchale and Jim Fanning helped build the Montreal Expos into one of the best organizations in baseball. But they were ill equipped to handle the cocaine craze of the early 80's (anybody like Fanning who believes cocaine use in major league baseball was limited to Montreal had/has no clue) and watched over the supposed team of that decade as it slipped into mediocrity.

Rejean Houle as GM (along with Mario Tremblay as inexperienced head coach and Yvan Cournoyer as inexperienced assistant) was Ron Corey's way of running his beloved Canadiens right into the ground. Houle, a smart, gritty, valuable and under appreciated player was in way over his head. If there are any fans of Mike Milbury out there, then you can always point to Houle and at least have a discussion about who really was the worst GM in NHL history.

Felipe Alou was a proud Dominican who was unfairly ignored as potential managerial material simply because of the colour of his skin and/or his accent. I was on the air during the futile Fanning-as-manager years pleading for the Expos to hire Felipe instead. When he finally got his opportunity he proved that he was among the best at what he did. Denied his long awaited trip to the post season in 1994, Felipe kept managing his ass off, turning in his best performance in 1996 when the Expos were not eliminated from a post season berth until the second to last day of the season. But by the time Jeffrey Loria arrived and the promise of a new era fizzled faster than an antacid tablet, Felipe had become bitter, dark and angry. Understandably so but he was still being paid two million dollars a year to manage his team. His "off the record" sessions became nothing more than a chance for him to vent about his GM, the assistant GM, any anybody and everybody associated with the Expos. During games he would consistently yell at and curse his (mostly young) players. He eventually lost the entire clubhouse. It was time for him to go.

Which brings us to Jacques Martin. Regular followers of this blog (thank you) already know how I feel. A quick search of these archives will show that while I understood why Bob Gainey hired an experienced NHL coach following the great centennial meltdown I had heard (and seen) that Martin was slow to adapt to the new reality of the NHL and very slow to react to in - game developments. I wanted to see him up close for myself. By the end of season one, I had seen enough. A much discussed system that didn't seem to fit the players he had. An aversion to the rough stuff. A stickler for discipline yet unable to slow the parade of his players to the penalty box for infractions that had nothing to do with aggressiveness. An almost total reliance on the power play to generate consistent, meaningful offense. A strong reluctance to embrace young talent. An almost total disregard for an ingredient that every pro coach has to establish immediately - accountability. And the ever present failure to communicate.

The fact that Martin was a lousy quote mattered little to me. But towards the end he began to reveal himself, openly blaming his young players for "mistakes". But I believe Martin was in trouble right off the bat this season after Pierre Gauthier signed Erik Cole as a free agent, only to watch his veteran winger get nailed to the bench on Montreal power plays in favour of Mathieu Darche. That knowledgeable, respected people in my business actually echoed Martin's explanation ("Do your research...Erik had his chance...") showed me that Martin had built up a stronger network of supporters than I had thought. Once Martin decided, for whatever reason, to pick a fight with Cole, it was a scrap he could not win. It's one thing to express displeasure with a Guillaume Latendresse, Sergei Kostitsyn, Ryan O'Byrne or Max Lapierre. But in Cole, he was taking on a respected stanley cup winner. The atmosphere had been poisoned.

Professional coaches can win with players who aren't necessarily fond of them (Scotty Bowman, Ken Hitchcock...) as long as the respect factor remains high. In Martin's case there wasn't much respect left. Players were openly yelling at him to shut up during games. It was ugly. It was time for him to go.

For those who claim that Martin got the most out of what he had I will agree - to a degree. I'm not going to rehash the previous two seasons other than to say - again - that Kirk Muller was a strong force behind the bench. Hal Gill sent out a warning shot this past summer (after Pierre Gauthier decided he didn't want Muller in Hamilton - or anywhere) when he said that Muller's departure was "a huge loss...that will greatly affect the dynamic of the team." As for this season and all those injuries and a "green" blue line? I say it became a built in excuse. Look at the NY Rangers without Mark Staal and the Penguins, this season and last without Sidney Crosby (and Malkin). Most teams have to contend with injuries. As for the "green, inexperienced blue line"? Yannick Weber, Raphael Diaz and Alexei Emelin are not teenagers coming out of junior hockey. Weber is in his 4th pro season. Diaz had been a pro for eight seasons in Switzerland while Emelin is currently in his eighth season as a professional. These guys are NHL newbies but they're not mere kids. They've been on a world stage.

And if you really believe this edition of the Canadiens really suck and Martin could do little else, then you must think that Michael Cammalleri is nothing more than a 16 goal scorer. Ditto for Thomas Plekanec. You must also believe that Scott Gomez is now a 0 goal scorer (might have to give you that one) and that PK Subban's offensive performance a year ago (14 goals including 9 on the power play) was simply a mirage. We'll see.

As somebody who has strongly believed for over two years that the Montreal Canadiens would be better off with a different head coach I'm not going to say that Randy Cunneyworth won't make much difference. And I'm not doing a Pom - like "fan of the game" dance over the fact that Jacques Martin got fired. But I do fear it might be a classic case of too little, too late.

As for Mr. Gauthier...

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 33

2011-12-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

Randy Cunneyworth, Randy Ladouceur and Pierre Groulx were behind the Canadiens bench Saturday night against the NJ Devils. Is this really the long awaited emergence of the three wise men who will lead the Habs to the promised land? Or a trio to be remembered as the least experienced bench bosses in NHL history? And anybody who saw this coming on opening night should head directly to Wall Street to help save America. Your work here is done.

courtesy montreal gazette

THE GOOD

Hal Gill. Yes, it was that kind of night. Should have ended the night +2 if not for the gaffe by Chris Campoli that led to the game winning goal and a terrible line change that saw Gill chasing the play that led to New Jersey's tying goal late in the second. And I'm sure Gill had plenty to say during the players' post game meeting, as did Josh Gorges.
The power play finally clicked 5 on 3 as PK Subban finally scored his second goal of the season - his first on the power play. Now it's Mike Cammalleri's turn. But the traditional 5 on 4 power play went scoreless against the #1 PK unit in the league.
The 3rd & 4th lines led the Habs on this night with Louis Leblanc again making a strong case to remain in the NHL. Mike Blunden seems to provide some positive energy whenever he's out there. He's got plenty in the tank since he again played under 3:00. And Lars Eller, in addition to scoring his 3rd goal of the season provided the quote of the year afterwards in describing yet another third period meltdown as "the same old shit".

THE BAD

Erik Cole. "We've under achieved all season". Accurate quote after hearing about the firing of Jacques Martin. But he sure picked a strange night to come up empty. No shots on goal and only one hit. Plus three penalties (one that led directly to a NJ goal) including a head shot on rookie defenseman Adam Larsson. Cole has been so good for so long can only assume he got this one out of his system.
Max Pacioretty. Taking a cue from Cole? No shots on goal and a terrible penalty in front of Martin Brodeur which led to the Dainius Zubrus back breaker midway through the third period. Early in game Pacioretty got tangled up with David Clarkson inside the Habs blue line while play continued up the ice. He was slow getting to the bench. Did Clarkson quiet him down?
The new coach decided 17:00 of ice time in the loss to Philadelphia wasn't enough for Mathieu Darche so he squeezed another three minutes out of the Habs # 52. WTF? I understand Travis Moen is hurt but any game plan that includes Darche getting more ice time (19:46) than Pacioretty (16:57), David Desharnais (16:57), Andrei Kostisyn (18:42), Cammalleri (17:35) and Cole (17:46) is a formula for failure. Forget 5 on 5, is Darche really that good of a penlaty killer (5:15)? He's been part of an excellent PK unit of late but he is not a better penalty killer than Petteri Nokelainen (3:00). He just isn't. The mystery continues.
The PK Unit. NJ power pay went 2 - 5 (40%).

THE UGLY

The Canadiens have laid some real stinkers on home ice this season but none worse than the final 22 minutes Saturday against New Jersey. The Habs were hosting a Devils team that had played the night before. It was NJ that should have shown signs of fatigue in the third. Instead Montreal looked, at times, like an expansion team, unable to click on the simplest of passes, terribly out of sync and a step or two behind their opponents. It was a horror show that perhaps can be traced to Jacques Martin but not pinned on him. Montreal players actually appeared, at times, frozen with fear. Who would have thought that at this point they'd actually be looking forward to games in Boston and Chicago? The latest third period meltdown started during the final moments of period number two when PK Subban dragged his ass to the bench on a line change while Hal Gill waited to jump on. In the meantime, David Clarkson found himself with all kinds of time and space to tee up a shot that beat Carey Price to the stick side. Gill was furious. (At this point let's pause for a nod of appreciation to the Devils who now feature five different players who have scored 10 or more goals this season, with Travis Zajac just getting started after returning to action for the first time this year Friday night. That's more players who have hit double figures than any team in the NHL. The Devils.) Just how fragile are the Canadiens right now? Well, you know what they say about those late period goals in a close game. Clarkson's goal off that piss poor line change came at 18:26 of the second. First minute of the third here comes Lars Eller galloping towards Brodeur when - BANG! - he gets introduced to the skating tank that is Anton Volchenkov. 30 seconds later Campoli either can't find anybody to pass to or panics or both and Price is left defenseless as Peter Sykora and Patrick Elias imitate a skills competition and complete a 2 on 0 with Elias becoming the all time leading goal scorer in Devils history. At that point Bell Centre security could have (should have?) turned out the lights.
The Montreal Canadiens now sit in 12 place in the Eastern Conference. True enough, they are four points out of 6th (NJ - thats how important this one was) but with five teams to climb over and the 13th place team just three points back with a game in hand (objects in the mirror are closer than they appear) the big picture is starting to shrink. If there is a promised land to reach it's going to take more than three wise men to get there. A minor miracle would help. But just ask Tim Tebow. You can't always get what you want.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 32

2011-12-16T01:55:00.002-05:00

That's not Jacques Martin behind the Canadiens bench. It's the 2011 edition of Scrooge.

THE GOOD

Louis Leblanc. Scores his first NHL 13:24 into the second period and the Bell Centre erupts. His coach thanks him by sending him out for one single 50 second shift in the third period.
Erik Cole. Another power play goal. His 5th of the season. That's two more than he had all of last season. Five more than Mathieu Darche has this season. Takes over the team lead in goals with 12.
Max Pacioretty. Two assists. Three shots on goal. Only player other than Cole in double figures in goals. So how come he wasn't on the ice during Habs 5 on 3 late in first period?
David Desharnais. Spark plug again along with his linemates. Two point night. So how come he wasn't on the ice during Habs 5 on 3 late in the first period? When Jacques Martin finally did put Desharnais - Cole - Pacioretty out as a trio on the PP they connected (Cole) late in the second period.
Mike Blunden. First point as a Hab on the Leblanc goal. But the real grunt work on the goal was provided by...
Yannick Weber. Terrific play along the boards enabling the puck to reach PK Subban who's soft shot glanced off Blunden's stick to Leblanc.
Habs PK unit was, statistically, a perfect 6 for 6 but it should be noted that the Flyers third goal by Wayne Simmonds came four seconds after the expiration of s Mike Cammalleri penalty. Cammalleri did not make it back into the play in front of the Montreal net.

THE BAD

Montreal power play was 1 - 9 including a prolonged 5 on 3 late in the first period when the Flyers took three consecutive penalties.
Mike Cammalleri. Still looking. Had 7 shots on goal to lead both teams. Bad penalty as noted above led to Philadelphia goal.
Thomas Plekanec. He can't score either, especially if Chris Lee is working. Took a bad high sticking penalty behind the Flyers net with five minutes to play. Once upon a time your Montreal Canadiens were feared for many reasons. Chief among them - strength down the middle. But in 32 games this season Montreal centermen Plekanec, Desharnais, Lars Eller, Petteri Nokelainen & Scott Gomez have combined for a total of 15 goals (or 15 goals in a combined 137 games played). By comparison the Stanley Cup champion Bruins have 39 goals from their centermen. Not exactly a fair comparison (why not?)? OK, how about the Ottawa Senators? Their centermen have combined for 27 goals. The Leafs? 27. Tampa Bay? 28. Buffalo? 24. Florida? 22. That the Montreal Canadiens have just 15 goals from five centermen this season should be downright embarrassing. Makes you long for the days of Kirk Muller.
Carey Price. Game winning goal by Andrei Meszaros was a mess all the way around. It started when Price passed the puck to nobody (misfire or miscommunication?) but several teammates had the chance to grab it but couldn't get it back. Yet another screen must have had Price guessing, when in fact the entire left side of the net was open.
Habs' play in front of Price. Soft Soft Soft. Brought to you by Pierre Gauthier & Jacques Martin.
Alexei Emelin. Anything but soft but was -2. Big surprise he wasn't dominant after being a healthy scratch.
Jacques Martin. Had the gall to blame the loss on "mistakes by young players". But as Tony Marinaro pointed out on the Post Game Show, it was veterans Plekanec, Cammalleri, Andrei Kostitsyn, Mathieu Darche, Josh Gorges, Petteri Nokelaianen and Hal Gill who were a combined -13. Has anybody associated with the Canadiens made more "mistakes" during games this season than the head coach? And how about yet another sluggish start on home ice against a Flyers team without its two best players? Prior to the Philadelphia parade to the penalty box with three minutes to go in the first the Canadiens managed just four shots on goal - including an early power play. Maybe something is about to give. Perry Pearn was at the game. The last time Pearn was on hand for a home game (he became a pro scout after Gauthier fired him) the Habs followed it up by trading for Tomas Kaberle.
The season ending injury to Chris Pronger capping off what has to be the worst concussion - related week in NHL history. First tipped off by Pierre McGuire live on TSN 990, Philadelphia made it official two hours later when Paul Holmgren issused a statement during the first period. Think Holmgren, in seeking a replacement, will do better than Kaberle?

THE UGLY

Chris Lee. How did this guy get an NHL job? Seriously?

Bah, Humbug!

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 31

2011-12-14T00:18:00.001-05:00

Yes, that was me on the air on Monday complaining about the lack of offense generated by the Montreal Canadiens this season. "Gallo! Kaufman! How many times has Montreal scored more than three goals in a game this season, especially on home ice?" (I think the answer was eight).

So who's complaining?

THE GOOD

Erik Cole. Suddenly there is another legit candidate to represent the Habs in the All Star game, should Carey Price decline. A power play goal (that's 4 PP goals this season. One more than a year ago. And four more than Mathieu Darche) 6 SOG & 6 hits. Best player on the ice. See more below.
Cole linemates David Desharnais & Max Pacioretty. Combined for another 3 points. Desharnais, especially, has to love these no - hitters.
Petteri Nokelainen. Good of him to follow fellow 4th liner Darche's game in NJ with a strong performance of his own, doubling his point output for the season.
Mathieu Darche. Maybe it's taken him 30 games to wake up. Or that there are more healthy bodies around.
Chris Campoli. Over 16:30 in his Montreal Bell Centre debut. Handled the puck well. Finished +1. Very soft on the Tavares goal in the third period. Not exactly what Carey Price needs in front of him right now.
Tomas Kaberle. Good start with three assists in two games.
The power play scored and it had nothing to do with Kaberle or Campoli, with a beauty of a Desharnais - Subban - Desharnais - Cole passing play.
Andrei Kostitsyn. Another goal and loved his fist pump afterwards. Nine goals in 21 games is very good production (36 goals prorated over 82 games).
Lars Eller. He is excellent with the puck inside the opposing blue line. Very aware play to wait for Nokelainen to jump off the bench for the winning goal. A spectacular rush 15:00 into the second period had many of us thinking about the heady days of Pete Mahovlich. Montreal fans can only dream that one day Eller can finish the way Pete did.
Hal Gill. The big man can sure hit an empty net when you need him to. Finished the night +2 hours after tweeting (@Skillsy75) how much he likes the new Black Keys album "El Camino".
Back to back wins. First time in a month.

THE BAD

PK Subban give away leading to the game's first goal. Still stumbling around too much. Maybe all the ice time (another 26:21 - almost 4 minutes more than any other Hab) is catching up to him. I still think his overall play is being held to too high a standard. I know he looked like a season vet in the playoff run two seasons ago and for a good chunk of his rookie season. But he's not. Think of how good he is going to be when he is a seasoned vet.
Mike Cammaleri. I'm asked more about Cammalleri during games than any other Hab. What can I say - that he's weak in his own end? That he's not the same guy we've seen? Maybe his leg/knee is not fully healed? Maybe he's not happy? Or maybe he's just lacking some confidence right now. Like a home run hitter in a prolonged slump I continue to believe that Cammalleri will break out in a big way. I smell a hat trick coming. And it should be noted that he did help set up the game winning goal.
The injury to Travis Moen. Left game after playing just 3:01. This one will especially hurt on the road. Didn't we say recently that while you wait for players like Campoli, (Spacek), Markov, White, etc to return even more will eventually go down (Gionta...)?
Jacques Martin's decision to scratch Alexei Emelin. Once he decided to bench his most (only) physical defenseman who had been playing so well, the Habs had to win. Controversy averted, for now. Definitely on the defensive though in his post game remarks as he singled out Subban and Raphael Diaz for making mistakes.
Despite eventually scoring a season high 5 goals on home ice the Habs once again came out sluggish in their own rink against an inferior opponent, managing just 6 shots on goal in the first period, which included a power play. And they once again blew a two goal lead late in the third period....

THE UGLY

...good thing Al Montoya was in goal for the Islanders whiffing on the Nokelainen shot from inside the blue line, as he had earlier when he couldn't squeeze Darche's shot from the far right wing.
Erik Cole falling heavily into the Islanders net in the third period, initially appearing to injure a rib or two but more than likely was just winded. Scary for a moment. If anything typifies what Cole is about it was on the very next shift when he once again drove hard to the net, eventually, in frustration, firing the puck into the dislodged goal. Think about what happens if Cole goes down and needs help to get up.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 30

2011-12-11T14:22:00.003-05:00

Has Martin Brodeur really become just another NHL goalie? When did Larry Robinson start looking lost behind the Devils bench? Does Lou Lamoriello have to approve the Devils Dancing Girl routines? Will Pete DeBoer ever get into the playoffs? Is the NHL really in Newark? Did Lamoriello really sign Ilya Kovalchuk? Why can't the Habs find a David Clarkson? Please tell me Zach Parise won't wind up with either the Flyers or Rangers.

This is what happens after I'm fed by Knuckles Nilan. I pay more attention to the other guys. But I got to see the newly - cut edition of "The Last Gladiators" at the Nilan screening room in Dorval. Extremely moving and powerful. It's headed to the Sundance Film Festival in January. Don't miss it when it eventually hits Montreal, likely in the early spring. (And maybe you too can enjoy a meal prepared by Chef Nilan. Thanks Knuckles.)

THE GOOD

Carey Price. Every aspect of his game is in sync. He's a joy to watch. Especially get a kick out of those moments of intense activity around his net followed by a Price smile/chuckle. Beaten only by a deflection. Loved his reaction to stopping Parise on the penalty shot with the game on the line (but it does make you wonder about the Devils advance scouting - no short side shot?). After a long, slow steady climb Price finally has his save percentage at .920. Reasons 1 - 5 why the Canadiens still have a shot at the playoffs.
David Desharnais - Erik Cole - Max Pacioretty. Keep them together. Extremely strong road game by the trio, especially little Desharnais who also dominated in the face off circle (78%) and is now over 50% for the season (51.1).
Mathieu Darche. Apparently there is some life in those 35 year old legs. His best game of the year.
Montreal PK unit led by Hal Gill (4:28) & Josh Gorges (4:28).
The power play. It scored. At a rate (1-5) we've become accustomed to.
Tomas Kaberle. Can't ask much more from a guy in his first game than to ignite the power play and set up both goals.
Andrei Kostitsyn flashing an in - game smile, courtesy of Carey Price.
The fan in the stands wearing a Habs jersey holding up the sign "Will Coach For Food".

THE BAD

Thomas Plekanec plays so many hard minutes but on the lone NJ goal he lost a battle behind the net. Late in the game on a NJ PP and with Brodeur on the bench, Plekanec lost two consecutive crucial face offs. Thankfully, the guy behind him with the pads on is pretty good.
Mike Cammalleri. I don't really care about Cammalleri's game without the puck. Everybody seems to be crapping on his game right now but I'm not as concerned. He was signed to a rich contract to score goals and create offense. He's not doing it. Yet. But at least he continues to get quality chances. He was credited with two shots on goal vs NJ but he hit two more goal posts (If they had enlarged the nets this season Cammalleri would be the leading candidate for the Rocket Richard trophy) and fanned on a one timer in close. I happen to think a bucket of goals are coming but in the meantime, when was the last time he scored a non - deflection goal?
The long delay to fix the glass with the Canadiens leading 2-0. Did they have to call in a crew from the Meadowlands?
The injury to Brian Gionta. Face it. This team will never be 100% healthy. Besides, if the NYR can become one of the better teams in the east without their best defenseman (Marc Staal) and the Pittsburgh Penguins can keep winning without their best player(s) and the Philadelphia Flyers...

THE UGLY

Referee Dean Morton. He committed an officiating sin when he guessed that Josh Gorges handled the puck in the crease. He didn't really know. He couldn't have.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 29

2011-12-09T03:02:00.000-05:00

I met an old friend post game who asked me if there was anything I could do to change the direction of her beloved Canadiens. I said I was trying.

THE GOOD

Erik Cole. Best Montreal skater again. Got less ice time than David Desharnais, Lars Eller, Andrei Kostitsyn & Mike Cammalleri. Normally, Cole throws his body around a lot but that wasn't the case against Vancouver. Best player = most ice time. On most teams, anyway.
Max Pacioretty. Started to shake off the rust. Really picked it up by third period. We'll see Saturday if he's back to his usual gear.
Lars Eller. Terrific performance - along with linemates Travis Moen & Kostitsyn - playing mostly against the Sedins. Also won 67% of his face offs. Too bad about that penalty. Also especially enjoyed watching Kostitsyn use his body all night.
Carey Price. Some sensational saves, as has become the norm. The 2011-2012 Montreal Canadiens would likely be at the bottom of the conference if not for their goaltender. They continue to waste some of his best efforts.
Frederic St. Denis. Will always remember his first NHL goal against a future hall of fame goaltender (or do we no longer refer to Roberto Luongo that way?).
PK Subban & Josh Gorges. Both did a great job in their own end keeping Canucks off the score sheet.

THE BAD

The offensive zone penalty Eller took with 5:20 to play. Against the best power play in the league that had already gone 0 - 3. Of course they were due. But the lost point in the standings has nothing to do with Eller.
Mathieu Darche. If anything has typified his season so far it came six minutes into the second period with the Habs still up 3 - 0. Darche found himself alone in the deep slot. Not a body anywhere near him. He fanned on his shot. The former power play regular has now played 29 games this season with one goal and six minutes in penalties. The anti - energy 4th liner.
Canadiens in the shootout. Yes, Carey Price was cheating to the stick side when beaten by Cody Hodgson but as Pat Hickey correctly pointed out post - game it's not like his teammates ever give him some breathing room. The last time the Habs were in a position to win a shootout, Jacques Martin selected Travis Moen to shoot. This time, Desharnais, Pacioretty & Cammalleri were shutout by Luongo who normally struggles in this skills competition.
The injury to Brian Gionta. The captain did not return after leaving the game seven minutes into the third period, depriving Montreal of their most effective shootout weapon. "Upper or lower body (injury)?", Hickey asked Jacques Martin who's response was "I don't know".

THE UGLY

Montreal power play. Beyond embarrassingly bad at this point. It actually paved the way for the Vancouver comeback. Up 3 - 0 in the second when Ryan Kessler went off for hooking the Habs had a chance to bury Vancouver. Instead they did the opposite when Kostitsyn missed the net from the right boards and watched the puck travel all the way around the opposite boards into the neutral zone because the left point had been vacated by the newest power play member Alexei Emelin who decided to park himself in front of Luongo. Actually nice to see Mason Raymond back skating in the NHL, and in just his third game back from a serious back ailment, showed no rust in snapping a hard wrister past Price. Suddenly the Canucks were back in it. And Luongo, to his credit, continued to make some big saves allowing his mates to eventually win it.
Jacques Martin. The power play is a mess. And there's some ugly irony in the fact that a man who's coaching philosophy relies so heavily on a successful power play is, in fact, being buried by it. Max Pacioretty is just the latest in a growing line of talented, creative offensive forwards (Max meet Erik Cole, Andrei Kostitsyn & Lars Eller) who has found himself nailed to the bench through two complete power play units while players like Darche, Gorges, Diaz & Emelin have received or are receiving more ice time with the man advantage. To quote Lindy Ruff, it's a joke. Martin is being badly exposed. While other NHL coaches might employ a stifling defensive system, they at least recognize (as Jacques Lemaire did) there are times when you must go all out to score. Lemaire regularly employed five forwards on the PP. He would also use a forward on defense when trailing late in a game prior to pulling the goaltender (not to mention that a Lemaire coached team always had somebody who could fight and a 4th line comprised of potential momentum changers not merely bodies taking up space). Martin appears so utterly out of touch. Another example is the overtime. Always two forwards & two defensemen out there (including Hal Gill!) no matter what. Want to make a statement - how about starting the overtime on home ice with Thomas Plekanec, Eric Cole, Mike Cammalleri & Max Paciorrety? Or maybe PK Subban and three forwards, especially against an opponent from the western conference. That would be ultra aggressive. It would also be thinking "outside the box". But it would also be completely out of character for a coach who's frustration is starting to boil over, waving his arms behind the bench as if he had been listening to Michel Bergeron's beautiful post game rant on L'Antichambre following Montreal's loss to Columbus. And there was Martin actually slamming his hand into the glass behind the bench after Pacioretty passed up a shooting chance and ended up losing the puck midway through the third period. Or maybe he's just pissed at Max. As for those growing-more-inane-by-the-game post game media sessions, how about the coach chalking this latest loss up to "growing pains"? Seems to me some, if not all, of his players have outgrown him.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 28

2011-12-07T00:09:00.002-05:00

Now what?

(Thanks to @Number31)

THE GOOD

Alexei Emelin. A beast on the blue line all night. Best game as a Hab. Nine hits, most of them lethal. First NHL point.
Andrei Kostitsyn. Scoring at a pace a lot of us expect from him. So why'd it take him so long to wrestle power play time away from Mathieu Darche?
Carey Price. Kept his team close enough to "salvage" a point.
Mike Cammalleri. Great interception of Columbus clearing attempt (looked like he might have laid down a bunt or two in his younger days) led to Kostitsyn's game tying goal with 1.5 seconds left in first period. Also on ice for Brian Gionta's goal late in 3rd.
Ryan White telling Sergio Momesso that he'll be ready to play in three weeks. Ryan White said that. Not Pierre Gauthier.
PK Subban. Originally put him in category below but it didn't look right and wasn't fair. True, he spent a good deal of the night stumbling around and falling down. Maybe his legs buckled because he was tired. He played over 32:00.
PK Unit. Led by Price.

THE BAD

Yannick Weber. Badly caught out of position on Montreal killer RJ Umberger's goal in second period. Had ice time drastically cut.
Hal Gill. -2. Not helped by Weber. Gill remains an elite penalty killer but is struggling 5 on 5.
Montreal power play. 0 - 3. Not even a sniff.
Max Pacioretty. Not much going on. Three game suspension or four was the joke in the pressbox. Affected by suspension or not starting with David Desharnais and Erik Cole?
Habs now in 9th place in Eastern Conference, sandwiched between two teams with new coaches.
Montreal record in shootouts drops to 1 - 4. Can't pin this one on Price. He allowed a goal by the multi - talented Rick Nash while David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty & Brian Gionta couldn't hit the back of the net. Stoned by Curtis Sanford.
Louis Leblanc playing 4:48. What's the point? You mean to tell me that Jacques Martin couldn't find 3 - 5 more minutes for an energetic kid who was playing his first ever game on home ice?

