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About last night ...
posted by Mike Boone at 6h48 EST on Apr 22
Actually, it didn't sweeten until about 8:20. That's when Mark Streit scored the goal that won the series.
I know: Mike Komisarek's first-period goal was the winner. But it was anybody's game – and uncomfortably similar to Games 5 and 6 – until Streit fooled Tim Thomas with the Double Swiss Shoulder Shake.
Until then, and especially during the first period, the Bruins were doing their thing. Hitting, frechecking ferociously and staying close.
Carey Price was excellent. But at 1-0, a fluke goal, a deflection, a botched handoff to Max ... any mistake could have led to a goal that would have energized the Bruins.
But Streit made it 2-0. The visitors began to sag, Andrei Kostitsyn made it 3-0 and the third period was a rout.
Even the beleaguered power play got into the act. Andrei K's second goal was scored with Marc Savard in the box.
The heroes, however, were the Canadiens' penalty-killers. The Bruins went 0-for-6 because of heroic work by Tom Kostopoulos, Steve Bégin, Alex Kovalev, Maxim Lapierre, Tomas Plekanec, Saku Koivu, Christopher Higgins, the defence corps and the Canadiens' best penalty killer, number 31.
In the scrum that engulfed Christopher Higgins' cubicle after the game, CTV's Brian Wilde pointed his microphone at Higgins and said: "Tell us about the balls on that kid over there in nets."
"Pretty large," Higgins laughed. "We see him in the shower every day."
In the absence of a precise scouting report on his nut sack, what we do know about Price is his record in the series: Two shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.09, save percentage of 92.5 and a sang-froid rating of 10.
But how about the balls on his coach?
On the morning before the biggest game of the season, Guy Carbonneau shuffled his two top lines. Alex Kovalev, hounded and ounded by Zdeno Chara through the first six games, was moved to right wing on a line with Higgins and Saku Koivu. Sergei Kostitsyn played RW with his brother and Tomas Plekanec.
The guy wearing the lucky tie is a genius – mainly because his captain is a stud.
Saku Koivu is not the kind of hockey player who's going to be intimidated by the Boston Bruins – or anyone else. The captain darted and dashed through the Boston zone, laying on hits (including a couple on Chara), dishing off passes, running the Bruins D ragged.
Higgins had five shots on goal and another three muffs. Kovalev assisted on the Komisarek and Streit goals and finally escaped the punishment that had worn him down in Games 5 and 6.
As for the Brothers K – Wow!! Andrei scored twice and assisted on Sergei's exclamation-point goal, scored with eight seconds to play. Sergei set up his brother's first goal andconsistently directed great passes at his linemates. Pleks and the brothers could be together for a long time.
It was great to have two scoring lines in gear, but the heroes of the game were the grinders. Thee speed of Steve Bégin and Tom Kostopoulos, the positioning and smarts of Bryan Smolinski combined to harass and frustrate the Bruins.
The NHL does not have a Time of Possession stat. If it did, I'd bet the Smoke line led all others on oth teams. They play basic, chip-it-out/pound-it-in/chase-it-down hockey. Not as spectacular as the top two lines, but disciplined, dogged and very effective – especially against a team like Boston.
Pretty solid game for the D last night. There were some anxious moments – the Francis Bouillon-Josh Gorges pairing was pounded by the Bruins in the first period – but any shutout is, at least in part, a tribute to the defencemen. Patrice Brisebois had a couple of giveaways, but he had a goal and four assists in the series – not bad for an old guy. Mike Komisarek looked fresher and stronger than his neesis, Milan Lucic, in Game 7. Roman Hamrlik was quietly steady, as always; and a banged-up Andrei Markov is still the best defenceman on the ice. Props to Frankie the Bull for a bone-jarring, confidence-shattering, will-destroying hit on Phil Kessel. Bouillon took a boarding penalty, but it was worth it to neutralize a notoriously soft player. Someone should have run Kessel the unKoivu in Game 5.
Canadiens outhit the Bruins 38-24. They blocked 23 shots to 12 for the visitors.
The stat sheet doesn't measure speed, and that's where the Canadiens had the biggest advantage. I lost count of the nuber of times players like Max Lapierre chipped the puck off the boards and then sped past Boston defenders to retrieve it. (I also lost count of the no-calls on Bruins who grabbed speedy Canadiens to slow them down.)
Canadiens will need their speed – especially if the next opponent is the Rangers.
