Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

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 (0-0-0) visit Toronto Maple Leafs (0-0-0)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Game One (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)

 

Seven oh one.  Enemy arena.  And RDS has le hockey de Subway.  The hockey of Subway.  We’ll let them go for now.

Play-by-play master Pierre Houde is seated beside newcomer (to the colour commentator role) Marc Denis tonight.  Benoit Brunet has been moved to a different on-screen role and Denis has done well in the few preseason games I saw him in.  (See how much I’ve matured?)

Pierre tells us that it’s for real now.  Denis looks nervous.  Houde seems pleased.  And robust.

We see the most important off-season acquisition, Erik Cole, on the ice.  He’s wearing number 72.  From behind, he resembles former Canadiens winger, Alex Kovalev.  Like Kovalev, Cole is a larger player, weighing in at 205.  The former Hurricane is 32 years old and is expected to play a power-forward role.  And with a scoring touch.  As for Kovalev, he is no longer a member of the NHL, signed by a team in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).  I expect Kovalev to be signed before the season is out.  By an NHL team.

We go to another part of the rink and Alain Crete, Mario Tremblay and Benoit are suited, standing and discussing the team’s outlook for 11-12.  We’re in the ACC, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Air Canada Centre.

Blue lights on the ice shift and two circles tamped with the Leaf logo grow four more circles that separate and circle the rest of the arena.  Cheaply conceived rock music accompanies the introductions of the Leaf coaching staff.  They are all standing along the bench.  More than eight of them.  So the support staff is included.  A greenish tinge accompanies the spotlight effect.

The house announcer uses a banal faux wrestling voice.  He’ll have a scratchy throat before it’s all through.  The rock music drowns out the crowd.  Or is this arena full of quiet fans?  Toronto is not the raucous pit that Montreal is.

The goalies skate out.  Former Hab Mike Komisarek takes his place on the ice.  And sporting the A for alternate.  He seems grim til he reaches his teammates and then we see the familiar smile.  Komisarek is a former Andrei Markov shift partner.  Markov remains in rehab and is not expected back for a few games, yet.

This introduction is rather uninspiring.  The music ruins it.  This guy’s voice.  Strip bar.  Frozen chicken fingers.  Bad booze.  Who comes up with this for the Leafs?  It’ll continue … because whoever did it will be congratulated for how “great” it was.

Kulemin.  Magnitogorsk.  I read the Dave King book this summer (thanks, Coach).  And the Yaroslavl disaster occurs to me.  Again and not for the last time.  What a disastrous summer for hockey.

Home team’s Jake Gardiner gets a pretty good lead-up and cheer.  So does Kessel.  Gardiner played ten games for the Leafs last season.  He’s a nobody.  But in this city, he’s somebody.  Why all the cheers?

Please welcome your Montreal Canadiens.  This is what rock-voice says.  Followed by casual booing.  And then a long wait as the visiting team exits slowly from their dressing room.  The music stays the same.  A looping ten-second piece.  It’s volume is lowered and then resumes at mild torture levels.

Montreal defenceman Josh Gorges crosses himself as he takes the ice.  He’s got the A.  It’s his first game back in more than seventy games.

We (well, I’m not actually going to do anything on this couch) are instructed to “sing it loud and sing it proud”.  The anthem.  The music cuts out in an embarrassing moment and we are forced to hear the mostly male voices.  Singing.  The anthem.  Gomez has a wry expression.

A very large Canadian flag moves along the crowd somehow.  Hands, I suppose.  It doesn’t take long to go to head-shaking in this arena.

Commercial.  I’m feeling calm and kind.  This has to be a flag.

Montreal’s first game should be at the Bell Centre.  What a waste and an anti-climax to see them here in this shell of a rink.  The worst the game has to offer; corporate hockey.  Emperor’s new clothes.  Let’s all pretend we’re great.  Let’s all pretend we represent Canada.  It’s forced vanilla.

