Game 82: Penguins/Habs

Last game of the season with a spot already clinched.

Technically a meaningless game and a chance to experiment a little.

Hopefully Carey Price finishes the year with a strong performance and heads into the post season confident.

Higgins – Metropolit – Kovalev
Latendresse – Lapierre – Kostopoulos
A. Kostitsyn – Plekanec – D’Agostini
Stewart – Koivu – Laraque

Gorges – Dandenault
Weber – Schneider
Hamrlik – Komisarek

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2 Comments

#1 Mats Naslund says:
April 13, 2009 at 11:48 am

And so the regular season ends, and the post season begins. Its funny, when I think back about the roller coaster that was the Habs season I have to think back about the incredible excitement that I had before the season started for the new additions that the Canadiens made to the roster. As training camp started I wondered how the lines would shake out now that Montreal had acquired Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang. Looking back, I have to honestly say everything that I expected was wrong with regard to this season!

The “top” line – After the season that the Plekanec, Kostitsyn, Kovalev line had last year I thought for sure we were about to witness the emergence of a couple new NHL stars. More specifically, I thought for sure that Andrei was going to emerge as the true offensive superstar that we’ve all been pining after for years. In 06-07 he had 50 points in 52 games with the bulldogs. In 07-08 (which really was his rookie season in the NHL) he had a fantastic 53 points and really took off once he was put on the top line. This year, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed by his 41 points. I’m not willing to write him off as others have done – but next year, when the excuse of the sophomore jinx can finally be laid to rest, this tenth overall pick has to produce for the Canadiens. A great way to start would be to have an impact against the Bruins in this upcoming playoff series.

The off-season signings – The addition of Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang were really cause for excitement heading into this season. Much of the talk was that Koivu’s line desperately needed a talented winger to replace Michael Ryder, and that Tanguay was the perfect fit for the Captain and Higgins. As it turns out Tanguay spent almost 30 games on the shelf, and Higgins had a “Michael Ryder-esque” seaon of his own scoring a pathetic 23 points. Now that Tanguay has returned we are finally able to really judge the kind of impact he could have had for the Canadiens had he not been injured, as he has totaled 41 points in 50 games. To add insult to injury (literally), Robert Lang’s numbers were eerily similar – scoring 39 point in 50 games with the Canadiens this season. One has to wonder what the Canadiens could have accomplished had these two savvy veterans been able to play out healthy 08-09.

The youngsters – While I did point out the underwhelming performances of Andrei Kostitsyn and Chris Higins, it should be noted that the youth movement which was touted as the team’s greatest strength last season took a step in the wrong direction to the dismay of the Habs nation. We all expected great things from Sergei, O’Byrne, Komisarek, and Price and were disappointed with steps back rather than forward. If it weren’t for the inspiring play of Max Lapierre and Gui Latendresse we might talk about the collapse of the youth of the Canadiens this season. The truth is, for much of this year the Habs relied on Mat D’Agostini and Max Pacioretti while those with actual NHL experience fell off of the map. Call it a collective sophomore jinx – whatever you have to do – the young Canadiens will need to step up next year since most of the veterans on this team are UFA’s come the end of this season.

L’Artiste – I’m not sure why, but I didn’t expect the Alex Kovalev disappearing act that we all witnessed this year. That being said, Kovalev has redeemed himself in my eyes since he has managed to catch fire at the end of the season when we need it most. He is back to scoring goals and making beautiful passes. Better late than never? When he and Markov are on the same page, we still have the most dangerous powerplay in the league.

In the end, the players I expected to have break out seasons didn’t, and those I didn’t have on my radar (hello Mathieu Schneider) had an impact that couldn’t be imagined. It was a crazy regular season, and I for one am glad to see it go. We are back in the same position we were last year – a first round playoff matchup with the big bad Bruins. While this team doesn’t have the same swagger that led them to 8 consecutive victories against the B’s, I still think we can beat them. It is a brand new season: time for all of those players who have had disappointing results to step up. It is not too late to turn around this season. We will need all hands to make it happen.

