Montreal Canadiens vs Atlanta Thrashers

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 (15-15-2) host Atlanta Thrashers (15-11-3)

Saturday, December 12, 2009
Game Thirty-Three (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.

Carey Price starts in net. For Atlanta, it’s #1, Johan Hedberg.

Bill McCreary and David Banfield are the referees tonight.

First Period

Canadiens dump it in early. Max Pacioretty sends the puck to the slot for Travis Moen. Just misses. Atlanta is trapped quickly on the Montreal boards and a Canadiens dump-in follows. Plekanec’ line is next. Cammalleri and AK46 are still the components on this line. Line 1A?

Plekanec loses the puck just inside the Atlanta blue line. Atlanta’s Tobias Enstrom follows with a limp dump-in and line changes follow. Hamrlik tries a long pass that bounces off Lapierre and into the Atlanta zone. Atlanta enters.

Atlanta’s Kane gets called. Houde says that this is an example of a youngster unable to control his emotions.

Evander Kane, showing his true colours for all to see. Now it’s a matter of record and not just suspicion. Replay. Kane whacks Lapierre with both hands (on his stick) and gets called for it. Why the whack? Lapierre took Kane down like a bag of elephant sausages. Undignified and blap. Not living up to his dignified first name. (Holyfield didn’t bite, did he?). Kane had the puck, moved it and got hit right afterward. He didn’t see it and therefore didn’t like it. Today’s player can’t take the contact. They see it as a sign of disrespect. But they are happy to dish it out.

Some exceptions are Alexander Ovechkin who smiles if someone delivers a good lick.

Montreal power-play.

First wave can’t generate a shot nor a long possession. Second wave with Gomez and Pacioretty and Metropolit scores. Quick passing from Gorges to Spacek on the blue, to the hash and to Metropolit in the slot who backhands it high while moving across the goalie’s field of vision. Gorgeous.

Just desserts.

Montreal 1, Atlanta 0

Ilya Kovalchuk is on the first line with Nik Antropov and Bryan Little. They’re on the ice against One A.

Ak46 looks like a wheeling condor as he accelerates in a circle towards the net on his forecheck.

Hamrlik finds Kostitsyn for an 18-yard pass to the left sideline but Andrei has no room at the blue line.

O’Byrne and Bergeron combine to keep the puck from Atlanta’s second line. Schubert is behind Hedberg. Up to the blue line. Knocked back.

Now Moen chases it into the corner. As Moen falls to the ice near the corner to Hedberg’s right, the whistle goes and Atlanta incurs their second penalty.

Beards and doubt. But the call stands.

Boris Valabik took Moen down nicely in the corner and it seemed like a clean takedown to me. But they call it. I agree with Valabik’s beard.

Nonetheless the Canadiens go on the power-play.

Todd White loses the faceoff to Plekanec. Canadiens control. Cammalleri gets a shot. Rebound is controlled and passed to Kostitsyn from the slot to the low circle. One-timer is stopped and controlled.

Faceoff. Atlanta wins. They clear.

Bergeron carries it out. Dumps it in. Andrei loses it in the corner. Puck goes to the centre. First wave controls again. Just over a minute.

Great pass and shot. Bergeron has the puck skip over his stick on the blue line. Another good pass by Andrei and Brunet has remarked that he likes the way the older brother is playing tonight.

Right after the puck skipped over Bergeron’s stick Andrei gets called for interference. Four-on-four.

Bogosian finds Peverley whose puck is lifted. Valabik gets back on the ice. About one minute of power-play for Atlanta. They dump it. Price finds it. Clears out a la Ron Hextall. Great shot Price has. Atlanta is back in. Kovalchuk and Antropov play the wheel on the right side. But Moen is the bad card in the spoke.

Atlanta enters for looks like a last sequence. Kane.

Ilya Kovalchuk’s shot is blocked by Sergei. Penalty ends.

Atlanta’s Kozlov and Afinogenov enter now. Pass and a low shot. Price is ready. And he blocks another and then clears it.