Game two is at the Bell Centre and another corporate team will be in town.  Your militarized Winnipeg Jets.

Price readies himself.

James Reimer is in the other net.  He’s wearing number 34.  Dan O’Halloran and Ian Walsh are the refs.

Smile.

I do.  The season is back.

First Period
Zero, Zero (just in case)

For Montreal; Scott Gomez, captain Brian Gionta and uh.  Gomez wins it.  Shot in. Pacioretty, I think.  Yes.  That Pacioretty.  Max.

Behind the net.  Leafs collide.  Puck stays in along the boards.

Finally Matt Frattin takes it for the Leafs and they fly out.  They have good speed.   But they enter offside.

Second line.  Intrepid Tomas Plekanec, Michael Cammalleri (Our Man from Richmond Hill) and Andrei Kostitsyn (face in glove).

They chase the puck down into Leaf ice.

PK Subban and Hal Gill low.

Phaneuf, their captain, takes it up.  Take a return pass.  Shoots.  Out of play.

Power forward Erik Cole is on now.  He’s on the third line to start.  With unflappable David Desharnais.  Canadiens rush.  Iconoclastic Mathieu Darche on the left wing.  Into the right corner.

First shot.  Reimer has it.  Searches for the rebound.  Can’t find it.  Puck bounces.  Leafs clear it out.

Two minutes elapsed.

Gorges is on.  Canadiens’ young, stable defensive centre Andreas Engqvist takes a pass from Gorges on the right side.  Poor angle shot.

Campoli, also a new Hab (defenceman) is nailed by Mike Brown under the Montreal end line.  Campoli rises.  Campoli was in disagreement with the recent decision not to punish Malone.

Feels like the season never ended.

Leafs are playing cautiously.  Makes sense as the Canadiens are the superior team and it won’t do to force the play and give up positioning at this point.  Montreal carries the play for now.

Plekanec rounds the Leaf net.  Two Leafs close to him.  Pass across fails.  Faceoff moments later.

Montreal defenceman Jaroslav Spacek’s resulting long shot hits a leg.  Puck is iced.  Another faceoff.

Montreal staff.  Head coach Jacques Martin nods on the bench.  Assistant Perry Pearn is beside him.   And the new guy.  Randy Cunneyworth.  He has a 1928 demeanour.  Also reminds me of the guy from Hellboy.  Ron Perlman.  Who was also in Alien Four.  Among others.  That vampire film.

Houde says that Martin had butterflies for this game and says this is a good sign; that it means that one likes one’s job.

Fourteen minutes.

Sharp angle shots by Kostitsyn and Plekanec on two entries.  Reimer isn’t threatened and stops play on the second.

It’s a mildly played game to a great degree and I’m surprised.  Nerves will explain some of this.  The quiet arena some more.

Leafs are hitting.  Jay Rosehill (Olds native) hits Cole on an exit.  Cole lost his stick on the hit, (which didn’t drop him).  Cole weighs in at 205.  He looks bigger.

Kovalev was 224.  Differences of four, five pounds are significant.

Gionta line.  Pacioretty is with them.  Denis says the veterans must be happy about his return to the line.

Long pass for Pacioretty across the Leaf circles.  Coverage is set.  Pass is intercepted.  Moments later Gionta loses a puck on the right.

Puck is snarled in the neutral zone.  Shot back into Leaf ice.  Meager Go Leafs Go chant begins.  It ends as the puck is whistled down.

Plekanec line.  Supported on both points by Subban and Gill who each keep pucks in play to extend a possession.  But all we see are long, sharp-angle shots, one from Kostitsyn and Reimer remains safe.

Toronto defenceman Carl Gunnarsson carries it out.  One pass.  A second.  Nothing.  Montreal turnover.  But no shot results and the puck is cleared.

Under ten.

The slow pace is puzzling.

