Habs on the Ropes as Leighton Posts 2nd Consecutive Shutout

 Montreal Canadiens, NHL playoffs, Philadelphia Flyers  No Responses »
May 182010
 

There’s an old saying in hockey that you aren’t in trouble in a playoff series until you’ve lost a game at home. However, though that theory may be sound in many cases, it is hard to argue that the Montreal Canadiens aren’t in trouble after dropping the first two games against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Losing the first two games of a series on the road is one thing, but losing both games and not scoring a single goal in either of those games is another matter altogether. So far the Habs haven’t been able to solve Flyers’ goaltender Michael Leighton, despite outshooting Philly in both game one and game two. This is something of an ironic development, considering that in their first two match-ups against the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal was the team staging the highway robbery, winning despite being badly outshot in several games.

Goaltender Jaroslav Halak has been a shadow of the goaltender that stoned Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in the first two rounds, giving up one weak goal after another. Either Halak’s hot hand has gone cold, or the Flyers have discovered a weak spot in his game that neither the Caps nor the Pens were able to find. If Halak can’t get his mojo back this battle between the 7th and 8th seeds in the Eastern Conference might end up being surprisingly short.

The Flyers, for their part, have played solid, if unspectacular hockey. Though they’ve been outshot, they have been driving the net hard, and have been rewarded for their willingness to go to the tough areas to recover loose pucks. Their powerplay has been deadly, and their penalty kill has been perfect so far through two games. Special teams generally play a huge part in any team’s post-season success, and so far the Flyers clearly have a wide edge in that department.

Perhaps the biggest reason for Montreal’s troubles has been a disturbing lack of leadership. Neither their highly paid stars like Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri nor their former Stanley Cup winners like Hal Gill and Travis Moen have stepped up to provide a spark for their club. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger Mike Richards, Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne and Chris Pronger have been stepping up on a regular basis. Somebody from the Habs needs to take note and make an impact in the series before it is over.

 Posted by at 6:41 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Can the Montreal Canadiens Win the 2010 Stanley Cup?

 Montreal Canadiens, NHL playoffs  No Responses »
May 132010
 

Back on April 10th the Montreal Canadiens secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a less than inspiring 4-3 OT loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. This followed a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, and a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. That’s right – at a crucial time of year when points were at an absolute premium – the Habs only managed 2 out of a possible 6 points against non-playoff-bound teams. Because they stumbled so badly down the stretch they were faced with the unenviable task of taking on the powerhouse Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs, a team that had finished a whopping 33 points ahead of them in the standings. Pitted against the firepower of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom the Habs were badly outmatched on paper, and most pundits were picking the Habs to bow out in 4 or 5 games. After the Caps won three of the first four games and pushed the Habs to the brink of elimination, it looked like those predictions would come true. With the overwhelming odds facing the Habs, not even the most diehard Canadiens fan would have dared dream their beloved team could potentially win the 2010 Stanley Cup.

What a difference a month makes.

In the remainder of that first round series Habs netminder Jaroslav Halak put on a goaltending performance as good as any seen by Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy, stymieing the Caps guns again and again, and helping the Habs do the unthinkable: coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series in 7 games.

After sending Ovechkin and crew packing the road didn’t get any easier for the Habs. The 6th seeded Boston Bruins and the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers both won their respective first round match-ups. As a result the Habs drew the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins as their second round opponent – a team featuring twin superstars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and one that had plenty of playoff experience after two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.

Once again the Habs were huge underdogs, and once again hockey prognosticators were picking them to come out on the losing end. Those opinions didn’t change even after the Habs managed to take game one in Pittsburgh 3-1. Yes, they were up 1-0 in the series, but the victory had come at a terrible price as their top defenseman, Andrei Markov, suffered a torn ACL, putting him out for the remainder of the series.

Yet, as is often the case when a team loses a star player during a playoff run the rest of Markov’s teammates stepped up their games to fill the enormous void left by the star blueliner. P.K. Subban, a rookie defenseman, who up until the end of the Washington series had been plying his trade as a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, quickly made Habs fans forget about the absence of Markov, logging huge minutes and playing on both the powerplay, and the penalty kill. Hulking defenseman Hal Gill and his unheralded partner Josh Gorges continued to play the shutdown role they were so effective at in the first round, turning their focus on Malkin and Crosby, frustrating the Pens’ superstars and keeping them from being a factor in the series.

Jaroslav Halak continued to shine in net, as the collapsing style of the Canadiens saw plenty of rubber directed his way. Time and again he stole what looked to be sure goals off the sticks of Penguins snipers. The Canadiens d-men, led by Hal Gill, blocked nearly as many shots as Halak did, and as the series wore on it was evident that the Pens were getting more and more frustrated.

However, as good as the Habs were at keeping the puck out of their net, they needed some offense, and Mike Cammalleri provided plenty of that. Cammalleri was great in the first round against Washington, netting 5 goals in 7 games. He was even better against Pittsburgh, and it seemed like every time he got a golden chance the puck ended up in the back of the net. All in all he tallied 7 goals in the series, giving him 12 in the playoffs, the most of any player.

The series went back and forth, and once again the Habs fought back from the brink of elimination to force a game 7. Pittsburgh seemed to have to clear advantage, playing at home, and with the experience of having won game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit the previous year in their back pocket. However, once again the Habs defied the odds, stunning the crowd at the Mellon Arena as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead partway through the second period. To the Penguins’ credit, they never gave up, but ultimately the hole was just too deep to dig out of, and when the dust settled on game 7 the Habs had emerged victorious, ending the Pens’ dreams of consecutive Stanley Cups after handing the defending champs a humbling 5-2 loss in their home building.

