Well, as expected one team brought their playoff ready performance, and one dragged their sorry carcasses around for 60 minutes... And the Penguins showed why they will once again be a Stanley Cup favourite.
The Habs didn't play that badly. Their shot total was not indicative of their number of chances (shots gone wide, off the post, or blocked). I thought the game was actually pretty even, and wow oh wow did Price play a great game. He slipped up on Malkin's goal, but maybe you shouldn't leave a guy with 113 points in the crease completely alone with a chance at a rebound. Price then came up with spectacular saves in the 2nd, going coast-to-coast TWICE to keep the Pens from running away with the game. Honestly, I haven't seen Price play so well all year. If fans wanted to see Price ready to steal a game, this was it.
So what happened? The team let him down, quite simply. When you're goalie bails you out time after time, you have got to score for him. The Canadiens had their chances, but no finishing touch. Then they disrespect his performance with a shorty 2-on-0 (Schneider made a desperate play and missed... problem was, Weber was down by the hashmarks, instead of covering the line like Markov). On that chance the Pens score... making it 2-1. Price might have dropped his shoulders a bit, but again, the team has got to score! Then they let Krsi F&^king LeTang go end to end, and have all day to wind up at the hashmarks?
The Gazette seems to think Price should've had that LeTang shot. Hogwash. Even in slow motion you can't see that black blur of the puck; it didn't slow down until it his 3 diffferent parts of the net. I'm surprised it didn't break the sound barrier. No goalie playing today would have stopped that; perhaps Price gave up the angle, which is his only fault (he probably played the pass instead of the shot).
This was my biggest issue with the Habs performance. Their goalie played like he was on fire; ready to steal them a game and make a difference; and the team could not do anything with his effort. I know Tanguay was out and Laraque (with 4 quality chances and only 2 shots) in, but how would you expect a young goalie to react when he plays his best game of the year, and you can only score 1 stinking goal?
Mason in Columbus won games, because his team would score timely goals. Brodeur has been doing this his whole career; playing well, and his team shows respect by scoring on their chances. Patrick Roy let in 3 goals a game -- but his team would show him respect and score goals in order to win.
Price has got to be feeling like: what else do they want?
I'm pretty mad at the Canadiens right now, and at the press for once again claiming Price let them down. You can't win games scoring 1 damn goal. You can't win the Stanley cup losing 4 games in a row, and claiming goaltending is the problem when you can't score on empty nets.
I'll have a playoff peak later in the week. Most of me wishes that this year was over.
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New Beginnings for Rocket Sports
1 year ago
At least it wasn't a 5-3 loss like you predicted! ;D
ReplyDeleteBut yes, they really did let the kid down, with Fleury's only adversity coming from his own screw ups. Such a performance and no reaction from it. At least the crowd appreciated it. Screw what the media thinks though. They'd love to run him out of town and then we'd be left with....Denis. Geh.
Then again, maybe they were just playing through the motions so as not to lose another body for the playoffs... But here's hoping the "playing for feedback" actually cracks the whip on them to fix those glaring errors!
Yeah, I expected a bigger loss, its true. I didn't expect Price to have such a good game! It certainly could have been 5 or 6 for Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteI'm most upset at them letting Price down, right before they want him to start playing his ass off and stealing games. How is a young kid supposed to feel with the teams effort compared to his? I know how I'd feel.
I wouldn't be too worried about stealing games, until the rest of the team shows up :)