Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

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 (14-16-7) visit Tampa Bay Lightning (15-17-3)

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Game Thirty-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 23 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)

First Period

Reseau delays in joining the game and we miss the first ninety seconds.

Faceoff deep right and Cammalleri takes it in Desharnais’ stead.  Leblanc skates powerfully on the right side looking comfortable handling the puck on the boards.  His good reach and strong posture are convincing.  Improved effort on the backcheck but he’s not quite there yet.

Desharnais dumps it down in this quiet Florida arena (yes, we’re in that state again) and Darche is on with Nokelainen.

Brewer carries it out from behind his net for Lightning.  Gervais is on, now for Lightning.

Long shot by Subban from mid-ice and Garon traps it in his glove.  The old start the Quebeckers tactic is in effect.  It works.  And not just for Quebec locals.

Gorges low.  Bumps Downie hard into the corner.

Pass to the slot.  Drop pass. Shot.  Downie scores.

The big foghorn.

Stamkos deflected Kubina’s long shot.  Deflections are virtually impossible for goalies to stop.  This one went over Price’s right arm.

Tampa Bay 1, Montreal 0

Montreal is penalized on the next shift.

Eller is called for a high stick.

Hit Lecavalier in the face.  Accidental.

Plekanec has a chance early.  Tampa Bay continues to struggle in setting up and then the puck is out of play on a Downie shoot-in.

We’re shown the shark-like Cunneyworth gazing with failing vision across the ice.  Now he consults his card.

Faceoff outside the Montréal zone.

Diaz is on.  Fifty-four seconds in the penalty.

Plekanec and Moen are the forwards.  Moore and Plekanec are both asked to leave the circle.

Mar-Andre Bergeron is still in the NHL.  He’s on the blue.  Handles it a few times but no shots evolve.

Penalty ends and Gill is chasing and getting great support from the others, two with him

Moore is down under the end line and play is stopped.  He’s fine.  Dominic Moore.  The former Hab.  He was a key cog in the three-round playoff run of 09-10.

The chances don’t come often enough, it seems.  Unless you’re good.

We’re shown a replay of Scott Hartnell’s incident near the Lightning bench earlier this week.  Ryan Malone hopped off his bench to confront Hartnell.  Good for Malone.  I believe he was fined.

In some ways, the frontier justice idea has its merits.  But only if one considers the relative corruption levels in the league.  The outlaw only has value when the sheriff is bought.  Outlaw activity in a vacuum or with no greater reason is just self-indulgence.

Just get a better sheriff.

Leblanc is knocked down by Brett Clark.  Used his stick and it’s called. Leblanc kept playing the puck in the left corner on his knees after the play and didn’t look for the ref with a whine and an eye.

Montreal power-play.

Cole and Pacioretty in the slot.  Subban and Kaberle on the blue.  Eller is the centre.

Offside entry after Kaberle retrieved.

One shot so far, a one-timer by Subban.

Lightning win it and they fire it down.  Gilroy with the full wind-up.

Eller leafs his way through the sticks.

But it’s forced out.

Desharnais is on the second wave.

I like it.  Two good centres.  And they’re getting rewarded.  Young, sure but it’s more fair.

Around the net.  Cammalleri fires it in.

Your Man from Richmond Hill.

Low circle, his spot.  Strong wrister and Garon is beaten high.  Garon was already sweeping ice with his knees and like a haggard washerwoman, looks up late and watches it zip past.  Brewer went for Desharnais who zipped it to a now open Cammalleri.  Take the QB?  Or take the receiver?  You’re doomed if it’s Joe Montana with the football.  No, I can’t use Brad Johnson.  Nor Steve Deberg.  Doug Williams?  Maybe.

Ham.  But he’s an Edmonton dude.  And so forth.

Montreal 1, Tampa Bay 1

Desharnais assisted on a nice keep-around head up and the quarterback’s finish.  He’s very good and not a big billing guy.  He’s Montreal’s best offensive centre these days.

Ten and twenty.

Another rush.  Cammalleri passes to Desharnais on entry and Desharnais winds up and shoots.  That’s a change and makes me believe that more than one conversation was had that fateful week before the 6-2 win.

Plekanec line.  Kostitsyn.  Strong work from the two and it takes an extra man to rid the Lightning of the Habs.

Nine oh six.

Mid-ice.

