HabsWorld.net --
The Western road trip didn’t get off to the
best of the starts for the Habs but they rebounded well to pick up a pair of
victories. In Hamilton, the Bulldogs kicked off their 2013-14 campaign on
a high note, picking up a win and taking the defending Calder Cup champions to a
shootout. David Desharnais and Daniel Briere have drawn the early ire from
the fans; my Final Thought looks at what the team should do to get them back on
track.
|
Cheers |
Cheers to…
1) Travis Moen, who has looked re-energized in
the early part of the season. He has been more assertive physically and
his foot speed is also improved. After a rough 2012-13 season, this has
been a good bounce back for him so far.
2) The current leader in ES TOI for forwards,
Lars Eller. He has taken on a greater level of responsibility and has
responded by being the most productive player on the team which is an ideal
response. Also worth noting is that he is the team leader in hits.
3) Peter Budaj, who extended his regular season
winning streak to nine consecutive starts with the W against Edmonton. It
doesn’t matter who the backup plays against; if he wins nine in a row, that’s
more than living up to expectations.
Jeers to…
1) The implication of poor practices this early
in the season, courtesy of P.K. Subban’s post-period comments against Calgary.
My issue isn’t with Subban saying it, it’s that the team had a bad practice
before the year was two weeks old. With several days to prepare for an
opponent, this is not what anyone wants to hear.
2) Michel Therrien (and J.J. Daigneault), for
over-using Andrei Markov. He’s 34 years old and isn’t the player he was
even a few years ago. The solution to make him better is not to play him
more than any other Hab this past week, nor is it to play him over 24 minutes
per game, placing him in the top-20 amongst NHL blueliners. I know the
depth isn’t great right now but if they keep overplaying him, it’ll become even
worse when he goes down.
3) The early season struggles for Daniel Briere
and David Desharnais. Both were expected to be big producers and have been
far from it so far. My Final Thought discusses their respective situations
and why benching them isn’t the best idea, as tempting as it may be at times.
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G | A | +/- | PIM | SH | TOI |
| 8 | Brandon Prust | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 3 | 34:35 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 9 | 43:56 |
| 14 | Tomas Plekanec | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 7 | 54:05 |
| 17 | Rene Bourque | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 7 | 43:24 |
| 21 | Brian Gionta | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 4 | 30:55 |
| 24 | Jarred Tinordi | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 1 | 28:19 |
| 26 | Josh Gorges | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 57:56 |
| 27 | Alex Galchenyuk | 3 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 2 | 8 | 44:39 |
| 32 | Travis Moen | 3 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 34:06 |
| 40 | Nathan Beaulieu | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 | 11:43 |
| 48 | Daniel Briere | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 7 | 47:51 |
| 49 | Michael Bournival | 2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 4 | 17:37 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 6 | 45:13 |
| 53 | Ryan White | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 4 | 19:16 |
| 55 | Francis Bouillon | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 0 | 50:47 |
| 61 | Raphael Diaz | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 0 | 0 | 63:30 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 3 | 2 | 1 | E | 0 | 13 | 54:04 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 3 | 1 | 5 | +4 | 6 | 10 | 71:33 |
| 79 | Andrei Markov | 3 | 0 | 2 | +4 | 0 | 7 | 75:46 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 3 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 4 | 3 | 52:51 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 30 | Peter Budaj | 1-0-0 | .964 | 1.00 |
| 31 | Carey Price | 1-1-0 | .968 | 2.02 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Lars Eller (5)
Assists: Subban/Galchenyuk (6)
Points: Eller/Galchenyuk/Subban (7)
+/-: 4 tied with (+5)
PIMS: George Parros (20)
Shots: Gallagher/Subban (18)
|
Schedule: |
October 15: Montreal vs Winnipeg
October 17: Columbus vs Montreal
October 19: Nashville vs Montreal
|
The Dog |
The new look Hamilton Bulldogs got off to a
strong start to their 2013-14 season, picking up three of a possible four points
in their first weekend of play.
|
News and |
– Steve Quailer was cleared to play and has
been assigned to the Bulldogs. However, he is not yet ready to play for
conditioning reasons (the same goes for Stefan Fournier).
– Joonas Nattinen played his first game in 2013
in Hamilton’s season opener after missing most of last year due to injury.
– To say there has been a lot of turnover may
be an understatement. Of the 18 skaters who have dressed for Hamilton so
far, only six suited up for the Bulldogs at some point last season.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Andrighetto – St. Pierre – Holland
Blunden – Dumont – Leblanc
Nystrom – Duffy – Aliu
Tarnasky – Nattinen – Courtnall
Defence:
Chouinard – Pateryn
Schiestel – Dietz
McIver – Nygren
|
Results: |
October 11:
Hamilton 3, St. John’s 2
October 12:
Grand Rapids 4, Hamilton 3 (SO)
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 2 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | Darren Dietz | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Justin Courtnall | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 7 |
| 11 | Nathan McIver | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 10 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 2 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 5 | 4 |
| 15 | Erik Nystrom | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | Akim Aliu | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | Louis Leblanc | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 2 |
| 22 | Drew Schiestel | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 0 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 2 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 6 | 2 |
| 32 | Magnus Nygren | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 5 | 4 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 2 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 4 | 0 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 4 |
| 42 | Ben Duffy | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 59 | Joel Chouinard | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 2 |
| 74 | Nick Tarnasky | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 6 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 7 | 4 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 0-0-1 | .927 | 2.81 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 1-0-0 | .943 | 2.00 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 15 | Erik Nystrom | 0/1 |
| 19 | Akim Aliu | 0/1 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 0/1 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 0/1 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 0/1 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | SVS/ATT |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 3/4 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Greg Pateryn (2)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (2)
Points: Greg Pateryn (3)
+/-: Patrick Holland (+3)
PIMS: Nathan McIver (10)
Shots: Martin St. Pierre (7)
|
Schedule: |
October 18: Hamilton
vs Lake Erie
October 20: Hamilton vs Toronto
|
Final |
With their slow starts to the season, it hasn’t
taken long for the fans’ angst to find their way to David Desharnais and Daniel
Briere. Combined, the duo have a total of one assist (Briere) and have
already been criticized publicly by Michel Therrien. Already, some are
calling for them to be benched or sent to the minors (which isn’t possible with
Briere) but it’s far too early for that. Both players have been better
recently (but still need to take several steps forward) – which is at least a step
in the right direction – and smart teams don’t give up on players five games into
the year.
Personally, I think both players have been
handled well by the coaching staff so far. They got a bit of rope to try
and develop some chemistry early; since that didn’t work, now their icetime is
gradually getting cut. A few more games will be needed to see if that
coupled with some new linemates gets them going and if that doesn’t work, then
the possibility of a one game benching is the next step.
As much as it would be nice for the youngsters
(Eller, Gallagher, and Galchenyuk) to continue their torrid start and carry the
team offensively throughout the year, it’s probably not going to happen.
Briere and Desharnais are going to need to be key players for this offence in
order for the team to succeed so the Habs can’t give up on them this early.
Given their slow start, this isn’t going to be a quick fix; as hard as it may be
for some fans, patience is going to be required here.
