Florida Dreaming

Habs beat Panthers in OT 1-0 to take all four points in the sunshine state
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It wasn't the prettiest of games. But in the end, it's the two points that matter.

In a tilt that at times was a complete snoozefest, in front of a crowd that consisted mostly of Montreal Canadiens fans, the Habs were able to sneak out of Florida with all four points by beating the Alex Kovalev-led Panthers 1-0 in OT on a dirty goal by Rene Bourque.

Kind of makes you forget that Michael Cammalackey guy, eh?


Power forward Rene Bourque celebrates with Josh Gorges and Alex Galchenyuk after scoring the game winning goal in OT against the Panthers. Montreal beat Florida 1-0. AP

There wasn't a lot of flow to this game. The Habs definitely had the advantage in scoring opportunities vs. the Panthers but none of them were of the bang-bang play or gaping wide-open net variety. Still, former Hab Jose Theodore was solid in nets for the Panthers and when they came on with a push of their own in the third, Carey Price stood tall to earn his first shutout of the season.

Definitely not a classic. But there were some positive points for the Habs to continue to build on:

• The team took only two penalties on the night, one right off the bat on a debatable call against Bourque running into Theodore; and Gorges in the third which was a key kill;
• After two periods, the Canadiens were 34% in the faceoff circle -- verging on the pathetic; but the team rallied in that area in the third especially by Lars Eller and Tomas Plekanec winning some key defensive zone faceoffs, ending the night at 46%;
• Although he didn't end up on the scoresheet, Erik Cole had a lot more jump and played more of that physical up-tempo game like last year;
• Big bodies count: Therrien looks like the man by putting Galchenyuk with Rene Bourque in OT resulting in the game winning goal. New lines next game?

So now there's a new trend on twitter: #bourchenyuk!! The winning goal was the result of a great individual effort by Galchenyuk, driving the net and staying with the puck when it looked like the play was done, then getting the puck on net for Bourque to knock in the rebound. 

On to Montreal to face the Flyers Saturday night.

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Although they are the Habs' rivals, I have to say I got shivers up my spine for all the wrong reasons watching Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators take a skate to the achilles from Matt Cooke of the Penguins. As you may know in reading an earlier post of mine from January, I tore my achilles this past summer and let me tell you, it's no fun at all. After surgery today, Karlsson is officially done for the season, suffering a 70% tear of his left achilles tendon. And there's no getting around it. He's got at least a month in a cast where his achilles needs to stay immobilized. After that, his leg will have atrophied, and he'll need to do physiotherapy for months to start walking again let alone skate. I really wish him well and it's too bad as he's a good, young player who is exciting to watch. The Senators as a team are in deep doo-doo -- GM Brian Murray looked like had suffered a coronary last night in Pittsburgh when he learned the news.

SUPERBOWL WEEKEND JUST SUPER FOR HABS

Canadiens Collect Four Points in Back-To-Back This Weekend

Coach Michel Therrien went on the record saying he wanted his team to send a message after losing 5-1 this past week in Ottawa.

Well I think the team received the memo.

Two strong team wins against divisional rivals the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators put your Montreal Canadiens in fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. And if you want to get technical about it, the Habs with 12 points are tied with the Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning -- and the Pens have played one more game but get the nod because they lead their division.

Who could have imagined this?

Well, GM Marc Bergevin and Coach Therrien, that's who.

But even they couldn't have anticipated their team going 6-2 to start the season. Hey, it's only eight games, but there's no doubt it's been night and day from last year and with a healthy team, excellent goaltending and scoring through the lineup, you're going to see results.

And there's the continuing, inspirational story of Max Pacioretty, who returned to action a week after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. He was scheduled to return in three to four weeks.

Last year's Canadiens gave up leads, lost games in OT and shootouts and found ways to beat themselves -- kind of like the Calgary Flames are doing this year.

This year's squad is playing a solid team game, standing up for each other and scoring goals. On Saturday the Canadiens came out flying and took it to the Sabres who looked flat and uninspired safe for Tomas Vanek -- who is making an early play for the Hart and Maurice Richard trophies.

