Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks

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 (42-30-7) host Chicago Blackhawks (42-28-8)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Game Eighty (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)

 

Corey Crawford is in net for Chicago.  Price for Montreal.  Eric Furlatt and Pierre Shampoo are on ice as officials.

First Period

Tomas Plekanec is on with Andrei Kostitsyn and Michael Cammalleri.

Cammalleri’s first turnover occurs on the hash to Price’s left.

Now his first pretend forechecking effort occurs on the hash to Crawford’s right.  Lets the man sail away.

Scott Gomez line.  An entry.  A turnover and a failed stoppage on the blue exit point.

Price turns away a mild puck to his right, low and sweeping.

Chicago’s Patrick Kane tries a long shot on a right-side entry.

Now he has it under the end-line and tries a pass to the low slot.  Turned away.  The pressure ends when Montreal defender Brent Sopel recovers the disc and Kane leaves the ice.

Two minutes elapsed and the Blackhawks have controlled the puck for most of this opening segment.

Montreal defenceman Paul Mara trips Chi forward Jake Dowell in the corner and gets away with it.  Now he effects the defenceman’s crosscheck and harangues the forward at the hash; a semi-light pushing with the stick, several times in the lower back.  It’s designed to disrupt a puck-carrier without incurring a penalty.

Montreal’s youthful PK Subban takes the ice.  Starts the team out.  One muff and then a complete pass to Kostitsyn on the left.  The Belarusian forward uses the screen to shoot and Crawford has to make a first difficult save.  But he saw it all the way.

Faceoff to Crawford’s right.  Montreal captain and right winger Brian Gionta swerves into the corner with it.  A point pass.  Shot.  Some waver in the Chi defensive.  But they survive.

End to end and finally Crawford stops a shot to his left.

Faceoff.

Fluid David Desharnais loses the draw but recovers the puck on the hash and fires a dangerous, quickly released shot from the hash.  Crawford gets low quickly enough.

On the other end Price also drops to prevent an in-traffic shot from entering.

Desharnais mounts a rush but falls and the crowd boos briefly to punctuate a perceived non-call.

Just over fourteen.

Lars Eller and the fleet Tom Pyatt fly to the rear of the Chicago net.  But the puck is shoveled out and Montreal is in audience mode again.

Plekanec line.  They enter.  And they lose the puck.

Lines change.  Gill and Subban remain low.

Kostitsyn takes a check at the high hash and retains.  Forwards the puck to Plekanec.

Around the boards it goes.  Finally to Subban.  A blast.  Crowd anticipates but they’re too quick to the spices.  Hits legs.

Puck goes up out of play after a rebound is missed by Cammalleri and a Chicago exit and drive-in ends.

Trophy announcements are made in during a pause in play.  Molson Cup and Jacques-Beauchamp Trophy; Price and Roman Hamrlik respectively, are the winners.

Faceoff to Price’s right.

Won by Chicago.  Patrick Kane has it in the circle.  Threads and weaves.  Shot.  Up and over.

Montreal entry.  Crawford must consider panicking.  He doesn’t.  Stays low and then back up.  Three forwards form a triangle around the Hawk net and Houde’s voice gets sharp.

Hawks survive the moment.

Play stays on the boards.  Both teams need this game.  Hawks are in eighth and ahead of ninth-place Calgary in the West by one point.  Montreal needs one win to clinch a playoff spot.

Eller wins the draw.  To the point.  Across.  Soft lob-shot.  Nothing materializes.

Canadiens reset.

Right side entry.  Shot.  Crawford controls.  Faceoff.

Hawk coach Joel Quenneville is shown.  Much calmer than when I last mused a Hawk game.  Shouts an instruction as he keeps the one leg up on the bench.  Hasn’t aged much.

Ten and fifteen.

Slow but sturdy Brent Sopel retrieves.  Holds it.   Leaves it for Subban.  Subban signals and waits.  Now he bursts from Price’s left side with a forward on his heels.  Moves it up.  Sent behind the net.  Habs are deep.  Gomez and Darche work together.  Gomez reels it in and then his short pass goes a bit long.

