It seems that the New Jersey Devils cannot beat anyone – except the Montreal Canadiens. It also appears that the Ottawa Senators can beat some teams, but not the Habs.
Welcome to the wild and wacky first weeks of the 2010 – 11 NHL season where so far , there are only two teams making the experts appear to be – well, experts. The Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers are dwelling close to the furnaces in their respective conferences which is where the ended the 2009 – 2010 campaign. The Oilers have only blue skies awaiting them as they claw and dig their way to respectability while the Panthers might as well get used to the mud and the roots that impede their direction north. The Edmonton crew have Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall. The Panthers ? Jacques Martin realized that the Devil had some extra time when he was not tampering with the `down to earth `NHL Devils and took the next flight to Montreal. Florida is the sole team that Martin was unable to make into a winner. Something is rotten in Florida apart from all of Scott Mellanby`s rodent corpses.
Habs – Devils
The Devils arrived in Montreal last Thursday a total mess. They left town and became a bigger mess. In between , they shut out the Canadiens 3 – 0 and appeared to be a Stanley Cup contender. Were Brodeur and his buddies that good or were Les Habitants that bad ? The answer my friends is the latter.
The two teams launched an all out attack on each other. Unfortunately for the viewing public , it was an all out `trap attack `. In other words, a gigantic snooze fest that left Martin Brodeur as the only person at the Bell Center who actually enjoyed himself as he posted the 112th shutout of his career. The sole time that the Habs offense came to life in this contest was in the first five minutes of the game and the final few. Brodeur acts like `a teenager in love `every time he hits the ice in Montreal and last Thursday was no different. His record against the Habs now stands at a lifetime 39 – 16 – 5. Brodeur may have lost a step this season as he struggles against other opponents so it is too bad he cannot play every game against Montreal , he would have twenty more seasons left before he hangs his pads for good.
Carey Price is continuing his fine play. Against the Devils he let in one weak goal in the first few minutes but that goal was stranger than a vampire at Christmas. Zach Parise, the player who knows more about the 1972 Summit Series than anyone else on the ice , picked up a loose puck at the side of the net and somehow flipped it over Price`s right shoulder. Carey had the post covered and that area was the only opening that would accept the puck into the record books. Watching replays does not explain how the disc ended in the net yet in the net it was and the Devils led 1 – 0 , 4 : 20 into the first period.
Jason Arnott scored at 14 : 59 of the second and Matt Taormina scored at 3 : 38 of the third to ice the game for the Devils.
Brian Gionta was made captain of the Habs at the beginning of the year. He swore that he will be doing his best to learn French. Thursday night Gionta took a crash course in hockey terms 101 as he learned to say `Interference Gardien de But . Gionta took not one , two Goalie Interference penalties in the second period and if his intentions were to fire up his squad, that was very honourable but it did not work. Gionta knows now that coming near a goalie, especially Brodeur, will get you nothing but trouble.
Habs – Sens
"it’s the same old story, same old song and dance, my friendit’s the same old story, same old storysame old song and danceStephen Tyler – Aerosmith"
The Ottawa Senators are to the Montreal Canadiens what the Habs are to the Devils – easy pickins…
Saturday Night in Ottawa they may as well played the video for the Devils – Habs game and replaced the uniforms. Same score , same one sided game and one goaltender earned a shut out without so much as a trickle of sweat oozing from his pores. Carey Price was so underworked, the makeup they plied to his face for between period interviews was still intact at the end of the game .The dude really did look like a lady.
Andrei Kostisyn certainly did not play like one, not that there is anything wrong with that. Andrei scored two goals as he and fellow linemates Cammalleri and Plekanec continue to be a consistent force, not just on the Canadiens- the entire league.It goes along way to dictating to the rest of the NHL that leaving a core of players intact leaves something to be desired. If players and their agents were not so greedy and the market did not command them to be so – the league would be like the old days where teams kept a solid nucleus of eight players for their entire careers. Trading them to warmer climates to enjoy their golden years.
Cammalleri – Plekanec and Kostisyn along with Gionta and Gomez prove just that. If you take a close look at the Habs defense, that recipe is taken shape in the form of an almost impenetrable corps whose results are demonstrating themselves in Price`s shrinking 2.27 GAA and .912 save percentage. Spacek is struggling but played his best game against the Sens. Gill struggled but was covered by Hamrlik. Hamrlik struggles and he is covered by Gorges. P.K Subban just makes everyone smile so noone cares what he does.More often than not – what he does is great and he is covered by the veterans when he does make dirty in his bed.Get the picture…? A core is what makes champions and champions make cores. The Habs core along with Price`s play is what is going to bring this team to the Stanley Cup finals this season.Mark my words.
Will Benoit Pouliot be joining them or will he be skating in Hamilton or in the `wilds` of another franchise?
Pouliot scored his first of the season against Ottawa after taking a rebound off the boards and slipping it behind netminder Elliot. Pouliot may go on a goal scoring purge or end up like his buddy Latendresse and end up on the fourth line. Unlike Latendresse, Pouliot appears to be in fine physical shape so for that reason alone, the Habs so far have won that trade.
Trade is what may be happening soon in Ottawa if the team does not start to win on a consistent basis. Perhaps Senator G.M Murray should give the Devils a call. Their 100 million dollar player was sat out in a 6 – 1 loss to the Sabres on Friday night. There is trouble in Paradise`s basement and according to Nostradamus – a man wearing a blue turban will be responsible for starting World War Three. If Kovalchuk ends up that guy, the Mayan calendar is true and we will all be going to New Jersey in a handbag.Trouble is – it is only half way through hockey season. The Mayans were not fans – I surmise.