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My Studs and Duds from the Bruins-Habs Series Plus Other Playoff Musings |
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Now that the series is complete, I figured we could take a look back at who the biggest studs and duds were in the first round for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins.
THE STUDS
BOSTON
1. MICHAEL RYDER - With 7 points in four games, still tied for the league lead in points in the postseason at the moment, Ryder sent dagger after dagger into his former team's heart. The Bruins' RW was +5, had three assists and four goals, none bigger than the winning tally in game three. Ryder only played in four of Montreal's 12 postseason games last year, recording zero points while receiving limited ice time. Many doubted him coming into the season but the former Hab was as clutch as it gets in round one for the B's.
2. PHIL KESSEL - The 21-year-old speedster was just as lethal as he was last spring, after escaping his banishment to the press box, against the Canadiens. Kessel led the charge with three points in game one, and finished the series with 4-2-6 totals and a +2 rating. Kessel's four goals came on just twelve shots.
3. DAVID KREJCI - Many wondered if #46 could elevate his game with the heat on, but boy did the young center pass the test with flying colors. Krejci finished with five points in the series, and a +6 rating. He was tougher, faster, and smarter than he was during the regular season, a pretty tough feat to accomplish for the gifted youngster.
MONTREAL
1. CHRIS HIGGINS - Higgins stepped up his game and came up with two goals in the series. After struggling with injuries during the regular season, finishing with just 12 goals in 57 games, Higgins clearly revved up his intensity. He was credited with seven hits, the fourth most on the team, and also had two blocked shots.
2. YANNICK WEBER - The young Swiss blueliner equaled his total of games played in the regular season with his three appearances in the first round. Weber was one of the few reliable defenseman in the series for Montreal. He had a goal and an assist, both of which came in game three at the Bell Centre. Weber's tally was big at the time, tying the game at 2-2 when he snapped one from the point. For a 20-year-old in his first NHL season, Weber looked quite poised and comfortable in the hectic environment of the playoffs.
3. GLEN METROPOLIT - While Metro may have registered just two assists in the four games, it was his heart and his passion that stood out to me. The veteran center was an effort machine, constantly driving to the net, making hits, and using his quick hands to try to set up scoring chances. If everyone in the Montreal lineup had gone to battle with the fervor that Metro did, maybe the results would've wound up closer than they did.
THE DUDS
BOSTON
1. PJ AXELSSON - It always pains me to rag on PJ in any way, shape or form, but I found his performance to be slightly disappointing. While he did a wonderful job keeping the vaunted Montreal PP in check, he still finished the series -2. Not a devastating number by any stretch, but when you consider he was supposed to bring a defensive presence to the top line, alongside offensive stars Marc Savard and Phil Kessel, while mostly on the ice against Montreal's 2nd, 3rd or 4th lines (with Bergeron's line shadowing the Habs' top forwards), I suppose I just expected better.
2. MARK RECCHI - The veteran winger had the responsibility of clamping down on the Habs' big guns alongside linemates Chuck Kobasew and Patrice Bergeron. But for all the success they had together offensively as of late, and all of his personal success on the powerplay, Recchi was nearly blanked during the series. He finished with one assist over the four games.
3. BLAKE WHEELER - While Wheeler was relegated to 4th line duty in three of the four games, and received the second lowest ice time among forwards (11:29), I would've expected the young sniper to be able to put more than two shots on net in the entire series.
MONTREAL
1. MIKE KOMISAREK - Where, oh where, do I begin? Komisarek's responsibilities were elevated when Andrei Markov went down, then raised even more in the wake of Mathieu Schneider's removal from the lineup. Komisarek stepped it up big time, poking eyes, bullying younger, smaller forwards, and falling to the ice after one swift knuckle sandwich from Milan Lucic. He exited the game with dignity, laying a stick-shattering cross-check to Lucic' face near the end of game 4.
Komisarek then headed to the locker room knowing he could no longer worsen his ugly -4 rating in the series. He quickly called his agent and asked him how much he thought interested teams might offer for such a reputable, clutch, tactful player like himself when free agency rolls around. Rumor has it that his agent is still laughing at this very moment.
2. SAKU KOIVU - What? Come on! He had three assists! What is this? I'll tell you what it is. When your team plays lifeless, uninspired hockey all season, and you have one chance to salvage your season in the playoffs, but come out and play in the same heartless, carefree fashion, there's some finger pointing that needs to be done. I know all the onus can't fall on Koivu, but if you dawn the "C" on your sweater, you get credit when it's due, and you certainly get the blame when necessary.
Certainly the Bruins play magnificent defense, but, wouldn't you think a team playing desperate hockey could muster more than five shots on net in when trailing by one goal in the final period? Wouldn't you think a team trailing 2-1 in a game, and 3-0 in a series, would put more than four shots on net in the second period? Wouldn't a team with solid leadership play with fire and desire from the opening faceoff until the final buzzer? Not these guys. And for that, I must say Saku Koivu's captaincy = FAIL.
