Jekyll and Habs.
Or as Michel Bergeron put it on RDS:
“Les Devils. Wow! Wow! Wow!”
No Martin F.?
No Zach F.?
No effing way – especially when the Canadiens are in bounce-back mode.
This was the Canadiens’ most dominant outing since they stomped Carolina.
But you have to factor in the quality of opposition.
The Devils are a mess, the Haiti of hockey.
And Johan Hedberg dug them a deep hole before the sparse crowd had settled into their seats.
So let’s not get back to parade-planning until we see what the Canadiens do against San Jose on Saturday afternoon.
But still, lots to like.
• Yannick Weber may have played his best game in a Canadiens’ jersey. He played 17:10, led the team with six shots on goal, and if the kid made a defensive mistake, I didn’t see it.
• Lars Eller had his first – but assuredly not last – multi-point game. He was First Star … again, not for the last time.
• Carey Price went long periods with nothing to do but made some spectacular saves.
• For the second straight night, Scott Gomez scored a goal on the power play.
• With New Jersey enjoying a 5-on-3 for two minutes, Tomas Plekanec, Hal Gill and Josh Gorges kepot the Devils to the outside for 100 seconds without a whistle, then the second unit finished it off.
• Canadiens had 11 names on the score sheet. Thirteen players had SoG.
• Playing hurt, Gorges was on for 22 minutes. What a warrior!
• Roman Hamrlik played almost 23 minutes and blocked four shots. Spatch was good, too … but it was the Devils.
• The PK passed Pittsburgh to become the league’s best: 89.9 per cent efficiency.
• PP is at 17.9 – 11th place!!!
• Carey Price’s 15 wins top the league, as do his minutes. GAA of 2.00, save percentage of 93.4. Jaro who?
And P.K. who?
Jacques Martin has a decision to make before the San Jose game.
More tomorrow.
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Hey Showey, those kids are goofin around on your lawn again. Better get on it.
with glowing hearts we see thee score da true habs strong n free from far n wide Oh carrey he stands on guard for thee blocking alll the shots in the lanes all the time with the bc habs just face the facts josh carey d travis always play to the max
Yup. And here I thought last week everyone was bitching constantly about the lack of NHL ready defensemen we had.
Eller looked pretty disrespectful in the first with that fancy practice move.
Sickening how much cheering for players instead of the team goes on here.
You know Gomez is just this year’s whipping boy. I’m glad he is. He has the professionalism, experience and has the “laiser-faire” (sp?) attitude to shoulder it better than most. IMO, his biggest on ice contributions will come when most needed.
Woosh. Right over your head.
Chris, HH is in full sarcasm snit disturber mode.
“PK needs to give Weber more respect”
Thank you HH, for making me choke on my drink. So when are we going to see a Juniors game with Punkster?
The Halakians are sad Halak isn’t here. The Subbanites are enraged that PK ate a hot dog. The Gomers are irate that Marian Gaborik and CHris Drury and Ilya Kovalchuk can’t sign with us. And it isn’t even the full moon.
Haiti of hockey. Now that is funny stuff!
How has PK disrespected Weber?
Bill, I don’t think that line was that much of a farce. It’s what was not said that tells the real story.
When they said that, they omitted the key clause. They couldn’t keep Pleks and Halak… and Price.
They left the Price bit out for the reason you suggest, but it was implied. It would have meant finding 4.5 more million more, not 1.
But I suspect you’ve heard this reasoning before and haven’t bought it.
Every other team in the NHL would get praise for defensive depth, but not MTL…
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu. Habs and Hockey.
Just got back from an evening out; dinner with two great women, in a Vietnamese resto, with the game on the big screen in the background. Sweeeeet!
Then I checked the comments from earlier. WTF guys? We won. What’s with all the bitching and moaning this time? 5 goals not good enough?
Welcome to old fogeydom, dad. Let me clear a space off the porch bench for ya here…
Gomez scored two games in a row. Eller is stepping into his role and making the Halak trade look better by the minute. Price is practically pitching no-hitters per game. What else are we gonna do?
PK needs to give Weber more respect.
NEVER! It means we might have to cheer for someone other than the dude who is on our avatars! And that would be confusing!!!
I think the most sensible move for JM would be to rest Gorges for a game. Put P.K. with Hal Gill (we’ve seen this already) and leave Weber with Picard. Make it so!
Just got back from the Prudential Center. What a game for the boys tonight. Habs jerseys everywhere, on the ice and in the stands.
Eller played his best game of the season. I really liked what I saw from Eller, Pouliot and Darche. They were all over the Devils.
Weber played a surprisingly strong game. He did not look like a defensive liability, led the team with 6 SOG and got an assist when Gomer scored on the rebound from his shot. Like to see him stay for a few games and sit Picard.
