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The Habs closed off their Western road trip and
kicked off their season-long five game homestand in style, picking up a pair of
wins.  That’s something that can’t be said for the Bulldogs as the offence
dried up en route to a pair of losses.  Jarred Tinordi’s NHL readiness has
been a big discussion point dating back to the offseason; my Final Thought
questions whether or not he should be ceding his spot to another rookie.

Cheers
and Jeers

Cheers to…

1) Michael Bournival, who made a positive mark
in both of his games.  In his first, he got a goal while in the second, he
had no issue changing positions, lines, and roles after Daniel Briere and
Brandon Prust went down.  That’s a good way to make an impression on the
coaching staff.

2) Andrei Markov’s skating legs, which appear
to have been rediscovered after a slow start to the season.  Since being
paired with P.K. Subban, his game has improved considerably.  He is showing
that he doesn’t need to be dropped to a 3rd pairing/PP specialist role just yet. 

3) Carey Price, who has made the key saves in
important moments a lot more this season compared to down the stretch last year. 
With the injuries (more on that in a moment), Carey will need to carry (pun
intended) this team for a little while.  His recent play suggests he should
be up for it.

Jeers to…

1) The fact that Subban is the league
leader…in minor penalties with eight in as many games.  I acknowledge
that a couple were on the iffy side although he has gotten away with some as
well.  You don’t want to tone down his aggressiveness too much but perhaps
it might be wise to curtail the exuberance (particularly with his stick on
attacking players) for a bit.

2) Lethargy.  In all three games this past
week, Montreal had a stretch of at least 20 minutes where they were thoroughly
outplayed, out-chanced, and out-hustled.  They were able to overcome it in
two games (by hanging on or getting a late goal) but that’s not a good recipe
for success moving forward.

3) The injury bug.  If Brandon Prust can’t
go in the Habs’ next game, they’ll have roughly 27% of their payroll injured. 
Basically, they’ll be icing a team with a payroll at the salary floor. 
There’s only one word for this and it’s an understatement: Ouch. 

StatPack:

SKATERS


#

Player

GP
G A +/- PIM SH TOI
8 Brandon Prust 3 1 1 +4 0 3 47:35
11 Brendan Gallagher 3 1 0 E 0 12 46:33
14 Tomas Plekanec 3 2 0 +2 0 10 57:52
17 Rene Bourque 3 1 0 +1 4 2 43:59
21 Brian Gionta 3 0 1 E 2 7 49:46
24 Jarred Tinordi 2 0 0 +1 2 0 19:54
26 Josh Gorges 3 0 2 +1 2 3 66:12
27 Alex Galchenyuk 3 0 0 -1 4 7 47:07
32 Travis Moen 3 0 0 E 0 1 34:13
40 Nathan Beaulieu 1 0 0 +1 0 0 10:32
48 Daniel Briere 3 1 1 +2 2 3 31:40
49 Michael Bournival 2 1 1 +2 0 6 19:30
51 David Desharnais 3 0 1 +1 0 1 42:05
53 Ryan White 3 0 0 +2 9 7 32:38
55 Francis Bouillon 3 0 1 +2 0 1 49:47
61 Raphael Diaz 3 0 1 +2 2 2 66:01
67 Max Pacioretty 1 0 0 E 0 1 4:31
76 P.K. Subban 3 1 2 E 10 8 73:43
79 Andrei Markov 3 1 1 +3 0 8 73:42
81 Lars Eller 3 0 1 E 2 8 55:44

GOALIES


#

Player

Record

SV%

GAA
31 Carey Price 2-1-0 .953 1.68

Scoring
Leaders:

Goals: Lars Eller (5)
Assists: P.K. Subban (8)
Points: P.K. Subban (10)
+/-: Andrei Markov (+8)
PIMS: George Parros (20)
Shots: Brendan Gallagher (30)

Schedule:

October 22: Edmonton vs Montreal
October 24: Anaheim vs Montreal
October 26: San Jose vs Montreal

The Dog
Pound

History is beginning to repeat itself with the
Bulldogs.  In both games this past week, Hamilton struggled to score and
had considerable difficulties with the man advantage.  Unfortunately they
were only able to pick up one of a possible four points as a result despite
solid goaltending.

News and
Notes:

– After a so-so rookie campaign, Morgan Ellis’
sophomore season is off to an even slower start before it even begins.  He
has been a healthy scratch for four straight games to start the season.

