Larserrific! Habs Crush Jets on Eller's Four Goal Night
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jan 4, 2012 11:06 PM EST
in Habs Game Recaps
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PrintAnyone remember Jan Bulis? You probably do, if you are a Habs history/trivia buff, as the last player to score four goals for the Montreal Canadiens. That was in 2006.
Lars Eller equalled that mark in tonight's 7-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, and picked up an assist along the way to make it a five-point evening.
You know Lars Eller, right? The key player coming back the other way in the deal that sent Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues. The player most fans thought would be a big time bust and that Pierre Gauthier had lost his mind. Well the latter of those two arguments is still debatable, but the truth of the matter is the Danish sensation will be a big time player in this organization.
The Jets have not been a great road team and have been tagged for seven goals at least twice previous this season. The Canadiens came out strong in the first period, but a defensive lapse led to the visitors taking an early league when Tim Stapleton was left open in front of Carey Price at 3:41 of the first period.
Montreal replied with a pair of goals in a 43-second span. Josh Gorges apparently has a goal scoring clause in his new contract extension. The Habs blueliner's shot bounced off Tobias Enstrom and past Ondrej Pavelec for his second tally of the season. Eller then began his goal run, firing a wrist shot past the partially screened Jets netminder.
Even before the two Canadiens goals, Pavelec seemed shaky and out of focus. It was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Canadiens made it a dreaded two goal lead in the second period when Tomas Kaberle potted his first goal in a Habs jersey. What? Kaberle can shoot?
Fans at the Bell Centre had to start biting their nails as Blake Wheeler's power play goal cut the lead to one with 2:09 remaining in the second stanza.
If Pavelec was struggling in the first period, the walls came tumbling down in the third as the Eller show took flight. The Canadiens scored not one, not two, but three goals in a 50-second span. Mike Cammalleri sandwiched his ninth of the season between Ellers second and third goals of the evening.
And where was yours truly when this happened? Dropping my kid's friend off at her house. Next time they take the bus!
Just as I plopped back down to take in the game, this happens.
Unreal ending to a five point night, that brings Eller's season total to 17 points, which matches his entire output last season (40 fewer games).
Andrew Ladd tried to cue the comeback with just under seven minutes to play, but it wasn't going to happen.
Travis Moen and Andrei Kostitsyn played an excellent supporting roll to their center, picking up three assists apiece on the night. Moen even had a couple early scoring opportunities right out of the gate in the first period.
Erik Cole ran up a staggering 27:04 TOI, picking up a pair of assists. Alexei Emelin had five hits on the night and really would have liked to drop the boom on Ladd, who punched him in the face in the second period.
The Habs will next face the Tampa Bay Lightning, and hope the home stand and the revived goal song carries further into 2012. Wonder if Randy Cunneyworth gives tonight's First Star any more power play time than the six seconds allotted tonight?
After the game, the team announced that Louis Leblanc has been sent back to the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL).
Three Stars: 1. Lars Eller 2. Andrei Kostitsyn 3. Erik Cole
Advanced Stats: Shift Charts / Head to Head / Corsi & Fenwick
Reaction from the Jets camp at Arctic Ice Hockey
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Not only did Eller have a magic night, he also did it against Winnipeg’s top line and defensive unit,
Most common opponents:
Kane-Stapleton-Wheeler
Hainsey-Enstrom
Dogs desperately need Leblanc back, so that’s a plus if the coach wasn’t going to play him on the third line where he belonged.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
Fuck, I’m on my next to last day of my non-NHL watching and I miss out on this?
Well, hopefully this inspires the young Danes who just had their hearts broken at the World Juniors and got relegated by losing two games in overtime.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Maybe this is the guy ...
who should be playing18 minutes per night as 2nd line center … Maybe by playing real minutes under Cunneyworth versus the short leash that JM gave him, the Habs unearth a talent already on their roster that’s capable of playing 2-way hockey, who can shoot the puck to score … while developing into a difference maker? Just sayin’ … get the kid on the ice and stop telling us he’s not ready for the big time.
