The Montreal Canadiens and Carey Price blanked the St. Louis Blues 3-0 last night at the Bell Centre to run their undefeated streak to 7-0. The Blues proved to be the Canadiens toughest opponent yet and while it wasn’t a perfect game by the Canadiens, they still managed to stick to their system and wear down the Blues. Incredibly, the Canadiens have not allowed a 1st period goal throughout 7 games this season. Even more impressive, the Canadiens have only allowed a total of 7 goals and have won each game in regulation.
While the Canadiens allowed a first period high of 17 shots, the Habs still managed to come out of the period with the lead thanks to a late goal by Max Pacioretty. Carey Price was there to hold the fort until his teammates got back to their playbook and started playing the game their way, rather than allow the Blues to dictate the game. In the second period, the puck took a funny bounce off of the curved glass which led to a Blues disallowed goal. Shortly thereafter, the momentum in the game seemed to change in the Canadiens favour. Alexander Semin would finally score his first goal as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, much to the relief of many. In the 3rd period Torrey Mitchell would put the game away with the Habs third goal of the game.
The Blues play a very physical brand of hockey that was evidenced by the 46 hits that they laid on the Canadiens. David Backes alone had 12 hits. However, playing such physical hockey can be demanding and tiring. By the third period, the Canadiens took full control of the game. The Blues have plenty of skill to go with their physical nature, but on this night the Canadiens and Price especially were able to hold star player Vladimir Tarasenko without a point for the first time this season. Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock was quite complimentary of the Canadiens post-game:
Ken Hitchcock on the #Habs, who he called "a bear". pic.twitter.com/SbMwElUzUj
— Ðrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 21, 2015Hitchcock hits the nail on its head with his analysis of the Canadiens. It’s not that the Canadiens are so fast with the puck even their mobility to skate the puck out of their zone is a huge advantage. It’s their endless pursuit of the puck that is so quick and infuriating for their opponents. The Canadiens are on the puck all night long. Their forwards are constantly on the forecheck and creating turnovers and opportunities. While this style of play can be physically demanding, the ability of the Canadiens to roll four lines keeps their legs fresh and the players focused.
Here are my Props & Flops from last night’s game:
Props:
Carey Price - The NHL’s first star of the previous week is the best player in the NHL today. His play is beyond being at another level. He’s in a whole other universe. Price kept the Canadiens in the game during the 1st period as he he withstood the onslaught that the Blues brought. He knew that his teammates would wake up and have his back. Even former Canadiens Scott Gomez gave Price his due after another terrific save:
Gomez and Price in cahoots, probably pic.twitter.com/GCzV4WLAD6
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 21, 2015Today, Price has a sparkling GAA of 1.00, save percentage of .966, a perfect 6-0 record and 2 shutouts. Soon the hockey world will run out of adjectives to describe his surreal play. In another Carey Price news, he and his wife are expecting their first child in April of 2016! A big congratulations to the happy couple!
Flop:
Tabloid Media - Unfortunately for the Price family, they were not the one’s to announce their big news. A tabloid site published their belief that Carey & Angela were expecting last weekend but the mainstream media refrained from catching onto the story. Then last night according to Angela Price, John Lu of TSN overheard a private conversation and went to Twitter to tell everyone the news.
#Habs Carey and @ByAngelaPrice are expecting their first child on April 29, 2016.
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) October 21, 2015Other members of the media picked up on it and then questioned Price during the postgame scrum. While everyone is thrilled for the happy couple and only wish them the best, the news wasn’t for the media to break. Angela Price wrote about the experience on her blog:
Of particular note:
“To 25 Stanley, @JohnLuTSNMtl and other publications who had the audacity to share our pregnancy, shame on you. That was disrespectful, tasteless and just plain cruel. Announcing you are going to be parents for the first time is literally a once in a life time experience that you took away from us. It is people like you that make it hard for athletes and their families to want to play in this market.…
One’s pregnancy is a truly private affair. Yes, Carey and Angela are public figures who are often in the limelight. It doesn’t give anyone the right to announce what is their private and personal news. Everyone has different feelings when it comes to publicly announcing pregnancies. Some like to share the news as soon as the home test is taken, others will wait until the 12 week mark and the first ultrasound is completed. Coming up with creative ways to announce on social media gives joy to many expecting parents. Whatever one decides, they are to be respected. This is an exciting time for the young couple and the media took something away that cannot be given back. John Lu is usually a very well respected journalist. I am sure he is quite embarrassed and regrets his faux-pas however, he cannot undo what has been done.
