Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
October 20, 2011, by Homme de Sept-Îles
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 (1-3-1) visit Pittsburgh Penguins (4-2-2)
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Game Six (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)
Your Penguins. Remember Greg Millen? How about the light blue on the uniforms?
Mario Lemieux was better than Wayne Gretzky and anyone starting a franchise should choose him. And this nonsensical mythology around “Mario learned from Wayne at Canada Cup” is a Canadian hockey nationalist’s fantasy.
Mario the Magnificent.
First Period
Hal Gill and Mister Diaz are low. Canadiens win the faceoff. Cherubic Lars Eller, craggy Erik Cole and the intrepid Tomas Plekanec.
I keep forgetting Diaz’ first name (ed note: It’s Raphael)
Montreal’s Carey Price makes a save on a mild Pascal Dupuis shot from the right circle-top. Wrister. Was going to go wide. Glove. Faceoff to his left.
Joe Vitale is on for Mario’s team with Matt Cooke and Brooks Orpik low. Lovejoy with him. Surly.
Mario Lemieux is still a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Penguins.
Faceoff to Price’s left. Long harmless shot results. Slapper off a one-timer. Seen all the way. Scott Gomez, Travis Moen and Montreal captain Brian Gionta.
Both teams are skating well. Camera distance is back to normal. Much better.
Cammalleri joins with Darche. No shots on this shift.
Eller line. One hand. Carries down he right. Around the net. Waits. Covered. Shovels hard. To the low slot. Cole swoops in, Plekanec at the post. Shot. And stopped by Fleury.
Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguin goalie and incumbent. Loose, electric, jelly. That’s a sentence today.
Four minutes elapsed.
Long puck gives a bit of trouble but Fleury has it beside his net. Rush. Asham gets loose down the column. He’s interfered with. Tripping? Hooking is the call. Raphael Diaz.
Pittsburgh power.
Montreal’s PK is capable so for this season (16th at 84.0; ed note; that number might be adjusted for tonight’s results). Penguin’s power-play is decent (tenth at 18.9). Crosby is not back yet but expect him by November.
First sequence is annulled.
Faceoff outside the Montreal blue. Gill blasts it down.
Maturing Josh Gorges and Gill are low. The old pairing that got the team through the second round of the 09-10 playoffs.
One minute.
Mindful Mathieu Darche and the slick David Desharnais.
Darche emerges alone.
Nobody around. Offwing. Slows. Shoots.
In Fleury’s pads and he doesn’t know exactly where. He gets the blocker low and then finds it under him.
Forty seconds. Pens halted at the blue.
Penguins’ Jordan Staal at the hash. Park in the corner. Loses a puck battle. Plekanec emerges. Lost on the boards after a good ride. Staal is a slow skater, boy.
Trouble-making Matt Cooke ends the penalty with a shot wide from Price’s right. Puck goes out of play.
Footage of Crosby from this morning on the ice with his teammates. He was recently cleared for full contact and his return from two concussions suffered last season is imminent.
Thirteen left.
Penguin’s possession. On the perimeter. Defenceman Zbynek Michalek’s shot from the point is gloved for a faceoff.
We are informed about an upcoming baseball game to be telecast on RDS. Baseball is still boring. No need to tune in. Same rules, same tempo. Hasn’t changed.
Price crabs forward, startled and desperate. The puck meanders in legs in the sacrosanct space in front of the goalie. No Penguins can seize the chance.
On the other end, Plekanec does seize. Fires. Low slot shot is turned away close-in. Fleury often shows how he’ll play early in a period. Tonight? Looking strong.
Coming out and challenging shots.
Sullivan and Park combine for a shot. Stays out.
Distance shot follows. Ting. And in. Scooped out almost immediately. But it’s a goal.
James Neal with the goal. Mild reaction from the crowd.
Pittsburgh 1, Montreal 0
Eleven.
Gionta behind the net. Eller helps out.
Finds its way to the slot. Yet again. They meld together, both teams. Moen is knocked down. Fleury flails forward, gloves down on the disc.
Faceoff.
Penguins are out. Darche and Cooke bump behind Price.
Out along the left. As quickly back in. Boards. Newcomer Canadien Alexei Emelin. Engqvist with laboured skating. End of shift but he leans ahead like a winded old man. Is Michel right?
Long Montreal puck follows the shift change.
Centre Scott Gomez is missing from the bench area, play-by-play impresario Pierre Houde and colour man Marc Denis both note.
