But why?
The Habs were five points ahead of them in the standings, and the Canes haven't looked that great so far this year. The reason fans were worried is because the Habs have made a habit, over recent years, of playing up or down to the level of their opponents. Moreover, Carolina's Cam Ward has made a career out of squashing the Montreal Canadiens. But last night, the Canadiens, starting with Carey Price, had different plans as they blitzed the Canes for seven goals, chasing Ward from the net, in a 7-2 rout.
The game started off tight enough but the Habs got themselves into penalty trouble twice before the nine minute mark of the first. It was during those power plays that Price made some of his best saves to maintain the 0-0 tie.
The Habs leveraged the momentum gained from the two penalty kills score two first period goals.
Things were not all rosy for the Habs, however, taking six penalties on the night and allowing the Canes to tie things up in the second period. The Habs were able to regain the lead on Brian Gionta's fourth of the season, and never looked back, scoring five unanswered goals to deliver he victory.
Save of the night: As if Price wasn't playing well enough, he made a heart stopping glove save on Chad LaRose on a 2-on-1 with about 10 minutes left in the game. That save was a microcosm of Price's season so far and a punctuation of his all-star caliber play. Cough, cough. I'm looking at you All-Star Nomination Committee.
Scary moment of the night: Andrei Markov went down in a heap after his knee buckled due to a collision with Eric Staal late in the third period. The fall and subsequent writhing on the ground from Markov was eerily similar to the injury he sustained during the 2010 playoffs.
Markov punched the boards out of frustration, while he was on the ground, almost in recognition of the pain. That, to me, means that he likely tore the same knee ligament and reinjured the knee that he just spent four months rehabilitating. If I was a betting man I'd say that the Habs just lost Markov for the season.
RDS is reporting that Markov could be out three to four months.
Final Score: Habs 7 - Canes 2
Habs scorers: Tomas Plekanec (6), Michael Cammalleri (4), Brian Gionta (4), Maxim Lapierre (2), Benoit Pouliot (5), Andrei Kostitsyn (7), Mathieu Darche (3)
Canes scorers: Anton Babchuk (3), Tom Kostopoulos (1)
Three Stars: 1. Tomas Plekanec, 2. Carey Price, 3. Brian Gionta
Game Notes
1. Carey Price is the hottest goalie in the league.
Price was at it again last night, making those key saves at key times to keep his team in it when they needed him to.
The Canes grabbed the momentum off of two first period power plays but, as has become customary, Price made several brilliant saves during the PKs, to maintain a 0-0 tie. The momentum that the Habs gained during those penalty kills helped propel them to victory.
By giving his team a chance to win, game in and game out, Price has become that quintessential first-string goaltender.
Moreover, Price is now tied for 10th overall with a 2.18 GAA, 11th overall with a .923 save percentage, tied for second overall with two shutouts, and most importantly, is tied for first overall with 10 wins in 16 games played.
How he was left off of the All-Star balloting is beyond me.
2. The Canadiens' transition game has become its strength.
Many plays start on the blade of Price's stick and his first pass to his defenseman has gotten much better and there are fewer mixed signals as a result.
Even in the instances where Price does not start the play, the Canadiens defenseman are doing a great job of quickly getting the puck up the ice. The result is that their forwards are often gaining the offensive zone with speed. This allows the Habs to use their speed to back up the opposing defenders and create offense off of the rush.
That is the game the Habs need to play in order to continue being successful, as speed is their most potent weapon.
3. The Plekanec, Gionta, Cammalleri line seem to be jelling.
Last night's game was the fourth in a row where that all three players had at least one point. That sound like a pretty effective line to me!
After going eight games with only one assist, Gionta is suddenly scoring since being separated from Scott Gomez, with five points (3G, 2A) in his last four games. Is there any wonder what the problem was with that duo?
Gionta's new centerman, Plekanec, has surpassed Markov as the Habs best player and racked up four more points in last night's win. Plekanec is now tied for 12th overall in league scoring with 18 points in 16 games.
Michael Cammalleri has 12 points in 16 games, good for third among Habs' players. He also leads all Canadiens with a sparkling plus-12 rating.
If that trio can keep producing offense, they will be an excellent line for the Habs to anchor their offense on.
