Game 39: Canadiens at Penguins

#MTLHockey Preview

Match Up

The red-hot Canadiens (25-11-2) are in Pittsburgh on Saturday to close out their five game road trip against the Penguins (24-9-5). The game starts at 7:00 and airs on TVA and City.

This is the second of three meetings between the Habs and Pens this season, and the only one in Pittsburgh. The season series wraps up in Montreal next Saturday. Beau Bennett had a goal and two assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to power the Pens to a 4-0 shut out victory over the Canadiens the last time these teams met.

What to Watch

Michael Bournival had to wait until the 38th game on the Habs schedule (his eighth of the season) to score his first goal of the year, but didn't wait nearly as long to pot his second, earning his first career multi-goal game in the NHL on Friday despite playing less than ten minutes.

PK Subban had three assists on Friday, inching him closer to Max Pacioretty for the points lead in Montreal. Pacioretty is still on top with 29, but Subban is right behind him with 26 points in 38 games.

Sidney Crosby earned four assists in Pittsburgh's 6-3 win over the Lightning on Friday giving him 42 points in 35 games on the season. New acquisition David Perron should be in uniform Saturday night for the Pens. Perron had five goals and 19 points in 38 games for the Oilers this season.

What's at Stake

With their win in New Jersey on Friday, the Canadiens moved into a tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for top spot in the Atlantic Division. Now they have a chance to leapfrog the Penguins for top spot in the conference. A win in Pittsburgh would also give the Habs a perfect road trip, extend their winning streak to six games and keep them undefeated in 2015. No pressure.

Who's Out

P.A. Parenteau was knocked out of Friday's game in New Jersey when he took a hit to the head from Tim Sestito, and may not be ready to play on Saturday.

The Penguins currently have seven players on injured reserve: Blake Comeau (wrist), Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Patric Hornqvist (lower body), Olli Maatta (upper body), Paul Martin, Zach Sill (upper body), and Scott Wilson.

What Else

The Habs are in the midst of a five-game win streak, the longest current streak in the NHL. What's more impressive is that the Habs have won four of those five on the road, with a chance to close out a perfect road trip by beating the Eastern-leading Penguins. With an 8-1-0 record in their last nine games, the Habs have surged up the standings after a rough start in December, moving them into a tie for fifth place with the Chicago Blackhawks for the best points percentage in the league.

The Question Mark

The Canadiens have plenty of options on defense, but Michel Therrien has had trouble pleasing Habs fans recently. How would you set up the Montreal's three defensive pairings with what the Habs have available?

Tonight's Show

Join host Steven Hindle along with Kosta Papoulias and Rob Elbaz for the Montreal Hockey Talk Pregame Show as we go live at 6:00 to preview the Canadiens and the Penguins.

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Canadiens "Have Faith In Carey Price", But...

During his post-mortem press conference, Canadiens' General Manager Marc Bergevin expressed the organization's "faith" in the professionalism and ability of their 2005 fifth overall pick, goaltender Carey Price. However, is Bergevin really expressing the team's feelings, or are they genuinely concerned about the future of their number one goaltender?

The latter may be closer to the truth than meets the eye. While the lockout that threatened this season kept many players off the ice, Price was in Tri-Cities, working out with his former Western Hockey League junior team, the Americans. While we can all assume that Carey's father, and Americans' assistant coach, Dan Price, kept a close eye on his son's work ethic, the workouts pale in comparison to the National Hockey League's workout regiment.

The groin injury sustained by Price (hidden by the team, but not to the fans) in the scrimmage at the Bell Centre on January 17th leads us to believe he was nowhere near the shape he was in going into the 2011-2012 season, where he gained 15 pounds of muscle and looked as limber as ever.

Many question why Price didn't choose to go the Europe and play with any number of teams who were interested in his services. Wouldn't he have been better served playing at a more competitive level than simply working out with a junior team? The skill may not be anywhere near that of the NHL, but it is certainly better than anything a junior team could offer.