Industrious Glen Metropolit down the left side. In the corner. Two Thrashers beat Metropolit to the puck.

Neutral zone.

Action is crisp.

Pyatt and D’Agostini are forechecking. Pyatt is pressing a defender to the boards while D’Agostini indecisively wheels around.

Fight. Whistle. Simultaneous.

Georges Laraque. Eric Boulton.

Lots of grab-grab and close punching. Boulton gets thrown like a sack of grain. Laraque is smiling and adjusting his helmet as he is escorted. Boulton has a blank, beaten expression.

Commercial.

Laraque always asks politely. Quick nods preceded the fight. Brunet says that Boulton could not refuse the invite since he is playing at home.

Just over eight minutes.

Gill loses position and the puck and has to get back. He does to help negate a three-on-two.

Whistle. Hand on puck.

We really should get a choice of POV on these telecasts. The view from behind the net, maybe thirty feet up would be fine. Viewers should have the control afforded PS3 players on POV choices.

Plekanec loses a faceoff to Hedberg’s left.

Andrei wins a puck battle. Gill has it on the point. Shot is deflected upwards. To the corner. Cammalleri passes from the corner. His pass is to a defender.

Atlanta flies out.

Price makes the crowd go “oh”. Loudest sound so far.

Glove high as he split low. Was covering the right side of his net. Faceoff. Good-looking save. Glossy photogenics.

Action moves into Atlanta territory. Hedberg fields it. Sends it right to Lapierre. Negated.

Now Price makes a quick save on a sudden Atlanta appearance.

Whistle.

Kane’s pass is slow and taken by Bergeron in the Montreal slot.

Just over five minutes.

Gill and Pyatt hassle Chris Thorburn to Price’s right (every time). Thorburn retains the puck and turns back to the blue line. Another whistle after a shot goes high.

Post. Price. Yikes.

Icing on Montreal.

Afinogenov is parked after Atlanta wins the faceoff to Price’s left. Out and back in.

Afinogenov is creating. Gives it away. Three-on-one. Gomez. Waits. To Lapierre. Back to Gomez. Defender is out of it now. Finds Sergei. Post. Huge net. Houde says we’re even now. (Posts).

Antropov shoots it high coming the other way. Against two Habs. Antropov falls over Spacek’s stick. They’re calling it. Accidental and Houde says so.

Atlanta power-play.

Peverley drives it in. Price goes behind the net but lets it go to the hash where it is cleared. Antropov loses it in the neutral zone. Just over a minute and Atlanta can’t set up.

O’Byrne versus Kozlov. Gomez gets it. Carries it over the blue and into Atlanta ice. Atlanta carries it out but Gill ends up with it. Fires it down. Atlanta can’t get set up, eh.

And they drive it in but it goes out. Yet again. Gill cleared it.

Ill-ya. In. They control. Six seconds. Kane. To Kovalchuk. To Kozlov. Shot from the point. Price’s glove.

Faceoff.

Penalty is over.

Canadiens PK is bright iron tong. Something else in a room of something elses.

Pacioretty tries a one-on-one move. Four seconds. Slow-mo. Three seconds. Too slow. Two seconds. Pacioretty is on the ice and down. Again. Sliding. Puck slides harmlessly somewhere. Horn ends Pacioretty’s effort.

Montreal 10 and Atlanta 9 for shots on goal.

First Intermission
Montreal 1, Atlanta 0

Chroniques a La Une. Crete and Gagnon mention the recent meeting between Gary Bettman and Quebec premier Jean Charest. But first they discuss the Glendale situation. Do you really want to hear about this?

Gagnon says that Bettman has opened the door to the expansion issue with Quebec City in mind. The story is a few days old and we know that Winnipeg is the other city the commissioner has mentioned. That’ll shut em up for a while.

Sure that would be cool. Canadian cities with hockey teams. Sounds about right.

But forget the CFL-style meddlers and fan-men. Forget the Balsillies. Bring in the savvy types. Not the bumpkins.

