The Habs’ recent woes continue but they were
able to squeak out a win over a pair of weekend games to keep pace in the
Atlantic. In Hamilton, the Bulldogs ended their winless streak and won a
trio of games to get back into a playoff spot. With 2013 coming to an end,
I take one last look back in my Final Thought with the biggest Canadiens
storylines of the year.
|
Inside |
With the Habs just having the two games over
the weekend, I’m going to skip the usual Cheers and Jeers segment this week and
instead take a closer look at the powerplay which is something that would have
received a jeer. The recent struggles with the man advantage have many
calling for change, saying this player should be playing more than that player.
Before making any declaration like that, it’s good to have the numbers. If
there are changes to be made, it would be logical to have the forwards with the
best success rate on the powerplay playing more. Just who are those
players though? Here’s a breakdown of PP time on ice per PP point.
| Player | PP Pts | PP TOI | TOI/pt |
| Bournival | 3 | 13.317 | 4.439 |
| Prust | 1 | 6.133 | 6.133 |
| Plekanec | 7 | 73.150 | 10.450 |
| Pacioretty | 7 | 80.500 | 11.500 |
| Galchenyuk | 7 | 83.800 | 11.971 |
| Gionta | 5 | 69.300 | 13.860 |
| Bourque | 3 | 48.233 | 16.078 |
| Desharnais | 5 | 80.783 | 16.157 |
| Briere | 3 | 48.817 | 16.272 |
| Gallagher | 5 | 96.367 | 19.273 |
| Eller | 3 | 66.167 | 22.056 |
Looking at the results, it’s clear that
Bournival and Prust, statistically the most efficient players with the man
advantage, have their stats skewed by a small sample size (PP TOI) so they can
realistically be discounted. It’s not surprising to see Pacioretty and
Plekanec, veterans who are usually atop the points list, leading the way here as
well. Galchenyuk, despite the suggestion that he’s not playing enough, has had the second most PP TOI among Montreal’s forwards
this year and his production/efficiency also justifies it.
What is surprising, however, is the youngsters
at the bottom of the table. Gallagher’s crash the net style lends itself
well to the man advantage but he hasn’t been entirely productive despite leading
the Habs in PP ice time by a significant margin. Meanwhile, Eller, a
player that many are calling to play more at 5-on-4, is the least efficient of
those who have recorded at least one PP point. There have been many
wondering aloud as to why veterans like Gionta are sometimes seeing more PP time
than some of the youngsters. This might be part of the reason why.
If you’re curious as to what powerplay units
have been the most effective this season, click
here.
The presence of several veterans towards the top of the list is particularly
noteworthy.
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G | A | +/- | PIM | SH | TOI |
| 8 | Brandon Prust | 2 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 27:01 |
| 11 | Brendan Gallagher | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 4 | 32:04 |
| 14 | Tomas Plekanec | 2 | 1 | 0 | E | 2 | 3 | 37:10 |
| 17 | Rene Bourque | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 2 | 3 | 29:31 |
| 21 | Brian Gionta | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 0 | 2 | 34:21 |
| 26 | Josh Gorges | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 39:07 |
| 27 | Alex Galchenyuk | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 3 | 28:10 |
| 32 | Travis Moen | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 0 | 1 | 24:34 |
| 48 | Daniel Briere | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 23:28 |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 32:49 |
| 53 | Ryan White | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 | 25:06 |
| 55 | Francis Bouillon | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 4 | 36:25 |
| 61 | Raphael Diaz | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 1 | 37:08 |
| 67 | Max Pacioretty | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 4 | 2 | 32:38 |
| 74 | Alexei Emelin | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 1 | 35:46 |
| 76 | P.K. Subban | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 5 | 52:08 |
| 79 | Andrei Markov | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 49:47 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 4 | 30:23 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 30 | Peter Budaj | 0-1-0 | .875 | 3.08 |
| 31 | Carey Price | 1-0-0 | .958 | 0.92 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 51 | David Desharnais | 0/1 |
| 81 | Lars Eller | 1/1 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | SVS/ATT |
| 31 | Carey Price | 3/3 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Max Pacioretty (15)
Assists: P.K. Subban (22)
Points: P.K. Subban (27)
+/-: Markov/Subban (+9)
PIMS: Brandon Prust (44)
Shots: Pacioretty/Subban (115)
|
Schedule: |
December
31: Montreal vs Carolina
January 2: Montreal vs Dallas
January 4: Ottawa vs Montreal
|
The Dog |
Unlike the Habs, Hamilton was able to turn
around their offensive woes. Not only did they win each game, they also
generated 40 or more shots in all three. Doing that once would have been
an accomplishment let alone doing so in three straight days.
|
News and |
– On the injury front, Steve Quailer (upper
body) remains week to week while blueliners Nathan McIver and Drew Schiestel
(upper body) are day-to-day and have been so for the better part of two weeks
now.
