Montreal Canadiens Blog

Sorry folks, but I didn’t have time to write a game day post today as I had a ball hockey tournament all day (We won!!). I just wanted to make a quick post before game time to let everyone know that the lucky tie is indeed in this game, so hopefully we can see a great game with the Habs winning it.

vs

Seriously! Did anyone actually doubt that he would? Carbonneau has named Carey Price the true starter on several occasions, so god forbid Halak get a start every now and then. So yes, Price will be starting game 5 at home against the Flyers, which he has known since after the last game. “Coach told me after the last game,” Price said. “He said prepare for the next three games. It’s going to be a war.”

If that doesn’t get you pumped up for tomorrow nights game, then you might as well hang up your six shooter, because you my friend, are no Canadiens fan.

I have a lot of respect for Halak, he tries hard every single game, and even took us 99% of the way to the playoffs last season before Huet came back and fucked it up, but I digress. Now that price has had some rest I would hope to expect nothing bu perfection, or close to it, in the next few games, which could possibly be the Montreal Canadiens last games of the season.

Go Habs Go!

After four games in a grueling series against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Montreal Canadiens find themselves down 3 games to 1 as they face a potentially heart breaking loss in front of 21,273 at home on Saturday. The question on everyone’s mind is, ‘Do the Canadiens have it in them to come back?’.

My love for the Habs notwithstanding, I will begin by saying that it is possible, but their is no doubt it my mind that three different factors need to happen first.

1. Price needs to have three incredible strong games with save percentages above .950. We can’t afford any flukey goals at this point, so he needs to make sure that the defense aren’t getting in his line of vision.

2. We really need our Special Teams to pick up their game to what we’ve seen all regular season. This, of course, includes the penalty kill, and more importantly the power play who has been absolutely horrible.

3. The final thing we need is to be much more aggressive around Biron, and I do mean aggressive. The goals that we’ve scored on him in the post-season have been ones where we were crashing the net, and screening him. This is the type of play we need from more than just our fourth line.

The Canadiens have done this before against Boston, and that was absolutely monumental. This series is far from over if the Habs can push for a win in Game 5, because no one wants to lose the series at home ice.

Even hardcore Flyers’ fans can’t deny that the Canadiens manages to outplay them at just about every moment of this game. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters at this point is to get the win, which we seem to be falling just short on. The key to Philadelphia is definitely Biron, without him this could be a completely different series, he’s been absolutely amazing, and deserves a lot of props.

The Habs seem to be able to come back very quickly, with almost a duplicate of last game, they scored two goals within 46 seconds, by Plekanec and Koivu. They just can’t seem to finish the job, including last nights game with a final of 4-2 for the Flyers.

Some would argue that the series is over, but the last time I checked it’s only 3-1 for the Flyers, that to me is enough to keep it going. We’ve seen it before and by god we can see it again. Out of the final three games of the series, two of them are in Montreal which should give us a huge boost. If we can win on Saturday at home, take that momentum back to Philadelphia for game 6 and win, then head home for game 7 with the obvious advantage of about 21,273.

Even if we don’t win, I don’t think I have ever been so proud to say that I am a Montreal Canadiens fan, and you better believe I’ll be going crazy right up until puck drop next season.

With two straight losses, the question as to be answered, “Is their a problem?”. No stupid! Just kidding, your not stupid, but seriously, their is no problem for the Habs, nor is their any problems with Carey Price. We’ve had some bad breaks in the last couple of games, and some questionable goals that Price should have saved, but he’s come back from these bad losses before. He won’t take those losses lying down and expect a big comeback from this team tonight.

Although Carbonneau did not explicitly state who would be in the net tonight, I wouldn’t expect it to be anyone other than Price. He brought them this far with some stellar games, it would be just plain crazy for Carbonneau to sit him now. We’ve played the type of game that we like to play, we just need to continue to get pucks in deep and forecheck hard.

Mike Knuble will be back in the lineup for Philadelphia Wednesday night after missing the last five games with a partially torn hamstring. Hopefully the shake up in lines will throw the Flyers off their game and provide us with the chances we need to take this one heading home.