Bettman still has to do something sensible about the teams in areas that are suffering. I do believe hockey can be sold in the supposed non-hockey markets. But each city needs a long-term strategy tailored to the area. Montreal was thought to be a non-football town in the eighties. But the mid to late-nineties showed us the opposite. The new ownership group went into the small Quebec towns and built up the following using a grass-roots approach and a thoughtful long and short-term strategy. Today the stadium sells out annually and is a majority Francophone crowd.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were considered experiments in the early seventies when they were awarded NHL franchises. Today, the perception is that they are both hockey-appreciative cities. It just took time. And some other factors for each, of course. But even a chucktard in a suit can be perceived as CEO material if he holds the position long enough. Some of it is perceptual is all I’m saying.

The same can happen in the Phoenixes and the San Joses. But there has to be more involvement from the NHL offices in guiding smart programs to build the respective followings. I’m sure they have some stuff on the go but committing just a few more resources and more closely tailoring the approach to the territory may push each city over the top.

Second Period
Montreal 1, Atlanta 0

Atlanta played last night. Montreal didn’t. Just in case you were wondering.

Early glove by Hedberg.

Metropolit wins the faceoff. Gets it back to Gill. Wrister. Dangerous. Puck bounces around. Player to player. Metropolit has it. Loses it. Gets it back. Houde says that Metropolit is playing an excellent game. Plekanec line enters.

They retain possession with some help from Price behind the net.

Atlanta enters. Drop pass. Antropov gets it. Wrister from a sharp angle about 35 feet away. Tings off the post. Price didn’t see it, says Houde. Lucky, lucky.

Gomez. Two-on-one with Sergei. Gomez does the Ribeiro slide-groove and wait. They both extend their arms and hold the puck far away as they coast in. They dare defenders. Passes to Sergei. Hits the defender.

Faceoff in the neutral zone outside the Atlanta blue line. Both fourth lines are on according to Houde.

Valabik takes it out from behind his net. Montreal penalty.

Glass has cracked. Arena staff will examine it. Star-shaped, windshield intact. Commercial.

Penalty-kill analysis. Brunet says Hamrlik’s work on PK is excellent this season.

Glass pane is dragged by two arena staff off the surface. New pane is carried on but two other arena staff. They’re coordinated; brown khakis, bad fisherman baseball caps and Thrasher fleece jackets.

And we get a shot of an amused Michael Caine behind the Thrasher bench. Yes, he knows his hockey. Well enough to coach in Atlanta, folks.

Faceoff is to Price’s right. Antropov wins it. Puck goes around and behind Price and up to the hash where Plekanec reaches forwards and golfs it down.

Next entry is negated by Plekanec. Takes it, turns into his own zone, and turns out. Hesitates and clears.

Now O’Byrne gets a pass from Plekanec after another interruption. Clears.

Plekanec interrupts the next incursion as well. That’s four. He carries this one down. Holds it deep. Leaves it. What a shift. No set-up for Atlanta.

Second wave is in for Atlanta. Only about 20 seconds left. Kubina dances like an amateur; puck and stick and now he’s awkwardly in front. Gets it to the left and it’s fanned on. Montreal clears.

Penalty ends.

Five and a half minutes elapsed.

White is in. No overload. Shot. Easy stop.

Three Habs in the slot. Puck finds them. They exit. Pacioretty was involved.

Plekanec line. Pass to Andrei entering. Andrei loses it and goes and gets it back. Turns to the high slot. Looking, curling, looking. Shooting. In. What a goal. Came from the getting it back. Brunet says it was that hard work that led to the goal.

Montreal 2, Atlanta 0.

Kostitsyn stays on the ice. Goes after a puck behind Hedberg. Gets it. Pass to Cammalleri. No shot results.

Antropov line can’t sustain or retain. Now a pass from Antropov goes very wide.

Even-strength and Montreal is standing around. Atlanta is controlling on the blue line. But a whistle goes. Houde thinks it’s a penalty on Antropov but then changes his mind and says we’ll know after the pause.

