Thomas Vanek was a yard sale on Monday night. The Austrian sniper was a no show for Game 2. His poor performance came on the heels of his declaration after the game day skate that he would have to play better and contribute more and be a catalyst for the Montreal attack.
Vanek would have had a better night sitting in the press box.
He had zero shots on goal in Game 2. No scoring chances. One giveaway in only 11:41 TOI. Poor D-zone coverage. A stupid penalty. And this half-hearted effort on Ryan McDonagh's bomb, just 17 seconds after the Canadiens had taken the 1-0 lead.
Vanek must have been having flashbacks of his former head coach Lindy Ruff, who used to ride Vanek like a rented mule after he would take dumb penalties and mail it in for stretches of games. In retrospect, Vanek wasn’t good in Game 2. His effort was regrettable.
Grapes ripped Vanek during “Coach’s Corner” on Monday night. That’s the hockey equivalent of shining a blitzkrieg light on Vanek’s sub-par performance on home ice.
Cherry accused Vanek of being in a fog. He was spot on. Vanek was a non-factor in the loss.
Thanks, Hockey Night In Canada
Is Vanek suffering from wanderlust? Is his body and hockey bag in Montreal while his head stuck in Minneapolis-St. Paul where his best friend in hockey and life Jason Pominville is anxiously awaiting him?
I’ve been saying for months that I feel it’s a foregone conclusion that Vanek will ride the storm out with the Montreal Canadiens and will then sign a whopping, fat UFA deal with the Minnesota Wild in July. Vanek will command upwards of $7 million per season on a long term deal when he signs his next contract in July. You may not see the value, however, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher does. The Wild have been waiting patiently for months to get their mitts on Vanek. They will get their man in July. For now, Vanek needs to get his ass in gear and start selling out in all three zones.
I love how the haters are bagging on Vanek today and saying that his poor performances in Games 1 and2 of the ECF are going to devalue you him in the eyes of 29 other NHL GMs come July. To those critics I say give your head a shake. Vanek, 30, is on the verge of going home to The State of Hockey where he helped the University of Minnesota win the 2003 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. Vanek is going to get paid handsomely, sketchy Rangers series or not.
The guy is tied right now for the Habs team lead in goals scored with 5. He bagged four of them against Boston. He’ll find the back of the net again. He’s streaky like all NHL goal scorers are. He scores in bunches. He’s done it his whole career. Vanek’s problem right now is that he isn’t scoring and he isn’t over-compensating on the defensive side of the puck. That’s why Cherry and his critics are lighting him up ad nauseum for his soft play away from the puck.
Vanek wasn’t busting his ass on Monday night and the home fans must have been wondering if former Habs scoring machine Alex Kovalev was back in the house. Kovalev, like Vanek, was known for lighting the lamp, and not busting his tail on the defensive side of the puck. The best defense is a great offense. Kovalev knew that. Vanek knows it, too. Vanek also knows that he can flip the proverbial middle finger eleven at Cherry and all of his critics by scoring two goals against King Henrik on Manhattan in a Game 3 win at MSG.
You can’t buy forty goal scorers at Canadian Tire. They don’t grow on vines. Guys like Vanek are in a special fraternity unto themselves. Look at Vanek’s body of work. Its very impressive.
Vanek is long overdue. He needs to nut-up, injured or not, and give his dead-level best in Game 3. No excuses. Lindy Ruff knew what buttons to push on Vanek.
Mike Therrien may have seen enough of Vanek’s act and may scratch him for Game 3.
Miro Satan has left the building. The 39-year-old Slovakian scorer Miros Satan played the last game of his career in at the IIHF World Championships at Minsk, Belarus. Satan announced his retirement after the win against Denmark.
Satan told IIHF.com:
“I already decided during the season that I will quit. I hardly realize it right now but I think it’s the right decision,”
Slovakia’s defeated Denmark 4-3. Then, Satan hung up his skates for the last time.
He 22 years in professional hockey and represented Slovakia in 14 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships starting in 1994. He also appeared in four Olympic Winter Games for Slovakia.
An all-time scoring leader for Slovakia at World Championships with 37 goals and 38 assists, Satan was on all medal winning teams for his country with gold in 2002, silver in 2000 and 2012, and bronze in 2003.
Satan played 1,050 games in the NHL from 1996 to 2010 and won one Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 before moving to his native country and play for Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak Extraliga and since 2012 in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.
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