But if we've learned anything from last year's Canadiens, one scorer or even one scoring line does not a team make.

And so after promising his mates pre-game he'd be better, Ryan Miller did his best to keep his team in the game by only surrendering one goal to Rene Bourque right at the end of the first period. Bourque nearly scored a few minutes back on almost the exact same play -- driving the net and deflecting the pass into the side of the net. Nice play. For a second he looked like Yvon Lambert, without the chest hair jutting out from his jersey.

Did you ever see Mike Cammellari drive the net like that? I tweeted this question to the official Calgary Flames twitter account last night. I didn't get a response.

Coach Therrien continues to keep his finger on the right button in getting the most out of Rene Bourque and he's been one of our most consistent players of this young season, scoring two goals in the Canadiens' 6-1 drubbing of the Sabres. David Desharnais and Lars Eller had big games too, D2 scoring twice and Eller scoring one along with two assists. The two Gallys also came to the party with Brendan Gallagher scoring the game winner and Alex Galchenyuk getting two assists.

But the Canadiens were in for a different test on Sunday afternoon with the well-rested Ottawa Senators in town and they grabbed the early lead on a nice top shelf shot by Jacob Silfverberg when he was sent in alone with a nifty pass by Patrick Wiercioch. Price had no chance.

The Habs special teams came to the rescue with David Desharnais and Erik Cole closing the scoring out in the first period to take the lead 2-1, though Cole's goal came just at the end of a power play. Desharnais' goal came off of a nice feed from Pacioretty who seems to be able to play no matter what is thrown at him. Just please Max, don't contract Hep C or anything!!

Then it was Carey Price the rest of way, turning back 32 of 33 shots and taking his record to 6-1. Carey Price, Vezina trophy winner sounds good. Though Carey Price, Conn Smythe trophy winner sounds even better! But I digress...

The Senators appeared to have tied the game early in the third but the goal was called off due to goaltender interference. It was pretty borderline in my opinion and according to Sean Gordon of the Globe and Mail Ottawa GM Bryan Murray was livid with the referee's call on that play. Well you win some, you lose some. Nice to see the Habs win some.

So the Canadiens are winning games all sorts of ways this year and don't seem to be counting on trends like having to score first or whatnot. The only trend that counts is winning, any and all ways.

Habs Nation is a very happy place right now and this sets up beautifully the BIGGEST GAME OF THE YOUNG SEASON so far against the hated Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Should be a good one.

Follow-moi on le twitter: @HabsFanLeafLand

HABS TAKE CHARGE IN 4-1 WIN AGAINST CAPS

GAME NUMERO 3: HABS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LISTLESS CAPITALS FOR 1ST ROAD WIN OF 2013

It's nice to be wrong every once in awhile. Once in awhile, okay?

My Habs vs. Capitals pregame thoughts were this: playing in Washington, Caps are 0-2, Ovechkin has yet to score and with all of that, figured we would should could be in for a long night.

Markov is back en force. Habs beat Caps 4-1 in Washington. AP

Then when the Habs took the early momentum on a power play just over a minute into the game and didn't capitalize, I thought "oh boy, I've seen this before." The Canadiens continued to create solid chances but couldn't finish. Brian Gionta open net, missed! Bourque in tight, no go! Alex Galchenyuk barging to the net and flicking a high backhand... nice save by Caps 'tender Neuvirth.

The Habs were skating, clicking, making solid first passes, turning the puck up the ice quickly and the Caps were completely flat. But yet the score was still 0-0.

That always scares me.

What I expected to come then was the Caps would get the first goal and then take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Instead, the Caps took two quick penalties to start the second period, went down 5-on-3, Tomas Plekanec scored his second in two games and the Habs never looked back in a solid 4-1 win in Washington.

The Habs' power play, its bread and butter for so many seasons of late -- except last year -- suddenly seems to have roared back to life with the return of Andrei Markov, who scored the second goal of the game and whose pairing with Raphael Diaz appears to be a stoke of genius on Therrien's part.

