Halak Evokes Roy In Habs Nailbiter Over Sharks
by Robert L on Mar 1, 2009 8:25 AM EST
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Early yesterday afternoon, my daughter tells me that HABS is an acronym for "have a beautiful Saturday". Hey that works for me! Since playing the Sharks constitutes a hell of a challenge for the Canadiens, I though I'd go the delayed live game blog route, as I haven't done one in a while. It should be an interesting night. The Bell Centre greeting for the Canadiens is absolutely nuts when they hit the ice. Is there a more excited rink when the home team is on a three game win streak? FIRST PERIOD Brian Boucher is starting in goal for San Jose. Huh? Pepe Lemieux's also out there for the opening faceoff. Nice gesture. First good impression of the game, Kovalev threads his way into the Sharks end with some silky skating and manoevering. Two shifts in and Brisebois and Komisarek already look nervous. Dandeneault should be dressed. Are Mike Grier and Jonathan Cheechoo fourth liners in San Jose? Can't be! They are out against Metropolit, Stewart and Laraque, and it looks like a mismatch. Wait.....the Sharks fourth line is Claude Lemieux, Jeremy Roenick and Jody Shelley. I want to laugh, but they are giving the Habs trouble in their own end.
Laraque throws a hit on Dan Boyle and Shelley comes in waving his arms in the air - "Let's go!" Four punches and Laraques destroys him. Another inspired shift by Kovalev. He's announced himself for the night. The two Max's come close. They are starting to gel. Sharks are outplaying the Habs already. Not a good sign. Jaro look alert though. That's a god sign. He just spun 180 degrees in the crease to catch a rebound off the glass. Strong shift by Higgins. He can't thread a needle lately, but he's a hassle to play against. Pacioretty hustles behind the net and draws Erhoff into a hooking penalty. First PP unit is 14-27-46 with Markov and Schneider. Tic, tac, toe and ....boom. Markov rips one from the point. 1-0 a half minute into the PP. That'll make the Sharks think twice. The Habs PP is their big threat once again.
Lemieux gets a scoring chance. His shot looks 43 years old.
Second string shift from D' Agostini. Taking the puck behind the net, he outhustles the Sharks D with Boucher watching him all the way. He sprawls and slides a pass from the shaft of his stick to a pinching Gorges in the high slot. 2-0. Whoa, did Boucher ever overplay that! Glad he's in.
Canadiens are playing with lot of confidence now.
Crowd is chanting "Boooo Chaaaa, Boooo Chaaaa!"
The Kovy line knocks at the door. The two Maxes follow suit.
D' Ags and Higgins are wreaking havoc out there, giving the Sharks D fits. Markov give and go with Koivu finds him wide open. What a pass! 3-0 Habs. Pinching myself here!
Benoit Brunet's giving all the credit to the Laraque fight for changing the flow and momentum of the game. What a crock! It's the Habs PP, fool. That's what's making the Sharks hesitant out there.
Ole, Ole comes out too early again.
I gotta run out just before the period's end. Drving my acronym creative daughter to public skating at a local arena.
On the way, I catch the end of the period on CKAC. Danny Dube also mentions Laraque's fight as changing the pace. I must be a moron. The powerplay has nothing to do with it!
SECOND PERIOD
Pierre Houde says the real tests starts now. He's right, the Sharks won't roll over.
Komisarek runs interference at the blueline. What in the world was he thinking?
First PK Unit - 40-6 with 26-44 on D
Ouch! 3-1 now. Pavelski slips behind a snoozing Hamrlik into the slot. This changes everything.
In the Sharks end, Plekanec dumps the puck in and is interfered with a foul remiscent of Komisarek's move, but no call.
Sharks are buzzing.
Halak's looking overwhelmed. A puck off the crossbar, and a bounce later finds Thornton in the slot. 3-2...and yikes! Houde was right.
Laraque gets a shot on goal...hey wow!
Brisebois dumps one down the ice and gets stuck out there. Doug Janik, can you do better?
D' Agostini gets called for a hook after being rubber out in the Sharks end. A bit lame, but I hope the ref calls the whole game this way. Might be the Habs best chance to stay ahead. For now, they gotta kill this one off.
First PK Unit a daring choice....Pleks and Kovy with Markov and Schneider.
Vlasic hits the post! I pity Habs fans with pacemakers.
