Rocket:

This isn’t quite Don’t Forget the Lyrics. Instead let’s play “Identify the Quote”. If you have to Google it, you just haven’t been paying attention.

Quote #1: “I just don’t understand.”
Quote #2: “…trying to find answers.”
Quote #3: “We’re scratching out heads.”
Quote #4: “…not ready to play this game.”

You get full marks if you answered Guy Carbonneau for all four quotes. Bonus points are given to those who added to their answer: “the befuddled head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.” And for recognizing that Carbonneau not only said all four quotes after tonight’s game, but after most Canadien’s losses, you get an autographed All Habs t-shirt!

Let’s actually review what Carbonneau said tonight. On the Montreal Canadiens, who is paid to understand, to devise solutions, and to get the team ready to play? The head coach, of course!

It is true that the team is responsible for executing a game plan. But, it’s not good enough for Carbonneau to say, ‘we told them, but they just didn’t listen.’ It is the coaches’ responsibility to find a way to get through to the players.

Losing a home game to the last place team in the league should not happen. But it is worse than that. The Lightning had lost 9 straight games. There was an ongoing feud with a former coach as a distraction. As well, hotel and plane problems meant they missed their game day skate. And from my vantage point, beyond St. Louis, Lecavalier, Meszaros and Kolzig, the Lightning really didn’t offer much tonight.

It all starts with goaltending and Jaroslav Halak did not play well. He has struggled with his glove hand most of the season and it was most apparent tonight. He also suffered from poor positioning and shaky play behind the net. He finished the game with only 19 saves.

But many on the team share the blame for the poor result.

As for the positives, I give considerable credit to Matt D’Agostini and Andrei Kostitsyn. They were a threat to score all night and the pair were responsible for drawing at least 3 Tampa Bay penalties. Saku Koivu played a strong game for 8 minutes of ice-time but was forced to leave with a “lower body injury.”

Tomas Plekanec worked hard and had a good game but did not have much support from his linemates. Sergei Kostitsyn had his most effective shifts as a penalty killer. Guillaume Latendresse tried to play physical at times but was mostly ineffective. Hits by forwards should be used as a tool to turn the puck over not just for fan reaction. A better measure of his play will be his next game on the road but, for now, the lessons learned aren’t being put into practise.

Maxim Lapierre played rather well. He was tenacious in his puck pursuit and much improved in faceoffs. With all due respect to Max, there’s something wrong when the 4th line center has more than 17 minutes of ice-time. That’s as much ice-time as Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn, more minutes than Tanguay, and 3 more minutes than the team’s hottest goal scorer, D’Agostini.

In my opinion, it is poor bench management by the coach. Carbonneau was determined to match Lapierre against Lecavalier and St. Louis. And with Tampa’s first line gobbling up huge amounts of ice-time, Carbo continued to send out Lapierre et al. even in the third period as the Canadiens trailed by 2 goals.

The line combinations for the power-play were also very questionable. As result the power-play struggled once again going 1 for 8 and giving up a short-handed goal. The stat could have been worse given that the one goal credited to the power play was a bad goal given up by Kolzig on a weak wrist shot. After that Kolzig played very well with 31 saves.

Rick Tocchet also made some odd decisions behind the Lightning bench particularly when he decided to go with 4 forwards on the Tampa power-play with a 3-1 lead near the end of the third period. Alex Kovalev has taken another late game penalty.

I also have to mention that I was astonished that Carbonneau would give the ‘A’ to Brisebois tonight, given his extremely poor play recently. This giant Carbo man-crush for Brise is out of control! (The ‘A’ was available given that Higgins was out of the line-up with an injury). Using the same criteria, perhaps Carbonneau will suggest that Gilbert Delorme’s sweater be retired and that Andre Racicot be considered for a lifetime Vezina.

Strangely enough, I feel compelled to comment on the referees for the second game in a row. There seemed to be two sets of rules tonight. Lecavalier slashed and speared Plekanec in the faceoff circle but nothing was called. The two were tossed and on the subsequent faceoff Sergei Kostitsyn was assessed a penalty on a phantom call as Recchi took a dive. Later, Lecav cross-checked Lapierre in the faceoff circle but again escaped a penalty call. Just brutal!

The Canadiens must be disciplined but they are letting teams bully them. Matt D’Agostini was knocked head first into the boards last game and it didn’t even draw a crowd. Tonight, Downie went around Brisebois and headed for the net. Brise gave him a shove after the fact that Downie used as an excuse to launch himself into Halak. Even the guilt of the mistake couldn’t bring Brise to challenge Downie. And it’s be proven that Georges Laraques isn’t the answer. If in the line-up tonight Laraque’s non-combatant excuse would have been that Downie isn’t in his weight class.

It’s one third of the way through the season and coach Carbonneau has not yet found a way of effectively communicating with and motivating his players. Let’s use the coach’s favorite word to describe his performance tonight: embarrassing.

It’s scary to think that the team could become further unhinged if their true leader, Saku Koivu is out for an extended period of time.

Pre-game:

Latendresse and O’Byrne in. Laraque is a healthy scratch. Higgins, Komisarek and Dandenault are out with injuries.

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. Martin St. Louis
2. Olaf Kolzig
3. Vincent Lecavalier

(photo credit: AP Photo)