Sudden sting.  The net in front and Crawford.  Defencemen are frozen.  But somehow the puck is shot wide.  And it’s in front again.  Gionta.  Given time.  Turns.  Backhands.  Crawford captures it.  Whistle.  Gomez slices at the glove.  And nobody scolds him.

Stoppage.

Martin likes what he’s seeing.  He hopes the lull is over.

We resume and the Blackhawks control in mid-ice.

Kane sends a dangerously timed shot, just as the traffic crossed and blocked view.  The shot doesn’t find receivers but the bounce makes men awkward.  Habs survive.

Patrick Kane remains the most dangerous, most creative of Chicago’s forwards.  And this is remarkable considering his teammates include sharpshooter Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and the mesmerizing and shrewd Marian Hossa.

Moen falls over a stick on Crawford’s right.  Officials watch.   They are consistent tonight.  Uncalled.

Eller around in a wide circle.  Turns and shoots.  Off a defender.

Sopel has advanced past the hash.  Stays there for five and then ten seconds.  Turning and searching, Sopel, though a slow skater, seems to have a comfort level deep and a plan.

Lines change.

Hawks advance.  Toews line.  Puck is lost in the chase behind the Montreal net.  And then is out of play moments later at mid-ice.

Quenneville checks in with a ref, nods in assent and then has a small smile of recognition for another official.  The experienced campaigner.

Under six.

Deep left.

Kostitsyn.  Under the end-line.  Puck finds Gill at the blue.

Shot.   Mired.

Sudden Chicago exit.  Two on one.  Now it slows but a third man joins.  Gill is nowhere to be seen.  And Subban spins in to whirl and clear the puck out of danger.

Now that’s swash.

Four and a half.  Crowd enjoyed the moment but are in anxiety mode quickly.

They watch and ponder.  Counting banners is forgotten.  Time of possession, turnovers and sloppy line changes are what gets noticed at times like these.

Stoppage on a long Chicago pass attempt.

An army base interior is shown.  Bagotville.  Cheering men and women stand, wearing combat fatigues.

Hawks exit.

Montreal zone.  Right side.  Pyatt is working well on the boards.

Hustle and muscle push the puck to the Chicago low slot where Wisniewski is twisted down to the ice and a supporting shot from the right is too sharp.

Lines change.  Subban turns and twists in the neutral zone.  Too many waves and the froth sees Subban lose the puck sailing horizontally to the boards.  Moments later the speedy defenceman is called for hooking.

Kirk Muller is interviewed by Joel Bouchard down at lower bowl-level.

Chicago power.  Theirs is ranked second at 23.2 percent.

Kane has to take this draw.   Goes to the hash.  To the blue.  Long shot by Keith hits something and arcs high into the corner.

They work the puck around the perimeter.  It’s to Price.  Gill’s slide couldn’t prevent the end-line pass.  But Price plays defenceman, says Houde, and the puck is in safer waters.

Now it’s pushed out.

Hawks re-enter.  But Gill cleans up underneath near the boards and Campbell has to retrieve.

More dramatics.  Price is out and the puck caroms to his left.  Plenty of red legs and whippety sticks and the puck is moved out.  Desharnais carries it out.

Stoppage.

Faceoff outside the Montreal blue.  Gionta comes up with it and moves it out on the right.  Penalty ends.

Hawks are back in.  Under ten seconds.  Jostling in the crease.  Hamrlik.  Called for interference.

Pochmara makes the call (he’s the other ref).  Hamrlik takes the verdict and a seat.

Habs win the draw.  Puck dies on the end-boards and the siren ends action.

Replay confirms the penalty’s legitimacy.

Habs led on shots 12-9.

First Intermission
Montreal 0, Chicago 0

Joel and Marc Denis both have orange sheets at the top of their respective sheaves.  Alain has the laptop open on his right and his sheets are stapled and all white.  He has a pen poised as he listens to Joel.  Alain’s haircut makes him resemble Ken Dryden even more than usual.

