montreal canadiens hockey - habs blog

Panthers maul Habs
Short summary from the 5-1 loss to the Panthers.
- Eddie the Eagle can still soar from time to time.
- Belfour > Abeischer
- Abeischer’s weak goal gave them the game.
- Michael Ryder needs to play with Higgins. No goals in 9 games.
- Sergei Samsonov is not earning his check.
- Alex Kovalev looks injured.
- Alexander Perezhogin, come out come out wherever you are!
2 for 2 on the 4 game road trip. Both big wins, both big losses. The Habs can’t put it together for more than 2 games straight. You never know which team will show up on any given night.
Habs put Power in Powerplay

The Canadiens managed their second straight road victory against the Lightning in Tampa last night. The Canadiens scored all three goals on the powerplay in a 3-1 victory.

Sheldon Souray was responsible for most of the damage with his 7th and 8th goals. All coming in typical Souray fashion, lethal powerplay bombs from the point.

Is Souray the best PP point man right now? Arguably. Souray leads all NHL defenseman with 7 powerplay goals 6 asssists. 15 points total in 16 games. He is the major reason the Canadiens powerplay is 2nd overall.

It will be interesting to see if teams key in on him on the powerplay and eliminate his chances. Something we’ve seen so far more from Northeast teams who are familiar with the Habs, then a team like Tampa who they met for the first time.

Credit is due to Guillaume Latendresse. With the heat on, and Patrick Roy’s remarks last week, he’s scored 4 goals in his last 4 games.

Last night against the Lightning was a particularly gorgeous goal.

Gui seems to have found his stride on the first line next to Koivu and Ryder. So what do you do when Chris Higgins returns?

Latendresse had been ineffective on any other line earlier in the year.

Mathieu Dandenault returned from injury last night. But not on defense. He played with Steve Begin and Tomas Plekanec on the fourth line.

Dandenault originally a forward, became a defenseman when joined the Red Wings. Last year he was moved back and forth by then Coach Claude Julien, and never quite got going until late in the season when he stuck to defense.

Dandenault is one of the best skaters in the league. Put him on a line with Begin and Plekanec and they’re one of the fastest 4th lines around. The Lightning had a lot of problems keeping pace when they were on the ice.

The Canadiens look to win their 3rd consecutive game for the first time this year tonight in Florida. Back to back games suggest David Abeischer will get the call tonight.

