Category Archives: Hockey


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Carey Price Is Key to Habs’ Success in 2013

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The Montreal Canadiens have not won a Stanley Cup in two decades, and it’s been a long time since they dominated hockey in the manner they did throughout much of the 104 year history. Last season, the Habs placed dead last in the Eastern Conference and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The last place finish is not where the Canadiens should have found themselves last year. They were better than that according to many. This year they have not only recovered, they are currently in fourth place in the conference standings despite a slump that has seen every facet of their game crumble.
They have some legitimately talented veterans in Max Pacioretty, Michael Ryder, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Rene Bourque in their top-six forwards, and the defense is led by emerging Norris candidate P.K.Subban. But the one player who has been the steady force behind the team’s success in recent seasons is none other than goaltender Carey Price. While this year has not been his best season, he has shown that he is capable of lifting his team and carrying them into the post season.Price has his doubters, and more than that, his haters. Many are still upset that Halak was traded in favor of Price. I wonder if those people have bothered to follow’s Halak’s career since heading to St Louis? A strong year behind an air-tight defense, followed by a series of injuries, and now sharing his job with Brian Elliott and Jake Allen. I’m sure that’s exactly what would like Halak-loving Habs fans happy. Price’s haters also don’t like his demeanor. They feel that he’s too nonchalant, and not animated enough. Call it his poker face, which is always on when the cameras are rolling. Sure he has his moments of candidness but by and large, Price has assumed a leader’s role by being stoic and even-keeled, just like the man who brought him in to the Habs organization – Bob Gainey. It’s no surprise that outside of hockey, Carey Price is an avid fan of poker and has participated in celebrity tournaments, both locally and nationally. It’s probably an odd coincidence that poker gained worldwide attention, especially on television, during the lockout that cost hockey fans the 2004-05 season. In the vacuum of that season, major tournaments were shown on television and online poker exploded. What’s that old saying about idle hands? A safe bet that many hockey players, perhaps Price included, honed his poker acumen during that lockout (yes Price was still a junior then, but when not watching NHL games during down time, he was probably playing Texas Hold ‘em with teammates).
Among the leaders when it comes to online gaming is partypoker.com. Partypoker is also known to have sponsored many celebrity poker tournaments which have benefited many charitable institutions. Charity events are a great way for athletes to give back to the community, at the same, it time allows them to enjoy certain activities like poker. With all the money going to charities, it makes everyone, especially the beneficiaries, winners in the end.
Carey Price and the Canadiens are looking forward to a successful post season after a surprise regular season schedule. Some fans may be satisfied with the Habs simply making the playoffs, but it’s clear that this team recognizes the opportunity in front of them. At the very least, a series win in the first round should be bar; anything less would erase much of the good will built up since late January. At the end of the day, however, the Habs will only go as far as Price can take them. At 25 years old, many feel that it is time that he follow in the giant footsteps of Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. That’s a heavy burden, but Carey Price has the talent to absorb it and thrive in these situations.

Fan Appreciation Fright

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Regular season game #45

If you’ve been watching for the last week then you have seen this movie before, and it ain’t pretty.

Halfway through the third period, the fans who were “being honoured” by the team were halfway home, soured by yet another horrific performance. As it turns out, not so unpredictably, the win against the Lightning was indeed a mirage. The defensive malaise that has wrapped it’s fist around the team has yet to relinquish itself and Habs fans must be asking themselves what can be done to loosen the grip. Falling behind as quickly and deeply as they have done in this week from hell has left a scar on what has been an otherwise outstanding season.

Who is the scapegoat tonight? Carey Price? The defense? You know things are bad when even P.K. Subban looks mortal. The forwards that didn’t score a single goal until late in the third period? The Coach?

It doesn’t really matter.

Sure Price could have stopped a couple of the goals but the defense needed to be roughly 20 times better than it was and scoring a goal or two themselves would have been a good idea at some point before Pacioretty netted one in mop-up time. Whether it’s over confidence from clinching a playoff spot that has since mutated into a crisis of confidence the Canadiens are running out of time to fix their issues. If they aren’t broken then are they coasting? If they are coasting, can they flip the switch once the playoffs start? That’s a dangerous game.

The big question in the immediate future is whether or not the Habs need to practice or need to rest. Have they lost their way, or are they beat? Therrien has probably already made his decision on that.