Montreal’s coverage is one factor.  Some kind of trap but the camera angles don’t permit a good look.  They have two guys meeting Leaf excursions at centre ice.  One man behind that and the two defencemen.  Montreal’s buy-in on Martin’s system seems complete.  There are no guests.  And the guys that cheat do it so subtly that it isn’t noticeable.

To me, anyway.

Cammalleri with some click and trick turns and backhands an entry for Kostitsyn.  Off-wing.  Coverage retreating in front of him.  Shot.  Off a stick.  Into the crowd.

Hmm.

I’m not bored so much as I am calm.  And the typing is not as difficult after a lay-off as it was for game one last season.  Feels like I was just doing this last week.  But I wasn’t.  Something about how I memorize typing comes to mind.  As if I memorized that I’m at a certain level with it.  As if I agreed with a competence report.  It happened a few times this summer.  Just knowing that my typing speed wasn’t declining as the season wore on.  And this despite not engaging in it much, at least not in the way that musing a game requires.

We return.  Canadiens raise Houde’s voice.  Kostitsyn.  Reimer is downed.  Fallen and failing to find.  Crowd expresses panic (and shame, I fancy).  Puck stays out.  Backhander stayed out but in the pads, it was lost.  Reimer fell backward like an incompetent university quarterback.  You know.  The plodding kind.  The kind that got his job because the coach prefers working with white players.

We’ll never know about most NHL coaches.  Or maybe we will.  In this league it’s the Francos or the Rooskies who are, uh, black.

Pacioretty is so confident in his abilities.  He must have some.  Because he manages to score here and there.  Here he enters on the right side, looking much taller than his listed six-feet-two.  Offwing shot.  Stopped.  He has more lank and lope to his stride.  A swagger of a kind.  Good for him, I suppose.  After all, Chara tried to kill him.  And Pacioretty survived.

But that doesn’t mean I have to like Pacioretty’s style.  Does it.

Four and a half.

Canadiens control

Better quality chances result on this longer possession.  Slot rebound.  Big gaping net.  Reimer achieves a miraculous save according to Pierre.  Puck leaves the area.  Leafs in a panic.  Refs saw something.  Whistle.  Houde tells us there will be a power-play when we return.

A calm me seems to be a boring me.

Nothing unjust is happening, either.

We’re told that Erik Cole is the sole player in NHL history to have been awarded two penalty shots in one game.

John-Michael Liles, brought in by Toronto for his passing skills (and more, I’m sure) was penalized.  The Indiana native towels off in the penalty box.  I contemplate his Sittlerian hair.  Daryl Sittler was the greatest captain in Leaf history.

Ok, ok.  But a generation of Leaf fans would back me up.

The Leafs have a long and storied history.  And even though most of it is darkly lit by power-struggles and other (un)royal hockey rubble, they have had some good men in the sweaters.  I was reminded last week that the correct term is hockey sweater.  Not hockey jersey.

Remind me again.

Canadiens set up but both waves can’t create a B-plus or better chance.  Oh.  A replay shows Kostitsyn’s shot form the goal-mouth was off the opposite post; past Reimer, need it be said?  So.  Better than B-plus, after all.  I’m cruising at D at the moment, I’d say.  A smooth D.

Penalty expires and with under two minutes left, both teams hope to make it to the locker room with no nonsense.  Ok, maybe that just applies to the Leafs.  Ok, maybe just a few nervous Leafs.

I like this Leaf team.  I have for more than a year now.  They may be this, they may be that but they have courage and some character.  The kind of character I like.  They’re an intrepid bunch in more than one way.  Even Phaneuf is a changed man.  He still lacks in some of the skill components but he’s evolved in Toronto.  He’s been humbled.  And he’s been a kinder player.

Another Toronto penalty.  Luke Schenn.  Another over-hyped Leaf defender.  That’s not his fault.  But we’re going to be hearing about him.  A lot.

Horn goes to end the period.  Montreal led on shots 13-4.

First Intermission
Toronto 0, Montreal 0

Not much.  Should dummies be allowed to talk for as long as non-dummies?

