Montreal Canadiens vs. St. Louis Blues

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 (37-23-7) visit St. Louis Blues (30-28-9)

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Game Sixty-Eight (score posted following scribbles)

Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. A written transcript typed during the game, posted and edited about thirty minutes afterward.  Based on the RDS French telecast of the Montreal Canadiens game, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate.  A unique way to re-experience the game.

click here to expand post (it looks prettier)

The pall of the Pacioretty injury has been assuaged with the facts that (1) Air Canada, a major NHL sponsor has issued an ultimatum to the NHL.  Clean it up or we consider moving.  (2) The Montreal police are moving forward with a criminal investigation.  (3)  And Max Pacioretty is well enough to have been walking around the hospital and eventually being sent home.

Ce soir c’est Alak.  Ou ben, Halak.  The team faces their playoff hero of the previous spring’s playoffs.  Halak was traded in the offseason following a three-round run through the Stanley Cup post-season.

Pierre interviews Jacques Martin.  Martin looks especially sharp with the deep burgundy background.  Pierre asks the coach what he thinks of the situation personally.  We are shown another replay of the vicious, intentional hit and I decide I’ve seen it enough times.  I look down.  Martin’s hair looks natural and is in place and his coal-black suit is especially impressive.

Pouliot is discussed.  Martin says that he has great potential; great speed, great athleticism.

Pierre can’t hide his admiration for the coach.  It’s subdued but Houde appreciates the coach’s diplomacy, honesty and demeanour.  As do many.  As do I.

Matt D’Agostini is another former Canadien in a Blues outfit.  Let’s see how much he’s changed.  Sometimes a trade is the best thing for improved motivation.  For maturity.

Halak didn’t require such growth.

Pierre observes and listens closely as Benoit Brunet provides zero insight and zero texturing.

First Halak is discussed.  Now Pacioretty.  Pyatt is in the lineup for Pacioretty.  And Houde adds that this is an opportunity for Pouliot.

To the desk.  Great suit on the middle guy.  What’s his name again?  Alain and Joel flank.

Pouliot’s disappointing numbers are shown; 64 games, thirteen goals, thirteen assists.  He’s tall, lanky, good shot.  Doesn’t backcheck or forecheck as consistently as one might like.  Ok, as I might like.  I’m sure Muller won’t take issue with my statements.  Pretty sure.

Subban is covered.  Bouchard compliments his power-play work.  He’s playing good hockey, talking much less on the ice and so on.  Bouchard marks an improvement in the young star.

As for Halak, his numbers are deceiving.  Compared to his backup, Ty Conklin, Halak is two tenths better in save percentage, a stat in which increments of one tenth are significant.

Price and Halak are the goalies.

Rob Martell and Brad Meier are the refs.

First Period

Plekanec against Oshie.  Won by Plekanec.

I find myself wondering about Josh Gorges for the first time in weeks.  He played alongside Hal Gill as part of the key triangle that pushed the team past Washington and Pittsburgh last spring.  Halak was the third point.

Gionta down the right.  Gomez supports.  On the boards.  Pouliot finds time to enter the corner area.  Pass to the blue.  Shot.  Halak handles it.

The old feelings return.  Didn’t know they were there.  C’est Jaro.

Halak makes a good save, the first good one of the game.  Low and across on a low slot shot.

Eller line.  Puck goes past the blue and Subban retreats to regroup.  Pass to Gill.  Long pass and puck get past all and the Blues have it.

But not for long.  Stopped at the blue.  They have yet to effect a possession with two minutes elapsed.

I’m confused.  I want Halak to stop every puck.  And I want Montreal to score on every shot.

Here’s one.  Right side.  Rebound.  Open net.  And Halak is beaten.  But Desharnais hits the outside of the post on the left.  Certain goal averted.

Faceoff to Halak’s left after some mild action.

Typing the former Canadien’s name has its effect as well.  So much residual feeling from the old series.  What do the social workers say?  Lack of closure?  Does it apply?

Whistle in the Montreal zone.  Price is hit by Crombeen.  Goalie interference.

Montreal power.