Some odd, giant brown monkey thing is undulating in the corner of the arena to Price’s right. Behind the glass. Mascot of some sort. Or is it a giant bird? Bird. Makes more sense. Or is a Penguin a short, cold form of simian.
I’d like to write some commercials for these breaks. We’ll start with the music. None of this happy-clap nonsense. Small feminine voices extolling the virtues of the car? Eliminated.
Stark warnings, I suppose. Maybe some wide angle planetary shots. That Hat one.
Fleury’s saves are shown in a montage. The Darche save is most impressive. Shot from about four feet away. Fleury’s left.
Gomez is back in the bench area.
Pascal Dupuis line for Pittsburgh. Plekanec, Cole and Our Man from Richmond Hill. Numero treize. Michael Cammalleri.
Gill and Diaz low.
Montreal ice. A Gill exit pass is foiled. He has to dance that big jig bicycle move of his to get back. Gets low. Can’t find the puck. Slot pass has no receivers.
It’s Gill’s thousandth NHL game tonight. Gill told Pierre that it’s the little things that have allowed him to last this long. He added, “Sometimes you’re the ball, sometimes you’re the bat. I’ve learned to have a sense of humour about these things.” The ups and downs.
Long Montreal puck. Whistled.
Gomez is in some pain. And he left to the training room again.
Head trainer Pierre Gervais folds a towel behind the Montreal bench. Contemplates something, eyes nearly closed. Or maybe he’s just relaxing.
Darche chases a long Emelin puck. Gets to it first. Right point. Shot. To the opposite hash it bounces.
And it’s out.
Five and a half. Penguins are playing their usual clean brand, good skating and decent own-zone management.
And Cooke has been a calm man. So far. Me, too. Literary gooning is beyond my mood. At the moment.
Fleury is from Sorel. I remember having to play in a tournament up there. I was in pee-wee (eleven years old). Green jerseys. I wore number three. Defence. Can you imagine?
Brossard. The comets? No. Wait. The meteors. We were Les Météores. The one decision our coach allowed us to make. I think we were supposed to be grateful. He was a screamer.
Five minutes.
Plekanec. Pacioretty. Gorges and Weber low.
Weber behind his net. Long pass to the left for Pacioretty, last to leave, he dumps it down. Eller, Gionta and Moen are together. Gomez is absent, remember.
Four and ten.
Canadiens retain. Pass it in rectangular formation.
Lost.
And a whistle after a Penguin ice infraction of some kind.
Centre ice. Desharnais, Kostitsyn and Cammalleri.
Here’s a chance to pair Gionta creatively in a game situation. With no bitterness. No shoe-throwing.
Resumption. Price. Called. Knocked his own net over after a giveaway under his end line. Puck stays out. Ref called it, though. Gorges is asking for clarity.
No go. Pittsburgh power.
Penguins’ Paul Martin advances. Turns it over. But PK Subban can’t keep it. Stays in the zone.
One save. And it’s free. Pens’ Steve Sullivan is late getting a handle. And Price dough-arms down. The puck hits him. Fell like a gingerbread man.
More pressure. Gorges low. Kunitz.
Faceoff to Price’s right. Imagine being named Paul Martin. Hmm.
I saw Michael Ignatieff at some Munk building today (on the UT campus). He was moderating a panel discussion on refugee issues. He noted my Habs hat. Black. And white. Or maybe my hair. Security wasn’t called. Of course not. “This isn’t bickering, Mr. Harper. It’s a democracy.”
Remember that Facebook thing? <insert bombastic laughter>
Penalty ends with no further threat.
And the period, the same.
Shots on goal in favour of Pittsburgh 15-8.
First Intermission
Pittsburgh 1, Montreal 0
Google Translate. One. Two. It’s rather incongruous. Machines talking to us.
Brunet may say that the same thing happened to Pedneault before him (being criticized). But there is a difference. Pedneault was good.
Self-heating food packaging (SHFP) is active packaging with the ability to heat food contents without external heat sources or power. Packets typically use an exothermic chemical reaction. Other types of active packaging are self-cooling food packaging and radio-frequency identification (RFID). Packages like these are typically used by the military during operations when it is unsafe to have a fire to cook.
Or when the Nazgul are about.
I’m consuming frozen pizza. And fantasizing about launching my stove into orbit. To that Hat Planet. Just because it would float on water doesn’t mean you could lift it. That’s a lot of cork.
My stove needs to learn some manners. I’m busy.
