Game 31 Recap: Habs Hold Off Islanders 5-3
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Dec 13, 2011 10:49 PM EST
in Habs Game Recaps
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PrintLet's just say it, the Montreal Canadiens like to toy with their fans emotions. The Habs snapped a four-game losing streak at the Bell Centre with a 5-3 win over the New York Islander
Al Montoya was given the start tonight for the Islanders. I personally thought we might see Montreal native Kevin Poulin make his Bell Centre debut. It would not be the case with Evgeni Nabokov taken off IR and put into the backup roll.
Islanders goaltender Montoya, shelled for six goals in a loss to Pittsburgh, did not get off to a great start, taken for a pair of goals in the first period.
But it was the Islanders who struck first, at 7:50 of the first period, after a brutal pass in the defensive slot by P.K. Subban. P.A. Parenteau scooped up the missed pass and fed Matt Moulson, who deked past Carey Price on a cross seam pass, tucking home his 15th goal of the season,
Andrei Kostitsyn responded 1:25 later, after a great individual effort. The Belorussian made a chip in off the boards, then followed it with a smoke an mirrors act, popping out from a screen to beat Montoya.
Mathieu Darche gave the Canadiens their first lead of the night, at 13:28, with a weak slap shot that Montoya completely muffed on.
Montoya woke up between the pipes in the scoreless second period, making 15 saves that he had to work for.
The addition of Tomas Kaberle, given just in his second game with Montreal, has already shown signs of stability on the blue line. It's a breath of fresh air for fans who had to endure the magical mystery tour of Raphael Diaz, et al on the point.
The struggling Habs power play notched it's second tally in as many games when Erik Cole popped his 11th goal of the season just 31 seconds into the third period.
Then the Canadiens began a sloppy sequence that cost them a two-goal lead when Josh Bailey and John Tavares scored in a six-minute span. The first goal was a pair of mistakes by the Canadiens defensive corps. Raphael Diaz, like Subban, made a weak defensive zone clearing attempt in front of his goal. The Islanders regained possession and with Hal Gill caught chasing into the corner, Diaz and Price were handcuffed with two attackers in front of the net.
"We tried to lose it at the end," Price joked. "It was one of those nail-biters that wasn't really necessary. We were scrambling at the end though. We have to stop sitting back, but at the end of the day we found a way to win."
With panic setting in, Petteri Nokelainen would be the surprise hero on the evening. The fourth-liner just came into the play off a line change and one-timed a pass from Lars Eller for the winning goal at 13:45.
An oddball evening continued as Hal Gill did his best Bobby Orr impression. Well the best he'll likely muster The man they call "Skillsy" was merely trying to clear the zone, with Montoya pulled, and flung the puck into the air. The puck landed and rolled down the ice, right into the empty net.
"I was a little embarrassed." said Gill, who was just hoping to avoid an icing call. "I was begging that it wouldn't go down the ice."
The Canadiens even up their home record at 5-5-6 and host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Game Summary from NHL.com
Game Notes
Chris Campoli made his Bell Centre debut, in a Habs uniform, after returning from injury in the first game of the season. "It felt great, awesome. It's better than being on the other side," Campoli said. "I'm humbled to play here and it's a great experience." The rearguard was +1 on the night with 16:34 of ice time.
Lars Eller made some outstanding one-man efforts in the second period, and set up the winning goal. Jaroslav is gone folks, enjoy the future this kid brings to the team.
Alexei Emelin was a healthy scratch, but the Habs made up for his absence with 26 hits. Erik Cole and Josh Gorges led the body assault with six and five hits respectively.
Travis Moen took a puck of the foot, in the first period, and left the game. He is listed as day-to-day.
Three Stars: 1. Petteri Nokelainen 2. Erik Cole 3. Matt Moulson
Advanced Stats: Shift Charts / Head to Head / Corsi & Fenwick
The long faces on the island at Lighthouse Hockey
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Holy crap
The Habs folding in the third wasn’t just perception…
12 scoring chances against in one period at ES. Brutal beyond words.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 13, 2011 11:10 PM EST reply actions
Yeah, but 2/12 is better than the 2/4 we were used to giving up earlier in the year! Right?
