Rocket:

Three wins on a short post-Christmas road trip is cause for celebration, but perhaps only polite applause. I don’t want to be a wet blanket but the Canadiens haven’t been very impressive in the past two games against two teams at the bottom of the conference standings.

I want to give full credit to the play of the Lapierre/Kostopoulos/Latendresse line. Lapierre is playing with confidence and energy. Latendresse is much better with linemates who play a very simple north/south game. Kostopoulos works hard every game and is the best ‘team guy’ on the Habs.

Kosto’s ‘team first’ attitude was particularly evident after Evgeny Artyukhin hit Tanguay into the boards with force enough to dislodge a pane of glass. Tanguay sustained an upper body injury and didn’t return. On his next shift Kostopoulos hit Artyukhin hard in the Tampa zone. As they came back up ice, Kostopoulos fought Artyukhin. It may have been a clear decision for a much bigger Artyukhin, but Kostopoulos delivered a message on behalf of his injured teammate.

Lapierre is dangerous to score as a penalty killer but his defensive play is still rather suspect. On Tampa’s first goal on the power-play Lapierre left his man, Malone, to chase the puck into the corner. When the puck got back to Malone, he was wide open to take a shot which was defected in by Prospal.

It is important that the 3rd line has finally come together but the Canadiens will not win against better opposition if the first two lines are not playing to their potential. Guy Carbonneau must do a much better job in his bench management to make sure that his top skilled players are getting more ice time.

Case in point is Matt D’Agostini. After being the top offensive threat for the Canadiens prior to the break, his production has dropped off. Some will argue that it is natural for a young player to plateau after an initial call-up spurt. But that is not what happened in D’Ags case. Seems that D’Agostini is following Carey Price’s pattern from last season.

Carbonneau’s massive ego doesn’t allow for any player to be getting more media attention than the coach, particularly a young non-francophone player. So as was the case last year with Price, Carbonneau set the conditions to ensure that the player didn’t have the opportunity to shine. In D’Agostini’s case, it’s a lack of ice-time, and juggling hi linemates, even though he remains a threat to score on every shift.

The Canadiens take far too many bad penalties to be a top tier team. A team lack of discipline is reflective of coaching. The first period of this game was penalty-filled and didn’t allow the Habs to get on track. The referees have to be partly responsible for calling the game so closely that it disturbed the flow.

While there was a lack of offensive production, the Canadiens played well defensively particularly the tandem of Mike Komisarek and Andrei Markov. Komisarek plays a strong physical (and mental) game on the opposition’s top forwards. Markov uses his skating ability, positioning and hockey sense to defend effectively. Markov made a brilliant defensive play to break up a 3 on 1 chance for Tampa early in the second period.

The biggest reason for the Canadiens strong defensive play is Carey Price. Price made a game saving stop in overtime on Artyukhin and was terrific in the shootout on Prospal and LeCavalier.

It should be noted that Patrice Brisebois delivered his first body check of the season in the third period behind the Tampa net on goalie Mike Smith.

The next few days will determine how long Alex Tanguay will be sidelined. Guy Carbonneau will have to earn his pay cheque redesigning his lines to effectively use their skills.

Pre-game:

Tampa Bay signed Team Canada Juniors goalie Dustin Tokarski to a 3 year entry level contract.

No line-up changes. Higgins, Dandenault, Koivu, Laraque out with injuries. O’Byrne is a healthy scratch for 6th straight game.

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. Carey Price
2. Vaclav Prospal
3. Mike Komisarek

(photo credit: AP photo)