3. TOMAS PLEKANEC, ROMAN HAMRLIK, MATT D'AGOSTINI - Three way tie folks. Why, you ask? Well, they might as well be dubbed the "five below trio". No, not because they shop at the discount store that goes by the same name, but because each of them had a -5 rating throughout the four games. In Plekanec's case, he only appeared in three games and still put up such awful numbers. The three combined for.....
*pushes everything off of desk, begins jotting down numbers*
*carry the one, yep, divide by 3, okay, plus the square root of pi, alright*
Oh, no, wait. They had zero points. That was a lot easier than I thought.
And finally two bonus duds from the Habs' side.
Bonus Dud #1: RYAN O'BYRNE - O'Byrne didn't carry over his reputation against the Bruins for being a faux tough guy who turtles in the blnk of an eye, but he certainly didn't try to fool anyone into thinking he's a serviceable NHL defenseman either. I'd swear to god the guy was asleep out there half the time, were he not standing on his own two feet. Time after time he looked flat out lost. On Ryder's first goal in the 4th game, David Krejci came in on a 1-on-2. Sure, Krejci is a skilled player, but O'Byrne just kept floating and watching Hamrlik try to stop him. He should never have been able to do much of anything against two defenseman that were essentially right on top of him.
Then in the, I believe, 2nd period, O'Byrne gathered the puck in the corner and with no Bruins around, stood and faced the boards with the puck on his stick for what seemed like an eternity. I began to ponder if this was a video game, and whoever controlled O'Byrne had thrown their controller down without hitting the pause button, headed for a bathroom run or something. Chuck Kobasew came from the opposite side of the ice while O'Byrne stood in his conscious coma and popped him, knocking the puck loose. Wake up Ryan, or your NHL career is going to be extremely short-lived.
Honorary Dud #2: DISGRUNTLED BELL CENTRE FANS - Nothing says "I'm an intelligent fan!" like booing the Star-Spangled Banner, howling at your own team, or jeering your beloved goaltender, who in one calendar year has turned from savior to siv, in your eyes. As if the guy wasn't fragile enough, how nice for Carey Price to deal with being heckled by his own faithful fans.
Of course I fully realize that one fan, or a group of them, does not reflect upon the true feelings of the masses. But for those of you behaving in the aforementioned manner, shame on you. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, but if you truly wanted to win, jumping on your goaltender who has about as much confidence in himself as the girl with braces, pig tails and coke-bottle glasses, hiding in the corner at the school dance, might not have been the best idea in retrospect. Don't you think?
PLAYOFF OBSERVATIONS
* What in the world happened to Steve Mason's game in the postseason? The Detroit Red Wings obliterated him. Columbus was swept out of the postseason last night, and their stud rookie netminder finished with a 4.27 GAA and .878 Sv%. Ouch. Luckily he's a lock for the rookie of the year award, so maybe by July he'll cheer up a little bit after getting lit up by the perennial powerhouse in hockey town.
* Meanwhile, CBJ's defenseman Mike Commodore, handed a 5-year-deal at $3.75mil per season last summer, finished -7 in the four games. Out of the 318 skaters listed to have taken part in the postseason, Commodore ranks, well, 318th! Yikes!
* No Show Joe is up to his old tricks in San Jose. Thornton is -4, and has just 0-2-2 totals in 4 games as the Sharks find themselves in a 3-1 series deficit against the Anaheim Ducks. The 2006 Hart Trophy winner has 421 points in 327 games since the lockout, a 1.29 points/game rate. In that span he also has 105 goals, scoring at a 0.25 goals/game rate. In the postseason, since joining the Sharks in 2005, the former Bruin is a shell of his former self. Thornton has 32 points in 39 postseason games (0.82/game) and just 5 goals during that span (0.12/game). Will a first round exit for the Presidents Trophy winners finally alert management of this disturbing trend? How many times can Jumbo Joe fail to elevate his game in the postseason before he's shipped off?
* The Bruins may soon be running into a brick wall if the Rangers can finish off the Washington Capitals. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has 2.00 GAA and .946 Sv% through four games, earning the "W" in three of the tilts. Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom have combined for just one goal in the series, with Ovechkin getting the trio their first tally of the postseason in game 4. Together, they combined for 109 goals in the regular season.
* Keith Tkachuk, a veteran goal scorer the Bruins were rumored to have pursued heavily at the deadline, had zero impact as the Blues were abruptly swept by the Vancouver Canucks. The Melrose native had 0-0-0 totals in the four games, finishing with a -1 rating and his reputation for underwhelming performances in the postseason still intact. He managed to put just seven shots on net, all of them stopped by Roberto Luongo. Tkachuk has 525 goals on his resume in 1134 regular season games. In his last 20 playoff games he has scored just two goals.
JC
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