Nobody had better touch any of our guys.  There is another vein to the sensate hockey interface.

Early possession.  Pouliot is with Gomez and Gionta again.  First wave.

There is a red, white and blue flourish on the back of Halak’s mask, the part that holds it to his head (I’d say skull but today has been long) and I fancy that he holds a flower in the team’s name.  A bleu, blanc and rouge fleur.

One minute.

It’s hard to imagine Cammalleri scoring on Halak.  He’s on the second wave with Plekanec and Kostitsyn.

Subban.  Hamrlik low.  One pass.  A dump-in.

Subban turnover on the right point.  Blues clear.

Gomez pass is intercepted from the right hash.

Penalty ends.

Hamrlik takes a puck at mid-ice, a move and a pass.  Slow elegance, quick pass.  Kostitsyn on the right.  Searching.

A mild shot from a distance ensues.   Whistle.

Deep left faceoff.  Eller wins it and it’s to Mara on the blue.  Shot.  And cleared.

Long dump-in.  Moen, Eller and Kostitsyn.

Blues presence.  Backes led it down the right.

Cammalleri came in alone on the right.  Interference.  Against Montreal.  Cammalleri was going to be able to cut in alone.

Commercial.

Cammalleri is in the box.  His interference on the replay is an accidental contact, skates caught in skates and is a bad call.

Blues pressure early.  One shot.  Price freezes it.  This is a first meaningful game for Price, one with narrative weight.  Is he nervous?

Andy McDonald.  Can’t they just standardize the Mac-Mc spelling?  On the hash.  Can’t create the space.  Cleared.

One minute.  Shattenkirk on the left.  Leads the entry.  Sorry.  Another guy.  Just needed an excuse to say that name.

Price makes a spectacular save on TJ Oshie from the low circle.

My own nervousness irritates me as the penalty ends.  I can’t type as efficiently as normal.

Wisniewski with a long, harmless one high that Halak captures.

Replay shows Subban take a puck on the glove.  He immediately drops the glove and waggles his hand, wincing all while action goes on around him.  Remember when Kovie bumped Souray?  Souray had a hard time with his bluntness after that game.  He managed.  And Kovalev went on to pot five goals in that series.  Against Boston.

Stoppage.

It’s a quiet arena but engaged.  Not many Canadiens fans either, it seems.

Price.  Compromised.  One save.  Muzzle shot on the rebound.  And it hits the post.  Mcdonald. The great hands are still there.  Mcdonald made a great name for himself in Anaheim.  At 33, he remains a fearsome scoring threat.

He has 16 goals in 43 games with the Blues this season.  I know that doesn’t sound fearsome.  But just watch him.  Against your team.  And feel ill from fear.

Commercial.

Canadiens fans have taken an internet beating today.  They are being denigrated for being homers over the Pacioretty incident.  It’s a sad technique to use; ad hominem attack and one that evokes sour memories of famous lawyers denigrating victims in order to win cases.

The truth is that the hit was deliberate regardless of circumstance.

Some Eller highlights against Boston, last game, are shown.  The kid had two goals.  It’s his first game against his former team, the Blues. Eller was one of two players who arrived in Montreal in the Halak trade.

The team has been careful not to place him in tough situations and has helped build his confidence.

Stoppage.  White is bumped by a St. Louis goon.  I suppose White is our goon.

Just over nine minutes in the first.

Berglund.  Right side.  Across to Chris Stewart.  On the end boards.  Hamrlik and Pouliot combine to take the puck.  An exit.  Deep right.  Plekanec.  Supported by Halpern. To the blue.  Gill’s pass is onto a Blue’s stick.  Skates and stick really.

Whistle at mid-ice.

Plekanec loses the draw to Oshie.  Oshie wears 74 and leans over at an angle much as Sergei Kostitsyn does.  Almost a flat back at times.  Horizontal to the ice.

Montreal scores.  And I’m thrilled and aggrieved.  And a sigh.  Right side open gap.

Halpern.

Doorstep goal.

Montreal 1, St. Louis 0

Ok.  No more goals.

Stoppage as the puck goes over the boards at mid-ice.

