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Game 80: Habs/Rangers

  • The Habs can clinch a playoff spot tonight with a regulation win over the Rangers.

    The 0 points last night hurt especially bad now considering the Rangers will be battling for their season and sure to leave it all on the ice. The Canadiens are without 2 important men and coming off a back to back home/away game.

    How hurt is Mathieu Schneider? Bob Gainey wouldn’t confirm an injury and TSN reports he made the trip with his teammates.

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  1. #1 Joseph says:
    April 7, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    The Rangers may be battling for their season tonight but so will the Habs. So a level playing field at least in that regard, I think. More importantly than desperation hockey though, Avery is going to make life miserable for the Canadiens’ defense and Halak, and I doubt that Laraque will do much of anything to deter him from doing so.

    Maybe Schneider made the trip to provide some locker room leadership? Who knows.

  2. #2 Mats Naslund says:
    April 7, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    Have you heard that Halak is playing tonight? TSN has Price starting in their ice chips. Andrei Kostitsyn and D’Agostini are in and Laraque and Stewart are out.

    I really hope Gainey puts Kostitsyn with Plex and Higgins. There is no time left to juggle. You have to put your best players out in the position to win. I can’t imagine Montreal looking at this game as anything but a must-win. They can put 7th place on lockdown with a victory tonight. They need to get skating early and put the pressure on the NY defense. Yes we’re banged up, but NY is also very fragile on D. Its time to be the hunter tonight instead of the hunted.

  3. #3 Mats Naslund says:
    April 7, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    As of 6:30 its confirmed that Price will start in goal tonight. Andrei Kostitsyn and Matt D’Agostini will be on a line with Plekanec. Dandenault is moving onto the 4th line with Higgins and Metropolit.

    As for defense: Markov did not make the trip although his 3 weeks has not been officially announced. Apparently Schneider accompanied the team to NY to get a second opinion on his injury. Montreal doctors had suggested surgery was necessary which would end his season.

    That being said: I don’t understand why Gainey has not moved Dandenault officially back to defense. Sure he is useful in a fourth line offensive role.. but given Montreal has O’Byrne and Janik penciled as the third pairing, one has to wonder if Dandy might be a better option given that both Kostitsyn AND D’Agostini have returned to the forward ranks. Because he is a somewhat offensive player, Dandenault might be somewhat effective in moving the puck like Markov..

    Anyways, I hope I’m proved wrong and that the Canadiens take it to NY the way they had been playing against their last 6 opponents. Even with the two huge injuries I believe we are a better team than the Rangers. It is going to come down to which team wants it more.

  4. #4 Senet1 says:
    April 7, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    This game came down to three things, Price was nervous and did not play well, the team was tired and had no jump and withoug strong goaltending they could not get any adenalin flowing with any momentum. The third thing was lack of breaks. You kind of wonder what the game would have been like had those two shots that it the cross bar if even one of them had gone in. I did not agree with Gainey starting Price tonight, we had to win this game and although he has to get price ready for the playoffs, we have to get in them first and Halak would have been the better choice tonight.

  5. #5 Senet1 says:
    April 7, 2009 at 9:57 pm

    Now Gainey has no choice which ever goalie he plans on using for the playoff has to start against Boston on thursday and he runs with him the last two games. I am betting that it is Price and I can see Price having a great game against the Bruins. If not he will win against Pittsburg Saturday night. He is hoping that Florida looses at least one game and Philly wins both against the Rangers.

  6. #6 Senet1 says:
    April 7, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    I was disappointed that Stewart was not in the lineup tonight, he has played well and needs to score a goal before the playoffs start. Lararque will not play unless we play the bruins.He and Stewart should play against the bruins thursday. But Laraque will not play against Pittsburg.

    I agree with MAtts that we need to put Dandy back on adefence and set Obryne. I would also dress Stewart over D’Agostini.

  7. #7 Donnie says:
    April 7, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    I agree Senet….I don’t think Price should have started either…I also don’t think that BOTH Laraque and Stewart should have been taken out to make way for Kostitsyn and D’Agostini.
    All of our guys seem to play so much better with at least some toughness in the lineup. The 2nd line is enemic, once again 2nd line scoring is gonna be needed if we are to do anything at all….but I don’t think, yet again this year, we are going to get it…..it’s probably evident now that Kovy made Plekanec and Anderi last season…without him they are not even mediocre it seems.
    These last 2 games I’m thinking are gonna be a harsh shot to our confidence come playoff time….seems we should still make it cuz Florida isn’t winning either…but zero points in these last 2 games hurt bad. Bos and Pitt next..I can maybe see 1 point here.
    But is anyone really surprised…these guys have done this all season long….get really good for 5 or 6 games in a row max. Then as quick as they turned things around, fall right back into bad habits.
    Komiserek assisted (for lack of words) on 2 of the horrible goals Price let in…this guy is becoming a handicap with poor desicions and poor puck movement as of late. Added to that the PP went back into non-exsistence.
    I also firmly believe that Price should not start in the playoffs…he is not ready and Halak has been the better, more confident, more consistent goalie.
    I don;t think any of us believe that this team can actually win the cup, but lets at least go out fighting, go out knowing that we played the best we could, and see what next season brings.