Blunden.  Left side.  Slow.  Looking at his stick the whole while.  But he keeps and shovels it to the net.

Pass fails but the effort is noted.

More pressure.

Darche nearly pots one on a swipe.

And the team is passing, finding spaces and forcing the Lightning into weird shapes and an electrical soot odour wafts through the game.

That’s how you play on the road.

Price retrieves behind his net and the team is out immediately.  Pacioretty lofts one and Leblanc is right in the crease.  High glove by Garon, baseball fruit-picker and he decides to send it along despite the forward and the style-book.

Finally Pyatt is in on the right, wearing the number eleven.  Hustles and makes a shot for himself.  Pyatt is good for about three goals a year and I rue the notion of his scoring tonight.  The former Hab is speedy but something went wrong along the way and he didn’t work out.  Some suggested he was playing hurt for long stretches.  He lost whatever scoring touch he had and couldn’t hang on.  Ryan White is the new Tom Pyatt.

Five and a half.

Darche and Nokelainen.

Montreal force and pres.

Stamkos nearly has a puck taken from by Darche in the low circle in front of Garon.  But he’s deft and the puck is out.

And then back in.  Montréal has kept the puck in Tampa ice since the mid-point of this period.

For the most part.

It ends with a Teddy Purcell entry.  Passes to St. Louis who fires form the offwing.

Cammalleri has his game face back and his pride can take a nap.  Two goals in two games for the man who’s struggled in all aspects of the game this season.

Faceoff to Price’s left.

Cole and Eller aren’t clicking yet.  But Desharnais and Cammalleri are.  And I wonder what will happen on Gomez’ and Gionta’s respective returns.  Gionta a winger is normally paired with Gomez and the two will likely be kept together.  But which two forwards will lose spots in the lineup?  Leblanc is the rookie but is doing better and better with each game.  Four scoring lines are always a possibility.

Not likely, though.

Nokelainen is in in the slot.  Blunden to the net.  Now a second man to the crease, Nokelainen, as the puck is sent to Gorges on the left point.

Delayed call.

Subban is called as the Canadiens exert pressure.

Matchups don’t seem to get the same weighting in hockey discussions as in football.  Two wins against two lower-classed teams means less than against two significant opponents.

Should Montreal win tonight, the two points will be gloated over by many.  Tampa Bay has had their problems this season and can’t even put together sixty minutes on a regular basis.

They’re even lower in the standings than Montreal.

Subban baseball batted Malone in a retaliatory gesture.  Midsection.  Vicious swing.  Didn’t see what Malone did to earn it.  Malone is all right and on the power-play’s first wave.

Lightning are at 14.6 percent on the man-advantage.

Time will run out on the period before this power-play ends.

Lightning set up.

One long shot is permitted.  Then, an interception.  And the puck is cleared and the period is over.

Montreal led on shots 10-8.

First Intermission
Montreal 1, Tampa Bay 1

Some more Crosby talk.  He’s suffered a second concussion.  Or is it third?  Or is it fourth?  He’s out again and once a player’s suffered two, the third and fourth (and so on) become easier to incur.

Damphousse accedes that Crob’s “a little bit the face of the NHL”.

Second Period
Tampa Bay 1, Montreal 1

Montreal scores.  Desharnais’ offwing shot goes off Cammalleri’s leg and the low-circle deflection counts.

Montreal 2, Tampa Bay 1

Thirteen and a half.

Stamkos rounds Kostitsyn at his blue and then a second man at mid-ice and then his pass results in a turnover.

Delayed call against he Lightning.

Steve Downie.  Slashing.

Downie has changed.  He’s not the sullen man he used to be.  He’s matured.  Not sure what it is exactly but it bears watching.  He was once mad-bomb talent-child but his continued indiscretions were a part of his decline.  Not sure about the underlying reasons.

Montreal man-advantage.

First wave sees a stoppage after no decent chances.  Passing was all on the perimeters.

Kaberle on the blue.  Kostitsyn on the right hash.

Cammalleri with the uncle-shot, the golfer and Garon has it.

Denis remarks that it’s amazing how much change there’s been for Cammalleri over two games.  He’s not hesitating anymore and shooting in his classic style.

Penalty ends with Cammalleri on the bench and the Canadiens lofting one in.  Garon mishandles it and the puck slaps the ice in his crease and bounds away.  No Habs in sight.

Ten and a half.

Emelin and Gill are paired and combine to send a puck long after a won faceoff.