It’s about damned time we won a game with our scrubs being the stars.
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Agreed. We were owed some luck.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 11:16 AM EST up reply actions
Defensive Alignment going forward.....who is coming out for Emelin?
Okay…so tonite JM sends a message to Emelin that if he is to stay in the line-up he needs to be the guy leading the team in “Hits”. I figure that he got that message loud and clear tonight and wants back on the ice Thursday against the Flyers. The Habs should be doing everything possible to get him back into the line-up and with a solid understanding of what his role is each game. So who is coming out? Is it time for Diaz to see the sites of Hamilton? Your thoughts are appreciated. I just am hoping that they are more creative then the one JM will use which will be —> ice the same line-up defensively going forward until something forces him to change.
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
Sending a message to a player who had been pretty good until he had to switch from the left to the right and to play with a new guy? I bet he keeps Emelin out because he doesn´t care about physical play. I think this is a huge mistake.
There would be different ways to get him back in again. 1. Play him on the right for Diaz and show some fucking patience. 2. Play him on the left instead of Gill. 3. Split Subban – Gorges, play Emelin with Subban and try Gorges on the right.
Thing is Emelin has to play. Kaberle has to be in because of the PP, there´s no doubt about Subban and Gorges but the next guy in the depth chart should be Emelin because he brings something different which we desperately need.
Keeping Emelin out has nothing to do about sending messages or not caring for physical play and everything to do with positional overload. Emelin can’t play the right side (and “some fucking patience” is going to result in losses the Habs can’t afford at this point) and the Habs have too many lefties. So the options are to split Gorges-Subban (risky, as this pairing is keeping the Habs afloat) or have him replace Gill (which I think is coming in the not too far future).
Emelin should play, but not because he brings “something different”, but because he’s a good D-man. He’s just caught in a numbers game right now.
I agree with you are separating Gorges and Subban. You have to have at least one solid pairing that you can count on.
by Hockey Drills on Dec 14, 2011 8:47 AM EST up reply actions
JM obviously doesn´t mind playing the softest D in this league, otherwise he would have found a different solution. Of course Emelin is a good player (at least on the left) plus he brings something different.
You´re right about Subban-Gorges. At this point I wouldn´t split them either. If I had to make a decision, it would be Emelin instead of Gill but giving him a couple of more games on the right is also an option that doesn´t necessarily lead to losses and it´s not that Diaz or Campoli don´t make any mistakes.
Diaz and Campoli make mistakes, but Emelin was constantly out of position, which also eliminated his physical game. It really wasn’t working. He’s just not the same player on the right side.
JM plays guys who are effective and I don’t think he cares if they use physicality or speed or whatnot to make it happen. I’m sure he’s more impressed with Emelin’s mobility and positional savvy than his physicality, and IMO he’s right to do so. Big-hitting in defensemen is fun to watch, but as a defensive tool, it’s overrated.
Small sample size to be so conclusive. Let him adjust first before saying he isn’t the same player.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 11:38 AM EST up reply actions
The problem is whether the Habs can afford the goals-against that’ll come during his adjustment period.
Looking at Olivier’s scoring chances, in just one game he went from abysmal to respectable. I don’t think he was that bad in the last 40 minutes against Jersey.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 6:21 PM EST up reply actions
Again, I agree, which is why I’d dress 7 D and leave Gill for his specialty PK/end of the game role and sit him 5 on 5 (with a few shifts sprinkled in after a PP to rest Kaberle).
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by Bruce Peter on Dec 14, 2011 12:01 PM EST up reply actions
I like this idea a lot. Is there some unwritten rule against dressing 7 dmen? I almost never hear of it happening.
On the otherhand, how confident are we in Emelin-Diaz as a pair out there? I guess probably better than Gill-Diaz at 5-5.