But we'll think about that atch-up in a future post.
For now, savor a great win – that most Montrealers knew how to celebrate.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=9fGEgjEbUWc
Being from Van i was wondering what the public opinion of Lucic is out there. I had the pleasure of watching him play with the giants and his work ethic is second to none, IMO he has a pretty bright future in front of him.
anybody know what Carbo told Kovalev in their pre-game meeting?
I heard it was mentioned on CBC but I was watching RDS.... just curious
Perform or else Komi and OByrne will hold you down while Lats shaves your head!
ohhhh....bet he didn't want to lose his goldilocks?
LOL
One thing that really jumped out at me in this series was the positioning of the Montreal defencemen was often a bit lacking, to be kind. This reminded me of one of my longest standing beefs, that Montreal has still not found a replacement for Jacques Laperriere since he left in 1996-97. I always felt Laperriere was a fantastic, underrated defensive coach who helped develop so many great defencemen for Montreal between 1980 and 1997. Drafting was surely part of it, but I don't think he and the defencemen coaches in Sherbrooke deserve a lot of the credit for helping develop players such as Ludwig, Chelios, Svoboda, Schneider, Desjardins, Brisebois, Odelein, Lefebvre, Rivet, Sean Hill and Lumme into quality NHL defencemen who would go on to have long NHL careers. I can't think of too many other teams off the top of my head who have developed that many solid NHL-defencemen over the same time interval, especially when drafting from the latter part of each round as the perennially strong Canadiens were doing.
I would love us to go out and try to find a good mentor for the bumper crop of young defencemen that we have coming up, both in Hamilton and in Montreal. I'm not sure who the best people out there are, but if it was to be a former Habs player (which of course it doesn't need to be, but organizational ties certainly help!), I struggle to think of a better candidate than Eric Desjardins, who was a classy guy who used superior positioning to offset his lack of physical game. That he was also a very good transitional player would also be an advantage. I just don't know whether it is something he could teach, or if it was just so innate that he wouldn't know where to begin, as is often the case with great forwards (think Maurice Richard, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Bryan Trottier, etc.).
Just another conversation starter. :D
Eric Desjardins would be great, if he were interested in taking the job. I think the club will offer Breeze a coaching opportunity, maybe in Hamilton to start. I have all the respect in the world for Muller and Jarvis, but it seems to me you need someone who's played D. And it will be crucial with Valentenko, Carle, McDonagh, Subban, Webber and – let us pray – Yemelin in the pipeline.
Laperriere did an excellent job for a long-time with the Habs defenseman. He even took rejects like j.j. Daigneault and turned them into solid NHL defenseman.
Malletheadov(Malakov) played the best hockey of his career while toiling under Lapierre's guidance.
For anyone out there that might want to have last nights game in their video collection, its available on the Bit Torrent network http://www.mininova.org/tor/1346559 recorded from the Versus broadcast.
what a great game! so proud koivu's back! and what a come back!
______
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and eventually knows everything about nothing.
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What a difference with Koivu in the lie up. We sometimes forget what a fantastic captain and leader he is. And Mark Streit! he is still the glue that binds the habs together.
How is Streit the glue? I don't get it... not that I don't like him or anything, just curious.
Hey Jim H.--I wrote a post about Streit about 6 mo. ago. And I mentioned how this utility player, no matter what roll or position or line that he was asked to do a job, he did it well and could fill in at every turn. Power play forward or D. Just an all round talented hockey player with great hockey sence and dependable. Every winning team needs a Mark Streit.!!
Its a funny thing...I really suspect that much of the anti-Koivu sentiment stems from the inane "No European captain has ever won the Stanley Cup" argument. It will happen soon enough, and I would be delighted to see it be Koivu, who IS the undisputed heart and soul of the Canadiens. I'm just so happy to see the team succeeding and building a solid foundation for future success as he approaches the end of his career. He may not get his jersey retired, but he will likely not be forgotten for many, many years by those of us lucky enough to watch him play.
nice to see you are back on the bus, big fella :)
I have never left the bus EBK, this one has a CAN on board and I was visiting when we looked like turds for a game or two.
I know Ian, I was just teasing you a little.
I shudder at the thought of losing him again - I still remember Carolina...
1. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat
2. Josh Gorges on Montreal's attack: "They're comin', they're comin' and they keep comin'. Just line after line, wave after wave..."