Gomer looked more involved but some of his passes and play decisions were questionable. Cammy looked frustrated but I think his problem is that Moen does not belong on this line, proven again tonight.
Price was solid as usual but was only tested a couple of times. The goal on him was a missed defensive assignment where he had no chance.
AK46 was a little invisible but the Plecs line overall looked dangerous.
The the movement on the first PP was great. The PK was sensational – that 5 on 3 kill for 2 min was unreal – Devils were booed off the ice.
As for Kovalchuk, what happened to this guy. He was not skating, missed the net on 2 good shots, and got a third weak shot off. I did not see many of those speedy rushes he use to make in Atlanta. He does not fit on this Devils team.
Patience
40? Hot damn. Barely look it.
Congrats.
*puts a white latex glove on*
Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another would-be Montreal Canadiens press secretary parroting that drivel about the Habs needing to ‘sacrifice’ Halak to keep Plekanec … if the Habs couldn’t figure out a way to get another million in cap space, their GM (or capologist) isn’t worth spit.
OBVIOUSLY they traded Halak because they thought Price was better, and based on results to this point, they were right. They just floated that crap about not being able to afford Halak because they thought it would appease the gullible masses, and … based on results to this point, they were right again!
Full Breezer 4 Life
Good post. I echoed your sentiment in a post below. I think it would be a good idea to give some of the more banged up defence a game off just to recuperate while giving the team a chance to assess some of their other viable options on D.
I can not believe people are actually bitching about having depth on defense. This is a good thing people.
And every dead horse needs to be beaten a few more times, hence the Gomez/contract comments ad nauseum. At least I stuck to my mea culpa and haven’t mentioned tanking for draft picks, much to your chagrin, as I said I would do after the Habs made it to the ECF’s last season.
Happy birthday man!
Happy birthday big guy!! All the best.
Every horse needs to be tamed…..including those named PK. It’s a “team” game that requires team systems and attitudes. Perhaps JM has noticed this slipping a bit from his game. I have zero problems with reining in anyone who may be out of line to make the team stronger. All part of the process for new players. Good job, JM!!
Congrats! And many more…
PK will be back on Saturday. You don’t bench your best Dman two games in a row.
Yeah, he s their best D.
Happy Birthday, Showey!
Thought of that, but I have a feeling that it takes a lot to get Gorges out of there. Might not go down well.
Happy birthday!
Is it fair to say yet that the Canadiens with Price and Eller (and
maybe Schultz in the future) are a better team than with Halak? Is it
fair to say that sacrificing halak to keep Plekanec was in the best
interest of the team?
As for PK, he is the future of the defence. He needs to be in the line-up, but I wouldn’t be so quick to sit Weber either and Picard has been rock solid in just about every game he’s played this year. Martin has created quite a conundrum for himself now. If Gorges is playing hurt, maybe now is a good time to give him a rest. Otherwise, I think you need to look at Gill.
And an uppity coach who thinks he’s NHL ready. Not to mention a rookie GM.
Today i turned the big 40. Thanks for making my birthday end on a perfect note by routing the devils and as an added bonus the leafs getting destroyed a home. What a great day.
Beat me by 2 minutes.
P.K does need to play. I don’t understand the sudden firestorm surrounding him lately. Why all the hate? No one seems to have any answers. His play has been excellent this season and he played a good game last night, if not for the fact that he pretty much cost us the game. No reason for his timeout to be a multi-game scratch.
With Gorges and Gill taking a bit of a beating tonight why not sit one of them (preferably Gorges, I don’t want to see him get really hurt..we need him) and give them a night off to rest and watch the play from the press box? It’s a quick fix for a backed up Defensive corps and it is a logical one at that.
Thoughts?
Josh Georges has been taking a beating lately, perhaps its time to give him a rest, Spatch might be worse for wear with the game coming so early on Saturday after back to back games, I think JM has a few options/reasons to rest any D-man to re-insert Subban against the Sharks.
I would want to see if Weber can maintain that high standard of play. He looked like Josh Georges with a shot tonight.
I said that back in early Sept. No goaltending, no defense.
+1
They Call Me Shane
May not be a hard decision, didn’t Gill get hurt at the end of the game? Plus Gorges seems to be suffering at the moment. That’s why the Habs have 7 D.
YEAAACH….I’m glad we couldn’t get Ellis. Auld, despite his softies, is better than that. Smith also terrible. Seems Tampa is just like the caps – all offence, no defence.
Thanks for the QH, Mike. Still getting used to waiting a day for ”ALN” but QH is worthwhile reading.
Hard for JM to change a winning line up. If PK sits 2 games then so be it. This speedbump will mean more to his overall development in the long run. Remember last season when everyone was complaing abt Price not having to pay his dues and everything was given to him? Well here is a moment when the coach steps in to do exactly what so many complained abt Price.
