Rocket:
Kovalev and Lapierre both scored in the shootout! Yay! The Canadiens won the game! Yes! They picked up another two points. Woo hoo! The Habs and are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games and are now only 10 back of Boston. (loud voice now) Ole–Ole, Ole–Ole!
If you are only looking for superlatives about your Montreal Canadiens, you can stop reading now. Because frankly, I really wasn’t happy watching this game.
You will hear elsewhere about Jaroslav Halak saving the game in the shootout. Truth is that Spezza shot high over the net, and Alfredsson shot right into his pads. Halak finished the game with 3.70 goals against average and .852 save percentage That’s not good enough against the 28th team in the league.
Over the past month, the Canadiens have helped Halak to look good with 7 wins. But over that span, he has an unimpressive 3.07 GAA and .904 SV%.
Guy Carbonneau often says how well his team is playing defensively. Yet tonight, they gave up two 2-goal leads and surrendered 3 goals on 7 shots in the third to the Senators. This is the same Ottawa team who has not won three games in a row all season. But they came close tonight against the Habs. Bouillon and Gorges each struggled defensively at times. Brisebois was nothing more than a spectator.
The Canadiens power play is back, say some. The power play did register a goal again tonight. Looking closer, the goal came on a 5 on 3 advantage. While the Lang line looked good on the PP with tape to tape passes, they couldn’t finish while one man up. And the second wave of the power play looked awful not registering a shot despite being given plenty of ice time. Does it make sense to continue to send out the 4th line (3rd line only due to injuries) for PP shifts?
The Canadiens are a quick team but didn’t use their speed effectively against a weak Senators defense. Ottawa out hit the Habs 29-15. The guys that are expected to play physical, Komisarek, Begin and Lapierre only had one hit each.
OK…now the good:
Robert Lang. He picked up 2 assists, the first when he made a great pass to set up Kovalev’s goal. He is leading the top line on the team right now.
Andrei Kostitsyn is on fire and is becoming the go-to sniper.
Andrei Markov moved the puck well and led the team with 6 shots.
Matt D’Agostini had a goal and played well enough to get a few more even with limited ice time.
Greg Stewart was inconsistent but made two good plays to create turnovers on D’Agostini’s goal.
The last two Canadiens’ wins are best forgotten. Two more road wins before the All Star break would be a big boost to this team.
Pre-game:
Price, Tanguay, Higgins, Dandenault, Koivu, Laraque out with injuries. Chipchura is a healthy scratch. Gregory Stewart is in the line-up.
Rocket’s 3 stars:
1. Robert Lang
2. Dany Heatley
3. Andrei Markov
(photo credit: AP photo)