THE UGLY

James Wisniewski's first game back in Montreal. Typical of most of his games since returning from an 8 game suspension to start the season. He played over 28:00 and was -2; now -15 in 19 games.
The Canadiens effort. How many more times do we have to use the adjective listless? Inexcusable to return from a California trip where they barely managed three out of six points to face the worst team in the league and produce that kind of performance. Losing to a team that had managed just two road victories all season and was backstopped by a Montreal cast off (but as we said two summers ago, wasn't the ideal back up for Carey Price somebody like Sanford who's thrilled to be back in the NHL working for less money than they paid Alex Auld and are currently paying Peter Budaj?) at this stage of the season has got to result in something a little more meaningful than benching Yannick Weber.

So back to our original question. Now what?

When the Carolina Hurricanes played like this in Montreal, they fired Paul Maurice. When the Washington Capitals played like this they fired Bruce Boudreau. When the Anaheim Ducks played like this on home ice recently against the Leafs they decided to fire Stanley Cup winner Randy Carlyle (BTW, as I write this, the only team the Ducks have beaten in their last 10 games? You got it - Jacques Martin's Montreal Canadiens). But when asked by RDS what he'd say to those who are calling for the sacking of Pierre Gauthier and Jacques Martin, Geoff Molson responded this way:

Moi, je reponds que la priorite numero un est de gagner. Je pense que nous avons l'equipe en place qui et capable du gagner

Geoff Molson wasn't speaking in Clintonese, was he?

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 27

2011-12-03T19:54:00.001-05:00

Full credit to Habs for doing something I didn't think they were capable of - taking 3 out of 4 points in San Jose and Los Angeles after going for a dump in Anaheim. But they sure make it difficult for themselves, once again failing to take full advantage of an opposing goaltender who was clearly shaky to start the game. That's not to say that Jonathan Bernier is not a good goaltender. But he's played only a few minutes more than Peter Budaj and looked very beatable before the Canadiens helped warm him up, much like they did for Niemi in San Jose, Hiller in Anaheim, Bobrovsky in Philadelphia, Nabokov/Dipietro on Long Island, etc. Montreal also took advantage of an LA team without their top goal scorer and penalty killer in Mike Richards and vet defenseman Willie Mitchell.

Cannot accuse Habs of sitting back in the third, at least not until they actually had a late power play and acted as if they were killing a penalty. But thanks in large part to their goaltender, the long plane ride back to Montreal will be a lot less gloomy. Even as the news on Andrei Markov gets darker by the day.

THE GOOD

Carey Price. Strongest when Habs needed him most - early in the first period and late in the third. I pity the opposing forward who is going to be on the receiving end of a Price tantrum at some point this season. It's coming. Probably in a game that is already lost but you can be sure it'll happen. Not withstanding the Lucic hit in Ryan Miller, is there a goalie anywhere in the NHL who has had more opposing bodies hit, rub, push and/or fall on him this season than Price? And if Montreal defensemen are not going to retaliate, then if a power play opportunity presents itself as the result of some goalie interference the PP unit has to respond with a lot more intensity and killer instinct than what we saw. Habs had a chance to bury LA after Dutsin Penner sent Price sprawling. Instead it was Price who had to bail them out with a game saving save with a dozen seconds to play.
Andrei Kostitsyn. Terrific game for AK46 starting with the opening goal on the power play when he used his body to open up room for goal scorer Thomas Plekanec. And of course the goal he scored capping off an old fashioned tic - tac - toe with linemates Lars Eller & Louis Leblanc.
Josh Gorges. Led all Montreal skaters with 26:08. The power play has looked more effective with Gorges doing his Markov impression and heading down low while PK Subban mans the point. Love the fact that those 26 + minutes were taken in 38 shifts. Meaning he kept each shift to about 40 seconds. His partner, Subban, also kept his shift length down, to 37 seconds.
Louis Leblanc. Great news on this trip. Leblanc looks like an NHL player. He's been smart with the puck. Very effective. Active legs. A lot of energy. Huge upgrade over Aaron Palushaj. First post 2007 draft choice to make it to Montreal. Interesting to note that two other players taken in 2008 also made their NHL debuts this week - Zach Kassian with Buffalo and Simon Despres with Pittsburgh.
Thomas Plekanec. Much more active than in San Jose. Did a decent job on face offs (15 for 29) so why did Brian Gionta take a late offensive zone draw -which he lost - with Plekanec on his wing?
Jacques Martin. Keeping Mathieu Darche's ice time to under 6:00 and using Yannick Weber, against another big team, for just 3:33, mostly on the power play.

THE BAD

The news on Markov no matter how Pierre Gauthier tries to spin it.
Erik Cole taking two penalties to give the Kings some life. I didn't like the first call (interference in neutral zone) because it had nothing to do with the play. Chintzy. The exact kind of things refs Rooney & Pochmara let go in San Jose. But, sensing a gift opportunity, LA coach Terry Murray called a time out with the obvious message that it was a chance to get back in the game. And they did.
Hal Gill on the Kings goal by Dustin Penner. One of the few defensemen in the league who actually towers over Penner, failed to wrap up Penner's stick, resulting in a perfect deflection and the only puck Price couldn't stop.

THE UGLY

Dustin Penner. A 6' 4" 240 pound version of lazy. Still find it difficult to understand why many Montreal fans want to see this guy in a Habs jersey. Yes, perhaps, he'd be able to get to some loose pucks in the slot instead of some of Montreal's smurfs, but as somebody who has watched a lot of late night (Pacific time) hockey over the years, this guy, believe me, would drive you nuts.
Pierre Gauthier. Why he would choose to describe arthroscopic surgery on Markov's knee as "good news" is beyond me. But then again, back in September, Gauthier said Markov "would not miss too many games". At the same time, Chris Nilan, who had knee issues of his own, was telling TSN 990 listeners that Markov "would be fortunate to play 30 games this season". Gauthier also suggested to a media scrum in LA that anybody who saw Markov practice lately "would not be able to tell that this was an injured player". Ok I'll give him that. Perhaps a 10 year old or two who saw Markov skate in Brossard thought he looked perfectly healthy.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 26

2011-12-02T02:47:00.005-05:00

Just when I was ready to praise the bench management skills of Jacques Martin (wait...) he throws out Travis Moen in a shootout. No, this was not one of those epic 15 rounders. Moen was actually the Habs' 5th shooter on Antti Niemi, following Mike Cammalleri, Erik Cole, Brian Gionta & David Desharnais. And he had the potential game winner on his stick.

Travis Moen? Wonder if Mathieu Darche was coming up after PK Subban.

Carey Price deserved better. Again. But once again, in a shootout he was beaten - twice - on the short side. In fact the first four San Jose shooters all went short side until Dan Boyle tried a deke and Joe Pavelski caught Price cheating and fired the winner through his pads. The Sharks do their homework.

The Canadiens should already be in "mission accomplished" mode while prepping for the Saturday afternoon match up in Los Angeles. I figured that heading into the California trip the Habs would beat Anaheim (so did Ducks G Bob Murray), that anything other than a regulation loss in San Jose would be a bonus, and they'd get at least a point against the Kings. That horrendous loss in Anaheim now puts the onus on a core group of weary players (once again 3 Montreal forwards - Darche, Petteri Nokelainen and Aaron Palushaj each got well under 10 minutes of ice time) to scratch out the needed two points that they blew away Wednesday night in Anaheim. Or Carey Price could come to the rescue as he did in San Jose in a performance that was definitely worth staying up for.

THE GOOD

David Desharnais - Erik Cole - Mike Cammalleri. The line combined for 7 points and +6. A shame they got caught on the ice for Ryan Clowe's game tying goal with 90 seconds left because they were terrific. It might have been Desharnais's best game as a Hab. Cammalleri looked like the real Mike Cammalleri and Cole was Cole.
Carey Price. Faced 41 shots. Would like to have the rebound back that bounced onto Clowe's stick but the Sharks were allowed entry into the Habs zone way too easily and with plenty of speed. And Desharnais was no match for Clowe. The Habs may not want to play for Jacques Martin but they will battle for their goaltender.
Alexei Emelin. Played both sides of the ice and continues to provide the only real physical presence on the blue line. Early in the game Torrey Mitchell hit Emelin hard, but bounced off him as if Emelin was a padded wall. Emelin's open ice hit on Pavelski was a thing of beauty. Best body checked delivered by a Hab since PK Subban on Brad Marchand a year ago. And one of the best in NHL this season.
PK Subban & Josh Gorges. Battled hard as usual and on the one PP Montreal had they bottled up San Jose with Gorges moving down low and PK re-discovering confidence in his shot, perhaps the result of Montreal's 1st goal when Cammalleri deflected a Subban shot past Niemi.
Raphael Diaz. Led all Canadiens skaters with nearly 28 minutes of ice time and four blocked shots.
Lars Eller. Keeps making plays. Would be neat to see a true sniper alongside him. Had one of the best shifts of the season late in the second period as he continued to circle away from San Jose skaters while waiting and waiting and waiting for one of his line mates to set up in the slot.
Louis Leblanc. See below.
Referees Chris Rooney & Brian Pochmara. Best officiated Montreal game I've seen this season.
Jacques Martin. Late in the third period he had two centermen - Thomas Plekanec and Nokelainen - on the ice to take a defensive zone face off. He didn't play Hal Gill in overtime. He drastically cut the ice time of a badly over matched Yannick Weber in favour of both Diaz and Emelin. He took advantage of the youth and fresh legs of Louis Leblanc who ended up playing 14 and a half minutes, at the expense of the 35 year old terribly non - productive Mathieu Darche. In short, this was bench management attention to detail that has been consistently missing from Martin's coaching. Which is why I can't help but wonder if Randy Cunneyworth and Randy Ladouceur have been given more responsibilities. But Moen in a shootout???

THE BAD

Andrei Kostitsyn. Seemed most affected by the back to back. Had the shakes on his first shift and again when he mishandled the puck which led to San Jose's first goal. Calmed down by the third period but a terrible start.
Thomas Plekanec. Where was he?
Yannick Weber. Moved back to the blue line with Frederic St. Denis scratched, Weber was incapable of stopping most San Jose forwards who entered his territory. Was -2 on the night. I have no doubt that Weber will eventually produce on an NHL power play and regularly score 10 -12 goals a season. But unless the Canadiens can find a physical, stay at home giant to play the left side, he's going to end up somewhere else. Besides, the right handed shot on the Montreal power play will be locked up for years.

THE UGLY

Montreal in the face off circle. Dominated by the bigger stronger Sharks 63% to 37%. Plekanec was especially poor winning just 6 of 26 draws (23%).
Habs 4th line. I have no issue with Nokelainen who also kills penalties and can win face offs (but isn't it fair to say the Habs haven't been able to replace Glen Metropolit?) but Darche and Palushaj are black holes. As bad as he's been this season (26 games. 1 goal) Darche was an effective fill - in role player a year ago. He used his body and contributed 12 goals and 26 points in 59 games and posted a solid +7. This year he cannot seem to handle the puck in any situation and expressed more anger at his own teammate - PK Subban - than he has at any opposing defensemen. I don't know what's happened. Is he still hungry? If you combine all the players who have occupied the 4th line this season - Nokelainen, Darche, Palushaj, Andreas Engqvist and Mike Blunden - the stat line reads: 81 GP 2 G 1 A 3 PTS 41 PIM. Where is all that energy coming from?
Andrei Markov. Will somebody please step up and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Even if it hurts.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 25

2011-12-01T00:37:00.000-05:00

THE UGLY

Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z--z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-zz-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z

The GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 24

2011-11-27T00:06:00.007-05:00

"WE WUZ ROBBED!"

Can't blame the Habs or their fans for the age old cry after losing in the worst possible way to the Penguins (aka the odds on favourite to win the stanley cup). Looking ahead to the back to back with Philadelphia & Pittsburgh you're probably thinking two points minimum. The Flyers, as explained in the previous post, were ready to be taken (see Saturday's loss to the NY Rangers). That the Canadiens were so miserable in Philly left them having to beat Pittsburgh for those precious two points. The way the Penguins have looked since Crosby's return was going to take an A1 performance from Carey Price to help steal those points. And he almost did, until a referee gagged on his whistle.

THE GOOD

David Desharnais - Erik Cole - Max Pacioretty. Combined for 5 points and +4. Dominant all night. Penguins had no answer. So why does Jacques Martin break them up while trying to figure out how to jump start a dormant power play?
Lars Eller - Andrei Kostitsyn - Travois Moen. Took exactly one shift for the trio to click, picking up right where they left off prior to the Kostitsyn injury. With Habs trailing early, Eller wisely chipped puck in for Kostitsyn who ran some legal interference leaving a loose puck for Moen who made like Erik Cole and beat Marc Andre Fleury high glove. 24 games into the season and Travis Moen has more goals than everybody on Habs not named Max Pacioretty.
Carey Price. Deserved a far better outcome. Made several truly spectacular saves but none bigger or better when he robbed James Neal with his glove after Neal received a sick backhanded pass from Sidney Crosby.
Defense pairing of Josh Gorges & PK Subban. Did a damn good job all night against the most talented group of forwards they have yet to face.
Alexei Emelin. Once again led Habs in hits while playing a steady 18:00.
PK Unit. Perfect again, led by Hal Gill (4:38). Seems like last time Habs surrendered a power play goal the Buffalo Bills were 5 - 2.
Face offs. One of Montreal's best nights of the year (63%) led by Eller (71%).
Cole and old nemesis Brooks Orpik going nose to nose in front of Fleury.
Montreal and Pittsburgh on Saturday night at the Bell Centre. We want more. Please, sir.

THE BAD

Thomas Plekanec - Brian Gionta - Mike Cammalleri. I can't remember a night during which all three key veterans looked so lousy. It started on the opening shift. I understand Plekanec on Crosby - if that's Plekanec's assignment he's done it before (although it should be pointed out that Crosby is a lot stronger physically right now than was the case in the spring of 2010 when Plekanec did a nice checking job on him) - but Gionta/Cammalleri vs Gino Malkin?? Not a fair fight. Late in the third, Gionta bounced off Malkin moments before Jordan Staal pounced on a loose puck and tied the game. Plekanec, as noted, still brings other elements to the game if he's not producing. Gionta, an almost unbelievable -9 in the last 9 periods, cannot play 25:00 of any game let alone the first of a back to back as he did Friday in Philly. Cammalleri? Maybe his worst night as a Hab? Couldn't control the puck, couldn't shoot, couldn't check, put himself off side after a perfect set by Eller, just an atrocious night all the way around. The trio combined for just 3 shots and was -9. Rock bottom for Cammalleri.
Yannick Weber. Not getting better. -3. Once again, why is he getting more PP time than PK Subban?
Hal Gill on the ice in overtime. I thought the big man was having a terrific night against his old team but it kind of fell apart in the 3rd, though it was Weber's side of the ice that opened for Staal on the game tying goal. But as much as he battles he should not make it on the ice, save for a penalty kill or some emergency, when it's 4 on 4. Way too much space to cover and just too little speed. Or none at all.
Montreal power play. Killing them. Put Desharnais - Cole - Pacioretty out as a unit. Subban on the point with either Weber or Cammalleri (he played on the point in Calgary and LA). Next wave: Plekanec - Gionta - Kostisyn (not one second of PP time). with either Weber/Cammalleri and Gorges/Emelin/Diaz.
Jacques Martin. Merely saying he was "disappointed" for his players simply isn't enough. Not that I was expecting anything else but after a loss like that he might allow himself the opportunity to be a little emotional and analytical at the same time.

THE UGLY

Max Pacioretty hit on Kris Letang. Looked like a head shot to me. One of the reasons Letang has become a Norris trophy candidate is because he plays with a physical edge. Many forwards around the league have noticed #58 has just enough of a mean streak to keep their head up when he's on the ice. Dont know if Pacioretty was thinking payback or just to knock him off the puck but apology or not, it didn't look good and might have actually led to Letang's game winner.
The winning goal by Letang. What happened? "I had the fucking thing covered, that's what happened" steamed Price afterwards. And what did referee Dan O'Rourke say? "He didn't say anything. He ran off the ice". Beautiful. O'Rourke and partner Mike Hasenfratz might have been feeling guilty about what happened to Letang and their non - call (after already waving off one Chris Kunitz goal and having NHL Hockey Ops properly wave off another after Kunitz clearly pushed the puck past Price with his glove) so he decided to allow the Penguins to do something he couldn't do - find the puck. How else do you explain it? "He choked" said Bobby Dollas on our post game show. Maybe the stage was too big. Hasenfratz was working his first game in Montreal in over two years after undergoing open heart surgery. But his partner O'Rourke? Maybe it's time for a check up.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 23

2011-11-25T18:27:00.003-05:00

High and inside also describes his Friday nights

That was awful. Let's get this over with in a hurry.

THE GOOD

The Habs PK unit. Perfect again including a 5 on 3. Now at 90.3% for the season. What a battle at the Bell Centre Saturday night. Two teams tied for 2nd in the NHL in PK percentage. Who's your pick to crack first? *
Carey Price. Really thought he was in the process of picking up a shutout until Claude Giroux reminded Canadiens fans that instead of looking in their own back yard the scouting department fell in love with a "Mr. Minnesota" high school kid who is currently in his second season playing for the Florida Everglades of the East Coast Hockey league.
Alexei Emelin. The fact that he's been noticed for all the right reasons in recent games against arch rival Boston and Philadelphia counts for a lot. Another 6 hits. Has no doubt now become part of Montreal opposition pre - scouting reports: "Keep your head up when 74 is on the ice".
Petteri Nokelainen scoring his first goal as a Hab. There should have been a lot more on Sergei Bobrovsky.

THE BAD

The second period, maybe the worst of the season for Montreal. First period wasn't so spit hot either considering the Flyers were ready to be taken on home ice. No Chris Pronger, no Jaromir Jagr and a back up goaltender who isn't very good. Philadelphia came out skittish but once again Montreal seemed content to play it safe. After all, it is Jacques Martin's mantra. Limit mistakes and pounce on the power play. I understand a defensive minded coach not wanting his players to take chances but to not give offensive players the opportunity to be creative and take a chance or two means you're scuttling their game. There is a time and a place to "take chances". The first period in Philadelphia was another one of those times and the Habs passed it up. Boston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NYR even the Leafs might have been able to open up a two or three goal lead in the first. Difference between "safety first" and a "killer instinct".
The slashing penalty Thomas Plekanic took four seconds into the second period. I understand it's an automatic but I hate the rule. Bring back old fashioned puck battles without sending guys to the penalty box.
Flyers owned everybody except Plekanic (64%) in the face off circle (59% - 41%).
Frederic St. Denis taking two shifts on the wing. WTF? Couldn't send a forward from Hamilton?
Brian Gionta. Now -5 in his last two games. But the little captain played over 25:00. His coach is killing him.
To be fair, not many players looked good over the final 40 minutes but Yannick Weber was jittery every time he handled the puck, especially on the power play.

THE UGLY

Montreal power play. Nothing is working yet the same guys are being thrown out there in the same roles. If PK Subban is not being hampered by a sore shoulder he must be part of the first power play unit. I give Martin credit for finally putting a forward on the point but it's clear Plekanic should move down low. Maybe swap with Cammalleri who has plenty of experience playing the point and is either not getting the puck or not finding the open space to get the puck to fire one of his typical blasts from the right side. If Montreal opponents are taking Cammalleri as a weapon away, then give him more room and put him on the point. Plekanic down low is better with the puck than anybody on the team. And, unlike training camp, spend more time in practice working on it.
* Whos PK unit cracks first? Montreal power play is at 13%, 5th worst in NHL.
Pittsburgh power play is at 19%, 9th best in NHL but it's been without Sidney Crosby for all but two games.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 22

2011-11-24T00:29:00.003-05:00

A much needed come from behind victory which featured several bounce back performances following a horrid first period. Montreal is clearly a better team yet, very much like what happened on Long Island, they came out sleep walking. If the coach can't/won't get them ready to establish their superiority early, then maybe they ought to take whatever is on PK Subban's ipod and blast it into the dressing room at maximum volume. Might even drown out some of the PK bashers who, strangely, have close ties to Jacques Martin.

THE GOOD

Brian Gionta. Best Montreal skater from start to finish. Didn't stop skating for 65 minutes and was much deserving of the shootout winner. Shocked when I checked the stat sheet and discovered he was -3 on the night. Certainly can't be faulted for the goals Carolina scored.
Lars Eller. Two point night and +2. Took advantage of the injury to Scott Gomez and kicked the door down. His goal got the comeback started. Now we know that Eller can finish when he has the puck on his stick and there's nobody in the net.
Travis Moen. Just when it looked like he left his legs in Brossard, Moen started to move better with Eller in the middle. His 7 goals are one more than he had all of last season and 4 shy of his career high scored during Anaheim's cup winning season of 2006-07.
Mike Cammalleri. Finally hit the back of the net - on a deflection, naturally - after all his recent goal posts and missed shots. Also did great work to keep puck in Carolina's end which eventually led to Eller's short handed goal. Let's see if this gets Cammalleri going on one of his typical goal scoring streaks. Couldn't happen at a better time with upcoming games against Flyers & Penguins.
Alexei Emelin. Another solid outing with 6 hits and seems to be gaining more and more confidence. Like Cammalleri, Emelin did a lot of grunt work prior to Eller's goal, pinching low to keep puck in Carolina end.
Erik Cole. Solid in his return to Carolina. Who was last Montreal winger with the constant explosiveness to blow by opposing defensemen and drive hard to the net?
Max Pacioretty. Led all skaters with 7 shots on goal. Still seems to be missing a gear but that's being picky at this point. He set the bar really high to start the season.
David Desharnais. Not a real good night overall but was terrific in face off circle (71%).
Carey Price. Same as Desharnais. Still don't know how that first goal got in and didn't have his pads together on Carolina's third goal but he battled. Only a matter of time before his ridiculously poor shootout numbers started to even out. Very important to get his first shootout victory after those two losses. Looks like he's still trying to figure out the boards in Carolina. Also loved the way Price patted his right goal post after Jeff Skinner's shot bounced off it.
PK Subban. See below.
PK Unit led by Hal Gill (5:04) & Josh Gorges (4:02) with additional help from Subban (2:43), Gionta (3:31), Thomas Plekanic (2:44), Petteri Nokelainen (2:37) & Raphael Diaz (2:16). Habs PK efficiency rate is just under 90% behind only New Jersey (93.8%) & Pittsburgh ( 90.3%).
Hearing that Andrei Markov might actually be ready to play by Saturday.

THE BAD

Montreal power play. Waiting for Markov.
Aaron Palushaj. Nothing against the guy but why is he with them? This is Tom Pyatt all over again but not as good. Pyatt could kill penalties and take the odd face off. Wasn't Montreal's 4th line better with Michael Blunden on the right side? I don't care how pretty he looks when he skates, the guy is getting 4-6 minutes of ice time. Can't the Habs find a cheap, bruising winger?
Scott Gomez. Frankly I feel guilty writing this. Too easy. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he re - injured himself early but tried to play through it. But it's apparent the Habs are better with Lars Eller playing his natural position. Gomez to LTI?

THE UGLY

Carolina's opening goal by Jiri Tlusty 34 seconds in. From Cammalleri not getting puck out along the boards to Emelin getting a glove on the shot to Price reacting in slow motion this one ranks as the ugliest goal of the season scored against the Canadiens since Patrice Bergeron "scored" on Price off a face off in Boston.
Carolina's second goal. Plekanic got beat badly behind the net while Gorges twisted himself inside out as the puck seemed dead on top of the net, until Plekanic made the first attempt to play it which kept it alive.
L'Antichambre shitting on PK Subban. What's going on here? Subban plays 25 minutes, helps shut down Jeff Skinner in two straight games against Carolina, helps set up a goal, continues to do terrific work on the PK unit yet all they do is dump on the guy. I thought Michel Bergeron's suggestion that the Habs should trade Subban was a flat out joke until Francois Gagnon reiterated the lunacy with Elliott Price & Shaun Starr on our morning show because, among other things, the "Canadiens can't find a strong centerman (Eric Staal)" and "Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu (aren't that far away)". Now everybody can see that Subban is not the same offensive force (yet) as a year ago but it's important to keep in mind that you NEVER see him rush the puck unless the Habs are trailing in the third period or the game is in overtime. He's also not on the first power play unit - a unit that is hardly flourishing without him. Maybe, as @HeyMyNameIsWill suggested during the game after Subban again passed on an opportunity to fire the puck, his shoulder is still hurting him. Or maybe he's simply lost confidence with the puck because it appears his coach has. Or maybe it's all just part of a conscious effort to reel in his game with Markov and Jaro Spacek out - at least until Markov returns. But I do find it troubling that a reporter who is extremely close to the head coach is seriously questioning anything to do with Subban's game, let alone urging the Canadiens to trade him. Last time I checked, this second year defenseman was averaging more than two minutes more ice time per game than any of his teammates, while forming a terrific tandem with his new partner. A pairing that has so far combined for two goals and 16 assists in 44 games (also keep in mind that 9 of Subban's 14 goals a year ago came after the all star break). As for Gagnon's assertion that Tinordi and Beaulieu are up and comers? Get back to me when they're both logging 24 minutes of ice time at the NHL level. Last time I heard such nonsense, it came from Serge Savard who said one of the reasons he felt comfortable trading Chris Chelios for Denis Savard was that Mathieu Schneider was ready to step in and replace Chelios. If the Montreal Canadiens can't find that elusive big man down the middle then they have to work harder to acquire him. Not having Scott Gomez around would have made that job easier. (And don't count me among the group out there that believes it was necessary to acquire Gomez in order to sign Gionta & Cammalleri. My experience is always to follow the money. Both Cammalleri & Gionta got very healthy money and even healthier term.) How does an organization go from openly coveting Vincent Lecavalier to trading a top prospect and taking on one of the worst contracts in NHL history belonging to the complete opposite type player while at the same time freeing up enough cap space for that very same team to sign a dynamic offensive player (Marian Gaborik) and, eventually, the very essence of the debate we're having (Brad Richards)? And in case the gang at RDS haven't noticed, in today's NHL there's a premium on the kind of talented, strong, mobile defensemen that PK Subban is. Even more important, one might argue, then a big centerman. Think the Sabres are getting ready to trade Tyler Myers? Think the Kings are going to move Drew Doughty? Think the Flames don't realize they made a huge mistake in trading Dion Phaneuf? Think Chicago wins a cup without Duncan Keith? Everybody has a right to an opinion and if Bergeron/Gagnon are just being provocateurs I get it. But Francois Gagnon has publicly stated that he and Jacques Martin are good friends. He invites the kind of scrutiny that this Subban bashing has led to. If - that's IF - this sudden campaign to pick on Subban (while the team is playing better) and suggest Montreal would be better off without him is actually an idea spawned by the head coach, then Jacques Martin must go. Immediately. If it's Gagnon/Bergeron acting on a suggestion or two from a disgruntled player then I'd sure like to know who the player is and his value to the team. If they're just sprouting off then maybe they can pick on somebody else. Somebody who doesn't have 20,000 fans chanting his name every night.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 21

2011-11-21T22:59:00.003-05:00

A "good" loss. Tough to blame anybody or anything other than the power play. Kind of a weird Montreal - Boston game. Where'd the hate go? One thing is obvious - again - after watching Erik Cole do what he could while the rest of the forwards were pretty much neutralized by Zdeno Chara and the Boston defense - is that the Habs, if they are to once again go through Boston, are going to have find another winger like Cole. Maybe not as talented but perhaps even bigger than Cole's 6' 2". Aaron Pulashaj on the 4th line against a team like Boston is kind of useless, don't ya think? Not exactly "thinking outside the box" but that's what I'd be shopping for, without waiting until Boxing Day.