It’s time to forget the notion of coveting second place over fourth place. The Bruins have two games in hand and are tied with the Habs. Even with a punishing five games in seven nights to close the season, the Bruins have the inside track on the Northeast division crown. The priority should now be taking baby steps to get back on track before April 30th. Every facet of the game has gone belly-up in the last week and the answers lie in the room, or it’s an early tee-time. It still isn’t time for panic. Strange, but true. That said, if the Habs do not look noticeably better on Tuesday after two days of practice or two days of rest, or a little bit of both before facing the punchless, non-playoff bound Devils then feel free to take to the streets.

Hey, at least Ribeiro didn’t score. Oh, he had three assists. Never mind then.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

Ugly, but Effective

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Regular season game #44

Well I’m glad that’s over. The losing streak that is.

While beating Tampa Bay is hardly reason to doll up Ste-Catherine street for a Cup parade, or even declare that all is well, the two points were paramount. Though it’s been less than a week since their last win, the Canadiens badly needed to remember what it feels like to win a game at this point of the season.

Credit is spread far and wide tonight, starting with Carey Price’s goalposts, which sent no less than four resonating “PINGS!” throughout the Bell Center. For his part, Carey Price had a number of huge saves, several of the game saving variety. He looked like himself, not a moment too soon. Galchenyuk scored a goal for the fifth consecutive game, and Gallagher picked up an assist on the play. Still it is rather odd that Galchenyuk’s ice time was the lowest on the team given his recent productivity; this defies logic, as does David Desharnais’ 5:44 of powerplay time. As a side note, it was a pleasant surprise to see the game begin with Pacioretty alongside Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta. David Desharnais has had more than enough time to reestablish chemistry with the big winger. Tonight, however, the biggest pat on the back goes to the aforementioned Brian Gionta, who has been feeling heat recently. It was his ability to finish that finally put the stop to a gushing wound. For someone who is either criticized for his size, his production and his “leadership qualities”, Gionta once again showed how to answer all three of those criticisms.

Not all has been set right, however, as the defensive side of the game still plays to the tune of Yakety Sax, and special teams have been especially bad, winning goal notwithstanding. There is still a lot of work to do, and a lot of question marks surrounding the defense. Markov looks horrendous, and Bouillon, bless his heart, cannot hack top-four minutes. Diaz is reported to be a possibility for Saturday night, but he’s no Hal Gill. If and when the defensive game gets tightened up, the Habs will be alright. Until then, fans will be bambi-legged, even if the team will sleep very soundly tonight. Won’t you? After all, a fourth consecutive loss with the smoking Capitals coming to town on Saturday wouldn’t leave you feeling cozy, would it?

Before we sign off, let’s remember that this was the team’s fourth game in six nights, and they have had very little practice time recently. For a team that needs structure in order to thrive, this cannot be overlooked. The tight schedule is punishing the Habs, but they still sit in first place in the Northeast division.

No harm, no foul….right?

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Flightless Birds, Flightless Habs

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Regular season game #43

Tick tock tick tock.

That sound you hear is the clock winding down on the regular season that has seen the Canadiens go from a well balanced, disciplined and resilient team to an impotent, wayward and fragile bunch. What gives? Is this more than just a simple slump?. Recently the Canadiens have been out of games in the first period, so perhaps some questions from Habs Nation are justified.

It was another all around rough night for everyone, including Norris trophy contender P.K. Subban, who looked out of sorts and eventually found himself tossed from the game in the third period. Conversely, two bright spots were Lars Eller, who had a pair of assists, and Alex Galchenyuk, who eased the pain of yet another beat down with a beauty goal from in-close on Fleury. While the vets look to keep the pace up, these two youngsters have turned on the jets.

This mini losing skid has been so surreal in the way that the Canadiens have completely imploded on defense, and on a compete level that you get the sense that there’s some sick joke at play from the hockey gods; teams that have played as well as the Habs have all year don’t suddenly forget who to play hockey. Unless you prefer to panic, or denigrate the team’s work to this point, then it’s important to note that the Habs success through 38 games was not a fluke nor an accident. They won games by being great at even strength, and not relying on goaltending to keep their even-strength dominance afloat. That they’ve given up 22 goals since losing Emelin is certainly a concern but I believe his loss is felt more in the domino effect of having to create new pairings, and ask more of older bodies more than the loss of the player himself. Let’s not forget that Emelin was struggling mightily on his own before tearing his ACL. So while the Habs are better with his physicality on the roster than without him, to suggest that this three-game slide is solely due to his absence is ludicrous.