Short leash? Eller was given plenty of icetime under JM, and was given more and more responsibilities until he was, just when JM was fired, starting to get Plekanec-type assignments. Just sayin’.
…..yes but….JM really short changed him from the start of the year which was extremely disappointing after his strong and gutsy playoff performance against Boston. Playing Game 7 witha shoulder that required off season surgery showed a lot of heart and courage. We had a few too many passengers in that series and the 1st 37 games this season. Eller has worked extremely hard to catch his game up to par. Yes, he does have some short comings in his games for sure. But there is no one on the team that can stick-handle like him. He is going to be a force for us at the #2 slot for a good period of time. I agree with you that Jm did start giving him more responsible defensive assignments 5 on 5. But he should have been given more PP time to bring the puck up…he could have carried the load that Gomez left with puck possession. JM waited too long to take advantage of him. He continued to use that Russiaan sniper on the PP instead but we got no returns from Darchenov.
"It's only through change we learn to grow".
The second Gomez went down, JM basically started using Pleks and Eller for all the tough minutes in order to use DD as the exploitation center (basically structuring his system as to make DD look good). Eller was given an important role immediately and his responsibilities only increased as time went on.
It’s a heck of a lot better than giving 14 minutes to Mike freaking Blunden. With JM you might quibble with some of his decisions, but RC is terrible.
Why are we still in the bashing Martin mode? The guy put Montreal in position to win almost every night while missing Markov for 80% of his tenure. RC is 2-6 since he took over.
Results over process again. Let’s credit the guy who is standing behind the bench as the genius who unleashed the talent of Lars Eller, not the guy who nurtured the kid for the first 120 games of his career.
Your assumption is that Eller was a beast who was sitting on the bench and that RC unleashed him. Instead of a talent who needed to be placed in a position to succeed until his confidence and mind caught up to his skills.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Another view
It may take some time to undo the damage that JM did.
It could be that the Habs were in position to win on many nights despite JM, not because of him.
RC doesn’t have Markov either. You coach the players you have.
Below somebody is singing the praises of Cole (27min!), who was averaging 14min/game for the first 15 games of the season. JM had some strengths, but he didn’t know how to deploy the assets at his disposal IMO.
I have no problem with somebody having the belief that JM cost them wins. I just don’t put any stock in the assertion unless somebody provides me with a reasonable explanation or tangible proof.
When the Habs made the Conference Finals it was Muller and Halak who were responsible for them winning. Last season when they grabbed a sixth seed while fighting injuries all year none of the credit went to Martin, it went to Price, Subban etc. When Montreal struggles out of the gate this year it is Martin’s fault?
If there is a pattern of behaviour, tactical moves, ice time allotment etc that runs 200+ games then I am all for viewing it and using that to possibly alter my position. Until then I will credit Martin for getting a shitty Habs team to the third round and almost knocking off the future Stanley Cup champions in the 1st round. I am not going to judge him on an incomplete season in which he was fired with the habs two points out of eighth.
The moving scapegoat is a problem in Montreal. I don’t know how a fanbase can be so dismissive and angry at a coach who took the team to more success than any team since 1993 and halved the playoff win total of the team from 1994-2009 (4) in just two seasons (2).
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
The old saying goes: “players win, coaches lose”. And that goes for every sport. I agree that Martin and his system gave the Habs a chance to win every night. But I also agree that Martin didn’t know how to manage players who couldn’t fit his system. Cunneyworth seems much more adaptable in a tactical sense but whether or not that is better is left to be seen.
by Silvertip on Jan 5, 2012 9:54 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
I don’t know if that is true though. When he coached the Sens they finished 1st, 3rd, 5th, 3rd and 7th in offense over his final three seasons. He seemed to adapt to guys like Hossa, Alfredsson, Havlat, etc.