Second Period
Montreal 0, Toronto 0

The power-play continues.  Both teams know who is the better.  Montreal may show more initiative, take more risks.

Subban starts the risk-taking.  Carries.  Over the blue.  Puck is lost.  Two on one.  Matthew Lombardi.  Left side.  Shoots.  Price falls backward on the save.  Lombardi rounds the net.  Shoots again.  Big trouble.  Rebound.  Phaneuf, crossing is too far.  But someone else isn’t.  Some Leaf.

They score.

Ship horn.

Cheering and such.

Toronto 1, Montreal 0

Power-play ends with nothing more.

Kulemin shot hits the post.

Toronto is enervated.

But in an end-to-end game, they are at much greater risk than Montreal.  Or at least on paper, that’s true.

The pace picks up.  It feels more like a mid-season pace.  Toronto rush.  Montreal rush.  Reimer glove.  And the quality chances have declined yet again.

Komisarek joins a rush.  Shot wide.  He shouldn’t shoot.  Much.

Diaz, the new defenceman takes a risk and comes with a puck to prevent a Toronto entry.  About fourteen left.

It’s too bad the final score isn’t determined by meaningful time of possession.

Montreal is better.  Toronto has the lead.

And now Montreal is called for high-sticking.  Josh Gorges.  He has his usual chat with the refs about it.  He has that comfort level.   He should just go to the box.

I think Steve Jobs’ death has affected my sense of mortality.  Or rather, my sense of immortality.  And relevance.  And so on.  It’s a new, unfortunate theme.  Which got sharpened in the offseason.  I am sad about his death, too.  He was quite young (56).

Another reason to lose oneself in a game?  Is that how Red does it?  Red is 84 years old.  Well, he turned 85 in August.

Gunnarsson and Gardiner are to the blue.  Now Gardiner advances.  He, also, has some swagger.  Is it the artificial kind?  The kind that comes from being told again and again that you’re better than you actually are?  Or can this kid play?  So many Leaves, over the years, have had this artificial swagger.  It’s sad.  I only feel pity for the Leafs and their fans.  Can imagine?  Ticket prices are out of range for the average Leaf family and a bunch of wine and cheesers are in the rink, ignoring the game, making deals while a bunch more wine and cheesers are running things on all levels.  It’s a sham and a shame.  And Leaf fans are too polite to have a riot about it.

They should.

Price falls back into his net.  Spacek is beside him.  In the net.  A whistle.  Tyler Bozak.

Well, at least he hasn’t changed.

Ten and a half.

And I’m not advocating riots.

Subban and Plekanec on the blue.  Desharnais and Kostitsyn with Cammalleri.

Plekanec gets a decent shot on net from the blue.  Better than I imagined.  He’s worked the point before but I’ve never considered his a particularly heavy shot.  Maybe he’s worked on it this offseason, knowing that he might have to take this role.  Even when Markov returns, the need for a heavy, accurate point shot will remain.

Subban’s shot is heavy enough.  But still a bit wild.  Down the road, he’ll be the finisher on the number one power-play.  That could actually just start happening at any time.  As long as he’s working on it.  Perhaps even if he isn’t.

My living room affiliate just went down and voted.  On my insistence.  She wasn’t going to.  What.  What.  They’ve set up a booth in our lobby.  Convenient.  Yes, I voted.  There were no ex-Habs running in our riding, though.  Nor ex-Concordes.

Preston Young, say.  Doug Scott.  Nick Arakgi.  He actually lives in Toronto.  I’d vote for him.  Arakgi!

Seven minutes.

Frattin gets around Spacek.  Hand on shoulder.  Captures the puck.  Leafs control.  Shot goes high and close to Price.  And out of play.

Commercial.  We should be able to vote online.

And it’s time to look at a car-free society.   All progress seems delayed by those that know the least.  And feel the most greed.  Ignorance and greed.  The watchwords of the conservatives.  It happens in hockey, too.  Remember the resistance to helmets?  Can you even believe there was such resistance?  You kids out there.