#2 Joseph says:
April 13, 2009 at 2:08 pm

It’s easy enough to look at the facts and make an intelligent guess as to what went wrong with this team this season. Yes, the losses of Lang (permanently so) and Tanguay (temporarily so) were huge setbacks. Yes, Kovalev took most of the season off (though not surprisingly to anyone who has followed his career as he certainly tends to alternate good seasons with poor ones). Yes, the Kostitsyns were the center of an off ice circus which very well may have affected their play more than suspected (although when you have the opportunity not only to play in the NHL but for its most storied franchise, you best discover manhood quickly). Yes, Laraque appeared to be struck with moral issues and thus deviate from his previous role of enforcer (not to mention, effective forechecker) which he performed so well in previous seasons. Yes, there were a number of underperformers (namely Koivu, Higgins and Plekanec) whose missing offensive contributions likely cost them a fair amount of games. Yes, the goaltending was inconsistent – too many back breaking goals allowed in too many games. And yes, Gillett is in financial trouble and shopping the team (but should this really matter all that much?).

To anyone who hadn’t watched a single game this season, it would be easy enough for them to look at that list and draw a conclusion about why the Habs were in danger of missing the playoffs near season’s end. (It might even come as a surprise that they made the playoffs at all.) But all of that aside, and to most of us who have followed this season under a microscope, there seemed to be something more going on with this team. Something inexplicable wiht so many players falling off the radar. Something that we may never know the true nature of, but something of a cancer. Carbonneau had said that the truth would come out in time and I’ll be all ears because the mystery, quite honestly, is annoying me – he has to know something which isn’t evident to the outside observer.

And while I do agree that a new season begins on Thursday night, and that the Habs (should) have the personnel to change their suspected fate, and also that they have inarguably shown a marked improvment since Gainey took over behind the bench, I will be among the most surprised (and elated) of fans if they are able to suddenly shake all of their 3-month old bad habits and play the way that we had all expected them to play this entire season. Because if they go in making the same mistakes that they had made even in their final game of the regular season, this will undoubtedly be a very short series.

Here’s to hoping to be surprised.

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Avatar37 : Apparently only one offer for Carter on the low side so far, I think Montreal would be foolish not to investigate the possibility of a trade for him, and if there is low interest, the deal might be able to include moving Gomez. Gomez/Darche/Cam poli and a third round pick? Maybe not, but I'd be in serious talks with Columbus right about now.
Avatar37 : «link»
Avatar37 : for him had we held on to him until now and created a bidding war. There are more buyers than sellers currently on the market and it would have been the perfect time to have traded him.
Avatar37 : Goalie - I'm not sure how we could have obtained more for Halak. We showcased him, everyone knew he was available for trade, and in the end, we took the best offer. Any asset is only worth what a purchaser will pay for it. The Halak trade wasn't like the Cammalleri trade where you had GMs afterwards saying they didn't even know he was on the market. The Halak trade was done properly, the Cammelleri trade was a knee-jerk panic move, and while my opinion is that we could have received more
Avatar37 : I saw the game, the Islanders first goal came from a shot that was clearly above the height of the crossbar. How is it possible for a play to go to review where they have the advantage of mulitple camera angles and the ability to pause and they STILL get the call wrong?
goalie : I agree don't get dilusional over our three game winning streak. Changes MUST be made. I am however, glad to see the effort being put forth by the players.
Mats Naslund : I just went to capgeek to see who the Avalanche might be dealing for a rental - and I see they have only 6 players signed for next season!!! There are a couple young D men on that squad who are RFAs who would do very nicely next season.
Mats Naslund : One thing I know - the 3 game winning streak had better not get PG thinking about holding onto guys for a PO run. Trade them, build the value and move on to next year.
Mats Naslund : How about Max Pac though.. 21 goals and on pace for 65 points this year. That is absolutely monster for a guy at his age/experience and especially coming after a horrific injury. Huge cornerstone moving forward. On pace for 33 goals.. could he get 35?
Mats Naslund : Didn't get to see it either - and while I don't really care about the win, I am very glad that Gomez scored so we don't have to endure all of the negativity in the media about him for the rest of the year. He still su@ks, but at least it won't be a topic every shift he takes.
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!