With clutch victories over two of the NHL’s best teams under their belts, the Habs have suddenly gone from a huge underdog to a team that has a very legitimate chance to win the 2010 Stanley Cup. Though they don’t know whether they will face the Bruins or the Flyers in the semi-finals yet, they do know they will face a team that finished significantly closer in the regular season standings to them than either Washington or Pittsburgh did. If Halak can continue his hot play, and the rest of the team continues to buy into the defensive system that has made them so successful there is a good chance they can advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and a possible date with destiny.

So, can the Habs win their 25th Stanley Cup this year, ending a 17 year drought for the franchise? They still have a long uphill climb ahead of them, and the Flyers/Bruins, San Jose Sharks/Chicago Blackhawks will certainly have something to say about it, but the notion of the Canadiens hoisting the 2010 Stanley Cup certainly doesn’t seem anywhere near as far-fetched as it did back on April 10th.

 Posted by at 11:17 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Canucks vs. Blackhawks Game 4 Preview – Can the Nucks Contain Byfuglien?

 Chicago Blackhawks, NHL playoffs, Vancouver Canucks  No Responses »
May 072010
 

It is commonly agreed throughout the hockey world that game four is the most crucial, most pivotal game of a playoff series. Sweeps are a rarity in today’s NHL, and as a result, after three games most series sit with one team enjoying a 2-1 lead. The team that wins game four will either put one team on the brink of elimination or knot up the series. One of these two scenarios will play out tonight in the bitterly contested series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks.

After soundly thrashing the Hawks 5-1 in Chicago in game one of the series, the Canucks immediately stole away home ice advantage, and had many proclaiming that their four line offensive attack was too much for the Hawks to handle.

Vancouver came back with more of the same early in game two, again seizing an early lead. However, this time around, rather than folding like a cheap tent, the Hawks showed their intestinal fortitude and scratched out a gritty, come-from-behind win that may ultimately prove to have been the difference in the series.

After the meltdown in game two Canucks fans were quick to point out that their team still had home ice advantage and the Hawks, who’d barely managed a win on home ice, would be in deep trouble once they entered the unfriendly confines of GM Place.

For the first few minutes of the game it seemed as though those prognosticators would be right. The Canucks stormed the Hawks out of the gate, and only a string of spectacular saves by Hawks’ keeper Antti Niemi kept the game scoreless in the early going. The Canucks were unable to maintain their frenzied attack, however, and when Kris Versteeg scored 5:19 in the wind seemed to go out of the sails of both the raucous crowd and the players themselves. Vancouver public enemy #1 – Dustin Byfuglien – scored a powerplay goal late in the first to stake the Hawks to a 2-0 lead. After that, the Canucks fought hard but could never seem to catch up, and when the dust finally settled the Hawks had a 5-2 victory, Byfuglien had a hat trick, and Canucks’ fans were left wondering if they were going to see yet another in a long string of post-season failures.

Leading into game four the Canucks’ players, to a man, seem determined not to let that happen. However, determination can only take a team so far. Execution and the ability to adapt are two other crucial elements that a team needs in order to be successful in the playoffs.

Priority number one for the Canucks is figuring out how to counter Chicago’s relentless net drive. Roberto Luongo was under siege all night long in game three, most notably by Byfuglien, who always seems to save his best stuff for the Canucks. Byfuglien isn’t the only Chicago forward causing headaches for Luongo though. Every single one of Chicago’s forwards, regardless of their size, has been driving the net with a ravenous hunger for loose pucks. Their grit and determination has been paying off, as Luongo has had a hard time holding onto pucks, and rebounds are there for the taking. The Vancouver defenders need to be more effective at boxing out the encroaching Blackhawk forwards earlier to give Luongo a better chance to corral pucks. This might be easier said than done in the case of big Dustin Byfuglien, but they should at least be able to keep smaller guys like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews from crashing the crease.

If they can’t manage to keep the Chicago forwards out of their own crease, then at the very least they should do their best to make Antti Niemi have to deal with the same headache that has been plaguing Luongo all series. Kesler, Burrows, Bernier and the Sedin twins have to start getting their noses a little dirtier, and figure out how to fight through the wall being put up by Chicago’s defenders and get to loose pucks in the crease.

The Canucks will also have to improve their special teams play, another key element that successful playoff teams share. Their powerplay has been ineffective so far, and at the other end, Chicago’s simple strategy of putting pucks and bodies to the net has been marvelously effective. If the Canucks can’t at least equal the Hawks’ special teams play then the uphill climb they face will begin to look more like a trek to the top of Kilimanjaro.

In my opinion, whoever wins the game tonight will ultimately win the series. If the Hawks go up 3-1 they’ll have all the momentum and have a chance of closing out the series in game 5 at home. If the Canucks can square the series at 2 then they steal the momentum from the Hawks. They nearly won both games at the United Center, and if they can get some of their swagger back with a game four victory they’d have to feel pretty good going back to Chicago.

However it pans out you can bet that tonight is going to be one of the most entertaining games of the playoffs to date. Both teams know what’s at stake here, and neither team is going to give an inch in this rivalry that is quickly shaping up to be one of the best in professional sports.

 Posted by at 3:36 pm  Tagged with: , ,
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