Sunday 25 November 2018

Game 24: Canadiens 2, Bruins 3

The Canadiens, facing a depleted Bruins team missing Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy among others due to injuries, let one go on home ice, letting the Bruins steal a win at the Nouveau Forum.

--I hate when Brendan Gallagher is compared to Brad Marchand, when talking heads make the facile comparison that both are undersized, very talented and can score goals, but are also pests and agitators.  Brad Marchand is a faker and a diver and a dirty player whose many suspensions pale in  comparison with the multitude of idiocies he commits on the regular and gets away with, like the way he licked (!) opponents during the playoffs last season, and how he jumped Lars Eller at the start of this season on the flimsiest of pretexts. 

Meanwhile, Brendan Gallagher is a tireless worker and an honest competitor.  His aggravation of opponents is caused not by dirty play or a sociopathic streak, but only due to his persistence in standing in front of their net and ability to pot rebounds and tip shots.  Compared to the creep that Brad Marchand is with his cheap shots when the ref's back is turned, Brendan is a good guy with a target on his back, who doesn't back down and takes punishment and tries to dish out in kind, to fight through the abuse, much of it after the whistle and in front of the insensate referees.

Except when he does this kind of thing:




It doesn't matter what happened before this with the Bruins defenceman that caused Gally to lose his cool, it looks really bad.  The referees were starting to give you some leeway, the benefit of the doubt, and this kind of garbage will eat into that.  And it gives idiots like Gary Galley more grist for their tiresome mill, their rote platitudes and equivalencies. 

Not cool Brendan...

--Speaking of Gary Galley, oof, him and Bob Cole, they had themselves quite the showing last night.  Bob Cole being most excited when the goal by Artturi Lehkonen was waved off, and Gary insisting that, when you slow it down, you can see the intent of the Canadiens forward to push Tuukka Rask aside, because that's the way you Zapruder something, by slowing it down frame by frame, attributing volition instead of, you know, understanding that Artturi was kind of busy being pushed from behind by Brad Marchand and falling to the ice, in that fraction of a second. 

--The 'story' of the game will be Jonathan Drouin, how he went from hero...


... to goat...
... in the span of a few minutes.  His four-minute crosschecking penalty lost the game for the Canadiens, and it was described by some as selfish or ill-timed.  

I'll restate that in a heated game against the Bruins, when they're running around 'finishing checks' and gooning after whistles, picking on the smaller Canadiens, I don't have much of a problem with a Jonathan Drouin or most anyone else giving an opponent a fat lip, hitting them in the mouth instead of turning the other cheek.  I don't think it's a horrible tactic to turn into a porcupine and let them know that they won't be bullied with impunity, to send the blessed message old-school analysts prize so highly and frequently.  I prefer a truncheon in the mouth of a Bruin to a lazy hooking or tripping penalty in the offensive zone à la Galchenyuk or Eller.  I prefer Jonathan retaliate than he cower at the feet of an adversary, as Jacob de la Rose did with then-Coyote Max Domi, or Lars Eller did with Nazem Kadri.

So it was an unfortunate penalty, and it had significant consequences, but it was a penalty born not of indiscipline or selfishness in my opinion as opposed to combativeness and snarl.  You don't like the result, but Jonathan didn't choose when David Backes took a run at him.  The Bruin was coming to lay a big check on him when he didn't even have the puck, and Jonathan tried to fend him off with a spirited crosscheck that caught the Bruin's sewer mouth.  Hard to fault him for that.  

And we're a very long way away from this:

We talk often about the outlandish hype the Canadiens players are subjected to, the microscope they're under, the unrelenting pressure.  This is an example at its worst. 

Mr. Dollas had an NHL career and should know better, should be able to differentiate an error of commission from an error of omission.  Jonathan didn't cheat on a backcheck and desperately try to correct his mistake with a lazy hook.  He didn't lose sight of the scoreboard and go headhunting to settle a personal score.  He was the target himself and tried to defend himself, and it turned out badly.  

His contract is not an issue, it's in line with his peers, his comparables, and his effort and production for much of the season, after a slow start.  

Mr. Dollas now has a media career and has to get clicks and attention to earn a living I guess, but this kind of ill-timed hatchet job is the kind of thing that will kill his golden goose.  With this tweet he creates the kind of environment where players don't want to be on the Canadiens, which makes a losing team ever more likely, which makes fans turn away, which drives down viewership and clicks and media jobs, ...

So yeah, I'll roast Jonathan Drouin when he coasts through a game or sleepwalks through a scoreless streak, but I won't go along with this kind of criticism.  Keep jabbing them in the face Jonathan, I prefer that to the alternative.

--Max Pacioretty has finally shaken out of his slump and bagged another couple of goals last night, but Tomas Tatar keeps plugging along, notching his tenth of the season on the powerplay to tie the game at 2-2.  He was dangerous in the Bruins zone all night. 

--And what's gotten into Andrew Shaw?  The guy is possessed, everything he touches turns to gold.  He was near the net on Jonathan Drouin's goal, at first we thought he'd cashed in a loose puck, and he was the one who got the puck behind the net and shoveled it at Tomas Tatar for the equalizer.

7 goals, 6 assists for Shawzy, most of that coming in the last few games where he's been elevated to the first line due to injuries.  It will take some doing for Joel Armia to return to the Top 6 when he's healthy again.
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