Prediction Woes!

Oh man, I am lost on what to try and predict tomorrow. Price in? Koivu injured (not likely, but maybe.) Trade rumours? Lalime in Buffalo?

Not to mention the fact I have been predicting losses, and the Habs have been winning. So do I try and keep the trend going? Predict a loss and hope for a win? Or do I see if there is still a spot on the bandwagon?

Shazbot!

I have one more day for the whispers of the hockey gods to spark a prediction -- but there are a lot of unknowns in this one, too much interference. Not that I have been reading the signs right anyhow...

Any other quick knee-jerk reactions out there for tomorrow's game?

Sj v MTL - WIN 3-2

WOW

my predictions could not have been more wrong.

A very exciting game, and a stunning victory. This game is best summed up as a mirror of this season:

• It started with a bang, and had expectations raised, fans stoked (3 goals in the first, and sharks looking weak).
• After the Big Climax (all star game?) the team folds badly; letting in 2 easy looking goals and breaking the Faithful's spirit...
• Followed by a jittery extremely tense and highly scrutinized 3rd. The Habs tightened the bolts, grit their teeth and took it, but with the help of Halak, won the game!

D'Agostini had a huge game, hitting, playing strong and skating well. He took the hits, and still delivered. Higgins and Pacioretty also skated really well. Markov and Schneider continued to be essential in Halak's success.

In the dog house? No one really. Habs had to play well to win, and everybody did. And the fans were huge also. Komisarek kinda struggled, needs to step up a bit and stop letting guys get away from him. And Lapierre was a ghost... but what can you do. If there were any holes, San Jose would have found them.

It wasn't a pretty win, and 48-21 the shots can't be something to be proud of, but this is exactly the kind of game that gets teams through the post-season: Edmonton and Calgary did this when they went to the finals. This is the kind of hockey that makes good playoff teams, believe it or not. Win unlikely games, a goalie you can lean on, trap it out, and score when you can. It won't win the cup, but might avoid a first/second round exit :)

So, there is a month to go and I hope they don't burn Halak out; because if they continue to improve, and feed off Halak like Boston fed off Thomas, then we might have a stew goin'.

One last word on Halak; he still is not technically perfect, obviously (rebounds! Halak-Attacks!) but he is playing a relaxed, focused game right now. And as long as he can keep making those saves when needed, he will be the battery to charge this team.

What a win!

SJ v MTL - Predictions

Oh yeah, before I forget - does anyone else find it funny that Philadelphia gave Briere so much money that they can't even play him?


Ok, on with tonight's game. Things are going well in Montreal -- they are winning games, their confidence has returned, players seem to be back on the program, the goaltending is strong and the powerplay is back on. Last night's win in Philly was big; v'ry nace.

But now they are dealing with the biggest monster in the west; San Jose. After watching them properly hand Boston their towels and say -- "shower's that way boys, the men need the ice to play hockey," back a few weeks ago, well, I don't have much hope for a team that got eaten alive out west.

Carbo has a bit of a challenge on his side; does he risk his current "hot hand" getting crushed by a formidable opponent? Or does he throw Price litterally, to the Sharks? Last I heard he is going to go with Jaro. I think this is a good call: he's earned the right to play, he might steal one, and it's a big game. But I'm also pretty sure that if the Habs do their best chum impression, Halak will get the hook pretty quick to save his confidence.

Pluses: Habs got the home advantage, and Joe Thornton has typically disappeared against Montreal. The fans will really have to be a 6th and 7th skater out there tonight.

Minuses: Back-to-back game, and unlike the Habs, when the Sharks shoot, they score. And they can even come back from a deficit aswell; so even if the Habs jump ahead, this won't be over early.

Preditcions:

• Canadiens LOSE 5-2.
• Price sees some ice-time.

Wouldn't be surprised if...

• Habs build a giant "cone of ignorance" in front of their net, and stiffle all the offence, ice the puck 300+ times, and manage to commit Grand Theft Win.
• We see neither Kovalev or Thronton do anything tonight.

Nothing is known before time, which is why you play (or watch) the game... but its gonna have to be an awesome 60-minute performance from the boys in Blue-Blanc-Rouge to get this one: and I've seena lot of strong 1st periods, but not a lot of big 2nd & 3rd periods.

Honestly, I'm stoked to watch this game: it should be good, no matter what!

Game Tweets

I've been doing this for a few weeks now, and here are a few things I think I am going to change:

1. Not every post will be prefixed with #habs. Since folks can't really just track a 'channel', embedding the #habs tag anytime its necessary is sufficient. Further, when I'm talking about the opposition, putting in the #habs tag doesn't make much sense.
2. Reduce play-by-play comments. I found I would get pretty carried away, and start trying to call the game like a play-by-play -- as a result I feel like I am spamming those nice enough to follow me. I will try and cut down on the stuff that is "obvious" to those watching, but I would still like to provide solid updates to those away from the TV.
3. I am gonna develop some nicknames for the players; I'm working on a list currently. I have to apologize for my shoddy name spellings; I feel like a typelexic Don Cherry.
   