4. The Habs indiscipline was bad, but their PK was good.
The Canadiens took far too many penalties last night but with some excellent goaltender and solid defensive play, they were able to limit the damage. Out of six power plays, the Canes were only able to score one goal against Montreal.
The Canadiens were playing with fire by taking five penalties before the 10 min mark of the second period. But the PK was amazing starting with Price, and the four-man unit in front of him did an excellent job of blocking shots and passing lanes, and clearing any rebounds. When a puck did get through, Price was there to make the save.
The Canadiens would be well advised to try and play a more disciplined game going forward, as giving the opposition six power plays will not generally yield positive results.
The Canadiens' power play—which produced three goals last night and has now scored at least one goal in each of the last three games—is now a middling 14.5 percent while their PK sits in third overall with an 89.4 percent efficiency.
5. The Canadiens defense was just starting to look balanced.
When Markov went down, you could see how upsetting it was to the usually stoic Jacques Martin. His defensive pairings have struggled early in the season and the last few games they finally started to look well balanced.
P.K. Subban and Hal Gill seemed to have figured out how to play together, Josh Gorges looked good on his shifts with Markov, and Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek were playing less minutes and were more effective as a result.
The timing of Markov's injury could not be worse with the Canadiens having just traded Ryan O'Byrne to Colorado. This opens the door for a return of Alexandre Picard to the lineup but the real problem is the potential strain that an extended absence by Markov could put on Hamrlik and Spacek.
Early in the season, we saw the two veterans playing far too many minutes in an effort to compensate for the absence of Markov. During those game, that twosome looked horrible on the ice.
If the Canadiens don't feel that they can adequately replace Markov's minutes from within their ranks, they will have no choice but to try and trade for a minute-munching defenseman.
And those are generally in short supply.
Standings and Next Game
In a week that was dubbed to be the first "real" test for the Canadiens, they came out with a 3-0 record and picked up six points in the process. The Habs' record now stands at 11-5-1 for 23 points in the standings and first place in the Northeast Division.
The Canadiens will now enjoy two days off before taking on the Flyers in Montreal on Tuesday. The Flyers are the next in a series of "real" tests for the Habs as the rough and tumble squad usually has the Canadiens' number.
The Flyers aside, all thoughts will be focused on Andrei Markov over the next few days, and fingers will be crossed around the city in hopes that his injury in not too serious.
Game Highlights
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
6 comments:
Kamal, I shudder to think of what Markov's absence will do to the blueline, which needs to be effective for the Habs to have success.
Spacek is no longer a turnover machine, but that's because Jacques has been limiting his ice time. With Markov out again, Jacques will have choice but to increase it, and IMO that's going to be a total disaster.
The Habs need to up Subban's and Gorges's minutes, and keep Spacek and Hamrlik's ice time manageable. They are good war horses, but simply too old to play 24 minutes a night each any more. If Jacques asks them to do this, this is going to get ugly fast.
Oh and Picard is not the answer. I'm not sure who is, but the Habs need another puck-moving defenseman besides Subban.
I was really hoping the Habs would be able to pay back the Flyers for last playoffs. Maybe they will surprise me and get it done anyway. But it certainly would have been better odds with Markov in the lineup.
He's got a jinx on, and he's always been one of my fave Habs, but I'm pretty much near the end of my rope with him constantly on the IR. If he's gone for the season and the Habs can augment their blueline via trade, I'd say trade him or let him walk to UFA next year.
Believe it not, when the camera cut to Jacques Martin's face last night and he looked upset, I felt sorry for him. Me - sympathizing - with JM. Try not to choke on your coffee. ;)
NOOOO....not Markov again. This guy is such a key component to the Habs defense. I hope he just has a knee sprain or something minor that only keeps him out 3-4 weeks and not 3-4 months.
On the flip side...this has to be said. There could be a silver lining in a long term Markov injury...If the Habs succeed without him, then it takes all of Markov's leverage away during contract talks. They could realistically sign him to a 3-5yr contract at 3-4 million per season rather than having to pay him 5-7 million.
All that aside lets just hope Andrei is OK, and gets back into the lineup sooner rather than later and the Habs keep playing like they are.