THE GOOD

Alexei Emelin. Another solid performance on the blue line. Led all defensemen on the ice with 5 hits. He's been doing this for a solid stretch now but a very good sign that he might have had his best game as a Hab against the Bruins. And unlike The Booner, I don't give a crap what Gaston Therrien might show on his chalk board. Emelin is definitely a keeper. Which means he'll probably sit instead of his older, softer defense mate Raphael Diaz.
Thomas Plekanic going 58% in the face off circle and, with some help from his fellow centremen, holding one of the NHL's best - Patrice Bergeron - to 33%.
Erik Cole. 6 shots on goal and five hits. Imagine this team with Ryan Clowe as well. Or Chris Nilan. See what we've been missing? Repeat after me - "No more small forwards, enough already". Hab highlight of the night might have been Cole stripping Benoit Pouliot and driving hard to the net. Imagine the roar had he been able to bury that one.
148:11. Carey Price's shutout streak before Andrew "We're Number 1" Ferrence beat him with a perfect shot high on the glove side.
PK Subban played career NHL game # 100. He'll have a lot more memorable games than this one on his way to 1,000.
Tim Thomas. Best goaltender in the NHL. Still doesn't get all the respect he deserves. Not a real tough night for him but nobody in the league is better.
Sydney Crosby back doing his thing. And an already hot ticket for Saturday night suddenly becomes a scorcher.

THE BAD

Scott Gomez. Nothing wrong with his effort from the Boston blue line in but he stopped skating on the way back, arriving a split second too late to stop Ferrence from scoring the game's only goal. A last second dive doesn't hide the fact that he didn't hustle back until it was too late. This is what happens when a player, in any sport, isn't going well. The puck, or ball, seems to find you when you're trying to hide.
Lars Eller. Even his coach addressed his lack of finish. As I tweeted during the game Eller can be a star if he ever manages to finish his plays. Frustrating or tantalizing, I asked. Better yet was Conor Mckenna's reply, "frantalizing".
Aaron Palushaj. Using his considerable speed to force a 2 on 1 in the second period, Palushaj completely botched the play when he decided to pass the puck backwards resulting in a turnover.
Habs power play. Fired blanks (0 -4) even with a double minor to Pouliot.

THE UGLY

Benoit Pouliot. Taking a typical Pouliot retaliatory penalty in the offensive zone was bad enough. Don't know which was more surprising, taking another stupid (double minor) high sticking penalty or the fact that he was actually sent back on the ice by coach Claude Julien. Different city, different coach but same dumb Benny.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 20

2011-11-19T23:07:00.001-05:00

Exceptional win over the hottest team in the NHL. The Habs have now recorded back to back shutouts on home ice with a blue line that includes Yannick Weber, Ralphael Diaz, Alexei Yemelin & Frederic St. Denis. They should be riding a winning streak if not for the (mostly) no - show on Long Island. What Boston did to Islanders tonight is kind of what we were expecting Habs to do on Thursday. Anyway, once again these Canadiens seem to play "up" to their opponent. And there was a sign of life in the guy wearing the Gomez jersey.

THE GOOD

Erik Cole. Best player on the ice. Again.
Brian Gionta. Pucks starting to go in for the captain. Now on pace for his typical 25 - 30 goal season (28).
Mike Cammalleri. Once again was an offensive force all night. 5 SOG, +2 and it was Cammalleri who drew the early hooking call on Ryan McDonagh which led to the opening goal by Cole.
Scott Gomez. Not totally surprised that Gomez came out to play against his former team. Not just the two assists but he played heady hockey all night and just missed on a couple of Grade A scoring chances. Is on quite a streak with three points in his last three games. Now on pace for a 14 point season.
Carey Price. Back to back shutouts for the first time in his NHL career. Once again, not overly busy but his terrific save off Marian Gaborik from in close 90 seconds into the game might have been the turning point.
Thomas Plekanic. Another two point night bringing him to a point per game through 20 games.
Frederic St. Denis. Another good outing for a guy who's about #10 on the Habs D depth chart. Number 10 with a bullet.
Power play showing real signs of life. Two more goals bringing success rate to over 15%.
PK Unit. Perfect again. Now 3rd overall in NHL.
Petteri Nokelainen. Getting off the ice and going after the much bigger & stronger Andre Deveaux. Next time Nokelainen should lead with his stick instead of his head.
Pre - Game tribute to Eddy Palchak.

THE BAD

L'Antichambre Post game suggesting Alexei Yemelin should go down to Hamilton for a couple of weeks. What he do wrong?
The first Gionta goal allowed by Martin Biron.
Referee Dave Jackson making the correct call on Aaron Palushaj for interference but sending Yannick Weber to the penalty box instead.

THE UGLY

Deveaux raining punches down on Nokelainen. Some code, huh?

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 19

2011-11-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

Just when you thought the Canadiens had perhaps turned a corner they come up with an inexcusable stinker against a team that's even worse than the Carolina Hurricanes. Spare me the back to back factor. They played in Long Island not Long Beach.

Why they would come out as flat as they did is way beyond my comprehension unless they totally disrespected their opponent and figured it would be as simple as jumping over the boards. The NHL schedule maker could not have done them a bigger favour by presenting games 18 and 19 of the season against the Hurricanes & Islanders and a chance to get on a real roll facing two teams that are in deep trouble.

Carolina on home ice? No Problem. But the fact they managed just two shots on goal in over 8 minutes against a small, old and slow goaltender is inexplicable. That they managed just another 27 shots against a young, slow broken down replacement goaltender is even more difficult to understand.

Maybe they were looking ahead to Saturday vs NY Rangers & Monday vs Bruins. Too bad. Because after what happened tonight they'll still have to spend too much time looking behind.

THE GOOD

Peter Budaj in the first and third periods. He gave his team a chance to grab a lead which they seemed disinterested in doing. And he bounced back in the third to give his team a chance to force overtime.
Thomas Plekanic had two more assists and won 57% of his face offs.
Mike Cammalleri was a threat all night. Yet another goal post for Cammy. Too bad they didn't enlarge the nets. He'd have over 10 goals by now.
Frederic St. Denis. Can't blame the call up for defensive zone breakdowns. He's now +2 after his first two game sin the NHL.
Scott Gomez was 8 for 10 in the face off circle.
Habs PK Unit again holding the opposition scoreless.

THE BAD

Some of the older guys did nothing until it was too late including Brian Gionta, Travis Moen & Gomez.
Josh Gorges & PK Subban struggled.
Any analyst blaming the Islanders 3rd goal by Mark Streit on anybody but Budaj is thinking way too much. That puck had to be stopped.
Reporters. RDS just ran 2-3 questions, en Francais, directed at Martin after the loss. Is it really that difficult, after that kind of performance, to ask a tough question to a coach who didn't seem to have his team ready to play?

THE UGLY

Budaj completely missing the puck behind the net and then not being able to get back in resulting in the game's first goal by PA Parenteau. Budaj's game fell apart for the rest of the period. So did his team's.
Jacques Martin behind the bench. Waited too long to pull Budaj even though the Habs had control against a weak - in - their - own - end Islanders team. And with 6 attackers on the ice, his two biggest and best forwards, Max Pacioretty & Erik Cole, were ON THE BENCH (they finally made it out for the final face off with seven seconds left).
Scott Gomez. Maybe he should switch back to # 91.On pace for 0 goals this season (448 players in NHL have scored at least one goal), Gomez was actually one of the six Montreal skaters on the ice with time running out. He was -2 on the night, and was especially porous in the second period when he kept passing the puck to nobody and over stayed a shift which ended with an Islanders goal. You've got to think that time is rapidly running out on Gomez. He'll certainly get an opportunity against his former team - the Rangers on Saturday and Boston on Monday. But if nothing happens he's got to go to Hamilton. If Montreal can manage to acquire a big, expensive forward (especially at center) while Gomez is in the AHL that would be a bonus. But he's got to go down, at this point, to see if his game is salvageable. If he plays a couple of weeks in the AHL and rediscovers whatever scoring touch he might still have then he can always be recalled with the hope that he continues to produce at the NHL level. Or a minor miracle might happen and some other team, after scouting him in the AHL, will actually grab him off re - entry waivers. Whatever happens, Gomez is going, going ...

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 18

2011-11-16T22:55:00.000-05:00

A much needed home ice laugher for the Habs. They did what they had to do against a reeling Carolina Hurricanes team that looks like it's about to either fire its coach or trade anybody not named Eric Staal or Jeff Skinner. Only a prevent - let's - make - sure - we - get - the - shutout - defense in the third period kept the score respectable. Yes, the Habs were good. But Carolina was awful.

THE GOOD

Erik Cole. Got it done early against his old pals with a perfect set up to Yannick Weber on the Power play.
Mike Cammalleri. Finally hit the back of the net.
Scott Gomez. Finally got his second point of the season, mere seconds after I tweeted that if he couldn't pick up a point in a game like this then maybe he should consider retiring. Now on pace for a 9 point season.
Travis Moen. Scored his 6th goal of the season, equalling his total from last year. And of the six he has scored only this one was truly Moen - like ugly.
Alexei Yemelin. Easily his best game as a Hab. A double 7 peformance with 7 hits & 7 blocked shots. Set the tone early with a thunderous check on Jiri Tlusty.
PK Subban. Finally scored his first goal of the season. Last year, he scored 9 of his 14 goals in the second half of the season. The kid is alright.
PK Unit led by my choice for early season MVP - Josh Gorges. Carolina was 0 - 6 on the PP. It's been awhile since Montreal has given up a power play goal. Only Subban (24:49) played more than Gorges' 24:30. He was also +2 and now sits tied for 5th in NHL at +11.
Frederic St. Denis. A solid NHL debut and didn't look out of place albeit against a crappy Carolina team.
Thomas Plekanic. Ho hum. Another 2 assist night.
Jacques Martin. For moving Mike Cammalleri up with Plekanic and Brian Gionta while allowing Gomez to get off the 4th line and play quality minutes with better players. And for making sure, with the big lead, that nobody logged too many minutes with Thursday's road game coming up on Long Island.
Carey Price. Followed up frustrating loss with a perfect night in goal. True, he wasn't busy until the third period but don't forget about the early save he made on Eric Staal who came in alone on the left side on a Carolina power play early in the first when the game was still scoreless. And it was Price who got the play started leading to the opening goal by Cammalleri, picking up his first assist of the season to go along with his first shutout. And the way he handled the puck all night made you think of Martin Brodeur in his prime. Finally worked his save percentage over the .910 mark (.913). Now, onward to .920 territory.
The Habs finally with more victories this season (8) than losses (7). But please don't tell me they're over .500. They've played 18 games and lost 10 of them. They're also now tied for 8th place in the Eastern Conference.

THE BAD

The two penalties Lars Eller took. Both lazy and unnecessary. They kind of bookended the game. No big deal, in the end, and he was plus +2 on the night but he gave Carolina an opportunity to open the scoring and then gave them an opportunity to spoil Carey Price's shutout.
Scott Gomez in the face off circle (20%).
Gord Miller's attempt at humour. Now I must admit I was boiling pasta at the time but I think Gord made some reference to the possibility of St. Denis having a career year but not having a Montreal street named after him. Maybe outside of Quebec...

THE UGLY

The Hurricanes. Dead team skating.
TSN Quiz asking what Habs should do with Gomez. Even Bob Mckenzie suggested sending him to the minors, "at the appropriate time."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 17

2011-11-15T00:08:00.000-05:00

"We have to be a team that's always bringing pressure" - Max Pacioretty
"We sat back far too much. It's better to push pucks forward; not sit back" - Eric Cole
"The plan is not to sit back" - Jacques Martin
"Usually when a team (Buffalo) presses you're going to get some scoring opportunities but it didn't happen" - Jacques Martin

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate" - Captain (Strother Martin) in "Cool Hand Luke"

THE GOOD

The Line of David Desharnais - Eric Cole - Max Pacioretty. Sabres didn't seem to have an answer for them as they totalled 11 shots and five points. And Desharnais again did a good job in the face off circle (61%).
Carey Price for 65 minutes.
The Habs PK unit blanking a strong Buffalo power play.
Inexperienced NHL defensemen Yannick Weber, Raphael Diaz & Alexei Yemelin gaining a lot of experience while logging a lot more ice time than anticipated. Already without an ailing Hal Gill, the Habs defense lost vet Jaro Spacek in the second period. Emelin (16:31) delivered five hits while Diaz (18:31) was fairly steady and Weber (25:35) made a terrific play to keep the puck in the Buffalo end which eventually led to Cole's power play goal.
Eric Cole's power play goal. To save you some research, it's his second power play goal of the season. Or if you prefer - 50% of his goals this season have been scored on the PP - kind of like his ratio from the 2007-08 season.
Josh Gorges. It's fun to watch him compete, isn't it?
Even though they sat back on home ice, the Habs still managed a point minus Mike Cammalleri, Hal Gill, Andrei Kostitsyn and then Jaroslav Spacek and a short bench in the third period.

THE BAD

Brian Gionta. Coming off his best game of the season the captain did not get a single shot on goal.
Eric Cole's penalty in overtime. What in the world was he thinking skating inside the blue paint of Jonas Enroth's goal crease, especially after everything's that's been said since Lucic - Miller Saturday night?
Carey Price in the shoot out. Now 0 - 4 this season. Looks like word is out that he can be beaten with shots to the short side.
Carey Price swinging his stick in disgust into the boards on his way off the ice after losing in the shoot out. Actually, move this to THE GOOD category. He cares.
The chintzy penalty call on Josh Gorges by Tim Peel (who else - Chris Lee?) resulting in a 4 on 3 power play for Buffalo.
The Habs power play. Yes they scored (1 - 6) but also had a chance to bury Buffalo with it and failed. Up 2 - 1 in the 3rd, Luke Adam slashed the stick out of Eric Cole's hands about midway through the period. The Canadiens did not get a single shot on goal. A little over a minute later, Derek Roy scored to tie the game. And with even more ice to work with in overtime, after killing off the Cole penalty, the Habs weren't much more dangerous.

THE UGLY

PK Subban's give away leading to Roy's game tying goal in the 3rd. PK tried to be too cute and dumped the puck blindly into the middle of the ice where it was snapped up by the talented Thomas Vanek.
Mathieu Darche (3:19) is still on the power play. Stop this insanity. Now. If Jacques Martin is looking for body presence on the PP why not reward Travis Moen with the time he's giving Darche? Or Lars Eller? The longer he stubbornly clings to this concept the more he loses credibility with the people who matter the most - the veterans on his own team. If any of them, at this stage, are still listening.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 16

2011-11-13T00:29:00.003-05:00

Impressive road win to spoil the party in Nashville. Most Montreal fans were likely concerned with Peter Budaj getting the start but I like what Pierre McGuire told us on the air on Friday - that Budaj is familiar with Nashville and that Carey Price, with his performance in Phoenix, earned the right to an off night the night before game day in the country music capitol of the world. Not sure if Price hit Tootsie's but I'd be shocked if he didn't take the opportunity to pick up some tunes at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. And a pair of boots to boot.

THE GOOD

David Desharnais. Bounced back big time from a few sub - par performances. An offensive threat all night and dominated in the face off circle (67%).
Peter Budaj. Made big saves throughout. Beaten only by that Shea Weber howitzer. Important strong performances early by Budaj. Much better than he looked in pre - season.
PK Subban. For the second straight game one of Habs best players was knocked down but not out. An amazingly athletic play to set up the game winner. Now take care of that shoulder.
Max Pacioretty. Only a goal scorer can pick the spot he did on Rinne to win it. Now has as many goals as Alex Ovechkin.
Josh Gorges. Another outstanding effort. Played more shifts than anybody on the ice. Led the Habs with 23:37 and was +2. Another assist gives him eight points for the season, one more than all of last year. Now tied for 8th in NHL Plus/Minus at +9.
Travis Moen. Quickly came to defense of Subban when Jordan Tootoo took offense to being bumped at end of 2nd period. That Tootoo embellished the way he did does not diminish fact that Moen took a strong poke at him.
Thomas Plekanec (63%) & Lars Eller (70%) in the face off circle and a big part, along with Hal Gill, Gorges, Moen & Subban of the PK Unit.
Scott Gomez (early). On his first shift Gomez made perfect passes to linemates Petteri Nokelainen and Mathieu Darche (Now that's purgatory). Later on, the bad Gomez re-emerged as he tried forcing passes through traffic. Looks like he should open up more space on the power play.
Aaron Palushaj. Skates and skates and skates. Now if he can only do something else.
Hockey in Nashville. I was among those who doubted the validity of the NHL in Tennesee. Now I'd love to see them host a Stanley Cup final.

THE BAD

The penalty Jaro Spacek took to give Nashville a 5 on 3 PP.
Raphael Diaz. A bad case of the jitters to start. Four times he had the puck on his stick during the opening shift. All four times he coughed it up. He needs a break out game. Again, hard to believe Alexei Yemelin can't help right now.
Mike Cammalleri. Kudos for playing hurt but he has to start burying his chances. At least he's getting chances. Now a team worse -6.
The lost face off leading to Nashville's shorthanded goal. Three veteran forwards on for the defensive zone face off - Gomez, Gionta & Cammalleri. Gomez apparently can't take face offs because of injury (he did take two later on). Cammalleri has taken plenty of draws in his career but Gionta? How about throwing one of four centermen on the bench over the boards to take the face off? This is attention to detail that Martin continuously messes up on. His reaction after the Weber goal - to pull out his notebook and angrily scribble something to do, no doubt, with the missed assignment (Gomez? Cammalleri?) on Weber. But he should have been reminding himself that he screwed up by not having a legit center on the ice, especially after mucking up earlier this season on home ice against the Leafs in a similar situation. The lost draw and goal resulted in a complete momentum switch.

THE UGLY

The power play. It's time to decline. Four shorthanded goals allowed. A total of seven power play goals scored. Ya know, Patrice Brisebois is looking pretty good on the set of Le Match.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 15

2011-11-11T00:42:00.001-05:00

They seemed to be playing in a mausoleum (dead arena walking?) but credit the under - manned Canadiens with a gutsy effort, led by the little defenseman who could. Who spills more blood for his team than Gorges?

THE GOOD

Josh Gorges. Mere moments after nearly being splattered into the glass by 6'6" 240 pound Martin Hanzel Gorges pounced on a loose rolling puck and fired the overtime winner past Mike Smith who burned a hole through one of his defensemen with a Guy Boucher - like death stare. Tells you all you need to know about a guy who just might be the most popular player on the team. Don't ever wonder why. After 15 games he's got seven points and is a +7. Not worth a longer term deal?
The line of Thomas Plekanec - Brian Gionta - Travis Moen. Two goals, four points, +6. A real sign that the captain might be awakening. Moen is now one goal behind his total from last season.
PK Subban. Led all Hab skaters with 25:34 and +3.
David Desharnais actually dominated in the face off circle at 72%.
Continued strong efforts by Max Pacioretty & Eric Cole. But right now they're part of a line without a centre (aka a doughnut line).
Carey Price. Several big saves from in close all night but especially in the dying minutes - and seconds - of regulation time.

THE BAD

Desharnais. He's not making plays. He's regularly losing puck battles. He's at least a half step behind where he was the first 8 - 10 games of the season. He's not helping his linemates right now. Lars Eller should be moved between Cole & Pacioretty. Desharnais has obvious skill but he might be playing himself into the role of an offensive specialist. There are worse things to be in the NHL.
Mathieu Darche. Out of position on several occasions and at one point, while killing a penalty, looked to be slower than even Hal Gill.
Is Darche (16:14) really that much better than Mike Blunden (1:43)?
Petteri Nokelainen. Not a good Phoenix homecoming. Not focused. Allowed Keith Yandle to move in several feet from the blue line to help set up the tying goal.
Jacques Martin deciding to bench Alexei Yemelin (7:07). Was he really that bad? The Canadiens need a physical presence on the blue line. After a strong start Rafael Diaz has slowed considerably.

THE UGLY

Plekanec getting pushed into the boards and not getting up. The fact that he eventually did gives Montreal hockey fans some hope. Because if the Habs' best player so far this season is out for a prolonged period of time, they are finished. As in last.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 14

2011-11-08T23:31:00.004-05:00

This one was ugly. Oh, we're going to hear about how great Nikolai Khabibulin was, and the goal posts the Habs, especially Mike Cammalleri continue to rings shots off of (as if a goal post here and a cross bar there doesn't count when it's hit by the other guys) but as far as I'm concerned this game was lost because the Canadiens came out in their own building and played frightened. Afraid of what might happen should they open up a little against the Oilers, as if this is the Oilers of Gretzky, Messier, Anderson and Coffey. I get being responsible defensively but the Habs should have approached this match up with the mind set of running the young Oilers out of the rink - their home barn - early and often. Instead they managed a total of four shots on goal, seemingly pleased with a scoreless tie. This one man in forecheck on home ice against an inexperienced opponent is not only defensive but defeatist. "Oh, we'll just nail them on the power play" is how Jacques Martin seems to approach every game. And if there is no power play his much vaunted "system" might keep the goals down but is terribly exposed for what it really is. Something that belongs in the pre - lockout NHL. Along with the man who preaches it.

THE GOOD

Mike Cammalleri. He's getting close. Was all over the ice.
Eric Cole. Same thing but he's got to become more selfish. Way too often Cole gets the puck in a position to fire but is thinking pass. The Habs need his goals.
Alexei Yemelin. Gave the Habs some much needed physical presence on the blue line, especially early when he knocked big Ben Eager on his ass after Eager got too close to Carey Price. Caught out of position a couple of times but that's to be expected from somebody who hadn't played in two weeks.
Josh Gorges heavy duty body check on Jordan Eberle along the boards. "Not tonight, kid".
The car commercial featuring Paul Anka singing in the back seat. In French.

THE BAD

Four shots on goal in the first period. Unacceptable on home ice against an inferior opponent. I know what the standings say but Montreal has to win this. So they kept Edmonton to under 18 shots on goal. So?
Yannick Weber on the right wing. What is the point? Are three grown men behind the bench not able to figure out how to double shift a forward instead of using a young defenseman out of position? Actually, this pre-dates the arrival of the two Randy's so they're not to blame.
The other solution? Play 4th liner Mike Blunden for 15 seconds. Two straight games Martin has used just three lines.
David Desharnais. Might be getting a little fatigued, already. His reaction time has slowed back to, it seems, AHL level. He's also losing almost every one on one puck battle. Nothing wrong with resting a guy this small. Are you ready for Gomer 3?
Theo Peckham's crunching forearm to the jaw of PK Subban. Properly penalized for interference, Peckham will hardly be the last opposing player to physically punish a star calibre Montreal player as long as their power play remains as pathetic as it is.
Mathieu Darche, still very much a part of the impotent power play, got another 5:14 of ice time with the man advantage. Can't pin this one on Perry Pearn.
Lars Eller got 18 seconds of power play time.
PK Subban. Something's missing.
The injury to Andrei Kostitsyn.

THE UGLY

Thomas Plekanec's shift on the point on the power play which eventually led to Ryan Jones short handed goal. Plekanec looked lackadaisical and nonchalent at the same time. It's supposed to be a north-south game, especially on the power play not the other way around. Maybe his worst shift ever as a Hab.
The power play. 0 - 6 with 3 shots on goal and a goal against. Post game Jacques Martin said it's not working because they "have a lot of young players and it's still a work in progress".
Martin seems to be spending more time talking about what he doesn't have (Markov, for example. Well boo hoo. The Pittsburgh Penguins entered play tonight as the top team in the East. They've been without the game's best player since last January). Two weeks ago, when asked about the lack of protection for his goaltender, Martin responded by wondering if he was supposed to ask Raphael Diaz to pick up an opposing forward and throw him to the ice. I sense some tension, as opposed to frustration, as there should be when your team is this close to last place.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 13

2011-11-05T23:13:00.002-04:00

This was a night that cried for an early meltdown behind the bench by the top guy. Lindy Ruff would have made sure the calls started to go his way long before the obvious sense of guilt had seeped into Tim Peel and Dean Morton. Same for Peter Laviolette, Claude Julien, Dan Bylsma, Mike Babcock and of course John Tortorella. But we're told by Mister Gauthier that a head coach cannot be analytical and emotional at the same time. So the Habs get a mutter here, a mutter there, everywhere a mutter, mutter when what they really need is a mutter of a much different kind.

I'm not blaming the loss on Jacques Martin. But who knows what happens five minutes into the first period if he lets everybody inside the new MSG know exactly how he felt about the inept officiating.

THE GOOD

Thomas Plekanic. A tireless two way effort all night.
Brian Gionta. Ditto.
Jacques Martin finally putting Andrei Kostitsyn on a power play.
Kostitsyn scoring on the power play. Pretty good production on the PP last night - 32 seconds played; one goal.
Eric Cole. A strong presence all night with four shots on goal - not including a goal post late in the second period that would have tied game - and six hits.
Max Pacioretty. Back on the score sheet. Seven shots on goal. But still not driving on his skates the same way.
Montrealer Joseph Kaiser belting out both anthems on Broadway.
Michael Blunden belting Brandon Dubinsky. Nothing wrong with the hit.

THE BAD

The little guys who had been playing so well - Yannick Weber & David Desharnais - struggled big time on the back end of the back to back.
Carey Price. Can't be blamed for first three NYR goals but whiffed on the Brad Richards shot moments after Cole hit the goal post. Terrible momentum swing.
Mike Cammalleri. Awful back check job on the third NYR goal by Del Zotto. A couple more efforts like that and maybe Cammy would consider taking back his recent comment about not needing to work on his cardio.
Habs in the face off circle. Again. Just 38% including a loss by Plekanic at center ice with Price on the bench for a 6th attacker.

THE UGLY

Referees Tim Peel & Dean Morton. An abomination. What the hell were they doing huddling at the penalty box with their two linesmen after calling a penalty on Blunden (for interference??? Dubinsky had the puck) and/ or a too many men on the ice call (Eric Cole was on the bench). No instigator penalty to Ryan Callahan for going right after Blunden and starting the entire melee?? A two man advantage for the Rangers? 33 seconds later Erik Christianson scored and the entire tone of the game had been changed. Chintzy penalty calls to Desharnais (especially the one behind the net on Brian Boyle - 3 times the size of Desharnais who got his hip out and Boyle went flying like through the air like he had been fired out of a cannon), an obvious non-call on Andrei Kostitsyn who got hauled down behind the Rangers net after beating his man. This was horrendous officiating at its finest. And if the Habs had a nastier edge, the league might have an embarrassment to deal with. As it is, it's merely a "fatigued" Canadiens team ambushed by the Rangers. Nothing else. What's a calm, cool, collected executive like Mister Gauthier to do? Maybe when he's done analyzing the game he can call Mister Campbell or Mister Murphy or Mister Gregson and invite them to the Bell Centre for a cup of tea and a bowl of soup.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 12

2011-11-04T23:02:00.002-04:00

Jacques Martin's favorite kind of hockey game. His goalie is superb. His offense jumps on turnovers. His defense protects (sits on) a lead most of the night. Two points in the bank.

But he's playing with fire.

THE GOOD

Carey Price. He stopped every non - backhand shot directed at him.
Eric Cole's third goal of the season. A work of beauty thanks to linemates David Desharnais & Mike Cammalleri.
The 4th line of Petteri Nokelainen - Mike Blunden - Mathieu Darche. Again. Have they had a single bad shift since being put together?
19 more blocked shots.
Lars Eller's perfect feed to Andrei Kostitsyn after embarrassing Erik Karlsson.
The huge smile on Kostitsyn's face on the bench while waiting for the third period to start. Imagine if he got a few seconds on the power play.
Habs record without Scott Gomez now 4-1-1.
Habs record with Randy Ladouceur behind the bench is 4-0.

THE BAD

Kostitsyn (4G 4A 8 PTS) still not on the power play. Another 1:00 of PP time for Darche (1G 0A 1 PT). Ridiculous.
The disturbing lack of finish by Mike Cammalleri & Brian Gionta. A matter of time, I believe, for Cammalleri (5 SOG tonight). Don't know about Gionta.
Max Pacioretty. Looked a little out of it, especially after taking a clean hit from Chris Phillips. Maybe his head was already home in the NYC area.