– Maxime Macenauer had his first shootout
attempt of his career against Lake Erie.  For whatever reason, he was
second on Sylvain Lefebvre’s list that game.

– Lines from the most recent game:

Forwards:

Tarnasky – Dumont – Blunden
Andrighetto – Duffy – Holland
Nystrom – Macenauer – Aliu
Courtnall – Nattinen – Leblanc

Defence:

Beaulieu – Pateryn
Schiestel – Nygren
Chouinard – Dietz

Results:

October 18:

Lake Erie 3, Hamilton 2 (SO)

October 20:

Toronto 2, Hamilton 1

StatPack:

SKATERS


#

Player

GP

G

A

+/-

SH

PIMS
2 Greg Pateryn 2 0 1 E 4 2
7 Darren Dietz 2 0 0 E 1 2
8 Nathan Beaulieu 1 0 0 +1 3 2
9 Justin Courtnall 2 0 0 E 1 2
11 Nathan McIver 1 0 0 E 0 2
12 Maxime Macenauer 2 0 0 +1 3 0
13 Steve Quailer 2 0 0 E 1 0
14 Michael Blunden 1 1 0 +1 2 0
15 Erik Nystrom 2 0 0 E 2 4
19 Akim Aliu 2 0 0 -1 3 4
20 Louis Leblanc 2 0 0 +1 5 2
22 Drew Schiestel 2 0 1 +1 2 0
23 Joonas Nattinen 2 0 0 E 1 0
27 Sven Andrighetto 2 0 0 E 2 0
32 Magnus Nygren 2 0 1 E 3 0
37 Patrick Holland 2 0 0 +1 2 0
40 Gabriel Dumont 2 0 1 +1 3 6
42 Ben Duffy 2 0 0 -1 1 0
59 Joel Chouinard 2 0 0 E 2 0
74 Nick Tarnasky 2 2 0 E 2 2

GOALIES


#

Player

Record

SV%

GAA
29 Robert Mayer 0-1-0 .929 2.02
34 Dustin Tokarski 0-0-1 .923 1.85

SHOOTOUT
– SKATERS

# Player G/ATT
12 Maxime Macenauer 0/1
40 Gabriel Dumont 0/1
74 Nick Tarnasky 0/1

SHOOTOUT
– GOALIES

# Player SVS/ATT
34 Dustin Tokarski 1/4

Scoring
Leaders:

Goals: Blunden/Pateryn/Tarnasky (2)
Assists: Nygren/Pateryn/Schiestel/St. Pierre (2)
Points: Greg Pateryn (4)
+/-: Patrick Holland (+4)
PIMS: Nathan McIver (12)
Shots: Greg Pateryn (10)

Schedule:

October 22:
Rockford vs Hamilton
October 25: Rochester vs Hamilton
October 26: Hamilton vs Utica
October 27: Toronto vs Hamilton

Final
Thought

Look at the following time-on-ice data: 10:47,
12:37, 10:29, 9:25.

At first glance, you’d probably think that
those came from a bottom six forward but instead, those are ice time numbers for
four of Jarred Tinordi’s six games so far this season.  Typically, a sixth
defenceman should be able to give a team at least 15 minutes of playing time;
Tinordi has hit that threshold just once.  His TOI has declined in three
straight games, suggesting he doesn’t have the confidence of the coaching staff
so far.  If they can only trust him to play 10-12 minutes a night, it’s
time to send him down.

There’s a case to be made that as long as he’s
practicing with the NHL’ers and playing in more games than not, his development
isn’t being stifled.  That’s fair, but if I’m running the team, I’d rather
see him playing 25 minutes a night on a not-so-deep Hamilton defence corps. 
Facing top opponents and logging heavy minutes in my opinion would be more
beneficial long-term as he projects as a shutdown defenceman who will face top
opponents in the NHL. 

The Habs have a situation where there are three
prospect blueliners who all could probably play a reduced #6 role – Tinordi,
Nathan Beaulieu (who has played twice and been scratched six times), and Greg
Pateryn.  All three could also benefit from playing a big role in Hamilton. 
Why not rotate these players until one of them steps up and earns the trust of
Michel Therrien and his staff, at least enough to approach the 15 minute mark
nightly?  That way, they can all see some NHL game and practice time but
still get the heavy workload they should be seeing in the AHL.  Tinordi has
had his chance for now, it’s time to let one of the other two get a shot.