HabsWorld.net --
The week got off to a good start for the Habs
but they faltered down the stretch resulting in a 2-1-1 week. Things were
much worse in Hamilton as the Bulldogs lost a pair of road games and were only
able to muster up a single goal in the process. Brian Gionta has received
a lot of criticism this year, my Final Thought looks at why fans shouldn’t be
too quick to jump on him.
|
Cheers |
Cheers to…
1) Daniel Briere. Not only did he manage
to produce despite limited ice time but he has refrained from voicing his
frustrations with his playing time publicly. If he keeps this up, one
would think he’ll get a bit longer of a leash sooner than later from Michel
Therrien.
2) Peter Budaj, for putting many fears to rest.
No one really understood why he got the start in Boston and many were fearful
that the Habs were looking at it as a throwaway game and were just keeping Carey
Price ready for the weekend. Instead, despite not getting a start in three
weeks, Budaj came in and completely shut down Boston. That should serve as
a confidence booster for the next time he gets the start.
3) Brendan Gallagher, who just keeps going to
the crease despite taking a beating pretty much every night. Earlier in
the year he was shying away for a bit and that coincided with his slump.
Now, he has been back to his aggressive ways and good things have happened for
him, even if he isn’t getting the calls.
Jeers to…
1) Trading while a players’ value is at a low.
With all due respect to Dale Weise, I think most acknowledge that Raphael Diaz
is a better player. Sitting Diaz for eight games prior to the trade
certainly helped lower his value and that’s not good asset management.
2) Brandon Prust, who for the second straight
week went too far, this time with the Ben Bishop incident. Say what you
have to say and skate away, there was no need to instigate further than that.
When Ryan White started going over the edge last year we saw the Habs reign him
in, it may be time to do so with Prust as right now, he’s a liability to the
team when he’s getting 50 PIMS in a two week span.
3) Lars Eller, whose pointless drought has now
matched his career worst 14 games. With the injuries up front he’ll stay
in the lineup for now but if he doesn’t get it going soon, a game or two off may
be on the horizon.
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G | A | +/- | PIM | SH | TOI |
| 6 | Douglas Murray | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 3 | 65:38 |
| 8 | Brandon Prust | 4 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 9 | 4 | 53:44 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 4 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 6 | 13 | 69:01 |
| 14 | Tomas Plekanec | 4 | 0 | 2 | E | 0 | 12 | 82:46 |
| 15 | George Parros | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 14 | 1 | 14:52 |
| 17 | Rene Bourque | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 9 | 38:30 |
| 21 | Brian Gionta | 4 | 2 | 1 | E | 0 | 10 | 76:09 |
| 26 | Josh Gorges | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 3 | 90:58 |
| 32 | Travis Moen | 4 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 1 | 43:54 |
| 40 | Nathan Beaulieu | 4 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 6 | 57:59 |
| 48 | Daniel Briere | 4 | 2 | 1 | +3 | 4 | 4 | 40:02 |
| 49 | Michael Bournival | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 4 | 35:15 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 4 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 2 | 8 | 73:32 |
| 60 | Christian Thomas | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 14:22 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 4 | 2 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 16 | 74:55 |
| 74 | Alexei Emelin | 4 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 0 | 8 | 83:04 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 4 | 0 | 1 | E | 4 | 8 | 93:34 |
| 79 | Andrei Markov | 4 | 0 | 3 | +2 | 2 | 5 | 99:03 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 4 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 7 | 64:11 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 30 | Peter Budaj | 1-0-0 | .971 | 1.00 |
| 31 | Carey Price | 1-1-1 | .963 | 1.31 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Max Pacioretty (23)
Assists: P.K. Subban (29)
Points: P.K. Subban (37)
+/-: Gorges/Plekanec (+6)
PIMS: Brandon Prust (103)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (175)
|
Schedule: |
February 4: Calgary vs Montreal
February 6: Vancouver vs Montreal
February 8: Montreal vs Carolina
|
The Dog |
This was a week to forget for the Bulldogs.
The highlight of their two games was that they managed to score a goal.
The drought has returned.
|
News and |
– Dustin Tokarski was named as a replacement
player to the AHL All-Star team that will take on SHL team Farjestad (featuring
Magnus Nygren) later this month.
– With Morgan Ellis nursing an upper-body
injury, the Bulldogs signed Wheeling d-man Myles Harvey to a PTO.
– Nick Tarnasky has company in the bottom 30 of
the AHL’s +/- rankings as leading point-getter Martin St. Pierre has joined him
with a -11 rating. They are the only two players who don’t crack the top
1,000 in that category.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Holland – Macenauer – Andrighetto
Tarnasky – St. Pierre – Leblanc
Courtnall – Dumont – Blunden
Owens – Nattinen – Fournier
Defence:
Tinordi – Pateryn
Chouinard – Dietz
Schiestel – Harvey
|
Results: |
January 31:
Abbotsford 6, Hamilton 0
February 1:
Abbotsford 4, Hamilton 1
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 2 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | Jarred Tinordi | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | Darren Dietz | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Justin Courtnall | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 4 |
| 11 | Nathan McIver | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Maxime Macenauer | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 6 | 2 |
| 20 | Louis Leblanc | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 5 | 0 |
| 22 | Drew Schiestel | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 0 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Jordan Owens | 2 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 1 | 5 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 5 | 2 |
| 36 | Myles Harvey | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 7 | 0 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 7 |
| 47 | Stefan Fournier | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 59 | Joel Chouinard | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 74 | Nick Tarnasky | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 7 | 2 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 2 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 4 | 4 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 29 | Robert Mayer | 0-1-0 | .897 | 3.09 |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 0-1-0 | .786 | 6.00 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Andrighetto/Dumont/Leblanc/Tarnasky (9)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (20)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (28)
+/-: Morgan Ellis (+11)
PIMS: Nick Tarnasky (85)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (103)
|
Schedule: |
February 4:
Hamilton vs Rockford
February 5: Hamilton vs Milwaukee
February 8: Hamilton vs Binghamton
February 9: Hamilton vs Toronto
|
Final |
Of the players to receive a lot of criticism
this season, captain Brian Gionta is surprisingly right up there. Yes,
he’s small and slowing down and his shot isn’t what it once was but that doesn’t
mean that he is completely and utterly useless as some like to suggest. He
is still one of only a few players that can be trusted in all situations at any
point in the game while by all accounts, there don’t appear to be any issues
with him in the dressing room. Is he worth the $5 million contract that he
is currently receiving? Nope, but that was to be expected when the deal
was signed, most acknowledged it was probably a year too long. The last
three seasons though, he has played around a 40-45 point pace and that’s exactly
where he is right now. Gionta isn’t what he once was but he is still an
important player for the team and certainly doesn’t belong in the same category
as others perceived to be dragging the team down.