Should could would you have ever thought, even dreamt of uttering the following after the last few years of futility and hard times for the Russian:

Andrei Markov leads the Montreal Canadiens in goals!?

Well it's true. The veteran blueliner now has three. Not only that, with his goal and assist tonight he's now the fifth highest scoring defenseman in Habs history. Not bad. He's got to be feeling great for himself and what an impact a healthy, confident and surgically-repaired Andrei Markov has on this team.

When even Josh Gorges gets into the scoring action, you know things are going the Canadiens' way.

With all the good that is going on with the Habs -- for these past two games at least -- let's not forget how bad the Capitals were. Goalie Neuvirth could not be blamed for this one. The Caps came out completely listless. No energy, no tempo, no synergy. And the Canadiens took full advantage.

And all this without the first line really going on all cylinders as of yet. Pacioretty picked up a couple of assists and Erik Cole hit a post but that line has yet to fully assert itself.

Brian Gionta continued the trend of the bounce back with his second goal of the year on a nice set up by Rene Bourque. And you know what? Suddenly, Bourque brings a size element to the Plekanec line. Another nice move by Therrien. The man is pushing the right buttons so far.

And where was Ovechkin in all of this? Did he play!? Personally, I think he's not into it. He doesn't want to be in Washington. If he's going to play in the NHL, the guy wants to win. And it looks like already, the Capitals' time has passed.

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Last night I had a bit of a negative twitter exchange with a hockey writer (who shall remain nameless) who was absolutely adamant that trading P.K. Subban would be an absolute disaster, and that I was completely WRONG for suggesting that he could be traded for the better of the team. Personally I found his tone completely unprofessional and insulting. But I guess that's the twitter-verse.

While I like P.K. and think he's a great player with so much upside, I also think that he isn't bigger than the team, and if Carey Price and Max Pacioretty can take the so-called "bridge" contracts of two years before they cash in longer term (which they did) then so can Subban. What makes him so special?? He didn't win the Norris. He didn't drive into the ground lead the power play last year. He still needs to grow up.

If Patrick Roy can get traded, anyone / anything is in play. Geez Wayne Gretzky was traded!! This talk that trading Subban would be a disaster is utter nonsense and is a purely emotional response. I'm not saying I want him to be traded. I'm saying if the deal is right, it's an option.

And the Canadiens all of a sudden seem to have depth on the blue line. Raphael Diaz is taking full advantage of the P.K. situation playing with Markov. Frankie Bouillon is eating up solid minutes. Josh Gorges is doing his thing as usual. And Kaberle is trying his best to stay out of their way. And with Tinordi and St. Denis just a call away and Nathan Beaulieu working on his development... well, I'm not saying I want Subban to be traded, but what I was trying to communicate to this "writer" was that Bergevin should do the best move for the team... whatever that should be.

With tonight's victory and Markov, Diaz and the rest of the defense pairings performing as they did, the score is now:

Bergevin 2 - Subban 1

It's certainly bringing up a lot of emotional responses from Habs fans. But hey, if we could get a Sean Couturier from the suddenly nosediving Flyers, well, why not?

It dawned on me today that the ebullient Subban is the Canadiens' version of Gary Carter. Carter was a bit despised by his teammates when he played in Montreal because he was always smiling, always camera-ready and always available to talk to reporters. He was misunderstood. We know he wasn't grandstanding. As we probably know that P.K. isn't grandstanding.

But the difference is, Carter took more than a few years to assert himself as a leader on the Expos' teams of the late seventies and early eighties and he did it with style, integrity and grit. Not to knock P.K. but it's true, the guy has rubbed some of the veterans on this team the wrong way; and if you know hockey, you know how tight the room has to be for a team to win.

I personally feel P.K. needs to sign his "bridge" deal, find his place on the team's pecking order, and keep his flash for the ice.

Next game: The Devils are in Montreal for a somewhat rare Sunday night tilt at the Molson Centre.

And by the way: Alex Kovalev is no longer leading the league in points. :)

Follow moi on le twitter: @HabsFanLeafLand

Give 'Em Credit

I'm proud of myself.