That concerns the Canadiens, who will be monitoring Price's off-season workout regiment much more closely than the previous year, where the expiration of the NHL collective bargaining agreement restricted the interaction they could have with the players under contract to the organization.

This off-season will be telling as to the commitment to excellence Price has, and whether it falls within the expectations of the Montreal Canadiens. Marc Bergevin must assess his team and make many difficult but necessary decisions, including the plight of Tomas Kaberle, Tomas Plekanec and others.

Bergevin, although he has resigned Petr Budaj for another two seasons in Montreal, may look for an experienced backup, much like Pittsburgh did in signing Tomas Vokoun to insulate Marc-Andre Fleury. Although Budaj definitely deserved an extension, the team's need for veteran mentoring for Price may just make Budaj expendable in the grand scheme of things.

At the end of it all, everything falls into Carey Price's lap once again. Can he be the consummate professional and deliver elite-level goaltending performances, or will he force the Habs to rethink the goaltending position?

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Putting Price vs. Budaj Debate To Rest

For weeks, on this very site, some "Anonymous" reader has left comments in an attempt to discredit Carey Price and anoint Peter Budaj as the Canadiens' playoff savior.

Instead of deleting or blocking this reader, who we really do appreciate, we at HabsAddict.com decided to fight back, in an attempt to finally put this unfair notion to rest.

When looking at Carey Price's numbers in the playoffs between 2008 and today, his won/lost record leaves much to be desired (9-17), which gives him a 0.346 winning percentage. That being said, the Montreal Canadiens have played 46 games in the playoffs since Price's arrival in Montreal. The Habs have an 18-28 record and a 0.391 winning percentage.

Detractors may look at those statistics and say, "So what? Halak took us further in the playoffs!"

On the surface they may be right, but in 19 playoff games that Price didn't play in 2009-2010, when Jaroslav Halak backstopped the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference finals, the Habs went 9-9-1, giving them a .526 winning percentage.

When you look more in-depth, "Les Glorieux"  scored 46 goals in the 2009-2010 playoff run, while allowing 51 against, giving them a -5 goal differential. Halak's GAA was 2.55 with a goal differential of -1 in 1013 minutes of action.

Bear in mind, Price appeared in 4 games, allowing 2 goals on 23 shots in relief of Halak on April 19th versus the Washington Capitals, 4 on 36 shots in his only start of the playoffs on April 21st, 0 goals on 3 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins and 2 on 11 shots on May 16th versus the Philadelphia Flyers, again in relief of Halak.

How many did the Habs score while Price was in goal that playoff season? A measly 4 goals in 135 minutes (a -4 goal differential).

Carey Price has allowed a total of 82 goals in 1696 playoff minutes, giving him a .905 save percentage and a career 2.90 Goals Against Average. The Canadiens managed to score a meager 68, giving Price a career goal differential of -14.

Some will look at these numbers and still believe Carey Price isn't the answer to a deep playoff run. Let us add some more stats, just to justify where we are going.

In 2008, Price had a record of 5-6, having beaten the Boston Bruins in a tough, seven game first round series, while allowing 30 goals in 648 minutes. The Canadiens scored 33 goals that playoff year, giving Price a +3 goal differential, a 2.78 GAA and .902 save percentage.

If you do the math, from 2009 to today, Price has allowed 52 goals in 1036 minutes of action, while getting 38 goals in support from his teammates. So, in 23 more minutes than Halak's magical run, Price has received 13 goals less in support, while allowing only 6 more goals that Jaro Halak.

Meanwhile, Peter Budaj has appeared in only 5 playoff games in his career, allowing 4 goals on 71 shots, giving him a .887 save percentage and a 4.00 GAA.

All this to say that Carey Price certainly has average numbers in his playoff journey so far.While some try to discredit him as an athlete and an individual, others like Marc-Andre Fleury and Antti Niemi, both Stanley Cup Champions, have similar career numbers. The difference between the three goalies is that Fleury and Niemi played with some pretty incredible teams in front of them.

