For the 3rd time in less than a month, the Habs
find themselves facing elimination as they now trail the Flyers 3 games to 1.
Fortunately, the situation is brighter for the Bulldogs who are just 1 win away
from advancing to the Calder Cup Finals. What, besides simply scoring, do
the Habs need to do to stay alive, and why is this a team to believe in until
the end? This, plus the Power Rankings and a Worlds wrap up, in the Recap.
|
Power |
The PPR’s are on a cumulative basis with
some bias towards the current week. The prev. column represents the last
ranking for the player; players not on last week’s list will be slotted back
where they were when returning from injury/benching/recall (italicized numbers).
Thus, multiple players may have the same previous ranking. These power
rankings are carried forward from the regular season, no new ones will be started.
Rk |
Player |
Prev. |
Comments |
1 |
Jaroslav Halak |
2 | When you have no support in 2/3 games, hard to blame him for losing. |
| 2 | Brian Gionta | 3 | Even if he’s not scoring much, he’s still shooting and getting chances. |
3 |
Mike Cammalleri | 1 | He’s the catalyst to this offence; he really needs to lead the team now. |
| 4 | Tomas Plekanec | 4 | The lack of team scoring keeps him in this spot, he is struggling though. |
5 |
Dominic Moore | 7 | Cracks the top-5 for the first time, has a knack for scoring timely goals. |
| 6 | Scott Gomez | 5 | Playmaker or not, still expected to score more than once per 16 games. |
7 |
Josh Gorges | 6 | Not a whole lot of good luck going his way in these last few games. |
| 8 | Maxim Lapierre | 10 | Showed a lot of hustle this week, good physically and on the forecheck. |
| 9 | Roman Hamrlik | 12 | Once again is stepping his game up, needs to do that more consistently. |
10 |
P.K. Subban | 9 | One very good game and two poor ones, such is life with a rookie. |
| 11 | Tom Pyatt | 15 | Stepped up offensively, hopefully his injury isn’t too serious. |
12 |
Hal Gill | 11 | Clearly not 100%, needs to find a way to start clogging the lane more. |
| 13 | Travis Moen | 14 | If he can pick up the physical play, it might help generate some momentum. |
14 |
Andrei Kostitsyn | 16 | He’s had some good plays this series, sadly that’s enough to move him up. |
| 15 | Ryan O’Byrne | 14 | Didn’t do much to give the coaching staff any confidence to use him more. |
16 |
Marc-Andre Bergeron | 19 | At least he has the idea to shoot more, scored a meaningless one too. |
| 17 | Benoit Pouliot | 17 | When he’s with Gionta/Gomez, he should be the one crashing the net. |
| 18 | Glen Metropolit | 18 | Took a bit of a step back after a strong effort last week. |
| 19 | Mathieu Darche | 19 | Didn’t do anything to get benched; didn’t do much to keep playing either. |
| 20 | Sergei Kostitsyn | 21 | Limited playing time but that wasn’t much of an effort to say the least. |
Dropped from the rankings: Carey Price (8 –
DNP).
|
The Dog |
Although Hamilton only won one of three games
this past week, they sit in a strong position as they need to win just one of
the next two games – both at home – to finish off this series.
|
Results: |
| May 19 | 1 |
2 | 3 | OT | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2/5 | 35 |
| Texas | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3/4 | 34 |
Attendance: 4,535
3 Stars: 1) Graham – TEX 2) Benn – TEX 3)
Trotter
– HAM
| May 21 | 1 |
2 | 3 | OT | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/5 | 27 |
| Texas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0/7 | 32 |
Attendance: 6,215
3 Stars: 1) Benn – TEX 2) Desharnais – HAM 3) Climie – TEX
| May 22 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Tot |
PP |
SOG |
| Hamilton | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1/8 | 33 |
| Texas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/4 | 23 |
Attendance: 5,020
3 Stars: 1) Russell – HAM 2) Desharnais – HAM 3) Rallo – TEX
|
Stats: |
First the first time in quite a while, the
Bulldogs got a player back from injury this week as Max Pacioretty made his
return to the lineup.