And as I mentioned before, Daniel Bigras (@tricoloreca) is going to do the same thing in french, so the community is starting to build; hopefully it is useful to people, and not just sending their Twitter accounts into heart spasms. Also, CanucksBlog.net (@canucksblog) is doing the same thing for the Canucks; and it was kinda cool to have a counter-commentator online :)

Any ideas on what you'd like to see in the tweets, let me know! I am happy to try and ajust.

MTL v PHI Game Summary

What a great win! 4-3 in OT, as the reports will tell you.

I unfortunately missed the start of the game, but did catch the last half. D'Agostini I noticed had a big game, and in general the CH where able to deal with the physical play of Philadelphia very well. Niittymaki played a good game, and has every right to be pissed with the loss.

Kovalev was getting mashed around, but there he was, 3-on-3 at the end, pulling a neat move to get some space, then laying a wonderful pass to Schneider, who finally tried a wrister instead of his slapshot; and it payed off. (Not that his slap shot was bad, just that Niittymaki had it tuned.)

Brisebois had a tough game, and we were lucky to get the penalty on little Stevie Upshall at the end -- don't expect that call in the post season. Not a lot of love the the Breezer tonight, lets see what he brings tomorrow (if anything).

What I saw was that the Habs were playing Ok, Halak was once again solid and in the zone, aggressively after the puck and reacting well to each shot (without over anticipating). Great game again for him. But Philly really had the better chances in the last half -- and I'd really like to see Montreal's offence kick it up a bit. They are working the puck well, but the scoring chances are not that dangerous.

Or maybe it just seems that way because everytime I saw Gagne skate in with Carter or Richards I had a Halak-Attack.

Anyhow, great win, and tomorrow's game should be fun.

And my fellow twitter-bug, twitter-tonian, twi... nevermind. Tricoloreca is gonna twit the games en francais -- and he called the winning goal! I am still trying to find my style, but that's for another post.

Till tomorrow.

Witt Gets 5 Games...

And Hagman gets "life without concussion free symptoms".

If you haven't see it, here is the hit, and TSN's report on the suspension.

So Witt gets 5 games for decapitating a guy, when he could have just as easily stolen the puck and had a breakaway (it was a weak play by Hagman, and Witt would have been off to the races). Terrible. A disgrace all over: the play, the fact it even happened in a "pro sport", and the response.

Avery gets rules written about his asinine behaviour, has to go to anger management, and demoted to the minors... this thug loses $74k and 5 games, and he's a repeat offender.

Don't blame the NHL for this one: blame the NHLPA, ironically. The NHL would love to send a message I'm sure, and suspend this guy for the year. They gave Tie Domi a worse punishment for this hit on Scott Niedermayer. But the NHL can't ruin a guys career: the NHLPA is protecting Witt, in this case, from losing his living. To Hell with the victim, its all about defending the perpitrator.

I think the NHLPA needs to examine its own purpose: "respect needs to come from the players" the old saying goes, and so maybe the player's union should step up, and allow the league to kick f^cktards like this out of the game, or drop him to the minors, or to anger management camp, or get him off the juice.

All this with the bug discussion about whether fighting should still be in the game. Get the priorities straight!

3rd Line C revolving door

So I saw Gainey got Glen Metropolit off waivers, probably as a "3rd Line Center." This continues the pattern of aging players taking on this key stabilizing role: Radek Bonk, Bryan Smolinski, and now Glen.

When we got Robert Lang at the beginning of the year (after finally giving up on Mats Sundin) I was a little surprised, knowing that Gainey liked, and had good success, with .. um ... "players past their prime" playing that 3rd line C role. They don't have to score, but they do have to shutdown the other team. And if they get a few, so be it.

Lang didn't fit the profile: he was old, but never a defensive force. And sure enough Lang became an offensive force, and was not expected to do anything in that 3rd line center position.

So Gainey has gone back to his roots with Metropolit. I think he'll fit in, but honestly I don't really remember him. I know he played in Boston, I remember the name and seeing him, but I can't tell you what kind of player he is -- but I do know what kind of player I expect.

Big picture: looks like Gainey traded Begin for Metropolit and a big defenceman (career minor leaguer, to prop up the Bulldogs). I'm ok with that; but it looks less likely now that there will be a big move by the deadline.

The CH are certainly an interesting collection of players, if not really a team you would consider a 'contender'.

Update: fans in the twitter-sphere are saying Metropolit is a big face-off guy. So that fits with the stabilizing role; lets hope these foundations bear fruit, and let the talent score. sore. soar. whatever. anyhow, check out tricoloreca.