The Canadiens aren't bulldozing any other teams lately, but they are still playing with spirit and gumption. Tonight, they overcame a Knights team trying to win for Max Pacioretty, and pulled out a 5-4 win over the Las Vegas expansion team.
--Two brief recognition ceremonies tonight, one before puck drop for Max Pacioretty, a nice video tribute and a standing ovation for the former captain. I'll miss number 67, despite all the naysayers.
Then, during the first commercial break, another tribute to Tomas Plekanec, who will retire from the NHL, his one-year utility forward gig not shaping up the way he wanted. This is disappointing on an emotional level, I wish the story had a better ending, but mainly for this armchair GM it's a bummer that he couldn't contribute to the team and then reap a benefit at the trade deadline. This year's draft crop is reportedly one of the strongest in years, so a second or third-round pick is nothing to sneeze at.
--That Tomas is being released is especially galling since, as I predicted, the Canadiens will now regret waiving Jacob de la Rose even more. Again, to try to send him to Laval was a shortsighted move, for a short-term benefit at best. If anyone was waived, it should have been Tomas, or Nicolas Deslauriers, since with his two-year one-way contract, he wasn't liable to be claimed, and needed to go find his game in the AHL anyway.
--Gary Galley on William Karlsson: "He creates a lot of stuff."
Gary Galley on the Knight forecheck: "...and they re-attack you again."
Great job, Gary. When Bob Cole finally retires, can you go with him? Please?
--Max Pacioretty is on a mission, he has six shots already early in the second period.
--Nice shifty goal by Charles Hudon, but did Michel Lacroix announce the goal as being Jonathan Drouin's? I'm not sure I heard this right, but is it a case of confusing the flashy French-Canadian forwards for each other? And I think Mr. Lacroix did correct himself later on, but that was lost in the excitement of the subsequent Andrew Shaw goal, and the non-stop nattering of Dave Randorf.
--Max Domi is indispensable, despite my loathing of his lineage and 94% of him personally. If we were to lose his services, not only do we lose his playmaking and goalscoring and effort and defensive-zone exploits, but we'd also disconnect Jonathan Drouin, he'd go dark like when you kick out the power cord for the Christmas tree.
--The defence corps that we raved about the first ten games or so? Not so hot these days. Mike Reilly is no longer so prominent. Jamie Benn had a tough game, with glaring giveaways that drew clucks from Dave Randorf. A rusty David Schlemko took the place of a suddenly wobbly Noah Juulsen in the lineup.
--And goaltending is now an issue. Lots of contributors to online forums have been hammering the point that Carey Price was going to be too much of a cap hit relative to his value, that an average starting goalie at an average cap hit would be a more cost-effective expenditure. My reply to this is that it's really hard to find that animal. The Flyers have been trying for decades to find a good goalie, never mind one on a decent contract. Same with the Flames since Miikka Kiprussof retired, it's been a revolving door of inexpensive, ineffective goalies.
So I was okay with spending what it costs to keep Carey, probably the most talented goalie in the world. I figured we'd get four or five good years out of the eight we had to sign him for, that at that time we could deal with it if he fell off the pace. The problem is, he's struggling now, in his first season on his new contract, was struggling even last season, and the one before, before he had inked his new deal.
I figure if Carey is healthy, he'll turn it around, he's got too much skill and natural ability not to, but it'll be white-knuckle time until he does. Antti Niemi is not rock-solid at the moment, and neither is Charlie Lindgren, despite those who would have had you believe he was ready to take over if Carey was traded, on the strength of a few good outings two years ago. Problem is, Charlie struggled all last season in Laval, and is not having a good start this season either.
So we have to be patient with Carey, as Claude Julien tried to be tonight, giving him the night off, a rare event for him on a HNIC Saturday night. And Antti better shape up too, we have to flip him for a second-round pick at the deadline, so let's start lining up the shutouts please and thank you.
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