If you’re glass half-full (and there’s no reason not to be), then chalk this up to a team that is going through what every team does at some point during the season. This team needs a break, and then it needs to get some quality practice time in, and in between it needs a players-only meeting to clear the air. While this is not a disaster yet, it hasn’t stopped Habs nation from plunging in to full-blown panic mode before the losing streak has really even heated up. Given the embarrassing the results of the last three games, giving in to panic might feel justified, but things won’t be allowed to fester for much longer. With a game tomorrow night against the saggy Lightning, the down time and the practice will have to wait at least another day.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

Weird or What

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Regular season game #42

If Carey Price was solely at fault for Saturday’s embarrassing loss to the Leafs, then he only shares an equal piece of the blame with the six defensemen in front of him tonight.

“But they left Pricey high and dry!”

Yes they did. They were truly awful, top to bottom, but there’s no sane parallel dimension where a goalie gets entirely let off the hook when giving up six goals in two periods, or nine goals in his last 50 minutes of play. Accountability matters. For the first time this season, Therrien has not found the right button after a humiliating loss. So where do they go from here? For one thing, the coaching staff needs to find solutions for what ails the backend. It would be easy to pin this on Emelin’s absence, but the truth is that even he was looking mighty shaky before ripping up his knee.

This is Therrien’s first real bit of turmoil in season that has been one unending rainbow. With just six games left before the real fun begins, he has precious little time to figure it out, and with the rules governing practice time in a compressed schedule, he won’t have many opportunities to iron out the big kink that is currently crippling the team. We may not have noticed during this season of surprise, but the Habs are 7-7 in their last 14 games. Not the way they want to be playing as they head in to the playoffs. Apolgists may want brush this game under the rug along with the Leafs game, but those are two huge dust bunnies under the rug, and they plainly visible even when you try to stomp it flat. Their early season success is propping them up through the stretch, and that’s fine, but they need to start getting their game back in order, pronto.

On a day of tragedy in Boston, it seems trivial to nitpick a game like this, or any game for that matter, so we’ll end it here and hope for better on Wednesday.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

New Equipment, Same Pain

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Regular season game #41

This game was over before it began, and there’s no need to search high and low for the reason. Carey Price was not prepared to start this game. Let’s shelve any talk about unfamiliarity with new equipment; Price chose to wear new equipment in a big game. It is incumbent upon him to make sure that the new gear does not compromise his performance. Whatever the reason, surrendering three goals on four shots is inexcusable considering that two of the three goals were as soft as soft gets.

Just two night after clinching a playoff spot, it would be a little unreasonable to blow a gasket and suggest that Therrien panic by putting the team through a bag skate at his first opportunity. What he does have to do is take a breather on Sunday and spend the day questioning why his team can’t consistently put forth a good effort against the Leafs. If we want to cling to the idea that once the playoffs begin that the slate is wiped clean, that would be convenient. But the fact is now the Canadiens have given the Leafs as much confidence as they’ll need in a potential first round matchup. Should the Habs and Leafs meet in the first round, Montreal has one more chance on April 27th to grab back a measure of confidence.

There’s not a lot of sense in picking apart individual performances tonight, aside from the one that cost the team the game before the first period was halfway over. Once the Habs were behind by three goals, they went for broke in trying to claw their way back, to no avail. More mistakes were made as a result, and the gap only widened after briefly being shrunk to two goals. Lots of guys played terrible games, but under the circumstances none of it mattered much given the situation that Price left them in. With only seven games left before the playoffs begin, Price is running out of time to get his act together. As good as he’s been this season, he has not been great, and no amount of smoke from his exonerators can change that. Fact: three of his last seven starts have been hard to watch.

Everyone and their dead dog knows that a Leafs – Habs first round matchup is a distinct possibility, and although the Habs are a demonstrably better team in nearly every statistical category than the Leafs, it has to be a little bit of a concern that the Habs have laid three eggs of different size and shape in four games against this Toronto team.

We could sweep all of this under the rug and look at what happened the last time the Habs were embarrassed by the Leafs. The Canadiens went on to get points in 11 straight games, and put a stamp on this season. If that were to happen again, we’d all welcome that.

