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About last night ...
posted by Mike Boone at 6h08 EST on Oct 12
To be honest, I got bored watching the game. Too one-sided, and the disparity of talent was such there was little to be learned and not much to enjoy, unless you like ass-kickings.
The Leafs are rebuilding. Their coach thinks it might take EIGHT YEARS to develop a contender.
It took 40 minutes last night to demonstrate that the Canadiens were superior in every aspect of the game.
Things might have been different if Matt Stajan's deflection of a Mike Van Ryn shot had gone in instead of hitting the post, or if Jaroslav Halak hadn't robbed Jason Blake in the early going.
But after aninitial home team flurry, the Canadiens buried them. Too fast. Too talented. After that seeing-pass with which Guillaume Latendresse set up Roman Hamrlik for the opening goal, the better team began to asert themselves and Toronto never had a chance.
The Canadiens flew to Philadelphia right after the game. Tomorrow night will provide a much more interesting test of how good they are.
Whom and what I liked:
• The power play was utterly dominant, with more puck control and better passing than we saw in either the Sheldon Souray or Mark Streit era PPs.
• Faceoffs: Canadiens were 40-29, Tomas Plekanec 16-8.
• Energy: Second game in two nights? You wouldn't know it.
• Transition: So important in the go-go new NHL, and the Canadiens were going to D to O in a New York nanosecond.
• Jaroslav Halak does a lot of scrambling and bouncing around, especially in contrast to the classic style of Carey Price. But he gets the job done. Canadiens may have the NHL's best one-two goaltender combination.
• The real Mike Komisarek came out to play: nine hits, three blocked shots.
• Alex Tanguay, a magician with the puck. His four points in the second period were one off the team record, set by some gy you've never heard of and matched by Stéphane Richer.
• AK46, playing in the shadow of his kid brother last night, was held off the scoresheet but skated like a demon and dished out four thunderous hits on the forecheck.
• SK74 had a career night: two goals, one assist, seven shots and two hits. What a player this kid is going to be. And I liked how his teammates tried to set him up for a hat trick late in the game.
• Gui! had a oal and two assists in a game that boosted his confidence. He'll brind his A game against the Flyers.
• Milestone: 200 points for Alex Kovalev as a Canadien.
• Jim Hughson is an excellent play-by play announcer. But while the CBC has made a big deal about all the Canadiens games they'll carry this year, I'll bet dollars to donuts Hughson will work the Leafs games while Bob Cole is assigned to the Bell Centre.
So, nice win. Three of a possible four points on the road to launch the season.
We've got a day to kick back and savor the stomping of a team that used to be the Canadiens' rival.
Tomorrow, an early Thanksgiving dinner and then a game against NHL competition.
• • •
From Ross Blackhurst:
Q & A from
Health Canada
Q: The
Stanley Cup was recently on tour in my town, and I kissed it. Do I have to
worry about being infected by
listeria?
A: You are safe. The Stanley
Cup has not been in contact with any Maple Leaf product in over 40
years.
• • •
Note on the live blog: I don't know what the heck happened. I kept posting and the chronology got all screwed up.
I use Firefox, which can get wonky on me: slow, scrolling goes haywire. At a certain point in the second period, I just quit and restarted the browser, after which things seemed to be OK.
All suggestions welcome.
Habs Inside/Out main RSS feed
Breaking Down New HNIC .. by Chris Zelkovich .. star.com ..... (excerpt) .. But the show's first feature was, you guessed it, a look at Leafs coach Ron Wilson.
Yes, Wilson is new to Toronto, but the Ottawa Senators have a new coach, too ..... http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/516473
Pierre Lebrun .. ESPN ..... The Carolina Hurricanes are looking for help up front after the long-term injuries to Justin Williams and Scott Walker. They're shopping one of their excess blueliners ......................... King's website .. Jack Johnson has injury above the waist last night as rookie Drew Doughty played 24 minutes in only his 2nd NHL game ........... Lightning ask Marek Malik(D) to tryout this week ......................... Bruin's new style .. boston.com ..... That was the mandate I gave our team this year," Julien said. "We can create more offense with our D's supporting the attack. But we also have to realize that if our D's are in, you have to get back and cover up."
"• Jaroslav Halak does a lot of scrambling and bouncing around, especially in contrast to the classic style of Carey Price. But he gets the job done. Canadiens may have the NHL's best one-two goaltender combination."
I agree. Sometimes he looks like a fish thrown on land but he gets the job done.
On the farm: Weber had a goal (it's only a matter of time before he's gonna get called up). B-Max, Greg Stewart, Trotter are among those who have also scored. Max-Pac has an assist. Denis won both games, letting in 4 goals total.
Nice to have a laugher every once in a while. We have to bury the week teams and bank those two points. It's going to be a tight race in the east this year with NY and Philly. I'm not worried about Wash with Theo in nets (they may be so good that it won't matter) and Pittsburgh is so desperate for someone to play with Crosby that they've considered trading Malkin for Gaborik straight up!
Time to change my picture!
Just watched the game on my DVR (I was at the Caps-Hawks game last night). As Boone noted, we dominated in all aspects and it was a joy to see the lines click so well. Lats looks much better than last year so far - he had two goals in just over 11 minutes. Halak stepped up and delivered.
