Phoenix Musings and In-Game Scribbles

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 (8-10) visit Phoenix Coyotes (10-7)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Game Nineteen (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.

First Period

Houde remarks that the player turnover in Phoenix is very high from last season.

Brunet says that incoming coach Dave Tippett’s style is far more defensive than the wide-open one favoured by outgoing coach Wayne Gretzky.

Speaking of perceived defensive styles, we get a shot of Jacques Martin in a mustard-porcupine tinted suit.

Phoenix’ all-burgundy outfits are reminiscent of the Russian Red Army hockey uniforms of the seventies. Nineteen-seventies.

Price’s new mask, yes another one, is quite unattractive and bears further comment.

The rink is quiet and the action is slow and unperturbed for the first four minutes.

Jay Leach’s backhander fails to clear the zone along the boards to the right of Price. Price is rotating with the smoothness of a brand-new 1963 metallic rod-hockey goalie. Glove is up and immobile. Also at the metallic ready.

First chance is produced by Pacioretty and Metropolit. Mild backhand which may not even have hit the Phoenix goaltender.

I’ve defended the fans here in Phoenix. Said that the ones that care deserve to keep their team. Very quiet but caring fans, I note.  Very quiet.

Gomez’ line makes only their second appearance of the game at 13:55 (remaining in the first).

In a way, this game is a collection of long and short golden straw lengths. Farmer geometry. Yellowed vectors, a series of long or short passes, intercepted or true, both. I choose to watch the game from this perspective for a few minutes. Turnovers and turnover types. It’s not precise enough to tell me what the turnovers total is. Give me giveaway-takeaway ratio. And tell me where they took place. And who committed them. And whether they were forced or not. Are dump-ins counted as turnovers?

Straw vectors.

We see some fan shots and two guys are wearing combo Nordique-Coyote gear. Two-face style. Or like that two-half-head guy at the Grey Cup games. Roughriders-Ticats, Roughriders-Ticats, Roughriders-Ticats!!

Remember him?

First long, deep possession of the night lasts about eight seconds and is led by Tom Pyatt. Phoenix goes the other way rapidly and generates a mild scoring chance which Price handles. Price is keeping the glove up consistently when action is near him. It seems more consistent than before his five-game break.

Puck rounds the corner behind the Coyote net. Gionta is upended and two Coyotes exit with the puck like tall goblins with loot. But they, too, are stopped. Commercial.

How can American beer outsell Canadian beer? The power of commercials and suggestion. Nobody is impervious. Some are more susceptible than others, however.

Just under ten minutes. Gionta line is still on. Spacek passes to Gomez as they attempt to exit the Montreal zone. Houde laughs and says that nobody seems to want the puck.

Coyotes are a very uninterested team. Or is this what great defensive hockey looks like these days?

Kostitsyn tries to control it on the boards. Fails. The long possessions from Kovalev and Lang are over.

Coyotes get their longest control of the evening. A pass goes back to the blue line for Phoenix. Canadiens are now called for too many men on the ice. Martin seems genuinely flummoxed and irritated. Concern is the word as he shakes his head quickly and advances to the boards to get further confirmation.

Plekanec creates a chance early in the penalty-kill. Kicks the bouncing puck ahead and past a defenceman on the blue line but can’t control it enough as he is harried by the same defender. No shot. But he wastes about 11 seconds of Phoenix’ time.

Increments of three. That’s what I’ve reduced it to. Hockey is a game of far smaller and more frequent segments than football.

Plekanec gets another chance. Self-created. This one results in a shot. A dangerous shot. Koivu-style. Good creativity. Ticks the puck one way with one hand high on the stick. Lifts the stick with the same hand over the defender and collects it with both hands on the stick on the other side. And fires. This one is stopped.

Coyotes are unable to control long enough and the penalty expires.