Humans enthralled by a car in slow-motion.

Spacek slashed Kovalchuk. And his stick broke.

Plekanec is on the first pairing with Moen. Early forecheck nearly loosens the puck behind Hedberg. Who else. Plekanec.

Now a clear.

Quick entry attempt. White gets a pass and a short-side shot. That doesn’t work either. Price gloves and holds it.

Montreal wins the faceoff but loses the puck in the corner.

Now Sergei impresses us all. Dives to push the puck out. And it works. Forty-three seconds left in the penalty. How long can we go?

Moen is back with Plekanec. Atlanta controls. Post. Inn the slot. Aiee.

Afinogenov shoots. Hits a Montreal leg. And an accidental icing after the penalty ends. Plekanec. Error. Whistle. Faceoff to the left of Price. Another new mask. Deep blood and black red. I like this one at first glance.

On Montreal ice. Below the hash. Puck is moving without challenge. Montreal is watching again. Tired? It’s Moen and Plekanec. And now Atlanta will score. Pass goes to the slot. Shot. It should have gone in. Price got over there. Like a Flintstone rolling. Whatever works. What a save. Thrashers feel robbed. Shoulders slump. Commercial break will extend that feeling for the blue boys.

Replay. Stickless Carey. Grabbed it like a stuffed rabbit. Price or the puck. Take your pick.

Just over nine minutes. Too much standing around continues. Can’t win like that. I get a bit shrill.

Schubert wrists it in from the blue line.

Montreal 2, Atlanta 1.

Now Atlanta is awake. What a waste of great effort. All that work gone. Thrashers now believe they belong on the ice. Great.

Kovalchuk. Like a patient monster. Closes to the puck. Shoots from the slot. Somehow botches it.

Peverley is in on a two0on-=two now. Shot goes off the side of the net.

Sergei’s line enters. Gomez and Lapierre are with him.

Sergei is chasing and working hard. Gomez the same.

Lapierre is playing the tired guest tonight. “I’m at the end of my shift” stride. I shake my head like an indifferent foster parent.

Pyatt, Laraque and D’Agostini are on. Atlanta is controlling the play now.

And they score. Martin is frustrated. Nobody is helping Price.

Replay. Long shot. Hits Price’s glove. Drops to the doorstep. Banged in by Colby Armstrong.

Brunet says that nobody was in front of the net and that Armstrong was left alone. Indeed.

Made pencil-man look good. Like a fountain pen. Jim Zorn greatness.

Atlanta 2, Montreal 2.

Just over five minutes left. Plekanec looks a bit tired. Bergeron is pinching. They control deep. Long lateral passes. And they work. To the left from AK46. Now back from Plekanec to Andrei. What a shot. Brunet starts chortling. Hey, that’s how you play.

Montreal 3, Atlanta 2.

Four and a half minutes left in the second.

Lapierre pins a butterfly thrashing to the sideboard. Reasoner is deep. Turns. Fires wide from in-close. Sharp angle.

Bogosian dumps it in for a line change.

Kane enters with speed. Tries to cut to the crease. Defender has the angle. Montreal moves it out.

Pace is up., Montreal is matching it. Pacioretty is out of position. Puck bounces to him. Net goes off. Price is down. Whistle. Price is up. Nothing to worry about.

Just under three minutes.

Antropov enters the slot, receives a nice pass. Backhand to forehand. Curls a bit left, cruising forward. Lobs it in. Lots of legs.

Atlanta 3, Montreal 3.

Two minutes and twenty seconds. Lapierre sends it out and high on the backhand. Flip. But it works.

Gomez is working deep. Draws a penalty. Bogosian. Iffy call. But they’re being consistent.

Houde says they penalized the wrong player. That it should have been Peverley. They debate it. Now Peverley goes to the box. Bogosian goes to his team’s bench. They don’t show a replay.

Ref cleans and flattens the ice using his hand and a puck.

They decide to show AK46’s two goals.  Talented skater and shooter.

Plekanec wins the faceoff.