– The Bulldogs recalled and then released
centre Ben Duffy at his request. He has gone back to school and is
attending the University of New Brunswick.
– Blueliner Nathan Beaulieu finds himself in a
slump at the moment. The offensive minded d-man has just two assists in
his past 13 games.
– Lines from the most recent game:
Forwards:
Holland – St. Pierre – Andrighetto
Tarnasky – Dumont – Owens
Leblanc – Macenauer – Thomas
Courtnall – Nattinen – Fournier
Defence:
Tinordi – Pateryn
Beaulieu – Dietz
Chouinard – Ellis
|
Results: |
December 26:
Hamilton 2, Toronto 1 (OT)
December 27:
Hamilton 4, Toronto 2
December 28:
Hamilton 4, Utica 3 (SO)
|
StatPack: |
|
SKATERS |
|
# |
Player |
GP |
G |
A |
+/- |
SH |
PIMS |
| 2 | Greg Pateryn | 3 | 2 | 2 | +5 | 9 | 2 |
| 5 | Jarred Tinordi | 3 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 8 | 4 |
| 7 | Darren Dietz | 3 | 0 | 1 | E | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Nathan Beaulieu | 3 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 12 | 0 |
| 9 | Justin Courtnall | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | Maxime Macenauer | 3 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 7 | 4 |
| 14 | Michael Blunden | 3 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 20 | 0 |
| 20 | Louis Leblanc | 3 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 | Joonas Nattinen | 3 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 5 | 0 |
| 26 | Jordan Owens | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 3 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 11 | 4 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 40 | Gabriel Dumont | 3 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 11 | 0 |
| 44 | Morgan Ellis | 3 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 8 | 0 |
| 47 | Stefan Fournier | 3 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 7 | 19 |
| 59 | Joel Chouinard | 3 | 0 | 0 | E | 3 | 4 |
| 74 | Nick Tarnasky | 3 | 0 | 2 | +4 | 3 | 9 |
| 92 | Christian Thomas | 2 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 5 | 2 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 3 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 4 |
|
GOALIES |
|
# |
Player |
Record |
SV% |
GAA |
| 34 | Dustin Tokarski | 2-0-0 | .927 | 1.45 |
| 35 | Mike Condon | 1-0-0 | .903 | 2.77 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | G/ATT |
| 8 | Nathan Beaulieu | 1/1 |
| 12 | Maxime Macenauer | 1/1 |
| 27 | Sven Andrighetto | 0/1 |
| 37 | Patrick Holland | 0/1 |
| 92 | Christian Thomas | 0/1 |
| 93 | Martin St. Pierre | 1/1 |
|
SHOOTOUT |
| # | Player | SVS/ATT |
| 35 | Mike Condon | 4/6 |
|
Scoring |
Goals: Louis Leblanc (9)
Assists: Martin St. Pierre (18)
Points: Martin St. Pierre (25)
+/-: Greg Pateryn (+11)
PIMS: Nick Tarnasky (63)
Shots: Gabriel Dumont (77)
|
Schedule: |
January 3:
Hamilton vs Abbotsford
January 4: Hamilton vs Abbotsford
|
Final |
This is the final HW Recap of 2013 so before
looking forward to next year, let’s look back at the most noteworthy storylines
of 2013.
1) Back with a bang: After the
nightmarish 2011-12 season, no one expected the Habs to do much of anything in
the abbreviated schedule after the lockout. Instead, they were one of the
top teams in the East despite a late season struggle. Interestingly
enough, the points pace of this years’ club is pretty close to that of last
season (1.23 vs 1.31 per game) despite Montreal’s recent scoring woes.
2) Youth is served: The emergence of
Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher as legitimate go-to players from Day 1
last year came as a surprise to many. They were able to maintain their
production throughout the season and find themselves on a similar points pace at
the halfway point of this campaign. The optimism is always high when it
comes to these two.
3) Subban wins the Norris: The
abbreviated 2013 season had some ups and downs for P.K. Subban. It started
with a well-publicized contract dispute that leaked into the year and ended with
him winning the Norris Trophy for the NHL’s best defenceman. That marked
the second straight year that a Hab won an end-of-season award (Max Pacioretty
won the Masterton in 2012).
4) Price’s resurgence: The first half of
last season was a good one for Carey Price. Unfortunately, he struggled in
the second half and was fighting the puck for most of April. This year has
been another story as he has been the Habs’ best player on many a night.
He is legitimately in the discussion to be Canada’s Olympic starter and if his
play continues into the second half, he could be in the hunt for the Vezina as
well.
5) HabsWorld turns 10: In case you
missed it, our site hit the
10 years online mark
in early October. As someone who has been with the site since Day 1 (and
the months of prep work before it launched), this is an accomplishment I’m quite
proud of. Thanks to all of our readers for your support over the years.