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It was a reversal of recent fortune for the
Habs.  They managed to score some goals but the defence and goaltending
struggled, resulting in a pair of OT losses sandwiching a win.  The same
can’t be said for Hamilton who won a pair of road games against the Western
Conference’s top squad.  With the World Juniors now complete, my Final
Thought hands out some awards to Montreal’s participating prospects.

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers to…

1) Streak snapping.  Lars Eller picked up
his first goal in eleven games while Brian Gionta tallied his first in thirteen. 
It’s not a coincidence that as these guys snap their droughts that the offence
in general does as well.  The Habs are an attack by committee and finally,
there is more than one line scoring.

2) Daniel Briere.  This one is pretty much
obvious but after everything that has happened from the benchings to the trade
rumours to the suggestions that he and the coach aren’t on the same page, he put
forth his best effort of the year when he got back in the lineup.  There’s
not much more you can ask for.

3) Alexei Emelin, which, given his recent
struggles, may come as a surprise.  The Habs’ top hitter has ascended to
the team lead in that category in just 22 games.  His hit per game pace is
just below his 2011-12 campaign where he was among the NHL’s best in hits per
game.  He may be struggling overall but at least that element is as strong
as always.

Jeers to…

1) Carey Price.  It’s not that he had a
few bad nights – it happens – but for the first time all year, he looked
rattled.  His focus seemed off and it was at those times that Carolina and
Dallas got back in the game.  To his credit he played better down the
stretch against the Sens but thirteen goals allowed in a little over seven
periods is rough.

2) The defence, which looks completely lost
once again in their own end.  Blueliners often find themselves guarding
nothing but air and that too played a big role in why the Habs only won one game
despite scoring thirteen goals in three games.  They need to get back to
the basics which means a little less flash and dash until their D-zone play
straightens out.

3) Rene Bourque’s road woes.  The
enigmatic winger has now gone fifteen straight road games without a point. 
That’s really a hard feat to accomplish but nonetheless that’s unacceptable. 
He needs to find a way to channel some of his energy for matchups away from the
Bell Centre.  If not, he may be viewing some of those contests from the
press box.

StatPack:

SKATERS

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	PIM	SH	TOI
6	Douglas Murray	2	0	2	+1	0	2	30:59
8	Brandon Prust	3	0	0	-1	0	1	35:18
11	Brendan Gallagher	3	1	1	+2	6	4	52:08
14	Tomas Plekanec	3	0	2	+1	4	8	62:45
17	Rene Bourque	3	0	0	-1	2	4	40:58
21	Brian Gionta	3	1	0	+2	0	8	50:21
26	Josh Gorges	3	0	0	+2	4	1	59:12
27	Alex Galchenyuk	3	0	1	-2	4	2	33:32
32	Travis Moen	3	0	2	+1	5	4	32:17
48	Daniel Briere	1	2	1	+2	0	4	13:08
49	Michael Bournival	3	0	0	-1	0	1	19:59
51	David Desharnais	3	1	4	+1	2	3	55:39
53	Ryan White	2	0	0	E	5	3	13:36
55	Francis Bouillon	3	0	0	E	0	2	52:37
61	Raphael Diaz	2	0	0	E	0	2	39:12
67	Max Pacioretty	3	4	2	+2	2	13	60:15
74	Alexei Emelin	2	0	0	-3	2	1	33:18
76	P.K. Subban	3	2	4	+4	2	9	78:15
79	Andrei Markov	3	0	2	E	2	2	75:03
81	Lars Eller	3	2	0	E	2	8	46:47

GOALIES

#	Player	Record	SV%	GAA
31	Carey Price	1-0-2	.880	4.23

Scoring Leaders:

Goals: Max Pacioretty (19)
Assists: P.K. Subban (26)
Points: P.K. Subban (33)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+13)
PIMS: Brandon Prust (44)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (128)

Schedule:

January 6: Florida vs Montreal
January 8: Montreal vs Philadelphia
January 11: Chicago vs Montreal

The Dog Pound

Facing a conference leader is a tough task for
any team.  The Bulldogs got to do so twice in a 24 hour span this past week
and to their credit, they won both games to keep pace in the tightly-contested
Western Conference.