Control is sound. Three long shots. Two by Hamrlik and one by Bergeron. None of them become dangerous. Atlanta clears.

Bergeron carries it out from behind his net. Passes. The entry is repelled.

Next entry is blocked.

Second wave.

Todd White sends this one out. Gomez enters. Quick stick. Montreal sets up. Gomez looked for a slot set-up. Two Canadiens. Doesn’t find either.

Atlanta moves it down and gets a harmless shot on Price as the buzzer goes.

Atlanta took a 16-4 advantage on shots to lead 25-14, overall.

Second Intermission, Third Period
Atlanta 3, Montreal 3

Andrei foils a deep and lethal-looking two-on-one.

The team is jelling and showing signs that they might be better than an eighth-place conference finish.

Gill inches and keeps it in.

Pacioretty cuts to the middle on his backhand, keeps his balance much better this time and is able to release a backhand shot that goes awry. Canadiens get called for a trip. It’s Pacioretty for an accidental leg-on-leg takedown.

Moen and Plekanec start. Faceoff is won and cleared by O’Byrne.

Next entry is slowed by O’Byrne deep. But Atlanta keeps it in. Enstrom gets a long shot. Passes are accurate. They wait.

Plekanec intercepts a pass attempt. He leads a near two-on-one and shoots it on Hedberg to force a faceoff. Second pairing is Gomez and Sergei. Gomez loses the faceoff.

Atlanta enters. Gorges versus Antropov in the corner. Antropov comes up with it. Then a giveaway by Atlanta leads to more lost time for the Thrashers.

They enter for a last segment. Just fifteen seconds left in the penalty. Sergei is working well. And he comes up with the puck and gets it out. Canadiens press as the penalty ends. Andrei falls in an exaggerated way. Atlanta is called for tripping.

Total dive.

Montreal gets the man-advantage. Pavel Kubina is shaking his head in the box. He’s right.

First faceoff is lost. Montreal regroups. Short passes lead to Hedberg clearing attempt from behind his net. Results in another reset.

Plekanec’ line has it deep. Kostitsyn has it along the boards. After a brief exit, Montreal reenters. Long shot from Hamrlik deflects to the side.

Montreal continues to control with forty seconds left in the penalty. Clearing attempt sees a Montreal line change. Spacek’s long shot is blocked. Kane works to get it out and succeeds.

Penalty ends with the Canadiens in their zone.

Gill now drives it in. Weird bounce and the puck is in the slot. Whistle. Lapierre is called. And Houde is incredulous and says he is looking forward to seeing the replay. Commercial.

Replay shows that Lapierre made contact with Hedberg outside his crease.

Atlanta is slow to set up. And when they do they are stopped. Sergei is sent in free and clear. Breakaway.  Very nice move to slow it down and deke right-left-right-left. Great save by Hedberg. He has to freeze it.

Just over a minute in the penalty to Lapierre.

Atlanta passes several times at the corner of their rectangle. A shot. Turned away. Cleared.

Penalty ends.

Metropolit is on the ice with Lapierre. They can’t get the line-change. But Moen pushes it down from the centre-line. Cammalleri line minus Plekanec enters. Tomas is allowed to rest while Metropolit takes his place for this shift.

Dump-in by Kostitsyn backhanded. Cammalleri and Gomez nearly combine for a slot goal.

Now Lapierre gets in a fight with Bogosian. Bogosian seems quite upset. Lapierre just holds on and survives. Gets taken down. Bogosian picks him back up for some more.

We hear Darude’s Sandstorm. Long time since I’ve heard it in an arena.

Ten minutes in the game.

Penalties offset. We remain at five-on-five.

Afinogenov sets up his own shot. Stopped by Price. Sergei has it trapped between skate and board. More than six seconds. They don’t whistle it. And Sergei comes up with it.

Montreal is forechecking with two men. Moen is in the slot waiting. Metropolit and Pacioretty are aided by Hamrlik on the left. Puck escapes them.