I think Halak was my favourite Hab around this time last season.  I didn’t know that.  More than Plekanec?  Hmm.

Gomez line.

Under the end line.

Along the boards.  Montreal retains.  To the blue.  Back to the hash.  Finally Gionta can’t keep it going behind the Blues net.  Halak’s fort.

Fort Halak?

Lines change.  Desharnais.  Right side.  Pushes it.  Puck slides into Halak’s crease and he sweeps it aside.  Blues are reverting to their careless ways.  Montreal controls as if it’s a power-play.

A wraparound.  No.

Now Cammalleri finds a point man.  Puck is turned over.

Blues exit.  And enter offside.  Indifference.  That’s the St. Louis Blues.

Commercial.

Alex Pietrangelo.  Discussed at length.  Who cares.

Who is this guy, anyway.  Wears #27.  Winger.  Chosen fourth.  Defenceman, rather.  From King City, Ontario.  I scouted a game there once.  Football game.  Great field.  The King City team wears green trimmed in yellow.  I liked their punter.  And a number of others.  I think they shut out their opponents that game.

Delay after a stoppage.  Lasts about fifteen seconds.

Gomez wins the draw.

Under four.

Gomez.  Carries across the blue.  Nearly loses it.  Regains.   Dumps it around the band.  The yellow band.  Gionta can’t get to it.

Blues entry.

Not enough challenge.

Price has to make one good save and then a great one.  On his left.  Long shot and then a muzzle.  Habs finally move it out.

Halak makes a low save on the other end and holds it to his chest.  Whistle.  He stays within himself and keeps his eyes down.  It’s a meaningful game for him.  Of course.  He’s twenty-five, from Slovakia and though he lacks Price’s size, he has his quickness.

Halak’s concentrative abilities were proved last spring.  The team won two game sevens thanks to Halak eliminating the number one scoring team (Washington Capitals) and the number one hyped team (Pittsburgh Penguins).

The eventual loss to Philadelphia was more a fault of the Canadiens’ scoring expungence.  Like that?   Montreal failed to score a goal in the first two games before winning in the third, at home.  Six nothing and three nothing losses for the first two.

D’Agostini down the right.  Stopped.   Whistle.

Faceoff to Price’s left.

McDonald wins the draw.  Sudden.  Goal.  Backes.  His 24th.  Dangerous line, eh?

Saint Louis 1, Mount Royal 1

Why am I happy about a St. Louis goal?  Who am I cheering for in this game?  The discoveries one makes.

Gomez under the end line.  And it’s out.  Canadiens control.  Both teams change lines.

Siren.

Shots on goal are in favour of St. Louis 13-12.

First Intermission
St. Louis 1, Montreal 1

A La Une with the knowledgeable Alain Crete and the intrepid Francois Gagnon.

Gagnon discusses the Pacioretty incident.  Says that this is the most media-impacted (media-juiced?) incident of the season and says that if Halak’s trade was the big story last season, this incident, if the season were to end today would be the biggest this season.  I said season three times.

Gagnon follows with a round of comparisons on media reactions to the incident.  From Farber and Cole (pluses) to some negative genome Boston staffer who Francois disses as a partisan not even trying to disguise himself as a journalist, Gagnon gives us a range and concludes with the observation that those outside the game (he includes a prominent female LA journalist’s thoughts) are different from those dominant voices within the game.

Francois has so much insight, credibility, thoroughness and integrity that I always feel better about the world after he speaks.  Merci bien.

Alain admires his partner and gives him the nuff said space following his close-out.  Bien fait et bien dit.

Back to the studio desk; Bouchard reviews some of the mistakes.  Bouchard says that the Blues are skating tonight.  True.  But it’s not like a night when, say, Buffalo or Washington is skating.  The Blues skating is like a seven.  Buffalo skating is a nine.

Reseau has so many good journalists, genuine journalists, that I feel a moment of elation reserved for Mistletoe or, say, an A paper.  In English lit.

Ok, say A minus.

Second Period
Montreal 1, St. Louis 1

I expect I’ll be a Montreal fan for this period.  Let’s see.

Fan.  Blogger.  Hmm.  Ombudsman?  Ombudsboy.

