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It was a big week for the Habs as a pair of
victories have not only given them a bigger cushion on a playoff spot but also a
small lead on a divisional seed.  In Hamilton, the Bulldogs put together a
couple of good games en route to a 2-1 week.  One area that Michel Therrien
has been criticized for is his rotation of certain players but my Final Thought
discusses why that needs to continue down the stretch.

Cheers
and Jeers

Cheers to…

1) Rene Bourque…and that’s something that
hasn’t been said often this year.  He responded precisely the way he needed
to after being benched for five games.  He played with energy, drove the
net, and was aggressive in shooting the puck.  The next step for him is
making that the norm and not the exception.

2) Freeing up Tomas Plekanec to play
offensively.  The Czech has been used as the checking centre all year and
that has really hurt his offensive game.  Even though he’s the best option
at that position defensively, he’s also one of the best options in the offensive
zone and using him primarily in the former role isn’t utilizing him properly. 
With Galchenyuk/Gallagher on his wings, he may be primed to get on a hot streak.

3) Fourth line production.  It hasn’t been
often that the fourth line has scored in a game and it is certainly extremely
rare when all three players on the bottom trio score in the same game which is
what happened against Colorado.  The line of Moen-Prust-Weise were playing
quite well prior to Prust’s injury.

Jeers to…

1) Powerplay strategies, once again.  Even
with Vanek in the lineup, the points are still being force-fed far too often. 
They have two strong combinations of forwards up front yet they’re almost always
the last resort.  Let them take more control.  If they do, they might
able to get away with resting Subban and Markov a bit so that they can play more
5-on-5.

2) Francis Bouillon’s ice time…also once
again.  I can understand to a degree why they play him with Subban (he’s a
better skater than Murray which is useful when Subban rushes and Murray can’t
handle big minutes) but there has to be a happy medium between having Bouillon
play and having him get 22+ minutes a night.  Personally, I think Weaver
can handle a bit more ice time than what he has seen so far.

3) The top line, who, until the last game
against Toronto seemed to be all about getting the puck to Vanek.  I know
that they wanted him to get one quickly but by doing so, they also neutralized
their biggest and most consistent scoring threat in Pacioretty.  What will
make this trio work is that there are two high end shooters.  They’d be
wise not to shoot themselves in the foot by focusing on just one at a time.

StatPack:

SKATERS


#

Player

GP
G A +/- PIM SH TOI
6 Douglas Murray 1 0 0 +2 0 0 10:13
8 Brandon Prust 1 1 1 +2 0 3 11:46
11 Brendan Gallagher 3 1 0 E 0 6 41:52
14 Tomas Plekanec 3 1 2 +1 6 5 59:34
17 Rene Bourque 1 1 1 +1 0 6 11:52
20 Thomas Vanek 3 4 0 -1 4 10 51:36
21 Brian Gionta 3 1 1 -1 0 4 47:25
22 Dale Weise 3 1 0 +3 5 4 27:18
24 Jarred Tinordi 2 0 0 E 0 2 31:35
27 Alex Galchenyuk 3 0 1 -1 0 7 42:35
32 Travis Moen 3 1 0 +3 0 3 40:19
43 Mike Weaver 3 0 2 +3 2 1 43:23
48 Daniel Briere 3 0 0 -1 0 5 35:37
51 David Desharnais 3 0 3 -1 2 2 50:35
53 Ryan White 1 0 0 E 2 1 9:04
55 Francis Bouillon 3 0 0 -3 0 0 66:04
67 Max Pacioretty 3 1 3 E 9 10 49:27
74 Alexei Emelin 3 0 2 +1 0 5 60:47
76 P.K. Subban 3 0 2 -2 4 9 75:34
79 Andrei Markov 3 0 2 +1 0 8 73:08
81 Lars Eller 3 0 0 -2 0 8 35:39

GOALIES


#

Player

Record

SV%

GAA
31 Carey Price 2-1-0 .913 3.03

Scoring
Leaders:

Goals: Max Pacioretty (31)
Assists: P.K. Subban (40)
Points: Thomas Vanek (58)
+/-: Tomas Plekanec (+11)
PIMS: Brandon Prust (121)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (234)

News and
Notes:

– It appears Sylvain Lefebvre is following
Michel Therrien’s lead.  After sitting Jordan Owens for six weeks, he’s now
a regular in the lineup and is surprisingly taking the spot of Patrick Holland.

