I had the unfortunate experience of watching last night’s game with a silver-tongued friend and fan of the Edmonton Oilers. After shooting my mouth off for a good 20 minutes, noting to him that Edmonton’s bottom six was the hockey equivalent of bloody stool, I was forced to sit by in disbelief as the hockey gods smote the Habs. The first devastating moment of the evening came when Montreal surrendered a goal to goddamned Ladislav Smid. Smid, who shoots less than a conscientious objector, has 11 career markers and a Jason Strudwickian 1.1 S/60 rate on the season. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I then had the distinct pleasure of watching my beloved Tomas Plekanec flop around like Scotty 2 Hotty while “Flyin'” Ryan Jones potted the game winner. My friend then proceeded to claim that Plekanec is not a true number one centre, at which point I claimed that he’s stupid. That’s pretty much where the evening ended. So frig off, Habs and frig off, Emily Batty’s foot for ruining a perfectly good opportunity to be a dick.
Apologies for the rant, here are your links for the day.
Montreal Canadiens News and Analysis
The good news keeps coming for Habs rookie Michael Bournival. After being told to find an apartment in Montreal on Monday and being moved up, over the pipping hot Travis Moen, to the Plekanec line on Tuesday, Bournival managed to extend his point streak to three games and log a season high 12:31 of ice time. Bournival should remain on that line until one of Max Pacioretty, Daniel Briere, or Brandon Prust return from injury.
Apparently, Marc Bergevin and company met with Lars Eller’s representation over the summer to discuss a contract extension, but were reluctant to make a formal offer. Management wanted to wait and see if Larry could rebound from the Eric Gryba hit and thus far the answer is a resounding yes. According to LeBrun, the fact that Shea Weber was matched up against the E.G.G. line is proof that Lars Eller is Montreal’s number one centre and so we can expect him to be paid as such.
Linesmen have been instructed to separate players, even before a fight starts, who remove their helmets. This is why Travis Moen and Luke Gadzic were prevented from dropping the gloves in yesterday’s first period.
Roman Hamrlik was in attendance for yesterday’s game and received a standing ovation from the Bell Centre faithful. As Vic noted yesterday, Hamrlik retired after 20 NHL seasons.
General News and Analysis
Daniel Alfredsson, who captained the Ottawa Senators for 14 seasons and owns the team records for most games, goals, assists, points, and other stuff, will face off against his old club for the first time in his career today. Alfredsson is adjusting to his more complimentary role in Detroit, while most Sens are incapable of adjusting to society.
Tyler Dellow looks at nine-game save percentages from 2012-2013 to put the Colorado Avalanche’s hot start in perspective. Although professional analysts seem to avoid it, crunching basic probabilities can provide the appropriate perspective and sometimes luck is a perfectly good explanation.
Battle of California’s Megalodon has another edition of the funniest hockey tweets of the week.
John Fischer has some stern words for New Jersey’s power play which ranks last in shots and shot attempts and first in shorthanded shots allowed.
A new date for the civil suit between Steve Moore and Todd Bertuzzi has been set for September 2014. Moore is seeking $38 million in damages that would potentially be split between Todd Bertuzzi and Canucks‘ ownership in the event that the suit is lost.