Yes. Proud of myself for not getting sucked into the hoopla and faux-hope of the Canadiens making the playoffs this year after they won four straight last week. Reality... it crashes right into your face. How's that for "...just the perfect amount of pepper?"
 
And now that I'm approaching the season with this new-found attitude, I'm actually enjoying it more. So back to that draft pick...

And maybe some trades? One point out of four is certainly not enough -- even if the Habs currently sit 6 points out of a playoff spot as I write this (Toronto is up 2-1 against Edmonton right now).

Up, up and away!? Even Dave Van Horne wouldn't have made that call on Pacioretty. Habs lost 4-3 in a shootout. 

After a missed opportunity to keep the ball rolling against the Hurricanes the other night give the Canadiens credit as they came back in the third period tonight to squeeze a point out against the Bruins before losing in the shootout. Ho hum. Price was beaten stick side. What else is new!? Most definitely the scouting report on him. "Psst: Go stick side on Pricer. Works everytime." Krejci did. Hit the post. Seguin made it count and the odd combination of Bourque-Pacioretty-Eller came up firing blanks.

Good to see Ryan White in the lineup at least. And he got in the middle of things with a scrap. Welcome back!!

Time is-a-tickin' on the 2011-2012 season, and that's a good thing at this point. Personally I'm ready to play golf. So who's gonna be dealt??

Everyone is saying Hal Gill and Travis Moen. Now Kostitsyn is in the mix but he always was. Now really, what are we going to get for a malcontent? A fifth rounder??? And I think at this point, we'll take a bag of stinky sox from anyone who wants to take Scotty Gomez. To quote Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff from earlier this season: "It's a joke."

Which is a great segway to my conclusion. Brad Marchand. Clipping. Again!!! The guy is going to get his some day. At least Chara took a puck to the face tonight... Like I said "It's a joke."

Shootout Win!? Oh Joy...

I enjoyed last night's game for once.  Not just because the Habs got 2 points against the Penguins. It was a good entertaining game regardless.

Both teams got good scoring chances and both goalies made great saves yet also let in ones they'd like back. There was good back and forth action and I liked the pace overall.

Of course entering the shootout, I expected the Habs to lose as has been the familiar refrain this year. All I asked for was for someone, anyone, to get at least one past Marc-Andre Fleury in defeat.

Tommy Plekanec scored the shootout winner and was last night's first star. Here he thanks Carey Price for following his advice and shooting to Fleury's stick side. 

And my wish was realized in the form of Rene Bourque who sniped a shot past Fleury's glove hand to give the Canadiens the lead. But then in the 2nd round, Evgeni (I'm money) Malkin pulled a spin-o-rama of his own to tie it all up.

Eventually, Lars Eller put the puck in. Then Chris Kunitz tied it up. Finally, in the 8th round, Tomas Plekanec -- who was stopped earlier in the game on a breakaway, put the puck home and Carey Price made the last save to give the Habs the 3-2 shootout win.

Wow!

The funny thing of course is that ultimately -- dare I say it -- I want the Canadiens to lose.

Yes. Lose. Lose big even.

Because I want that top draft pick. I want it, want it, want it!!!!

Finish in the bottom five in the league. Please!!!!!! We're not going to make the playoffs. Please do not pull a Leafs-style late season run only to finish a few points short.

Of course you know now that I mentioned it, they'll probably do just that.

Habs visit the Islanders on Long Island tomorrow night.

Groundhog Day Habs Style

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. How fitting was that given the Canadiens did what they seem to be good at doing this year, over and over... and over? That is of course, losing a game where on 2 separate occasions they were up by 2 goals.


Punxsutawney Phil. This cute and well fed little critter saw his shadow yesterday. We saw the Habs's season go straight to the devil based on another repeat performance.

When will this stop? Certainly not this year. Yes, it's all about next year folks. I'm fine with it too. Sure I wanted to be bold and brash and be the first to predict a cup for our Canadiens this year, but hey, I'm not perfect. I'm the most American-Canadian you'll find. I sometimes shoot then ask questions. I like bourbon. And I don't like the winter...

