Defensive Lapses Spell Defeat

Defensive Lapses Spell Defeat: November 3rd Player Grades

Atlanta 5, Montreal 4. 

Recap: Atlanta opened the scoring with
a fortuitous bounce off of Bryan Little’s skate, and Rich Peverley continued his
hot streak by capitalizing on poor defensive coverage to stake the Thrashers an
early 2-goal lead.  Brian Gionta then countered with a goal from a
blistering slapshot, but Mark Popovic restored the 2-goal lead on a shot Carey
Price would likely want back.  Mike Cammalleri drew the score close with a
nice deke after an egregious giveaway by Peverley, and Gionta tied the game
early in the 3rd period.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Atlanta
regained the lead as Pavel Kubina capitalized with the man advantage on Mathieu
Carle’s first NHL penalty.  Tomas Plekanec tied it once again, but the
infamous headhunter Colby Armstrong quickly restored the lead for good as he was
left all alone in front of Price.  Ondrej Pavelec needed to be spectacular
in net all night, and finished with 34 saves.  Price was merely adequate,
as was most of the team, and turned away 25 of 30 shots.

Positive:

That’s the Spirit:  The Habs might have
lacked that killer instinct in the opposing end this game, but they weren’t
willing to go quietly into the night.  The Canadiens fought back multiple
times to keep the game close and/or tied, but inevitably fell short.

Negative:

What Do You Mean, We Can’t Do That?:  For the
sixth time in five consecutive games, the Habs took a delay of game penalty by
shooting the puck over the glass from their own zone.  This particular
instance stemmed from Carey Price overplaying the puck, and fortunately didn’t
end in an Atlanta powerplay goal.  Nevertheless, I’m sure everyone can
agree that it is long overdue for this trend to end.

Defensive Zone Lobotomies:  It seems that
there are far too many times when the Canadiens are without their respective
grey matter when the puck crosses the Montreal blueline.  On many of
Atlanta’s goals, the Habs seemed unsure about positioning, unsure where to put
the puck, and oblivious of Atlanta’s player movement.  Price bailed out his
team multiple times in spite of horrible in-zone defensive play, but the shoddy
collective defensive effort doomed the Habs early on, and ultimately led to
their defeat.

Giving It Away For Free:  No, this isn’t a
"your momma" joke.  In fact, it’s no laughing matter that Montreal had 28
giveaways, and most of them were of the dangerous kind.  Against a better
team, the score would have been much worse.  This simply can’t continue. 
It’s sickening.

Player	Grade	Notes
Carey Price	C	Despite receiving the October installment of the Molson Cup, and making a few highlight reel post-to-post saves, Price was saddled with another loss, his 6th in a row.  Price played well early on, but faltered as his team broke down in front of him.  Price deserves full credit for his puck-handling abilities, and made numerous clears and outlet passes on his own.  Nevertheless, Price needs to make it through a game without letting in a stoppable goal.
Mike Cammalleri	B	If only Cammalleri could get more breakaways handed to him, I think Habs’ fans would be quite pleased.  His lethal shot and stickhandling made him a constant threat all night, but he needs to bury more of his chances; his team is relying on him.
Scott Gomez	B-	Gomez played an all-around good game, but was guilty for poor defensive coverage, which led to a goal.  Gomez is the first Hab since Markov with the ability to effortlessly gain the zone on the powerplay.  Now, if only the Habs could do something with it.
Brian Gionta	A-	The shot is back.  Gionta’s effort finally translated to goals and he was hustling all night long.  He led the way with 2 goals and a team-high 6 shots on net.
Guillaume Latendresse	C+	Latendresse played one of his better games, and seems to have rekindled some of his chemistry with Lapierre.  Most importantly, Gui was going to the net, backchecking more effectively, and using his size on the boards more often.
Tomas Plekanec	B+	As usual, there is little to fault with Plekanec.  He scored a clutch goal when it was needed, (unfortunately he wasn’t up for an encore), played well on the PK and played big against physical players.  Re-sign him now, Bob!
Maxim Lapierre	C+	Lapierre was hustling all night, and played hard along the boards.  He and Gui are clicking again, and showed signs of eventually becoming a suitable 2nd line.  More work is needed.
Max Pacioretty	C+	Max is clicking well on the 3rd line and gaining confidence.  He wasn’t much of an offensive threat, but he and his line wore down the Thrashers more often than not.
Glen Metropolit	C+	It was a pretty quiet night for Metropolit, but he and his line did well in a defensive capacity.
Travis Moen	C+	Like Pacioretty and Metropolit, Moen was effective at containing the Thrashers and pinning them in their own end a few times.  He led all Habs with 5 hits.
Greg Stewart	NA	Stewart didn’t do much with his 4:49 of ice-time except take an offensive zone penalty.  Fortunately, the PK units were up to the challenge.
Kyle Chipchura	C+	Chipchura did well in a limited capacity, but was woeful in the faceoff circle (20%). His play created a few chances, and he played physically all night.
Andrei Kostitsyn	C+	The beleaguered Belarusian played his usual inconsistent game.  Invisible one shift… racking up shots the next… turning the puck over… and delivering punishing checks at random intervals. He led all forwards with 4 hits and fired 3 shots on goal.  Martin gave him 12 minutes of ice-time, but to no avail.
Roman Hamrlik	B	Hamrlik finished with a team-high +2 rating, but with a team-high 5 giveaways.  No points for Hamrlik this evening, but his offensive efforts didn’t go unnoticed.  He logged a whopping 28:03 of ice-time and led the team with 5 blocked shots.
Jaroslav Spacek	C	Spacek is struggling with his additional responsibilities on D.  He too had 5 giveaways, and was part of many a Montreal meltdown in the defensive zone.
Paul Mara	B-	Mara had a quiet night, and made many good plays to keep the offensive pressure going.
Josh Gorges	B-	Gorges played adequately in both ends and was 2nd on the team with 3 blocked shots.
Marc-André Bergeron	D	Bergeron was a team-worst -2 and looked like it.  Despite being a so-called power specialist, MAB was largely ineffective with the man advantage, and fumbled the puck with regularity.  In his defense, the team needs to set up his one-timer better.  Despite only playing 10:37, Bergeron led all Habs with ulcers created and curses shouted at the television screen.
Mathieu Carle	C-	Carle appropriately looked like he was playing his first NHL game.  Despite finishing with a +1 rating, Carle had 5 giveaways and was in the box for an Atlanta goal.  He demonstrated strong skating and good first pass.  He’ll get better.
Powerplay	C	0 for 3.  Montreal’s powerplay played as well as it could without actually scoring.  They showed better setting up, puck movement, and outnumbering their foes down low, but couldn’t get one by a hot goaltender.  They need to better utilize Bergeron’s shot from the point.
Penalty Kill	B+	75%.  Montreal killed 3 of 4 quite well.  For the most part they were effective at pressuring the puck carrier, keeping shots from the outside and winning battles along the boards.  If it wasn’t for a meltdown on the last attempt, they would have earned an A+.

 

This article was written by Matt
Dilworth, who would love to try grading a winning game.