Just over five minutes in the first period. Kostitsyn line is on (Pacioretty) and they begin to skate with their greatest speeds of the night. Leopards aren’t as fast as tigers over short distances but they can catch antelopes just as well.

This three-on-three incursion ends with a whistle but there is an imprint on the game. Montreal may not be as fast as last season but those who do have speed are still amongst the fastest in the game (Plekanec, Kostitsyn, Lapierre).

Latendresse line enters. Ryan White is showing the same tenacity as Plekanec. Lapierre’s stick breaks on the shift. Price goes from right to left and crouches, placing pressure on the left pad as he slides across. Reminds me of Huet’s post-closing style. He follows the puck’s trajectory as it rounds up to the blue line. He sees the ensuing shot clearly and traps it against his chest with his glove.

Just over three minutes.

Marc-Andre Bergeron commits interference. Brunet agrees with the call. Bergeron was beaten and tried to trap Prucha on the boards rather than chase the puck. Brunet says it saved a two-on-one from occurring.

Only in man-advantage situations do the Coyotes look cohesive. I get the sense that the players don’t fully trust one another and that could be explained by all the new faces in Phoenix. Wayne Gretzky is no longer the coach and Dave Tippett, an NHL veteran has taken his place.

Another pass to the blue line hops over a Coyote stick and they have only one ten-second segment to generate a scoring chance. They have generated no quality chances tonight.

Penalty ends and Phoenix’ momentum lasts past Bergeron’s return to the ice. They keep it alive on the boards near Price. Plekanec and Kostitsyn push the puck out with speed and purpose and they cross the neutral zone as the first-period alarm sounds.

Phoenix outshoots Montreal seven to three. Meager shot totals reflect the many missed passes by Phoenix. They were in the man-advantage situation for four minutes, remember.

First Intermission

Very nice black tie on black shirt combo from Francois Gagnon. Grey blazer.

He’s talking about Balsillie and the Coyotes. The story that won’t go away and the story that brings Canadian jingoism to the forefront more easily than most other stories of 2009.

Balsillie. Wheedling big dress.

Matthew Lombardi is interviewed and his French is quite fluent. He was born in Montreal. Within seconds. The magic of the internet.

Second Period
Montreal 0, Phoenix 0

Gomez is ridiculously Calcuttan. His nose. His profile. This is a good thing. As Salman wrote once, “…dynasties come from noses like this one”. I’m paraphrasing from Midnight’s Children.

Pyatt is picking and choosing spots to get active. Stops chasing a lost puck. Looks and then decides I’d better start chasing again. He’ll learn the tricks for hiding his laziness. Some of the best are on this team.

Have there ever been teams with no passengers? Probably. Are there any in the NHL this season? I’ll have to check around and find out.

High shot from Cammalleri is outfielded by Bryzgalov. Holds it for a faceoff.

Canadiens lose the faceoff and are pushed back into their zone. Just as quickly they move it out. Gionta passes to Cammalleri from the middle of the ice. Cammalleri one-times it from beyond the left circle. That’s one of his favourite launch-points. I just wanted to say launch-point (point from where the passer released the ball – old football term I first heard used by former Los Angeles Ram coach Chuck Knox). Stopped for a whistle.

Plekanec creates the best chance of the night. Picks it up from behind the net, skates out a bit, backhands it and Pyatt bangs it at Bryzgalov. He stops it and covers it.

Plekanec hacks and hacks on the forecheck (legally) and comes up with the puck. This just moments after Houde and Brunet agree that he’s the best forward for the Habs tonight. He comes up with and passes it to the slot where Bryzgalov has to make a difficult save.

Leach shouldn’t fight. He looks like a rock guy caught too deep in the wrong alley. He loses to Paul Bassinette. Brunet says during the fight that this is a way for him to impress the coach. Martin looks thoughtful and mildly disgusted following the fight. He may have been considering something entirely different. Bissonnette could have done worse to Leach. Leach was just able to keep from losing his balance through about a 20-second beating.

