Habs Hope To Keep Streak Alive Vs. Leafs + Streit Waived + Spitfires (Hemsky)

Hemsky

Habs Hope To Keep Streak Alive Vs. Leafs + Streit Waived + Spitfires

By Brandon Smillie

Oct 13, 2017 • 11:37 am

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Happy Friday the 13th!

The season of screams is well upon us and Canadiens fans everywhere are likely feeling like they are living in a Hockey Horror Picture Show. The Canadiens are last in Goals For (4), below league average in Goals Against (13), and 0 for the season on the PP (0-14).

Scary right?

The Canadiens are struggling to score and Price is struggling to keep the puck out of the net. When those two things are happening at the same time, you’re going to have a bad time. Next up for the Habs? The high octane offence, and sub par defence, of the Toronto Maple Leafs roll into the Bell Centre Saturday night for a game that is likely going to crack the whip for both teams. This is the first big game of the season for both clubs.

This game will likely represent an opportunity for both clubs to take their respective seasons out of first gear and get into the race. The Maple Leafs had a torrid start to their season winning their first two games by a combined score of 15-7 over the Jets and Rangers. Toronto media would have had you believe the Leafs would continue onto a 82-0 record and road work was rushed through the approval process so they could have a mint parade route. I am also to believe that Matthews is better than Connor McDavid and should be the highest paid player ever. The next two games haven’t been too great for the Leafs though as they Had to claw back into their game against the Blackhawks before stealing an OT victory and then they were humbled by a 6-3 beating by the upstart NJ Devils. All this while earning 10 (!) more PP opportunities than the Habs through 4 games. An entire period worth of hockey with the man advantage.

The Canadiens have been almost polar opposites to the Leafs so far this season. The Canadiens won their first game against the Sabres before dropping the next 3 contests scoring only 2 goals while allowing 11. The Canadiens have had a lot of shots, but no rewards and frustration is mounting for Julien’s squad to find the back of the net and keep the puck out of their own. All while scoring nothing on the PP and only garnering 14 chances to do so. This is not to say the Canadiens have played terrible. They won a good game against Buffalo before getting owned by the Caps. The game against the Rangers was good and they had 2 goals called back (justified or not). They followed that up by taking it to Blackhawks for a good portion of the game but the only mistakes they made early ended up in the net and cost them the game. The PP has looked very good at times and I feel like we are all just waiting for them to break out of this slump.

Pretty much polar opposite right?

Compared to how the last few seasons have gone, it feels like the Habs are trapped in the Stranger Things “Upside Down…. Leafs have had a hot start while the Habs have been mired in futility. Exactly opposite to the last few years. Where’s Eleven to will some pucks into the net, am I right?

While the current season doesn’t give the Canadiens much hope for a win this Saturday, recent history shows that the Canadiens have shown up in a big way against the team from TO. The Habs have won their last 14 contests against the Maple Leafs since January 18, 2014. Could this provide a mental edge against their long time rival? If the Canadiens can come out like they did against the Blackhawks and avoid giving up two goals in 19 seconds just before the period is about to end then perhaps it could provide the energy and mental edge needed to compete for the W.

The biggest obstacle outside of the Toronto offence will be beating Frederik Andersen. The good thing is that despite Toronto being apparently unbeatable, stats show that Freddy most certainly is. Andersen is coming into the game with a 3.96 GAA and .871 SP%. Both number are definitely below average for him, as are Price's current numbers, but it means that if the Canadiens can score early, the confidence could run from the top to the bottom of the line up. A motivated Price and Weber could do well with lead against the leaky D group Toronto puts out, but the Habs will have to also stay out of the box as the zebras are doing their job assuring no liberties are taken against Babcock's squad.