Last night:
· Da Habs, despite being well aware of their unblemished history when up 3-1 in a playoff series and Boston’s blemished history when down 3-1 in a playoff series, were fortunately doomed to repeat it. For the last two of three fast, hard-fought periods, il n’y avait pas de manque de synchronisme.
· From his comfortable estate in Richmond, England, Pete Townshend turned to Rachel and said, “Honey, I was just outside and swear I can hear people chanting some ‘Ole, ole ole ole’ thing.” There is no greater intimidator than 21,000-plus, juiced-up Hab fans. Hey Nachoronto, take note.
· Dr. Atkins was nowhere to be seen; it was a night for Carbo. Clad in his “I didn’t know the kid had eaten an entire box of Crayolas before I picked him up” tie, Guy II took the heat off Kovy by smartly pairing him up with the Energizer Finny. In his Disney On Ice skates, Saku played with a heart so big, Lurch was chokin’ on it. Gimme five. Heh. Loved it.
· As promised, Jesus Price rose on the third day and delivered us from evil. Armed with his Ulkatcho and Ulblocko, BC Bud coolly stoned the Beantown Broonzes. Thanks for being way smarter than the rest of us, Bob, way smarter.
· Bazooka Mike, like a bowtied NASA aeronautical engineer, aimed for the tangential trajectory off a Boston stick, correctly timing the involuntary contraction of Tim “Seizure” Thomas’ upper leg muscle. Playing like it was game 7 in a first-round playoff series, the Kominator was solid. Even Gorbachev himself couldn’t take down this Burlyin’ Wall.
· At the receiving end of a brilliant pass by a rejuvenated Kovy, combined with a smart, deft pass-off by Maximum (Nilan would have shot), and after causing more undressing than you see in your average porn, Schtreit! hit the Mark. Seizure had fully returned to form, opening up the gaping maw that is his five-hole, otherwise known as the “Timbit”. Et le buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut! Welcome back, Schtreit!
· It was the TSN turning point: Big Mama Mo’ came home to roost. Bob Cole, who badly needs to be Lennie-Smalled, was probably deflated. I don’t really know cause I haven’t been able to reach any of the three guys who listened to his telecast last night. Is the CBC feed deliberately delayed so ol’ Bumblehead Jones can try to keep up?
· Takin’ care of bidness, time to seal the deal, Snap, Krackle, & Bop turned on the crunch machine, Bop busily bangin’ Broonz bastiches, boldly blocking blasts, badly bruisin’ beveryone (yowza). Guimauve LaPrincesse take note.
· Then The Brothers Kostitsynov went to work. Sergei, barely hanging on to whatever is left of his sanity, fed his bro Andrei in the slot. Like Tiger Woods in the rough, on a slope, behind a tree, in the rain, Cause-it’s-in Sr. popped a beaut. No more Miracle-On-Ice for you, Boston! Next!
· Then came the biggest slapdown since last Saturday’s “La Revanche de St-Pierre de la George”. With five minutes left, it was time for sweet goodbyes, and time to roar with approval . Montreal’s sleepy Richter scales were awakened, PVM tilted askew, a light ripple traversed the slick waters of Schwartz’s smoked meat steamer, a small chunk of concrete from the Big O dislodged, falling ever so silently to the ground, a caleche horse in Old Montreal, instincts alight, whinnied and snorted, fluttering the Habs flag gently hooked to its reins. Welcome back from the brink, boys!
· Props – I really can’t take “chapeau” anymore – to big-hearted, full-throttled efforts by everyone else, including Higgy The Workhorse, Toe-Mash "Little Girls Can Play Hockey, Too" Plex, Josh “Rubberman” Svoboda-Gorges, Francis “How Do You Like ‘Em Apples, Kessel?” Bouillon, Patrice “I Never Wanted To Play Anywhere Else” Breakwood, Roman “In Bob We Trust” Hammerlik, and Andrei “Obviously Hurt And The Flyers/Rangers Better Pray He Doesn’t Feel Better By Thursday” Markov.
· Go f*** yourself, Don.
JD
Thanks guys.
Is it Thursday yet?
Go Habs Go!
JD
Kinda reads like the start of a Tom Wolfe novel JD.
GO HABS.
Wow!
Some post, dude.