Now back to last night’s game...
Props:
Torrey Mitchell - The effort that went into scoring his second goal of the season was absolutely terrific. On the offensive faceoff in the Blues zone, Mitchell did not give up on the puck, eventually winning the battle and sending the puck back to P.K. Subban who blasted it on net. Devante Smith-Pelly set a perfect screen and the rebound bounced right to Mitchell who after his faceoff win, had gone towards the net. Mitchell made no mistake about it and buried the puck behind Jake Allen. Smith-Pelly earned an assist on the play for his first point of the season. The Habs fourth might just be the best in the NHL right now, but the way they are playing and the minutes that they are getting, it is hard to actually call them a ‘4th line’.
Props:
Brendan Gallagher - It was just another ho-hum night of getting mugged in the crease for Gallagher. How he is able to keep his cool and smile on his face is simply a testament to his character. Gallagher has almost quietly collected 6 points on the season. A sign of his aggressiveness on the forecheck is that he is tied for the lead league in takeaways with 10. Some wondered how much better Gallagher could get. He is developing into being a top tiered complete player and it is a pleasure to see.
Flops:
Steve Ott - One of the biggest pests in the NHL, Ott lived up to his reputation against the Canadiens. He continually tried to provoke the Canadiens and eventually Nathan Beaulieu stepped up to challenge Ott. It was the first fighting major of the season by a Habs player. Otherwise the Canadiens played disciplined hockey and proved that they are above such silliness. The referees finally gave Ott a 10 minute misconduct but it came much too late, with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Hard physical hockey is great, but players like Ott are dangerous with their recklessness.
Props:
Lars Eller - His screen on Semin’s wrister was absolutely perfect. Allen could not track the puck and it snuck in behind him. Despite not putting up too many points, Eller is playing inspired hockey. His tenacity on the forecheck is creating multiple chances and he is playing terrific in his own zone as well. The experiment with him on the wing continues but so far it has been a resounding success.
Props:
The Canadiens penalty kill - As I got back to watching the game after putting my son to sleep, the Canadiens were pressing in the Blues zone when I turned the tv on. Eller and Fleischmann were buzzing around and creating chances. I didn’t even realize the Canadiens were playing shorthanded as the little countdown box that is usually onscreen was not displayed. It wasn’t until John Bartlett announced how much time was remaining on the kill that I realized that the Canadiens were a man down. That’s how well the Canadiens are playing right now, they didn’t even look like they were killing a penalty. Pacioretty and Plekanec on the PK are amongst the best in the NHL and also pressured the Blues during their time on the kill.
Props:
Max Pacioretty - The Canadiens captain is so good and consistent, imagine where he would be if he hadn’t gotten injured this past Summer? His deflection of Plekanec’s shot got the Canadiens on the board and helped turn the tide in the game. Pacioretty led all Canadiens players with 4 hits and 7 shots. We have not seen the physical side of Pacioretty very often this season as he continues to get back to full strength. This is a very encouraging sign of things to come…
Neither Here Nor There:
- Yesterday I had asked between Semin and Smith-Pelly who would score their first goal of the season? Semin won the dubious honour of not being the last Canadiens forward to score a goal and he played a strong game as well. Hopefully now that he has the monkey off of his back, he can relax the grip on his stick.
- Smith-Pelly earned a well deserved first point of the season with his assist on Mitchell’s goal. He is amongst the most-improved players this season and is making a positive contribution in each and every game so far this season.
- The Canadiens are not always scoring the prettiest goals, but they are going to the net and getting rewarded. Be it through screens or rebounds, this team is outworking their opponents and capitalizing on their opportunities.
- This weekend the Canadiens have back to back games against divisional rivals. While Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs have losing records so far this season, they are playing much better hockey than last year. Now that the Canadiens are clearly the team to beat, opponents will do their best to knock them off their pedestal and give them their first loss. The Canadiens cannot take either team lightly and continue to prepare themselves in the same manner that has brought them so much early success.
- The St. John Ice Caps lost last night in overtime 5-4 to the Binghamton Senators. The Ice Caps and Dustin Tokarski gave up a 2 goal lead in the 3rd period (sound familiar?). Gabriel Dumont had 2 goals and Bud Holloway and Darren Dietz had 1 each for the Ice Caps. Keep a close eye on Holloway, he is a proven scorer in the AHL and Europe. The Ice Caps and Senators will have a rematch tonight with Zach Fucale expected to start.
Cheers & Follow Along! Follow @Jenbcutler