They were a powerhouse every year. I just don’t see any evidence to suggest he couldn’t adapt. What was the assumption and expectation of the talent on this roster?
Year one they overachieved.
Year two they overachieved.
Year three he was fired.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
The more I think about this (and maybe I’m just seeing too much into this), the more I think about Gauthier.
Gabriel Desjardin noted it when they fired Perry Pearn: the habs were #2 in the league for 5v4 shot rate and 29th for shooting%. And yet, out went Pearns with Gauthier saying “think outside the box!”. Was Gauthier tired of Martin annoying him with “we have too many rookies under fire, too many injuries to cope” and thus axed him and reached to Cunneyworth so RC would “think outside the box” (AKA: Play Nokia and bench both Eller and Subban to punt 2 points in WPG, stuff like that)?
The team has too many good nhl players to tank. If they uncork 7 wins until the end of the month, and then uncork another 7-8 in february, then and only then they stand a chance of surviving trough the murderer’s row that is the March schedule. And that can only work if every. single. team. in front of them never breaks the .500 barrier. All 7 of them that is.
And if they want to be sellers, what do they have to sell? AKost? The fact is, the top of the lineup is made of vets in their prime signed long term, more or less promising rookies and some dregs. And that’s the forward group. On the backend, basically Gill is moveable and the other guys are low-risk high-reward bets (Weber, Campoli) or boat anchors (Kaberle).
So there, too far down the standings because we’ve been killed by over-exposed rookies and over-used vets for over a month and a half. And Gomez and Markov will be back in february, meaning we’ll actually shoot up in the standings.
And trough all this Gauthier did the following:
- Fired an assistant coach over what I must concede was a non-problem (the scoring chances metrics tells us the team was doing exactly as well as last season)
- Confronted with the absence of a 4th line C, went out and got a guy who cannot play defense to save his life (the jets PP goal where Darche didn’t block the shot, look where the pass to the point man come from).
- Went and traded his 3rd best ES defenseman for a 6th ES Dman / PP Specialist so to solve the same PP non-problem, right when the team was floundering at ES and the guy was healthy at last (I applauded the move, I was wrong)
- Confronted to a team whose ES play was killed by the lack of able players (most notably a DMan to anchor the 2nd pairing while Emelin and Diaz got to learn the ropes and a 4th line C à la Halpern who could help Pleks with DZone assignments), Gauthier fired his perfectly fine coach and had the new guy start screwing around, sending the team into what will, pending and unbelieveable recovery and pure unfiltered run of good luck, it’s ultimate death spiral.
Oh, I almost forgot: our over-used star goalie (first in the league in minutes played and 4th in shot faces, on pace for 70 games) can’t stop a fricking puck since the end of november (35 starts over 40 games, .915 sv% over the season, ,907 over his last 16 games).
And now we are supposed to watch Gauthier, once the season is in the crapper, trade guys and sign contracts until the end of the season and trust the guy to do the right thing?
This reeks to high heavens.
Also, I need a beer.
Just an observation -
In my view, the way JM used his players and the approach he preached was basically a passive approach that penalized “mistakes” caused by attempts at creativity (often seen in young players or offensively inspired players), which is why he struggled to connect with young players (including MaxP in ’09-10, Eller, AK46) and why the team often played “not to lose” after gaining even a 1-goal lead instead of playing to win.
The lasting memory of last year’s playoff loss to the B’s was tanking in Game 4 after 2x earning 2 goals leads. The Habs had close to 30 shots after 30 minutes and were on fire … suddenly, they’re in “JM mode” to protect their lead. They didn’t have 40 shots at end game and lost in OT. If they win game 4 and take 3-1 lead, judging by how close the next 3 games were played (including game 6 W), you have to think they WIN that series. My point: if the team wasn’t playing the way JM wanted them to play after the 30min mark and the way they’d been coached to play with a lead, then why couldn’t he call TO and/or do something to reverse the “turtle position” the team adopted? He made no changes because they were playing “his game” …. that’s what he wanted.