“With New Jersey enjoying a 5-on-3 for two minutes, Tomas Plekanec, Hal
Gill and Josh Gorges kept the Devils to the outside for 100 seconds
without a whistle, then the second unit finished it off.”
Yeah, it was impressive, but I think that NJ had a lot to do with keeping themselves to the outside. I have a feeling that the Flyers would have found a way through. But I still liked it. A lot.
Do you mean with the rest of the players or with him personally? Both? I think I understand what you mean. He has been an iron man for us but I think this could warrant a talking to from PG and JM telling him that he is being sat in order to keep him fresh and healthy because of how much of an asset he is to the team, not for lack of working as is the case for most players that are scratched.
Happy Birthday! Nice to see you got a win out of it.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu. Habs and Hockey.
Happy Birthday showey!
Happy B-Day Showey!!
josh is awesome. it never ceases to amaze me the punishment he absorbs every night, he’s rubber. my nickname for him is gumby
Happy Barfday, big guy!
“You know Gomez is just this year’s whipping boy. I’m glad he is. He has the professionalism, experience and has the “laiser-faire” (sp?) attitude to shoulder it better than most.”
Move to the head of the class.
Windows 7, with Boone seulement. And I invented it!
As though you needed more …
Im waiting on the email as well!
Goalies in Montreal have two roles, netminder and scapegoat.
ok that was my first post … i wasnt too nervous
with glowing hearts we see thee score da true habs strong n free from far n wide Oh carrey he stands on guard for thee blocking alll the shots in the lanes all the time with the bc habs just face the facts josh carey d travis always play to the max
josh doesnt take days off – never has never will – and he’s just sooo happy to play for les canadiens …
with glowing hearts we see thee score da true habs strong n free from far n wide Oh carrey he stands on guard for thee blocking alll the shots in the lanes all the time with the bc habs just face the facts josh carey d travis always play to the max
Cheers, Showey, Happy Birthday! You’re old, man
Two women? You dawg!!!
even though they’ve lacked consistency lately, I find that I’m getting less heart attacks and keeping most of my hair when watching most habs games this year which is such a relief.
Welcome to the club! Though I don’t look at it as being 40; rather, like being 20 with twice the experience.
Centre Hice: one fan’s attachment to the Montreal Canadiens
Welcome to the 4-0 club!
___________________________________________
Note the new digs! but yeah I’m still on Twitter!
good redemption tonight. But I’ve having trouble with the main page on HIO since last night. Is Boone up to something? I can only get his page.
C’mon now, this Islanders the the Haiti of hockey. The Devils are more of an empire in decline.
You are spoiled, man. Take the 5-1 win. We stomped’em.
Oh, too funny
Parade planning? The usual route mon ami
I usually laugh at a joke three times:
1) when I first hear it
2) when you explain it to me
3) when I finally get it
You must be in the past 40 club already!
What are the odds Don Cherry bitches about Boston running up the score?
So when did Habs Prospects get the dancing animated girls?
*slaps forehead*
hate when that happens
I eventually got it.
The french have a great expression: y comprend vite, mais faut y expliquer longtemps
Loosely translated: He’s quick on the uptake, but you need to explain things to him for a while.
I’m with this guy.
Martin has NO decision to make. No PK and I’ll really start my hate tirade. I’m warning you guys now.
Can’t wait.
double post
he played on grinding lines, hes a top 6 not darche
No kidding. Hey everybody, Sherlock Holmes decided to post here.
MaxPac had plenty of games in Montreal, displaying an acute LACK of scoring and barely any hockey sense at all, Watson.
The kid’s 22. Give him time. He’s doing great in the AHL and looks like one the Habs best prospects not already with the big club.
He was obviously brought up too soon.
Not only would Burke make one of the worst trades in NHL history, but he made it with Boston…
Soooo true.
nice win by the boys…
we can now start to see the split in the playoff and non playoff teams in the standings.
the only few changes i can see is maybe carolina and atlanta swapping places and some other teams close to the bottom 8.
other then that i am pretty sure the standins will stay the same, with MTL and Boston fighting for the NE divison title
——————
88 is the new 23
PK is pretty exciting to watch, but lets not sell the great Oleg Petrov short.
Or for that matter the smurf line: Bure-Koivu-Petrov
PK, By far the most exciting player the Habs have had in about 2 decades. He manned up to his mistakes in the Oiler game. He effing better be in the lineup against the Sharks.
Oh pardon me, let me change my avatar to Martin – the village hero. Pardon my ass for not turning on players for a bad game or two. I guess that’s why “Carey Price” stayed my fav player since I joined, and didn’t change when the team let him down last year over and over.
Not about to fold the PK tent either. I firmly believe benching him was silly.