A tired Markov fires blindly around the glass. Take a better look dude....puck stays in.
Metro and Greek Lightning come out, kill off the last second. Phew!
Kovalev's covered real good. Not an inh of room for him, and he's looking discouraged.
AK46 not into this one. No hustle to catch passes just out of reach, no intensity near the boards. Some games he's Mogilny, some games he's Andrei Kovalenko!
Pacioretty working his ass off behind the net. Great consistency game in for a 19 year old.
Last minute of the period and the Habs are burried in their own end. Not good.
Pierre Houde as Notradamus: "Il fallait prevoir que les Sharks allait revenir."
Intermission: Dave Morrisette preaching for his lunk head types, also points out the big shift in momentum due to Laraque's fight in that long gone first period. Note, dude, the Sharks got the momentum back after a powerplay goal of their own.
THIRD PERIOD
Okay boys. Short shifts and no penalties please!
AK46 comes alive, just a bit. Habs can't keep pressure up in the Sharks end.
Sharks are buzzing around Halak again. I'm fearing a fluke goal here!
Habs fourth line out against Thornton's. Aaarrrrgh!
Sharks hit the post.
Is the rink tilted towards the Habs end. Seems so. A bad sign.
Marleau and Thornton are all over the Habs D.
15 minutes to go and no shots yet for Habs.
Kovy dangles onto the Sharks end, one hand on the stick and easily snuffed out.
Shots are 37 to 16 for the Sharks.
Brisebois lured out of position, pursues Grier all the way to the blueline.
Higgins breaks in one on one. Sharks D all over him like a dirty shirt. No call.
Carbo sends out Metro and Stewart with Kovalev. It can't hurt. Marleau backhands a shot through his own legs. Halak alertly in places makes it look easy. Kovalev dazzles on a spinnerama move, but he's all alone. The two Maxes buzz in the Sharks end, but don't threaten. Boyle drives a boiler hard into the CH on Halak's chest. 40 shots on goal again. Looks like the whistles have been put away. Metro with Higs and Dags get a good 3 on 2 chance. Four Habs waiting back at the blueline, a good idea considering they're being overwhelmed a good bit. Plekanec has a "girly" shift. Five minutes left. Habs are a little more poised and patient that earlier. Two Maxes are strong, deep in the Sharks end on the forecheck. Kills a good 20 seconds. Sharks buzzing some more. Halak is standing on his head. He's stealing a game in the great tradition....dare I say it...of Patrick Roy. Fans give him a rousing standing O. Well deserved. 2:20 to go now. Higgins, doing his best Guy Carbonneau reading pass lanes, bottles the Sharks in mid ice. Boucher called to the bench at 1:20. Kostopoulos ices the puck. Could be a good thing, might be a bad thing. A time out is called. Sharks coach Todd McLellan reminds me of teenage werewolf movies! The Ole song again. Don't the fans know it should only be sung when a game is in the bank! Pavelski breaks out of his own end and his stick slides from his hand in stride. A good break. Sharks start over as seconds dwindle. Game over. Somewhere in the attic of my house, my heart is still beating. The Habs mob Halak. 46 saves. 20 to 7 in the third and the Canadiens hang on. My daughter was wrong. HABS is an acronym for Halak Awesome, Beats Sharks! A crazy game won entirely in a seven minute span by the Habs. I'm not too comfortable with this "grab a lead, hang on for dear life" style of game. It's relying on Halak's excellent play a little too much. There is having confidence in the goalie, and then there is outright dependence. Over the course of this win streak, the team's faith in their puckstopper has swung from being none at all, to way too much. It begs the question: Was it the biggest win of the year or was it the worst thing that could happen? 87 hours until the trade deadline. Bob, the solution is Niklas Havelid!
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Boy, the Sharks are a good team. If I wasn’t a Habs fan…….
We really shouldn’t have won that but I’ll take the two points, we need them. I don’t think the boys are stupid, they have to know they were outplayed. A few lessons learnt I hope and a measuring stick. Our D is atrocious for the most part, Halak steals another one. I liked the energy in the first period but as usual they didn’t keep it up. You have to factor fatigue into it though, the Sharks were well rested being in Montreal for two days, our Habs played back to back.
Havelid?
How about Dandenault? With Tanguay and, eventually, Latendresse, two forwards will have to step out. One of them right about now.