That game 4 approach is exactly what JM brought back to the coaching helm this season and the repeated losses after the team had 1- or 2-goal leads with less than 20min to play became the norm …. not because the players are choking, but because that type of approach (stop skating, stop attacking, dump the puck, get back and pray the other team doesn’t score) is NOT a successful strategy at any level in any sport. You’re basically handcuffing the players. Play to win!
And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that JM had so little success in the playoffs with Ottawa year after year. The Habs went on a glory run 2 years ago, winning game after game by 1 goal … most games easily could’ve gone the other way … primarily b/c Halak stood on his head and the guys played to their max.
IMO, technically JM is competent, probably even good. But he doesn’t put his guys in the best position to win games given his limitations tactically. If a team has talent and they keep losing, it has to be the guy in charge who dictates the playing style that takes the heat ….. that’s not a scapegoat, it’s just a fact of life in professional sports. The Caps were the best team in the league for 2 years in the Reg Season under BB, and he even had the sense to try CHANGING his coaching philosophy after playoff failures … and where is he now? JM’s approach is best applied to a team with very little talent that needs to play for OT every night. If the Habs are that bad, then it probably doesn’t matter who their coach is. I think they’re better than that and deserve a coach that’ll let ’em play to win.
Out
Every team but an few play more defensively (that is, get outs-hot) when leading; It’s not a phenomena that is caused by Martin’s coaching style. I don’t think it’s fair to pin the “sitting back” on Martin when it happens league-wide. This season St. Louis is the only team that has a Fenwick% (using Fenwick because it’s the easiest to find) above 50% when leading by 2, only 5 teams (Detroit, Boston, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis) are above 50% when leading by one.
That’s not to say that firing Martin might have been a good idea under the right circumstances like say, hiring a coach you believe to be better. Cunneyworth I believe is not a better coach than Martin, based on his his line usage (playing the Habs 16th forward on the depth chart for more than 5 minutes/game in close games) or his lineup choices such as:
1Sscratching Subban for a disproportionate number of mistakes ending up in the back of the net, mistakes caused by his attempts at creativity.
2)Scratching Eller for what I still can’t figure out other than him being young and not putting up points because he was being used in a very defensive role so Desharnais could waltz around in easy offensive minutes (which wasn’t a bad strategy).
I view the series against Boston as the Habs running out of horses due to injury at forward. With Pacioretty injured the team only had 5 top-6 calibre forwards, and then Eller getting his shoulder injury, Desharnais getting hurt after a nice run on the wing of the 2nd-line, and Halpern getting a likely concussion after receiving an intentional shoulder to the head away from the play killed what depth Montreal had. Their possession metrics cratered in the last 2 games under the weight of those injuries and they weren’t able to luck out a series win like they had in the previous playoffs.
With the loser point in place playing for OT isn’t actually a bad strategy though I doubt that Martin would concede leads to get to overtime. If in every game the Habs and their opponent had a Tampa/Philly standoff for 60 minutes they could then go to the coin toss that is the 5 minute OT/shootout they’d be a top team in the conference even if they only won a third of the time.
When (relatively) healthy the Habs are a talented bunch of players but this season the team’s been above the cap floor in only 4 games so far. Martin did have his foibles (playing Darche on the powerplay, using Cammalleri on Plekanec’s wing this season when Plekanec was put in a Selke-worthy role because of the injuries) but the Habs weren’t doing poorly because of the coach. The problems with the team are injuries (1st in the league in salary missing, 2nd in man-games, 2nd in TOI/G) and roster construction; with Markov out the Habs are going with 4 bottom-pairing defensemen in every game.
