Update: Carey Price took to the ice this morning and practiced for roughly 30 minutes in Brossard prior to the full team practice. He did not participate in the remainder of the training session, and has officially been ruled out of tomorrow's contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Al Montoya confirms he will start Habs home opener vs Pens on Tuesday.
— Ðrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 17, 2016
Charlie Lindgren will play backup to Montoya.
The Montreal Canadiens have not performed well in the first two games of their 2016-2017 regular season schedule yet have managed to pry away three out of four points on the road. There are a few players to thank, and others that have been relatively ordinary thus far. Also, certain coaching decisions have already come under fire, and a few in last night’s game against the Ottawa Senators have stood out to me.
Firstly, Al Montoya has looked great. There’s no denying that for a backup goaltender who unexpectedly got the nod ahead of Carey Price (due to the latter’s illness), he has handled the pressure exceptionally well. I’d go so far as to say that he has been the Habs’ best player through two contests.
He plays his role exactly as he’s supposed to, and a career backup goaltender knows exactly what it takes to keep his team in the game. Thankfully for Michel Therrien’s troops (and unfortunately for fans), it seems as though this team will once again have to rely on its goalies to keep win games. Still, they can rest easy knowing that Montoya is as reliable a no.2 as any, as his 1.92 GAA and .942 SV% certainly demonstrate that on top of last season’s .919 save percentage in 22 games played. The fact that he helped the Florida Panthers get 27 points in the standings makes it nearly impossible to argue that he’s anything other than an excellent auxiliary.
Realistically speaking, there are still experiments that are being conducted as this group of players will need some time to develop a lasting chemistry. However, I don’t agree with all of them.
I rolled my eyes when I saw David Desharnais playing alongside Max Pacioretty last night. I could not believe that Therrien was reverting back to his usual ways of playing favorites with the center. Frankly, I was annoyed because I believed that that experiment died for good. Apparently, I was wrong.
I’m all for shuffling the lines to get the team going, and that worked out perfectly in a game where the Habs showed practically no jump or hunger for 40 minutes. But for once and for all, I don’t want to see Desharnais centering anything other than the third line. I don’t want to see him playing on the power play ever again, and I sure as hell don’t want to see him anywhere near Pacioretty, Artturi Lehkonen, Alexander Radulov, or Brandan Gallagher.
Still, the coaching staff deserves some credit for whipping its team back into shape. The third period provided fans of both teams an exciting and superb game of hockey while the first two were nothing short of a snooze fest.
At least Alexander Radulov has been a revelation. His work ethic is arguably the best through two matches, and you can see the hunger in his eyes as he forechecks aggressively and passes the puck so perfectly and excitingly. It’s only a matter of time before he finds himself two line mates capable of keeping up with him. I’m inclined to believe that Tomas Plekanec will not be one of those, as both these players appear to be better-suited to holding onto the puck and creating plays for snipers to bury their passing plays.
I know what you’re thinking- Radulov is a sniper and was brought on board to provide scoring while not necessarily turn into an assist-machine. But until he breaks the ice with a goal, I’m worried his confidence will begin to dwindle. After all, he’s reportedly his own worst enemy.
The Habs will host the Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night. Without taking anything away from the injury-riddled Buffalo Sabres and a much-improved Ottawa Senators team, the Penguins are levels above both of those teams. The expression “a real challenge… is thrown around loosely and will continue to be all season long, but the fact remains that Sidney Crosby’s team is going to be a handful for the Habs.
If Jeff Petry and Shea Weber can continue their great play while Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Greg Pateryn and Nathan Beaulieu can snap out of it, fans should be treated to a high-flying entertaining game of hockey.