Post Game Quick Hits: Habs 2 - Avs 3

Ugh. This was the closest Montreal has come so far, in this young season, to playing a full 60 minutes. However, sadly, they decided to take the 2nd period off and as a result ended up losing the game. Yes, both Colorado goals were lucky bounces, butt hey resulted from work. They simply out-worked Montreal in the 2nd and were rewarded with two lucky goals. Here are a few observations:
1 - Price played a solid game, which was nice to see, because I think the jury is still out on whether he is ready for prime time yet, or not.
2 - Tomas Plekanec was the best Canadien on the ice, and maybe the best player for either team. He played aggressive, went to the net, took checks to make the play, won faceoffs and created offense. Nice to see him playing like he did two seasons ago!
3 - Welcome back Andrei Kostitsyn. The older of the Kostitsyn brothers seems to have taken his benching - from the final period of their game against Edmonton - to heart and responded with his likely best game of the year.
4 - Montreal does not have enough offense. I know, I know...it is early....this is only the 6th game of the season. That is all true, but if there is one thing that seems to be taking shape, it is that Montreal is not - at least not yet - a high scoring team. To their credit, they haven't yet played enough games for us to know what they really play like, however from what I am smelling, they just look like a team that doesn't have the horses. They look like a team that is a fringe playoff team. Montreal needs to have a solid second AND first line. When Gomez, Cammalleri and Gionta are on the same line, good things happen. But there is no question that they are small. In the last minute of the game, when Montreal needed a goal, that line tried, but was often pushed off of the puck.

Again, I know it is still early in the season, but I think that this team is going to have a tough time this year. WITH Markov, they look like a fringe playoff team. Without him...who knows.

How good would Patrick Sharp and/or Cam Barker and/or Brent Seabrook look on this team right about now? You know Chicago needs a goalie. Let's see what Gainey does, as the season progresses. This, in my opinion, is his last kick at the can, so you would think that he will pull out all stops. To be continued....

K.

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