Coyotes get a two-on-two and Fiddler does great work stopping to create but Gorges slips and falls into the net. He doesn’t do much to prevent it from happening. Whistle goes and Fiddler’s shot into the net won’t count.

Now Scott Gomez almost gets into a fight. Sainted Phoenix captain Shane Doane is involved. He’s complaining all the way to the box like any privileged Ontario player might. Does him no good.

Montreal power-play. Gionta, Plekanec and Cammalleri. Puck squirts out to the slot. Pass from Gionta. Instead of shooting, Plekanec passes one more time, to Cammalleri. Easy goal as the disc hits the cat-gut netting (well they make it out of something else, I’m sure. Yeah, yeah, I’m a cat person.)

Montreal 1, Phoenix 0

Boring game. Nice goal.

White fully misses his forecheck attempt. And we see Phoenix get some control deep as a result. Metropolit is making it difficult as are three other guys on the ice. Kostitsyn is just watching. It’s enough to the get the puck out however.

Latendresse line. They work it out and Latendresse works on the boards for too short a time deep in Phoenix’ zone.

Cammalleri now comes in on a small breakaway and Bryzgalov gets enough glove on it. Cammalleri bats at the rebound on his backhand but can’t get enough of it.

Radim Vrbata gets a chance now, slows it down, stickhandles, waits. Closing on Price’s right (yeah, yeah). Waits. Moves. Gets stopped. Toe. Gets it back behind the net. Passes to Robert Lang. Lang fires it in. Brunet says that the goal is a reflection of Lang’s great talent and reminiscent of some of his goals from last season. Lang is still wearing number 20 and still looks like Eddie Van Halen.

Phoenix 1, Montreal 1

Off the faceoff, Price stops Peter Mueller. His confidence must be growing in a more earned and natural way. Price, I mean. He went through all that hoopla with the 100th anniversary stuff, heard all the lines, read all the articles (remember the one comparing him with legendary George Hainsworth?) and then he suffered all those Bruin losses (four in a row that felt like forty in a row). This and the player-exchange offseason, combined with the early struggles for the new team that seems to need him more than the old team did (I said seems) may have combined to put him in a place that is better founded for maturity.

Kostitsyn shoots from the side boards. Stopped. Now the puck gets to him in the same spot and he passes instead. This one doesn’t work. Brunet remarks that both Kostitsyn and Plekanec are getting a lot of space on the ice.

Twenty-one is a number that has a dignity to it. I’m glad to see Gionta wearing that number. The other guy just brought dignity to Wendy’s quarterly charts.

If you’re going to be a burger guy, just wear a number in the fifties. Or sixties. Max Pacioretty is one of the exceptions. Well most of the guys wearing those numbers are an exception. I’ll have to send out a memo.

Four and a half minutes left in the second period. Doan is a slow stick-handler. What’s so great about this guy anyway? I know he has a charming smile. Such a well-liked, well-loved younger yet older man. That loveable Phoenix captain.

He is hooked on the way in by Gomez and the Coyotes go to the power-play.

Plekanec intercepts a third power-play pass and takes this one to the neutral zone.

Scott Upshall takes a poor shot that forces Phoenix to regroup. Blue line shot, one-timer after calling for the puck.

Thirty seconds in the penalty. Coyotes move it around. On the boards. Keith Yandle is on the left point now. But not much else results for the burgundy boys and the penalty ends. Lapierre line is on and Kostitsyn is with them. They provide little energy and can’t control the puck either. Uncaring. Just under a minute. Unacceptable.

Playstation and X-Box NHL, NBA and NFL games should have a sense of urgency magnifier that fluctuates and affects all other player ratings at all times, magnifying or shrinking the ratings as the context asks.

Montreal’s seven-four shot advantage for the period narrows the SOG stats to 11-10 in favour of Phoenix.