Carey Price has played for six season during a decade of Habs' futility. As the future becomes clearer while the Canadiens continue to rebuild their franchise to its former glory, so will the value of a talent like Price. Just think, if Price can have numbers like Fleury and Niemi with sub-par teams supporting him, imagine what his numbers may look like in a few seasons?

The statisics used in this articles were found with the following resources:
NHL.com
hockey-reference.com

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Canadiens-Penguins: Habs Win Battle of Battered Teams

Recently, Stu Hackel pointed out that Pittsburgh and Montreal sit respectively first and third in man games lost to injury this year.

With the skill and compete level on display Tuesday night, one would have never guessed each team was missing so many key pieces.

An exciting, back-and-forth affair, the Canadiens would eventually win the game thanks to a Tomas Plekanec goal in the eighth round of a shootout.

Rene Bourque and Lars Eller also scored in the tie-breaker.

It was only the Habs' second win this season in the skills competition and undoubtedly a much needed boost to the team's collective confidence.

Final Score: Canadiens 3 - Penguins 2 (SO)

Game Notes

Louis Louis - Between his NCAA and QMJHL career, Louis Leblanc accumulated 81 points in 82 games. Good numbers, but not earth shattering, especially considering the offensive nature of the Quebec League.

Yet, watching him compete at the NHL level, you would expect him to have produced twice that over his junior career. 

His effort is relentless, he is physical and knows how to get into prime scoring areas, as illustrated by his goal tonight.

So far, he is definitely living up to his billing as a first round pick.

Hot Play - It was nice to see Tomas Plekanec and Carey Price's hot play carry over from Sunday's game.

Too often this season, players have disappeared after putting up excellent showings the previous game.

This time, though, the Czech centre was clearly the team's best forward. Plekanec obtained innumerable chances shorthanded and sealed the game with a clever shootout goal.

Meanwhile, Carey Price was again sensational, stopping 32 of 34 Penguins shots and finally getting a much needed win in the shootout.

Mind you, he had help from his posts and from P.K Subban, who dove to block a shot after Price was caught out of his net.

But, as the saying goes, you have to be good to be lucky. And Price is good.

Oops! - Lars Eller scored one of the oddest goals of the season.

Coming along the near boards, he faked a dump in and instead shot the puck on net. His shot then hit the post, went off Marc-Andre Fleury's back and into the goal.

Fleury has proven he can win big games, but boy does he have a rich history of goofy goals, dating all the way back to his infamous World Juniors poke check.

Pittsburgh Needs Wingers - The Penguins are clearly an excellent team. The fact they have survived, even thrived, in spite of injuries to key players such as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Kris Letang is testament to that.

But this team is starved for wingers.

James Neal is a stud, but after that there is a rather precipitous drop in quality.

Chris Kunitz, Steve Sullivan and Pascal Dupuis are all on track for over 50 points, but a quick look at their playoff numbers demonstrates that neither of them are post-season stars.

Matt Cooke, Tyler Kennedy and Richard Park are certainly not going to provide the bulk of the scoring come spring time.

As good as Pittsburgh is up the middle, their wingers are a weakness that could lead to their demise. Two years ago, Montreal proved that even a group of the world's most talented centres could be contained and defeated. 

Without a significant upgrade on the wings, another team may prove it again this year.

Darche in OT? - Clearly, Randy Cunnneyworth can do no wrong in the eyes of many in the blogosphere.

Many appreciate his more aggressive style and his more extensive use of youngsters. A lot of people are willing to forgive his less than stellar record since taking over, especially since he was clearly put in a no-win situation.

Regardless, I still don't much care for his dismal win-loss record.

Nor do I particularly love three-goal scorer Mathieu Darche playing 2:21 in overtime.

I understand he brings a consistent level of energy and effort, but when the game hangs on the result of a single shot, perhaps he is not the wisest choice.

