Islander Musings and In-Game Scribbles
October 22, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones)
Montreal Canadiens (3-5) host New York Islanders (1-3-3)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Game Nine (score posted following scribbles)
Musings and In-Game Scribbles are a “live blogging” of the game that are compiled (typed, actually) during the game and edited and posted shortly after the game.
Jacques Demers congratulates Marc Denis for a great job last telecast. He also asks what the controversy is regarding Halak getting the start for tonight. Demers says that Halak played well last game and that Price has lost a few in a row so this is a logical move.
Mark Streit is back in the building. The former Canadien is one of the Islanders best defencemen and one of the team’s best players.
Mise O Jeu, the capsule preceding the game sees Dave Morissette predict wins by the Rangers, Flyers and Canadiens in tonight’s games.
Martin Biron is starting in net for New York. He plays well against Montreal and broke the team in the spring of 08 as a member of the Flyers.
First Period
Again, Plekanec’ line starts. But it’s Lapierre in place of Pacioretty.
Kostitsyn delivers a blow early in this game.
Gomez’ line is on. Same three as last game.
They get control early. About ten seconds wroth. They get in for a second possession.
Moen line hops on. Pacioretty is on with them and Metropolit is back in the line-up and centring this line. Bergeron falls while backchecking and the Islanders sail to the goal. But are unable to get a shot.
Latendresse tries to hurt Martinek but the Islander cleverly slows to avoid it. Latendresse collides with the corner boards. Stays up. Latendresse is on with Chipchura.
Islanders can’t get at the puck. AK46 dumps it in now. Back to Gorges and his shot deflects out of play. They stay on for the faceoff. And long enough for a brief skip over Islander ice.
Gionta plays like an upright bear. Nobody is saying anything about size anymore. What a myopic, generalist conclusion. Meaningless.
Size is not the main factor in endurance. Conditioning is.
Halak traps the puck after a harmless entry by NYI. Holds for a faceoff.
The defensive pairings are Hal Gill and Josh Gorges, Paul Mara and Marc-Andre Bergeron with Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik as the number one twosome.
Thompson comes in a two-on-two and fires early. Halak won’t give him a rebound and controls the puck and freezes.
Canadiens lose the faceoff. But recover the puck. Gomez enters and sends a puck at Biron. Puck goes to the corner and bounces off the protective netting. Gionta is parked at the top of the circle to the left of Biron. Gomez gets him the puck and Gionta fires with velocity. Action rounds to the slot and Gomez is there to whack in a puck. It’s his second goal of the season plus his shootout goal.
Montreal 1, Islanders 0.
Metropolit line follows. Gomez’ goal was as opportunistic as it was positional. The puck skittered toward the slot from the point and Gomez just half-turned and batted it. It went high on Biron.
Islanders now get called for too many men on the ice.
With 11:17 left in the first period, Montreal goes to their first power-play.
Mara gets an early shot but it deflects and loses all velocity.
A second sequence sees Gomez fail to lift a pass to Kostitsyn and the puck is intercepted. Next sequence sees Cammalleri scoot out from the corner for a wrap-around attempt. Stopped.
Montreal has better control of the puck tonight and retain it for longer periods than in the first several games this season.
Gorges demonstrates how to pin a player on the boards. Gill gets the puck up to Latendresse and high-velocity shot from the blue-line is gloved. From the boards, just inside the line.
Bergeron gets a shot through a crowd and somehow gets it on net. Biron has to make an alert save. Bergeron’s shot is powerful.
Gill takes a holding penalty on an Islander break-in. Off the faceoff, Montreal keep New York away from the puck. The Islanders finally control about thirty seconds in. Then, Gionta is slicing through three Islanders for a back-hand attempt. Sudden. Not a lot on the shot and Biron is able to block it.
Lapierre dives to block a shot from the blue line and it’s the first time I recall a shot-block attempt this season. I’m sure there have been others but he dove like Begin or Carbo. It’s great to see. Komisarek’s shot-blocking is missed and plays like that will help the team orient itself.
Montreal kills the penalty.
Gionta flowers down the right side and gets a pass-shot out front and Biron has to deflect it. Threatening play.
Montreal resumes control of the puck. Moen is on the ice with Metropolit and Kostitsyn. Appears to be a temporary line. Kostitsyn controls from behind the net a la Kovalev and then is stopped on a direct shot on Biron’s doorstep.
