HabsWorld.net --
It may not have been pretty at times but the
Habs had a perfect week, winning four games and are now the hottest team in the
NHL. While the Bulldogs aren’t quite at that level, they too had a strong
week, taking a pair of important divisional contests. One area of weakness
for Montreal this year has been defending the two-on-one; my Final Thought looks
at their strategy and why it’s best to defend them the more conventional way.
|
Cheers |
Cheers to…
1) The Habs’ penalty kill, which has now gone
seven straight games without allowing a goal. Also worth noting is that
the team was only shorthanded 18 times in those contests, an average of under
three per game. This is a big factor in the teams’ current success.
2) A balanced scoring attack. In each
game, there was one line who led the attack and it was a different one each
time. I don’t think anyone expects the 4th line to produce regularly but
it’s hard to plan against a team when it’s a different line leading the way each
night.
3) Tomas Plekanec. He has found a way to
elevate his game to another level. What particularly impressed me this
past week was the number of times he was leading a 2-on-1. He never has
been the fleetest of foot out there but his smarts away from the puck has given
Montreal’s transition game a huge boost.
Jeers to…
1) The criticisms of player rotation.
Yes, many of you don’t like seeing Francis Bouillon or George Parros in the
lineup too often. However, they do need to play in somewhat of a regular
rotation. This team isn’t going to stay this healthy forever, it’s
important to keep everyone fresh. We saw last year how Davis Drewiske
struggled after sitting for so long, it would nice to avoid rust becoming an
issue for anyone.
2) Daniel Briere’s quick benchings.
Briere isn’t the type of player that’s going to crash and bang to send a message
to the coaches to play him more, that’s not his style and frankly given his
brittleness, I don’t think anyone wants him to. He plays one style and
it’s not right that he’s the one getting benched earlier and earlier in games if
he doesn’t produce in his first few shifts. They showed patience earlier
with him, they need to again.
3) Third period slow downs. In each of
the four wins this past week, the Habs were outshot in the 3rd. Granted,
shots don’t mean everything (just ask Toronto), but the Habs have become more
passive in the final frame recently. They don’t need to go all out, but
finding a better balance to avoid playing as passive is an improvement that
needs to be made.
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G | A | +/- | PIM | SH | TOI |
| 6 | Douglas Murray | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 4 | 41:16 |
| 8 | Brandon Prust | 4 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 10 | 3 | 43:32 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 4 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 12 | 73:55 |
| 14 | Tomas Plekanec | 4 | 2 | 2 | +4 | 0 | 6 | 80:44 |
| 15 | George Parros | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 1 | 5:24 |
| 17 | Rene Bourque | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 13:01 |
| 21 | Brian Gionta | 4 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 0 | 5 | 76:11 |
| 26 | Josh Gorges | 4 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 0 | 2 | 86:59 |
| 27 | Alex Galchenyuk | 4 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 0 | 6 | 52:02 |
| 32 | Travis Moen | 4 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 54:02 |
| 48 | Daniel Briere | 4 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 3 | 39:59 |
| 49 | Michael Bournival | 4 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 2 | 4 | 44:14 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 4 | 1 | 2 | E | 2 | 2 | 69:57 |
| 53 | Ryan White | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 0 | 2 | 22:42 |
| 55 | Francis Bouillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 | 14:13 |
| 61 | Raphael Diaz | 4 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 6 | 71:29 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 4 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 13 | 78:40 |
| 74 | Alexei Emelin | 4 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 2 | 4 | 69:58 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 4 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 7 | 101:42 |
| 79 | Andrei Markov | 4 | 0 | 2 | E | 0 | 5 | 105:05 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 4 | 1 | 1 | E | 2 | 3 | 60:27 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 30 | Peter Budaj | 1-0-0 | .912 | 2.88 |
| 31 | Carey Price | 3-0-0 | .943 | 1.67 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 1/1 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 1/1 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | SVS/ATT |
| 30 | Peter Budaj | 2/3 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Pacioretty/Plekanec (11)
Assists: P.K. Subban (20)
Points: P.K. Subban (24)
+/-: Andrei Markov (+13)
PIMS: George Parros (37)
Shots: P.K. Subban (94)
|
Schedule: |
December
10: Los Angeles vs Montreal
December 12: Montreal vs Philadelphia
December 14: Montreal vs NY Islanders
December 15: Florida vs Montreal
|
The Dog |
For the second straight week, the Bulldogs only
faced divisional opponents. Unlike last week, they were able to win more
than they lost, taking two of the three games to keep pace in the
tightly-contested North Division.
