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Montreal Canadiens Blogger •
Quick to suggest last night’s win over the New York Islanders was nothing to get too excited about, considering the Isles played a shootout-game the night before, that Doug Weight was out of the lineup, and that the Canadiens were fresh off a win that snapped a five-game losing streak. But the team deserves to be commended for doing exactly what they should’ve done.
Filling the net five times, after another game in which they limited their opposition to less than 23 shots against, and managed 42 of their own, was what was expected of them, and they delivered. You know their preparation for each game is the same, but in asking Mike Cammalleri if the team felt a game like this was coming, he reassured: “No doubt! We’ve been saying it to each other: ‘We’re going to breakout and get a bunch of goals.’ We definitely felt it was coming, and it’s nice to score five goals as a team tonight.”
Another thing to feel good about was the play of Jaroslav Halak, who spent the first two periods yawning, before being seriously tested on quality opportunities in the third. If he could, he’d take a mulligan on the goal he literally gave to Josh Bailey, but no mulligan necessary for another solid performance that enabled his team to string two winning efforts together.
Not that I thought he’d tell us, but short of being the 15th person to ask Jacques Martin about Glen Metropolit’s brilliance this year, I tried to get him to give us some indication as to who would be starting on Saturday against the Rangers. Sufficed to say, he wasn’t having any of it, despite how creatively I tried to frame the question. (It’s at the end of the presser, posted in “la zone video” on RDS.ca, if you want to have a good laugh).
As for that conundrum, we can all agree that any NHL goaltender would’ve won last night’s game for the Canadiens. But the real debate is whether or not the Canadiens would’ve played that way for Price. We’ll never know. But what we do know is that if Price gets the call on Saturday and his team plays a stinker in front of him, embarrassing him in the process would signify a true goaltending controversy in Montreal.
I don’t care to pretend I know what Jacques Martin will chose to do, but I get the feeling he won’t have the guy he committed to as his number 1 before the season started, sit 3 games in a row, in a 6-game homestand.
Should Halak play until he loses? It would be hard to argue against the fact that he deserves to continue playing. But while everyone is clamoring for that to happen, many are ignoring that with the exception of the massacre in Vancouver, Price has given them a chance to win every game. It would be nice for the Canadiens to respond to the opportunities Price has given them, by providing the offensive thrust that enabled them to be successful last night. We'll talk about it some more when we know who's starting tomorrow.
Back to Metropolit: The day he was claimed off waivers, there wasn’t a soul who felt he could fill an important role on the team, in the short or long term. He has managed to do exactly that, and he’s done it with exemplary dedication in practice, with skill and finesse in a role that isn’t usually filled by such attributes, and his responsibility has gradually increased since the day he got here. The first time Jacques Martin used him on a powerplay in Toronto there was a collective cringe from Montreal fans, quickly erased by one of two goals they scored with the man-advantage, between the game in Toronto and the game in Vancouver. His return to the lineup sparked their first goal on the man-advantage since that night, and he was the catalyst to most of the positive momentum they were able to generate on the night. On a personal note, you can’t meet a better, more humble guy, so you can’t help but be happy to see him thrive when given more responsibility.
-Tomas Plekanec continues to roll, as he picked up his 8th point in 9 games, despite playing with revolving linemates, and Andrei Kostitsyn.
-Marc Andre Bergeron made a big impact, with a goal and an assist on the powerplay last night, but as colleague Conor McKenna remarked between periods, there are times where he seems a little too casual and it’ll either cost the Canadiens some goals, or Marc Andre Bergeron his health.
-Don’t look now, but Mike Cammalleri is finding his scoring touch.
-Scott Gomez is good for a point every two games, so far. With the way he’s playing, it won’t be long before he has a major, multi-point night. His last two games have been his best in a Canadiens uniform.
-Hello Max Lapierre…where you been?
-Hello Kyle Chipchura! Must have felt good to play more than 10 minutes, and finish without a minus next to your name for the second straight game.
-Anyone miss Georges Laraque last night?
-As Pierre McGuire would say: “That Brian Gionta is the King of the active stick.” Forecheck or backcheck, Gionta is in your face at all times, and for Canadiens fans who miss Saku Koivu, it’s nice to have a similar player in terms of his consistent effort level.
Make sure you tune into the pregame show on the Team990, 990 am in Montreal, or team990.com, Saturday night at 6:00pm. We’ll have some great guests to tee-up what should be a great game against the New York Rangers, so listen in, and don’t be shy to pick up the phone and call 514-790-0990 for the post-game which will start immediately after the final buzzer sounds to end the game.