Second Period
Bird-Gorillas 1, Visitors 0
Gomez is done. Upper body injury. Apparently, Pat Quinn first developed the evasive technique of giving a vague area when reporting injuries. Quinn has training in law and wears glasses to offset (magnify) his truculence. Former Leaf coach. The former Republicans of the NHL. They seem to be in some sort of cultural detox mode. You Leaf people had better hope that’s true.
Incursion. Price. Stands it down and the puck floops up.
This Gomez absence may be good.
Habs running around the zone. Out of position. One long shot. Frayed coverage. Another. In the net. Asham?
No. Joe Vitale. Emelin gave the puck away. Just a lazy, panicked or thoughtless pass from under his left circle. Right onto a Penguin stick. Untoward.
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 0
Montreal has not been able to come back to win a game yet this fall.
Pacioretty is shown leaving for the training room.
Delayed call. Crosschecking. Penguins. Bylsma is unperturbed. Even pleased. All situations can be learned from. Paul Martin is in the box. He seems fine with the outcome. No complaints, no rancour. (No campaigning)
Price plays one behind his net. Up the boards it skitters. Darche stops it, but has to move it quickly.
Brief appearance. And Montreal is out again.
Plekanec. Left point. Weber, right beside him, shoots. Misses all the pinball paddles.
Diaz and Subban low now. Burly Erik Cole. Left hash. To Subban. Shot. Dribbles out bloodless. Like an innocent marble. Eye marble. I dunno.
Penalty ends.
Thirteen and a half. Long Penguin puck. Icing.
Pacioretty is back. Reseau finds the footage that shows the injury. Under his arm. One check on entry. And then wincing following a faceoff. Right under the arm.
Penguin penalty.
One entry. Good passing to get in. Puck goes a bit long for Plekanec in the low slot.
Now Price tries something new. Fakes the forehand pass and turns to rid himself of it backhanded. Juuuuust about suffers a scoring chance against because of it. On the replay, Denis criticizes his teammates for not giving the goalie an easier target. Price took a risk but perhaps had to.
Montreal rush. Fleury falls forward. And the puck stays out. The competitive phase has ended.
Just kidding.
Moen has a new habit. Pretending to backcheck. He occasionally pretended last season but not often enough to get called on it. But there’s more of it this season.
Eating when hungry is a challenge. The hunger creates a desperation that makes the wolfing of food risky. First, the badly designed and located windpipe issue. Second, the heat issue. Who invented heating of food, anyway? What a burning idea. You can decide if that’s a compliment.
This is the thing; we tend to eat when we’re hungry. Can’t we just eat at our convenience instead?
The rugged Travis Moen.
Boite a lunch. That’s the reward for getting the game-winning goal. A modest white shelf in the Mellon arena is shown. Penguin players who score these decisive goals are rewarded. With a lunch-box. Marc says that this is a way for the obscure guys to get some recognition.
James Neal, for example. A puck embossed with the Wild logo is distinguished by the forward’s name underneath. He’s from Whitby and wears number 18.
I just wanted to say embossed.
Darche. Into Fleury. And the puck? Nope. Sorry. It was Gionta who crashed Fleury. Darche sent the puck from the circle.
Eller. Knocked down by Lovejoy. Members of the crowd express elation. A form of joy. What’s lovejoy? Oh, don’t answer.
We are a nation of smart-asses. Smug, toque-wearing, Timmy-slurping, hockey-loving sarcasm masons. As opposed to rink masons. As for rink masons, there’s one in every neigbourhood. Even where ball hockey is prohibited.
Street hockey is prohibited in Toronto.
Ok, I’ll say it. What hogwash.
Eller is shown. On the bench, he reminds me of James Selly (name changed to protect the guilty), a warty, attitudinal grade seven hockey opponent of mine. Prone to racist taunts and poor grades, Selly was gangly, unwashed and annoying.
Hmm. That doesn’t sound very nice. I like Eller. He just happens to remind me of a Milton Williams goon.
Calgary junior high. Now defunct, I’m told. I was there for grade seven.
Montreal goes to the power-play.
First thirty seconds are a wash.
Gionta. Cammalleri. Desharnais.
Cammalleri lifts the stick and takes the puck from Martin. But the puck is turned over in turn. Out it goes.
One more sequence. Pacioretty, Desharnais and Cammalleri.
Emelin. Houde pronounces it Yemelin.
