HabsWorld.net -- 

Three more games, three more wins for the Habs who remain undefeated and have won a franchise record nine straight to start the year.  Here’s a look back at the week that was for the Canadiens and the IceCaps as well as a closer look at the situation that has Martin Reway’s immediate future with his team in the Czech Republic in question.

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers to…

1) Andrei Markov’s career night.  Getting five points in a game is an accomplishment for anyone.  Doing so as a 36 year old defenceman is even more impressive.  Even cooler than all that was that his fifth point brought him to 500 career regular season points in a Montreal uniform, a milestone achieved by just two other Habs’ blueliners.  Getting to 500 is no small feat.  Doing so with a five point game really makes it a night to remember.

2) Not allowing a single first period goal all season through nine games.  That’s an NHL record.  Getting off to good starts is always a good recipe for success and being this stingy early on has allowed the Habs to get off to quick starts and play with the lead on a regular basis.

3) Front line production.  The trio of Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher have been dominant, combining for 16 goals and 14 assists through nine games.  Not bad for a line that consists of two players who struggled in the preseason and one just coming back from injury.

Jeers to…

1) Allowing way too many shots in these last three games.  Montreal coughed up a total of 126 shots this past week, an average of 42 per game.  I know they don’t mind quantity as long as there aren’t many quality shots but that type of volume, low quality shots or not, can wear a goalie down.

2) Brian Flynn’s target on his back.  We’re three weeks in and he has taken a beating thus far.  What did he do to draw the ire of the opponents so much? 

3) Nathan Beaulieu’s ‘slow-ish’ start.  I don’t think he has played terribly by any stretch but after his preseason performance, I was hoping he’d be more of an impact player at the start of the regular season.  With it being likely that all the scratches will draw in once the Habs lose a game, it seems as if Beaulieu may be the one to cede his spot to Jarred Tinordi.

StatPack

Skaters:

# Player GP G A +/- PIMS SOG TOI
11 Brendan Gallagher 3 2 2 +3 0 8 49:16
13 Alexander Semin 3 1 0 -1 2 5 38:39
14 Tomas Plekanec 3 0 5 +4 0 2 55:16
15 Tomas Fleischmann 3 0 2 +3 2 5 46:27
17 Torrey Mitchell 3 2 0 -1 0 6 38:57
21 Devante Smith-Pelly 3 0 1 +1 2 5 35:22
22 Dale Weise 3 2 1 +3 2 4 40:01
26 Jeff Petry 3 0 0 +3 2 4 68:14
27 Alex Galchenyuk 3 0 2 -1 0 6 42:41
28 Nathan Beaulieu 3 0 0 E 7 3 38:14
32 Brian Flynn 3 0 0 +1 0 2 39:23
51 David Desharnais 3 1 1 +3 0 2 40:11
67 Max Pacioretty 3 3 2 +4 0 12 52:51
74 Alexei Emelin 3 0 0 +2 4 1 62:32
76 P.K. Subban 3 1 5 +4 4 8 73:37
77 Tom Gilbert 3 0 0 +2 2 2 48:09
79 Andrei Markov 3 1 5 +3 2 6 70:23
81 Lars Eller 3 1 1 -1 2 8 41:30

Goalies:

# Player Record GAA SV% SO
31 Carey Price 2-0-0 1.50 .967 1
39 Mike Condon 1-0-0 2.01 .944 0

Team Leaders:

Goals: Max Pacioretty (7)
Assists: Markov/Subban (9) (Tied for league lead)
Points: Max Pacioretty (11)
+/-: Max Pacioretty (+12) (League leader)
PIMS: Torrey Mitchell (18)
Shots: Max Pacioretty (36)

IceCaps Corner

The IceCaps finished up a six game home stand by collecting six points in their four games, two victories and two extra time losses.

News and Notes:

– Josiah Didier and Mark MacMillan were activated off the IR assigned to Brampton of the ECHL.  Tim Bozon, Ryan Johnston, and Brandon McNally remain injured with St. John’s.

– With their shootout on Sunday, the IceCaps matched the number of shootouts that the Bulldogs played in last season. 

– D Dalton Thrower is still waiting to make his professional debut.  He has been scratched in every game so far this year.