Pacioretty, Lapierre and Pacioretty are together and Lapierre creates a good chance. Drives in from the left, quick little shot and then Pacioretty cracks at the rebound. Stopped. This time. Montreal has great control throughout.
First line is on. The imports.
Cammalleri is difficult to push off the puck. He’s short but he’s strong. His work down the left side results in another Islander penalty.
Kostitsyn is on with Gomez and Gionta for the power-play. The older brother is playing with good energy tonight and skating with destinations in mind.
Isles repulse early but Gionta takes it in and fires a long shot at Biron which he gloves.
Off the faceoff, Bergeron fires and Houde loses it. For the first time this season. What a shot. So quick. Bang. And in the net.
Montreal 2, Islanders 0.
Houde’s sudden “Et le but!” scared me.
Lapierre comes in. Backhand. Stick breaks. Moen bangs Sutton in the corner. Crowd is yodeling what they always yodel.
Energy level and pace has increased.
Gionta is on with Plekanec. Gionta fires a hard shot high over Biron’s right side as tie runs out. And we see on the replay that it hit the goaltender on the head. Possibly the shoulder.
Period ends. And we are told that Montreal leads on shots 15-7. The two power-plays fatten that number.
First Intermission
Montreal 2 Islanders 0
Here we go, here we go. Another soupless intermission. Francois Gagnon (who I’ve been calling Normand Bouchard all season; great; I’ve got some kind of journalistic condition) is talking about John Tavares. We see his draft-day reaction. So happy to be selected. Hugs and dress shirts. And to the Islanders. Shot of Charles Wang in this film clip. Wang is one of the most unusual owners in NHL and North American sports history.
We get a chyron board graphic comparing Alexandre Daigle and Patrik Stefan. Gagnon says neither player developed in the way they were expected to. Sans doute, Alain.
People pronounce it kry-on. But it’s spelt rather differently. Just like the Favre rule, eh? American option pronunciation. It’s a better world with US English (use a Baritone Bob tone of voice on that last sentence).
Second Period
Perry Pearn, first-season Montreal assistant coach, is being talked to by Jacques Martin. Pearn chews his gum in the same manner as Pat Quinn. Same side-cow but quick gum-chewing expression. Almost as if he dares you to suggest he’s chewing gum. And then he’d deny it while chewing even faster.
Goal. Pacioretty.
Opportunistic. He was going in front of the net, puck popped in front by accident and zoop! In the net for his first of the season. He is a mix of relief, humility and jutting jaw. Spitting on the ice more than he usually does as he sits on the bench.
Montreal 3, New York 0.
Canadiens have some quick pressure after the goal. Then Chipchura stands and fights Thompson. Chipchura looks like a dad when he fights. No panic. His huge visor is a detriment to the nuances of The Code.
Ooooh. The code.
The stupid, frikking code. The megatard code. The let’s- all-look-at-the-emperor’s-hiney code.
Montreal gets a powerplay out of the fracas.
Bergeron’s confidence is in evidence. Carries it and past the hash. Looks for a rebound soon thereafter. He’s got that salesman head-up and on a swivel demeanour all-of-the-sudden. Can I help you with that, ma’am?
Three good quality chances on this man-advantage. Plekanec watches a grounder skitter through his legs. An adroit pass he wasn’t expecting.
I feel distant from the on-ice goings-on. I can’t help it. And I don’t fully understand why.
Moen is on with Pacioretty and Gomez. Another new permutation.
It must be nice for the players to know they can count on Halak to hold the fort while they hold this lead.
Biron now saves a certain goal. A wraparound and then another shot from Latendresse. Second shot was the one Biron was great on. Solid on the first, hey, I’m not dissing the guy. Who can diss a guy with that much orange on his mask?
That Islander orange is a special kind of orange. Almost a corporate orange. A Knickerbocker orange. The kind that goes well with blue. And hey, it goes well with blue.
Islander blue.
Montreal gets another power-play. Plekanec shovels from the side, very ready this time. But it’s too sharp an angle. Canadiens are playing with the most confidence I’ve seen this season. Quick passing. Turning and wheeling. Looking. Sensing Islander doom. Bringing that doom. Pass after pass. Isles are nervous. Big red shots. Splotch.
They are just waiting for the boot. Boot on the throat.
Great control. And Montreal is now at a 25-9 in shot advantage.
