HabsWorld.net --
The Habs failed to build off their momentum
last week, only managing 3 of a possible 8 points and as a result, the Eastern
standings are a little tighter now. The Bulldogs, despite a rapidly
depleting roster, continued their hot stretch out West, winning 3 of 4.
Like last week, I’ve broken down the schedules for each team fighting for a
playoff spot (and there is some good news), while the Final Thought looks at why
it’s too early to be proclaiming Ryan O’Byrne to be better than a recently
departed former first rounder. This plus the Power Rankings, in the Recap.
|
Power |
The PPR’s are on a cumulative basis with
some bias towards the current week. The prev. column represents the last
ranking for the player; players not on last week’s list will be slotted back
where they were when returning from injury/benching/recall (italicized numbers).
Thus, multiple players may have the same previous ranking.
Rk |
Player |
Prev. |
Comments |
1 |
Brian Gionta |
1 | A quiet week, but still managed to account for 25% of the team’s goals. |
| 2 | Tomas Plekanec | 2 | Had a point in each game as he aims to rediscover his early season play. |
3 |
Mike Cammalleri | 1 | Clearly isn’t himself but looked better on Saturday against the Devils. |
| 4 | Jaroslav Halak | 3 | Another quality week though showed some kinks in the armour at the end. |
5 |
Carey Price |
4 |
A victim of the team folding in front of him, was stellar against Buffalo. |
| 6 | Scott Gomez | 4 | The hustle was there but aside from two assists, the production wasn’t. |
7 |
Andrei Markov | 6 | Looks uncomfortable on the PP now that Bergeron is back in the lineup. |
| 8 | Benoit Pouliot | 5 | Some real dumb decisions out there, his benching at times was justified. |
9 |
Josh Gorges | 7 | Steady as usual and thankfully no more shifts on the powerplay. |
| 10 | Andrei Kostitsyn | 14 | I guess Cammalleri really was the key to his success, 3 goals this week. |
11 |
Roman Hamrlik | 10 | Being overused early in the season is really starting to hurt now. |
| 12 | Dominic Moore | 8 | Though the offence has dried up, at least he can still help on the draw. |
13 |
Sergei Kostitsyn | 9 | I suppose asking for hustle for longer than 2 weeks is asking too much. |
| 14 | Ryan O’Byrne | 13 | Continues to play steady, more on him in the Final Thought. |
15 |
Glen Metropolit | 11 | He can surely benefit from some time off, hopefully not too long of a break. |
| 16 | Travis Moen | 16 | All the credit in the world for only missing 1 game with that bad a cut. |
17 |
Marc-Andre Bergeron | 12 | Needs to find a way to get his shot off, he’s all but useless otherwise. |
| 18 | Mathieu Darche | 12 | Not generating many chances lately, even before the benching. |
| 19 | Jaroslav Spacek | 20 | It may be worthwhile to give him a night off and play Bergeron on D. |
| 20 | Hal Gill | 18 | I saw him attempting some stretch passes this week…bad idea. |
| 21 | Tom Pyatt | 17 | Time to get him back in Hamilton before his offence permanently dries. |
| 22 | Maxim Lapierre | 19 | Didn’t respond as well as I thought he would after being a healthy scratch. |
Dropped from the rankings: None – 3 players
came back though which means nearly everyone dropped a few spots accordingly.
|
The Dog |
The Western trip started off a little rough but
the Bulldogs rebounded to take 3 of 4, reducing their magic number to clinch the
conference to single digits.
|
Results: |
| March 23 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0/4 | 26 |
| Manitoba | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1/5 | 25 |
Attendance: 6,909
3 Stars: 1) Rosa – MTB 2) Glumac – HAM 3) Stastny – MTB
| March 24 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2/9 | 27 |
| Manitoba | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/7 | 17 |
Attendance: 7,769
3 Stars: 1) Trotter – HAM 2) Russell – HAM 3) Desharnais –
HAM
| March 26 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0/4 | 28 |
| Abbotsford | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1/5 | 20 |
Attendance: 3,627
3 Stars: 1) Benoit – HAM 2) Cunning – ABB 3) Shantz – ABB
| March 27 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3/9 | 25 |
| Abbotsford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/5 | 21 |
Attendance: 4,509
3 Stars: 1) Desharnais – HAM 2) Trotter – HAM 3)
Desjardins – HAM
|
Stats: |
Hunter Bishop made his Hamilton debut but was
held pointless this week. Also please note that the PIM total for Ryan
White is not a typo.