|
News and |
– Sven Andrighetto skated for the first time
earlier in the week. He still is likely to miss another week or two.
Steve Quailer and Justin Courtnall are both day-to-day while Christian Thomas
missed the last game with an undisclosed injury.
– With the depth up front getting a little low,
the Bulldogs signed Wheeling forward Scott Zurevinski to a 25-game tryout
contract.
– The club has reached the 25-game mark of the
season. This is noteworthy for Maxime Macenauer and Nathan McIver as their
first 25-game deals have now expired. In terms of merit, both players have
earned another 25-game extension.
– Greg Pateryn is now +13 on the season,
ranking him tied for 6th in the AHL.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Owens – Dumont – Blunden
Holland – St. Pierre – Nattinen
Tarnasky – Macenauer – Leblanc
Zurevinski – Fournier
Defence:
Beaulieu – Pateryn
Tinordi – Dietz
McIver – Ellis
Chouinard
|
Results: |
December 6:
Lake Erie 4, Hamilton 1
December 7:
Toronto 2, Hamilton 1
December
8:
Hamilton
6, Lake Erie 2
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 3 | 0 | 2 | +4 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Jarred Tinordi | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 5 | 7 |
| 7 | Darren Dietz | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | Nathan Beaulieu | 3 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 7 | 0 |
| 11 | Nathan McIver | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Maxime Macenauer | 3 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 5 | 4 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 3 | 6 |
| 19 | Scott Zurevinski | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 10 |
| 20 | Louis Leblanc | 3 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 5 | 2 |
| 22 | Drew Schiestel | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 8 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Jordan Owens | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 3 | 1 | 3 | +1 | 7 | 0 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 2 | 1 | E | 9 | 2 |
| 42 | Ben Duffy | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Morgan Ellis | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 5 |
| 47 | Stefan Fournier | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 12 |
| 55 | Stephen MacAulay | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 59 | Joel Chouinard | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Nick Tarnasky | 3 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 6 | 8 |
| 92 | Christian Thomas | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 4 | 2 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 3 | 2 | 2 | E | 7 | 2 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 2-0-0 | .943 | 1.50 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 0-1-0 | .862 | 4.00 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Nick Tarnasky (8)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (17)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (23)
+/-: Greg Pateryn (+13)
PIMS: Justin Courtnall (40)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (54)
|
Schedule: |
December
13: Toronto vs Hamilton
December 14: St. John’s vs Hamilton
|
Final |
I don’t typically get into too much ‘X and O’
talk on here but I want to make an exception in this column as there is one
element to the Habs’ defensive play that bugs me and it keeps creeping up.
Conventional hockey wisdom is that on a 2-on-1 defensively, the defender takes
away the pass and allows the goalie to square up and face the puck handler (and
eventual shooter). Montreal’s defencemen do the opposite, often leading to
an easy tap in for the opposition. This is a main commonality of most of
the transition goals allowed by the Canadiens this season and we saw it again
this past week.
Now, there are some benefits to the strategy.
For one, playing an aggressive style yields a better chance of forcing a
turnover. The defenceman playing closer to the puck handler gives him a
better angle with which to break up the pass. And, when pretty much every
other team defends it one way, doing the opposite may throw the opposition for a
loop once in a while.
Unfortunately, the benefits don’t outweigh the
drawbacks often enough to justify it. Playing the fundamentals isn’t the
thrilling way to defend but it’s the more effective way. In Carey Price,
the Habs have a goalie who is more than capable of playing the puck
carrier/shooter straight up. Don’t make it harder on him than it needs to
be.