This is the kind of thing that bloggers and the Twitter-verse would certainly hammer Jacques Martin about.

Randy Cunneyworth should be called out too. 

---
Louis is an Associate Editor at HabsAddict.com and an Editor at HabsWorld.net. Born in Chicago, Louis grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval.

He currently resides in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. Find him on twitter @LouisMoustakas

(Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

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Montreal-Pittsburgh: Carey Price Steals Show In Habs 3-2 Win Over Pens

by Kamal Panesar

With the Pittsburgh Penguins still christening their new digs at the Console Energy Center, Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens stole victory out of their clutches in the span of 24 seconds, to spoil their party.

And what a party it was.

Both teams played with the intensity that is expected of two teams that have bitter memories of their 2010 playoffs clash. And, while the Canadiens played a solid game, they got themselves into penalty trouble in the second and third periods and the Pens were able to grab the momentum as a result.

But the story of the night was goaltending with both tenders making spectacular save after spectacular save. Price let in a weak second goal but aside from that was simply scintillating.

For his part, Marc-Andre Fleury also played well but let in the tying and winning goals 24 seconds apart—with less than two minutes to play— to seal the deal for the Canadiens.

Pens scorers: Evgeni Malkin (1), Mark Letestu (1)
Habs scorers: Michael Cammalleri (1,2), Scott Gomez (1)
Final Score: Habs 3 - Pens 2


Game Notes

1. Price is starting to assume his role.

If Carey Price played well in game one versus the Leafs, he played a thousand times better tonight against the Pens.

Price was standing up tall, not going down too early, aggressively challenging shooters at the top of his crease, displayed excellent rebound control and was, at the end of the day, the reason the Canadiens won.

Like last year, Price played excellent from the beginning of the game and the Canadiens couldn't score.

Unlike last year, however, the Canadiens pulled this one out of the fire to give Price the win he deserved.

This win should be good for his and the team confidence and could help set the tone for Price this season.


2. The power play continued to fire blanks.

Yep, it's only game two of the season. But the Canadiens were again blanked on the PP.

We all know that Andrei Markov is the backbone of the Canadiens power play and without him the Habs tend to have little success in that department. That being said, Markov is not coming back until at least the end of October, so that Habs need to figure out how to score in the interim.

Their speed will continue to draw penalties and they can't continually go 0-for-3 like they did tonight.


3. The second line is not working and something's got to give.

Yes, it was only the second game of the season, but the Habs second line of Gomez, Brian Gionta, and Benoit Pouliot is just not getting it done.

Aside from the goal the Gomez scored—from a terrible angle that Fleury should have stopped—he and his linemates have been completely ineffective through two games.

Gomez, for his part, doesn't seem able to make a tape-to-tape pass. Gionta keeps getting knocked down, and Pouliot doesn't seem to have cohesion with either of them.

It will be interesting to see how long Jacques Martin lets the top two lines stay intact before he decides to try Lars Eller in the top-six.


4. Trouble in the hen house.

The Canadiens were very happy to get Michael Cammalleri back in the lineup and his two-goal effort showed how important he is to the Habs' offense.

But further down the lineup things didn't look so good.

Playing on the top line with Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn in game one versus the Leafs, Lars Eller looked like a bonafide top-six forward.

Tonight, however, he was on the third line with Jeff Halpern and Maxim Lapierre and was mostly invisible. Considering his skill level, that is not a good thing.

Speaking of being invisible, neither Andrei Kostitsyn nor Benoit Pouliot seems to be getting it done so far in the top six.

With both players playing for new contracts at season's end, these two players are expected to be contributing a lot more on the ice.

Kostitsyn doesn't seem to know how to go to or stand in front of the net and Pouliot seems to be losing all of his battles along the boards. Again, it's only two games, but how long will Jacques Martin wait before trying some changes to those lines?

The Canadiens matched up well against the Pens tonight, but if they have two duds in the top-six they will not be a very effective team over the course of 82 games.