THE UGLY

The Habs in the face off circle. Everybody (36%) was rotten. They got lucky, especially late in the game with Jason Spezza winning every important draw.
PK Subban's early penalty for tripping. PK is going to have to learn, quickly, that he cannot stick his leg out to upend an opponent who's beaten him, whether it's a teammate during practice or an opposing forward. He's going to seriously injure somebody. And then himself.
The pool started by Mitch Gallo this week on "Melnick in the Afternoon". Who ends the season with more goals - Scott Gomez or Ryan McDonagh? (McDonagh leads 3-0).

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 11

2011-10-30T02:37:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday night featured a comedy of errors behind the bench which led, in large part, to a home ice overtime loss to the Maple Leafs. One week later, following the firing of one of those guys behind the bench, the Habs look reborn.

Mission accomplished. For now.

THE GOOD

Thomas Plekanic playing a team high 21:45 and dominating at both ends of the ice. And looking just fine on the point on the power play, isn't he? Just thought it would be an appropriate time to ask what took so long for Jacques Martin to realize that it was not a bad idea to utilize perhaps his smartest player - a forward - on the point? Hallelujah.
Eric Cole. Impressive big body presence up front all night refusing to back down from any and all physical confrontations with Zdeno Chara. And could this be the same guy who was not being used at all on the power play? His 7:59 on the PP led all Montreal skaters.
Carey Price. Another strong game against the Bruins. Ho Hum. Finally getting his save percentage to .900.
Travis Moen. Continues to be a factor in almost every game. His hit on Milan Lucic led directly to Lars Eller's first goal of the season. And he responded well to Shawn Thornton's challenge to scrap.
Montreal special teams. Two power play goals while killing off nearly a minute of a Botson two man advantage.
Josh Gorges' sprawling save to rob Lucic of a PP goal.
Jaroslav Spacek. Seems to be getting better and better. Led all skaters with seven blocked shots.
Habs team total of blocked shots was a playoff - like 29.
David Desharnais. Crafty and creative offensively and had his best night on face offs (63%), the third consecutive game he's won more draws than lost.
Habs record without Scott Gomez is 3-1-1.
The 4th line - again - of Nokelainen - Blunden - Darche. Each played double digit minutes and performed well, especially Blunden who joined Eric Cole in physically attacking Chara. A shame the line was caught on the ice after the late icing call against the Habs (see below) which lead to Boston's second goal. Not their fault.
Darche payed NHL career game # 200.
Carey Price's throwing arm. Managed to heave one puck all the way to the top of section 115 when he skated onto the ice as game's first star.
Bell Centre Halloween soundtrack which included a snippet of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London".
Jacques Martin doing an in-game interview with Marc Denis of RDS.

THE BAD

Jacques Martin's post game press conference. Seemed sullen until Mitch Gallo asked him about the number of Boston penalties.
Lars Eller trying to be too cute when he was beyond shift time and instead of dumping the puck out of the zone decided to try to carry it out. He was stripped by Nathan Horton who fed it to Lucic for Boston's second goal.
PK Subban needlessly icing the puck with 1:12 left setting up a Boston face off deep in Montreal territory which resulted in Boston's second goal.
Do Habs, riding a three game winning streak, really need five days off before playing again (in Ottawa)?

THE UGLY

Boston officially becoming the team with the worst start to a season of a defending stanley cup champion.
Bruins ridiculous dumb ass penalties, to Lucic, Andrew Ferrence and Nathan Horton.
Claude Julien whining about his team's stupid penalties to referees Dave Jackson & Justin St. Pierre while they skated off the ice at the end of the second period.
Benoit Pouliot staying in Boston because he apparently wasn't feeling well. Further damaging his already heavily damaged reputation.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 10

2011-10-28T01:21:00.001-04:00

An important and impressive second win in as many nights and the Habs are full credit for it. But there is definately some fire missing in Boston right now. Even the fans seem blase with plenty of empty seats in the lower bowl for a first home meeting with their arch rivals.

THE GOOD

Carey Price recovering from his early whiff to once again stand tall in goal.
PK Subban fighting arch nemesis Brad Marchand hopefully putting an end to the nonsense (mostly from Boston) that PK is "afraid" to drop the gloves.
How good has Josh Gorges been? After 10 games he's now +5 and has already equalled his assist total (6) for all of last season.
The sliding save that Raphael Diaz made with Price out of position saving a goal during a second period Boston poweet play.
Yannick Weber surviving an entire night in Boston as a defenseman. He's not giving up his blue line spot without a fight.
A second consecutive strong night for the defense corps as they blocked a total of 14 shots.
Former Bruins Petteri Nokelainen going 64% in face off circle.
Once again the fourth line of Nokelainen, Mathieu Darche & Michael Blunden provided much needed relief, especially in the third period, including a prolonged shift brought on by an icing call with less than two minutes to play.

THE BAD

The hit Max Pacioretty took along the boards courtesy of Milan Lucic. Pacioretty appeared initially to have been at the very least, winded.
Mike Cammalleri wasting a 5 on 3 scoring chance by shooting into the gut of Tim Thomas (yeah, I know, real picky).
Once again Andrei Kostitsyn gets no power play time. Only two guys on the team have more points that AK46. Put him out there already.
In 10 games supposed power play specialist Mathieu Darche has one point.

THE UGLY

Thomas Plekanic cleanly winning a face off from one of the best - Patrice Bergeron - only to see the puck slide off Carey Price's skate and into the night. One of the strangest goals I've ever seen and, help me out here, maybe the softest I've ever seen a Montreal goalie surrender.
The first punch PK Subban threw at Marchand before quickly recovering from potential humiliation. Maybe Knuckles Nilan can spend a few minutes with the Habs defenseman. Maybe all of the defensemen.
Benoit Pouliot.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 9

2011-10-27T01:31:00.001-04:00

Assistant coach Perry Pearn gets axed and the Habs respond with their best effort of the season. What does that say? That it was Pearn who was responsible for all those too many men on the ice penalties? That it was Pearn who decided it was important to have Josh Gorges on the ice as one of six skaters while pressing for the game tying goal in the final minute - twice already this season? That it was Pearn who couldn't hear the smacking of Carey Price's goalie stick on the ice as the Habs goalie was trying to find out if/when he was going to be pulled for a 6th attacker? That it was Pearn who decided that it wasn't smart hockey to have Eric Cole on the power play? That it was Pearn who thought it was smart hockey to have the league's slowest skater - Hal Gill - on the ice against two of the best skating forwards in the NHL, Phil Kessel & Mikail Grabovski, resulting in an overtime loss? That it was Pearn who was in charge of a power play connecting at a clip of 6%? Well, yeah. Maybe. But a strong head coach makes sure that kind of crap doesn't happen. That if the team is scuffling, and already handcuffed by significant injuries, then it's all the more vital to have the true supposed leaders of the team, the coaching staff, at the very top of their game. And that clearly hasn't been the case. Much better in the win against Philadelphia but still room for improvement.

THE GOOD

Carey Price. That was the Price we saw last season. Big saves at the appropriate time. Moments after Andrei Kostitsyn gave Montreal a 2-1 lead Price robbed Claude Giroux from in close with a great pad save. A few seconds later Max Pacioretty scored to make it 3-1. Early in the third, Price stopped James Van Riemsdyk on a clean breakaway. Moments later Pacioretty scored again to make it 4-1. A memorable 100th career win.
Max Pacioretty. Ligaments, shmigaments. Just put me in coach.
Eric Cole. Played like he was possessed. Maybe he was. By the anti - Perry Pearn.
Andrei Kostitsyn. He too came out flying and wanting the puck. What else should he be doing to earn power play time?
The defense corps seemed rejuvenated with Randy Ladouceur behind them. Subban, Gorges, Weber, Spacek, Diaz & Gill combined for four points, 16 blocked shots and a + 6.
Gorges had his best game of the season going +3 and earning two assists.
Were those really Montreal Canadiens defensemen - not named PK Subban - actually joining the rush?
David Desharnais finally won more draws than he lost (53%) and clicked well with linemates Cole and Mike Cammalleri.
Special teams. Habs scored their first goal, by Weber with two seconds left in the first period on the power play. And shut out a Philadelphia PP that had been running at 26%.
The Canadiens actually scored a goal via a face off win. Pacioretty's to make it 4-1 came after a clear face off win by Plekanic.
An important and impressive contribution from the 4th line of Nokelainen, Blunden & Darche. They contributed key shifts, especially in the third period with a game coming up the next night in Boston.
Blunden delivered 5 hits in just 6:25 of action.
The deep and sustained pressure put on the Philadelphia defense late in the 3rd by the Desharnais-Cole-Cammalleri trio, resulting in Cammalleri's third goal of the season.
No Chris Pronger to protect Ilya Bryzgalov.
Habs first win at the Bell Centre (including exhibition season) since game six vs The Bruins last spring.
The Canadiens moved out of the basement of the Eastern Conference into a three way tie for 12th with NY Islanders and...the defending champs from Boston.
Pierre Gauthier spoke publicly.

THE BAD

Still no Kostitsyn on the power play. A coach has to be able to gauge where his players are at on any given night. And when AK46 shows up, it's usually early. He should be rewarded with time on the PP. Enough with Darche out there.
Referee Chris Lee. Having to put up with Tim Peel & Chris Lee on successive home dates constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

THE UGLY

The boos. They were loud after The Habs fell behind.
This recurring vision I have of Benoit Pouliot scoring his first goal(s) of the season to help the Bruins beat Montreal in Boston.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 8

2011-10-25T00:47:00.001-04:00

November can't come soon enough.

THE GOOD

Peter Budaj was solid in his Montreal debut. But he hardly inspires a lot of confidence.
Jaroslav Spacek looked solid. A useful player, when used properly, who's been unfairly maligned because of his pay cheque.
Eric Cole's first goal as a Hab. On the power play. Whaddya know.
Newcomer Petteri Nokelainen was a perfect 4-0 in face off circle.
Thomas Plekanic was 65% on face offs.

THE BAD

David Desharnais won only 29% of his face offs and there are more and more instances of him getting knocked off the puck.
PK Subban. With the Habs pressing for the equalizer in the final minute and Jacob Markstrom lying prone on the ice like some circus act Brian Gionta and others were hacking away trying to find the puck. The Panthers, showing the Canadiens how it's done, mugged every Hab in sight. PK felt the need to "defend" his forwards by moving in from the point to grab somebody. But with 38 seconds left and down by a goal that move forced the face off outside the blue line. Habs never made it back in.
Mathieu Darche back on the power play for 1:43. Less time than Eric Cole & Max Pacioretty. But still 1:43 more than Andrei Kostitsyn. Unreal.
Habs record without Scott Gomez 0-1-1.
Referee Tim Peel.

THE UGLY

The injury to Max Pacioretty. Whatever (shoulder, arm, wrist, hand) it is.
Too many veterans including and especially the line of Plekanic - Gionta - Cammalleri showed very little to no second effort when they didn't have the puck. And with the puck they took too many low percentage shots. On the surface it might look like a strong team effort that was quashed by a rookie goaltender. I don't really see it that way.
Season record now 1-5-2 with 0 wins on home ice.
Last place in the Eastern Conference.
Only the winless Columbus Blue Jackets have a worse record in the entire NHL. With the Habs about to face Philadelphia and Boston (twice) they might be getting ready to say goodbye Columbus.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 7

2011-10-23T00:27:00.005-04:00

Saturday night's loss to the Leafs should result in some fist pounding on a table. Maybe more than a table.
Let's get to it.

THE GOOD

A new line is born. Lars Eller - Andrei Kostitsyn - Travis Moen. Moen's best game as a Hab. Maybe Eller as well.
The face off circle. Habs won 57% of draws and held David Steckel even. But...(see below)
Hal Gill played inspired hockey all night, no doubt spurred on by wonderful fan reaction to his 1,000th NHL game.
Seeing the Pocket Rocket, Henri Richard an inspiration to every player under 5'10".
Mike Cammalleri scoring a goal in career game #500.
The booing of Mike Komisarek. Keep it up.

THE BAD

Captain Brian Gionta was -2.
The penalty call on Gionta when he knocked James Reimer out of the game. Reimer was clearly outside the blue paint when Gionta made contact. If it was a penalty why not a head shot call?
Jay Rosehill & Mike Brown sticking it to PK Subban, Carey Price and anybody else they could get their hands and/or stick on. The Canadiens 4th line answer is Andreas Engqvist & Aaron Palushaj.
Carey Price allowing five goals on 27 shots. He made some truly amazing saves including at least a couple that should have been game savers. And he's not getting much help from a thin blue line. Nor any protection. But he's got to get his save percentage above .900 and go from there.
For the second time in a week the Habs blow a one goal lead on home ice with fewer than seven minutes to play.
Habs were outshot in the third period and overtime 13 - 6.
At least one member of the Canadiens - Lars Eller - didn't even know Reimer was out and The Monster in to start the second period. Eller was almost speechless when asked about the goalie change by Mitch Gallo. Anybody else not know?

THE UGLY

Terrible coaching job, just awful. Let's count the ways:

With Engqvist off for high sticking and a face off deep in the Montreal zone Martin has Eller & Moen on to take the draw against one of the best face off guys in the NHL David Steckel. It is standard operating procedure - if you're a coach who pays attention to detail once the game starts - to have a pair of centermen on in key face off situations. Naturally, Eller gets tossed, Moen badly loses the draw and Steckel gets the Leafs on the scoreboard with a neat deflection.
Two more bench minors for a team that led the NHL in that department last season. Where's the accountability?
The power play ( 0 -4 now at a 6.9% efficiency rate for the season) featured 3:12 of Mathieu Darche but not a single second of Eric Cole. When asked about it by Jessica Rusnak, Martin explained that she should have done her research because Cole only scored 3 power play goals a season ago. Well, I've done some research. Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, Jussi Jokinen, Tumo Ruutu & Joe Corvo scored more goals on the power play than Cole did a year ago. Is there a Mathieu Darche in that group? Cole did lead the Hurricanes in game winning goals with 9. A few years back Cole scored nearly 50% of his goals on the power play. We can play with numbers all night, including sample size but just on the surface that statement Martin made, after the Canadiens invested all that term and money for a bona fide NHL winger who can put the puck in the net is insulting and frankly, tells you all you need to know about Martin's head space right now. Here's more research: Darche, as mentioned, spent 3:12 on the power play. Max Pacioretty's PP time? 2:20. And while the Habs enjoyed a full 60 seconds of a 5 on 3 advantage in the first period, Darche was out there the whole time while Pacioretty (and Kostitsyn, Desharnais & Cole) had his ass on the bench. For those of you who believe that Martin knows what he's doing back there, defend this.
Four on Four overtime and the Leafs go to two of the quickest forwards in the NHL, Phil Kessel and Mikhail Grabovski, The Habs have the slowest skater in the league back on defense in Gill. You know what happened. I've tried to explain how important it was to have Kirk Muller behind the bench because Martin is a terrible in-game coach. Seen enough Yet?

The Canadiens record of 1-4-2. One win in seven games. None at home.
The Canadiens in last place in the Eastern Conference.

Enough Already.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 6

2011-10-21T01:22:00.003-04:00

The Bruins, after losing their collective minds in a home ice loss to Carolina bounced back big time against Toronto with most of the guilty parties from Tuesday - including Chara, Lucic, Horton & Kelly playing big roles. The Lightning, leaking like Westmount sewers after a hail storm, got their act together allowing just 17 shots on goal in a victory over the Islanders. Roberto Luongo - TRADE HIM TO TAMPA BAY FOR VINNY LECAVLAIER screams a Vancouver Province Editorial - rebounded, making 25 saves in a win over Nashville. The NY Rangers, after a tough start in Europe, win back to back road games out west including an overtime thriller in Calgary. Even the expansion - like Ottawa Senators manage to do something the Habs haven't done yet this season - win a second game. Naturally, they beat the only team the Habs have beaten - the Winnipeg Jets. So everybody, it seems, who's been scuffling picked Thursday night to right themselves. Except your Montreal Canadiens.

I thought the loss in Pittsburgh was almost as bad as that 7 - 0 humiliating loss in Boston last season but for different reasons. Still no push back - there never will be with a Gauthier/Martin team - but no energy, no drive, no desperation for a team that should have - with the host team missing three of the NHL's best players - smelled blood. Spare me the Markov injury factor at this point. Kris Letang might be better, not to mention Malkin and Crosby.

No, the stench from this one might linger. Whatever good will had been built up in that loss to Buffalo evaporated on yet another key lost face off. Maybe the Leafs on Saturday provide the cure. And/or the Panthers on Monday. Montreal has to win its first game of the year on home ice against one of those teams, don't they?

If not, with a Flyers - Bruins back to back looming, and yet another match up against Boston before the end of the month, Jacque Martin might be wishing he had a Kirk Muller mask to wear on Halloween.

THE GOOD

Hal Gill's 1,000th game and the wonderful reception by the fans in Pittsburgh.
As is usually the case against the Penguins, Carey Price played his ass off.
Max Pacioretty
The Habs weren't shutout. And neither was Elliott Price in his first broadcast of Montreal Canadiens hockey on TSN 990. He'll always remember the otherwise meaningless goal by Brian Gionta. (UPDATE: Goal officially changed to Mathieu Darche)
The injury to Scott Gomez?

THE BAD

Oh those face offs. Pittsburgh wins 61% of the draws compared to just 39% for Montreal.
The game changer, the first goal of the game, like the critical second goal by Buffalo on Tuesday, came following an icing call and a badly lost draw (Thomas Plekanic) while Eric Cole could not contain shooter James Neal.
Energy level exhibited by Canadiens after their first three scoring chances were turned away by Marc Andre Fleury.
Scott Gomez is now on pace for a 14 point season.
PK Subban is now on pace to end the season at -82.
Jacques Martin's bench management skills. His offensively challenged team is trailing most of the night and Travis Moen (nearly 15:00) ends up with more ice time than Cole or Andrei Kostitsyn.

THE UGLY

Alexei Emelin's rookie mistake - a terrible give away - that resulted in Pittsburgh's second goal by Joe Vitale.
Montreal's power play went 0-4. PP efficiency rate six games into the season is at 8%. Somebody's going to have to come to the rescue. Maybe it's the same guy who can win a key face off.
The mood of Montreal hockey fans right now. Kind of early for an ugly mood, no?

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 5

2011-10-19T00:45:00.000-04:00

Ryan Miller. Ryan Miller. Ryan Miller. And where have you gone, Mike Cammalleri?

THE GOOD

Max Pacioretty wasn't merely good he was far and away the best player on the ice (not named Ryan Miller).
Desharnais - Kostitsyn - Pacioretty looks like a keeper line.
Raphael Diaz flashed some veteran skill & savvy on his first NHL goal.
Alexei Emelin dished out six hits including one on former Montreal Junior Luke Adam that a season ago might have resulted in Adam needing a stretcher instead of a band aid.
Travis Moen coming to the defense of Emelin after the rookie Russian was upended by Paul Gaustad.
Moen bouncing back up after getting decked in his fight with Cody McCormack and eventually dropping McCormack.
Hal Gill played his strongest game of the young season. His total ice time? 14:50. Keep the 36 year old at 15:00 or less.
Scott Gomez was 64% in the face off circle. Thomas Plekanic 61%.
The boos for Zdeno Chara as the 2nd intermission RDS highlight package on the scoreboard revealed that the gentle giant ("I never try to hurt anybody") captain of the Bruins had been tossed from Boston's loss to Carolina.
The long, loud pre - game ovation for Anthony Calvillo.
Ryan Miller.

THE BAD

Gomez not coming back hard enough on Buffalo's first goal - scored off a rebound by defenseman Jordan Leopold.
Desharnais losing a key face off in the dying seconds of the second period, resulting in the winning goal by Thomas Vanek. Andrei Kostitsyn not taking his man off the draw. And Carey Price going down too soon to allow Thomas Vanek to pick his spot.
PK Subban was -2. Now -5 on the season.

THE UGLY

Andreas Engqvist won one of six face offs (17%) while playing under 5:30. You're telling me the Canadiens can't do better? Even Tom Pyatt would be an improvement.
For the second time in three losses with Carey Price on the bench for a 6th attacker Josh Gorges was on the ice. Who's bright idea is this?

Consensus Clint says if there's really such a thing as a "good loss" the Habs suffered one in game 5 of the season. But those lost points in the standings won't be coming back in late March.

http://en.montrealalouettes.com/video/index/id/21579

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 4

2011-10-15T23:35:00.000-04:00

Looks like we're in for another roller coaster ride. At least Andrei Markov will be back on skates soon. Presuming that means he'll be back in action prior to Christmas. Unless he collides in practice with Andreas Engqvist or Aaron Palushaj or some other non - NHL ready player and is hurt again. Hey, don't think Benoit Brunet isn't thinking about that possibility.

THE GOOD

Carey Price's save on Milan Hejduk in the opening minute. All downhill after that.
Brian Gionta, Eric Cole & Scott Gomez all finally hit the scoresheet.
Gomez is no longer on pace for a 0 point season. He's now up to a projected 20 points.
The obvious chemistry between David Desharnais & Max Pacioretty.
Jacques Martin calling an early time out after his team fell behind. Jocko also looked positively animated behind the bench after the Habs took that brief 5-4 lead, aggressively patting his vets on the back.
Thomas Plekanic showing everybody that, yes he can...fire the puck.
Alexei Emelin hit a couple of guys and didn't wait until the final five minutes to do so.
Mathieu Darche's best moment of the 6:05 he played was when he pushed referee Eric Furlatt out of the way and onto his ass while tracking down an Avalanche defenseman.
Don Cherry's apology to Chris Nilan, Stu Grimson & Jim Thompson.
The news on Markov.

THE BAD

PK Subban again making too many mistakes.
Penalty killing unit, again.
Referee Stephane Auger. One of the league's worst. Always finds a way to make a brutal call or two every night, not to mention the crap he misses. And right on schedule there he was sending Raphael Diaz to the box on a horse shit tripping call to set up Colorado's late tying goal.

THE UGLY

Carey Price. Can't imagine a worse performance from here on in. Those pink pads will surely help a lot of young people down the road but they were no help to Price tonight. He can't really be thinking that hard about 100 career wins, can he?
Habs in the face off circle: Plekanic - 48%, Gomez - 40%, Desharnais - 33%, Engvvist - 29%. It's not going to get better by itself.
Elliotte Friedman in the Arizona desert riding a horse with a suit on while interviewing Shane Doan; making Billy Crystal in "City Slickers" look like John Wayne.

Consensus Clint says there were some good signs but it was a bad loss on home ice.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 3

2011-10-14T03:26:00.001-04:00

When was the last time there were 10,000 empty seats with seven minutes to play at a Habs game at the Bell centre? That about says it all.

THE GOOD

The Canadiens played a great game - for five minutes.

THE BAD

Everybody except Max Pacioretty, Thomas Plekanic, Andrei Kostitsyn & Lars Eller.
Opening ceremonies. Was this really Montreal?

THE UGLY

I have rarely seen a worst shift by a Montreal forward than the one Eric Cole had prior to Calgary's fourth goal. He gave the puck away on no less than four different occasions. The first two were plain bad give aways. The second two resulted, I think, from being too tired do anything. Just horrendous. Eric, you're not in Raleigh anymore.

So that's two losses to two non - playoff teams by a combined score of 6 - 1. And there's no help on the way with Ryan White undergoing surgery and Andrei Markov hopeful that he won't need to...again.

And here come the mighty Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. If Montreal had beaten Calgary perhaps Peter Budaj would have gotten the opportunity to face his former team. If they don't play any better he might still get the opportunity...to mop up.

Consensus Clint says it was another ugly loss.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 2

2011-10-09T22:54:00.001-04:00

Oh well. Jets fans will always have the Avco Cup. And Teemu Selanne at his best.

THE GOOD

Thomas Plekanic was dominant - 3 points +3 and 57% on face offs.
Power Play scored. PK unit was perfect.
Yannick Weber might have had his best game as a Hab.
Newcomers Raphael Diaz & Alexei Emelin did not look out of place.
Andrea Engqvist won 67% of his face offs.
No passengers on a night when Habs were mostly two men short.
If Carey Price was any cooler in goal he'd be Johnny Depp.
Habs swarmed Mark Stuart after he delivered a (perfectly legal) a bone rattling check to Brian Gionta.

THE BAD

Eric Cole got less ice time than Mathieu Darche & David Desharnais. Again.
Habs were out hit 26 - 7.
Scott Gomez is on pace to score 0 points this season.

THE UGLY

Mike Cammalleri sliced above the knee by Yannick Weber's skate. Shouldn't those cut resistant socks be made mandatory for Habs?
Don Cherry and his Queen.

Consensus Clint says it was an impressive win by the Canadiens to spoil the biggest Canadian hockey love-in since Sidney Crosby scored the OT winner at the Olympics in Vancouver.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY - TAKE 1

2011-10-08T00:31:00.001-04:00

I know it's early but I'm trying to start a trend. To update this site following each Habs game (the ones that I see anyway). With time at a premium, please forgive the Coles Notes - like version of these post game wraps. For a more flowery approach, there's always Mike Boone or Arpon Basu or Francois Gagnon.

So here we go.

In honor of Lee Van Cleef.

THE GOOD

Habs dominated the first period. So much so that Joe Bowen's voice did not leak into John Bartlett's TSN Radio 990 broadcast booth.
Carey Price made every save he could.
Thomas Plekanic & Scott Gomez won the majority of their face offs.

THE BAD

Toronto boys Mike Cammalleri & PK Subban were a combined -3.
David Desharnais looked over - matched, especially in the face off circle ( 27%).
Andreas Engqvist? Really?
Andrei Kostitsyn cannot play to his potential in a Jacques Martin system. The Habs must be showcasing him.

THE UGLY

Eric Cole had a forgettable Montreal debut except when Jay Rosehill almost ran him into the Gold seats at the ACC. Cole spent the rest of the night wondering where Tim Gleason was to respond.
Chris Campoli had a future "Battle Of The Blades" moment.
Montreal forwards, from Brian Gionta to Travis Moen, made Mike Komisarek look like a nasty, vicious, Chris Pronger - like all star (except when he handled the puck).
Montreal forwards made a shaky James Reimer, especially in the first period, look like Carey Price
Price was run into three times. As long as the power play without Markov remains suspect, Price and company will begin to drop like pieces of the Mercier Bridge.
The power play was 0-6 while allowing a shorthanded goal.
Eric Cole got about 1:00 of power play time, less than Mathieu Darche and Desharnais. Spare me his low PP goal totals the last couple of seasons. He should be in front of the net creating open space for others to score.
Down by two goals with less than two minutes to go Carey Price was still in goal slamming his stick on the ice. Perhaps getting a forward ready to jump on. But more likely to wake up Perry Pearn.
When Price finally got off the ice, Josh Gorges was among the six skaters who were on.
Already killing a penalty, the league's leader in bench minor penalties took another one. Jacques Martin, while blaming his players for the loss by saying they didn't win battles, also blamed Gionta for the too many men on the ice penalty. Additionally Martin failed to explain why Desharnais played 18:16 to Cole's 14:38 and explained away the Leafs running of Price by saying it's up to referees to make those calls and for his power play to take advantage or else...his team will do the same to opposing goalies. Just For Laughs CEO Bruce Hills is taking notes.

Consensus Clint says the season opener was an ugly loss. Got to believe it's getting better (can't get much worse).

ALL MY ROWDY FRIENDS ARE IN BOSTON

2011-10-06T02:55:00.001-04:00

Are you ready for some hockey?