Second Intermission

Alain Crete asks Joel if Tomas Plekanec is not the best player on the Canadiens this season? Bouchard shows us some footage. And we see Plekanec’ improvements as a player from last season.

We see Plekanec come in and support Pyatt on his first slot pass. Next highlight is the Montreal goal. Bouchard says that the defender on the play should have gone to Plekanec in the slot and not stayed with Cammalleri on the side of the net. Plekanec got the puck, as you may recall, on a corner pass from Gionta, waited, and then got it to Cammalleri. The extra pass that is reminiscent of Koivu. And we see the goal.

Now the kindly, old coach, Jacques Demers gives us some more video commentary showing some of Montreal’s folly in the defensive zone. Demers has his game face on. Demers adds that he had both Mara and Hamrlik when he was coaching in Tampa Bay and that they are both good-character guys. Les gars de charactere. (He had criticized some of their work)

Price’s mask blends some of the worst of the red-white-blue concept. Red, white and blue don’t really go well unless both the red and blue are reduced. Too much clash. Price’s mask has a lot of baby blue, as well. Need I say more?

They interview Tomas (I almost wrote Saku) Plekanec prior to the third. We hear some RDS agreement on the beauty of the building. They call it Glendale Arena. Glazed wood can cause a person to pass out from boredom. So can watching golf. Glendale Community Centre; your town’s golfing needs!

Third Period
Montreal 1, Phoenix 1

Net goes off the moorings on a rush from Fiddler and Doane. Gorges was involved again. Both Gorges and Price are good on this sequence. No shot. No goal. Whistle.

Some veterans are better than others. Bergeron exits from behind the net and sends a lead pass ahead. This rush ends without completed passes in any key sectors. Phoenix drives down in the same manner and Price traps and holds the puck on a harmless shot.

Pyatt has great will but weak radar. Forces a turnover behind the net but turns the wrong way to reach the puck. Phoenix exits.

Phoenix defender James Vandermeer’s shot skips high and off the protective netting.

Chase and stop. Chase and stop. Behind the Montreal net. Finally the Phoenix hard work pays off and Hamrlik is called for tripping. Phoenix enters their fourth power-play situation. They are zero of three tonight.

Upshall is on the left point. Aucoin is on the right point.

Montreal negates the first thirty seconds, most of the work in the Montreal zone.

Second wave sees Peter Mueller, Mike Lombardi and Shane Doan for Phoenix. They are arrested at the Montreal blue line. Then the next incursion is thwarted by Gomez who takes it in himself for a leaning swoop in on Bryzgalov. Flank shot is stopped nicely.

Now Lombardi takes a penalty. We go to four-on-four. Deep faceoff for Montreal to the right of Bryzgalov. Bergeron does a 180 turnaround reminiscent of two decades ago and clears space for himself a la Doug Harvey. Shoots. High. Quick. And in.

Montreal 2, Phoenix 1.

Bryzgalov expresses his frustration.

Now the Canadiens go to the man-advantage. Metropolit and Plekanec are on with Mara and Bergeron with Cammalleri on the phone booth side.

They keep it in easily and move it around well. A shot from Mara. Rebound. Plekanec. Turns. Thinks. Passes. Easy shot in for Metropolit. What an elegant, urgent pass. Wow.

Tomas Plekanec is here.

Montreal 3, Phoenix 1.

We are told that Plekanec has reached his 200th point tonight. The last assist was the 201st.

Metropolit flies in with Cammalleri. They get a near-chance but the pass is off a bit and Cammalleri is put off-balance.

Puck idles on the boards to the left of Price. Four players show a medium level of interest. With just under twelve minutes left, Phoenix seems ready to mail it in. They’re playing as if there are only five minutes left. It’s a different tenor.

Canadiens are more interested but they don’t have the same talent to make this a 6-1 or 7-1 game. This ain’t your brother’s centennial team, gum-crusher.