– Lines from the most recent game:

Forwards:

Andrighetto – Hudon – Holloway
Carr – McCarron – Thomas
de la Rose – Dumont – Scherbak
Crisp – Eisenschmid – Gregoire

Defence:

Barberio – Ellis
Hanley – Dietz
Bennett – Lernout

Results:

October 20: Binghamton 5, St. John’s 4 (OT)
October 21: St. John’s 3, Binghamton 2
October 24: St. John’s 5, Bridgeport 4
October 25: Bridgeport 3, St. John’s 2 (SO)

StatPack

Skaters:

# Player GP G A +/- SOG PIMS
4 Morgan Ellis 4 0 1 +1 8 0
7 Darren Dietz 4 1 3 +2 3 2
8 Mark Barberio 4 1 2 +1 7 9
9 Mac Bennett 4 1 0 +2 4 0
10 Charles Hudon 4 1 2 +4 9 8
11 Daniel Carr 4 3 1 E 9 0
14 Brett Lernout 4 0 0 E 1 2
15 Joel Hanley 4 0 1 +1 3 0
17 Nikita Scherbak 4 1 1 -2 5 4
19 Christian Thomas 4 1 3 +1 7 0
20 Jacob de la Rose 4 0 1 +2 3 2
21 Bud Holloway 4 2 2 +3 6 0
23 Connor Crisp 4 0 0 -1 3 5
25 Michael McCarron 4 1 2 E 13 12
27 Sven Andrighetto 4 0 3 +3 8 0
37 Jeremy Gregoire 4 0 0 -1 1 7
38 Markus Eisenschmid 4 0 0 E 0 0
40 Gabriel Dumont 4 2 1 +1 12 7

Goalies:

# Player Record GAA SV% SO
31 Zach Fucale 2-0-0 3.00 .920 0
34 Dustin Tokarski 0-0-2 3.36 .905 0

Shootout – Skaters:

# Player G/ATT
10 Charles Hudon 1/1
11 Daniel Carr 0/1
17 Nikita Scherbak 0/1
19 Christian Thomas 1/1
21 Bud Holloway 0/1
25 Michael McCarron 0/1
27 Sven Andrighetto 0/1
38 Markus Eisenschmid 0/1
40 Gabriel Dumont 1/1

Shootout – Goalies:

# Player SVS/SF
34 Dustin Tokarski 5/9

Team Leaders:

Goals: Holloway/McCarron/Thomas (4)
Assists: Holloway/Hudon (6)
Points: Bud Holloway (10)
+/-: Charles Hudon (+8)
PIMS: Connor Crisp (20)
Shots: Bud Holloway (23)

Upcoming Schedule:

October 28: St. John’s vs Lehigh Valley
October 30: St. John’s vs Lehigh Valley
October 31: St. John’s vs Hershey

Final Thought

The news that Martin Reway, the leading scorer for Sparta Praha, was assigned to a lower level team came as a surprise to many earlier this past week.  For those who aren’t entirely familiar with the story, the reports are that Reway, unhappy with his ice time, had his agent request a transfer to another team.  This came just days after Reway noted he was in extension talks with them.  Instead of obliging his trade request, Sparta Praha demoted him down a level.  Unfortunately, this is yet another questionable decision made by the Canadiens’ prospect.

A cursory glance at his ice time suggests that Reway is justified in being concerned with his deployment.  Some games he has played plenty while others he has hardly seen the ice; his lowest TOI is just 6:31 while his high comes in at 20:11.  That’s puzzling.  We can only speculate as to the reason why Sparta used him as they did but undoubtedly there is one.  They wouldn’t just choose to do that to their leading scorer for no good reason.  I would hope that this reasoning had been communicated to Reway at some point as well.

What’s particularly concerning is the time between the reported contract talks and the trade request, specifically the minimal time between each one.  It reads from the outside as since he didn’t get his way, he wants out.  That’s never a good label to have as a young player, especially one who has a history of clashing with coaches wherever he goes. 

Reway’s agent, Michal Sivek, is also becoming cause for concern.  As a former player (and a brief NHL’er, at that), he should know that this continued pattern of issues wherever his client goes is only hurting Reway, not helping him.  While an agents’ role is to represent his clients’ wishes, part of representing someone also involves advising better courses of action and decisions.  That doesn’t seem to be happening here given everything that has transpired over the last few years.

While some want to simply blame Sparta or the coach for this latest issue with Reway, there is a pattern of problems everywhere he goes so the player has to shoulder a chunk of the blame here as well.  Part of that is his attitude but also for not surrounding himself with the right people.  He’s 20 years old and isn’t going to make all the right decisions but someone should be helping him make better choices.  No one seems to be doing that and if they are, he’s not listening.  Either way, that needs to change.  If that could happen soon, perhaps something good might actually come from this fiasco.