A Winning Habit - A Montreal Canadiens blog

Nothing says confidence builder more than trouncing the league leading team.  Montreal did it against the Detroit Red Wings last night by outscoring the visitors 7-2 and that just has to be a true feel-good moment for the team that has struggled so severely through the majority of this season.  Many have written-off the Canadiens, yet the Habs have shown signs of life against elite teams and that surely implies that there is more to this franchise than meets they eye.

In case you are chalking this victory up to a rare off-night for the Red Wings, I urge you to remember that when the Canadiens beat the Rangers 4-1 on January 15th, the visiting New York Team was dominating the league well into the season.  I insisted then, as i do now that these strong performances are indeed the more accurate reflections of our team ’s potential; which i grant you has not been manifest nearly enough this season. This team is better, and that by a far margin, than the record that it has delivered.

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Jan 25, 2012; Montreal, QC, CAN; Montreal Canadiens players celebrate a goal by center David Desharnais (51) goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period at the Bell Center. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-US PRESSWIRE

In a barnburner tonight, the Canadiens beat the Red Wings 6-2. In other news, the fat lady sang and cows starting flying around. In all seriousness, I did predict a win earlier tonight, but I imagined that the catalysts would be a stellar goaltending performance and was only 1 out of 3 on my goal scorer predictions.

This game started out with a bang, with Rene Bourque scoring his 15th of the season (and second of the night) off a drive to the net on a great centering pass from Gomez and the secondary assist going to Diaz. From then on, the first period was all Canadiens. The period would end 4-0, with the shots 12-6 in favor of Montreal. Notably, Alexei Emelin would score his first as a Canadien to make it 2-0 about 5 minutes later, followed by 2 goals in the final three minutes of the period courtesy of David Desharnais‘ excellent deke on Howard and a Plekanec backhand.

In the second, the Canadiens would add two more goals to make it 6-0 and ensure everyone gets some chicken wings despite being outshot 12-5. Pacioretty would score his 17th of the year, and Desharnais would score his 2nd of the night on the powerplay.

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Getty Images - Claus Andersen

Tonight, there is one game on tap for the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings, sitting in first in the West with 67 points in 49 games played, are facing the Canadiens at the Bell Centre tonight. The puck drops at 7:30pm.

While most of the focus in Montreal right now is the ongoing Subban-Ladouceur saga, the bad news is that all of the teams that the Canadiens are battling for a spot in the playoffs got at least a point last night. This leaves the Canadiens stuck at 10 points behind 8th. Notably, the Leafs, New Jersey and Florida are all tied at 55 points for spots 6,7,and 8. Behind them are the Jets and Lightning. The Canadiens paltry 45 points leave them in a four-way tie with the Islanders, Sabres and Hurricanes for spots 12,13,14 and 15.

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Arguably the best book ever written relating to hockey

After a very important victory on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Habs are idle until Wednesday night when they host the Detroit Red Wings at The Bell Centre.  Barring a trade or management change there will not be too much to report between now and then so i thought that it would be a pretty good time to change it up a bit.  While i do love and require attention, i do not want to force it down anybody’s throat especially when i do not have anything new and original to present.  I thought, then, to refer you to some other reading material to quench your thirst for everything Hab.

I live in Calgary and even here there is no shortage of material for those who are interested in the rich history of the Montreal Canadiens.  The Calgary Public Library has 26 books relating specifically to the Montreal Canadiens in its collection.  The statistic in and of itself piqued my curiosity.  Was it a low number?  Alternatively, was the number surprisingly high given that i live 3743 km. from the Habs’ hometown?

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Sky Rocket's In Flight...

The Montreal Canadiens snapped a two-game losing streak in defeating the Maple Leafs 3-1 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.  With the win, the Habs climbed to 11th spot in the East and now find themselves 7 points out of playoff contention.  Idle Washington finds itself back in the 8th and final post-season berth while holding 2 games in hand on your Habs.  The win gave Montreal two points that will be crucial down the stretch and, just as importantly, denied Toronto any points whatsoever as the Maple Leafs remain in 9th spot looking in (or up).

Montreal was playing its third game in four nights. The victory gave them 3 of a possible 4 points in back to back games against strong opposition, namely the Penguins and the Leafs; two teams which they must catch if they are going to make a run for qualification in the only season that matters.  The team does not play again until Wednesday but the tradeoff to that is that they will face the league leading Detroit Red Wings on that night in Montreal.

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Picture from andrewhabs.blogspot.com

Tonight was a good night for the Habs. They survived the critical first 10 minutes on the road, then proceeded to play a perfect road game to beat the 9th place Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1.

This isn’t the same rivalry that it was. There was little fire and little passion, but there was some good defensive hockey and solid goaltending on both sides. Carey Price played exceptionally well, only giving up a goal on a breakaway to Montreal native Matthew Lombardi. He ended the night having made 32 out of 33 saves for a save percentage of 0.969.

On another positive note, tonight marked Rene Bourque‘s first goal in a Habs uniform. It came on a broken play in front of Jonas Gustavsson at 18:26 of the first period. It was his 14th of the season, and assisted by Tomas Plekanec and Erik Cole. Bourque didn’t get a good chance to bask in that, as the Habs gave up a breakaway immediately after leaving Lombardi open to pot one blocker side on Price less than a minute later.