Phoenix works it around and it gets to Bissonnette from the middle of the blue line. Long shot finds its way in. Brunet comments on Price’s recent bad luck. Puck went wide but bounced in off a skate. Odd goal.

Montreal 3, Phoenix 2.

They now check if it was purposefully kicked in. And the replay increases that suspicion. Brunet says it looks more like it was purposeful on the replay. Now Brunet goes back and says that it wasn’t on purpose. Always with the player. He is too recently out of the game to be as critical as is needed to be an analyst. He has to develop shards. Brunet adds that it’s hard to tell and that it’s not an easy job to determine these things.

Houde says on seeing the replay that there is no doubt that his foot was moving forward.

We hear the decision. Goal.

Bissonnette has his first NHL goal and his face tells the story. His teammate kicked it in and he knows it. Cheating.

Just under ten minutes.

Why should I feel good about a cheap goal? His teammates congratulate him and he is all gap-tooth smiles and ruddy red forehead. Nope. I don’t say happy things for what isn’t fair. And if your baby’s ugly, don’t ask me for a description. Ask someone else.

Hamrlik makes a solid play to keep the puck moving along the boards instead of bouncing in front of Price. Each of these subtle plays is so critical if blown and so unnoticed if achieved; life as a defenceman is a series of field goal attempts.

Phoenix ices it.

Puck ends up back in Montreal territory after a brief exit (following the faceoff). Gorges knows many, if not all the tricks for trapping the puck dead or keeping it alive on the end boards.

Price’s mask is in commemoration of Remembrance Day. Nice sentiment. But perhaps it misses the bigger picture; the glorification of war is not the best cause to support. Not unless the events of such a day are more graphic in their condemnation of war and the senseless loss of life it produces. It’s a longer discussion and if people don’t like hearing it during a sports communiqué, perhaps we should consider removing mask and anthem gestures from the sporting arena.

Just under six minutes left. Montreal still leads but are playing with a bit of nervousness, it seems.

Dave King is one of the guys behind the bench for Phoenix. Brunet says he was well-liked during his time in Montreal and that King was a video proponent and a technical specialist.

Five minutes.

Upshall and Lombardi enter and Lombardi is fenced off the puck by Bergeron. Houde remarks that this is perhaps Bergeron’s best game of the season thus far.

I can’t shake the growing sense that Jacques Martin is the right coach for this team right now.

Just under four minutes.

Gorges sacrifices the side of his body to try and whack an iced puck. The gesture seems to affect Mara a little and the team is hitting again. Metropolit is on with Moen and with just over three minutes, the Canadiens are skating faster and winning more battles. They have played down to the Phoenix intensity level for most of this game.

Shane Doan might be a golden boy but he works hard and I do like his attitude. It’s not his fault he got anointed.

Finally the Coyotes make some danger. With just under two minutes left a puck wobbles here and left, rolling and right and six players of both teams tangle and jostle in front of Price for the puck. He gloves it.

Faceoff and Price has to glove it again.

Phoenix is a class team that doesn’t see the need to engage in stupidity post-whistle. This is what they have shown tonight, anyway.

Just over a minute.

Bryzgalov leaves. Gomez line is on. Bergeron as well.

Cammalleri makes a nice move coming out, makes a hesitation move that works. Moves it up. Passes to Gionta on the right side. Gionta waits a second and fires it into the empty net.

Montreal 4, Phoenix 2.

Just thirty seconds left. We can hear a small number of Canadiens fans in the crowd singing a tired old chant. A winning chant.

Game ends.

Montreal 4
Phoenix 2

HDS Stars: Tomas Plekanec, Josh Gorges, Marc-Andre Bergeron
RDS Stars: Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri, Marc-Andre Bergeron

Related posts:

1. Montreal Canadiens versus Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Montreal Canadiens versus Florida Panthers
3. Montreal Canadiens vs Carolina Hurricanes
4. Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Montreal Canadiens versus Washington Capitals
6. Nashville Musings and In-Game Scribbles