Chicago Musings, In-Game Scribbles
March 31, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Chicago 1 at Montreal 4
Cristobal Huet is back. I forgot about his French accent. I’ll always wonder about why he was shipped out. We got a second-round pick that we eventually traded to get Robert Lang. So the value was good. But his loss is one that took a while to learn to live with.
The team was supposed to wear the barber-pole jerseys tonight but they have gone with the CM throwbacks. Andrei Kostitsyn is back in the lineup and he is standing in front of his brother during the anthem.
The announced starting lineup is Koivu, Tanguay and Kovalev. KTK. Price in net. Dan Marouelli and Kevin Pollock are the referees.
First Period
Joel Quenneville has an imposing bearing. Dignified but a sense of threat similar to that of Los Angeles Laker head coach Phil Jackson.
Huet is great. I love him.
Kovalev scores right away.
Giveaway from a Chicago defender, didn’t see AK27 coming in and backhanded it onto his stick. Bang.
1-0, Montreal.
Unexpected goal. Lucky giveaway. But great finish.
Higgins comes in, splits defenders and gets a weak shot. And then Chicago comes down for a shot of their own. This could be a very fast, offensive matchup.
Higgins takes an unintentional tripping call. Kostopoulos and Lapierre are on first. Brian Campbell is on the power-play for Chicago. It’s been a while since the team has seen him.
Markov clears. And we are halfway through the kill.
(Apologies for the we and us comments – I try but fail)
Price freezes. Huet said that last year he and Price used to text one another but not lately. Huet called Price “a good man” in his interview earlier today. Price makes a very good save going left to right. Sharp save. And the penalty is over, too.
KTK makes like they are on the man advantage. Characteristic of them. Koivu finds Gorges on a long cross-ice pass. Gorges fires hard but high.
There is a lot of talent on the ice. Havlat is in Chicago. And of course, Kane is here. Chicago looks like us in their movements and size and speed. Very exciting team.
It’s a high peach wine pace. Sweet spring dresses and pre-exam romance. University March while hockey is played with vigour.
Montreal wins their sixth straight faceoff. The lines are the same. Metropolit line controls the puck like the Risebrough line. Higgins works toward the net for a backhand and Huet freezes. His mask is a work of art (aren’t they all these days?). An homage to the Blackhawk logo.
There is always something special in playing an “original six” team. Especially one that hasn’t visited in a long time.
Adam Burish seems to be highly skilled and Chicago has him listed as being on the fourth line. If he is it may speak to Chicago’s overall skill level. So many good players that a quality passer like him is relegated to fourth line duty.
Oh my god. What a sequence between Koivu and Tanguay. What a sequence. Tanguay gets in the clear by interception. Straight down. Slows. Drops. Gives to Koivu. Gets it back. Goes to the right of Huet. Gives back to Koivu. And Koivu just misses. Draws a penalty. It’s the kind of sequence that the Russians dropped our jaws with throughout the eighties.
Powerplay number one.
Thomas and the brothers are on for the second segment. First segment does little. Kovalev giveaway is corrected by Schneider. Falling, diving and wiping ice with his stick. And knocking the puck away.
Koivu then sneaks a pass to Kovalev’s backhand. Huet saves. But what a pass. Huet is his usual three pad self. Slows the puck down. Slows the game down. It’s as if he has a low-power puck magnet in his equipment. He is a master at reducing the puck’s velocity and bounce.
Powerplay ends. Huet is the author of that paragraph.
Sergei creates and Andrei shoots. But nothing yet. Huet is calm and in position. Both goalies are playing well as Price freezes.
Marouelli ignores Higgins’ stick being held.
Lapierre wins another faceoff for Montreal. Makes it look easy.
Refs ignore a Latendresse border-line takedown.
Sergei takes a hard hit. And Andrei drops his gloves for the first time in history. I’ve never seen it. He keeps his gloves on too long. And gets taken down eventually. Sergei has blood on his face and is still down. It was not a good hit. Purposeful head shot. Brunet says it’s no problem. I disagree. Johnson. Gainey is shaking his head ever so slightly.
Saku listens to the explanation from the zebra. He is making a case of some kind. He never (or possibly rarely) swears in making his points. It’s harder to read lips sideways.
Andrei Kostitsyn takes a lot of minutes in penalties for it all. It’s all by the book. Chicago will get a four-minute power-play. Big brother gets a 10-minute misconduct.
Higgins gets the first shot of the Chicago powerplay. Montreal will be strong in this sequence. Sequence of justice.
Price is playing very well. For a few games now. Another good save. The timing is all very good. Price makes two great saves. On a total of about five on this skirmish. And then Chicago gets a penalty.
Revlon. (Years ago, Gretzky said the term means a “make-up” penalty)
It’s four-on-four for just under two minutes. And then Tanguay breaks free. Drives in virtually alone. Huet stops it. Great showdown.
Confidence level of certain players is rising. Bell is yelling Huet’s name. Hoping to shake him up. He won’t notice. Or care.
For noticeable confidence increases, Komisarek, Plekanec, Gorges, Price and Higgins are all noticeably playing differently, more assertively. It looks different for each but it’s good to see. Non-noticeable confidence changes are beyond the first-person, limited omniscience afforded this writer.
Sergei is still on the bench. Now Price makes a smart-looking scoop save. There are three specific saves this period that show the extra care for detail that Price is exhibiting in the past three games. Joe Montana’s quote comes to mind again (confidence is a fragile thing). It’s mercurial, as well.
