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Habs Exciting, Rangers Boring |
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Lars Eller had a great response to John Tortorella's claim that Tuesday's game against the Canadiens was a boring one between two bad teams, with the Rangers being worse. Eller told a couple of reporters after Saturday's game, and quite candidly: "We love to piss that guy off."
"It's not a coincidence after two games like that. They were bad because we made them look bad," said Eller who was quite pleased with his personal contribution to that result.
The Canadiens dominated play Saturday, sustaining the opening five minutes of pressure the Rangers cooked up, and Carey Price managed a shutout without even being named amongst the game's three stars. It was a first for Price, but that wasn't a coincidence either.
I asked several members of the Canadiens, including Price and Eller, how many games they could recall playing at this level with their team not surrendering a single rebound opportunity. Price said he couldn't remember any, boiling it down to the team's defensive commitment shining through on the night.
Eller said "Not too many, that's for sure."
Michel Therrien was a little dumbfounded by the question. He called it a curveball. I'm not sure if he thought I expected a specific answer as to how many games he's coached at this level in which such a result was generated. Regardless, somewhere, it had to have registered with him that his team really did play that well in their own zone.
And as we spent a week evaluating Tortorella's comments and Henrik Lundqvist's support of his coach's claims, let's take a minute to think about why that appeared to be the case.
The Canadiens and Rangers are teams that play very similar styles. Both have an aggressive forecheck. Both have tremendous starting goaltenders. Both block shots. In fact, last season, the Habs and Rangers finished 3rd and 4th in the league in blocked shots, respectively. This season, the Habs are 14th, the Rangers are 15th.
Both teams are so team-oriented in terms of their style of play. What do you expect the result to be when they play each other?
Reality: The Habs have been an extremely exciting team to watch so far. In 12 of their 18 games, they've scored three or more goals. In eight of them, they've scored four or more.
The Rangers...well... ask a New York fan how exciting their team is right now...
The Rangers have scored three or more goals in eight of their 17 games so far. They've had five games in which they've managed four or more.
One of these teams has Richards, Nash and Gaborik as a top line. The other has Plekanec, Gionta and Bourque as theirs.
Take the scoring argument out of it. Where was the compete level for a team that got wiped by Montreal on Tuesday, lost to Ottawa Thursday, and got shutout in Montreal on Saturday?
Where was the response after Pacioretty slammed Ryan McDonagh into the boards from behind?
Where was it after Ryan White ran Marty Biron over?
For as boring as the Canadiens are, if someone had rammed Andrei Markov or P.K. Subban or Josh Gorges into the boards like Pacioretty did to McDonagh, someone would've dropped the gloves instantaneously. That's been proven about these Canadiens.
If someone ran Peter Budaj over the way Moen did Biron(and I get that Biron exaggerated on that one a bit), someone would've gotten in that player's face.
Surely a team coached by John Tortorella is expected to react in such a manner when opposing players take liberties with one of their own.
If you really read into Tortorella's comments after Tuesday's game, you see a frustrated coach not wanting to credit the Canadiens, especially with a rematch on its way later in the week. If you read deeper, he assesses his own team's performance as worse than that of the "boring" Canadiens. And he doesn't get into that whole discourse after Saturday's game because he's got to find a way to breathe some life into the Rangers--right now that looks to be a monumental challenge with key players on the sidelines and a team that isn't playing like much of a team.
As for the Canadiens, call them boring all you want. If a team is boring on the road, they're winning more often than they're losing. And safe for the boring Rangers at the Bell Centre, the 21,273 in attendance don't seem bored whatsoever this season.
Boring was a five-man, backpedaling Jacques-Martin trap. That was boring as boring could be.
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-Another question I asked Eller after Saturday's game: How would you compare your conditioning this year to last year's?
"I feel much better on the ice. I put on weight and that's helping so much. I just feel that much more confident now because of it."
-The overall conditioning of the Canadiens could be making a huge difference for them so far. We'll see how that progresses throughout the season.
In the meantime, how can you not be impressed with Carey Price, who didn't play at all during the lockout.
He said his conditioning stints with Pierre Allard in the off-season were a big help, and his time with Tri-Cities was great as well. He felt that his decision not to play was the best one for him, and he's very happy he followed that course of action.
I know we've seen Price on this level before--and by this level, I mean on top of the league. But with all the experience under his belt, with a competitive team in front of him, he just seems ready to bring the Canadiens further.
-Alex Galchenyuk; find a way to isolate this kid on one-on-one offensive situations. Try to get him into that situation. He's so dangerous.
In his own end, he might panic a bit, but hey, icing is better than giveaway that leads to a goal against. In the offensive zone, he has the skill to turn an innocuous situation into a dangerous one.
-I wouldn't have had a problem with Pacioretty getting suspended for his hit on McDonagh. I'd be pleased if all of those hits were punished as such. Then Luke Schenn may have sat for a game or two for his hit on Gallagher. We're so focused on the open-ice blindside hit, that maybe we're forgetting how dangerous a boarding infraction could be.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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