Eric, we can only hope!
Who would you rather have pissed off at the organization, Weber or PK. I like Weber but it really is a no-brainer.
P.K. has to play against the Sharks, and Weber as well. Picard sits for one, and so begins a platooning with Weber and Picard.
How many D-men are free agents next year?
The time is now to find how exactly how much Weber fits into future plans.
Hamrlik has been playing mediocre? Do you watch the ****ing games?!?!?! He’s been a frickin’ stud.
What’s your point? Weber had several past chances, and he hasn’t grabbed it. One good game doesn’t automatically change that. Subban is just starting out, and will be a franchise player (he better be, because I swear to god…)
My opinion? Gauthier shot himself in the foot signing Picard. Don’t get me wrong, the guy has been playing steller. However if they wanted Weber this year what was the point of signing yet another d-man?
Maybe sit Hamr or Spacek? Both are playing mediocre at best.
Aw, the joys of being a Habs fan. Put the Price issue to rest, Gomez starts to score and now the defensive (PK) issue.
Robert’s dead right though, Frank. That’s what should happen.
There was a reason why we signed him to a 2 way contract. He’s exceeded everyones expectations. He was signed as a depth player likely playing in the A, but he won a spot out of camp, and is playing really well in his role.
-GK-
Should maybe, however JM rarely tampers with “winning line-ups”.
I gotta admit, I don’t see Subban sitting next game.
That’s how I’d call it, need to know what Weber can offer the team and you can’t sit PK, he took his benching now it’s time to see how he took the lesson.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu. Habs and Hockey.
Your avatar says it all. All PK all the time, eh
You sign Picard because there is no way everyone is going to stay healthy through 82 games. THAT is why you sign Picard.
It is also why you give Weber ice time- so he can step up when called on.
Maybe give Gorges a therapy day to heal up? Would Gorges even want one? He’s such a trouper, he probably wouldn’t.
AND WE HAVE A WINNNNAAAAA…!!!
Right on RL.
I suppose this makes up for last night’s loss.
Stomping the Devils? I’ll take it.
I have a good feeling about the Sharks game. The Habs seem to play to their opponents, so they should be up for the game.
MaxPac 2nd in scoring in the AHL.
Remember when he was a bust two months ago? Good times.
- I shall always remember Captain Koivu. Habs and Hockey.
Scoring in the AHL a lot different than lighting it up in the NHL.
I don’t think anyone who can assess talent thought Pacioretty was a bust.
Despite the “controversy” over his recent interview, I like that he is chomping at the bit. He sounds motivated to return to the NHL. Pacioretty will be with the big club sooner rather than later.
————————
An important announcement from the Government of Canada:
Health Canada is reminding Canadians that consumption of the Toronto Maple Leafs has led to vomiting, fever, bloody diarrhea, dementia, and penile dysfunction.
aright guys, who’s ready to laugh at the leafs in order to cap off a great game by the habs
kessel: 14 points in 23 games with 10 goals, -5
seguin: 9 points in in 23 games with 5 goals, 0
hall (who the leafs would have drafted since they would have finished even lwoer without kessel): 12 points in 24 games, -5
consider the cap hits, as well as what was given up for kessel and this is just way too funny.
——————
88 is the new 23
Actually EVERY Habs fan should be rooting for the LEafs to do well.
Yah lets hope the Leafs continue to lose so they can help stock up the Bruins with another top 5 pick to ensure the Bruins win the division for the next 10 years.
We NEED the Leafs to win a lot more games. We NEED Kessel to score. Etc Etc Etc!
This is not even up for debate.
So go Habs go, but go Leafs go!
2 goals in the first 1:38 of the game !! WOW
And his memory longer then two weeks!
Sorry. My sarcasm filter was off.
PK BETTER BE IN THE LINE-UP ON SAT!!!
And sit whom? Weber, effectively saying he has no future in the organization? Picard, even though he’s been steady since Markov was injured?
Carbo is soooooo much better in French.
I still think we should put Gomez and Giont back together. Gionta fits his style of play better
Give Spacek a therapy day at Ye Olde Orchard Pub. That will solve JM’s problem!
The Old Munich?
polka and puke
I have a great idea. Something thast hasn’t been tried before. Why not sit Darche and play both PK and Weber. Weber can play on the PP and be used sparingly as a winger on the 4th line. How does that sound guys? Wouldn’t that be worth taking a look at. Don’t all thank me at once!!!
You mean Darche who has been a great asset to our pp?
Anyone else rly worried about how Toronto is doing. Bostons pick looks so good right now.
Yep, they’re building a great team in Boston. But hey they got the Great Kessel! pft
They Call Me Shane
Abe Hefter really giving it to all the laff fans lol! The crying laff fan was hilarious!