|
SKATERS |
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SH | PIMS |
| 4 | Michael Vernace | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | Alex Henry | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Chad Anderson | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | J.T. Wyman | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 7 | 0 |
| 12 | Andrew Conboy | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 8 |
| 14 | Olivier Fortier | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Mike Glumac | 3 | 2 | 0 | E | 12 | 0 |
| 19 | Brock Trotter | 3 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 11 | 8 |
| 20 | Ryan Russell | 3 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 10 | 0 |
| 23 | Max Pacioretty | 3 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 5 | 2 |
| 25 | Ryan White | 3 | 1 | 0 | -2 | 9 | 6 |
| 26 | Grant Stevenson | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 4 | 2 |
| 28 | Aaron Palushaj | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 3 | 4 |
| 32 | Frederic St. Denis | 3 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 2 |
| 42 | Hunter Bishop | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 44 | Shawn Belle | 3 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 7 | 4 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 3 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 10 | 4 |
| 61 | Andre Benoit | 3 | 0 | 2 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 82 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 4 |
|
GOALIES |
| # | Player | Record | SV% | GAA |
| 1 | Curtis Sanford | 1-2-0 | .921 | 2.23 |
|
Leaders: |
Goals: Mike Glumac (11)
Assists: David Desharnais (12)
Points: David Desharnais (21)
+/-: Shawn Belle (+10)
PIMS: Ryan White (47)
Shots: Brock Trotter (59)
|
Round 3: |
May 24: Texas vs Hamilton
May 26: Texas vs Hamilton*
* – if necessary
|
At the |
The 2010 Worlds ended on Sunday and although
the Habs only had three prospects at the tourney, they must be pleased with the
results as all of them medaled. Here’s how each one did:
Player |
Team |
GP |
G |
A |
PTS |
PIMS |
+/- |
SOG |
ATOI |
| Alexei Emelin | RUS | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 33 | +6 | 11 | 15:39 |
| Andreas Engqvist |
SWE | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | +1 | 13 | 13:03 |
| Konstantin Korneev | RUS | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | E | 7 | 13:11 |
– Engqvist’s stats include a game where he
was listed on the scoresheet but did not play due to injury. Accordingly,
his ATOI dropped by a notable amount – it was roughly 14:40 factoring out that
game.
– Emelin’s 25 minutes in penalties vs the Czechs in the Gold Medal game (5 for
clipping and a game misconduct which is a 20 minute penalty) gave him the
tournament lead in that category.
|
Series |
This week’s 3 Keys to Success to stay alive in
the Philly series:
1) From Zeros to Heroes: There’s a notable quartet of Habs who haven’t
scored in double digit games: Gomez, Andrei Kostitsyn, Plekanec, and Pouliot.
One, if not more need to snap the streak which will give Montreal’s attack a
boost it hasn’t had in nearly a month.
2) Balanced D: We all don’t want to see Marc-Andre Bergeron playing major
minutes but Jacques Martin is running out of options. Both Gill and Gorges
are playing through injuries and those were the minute munchers of the first
couple rounds. Unlike the Flyers who roll 4 or 5 regulars on the back end,
perhaps it’s time for all 7 Montreal D to see double digit minutes, keep the
players fresher when they’re out there. That being said, I expect to see
the D deployed more like the Flyers, where only 5 see regular time.
3) Special Teams: This one is pretty obvious – the powerplay has been
virtually non-existent and the PK, though better the last couple of games, is
still far from 100%. Win the special teams battle and you’ll have a better
shot at winning the games, simple as that.
Other quick thoughts:
– Arguably the top line in this round, the 3rd line of Pyatt-Moore-Lapierre are
all unsigned for next season. Moore is a UFA while Pyatt and Lapierre are
RFA’s, the latter with arbitration rights. It’s not just Plekanec and the
goalies we need to be worried about…
– I noted it in the Game 4 Recap but I’ll repeat it here – faceoff play was a
strength for Montreal for the first 3 games but was a big part of their demise
on Saturday afternoon. The numbers:
Game 1:
32/59 (54%)
Game 2: 30/54 (56%)
Game 3: 34/63 (54%)
Game 4: 18/56 (32%)
|
Final |
To believe or not to believe, that is the
question. Of course, the issue at hand here is the debate of whether fans
should still rally behind the team or simply proclaim it’s over and begin the
offseason autopsy. To me, this is a no brainer, the offseason stuff can
wait until the offseason. That’s why I must admit I’m puzzled as to the
amount of negativity that’s once again crept in as the Habs prepare to stave off
elimination for the 6th time this postseason. That negativity I find is
really taking away what should be a celebration of a season beyond what most of
us could have expected. The Habs are among the final 3 teams
playing, try and look away from the bad stuff and just think about that.
They’re the team that’s defied all odds over the last 6 weeks – top teams,
injuries, and scoring slumps amongst others; if you can’t bring yourself to want
to believe in this team, what can you believe in?
If you have a question regarding
this article,
please feel free to drop me a line at
b.larose@habsworld.net.