But the Isles survive the penalty. But the action is all scrape and crease. Finally, Biron captures it. Nobody’s helping him. He seems to be asking the ref to talk to his defencemen for him.
Commercial.
Islanders have a chance to save their orange helmets here. Refs help by ignoring a Sutton indiscretion.
Moen nails Myer in the neutral zone. Boards. Satisfying near-Dornhoefer sound.
Man, D’Agostini is unimaginative. One day, decades from now, I’ll have to apologize to Matt D’Agostini for that remark. Just to get an interview from the guy.
Or maybe not. Probably not. Have another sandwich (Genoa)
Islanders are trying to restore balance to The Force. Streit is a big part of it with some thoughtful-looking passes. Never mind that both passes result in turnovers.
Players should be allowed to snack during the games. You know, three mini-fridges down the front of the bench. Apples, I guess. Or maybe pizza subs.
Six minutes in the period.
The Islanders are not closing the gaps. Montreal can feel faster than they really are. More important. Why do the Islanders give up so easily? This isn’t a new thing.
I remember when I feared the Islanders. Feared.
By the way, Rick DiPietro is still working through an injury. He has a knee injury but he was on ice for part of the Islander practice on Monday. I just thought you’d want to know what the 90-million dollar man was doing. Thank your heaven for inflation. Thank your heaven now. (Ten-year 87.5 million dollar deal, signed on September 12, 2005 … your guy Wang signed him)
Four and a half minutes. Islanders are creating. Bergenheim and Neilsen. Finally Kostitsyn pushes it out and looking for Lapierre lobs an interception. Chipchura backchecks and gets it over to D’Agostini. He goes down the left side. Curls around the net. Stick-handles in slower motion than the NHL average. Loses the puck.
Chipchura is helped by Gorges deep as the Canadiens continue to keep it on Islander ice.
Now Park is out and about. Going in. Shooting. Halak saves it and juggles. Play continues. Pace is gaining. Action goes the other way. Mara hits a post. Now two shots by Montreal. Whick, click. Mode and mood are goalward. A lot of slop and vigor. Both. This is where a game can change texture. New make-up. Put on some Jack Nicholson.
But it doesn’t happen. Play is stopped and the action continues in a herk and with few jerks. It’s back and forth for the last three minutes. And the Islanders match Montreal chance for chance.
Both Halak and Biron are at their most mutually active tonight.
Finally a Kostitsyn shot is stopped and trapped.
Isles break out soon after the faceoff. Minute-eight. Habs shovel it out. Lapierre chasing Myer. Long pass from Brendan Witt turns into icing. Faceoff to the left of Biron with just under 50 seconds left in the second period.
Bergeron with another shot. Creates a lot of trouble. The puck lies free while six men struggle. Red and orange. Finally the puck is cleared from the New York doorstep. Action goes to the boards behind Halak and some good work from both teams ends the period. Board work. You know. Muck and mug. Bump and shove.
Period ends.
Second Intermission
Montreal 3, New York 0
Sidney Crosby looks like Stephen Harper trapped in an uncomfortable verbal passage in his Join The Fight! Photograph. He and Ovechkin are part of a Hockey Fights Cancer campaign. Crosby is in a suit while Ovie is in a t-shirt. Pickup truck and the GPS. The message is, all of us, beer-drinkers and wine-drinkers alike have a stake in this crusade. (Oh, and shop.nhl.com; click here)
Beat cancer with pucks, people. Pucks. Sorry.
Pacioretty says the word “goin’” in the accepted Canadian hockey accent. How’s she goin’? Just givin’ ‘er. They interview him before the third and does he think his words convince us he’s a candy-bar of hockey joy and prosperity? It’s not his fault. I likes ‘im anyhoo. And uh wants muh meats.
Third Period
Being born and raised in Sept-Iles means you were born near Schefferville. Which means you were born near New Found Land. Yes and a bagpipe.
Islanders take another too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Usually that’s the player’s fault. And no matter. Halak makes a falling weeble error. Gives the puck away behind the net. Falls. Weeble.
Montreal 3, Islanders 1.
Oy-yoy-yoy.
Power-play resumes. Canadiens are a bit concerned. And it affects the play and control. We need Kovalev’s nervelessness in situations like this.
Shot into DiPietro and a swarm arrives. They try and bang at it but the Islander defencemen don’t let it happen. Impressive. Arms up and Gomez held up. Other arms intervene. The usual slot-bang doesn’t materialize. Uh. Yup.
