The Canadiens managed to blow leads of 2-0 and 3-1.
Frans Nielsen tied the game with the only goal of the third period.
Then, after the Canadiens had some chances in the early part of OT, John Tavares started a three-way passing play that left defenceman Thomas Hickey wide open to Carey Price’s left for the goal that won a strange game.
It was the first goal of Hickey’s career.
The Islanders clicked on two of three power plays, both goals scored by Matt Moulson.
Max Pacioretty had two goals for the Canadiens, who got an early one from Travis Moen.
With the Canadiens nursing a 3-2 lead, Frans Nielsen scored halfway through the third period to set up OT.
The Canadiens outshot the visitors 33-25.
So for only the fourth time this season, the Bell Centre crowd goes home grumbling.
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Bergeron, Picard and now Diaz. The worst defenders I have watched with the Habs, but somehow they all get or got so much love around here. I don’t have a clue why.
Diaz was on for three goals tonight and was directly responsible for the second and last goals. The second goal he backed off Moulson to bump a$$ with Moen rather than cover Moulson who was open in the slot.
On the OT goal, he completely stopped and didn’t get over to cover the scorer.
Go to the Behind the Net stat sheet, Diaz and Georges are our only defence men with negative Corsi, and I am not blaming Josh. That paring is lacking a puck mover in the worst way. They can’t get the puck out of their zone, and the forwards always have to hang back and wait for the centre to go back and dig it out. It does not seem to happen to our other pairings.
Maybe there is something to the Georges/Subban crap. They don’t ever seem to be out together, but they need to be. Until they play together and Boullion and Diaz are the third pairing playing 13 to 15 minutes a game, this team won’t be able to move up to elite status.
Diaz has been playing way too many minutes and has been making brain oxygen deprived mistakes as a result.
PK was on for all three of our goals and still can’t get out do the dog house.
Go back and watch the video of the first ten Habs power play goals, we scored six of them with the defence playing on the off wings. They have to start bringing it into the zone on the off wings.
Har har. Corsi to back up a poor argument. Har har har.
I love how I can time travel and make a post from 1969!!!
I mean it’s pretty obvious he really can’t keep up anymore and of all the smaller players on our team, he’s probably the most expendable re: Gionta
…so, Boone is walking His dog in the snow, watching it piddle and crap all over His neighbours’ lawns or snowbanks, while thinking what He is going to tell the slobbering Commentariat of His deep thoughts on this game
…is there something queasy about this visualization ?
So, when will Bergevin trade Gionta?
I like how we always talk about having the big forwards well remember this guy! http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=29526
http://nickolaisblog.wordpress.com/
LOL! He used to float so much he should have been nicknamed “Rootbeer”.
Anybody else catch that nasty hit on cal clutterbuck? Looks like a pretty serious leg injury.
On a side note, the Live Blog is doing great. >1000 comments last three games! Good job HIO and commentariat!
Some thoughts:
- There were too many blown coverages in the defensive zone tonight, starting from the opening shift with Tavares with a blue chip chance in front of Price.
- The PP is abysmal. I don’t get why the D-men aren’t on their off-wings for possible one-timers. It is PP 101 for D-men to be in a place to have the option of the one-timer. Markov and Subban should be on the first wave of the PP, with the former lining up on the right, and Subban on the left.
- Gio is barely present. I wish he was having a greater impact in games.
- Cole falls down or is knocked down A LOT.
I really hope last years Cole shows up but if he doesn’t at what point does something need to be done? 5 or 6 more games? 10? If Gallagher’s ready to play saturday, maybe a healthy scratch would send a message? Would that go over well? A veteran player being scratched? I don’t know guys, but something needs to be done.
His “I’m going to retire after this year” speech at the beginning of the year and his play so far have got me worried. He’s given up a few times in the Defensive end and been directly responsible for 2 goals against. His head is just not in it.
We got Weber and Kaberle up in the stands. We could package a decent offer if need be. But do we pull the trigger or wait a little longer till he comes around? (If he comes around). If he’s gonna retire next year… what to do what to do?
I see him showing up in the playoffs, then apologizing for a sub-par season then having a great 82 games next year.
http://nickolaisblog.wordpress.com/
That’d be cool
I forgot Gionta was on the team as he has not showed up to play for quite a while.
Just had a glance at the standings. Pretty impressive that the Habs have built themselves a 7 point cushion in the playoff race after only 17 games.
