Montreal 2 Buffalo 3 SO (HSBC Arena)
Two steps forward. One step back.
A week ago, we were talking about the Canadiens winning six games in a row. More recently, they have lost three straight.
Tonight’s loss was the most traumatic for the players and their fans. Some will describe this as a colossal collapse for the Habs in the last two minutes of the game after playing a terrific game. I’m not so sure.
While the Canadiens looked good at times in the game, the style of play was not similar at all to the formula used during the winning streak. Tonight, it was back to special teams and goaltending.
While winning, the Canadiens were very effective at limiting shots on goal by the opposition. Since February 4, the Habs have only allowed 40 shots once. That was on March 4 in the game against San Jose with Carey Price in goal.
Tonight, Price faced 42 Sabres shots. And it was a shooting gallery. From mid-way in the second period, the Canadiens were outshot 31-to-12. A very confident-looking Price was turning everything away.
With the Sabres pressing, the Canadiens were on their heels employing a single man forecheck with four players dropping back to clog up the neutral zone.
The boost in Buffalo offense came in the second period after Sabres coach Lindy Ruff made a strategic move. After the Canadiens had been recipients of the game’s first four power-plays, Ruff went to work on the officials, berating them at every opportunity.
Buffalo was not assessed another penalty. Referees called six straight penalties on the Canadiens including four-minutes to Benoit Pouliot.
Montreal’s penalty-killers very effectively turned away the Buffalo power-play on five of six opportunities. But it was on the sixth, that Ruff once again made an excellent tactical decision.
With more than three minutes remaining, Ruff pulled goaltender Ryan Miller giving his team a 6-on-4 advantage. Josh Gorges was outmatched in front of the net, and a wide open Tim Connolly gave the Sabres hope.
With the Habs reeling, fans looked to Canadiens’ experienced bench boss to counter with a move or two of his own to preserve the win.
Would Martin call a time-out to settle his team down? No.
Would he send out Andrei Markov and Ryan O’Byrne, his top defensive pair? No.
Would the coach be sure to have his best defensive forwards on the ice? No.
Inexplicably, coach Martin deployed Andrei Kostitsyn and Mike Cammalleri with Tomas Plekanec. Cammalleri is not strong in his own end when in peak form. This being Cammalleri’s first game back after being on injured-reserve, he looked out of gas in the third period.
With Cammalleri failing to clear the puck and then both he and Roman Hamrlik struggling with coverage, Paul Gaustad got the tying goal only a short time after Price made a miraculous save on Jason Pominville.
Martin’s coaching blunders and some undisciplined play spoiled many fine performances, most notably, a statement game from Carey Price. He looked big in the net, moved nimbly and handled the puck well. Price did his job towards earning a shut-out.
Andrei Kostitsyn had two goals and proved he can be a sniper with complimentary linemates.
Sergei Kostitsyn and Tom Pyatt were excellent especially when penalty-killing.
Dominic Moore and Jaroslav Spacek both played well against their former team.
Once again, this team is much better without Maxim Lapierre in the lineup.
“Carey gave us a strong game, and you’d like to win that game, but the penalties made it difficult for us,” coach Martin said. “What you’ve got to learn from that is the penalties cost us.”
Yes, penalties and poor coaching.
The Canadiens must regroup and be ready for their next game on Thursday night when the Florida Panthers visit the Bell Centre.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Tim Connolly
2. Carey Price
3. Andrei Kostitsyn
special mention: Tom Pyatt, Dominic Moore
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Reuters)
Hope the Sabres are happy their 3 minutes of urgent hockey did the job. There are no shootouts in the playoffs, enjoy. (Sabres are one of the LAST teams you want to go to a shootout with because not only do they always score but there's Miller to worry about).
As for the Habs, regardless of how controlled they were they were on track to getting back to the little things that gave them those wins, yet Price still had to make 40 saves for them. He almost SHUTOUT the TOP team in the Division and he STILL gets pooped on. This wasn't the Oilers (team underachievers but finally realized they can win games), this wasn't the Rangers (who skate with a black cloud over their heads), this wasn't the Bruins (who look for pity), this wasn't thie Bolts (who look ready for the summer). There's a very good reason why the Sabres are #1 in the Division, and it has everything to do with Ryan Miller and Lindy Ruff. But those final 5 minutes was everything about Jacques Martin. If he wanted to help AK46 get an empty net hattrick, put him out with people who can cover his defensive problems. However there's no place for such niceties now. Call a timeout, put the guys who were giving the Sabres fits all night (Pyatt, Moore, SK, or Gio/Gomez), put the proper defensemen out, keep the puck far away from your net. Then again this is the guy who had Bergeron on the PK earlier in the year and wondered why it was failing. Hamr should not have been out there either, who's recently developed a slow reaction time coupled with bad decisions, and that last goal was all on him. Bravo Martin. This just confirms my theories on why Martin has such a poor playoff record…
Of course if all those previous missed opportunities on empty nets were finished, it wouldn't have mattered much. Still would have been disappointing that for the 3rd time this season they ruin a shutout opportunity.
It was nice to see Markov give Price the pat on the back as he stormed off to the room. However we probably won't see him play again until the next Sabres game (last back-to-back of the season, though it's a Flyers/Sabres back-to-back) because Martin is bushleague like that. Ironically if the standings don't move anymore, the first round would be in Buffalo.
No more games for Price. There are only 8 games left to get the points we need to make the playoffs. We can not afford to put Price in nets anymore this season. Price can not win games while Halak can. Halak is the better of the two, he has proven that all season and it shows in his win-lost record.
Nice one anonymous. You continue to amaze. You're right on. We can't afford goalies making 40 of 42 stops anymore. No more performances like that, please. Ever!
How about your actually watch a game and understand that team collapses are just that: TEAM collapses.
Anyway…we did this a few weeks back vs the Ducks in Anaheim, and I suppose it would be silly to think it couldn't happen to us. And it did.
And now we're back to square one, watching the rearview a little bit, and hoping for better fortunes tonight.
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