Ek's note: We are pleased to welcome Karine Hains to our writing team. Karine joins Hockeybuzz with in depth knowledge of all things Montreal and previous writing experience with Sportscardforum, Sportsology and RDS. In addition, she has two law degrees, one from Québec and one from England as she lived there for 8 years. During those years, she also took a course in freelance and feature writing with the London School of Journalism.
Montreal Canadiens
At practice yesterday, Nikita Scherbak could actually see a glimmer of hope, he was actually taking some rotations on the 3rd line alternating with Joel Armia. Fast forward to the end of practice and he was asked how he was feeling by Chantal Machabée; in a nutshell, he said that practice is one thing but you can practice something a thousand times and it's never going to be like a game situation. He also added that having yet to play a game was not doing wonders for his confidence but that it was however nice to be in a winning atmosphere this season.
Today, after practice, 3 players are doing extra work, Shaw, Scherbak and Juulsen are skating overtime. As per head coach Claude Julien, Juulsen is still injured and will not play tonight and as for Shaw and Scherbak they will once again be healthy scratches since Julien has decided not to mess with the group that dominated Boston on Saturday.
The Habs line-up will therefore be:
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Drouin - Domi - Lehkonen Byron - Kotkaniemi - Armia Deslauriers - Peca - Hudon
Benn - Petry Reilly - Alzner Ouellet - Mete
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'd like to see Scherbak being given a chance on a line with Byron and Kotkaniemi to replace Armia. Funnily enough, in an article on the Canadiens website today, Armia says that scoring is on his mind... As it should be since he's had plenty of nice set-ups wasted. I'd also add that Bergevin mentioned in his presser yesterday that it's hard to make changes when you're winning... I guess Scherbak will have to be patient...Very patient.
Tonight, Price will play his first home game since passing Roy in the victory columns so the Habs could have a nice little tribute video in store for us!
Dallas Stars
The Stars are not having the besot of times this year, they currently stand 6th in the Central division with 10 points. Of course, not everything has been perfect for them Radulov having missed the last 4 games but Jim Montgomery confirms that he will be in and playing with Tyler Seguin tonight.
According to Dailyfaceoff, their lines should be:
Radulov-Seguin-Dowling Benn-Spezza-Janmark Smith-Faksa-Comeau Shore-Dickinson-Ritchie
Lindell-Klingberg Methot-Heiskanen Honka-Polak
Bishop
The Stars have 5 wins, 5 losses and they've lost their last game. The Canadiens will look to continue to build-up from their solide performance in Boston Saturday. The puck drops at 19:30, don't miss it! It will be broadcasted on RDS in French and TSN 2 in English!
More to come later today, till then Go Habs Go!
First period
Prior to the game, there was a moment of silence to remember the victims of the shooting in Pittsburgh, I love how the Habs always do that. They also took the time to acknowledge the fact that Jason Spezza was playing his 1000 game and showed his parents on the scoreboard screen. Oh, and has expected, Carey Price received a nice ovation for overtaking Saint-Patrick in the wins column. Now, down to business!
Pretty good showing by the Habs who dominated 10-3 from a shots on goal standpoint. However, goals win games and not shots... Must also add that the Canadiens failed to convert on the 2 power play chances they were given (penalties to Radulov- who's being booed every time he touches the puck- and Seguin). Victor Mete was quite active in this period trying as much as possible to support the attack. Clearly, the youngster is hungry for his first NHL goal. Scary moment in the first, Janmark nailed Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a knee on knee hit and the Habs centre was slow to get back up. I imagine I wasn't the only one who held her breath.
Two things I didn't like in the first: -Once again, Kotkaniemi set up Armia in the slot who seemed to think he had all the time in the world to shoot and therefore was countered before he could shoot. -Petry, while having a good season points wise is having major accuracy issues. On the power play, once of his shot was so hard and wide that it turned into a clearing for the Stars...can't afford to do that too often...
Second period Hockey is a game of opportunity and if you do not use yours, it will come back to bite you...Never has it been more true than in this game. After the Habs failed to score on the power play twice in the first, the Stars got 2 power plays in the second and scored on the first and second after the end of the Deslauriers penalty. During one of those penalty kill, Lehkonen was on a breakaway, was hooked and a penalty shot was called but he failed to convert. After the Stars' second tally, the Bell Centre became very quiet and the Canadiens looked in shock. Dallas dominated the period shot wise with 15 to the Habs' 9.
Other issue, late in the second, Byron left the ice limping...I don't think we've seen him on the ice since and lord knows he's a rather useful player for the Habs. The speedy winger has been used in all circumstances since landing in Montreal and no one has had to regret that since. To conclude this highly difficult period for la Sainte-Flanelle, Drouin got a penalty for high sticking at 18:14...The Stars have yet to score on that power play, but they'll have a few seconds to work with in the 3rd and should the Habs still be in shock they could very well make it 3-0
Two things (there were more) that annoyed me in this period: -Deslauriers: yes he dishes out a lot of hits and as a member of Club 1909, I love the points that gives me but he's not got the necessary speed to adapt to the new system and has a tendency to dump the puck in rather than skate. The 4th line has had quite a few difficult shifts in this period and I'm sorry to say for Deslauriers, but it's time for change. -Discipline: The Habs have one of the worst penalty kill in the league, so it seems rather logical that they should avoid taking penalties at all cost. Plus, to make matters worst, Deslauriers is once of the players who got one...I swear the guy wants to be on my black list.
20 minutes left to get some points out of this one...
Third period
Well...This game started well and ended in a nightmare. The third saw the Habs get another lot of penalties (some questionnable granted) and it was just not a good idea to do that tonight. 4 penalties during the 3rd including one for unsportsmanlike conduct to Domi. To be honest, I can see his point. Bishop isn't on his first first dive and that's a well-known fact throughout the league.
Gallagher did score the Habs' lone goal during this frame and shockingly enough, the coach challenge for goaltender interference went the Habs' way. Those calls normally go against Gally as he is well known for being a nuisance in the crease but this time, seems the referees did not take into account who they player was. And bonus, the play was very much similar to the goal scored by the Sabres that Julien contested but which stood at Jeff Petry had pushed Pominville so it does seem like we are heading for some kind of consistency.
Byron did not come back in the game due to a lower body injury and that meant that Hudon could move up to the 3rd line and we saw some good play from him in the slot. It remains to be seen how serious Byron's injury is but it may very well benefit Hudon and Scherbak who may finally get a chance to get into this line-up.
In his postgame comments, Gallagher was very clear that the team needed to learn to deal with frustration and not spend too much energy on that negative feeling. Hopefully, his teammates hear his plea.
The Habs' next game will be at the Bell centre on Thursday against the Capitals. I'll admit I'm curious to see what the line-up will look like...
Until then, have a good Wednesday people!
Mini update: In his postgame comments, Claude Julien says Scherbak is likely to go to Laval for a conditioning stint as it would be unfair to thrown him straight into game action when he hasn't played in a month...