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They’re Dead, Jim

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Regular season game #40

Whatever you do, don’t let this game get the better of you. Yes, it’s fun to watch the Habs run roughshod and totally dominate an opponent, but let’s be honest: the Sabres have quit. They had no will to compete tonight and once the Habs took a 2-0 lead, the game was over. The Habs outshot the Sabres 42-15, just to give you an idea of where the action was in this game; I’m not even sure if the zamboni passed in the Habs end of the rink. The Sabres were wildly undisciplined, granting the Habs eight powerplays. Some teams don’t get eight powerplays in three games, so it’s safe to say that the Sabres were more intent on making this a street fight rather than forcing the Habs to wait one more night to punch their playoff ticket.

But we’re not going to penalize the Habs for the unwillingness or inability of an opponent to compete, so on with the accolades for the night, yes? You could blindly pick any member of the team and find something nice to say about their game tonight. The usual suspects like Subban, Plekanec, Gallagher, Pacioretty and Ryder all made substantial contributions to the score sheet, but let’s reserve a measure of praise for Francis Bouillon, who stood up for Brendan Gallagher by taking on Sabres agitator Steve Ott after the latter delivered a high hit to the Habs rookie. By the book it was a clean hit, and I’ve never been ok with a player having to fight after delivering a by-the-book hit, but Steve Ott was looking for trouble all night, and it’s a comfort that Francis Bouillon took on the job of dispensing some justice. In my opinion, he earned his recent one-year extension on that scrap alone.

Tonight’s win finally clinched the playoff spot that we knew the Habs would secure back in late February, but now that they’re in, we can concentrate on winning the division and starting the playoffs with home ice advantage – a virtual necessity to winning the big prize. The win was also important because it showed once again that the Canadiens are a very resilient team that does not take to losing lightly, and with the playoffs around the corner, avoiding prolonged losing skids might come in pretty handy as you might imagine. Tonights two points also vaults the Habs past the Bruins once again and in to the Northeast division lead. With just eight games remaining, it will go down to the wire to see who takes the division crown.

The Leafs on deck Saturday night, we’ll get a potential first round matchup preview, although the two teams will meet each other for the final time at the end of the regular season. Rest assured that both teams know the potential to bump in to each other in the post-season and will be looking to get in to each other’s heads.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

I Pity the Fools

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Regular season game #38

For a game that the Habs label as “premium” and charge more money for, this one had an extra thick layer of ripoff slathered on top.

The Capitals strode in to town as the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, led by the resurgent Alex Ovechkin. After falling behind 1-0, the Capitals might have trembled at the thought of the Habs solid record when scoring first, but in a less than two minute span in the second period, they took the lead thanks to some sloppy all-around hockey from the Habs and never looked back.

From there, the Caps played a boring, yet smart road game. If you wear bleu-blanc-rouge colored goggles, you might cry foul that the officiating was awful and that the Habs were screwed on multiple occasions but the reality is that both teams had just one powerplay each. As I’ve said numerous times in this space, relying on officiating to save the day is one way to voluntarily step in the booby trap of death. The fact remains that the Habs lead the league in powerplays opportunities, so let’s keep our criticism of the refs in perspective.

Michel Therrien has done a terrific job this season, but he made an error in judgement tonight when he did not have his only productive line for the Habs on the ice in the dying moments. Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk deserved the opportunity to try to salvage the game, but instead the job fell to the Desharnais line. With just five points in 12 games since his extension, and enjoying five times the powerplay time per game that Eller gets with the same production, Therrien will have to answer for his unwillingness to put his best players on the ice with the game on the line. When a line is hot, you give them the prime ice time, no exceptions. If it was simply the faceoff that that he was worried about, Therrien could have put Plekanec out there for the draw.

It was not a banner night for P.K. Subban or Andrei Markov. While Subban did not directly contribute to any goals against, he was not his usual dominant self and coughed up the puck a few times. Markov, on the other hand forgot his man in front on the Caps’ first goal, and couldn’t handle his check down low on the second goal. Both players are probably already looking ahead to Buffalo, and exacting some revenge on a team that has played them very tough this year.

Lots of other Habs players did not have their best game tonight, including Max Pacioretty, Josh Gorges, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Michael Ryder. In short, you could say it was a total team non-effort, and one that will quickly be left in the rearview mirror, if this team’s recent history is any indication.

The Habs hold on first place in the Northeast is now dangling by a thread, but with road games in Buffalo and Toronto coming up, there’s no reason why they can’t get a better grip if they play their game.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

First Place For Another Day

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Regular season game #38

In the season’s final game of the long-running rivalry between the Bruins and Habs, it was the home team that finally broke through to claim victory, in the tightest of margins and the most stressful of manners.

