Relentless Ineptitude: Game 23: Canadiens 5, Rangers 6

La formation projetée du match de ce soir face aux Rangers.

The projected lines for tonight's game against the Rangers.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/lQyZtwatz5
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 23, 2019

Okay guys, even if, as Claude Ruel used to say "Y'en aura pas d'facile", this is a chicken ready to be plucked, fried and consumed. The Rangers are disheartened after a bad loss in Ottawa last night. Easy two points here, just gotta pick 'em up...

(Francois Gagnon: Un autre petit match facile…)

Carey Price is starting, will be starting the rest of the way the whole season no doubt. Keith Kincaid's relegated to puerile tweet duty.

The big news today was that Max Domi's pout about being shunted to the wing was rewarded by the Canadiens' head coach. He's back at centre on the second line, and Nick Suzuki gets pushed to the right wing.

1st PERIOD:

--Sure enough, Max Domi, who I was going to enjoin to put out, to turn it up a notch, well, he scores in the first couple of minutes, assisted by Nick Suzuki and lightweight (on the scoresheet) Artturi Lehkonen.

Canadiens 1, Rangers 0

--Gary Galley says, commenting on the absence of Tomas Tatar after a percussive bodycheck by Chris Kreider (him again...), "the Canadiens have more depth than ever". Really Gary? More depth than in the 70s with the stacked Junior de Montréal and Nova Scotia Voyageurs teams? More depth than the 80s when guys like Sergio Momesso, Claude Lemieux, Stéphane Richer, Brian Skrudland and Mike Keane among others would arrive from the LHJMQ or the Sherbrooke Canadiens and step right into the lineup?

It really should be a requirement to have basic critical thinking and language skills to be allowed to hold a microphone on air. The housecleaning at Sportsnet, while mostly being about their bottom line with the disastrous NHL broadcast rights contract they (and we the public) are stuck with, is not over, not by a longshot. Nick Kypreos, Doug MacLean and Don Cherry, goodbye good riddance, but there's a lot of deadwood there still.

--I cracked wise about Artturi, right? Well, he just scored too, on a decent line-rush snipe. Not sure the Rangers goalie is long for this game? Two goals he didn't look great on already, halfway through the first.

Canadiens 2, Rangers 0

--Tomas Tatar is back on the ice later in the 1st period, so no major damage after the Kreider hit I guess.

--Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki both tried a wrist shot on Alexandar Georgiev, when the latter was set and unscreened. He plucked both muffins out of the air with his catcher, with ease. We need guys who can rifle the puck.

--Max Domi racks up another goal, a nice screened shot, well-timed from the high slot. Right at the end of the period too, with thirty seconds left.

Canadiens 3, Rangers 0

2nd PERIOD

--The Canadiens, buzzing around the Rangers zone as if they were on the powerplay, make it 4-0, on a big slap shot by Shea Weber. Again, though screened, Georgiev didn't look great, letting a puck dribble through him.

Canadiens 4, Rangers 0

--The shutout is dead. The Rangers get two quick goals back, on line rushes. Maybe the Canadiens eased off a tad, thinking this one was in the bag?

Canadiens 4, Rangers 2

Gary Galley is already openly-cheering for the comeback. Once a dirty Bruin, always a dirty Bruin.

--Brendan Lemieux, that turd, scores on the powerplay. Gary Galley can hardly contain himself.

Canadiens 4, Rangers 3

--The Canadiens, not quite done shooting themselves in the foot, go on the penalty kill, and then Ben Chiarot accidentally clears the puck over the glass and they go 3-on-5. They do manage to kill it off.

3rd PERIOD

--The sloppy game continues in the third. Snipey Lehkonen put in another nice shot to put the Canadiens up by two goals and maybe settle this game down five minutes in, but no, the Rangers score another thirty seconds later, and then tie the game up on a shorthanded two-on-one rush. Brendan Lemieux again.

Canadiens 5, Rangers 5

--And sure, why not, Jacob Trouba floats in a wrister from the blue line, and it gets through Carey Price, screened as he was by Kreider and Jeff Petry.

Time to think some dark thoughts...

Canadiens 5, Rangers 6

--I guess that's what life is like, when you cheer on a team with an erratic goalie? 6 goals on 32 shots against usually rock-solid Carey. His counterpart, who we sniffed at earlier, has let in 5 on 40. So far. The way this is going, these teams could pump in another four or five, easy.

--Canadiens fail to convert on a powerplay, a too-many-men penalty against the Rangers. 4 minutes to go.

--Turns out, this one isn't "facile", even against the lowly Rangers. Claude Ruel was a sage.

--Canadiens pull Carey with two minutes to go and a won faceoff in the offensive zone. They get a few shots off, Georgiev smothers the puck for a whistle. Timeout Canadiens, with slightly less than a minute to go.

--The Domi line, which has been hot tonight, gets the last shift, wins the faceoff. Brendan Lemieux takes a shot at the empty net, trying to finish the hat trick, misses. Icing. Please please please make him pay...

--No dice. Petry shot stopped by Georgiev. 27 seconds left.

--The boys are going to be skating at practice tomorrow. Or Monday, most probably, Sunday is usually their CBA-mandated scheduled day off. Claude Julien must love that.

The Rangers close it out, 6-5 final. The tattered scattered remnants of HIO will hang Marc Bergevin in effigy. I might brandish a desultory pitchfork in the background.