Montreal Gazette

Olivier - (Olivier Bouchard)

Member since January 22, 2011

Montréal

Habs fan since: 10 yrs
Favorite current player: AKost
All-time favorite player: Bouillon

Signature:
http://enattendantlesnordiques.blogspot.com/

Recent Comments

  • Comment on Kaberle? Really???
    Can Kaberle outperform St-Denis at ES? I believe so. Can he outperform Gorges on the PP? That, I'm certain of. Can a 40+ points PP specialist DMan on a 4 millions a year contract be moved during summer? I think so (See Campbell, Brian). Can he play more games than either Spacek or Campoli (who we may be putting a bit too many hopes on these days)? Yup. With the CBA expiring, will we see some sort of roll-back or buyout window or, dare I say, a lock-out? Pretty darn sure a combination of these is coming our way after this season. Are the habs better today than they were tomorrow? Yep. So there.
  • Comment on Quick hits
    I liked how Gomez looked too, but it seems he took a pounding if you look at the raw numbers. Martin actually took him away from Brouwer and matched him against the Hawk's third line in the third period, while benching Desharnais/White/Darche and sending Eller/Moen/Pyatt against Kane/Frolik in the third. Poor Eller had a nice move while dodging Brouwer, but the kid got bent over with 3 minutes remaining in the third. Still, he went over 4 minutes head to head with Kane and got out of there alive. Baby steps. http://enattendantlesnordiques.blogspot.com/
  • Comment on Quick hits

    You've nailed the important one, Boone: They are again drawing more penalties than they get. The PP is cold now, but the chances are there. The Wiz and PK are fearsome and will get things rolling sooner than later.

    Martin says they stick to the game plan... Well, I just say, they adjust. This is the great thing about this year's team. Whenever they get their teeths kicked in in the first, they get the cues from the coaching staff in the intermission, adjust and then grind it trough the long change. I'm a geek, and that's the thing that makes me giddy about those guys. It doesn't always work, but they do it again and again.

    Also, Pleks is turning into a poor man Datsyuk right before our eyes. He is splendid. I used to like 13/14/46, but 67/14/21 is just an astonishing trio of heavy lifters.

    Too small, eh?

  • Comment on Quick hits

    Good point on Carlyle's system, Boone. Boy, Anaheim is a passive team; I had the habs leading scoring chances 15-10 at even strength, even tough they had only 2 in the first period... ANA had 3 in the first and then 2 every other period. Pleks and AKost again had superb even strength numbers while Gomez really lit it up on the PP.

    Spacek must be hurting pretty good; no way he's that bad just because he's on the left and without Hamrlik (who looks better by the minute with Wiz).

  • Comment on About last night ...
    Well, they got going once Martin cut his bench. Thanks to the Sens, he could do it from the bottom of the second frame. Have to agree with Basu on AK46 with 57&58. Kost is a 25 goals man when playing with Pleks; he'll handle the tough minutes, dig pucks out against the Prongers, stuff like that. Unspectacular but useful. The game against Calgary, where, paired with Halpern and Moen, he kinda looked like a poor man Hossa cutting inside and ripping shots? To put it bluntly: THIRD PAIRING DEFENSEMEN. Put Akost with Pleks against the toughs, he's a nice complimentary player. Put him with Desharnais and Pouliot against the 2nd and 3rd pairing D and 2nd and 3rd lines? He could go on a rampage. But you know what? I'm not convinced Eller and Cammalleri are strong enough defensively together to help Pleks. I'd contend #46 (especially on the LW) is a better defensive player than #13 and #81. So if AKost goes with Desharnais, Pleks might be in for a rough ride. Time will tell, I guess.
  • Comment on Yeah, they're that good

    If Kovalev was l'Artiste, Desharnais is l'Alchimiste. Cuz he turns lead (ie: Pouliot's head and Pyatt's hands) into gold, see?

    I'm an optimist. If Pleks is gone for a few games, we'll see what The Alchemist can do with Cammalleri. My guess is: get a big-ass amount of goals scored against him, but score even more for us and gives us goosebumps 4-5 times a night.

    That could be fun, no? May be wise not to play Weber-Mara behind them, tough.

  • Comment on Quick hits

    Gee Boone, you basically wrote what I wrote. I'll simply pile on: the Caps had 2 scoring chances on the PP, one of the going in for a goal. Habs had 7 on the PP, but gave 2.

    The Caps did carry the play in OT, but they must thank Varlamov. He stole the game in the third.