Plekanec wins the draw.  Halpern to it.  Left side.  Weak shot backhanded on the offwing.  Turns the net.  Gets it again.  Some mildness.  And it’s out.

Plekanec fishes it out of the corner.  Wheels.  Can’t find.

Other end.

Crombeen.  Pinned by Halpern.  Oshie to Crombeen across the crease… and… no shot.

Out and in.

McDonald is free under two men.  Turnover.  He has it.  A move, a shot, a goal.

Blues 2, Canadiens 1

Plekanec set up his receiver on the outlet pass.  Passed to a guy in coverage.  There was more.  It wasn’t all on Plekanec.

Crowd expresses warm, mild appreciation.  Aren’t there any wild humanoids in St. Louis?

Subban sends a long blast-pass to the Blues blue.  Fails.

Another chance.  Halak turns his net and harpoons the puck around the boards.

Left side.   D’Agostini.  Works past the hash.  Actually skating.  Actually hitting.   Some effort.  Where was all this in Montreal?  Burger.

Seventeen.

Price plays a puck up.

White is in on the right.  Man in front of him.  White shoots.  Halak stops it.

Offside entry.

Mara is in a fight.  Reaves hit Price.  Linesmen separate them.  Reaves yells, no, no.  But they end it.  Houde says that Reaves knows his role.  He wears number seventy-five.

Somehow I find a way to like Reaves through this fight.  It seemed, uh, not personal.  Reaves’ demeanour.  He managed to respect the old man.

Maybe I’m just warmed by being able to type Reaves in that way again.  You know.  Willard Reaves. 1700 plus in 1984, his best season.

We stay with fives.

Price looks boyish for the first time in months.  Not big in his net.  It feels like last year for me, too.

Reaves has some ice on his left hand.  He has a cut on his left hand.  His pinkie finger is bleeding.  Brunet expresses sympathy and says it isn’t easy work, this kind of work.

I guess not.

Get rid of it, then.

Berglund’s offwing entry and shot ends action as Price holds it to his chest.  The puck.  Faceoff to his left.  Price’s.

Montreal ice.

Colaiacovo is on the Blues now.  Most former Leaves, especially those from the Quinn era, are a source of humour as acquisitions.  He shoots and the rebound nearly results in a shot.

Montreal responds with a possession.  Wisniewski is banged into the glass behind the net.

Delayed call.  Pietrangelo.  Holding.

Wisniewski was hit in the back by Colacaiocvoosccao.  What a name.

Montreal power.

Hitting from behind is yellow, by the way.  Even Cherry agrees on this one.  Don Cherry.  That loud loud guy on CBC.  (He’s not worth the comma)

Remember him?

Canadiens can’t set up.

Halak makes one good save and not much else is required of him.  Penalty ends with the Canadiens chasing the puck into their own end.

Commercial.

I worked in a food factory one time.  I saw how frozen food is put together.  Be scared.  I resigned after my first day.  It was up in North York somewhere.

Commercial ends.

Brunet says that what he likes about Gionta was that he was always in front of the net.  Was Turgeon always in front of the net, I wonder.

Price is hit by a Blue.  No call.  These refs.

Long Montreal puck buys change-time.  And it’s out again.  Wisniewski.  Loses it.  Across.  Turnover.  Shot.  Price.  Whistle.

Okay, then.  Feeling a bit more normal.

D’Agostini was the guy that bumped Price.  Pretended to be heavily hit.  He wasn’t.

Cracknell, Crackwell, Brunet chuckles at not knowing which is which.  (It’s Adam Cracknell from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan)

Halak makes a save.

Brunet says that he’s nervous.

Some Hab fan has a “Thank You Halak” placard and a pair of binoculars.  Wouldn’t it be better if we said a pair of oculars and one binocular?  Wouldn’t it?

Price traps a quick mouse across his crease.

Another dumb-ass commercial.  Can’t local companies get a shot at these spots?  Government should subsidize it.  The smalls need help against the bigs.  Hey, there are competition laws on the books.  And corporate bail-outs.  Na’mean?  Hate that one?