Subban loses control of it on the blue. Another one for the tweet-heads. And a two-on-two results. Price saves the moment. Subban barrels in and knocks over a man in the low slot. Frustration outlet.
Now another Pittsburgh penalty. Head-shaking. Booing. Pierre tells we’ll know more after the break.
Typing interferes with muting commercials. I need an audionic solution. Like the clapper. Except it responds to yelling.
Commercial. Commercial! I test it. None of my neighbours notice. Living room affiliate is at some event.
I try it again. Television doesn’t respond, either. Never know. Could have been one of those hidden features.
Engqvist, bench-warming, has some cotton sticking out of his nose. Subban knocked Cooke down in the crease. He was the head-shaker. Cooke wears the A for alternate.
Sometimes, you give the captaincy (say, captain of special teams) to a guy for whom all else has failed. The captaincy, one out of, say, eight times, sobers him up. The responsibility brings out his best. But it’s a long shot. I wonder how often it happens in hockey.
There was no additional penalty. Refs allowed a form of frontier justice. Didn’t see nor was I shown the initial cause. We can bet Cooke started it.
Can’t we.
He’s a bit of a donkey’s body part.
Bench-warming isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Everyone does it. This could be an alternative energy source.
Deep left faceoff. Just under two minutes.
Gionta. Pacioretty. In the corner. Whistle. Boarding. Gionta. Two minutes for boarding. De la bande. In French.
Martin has a mildly bemused expression. I feel the need to say that bemused is not a synonym for amused. There’s an element of felt absurdity to his demeanour.
Canadiens are very committed early. Flashes of 09-10 playoffs. Again. Three Habs low and under their own end-line (Cammalleri, Plekanec and Gorges) against two Penguins. The team has a sense of urgency fuelled by a 1-4 record. Sure, it’s 1-3-1 but the one at the end is really a loss.
It’s an OTL. An overtime loss. If teams are tied at the end of regulation, both are awarded a point for the “tie”. But since overtime is played in all tie situations, there is always a winner and loser. Ties that aren’t settled by five minutes of four on four are finalized by a shootout. Thus the OTL point. Which is really a loss. A loss.
Loss.
Loss, loss, loss, loss.
I had enough of those in the eighties from the Montreal football teams.
Period ends. Montreal led on shots 13-9.
Second Intermission
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 0
Concordes. And Alouettes. There were two editions. One folded in 1981 to be replaced by the other in 1982. And then they folded for good. The biggest loss of all. On June 25, 1987. I wonder still, what happened. Bit of a mystery. Will Norm Kimball or someone else finally tell us?
Or what.
Kimball, considered the architect of Eskimo greatness in the latter part of the century, was brought to Montreal to “save” the admittedly struggling team. They folded on the eve of their season-opener despite having played two preseason games and without any warning signs of their impending death.
And it wasn’t for good. The transplanted Baltimore CFL Colts brought football back to La Belle Province. At the expense of the best American CFL fans ever.
Third Period
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 0
The Consol Energy Center. Yeah, yeah.
So. Who are these guys? Why is their stock down?
And are they trying to blame the victim in this mining death?
Are they? Are they? Structural problems?
They got sued for killing aquatic life? What. What.
Hey, if I’m going to use their actual name (in my world, any rink Pittsburgh plays in is The House Mario Built), you can know a bit more about them.
And any money isn’t good enough. Teams have the power to choose different sponsors. And they should do so with responsibility.
Sponsored by Satan. Imagine that.
And playing in the Meadowlands.
Penguins score after sustained pressure. Asham. Knocked it out of the air off a bizarre rebound from a shot by Deryk Engelland at the end line. Puck flew up and Asham hit at about waist height. It’s right at the limit, says Houde. Stick has to be below the crossbar when it makes contact with the puck.
Decision on the ice stands. Good goal.
Penguins fly fleet across the ice now.
And the Canadiens. The Canadiens. Vos (mes) suffering Canadiens. The ice gets slushy. Houde notes an increase in errors. Penguins hold the puck. Swirl about in the Montreal zone. Subban leaves the ice. And is back not long afterward.
Finally, it’s Subban who races to an opponent at his right side-boards. Longer distance for the defenceman. But gets to the puck first. Gorges and Eller trap a man to Price’s left.
Eller from Gorges. Neutral zone. Backhanded down.
Lines change.
Eleven and a half.
Cole on the right. Rumbles through. One arm around Lovejoy. One arm on the stick and looking for a teammate. In the deep corner. But it doesn’t last.