Hey Tyg and Hirky and thanks for your comments!
@Tyg:
You're bang on! My biggest concern now is how JM choses to use Hamr and Spatch. They need to play around 20 mins, and not 24. They just can't hack that kind of ice time anymore.
I also agree and Picard is not the answer, as he is more of a depth D-man, however I think that JM will start with him before doing anything else. If anything, PG calls up Weber (and I'm FOR that idea).
I hear ya re: JM. He WAS upset...it's like just when the team was healthy and rolling, bang, Markov is gone. Re: the Flyers, Price will be the X-factor on Tuesday!
@hirky: "Key component" doesn't even do it justice! Markov is the Habs No.1 Dman and there is NO replacement for him in their system.
There is no question in my mind that this injury WILL affect the negotiations with Markov, if there are any.
Dave Stubbs of the Gazette was saying that the Habs had told Markov's agent, Don Meehan, that they wanted to wait to see how he played after coming back from the injury before talking contract.
Now, with the injury, all bets are off, imo. I think depending on the length of his injury, there could be less than a 50% chance that the Habs re-sign him...this is a thought that was unthinkable as recently as last week!
We have to worry about who is going to replace him. I think what we have seen so far is that with a top rated D-man we are one of the best teams in the East. Without him and we are average.
SO what do we do?
I think JM has to go out and replace the Markov contract with a big ticket who can play big minutes and help the PP.
There are 2 names which come to mind right now; Brian Campbell and James Wiesnewski.
IMO getting a guy like Campbell would likely only cost us the likes of a spacek. This would provide cap flexibility to the Hawks and would give Montreal a younger and better D-man who can run a PP.
Wienewski is the guy I would target however. Question here is what would it cost to acquire him?
My thinking is that a the Islanders are once again in a position where they will not make the playoffs. Trading a guy like Weber who can be molded by fellow countryman Streit would be an ideal start. Habs could add a 3rd round pick in there and you likely have a deal.
Wiesnewski would provide a PP cannon from the point and a guy who brings an element of toughness as well. He is also young enough that retianing his services would eb a beneficial move for the organization.
Good stuff, Willey...thanks for your comment!
Like I said, I personally think Markov will be done for the season but who knows. That being said, I agree that replacing him will become the biggest challenge for PG.
Brian Campbell? I understand your logic in this one but there is no way I would go anywhere near that guy's contract. Five more years at $7.1 Mill per? No thanks. We already have a $7 Mil contract that we are stuck with. Having two is just not smart, even if they do take Spacek back in the deal.
Re: Wienewski - now you're talking my language! This guy is a solid Dman with a wicked shot form the point. He'd be an excellent addition to the Habs lineup now and in the future (if they chose to resign him at season's end).
But, as you mentioned, cost is the big question mark. How much would they want? Agreed that Weber would be a good bait on this one.
The only caveat to replacing Markov is that the Habs have time. Due to their excellent play so far this season, there is no pressure to make a move quickly and I think they'll start with Picard and maybe even Weber.
My fear is that they will go back to playing Hamr and Spacek 20+ mins per game (a level at which they do NOT excel) and that it will hurt the Habs.
I guess we'll find out tonight when the Flyers are in town.
KP
My only thought with Campbell is as follows. Campbell is fantastic on the PP. Let's say for instance we dealt Spacek to Chicago in exchange for him. It would mean and extra $3.3 million agreed which is a big chunk of change but we would be getting a better d-man in all aspects of the game.
Is this ideal...no way. Would I do it? Not likely but I would still consider it if the case need be.
Personally if I was in the situation I would be looking at Wiesnewski because of his age and aggressiveness. JW is however only 5'11 I believe which is not a solution to all woes. We also have to be wearry that he is -12 and is a left handed shot.
My fear now is what to do with markov. Is he damaged goods? Do we let him walk as a UFA?
I keep hearing that there are no huge names on the market come the end of the year but Markov and Hamrlik make a combined $11.25 million which could be re-distributed to say Tomas Kaberle and Kevin Bieksa at $5 million and $4.5 million repectively with another $2 million to be used towards a forward.
Imagine a D-core line-up next year of Kaberle-Bieksa, Gorges-Subban as your top 4. Thats a pretty good d-core.
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