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Old Tyme Hockey

Certainly “the great rivalry that was” no longer conjures up the same emotions that it once did, neither to players nor to the fans. There are many reasons for this of course: league expansion, the relative disparity in the quality of the product put on the ice by team management, the fact that both teams have moved into new buidings sorely lacking in character, in history, and in tradition, etc…But as far as I am concerned, if the Montreal Canadiens cannot reach deep, deep, deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep within themselves to show up for this game, then I will be forced to conclude that the team members have given up on themselves and i will concede that major changes need to be made (something that, you will notice i have been steadfastly defending against thus far).

I have been arguing that there is a disconnect between this edition of the team and its record.  I have been confident that a turnaround in the vein that the Bruins demonstrated earlier was imminent.  Well, that ship has sailed, or more accuately, sunk.  At some point, every fan, no matter how loyal has to face the truth.  This team is lacking in character; seemingly devoid of a winning / killer instinct that is so necessary in this long and competitive schedule.  Unlike the captain of the Costa Concordia luxury liner that ran aground off the Italian coast last week, i will not abandon my team but if the Habs fail to show up tonight, i will be more open to roster, coaching, and management changes.
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Source: china2valley.com

An inability to hold a two goal lead going into the third period ultimately cost the Canadiens a victory at the Consol Energy Centre in Pittsburgh this evening.  The losing team got off to a quick start but as has been the case so often this season, a collapse in the final frame contributed to what must be seen as a demoralizing finale.  The Habs, who have not successfully managed to use the defensive shell approach to sustain leads, nonetheless reverted to this old habit and fired a mere 6 shots on goal against Fleury in the last 20 minutes of play.  I guess that calling this `play`might just be a bit of a stretch.  Perhaps they were actually trying to repeat the history of the first period in which they actually scored twice on the same 6 shots.  Such was not to be the case.

The Habs struck first just 34 seconds into the game when an undefended Lars Eller got his hands on a long, weird rebound, and made it count.  Three and a half minutes later,  Kris Letang in his 2nd game back after being injured by Max Pacioretty beat absolutely everybody on the ice including goaltender Peter Budaj.  While i am not intending to discount Letang`s skill, the defensive coverage by the Habs on that particular play was deplorable.  You couldn`t put the blame on anyone in particular (unless Price had been in nets and then everyone would have been calling for his head).  It is my opinion that everybody wearing the CH blew it on that one.

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Photo: Reuters

The Canadiens lost for a second consecutive time in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. They held leads of 3-1, and 4-2, but the Canadiens couldn’t hold off Malkin and the rest. Erik Cole and Andrei Kostitsyn had 1G 1A each, while Max Pacioretty and Lars Eller provided the other goals.

I think the defining moment of the game was actually in the shootout. I couldn’t think of a better summary to this season than Andrei Kostitsyn breaking his stick on his attempt. That’s the year its been folks. Truth be told, the Canadiens should have been able to close this one out in the third [how many times have we heard that this year?] but Malkin was able to tie the game up with only 2:43 left in regulation.

Cunneyworth opted to go with David Desharnais, Andrei Kostitsyn and Scott Gomez in the shootout. I’m not going to second guess these choices whatsoever, but predictably, none of them scored. The Canadiens have not been able to consistently score in the shootout this season at all.

Two things stood out to me though. As you can tell by my previous blog, I’m a P.K Subban fan. I love his energy, his skills and think he was great potential. But sometimes, Subban loses his composure and makes completely ridiculous plays. Most of the time, it can be chalked up to youth, or being played half the game, or some other variant on that. But slew footing is becoming a part of his game that I’m definitely not a fan of. He did it to Brandon Dubinsky. He’s done it a few other times as well, James Neal comes to mind here.  And again tonight, he slew footed Chris Kunitz. I imagine he will get a call from Shanahan, as this one is pretty blatant. If he doesn’t smarten up, he’s going to be a marked man, both with other teams and by the refs. This play is all kinds of dirty, and the fact that he has a newfound habit of turtling when faced with tougher players is getting to be a tired act. He’s a smart, good kid. He doesn’t need to slew foot guys all over the ice.

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Source: Wikipedia

I am not going to dwell on the fact that this is a critical game for both teams.  That would be redundant. For some teams, each and every game remaining in the schedule can be qualified as “the most important game” of the season.  At this point, after a very trying first half of the season, I want to enjoy a few of the games that i watch.  All attempts, then, will be made to focus on the immediate, on the present moment. Many will blow things out of proportion.  Hypotheses outlining just how costly in the long-term each and every mistake made is will be offered in scores.  Tonight, Habs fans owe themselves a break.  Let us just try to revel in the magic that takes place on the ice.

Rather than engage in Calculus 3 level calculations and prognosticate as to what will happen come trade deadline or how the chips will fall on April 7th, we should relish the entertainment value of the 60 minute spectacle between two teams that have a decent rivalry.  We owe ourselves a break and a smile.  Join me for running commentary during the game at http://awinninghabit.com/2012/01/20/liveblog-montreal-canadiens-vs-pittsburgh-penguins/.

As a result of its abysmal start, the law of averages owes Montreal a victory no matter which statistic you explore.  Pittsburgh has defeated the Habs in the two previous contests between these squads this year.  Montreal also enters the foray in 13th position in the East, 10 points out of playoff contention.  The Pens, despite being decimated by injuries, sit in 6th with 54 points.  Their performance represents a 12 point improvement over the accomplishments of the Canadiens to date.  They have done this by posting 8 more regulation-time victories and 4 less OT/SO losses.  Both teams have gone 4 -6 in their last 10 but Pittsburgh is riding a four-game winning streak.

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