  8. #8 Mats Naslund says:
    April 8, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    I’m less inclined to believe that Price should have sat out last night, even though I was really disappointed with the result. Here is why. Halak played the night before. He was alright, but didn’t steal the game. Price was coming off of stellar play even though he had missed games because of the flu. Gainey is looking, at this point, to do anything that will shake up the lineup enough to give his team back the confidence it had before the injuries. Had Price stepped in last night and stole the game we’d all be talking about how 7th is locked down and how Price gives us the edge we need in the playoffs.

    Unfortunately Price was rusty. When combined with his defense, his blunders were crippling. Even so, as Senet1 pointed out after the game last night – if it wasn’t for a couple crossbars in the 3rd, we may have won the game.

    At this point, it is still likely that we make the playoffs. At this point if we are able to get a single point out of Boston (who seem to like 1-0 and 2-1 games at this point), or Pittsburgh we are in. More important in my eyes is figuring out our defensive problems. It all starts with puck movement. Given that Markov has a strained knee it is safe to assume he’s probably out 2 weeks at the minimum (3 is what everyone says, although if Markov is willing to pay through pain he could cut down on the time he’s on the shelf). Given that it is playoff season, he won’t want to miss time if he’s able to skate. That being said, Montreal needs to come up with a solution to their defensive problems. In a perfect world Bouillon would return and pick up at least some of the slack. Until either Markov or Bouillon return, I think Gainey has to move Dandenault back on D. Given his speed and ability to pass the puck, he is WAY more valuable as a defenseman than a forward.

    Komisarek – Dandenault
    Hamrlik – Gorges
    Brisebois – Janik/O’Byrne

    Its not pretty, but at least Dandenault best replicates what Markov was capable of doing getting the puck to the forwards.

    Moving Dandy back to defense would open up a slot on forward. I thought Stewart did a great job in giving the Habs the type of toughness with speed they need on the 4th line with Metro. I also think Sergei is still a better option than D’Agostini or Higgins for the Plekanec line and the stats don’t lie about that. He’s the one guy that can get Plex
    and his brother in position to shoot, and stop the 1 on 5 madness that Higgins brings to the line. We’ll need him back healthy for that though. They need to settle down and regain the swagger.

    Tanguay-Koivu-Kovalev
    Higgins-Plekanec-Kostitsyn (pass the puck boys you can’t do it alone)
    Kostopoulos-Lapierre-Latendresse (read above)
    Stewart-Metro-Laraque (hit somebody)

  9. #9 Mats Naslund says:
    April 9, 2009 at 1:22 am

    Well, Gainey definitely threw a wrinkle into the plans by sending down Janik today and calling up Yannik Weber. For now the plan is to have him and his 44 points on the PP which will be sorely needed considering how terrible the man advantage looked int he absence of Markov and Schneider. What remains to be seen is if Gainey will allow Weber to take a regular shift on defense or whether he’ll go with 7 defenseman or once again try to use Weber on a forward line. Having him with the club brings some interesting options/dilemmas. Since hes only 5’10″ and 195 pounds, he would add another small body on defense. You have to think that a guy like Lucic will absolutely eat him up if he gets the chance. However, if hes able to move the puck quickly and efficiently, he could solve a few of our most pressing issues. My hunch is that we’ll see Dandenault in his spot during 5-5 play. Gainey will probably use him on the 4th line where he can do least amount of damage.

  10. #10 Senet1 says:
    April 9, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    I liked the looks of weber, he will be helpful, playing forward and then the point on the power play, Don’t be surprised if Markov shows up by the 2nd or 3rd game of the playoffs. If we are lucky and can split the first two games then he might not come back until game four or five.