Galchenyuk Practising On The Fourth Line

The big news the last couple days has been Alex Galchenyuk practising on the fourth line. Everyone jumped on the “Trade Chucky/Free Chucky… bandwagon shortly thereafter and it became another awesome day of “Run Down The Habs… on social media. I even speculated that maybe it will be best for everyone to trade the kid even though we know he will flourish wherever he goes. But, as with most snap judgements it would be the wrong thing to do. Galchenyuk has shown through his career to be a more than competent hockey player. He has gotten better each year and was on a torrid pace after 25 games (24 pts) last season before being derailed by a knee injury. This is the second time Julien has put him on the fourth line though and we are all wondering “What gives?…

Part of me thinks this is just a by product of the cumulative soiling of the bed by everyone on the team aside from Weber and then I Devil’s Advocate myself by wondering if Julien is unable to work with the kid just like he couldn’t work with Tyler Seguin. We all know the Bruins got absolutely fleeced when they dealt Seguin for Loui Eriksson, current Hab Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith, and Matt Fraser. Seguin was 21 at the time and currently a PPG center for the Dallas Stars and Boston has nothing remaining from that deal in any way. We don’t want that to happen with Galchenyuk and the Canadiens.

Popular hockey media has already alluded to Montreal being prepared to be patient with Galchenyuk and that this move is simply to help the kid get his confidence back. I suggested in a previous blog that Galchenyuk’s biggest issues were between the ears and I meant no disrespect by that. I too suffer in that regard. But, I have to think if the right deal came along for C or top LD and the cost was Galchenyuk the Habs would be listening. My personal hope is that as the team finds its way, the confidence and work ethic will become contagious. Perhaps Galchenyuk is a product of his environment and when the team is rolling, he is all good. When they struggle, he grips the stick too tight and overthinks the game to the point of seeming unaware. This may be an accurate presumption of his character and in that it wouldn’t make him the impact player we all hoped for when drafted, but it would still make him a very productive and useful player that the Canadiens also desperately need.

Take the good with the bad and let’s see if the Canadiens can get on a roll before we release the hounds anymore on Galchenyuk.

Last note, Seguin was 21 years old when he was traded and Galchenyuk is 23.

I will update this space over the next day as news and line information is released.

Canadiens practice line today were as follows:

Pacioretty - Drouin - Lehkonen Byron - Plekanec - Gallagher Hudon - Danault - Shaw De La Rose - Mitchell - Hemsky

Mete - Weber Alzner - Petry Benn - Davidson Morrow

Price Montoya

Galchenyuk didn’t take part due to sickeness/flu and his status for Saturday is unknown at this time. Let another day of “Galchenyuk Watch… commence.

Speaking Of Released…

The Canadiens couldn’t find a taker for Mark Streit and the veteran defence man was placed on waivers yesterday. The well informed hockey media believe that Streit is not headed for the AHL, but instead will look for a mutual termination of his contract so he can play overseas and qualify for the Olympic games. I certainly hope this is the case. Streit was a cheap gamble that didn’t pay out and at least the Habs will be able to clear his cap and contract from the books.

Good news today also as David Schlemko will report to Laval on a conditioning stint that all but assures his debut with the Canadiens in the coming days. I will be curious to see who he lines up with when call back up.

OVERTIME:

Last night saw me and my family escape for a rare night out together as we took in (most) of the Windsor Spitfires game against the London Knights in Windsor, ON. Last night the Spitfires raised their 3rd Memorial Cup banner to rafters and celebrated 12 straight Memorial Cup wins with a 3-1 victory over the long time rival Knights.

Injured Habs prospect Jeremiah Addison helped to bring out the Memorial Cup for one last showing before we all watched the banner slowly rise to the rafters. It was a great time aside from my boys being less than enthused to be there (both missed their naps and were making sure I knew it). After a while I made a couple apologies and we watched the remainder from the concourse TV while the boys coloured and wandered until they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

Had to share this picture of me and my youngest. It was his first hockey game and it was a great pic taken by my wife of us watching the first period.

Congrats to the Spits for their accomplishments and I hope they have another great season.

Follow me on Twitter @BrandonSmillie where I mostly stick to hockey stuff.

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