Asham is hit in the back on the ensuing Pittsburgh possession. Canadiens are called for it.
Meanwhile, back in Canada, ball hockey continues to be prohibited.
First clear.
Ten.
Well, the record is three goals in 21 seconds. By one player. Mosienko?
Yep. There’s even video now. And it’s on the NHL site. Zounds. He did it for Chicago. Gadzooks.
The three-goal record for a team? Hmmmm.
Another Penguin penalty.
Marc is asked how the Canadiens can improve their penalty-kill. By a viewer. Carey Price has to be your best player on the PK, he says. He adds that the players on PK need to be more aggressive.
Cammalleri was tripped on a trip in alone. Feet knocked from under him. It’s now or never, says Houde. What a trip that would be. Eh?
There are people alive who still hate the sixties. Whatever “the sixties” might mean. Yes, yes, I know. After all, I was born in the sixties. And nobody has retired the Beatles’ catalogue yet. So, yes. We know. We know.
Michalek took down Cammalleri to save the shot attempt from occurring. It’s what we can call a “good penalty”. A penalty that prevented a high-percentage scoring chance.
First segment is shotless.
Pacioretty, Desharnais and Cammalleri. Diaz and Subban on the blue.
Decent control. A Subban shot leaves a puck at the post and Pacioretty swipes. But Fleury is low, early and with a low pad with the blocker.
Just under seven. About fifteen seconds in the penalty.
Plekanec. Darche and Gionta. Plekanec’ pass is intercepted. Diagonal to the blue. Man out. Michalek. Room. Lots of room. Shot. Price. Left pad. Dignity save.
(Longevity artist)
Penalty is over.
Barry White referred to Lisa Stansfield as a longevity artist. It seemed a throwaway term when he said it. As if he coined it on the spot. Maybe he did. You have to admire something in that. Something.
I wonder if he considered himself a longevity artist. If you put out enough albums, something good’s got to happen.
Look. Davies was paid by the word. Ok?
Yeah, yeah.
Desharnais. Rudesse. Two minutes. Rudeness? No. Unsportsmanlike? No. Roughing.
That’s a major penalty on the gridiron. Why isn’t there a fancy word for the ice surface? Football has the (way) better terminology.
Let’s face it. Don’t you hate that saying. Let’s face what, exactly? The ravine? The mirror? Your meddling parents?
Uh.
Blitzes. Flat passes. Stunts, kick-outs, flea-flickers, traps, draws. It’s endless.
Three and fifteen. Penguins do nothing. Habs are interested. In avoiding a Sportscentre rout.
Two on one. Dupuis. Cooke. Dupuis brakes. Allows a second man to appear. And the pass is into coverage.
Eller now. Head down. Nearly loses it in his skates. Reminds me of Sundin in his arm motions, somehow. I’ll figure it out at some point.
Traffic closes. The butter is yellow. Houde says this building, this edifice is magnificent. He said a while back. You can guess when. A beautiful place to play hockey. All those closely connected to the game have to be careful. The beat writers have a narrow line. And they walk it.
It’s always interesting when a feature writer shows up and does a special. Then leaves. He can be more pure and not worry about sacrificing relationships.
Goal.
Darche.
No.
Gionta. Or did it touch Darche? Emelin went to the hash. Took a hit. Created space in doing so. Gionta then stepped into the shot from the blue.
Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 1
Ninety seconds. Price leaves.
Le tout pour le tout. Let it all hang out. Rough translation.
Two failed possessions. Long puck is off someone in mid-ice.
Fleury falls. Topples with no provocation at the side of his net.
Penguins stay out of trouble.
Cammalleri down the right. Tries and tries again; a backhand pass. Covered.
And the siren or whatever that blat thing is … goes off.
They congratulate their goalie.
Final Score
Pittsburgh Penguins 3
Montreal Canadiens 1
[Expletive deleted]
HDS Stars: Aaron Asham, Carey Price, Marc-Andre Fleury
RDS Stars: Marc-Andre Fleury James Neal, Jordan Staal
I should have a hyphenated two-name first name, too. Jimmy-Bobby Sept-Iles. Blasto-Mastrix Sept-Iles. Egg-Fundy Sept-Iles. Rascal-Plaster Sept-Iles. Ralphie-Timmy Sept-Iles.
No Ante-Chambre. Some slowball sedation instead. More hogwash.
And the older I get, the more I’m going to be referencing dead people. Hmmm.
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