As long as they’re in the playoffs, that’s all that counts. On to the next one…
As a fan I agree but when I take my hab colored sun glasses off, I think we are still not close to being a Stanley Cup contender and ask myself – ‘wouldn’t it be better to get a Drouin or a Barkov this year’.
Tanking is trickier now with the lottery. On a side note, I love Drouin but I don’t understand why Barkov is not ranked higher. 6’2″ elite offensive centerman are a rarity (thank god the Habs got one).
Habs will never intentionally tank. I agree they aren’t contenders but at the same time last years standings doesn’t reflect the teams potential. I’d love to see another top shelf prospect in our system but it’s not looking like its gonna happen this year. too bad. One heck of a draft coming up…
I see the habs making the playoffs and challenging, but will be a battle thats for sure. The funny thing is if the Habs and yes its a big IF but if they were to win the Stanley Cup you after a few days of the city burning down cause of more rioters and the euphoria of the win all the media would claim this as a team that had no chance to win, or the team that won the short season Stanley Cup. I’ll take it a cup is a cup, but who ever wins this year most people will have the same answer and contently mention the fact they won the cup in a shorter season. I mean I could be wrong did anyone say that kind of stuff when the Rangers won?
http://nickolaisblog.wordpress.com/
It’s the first I heard of a “trap game”, and just had to find that out tonight. Thanks guys!
Well, it’s no easy game, of course. We should know all the games are not easy, even the teams that are off the playoff spots for now.
And the season did not end this month when the Habs are sitting pretty in 1st place, we’ll have to see ’til the very end when hopefully the team should be in any one of the spots comes spring time.
At least Max Pac and DD are turning things around. On another note, who wishes Cole and Gionta retire this off-season?
screw retirement, i prefer some scoring instead….
PJ is on fire again on AC. Why does he hate the Habs so much?
In his broken French he says c’mon guys don’t fool yourselves. This is not a 1st place team. He right but why does he have to be a douche about it?
It’s a talk show not 60 minutes. Someone has to play the Devil’s advocate on the show.
Thought that was Bergeron’s job!
At least for non-francophone players!
Maybe they are specialized on AC.
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What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
It’s all he knows!
Trained at the Milbury school of broadcasting, say the same thing night after night and producers think you’re intelligent!
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
Mike Milbury…now that’s a douche…
…all the good referees have retired … With all the referee schools and mentors available today it’s a mystery to Me why referees in today’s NHL are so out to lunch
…and I’m not only bleating about phantom calls against Our Team, but as well the teams We play
…it seems 50% of their calls leave Me scratching My, while as many flagrant calls are missed
…it really makes the NHL look Mickey Mouse
Huge problem that is not being reported enough. Every game I’ve watched there is a blatant mistake (regardless of team). Hopefully they will get their act together.
Moreso how many games does the league have to admit a gross error?
Weekly, daily?
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
Paycheque probably!
There is not enough control or evaluation any more.
Can’t weed out the dead wood! Like the most useless officials have tenure!
Used to be able to fire any ref not deemed competant enough for the playoffs 3 consequetive years!
Solution: put the likes of Chris Lee into the series and end of problem.
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
You should have seen the two games I just watched!
Well actually, I think RDS screwed up because they showed this year’s Habs playing the first, but then I don’t know what happened.
They showed two last periods of a game from last year.
Funny, I didn’t see Gomez out there.
So did we win again?
Hopefully team learns lessons from that game, from coaches to players, heck maybe even the stick boy! Can we still call them that?
“Assistant de batons”?
Coach lost this one. Gionta on the 4 on 3? Even Bergeron and the rest of the ntichambre said PK Subban had to be out there. Bergeron who is not to fond of PK said you had to have “the gunner” (PK) out there. No one fears Gionta’s point shot. He did nothing all night and for a few another nights . Why was he out there. There is definitely something going on against PK. Beautifull PP goal and you never saw the same combo again. As for Diaz as I have been saying the other teams have been looking at tape and have spotted him as a weak link when pressured. He was was on for 3 goals. 2 on the pk. I point him out because the goals developed on his side. If another lesson was being taught tonight MT was the one who got schooled. PK was +2 and on the ice for alll 3 \montreal goals.