Second Period
Chicago 0, Montreal 0

Penalty-kill continues.  Hamrlik fusses with his chinstrap and wears a nearly quizzical philosophical expression.

Hawks control.  Kane is at the end line.  Hossa in the low slot.  Keith advances in desperation.  No.

Hawks are cleared out.

They reset but Toews trips David Desharnais on entry and it’s called.   Interference.

We go to four on four.  One minute’s worth.

Gionta leads a two-on-two with Gomez.  Elects to shoot.  Misses everything.  But the back boards.

Gomez tries a pass from the end line.  Through the slot on a diagonal.  Kept in.  Shot wide.

Hamrlik returns as the Hawks blast one in wide.

First entry is rebuffed.  Subban retrieves.  To Plekanec.  He runs things from the hash.

Digging, searching, passing and retaining.  But Chicago coverage is tight and Montreal’s passing choices are into traffic.  Despite this, Kostitsyn claims a disc in the slot and swipes at the puck.  It’s a moment but the puck hits a stick or leg.

Moments later the Hawks are out and the penalty has ended.

Moen, Pouliot and Gomez are on together.  Hawks enter.  Sopel goes to the cage.  He’s playing his first game against his former team.  Sopel won a Cup with Chicago last spring.

Habs work it out using the boards.

Stoppage.

Moen’s lead pass is off-target and neither Gomez nor Pouliot can salvage a possession.

Darche.  Gionta.  Two on two.  Gionta down the middle.  Finds Darche on the wing.  It’s right back to Gionta and the shot is stopped.  Solid padding.

Under fifteen.

Eller bumps a Hawk deep.  Frolik takes a hit in mid-ice.  And a Canadiens puck goes long.  Brunet says that the Montreal transition game is working well.

Faceoff.

Lines change on the long Montreal puck.

Overrated Duncan Keith has it outside the Montreal blue.  High and wide.

Cammalleri crosses the blue.  Another long shot.  Waste.

Stoppage moments later.

Joel informs us that Jonathan Toews left the bench area during the commercial break.  He says he isn’t sure if it’s an equipment issue or an injury.

Cammalleri has it.  Shot.  Big rebound.  It’s back to Cammalleri in the slot.  Shot and a goal.

Went off Seabrook.

Montreal 1, Chicago 0

Pouliot and Moen on a two-on-one one sequence later.  Pouliot goes high and wide.

Stalberg is called for wrapping his stick around Desharnais’ neck.

Montreal power.

To the point.  Wisniewski.  Plekanec on the hash.

Subban with one shot.  No.

Now a second.  This one skitters big insects.  Kostitsyn was tripped.  And he tripped Toews.  Only Kostitsyn is called.  Crowd boos.  Brunet says it shouldn’t have been a penalty call.

Four on four.

Canadiens control.

Wisniewksi.  Quarterbacks.

Plekanec.  Behind the net.  Pass to the slot.  Certain goal.  Crawford gloves it.  Replay shows Plekanec’ best work in weeks.  Strong-armed and switched direction, then passed to an advanced Wisniewski.

Montreal is threatening offensively again.  And in a way we haven’t often seen this season.   Turning the net, long controlling moments by single players.

Finally the four-on-four ends.  Hawks can’t make anything happen with the short man-advantage.

Stoppage at the midpoint of the period.

Cammalleri is shown.  Not smiling.  He’s at eighteen for the season.  The season before he joined Montreal he notched 39.

Kane sidesteps a man and shoots.  Wrister from forty feet.  And it’s in.  High and smooth.

What a player.

Shadowman silver.

Chicago 1, Montreal 1

It’s his 27th.

No, he isn’t milk and cookies, I know.

Nine and a half.

Sopel nearly sends a man in alone.  But the pass is blocked and play is stopped by a hand pass.

There are legal ones.  And illegal.

Price anticipates a high shot and exits to glove it.  But it bounces away.

Long Hawk puck is called for icing.

Hawk entry is offside.

Gomez line.