|
SKATERS |
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
| 4 | Michael Vernace | 4 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | Alex Henry | 4 | 0 | 2 | +4 | 1 | 18 |
| 6 | Chad Anderson | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Yannick Weber | 4 | 1 | 1 | E | 8 | 2 |
| 8 | Maxime Lacroix | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | J.T. Wyman | 4 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 6 | 2 |
| 12 | Andrew Conboy | 4 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 8 | 7 |
| 15 | Mike Glumac | 4 | 3 | 0 | +5 | 12 | 8 |
| 18 | Dany Masse | 4 | 1 | 0 | E | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | Brock Trotter | 4 | 3 | 3 | +3 | 10 | 2 |
| 20 | Ryan Russell | 3 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | Max Pacioretty | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | Ryan White | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 4 | 38 |
| 26 | Grant Stevenson | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 7 | 4 |
| 28 | Aaron Palushaj | 4 | 1 | 2 | +5 | 3 | 2 |
| 32 | Frederic St. Denis | 4 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 4 | 2 |
| 42 | Hunter Bishop | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 7 | 0 |
| 44 | Shawn Belle | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 4 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 4 | 2 | 6 | +5 | 14 | 2 |
| 61 | Andre Benoit | 4 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 | 0 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 4 | 1 | 1 | +4 | 4 | 6 |
|
GOALIES |
| # | Player | Record | SV% | GAA |
| 1 | Curtis Sanford | 1-1-0 | .900 | 2.52 |
| 30 | Cedrick Desjardins | 2-0-0 | .962 | 0.72 |
|
Leaders: |
Goals: Brock Trotter (34)
Assists: David Desharnais (49)
Points: Desharnais/Trotter (73)
+/-: P.K. Subban (+43)
PIMS: Ryan White (171)
Shots: Mike Glumac (190)
|
This Week: |
April 1:
Toronto vs Hamilton
April 3: Rochester vs Hamilton
April 4: Manitoba vs Hamilton
|
Schedule |
The scoreboard watching continues as the race
heats up in the Eastern
Conference playoff race. Who are the Habs’ opponents facing this week?
Rk |
Team |
PTS |
GP |
Matchups |
APP |
| 5 | Ottawa |
87 | 76 | @ WSH, vs CAR, @ NYI |
0.560 |
| 6 | Philadelphia | 82 | 76 | @ NYI, vs MTL, vs DET | 0.542 |
| 7 | Montreal | 82 |
76 |
vs CAR, @ PHI, vs BUF |
0.544 |
| 8 | Boston | 80 | 74 | vs BUF, @ NJ, vs FLA, @ TOR | 0.545 |
| 9 | Atlanta | 78 | 75 | vs CAR, @ TOR, @ WSH, @ PIT |
0.570 |
| 10 | New York (R) | 76 | 75 | @ NYI, @ TB, @ FLA | 0.480 |
As of games played through Sunday, March 28.
APP = Average points percentage (of opponents); note that this does not take
home and away records into consideration. Theoretically, the higher
the APP, the tougher the opponents.
|
Final |
If there’s one thing Hab fans are famous for,
it’s that we have really short memories. Look at Maxim Lapierre for
example, he was a core piece last year and now people want to run him out of
town this season. It’s even worse with Ryan O’Byrne – fans wanted him gone
earlier this season and now talks have started about him being better
than Mike Komisarek? Give me a break. As easy as it is to trash
Komisarek for struggling last year and then jumping ship to the Leafs, but
rather than only remember the short-term, do consider that he was a core piece
for this team for several seasons.
Komisarek played 4 full seasons (plus some part ones) with Montreal, O’Byrne is
in his first…and he’s been hurt for a good chunk of the year (though who
hasn’t this season?) Could he wind up being better? Perhaps, but
he’s at least 200 games away from me even considering the notion, they need to
have played at least a similar number of games to really give it legitimate
consideration. Fans crucify players for not living up to all too lofty
expectations, let’s actually do the right thing for once and let things play out
without expecting a whole lot from him. He’s played better of late, enjoy
it and leave it at that.
If you have a question regarding this article or the
capsheet,
please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected].