This is a very high level period of hockey for Montreal to have in the books. With the recent period-to-period excellence shown by the team in recent games, it’s another good sign for the team as they begin to rise again.
First Intermission
No ties. Méchant Mardi. Brisebois is interviewed just prior to heading out to the ice and he says he is very grateful to the media for recognizing his contributions. He is the Montreal nominee for the Bill Masterton as selected by the hockey writers. Last Canadien to win that was Saku Koivu in 2002.
Second Period
Havlat is in early on Price and he makes a textbook save and then falls on the puck with some alarmed body language. Or not.
At the other end, Lapierre shows again his abilities in controlling the puck, plays keep-away. He has several methods in corner puck-control and he seems to be developing more. Just as the Smyth-supporters will talk about the great range of skills needed to be a fine deflecting, doorstep centre, so the mucker museum-goers will laud the range of tricks needed by a top-level grinder. It’s another part of having a great hockey IQ.
This is a goaltender’s game so far. Price is playing one of his best games of the season. And in my untutored view, it is his best. He grabs a headshot puck unconventionally. Follow-up scrum results in a Chicago roughing penalty. Quenneville does not approve. But he doesn’t yell either.
Now Koivu ends the powerplay early by bumping Huet.
Old-school refs. Just making things even. Huet exaggerates the hit, too. Falls like a dehydrated, lunging elephant. Legit call, though.
Canadiens then get a goal off a Chicago bungle-fest and pop-up fluke. Puck goes up and then down Huet’s back. Couldn’t we have gotten one of these against the blue team?
2-0, Montreal.
Chicago responds and puts some sustained pressure on Montreal. And Montreal turnovers keep it on. But Price saves their eggs. Soon enough, Montreal gets back to better passes and decisions. It’s the Lapierre line that provides it.
I find myself rooting for Huet as much as the Canadiens in the Chicago zone. It’s uncontrollable.
Hamrlik takes an interference call. He hits a linesman doing it. And get hurt and has to go in to get checked.
Montreal kills it. Now Latendresse creates problems, minute-long type problems for Chicago. Huet is sharp.
Holy hulking watermelons! What a save sequence from Price! What is happening? A gorilla is born, raised and comes down from the mountains. What a moment.
Chicago takes a penalty on the sequence as Price is knocked down like a boxer by a Chicago forward.
Markov exultant. Montreal scored. Scored. Scored!
3-0, Montreal.
They announce that Koivu, Tanguay, Kovalev have 10 of the 15 Montreal goals over the past four games. Ligne Internationale. Signe Internationale.
Third Period
Eating while watching the game is a bad idea. Disrupts concentration. I may have to add that to the list of things not to do while watching the game.
Now Schneider takes a cross-checking penalty. Hard to say if that was a necessary penalty from the replay.
There is too much action to cover in a hockey game. My unacademic guess is it would take about 16 views to get a good sense of what happened. As opposed to the three needed with a football game.
Imagine if hockey had huddles and eight-second sequences. Yes. Not good.
They show us the number one for shot-blocking stat. What does it really mean? In the midst of the recession (as Bob Gainey stated it) we were third overall in that stat. And losing and playing a weaker brand. What does that stat really mean? Trust me, I will find out.
It’s tempting to assume that the barber-pole jerseys didn’t make it onto the ice tonight because of some executive decision by the marketers. It could have been that six of the jerseys got misplaced. Or perhaps went unwashed. A bad reality show (but a good marketing idea in today’s television wasteland) might be Designer Montrealais; where fifteen selected young folks spend five months designing new Montreal paraphernalia including jerseys, concessions area and overall arena concept.
Chicago is getting neutralized at the Montreal blue-line.
Half the period left. It’s the equivalent of the prevent defence. It’s working. So far.
Every time Tanguay touches the puck these days it’s magic.
It doesn’t seem as if there will be any more goals. And then Chicago scores. Right after I type that. I was going to add that there are a lot of other interesting things to observe.
Montreal, 3-1.
Seven minutes left. And forty seconds.
At least Montreal will be allowed to freewheel a bit again. Plekanec has played very good hockey this period. And he helps set up Higgins for a shot.
Higgins finds AK46 for a breakaway. What speed he has. He is stopped but draws a slashing penalty. Brunet likes Higgins’ set-up.
Montreal returns to the power-play. Schneider takes the pass from Markov and rubber-bands a bowling ball into the corner of the net. What a hard and heavy shot.
4-1, Montreal.
Tanguay is especially adept at intercepting opposition break-out passes. Kovalev then puts a small stamp on the shift taking it along the top of the blue-line before backhanding it in to Tanguay. In ending his shift, Tanguay gets it out to Schneider for another shot. This one hits Plekanec in the back.
Kostitsyn then breaks in for another shot. Huet stops it.
There is only one minute left. And the crowd shows its appreciation. It’s Montreal’s best overall game of the past 20 or so. The improvement continues.
It will take the mainstream some time before they realise the same. But here tonight, we all know what’s on the stove.
Chicago leaves the ice like gentlemen. Another team might start something. I won’t name any names. This time.
Price throws his very nice goal-stick into the crowd. About ten people have their hands on it. Nice gesture. How do they decide who gets it? All it takes is a sale for people to show their deeper natures.
I pick Price, Huet and Tanguay for the stars. Demers will go with Price and the scoresheet.
He goes with Price, Latendresse and Markov. Good enough. Thursday is a trip to the Island. Where Higgins and Komisarek play well.
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