The Lightning are getting out of their zone more easily.  But the puck is lost in the Montreal zone almost immediately on entry.

Cammalleri enjoys a solid and complete shift, active under his end line and on the low hash in his own zone and then scooting out to receive a pass in open ice.  A cracker from the end line and then some more effort in the neutral zone.

Now Pacioretty finds Cole.  No mistake.  It’s in on the left side.  Garon had no chance.

Pass from the right circle to the left column.

Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 1

Not sure how the coverage was blown but there was already traffic in the crease.

Under six.

Nokelainen.  Kostitsyn.

Subban and Gorges underneath.

Darche is also with them.

Gorges took a puck in the skate.  He’s in pain.  Hobbles back to his bench.  Puck is in Tampa ice.  Lost.

Purcell takes a pass from mid-ice.

Great work from Cammalleri.  Where has he been and where has this come from.  Waterlogging work in the slot.  And he muggles his way to the net.

Cole?  Another leader?

If Cammalleri decides this is the time and this is the place, this team could be something down the line.  What a disappointment so far.  Most of it.

Cunneyworth?  Ladouceur?

If Cunneyworth is the reason and he really is a great coach then someone has to implore him to take French lessons.  It’s just once.  And then he’ll never have to learn it again.

And it’s worth it.  Winning a Cup in this city is like nowhere else.  Just forty or fifty hockey words, eh.

Four and a half.

Eller weaving with Leblanc.  Eller curves left and Leblanc reads it and heads through traffic for the net.  Eller can’t retain but the sequence was a good one.

Moore appears to enter offside and stations himself at the net.  Turnover ends that.

The re-jigging of Cammalleri is a very hopeful thing in many ways.  Others won’t be able to point to him and complain (your scribe included), and this will enervate others who’ve worked much harder.

Tampa shot.  Whistle.  Slithers through.

Ref waves it off.

Early whistle.  Remember that late whistle?  Against Pittsburgh.  The Letang goal.

Reseau checks whether the puck crossed before or after the whistle.

Before.  It’s a goal.  But the decision has yet to be made.  They await word from Toronto.  What does the rulebook say?

Denis says this is a shot he should have had.

Goal is counted.

Foghorn.

A ref goes over to both benches to explain the call to both coaching staffs.

I remember one that Price got away with a few months back.  Years?

This time, no.

Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 2

Two and twenty-two.

Weak goal.  But Denis reminds us that the great ones sometimes do give up weak goals.  And that they rebound strongly.  Or can.

Price is poking his hand-net and trident at the puck as four gather in the crease.  The puck slips out parallel to the end line and it’s out.

Cammalleri.  Over the blue.  Brakes and sends it down.

Desharnais and Cammalleri.  Interesting.  Cammalleri is a big talker.  Desharnais, I’m guessing, doesn’t say a lot.  I wonder how much of his is due to what would be a unique chemistry between the two.
Unique isn’t always good.

Period ends with increasing Montréal intensity.

Nobody wants to lose again for a long, long time.

Montreal led on shots 11-8.

And 21-16, overall.

Second Intermission
Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 2

Who knows.

This house is a nightmare.  What’s next.

Third Period
Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 2

Refs have to check with Toronto again.

Martin St. Louis is wearing a silver face-cage.  In the old style.  Protecting a healing injury.

Tampa gets another goal.

Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 3

Houde references Montreal’s fragility.

Brewer passes to Moore who is hooked down and it goes uncalled.  Cole took him down.  Non-calls.

Four minutes gone.

Marc-Andre Bergeron was credited with the goal.  I guess St. Louis was perceived to have hit the puck high.

Emelin takes out a man with a sliding hip check.  He’s an expert.  Even in the seventies, the hip-check was considered a dying art.  Some techniques are considered a dying art throughout their existence yet never fluctuate in frequency.  They require only a champion to showcase the art.  Other arts experience actual decline.  The two-handed set shot, for example.  That stupid jump-pass that quarterbacks used.

Garon drops.  The rebound.  Leblanc can’t pot it.

Even Moen is playing a better brand.  There’s more pep and better follow.

A little pressure was all that was needed.

It’s complicated. .  Martin was careful, protected his players. But maybe that’s the only way in this city.

Let the rabble make the call.

They surround Price.  Shot.  Save.  He’s low.  He’s scrabbling.  He’s arms out and crawling.  And the puck stays out.