The importance of a win for the Habs tonight is immense. It would be ideal to head back to Montreal with the momentum, and then possibly close out the series by beating them at Home ice. The Last thing I want is for this series to go to seven, frankly, I don’t think that my heart can take it.

Update 2:51pm
Carbonneau has determined who will be starting in tonights game, and the goalies know who it will be, but the rest of the team does not. Brisebois will be back in the lineup tonight bumping O’Byrne from his spot, and Sergei Kostitsyn will be a gametime decision with an undisclosed injury. If Kostitsyn does not play we’ll see Ryder take his spot.

Update 6:30pm
Jaroslav Halak gets the nod tonight! I’m pretty sure everyone is suprised, but I have always had faith in Halak and can’t wait to see him play.

Playoff Series: Philadelphia Leads 2-1

Team logos graciously provided by NHL Tournament of Logos.

vs

With two losses in a row, I’m reminded of the last series against Boston when the Habs lost two in a row to come back in win game 7 with a 5-0 shutout. Price may have been pulled in the third period of last game, but expect to see him back in nets and looking hungry. As usual the Game Day Post is where it’s at.

vs

A late rush in the third period wasn’t enough for the Habs as the Philadelphia Flyers take game 3 by a score of 3-2. All three of the Flyer’s goals were scored in the second period by Upshall, Richards, and Umberger, before Carey Price was pulled for the third giving Halak some time in nets.

Midway through the third period the Flyers received a four minute penalty to give the Habs a perfect opportunity to come back where they had a mass of chances but almost tied it up with 2 goals in a 1:12 span by Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu.

It was unfortunate that Price was pulled but his play the last few games has been questionable. He seems to be an up and down goalie at the moment which probably comes from the fact that he’s only 20 years old, and in his first playoff run in the NHL. I’m not at all worried, as we’ve seen this before from the kid (ala the 5-0 comeback against the Rangers), and he always seems to come back with a storm of great games.

Jaroslav Halak took the reigns in the third period, which was completely dominated by the Habs, stopping all of 2 shots that he face in that 20 minute time frame. Late in the third their was also a questionable too many men penalty which could easily be argued, but I’ll just leave it at that.

The next game will also be held in Philadelphia, so let’s hope for a better result to split the Away trip and tie up the series heading home.

We’re off to Philadelphia as the Canadiens hope to rebound from Saturday’s 4-3 loss. Head on over to the Game Day Post for even more information including a bit of a line change.

vs

Tonight is the third game of the second round in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Montreal Canadiens look to rebound from Saturday’s 4-2 loss. Martin Biron will be a big factor in how well the Habs play as the posts can help a goalie go only so far.

Guillaume Latendresse will be in the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch the last couple of games, which means that Dandenault will be out. This will allow the third line to be a little different with what looks to be a Streit, Lapierre, Latendresse combination.

Brisebois will once again be out of the lineup with Ryan O’Byrne playing in his place with Roman Hamrlik.

Playoff Series: Tied 1-1

Team logos graciously provided by NHL Tournament of Logos.

vs

The Flyers wanted nothing more than to tie up the series before heading back to Philadelphia and they did just that. A stunning game for Biron, the Flyers’ netminder, while at the other end Price might have been a little rattled and he let in some weak ones. The final score of this one was 4-2 for the Flyers with Umberger, Carter, and Koivu scoring in the first period, Briere scoring in the second period, and Markov and Umberger (again) scoring the third.

The Habs definitely made this game interesting and almost accomplished the come back which saw them win game one, but just couldn’t finish it off. They had a lot of chances including many posts, but Biron was definitely a game saver for Philly. Koivu is having an insane come back with 6 points in 4 games including the goal he got last night to open the scoring for the Montreal Canadiens.

Price will have to play better in the next games, and I am completely confident that he will. Here is a great response from him about the game, “It’s kind of tough when you’re not getting a whole lot of work and then you get a bad break, it’s tough to hang in there,” Price said. “I know I can play better, and it’s going to happen in the next game.” What a guy.