Hawks pour out.  Darche is the only guy who gives a hoot.  Skates as hard as he can and finishes in the low slot.  And the puck nearly gets in.  Darche’s skate is the saving gesture.  By now he’s fallen in the crease and occupied a Chicago forward.

I shake my head.  Where are the other Canadiens.

Stoppage.  And now Brunet notices that it was Darche’s skate.  Great.  Now we’ll have to hear about Darche more than normal.

Great play by Darche.

Chicago power.

Hossa, Kane and Toews.  Keith on the blue.  No wonder this power-play is ranked second.  Bouchard says that the way this unit moves the puck on the power-play is extraordinary.  Passes of all kinds.

And with quickness.

Under six.

Yes, I’m a great admirer of scintillating power-play work.

Second wave.  Campoli and Campbell are on the rearguard.  Canadiens are in trouble.

Gionta and Desharnais are up top.  Hawks move the puck at will and with fusion.  Finally the space comes.  And Campbell fires it off the post.  The loud ting is chilling.  It marks the difference between a quality unit and one that is beleaguered and perhaps worse.

Price covers a puck following a lull in action as Hawks regrouped.

I watch for a few minutes and I decide that this leadership group has failed.  Gomez, cruising around, Gionta spiritless and Moen run ragged after a tepid mid-season.  How can this group command respect?  It’s got to be divisive.  And of course, Your Man from Richmond Hill.  L’egoiste as several media members have noted.  Michael Cammalleri, first and foremost, plays for Michael Cammalleri.

I can’t have confidence in a group so disenchanted, disenchanting and one would assume, uninspiring to the rest of the group.

On the other hand, winning breeds unity.  Wanna laugh?

Kostitsyn closes to the net.  Oblivious to everything but the task at hand, he holds one of the keys to the Canadiens’ conundrum.  If this easy-to-sympathize with player breaks out, he has the ability to bring this team together.  Without intention.

Hawks effect brief control.  Now Darche chases a puck out.   Slams his man into the end boards and watches the disc leave.

Hawks go for the killing stroke.  Kane is on.  But time runs out.  And the Canadiens are fortunate.

Chicago led on shots 14-12.

Second Intermission
Chicago 1, Montreal 1

Montreal has lost effective control of this game.

Third Period
Montreal 1, Chicago 1

Plekanec trio against Hossa and Toews.

Cammalleri gets the first chance.  Crawford is low and in place.

Faceoff is won by Eller.  Hamrlik keeps it alive.  Moen ticks it to the corner and goes to the net.  Pass goes across but Moen is tied up, broad-bow and barely in balance.

Hawks sequence.  Long shot is gloved by Price.

Houde says that Martin is already tinkering with the lines.

Gomez, Gionta and Darche are intact.  Brunet adds that Martin might be going with just three lines.

Gomez to Darche in the crease.  Jam, jam and jam.  Crawford stays planked.  Hawks don’t engage in any indiscipline, not now, not ever.  It’s the Quenneville brand.

Pouliot carries.  His slow gait and awkward length.  Muddles through but loses the puck.  Now he falls into the crease and net where Crawford hay-sacks him out of the maw.  Pouliot tumbles over the bedding and is up again.

Lines change.

Under seventeen.

Cammalleri on the left side.  Little pass for Plekanec.  Past the post and then turns back to sneak a pass from the end line into crease traffic.  But no sticks reply.

Hawks carry it out.  Price makes a mild save.

Moen and Pyatt.  Past the end line.  Buffalo has won, Houde informs us.  Irrelevant.  What matters is what this team does and how it comports itself.  I’m not optimistic.

But there is Carey Price.

Fifteen and a half.

Pisani leads a failed rush.   And Gionta follows with a turnover of his own.  High water halcyon and braking snow.  But that’s all.

Desharnais leads Pouliot out of the zone but the puck is a bit long and the Hawks resume control.  Puck changes hands as the teams search for time.  Lines change.

And Price commits one gaffe unpunished and makes one save puckless.  The disc was zany.

Hab entry.