Hugheson is great - "the Leafs may need an intermission" "there should be four assists on that goal"
The difficult question is what happens to the lines and lineup when Higgins and BGL return (we all know Cube will replace Breezer, no need to discuss that). I'd suggest:
AK46-Pleks-Kovy
Lats-Koivu-Tanguay
Higgins-Lang-SK74
Begin-Max-BGL
Bench: Kosto, Dandy
Send Chipper to Hamilton to get some playing time; he's not benefiting from sitting on his a-- in the pressbox.
I'd much rather have Chipper centering the 4th line with laps, BGL, and kosto on the wing...and begin sometimes too I guess?
~Listen to the rooster! He knows what he's saying!
I've been saying that this should be the lineup since we acquired lang.
BGL and kosto should rotate depending on the opponent, and dandy is a great asset to have incase of injury on d or on offense.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm anticipating a BIG game from Carey Price against Philly. It's nice that he gets his shot at redemption against the Flyers nice and early in the season. Now if only Big George could somehow be ready for that game, that would be PERFECT! lol
My Pet Peeve - NHL.COM Looks Nice > "But" .. by Mark Pargas-NY Times .. http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/the-bunker-nhlcom-looks-nic...
Nice to see the offensive clinic with some AK46 grit to spice things up. The Flyers will be a better measuring stick of where we are VERY early in the season. So far, 3 of 4 points on the road is a good thing. Allowing 2 goals in 125 minutes is even better.
Gilbert
2008/09 is the season of the Habs
Star's Mike Ribeiro MIA and he's not the only one .. by Keeli Garza .. Five for Fighting ..... http://startelegramsports.typepad.com/five_for_fighting/2008/10/my-oh-my... .......................................... laff Fans Rant .. Pension Plan Puppets ..... http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2008/10/12/633399/ftb-oh-losing-right
Something I liked, not mentioned: Koivu. 3 assists, and one especially was a beaut, dangling around the net, then turning and passing across the slot to Lats. Often overlooked, and far too often disparaged, Koivu might be the most creative player on the team, especially when it comes to passing. Not to mention that he is an outstanding leader, and a beast in the playoffs. I, for one, hope he resigns.
Important clarification: I hope he "re-signs" as in, a new contract, not "resigns" as in retires.
Ha.
I agree, koivu is so underrated on this team and he is a great leader. Although I wouldn't rank him as THE best I would certainly put him up there.
Regarding firefox - you could try Chrome, as an alternative. It's the new browser by google. It's still in beta, but it's faster and more reliable than firefox, in my experience. In fact, I've uninstalled firefox from my machines. Some people have reported some problems with the browser, but I think it works great... one big advantage is that it uses a multi-process architecture, meaning that every tab you open is it's own program in Windows. This is good, because if one tab crashes, it doesn't take down your whole browser with it. It's rendering engine is the same as Mac's own Safari, actually, and is faster than perhaps all browsers except IE8 (which seems to be pretty speedy, so far.)
I'm on a Mac. So no Chrome ... yet.
safari uses the same framework as chrome. could be worth a shot.
I'll try Safari for the Flyers game
I'm giving Chrome a test run, and I'm quite happy with it.
__________________________________
I actually agree that Chrome is pretty good...and has almost all the same features as firefox.....you should try using that!
There's nothing wrong with a good butt kicking, but not of a team that looks hungover before the party has started. I want the Leafs to be a powerhouse, a cup contender. Then the Habs can kick their butts and I'll enjoy it.
I enjoyed that second period last night because I still have a sense of wonder when I watch the Habs. For so many years, such performances were inconceivable. But that third period had me wishing for an NHL mercy rule.
Any truth to the rumor that the leafs are going to have their own separate theme song for when they appear on HNIC this season?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcIBVil7e_Q
I was half-expecting a RickRoll.
Nicely done, though. I would have voted for that.
Boone, are you insane man? I love a good ass-kicking. Especially when it's the Hab's doing the ass-kicking to the laffs lol!
Chacun a on gout, bro. You must have loved the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
But the Leafs are so sad. It's not like laying a beat-down on the Sundin-Tucker-McCabe crew, with Quinn throwing up in his own mouth behind the bench and JFJ watching the horror unfold from on high.
I felt the same way as when I see a young feline playing around with a poor mice.... but in the end I realise that the feline's need to survive and dominate once in adulthood will directly be proportionate to how intense it kepted playing that game when it was under the less stressfull circumstances of not having to bring the beacon home for a living.... nature and sport are performance based and we should never question its commitment to do what need be done to be the best.... practice hard, play hard, get better... just dont gloat about it.
Yeah.. thats the thing. Last night there was no real rivarly.. it was just like we were facing the Toronto Marlies instead.. We had too many advantages that even we.. didnt get aggressive in those advantages after 6 goals.. the Leafs put no effort into it like they normally do when Sundin Tucker take the lead.. it just goes to show how important Tucker and Sundin were to the Leafs.. I dont understand how they could let Tucker go.. He fit in perfectly with them and he had talent.
The score could have easily been 15-1.
Did you guys see Gainey's face after the fifth Canadiens goal? I'm surprised he even stuck around. Amazing to think that he and JFJ were hired in the same year.
True dat, watching that crew self-destruct against the Habs was always amusing. I particularly liked it when JFJ threw his chair. Now THAT was amusing ;-)