There was.

Resistance to good ideas.  Always make note of the resistors.  See what else they resist.

Under six minutes.

Phaneuf has advanced past the hash.  What a dolt.  What a bad move.  Oh lord.

But there’s coverage to protect him.

Toronto enters again.  Kessel.  Right side.  Spacek falls forward, small, sad tree.  The Kessel shot doesn’t wound but its report tells a story.  Off the Price pad.  His left pad.  The Price pad.  The Price point.  I’ll leave it to you.

Faceoff deep left.  Darche is on the ice.  He’s nodding.  Smiling.  Yep.  We’ve got em.

Well, not really.

Cole, Desharnais and Darche on the boards.  Darche comes out with it after eight seconds of digging by six players.

But it’s out seconds later.  And the Leafs show the unity of a glove in returning to close lanes in their zone.  Disciplined team.

Grabovski gets a robust reaction.  Price makes the save.

Kessel is a part of the pressure.  God this writing sucks.  I don’t feel particularly vervy.  Na’mean?  Sorry.  But not really.

Two and a half.

Under two.

Andreas Engqvist is called.  Martin grimaces.

Sorry.  Too many men.  Engqvist is designated to serve the two-minute bench minor.  Montreal struggled with these and other minor penalties last season.  Montreal took more minors than any other NHL team last season.  The good news is that this is something that can be corrected.

Poor skating, like Eric Staal’s, is not so easily corrected.  Watch him sometime.  Any of them.  The Staal brothers.

Poor skating compared to the rest of the league.  Not compared to me.  Hey.  I’m not in the NHL.  But I have a new skating coach.  Minnesota Fats.  Well, not quite.  Minnesota ruddy?

Martin calls a timeout.  Pierre guesses that he wants to keep the same players on the ice.

Frattin is in a small group in front of the mini-whiteboard.  A Leaf coach (not Wilson) talks up stick stuff and draws circles and lines on the whiteboard.  Hopefully not with a permanent marker.

It’s the Leafs, after all.

Faceoff in Montreal ice.  Canadiens clear it.

Siren.

Martin grimaces.  Wilson has his indigestion expression.  Toronto led on shots 8-5.  Montreal leads overall, 18-12.  Much better period for your Leaves.

Second Intermission
Toronto 1, Montreal 0

Good god.

One nothing.  So non-reflective of the on-ice happenings.  But Montreal is to be held accountable for a lack of “burying their chances”.

Tremblay’s new featurette is La Coin de Bleaut (I’ll spell it correctly in a second).  Blueberry corner.  His nickname in his playing days was “Le bleuet bionique” (The Bionic Blueberry).  He discusses Montreal’s most recent acquisition; that of Blair Betts.  Former Flyer.  He got plaudits from former coach Jack Laviolette.  Good defensive centre.  Positive.  Thirty years old.  Faceoffs.  I’m sure I’ll like him based on this description.

Now Toronto GM Brian Burke’s record is reviewed.  His Vancouver and Anaheim days are generously portrayed.  His Toronto record can’t be spun positively.  He’s done some decent things in Toronto; he’s cleaned up the thug culture, the on-ice hubris.  And maybe he needs two, three more years for the results to show.  Culture-change can be time-consuming.

Speaking of which, Mario tells us that Sean Avery was placed on waivers, went unclaimed and is now in the minors.  Alain wonders if Avery will end up in one of the European leagues.  He’s skilled.  But he’s a risk.  He’s colourful, shall we say.  A bad apple in some ways.  A good apple in others.  Like that?  Good apple?

I can’t apologize for everything.

Third Period
Toronto 1, Montreal 0

Plekanec and Cammalleri are on the first kill pairing.  Faceoff won and cleared.  Just under thirty in the bench minor.

Lyles.  Ahead for Lupul.

Joffrey Lupul.

Murphy.  Marphy.  Stevie, Stovie.  Nathan, Nothan.  Jeffrey, Joffrey.   Just sayin.