Halak highlight reel.  Old stuff, too.

We resume.

A dream spring, says Houde in reference to Halak’s heroics.

Nikitin’s shot falls Price backward.  Splayed.  High glove.  A deflection off Plekanec’ glove.  Mcdonald was veering.

How about just Donald.  Get rid of all those Macs and Mcs.  Hey, do your research.  Everybody else had to drop letters.

McHomme.  MacSeptiles.

De.  Da.  D’A.

Crowd at the low slot.  Eller.  Searching.  A flurry.  A puck hits the end boards.

Pierre doesn’t sound as enthused about the vote-for-stars reminder as usual.  I’d like to guess why.

Seven and a half.

Just let Mister Fisher do them.

Forget this fan stuff.

Gomez is in the box.

Blues power-play.

They win the draw.  Price zorros across the crease.  Too far out.  Slip-slops back to the crease.  He’s safe.

Puck is cleared.

Berglund is through.  Mara is down.  I’m scarred.   I wait for Mara to get up.  He does.  That hit on Pacioretty.  What a failed league.  So few of integrity.  Or so many of poor character.  Whichever you prefer.

It was an old nested league for decades.  Power controlled by a very few hands.  It’s still growing out of those incestuous limbs and gnarled, creaking limbs.  Still returning to the nest.  For more noxious morsels.

Booing.  Crosscheck.  Gionta.  More booing.  Buddy has to go to the dressing room.  Very bad penalty says Brunet.  Not the usual.  I’ll gamble my Koivu jersey that it was provoked by something more dastardly.

I don’t have a Gionta jersey.  Maybe Plekanec might be next.  But with the Mystique logo.  One of them.

Frederic Plante is talking about something.  Another bright light at RDS.  Superlative programming.

Roughing is the call.  Gionta is still annoyed.

Backes hit Gionta.  Backes was on the ice.  Gionta nailed him with the crosscheck.  Brunet says the Backes hit was legal.  Brunet is not happy with what’s going in the NHL, as he puts it.

Respect.  Lack thereof.

Saint Louis power-play.

Under four.

Pietrangelo with a creel shot.  Hands high on the rod.  Skitters over the white lake and wide.

Out and then in.  Three and three in the corner.

And out.

Blues can’t get the spacing they want.  And not enough are working to get open.

Here’s a Montreal two-on-one to close the penalty.  Halak is across.  Looked good.

Two minutes and we’re back at fives.

Backes is back after a visit to the training room.

Two Habs to the crease.  One falls into Halak.  Puck stays out.  I’m still a Blue.  Maybe the third.

One minute.

I hate the Blues.

Long Blue puck.

On the right.  They’re such a mail-it-in club.  Cheating their fans.  Hiring so many nobodies and do-nothings.

They’re so lucky to have Halak.  But they do nothing to help him.  One reason his numbers are so poor.  I’ve been watching the Blues games.

Siren ends the period.

The red, white and blue on the back of Jaroslav’s mask is for his national team allegiance, Slovakia Eagles.  What are they called, then?

Shots on goal favour Saint Louis again, 8-6.  Martin type numbers.  Total is 21-18 for the home team.

Second Intermission
Saint Louis 2, Mount Royal 1

Sloppy hockey we are told.  Turnovers.  But Price is there, says Bouchard.  A teacher’s eyebrows and lip-purse.  Not good enough.

Boston highlights.  How come that guy gets to keep playing?  Out for the season and next.

It was a fumble.

It was deliberate.

Remember?

Alain says the Canadiens don’t seem the same team as in their past five (they’ve won five in a row).  Joel responds with an example from his playing days.  The injury to then-teammate Sebastien Bordeleau.  Very similar, says Joel and it affects players.  Puts things in perspective.  Bordeleau was able to resume his hockey career.  We’re still not sure about Pacioretty.  More to come.

Third Period
St. Louis 2, Montreal 1

How does Al MacInnis get a job as VP of hockey operations?  Certainly not by dint of qualifications.  Maybe I should be Veep of hockey operations for the NHL.  I have no qualifications, either.  But I’m bilingual.  Roughly.