Biggest Galchenyuk fan ever but I thought he had his weakest game in a long time. But so did many veterans that should be carrying the team. I am a big proponent of getting bigger and tougher but have to admit little rug rat DD was the best player for the Habs tonight. Except for the dumb penalty he took.
That was a weak call though.
His trade value may be increasing.
…a lot of You deny the effect a fight has in the momentum of a game
…the Finlay vs Prust fight was the beginning of this game’s mo change…Prust did well against a bigger opponent, but it lit a fire more under the butts of the Isles this night than Our Habs
…and like a few of You already mentioned, John Tavares would be superstar in TO or another team
Correct on both counts.
I don’t buy the fight changed the momentum angle. For some reason they went into full JM mode and stop skating,repeated icings and sat back for the last half of the game. If fighting actually changed momentum the habs would have never won the conference in 2008 when tom the bomb was getting his ass handed to him on a nightly basis.
…You’re missing My point Showey …it was not the point of ‘who’ won the fight
My point is,IMHO the habs essentially stopped playing after the first.Thats why they lost. Dumb penalties,lazy backchecking and being soft in the defensive zone. If they had put half the effort in the 2nd and 3rd as they did in the first the game would have been an easy W.
Mo changed at the opeing faceoff for the 2nd!
The Dzone chaos as well!
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
What is wrong with you people, yes the game was gross but the Habs are still in playoff spot. They loose one game and you all start cry and start talking about slumps. Best start in years you would think you could smile. We are close postion with top teams like Boston and Pits.. My god they csnt win em all so relax a bit…….
Beckett
The thing is, I’d like to see them compete with those teams in a 7 game series but they are a few changes away from doing that. I hope MB can pull it of. This team still needs to get a lot bigger.
100 percent.
The audience needs to understand that $%^% happens. The best teams still lose games to teams that are desperate.
Chill folks! Chill!!
Not the loss but the lack of compete/effort after the 1st period.
How they lost and the frequency of identical losses!
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
The Habs have played some good hockey this year. We all should be happy. If you’re expecting any better forget it. Keep playing like they’ve been playing and a playoff position is possible who knows what can happen than. But to be honest. I’d have to be in dreamland to expect them to win the cup but it would be nice.
What a stinker for the last two periods!
Have to agree with shootdapuck that they started backing up in the second as soon as it was 3-1!
A flashback to JM.
D-zone play was as though the puck was a hand grenade.
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?
In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.
They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.
******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.
not sure who was criticised and only watched the 3rd but PK had a helper end finished + 2. i’d say this can’t be too bad. i like Markov but his play is slowing as the season passes and intensity increases..he’s lost his speed. Cole may be hurt but he is painful to watch..Gionta (I like) but not much creativity and misses the net a lot. no panic button but some areas for improvement
For you HH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXLL5hxkl58
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nah,i suggested he trades up his tank for a limo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKUXzk8-zGM
So that was a pretty nice penalty shot by Prust, eh?
PJ Stock needs to take French lessons. And He shouldn’t come back to l’AC until he seriouldy improves his French speaking skills. I have to shut the show off because I can’t take him mangle his phrases any more. It’s like he thinks in his mind that his French is OK. I mean you can get by in the street with that kind of mish mash but on television! No friggin’ way!!
I wish I could speak it as well as he does.
French lessons? What about English lessons? Actually he should just give up and go straight to sign language. He treats the English and French language worse than Oscar Pistorius treats his girlfriend.
Would be interesting to think what MB is thinking re what the team needs, if any thing.
Do we need a sure fire score, a big d…. I dont know right now.
Edit: I only ask cause we got some spare bodies and looks like a few teams (Flyers) are gonna have to decide to do something soon or give up..and others like Ottawa may be encourgaed desite misfortune and not want to give up the season.
It’s definitely tough cause every player shows flashes of brilliance and make you think “Ahh, well we don’t really need anything cause we’ve got it all” but then some other games just leave you wanting more… Gotta let it ride, I guess. Short schedule doesn’t really make it an option.
Definitely not an easy job for MB or any GM.
Yes we blew the lead and lost in the end but we got a point and our team is exhausted most likely I’m not happy we lost but I’m not writing off the season all of a sudden lol Every loss so many people freak out for nothing.
http://nickolaisblog.wordpress.com/
Gionta, Cole and Markov all need to start playing better. I don’t want to kill the whole team but this loss is just so confusing to me. And why all the icings.
