HabsWorld.net --
The Habs had a strong final week and head into the Olympic break on a
winning note as they won all three of their games by multiple goals. In
Hamilton, the week got off to a rough start but a winning weekend earned them a
pair of victories. With the trade deadline coming up quickly after the
break, my Final Thought discusses what Marc Bergevin’s top priority should be
when the trade freeze lifts.
|
Cheers |
Cheers to…
1) Ryan White. He looked energetic and
well-rested upon his return to the lineup while actually providing some offence
from the fourth line. He has made a strong case to stay in the lineup
after the Olympic break when the entire team (barring injury at the Olympics or
in practice) is back to full health.
2) The road penalty kill. The Habs head
into the break with the best road PK in the Eastern Conference. What’s
particularly impressive is that they are a full 3% ahead of the second best East
squad. With the stretch run soon upcoming, maintaining that level of
success would be a big boost to their playoff aspirations.
3) Rene Bourque, who has shown signs of life in
recent games. I also like how he adjusted after being moved onto the top
line against the Hurricanes. He’s playing physically and driving the net
regularly. Where was this the last few months?
Jeers to…
1) The fizzling PP duo of P.K. Subban and
Andrei Markov. Despite every man advantage running primarily through these
two (with a shoot first philosophy), they have combined for precisely zero goals
on the powerplay in 2014 (18 games). If the coaches needed any more reason
to modify the PP strategy, there it is.
2) Not playing Peter Budaj in this last week of
action, despite facing opponents where his presence would have been more than
justifiable. In a season where the Slovak netminder has outperformed his
play from last year, he actually is playing less than he did in 2012-13.
Knowing that Carey Price has a pretty good chance of seeing heavy minutes for
Canada, this was a wasted opportunity to give him a reprieve.
3) Max Pacioretty’s less than stellar entry
into the NHL record books. It’s one thing to miss two penalty shots but to
do so as badly as he did really makes it sting. That said, full credit to
him for deflecting attention from this by recording a hat trick.
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G | A | +/- | PIM | SH | TOI |
| 6 | Douglas Murray | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 1 | 46:51 |
| 8 | Brandon Prust | 3 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 2 | 7 | 49:31 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 3 | 0 | 4 | +5 | 2 | 6 | 48:47 |
| 14 | Tomas Plekanec | 3 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 8 | 6 | 58:41 |
| 17 | Rene Bourque | 3 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 0 | 7 | 46:24 |
| 21 | Brian Gionta | 3 | 1 | 0 | E | 0 | 7 | 58:46 |
| 22 | Dale Weise | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 4 | 37:15 |
| 26 | Josh Gorges | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 | 0 | 68:17 |
| 40 | Nathan Beaulieu | 3 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 0 | 2 | 36:24 |
| 48 | Daniel Briere | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 10 | 44:09 |
| 49 | Michael Bournival | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 16:55 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 3 | 3 | 2 | +4 | 2 | 4 | 47:32 |
| 53 | Ryan White | 3 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 0 | 9 | 33:33 |
| 55 | Francis Bouillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 | 14:02 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 3 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 0 | 6 | 37:01 |
| 74 | Alexei Emelin | 3 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 1 | 57:31 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 3 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 0 | 1 | 73:00 |
| 79 | Andrei Markov | 3 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 0 | 4 | 65:02 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 3 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 5 | 44:47 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 31 | Carey Price | 3-0-0 | .971 | 1.00 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Max Pacioretty (26)
Assists: P.K. Subban (31)
Points: P.K. Subban (39)
+/-: Gallagher/Plekanec (+9)
PIMS: Brandon Prust (105)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (181)
|
The Dog |
The week got off to a rough start for the
Bulldogs who lost both games early on, running their losing streak to five
straight. However, a pair of better efforts on the weekend resulted in
wins, giving Hamilton a 2-4 record on their road trip.
|
News and |
– Morgan Ellis (upper body) is the only injury
the Bulldogs have. He’s listed as day-to-day although as we’ve seen with
other players this year, that designation really doesn’t mean much of anything.
Three other players are playing with full cages though, Joel Chouinard, Darren
Dietz, and Louis Leblanc.
– Sven Andrighetto has cracked the top-20 in
rookie scoring after an 8-point week. He’s four points out of a top-10
spot, currently occupied by former Montreal prospect Danny Kristo.
– Patrick Holland is in quite the scoring funk.
His last goal came back on December 8th meaning he is scoreless in his last 23
contests.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Andrighetto – Macenauer – Thomas
Blunden – Dumont – Nattinen
Holland – St. Pierre – Leblanc
Tarnasky – Czarnik – Courtnall
Defence:
Tinordi – Pateryn
Beaulieu –
Chouinard
Schiestel – Dietz
|
Results: |
February 4:
Rockford 6, Hamilton 4
February 5:
Milwaukee 4, Hamilton 2
February 8:
Hamilton 5, Binghamton 4 (OT)
February 9:
Hamilton 4, Toronto 3
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 4 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 10 | 4 |
| 5 | Jarred Tinordi | 4 | 2 | 1 | -4 | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Darren Dietz | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 7 |
| 8 | Nathan Beaulieu | 1 | 0 | 2 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Justin Courtnall | 4 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 5 | 0 |
| 11 | Nathan McIver | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 14 |
| 12 | Maxime Macenauer | 4 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 7 | 8 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 4 | 2 | 1 | -4 | 13 | 0 |
| 20 | Louis Leblanc | 4 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 5 | 0 |
| 22 | Drew Schiestel | 4 | 0 | 0 | -6 | 6 | 15 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 6 | 4 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 4 | 3 | 5 | +1 | 12 | 0 |
| 36 | Myles Harvey | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 4 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 4 | 2 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 4 | 2 | 1 | -3 | 14 | 9 |
| 47 | Stefan Fournier | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 4 |
| 59 | Joel Chouinard | 4 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 1 | 2 |
| 70 | Robert Czarnik | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 74 | Nick Tarnasky | 4 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 6 | 10 |
| 92 | Christian Thomas | 4 | 2 | 1 | E | 17 | 2 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 4 | 0 | 5 | -3 | 4 | 2 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 1-1-0 | .896 | 3.40 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 1-1-0 | .822 | 4.00 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Sven Andrighetto (12)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (25)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (33)
+/-: Morgan Ellis (+11)
PIMS: Nick Tarnasky (95)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (117)
|
Schedule: |
February 15:
Texas vs Hamilton
|
Final |
As part of our Olympic break coverage, we’ll be
getting into some trade deadline previews with a look at who’s most likely to be
dealt and some players of note from other teams. Before starting to target
acquisitions though, the Habs first need to figure out what their top priority
is. Although the Habs just moved a d-man in Raphael Diaz and are an injury
away from playing two of Bouillon, Beaulieu, and Drewiske on a regular basis, I
think they need to focus up front.
Although Montreal didn’t have as many goal
scoring woes this past week, that was the exception to the norm. They
can’t score with any sort of consistency and as we saw last postseason, a quick
drought can be a teams’ downfall. While the return of Alex Galchenyuk
should help a little bit, it’s not fair to expect him to solve these woes; heck,
they existed when he was healthy. That’s why the target shouldn’t just be
adding depth this time around, a top-six forward needs to be the top priority.
The supporting cast on the Habs is fairly strong, one more offensive forward
would at least bring the offence around the league average. If Carey Price
continues to be on top of his game, average may just be enough for this team to
make some noise in the postseason…provided they can make it there of course.
With the Habs now on an extended break and the
Bulldogs playing just one game this week, the HW Recap will take the week off
and will next appear on February 23rd.