What a joke. And your buddy John Davidson (the former Ranger goalie) is Blues’ president of hockey operations and alternate governor.  Pleasant fellow, sure.

Mild hockey.  Heating up.

Moen chases and sees the disc leave the St. Louis corner.  To Halak’s right.

Gill with a long shot.  On the other point.  Subban, turns his man, one-handed and gets the puck to Gill.  Blues can’t get it out.   Eller is in the way now.

Finally they clear.

Price.   Pass up to Cammalleri.  A shot.

It’s hard to like the other goalie.  It’s an old habit to dislike him.  But hey.

Halak makes a save on a long harmless disc.

Picard.  Slowly across the blue.  To Cammalleri.  Canadiens can’t keep it in.  They are working a bit better now.  Passes are more accurate and the backchecking more convincing.

Playing it?  May as well win it.  I find myself wondering about Montreal’s third-period efficiency.  I believe it’s their best period, overall.  Over the course of this season.

Long Montreal puck is touched by Roman Polak and the faceoff is to Price’s left.

Davidson is shown with some other suits in the luxury box.  The other suits are smiling and distracted.  Davidson is watching the game intently.

Houde says that he appreciated Davidson as an analyst.  Brunet adds some plaudits.

Some didn’t think he could do it as president, says Houde.  But he’s proving them wrong, suggests Houde.  Brunet makes sounds of agreement.  Cactus.

Yes, Davidson is a well-liked individual.  He wrote Hockey for Dummies and it’s somewhat informative.

Thirteen minutes.

Canadiens can’t score.  Can’t set up.  And Halak is there.

Halak makes a save on an unexpected deflection.  Someone from the Habs pats him on the head.  Halak stays in his head.

A small novel is about 75,000 words.  By my estimate, I’ve written about 268,000 musing words this season.  Of course many of those are, ah, you know.  Hockey plays.

Chara rams Pacioretty’s head into the turnbuckle.  Appears to be a hockey play.

Pacioretty can’t get up.  Replay shows it was deliberate.  Mike Murphy says it’s a hockey play.

Repeat.

Halak makes a glove-down save.  A small melee.  Gill and Backes are talking.  Gill nods and makes sure that Backes knows what’s what.

Brunet says that Halak hasn’t been grandly challenged tonight but has nonetheless played a good game.  Backes and Plekanec are imprisoned.  I mean incarcerated.  Uh.  I mean they’re in the penalty box.

Stan Mikita won the Lady Byng the season after his daughter asked him why he sits in the box alone from the other players so much.

Fours.

Eleven.

D’Agostini controls on the deep left boards.

Wisniewski recovers it under the end line.  Up for Cammalleri.

Shot in.

Gomez.

To the point.  Shot wide.  Out and retrieved by Subban.  Dropped for Gomez.  Through mid-ice.  Lost at the blue.

Gomez from behind his net now.  To Kostitsyn.  Right side.  To Eller on the blue.  Back to Kostitsyn.

The big Belarusian looks for a long cross-ice hash pass.  Hops over a Blues stick and results in a turnover.

Out.

In.

Cammalleri.  Shot.  Halak.  Easy one.

Stoppage.

Too quick to give up on D’Agostini?  Hell no.  He would have continued to languish.  He needed to wake up.  His ego needed to go to sleep.  A trade did that.

Bouchard doesn’t really answer the question.  It was one of those viewer questions.

I answered for Joel.

Shall we say.

Long shot.  Hit a crossing Hab.  He’s ok.

Cammalleri is hit crossing the blue.  On the ice.  Back up.  It’s another hockey play.

Blue shot goes up off a stick.  Ok.  I didn’t feel like typing D’Agostini.

You try it.

Eight.

Seriously, sit down with your laptop, turn on your Leaves and try.  Give it a period.

Gomez across the middle.  Keep to the circles-hash down the middle.  To Moen.  Back.  Too far.  Better than the usual, though.

More pressure.  Eller this time.

Canadiens work deep.  Blues are out of their element; they can’t match a hard-working brand.

Price makes a cripes-only save on an unexpected Blue escape and crease-run.  Habs chasing most of the way.  Curving lean.  Dangerous.  But what a save.

Six.

Subban and Gill underneath.  Plekanec and Halpern with Cammalleri.

Montreal ice.

Berglund has ideas.  Canadiens close to the man.  Berglund still slithers around and manages a near-quality chance.

Stoppage after a failed Montreal entry.

I’d pay one buck a game to have the commercials auto-muted.

Advertisers have such an outsized sense of entitlement.  There are other models, y’know.

The money will still be there if advertisers aren’t in the picture.  Where do you think the money comes from?  Do advertisers grow money?  Do they mint it?  No.  They get it from consumers.  Ya.  Citizens.  Les citoyens.

Eliminate the middle man.  And fork Warner’s.

Under five.

Canadiens take the risks.  A pinch leads to a two-on-one.  Price stands his digits up.  No.  The ones on his back.

Four.

Canadiens continue to outhustle but the turnovers and miscues continue.

Miscues.  That’s more a football term than a hockey one, isn’t it.

Miscues.

Football is much more episodic.  Choreographed.

Stoppage.

That stupid sing-song end to Brunet’s phrasing.  Again.

Eller is on the ice.  Moen.  Desharnais centring.  Reward line.

But again, they are kept out.  Around the Blues end of the bowl.  Then rebuffed twice.

Gomez.  Another rush.  Over the blue.  Pass across.  Long shot.  Halak turned it away.  That old mixed feeling.

New?

Another entry.  Gomez.  Tame puck approaches Halak.  Double-gloves it.

Halak isn’t going to surrender anything.  Is he.

Nothing mortal, anyway.

Two.

Plekanec line.  Halpern high-sticks a launched puck.  Called.  Faceoff.

Martin seems concerned yet curious.  Then pained.  Then searching, eyes darting left and right.  Always with the rocking motions.  Hands in pockets.

Montreal entry is offside.  Plekanec shakes his head.   Martin glances at a clock.  Now the other way.  Price is outside his crease.

Centre ice faceoff.

Under two.  Subban retrieves.  Gomez drops it for Subban.  Into coverage.  Stolen.  Entry.  Pass.  Shot.  Goal.

Thirty-six.

Subban was set up.

I shake my head.

Gomez is upset with himself.  Nearly slams the glass with his stick after the goal.  Elects not to.  His mouth twists in frustration.

Blues 3, Canadiens 1

One minute.

Gomez line.

Shot in.  Stopped.  Cleared.

Wisniewski.  To Moen.  A shot from the short side on the left.  Turned away easily.  Delayed call coming up.  Whistle as the puck entered the neutral zone.

Backes.  Accepts it with little more than a dark glance backward as he enters the box, mottled mouthguard hanging out.

Timeout Montreal.  It will be six men against four.  The empty net is shown while Muller talks it over with his six.

Halak goes and gets water.  Or something.  Returns.  Some blue furry creature is shown rockin it in the crowd.

Faceoff deep right.  Canadiens lose the draw.  Two Blues.   Oshie.  Carries.  Alone.  Shot.  From the slot.  Into the empty net.

Yes.  It’s a goal.

The streak is over.

Forget Chara, jail the regressive governors of this league.

Blues 4, Canadiens 1

Twenty seconds.

Price is back.

Mara retrieves.  Waits.  Loud blare-horn.  They congratulate Halak.  D’Agostini has an unearned smile.  Good riddance.

Final Score
St. Louis 4
Montreal 1

HDS Stars: Carey Price, Andy McDonald, David Desharnais
RDS Stars: Jaroslav Halak, Carey Price, Andy McDonald

Final scores have nothing to do with individual star awards.  Not to McHomme D’a MacSept-Iles.  And Halak faced no high-level difficulty shots.  Some mediums.  Price made about seven great saves.

Seven great hockey plays.

Joel adds that when a guy (D’Agostini) is in an organization for three years without progression, it’s time for him to go.  The question was asked by Alain amid much chuckling.   The chuckling is because everyone knows the optics are bad.

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5. Montreal Canadiens vs. Colorado Avalanche
6. Montreal Canadiens vs. Columbus Blue Jackets