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goalie : Any thoughts out there? I watched the Oilers - Red Wings. THAT was excitement.
Senet1 : Gomez Buyout cap hi Scott Gomez buyout from CapGeek.com ◦ 2012-13: $3,523,810 ◦ 2013-14: $4,523,810 ◦ 2014-15: $1,666,667 ◦ 2015-16: $1,666,667 t.
Senet1 : Well I never thought he would see February but here we are and he is still there. The problem is and most people are like this they hate to admit that they made a mistake. A mistake of hiring PG.
goalie : Habs MUST announce that PG is fired well before the trading deadline. The trouble is is that we know we have to change players, we have a lame GM and the new GM coming in will then inherit players that Gauthier gets. FIRE his ass now! I am wondering, do Molson's know how to run an organization. Doesn't seem like it to me at this time.
HabsLoseAgain : Keep it french and keep it real lol
HabsLoseAgain : PG must be blowing jeff molson hard if he still has a job at this point.
HabsLoseAgain : Ans just think guys PG is gonna lead us to the trade deadline bahahahaha Scary eh?
goalie : One could go on adn on about our woes. Get in a new GM whow knows what it takes to win in the NHL (that would be size, skating and puck control Pierre)and try step by step to rebuild. and ... with a new coaching staff also.
goalie : Nice to see you also look at the stats as they don't usually lie. Unfortunately the |Gomez contract absolutely tied the GM's hands. We essentially have a cap of $7 M bveloew the other teams as Gomez may as well be tanning in Mexico. Gionat has NOT been a successful captain. Gill is aging (but at leats he gives 100%) Campoli adn Kaberle have not played as wella s I thought they would.
Senet1 : We need to draft a couple of star forwards who can score and become game breakers. It is hard to get these types of players in trades although Parise is available, so is Bobby Ryan. There is 60 goals a year. Gomez has now gone a full year without scoring a goal. So how much is that $7+ M per goal. So $7M divided by 0 is zero. So you see math does not lie. That is pretty good stat???????
Senet1 : You cannot win games unless with a team like this unless all 20 players I playing well. Even if you have 20 players playing well they still need guidance from the coaches.
Senet1 : PK played a H_ell of a game today Eller played well but had two wingers that were pretty useless on his line. To me there are a lot of positives on this team, put when you do not have any super star scorer like most teams then you need to play as a 20 man team.
Senet1 : We I have to disagree a little, I admit things do not look good, but until the second goal we were outplaying them but not finishing anything, when you look how hard some of the guys were working in the corners to get the puck out front and when they did no body was there to shoot it or deflect it. I thought that our #1 line played really well but when a team only has to worry about shutting down one line it usually is easy. Budia played well, could not fault him on any of the goals. PK played
goalie : is sinking!!!
goalie : ...and that boat
goalie : In other years there would be lots of partivipants on this blog. Our team's performance this season has been a total turn-off even for the bloggers. Mark my words.... we will NEVER know but I would bet my last cent that it will not be easy to sign a new coach in Montreal. This franchise is in deep deep trouble. Ther eare essentially no good veternas to build around, so we;re going to have to try and build using 20 year olds. Oilers tried that and were a complete failure. We're in the same boat
goalie : Can anyone come up with anything positive about our perforance today? I honestly cannot!
goalie : Even laayers like Cole, Pacs. Bourque seemed totally frustrated today. What we are seeng is the result of poor management over the past 5 or so seasons. The job wasnt dopne now we have a team that is probably the easiest team in the NHL to play against!
goalie : At least Deharnais is trying BUTR he is not and never will be a number 1 or even 2 center. When he goes up gainst bigger players he simply can't get anything done offensively. Thisis not to question his effort!
Senet1 : Basically we have one line and Washington was able to shut them down. We need a game breaker, even the other worse teams in the league have a game breaker we do not. Someone to bury the puck.
Senet1 : If you can score goals then eventually the defence and goalies will take care of the other end.
Senet1 : We need to go after goal scorers I would rather lose a game 6-5 and 1-0.
Senet1 : Well if you cannot score which has been our problem all year you cannot win games.
Mats Naslund : sorry - on replay he didn't touch the puck - which is an issue as well, but still as soft as can be in his own end. terrible play that probably does it.
Mats Naslund : BRUTAL giveaway by Kaberle kills the game.. soft as tissue.
Mats Naslund : Cole - dangerous shot.. but blocked again.
Mats Naslund : 18 blocks for WAS today.. all offense has been pretty chippy.
Senet1 : On the day before the trading deadline, I would put Gomez on waivers and see if someone selects him.
Senet1 : Oh better coaching and better attitude with some of the players. Some players like Plekanec seem to be working hard but not accomplishing anything.
Senet1 : Itn't it amazing how a coach has turned that team around. At one time Montreal had more points than they did. I have said it all year, if we could get a coach who could get these guys playing as a team we are a lot better team than we are showing. That is why I do not think that we have to do a lot to turn this team around, it is a matter of better scoring and better defensive systems 5-5. Lets face it you do not have a real bad defence when you have the top PK in the league. The kids are mat
goalie : In our rebuilding for nect year the FIRST things I would work toward is a new power play alignment - even if that means trading a guy like Plex. We need layers who can control the puck and do that thing called score. Then we go from there. Our PP has been the basis of player frustration that has now grown to virtually every apsect of the game.
goalie : Unfortunately for Budaj that was the correct call. Great save. Gomez must be totally embarrassed just like his play has been for the past year.--Yes the Blues are better than the Habs because they are COACHED BETTER not because they have vastly better talent.
Mats Naslund : no shots on that powerplay - if you can call it that.
Mats Naslund : 2 more chances after a brutal PP but they are blocked again.
Mats Naslund : More plekanec on the point?? come on!