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Habs Dominate Ducks, Koivu Celebrated, 10 Notes on 10 Games

October 25, 2013, 10:29 AM ET [1168 Comments]
Habs Talk
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It was a very special night for Saku Koivu, and for the Montreal Canadiens. For the Anaheim Ducks... not so much.

Montreal dominated this hockey game from start to finish; the type of rebound they were looking for after blowing a two-goal lead against the Oilers on Tuesday. They got an exceptional performance out of Tomas Plekanec's line with Michael Bournival and Brian Gionta, Carey Price was good when he needed to be, and the decision to play Nathan Beaulieu over Greg Pateryn worked very well in Michel Therrien's favor.

David Desharnais won 87% of his faceoffs. Rene Bourque didn't have a shot on net until the third period, when he had several scoring chances before stepping out of the penalty box to officially put this game out of reach at 4-1.

Hobbled, against the league's fifth-best 5-on-5 team, the Canadiens (sixth-best in the category) suffocated the Ducks with speed and pressure, never allowing the mammoths to establish a much-needed presence in the offensive zone.

Anaheim's lone goal, to make the game 3-1, came off the rush. It was pretty much the only major defensive mistake the Canadiens made in the game.

With the game never as tight as it was in the first five minutes, it was somewhat of a blessing for Canadiens fans and Saku Koivu to get reacquainted in what very well might have been his final game at the Bell Centre.

Before all of that, the Bell Centre officials featured Koivu on the scoreboard during the American National anthem--the cheers drowned out the music. With roughly two minutes left, and with the game completely out of reach, the fans serenaded Koivu, chanting his name. First it was "Thank you, Saku", then it was "Saku, Saku, Saku". It was a curtain call Bruce Boudreau couldn't ignore, as he put Koivu on the ice with roughly 30 seconds to play. He then bid a final farewell as the game's third star, and many remained in the stands to send him off.
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10 notes after 10 games:

1) Did a little number crunching after the game, and here's what I came up with:

The Habs have scored three or more goals in 8/10 games. They've won 6 of those 8 games. In their six wins, they've outscored their opponents by a combined score of 24-6. Five of those six wins have been by at least three goals, the sixth being a two-goal win over the Blue Jackets. Their four losses have all been one-goal games. And the Canadiens haven't played a minute of overtime this season.

2) What conclusions would you draw from the data above, keeping in mind that you're generally supposed to take the first ten games with a grain of salt, as teams around the league cement their identities?

-The first observation is that the Canadiens have been dominant in their wins. If that's not true of all of their wins, it certainly is in 4-1 games over Philadelphia, Edmonton, Vancouver and Anaheim, lest we forget their 3-0 spanking of the Winnipeg Jets. There were some hiccups against Columbus, but that wasn't much of a contest either.

-There were major lapses in all four of their losses, and if they hadn't been over extended periods of each particular game, perhaps they'd have forced overtime in all of them. Toronto was a close one, in the first game of the year. They nearly came back on Calgary, only notching two of the three goals required in the third period. They lost to Nashville with less than two minutes remaining. Tuesday's loss against Edmonton being the lone exception, having allowed four unanswered goals before popping one with less than two seconds remaining to make it a one-goal loss. All things considered, they've been pretty competitive in losses.

-Carey Price has been excellent. Peter Budaj's batting a 1000 in his only test.

-You might say the Canadiens need to prove they can win a close one.

-You might also say that in their biggest tests so far (against the Leafs, Canucks and Ducks) they've impressed.

3) Forget Parros, Briere, Pacioretty, Prust, Drewiske and Murray, I think Michel Therrien would've taken a 6-4 start without Alexei Emelin.

4) The Habs rank 6th in powerplay scoring, at 25.9%. If they maintain that percentage--if they are even a couple of points lower, that should be good enough for a top five finish in the category. Lots of road ahead, but that's a critical figure in evaluating their success thus far.

As I mentioned above, they rank sixth in 5-on-5 for/against, slightly behind the Ducks, who have a putrid powerplay without Sheldon Souray, and tied with the massive St. Louis Blues.

They're currently 13th in the league on the penalty kill, and if they are, it's largely due to Carey Price. A few adjustments would bring them to the top 10, which they're out of by less than two percentage points. A return to healthy for Prust, Pacioretty and Murray should help immensely.

These are signs that point to what we could've easily proclaimed last season; the Habs are a good regular season team. That theory will be tested.

5) Last season, the Canadiens ranked 17th in the league on faceoffs, winning just 49.8% of their draws. It's early, but this year, they're 12th at 51.4%.

David Desharnais leads the category at 58.3%; 67 wins out of 115 draws. Lars Eller's won 88 out of 161 draws he's taken, placing him second on the team with a 54.7% efficiency. Ryan White's come down quite a bit over has last few games, having won 43/81 draws for 53.1%. In the time Michael Bournival's played up the middle, he's won 52.9% of his draws.

If Tomas Plekanec can get from 48.3% to over 50%, well that makes it all four centres facilitating the puck-possession style Montreal needs to play to win.

Small part of the game, but important, nonetheless.

6) The Habs only have three players in the minus: Max Pacioretty (-2), David Desharnais (-2), Francis Bouillon (-1).

7) Lars Eller, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher have combined for 23 points in 10 games.

Plekanec, Bourque and Gionta have combined for 19 points in 10 games.

Markov and Subban have combined for 16 points... and Markov is tied for the third best +/- in the league at +9. As you know, Subban leads all defensemen with 11 points in 10 games.

8) Grades for Canadiens prospects through the first 10:

Jarred Tinordi: 6/10. He hasn't played with the confidence he built in the preseason, but the Habs still have a winning record, and he's been good enough. He'll get better.

Nathan Beaulieu: 7.5/10. He may complicate things out there a bit, but for the most part, he's kept it very simple. His first pass out of the zone is excellent. His ability to skate it out of the zone is good, bordering on great. Experience will teach him more about playing at this level without the puck. He's made some impressive defensive plays too.

Michael Bournival: 8.5/10. Mainly because there's plenty of room for improvement, as the kid has shown there are several facets to his game. His energy is contagious, and he may very well be the fastest player the Canadiens have up front. He's brought Plekanec and Gionta to life over the last couple of games--so much so, Therrien will have to consider keeping him there, even when healthy bodies return. Offensive upside is surprisingly higher than we could've imagined.

9) With a 6-4 record, the Habs rank 5th in their division, but 6th in the conference in terms of their record, and ridiculously, they're in the final playoff position. There can be no major letdowns in this division, because the Metropolitan is basically a joke. Were it not for the top three teams in each division automatically making the post-season, only Pittsburgh and Carolina would be in. Pittsburgh tied for 1st, Carolina in 8th. JOKE.

10) Biggest test of the season comes in game 11, against a San Jose Sharks team that just lost it's first regulation game of the year, last night, in Boston, with one second remaining after outshooting the Bruins by 22.
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