I just can’t see allowing Emelin time to learn how to play the right side “on the job” right now. Last night was a must win game in terms of actually building some positive mo, and in terms of the challenges coming against Philly, Boston and Chicago.
But it would be really helpful to have Emelin in the line up for those games. He can play left during the games and work on his right side positioning with Ladoucer after practice.
by patience is a virtue on Dec 14, 2011 12:40 PM EST up reply actions
Considering we’re pretty much out of good forwards, might as well just play good players instead (being D).
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by Bruce Peter on Dec 14, 2011 12:44 PM EST up reply actions
Pretty amazing how Sean Gordon presented a scenario that made the Habs prospect depth post 2007 looked weak, yet here they are with three kids on the Canadian junior team.
Technicality.
I didn’t mention Tinordi either.
by Chris Boyle on Dec 14, 2011 10:33 AM EST up reply actions
Pribyl should probably make the Czech team as well.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 11:17 AM EST up reply actions
If the goal is to have tons of WJC representation, we should only draft Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, Danes, and Latvians.
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by Bruce Peter on Dec 14, 2011 11:59 AM EST up reply actions
Speaking of Danes, I wouldn’t mind drafting Eller’s little brother.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 6:23 PM EST up reply actions
Hey Andrew, since you were curious about this:
- The team with the second-biggest drop in rating is Washington. The model has the Caps’ effects-adjusted Corsi at 50.4%, a drop of 1.2 percentage points. The last time I did these rankings was just before Boudreau was sent packing in favor of Hunter, so the change is all on Hunter’s watch. The Capitals have put up a Corsi of 45.2 since Hunter took over. Six games is a meaningless sample size, but it’ll be something to keep an eye on.45.2 under Hunter? Holeeee cow.
http://drivingplay.blogspot.com/2011/12/power-rankings-through-december-11th.html
I know Caps fans were saying that, bizarrely, under Boudreau, their CORSI and Fenwick were high but the scoring chances were low (they were actually being consistently outchanced in games). The disparity had never happened in the previous couple of years like that, but in 2011-12 the metrics weren’t matching up.
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by Bruce Peter on Dec 14, 2011 12:45 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough, but I’m suspecting that the scoring chance situation isn’t much improved with a 45.2 Corsi.
Oh, I agree. That being said, small sample sizes being tossed around here… even scoring chances over 20 games is a small sample.
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by Bruce Peter on Dec 14, 2011 12:56 PM EST up reply actions
Too true.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 6:24 PM EST up reply actions
Amazing stat of the day, Scott Gomez has a better even strength scoring rate than Alex Ovechkin (1.57 vs 1.41 per 60 minutes).
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by Stephan Cooper on Dec 14, 2011 4:52 PM EST up reply actions
I was just looking at this. The Habs currently have 5 players above 2.00 (Pacioretty, Kostitsyn, Plekanec, Cole and Cammalleri) and Desharnais just missed (1.94). All of them are above such luminaries as Ovechkin, Iginla, Kovalchuk, Nash, Richards (both Brad and Mike)…
Gionta is well within the top-six range too. They’re surface numbers all would be a bunch more impressive if the powerplay was working.
7 guys that are scoring like a good top-six player at even strength is definitely a strong point.
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by Stephan Cooper on Dec 14, 2011 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
Stop it you guys, you’re making me optimistic again.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 6:25 PM EST up reply actions
Holy crap. Wow.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 14, 2011 6:23 PM EST up reply actions
Right now you could say Gomez has more value with his contract than Ovie has with his.
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by Stephan Cooper on Dec 14, 2011 11:00 PM EST up reply actions
Imagine HIO’s reaction to that.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Dec 15, 2011 1:29 AM EST up reply actions
Blunden? Ugh.
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With the defense getting relatively healthy, it was inevitable we’d be forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel for forwards.
Speaking of that… who’s the backup goalie down in Hamilton?
Stop it with goalies already.
AKost is, according to behindthenet, 2nd in the league in shooting% amongst forwards with at least 20 games played. Just in time for the contract year, heh…
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