Clinging to a one-goal lead with less than two minutes to play, Lars Eller grabbed a fistful of Zdeno Chara’s jersey and spun him to the ice. Whether the big ape helped himself to the ground is irrelevant; Eller, who had played a strong game to that point, showed a lack of judgement. Luckily it didn’t cost the Habs because the dismal Bruins powerplay was still dismal, even with the addition of Jaromir Jagr. They threw the puck around the ice and desperately hoped the big old Czech would fix everything for them. The final siren blared with the puck on Jagr’s stick and with no urgency from him at all.

The best Habs players list is starting to sound like a broken record. PK Subban had another two assists and had a Fenwick score of +16. For the #fancystats uninitiated, take my word for it: that’s really good (hat tip to @Heymynameiswill). His case for the Norris trophy continues to grow by leaps and bounds as he piles up the stats, minutes and defensive prowess needed to earn votes from the powers that be. Whether he wins the Norris or not isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things. What is important is that the Habs have one of the league’s premier defensemen…if that hasn’t been obvious for a couple years already.

Carey Price was also stellar, turning aside from 26 of 27 shots and kept the Bruins third period push at bay. His rebound control was outstanding and the poise for which he’s become known for was on full display. It’s odd that it was his first win against the Bruins since October of 2011, but facts are facts, and with the playoffs around the corner, it’s a good confidence booster for Price to have should they face Boston in the postseason.

After suffering a reported groin injury on Wednesday in Philadelphia, Tomas Plekanec was back in the lineup and looked like his former self. He won 70% of his faceoffs which is key considering his Bruins counterpart, Patrice Bergeron sat the game out with yet another concussion.

It was a busy week for the Habs that saw them play five games in the last eight nights. Posting a 4-1 record during that stretch is absurd, and is only made more absurd by the fact that they surrendered just three goals in the four wins. This team navigates fatigue, travel and injury perfectly, and for that Michel Therrien, who has not had a full practice with his team in 8 days now, deserves an enormous share of the credit.

Next week is decidedly slower, with a home game against the resurgent Capitals on Monday, followed by two road games in Buffalo and Toronto.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel

Ryde On!

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Regular season game #37

Just 24 hours after the apocalypse, the fallout has cleared, the sun has broken through, and the world has righted itself. Situation normal.

While nothing went right in Philadelphia, everything went right against the Jets. With major concern swirling around Plekanec’s absence, Habs fans wondered how their team would conduct itself minus their most important centerman. We’ll concede that while the Jets aren’t hockey’s Harlem Globetrotters, the Habs did pretty damn well, especially the two young centermen with the spotlight on them: Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk. Eller had a goal and an assist, and looked much more like the active, versatile player we’ve become accustomed to while Galchenyuk emerged from a prolonged slump to score his 4th goal of the year. It’s not abnormal for a rookie, even one with Galchenyuk’s gifts to lose their way a bit during their first season as a pro, but on his goal, he was circling like a shark in chummed waters. He found a dead spot eight feet in front of Pavelec and waited for the inevitable. Slump = over. Michael Ryder continued his torrid pace, with two goals and an assist, and P.K. Subban was up to his usual tricks with another two assists to vault him in to the NHL’s top scoring defenseman with 30 points. Peter Budaj for his part turned in another strong performance as Price’s backup, turning aside 33 of 34 shots in front of members of his family. He was well deserving of the second star, and should strongly be considered for a contract extension. It never fails to entertain me when fans denigrate his work by saying he only plays “weak teams”. Newsflash: he’s designated, and paid as a backup…of course he plays the “weak teams”! (Let’s conveniently forget that he’s 2-0 against the Bruins this year.)

We could be worried about the Habs two-game trend of taking minimal shots on goal in the third period, but with the team as battered as it is, it would probably make more sense to cut the team some slack considering they actually won the game quite handily and kept their grip on first place in the North East with just 11 games to go.

With a huge showdown on Saturday night against the Bruins, this was a home win the Habs simply had to have, and it’s par for the course to see them rally minus their best center to get the job done. Michel Therrien has kept a stern hand on the wheel and his decisions continue to work out remarkably well. He may not win the Jack Adams trophy, but he sure as hell deserves to be a finalist.

With Plekanec listed as day-to-day, Bourque scheduled to practice with the team, and Diaz skating for the second consecutive day, Bergevin showed that sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make. And in Ryder’s case, he showed that sometimes the best deals are the ones you DO make.

Follow me on twitter: @kyleroussel


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