The 2011-12 edition of the Montreal Canadiens are bigger and should be better. But are they any tougher? If we could roll the above tape back and start again, would Carey Price really just hold on to Tim Thomas and not throw a punch, even though Thomas threw one? Or would Price actually be the first Hab to level Brad Marchand behind the net after Marchand hit James Wisniewski on an icing call, instead of captain Brian Gionta who threw himself at Marchand - and missed? And if the Habs knew what would take place a month later at the Bell Centre would they not have beefed up to protect their highly skilled players?

That Max Pacioretty, Montreal's best forward at the time, was knocked out of the season by Zdeno Chara, was bad enough. That Chara then went on to raise the Stanley Cup went beyond the proverbial rubbing of salt in the wound ("I couldn't watch the Final", Pacioretty told us), especially after the NHL power structure made a mockery of itself in the aftermath of the "hockey play that went bad".

Call it hockey life lessons. Maybe the NHL actually learned something by the level of anger exhibited by Montreal fans and businesses, joined later by Mike Gillis in Vancouver. Colin Campbell, apparently beloved by much of the media in this country (why? why?), even though his blatant conflict of interest as chief disciplinarian cheapened the most important aspect of a pro sports league - integrity (Not to mention those childish e-mails uncovered by blogger Paul Kukla), was finally replaced by a much needed younger former player. While Campbell came to represent confusion and, at times, incoherence at the highest level of the league, Brendan Shanahan offers some real hope and a much needed fresh face. The NHL, it seems, learned a lesson. But did the Canadiens?

I like the Canadiens. I really do. But I remain unconvinced that a Pierre Gauthier/Jacques Martin tandem know their way to the promised land. I'm not sure they understand, let alone even remotely believe, that to possess a mean streak on the ice, is, over 82 games and another 30 or so in the post season, a valuable attribute. Oh, it might result in a few more penalties called (just more practice time for the all - important PK unit) but it might also save precious man games lost to injury.

I saw the future last Saturday in Quebec City and it was ugly. Ryan Malone skated around Le Colisee looking for trouble all night. He should not have been in the position of delivering a head shot to Chris Campoli (Shanahan's first whiff) late in the game. When he did, Josh Gorges, to his credit jumped in. And the Canadiens promptly lost one third of their defensemen for the rest of the game.

I honestly don't know what (who) the answer is at this point, because there is no point in thinking that Gauthier/Martin want a player around who can inject a degree of unease into an opponent. (While I'm at it let me try to explain my view of intimidation. There are some skilled players, not many, but some who can be intimidated. But the vast majority of NHL players are courageous and will do battle with any opponent anywhere on the ice in any rink. That's not the point. But when there are players who make a habit of hitting late, bringing up an elbow or a stick or worse or who are constantly chirping in an effort to start an altercation, it can often result in the opposing player not being at their normal relaxed state. Thus, a pass to the blade of the stick gets mis-handled, a wide open net is missed, a foot race to a loose puck is lost and a pass to what appears to be an open teammate goes instead directly to an opposing player. These are all mistakes made in split seconds not because a player is afraid he'll have to fight somebody (not a bad weapon either) but because he's got something else to think about, especially if he isn't as mentally strong (Benoit Pouliot) as some of his fellow NHLers. That's all. It's not about goon vs goon. It's about creating as much time and space for skilled players to be at their best. And you can't measure this factor with any kind of statistic.)

Last season I thought the Canadiens could go deep into the playoffs if they had been able to secure home ice advantage in the first round. Prior to the "Boston Massacre" the Bruins and Habs were neck and neck for first place in the Northeast. You know what happened.

Here's hoping PK Subban, Eric Cole, Thomas Plekanic and especially Carey Price get all the protection they need from NHL referees this season. Because unless Chris Nilan or Lyle Odelein show up to play, it won't be coming from upstairs.

Eastern Conference Predictions (why? why?):

Pittsburgh - A team on a mission. Does Matt Cooke last the season?
Washington - Learned how to play D last year, depth in goal this season; out of excuses.
Buffalo - 1970 cousins Sabres vs Canucks in Stanley Cup Final?
Boston - Brad Marchand walks into a bar...
Montreal - Vaults from 8th to 5th following key trade deadline acquisition (see below).
NY Rangers - 24/7 Not big enough for both Tortorella and Avery.
Tampa Bay - Do Lightning call Marty Turco when Dwayne Roloson's groin heads to Mexico?
Philadelphia - In the immortal words of Butch Cassidy "Who are these guys??"
New Jersey - Maybe Martin Brodeur can start stopping pucks again.
Carolina - Frankly, I don't give a damn
Winnipeg - The Queen returns on Opening Night. With Ron MacLean.
Florida - Jose Theodore keeping crease warm for Jacob Markstrom
Toronto - Ron Wilson, already on twitter, soon joins Doug MacLean on Sportsnet hockey (Leaf) coverage
NY Islanders - Build a new rink already or move to Quebec City
Ottawa - The Daniel Alfredsson retirement tour ends in...Montreal

PRETENDING TO CARE TAKE TWO

2011-09-27T00:54:00.001-04:00

More quick observations from another game I'm pretending to care about:

Ray Ferraro was right on when he spoke to us on the air about Brendan Gallagher. Ferraro all but referred to Gallagher as a "can't miss" prospect. It's a good sign that a player of his physical stature can make such an impression so quickly. It's a bad sign that he looks so much better than almost every other young forward.
Jarred Tinordi -another good sign - didn't look out of place. If he can be that steady with a dash of physicality every time he plays against the Boston Bruins, then he'll eventually be just fine.
Gabriel Dumont as a 4th line centerman right now? Sure, why not make a small group of forwards smaller? Is it simply not possible for the Canadiens to find a veteran centerman over six feet tall who can win face offs? (Dumont 2 - 9 in the circle vs Boston)
Josh Gorges is back (23:00; 6 blocked shots)
Chris Campoli? Might not be fair but I always thought that any team with Chris Campoli on it cannot be a legitimate contender. He's no Roman Hamrlik.
Brendan Shanahan is doing the right thing to try to set the tone for the regular season. But one simple question - if what James Wisniewski did to Cal Clutterbuck is worthy of an 8 game suspension to start the season...why not just make it 10?
Is Sean Avery serious?
Gregory Campbell bowls over Carey Price with no reaction by the Canadiens. The night before in Halifax, somebody takes a poke at a loose puck in the feet of Bruins goaltender Anton Khubodin and they get swarmed by the Massachusetts State Police.
There is a lot to like about the Canadiens including speed, skill and determination. But they lack a mean streak. Like it or not they're going to have to find it somewhere. Otherwise Peter Budaj might actually spend some time as their number one goaltender.
Thursday October 5 cannot come soon enough.

PRETENDING TO CARE

2011-09-21T01:12:00.001-04:00

Quick observations about a game I didn't care about:

Andrei Kostitsyn needs to get off to a hot start. Even in a meaningless game. Ok, an all but meaningless game.
Who's going to win important face offs this season? Thomas Plekanic was 6-20 in the circle vs Dallas. Andreas Engqvist 0-5. Confident that Scott Gomez, Lars Eller or David Desharnais can win more than 50%? This has to be addressed, not simply worked on.
Ian Schultz can fight. He needs to get the rest of his game going in Hamilton. Then recalled when Habs play Bruins, Flyers,etc.
Rafael Diaz or Jeff Woywitka on the second power play unit might have Montreal fans longing for Roman Hamrlik.
Brock Trotter looked fantastic - for 20 minutes. Then I couldn't find him.
Aaron Palushaj can skate like Tom Pyatt. If Palushaj plays 61 games this season would he score more than two goals?
Was I actually looking for a Winnipeg Jets score?
Mike Ribeiro should always manage a multi-point game against his former team. Who's the big center who can shut him down?
Too bad Travis Moen wasn't in the line up for the Habs. Would liked to have heard John Bartlett describe Travis Moen checking Travis Morin.
Hearing Montreal Canadiens hockey on The Team 990 was pretty cool. Even for an all but meaningless game.

10 QUESTIONS FOR THE (YAWN) EXHIBITION SEASON

2011-09-19T23:44:00.004-04:00

How many home games/periods will it take for Habs to get used to the new Bell Centre glass? (How many more articles/features will there be on the new glass?)
Will Pat Hickey & Andrei Kostitsyn hug it out at home or on the road?
When Scott Gomez snaps, will it be in English, Spanish or French?
How many games in before Georges Laraque quotes an anonymous former teammate saying that Jacques Martin has lost the room?
Does Ian Schultz suit up against the Bruins in Halifax, Montreal or both?
Did the considerable weight that Jaroslav Spacek lost go directly to Alexei Yemelin?
Who's the first opposing forward to challenge Yemelin to drop his gloves?
With Markov out, does Jacques martin go wild and crazy and try a forward at the point on the PP?
With Kirk Muller in Milwaukee, which member of the coaching staff becomes RDS' go to guy during the game?
How long before the Habs shut down PK Subban's twitter account?

Any questions?

THANK YOU TED

2011-08-19T12:47:00.001-04:00

Sad.

Seems all I've written about lately are people I've admired who have passed away. When I received a call from Earl Zuckerman while in a car on the New York State Thruway informing me that Ted Tevan had died I slumped. Not only did I admire Ted greatly, I loved him.

I grew up listening to the radio. My father, a gambler at the time, used to drive me around Chomedey in the mid to late 1960s while listening to out of town baseball broadcasts. On my own, I listened to Johnny Most calling Celtics games on WBZ Radio out of Boston, complete with sounds that were completely foreign to a kid in the Montreal area: The thwack of a basketball being dribbled and the squeaks of sneakers on a parquet floor. Hockey, of course with Danny Gallivan calling (mostly) Canadiens games on Sunday nights on CBC radio. And talk. A lot of talk. From Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Detroit and Buffalo and Philadelphia and New York and (back to) Boston for Larry Glick. My hometown? I remember Dave Boxer being among the first voices I ever heard. My mother was a fan. (Years later I got to work with Dave, briefly, at CJAD. They hired him to do weekends and swing shifts. I was always around prepping sports updates or filing tape following a game or practice. I remember Dave playing a Rolling Stones song on a Sunday afternoon and getting a phone call. He wasn't happy. "They just told me I can't play Stones or Beatles songs on my shift" said Dave, the guy who introduced The Beatles when they played The Forum in 1964, to his young radio friend. "Why would they hire me and then tell me I can't play my music?" I felt terrible for him. Less than a month later he fled to Vancouver.) I listened to almost every Expos game that first year with Dave Van Horne and Russ Taylor, especially enjoying those late nights from the west coast falling asleep with a small transistor radio under my pillow. But it wasn't until I discovered Ted Tevan on CFOX between 11 and midnight in 1972 that I found somebody who seemed to be talking directly to me. And, perhaps more importantly, for me.

Sports Rap - still the best name ever for a radio show - was a revelation. Hosted by a gravelly voiced hysterically funny guy who seemed to know everybody in Montreal. And everybody in Montreal seemed to be a guest or caller on his show. I was hooked. (A couple of years later, when I saw Wolfman Jack in that great first scene in "American Graffiti" there was no turning back. I was going to be a professional radio guy. Nothing else mattered.)

Ted instinctively knew when to turn it up or down a notch. He played with his callers. Toyed with some of them. Humiliated a few (but they usually had it coming). The early regulars became bigger celebrities than some of Ted's co-workers including The Sting and Count X. Combined with weird sound effects, music, personalized commercials that went on forever and enough actual sports talk to tease the hardcore fan, Ted was the best in the business in this town. His popularity outgrew the late night spot and caused mainstream media types to roll their eyes. (I still remember meeting Ted one day at CFCF on Ogilvy Avenue when he showed me the small office space he shared with another well known Montreal broadcaster. "He wants me gone" said Ted. "Every call that comes in here is for me".)

Ted fought racism and championed the little guy. There were not a lot of on air conversations dealing with issues of race in Montreal and society. Until Sports Rap came on. And then there was Ali.
Muhammad Ali was my hero. As universally beloved as Ali is today, that was not the case in the early 1970's. I felt sick when I heard the morning sports reports that Ali had lost to Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden the night before, March 8 1971. I didn't want to go to school. I did, but cried as I walked.
Some of the kids, the bullying type, taunted me as I entered the school yard. It was as low a feeling as I had felt, failing to understand that not only was bold, beautiful and brash (and especially black) not fully embraced by many people but actually caused resentment. Fast forward three years and now I'm a frightened 15 year old thinking Ali is going to get killed in the ring in Zaire by George Foreman. Even some of Ali's own travelling party were fearful. But not Ted Tevan. Ted was on every night guaranteeing an Ali victory. I knew that Ted also loved Ali so I was thinking that maybe he was just trying to convince himself. But those nightly pro-Ali rants brought some comfort to me. Until fight night. No radio, no TV and about a decade away from a computer, I was a wreck not knowing what was going on. Ted was at the Forum watching on "closed circuit". But we had to wait until he got back to the studio to discover what had happened. I kept turning on the radio every few minutes only to hear music. Then, suddenly, on came Ted's voice through a telephone, a little higher pitched than normal. "You won't believe it, Montreal! You won't believe it but it's true! Ali has beaten George Foreman and wait until you hear all the details!! I'll be in studio in about 20 minutes". Yes, there were a few "I told you so's" that night but Ted had earned the right. He was a lone voice in the wilderness. And then to discover that not only had Ali beaten the bigger, stronger Foreman but had actually knocked him out, well that made for one of the great nights of my young life, maybe The Greatest. As I recall Ted went deep into the morning talking about the fight with guests and callers. How could I have doubted him?

I've already recounted some other stories on the air including how Ted helped get me started in radio. I've got a hundred others but I'll save them, pulling them out perhaps as occasionally as Ted pulled out his machine gun. I've had the good fortune of working alongside some truly great talent in this city who meant so much to me early on as a reader and or listener. Most, including Ted Blackman and George Balcan, became good friends. But nobody inspired me more than a man who forever altered the landscape of radio in Montreal.

Ted Tevan.

THREE WISE MEN AND AN ACE

2011-07-24T23:07:00.008-04:00

I first spoke to Dick WIlliams long before I met him. It was in the winter of 1978, following his second season managing the Expos. I was a soon-to-be 19 year old radio junkie working at CKO Radio doing a little bit of everything. I'd write news updates for the anchors, produce talk shows, occasionally read updates myself, get coffee, run downstairs to get a fellow employee or three out of the Hymus Tavern, power down the station at night (while helping myself to some hard - to - find albums in the old CFOX music library. Never felt guilty about it. Most were supposed to be delivered to Radio McGill. I made much better use of them. Know anybody else who's got an LP of Lothar and the Hand People?), make photocopies and generally do as I was asked/told. But I desperately wanted to cover sports. So I put in a request to talk to somebody who had a big impact on my young life. The manager of the 1967 Boston Red Sox Impossible Dream season who was, thanks to John McHale, now managing in Montreal.

McHale hired Williams after the Karl Keuhl disaster of 1976 (years later Mchale admitted that firing Gene Mauch and replacing him with Keuhl was the biggest mistake he ever made). By then, Williams was a two time world series champion with the Oakland A's who wanted to manage the Yankees but contractually wasn't able to (George Steinbrenner eventually settled on another guy who would go on to manage the Expos - Bill Virdon. And while Williams saw his Yankee dream fade away, Billy Martin was brought in. Williams ended up in Anaheim with an expansion - like Angels franchise). Having worked in Montreal as a thirdbase coach under Mauch in 1970, Williams was familiar with the city. And he brought much needed credibility to an Expos team that was finally ready to join the Big Leagues by moving into an impressive new stadium (hmmph) in time for the 1977 season. After failing to woo Reggie Jackson north to play for his old Oakland A's manager, the Expos settled on a couple of lower quality free agents including secondbaseman Dave Cash. The Expos did improve under Williams in '77, going from 55 wins to 75, then added free agent lefty Ross Grimsley in time for the 1978 season. When asked if he thought his team could at least get to the .500 mark, Williams replied, "If we don't play .500 I probably deserve to be fired". While Grimsley became the Expos first - and only - 20 game winner, the team finished with just one more victory than the year before ending the season at 76 - 86.

That's the back story to my first interview with Williams. After a brief introduction I quickly reminded him of his quote about not playing .500. Long silence. Uh oh, I thought. Too much of a smart ass. And probably sounding like a 15 year old punk. I went to work quickly, throwing everything I could remember about the '67 Red Sox at Dick, especially how impressed I was by the way he handled his bullpen (I was eight years old in 1967). He warmed up. The interview went fine, especially for a first (I was much more intimidated the first time I questioned Scotty Bowman). And Dick Williams didn't have any trouble getting to .500 the following two seasons.

In 1979 the Expos were 30 games over .500, winning a franchise record 95 games. Pushed by Williams to acquire Bill Lee and others, John McHale assembled a championship calibre club, winning baseball's Executive of the Year award. The pitching staff consisted of five lefthanders (Lee, Grimsley, Dan Schatzeder, Rudy May & Woody Fryman) and five righthanders (Steve Rogers, Scott Sanderson, David Palmer, Stan Bahnsen & Elias Sosa). The bench was led by veterans Tommy Hutton, Duffy Dyer, and Cash. It was Williams who, looking to add speed to the line up and better range in the infield behind a largely sinker ball staff, gave the everyday second base job to Rodney Scott leaving Cash and his fat contract on the bench. As per usual, Williams was at his best late in games, using his bench and bullpen better than almost any of his contemporaries with the possible exception of Sparky Anderson. Dick WIlliams was at the helm when Montreal was a feared franchise. Unfortunately they couldn't beat the eventual world series champion Pirates in 1979 nor the Phillies in 1980.

1981? The only thing we really know about the Williams firing and the hiring of Jim Fanning is that Steve Rogers was at his absolute best under Fanning. On the other hand, there's simply no way in hell that Williams would have brought in Rogers to pitch in relief on Blue Monday.

If you're a baseball fan, especially an Expos fan, get a copy of the book Williams wrote in 1990 with Bill Plaschke titled "No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Life Of Hardball".

George Kimball was almost a mythical figure I had heard about for years (mostly from Bill Lee), a guy who was the east coast answer to Hunter S. Thompson. Somebody who lost an eye in a bar fight (so the story went - it was actually a house party), and wore an eye patch for years. Big, very big in Boston. I should meet him, I was told by countless people in the business. (It wasn't easy to read him back then. There was no internet, and unless you were in Boston, you couldn't find a copy of The Phoenix or The Boston Herald.) Then, about five years ago I received in the mail a copy of George's book "Four Kings" which was followed by an introductory e-mail from George. Naturally he ended up in studio whenever he was in Montreal to cover his first love - boxing. Everybody knew that George was living on borrowed time (he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the esophagus six years ago; told at the time that he had about six months to live) so we cherished every second. A few months ago I received George's latest work entitled "Manly Art" with cover illustrations by one of America's great outlaw singer - songwriters Tom Russell. I waited for the follow up e-mail to book an interview. Sadly, it never came.

Speaking on air to Stephen Brunt as we discussed the deaths of Kimball & Williams I was terribly saddened to hear that Rod Beaton had also recently passed away. Beaton had been ill for many years but I completely missed his death in late June. He was best known as USA Today's baseball writer but Rod was also a huge hockey fan, having once covered the Philadelphia Flyers for a newspaper in Delaware. But more than that he was a great conversationalist who loved to swap stories on sports, movies and music. He was a blast to hang around with. And, like so many of his colleagues, Rod was madly in love with the city of Montreal.

So, given the melancholy nature of my mood and working the afternoon of the Major League All Star game, a game I never used to miss but haven't seen since the final one at the old Yankee Stadium, my ears perked when I heard Simon Tsalikis, filling in for Randy Teiman, ask, through intern Eric Thomas, Marco Campagna who his all time top five favourite Expos were. So I ran with it on the air for the next week and the response was overwhelming. I promised to tabulate the results ( over 100 e-mails received plus contributions from members of The Team 990 and a dozen or so on air calls with a 5-4-3-2-1 points system at work - except for Terry Haig who said he couldn't cut his list down to five so I gave single points to all 15 of his names - including the late Larry Bearnearth). No fewer than 68 different names were submitted including Pete Rose, Rex Hudler & Spike Owen. Here are the results:

Pedro Martinez 148 1/2
Tim Raines 121 1/2
Vladimir Guerrero 118
Larry Walker 86
Bill Lee 57
Gary Carter 53
Andre Dawson 48
Tim Wallach 43 1/2
Dennis Martinez 37
Orlando Cabrera 26
Marquis Grissom
Rondell White
Ellis Valentine
Moises Alou
Felipe Alou
Rusty Staub
Andres Galarraga
Mack Jones
Henry Rodriguez
(tie) Larry Parrish, Woody Fryman, Mark Grudzielanek & Charles Bronfman

A pretty fair indicator, I'd say. Clearly The Spaceman Gets props for never really leaving even though he threw his last pitch in 1982. Among those who might have placed higher had we taken more e-mails were John Wetteland, Steve Rogers, Warren Cromartie, Hubie Brooks, Delino DeShields and Brad Wilkerson.

As listener Rob Brophy put it, "Man I miss them".

STANLEY CUP HEADING TO WRECK BEACH

2011-06-01T12:17:00.002-04:00

11:45 AM

The Vancouver Canucks have been the best team in the NHL all season. That's not about to change in the month of June. The Bruins have been the best 5 on 5 team in these playoffs and were the best in the Eastern Conference all season but it's no longer the Canadiens (Horrible 5 on 5), Flyers (No Pronger, no goalie) or Tampa Bay Lightning they'll be facing.

So it'll be a great two week span for hockey in Canada. Winnipeg returns and so does Lord Stanley. But will those of us in Montreal still be watching in 10 days? Sure, just to discover the answers to some pressing questions -

1. Will Kevin Bieksa or Alex Edler re-arrange Brad Marchand's nose?
2. Who gets to wipe the smirk off the face of Andrew Ferrence?
3. Will the Bruins power play efficiency rate (8.2%) actually reach double figures?
4. Will Manny Malhotra, with one eye looking like Saku Koivu circa 2006, really play?
5. Will Mark Recchi, at age 43, become the oldest player to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Final?
6. How many SPP will HNIC have of Cam Neely & Peter Chiarelli? (Shots per period)
7. Who wins more face offs - Ryan Kessler or Patrice Bergeron?
8. When does Raffi Torres do something that Zdeno Chara doesn't like?
9. When Maxime Lapierre brings the Cup home will he slip over the border into Ontario to show Jacques Martin what it looks like?
10. Instead of the victorious group shot on the ice do we get a post series sympathy group hug shot of Jeremy Jacobs, Gary Bettman, Colin Campbell, Gregory Campbell and Bettman's cousin, Mike Murphy?
11. What happened to Rick Rypien?

Canucks in 6. After which the Green Men reveal themselves on Wreck Beach. With Don Cherry.

Enjoy.

VOTE! VOTE NOW! VOTE OFTEN!

2011-05-22T16:12:00.002-04:00

4:00 PM

While putting together Dylan tribute concert set for Tuesday - and please check out Music Blog on this site - also prepping for The Team 990's 10th Anniversary party on June 9. With the 10th - not 70th - bash in mind we're looking for some input.

Please list some of your all time favourite moments since you first started listening to The Team 990. Unlike the Census, we will not fine you if you don't respond. But we will hunt you down, strap you into a chair and force you to listen to 36 consecutive hours of Gilbert Gottfried.

Thanks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

2011-05-10T00:59:00.005-04:00

11:30 PM

Ten years ago this week I remember thinking that maybe I shouldn't be getting up at 4:00 AM. U2 played the Bell Centre and I couldn't go straight home as wired as I was. Needed to unwind a little. Finally made it home by two, dragging my ass into The Team 990 studio wondering if my previously strong recuperative powers had suddenly left me in my early 40's. Then I looked across the table at Ted Blackman who was nearly 60. He had also been at the concert. But Ted would be gone in less than a year and a half.

I think of Ted Blackman a lot these days. And Lee Hambleton, our first GM who died in 2005. And George Balcan and Danny Gallivan and so many other broadcasting greats who inspired me to join their wacky world. What a treat it was to meet and work alongside so many of them, especially Ted & Lee & George & Danny who were always so supportive and helpful. I remember thinking many times that their words of encouragement meant so much more to me than any ratings point. I was blessed.

I have a great deal of respect for almost anybody who works morning radio. Personally I tried but couldn't do it. Even napping didn't help my state of perpetual fatigue. So when a radio consultant - and a good one - named Rick Scott told me that he thought the station would be better off if I moved to the drive home slot, I was beyond relieved (after initially feeling that I was being demoted). Almost born again, you might say.

I honestly don't remember the exact date I changed shifts - Shaun Starr probably does because that's when we split and he stayed in the AM - but I did feel a seismic shift at the station. We had survived the toughest parts-the initial launch, the attacks of 9/11 one week into out first major Fall ratings period and the deaths of Ted and Lee. Cathy Newton fled as far away from me as possible (3,000 miles west to Kelowna) leaving me woman-less (professionally; if I had a dime for every damn rumour spread about me and the wonderful women who helped me out I'd have quit the station years ago) for the first time since the late 1980's. And then along came Andie.

Denis Casavant coming on board to join Elliott Price and Starr in the morning was a pivotal moment. So was Tony Marinaro getting his own show. Our sales department, led by Wayne Bews, never wavered.
We have, by a country mile, the best radio spots in the country, thanks to our creative department named Scott Saxon.

But what I'm most proud of in 10 years on the air is the number of young (and not so young) broadcasters we've developed at The Team 990 including Tony, Shaun Starr, Andie Bennett, PJ Stock, Rod Francis, Noel Butler, Conor McKenna, Sean Campbell, Marco Campagna, Mitch Gallo, Ben Raby (now in Washington), Gabriel Morency, Vinny Barrucco, Jimmy Spencer, Dave Simon, Matthew Ross, Dwight Walton, Moe Khan, Dave Kaufman, Jessica Ruznak, Amanda Stein and several others. If you're not sending young people out into the work force then you've become stagnant and stale. We've had our share of rough moments but we've been anything but stagnant or stale.

I've had a very good time at The Team 990. Most of it's been a lot of fun. Don't know if I enjoyed anything more than the first of two seasons in the broadcast booth working alongside Elliott on Expos broadcasts. That was a blast. Kind of a flashback to the couple of years we shared a living space (Pickwick Arms at 5010 Sherbrooke W.) and would provide a running commentary on games we'd watch. Now we were actually getting paid to do it (at least he was).

The Alouettes first Grey Cup since the 1970s was fun to cover, especially the parade in the bitter cold on McGill College Avenue. Last spring's run by the Habs had, it seemed, the entire city listening. Our commitment to community has been especially strong over the last five years including our participation in Hockey for the Homeless and our first foray into large scale event planning that was our SPOY Awards (Sports Personality of the Year) at Place D'Armes & Nelligan Hotels in Old Montreal.

Most of all we owe a great deal of thanks to our clients, some of whom have been around since May 2001, and especially our listeners, many of whom have also been around since Day One. You're the best.

I havent seen U2 since that week in May 10 years ago. Lord knows I heard enough with Ray Lalonde in charge of the "in-game experience" at the Bell Centre. But it's time. I purchased some tickets for their highly anticipated show at the Hippodrome originally set for last July. I've been sitting on them for over a year. I know Shaun Starr will be next to me. Might even keep a seat empty for Ted.

PLEASE FORWARD TO GEOFF MOLSON

2011-04-28T01:08:00.001-04:00

12:15 AM

That was one weirdly great series. I'm full of admiration for the players who represented Montreal so well with, for the most part, guts and determination. Forget the game. I already have. So what happens next?

I once coached Geoff Molson in a friendly hockey tournament at the Bell Centre a couple of years back, before he took control of the Habs (Terry Ryan was our captain. Paul Lambert-then with the Als-was one of our shutdown defensemen. Geoff was part of the other pair. If only I knew then...). I don't know him personally but I hope he's as competitive as I'm told he is. Because as gritty and admirable as his Canadiens performed against Boston it still adds up to a first round playoff exit. And I would hope that Mr. Molson has a few pointed questions to ask of his hockey operations department.

