Comments / New

Canadiens vs. Rangers – Top Six Minutes – Goaltending Controversy Edition

  • A lot to get to here so bear with me
  • First of all, one has to give props to Peter Budaj, who recorded his 11th career shutout tonight, and has looked excellent in both of his two starts so far this year
  • I don’t think you can make that argument, not when Harding, Fasth, Enroth, Khudobin, Markstrom, Scrivens, Brodeur, Lehner, Emery, Elliot, Reimer, Neuvrith are backups in this league
  • Not when Budaj had only a .908 sv% last year (.903 career) and struggled most notably in starts against the horrific Sabres and in the playoffs against the Senators when he was called upon
  • But tonight is about tonight
  • The Canadiens have looked worse in the defensive zone (and I didn’t notice as many blatant odd-man rushes), but they still allowed quite a few good chances, and Budaj was up to the task.
  • Teams always love it when backup goalies get shutouts, they’re great for morale, and give the whole team a lift
  • Speaking of a lift…..
  • Talk about what confidence can do for a player, the rookie has been flying out there, and set up what will undoubtedly be in contention for Canadiens goal of the year when all is said and done
  • He can contribute in all situations, and he doesn’t seem out of place in any of them
  • Oh, and he, Plekanec, and Gionta have developed some serious #kemistree
  • Look, there’s been a lot said about Crankshaft since he signed his deal with the Canadiens
  • I am now going to say some more about it. I wasn’t a fan, still not a fan
  • Murray has been awful on the PK for the past two years, and that’s basically all he can do
  • He also looks like Jaroslav Spacek if Spacek had nails jammed in his legs and asked to skate
  • That said, he didn’t make any glaring mistakes tonight, so I’ll leave it at that
  • I would be very surprised if Brad Richards doesn’t finish the year leading the league in offensive zone start percentage. Vigneault + the Rangers was bound to lead to this, and it is
  • On the note of zone starts, it’s interesting how Therrien has switched it up this year
  • A lot more responsibility for Desharnais and co. (unclear why) and more offensive chances for Eller/Plekanec
  • I expect a call from Tony Marinaro next time somebody’s struggling to perform a seance.
  • But seriously, Galchenyuk was bound to regress a little bit after lighting it up the first five games. He’ll be fine, and by fine I mean SPECTACULAR.
  • Speaking of Galchenyuk, though, I don’t really mind what your opinion of his goal was (relative to goal/no goal) as long as you had the same opinion of Zibanejad back in May.
  • Personally, I think they both should be goals.
  • The rule is vague, and the original object was to improve player safety. As long as the skate isn’t rising off the ice, nobody in danger. It’s fine if you want to go completely the other way though.
  • The calls have been so inconsistent and this is something the NHL needs to resolve.
  • Oops, how did that get in there? Didn’t notice Big Papi on the ice, although I’m sure he couldn’t be a slower skater than Crankshaft.
  • Joking aside, this was an important, albeit kind of strange win. On to the next one.

Three Stars:

For those of you who weren’t active in the game thread, our own Scott Matla had to head out early, and asked for Twitter updates. A little later he was told that big bad Brian Boyle had crushed P.K. Subban and that he was badly injured. We now bring you his responses and a great joke.

Third Star

Second Star

First Star

TrevaDaddy with this great joke on the subject:

Screen_shot_2013-10-28_at_10

Remember to get involved with the Game Threads for ALL Habs games if you want your nights ruined, only to find out that your biggest nightmare is only a fun prank. YAY!

More from Eyes On The Prize:


Support Habs Eyes On The Prize by signing up for Norton 360