5. The back end is getting better.

Hamrlik and Markov can't come back soon enough but as bad as the Canadiens defense was in game one against the Leafs, they played a much more cohesive game tonight.

Hal Gill, who didn't have a good game against the Leafs, was back to his old Sidney Crosby-frustrating-self, using his reach and size to shutdown the best player in the world.

Spacek too had a better game and also took a few good shots on the powerplay—something that will be needed in Markov and Hamrlik's absence.

While the veterans were good, young P.K. Subban was stupendous.

Clearly targeted by the Penguins for physical and verbal abuse, Subban was also booed by the Pens faithful every time he touched the puck. He was also high-sticked by Mike Comrie in the second period, sending him to the dressing room with blood streaming from his eye.

Despite all of this, Subban played one of the best games of his short NHL career.

He was solid defensively, frustrating Evgeni Malkin on several occasions, he was active offensively and, more importantly, he reacted like a tenured veteran in the face of the attention he was getting from the Pens.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Subban will be a candidate for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year this year.

Book it.


Standings and Next Game

The Canadiens now have two points in the virginal standings and that doesn't really that much at this time of the year. What is important, however, is that they won a character type game that is sure to buoy their confidence.

The Canadiens now have three days off before their home opener against the Guy Boucher-coached Tampa Bay Lightning.

With the former Hamilton Bulldogs coach at the helm of a team filled with Quebec-born players, that is sure to be a doozey of a game.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend folks!

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

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Canadiens-Penguins: Pittsburgh Wins Pushing Habs to the Brink of Elimination

Yesterday's game was a mix of good and bad for the Montreal Canadiens.

They blanked the Pens big guns—Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin—again last night, which was good. But they let the Pens defenders score twice, which was bad.

The Habs, for a rare occasion, outshot the Pens 33-25, which was good. But they still lost the game 2-1, which was bad.

Despite beating the Canadiens last night, the Pens again looked like a slow, tired team. The problem is that for long stretches of the game, so did the Habs.

The result was the Habs scoring on the power play with 29 seconds to play in the game, to make it a one goal game. With Jaroslav Halak still on the bench for the extra attacker, that Habs were unable to tie the game.

The Canadiens lost defensive stalwart Hal Gill to a skate cut to the back of his knee, during the second period of the game. Gill did not return and went to the hospital. His condition will be reevaluated today.

With Andrei Markov and Jaroslav Spacek already out of the lineup with injuries, the Canadiens cannot afford to have Gill, their shot blocking machine, out for Game Six in Montreal on Monday.

Final score: Habs 1 - Pens 2. The Penguins lead the series 3-2.


Game Notes
1. Halak was solid, as usual.

Despite only facing 25 shots on net, Jaroslav Halak did what he had to do. As has become the norm for him, he was making great saves, limiting the number of rebounds, and just looking like the old dependable Halak we have come to expect.

The two goals that were scored on him were both on slap shots by defensemen through screens. If Halak see the puck, he stops it. It's as simple as that.


2. Marc-Andre Fleury was good but the Habs made his life easy.

Yes, Fleury stopped 32 out of 33 shots thrown his way for an excellent .970 save percentage, but how many of those were secondary scoring chances? A handful, at best.

While Fleury did what he had to do on the first chances, he also let out a ton of rebounds, none of which the Habs were able to capitalize on. The Canadiens almost never had a man in front of Fleury for a screen, deflection, or to pick up the rebound.

In addition, the Canadiens didn't win many battles to rebounds and loose pucks. If they had, even once or twice, they could easily have won the game.

So, while everyone is glowing about Fleury's performance, I would temper that enthusiasm by saying that the Habs made his life easy. You don't score many goals in this league on first chances, as the Washington Capitals learned in the first round against the Habs.

If the Habs want any chance of winning Game Six on Monday, they have to do a better job of going to the net and winning the battles for loose pucks. If not, it will just be more of the same and likely another Habs loss.


