- 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.
Budaj is arguably the best backup goalie in the league.
— Patrick (@MTLDriveFor25) October 29, 2013
Holy shit the hockey sense by Bournival just now. Holy shit.
— Andrew Berkshire (@AndrewBerkshire) October 29, 2013
Douglas Murray is pretty good at forechecking into our own end, so there’s that.
— Arik Parnass (@ArikParnass) October 29, 2013
Stepan/Kreider/Richards have an 81.8% Fenwick at 5 vs 5 through two for the Rangers
— Patrick Kearns (@PatrickKearns) October 29, 2013
Also at 71.4% off zone starts for that line.
— Patrick Kearns (@PatrickKearns) October 29, 2013
This is from literally one minute ago. RT @ArikParnass Nobody should be worrying about Alex Galchenyuk, not at all.
— Arik Parnass (@ArikParnass) October 29, 2013
How do you solve a problem like David Ortiz? You basically don’t bother.
— Laura/theactivestick (@theactivestick) October 29, 2013
Third Star
No no no no not Subban
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) October 29, 2013
Second Star
@AndrewBerkshire @nybrentski and @BrianI3ird are all jerks
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) October 29, 2013
First Star
TrevaDaddy with this great joke on the subject:
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!
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- 24CH Recap – Season Two, Episode Four: Winnipeg, Columbus and Nashville, oh my.
- Catching The Torch: Oct 21-27 Edition
- Hamilton Bulldogs player of the week: Louis Leblanc
- 2013-14 Game 12 – Montreal Canadiens at New York Rangers
- Travis Moen suffers a facial fracture/