Such as-

-If Jacques Martin puts so much emphasis on special teams & goaltending and our goaltending was outstanding, our PK perfect and our power play effective, why did we lose?

-Why are we such a mediocre to lousy team 5 on 5?

-Why can everybody around the NHL, except us, see that we're a much better team when we're in attack mode rather than backing up and playing it safe?

-Why did we keep Benoit Pouliot instead of Sergei Kostitsyn?

-Why, if we had to trade Sergei, did we get nothing in return?

-Why is a young 29 goal scorer centerman named Mikhail Grabovksi a Maple Leaf instead of a Hab?

-Why was Dominic Moore not invited back?

-Couldn't we have managed our salary cap better? Jeff Halpern at $600 thou instead of Moore at 1.1m but Alex Auld at one million per?

-Why did every playoff team in the east manage to significantly improve its roster prior to the trade deadline, except us?

-Why, If we charge what we do for tickets, beer, hot dogs, parking, etc, did we end up with several million dollars of free cap space with nothing to spend it on?

-Is it true that the most significant move that Pierre Gauthier made as a GM was trading both Teemu Selanne & Paul Kariya without getting anything in return-after publicly stating to Anaheim fans that he wouldn't trade them?

-Why did we basically swap Saku Koivu for Scott Gomez?

-Why, as a resident of Philadelphia who saw NYR games more often than most NHL scouts, would Gauthier suggest or confirm that Scott Gomez, locked in at five more years and 40 million dollars, was worth trading for?

-Why should I trust Gauthier simply because Bob Gainey did?

-Why did Kirk Muller not sign a contract this year?

-Why, after losing Guy Boucher, are we about to lose Muller?

-What time is Pierre Boivin and his leaky ass leaving?

HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY 4/20

2011-04-21T00:01:00.003-04:00

11:45 PM

Just about NHL playoff'd out for the night, can't really get into Detroit - Phoenix. Looking at previous blog I haven't been far off but am disappointed by Tampa Bay performance-especially Stamkos-against Pittsburgh. Pierre McGuire told us the Penguins devised a game plan to neutralize Stamkos and #91 and/or Guy Boucher hasn't adjusted. Stamkos is way too talented not to learn from this experience.

In response to several post show emails, here's the playlist from today. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Sorry I couldn't make it out to the Extravaganja at Club Lambi but I'm there in spirit.

Fucking up/Roll Another Number - Neil Young
Theme From The Beverly Hillbillies - Lester Flatt/Earl Scruggs
Hash Pipe - Weezer
I Feel Alright - Steve Earle
You Don't Know How It Feels - Tom Petty
Is This Love (Live in Pittsburgh 1980) - Bob Marley & Wailers
Limelight - Rush
Subdivisions - Rush
Light You Up - Shawn Mullins
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
Save My Love - Bruce Springsteen
Tom Sawyer - Rush
(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding - Elvis Costello & Attractions
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone - Traffic
Legalize It - Peter Tosh
Roll Another Number (Reprise)

Marijuana will be legal in five years. I know it will be legal because most of the law students I know smoke it
- Lenny Bruce 1966

BRUINS WILL GET CHANCE TO AVENGE COLLAPSE VS FLYERS

2011-04-13T00:39:00.001-04:00

10:30 PM

Before I get going on these breathless (worthless) predictions...a word of thanks.

Thanks for reading this. I know it's not that easy to find and I'm not backed by some corporate animal so it takes a bit of an effort. And believe me I appreciate that effort. My original goal for this site remains the same. It's just taking a little longer to get there.

TIME

Has Come

TODAY

EAST

Washington - NYR : The Caps have learned. It won't be easy but Washington will win.

Philadelphia - Buffalo : Everybody seems to think the Flyers are going down because Pronger is hurt and their goaltending can't come close to Miller. But Ryan Miller has had much better seasons. And if the Flyers do go down it won't be to the Sabres.

Pittsburgh - Tampa Bay : Can't wait for this one. Mini-Quebec vs Mini-Quebec. THIS is where Nordiques fan should gather. I've already said my piece on Guy Boucher. Habs should not have let him go. He was a better prospect than Lars Eller. If Steve Yzerman wanted him as bad as it appeared, then he would have coughed up a player and/or a draft choice. It's been done before. Vinny is back and Stamkos is due. Roloson won't show his age for a bit. Penguins have played over their heads without Crosby/Malkin. They can't keep going without them.

WEST

Vancouver - Chicago : I root for the long suffering fan. Vancouver and Buffalo haven't won in a combined 80 years. The Kings haven't won since 1967. Boston since 1972. The Capitals since 1974. The Flyers since '75. As a long spoiled Montreal Canadiens fan I know the feeling of one of those special seasons. It was supposed to happen here again during the 100th anniversary of the franchise. It is happening in Vancouver right now. And once they beat the Hawks, rather easily, their collective confidence will grow as beautifully and as sweetly as BC bud.

San Jose - LA : The Sharks finally have a goaltender who's won the Stanley cup. DougWilson did a great job this season, resisting the temptation to fire his coach and/or move Marleau or Thornton, getting Niemi, re-signing Ryan Clowe and acquiring Ben Eager. The Kings aren't ready. Nor are they healthy enough.

Detroit - Phoenix : The Red Wings have been a bit of a mess all season, mostly due to injuries but Mike Babcock has done a masterful coaching job. They're still too banged up and, perhaps finally, too old to win it all but they will get by Phoenix.

Anaheim - Nashville : Very intriguing series. Nashville has only a pair of 20 goal scorers (Sergei Kostisyn (who outscored Andrei) and Patric Hornqvist) but with the legit Vezina trophy type season that Pekka Rinne has had they haven't had to score. Until now. The Ducks have been forced to go with Ray Emery who, to me, looks solid but slow and awkward at times. But their firepower, even against an elite goalie like Renne, will be too much for Nashville. And maybe Sergei will still have time to cheer on his brother...

BOSTON-MONTREAL

I would have picked the Habs if they owned home ice advantage. They can still grab it by winning one of the first two games in Boston but I don't see it. There's only so much Carey Price can do and what he was able to do over the final two games in Boston wasn't much except to hold off the inevitable for as long as he could. The Habs, not Price, were really that bad in Boston (combined score 15-6). Want to see what an intimidated NHL team looks like? Watch those two games again (unless Jacques Martin is partly diabolical and instructed his players to play possum in that 7-0 loss).

For those who say Jacques Martin approached near genius status because he "managed" to get his banged up team as high as 6th place I say they don't pay enough attention to what Montreal players, especially at the back end, do well. Or they don't realize that 16 teams in the NHL had more man games missed due to injuries. Or maybe they, themselves, are too high.

The Canadiens have good players. Some of those players also happen to be winners (Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik & Jaro Spacek ('98 Olympic gold), Travis Moen, Brian Gionta, Brent Sopel and yes Scott Gomez-twice). I think it matters this time of year. Others, like Carey Price and PK Subban are among the best at their positions. Mike Cammalleri appears poised. On the other hand, while the Bruins offense has been amazingly consistent all season, through four lines, the Habs feature components who are way too iffy. Thomas Plekanic, supposedly nursing a sore groin, has more to prove in this series than any forward on either team. If he's not hurt then Jacques Martin has again worn him out with too much ice time. He's a constant flop on the road. And with Gomez being as horrendous as he was, Plekanic needed to take his offensive game to another level. He couldn't. Andrei Kostitsyn is somebody who could emerge as a legit star in this series if only he had the good hockey sense to go with everything else he's got. The power play against Boston this season was highly effective but two guys who played a large role in that PP efficiancy rate of 34% likely aren't playing (Max Pacioretty & Yannick Weber). The Pacioretty injury was...well... let's put it this way: If the Bruins had to pick one Montreal skater to KO on March 8 they picked the right one. (At this point I'm hearing some whining about not having Markov. Please. The Bruins never really had Marc Savard. And Pierre Gauthier acted swiftly and wisely in getting James Wisniewski and his offense to replace Markov. No, the man the Canadiens miss the most, the man they never really replaced -though they tried with Sopel - is Josh Gorges. Not having Gorges might be the difference in the series)

The Boston Bruins and their fan base were humiliated last year when they became only the third team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead. Claude Julien HAS to get past the Habs to keep his job. And even that might not be good enough. The Bruins at home cannot possibly be more dominant than they were last month (really-you mean they might win 8-1 or 10-0?). The questions mount early. How do they react if the Habs take the lead - and hold it for a good chunk of the game? How do they react to a restless, rather than rabid home crowd? How do they react should they lose the opener? On the flip side, how the heck do the Habs erase the recent memory of those two terrible losses plus the knowledge that the biggest, baddest defenseman in the league nearly killed one of their best players? If Montreal had a Chris Nilan or Lyle Odelein we know exactly what they would do. They have to stay with Boston literally every inch of the way, at least to start, if they have any hope of extending the series. That doesn't just mean playing a smart, disciplined (Benoit Pouliot is really going to dress?) positionally sound road game. It also means they have to lean back. And especially push back. Travis Moen, Kostitsyn, Ryan White (who has to get more ice time than Tom Pyatt), Lars Eller (Yes, I know. This is a physical mis-match so far. That's not the point), Gill, Subban, Paul Mara and Wisniewski all have to stand firm. And maybe fight. But not when the game is already decided. Then perhaps an environment of doubt is created in Boston that snowballs and swings into the Bell Centre. Or maybe, if Benoit Pouliot is actually going to play, you instruct him (and sacrifice him) to chop down the biggest tree in the forrest. Then thank him for his time in Montreal.

Hope I'm wrong. Boston in 7.

Enjoy.

JACQUES MARTIN AND PERRY PEARN WALK INTO A BAR...

2011-03-31T00:45:00.001-04:00

(Audience participation...please fill in the blank. Thanks.)

AND THAT'S ANOTHER FINE MESS...

2011-03-25T09:19:00.002-04:00

9 AM

All you need to know about the current state of the Habs, having been outscored 14 - 1 against their last three (likely) playoff competitors in games 72, 74 & 75 of the season, is Jacques Martin's post game quote following the humiliating (much worse than Feb 9 beatdown) 7-0 loss in Boston:

It wasn't lack of emotion. It was lack of execution.

And he's standing behind the bench?

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

2011-03-10T01:06:00.002-05:00

11:45 PM

I feel sick today. Sick because of an overwhelming sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Helpless knowing that a 23 year old native of New England (yes, he's one of yours, Boston) lies in a hospital after coming this close to losing his life because of a ridiculous blood feud that started when he had the audacity to apparently challenge the manhood of Zdeno Chara. Hopeless, utterly hopeless, knowing that anybody in a position of power in the NHL simply doesn't give a shit.

Spare me the phoney concern, if there actually is any right now. Was there any remorse exhibited by Chara who, for the umpteenth time, preferred to take the coward's way out of a post game media session? He had to be dragged off the team bus in the garage of the Bell Centre before trying to explain that what happened was an "unfortunate" accident and that he never "tries to hurt anybody" (eerily similar to Todd Bertuzzi's tear -filled "I don't play that way" statement following his mugging of Steve Moore that ended Moore's career seven years ago to the day). And what in Colin Campbell's name is Mike Murphy doing at the NHL office in Toronto, trying to explain away a non - suspension without, at the very least, acknowledging the condition and hoped for recovery of Pacioretty?

Has the NHL gone insane?

Without going inside Chara's head let's examine the facts:

-Pacioretty scores OT GW, pushes Chara who makes a beeline for Pacioretty as Montreal players celebrate in the corner of the rink while Jack Edwards on NESN screams into his microphone that "he's a cocky kid and somebody's gonna have his head taken off".

-Several Bruins players tell members of the media that Pacioretty's "victory shove" was disrespectful and had been discussed as a group

-During Habs - Bruins February 9th game in Boston Pacioretty misses several shifts after taking a two handed slash to the back of the leg (not called) by ("I don't try to hurt anybody") Chara.

- Later in that game Pacioretty is challenged to drop his gloves by another Boston ruffian Adam McQuaid which results in yet another skirmish & scrum

- In much anticipated follow up to "The Boston Massacre" the Canadiens come out flying, totally dominating Boston in every aspect of the game including an early fight when Ryan White (explain to me again why this kid didn't make the team out of training camp?) uses his knuckles to tattoo Johnny Boychuk's face after Boychuk tries to take out PK Subban (and when is PK taken off the ice on a stretcher?) and in the hitting department; which includes three body checks delivered by Pacioretty, highlighted by a perfectly legal bone rattler on Chara's defense mate Dennis Seidenberg.

-With time running out in the second period as the Habs continue to dominate, Pacioretty beats Chara to a loose puck then chips it off the boards while being chased by Chara (who's on the opposite side of the ice he normally patrols) with Boychuk the lone Boston man back.

-Chara nearly kills Pacioretty

And we're supposed to believe that it was "just a hockey play" gone wrong?

The National Hockey League operations department in Toronto has been occupied by incompetents for years. But Colin Campbell, Mike Murphy and others who work there are well protected by mainstream NHL media types who, have no doubt been fed a steady diet of inside info, leaks and scoops to keep everybody happy. That a so - called major professional sports league would tolerate having an obvious conflict of interest at the highest level of what matters most - integrity - is beyond comprehension. But the New York office is just as culpable, more so actually, considering they are the gate keepers. And when Campbell, who's son Gregory plays for the Bruins, sent e-mails to the then head of officiating Stephen Walkom (and Mike Murphy) complaining about the treatment of his son and his distaste of certain players around the league, the NHL should have severed ties. That they hunkered down and went out of their way to praise Colin Campbell and his "integrity" is when the word "credibility" disappeared forever from the Gary Bettman - Bill Daly handbook.

The echo of Mario Lemieux's strong criticism of how utterly rudderless the NHL has become is still burning in the ears of Bettman - Daly. And now, seemingly beaten by The Goldwater Institute in the noted hockey hotbed of Glendale, Arizona they are forced to come to grips with another feeble attempt by their operations department to police the game that even Bettman - Daly must see is apparently beyond their control. I didn't live through The Richard Riot but I have never witnessed nor felt the anger of Montrealers, mostly hockey fans but not all, directed at the NHL as has been the case since Chara rammed Pacioretty's head into the stanchion. How the hierarchy of such a great sport can hijack the spirit and passion from the most rabid fans in the world is worthy of a 5th Estate style investigation.

In the meantime this much is clear: Bettman, Daly, Campbell, Murphy and the rest of them will not leave office without a good deal of blood on their hands.

Is this really the best we can do in 2011?

Get well Max.

THE BOSTON MASSACRE

2011-02-10T01:27:00.002-05:00

12:35 AM

Still think Jacques Martin is the kind of guy you want coaching a team in a heated and heightened environment? What a pathetic site Martin was behind the Habs bench in Boston as Claude Julien and the Bruins again exposed him for the anal retentive hockey nerd that he is. What was even more pathetic was Jacques walking towards the officials room whining to veteran referee Don Van Massenhoven about...about...about, what exactly? That he put his own players in peril and it was up to the officials to save them?

The physical battering the Canadiens took in Boston reminded me of two games in particular. One very recent, the other, now almost ancient history. Back in the early 1970's, two to three years before Montreal dethroned the Broad Street Bullies, the Habs played a game at the Spectrum which featured more snow being scraped up by Montreal skates than at any other time post - John Ferguson. GM Sam Pollack vowed to never again see one of his teams intimidated to that extent. In the 1974 draft, owning five first round picks, Pollack used them to select Cam Connor, Doug Risebrough, Rick Chartraw, Mario Tremblay and Gordie McTavish. In the second round he drafted Gilles Lupien. McTavish never made it to Montreal but the other five sure did (although Connor jumped to the WHA where he became a feared fighter/scorer for the Phoenix Roadrunners before finally landing in Montreal in time for their 4th straight Stanley Cup win in 1979).

A couple of years ago, very late in the regular season, the Habs went into Boston and the Bruins tried a similar tactic. They pummelled and punched and did their best to intimidate the Habs who, to their credit, kept coming back via the power play. Veteran referee Paul Devorski seemed to enjoy the show so much that he was actually reprimanded by his superiors for allowing Boston to do their best to bully the much smaller Canadiens. It didn't matter. A couple of weeks later Boston swept Bob Gainey and the Habs in four straight games and many of the players of that series and season were not invited back to Montreal.
It might have been noble of Gainey, a member of the NHL's competition comittee, to believe that his team would be protected by the league and it's officials, but it was also very naive.

Now we have the Canadiens edition of The Boston Massacre. This was overdue and as predictable as the "fuck me" phrase Martin uses over and over - usually when Andrei Kostitsyn or Scott Gomez are on the ice. You'd have to be Stevie Wonder (or Devorski) not to see how badly the Canadiens have needed size and toughness at both ends of the ice. Yet the charade continues. Ryan White goes to Hamilton while Tom Pyatt skates miles around NHL rinks. Alex Henry doesn't make the team but Alexandre Picard does. Milan Lucic does what he wants and only Carey Price seems willing to challenge him.

Martin believes in systems not people. If you can skate and play well positionally you've got a job for life in Martinville, regardless of whether you can actually win puck battles, grow - not shrink - on the road or, heaven forbid, drop your gloves and risk taking an extra two minutes. It's amazing to me, really it is, that this guy has lasted as long as he has in the NHL. He's almost perfected a formula for failure. And when he has his coaching handbook handed back to him, or more accurately, shoved up his ass by people like Claude Julien, Martin's defenders will claim it's not about Jacques.

But of course it is. Welcome to Jacques Martin's hockey world. Where the chickens always come home to roost.

THE WRONG GUY IS LEAVING

2011-01-25T23:52:00.001-05:00

11:00 PM

For those who weren't around last spring, you can stay with me here or, at some point, just go backwards and check what I wrote about Kirk Muller's importance to the Canadiens playoff run last spring. Now that news has leaked that Muller will leave Montreal after this season, let me try to state why I think he's more valuable to the Habs than Jacques Martin.

Muller is a champion and a winner. Martin is not. Muller earned respect from teammates and opposing players throughout his long career. Martin had no playing career. Muller helped bring the Stanley Cup to two cities. Martin's never been close enough to even sniff it. Harsh? You want a championship team in this town or not?

The best move Jacques Martin made last spring was to finally accept what Muller was preaching. Martin is a stiff, stubborn, non - communicative old (hockey) school systems guy. Muller is all about passion and understanding players. I'm told by somebody who was very close to the team a year ago that Muller's frustration level had reached a boiling point. Martin, working with his security blanket named Perry Pearn, wouldn't listen to what Muller would suggest, until it was almost too late.

Desperate men do desperate things. Last spring, having just snuck into the playoffs in his first year behind the bench in Montreal after missing them during his entire tenure as coach and/or GM in Florida, Martin became desperate. And Muller finally found a willing ear. And that security blanket named Pearn turned into a wet rag. Marc Andre Bergeron found himself on the bench, appearing on power plays only. Ryan O'Byrne was finally inserted into the line up to help 5'10" Jaro Halak deal with Washington forwards crashing his crease. Stanley Cup winner Travis Moen was finally given a defined role playing alongside Scott Gomez & Brian Gionta. The bench was shortened and an amazing thing happened. Unlike the methodical, season - long rolling of four lines and three sets of defensemen that Martin and Pearn repeated over and over no matter the circumstance, the Habs' best players actually got the most ice time.

And they won. Until they met the Flyers.

While the geniuses who run the Canadiens decided over the summer that it wasn't worth the effort to return a Larry Robinson phone call, Pearn claimed he was mulling over an offer to return to Western Canada. And Muller was denied permission to talk to another NHL franchise about what would no doubt have been a co - coaching arrangement (Likely with John Maclean in New Jersey). Maybe that worked out for the best you're saying? Perhaps. But you might also say that Muller would be an NHL head coach right now. So if the Habs thought so highly of Muller and wouldn't let him leave, why were they not able to re - sign him?

Jacques Martin has had a nice, long NHL career. But he is so yesterday.

Muller? His second NHL career has only just begun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANNEL 12

2011-01-20T00:11:00.002-05:00

11:00 PM

Yeah, yeah, it's CTV now, or more specifically CTV Montreal. But really, other than a dinner hour and late night news show, it could be just another CTV station anywhere in the country. No, if not for Channel 12, or CFCF - 12, nobody at CTV would be celebrating 50 years of (mostly) excellence in local television.

I wasn't around for the start but as soon as I was able to pay attention I became transfixed (so says my mom) by Johnny Jellybean's Idiot Box. Ten years later I remember feeling a strange combination of pride, jealousy and embarrassment for Ted Ziegler when he popped up on The Sonny & Cher Show. I thought he had gone from a star in Montreal TV to a mere supporting role as a sketch extra until I finally saw the credits roll and noticed that he was also one of the show's head writers. Ziegler, becoming for this sports crazed young Montrealer, the first of many talented Americans who eventually graduated from small market Montreal to a greater and greener stage.

I do remember the 60's - on CFCF - 12 anyway. I remember Magic Tom and snuggling into my parents bed as they watched "Pajama Playhouse" (once again, it was my mom who did most of the viewing while my dad snored away like an out - of - control chainsaw. Apparently, I've become my dad in that respect). I remember "Like Young" with Jim McKenna, especially in the company of my older sisters who had to give up the television an hour later so their kid brother could watch hockey. I remember Dean Kaye and his sideburns - and feeling outrage when he was suspended for not shaving them. I remember crusty Bert Cannings and his nightly commentaries including the time he went after a couple of his co - workers by suggesting that hockey would be more enjoyable to watch without all the yakking of play by play and colour. I remember - especially when staying home from school - Matinee With Joe Van and the sadness in my home when Van passed away. I remember seeing friends of the family on the game shows including Beat The Clock, It's Your Move with George Balcan and Know Your Sports with Dick Irvin. I was way too shy to even think of trying to get on - but not too shy to pester Dick Irvin for a job on CFCF radio in the mid - 70's because the news guy who also did the sports butchered names and obviously never watched Dick's TV show. So I offered to do sports for nothing. Dick politely declined (I still have the letter he sent me thanking me for applying). I remember Fergie Olver and Russ Taylor and Jim Bay and Ron Reusch anchoring late night sportscasts and throwing out to Albert Trottier at Blue Bonnets, who would then send it back "to big Jim Bay". I remember becoming addicted to Grand Prix Wrestling on Saturday afternoons thanks to Jack Curran and Ray Boucher and the cast of characters that included Edouard Carpentier, Yvon Robert Jr., Jean Ferre, Paul & Mad Dog Vachon, War Eagle & Billy Two Rivers, Joe & Paul Leduc, The Hollywood Blondes - Dale Roberts & Jerry Brown. Gilles "The Fish" Poisson, Don Leo Jonathan, Tarzan Tyler, Sailor White and Black Jack Mulligan.

I can't remember the first time I visited the studios at 405 Ogilvy Avenue but I do remember being as wide eyed and mesmerized as the first time I walked into Jarry Park to watch the first ever Expos home game in April 1969. I remember walking to the parking lot after the Expos beat the Cardinals 8 - 7, and my dad pointing out that the CFCF studios - radio and TV - were just across the way as we watched people flock over the pedestrian bridge.

I also remember watching Wednesday night hockey games featuring the Canadiens but only after most of the first period was over as - apparently - they couldn't find enough sponsors to invest in mid-week hockey on TV. Unless of course I was deceived early on and it was just an effort to make sure people showed up at the Forum. TV as the #1 marketing tool for sports was still years away from being embraced, let alone accepted.

So, except for very recently, I've been along for the ride as a viewer for about 45 years. I was even part of the family. Briefly. Sort of. It's a long story that I keep threatening to tell on the air but I did host a weekly show for about four years in the late 90's. I had done some reporting work for Dick Irvin's Hockey Magazine which later became Dick Irvin's Hockey World which later became just "Hockey World" ( I remember watching one of my pieces - might have been on Tim Kerr after he lost his wife to cancer - I loved doing the tough subjects. Anybody can do fluff - and yelling at Rob Faulds on my TV who was anchoring. His crime? He came off the piece on camera by saying "Good job, Mitch". Now, I know he meant well, but I didn't need Rob Faulds to tell me or the viewers that it was a good piece. And I filed it away, thinking that if I ever had the opportunity to host a show I would adhere to "less is more" and at least try to avoid a condescending tone). These shows were kind of precursors to what you see now on shows like That's Hockey with Geno Reda. It wasn't about Montreal because they were trying to sell it across the country. A director at the station named Tom Aziz asked me if I would be interested in hosting a weekly show on the Montreal Canadiens. Not the NHL. The Habs. He talked about a partnership and having editorial freedom and that I could use some of my friends in the media that were helping me on CIQC Radio at the time, including Pierre McGuire. And that if it did well, we could keep going into the summer with shows on the Expos and Alouettes and yes, we could use Bill Lee. Amazing what happened next. A freelance show, independently produced on a modest budget delivered way better than modest ratings. In fact the numbers far surpassed the hockey show that had been on in the same time slot. All of a sudden, many of the station employees who had been shut out of the process and proclaimed to be too busy anyway to take part, wanted in. I enjoyed my time as a TV host, especially the Thursday afternoon tapings on Crescent Street in front of some of Montreal's most notorious citizens. (And then there was the day Canadiens super fan Mordecai Richler showed up at the bar.) I eventually walked away from the show leaving my wallet nearly empty (that's the story I'll get around to telling in its entirety. For now, I'll just say Terry Haig, Andres Galarraga, John Prine and a lot of lies) but my conscience full. And like an incident a few years earlier when the Expos tried to get Haig and myself fired, it taught me a very valuable lesson. That a lot of people in this business are full of shit. Many are whimpering, spineless, envy - fuelled lightweights who...oh man, what happened to that feel good birthday blog?

Back to basics. Happy Birthday Channel 12. We loved ya. All of you.

WHAT'S NEW(S)?

2011-01-09T22:48:00.003-05:00

10:00 PM

Item: Habs Score Twice in Final 2:22 to tie Bruins; Win in OT

Unlikeliest victory of the year followed - by about three hours - the unlikeliest NFL playoff upset of the year (more on that later). What struck me about the comeback was Jacques Martin's post game comments. Yes, he did say something significant. When asked why his team couldn't seem to play with the same kind of intensity at the start of the game- or through 40 minutes - as they exhibited over the final 24 minutes, Martin said "Certain players do play that way but others are a drag to their teammates". Martin doesn't usually take public shots at his players and everybody assumes he was talking about Andre Kostitsyn but I believe he was talking about Scott Gomez, who was taken away, briefly, from Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty (replaced by David Desharnais) only to respond in the third with his best period of the season. I also think the coach is less than thrilled by the play of Mike Cammalleri who doesn't seem to have the same fire in his eyes, or his belly, and certainly not in his stick, as was the case a season ago. Will Martin deliver the same kind of message to one of the teams most popular players? Should he really have to with upcoming games on Broadway and against the Penguins? (P.S. Cammalleri's game has officially gone into the crapper.)

Item: Brees, Manning & Vick Won't Play For Super Bowl

Kind of a drag, huh? The Saints loss to Seattle - Matt Hasselbeck throwing four touchdowns - twice as many as he threw in any single game this season??? - while the Gregg Williams resume suddenly appears a lot lighter - is sure to result in a a change in the playoff seedings once a new bargainning agreement is reached. As wonderful a story the Seahawks are , does anybody really believe they could have pulled it off inside the Superdome? A 7-9 division winner in the playoffs? Sure, it's never happened before and who knows when it might happen again. But it will. And when it does that sub .500 team should be forced to play on the road.

Peyton Manning had a weird year but nothing about the Colts this season indicated they were going to play beyond the second week of January. Anybody who pins the Colts exit on Manning hasn't really been following their mediocre and injury - riddled season.

Michael Vick threw a late interception to seal the victory for the Green Bay Packers but man, he came close to pulling off a minor miracle. No way the Packers - with Aaron Rodgers leading the way - should have been in a position to possibly lose late. Now maybe Andy Reid can spend some time climbing a stair or two.