Halak had the puck, flipped it and it went about one foot. An Islander swept in and took it around. Backhanded it in. Halak was stunned. He decided to go weeble on it but it was a cosmetic gesture at best. Seconds too late.
Canadiens now take a brutal tripping penalty. Great. Andrei. That camera in the penalty-box is one of the most welcome media intrusions in the game. We take it for granted but it never fails to entertain. Andrei does a little, so-what spit and tries to ignore the camera.
Montreal is working to keep the Islanders out. Gill. Big. Slow. But effective tonight. Islanders have yet to register a shot with over a minute elapsed in the penalty.
Finally the shots start to arrive. Streit drives one. Streit is still dangerous with the puck. Creative.
Good save from Halak on another Islander rush. Gorges rushes it. Ices it. Faceoff and by rule, Montreal cannot change their players. Important faceoff, I’d say. Isles win it. Halak takes down Tambellini. With hostility. Arm up and forward down. Gill timed it just right.
And the Canadiens have gotten it out and gotten a change. Halak is not playing any differently despite the gravity-free goal against.
Gomez. Alone. Deke. Stopped. Along-ice shot fails. Gionta followed and hit Biron, too. Canadiens make a party of it. Full control and one chance after another. All from the import line. Great game from the first line but only one goal. They sub off. The puck leaves the ice and we go to commercial. Gomez was all alone on the breakaway. Which he created himself with an interception.
I watch no TV nowadays (except these games) so when I see a fictional punch, I go into a kind of three-second shock. Commercial for a movie shows a really mean-looking guy hit another male. I can’t believe it. Why did he hit him? Was that necessary? I’m becoming re-sensitized.
The Islanders have over $8M devoted to goaltenders this season. Dwayne Roloson is also on this team. The ex-Oiler. He’s about 40 now. He can still play and they pay him accordingly. About 2.5M. That’s still high if you consider that he’s a much older goaltender and that type tends to make much less, regardless of reputation or recent accomplishments. This might be a CBA thing.
Montreal goes to a sixth power-play with under ten minutes to go.
Plekanec with Metropolit and Cammalleri. Puck works around and gets to Cammalleri at a sharp angle. He shoots. He scores. His first goal as a Canadien. Cammalleri was on a knee and mini-golfed it. Got a lot on it.
Crowd is the loudest of the evening.
Montreal 4, New York 1.
If D’Agostini is on the team for offence than he isn’t of much value if he isn’t scoring. He can’t do anything else well. He loses this faceoff, for example. He was subbing for Chipchura who was kicked out of the circle. He loses a second faceoff. First one was interrupted for some hockey-related judicial reason, The siren went off accidentally or something.
Plekanec intercepts. Enters. Fakes. Moves around. Is taken down. Still gets the puck in front. It floats. Lapierre whacks at it. It goes in. Wow. Unexpected. The goal wipes out the penalty.
Montreal 5, New York 1.
Instead of just shooting when they come in, the Canadiens are slowing down and creating. Pacioretty this time. It tells you something about the confidence of Koivu and Kovalev both. They did those sorts of things every shift. Experienced and confident offensive players. Always creating regardless of the situation. I think that is one thing I’ve learned about this game. A young player’s offensive confidence is a fragile thing.
Crowd is cheering and the Canadiens are bubbling over. They are feeling confident as a team for the first time. They’ve been working hard all season but this time all the hard work is has goals to show and it feels good. Many of the young ones are reminded that, yes, they know how to play this game.
Just over four minutes in the period.
The crowd brings out the na-na-na-na chant. It seems inappropriate as a chant choice. But it isn’t in terms of timing. Maybe someone should write a few new chants and email them to the main fan club.
We return from a sponsor’s timeout and we see that Spacek has incurred an interference call (obstruction in French).
That Sirois book-cover is quite provocative.
Islanders deliver a robust power-play and Halak has to make two good saves. We see a shot of Price wearing a white ball-cap. Canadiens logo. Stretch-fit. Red sabertooth siding.
Will Price start in the next game? That is what Brunet is asking. He answers his own question saying that Halak deserves the start on Saturday against the Rangers.
He’s right but that doesn’t mean it will happen.
Does anyone call Bob Gainey on his decisions in this organization? I hope so.
Montreal 5
New York 1
HDS Stars: Gomez, Halak, Bergeron
RDS Stars: Metropolit, Pacioretty, Bergeron
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