News and Notes:

– Steve Quailer, Drew Schiestel, and Nathan
McIver remain out of the lineup with upper body injuries.  They’re listed
as day-to-day and have been so for several weeks now.

– Hamilton has released Stephen MacAulay at his
request.  MacAulay

alleges that the Habs gave him a verbal commitment to give him an
entry-level deal but have failed to do so.  He will now attend Saint Mary’s
and play CIS hockey.

– Louis Leblanc has now surpassed his point
total from last season…in 30 fewer games. 

– Lines from the most recent game:

Forwards:

Holland – St. Pierre – Andrighetto
Tarnasky – Dumont – Blunden
Leblanc – Macenauer – Thomas
Courtnall – Nattinen – Fournier

Defence:

Tinordi – Pateryn
Beaulieu – Ellis
Chouinard – Dietz

Results:

January 3:

Hamilton 2, Abbotsford 1
January 4:

Hamilton 3, Abbotsford 1

StatPack:

SKATERS

#	Player	GP	G	A	+/-	SH	PIMS
2	Greg Pateryn	2	0	0	E	3	0
5	Jarred Tinordi	2	0	0	-1	2	2
7	Darren Dietz	2	0	0	+2	1	2
8	Nathan Beaulieu	2	0	2	+2	6	0
9	Justin Courtnall	2	1	0	E	1	0
12	Maxime Macenauer	2	1	0	+2	1	2
14	Michael Blunden	2	0	1	+1	2	5
20	Louis Leblanc	2	0	1	+1	7	2
23	Joonas Nattinen	2	0	1	E	1	0
27	Sven Andrighetto	2	0	1	E	2	2
37	Patrick Holland	2	0	1	+1	0	0
40	Gabriel Dumont	2	2	0	+1	6	2
44	Morgan Ellis	2	0	0	+2	2	2
47	Stefan Fournier	2	0	0	E	3	4
59	Joel Chouinard	2	0	0	+1	2	0
74	Nick Tarnasky	2	0	1	+1	2	0
92	Christian Thomas	2	1	0	+1	4	0
93	Martin St. Pierre	2	0	0	E	4	0

GOALIES

#	Player	Record	SV%	GAA
34	Dustin Tokarski	2-0-0	.964	1.00

Scoring Leaders:

Goals: Louis Leblanc (9)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (18)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (25)
+/-: Greg Pateryn (+11)
PIMS: Stefan Fournier (64)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (83)

Schedule:

January 10:
Hamilton vs Rochester
January 11: Rochester vs Hamilton
January 12: Iowa vs Hamilton

Final Thought

With the World Juniors now complete, here are
my ‘awards’ to Montreal’s prospects:

Top Performance: Martin Reway
(Slovakia): The small forward was the catalyst for the Slovaks all tournament
long and showed that his skill-set is much better than that of a late 4th
rounder.  Just think, he’s eligible to return next year for an encore.

Most Disappointing: Sebastian Collberg
(Sweden): On a team loaded with talent, it seemed too often that Collberg was
content with being a secondary part of the team.  He wasn’t assertive and
was too perimeter-oriented.  He clearly wasn’t playing with much confidence
in the tournament.

Unsung Hero: Artturi Lehkonen (Finland):
The offensive numbers aren’t gaudy by any stretch but he just played smart
games.  I knew Lehkonen had some offensive skills but I was most impressed
with his defensive and penalty kill efforts.  He was a go-to guy in all
situations which is always a compliment to a players’ game.

Most NHL Ready: Jacob De la Rose
(Sweden): There’s no flash to his game, he’s simply effective.  His puck
skills on the boards and willingness to get to the dirty areas (especially on
the powerplay) are both areas that the Habs need a lot of help.  On that
alone he could probably be an effective 4th liner in Montreal though obviously
more development time is needed, particularly for his offensive game