Schubert gets in and shoots. Price loses it after a save. Doesn’t see it. There’s time to recover and he finally sees it and traps it for a faceoff.

Houde says that Price has lost confidence in his glove hand since sometime in the second period.

Replay shows that Price didn’t lose sight of it. Seems he was deciding whether to keep it in play.

Cammalleri turns it over high in the Montreal zone. Quick shot is handled by Price. Whistle follows not long afterward. Hand pass.

Long shot from outside the blue line. Handled. Kubina.

Montreal runs their breakout. Atlanta gets it after a missed pass. Reasoner has it in the corner to Price’s left. Kubina versus Pyatt at the blue line. Kubina succeeds in clearing it in.

Moen moves it out. Drives after it. Metropolit picks it up on the boards. Skates behind the net. Passes it to the slot. Pacioretty’s backhand fails.

Peverley is working on Montreal ice now. It lasts about three seconds.

Plekanec line jumps on. Just under six minutes left.

Best they can do is dump it in. Atlanta clears it. Icing.

Gomez to Cammalleri. Shot fails. Kostitsyn loses it behind the Atlanta net.

Kovalchuk gets in now. Shoots. Price makes the save from a sharp angle to his right. O’Byrne was beaten on the play. Faceoff.

We were informed that Alex Kovalev (a forward with the Ottawa Senators, a team in the Eastern Conference) has a hat trick tonight. I believe he used to play in Montreal.

Brunet says that when Kovalchuk has space to skate he is at his best. The replay shows that O’Byrne’s stick prevented Kovalchuk’s shot from being dangerous. It dribbled away, in fact.

Now Price makes a spectacular spider-save. Going left from right, full splits and Brunet says that he just saved the game.

Just under four minutes in the game.

Moen is working down low. Pacioretty’s support is game but inconclusive.

Gill cruises over the blue line slowly. A shot goes high, wobbling. Hedberg gloves it.

The replay shows a Hart Trophy save from Price. He seems in equilibrium following. Not too high. Not too low. Boy am I relieved to see this change in Price. He is maturing and the team needs him.

Just over two minutes. Gomez comes in two-on-three with Lapierre. Thwarted.

Canadiens are chased back into their own zone. Next exit results in an accidental icing by Atlanta.

Muller makes marks in his pad. Montreal wins the faceoff and they get a shot. Now Atlanta exits but can’t create a chance. Line changes as the puck pauses behind Hedberg.

Atlanta’s Ron Hainsey has to regroup.

Pacioretty intercepts and exits. Could have been a two-on-one. Atlanta got back. Pacioretty continues to control. Finally Atlanta exits.

Stick to the face. Accidental. Metropolit. Martin calls a time-out. Brunet thinks they should have let it go. Replay shows that it was a no-look swing of the arm in annoyance. Makes it a fair call.

Faceoff to the right of the Montreal net.

Gorges talks and puts guys in position. Moen is on with Plekanec first. Montreal gets an early clear from Gill. Five seconds. Long, long shot. Gloved and cleared by Price and the horn goes to end the third.

Shots on goal are in favour of Atlanta 32-19. Seven to five for the Thrashers in the third.

Overtime
Atlanta 3, Montreal 3

Penalty will remain in effect, of course.

Antropov versus Plekanec to start.

Atlanta wins the faceoff. Four on-three. About a minute. Atlanta’s passes are much slower. Waiting for the right play.

Shot finally. Big net. Afinogenov can’t get his stick on the rebound. Another shot. Price is down and covers it.

Plekanec stays on. Loses the faceoff.

Thirty-one seconds.

Kovalchuk has it. Stick-handles in the left circle. Shoots wide. Puck is cleared.

Kovalchuk has it again. Same spot. Shoots. Scores.  Power-play goal.  Crowd is loud.  Better team lost.

Atlanta 4
Montreal 3

HDS Stars: Tomas Plekanec, Glen Metropolit, Carey Price
RDS Stars: Ilya Kovalchuk, Andrei Kostitsyn, Christoph Schubert