Maybe, maybe not
Eller didn’t get the ice time he merits when Gomez was healthy, last year or this. In my view, his potential and contributions justify 15+ minutes nightly. JM was probably saved from his own bad judgments by the Gomer injuries. RC’s been all over the map with ice time thus far, but he appears to be making decisions & tinkering based on performance and I expect that his lines and ice-time allocations will stabilize as the team “takes shape”. One game doesn’t make a career, but we all know the 1 forward on the roster who has zero chance of netting 3+ goals in a game …. and I’d hate to see that guy eating up the ice time of a young stud who’s actually on the ascent, versus a 4-year decline.
You watch the replay on Eller’s 3rd goal, the kid was smiling while whacking the puck in the net.
Unreal night for him. AKost’s pass on that goal was unreal. Was it a missed shot?
On the replay, seems AK was tracking Larry while carrying the puck through the slot and glanced directly over to him as he cut the pass.
Andrei’s an absolute beast when he sets his mind to it. Hunches over and uses his mass to protect the puck as well as JJ in his prime. Just hope he keeps it up, you know, contract year ‘n’ all.
Always concerned someone’ll flatten him on one of his dipsy-doodles and set him back mentally for a couple of months.
If you were watching TSN they showed him a few times on the bench. Couldn’t get rid of that smile the rest of the game
by hab a good time on Jan 5, 2012 3:05 PM EST up reply actions
With Eric Cole playing out of his mind to the point where RC gives the guy 27+ minutes of ice-time last night, I decided to go through Hickey, Boone and Fisher’s columns to see if his play even warranted his name being mentioned.
I understand the story of the night was Lars Eller. I understand why his name was mentioned 30 times through the three columns, but the only one to mention Eric Cole was Mike Boone and his name came up once.
The fans and media have been complaining about a stud power forward for the better part of 15 years and the Habs finally have one and it hasn’t really been that much of a talking point.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Of course not: it’s working out.
Things that go well are of no interest.
by MathMan on Jan 5, 2012 9:42 AM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Hasn’t it been established that true power forwards are at least 6’4’’ and routinely score 40+ goals a season?
The habs still need size and scoring because those goalposts are built on a moving conveyor belt.
Cole sits at 16 right now. He’ll need another 20% shooting month to do it (9 goals in december), but 40 isn’t completely out of question at this point. We’ll see.
His career shoting percentage and shot rate suggest that 16 goals for have a season is exactly the pace he should be on. We can at least hope to have one 30 goal man.
Which is sad because its easy to see the potential for 3 30 goalers in this lineup if Cammaleri and Pacioretty were converting.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 5, 2012 3:51 PM EST up reply actions
Four Sens in the All-Star game starting lineup.
Who goes for the Habs? Cole?
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
It definitely should be Cole, he’s been our most consistent player. Though Plekanec is due to get some recognition, don’t you think?
http://habsfaninleafland.blogspot.com/2012/01/midseason-ramblings.html
by Habs Fan in LeafLand on Jan 7, 2012 3:11 PM EST up reply actions
And the bashing continues…. Chris and Mathman … do you not hear anything that’s been said to you both about appreciating other’s take on things? Appreciating differences. We are allowed to believe all the misguided and un-stats worthy things as we like, and crapping on your audience every time someone opens their mouth about how they believe that there’s enough talent on this team to push to the playoffs, or believe in the youth we have over nullifying efforts of Gomez or what have you. Gods, step down from your Olympus, wallow in the mire of emotional fandom, you come to understand the simple are happy and need numbers not to be so.
Eller had a spectacular night, deserves better minutes… long and short of it. Why bother bitching about JM’s processes? Who cares which ‘mastermind’ gets credit for Ellers strong play? Enjoy the fact someone produced, that we scored more than 2-3 goals in a game, that the lines seem to be working… Kostitsyn actually made an AWESOME play for Eller’s hat-trick goal…. the masses are happy. Enough with the brow beating over symantics…
by Cruisin4aBruisin on Jan 5, 2012 11:12 AM EST reply actions
You do realize that you are bashing me for bashing others and not respecting my opinion. Right?