Item: Nine Year Old Granddaughter of Former Major League Player And Manager Dallas Green Among Victims of Deranged Gunman in Arizona.

America the ugly.

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID (AND MORE) 2011

2010-12-30T01:16:00.001-05:00

11:45 PM

Thank you or reading this. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies too.

Before we squint ahead to 2011, let's remember what we did the last 12 months. We cheered for the inspirational strength exhibited by Joannie Rochette and Anthony Calvillo. We cried for Tony Proudfoot. We were left awestruck by the play of Jaroslav Halak and the Montreal Canadiens as they knocked off the top two teams in their conference. We cheered some more for Sydney Crosby and our country. We shed tears of joy for the beleaguered but never forgotten city of New Orleans. We high fived for San Fransisco as it celebrated its first ever World Series title. We finally moved into the Big League of soccer with the announcement that the Impact will soon join MLS. And Andre Dawson & Dave Van Horne again reminded us how much we miss the Expos. We cried for Tony Proudfoot.

We saw - and heard - way too much of Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Brad Childress, LeBron James, Colin Campbell, Rob Murphy, Michael Landsberg and Mike Milbury.

We said goodbye and farewell to Ernie Harwell, Bob Sheppard, Don Meredith, Merlin Olsen, Bob Feller, Ron Santo, George Blanda, Bob Probert, Maurice Lucas, Charlie Francis, Don Coryell, Gene Kiniski, Edouard Carpentier, Bobby Kromm, George Steinbrenner, Sparky Anderson, Jim Bibby, Mike Cuellar, Willie Davis, Ralph Houk, Clyde King, Cal McLish, Robin Roberts, Wayne Twitchell, Tom Underwood, Jose Lima, Bobby Thomson, John Wooden, Bud Greenspan, Jim Kelley, Pat Burns, Brendan Burke and Norad Kumaritashvili.

And now, drum roll please, here's what some of our favorite and no-so-favorite people might be receiving in 2011:

Jacques Martin - A bottle of absinthe.

Hab fans - A new system

PK Subban - Two new coaches

Thomas Plekanic - Steroids

Andrei Markov - A hammock

Ron Maclean - A whistle

Mike Milbury - A muzzle

Carey Price - An All Star breather

Alex Auld - Who?

Lou Lamieriello - Severance pay

Kirk Muller - An NHL head coaching job

Pierre McGuire - An NHL GM job

PJ Stock - A needle for his bubble

Don Cherry - A Senate post

Benoit Pouliot - Head & Shoulders

Mike Boone - Sports page column

Montreal Gazette - City columnist

Pat Hickey - W.C. Fields DVD collection

Shane Murphy - Stardom

Club L'Astral - Warmth

Club Soda - Montreal Guitar Summit

Montreal Music Fans - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Tom Waits, Chrissie Hynde, Allman Brothers, The Other Ones, Phish, Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band, Drive By Truckers, Loretta Lynn, Shelby Lynne, Merle Haggard and Lou Reed (playing rock n roll).

Jarome Iginla - A new C

Pierre Gauthier - See above

Brett Favre - Rehab rehab

Colin Campbell - a pink slip; via email

Bruce Boudreau - A fuckin' win for a fuckin' change in a game fuckin' seven. Fuck.

The Team 990 - A thrilling 10th Anniversary Blow Out. You're all invited.

Happy New Year !

MONDAY's WHAT'S NEW(S)?

2010-12-20T12:58:00.002-05:00

10:15 AM

Item: (Andre) Kostitsyn Benched Again

So, let's see. Brother Andrei (Sergei is sizzling in Nashville) coughs up the puck in the neutral zone, following a weak clearing attempt by Mike Cammalleri, which leads to a Colorado power play and late first period goal in one of those game - changing moments. Andrei is also somewhat less than intense along the boards which leads to a Colorado 2 on 1 and a sensational save by Carey Price. So, of course, Jacques Martin decides to nail Kostitsyn to the bench while the Habs are trying to play catch up in the third period.
Seems a strange way to try to win a hockey game on the road when you've got an offensively challenged team. But the coach doesn't play favourites, does he? What's next - make AK46 a healthy scratch while suiting up Tom Pyatt?

Item: Subban Scary Bad In Own End

First time ever playing in that rarified air environment in the Mile High city, Subban looked unnaturally gassed. But, finally, we saw him paired up with Hal Gill for the third period. A much better partner for PK than Alexandre Picard. Wise move, Jacques. And while we're at it - how about employing six forwards on the ice while pressing for the equalizer? And was that really Jeff Halpern taking a couple of key offensive zone face offs? Way to go coach (not sure it was the head guy but I'll give him that. Maybe he finally got around to the meaning of the word 'progressive').

Item: Former Bruins Milbury, Stock Join Former Bruin Cherry In Bashing Habs On HNIC

Perhaps one of the reasons TSN outgunned HNIC on Habs telecasts this past week. It's gotten old. I don't blame Milbury. He's a born schmuck. A little twisted and smart, to be sure, but one of those smarmy guys who has to make it clear he's the smartest guy in the room, whether he actually is or not. He's a Bruin who works for NESN. As a player he's best remembered for hitting a fan with a shoe. As a GM he's remembered as perhaps the worst in NHL history. As a coach he's not remembered at all.
PJ? No longer a rookie in this business, he doesn't appear to be getting much coaching. But from the moment he went on the air with us at The Team 990 he became Montreal's most visible Bruins fan. It was honest but shtick - like as well. It worked because the people he shared air space with were rarely on the same page. But on his own, locally or nationally, he's paying the price for relentlessly bashing the home team. He probably thinks he's being "controversial". I say it's just repetitive. Has anybody told him its alright to let the sunshine in? (PJ is at his best on HNIC when teamed in studio with Kelly Hrudey. He's a completely different guy. Does nobody else see this?) Don Cherry is close to 80 years old. Too easy a target.
No, I think it's time somebody challenged Ron MacLean, who once again on Saturday, failed to properly challenge a high profile guest, new NHLPA head Donald Fehr (Terrific piece, as usual, by Elliotte Friedman, to set up the Fehr Interview). Inspired, no doubt, by almost instantaneous poor reviews in twitterville, MacLean felt the need to warn us that next time he'll be tougher on Fehr. You mean when Fehr takes the players to the brink? Ron MacLean appears to be a good ol' Canadien boy who apparently saves his "harder" side for games he allegedly referees (anybody poll players in that Tier II League to find out how great/poor he really is?). HNIC intermissions and pre-game appear to be his turf.
He's content to let Milbury (and Stock and Healy..) run his mouth without ever putting up a stop sign. What's he afraid of? Milbury reaching under the table to take off a shoe? If he won't do it, then whomever is in charge at HNIC should hire a real Montreal personality or former Hab who can, at times, make the Milburys of the world, wince, or more tellingly, turtle. Otherwise, previous well meaning but mostly ill - advised attempts (Yvon Pednault, Guy Carbonneau) to cater specifically to Montreal fans will have proven futile.

Item: Cliff Lee Signs With Phillies; Greinke Traded To Brewers

How refreshing that neither pitcher ends up with Yankees/Red Sox.

Item: Bernard Hopkins Claims "We Wuz Robbed!"

Didn't see the fight but this majority tie business doesn't make much sense, does it? Not one of the three judges scored the fight in favour of Pascal but Hopkins can't win? Round II at the Bell Centre please. Maybe they can draw more than Georges St. Pierre.

CHRISTMAS DREAM FOR HABS

2010-12-08T23:03:00.002-05:00

10:00 PM

Ok, it's been a month since I've been here and I wasn't planning to visit just yet as I've been bummed out much of the day remembering who and what we lost when John Lennon was - in the words of the New York District Attorney who put Mark David Chapman behind bars - "executed" 30 years ago in Manhattan. But then I decided to watch the Leafs - Penguins game from Pittsburgh and a little of the Sharks - Flyers match up in Philadelphia and my mood brightened.

The Leafs were beaten up by Crosby and the Penguins through 40 minutes when Pittsburgh no doubt got a little bored and the inevitable Toronto tease emerged as Mikhail Grabovski once again started duping Maple Leaf followers by looking like an all star in a game that was already over. Ron Wilson seemed more intent on settling scores than trying to score and Mike Komisarek again used his face as a landing pad for opposition punches, thrown this time around by Aaron Asham and Mike Rupp. Even though the Habs would like to have seen a Toronto victory, it's always a good night when the Leafs flounder on national TV.

In Philadelphia, the Flyers lost a 4-1 third period lead to San Jose and then the game and an important point when Ryan Clowe scored the game winner in a shootout. The same Ryan Clowe so many of us would like to see in a Montreal jersey, which got me to thinking...

The 2010-2011 edition of the Montreal Canadiens are real good. Carey Price assures his team that virtually every night they have the better goaltender (so much for waiting until Price is 25 years old before unconvinced fans understand that he's a better goaltender than Jaroslav Halak). That the Habs are past the one third mark of the season with Scott Gomez almost nowhere offensively, Andrei Markov's season over after just 7 games, a power play that until two weeks ago was among the NHL's worst, and prolonged scoring slumps by Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri tells me that this is an elite team that's almost as good as any in the league. What the first 28 games also tells me is that the Canadiens are extremely well positioned to nab a star calibre player to make up for the loss of Markov. We're already witnessing the emergence of Yanick Weber as an NHL quality defenseman who possesses much needed blue line ingredients in the post lockout era: skating, mobility and a terrific shot. Max Pacioretty is tearing up the AHL. So is, once again, David Desharnais. Ryan White, currently injured in Hamilton, looks like he can be a very useful NHL player. He played junior hockey in Calgary. Where am I going with this?

I don't like to play the trade rumour game. But something dramatic is going to go down in Calgary. No way the Flames can compete with the way their roster is set up. And there's little hope for a genuine re-build without dealing Jarome Iginla.

Once upon a time Bob Gainey, sensing his Dallas Stars were a key player away from winning the Stanley Cup, traded top prospect Iginla north to Calgary. He received Joe Nieuwendyk who had been a holdout with the Flames. Nieuwendyk not only helped Dallas to its first and only Stanley Cup championship, he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy. Just imagine, 15 years later, the former GM Gainey, now a "senior consultant" urging current GM Pierre Gauthier that Iginla is still, at age 33, a dynamic offensive player with size who can take the Canadiens to the next level. Who would, at the very least, even out another Philadelphia - Montreal playoff series. Who can be re-united with Cammalleri to give the Habs two of the top lines in the NHL. And who can help turn a mediocre power play -especially without Markov - into one of the best in the league.

You can say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one.

HOCKEY HALL OF FAME VERSUS PAT BURNS

2010-11-08T22:13:00.002-05:00

9:30 PM

Like so many Pat Burns fans around the hockey world, I was outraged to discover that the 3 time NHL coach of the year winner was bypassed by the hockey hall of fame selection committee, an 18 member board who's voting policies would not be out of place in a pre - Glasnost Russia. I must admit that I was not aware of how shrouded in secrecy the proceedings are until it was pointed out to me in an on air conversation by Elliotte Friedman. What's worse, some members of the committee are journalists, whose role is to shine a light on those who try to hide the truth.

I don't think I have to sell Pat Burns as a hall of famer. Those who don't see him that way are either short sighted or have an axe to grind. Some will point to other coaches who have compiled more wins or have a better won-loss record. Maybe they conveniently forget that Burns's career was cut short by cancer five years ago, otherwise he'd still be coaching and his overall record would be difficult to ignore.

Already killed off this season, it must pain Pat terribly to still be with us while the Hall welcomes a dubious new class. But not as much pain, I hope, as some members of the voting committee must feel who probably thought Pat wouldn't make it this far. If their bodies don't ache I hope their collective conscience sure does.

And since they are not permitted to discuss the selection process I can only speculate why they failed to induct Pat Burns. Here, then, is one man's view of what they might say publicly if they were allowed to explain themselves.

Pat Quinn - "He couldn't hold my coaching jock."

Dick Irvin Jr. - "He was good, but not in the same class as my father."

Scotty Bowman - "His winning percentage was only .573."

Harry Sinden - "Was he better than Don Cherry?"

Serge Savard - "As soon as he left we won the Stanley Cup. What does that tell you?"

Yvon Pednault - "Bah, he isn't pure laine."

Eric Duhatschek - "I promised Doc Seaman's family that I'd get Doc in once he passed away. Same deal with Pat."

David Branch - "Pat had a foul mouth when he coached. Too many of his former players talk just like him. Bad for the game."

Colin Campbell - "I'm not sure Pat contributed to the game as much as Carl Voss or Fred Waghorne."

Bill Torrey - "Al Arbour won four times as many Cups. Fred Shero won twice as many. Get back to me when he coaches a dynasty."

Mike Gartner - "He once yelled at me that I was a bible thumping SOB. So fuck him."

Lanny MacDonald - "Excuse me while I pull this salad out of my moustache...now, Burnsie? We beat him on Forum ice to win the Cup. Sorry, but he was no Terry Crisp."

Jann-Ake Edvinsson - "They brought me into this committee to vote on European players only. Maybe if his last name was Burnsstrom."

Peter Stastny - "Don't know him. Never played for him. My son never played for him."

Michael Farber - "Let's examine this thoughtfully. There are over 80 media members recognized but only 14 coaches. I like that ratio."

FROM CHOMEDEY TO SAN FRANSISCO

2010-11-02T12:16:00.002-04:00

11:30 AM

It was just over an hour into The Black Angels groove and mood-altering set at La Tulipe when I decided to check my phone for the score of the Giants - Rangers game in Texas. Hoping for a blow out either way (better yet for Texas which would force the Series back to SF for the clincher) but knowing deep down that Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum would pitch a lot better than they did in game one. Sure enough, the score I was hoping for didn't exist. In fact, into the 7th, there wasn't any. My heart sank a bit. Waiting all these years to see San Fransisco celebrate and I'm missing Jack Morris-John Smoltz II. But having waited a few years to see this rock and roll group from Austin, Texas I decided to wait until they were done - another 15 minutes or so - then rushed home while listening to Jon Miller describe the 8th inning on the radio. (Thanks to Jimmy Murphy for texting me that Renteria had hit a three run homer, moments after I had checked my phone.)

I grew up loving so many Giants players over the years. As a precocious kid from Chomedey, I'd spend hours riding buses and our fairly new subway system to spend afternoons, evenings and nights at the Expos home at Jarry Parc. Always carrying my mitt (glove? That was something you wore in the winter), always finding a pick up game at one of the several diamonds at Jarry then heading to the swimming pool. But not to swim.

The pool at Jarry Parc was located right behind the right field fence. The wind usually blew out to right. Many a lefthanded hitter, especially the Expos own Rusty Staub, deposited home run balls into the pool. Took me a year to figure out that if this was happening on a regular basis during the actual game imagine what batting practice would be like. So I studied the rosters of National League teams and always made it a point to set up in or around the pool when the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Fransisco Giants hit town.
Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, Richie Hebner, Milt May were the most prominent lefthanded hitters on the Bucs while the Giants had Willie McCovey plus switch hitters Ken Henderson & Tito Fuentes and later on Dave Rader, Ed Goodson and Gary Thomasson. I'd like to thank all of them, especially Stargell & McCovey, for supplying a young baseball junkie with so many official Chub Feeney signed National League baseballs. A hot commodity on the baseball diamonds in Chomedey (any of them left?).

But there was something else I loved about the Giants. First heard the name 'Marichal' on my fathers' car radio as he drove me around Laval while listening to baseball games that, as I later discovered, he had bet on. Back in the day starting pitchers regularly finished their own starts. If the starters were out, the bet was off. Marichal was money. And then I saw him. The ridiculously high, almost gravity defying leg kick. Pin point control. And about a dozen different pitches. What a treat Juan Marichal was. Unlike Willie Mays, who was still an effective hitter when the Expos were born but no longer a superstar, Marichal was at the top of his game in 1969. And I got to see him.

So more than Mays, I think of Marichal and McCovey today as the city of San Fransisco celebrates their first World Series champion. And outfielders Henderson and Thomasson, catcher Rader, thirdbaseman Goodson and secondbaseman Fuentes. And a mitt hanging loosely on the handlebar of a bicycle owned by a 12 year old kid who couldn't wait to pedal into another world.

WHAT'S NEW(S)?

2010-10-26T11:25:00.005-04:00

10:00 AM

ITEM: ANDREI KOSTITSYN DOES IT AGAIN

Isn't it wonderful when talented players play well? Imagine the juggernaut the Habs would be if Gomez, Gionta, Pouliot and Spacek started to produce. And hopefully the strong third period and assist on the game winner by Lars Eller will convince his coach to play him more often with offensive minded linemates.

ITEM: ROMO BREAKS COLLARBONE IN COWBOYS LOSS

If every U.S. network is going to treat Jerry Jones as royalty, I sure do enjoy the never-ending shots of him in his private suite looking like he's in the process of trying to crap a billion dollars out of his ass.

ITEM: ILYA KOLVALCHUCK BENCHED BY ROOKIE COACH

Lou Lamariello doesn't normally fire coaches until April but at what point does he order Larry Robinson to replace John MacLean? Lamariello is past his expiry date as a winning NHL executive. And as long as he religiously chants the merits of the New Jersey "system" the league should force him out for being counter productive to what is supposed to be the entertainment business.

ITEM: IT'S A TEXAS - SAN FRANSISCO FALL CLASSIC

I have a soft spot for both franchises. I've never left North America (Mexico still with us? If Canada doesn't get a seat on the U.N. Security Council than I think Mexico should get tossed out altogether. As long as the sick bastard drug lords are running the place there ought to be a limit to the number of decapitations before the rest of the world says "You're on your own".) but San Fransisco is the most stunningly beautiful place I've been. And it's about time fans in the Bay Area got to celebrate a world series champion. And if I was a 23 year old righthander I'd be Tim Lincecum. On the other hand, Texas has never even been to a series and they're now run by Nolan Ryan. I admire the guy on so many levels, beginning with the fact that following the publication of Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" in 1970 most of the baseball establishment, especially his fellow players, treated Bouton as if he had handed over the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. Very few, if any (let alone stars) players publicly supported Bouton. Except for Ryan. In one chapter of Bouton's follow up to Ball Four, the wonderfully titled "I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally", Bouton re-prints letters of support he received following the controversy that erupted when Ball Four was published. Among the letters:

I want to congratulate you on your success with Ball Four. I bought it in Houston in July and both Nolan and I enjoyed it very much. We have often discussed the pretentiousness, the loneliness, and the frustrations which accompany baseball; and your honesty and subtle sense of humour captured that aspect so well.

Sincerely
Ruth Ryan

Yes, it's the same Mrs. Ryan, looking gorgeous at 61, that you see seated next to her husband while they enjoy the Rangers post season run from box seats, not an owners box. I also root for Ron Washington and Mike Maddux and Josh Hamilton. Guerrero? Honestly, never warmed up to the guy but I'm happy he's got a shot. I've been rooting for these two teams all the way through so as a fan I can't really lose. But I'm still a National League guy. Wonder if Vlad's inability to get to a fly ball will be a factor. Or maybe he pulls a Teixeira.

ITEM: RAPTORS-KNICKS EXHIBITION ATTRACTS 22,000 TO BELL CENTRE

Can Montreal actually fully support an NBA franchise? I'd rather have the Expos back but that kind of crowd (and it was a legit sell-out. One of my favourite scalpers could do no better than $150 for a pair of whites) should at least prompt some discussion. At the very least, it should raise the possibility of a couple of regular season games, especially with the Raptors likely to struggle again this season while their still healthy attendance figures have declined by almost 2,000 fans per game since 2007-2008.

ITEM: BRETT FAVRE'S NFL CONSECUTIVE GAMES STREAK IN JEOPARDY

Andie Bennett asked, "Why do guys think that sending a girl a picture of your penis is going to work?".

Maybe it did in Green Bay?

RANDOM POST GAME CRAP

2010-10-13T23:46:00.000-04:00

11:15 PM

And I thought the boos were for Guy Booo-ucher. The man can coach, huh? His players were in relentless pursuit of the puck all night and finally got a well deserved two points. Just wonder if they can keep that pace up all season, especially Vinny who was doubled over and out of breath on a couple of occasions in the third period.

I asked for and was given permission by Pat Hickey to refer to Carey Price's 43 save performance as "Halak-ian". Price was seething with anger and frustration afterwards, explaining he'd likely have more to say on Thursday. To say he looks solid through three games is like saying Nolan Ryan has a bit of a drawl.

A veteran NHL scout volunteered this while emerging from a crowded post game elevator, "Man, the refereeing in this league is bad". A little early to get on the zebras but if you're going to send PK Subban to the penalty box with 2:02 to play then Ryan Malone cannot be scoring the winning goal. Nor should he have been on the ice for the 6 on 4 tying goal after upending Dustin Boyd who was attempting to clear while on the Pk, er, penalty kill.

Subban did not have a good night, capped off by his ill-timed attempt to skate through three members of the Lightning at the Tampa blue line, which resulted in a turn over and, eventually, the winning goal.
Also can't help but wonder if his ever present personality is rubbing some veterans the wrong way. Especially Mike Cammalleri who seems downright ornery these days and was nowhere to be found post game. Just an observation.

Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez are not yet in sync. Fair or not, Benoit Pouliot might soon be replaced on that line by Lars Eller who's a smarter player. Pouliot's mis-handling of the puck along the boards led directly to Tampa's tying goal midway through the third period. He also flubbed a couple of key scoring chances.

Habs power play to start the season is now 0-9.

Felt good for Dominic Moore, overshadowed in his return to the Bell Centre. After nearly winning the game when he pinged a shot off the goal post in the dying seconds of the third, Moore helped set up the overtime winner.

Further proof that the NHL exhibition season is too long and meaningless - Roman Hamrlik was terrific.

Line of the night goes to Sean Gordon of Globesports.com who suggested that a popularity contest between Max Lapierre and Steve Downie might take five months to determine a winner.

WHERE WERE WE?

2010-10-11T12:27:00.003-04:00

11:45 AM

Late May 2010. Five months later what's changed? Jaroslav Halak, as expected (unless you think with your heart or developed a man crush so large that it has you wondering, at times, if there's too much of Tony Randall in you. Or maybe Kevin Spacey) was traded. Welcome to the salary cap era. HELLO! It's been six years and fans in the supposedly ultra sophisticated Montreal market still can't (won't?) come to grips that the business of the game - and the game itself - has changed.

I've seen a lot of bush league fan behaviour in this town (Frank Mahovlich once got booed for getting beaten up by Terry O'Reilly. Serge Savard was told to get lost. Jeff Reardon's wife, Phoebe, got booed during a charity fashion show in between games of a doubleheader. Chris Chelios, Larry Walker, the list goes on and on. Sometimes I feel that every Montreal sports "fan" should be forced to spend a month in St. Louis or Chicago before being allowed into the Bell Centre) but the treatment Carey Price received during the exhibition opener against the Bruins was a new low.

Psychotic, actually.

But at the risk of sounding like just another cranky old hoot I channel Satchel Paige and look forward, not back. Feel free to forget the following the moment you've finished reading it. We'll do our best to keep this blog updated at least as frequently as The Gazette craps on Price.

NHL Eastern Conference 2010-11:

1. Pittsburgh - They're pissed. Really pissed
2. Washington - They're pissed too
3. Philadelphia - Lonesome, Ornery & Mean
4. Buffalo - Still won't win at playoff time
5. New Jersey - Parise becomes legit MVP candidate
6. Montreal - Why not?
7. Boston - Marc Savard is not replaced by Tyler Seguin
8. Tampa Bay - If only the Lightning were in Quebec City...
9. Atlanta - Not yet
10 NYR - Gaborik breaks down, Boogard breaks Carcillo's face
11 Ottawa - Bryan Murray falls on his stick
12 Toronto - Joe Bowen leaps off CN Tower
13 Florida - Next stop for Chris Higgins?
14 Carolina - Paul Maurice gone by Christmas
15 NYI - Cursed in Uniondale.

Western Conference

I really don't give a shit. Not till April.

And on this Thanksgiving Monday I'm grateful I saw the great Solomon Burke at Bonnaroo in June 2008.

IT'S ALL OVER NOW BABY BLUE

2010-05-27T01:05:00.001-04:00

12:20 AM

This time it is over. No more comebacks. No more logic-defying upsets. No more rushing home to make it into the Lazy Boy in time for the drop of the puck while waiting for dinner to be delivered. No more anguish. No more joy. And, thankfully, no more nights where the number of Rolaids far outnumber the glasses of water.

It was fun alright. Wondering how how many saves Jaroslav Halak was going to make, or how many shots Hal Gill and his mates would block. How many shots on goal Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri would take and how many they were going to bury. How many rushes Scott Gomez would lead. And wondering if PK Subban would actually show his age and how much that might hurt.

Sadly, the Flyers told an even more improbable tale and forced us to once again face reality. While everybody can agree that the 2009-2010 Habs played with pride, determination and guts one cannot ignore the fact that the Flyers have knocked them out of the playoffs in two of the last three years. A Philadelphia team that seems to have a better handle on Quebec born players than Les Habitants. A Philadelphia team that was thankful Montreal didn't draft Jeff Carter or Mike Richards when they werre available in the first round in 2003 opting instead for Andrei Kostitsyn. A Philadelphia team that took the NHL's second ranked power play and turned it into roasted marsmallows while Jacques Martin and Perry Pearn fiddled.

New ownership, led by Geoff Molson is of course thrilled with a conference final appearance. So giddy, in fact, they've already decided to raise ticket prices for next season. President Pierre Boivin, who seems to be morphing into Ron Corey circa 1995, says the deep playoff run is proof that Jacques Martin is a terrific coach, even though Martin is the same guy who ad libs behind the bench as naturally as George Bush in front of a podium. (Let's be clear about this. Martin is a good coach. Just not good enough to win. Especially as long as he hangs onto his security blanket named Pearn.)

I'll deal with the players in a future post. In the meantime, I thank everybody associated with the Canadiens for a fun ride. Now it's time for Pierre Gauthier and his management team to follow the lead of most of their players. Get to work, twice as hard as the other guys. Because nothing's been won. Except perhaps for a few hundred thousand new hearts. And you don't want them broken by this time next year.

LADY BYNG WINNERS?

2010-05-18T22:18:00.001-04:00

9:35 PM

So the Flyers have just skated off the ice with a 3-0 victory handing the Habs their first back to back shutout losses in the post season since Buffalo blanked them back in 1983. That was a playoff series sweep that resulted in the ouster of Irving Grundman as GM, Ron Caron as Assistant GM & Director of Scouting and Bob Berry as coach. And the arrival of Ron Corey and Serge Savard.

Nothing as drastic as managment changes will take place as a result of the loss in Philadelphia. A goaltending change? Perhaps. But what's ailing the Habs right now cannot be found in Jaro Halak's suddenly-gone-missing catching hand. No, their forwards are playing as if its the Lady Byng trophy at stake, not the Stanley Cup.

I'm not suggesting a scrap or two to wake somebody up, though I have to admit it might feel good to see somebody on the Habs do something to show they're angry. No, what I'm looking for is hunger, not anger.
Nobody up front - and I mean nobody - has shown a willingness to mix it up in front of Michael Leighton. The Habs might have become victims of their own success, facing mostly mediocre goaltending from Joe Theodore, Simeon Varlamov and Marc Andre Fleury in the first two rounds. Simple shots, from anywhere, seemed to go in on a regular basis. Not now. Leighton is a great story but he's not a great goaltender. He's a goalie in a groove. And as easily as he got his groove back after being away for weeks he can find himself in a rut again, but not without more grit and determination from the Canadiens. Let's see a shot or two at his head. Let's see an opposing player bump him. Has anybody, at this point, even gotten close enough to breathe on him? Everybody's raving about him but he could have played the first two games in a rocking chair. Have you seen him have to move quickly from side to side - even once? I thought the line of Dominic Moore, Maxime Lapierre and Travis Moen should have played more because their assignment is obvious. Nothing pretty. Cycle the puck. Muck it up behind the net. Bounce it off an ass. They played about 11 minutes.