3. Marc-Andre Bergeron has no place in the NHL.

I think a lot of people fell in love with this player when he was scoring goals on the power play during the season. The problem is that in doing so people forgot the fact that not one of the 30 NHL teams saw fit to offer Bergeron a contract before the season started.

The Canadiens, who were decimated by injuries to defenseman to start the season, reached out to Bergeron as a stop-gap solution.

Bergeron is a one dimensional player and his one dimension is a booming slapshot. I will not take that away from him either, as he has one of the hardest shots in the league. The problem is the Bergeron has the defensive skills and on ice awareness of a career minor leaguer.

It is embarrassing and frustrating to watch him continuously turning the puck over to the opposition, making horrible passes that put his teammates in vulnerable positions, and generally making things easier on the opposing team.

His league worst minus-10 rating over 12 playoff games shows how much of a liability he is. Even on the power play—where Bergeron only has one goal in the playoffs so far—he is constantly turning the puck over at the blueline under pressure.

The problem is that with all of the injuries to Canadiens defensemen—Markov, Spacek, and now Gill—the Habs have no choice but to play him more and more. If the Habs don't get at least a few bodies back on the blueline for Game Six, the fact that they will have no choice but to lean more on Bergeron might end up being their Achilles Heel.


Look Out Ahead!
The Habs now have their back against the wall again and a loss Monday will send them to the golf course.

With the leadership group that this team has, I don't think there is any chance of losing that room to doubt. I think that the Habs feel that they can win Monday and force a Game Seven in Pittsburgh. Plus, there are worse things than fighting for your playoff life with the raucous Bell Centre crowd behind you.

The Canadiens will undoubtedly come out like lions and would do well to score the first goal. The critical factor to their success will be to see if they can get bodies to the front of the net and win battles to loose pucks. The inability to do so cost them both Game Three and Game Five.

The two time Stanley Cup finalist Pens know how to close out a team and will do everything to weather the expected Montreal storm, on Monday night. If they can escape the first ten minutes unscathed or even with a one goal lead, they will have the Habs right where they want them.


Next Game
The teams fly back to Montreal for a highly anticipated Game Six on Monday night. The Canadiens are determined to push this series to seven games and still feel that they can win.

The Pens will be trying to knock off the Habs and go to a third straight conference final.

Can the Canadiens pull off the win on Monday? Will the Pens shut them down and send them packing? Will the Canadiens get any of their wounded defensemen back from Monday night? Can this series go to seven games?

In a little more than 24 hours we will find out. If you're a superstitious person in Montreal this morning, and you woke up to the sight of snow falling in the city, you might see it as a sign.

The last time it snowed, the Canadiens eliminated the Washington Capitals in the next game and the joke was the hell must have frozen over.

Perhaps, again, hell is taking a dip into sub-zero temperatures to give the Habs the added incentive to ice the Pens on Monday.

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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Canadiens-Penguins: Fleury Earns Shutout As Pittsburgh Takes Series Lead

I guess Marc-Andre Fleury silenced his critics last night, eh?

After performances in Game One and Two where Fleury looked shaky, he put in arguably his best performance of the playoffs, last night, and earned a shutout in the process.

The Habs had their chances, as they took the play to the Pens during a first period in which Pittsburgh wasn't even in the same building.

However, as has been the case too many times this season, the Canadiens couldn't score and that gave the Pens enough time to regroup and storm back.

In essence, the Habs got "Halak-ed" by Fleury.

The Pens got scoring from Evgeni Malkin and Pascal Dupuis (empty net) while the Habs were blanked.

Final score: Habs 0 - Pens 2. Pens lead the series 2-1.


Game Notes
1. Jaroslav Halak was good, but Fleury was better.

While there is no question that Halak played another strong game for Montreal, we have to remember that the Canadiens are a team that has a very small margin for error.

This is largely due to their lack of depth and the passive-resistance style that they play. Essentially, for the Habs to win they need outstanding goaltending, good special teams, and opportunistic scoring i.e. they have to capitalize on their chances.

