Happily, the game tonight between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Canadiens is a national broadcast, so I get to enjoy a crystal HD picture, instead of a jumpy stream courtesy of the grubbing Gary Bettman.
--I'm never agreeable to a Tie Domi interview during a Canadiens game. Even though I FFWD'ed through it, didn't hear a word he said, I still feel violated.
--I'm not sure the world is ready for a skinny Zach Galifianakis. He'll most likely be less funny in that new movie of his. Curse his improving circulatory health.
--On that Jake Chychrun goal, Mikhail Sergachev committed a giveaway in his zone when he had clean possession, a cardinal sin. He made the mistake of trying a subtle, cute play, instead of making a coach-beloved "strong play". If you're going to make a little pass deep in your zone, make sure that it's your best if not your only option. Blasting it off the boards and out of your zone will earn you a Don Cherry thumbs up, and more icetime the rest of the game, and the next.
--Jason York uses that atrocity of a buzzword non-word 'resiliency'. Like nails on an emery board on my raw nerve. It doesn't reflect well on his intelligency.
Then again, John Bartlett says "off of" all the time, so, you know, whatever.
--Not to chase this too far down the rabbit hole, but shouldn't TSN and Sportsnet and every network have on hand an English professor or two on retainer, who can watch the broadcasts and go over the tape with these miscreants, and correct the glaring errors, coach them up, like they used to get coached up when they were playing.
"Now John, when you say 'Carey Price blocked that shot off of Laurent Dauphin', what you really want to say is that he blocked a shot off Laurent Dauphin. You never say 'off of', that's never ever right. The word 'off' contains the word 'of' already. For example, you wouldn't say a fresh line steps 'on of the ice', why would we say the other line 'gets off of the ice'?"
"Phew, Miss Grundy, I thought you were going to chide me for not saying 'a shot from Laurent Dauphin'..."
"Well John, now that you bring it up..."
Guys like Jamie McLennan, who seems to be a nice guy and have knowledge, but drowns his message in a morass of mixed metaphors and malapropisms and clichés of the month, would really benefit from this attention.
But with the barebones slashed budgets at Sportsnet, it's risible to expect that they'd act as custodians of the airwaves and ensure a quality product is broadcast on our commons.
--That delayed penalty in the second period was a gas. Offhand, I can't remember a longer 6-on-5 on a delayed penalty, and one when the Canadiens had such an effective presence in the offensive zone, with so many chances to score before the opposing team gets a chance to touch the puck and create a whistle.
--On that shorthanded goal by Laurent Dauphin that closed the gap to 4-2, Jason York described Nathan Beaulieu's effort as "too casual" and "lackadaisical", which isn't inaccurate. I saw in it the vestiges of last year's powerplay, when our players would idle back to our zone to gather in a clearance, and then shambled back up-ice, stumped as to how they'd ever score.
One side-effect I hope we'll see this season with two distinct powerplay units, and two sets of defence pairings, is that they'll be competitive with each other, they'll cherish the minute they have to score, and will make good use of it, instead of ambling back as if they have all the time in the world.
--I'm thinking Max Domi must have been disappointed Jacob de la Rose wasn't in the lineup, a big juicy target to punk, like he did last year.
--Overall, I think the Canadiens played down to their level of competition a little bit. Once they got the quick goals in the second period and chased Louis Domingue, it's like they thought the game was won and they imperceptibly eased off on the throttle.
Still, a nice win and another two points in the bank, and a W for Carey in his first game back.
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