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow when he crawled out of his burrow yesterday. Isn't he cuddly? He certainly looks well fed. Anyhow that means six more weeks of winter!!! Which might be a good thing for the Habs, they need all the help they can get because their summers are fast approaching.

But as I've written previously, a top-five pick is terrific news, especially since this team isn't that far off. Yes, I really believe that. Hey, just because things don't seem to be working doesn't mean it's blow-up time. A car can be in perfect working order but if a tire is flat it won't go anywhere.

So that's that. On the bright side, Louis Leblanc was called up last night and had a good game. All in all it was a bit of a strange one though. Bourque's shot hit Desharnais off his head for the first goal. Puck stopped right on the line for Price on a Kovalchuk backhand in the first period and somehow stayed out. Elias hit Blunden from behind and got fined today $2500. Blunden will probably be out awhile. P.K. Subban just drilled and I mean pasted Larsson and sent him back to his childhood. Price let in a total stinker that even I could've saved. Then the refs decided they had enough and didn't want to go to OT, so they ignored a blatant hooking call when Cole tried to clear the puck out of his zone which led to Parise's game winner.

Well at least Ryan White and Travis Moen are about ready to come back to action. Don't expect Markov to play this year.

Ho hum, c'est la vie. And that's the season folks. So now... who should we pick in the 2012 draft with our top 5 pick? More on that to come.

NEXT GAME MARKS ONE FULL YEAR SINCE SCOTT GOMEZ SCORED A GOAL!!! Absolutely terrible and unacceptable...HE'S THE TEAM'S HIGHEST PAID PLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy It!!

Montreal, Quebec. Was that your 2012 Canadiens or the 1977 flying Frenchmen??
A resounding 7-2 victory over the NHL-tops Detroit Red Wings does the Habs body good.

This really was a classic Original Six matchup. The Habs clobbered the Wings just like dem old times!

Bourque opened the scoring with a good ol' dirty goal, driving the net hard while the rejuvenated but still goal-less Scotty Gomez showed some speed and fed the puck into the crease before bouncing off of Bourque's leg.

Alexei Emelin congratulated by his teammates after scoring his first NHL goal against the Detroit Red Wings. Habs won the game 7-2.

And just in case you weren't paying attention, because you know I am:

Rene Bourque:
5 GP; 2 G; 1 A; +1; 5 PIM (for fighting)

Michael Cammalleri
5 GP; 1 G; 0 A; -4; 4 PIM

So who got the player in that recent deal, Mr. PuckDaddy???

Desharnais scored two nice goals while Cole and Pacioretty each had one for the line that just keeps on clicking. Tommy Plekanec got one, and Alexei Emelin scored his first in the NHL. Well deserved Alexei. Both Lars Eller and Andrei Kostitsyn also had strong outings.


Desharnais and Pacioretty have serious chemistry together -- something they've put on display since playing together in Hamilton.

Habs now enter the All-Star break on a high and feeling a bit better about themselves, 8 points out of the last playoff spot in the East. At least we can have something to talk about other than P.K. Subban. 3-0-2 in their last five games is good with the clock ticking this team needs all the points it can get.

Two wins in a row is nice. Ten would be better.

Your Habs need to get on a roll. A serious roll, if they want to make the playoffs. It's still not impossible. Nobody is giving up... yet.

Et tu, Markov?

PS: Love Mike Babcock and love his loyalty and allegiance to McGill University -- my alma mater too. Always sports the McGill club tie when he coaches against the Habs. Now wouldn't he look good wearing that behind the Habs bench someday!? What would it take to get the man to coach the Canadiens????

