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Game 33: Canadiens vs Wings, AKA It doesn't get much worse than this |
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It was Christmas at the Bell Centre last night and the Canadiens sure felt like helping their fellow man. The Red Wings have got just 9 wins this year and 2 of those are against the Habs, 22% of Detroit's wins are against Montreal...let that sink in. If that's not bad enough for you, the Wings have 4 wins on the road, 2 of which are at the Bell Centre... There will be those who will say that the Canadiens didn't play that bad, after all they had 43 shots on goal but the truth is, the numbers do not always tell the full story.
As the players said in their post game comments, shot from peripheral areas just won't cut it in the NHL. Gallagher said it best: "You want to score goals get to the net". This is the NHL, NHL caliber goalies will stop shots that come from afar and that they can see. To score in this league, you need to get quality scoring chances and when you get them, you need to bury them because they do not come all that often.
Discipline was also an issue last night as the Wings ended up on the power play 4 times including twice in the last frame. To make matters worst, both of those last period penalties were taken in the attacking zone. Taking a penalty to prevent a goal is one thing, taking one 200 feet away from your own net when your team is desperately trying to get back in the game is quite another matter and last night both Gallagher and Riley Barber were guilty of that sin.
Things weren't brilliant on the blue line either, once more, Chiarot, Weber and Petry had to log in huge numbers as Otto Leskinen only saw 8:35 of action and turned the puck over twice. Straight after the game, he was sent back down to Laval while Lukas Vejdemo was called up. Since he's a forward, this seems to indicate that either Reilly or Folin will get back in the line-up, unless of course Victor Mete is ready to jump back in. This is a possibility since he will be travelling with the team on the current road trip out west. As for Vejdemo, the 23 year old centre has got 16 points in 30 games with the Rocket this year and many had been saying that he had earned a call-up.
Meanwhile, Nick Suzuki had himself a pretty good game yet again and that in spite of being saddled with Weal and Cousins as wingers. In fact, through 57 minutes, he was the leading forward time on ice wise for Montreal but then, Claude Julien stopped playing him. Makes sense, doesn't it? Why would you play a creative young player when you're trying to score to tie the game up? I'm not saying make him take the face-offs when he's got a 40% success rate on the night but you sure could use his passing, especially when you're a man up thanks to an empty net.
The saddest thing about last night though is that the best moment of the game happened during the 2nd intermission when a fan bagged himself $50 000:
The last week was quite important for the Habs in the standings, after they had beaten Pittsburgh and Ottawa, many were hoping they'd make it a perfect week by grabbing the 2 points against the Wings in what was their last home game of the year. It wasn't to be though and they are currently holding on for dear life to the 3rd rank in the Atlantic division. 3 teams are hot on their tails though with Toronto, Tampa and Florida in hot pursuit and to make matters worse, Florida may be getting some reinforcement soon. While Taylor Hall has been held out of the Devils' last two games for precautionary reasons, two of the Panthers' best prospect didn't play for their farm team for the very same reason...No smoke without fire as they say...
As the Canadiens start their road trip out west, they can at least take comfort in the fact that both Mete and Kotkaniemi are on board. It doesn't mean that they will be playing for sure but it is at least a possibility. Meanwhile, Cayden Primeau was sent back down to Laval yesterday while Charlie Lindgren was called up. Don't panic, there won't be any back to back games this week and the organization clearly prefers to see Lindgren sit on the bench than Primeau. The heir apparent to Price will learn more by manning the net in Laval than by watching Price play all three games. It's also worth mentioning that when Kinkaid was sent down, the Canadiens said that they wanted him to play in the AHL and regain his confidence but since then, he's taken part in 2 games and Joel Bouchard said that the alternance system for the goaltenders was over.
It's starting to look like the Habs would much rather be able to cut ties with Kinkaid and admit that that experiment was a failed one...
Montreal will play 3 times this week, in Vancouver on Tuesday (10:00 pm start), in Calgary on Thursday (9:00 pm start) and in Edmonton on Saturday night (7:00 pm start). Given the turn this season is taking, I highly doubt that many Habs fans will have the will power to stay up and watch those games...
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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