Grabovski is tripped by a Hab.  Martin is concerned.  Gomez.

Martin eyes the clock.  Talks downward to nobody in particular.

Gomez eyes the scoreclock as well.

Leafs win the draw.  To the opposite point.

Shot.  Wide.  Cleared.

Phaneuf picks it up.  Pass to Kulemin is negated and the puck is cleared again.  Moen and Desharnais are up front.  Puck rounds the net.  Shot.  Price falls.  Reaches.  Houde is impressed.  Crowd rises.  Is disappointed.  Price saved them, says Marc Denis, a former goalie.  A former Montreal goalie.

Plekanec and Cammalleri are on again.  Thirty five seconds in the penalty.

Behind the Priceberg.  Two Habs.  Two Leafs but not close enough.  Cleared to the neutral zone.

Kessel carries it in.  He falls.  Engqvist was involved.  Some murmuring from the crowd is noted by Houde.  But not enough for a call, says the play-by-play impresario.

Some Price saves are shown.  Some good ones.  The camera is too far.  I mean really.

Or maybe I need a honkin’ huge television.   That’s what we say out west.  They.  We.  They.  Out west.

Just givin er.  We also say that out west.  Or up north.

Penalty expires.

Cole line.

Puck is lost in the neutral zone.  Jake Gardiner carries from under his blue line.  Quickly fires it deep.

Pacioretty is in on the right.   Wrister.  Gomez is mooshed up against the boards and falls.  Pacioretty advances to help his teammate.  I’m reminded of The Hit.  Pacioretty doesn’t hesitate in advancing.  Gomez is ok.  No animosity.

Maybe I should be taking minutes at some NASA meeting instead.  Involving asteroids.  While avoiding asteroids?

Subban.  Long shot off a won faceoff.  Wide.  Wild shot.  Remember?

Fifteen.

Kessel.  Left side.  Pass to Phaneuf.  Katunk.  What a shot.  Over the shoulder.  Roof.  Bounced down.  Offwing.

Toronto 2, Montreal 0

I shake my head.  Fifteen minutes left.  Lots of time.  But.

It’s all pressure, all the way now.  And the Leafs think they can win.

Or do they.

Gionta.  Pacioretty.  Drop pass for Gomez from the latter.  Misses entirely.

Armstrong crashes Price en route to a go-ahead puck.  He’s called for it.  Doesn’t look malicious.  But it has to be called.  Colby Armstrong.  With that aggressive, I’m Innocent face of his.

Two minutes.

Desharnais.  Cammalleri.

Cleared down to Price.

Passing on the right side.  Good control.  Desharnais does the extra work to keep the possession.  Darche and Cammalleri in the low slot.  Subban a wild shot.  More control by Desharnais.  Trapped by Reimer.

Faceoff to Reimer’s left.

Gomez is asked to leave the circle.

Pacioretty tries to dipsy-doodle at the right hash.  No go.   Cleared.

Forty-four seconds.  And a pang as I remember that Hamrlik will never carry it out for the team again.  He’s in Washington now.  Halpern, too.

Montreal sets up one last time.

Two in the low slot.  Gionta and Pacioretty.  Gomez waits.  Now shoots.  Deflects high.

Argos and Als Monday, we are told.  Thanksgiving Day game, I suppose.

Twelve and a half.

Puck is cleared.  Penalty ends.

Subban carries it out and tries the long pass for Cammalleri.  It all ends in a turnover under the Toronto blue.

Just under twelve.

Eleven.  More pressure from Gomez, Pacioretty and Gionta.  But though the buzz and chirp is there the angles aren’t and the Leafs are positionally sound.  The puck is frozen.

Gomez.  Long pass cross-ice for Pacioretty.  Reaches him.  Bounces beyond.  Recovered by Pacioretty.  Gomez close by.  Under the end line.  A pass.  A shot.  Reimer stops it.  The chemistry between the two is good and if they’re together for the season, it could work well.