Caps, Flaps & Rickety

CAPS AT BELL CENTRE FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT TILT: Ovechkin et al in Montreal tonight. Should be interesting since the Capitals got blanked 3-0 last night by the lowly Isles and the Habs are desperate to get on some sort of roll. The game marks the return of the much-maligned Dale Hunter, now Washington's head coach, a guy who is, let's say... somewhat disliked in Montreal. With the recent comparisons of Boston's Brad Marchand to Ken "the rat" Linseman and Brian Burke's "rats" rant of the other week, who was a better representation of the NHL's league of rats than Dale Hunter!? I hated him as a kid when he played for the Nordiques. But he was an effective player, no doubt about that.

And the other main storyline for tonight's game centres around Rene Bourque, who faces the Caps for the first time since his elbow to Nicklas Backstrom's head. Looking forward to seeing what comes of that.

FLAPS: Did you see what happened to poor Taylor Hall last night??? Helmet-less, he falls in the warmup, takes out two of his teammates, crashes his head into the boards, and gets cut in the face by his teammate's skate. Now that could've been real bad. Thankfully he's alright and just needed stitches, but as GM Steve Tambellini said after the game, moving forward "Taylor will probably wear a helmet walking around Edmonton's streets, just in case".

RICKETY: In my ongoing mission to improve this blog and provide you with interesting, pertinent hockey reads, I'm preparing a bunch of story outlines, with one focused on current, injury-prone players. Through my research, I found a great Sports Illustrated photo essay on Rick "Rickety" DiPietro who literally cannot deal with the weight and expectations of his crazy, 15 year contract. He's out for the season, again. Let's hope that Taylor Hall doesn't end up making the list.

Deal Done

Well that didn't take long, did it?

Leave it to the Montreal Canadiens to make last night's 2-1 loss to the Bruins an afterthought to what was going on off the ice last night.

Mike Cammalleri back in the days when he showed some emotion. Let's see if he's able to reignite that flame again in Calgary reloaded. Pic: Calgary Herald.

Of course if you believe Mr. Gauthier, it was in the works for over a month. Which I certainly hope is true because if he is a GM of any worth, he should have been shopping Mr. Cammalleri around the league for some time now.

The only thing about last night's trade of Michael Cammalleri to Calgary for Rene Bourque that strikes me as odd is its timing. Why the team didn't sit him if this trade was in the works is a mystery to me!? I can understand removing him from the game once the trade was made to avoid injury, but it still is a bit shocking and somewhat unprofessional.

Then again, so were Cammy's previous comments about the team -- in my view at least. Other pundits, like Yahoo's PuckDaddy, seem to think otherwise:

Cammalleri's frustration is expected. This isn't some ham-and-egger whining about a demotion from the third or the fourth line. This is a guy who has stepped up offensively when others have disappeared in the postseason, a player who worked his ass off to overcome physical limitations to succeed in the NHL.

If he wants out, fine; he wouldn't be the first to trade in his Habs sweater. But if he's being crucified for candor, it's an injustice.

Today, PuckDaddy even had the audacity to call the trade mid-game a calamity on the same scale as Patrick Roy's shipping to Colorado back in the '90's. Now that really is funny.

What Mr. PuckDaddy doesn't seem to realize is that Rene Bourque has more goals in the last 2 seasons than the supposedly "clutch" Cammalleri and frees up another 3 million bucks in cap space for the Habs to sign their more important -- and more professional -- players like Carey Price. Okay Pricey still has a lot of growing up to do but at least he takes responsibility for his play. Cammalleri returns to Iginla and hopes to reignite that flame. Good luck and enjoy the rodeo Mike.

Rene Bourque gives the Habs puck battling ability along the boards and the ability to score some dirty goals. Pic: Getty Images.

The Habs get a big, gritty forward who will win puck battles along the boards and give us additional net presence. He'll also take some pressure off of Max Pacioretty to perform in that way.

Sure it's not a blockbuster deal, but I'll come out and say it: I like this deal. We gave up Karri Ramo who was never going to play nets for the Habs anyway and a fifth rounder in return for the prospect Patrick Holland and Calgary's 2013 2nd round pick. And if Calgary tanks next year, that pick could be mighty high.

So we lose out by giving up a clutch playoff performer??? Well Jay Feaster's Flames will need to make the playoffs first to find out.

And you can bet that's not going to happen.