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  • goalie : Didn't get to see the game at all but it's great to see Pacs get a hat trick and fpor Cole to be + 3. When was the last time this team won three games in a row? Great victory -looks like they're giving 100% effort!
  • Senet1 : 4-2 win habs
  • Senet1 : Gomez scores, Yea!!!
  • goalie : As I said yesterday it will be interesting to see what our lame ass GM gets for players he ships out. Bourque is good and he'll help us but I still think we could have gotten more for him and for Halak when he was traded.
  • Avatar37 : round those picks occur (probably 3rd).
  • Avatar37 : An interesting article. If we slip to the 5th or 7th draft pick, a very interesting case could be made for drafting Galchenyuk. If we wind up with the second or third pick, I'm not sure who I'd draft, because clearly Yakupov is going to be drafted first overall. Our second round pick also becomes interesting, I know I'd take Vasilevski if he were still available. It will also be interesting to see if we can turn some of our veteran players (Moen, Gill, Campoli) into draft picks, and what
  • Avatar37 : «link»
  • Avatar37 : That is why PG should have waited on trading Cammalleri. Right now, there is a high demand for a top 6 forward, we could have gotten much more than Bourque in return. That isn't a knock against Bourque, but a knock against a knee-jerk reaction trade that didn't maximize our return on a top asset.
  • Avatar37 : «link»
  • Avatar37 : chips fall where they may. After all, the only difference between finishing 17th and 29th is how good a pick you get in the draft.
  • Avatar37 : We currently sit in 26th place in the league. We are 15 points ahead of Columbus, it's safe to bet at this point they will place last. We are, however, only 4 points ahead of Edmonton so it's still wide open as to who is going to finish second last. I still think that it's time to sit the veterans, play the youth, let them get experience, and regroup for next year. I'm not suggesting deliberately tanking like the Penguins, but give all our young players lots of playing time and let the c
  • Avatar37 : goalie - If it were not for the play of Cammalleri, we would never have made it out of round 1. Cammalleri played as big a part, if not bigger, than Halak did. Sure, Halak played well, but remember the team collapsed in front of him, making his job much easier. We had lots of blocked shots and the ones that got through were typically from the outside.
  • Senet1 : Goalie you are absolutely right, of course the one thing we had the two previous years that won the games that we are losing this year was our power play. If you look at say 10 games that we should have won had we had a similar power play, again we would not be having these conversations. When your PP goes from first to last in the league that is a lot of goals.How many games have we lost this year by one goal. Again poor management who did not prepare for Markov's possible absence.
  • goalie : I'll put it another way.... we need more players who are willing to get their noses dirty.
  • goalie : Two years ago when our goaltending stole series adn our players suddenly scored the coaches / GM believed that that was our true team . Well time has proven that was not. Though I was very glad to see the Habs knock off some very good teams we were very fortunate. And fortunate that spring was spelled HALAK!
  • goalie : The wrst mistake management could possibly make I believe is to say, we played well some games and we believe the team can play to that level more often in the future. This team CANNOT adnb DOES NOT play to a high enough level. Please do not kid yourself mamngement. hat is partially why we're in the lace we are.
  • goalie : Senet is correct when he says that if we had more games with a better efort this year we'd likely be in the playoffs. It has been very inconsistent effort but much more than that. We lack big, tough playing and finishing. Never mind fighting for a moment. We did not compete for the pucks nor along the boards nor in front of both nets enough this year. Thus we are in 29th. If the coaching staff doesn't see that then they shouldn't be there.
  • Senet1 : Surely Molson is not going to keep him as the GM?
  • Senet1 : when he knows he will be fired at the end of the season. Nothing really makes since in this whole process.
  • Senet1 : I am not sue why PG has not been fired by now. They could be waiting for another GM to come available at season end, but why would you not set up a committee to manage the team in the short run until a new GM can be named. There is no since in chaning coaches because whoever the GM is he will want to name his own coach. Gainey and a committe of other executives can manage the team through to the trading deadline and onward. What motivation does PG have to making any worthwhile trades when he is
  • Senet1 : I am too mch of a competitor to want my team to tank to. However, If these players played like they ae cabable of playing all year we would not be having this discussion right now, we woud be talking about the playoffs and who we would rather meet in the first round.
  • rocky : Exactly, and Senet nails it when he says we have not had an elite top 5 in the nhl player since lafleur.
  • goalie : I too want the Habs to get the best possible draft this June. We all need SOME hope!
  • rocky : He is persona non grata in habville, and a ghost in every sense of the term.
  • goalie : It remains a miracle how we have heard from our mighty GM twice since Christmas - the trades involving Spacek and Cammy and those comments were extremely brief. PG just does not cut it in my world. Part of a GMs job is to go public from time to time. PG never does that in fact he's a ghost GM!
  • rocky : Its true, there is no honor in that. These guys have only known the ethic of giving it all to win every night. I do not want them to "tank", and they will never do that anyway. I do want them to lose though, as awful as it sounds.
  • goalie : Roicky as a good point. We all want the Habs to get a really good draft pick. However, players, coaches etc. also have a keen desire to compete and win. That's why they're playing at the pro level. Thus we can only hope that the team plays some good games and let the chips fall where they may. After the disasterous season we've had let's not lower ourselves adn get involved in any dscussions about 'tanking' games.
  • rocky : So long.
  • Senet1 : Good discussion rocky, I have to step out for an hour, but may be back later.
  • Senet1 : The only way this team comes back to a team with long term potential is to draft a game breaker. Even all the other bad teams have a Stamkos or a player like him. He have some good player so what we need is a Malkin that we can count on 80% of the time to win a game for us.
  • rocky : I mean winning will only do them harm that is.
  • rocky : It really hurts because my reflexes make me want to cheer like mad, but it will only hurt the team now.
  • Senet1 : Yes I have mixed feeling when watching the game. Last night I say here we go again. with our record of shoot losses I did not expect to win that one. Yet I wanted to win real bad?????
  • rocky : God, so horrible to sit and hope for losses, but here we are.
  • Senet1 : Our problem is we play one out of every 4 games good and therefore, we play well enough to stay on the borderline of a top five pick. If we win three or four in a row we could take ourselves right out of the running.

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