Metropolit is, I think, staying put. Which leaves Stewart and Laraque and then… D’Agostini? on the bubble. I guess the safe bet is Laraque out, D’Agostini on the 4th line and Tanguay back on Koivu’s RW. Would love to see him with the two Max tough (and Kosto shore up the fourth line)…
Anyway, no place anymore for Dandenault up front. And Brisebois is playing 11-13 minutes a game (and is at game #998). So, y’know…
1000
Play him the last 2 games of the season! Once we’ve clinched, lol!
Dandeneault and Janik will have to get some games in on D.
Stewart, Chipchura and Laraque will sit a bunch of games, after the roster freeze is lifted.
Habs in the Playoffs
I wonder if the Habs is capable of winning in the playoffs with their current roster. I also question the conditioning of the players. Games after games, they were outplayed in either the 2nd and/or 3rd period. Halak came to the rescue the past 4 games and they got valuable points for the playoff race. Honestly, their forwards are small and have proven to be ineffective during the last playoff run. Their defence is really questionable as Komisarek and Hamrlik are struggling big time. Komisarek, in particular, has seen his blockshots and hits reduced substantially in recent games. I am surprised that Gainey has waited such a long time to make some changes in the D-corp.
I am glad that someone finally agrees/wishes that we see the last of Brisebois. He is a disaster in waiting in almost every game. I am surpised that Gainey and/or Carbonneau tolerate him as long as they had. Dandenault played some good games on D before he got injured and yet Carbonneau chose not to play him.
BTW
O’Byrne got a concussion yesterday in a game against the Marlies. So those looking at in house solutions for D have one less option.
I think Dandy might get his trade wish.
I like Havelid, though.
I’ve maintained that Breeze’s 1000 game plateau has nothing to do with his icetime, and I still do. They aren’t playing a lineup that they think has a worse chance of winning games (especially in a playoff race) just to get Breeze an honour. That is a ridiculous accusation.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
It sounds like a ridiculous accusation coming from my mouth as well, but someone somewhere in a position of decision feels Brisebois playing is more important than developing O’Byrne at the NHL level and letting him play through his mistakes. Favoring Brisebois only accomplishes getting to that 1000th game. If winning games is the rationale, Dandeneault should have been there when Brisebois has a hell of a time in back to back games at his age. Carbonneau even paired Schneider with him in the third, to rest both his eldest D men.
Saskhab: I can understand why they want to get Brisebois on ice over O’Byrne. But over Dandenault? I guess it’s a matter of offense.
I understand Brisebois gets some PP time (he is, after all, a “proven commodity” offensively). But seeing the overall ice time he is alotted since he came back from injury, and the general level of performance (I may be judging him too harshly, I only ask to be convinced)… Well… One have to wonder how much he has left in the tank. He just didn’t looked that bad in the first half, but now…
Why Gainey/Carbonneau continues to put so mcuh faith in Brisebois is beyond me. It really contradicts their ‘expressed’ conviction of keeping/developing their prospects. While O’Bryne played poorly early in the season and may warrant to rebuild his confidence down in the minor, he did look better upon his call-up. He is no more risky than Brisebois in the 6th d-position and he is younger and bigger. It may pay off down the road if Carbonneau had played him more during his second tour of duty. It is my contention all along that signing Brisebois was one of the mistakes made the Habs brass. The other was assuming their PP can be as strong with a combination of Brisebois/forward (Sergi K. mostly) manning the point.
I’m not saying that the decision to dress Breeze over Dandy is the right call (I was actually a proponent of playing Streit on D last year, for example, and like seeing Dandy on D), but he is not getting the starts in order to get to 1000 games played. Carbo, an imperfect human, has more confidence in Breeze than he has in Dandy as a defender.
But judging on Breeze’s limited ice time in the 3rd period last night, that confidence might be waning.
O’Byrne was sent down to the AHL first to regain his composure, and then second for roster convenience when Schneider was acquired. When Bouillon was injured, the team decided to go first with Patrice as his replacement. They might be re-thinking that decision, although Dandy’s apparent trade request (though it has been denied) might have soured the team for the past couple of games.
The Hamilton Spectator report last night on O’Byrne’s concussion actually indicated he was about to get called up after the game, so it looks like the team was ready to put him back in there ahead of Patrice. It’s noteworthy that Janik had just cleared waivers yesterday as well, so Janik going down allowed O’Byrne to come up. Now does Janik come back up instead?
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
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