Happy Friday!
Filling the net five times, after another game in which they limited their opposition to less than 23 shots against, and managed 42 of their own, was what was expected of them, and they delivered. You know their preparation for each game is the same, but in asking Mike Cammalleri if the team felt a game like this was coming, he reassured: “No doubt! We’ve been saying it to each other: ‘We’re going to breakout and get a bunch of goals.’ We definitely felt it was coming, and it’s nice to score five goals as a team tonight.”
Another thing to feel good about was the play of Jaroslav Halak, who spent the first two periods yawning, before being seriously tested on quality opportunities in the third. If he could, he’d take a mulligan on the goal he literally gave to Josh Bailey, but no mulligan necessary for another solid performance that enabled his team to string two winning efforts together.
Not that I thought he’d tell us, but short of being the 15th person to ask Jacques Martin about Glen Metropolit’s brilliance this year, I tried to get him to give us some indication as to who would be starting on Saturday against the Rangers. Sufficed to say, he wasn’t having any of it, despite how creatively I tried to frame the question. (It’s at the end of the presser, posted in “la zone video” on RDS.ca, if you want to have a good laugh).
As for that conundrum, we can all agree that any NHL goaltender would’ve won last night’s game for the Canadiens. But the real debate is whether or not the Canadiens would’ve played that way for Price. We’ll never know. But what we do know is that if Price gets the call on Saturday and his team plays a stinker in front of him, embarrassing him in the process would signify a true goaltending controversy in Montreal.
I don’t care to pretend I know what Jacques Martin will chose to do, but I get the feeling he won’t have the guy he committed to as his number 1 before the season started, sit 3 games in a row, in a 6-game homestand.
Should Halak play until he loses? It would be hard to argue against the fact that he deserves to continue playing. But while everyone is clamoring for that to happen, many are ignoring that with the exception of the massacre in Vancouver, Price has given them a chance to win every game. It would be nice for the Canadiens to respond to the opportunities Price has given them, by providing the offensive thrust that enabled them to be successful last night. We'll talk about it some more when we know who's starting tomorrow.
Back to Metropolit: The day he was claimed off waivers, there wasn’t a soul who felt he could fill an important role on the team, in the short or long term. He has managed to do exactly that, and he’s done it with exemplary dedication in practice, with skill and finesse in a role that isn’t usually filled by such attributes, and his responsibility has gradually increased since the day he got here. The first time Jacques Martin used him on a powerplay in Toronto there was a collective cringe from Montreal fans, quickly erased by one of two goals they scored with the man-advantage, between the game in Toronto and the game in Vancouver. His return to the lineup sparked their first goal on the man-advantage since that night, and he was the catalyst to most of the positive momentum they were able to generate on the night. On a personal note, you can’t meet a better, more humble guy, so you can’t help but be happy to see him thrive when given more responsibility.
-Tomas Plekanec continues to roll, as he picked up his 8th point in 9 games, despite playing with revolving linemates, and Andrei Kostitsyn.
-Marc Andre Bergeron made a big impact, with a goal and an assist on the powerplay last night, but as colleague Conor McKenna remarked between periods, there are times where he seems a little too casual and it’ll either cost the Canadiens some goals, or Marc Andre Bergeron his health.
-Don’t look now, but Mike Cammalleri is finding his scoring touch.
-Scott Gomez is good for a point every two games, so far. With the way he’s playing, it won’t be long before he has a major, multi-point night. His last two games have been his best in a Canadiens uniform.
-Hello Max Lapierre…where you been?
-Hello Kyle Chipchura! Must have felt good to play more than 10 minutes, and finish without a minus next to your name for the second straight game.
-Anyone miss Georges Laraque last night?
-As Pierre McGuire would say: “That Brian Gionta is the King of the active stick.” Forecheck or backcheck, Gionta is in your face at all times, and for Canadiens fans who miss Saku Koivu, it’s nice to have a similar player in terms of his consistent effort level.
Make sure you tune into the pregame show on the Team990, 990 am in Montreal, or team990.com, Saturday night at 6:00pm. We’ll have some great guests to tee-up what should be a great game against the New York Rangers, so listen in, and don’t be shy to pick up the phone and call 514-790-0990 for the post-game which will start immediately after the final buzzer sounds to end the game.
Happy Friday!
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