Stoppage.

Hoi polloi.  Of course, coaches must coach.  Fans and media must be ignored.  How long can it last?  It’s tremendous pressure.

Great replay from the high cam shows Price reaching forward, minus stick and plucking the puck from a fallen mess of squirming legs, mostly Canadien white.

Faceoff.  Puck floats to the low slot.  And the second-last guy I wanted to see score, does.  Lecavalier.  Yeah, I like him.  But not on a night like this.

Price couldn’t keep control of the disc and Lecavalier tapped it off the pad and then banged it home through the gawping hole.

Tampa Bay 4, Montréal 3

Eleven oh five.

Three unanswered goals says Houde.

Nokelainen is deep left.

Blunden with him.  Follows and takes it.  Passes to the right point.  Stamkos takes it away.

Long Tampa puck is bated by Emelin and we go to the other end.

Moore’s sharp angle shot was off Price and he saw it whap off his glove into the low slot.  Again, Montréal legs were there but Lecavalier was untended.

Desharnais.  Jumps on a turnover.

A pass caroms off Malone’s leg.

Sports have no script.  Would it make sense, would it be fair if Montreal got scored on again, here?  Of course not.  But the pressure mounts and then only Price can edit the blue ink.

Viewer question; why aren’t the Lightning one of the best teams as they were last season?

The Lightning are a favourite team in Quebec (very Francophone flavour) and the question is, again, a homer slant that annoys.

Know more than yourself.  That’s what community means.  Those who can’t see beyond what they know don’t belong in a community, don’t belong in a team situation.   Go live on the mountain, alone.

Seven.

Cammalleri has recorded five shots.  Chyron.

Have the players had enough time to feel pure fear?  Or are they in enough of a sweat and glaze that it doesn’t matter.

Tampa calls a time-out.

Cunneyworth appears to direct most of verbiage at Leblanc.  Let’s hope the others were listening.

A timeout is a rare opportunity, only one is permitted per team per game.  If the other side calls one, have something prepared or be ready to ad-lib with some brilliance.  A silent timeout is a detriment unless your team is all over 35.  And mature.

Sometimes it takes a Québécois to give a chance to a Québécois, Denis says.  We’re shown a very Francophone roster.

Fair enough.  It applies to blacks in the NFL and the NBA, as well.

It’s a sad world.  A handful of ugly despots run things.  The nice thing is that they’re vastly outnumbered.  But they have the resources.  These chapters have an echo.

Three oh five.

Subban cuts through everyone and launches.  Garon has it.  The defenceman looks up and takes in the replay.

Eller takes a seat following a stoppage.

Faceoff lost at centre ice.

Late penalty against Tampa.

Lofted the puck over the glass.

The QMJHL is underrated and still ignored.  On paper, it would seem that pro coaches and management ought not be biased, so much being at stake, but on closer inspection the truth is more clear.  Human beings engage in nepotism, bias and hubris even in today’s pro sports.

Should we be surprised?

Montreal man-advantage.

One minute.  Six attackers.

Desharnais.  Kaberle and Subban on the blue.
Patience,

Subban.  One pass.  A second.  Now he shoots.  And it gets through.  What power.

Garon has it and falls back ward as Cole bumps him.

Montreal time-out.

Forty-six second.

Cunneyworth is not afraid of his players.  Or not shy, shall we say.

Pierre’s right hand man.  Or is it left hand man.  He’s got a few things to say during the timeout.  Cunneyworth moves a few feet away from him in response.  I would too.

Moore wins the important draw and it’s cleared.

Kaberle retrieves.

Subban drops it down for Cole.  Kept in on the boards.

Cole tries a sneaky late wrister.

Now Kaberle passes to Pacioretty.  Decent shot.

Great effort.

They surround. They keep.  They support.  They retain.

Great pressure.  The puck doesn’t go in

But the team is a team again.

I feel chills.

And they’re the Olivia kind.  The good kind.

Final Score
Tampa Bay 4
Montreal 3

Your team is back.  Ignore the score.  Playing for one another; intensity.  Sacrifice.  Trust.  It’s what we’d pay for.  And we do.

HDS Stars: Michael Cammalleri, David Desharnais, Louis Leblanc
RDS Stars: Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Cammalleri, David Desharnais

And more to come.  When the team is a team, the wins come.   They’re a team again.  And more than ever before.  This incarnation.

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