“It’s not an obsession, It’s a way of life..”
Markov is not the problem, in fact he makes every body he plays with better. Gionta and Cole however… they are really, really playing bad, especially Cole.
They’re so slow, they’re making DD look like Yvon Cournoyer.
I know Markov is not a problem, but I think he needs to be better, H’e supposed to be out top D man, he has no points 5 on 5 and I think his defensive play could be better, he’s slow and is committing way to may turnovers. Now, thats still better than a lot of other d men, but it not good enough for Markov
“It’s not an obsession, It’s a way of life..”
Can’t win em all.
Exactly. If you’re gonna lose, get the point.
Exactly at one point we are going to lose and at least we got a point
http://nickolaisblog.wordpress.com/
Even Michel Bergeron thought Subban should have been on that 4-on-3.
MT not happy at the post-game, admonished somebody talking in the back of the room and left after one question. Oy!
“Even Michel Bergeron thought Subban should have been on that 4-on-3″…Hell’s freezing over…
This is a serious question!!! Do you think MT is second-guessing himself tonight on some of his decisions. Oftentimes when people do that sort of disapperaing act they are really more unhappy with themselves than anyone else.
Edit: I think if he thought more of the ‘blame’ rested on the team he would have stayed around and ‘analysed’ the game with the media… I think he is really upset with himself.
Are the Habs contenders or pretenders?
*Listen to my instrumental tribute entitled “Habs at War” at http://petertoliasmusic.site11.com/Music_Site/OtherOriginalMusic.html
A bit of tweeking and I say maybe contenders. Start with getting Erskine.
This year, pretenders. But you have to like some of the young guys. Shed Gionta and a couple of the older guys and there is some real potential with this club to build on.
So Price had the flu last week,anybody think he gave it to Cole and Markov? Man they were slow tonight.
Cole/Eller/Diaz/White/P.K/Gorges have all been criticised tonight. I am wondering if anyone has an opinion re Markov’s game tonight.
slow.
Agreed!
Looked tired tonight. He and Emelin were poor against Tavares and Moulson (except for the shot to the Tavares ribs by Emeline). They were lucky to get the point.
He hasn’t looked to great in the last handful of games.
The start of the Habs’ season meltdown???
http://i.imgur.com/hbikk.gif
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I don’t want to see Eric play on Saturday. I want to see the Cole Train!
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“Hey Richard, two minutes for looking so good!”
Maybe he’s just not in shape this season like he was last season…
All that is apparent is he’s getting bullied by other players pretty easily this year… This ain’t the Cole we know and love. Hope he finds his scoring touch soon.
It’s been mentioned that in the same amount of games he played last year, he had similar numbers. No reason to panic quite yet.
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DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!
Just alarming to watch him get ragdolled and rubbed off the puck like he did tonight and several other games this year.
Usually it’s like a Patches thing… the opportunities are there just can’t get that bounce… this year…oy…
That’s too bad, a bad loss against a pathetic team at home. I sure hope that point doesn’t become important towards the end of the season. Ottawa won tonight, so they gain a point, and they’ve been decimated by injuries. It’s a pipe dream that this team can stay ahead of Boston when they’re giving away points like that.
Nice to see Max Pac getting on track. In the smurf watch category, Gionta continues to be our most expensive, worst producing smurf. He’s a trade deadline commodity if ever there was one; the Habs might even be able to get something for him.
The Habs d needs one more solid d…The intensity of playoff hockey and full forechecking by the opposition forwards and d pinching will give major problems to this group of d
Undefeated in 6.
Islanders 4 Canadiens 3, only undefeated in 6 in some alternate reality.
Chicago uses undefeated BS…….
That’s a bit depressing. Can the Canadiens take first place in the East? No. But I like this team and the Canadiens played some lovely hockey in that overtime period. Even the great Canadiens teams of the 1950s would lose occasionally to the bottom dwellers, often the Hawks and Rangers in those days.
VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gotta love ya Dave.
Chrisadiens and HabFan10912, one of the few father son tandems on HIO.
Whats that? The sound of the tank starting?
Trade the tank in for a limo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKUXzk8-zGM
Right now DD is level above Eller in creating offense…
I have to agree with you there.
Gotta admit, DD looked pretty good tonight. Trade value should be up a bit.
Sucks to lose, but not the end of the world.
Good on Thomas Hickey. Hopefully he can save his career.