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Habs Soak Their Feet in Pittsburgh, Look to Swim in Montreal |
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With game 1 playing out as you’d have expected, there wasn’t much at the beginning of game 2 to convince you the Canadiens would be alright in this series. But, not much turned into another brilliant performance by Jaroslav Halak. You would’ve predicted he’d win if he faced more than 40 shots. He won facing 39. Not only that; he allowed just 1 goal against for the fourth time in his last five games.
But yesterday’s victory wasn’t just Halak, though you can thank him for saving the Canadiens’ bacon in the first period. Brian Gionta kicked in a timely goal, cashing in on the Canadiens only pure scoring chance of the frame. Knotted at 1-1, Mike Cammalleri took the game over with the only pure scoring chances he got.
And it doesn’t end there. What’s to be said of a defensive effort from a team that just lost their best, in Andrei Markov? A lot! Not only did the Habs blank Crosby and Malkin off the scoresheet, but they did so with Marc-Andre Bergeron and Ryan O’Byrne playing roughly 14 minutes as a pair in this game. They did it with 23:17 of P.K. Subban; a fresh rookie with 2 regular season games, and 3 playoff games of NHL experience under his belt. They did it with Roman Hamrlik, who had a rough ride in the Washington series, but picked up his game dramatically, yesterday. And thematically, they did it with Gorges and Gill punching the clock with the same blue collar effort you’re always going to get from them. Lest we forget Jaroslav Spacek.
Game 1 of this series was won on the Penguins deft efficiency with the man-advantage. The Habs, accustomed to killing a traditional powerplay set-up like the Capitals were employing, couldn’t track the Penguins umbrella setting. The shooting lanes that the Canadiens had blocked so effectively against the Caps, changed so dramatically with the Pens set up, that the Habs were caught scrambling.
Kirk Muller made the biggest adjustment we’ve seen from the Habs in these playoffs, between games 1 and 2 against Pittsburgh. The Canadiens aren’t disillusioned about how talented Pittsburgh’s arsenal is. They know that with that umbrella setup, the Pens have weapons in Letang and Malkin activating in the high-slot. They know that those two players have the option of moving towards Halak when they have the puck, drawing coverage in, and freeing up Sergei Gonchar’s money-making one-timer, directly from the middle of the blue line. The Canadiens know Crosby will play in rotation, picking up pucks in the corner and filtering to the half-boards to open up space for anyone at any position. And they know when Gonchar gets that puck in his wheelhouse that there will be a stack in front of Halak, if the lanes are open. All that considered, none of those options become exercisable if the Pens can’t establish zone presence. The adjustment made by Kirk Muller was to force the Penguins to dump the puck in on the powerplay. They took Gonchar, Crosby and Malkin out of the equation in the neutral zone, and those skilled players still believed they had enough to push through the trap. When their powerplay finally did establish itself in Montreal’s territory, the stars had been on the ice for too long, or the other players had taken their places. Advantage Montreal. Advantage Halak.
Another key to shutting down Pittsburgh in game 2? Not taking a penalty until there was just 6 seconds remaining in the second period. They took two more in the third, but killed them off with the strategy outlined above.
Speaking of penalties: It’s doubtful Craig Adams will see any supplementary discipline for his hit from behind on Marc-Andre Bergeron. Bergeron skated away from the play after lying on the ice in pain for a few minutes. Adams was ejected, and league officials likely feel the ejection was enough of a penalty. Stupid, reckless plays like that should be automatic suspensions, but heaven forbid the NHL ever do something right when it comes to protecting their greatest assets; the players.
But getting back to the game that was, a win for the Montreal Canadiens, many other adjustments must be made. Jacques Martin dressed a fourth line, but didn’t use them. You can’t beat this Penguins team with 2.5 lines and 4 defensemen in a 7-game series. Martin knows it, and the lineup will reflect as much, come game 3. At a certain point the Habs are going to need more of an offensive zone thrust in this series. Marc-Andre Fleury may be a Stanley Cup winner and an Olympian, but he’s not on Halak’s planet right now. The Canadiens can’t afford to have their point-producers coast through games, any longer. Benoit Pouliot can play as well as he wants, but unless his name ends up on the scoresheet it’s not good enough. If that’s true for Pouliot, imagine what it means for Andrei Kostitsyn (likely a seat in the pressbox). And boy oh boy, if Spacek is capable of getting back on the ice with this team, now is the time!
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With the win yesterday, Bob Gainey’s chemistry experiment proved they’re as strong as any Canadiens team we’ve seen since 1993. They are in the second round of the playoffs having done what no other team in the history of the game had accomplished. They’ve taken one of two games against the defending cup champs, eliminating any possibility of a series-sweep. That’s as well as any Habs team has done in the last decade and a half. And they’re coming back to a Bell Centre crowd that will be louder and crazier than any we’ve ever seen; a crowd that willed them to a victory in round 1’s game 6; a crowd that hasn’t acknowledged their team since the great game 7 upset witnessed a week ago.
I don’t make many predictions, but I’d give the Habs at least one of the next two games in their building. It was December 10th of this season that the Penguins beat the Habs 3-2 on a lousy goal scored by Pascal Dupuis after Price played a sensational first couple of periods to keep the Habs in it. Chris Lee waived off a goal because he had intended to blow the whistle before the puck went in, and Pens coach, Dan Bylsma described the atmosphere at the Bell Centre as follows: “An experience like no other. Every time the Canadiens do something right it’s like it’s completely magnified by the crowd.” Bylsma continued to say “we got caught up in it, in that second period.”
These Championship Penguins are stepping into the ‘Lion’s Den’ this week, and you better believe Bylsma is well aware of just how intimidating it can be. But he can’t possibly know what the fans have in store for the Canadiens come Tuesday.
Getting shivers just thinking about it…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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