Cammalleri gets another great chance.  Something, a switch perhaps, has been flipped.  Reseau informed us earlier in the period that Cammalleri has notched, interesting (in their words), one point in each of his past four games.

Left shoulder save by Crawford on Cammalleri is shown as a replay.

Big collision between Wisniewski and Michael Frolik.  They’re both back up, Frolik searching for his stick.  Puck rounds the boards and a Hawk is down.  Brouwer.  He tried to run Eller and missed and smashed into the boards.

Some lung-man leatherhead is screaming zippers from the crowd.  What a creep.

Brouwer.  Lined up his man for the ending hit.  And paid his own price.  Hilarious.

Brouwer rises to undeserved applause from the sportsmanlike crowd.

Houde says we never want to see a player leave the ice for the dressing room.  Houde is a proper gentleman.

But being a literary goon, I must say that turnabout is fair play.  As I might have said in 1985, just desserts.

Eller is a skilled first-year Canadien who plays it clean.  And he’s a popular target amongst the league’s bullies.

Crawford is fallen and Plekanec has him at his mercy.  A leg crosses and a stick and the Hawks survive.  Montreal has had more quality chances in this game than in the past three combined.

Eleven and a half.  Houde manages to croak that the Leafs have been eliminated as the crowd pours gigantic bags of rice onto the ice.  The adoring sound is reflexive and inspirational.  The team is closing to the net more and more often and somehow the team seems to be finding its shovels and light.

Replay shows that Toews and another Hawk pushed the puck away from the doomed Crawford on the earlier near-goal sequence.

It’s a great spectacle tonight, says Houde and Brunet agrees.

Faceoff to Crawford’s right.

Canadiens are driving.  What’s the word along the bench?  Sopel’s word is staple.  He glues a man to the boards under the Chicago end-line, again well beyond his normal post.  And he times it well.

Kopecky runs into Price.   He’s going to be called for it.

Cammalleri follows the puck and then seals Seabrook against the end boards.  Wow.

Delayed call is whistled.

Montreal power.

What do I know about winning and correct pacing, then.  Nothing.

Whatever it takes.  I stand back and watch the experts.

Tomas Kopecky adjusts his equipment in the box.  Yeah, yeah.

First faceoff leads to a Hawk clear.

Wisniewski sends the home team in.  Board battle.

Kostitsyn wins it.  Finds Cammalleri in the slot.  It’s a free one.  Makes a move to give himself space.  Shoots.  And it’s gloved.  Did he eyeball it?

Faceoff.

Montreal wins it.

To the blue.  Subban.  And Crawford stops this one as well.  I rather doubt it.

Or if you prefer, as if.

Hawk break.  Two on one.  Sliding.  Puck sneaks under.  And the shot.  And somehow Carey Price saves the game.

Habs have one large sequence left.  About forty seconds.  But they are rebuffed.  Subban resets the team.

Gomez, Gionta and Darche can’t keep it in.

Hamrlik.  Lob in.

Mara shoots.  Deflected and Crawford continues to marvel.

Price makes a mild save.

Eller line puts a scare in.  But leaves the ice.

Plekanec line.  Under seven.

I demand pride.  What else can one feel.

Holding.  Against Montreal.  Martin swears.

Kostitsyn.  Legit call.  Held Keith on the forecheck.  Kostitsyn’s demeanour is changed from last season.

Joel Quenneville calls a timeout.  Bouchard says it’s not a bad idea.  Perhaps we’ll see a trick play from this powerful man-advantage.   Assistant does the talking.

Price skates back to his net.

Words don’t matter.  Halak is long gone.  The crease is Carey’s.

Faceoff to his left.

Hawks win it.  Hossa has it on the hash.  Quease.  To the crease.  Price just robbed someone of something.

What a save.  Falling backward and it feels like the save of the century.

A pharoah’s save.  Flailing.

They check.

Replay confirms it.

Gill shoves Seabrook to the ice well after the whistle.  And Seabrook deserved it.  Get out of the crease.

Headset down.  No goal is the call.

