Rocket:

A few weeks ago, Ron Wilson, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was asked about the number of Marlies in the line-up. Wilson responded that it didn’t make sense to call up a player, only to have him watch from the press box. Indeed! Apparently, Guy Carbonneau didn’t get that memo.

Yannick Weber may or may not be ready for NHL-calibre competition. But apparently Carbo believed in Weber enough to agree to the call-up. So why not insert him in the line-up in a home game against the Florida Panthers? How about in place of a struggling Francis Bouillon? And certainly, Weber has to be an upgrade over the worst defenseman in the NHL, Patrice Brisebois.

Will Carbonneau start Weber on Wednesday night against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Gardens? Perhaps on Thursday versus Toronto, a rival who always plays the Canadiens tough? And if Weber watches those two additional games from the press box, then what was the point of the call-up? A good coach creates conditions for his players to succeed. That would have meant starting Weber today against a mediocre Florida team.

It was an odd game this afternoon. In the second period, the Canadiens showed how they can and should play against a team like Florida. Montreal out shot Florida 19-5 and scored 4 goals Unfortunately, the Habs coasted for the other two periods and they didn’t get key saves from their goaltender.

Jaroslav Halak played with more confidence this afternoon compared to the last disastrous outing. His positioning relative to the net was better too. Unfortunately Jaro is still playing far too deeply in the net. He is not challenging the shooters. Halak continues to have problems with his glove hand. As a result, Halak gave up 5 goals today.

On the Panther’s 1st goal, Halak looked surprised at McLean’s backhand after Bouillon failed to take the body behind the Montreal goal. On Florida’s 5th goal to tie the game, Halak could not freeze the puck, and then could not hang on as the puck went in and out of his glove.

The good news is that all 5 Canadiens’ goals came while at even strength. On the other hand, the Canadiens’ special teams did not play well. Both the power play and penalty killing units gave up goals to Florida. Florida’s power play connected on a 5 on 3 when Maxim Lapierre took a dumb penalty. With an array of good penalty killers to choose from, it defies reason that Carbo deploys Lapierre. While Lapierre was chosen as the Molson Cup winner for December, it was not for his defensive play.

Lang with the brothers Kostitsyn was the best line on the ice. Sergei brilliant passes drawing penalties with his speed. Andrei, best shot on the team. Lang had one of his better games of the season. Yet, bench management was an issue again. Lapierre had more icetime than Lang. Kostopoulos had more icetime than Andrei Kostitsyn. Lapierre, Kostopoulos and Latendresse are doing their job as a third line. It was great work by Kosto on the Canadiens third goal. But Carbonneau sending them out for several power play opportunities is just plain stupid!

Just an observation: Jassen Cullimore’s buyout counts $639,667 towards this year’s Canadiens cap. Having an player on your payroll who plays (and scores) for the opposition hurts!

It will be interesting to see if Yannick Weber will be in the line-up for games later this week but it will be crucial to have Carey Price back on the ice given the way his backup has been playing.

Pre-game:

Price, Tanguay, Higgins, Dandenault, Koivu, Laraque out with injuries. Weber is a healthy scratch.

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. Andrei Markov
2. Radek Dvorak
3. Sergei Kostitsyn / Andrei Kostitsyn / Robert Lang

(photo credit: AP photo)