Toronto sets up like it’s a power-play now.  Five seconds becomes seven.  Not acceptable.  Finally a turnover allows Montreal to exit.

Desharnais line.  Kostitsyn tries a vain long shot.  Liles catches it in the stomach.  Holds it there for several seconds.  Veteran play.  Finally it tumbles out of the folds of his jersey and we have a whistle.

Under eight.  Pierre is chortling.  We’re not doctors, he says.  I missed something (ed note: Campoli injury?)

I was thinking about how, uh, how, uh, boring this account has been.

Reimer gloves a long Gorges shot on a basic entry.  Good coverage.

Faceoff to his right.

Plekanec.  Sees a stick dig at it.  To the point.  Stays there for a moment.  Shot in.  Bounces slowly to the front.  Sticks whack but no diamonds.

Six and fifteen.

Weber.  Behind his net.  Waits.  Hash pass for Spacek.  Long to the right side for Darche.  Too far.  Darche is chasing.  Digging with the stick.  And Leafs exit.

Where’s Saku.

Five and a half.

Someone has to save our eggs.

Someone.

Saku is in Anaheim.  He had forty-five points last season.  In 75 games.  Selanne will be back for one last season.  Or so says Jack Todd.  Sounds reasonable.  But the kid can still play.

Price drops low and cradles one to his chest.  He expected more.  Tonight.  I wonder how he’ll phrase it.  The day is not far when he’ll be the one to call out his teammates.  Maybe not by name.  He’s matured even more.  Those days are over.  You know.  The “superstar” days.  Remember when they publicized the hug?

Commercial.

Under four.

Cole and Plekanec are paired.  Long Leaf puck.   Gorges touches it for icing.

I wonder about his conditioning.  His adjustment.  His break has been much longer.

A Subban shot is stopped.  Some sticks and high sleeves.  No further jostling.  Reimer takes a sip of water.

Canadiens slow the action sensing that Toronto is collapsing (zone formation) and waiting.  It’s five-on-five but the waiting allows Montreal to control the play.  They search the lane with Desharnais doing the best of the creative work.  One shot, decent.  Two from the side.  Smothered.

Faceoff.

Another post.  Houde counts them up.  Two against Price.  Two against Reimer.

Two and seven.

Subban.  Turns.  Returns.  Turns in the other direction.  Backhand pass.  But it all has to be redone.

Empty net.

Puck is rolling now.  Towards the empty Montreal net.  It’s going to be close.  It’s rolling.  Rolling.  Closer.  Wide.

Icing.

Faceoff to Reimer’s right.

Toronto calls their timeout.  One per team.  Per game.

Marc Denis says the Canadiens did well to attack Reimer’s net.  Putting guys in there.  Agreed.  And noticeably better than last season.

One minute.  Cammalleri whacks at one.

Schenn gets one.  Long puck.  Lupul gets to it first.  No faceoff.  Montreal entry.  Whistle.  Leafs.

Thirty-five seconds.  Holding against Schenn.

Borderline call.

The bell track from Sam Spence’s crew.

Subban.  Carries around.  Two chasing.  His own net.  Long puck.  Canadiens get to it.

Thirteen.

Subban.  To Desharnais.  Shot.  Wide.  Best pressure sequence of the evening.  Six on four.  Oughta be.

But it’s not enough.  And no goal.

It’s over.  I shrug.  Who can figure this game out.

Leafs worked harder.  For one.

Final Score
Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Montreal Canadiens 0

Not enough intensity says Michel Bergeron in the brief teaser leading up to Ante-Chambre (the post-game show)

HDS Stars: Phil Kessel, David Desharnais, James Reimer
RDS Stars: James Reimer, Matthew Lombardi, Tomas Plekanec

Matthew Lombardi is from Montreal, by the way.  Born there.  Yeah.  Yeah, pretty much.

The season is back.

<insert song>

<use your imagination>

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