Carey Price.  Say what you want.  And yes, I will.  But.

Faceoff to his left.

Take it over.  Take it over.

To the blue.  Keith on the blue.  To the hash.  To the end line.  Into Price’s pads as he closes the post to his left.

All four guys were compact and low.  Hey, the penalty-kill isn’t the problem on this team.

Six.

Hawks work the perimeter.

Another shot.  Another save.  Long shot from Keith that Price saw all the way.

Hal Gill stays on the ice.

We all remember the playoffs.  And my worries are gone as I see each man doing everything each needs to do.  Gionta with a long sword.  A second and the puck is out.

Hawks have about forty.

One entry.  Rebuffed but not before another save.

Around the boards.  In the slot.  Men fall, the puck stays out.  Penalty expires.  A long shot.  Blocked.

Cammalleri enters on the right.  Takes himself offside.

Where was this last week?  Last period?

We can’t care.  It’s here now and the team has to get past fumes and back to the barrel.

Thirty-eight saves for your buddy.

Four minutes.

The other guy watches as the Canadiens work the perimeter and a near-goal as Crawford was beaten and on his seat.

Three and a half.

Seabrook to the hash and a perfect pass.  Price with the save.

Hawks.  Make my fingers slippery.  And Price is across, up, low, down.  Up again.  And another save.

Campbell saved Crawford, we are shown.

Price makes more saves.  Two.  I shake my head and Brunet says that Price is on fire right now.  Uh.  Yeah.

Eller loses the draw.

It’s around the end boards.

On the side boards.

Finally it’s out.

Two minutes.

Brian Campbell.  Carries.  Over the blue.

Gionta for Pouliot.

Pouliot is game but reaching rather than skating.

Sopel retrieves.  Finds the spot.   Finds the man.  Gets it to the opposite hash along the boards.  Gomez wastes the effort with a dump-in.

One minute.

Plekanec line.

Andrei.  Right side.  Lifts one from the hash.

Plekanec.  What a shot.  Off the post.

Long Chicago puck.  Icing.

Right over the blue. And Crawford was beaten.  He was beat.  Ok.  It’s the seventies.

Faceoff to Crawford’s right.  Hawks exit.  Dump-in.  Frolik.

Wisniewski wins the boards battle and it’s back to the neutral zone.  Period expires as the puck goes behind the net.

Hawks outshot Montreal 20-9.  Price.

Hawks lead 43-33.

One point doesn’t clinch the playoff spot for Vos Canadiens.

Overtime
Montreal 1, Chicago 1

Four on four format for five minutes.  Sudden death.

Why did I have to type that.

Price gazes without expression.  Crawford seems to talk to himself as he sweeps imaginary shavings.

Plekanec and Cammalleri are first.

Hawks control.

Poor pass.  Cammalleri has enough space to get to it.  Gill and Subban.  A shot.

Subban loses it.  He gets back.  Man has a step.  Subban accelerates and doesn’t cheat.  And is taken into the boards for his effort.

Toews.  Accidental says Brunet.

But they have to call it.

Tripping.

Montreal timeout.

Montreal power.  Four on three.  Quenneville doesn’t like it.

He resumes composure.  Tries to talk to an official.

Martin comments over Muller’s piece of paper.  It’s Muller’s plan.

Deep left.  Cammalleri wins the draw.

To the blue.  A pause.  To Subban and what a blast.  Stopped.

Cleared.

Four minutes.

Subban from Wisniewski.  No.  Stays in.

More passing.

Now to Subban.  And the blast.  High.

And in the net.

It’s a celebration.

The crowd is wild.  The team exults.

Gionta, arms raised.

Kostitsyn found Subban perfectly on the circle.

The team gathers at centre ice and salutes the crowd.

It’s Subban’s fourteenth.

Final Score
Montreal 2
Chicago 1

HDS Stars: Carey Price, Corey Crawford, PK Subban
RDS Stars: PK Subban, Carey Price, Michael Cammalleri

Fo mo.

Fo sho.

Plus two.

Bonne nuit.

 

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6. Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers