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Remembrance Day 2017... Habs V. Sabres Preview + Drouin and Weber Back |
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Remembrance Day…
Charge of the Light Brigade – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
I
Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.
II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.
III
Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred.
IV
Flashed all their sabres bare, Flashed as they turned in air Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army, while All the world wondered. Plunged in the battery-smoke Right through the line they broke; Cossack and Russian Reeled from the sabre stroke Shattered and sundered. Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred.
V
Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell. They that had fought so well Came through the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred.
VI
When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!
Winston Churchill
‘Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.’
Honour The Fallen, Lest We Forget, November 11th
CANADIENS TAKE ON THE BUFFALO SABRES TONIGHT AT THE BELL CENTRE
Montreal limps into this game having lost their last game against Minnesota 3-0 thanks to a Jason Zucker hat trick and a couple of goals called back that probably shouldn’t have. The loss isn’t what has the Canadiens limping though as a rash of injuries has struck the team at its most critical point of the season in the midst of their 6 game home stand. Out are: Carey Price, Shea Weber, Jonanthan Drouin, Nikita Scherbak, David Schlemko, and Ales Hemsky. That’s almost $24,000,000 worth of players.
Let that sink in.
Most certainly banged up is: Shaw and Gallagher.
Pressure is mounting on rookie Victor Mete.
This stretch of games were supposed to reward the hard work of the Habs and instead have left them depleted and in search of answers. They have been giving themselves the answers lately through their play on the ice and will to survive, but as the IR list grows with Leaders, Point Producers, and Potential Scorers even the most optimistic of us have started to lose hope.
The Canadiens played a good game against Minnesota the other night. They deserved to be in that game. It’s unfortunate that in a season like this, we see calls against the Habs when there was nothing close to an infraction happening (Niederreiter falling on his own, Morrow penalty). But, maybe this is the Canadiens fate this season, if you believe in those sorts of things. For all of this to happen this year to a team that was supposed to be a playoff lock has left me looking for answers. Begging the Hockey Gods for mercy.
Perhaps I’m overreacting.
Buffalo comes into Montreal losers of 2 of their last 3 games including a 4-1 loss to Florida last night in Buffalo. Again, Montreal faces a team on the second half of back to back games on this home stand, but that hasn’t really helped so far so lets not even talk about those advantages. As of now, the Canadiens have no advantages other than the will to win and that needs to be greater than every opponent from here on out to keep themselves in the playoff picture.
The Sabres are led E Kane (9G, 7A) and Jack Eichel (4G 10A) in the point department. The Sabres had retooled most of their defence core in the offseason and added Stanley Cup winning assistant Coach Phil Housley as head coach in the offseason. So far the result hasn’t lived up to expectations, much like the Canadiens. The Sabres are directly behind the Canadiens in the Atlantic standings with 12 points in 16 games to Montreal’s 15 points in 16 games.
The good news is one of these struggling teams will actually win a game for their fans. The bad news is it that if Montreal loses, it could be devastating to the team, morale and standings wise. Montreal has to win 5 of the 6 games on this homestretch to really force themselves back into the thick of things and erase their regrettable start. The Canadiens already spent their L on Minny last game so the remaining 4 games have to be of the “Must Win” variety in the minds of the players and coaching staff, especially considering they aren’t playing a very confident group tonight.
Montreal is going to have to contain Kane and Eichel if they hope to win this game tonight. Kane is producing a CF% of 50.9 which is 4.6 higher than the teams cumulative CF% so he is one of the most dangerous scoring threats on the team and is doing it despite the team. Containing Kane is vital. Jack Eichel only has 1 PP point (assist) on the season so considering he grew up rooting for the Habs with his grandfather, it would be wise to stay out of the box and not give one of the NHL’s newest stars the chance to break out.
Montreal’s shooting percentage is 6.7% and still way off league average of 9.4%. With Weber and Drouin injured I am concerned this will become the norm as the Canadiens young players will have more opportunity to play and with that comes inevitable struggles.
At this point the Canadiens will have to gut out victories with a defence missing its best player, a forward group missing its most dynamic players, and they are missing their best player in goal…
CAREY PRICE MOVED TO IR + MONTOYA INJURED + ZACH FUCALE RECALLED
…Not much more to say after that headline. Price continues to work with goalie coach Waite in an effort to come back from an apparent knee injury. The team must have decided to utilize a cap/roster maneuver while deciding to let Price recoup. The Habs were hit with a double whammy when they found out Montoya would also be out due an upper body injury that some suspect occurred from a shot to the mask in his last game against the Jets in which he won 4-3 in OT.
With all that, comes the temporary promotion of Fucale who comes into the show after starting the season in Laval and producing 4 wins and 1 loss with a .881 SP% and a 3.46 GAA. As long as Lindgren plays like he has, I doubt Fucale will see much action unless Price and Montoya are both out for extended periods.
***UPDATE: 11:35 am. Drouin and Weber back in as per John Lu of TSN! Weber mention is in the response tweets on the tweet below. Great News!***
CANADIENS PRACTICE LINES
Pacioretty - Danault- Shaw
Galchenyuk - Drouin - Lehkonen
Byron - Plekanec - Gallagher
Hudon - de la Rose / Mitchell - Froese
Benn - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Mete - Morrow / Davidson
Lindgren
Fucale
Looks like the Habs may have Drouin and/or Weber back soon after all and lets hope they aren’t forcing themselves back, but are actually healthy and productive upon return.
Froese looks to be in for a second straight game and while he only played 7:55 last game the fact he’s pencilled in still shows the coaches are giving him the chance to earn more. I would think that he will see an increase in time, as long has he doesn’t completely lose his coverage in his own end.
COLLECT THE BEST! COLLECT UPPER DECK!
2017-18 UPPER DECK SERIES 1 IS OUT THERE IN THE WILD! CHECK IT OUT AT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY STORE! #COLLECTTHEBEST
Don't forget to check out Upper Deck products at your local hobby shops and online! Preorders for UD Series 2 are already happening so if you’re a big collector, or a new one, make sure you stop by your local shop and see if you can get yourself a box (or case).
The Young Guns rookie set are one of the most collected rookie sets all year and the Exclusives (#’d to 100) and High Gloss (#’ to 10) are always worth good money on the secondary market (depending on the rookie of course). You can find Auto’s, jersey, and patch cards in these boxes as well! Check it out!
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Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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