Habs now find themselves back in familiar territory. Maybe this is what Jacques Martin needs before he wakes up. No 6'5" 240 pound Ryan O'Byrne in a series that cries out for a guy his size? Benoit Pouliot, shrinking to the size of an elbow pad, is finally scratched but replaced not by O'Byrne but by Sergei Kostitsyn, a player who's attitude was so poisonous he was kicked off the team a week ago? Kostitsyn looked about as interested in competing in game two as a bathroom attendant in an Amherst Street dance club. Scott Gomez is playing brain dead right now but he and Brian Gionta are not being well served by having Tom Pyatt on their left wing. Nursing a one or two goal lead? Perfect. But needing offense, especially trailing by two? This Martin man crush on Pyatt is fast approaching embarrassing territory.

It ain't over. The Habs can ride the much needed energy of the Bell Centre crowd who will no doubt serenade Leighton. Maybe there's a funny bounce off unfamiliar boards. Maybe a Habs forward actually screens him for more than a split second. Maybe somebody will decide it's time to crash the net. Maybe a puck will go in off Daniel Carcillo's ugly diving - ass face. And then the joint erupts and Leighton starts thinking of how to keep the puck out of his net instead of thinking he can stop it. But it's on the Habs to make it happen.

Forwards - starting with Thomas Plekanic, Andrei Kostitsyn & Gomez - have to stop thinking of making a TSN play of the night and start thinking about the possible end of the play-offs. And Martin has to revert to his mind set prior to game five in Washington when he put his players in the best possible position to succeed. A power play goal would also help (anybody out there who thought it was time to trade Andrei Markov still feel the same way?).

As a wise songwriter who will turn 69 on Monday once put it: It's not dark yet. But it's getting there.

TABLE FOR 25

2010-05-14T00:06:00.000-04:00

11:00 PM

I love Jaroslav Halak. Always have. There is archive tape that exists somewhere in the vaults of CTV which would show me making the case for Halak over Cristobal Huet in a must win game in Toronto four seasons ago. A stanley cup winning coach on Ron Reusch's panel suggested it was a "no brainer" to go with the "more experienced" Huet. I volunteered to be the guy with no brain who thought the ability to stop a puck trumped the "more experienced" guy who had never been in the playoffs. Huet got the start and allowed six goals. The Habs missed the playoffs. Huet is still looking for his first playoff series win.

I love Carey Price. Always have. Forget the hype. I have eyes. I saw a 20 year old rookie post a shutout in game seven to help win a playoff round. You know the pedigree. And I know that you could care less at this point. I believe that when Price is 25 years old - Halak's current age - he'll be the best goaltender in the NHL. And it will likely be somewhere far away from Montreal.

Clearly what Halak has done this season has not only helped put the Habs in a position to battle for the Cup but has cemented his future in Montreal, assuming of course, he no longer wants to be traded. Even if the Habs wanted to deal Halak instead of Price (snicker all you want but believe me there are many scouts and GM's around the league who still prefer Price and will continue to do so even if Halak wins it all) fans here would riot. Or whatever it is these knuckleheads do when they sniff a beer and think that because they're in a mob they're tough.

So Jaroslav Halak has ended the fan and media generated goaltending controversy. He won the job this season the old fashioned way - he earned it. And he deserves to be the toast of the town for the moment.
But to suggest, as so many have since the remarkable upset over the Caps and again in the aftermath of the almost unfathomable victory over the Penguins, that he's the only reason the Canadiens are in the playoffs is to insult the very team that has made this city so damn proud.

I have consistently railed against the conventional wisdom crowd that try to paint the 1986 and 1993 Stanley Cup wins as a one man (Patrick Roy) masterpiece so I'm not going to stop now. Hockey -as Mike Cammalleri likes to point out - is the ultimate team game. Halak was great tonight? Just doing his job. Better than anybody else at his position in the playoffs to be sure, but just doing his job. As Cammalleri is by scoring at a record pace. As Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez are by generating offense and killing penalties. As Hal Gill is by blocking shots and getting in the way of the best forwards in the world. Ditto for Josh Gorges. As Marc Andre Bergeron is for his work on the point on the power play. As Maxime Lapierre, Dominic Moore and Travis Moen are for being responsible defensively, skating hard, playing the body and taking advantage of scoring opportunities. As Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik are for their professionalism and experience. As Thomas Plekanic is for his work ethic, smarts, two way play and sudden new-found ability to win most of his face offs. As Andrei Kostitsyn is for helping to set up Cammalleri while continuing to search for his own lost scoring touch. As Ryan O'Byrne has as he keeps Halak's crease clean and slams opposing left wingers into the boards. As Glen Metropolit has by pinching himself and keeping his mates loose while waiting for an opportunity lost to injury. As Mathieu Darche has by mucking it up around the opposing net and standing in front of it. As Tom Pyatt has by emerging as an elite penalty killer. As even Benoit Pouliot has by knowing that his goal scoring spree came at a much needed time during the regular season. As Carey Price has by becoming a better teammate.

The coaching staff - Jacques Martin, who thought an almost completely new team should spend more than training camp time together thus the Christian Kids Camp excursion and who instituted a system that foes are either bitching or raving about; Perry Pearn, who likes to play x's & o's while doing his best Teller impression; Pierre Groulx who has worked with Halak and Price after helping Craig Anderson get his NHL career kick started last season in Florida and Kirk Muller the proud former captain who wept openly when he was traded, practically begged -through a Red Fisher column - to return to Montreal to finish his career but who's pleas went unnoticed until then-Stars GM Bob Gainey signed him in Dallas to help win a Cup and who has been as vocal behind the bench as he was on the ice and who's input was (finally) wisely accepted by Martin - have set the tone for their players. While it was Gainey and his management team including Pierre Gauthier, Julien Brisebois & Trevor Timmins who assembled in the course of about two mad weeks in July the team you now salute.

You might Halak-it, Halak-it a lot. Personally, I love it. This TEAM.

THE KID IS ALRIGHT

2010-05-03T11:43:00.002-04:00

10:00 AM

I know what you're thinking. When was the last time a player spent virtually the entire season in the minors only to dive into the heat of the playoffs while remaining as cool as PK Subban? I don't know about other franchises but here in Montreal I can think of two special cases. But in both instances, they appeared in more than the two games that PK played for the Habs this season. One is in the hall of fame. The other is on his way.

Ken Dryden, famously in 1971, played in just six regular season games for the Habs having spent the 1970-71 season in Montreal but for the American Hockey League Voyageurs, splitting the goaltending duties with Wayne Thomas. But those six games (.957 save pct) were enough to convince Sam Pollack and Al McNeil that the only chance the grown up Habs had of beating the Big, Bad Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs was to go with the young man who would later be called "the giraffe" by Phil Esposito. It was a Bruins team that had set a record for most goals in a season by one team (399) and featured four 100 point players (Esposito, Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk and Ken Hodge). You know the story by now. Dryden was sensational as the Habs beat Boston in seven games before defeating a very strong Minnesota North Stars team in six and then capturing the Cup by knocking off the heavily favored Chicago Black Hawks in seven. It's a shame more footage doesn't exist for younger fans to see how brilliant-and cool-Dryden was. He remains, to this day, the only player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP prior to winning the Calder as rookie of the year.

Chris Chelios in 1984 was a 22 year old defenseman who had been drafted by the Habs (late 2nd round; 40th overall) before spending two seasons at the University of Wisconsin. A lot of us started to hear his name by his second season and especially after he joined the American Olympic team for the Winter Games in Lillehammer. Chelios jumped into the Habs line up immediately following the Olympics performing well in 12 games but not spectacularly so. But once the playoffs started it was clear Chelios was a star-in-the-making, picking up 10 points in 15 games and serving notice that his end of the ice was a danger zone. Two years later he helped the Habs to their 23rd Stanley Cup.

Subban is the most exciting - and talented - young non-goaltender to emerge in Montreal since Chelios (want to argue and suggest Stephane Richer or Saku Koivu? Go ahead). Like old #24, Subban has spent prime time on the International stage, shoots right, seems to do everything well and has a mean streak. And like Dryden, he carries himself with an attitude and calmness that belies his age and experience. The only thing missing, up to now, is for PK to lean on his stick during a time out.

This 2010 post season is already historic. How much more history the Canadiens, as a team, can write depends on whether they can win what is now a best of five series against the defending Stanley Cup champions. But the fact that Subban has played a total of six NHL games against high quality opposition (don't forget those back to back regular season games against the Flyers) and has been among the best players on the ice in all six games has me looking forward to the future (and not just longing for the past) with as much anticipation as any other time in the last quarter of a century.

No pressure, kid.

HOLY CRAP

2010-04-29T11:42:00.002-04:00

11:30 AM

Now it is done. Now the story ends. And there is no way to tell it. The art of fiction is dead. Reality has strangled invention. Only the utterly impossible, the inexpressably fantastic, can ever be plausible again.

Red Smith, perhaps the greatest sports columnist of them all, penned those words on October 4, 1951 after watching Bobby Thomson's home run off Ralph Branca give the New York Giants a come from behind 5-4 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers and the National League pennant at the Polo grounds in New York. "The shot heard 'round the world".

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened in Game 7 and what's happened since Game 5. In the meantime, 41 blocked shots by the Canadiens. 41 saves for Jaroslav Halak who's number looked huge. Forty one.

Ralph Branca turned and started for the clubhouse. The number on his uniform looked huge. Thirteen.

WHO'S THAT MAN?

2010-04-27T02:25:00.000-04:00

2 AM

Is it really Jacques Martin, who decided to sit Jaroslav Halak following game three? Who decided it was time 6'5" Ryan O'Byrne might be able to better protect Halak from crease-crashing Caps? Who has called timely time outs? Who decided Stanley Cup winner Travis Moen might actually have a role to play? Who shortened his bench during an elimination game, dropping down to four defensemen while sitting Roman Hamrlik and Marc Andre Bergeron? Who drastically cut the ice time of an ineffective and rapidly vanishing Benoit Pouliot? Who is now playing his best player - Andrei Markov - best player minutes? Who has seen the light and now plays Bergeron only on the power play? Who found a replacement for Jaroslav Spacek in Hamilton and actually used him, playing PK Subban more than double the ice time of Bergeron? Who got in the face of an NHL referee following an unheard of third diving penalty in one game?

Is it really Jacques Martin directing the comeback that could result in the ouster of the mighty Caps by Wednesday night? Or does the man calling the shots behind the Habs bench look suspiciously like Kirk Muller?

IT'S ALL OVER NOW

2010-04-22T11:36:00.003-04:00

11:45 AM

Not to beat a dead horse, or perhaps an elephant, but more wonderful moments from the Jacques Martin - Perry Pearn handbook:

- Glen Metropolit came to play last night. He set up the Habs first goal by Mike Cammalleri. He sprawled across the ice in his own zone to record a key shot block. His line with Sergei Kostitsyn and Tom Pyatt/Cammalleri were a threat whenever they were on the ice. A shame Martin didn't seem to notice. Metropolit's ice time - 7:27.

- Sergei also came to play. Too bad he can't score, missing a wide open net on a perfect feed from Andrei Markov moments before Ovechkin's game winner. But he looked good, had as many shots on goal as his brother and finished the night +2. Total ice time - 8:17.

- Habs best face off man is Dominic Moore. He took a total of seven draws last night, winning four of them.

- Key face off deep in Washington's end with Carey Price on the bench for a 6th attacker. Scott Gomez (10-14) gets thrown out. There's no second centreman to replace him. (Can you remember a moment-at any time since they acquired Moore-that he was sent out to take a key draw? He's the only centerman on the team who consistently wins more face offs than he loses)

- As a team the Canadiens have won only 40% of the draws in this series. Puck posession???

- Finally inserted into the line up 6'5" Ryan O'Byrne did his job. He cleared the net, blocked four shots, dished out seven body checks and was +1. Total ice time - 13:05.

- In four games Marc Andre Bergeron is -8.

SOMETHIN' STUPID

2010-04-20T14:00:00.002-04:00

2 PM

"He's one of the smartest, if not the smartest man in the NHL" - Bruce Boudreau Game 3 post game media session on Jacques Martin

"No" - Boudreau, same session, when asked if his Caps were specifically going after Marc Andre Bergeron's side of the ice

This is too easy. If Martin is the smartest man in the NHL, how can he continue to play Marc Andre Bergeron over 20 minutes a night against the best group of forwards in the NHL, outside of Pittsburgh? Through three games in this series Bergeron is pointless and minus five. I've got nothing against the little guy. He's got one of the best shots in the league and is a valuable asset on the power play and in situations that call for puck movement and offense. But does it make any sense that he should be logging the second highest minutes of ice time after Andrei Markov?
Ah, but it's all about the "system". Therein lies the smartest man in the NHL's biggest problem. He knows systems but not players. Did anybody not think the Caps would begin crashing Jaro Halak following their loss in game one? Would it not make sense to have a defenseman whos 6'5" at least trying to protect him? Maybe Ryan O'Byrne plays in game four and maybe he doesn't play better than he did down the stretch but at least you'd be using a "weapon" to "go to war" with (Martin like most sports types love to use the war analogy. I thought we had stopped with that crap following 9-11).

Martin's system, I suppose, allows no room to tinker with lines and defense pairings, double shifting, forwards on the point on the power play, face off match ups, in short, no room for creative usage of players. It's all about the "system". Let 'em roll off the bench, hut, 2-3-4; defense march! 1-2-3, 1-2-3...and as a result you have an offensive player like Mike Cammalleri on the ice with a one goal lead and less than two minutes to play (in Buffalo late in season and again during game two in Washington) and Roman Hamrlik & Jaroslav Spacek first out on the points on a critical power play in the first minute of play in the second period. It also explains, in part, why the Habs are being eaten alive in the face off circle (Washington's first two goals in game three were the direct result of face off wins).

I didn't/don't expect the Capitals to lose to the Canadiens. The Habs need a near super human effort in goal, which they got in game one, and everything else to work perfectly. Starting with bench management.

Or maybe I'm just not smart enough to grasp the 'system".

IF...

2010-04-14T10:57:00.003-04:00

11 AM

- Jaroslav Halak can channel Ken Dryden circa 1971 (To Mike Boone and anyone else who's hoping for a repeat of the Habs upset of the Big, Bad Bruins of 1971: Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Frank Mahovlich, Jacques Lemaire, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Jacques Laperriere & Dryden are Hall of Famers. Then there were the borderline Hall worthy guys on that Habs team including J.C. Tremblay and Pete Mahovlich. And the toughest and meanest of the bunch, John Ferguson. Anybody ready to put Halak in the Hall? Or Andrei Markov? Scott Gomez? And who plays Fergy-Travis Moen? Please stop this bong-induced nonsense...and pass it on).

- Mike Cammalleri and Benoit Pouliot start scoring again.

- Thomas Plekanic & Markov can do what's so far escaped them as NHLers: raise the level of their play in the post season

- Andrei Kostitsyn realizes that his reputation is on the line

- Maxime Lapierre, as suggested by Pierre McGuire, turns himself into Alexander Ovechkin's shadow and, as suggested by me, spends so much time talking about Ovechkin's nasty habits, women and Ovie's mother that the Russian sniper snaps and gets penalized/suspended.

- Jose Theodore plays like it's April 2009

- Nicklas Backstrom has the Jaro Spacek flu (minimum four games missed)

- Spacek & Roman Hamrlik think they're in Nagano 1998

- Jacques Martin & Perry Pearn get a wake up call

Then the Habs can stretch this series out to seven games.

Elsewhere:

NJ over Flyers in 6: Brian Boucher actually looked pretty good over the last five or six games but he's not going to out-goal Martin Brodeur. Pronger on Kovalchuk should be fun to watch...in Philly. Jacques Lemaire will make sure that match up doesn't take place in Newark.

Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 4: Penguins have been playing possum all season.

Bruins over Buffalo in 7: I likely would have taken Habs over Sabres as well. Buffalo did not have a strong second half. Their offense is dormant. Their power play is almost non-existent. Their goaltender is the best in the league. That's how they win on most nights. That the Habs had 6th place in their grasp but let it slip away is almost beyond comprehension. Starting with that late season meltdown in Buffalo when Martin froze and Pearn had the wrong guys on the ice, through the losses to Carloina (2 of 'em), NY Islanders (Lapierre in shoot out instead of Gionta???) and the fucking Leafs on home ice (how about a 3rd forward in OT-what's Martin worried about, losing a point he already got? Hal Gill 4 on 4? NOOOOOOOO!)the coaching staff blew a more favorable playoff match up and allowed a Boston team that they had seemingly buried to pass them and take on Buffalo. But that's just me. Over 20,000 seemed thrilled on Saturday that their Habs were in. "Woo-hoo! We're Number 8!"
Yes I know Boston's offense is nowhere but I think they're capable of winnning, with the two teams perhaps setting a record for the lowest scoring seven game series in history. Wouldn't surprise me if at least four of the games went into overtime.

And in the West?

No way San Jose....goes down early. Sharks over Colorado in 4.

Chicago over Nashville in 5.

Vancouver over LA in 7.

Detroit over Phoenix in 6.

Enjoy.

And if Habs don't upset Washington you'll have more time to wonder why Pierre Gauthier was hired as Bob Gainey's replacement without so much as a five minute interview process for other potential GM's including Steve Yzerman.

...WHEN HE'S GONE

2010-04-08T22:47:00.003-04:00

10:50 PM

There. I said it. It took 81 games but I'm convinced the Montreal Canadiens would be better off with somebody other than Jacques Martin coaching them. If the Habs performance against the Islanders was a bit of a travesty considering the importance of the game, then what happened in Carolina has to be a clear signal to new owner Geoff Molson that he's got the wrong head coach.

How the Canadiens can come out so flat ("a mystifying performance" said Gord Miller who had the second best seat in the house) in a game that meant so much cannot be explained away by dumping on talented players or benching young ones (I know Ryan O'Byrne was awful and with a 7th defenseman dressed Martin could replace him with Marc Andre Bergeron but what did Sergei Kostitsyn do-or not do-in the five or so minutes that he played to get nailed to the bench for the final 40 minutes?). No, this no-show in Carolina is on Martin. It's his job to get his team ready, especially with the playoffs approaching. And their continued horrid performances in the first (and third) period of games seems to me to be about preparation and bench management. Martin stressed after the morning skate in Carolina that he hoped his players would be productive "with the puck and without it". If more than a minute was spent this deep into the season on preaching the importance of sound positional play-without the puck-than I can see why his players might have tuned him out. Any pre-game pep talk had to be about pressuring a Carolina defense into submission. An American Hockey League calibre defense, as it turns out. Why would he have/want to stress anything else?

I respect what Jacques Martin has accomplished in his long NHL career. But I've never seen him from up close like this. We all heard about how conservative he was.
Now that I've actually seen it from this vintage point, I've seen enough.

10 years ago last month Robbie Ftorek was fired as coach of the NJ Devils with just eight games left in the season. GM Lou Lamoriello said that after watching his team lose 10 of their previous 16 games he "didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel". He named Larry Robinson the new head coach and all Robinson did was win the Stanley Cup. More recently, Lamoriello fired Claude Julien with just three games to go in the 2006-07 season. Scott Gomez was rumoured to be a factor in Julien's firing though it's very difficult three seasons later to get a clear picture of what really went down. Lamoriello claimed that even though the Devils had clinched the Atlantic Divsion title and was second overall in the Eastern Conference he didn't think his team was "ready" for the playoffs. Lamoriello himself took over behind the bench but the Devils were quickly eliminated.

I mention this because the timing of the announcement that Guy Boucher was named American Hockey League coach of the year is more than a little ironic. I don't think bringing Boucher in for Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs is the way to go. But like Lamoriello 10 years ago and again three years ago, there has to be a feeling in the owners box that even if the Habs do get into the post season they are ill prepared to deal with it.

Jacques Martin (and Perry Pearn-the man who changes defensemen during the game-I've seen enough of his work as well. The ice time allotted to Montreal defensemen this season has been utterly bizarre) is not the right man to coach a team like the Canadiens. Nor is he the right guy for the city of Montreal.

Montrealers are a vibrant, passionate, sexy lot. Yes, I thought an experienced man like Martin was the logical way to go following the Great Centennial Meltdown. But I was wrong. He simply doesn't fit here.

Can the Habs really do worse Saturday against the Leafs with Kirk Muller leading them behind the bench? Do you think Guy Boucher-successful now at three different levels (QMJHL, Canadian Juniors and now AHL)-is going to ride buses for much longer?
Do you really see a Martin-Pearn combo long-term in Montreal?

If you've just answered no, why wait? Do it now.

I'LL FEEL A WHOLE LOT BETTER...

2010-04-06T22:21:00.004-04:00

10:15 PM

Let's get this out of the way. Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Benoit Pouliot, Mike Cammalleri, Andrei Kostitsyn, Roman Hamrlik, Josh Gorges and Andrei Markov were terrible against the NY Islanders. Especially Markov. More on him coming up. And Gorges might have played his worst game of the season, jittery with the puck and falling down at least four times with nobody around. He looked, at times, like a guy out for his very first skate. Some comic relief during a night that wasn't very funny.

That the Habs had a lead with two minutes to play without their best players speaks partly to their goaltender Jaroslav Halak, partly to the strong(er) effort of the third and fourth lines and partly to the NY Islanders who clearly didn't get the memo about rolling over for the Habs this late into the season.

What we saw from Montreal's better players was utter arrogance. They showed no respect for an NHL opponent that has actually played very well over the last month including recent victories over the Flyers and Canucks. And now the Habs have to pick it up against a Carolina team that just beat them at the Bell Centre-again-and just scored eight goals against Tampa Bay.

I don't travel with the Canadiens (Oh, the stories we can tell...) but it sure looked like key members of the team might have staged some kind of pow wow late Monday night. Maybe they've been waiting all season to let it rip on the road and decided that Long Island was the place to do it.
I can understand that. If not, then there are troubling signs with two games to go prior to the playoffs.

Starting with Markov.

What's up with the guy who would be captain? He's constantly getting caught out of position. He's attempting way too many long, low percentage stretch passes. His overall passing game period, has slipped. His skating, usually so fluid, has detriorated into lumbering. It looks like he's playing hurt. His minutes are way down (21:09 vs NYI, or less than Hamrlik, Gorges and Hal Gill. And just 25 seconds more than Marc Andre Bergeron)so the coaching staff is either trying to protect him, trying to pace him for the playoffs or has no clue.

Pouliot looks like the guy the Wild couldn't wait to get rid of. At least he was spotted alive in the slot again on long Island.

Hamrlik is apparently doing what he always does at this time of the season. Showing obvious signs of fatigue through over-use.

Gomez, Gionta & Cammalleri don't worry me. But get back to me on Cammalleri after game one of the playoffs.

Jacques Martin? I'm not sure what planet he's on right now. Following an impressive win over the Sabres Saturday Martin looked back to that embarrassing performance the night before in Philadelphia by saying "I don't think we were that bad. The Flyers only had five scoring chances in the third period." As Andie Bennett pointed out on the air, Martin must have watched videotape of the Philly game through Tim Peel's dark glasses. And after another third period breakdown in New York, Martin said he was pleased with his teams performance and that it was a bad break that cost them the one goal lead when an official got in the way of a clearing attempt. And having Maxime Lapierre shoot first in the shoot out with goal scorers like Gionta & Plekanic on the bench? I'm all for rewarding role players for strong games. Give them more ice time. Give them a shot on the power play. But don't give them the first shot in a shoot-out when a valuable point is still at stake.

Flyers-Sabres-Islanders. Five out of a possible six points. That's an optimistic way of looking at the Habs last three games. And a post-Olympic record of 10-4-3 is impressive and meaningful. But I'm starting to wonder if Martin can light a fuse even if you hand him a stick of dynamite and a match.

We'll find out Thursday in Carolina.

SLIP SLIDING AWAY?

2010-03-31T23:46:00.005-04:00

11:45 PM

So what is it about these Wednesday nights? It used to be a tradition (ask your dad). Hockey Night In Canada on Saturdays and mid-week Wednesday nights on CTV (originally joined in progress at 8:30). And that was it, kids. No other NHL games on TV unless you were a lucky enough household to have U.S. cable (which we didn't-much to my disgust-in 1968 as I tried in vain to bring in the Elvis comeback special on NBC. But I do remember watching some Saturday and Sunday afternoon games in the early 70's on NBC and CBS. And they even featured teams from Canada! In fact, I can recall Larry Robinson battering Dave Schultz during a Habs-Flyers bench clearing brawl at the end of a period one afternoon at the Forum. I still remember Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay describing it all from the broadcast booth.

But I digress.

One week ago the Canadiens were done in by the Sabres in Buffalo after holding onto a 2-0 lead until there were less than two minutes to play (see previous entry). Seven days later a home ice loss to the Carolina Hurricanes that, while not as shocking, is at least as painful, probably more so considering they at least salvaged a point in Buffalo.

77 games into the season and I still don't know what to make of this team. Much like they did Saturday against New Jersey the Habs flew out of the dressing room against Carolina holding a 16-2 lead in shots until Brandon Sutter got credit for a goal that Roman Hamrlik scored on Carey Price. Much like the week before, when they were stymied by Ryan Miller while in search of what likely would have been a clinching 3rd goal, the Habs couldn't beat Cam Ward after taking the lead on a bullett of a shot from the point by Marc Andre Bergeron. And you knew it was a matter of time. And the Hurricanes won the game when Eric Staal was allowed to stand all by himself behind the Canadiens defense to beat Price on a rebound. Third period shots at that point-Carolina 8, Montreal 0.

I think most fans understand some of what has been/is going on with their team. That it takes awhile for a goal scorer like Mike Cammalleri to get his rhythm back after missing so many games with a knee injury. That Thomas Plekanic is hurt and tired after an eventful but terribly busy season. That opposing goaltenders deserve some credit for stoning the Habs. But did the Canadiens really get beaten by Jonas Gustavsson in Toronto or were they simply not able to finish? Miller slammed the door on them in Buffalo. Martin Brodeur and the Devils bent a little with the lead last Saturday but didn't break. And yes, Cam Ward was the best player on the ice during the Carolina loss but what's a fan supposed to think as their team gets outshot 17-10 in the third period of a must win game on home ice?

Since scoring five goals in a victory over Edmonton in Montreal on March 11 the Habs have gone 8 games without scoring more than three in a game. (Hold on, that win over Florida is coming up.) Maybe we ought to blame it on St. Patricks Day. They've won just one of six since back to back wins over the Bruins (3-2) and Rangers (3-1). Then came that shoot out loss to the Leafs when they scored twice. And, what now appears to be the pivotal game of the season, tied with the Ottawa Senators and taking them on at the Bell Centre while the Senators were without Milan Michalek and Filip Kuba. With a chance to leap-frog over Ottawa and move into 5th place the Habs laid an egg and got shutout. And neither team has been the same since.

Following the meltdown in Buffalo the Canadiens rebounded but needed two empty net goals to beat the no-longer-interested-in-this-season Florida Panthers before two more home ice losses to the Devils and Carolina. So if you're counting along with me, that's nine non-empty net goals scored in their last six games.

Maybe Cammalleri will get it going in Philadelphia where the Canadiens always seem to play well. And that will allow him to relax and spread to Plekanic who looks awfully frustrated on the ice right now. Or maybe Jacques Martin will have to end the season the way he started it-moving Cammalleri alongside Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. Or maybe Price-or Jaroslav Halak-does to the Flyers what Ward, Martin Brodeur, Miller, Brian Elliott and Gustavsson have done to them in the last two weeks.

If not, then Deep Trouble will have officially hit hockey central. And there'll be no big defenseman riding to the rescue to give them a much needed momentum shift.

Mitch Melnick's Blog

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 42

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THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 39

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SO LONG JACQUES

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THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 31

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