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Reality Check on Long Island, Tough Schedule Ahead...

March 6, 2013, 1:36 PM ET [4333 Comments]
Habs Talk
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Carey Price has been through enough in his NHL career to work his way out of a slump. I don't know if two bad games in a row legitimately constitutes as a slump, but in Montreal that's enough to get a goaltender crucified, especially one that's considered elite.

So, if you're already growing weary of the "sky is falling" type of talk around Montreal today, hot off a pretty bad loss to the New York Islanders, turn the radio off, avoid the tv analysts... just don't shut down this blog.

I suppose it's accurate to suggest that the effort in New York was an emotional letdown from Sunday's rivalry special with the Bruins. You might consider the same of Boston's 4-3 loss to Washington, in which they were leading 3-0. Clearly, neither the Habs nor Bruins will rely on that as an excuse in assessing losses to inferior teams.

The Islanders came to play in this one. They were sharp out of the gate before Montreal took over, with Tomas Plekanec opening the scoring. The Isles were a lot sharper in the second period, as they pumped three goals past Price--two of which came on that lethal powerplay.

Price wasn't the only one off his game. The Canadiens allowed more scoring chances in this one than they customarily have this season. Despite the fact that all four lines appeared to be implicated, there seemed to be a lack of cohesion in the defensive zone. It makes you wonder how crucial Raphael Diaz is to the team's winning formula.

If Habs fans aren't missing him that much, the Canadiens themselves appear to be less trustworthy of their bottom pair with Diaz out of the lineup. Francis Bouillon and Tomas Kaberle combined for 25:37 of ice-time while Andrei Markov skated 27:12. For a team that likes to roll four lines and three pairings, that's a rather large imbalance.

And for Michel Therrien, who typically doesn't concern himself as much with line match-ups, it seemed pretty clear the plan was to have Markov and Emelin out against the Tavares line all night.

On the offensive side of things, it was expected that Desharnais' line would be able to at least match the scoring prowess of Tavares, Moulson and Grabner, but that was not so on this night.

Therrien appropriately pointed to coverage lapses on the penalty kill, but when it came down to it, the Habs were able to battle back in this one thanks to some great work by Michael Ryder who finished with three assists, P.K. Subban who dominated in this one, scoring the all-important second goal, keeping the game close headed into the third, and Brian Gionta who tied the game up with the 20,000th NHL goal for the Habs.

All for not, as Radek Martinek got credit for a goal that appeared to be tipped in front of Carey Price. Nonetheless, the Habs netminder was deep in his net on the play, and Therrien said afterwards it was a goal Price would've liked to have stopped. No arguments with that.

That was a momentum-killer, and it's the main reason people are hanging this loss on Price.

Will the Habs go back to Price on Thursday against the Hurricanes? Smart money says yes, but Peter Budaj's performance in Boston makes it a conversation worth entertaining.

The team has bounced back nicely all season, especially from bad losses. Last night's was a bad one, no doubt. And while it broke a streak of 11-straight games without a regulation loss, since the five-straight wins they rattled off, they've gone ot-loss, win, ot-loss, win, ot-loss, win, regulation loss.

************

Notes:

-I've seen and heard a lot of criticism for the fourth line. I'm not too sure where it's coming from. I'm not suggesting that White, Moen and Armstrong have been stellar, but they certainly haven't been a negative for the team. It would be nice if they could contribute more on the scoresheet, and it would be nice if Armstrong could capitalize on one of the many scoring chances he's had, but this line is doing it's job for the most part.

They spent a great deal of their ice-time in New York's end last night, and their job is to grind away and create that energy and momentum for the next line hopping on the ice. Can you really say they didn't do that job last night?

-The Penguins exposed something in Montreal's game, and I'm not too sure how the Canadiens will handle that. They did a great job of stretching out the ice and getting pucks past those two aggressive forecheckers on the Habs. We saw the Isles employ a similar strategy, and it's something the Canadiens will have to pay close attention to. Perhaps they need to shorten the gap between their forecheckers and their defensemen set up in the neutral zone. Perhaps the forecheckers need to be a little more on the same page to force more turnovers, or perhaps the back-pressure is a little bit off what Therrien expects. This is a trend to keep an eye on...

-Will Marc Bergevin look for some help on the blue line? If everyone's healthy, it's hard to imagine the Canadiens replacing any of their top six. But with Diaz out, and the minutes shortened on Bouillon, they're putting a lot of pressure on Andrei Markov. There's still half a season to play here...

-Pierre Lebrun said yesterday on TSN690 that Bergevin likely isn't in the market for rental players. The strategy here appears to be long-term. That said, it seems clear that the Canadiens could stand to gain a couple of players like Brandon Prust, even if they are slated to become unrestricted free agents. Most popular name on that list is Ryan Clowe--he who has yet to score a goal this season after popping 17 last year. Brendan Morrow is another one of interest...

-Tough schedule between now and March 31. In the immediate future, four of the next five are on the road. They feature winnable games against Tampa, Florida and New Jersey, who are all struggling, but watch out for Carolina. The lone home game is next Wednesday against the Senators.

How about the last week of March, when the Canadiens will play back-to-backs against Pittsburgh and Boston--both on the road, before finishing against the Rangers at home? That's going to put a lot of pressure on the team in the week before, when they face Buffalo twice at home, with a game on the road against the Islanders in between.

The Habs have built a considerable lead over the 9th place Philadelphia Flyers. The Leafs and Senators have played the same amount of games as the Habs, and they face each other tonight--both of them trailing the Habs in the standings by only four points. Boston has three games in hand, and they're only a point away from dethroning Montreal.

The team's gotta get back to basics, back to balance, and Carey Price needs to get back to where we all know he should be.
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