– Joonas Nattinen is another player in a huge
offensive slump.  He has just one goal in his last 32 games.

– Gabriel Dumont has equalled his career-high
in goals from last year with 16.

– Sven Andrighetto was deployed at centre for
the first time in his pro career.

– Lines from the most recent game:

Forwards:

Bournival – Andrighetto – Thomas
Blunden – St. Pierre – Dumont
Tarnasky – Macenauer – Leblanc
Courtnall – Nattinen – Owens

Defence:

Drewiske – Beaulieu
Chouinard – Pateryn
Schiestel – Ellis

Results:

March 19:

Hamilton 3, Abbotsford 1

March 21:

Hamilton 4, Milwaukee 2

March 22:

Abbotsford 5, Hamilton 1

StatPack:

SKATERS


#

Player

GP

G

A

+/-

SH

PIMS
2 Greg Pateryn 2 1 1 -1 4 0
4 Davis Drewiske 3 0 0 -2 3 4
8 Nathan Beaulieu 3 1 1 -2 7 6
9 Justin Courtnall 3 0 0 E 3 2
11 Nathan McIver 1 0 0 +1 2 7
12 Maxime Macenauer 3 0 0 -1 5 4
14 Michael Blunden 3 1 0 -1 12 0
18 Michael Bournival 3 2 1 +1 12 2
20 Louis Leblanc 3 0 0 E 6 2
22 Drew Schiestel 3 0 0 E 1 2
23 Joonas Nattinen 3 0 0 -1 2 0
26 Jordan Owens 3 0 0 -2 10 0
27 Sven Andrighetto 3 0 2 E 9 0
40 Gabriel Dumont 3 1 1 E 7 5
44 Morgan Ellis 3 0 0 E 1 0
59 Joel Chouinard 3 0 2 E 0 0
74 Nick Tarnasky 3 1 0 +1 6 5
92 Christian Thomas 3 1 1 -1 10 0
93 Martin St. Pierre 3 0 2 -1 3 0

GOALIES


#

Player

Record

SV%

GAA
34 Dustin Tokarski 2-1-0 .914 2.63
41 Devan Dubnyk 0-0-0 1.000 0.00

Scoring
Leaders:

Goals: Gabriel Dumont (16)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (33)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (43)
+/-: Morgan Ellis (+7)
PIMS: Nick Tarnasky (128)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (163)

Schedule:

March 25: Hamilton
vs Texas
March 28: Hamilton vs San Antonio
March 29: Hamilton vs Texas
March 30: Hamilton vs San Antonio

Final
Thought

One of the comments I’ve seen a lot lately is
‘why is so-and-so playing?  He’s useless and shouldn’t play the rest of the
year.’  In recent weeks, that has been applied in particular to Rene
Bourque, Douglas Murray, and Francis Bouillon with a few not-so-honourable
mentions in between.  I, for one, have no problem with shuffling players in
and out…as long as their ice time is realistic and I’m sure you can figure out
who I’m referring to there.

One thing the Habs have right now is depth. 
Even with injuries to Gorges, Bournival (who just now is ready to return), and
Prust, there are a few scratches nightly.  In order for that depth to be
best utilized, everyone needs to stay fresh.  Situations like Bouillon’s
where he sits for a month at a time can’t happen now.

When the playoffs come, the bumps and bruises
come fast and furious, see last year for a recent example.  Rather than
having some players play through them, inserting healthy and fresh options is a
better way to go.  They can’t be fresh if they’re not playing, even if it’s
just every now and then.

I know we all want to see some consistency with
the lines and the Habs can still have that for the most part.  For many of
the in-and-out players, only the bottom line and defence pairing will be
affected.  Down the stretch, use those last few lineup spots to keep
everyone in game shape and make final evaluations as to what the ‘A’ lineup will
be come playoff time (or if they’re in the fight at the end, the group that will
be used to get them there).  It may lead to a bit of frustration seeing
certain players in uniform but the pros of doing so far outweigh the cons.