Everybody is free to their opinion and everybody is free to question said opinion. This is a discussion board, differing opinions spur learning and broaden perspective. I am not here to nod and say “awesome post”. If I don’t agree with something, I will question it. End of story.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Eller didn’t really get better minutes, though. He got one extra 5-on-5 minute relative to his season average. DD about 30 seconds. Pleks, minus 3 minutes. Nokia, plus 3 minutes.
Between the absence of Gomez and the lack of penalties in the game, you’d expect everyone to have some extra 5-on-5 time. So figure DD was roughly even, Eller got maybe half a minute more, and Plekanec had his icetime severely cut, mostly in favor of Nokelainen.
That last part is what I have a problem with, and it has nothing to do with Eller. It’s nice to paper over that for one game, but on the long run, that’s not going to help the Habs get into the playoffs (assuming, of course, that this is RC’s goal).
A 7-3 win is fun, and I wish we had them more often, but it shouldn’t blind us to the situation, either.
Chris, my intentions are to illuminate for you that you alienate others in your combative manner in which you show others POV’s as irrelevant. A “awesome post” isn’t what people are writing here to get, you are no more a teacher than I am an eager student wanting to please you. As a facilitator you permit a certain amount of dialogue and keep topic on track… however, as a facilitator you don’t tell the participants they are wrong, and make no sense. And if this was “Chris Boyle’s Blog” you can conduct yourself as a tyrant, dictator … whatever. But it isn’t your blog.
MathMan – Therein lies the secrets of a playoff push – consecutive and/or constant wins. A 7-3 will may be an anomaly for this team, they likely won’t score 7 goals again this season in one game, but the ‘fun factor’ for the players to play in a game like this, to build some confidence, some chemistry is paramount in the beginning stages of a new team. Yes, the players played all season, but not under RC. He may be along the same lines as JM in philosophy, however, he’s putting his stamp on as soon as he possibly can. Yes there were errors and mistakes but NO one plays a perfect game.
The Situation is that in order for the Habs to get near the playoffs they need to play sound hockey, which comes when players trust each other and have confidence in each other. Once this occurs there’s less sloppy play, better communication and a willingness to sacrifice.
by Cruisin4aBruisin on Jan 5, 2012 2:26 PM EST reply actions
I don’t see how criticizing others’ opinions or assertions is necessarily ‘combative’. Neither MathMan and Chris come across to me as such , while claims of someone being a “tyrant, dictator … whatever” does. Speaking personally, a large part of why I read this blog is to pick up information and opinions from them and the other “bullies” on this blog that might not be commonly held elsewhere.
And, of course, winning is in fact the key to making the playoffs, and I’m sure Cunneyworth knows about this. How do you figure he’s “putting his stamp” on the team, though? Nothing I’ve seen (minus extra minutes for fourth liners) strikes me as being out of the ordinary for what Martin would be seen doing.
That is your opinion. I am not concerned with pleasing everybody, I am concerned with being part of a community and being able to openly express my opinion and be held accountable for what comes out of my mouth.
If that is a problem for you, it will continue to remain a problem for “you”.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Eller’s trade value is huge right now! Let’s trade him for picks a use them to rebuild
Just kidding! Kudos to the kid on a fantastic night that proves that hard work pays off.
by Silvertip on Jan 5, 2012 9:47 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
The continuing emergence of Eller (if you squinted a bit, you could already see it at the beginning of december) is one of the truly bright spots of this season.
Guess you missed the just kidding part of my post.
by Silvertip on Jan 5, 2012 11:42 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Lol ok. Gotta say I love having a big mobile guys down the middle Eller brings a dimension we haven’t had since Robert Lang.
by Silvertip on Jan 6, 2012 4:26 AM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Grow up and learn to take criticism.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 7, 2012 6:12 PM EST up reply actions
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