You gotta get out more.
mite have been THE funniest comment ive evr read....honestly dude...enuff chapeaux.......and i love some of those nicknames...namely guimauve la princesse....bahahahaa.....and jesus price....never rly heard it b4...chapeau err i mean props bro
"Like Tiger Woods in the rough, on a slope, behind a tree, in the rain, Cause-it’s-in Sr. popped a beaut."
LMAO
Excellent post!
About last night, the game can be summed up in two words - Carey Price.
Montreal stumbled through the first period and were leading only do to a lucky goal. The game could easily have turned the other way except Price made 7 or 8 key stops that kept the Bruins at bay. He was totally unbelievable in the first period. The Habs dominated the last two periods and outplayed their opponent but who's to say how the tempo or momentum would have gone if it were not for Price. I ask all posters to just take one second and think about what happened last night. In the seventh and deciding game, in the hotbed of hockey, a 20 year old manchild played the game of his life and saved the day for our beloved Habs. Fourteen months ago this kid was playing in junior hockey! What a truly remarkable acheivement. There are other points that could be raised (Koivu's presence & leadership, Carbo's gutsy coaching, Streit's work of art, the K brothers timely offense) but for me it all came down to Carey Price. He was the first star of the game, Gainey was the second star (for believing in him) and Trevor Timmins was the third star (for drafting him).
On a personal note, I went out this morning for an early round of golf only to return to find that other posters are taking liberties with my identity! Mike Boone and Dave Stubbs are certainly old enough to remember that it was our esteemed Pierre Trudeau who went to great lengths to protect my rights under The Charter. Anyway, to set the record straight, it was kRob who came up with the original idea of allotting .2 for making the playoffs and a subsequent .2 for each victorious playoff round. Having surmized the average I.Q. of the HIO clientele, I will mention that .2 + .2 = .4:-) Even our esteemed colleague "The Teacher" should be able to handle that basic mathematical operation:-)
All teasing aside, like everyone else I started out feeling very nervous yesterday. Yet our Habs once again showed just how resilient a team they are in the face of adversity. Something's happening here....
The Original 24.4 Cups
What a fantastic 60 minute effort. At the start I had no habs shirt on (I had no shirt on period, it was too hot). But by the end, I threw on the old 25 Damphousse because I knew this time I wasnt going to be let down.
Re: the violence. This was all non-habs supporters looking for an excuse to cause havoc. No habs fan would do that - if youre a die hard, you were just happy there will be another day of hockey.
For Carey Price to post a shutout after the way the defense played in front of him for the first part of the game was simply outstanding. Without him, they more than likely would have been behind heading into the 2nd period. Brisebois and Hamrlik had a horrid stretch around the 6 minute mark of the first period but Carey Price bailed them and the team out. His play in this series bodes well for a long run this spring. If the team can play up to his level, the rest of the Eastern Conference will be in big trouble.
Whenever Kovalev has a bad game, his detractors pop up like a herpies outbreak crowing about how he lacks character and toughness. This heartless wonder, set up the first two goals of the game seven and either scored or setup every game winning Hab goal in this series. Damn heartless European. Give Chara some credit for playing a great series and with the help of PJ Axelsson, they basically confinded Kovalev to a phone booth. Kovalev forced plays that were not there and was trying to hard to make things happen. He fought through all this and had his best game of the series in the game that mattered most.
Carbo deserves a lot of credit for playing the two captains together. They both were absolutely brilliant last night. Carbo did very well in this series of getting the Smolinski line on against the lines they can do well against. They outplayed the Bruins 3rd and 4th lines by a wide margin and deserve the accolades they are getting. Carbo deserves some as well
So do the Flying Kostitsyn brothers for battling through what was probably the toughest hockey they have ever seen. Plekanec played very well also the last few games. Mark Streit rebounded from a horrible series to score a huge goal in the 2nd period.
However, all the above being said, the Habs would be booking tee-off times this morning if not for a twenty-year old First Nations kid named Carey Price.
ebk - I just read your post after typing out mine (yes it takes me that long!) You beat me to the punch. Or is it simply a case of great minds thinking alike:-) I see that Teach didn't make it to work today. Suffering from a Habs hangover no doubt! Ain't life grand today Earl?! Haven't been this hockey happy since 93'
The Original 24.4 Cups
it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, Steve.
Nice summary and everything said Price saved the bacon amd on to the next series which will be a different ball of wax and now the coach should worry about Lapierre's line and who he should put them out against cuz there play is lame and needs adjusting sooner better than later.