A look at two of the kids who carry the Habs flag before games. Fun fact: Tomas Plekanec, the last to leave the ice, taps them on the back or the helmet. D’awwww. [La Presse] (French)
Andrei Markov have been playing here for near 15 years, and his teammates knew from the beginning he was something special. With his 447th point, Markov has earned third place among defensemen on the Canadiens’ all-time scoring list. A look back at his career. [Canadiens]
Michel Therrien prefers to play the backup goalie on the road, and the starting goalie at home. Over two years, Price has a sv% of 0.890% on his second night of playing two back-to-back games, but 0.954% on the second night if he sits out the first one. [La Presse] (French)
Michael Bournival replaced Travis Moen on the fourth line, and played his first game of the season against Chicago. He said that he was excited. [RDS] (French)
Bournival interview before the Blackhawks game. [Canadiens]
What fancy stats tell us about defensemen: “shutdown” d-men are bad at driving possession (compared with “finesse-oriented” ones), and they don’t age gracefully past 30. If Zdeno Chara doesn’t recover fully from his injury, look to Sabres‘ Tyler Myers and Tampa’s Victor Hedman for his spiritual successors. [Washington Post]
Analysis of the Washington Capitals‘ season so far. Spotty defensive zone coverage, below-average play by Braden Holtby, and pure, simple, luck. The real question is: “Do you win by buliding a winning culture? Or do you build a winning culture by winning?”. [Jasper’s Rink]
