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Canadiens Clash In Calgary… Must Win? + I'll Be There! |
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The Montreal Canadiens have been a revelation this season. There were pundits a plenty who would publicly spew how MTL would be a basement dweller and one Twitter personality even thought the Canadiens would struggle to score 5 goals this season. The Habs clearly are much better than most gave them credit for but lately we have seen the seasons biggest question marks come into razor sharp focus….
Defense and Goaltending.
The Defense was always suspect heading into the season and even more so when Captain Weber was revealed to have had knee surgery to clean up some unknown damage. But the young kids played very well early and seemed to be thriving under the new north south system.
Unfortunately, the last 4 games (1-2-1, outscored 21-15) have shown that they are coming back down to earth and certain D men like Benn and Juulsen are being exposed. The only other options to bring in are Schlemko and Alzner and neither player is very fleet of foot. So, until the young Habs D figure out the warts (yes, I know Juulsen is playing hurt) the work is going to be difficult for Carey Price.
That brings us to the other issue…
First, I’m a huge Carey Price fan and defender. I’ve always loved goaltenders ever since I was a little boy and would play goalie any time I could. I idolized Patrick Roy as a boy and believe that the goaltender is one of the most important parts of any hockey team.
That said, Carey Price has had a bipolar season so far. Some nights he’s a world beater, as per the usual, and other nights he looks a bit like an average goalie. News broke lately that he admits to be struggling with the mental side of his game and that’s fair, we are all only human and he is occupying the most pressure packed position in the NHL by guarding MTL nets.
Price has had a couple games to reflect as Julien turned vet A Niemi for two games. Niemi was a big part of an emotional win against the Vegas Golden Knights and then was burned for 6 against a pretty sub par Edmonton Oilers club. The biggest problem here was shots (43 against vs EDM, 81 total in 2 games) and McDavid. McDavid’s speed is almost second to none aside from the two stallions on Colorado’s top line (Rantanen and Mackinnon, did you see Ranty’s end to end rush last night???).
Price’s important numbers, 3.07 GAA and .892 SP%, are still better than Niemi’s but below league average and his career average (2.48 GAA and .918 SP%). I know a lot of people are hung up on that contract he has just started (8 years at $10.5 million per) but when you have done as much as Price has for MTL and Team Canada then it was going to come from MTL or somewhere else. Also remember that MTL must pay more for prime talent due to tax issues and media climate. If Price was putting up his career average numbers then he is a non issue and instead we would likely see folks griping that he is the entire team and other ways to spite the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and their fanbase.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Either way, a solid game tonight close to his home coast would be monumental for his own confidence and the teams. The fact the Habs have also been passed by another surprising team in the standings, Buffalo Sabres, should be providing this team with added incentive.
There have been a couple games they should have won this year and there have been games they gave away, this is the problem when you employ a youth movement. You get consistency issues. The coaching staff needs to work every angle with the players to keep them focused and ensure they use their speed and positioning to mitigate problems and prevent them from occurring.
In the Flames the Habs have an opponent that has near identical results as they’ve had. Both teams sit at 21 pts, both teams are seeing less puck luck (both @ 99 PDO), and both teams are getting below average goaltending on the whole. Saying that I must acknowledge the stellar 6 starts from Flames back up David Rittich. Rittich has earned 5 wins and 1 loss with a 1.91 GAA and .935 SP%….
Luckily for the Canadiens, Smith has already been confirmed to man the net for Calgary so it’s on Carey Price to put forth his best effort against one of the NHL’s oldest goaltenders.
The Canadiens will need to do the same thing they need to do every game and stay out of the penalty box. Penalties cost them the game against the NY Rangers a few nights ago and you definitely don’t want want to give Tkachuk, Gaudreau, and Monohan repeated opportunities with the man advantage.
Matthew Tkachuk is quickly becoming one of the NHL’s most underrated stars, even on his own team. Tkachuk is tied for the Flames team lead in Points (19) with Monohan and Gaudreau despite playing almost two and a half minutes less than Mono and Johnny. Tkachuk is also crushing both of those stars in CF% and FF%. I suppose we should feel lucky the Flames don’t realize they are stifling their best player by playing him less than they should, but I have watched enough of M Tkachuk to know that as long as he’s playing he is dangerous. Tkachuk has serious potential to become another Jamie Benn type player and as soon as the Flames start playing him like that the sooner they will reap the benefits.
I’ll be watching tonights game from the glass, Flames zone, bench side near the face off dot with an old friend I had all through grade and high school that I haven’t seen in close to 13 years. Our lives both took us to various places since high school and we both ended up in Calgary, AB…. Go figure. So tonight should be a great night for me and a Habs win would make it that much better.
I hope to head home celebrating a big win against a tough Flames squad this evening and hope you enjoy the game where ever and however you are watching.
Go Habs Go
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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