The Habs dominated the first period against the Pens last night, but couldn't put one past Fleury. This allowed the Pens to go to the dressing, regroup, and turn the game around.

While Halak kept the Pens scorers at bay for most of the night—he stopped 23 of 24 shots against him—he Habs ultimately did themselves in by taking penalties at the end of the second period.

As a result, the Habs started the third period shorthanded with both Josh Gorges and Hal Gill—the Habs two best penalty killers—in the box. The result was the game winning goal by Evgeni Malkin at 1:16 of the third period.

While Fleury only faced 18 shots on the night, many of the saves that he made were of the spectacular variety. He is the reason the Pens went into the second period tied at zero, rather than being down by one or two.

Had the Habs been able to score in the first period, the game would have been over.


2. P.K. Subban is going to be a stud on the blueline.

Playing a team leading 22:09 last night, Subban put in his best performance so far. Making great first passes, excellent defensive plays, blocking shots, hitting people, and proving an offensive spark from the back end.

While Andrei Markov is Andrei Markov and no one can replace him, Subban was given the nod to eat up the extra minutes left by his absence.

That the coaching staff is looking to a 20-year-old to fill is for their No.1 defenseman speaks volumes about Subban's maturity and his development in Hamilton.

If the Habs want any chance of winning this series, they will need every ounce of Subban's talent with Markov out and Jaroslav Spacek with no clear timeline to return.


3. Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot are key cogs for the Habs.

Both AK46 and Pouliot have been struggling for at least the last two months. Over the course of the playoffs, neither has been effective and it is hurting the Habs chances to win.

Both players are the third component to their respective lines—AK46 with Tomas Plekanec and Michael Cammalleri, and Pouliot with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta—and neither are producing.

Starting the game on the fourth line, AK46 played some of his most inspired hockey in a long time, last night.

AK46 was making passes, taking shots, and even taking the body. His effective play earned him a promotion back to the top line with Tomas Plekanec and Michael Cammalleri.

Unfortunately for the trio, they couldn't capitalize on their chances.

Pouliot suffered a similar fate last night, as he had a few shifts where he looked effective, but ultimately failed to do anything.

The result was that Jacques Martin, desperate for offense, was forced to put Cammalleri with Gomez and Gionta, meaning that the Habs only had one effective scoring line.

This is a desperation move and one caused by the fact that one third of the top two lines are not contributing anything.

This is disturbing, for the Canadiens, because 92 games into the season is not the time when we should be talking about players "waking up".

While I have so far not been impressed by the Penguins and see them as a team that is eminently beatable, if the Canadiens do not win I feel that it is their lack of scoring depth that will do them in.


Look Out Ahead!
For the Canadiens, there is not a lot that needs to be changed before next game. Getting Spacek back in the lineup would be great but he is suffering from some kind of inner ear problem that is giving him vertigo. The result is a lack of balance and no clear timeline for return.

If Spacek can't come back next game, it will mean that the Habs top three defensemen will continue to be Subban, Hamrlik, and Gorges. When compared to Sergei Gonchar, Kris Letang, and Alex Goligoski, the Habs don't stack up very well.

If there is one thing the Habs will want to do next game, it is go to the net more often. While Fleury was outstanding last night, the Canadiens made his life easier than it needed to be by not going to the net for screens, deflections, and rebounds.

As such, almost all of the Habs' chances came on first shots. Very few rebounds, or second chances, were picked up by the Habs and in this league, you're not going to score too often like that.


Next Game
The teams both enjoy a day off before playing a pivotal Game Four in Montreal, on Thursday.

Needless to say, Game Four is a must win for the Canadiens because as much as the Pens are a team that can be beaten, they are not going to give up a 3-1 series lead.

Win on Thursday, and the Habs go back to Pittsburgh with the series tied 2-2. Lose, and things might be over in a hurry.

So what do you think about last night's game and who do you think will win the next game? Can the Habs pull it off? Will the Pens steamroll the Canadiens?

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