Montreal Canadiens Fall 3-0 To Washington Capitals
By forumhotdog
Thank goodness for Modern Family!!! Tonight’s episode might just have been the only thing that could have rescued me from the deepest pits of despair after watching the Capiitals shut out the Habs 3-0 at The Bell Centre. The loss leaves Montreal in 12th place in the East with10 points separating them from 8th place Florida which also has a game in hand. It is going to be a tough climb.
What is even more disheartening is that i now question my own analytical skills after both reading some articles pertaining to the game and watching l’Antichambre (a panel discussion reflecting on the most recent game featuring several participants who have serious NHL experience). My version of events does not come close to approximating the reviews that i read and listened to. Maybe, as a devoted Habs Fan, I am truly blinded and incapable of sound judgement. Maybe i do not know nearly enough about hockey as i purport to. Perhaps i have not grown more sophisticated as a hockey aficionado despite 37 years of following the sport dutifully.
Everyone is ragging on the Canadiens and accusing them of not showing up. Certainly losing a critical game is not ideal at this juncture but i do not think that it reflects a heartless performance by the home team. Perhaps we can attribute the loss to the fact that we faced a strong team, angry at itself after falling 3-0 the night before to the Islanders. There can be any number of other reasons.
The fan base seems to be especially angry with Carey Price and i insist that he was not the reason that the Canadiens chalked up another defeat. The first of the three Washington goals was an absolute masterpiece by Perreault. He rushed into the offensive zone, faked a drop-pass to his colleague and wristed a screened shot top corner on the far side…some shots are simply meant to go in and that was one of them. I do not think that Vladislav Tretiak in his prime would have saved that one. It does not endear Price to his fans that this occurred on the Caps’ second shot of the game…nor does it help that the next goal came just two shots later.
The blame on this one, if it needs to be assigned, belongs to Andrei Kostitsyn who was covering Marcus Johansson as he made his way into the Montreal end. The two were battling for the puck and just as they approached the crease together, the Capital forward got his stick on the puck and put it behind the Canadiens’ netminder. Again a very, very difficult play to read. Because of the players’ proximity to one another, it was not obvious how the moment would pan out…would it be a partial break?…would AK46 strip his opponent of the puck or steer him away from the net?…would another Montreal player step in as well to help prevent a goal? Truly anything could have happened there. That was not an opportunity that can be categorized as a routine stop for the goalie. Again it is unfortunate that the Caps scored on two of their first four shots but it should not be considered the goaltender’s fault. Also consider the fact that it is illogical to pin the loss on the goalkeeper when the team in front of him fails to put a single shot into the opponent’s net. Ludicrous!
I know that in my liveblog, it was stated that Carey Price’s save percentage after the first period was an abysmal .600 but i had no intention of holding him responsible for the defeat. The team in front of him has to produce offensively and defensively, and only then can we isolate the goaltender as the variable that sunk the team. Obviously tonight’s performance by the home team does not allow us to make such a bold conclusion.
That is not to say, however, that Montreal failed in epic fashion tonight. The team did have several occasions to pop one in. Michael Neuvirth faced 31 shots, representative of a decent night’s work; and by no means were all of them easy saves. In fact, he made several outstanding stops. What was even more impressive was his rebound control which did not afford the Habs too many secondary chances on scoring opportunities. This should not discourage the Habs from continuing to establish a net presence. On any other given night this strategy does work and goals would have been scored.
Granted 7 shots in each of the first two periods does not demonstrate that the team was playing in the desperation mode that it needs to adopt in order to make a run for the playoffs. The fact that the team managed 17 shots in the third period does, however, reflect that a will to win was there. Gomez had 5 shots on goal! Gomez!!! So did Eric Cole but that is no surprise. He comes to work and to win nightly. Too litle, too late? Maybe so. THAT, I can accept but the game was NOT a total write-off. I think that instead of dissing the Canadiens, you can give credit to Dale Hunter and his squad for containing the speedy smurfs at least for the first two periods.
I should also point out that a team playing without any intensity could hardly draw 7 penalties against the opponent. Yep, the Caps were sent to the sin bin 7 times. This could not possibly have happened if Montreal truly posed no threat whatsoever. In hindsight, i suspect that it was a good strategy on the Capitals’ side given that the Canadiens are much less of a threat with the man advantage than they seem to be 5 on 5!!! How crazy is that?! Montreal came into the game at the absolute cellar of the NHL power play rankings. The 7 power play opportunities did nothing to improve their standing in this regard. The team failed in each and every opportunity. At times, the power play actually looked threatening but ultimately its bark was worse than its bite.
In l’Antichambre Gaston Therrien was asked to explain the lack of success that le bleu/blanc/rouge has had when the team was privileged with the extra atacker. He claims that Montreal was shooting when it should have been passing and passing when it should have been shooting. PK Subban was, again, accused of trying to do it all by himself.
According to the l’Antichambre panel, Montreal is hardly playing as a team. In support of this assertion, the commentators cited a lack of effective backchecking by the forwards, and a tendency to try to blow the puck by a hot, well-positioned goalie rather than making the obvious pass to the unattended linemate. Not too sure that i agree with this either. Get too fancy and you blow an opportunity. As The Great One said: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.
The theory of team discord was further perpetuated by reporters alluding to the Rene Bourque/Hendricks bout. It was pointed out that Bourque had to take care of himself…that not one of his colleagues stood by him. What were these people expecting? Bourque dropped the gloves with only 1:15 elapsed in the first period to get the whole thing over with. He is hardly a slouch and took excellent care of himself in the ring. I would go as far as to venture that he won by a unanimous decision. What help could he possibly have needed? Further, the battle stemmedfrom an incident implicating Bourque before he was even a member of the Montreal Canadiens. This did not involve them. It was not their fight and they had no reason to interfere whether or not they supported him.
All this to say that I am confused. Why does my perception of this evening’s tussle differ so greatly from that of the others who have expressed opinion? Am i truly incompetent in my analysis (am i just plain stupid)? Is the problem instead that i am biased and see things as a fan rather than as a neutral, objective party (am i just blinded by love)? Could it be that i have been taught to never give up on something that I cherish as much as i do (am i just too damned loyal)? Maybe the answer to my query lies in one or in several of these alternatives. Maybe, though, just maybe, i am actually right for once and everybody else is wrong. Who is with me? All for the Habs say: NOS GLORIEUX!!!!! I am not throwing in the towel. Both zambonis will have to plough right through me and scrape my bloody remains off of the ice before i even consider to shroud myself in another jersey.
Next up: Montreal travels to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game. GO HABS GO!