Montreal Canadiens vs. Detroit Red Wings

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 (18-21-9) host Detroit Red Wings (33-15-1)

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Game Forty-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)

 

Detroit Red Wings.  The best the NHL has to offer.

Jimmy Howard and Carey Price start in net.

First Period

Cole.  Tripped up on the way.  No call.

They stay on.

Faceoff outside the Detroit blue.

Arrows to the net.  Shot.  Off a body.  And then out of play six seconds later.

Jakub Kindl takes the surface for Detroit.  He’s 25 and from the Czech Republic.

Montreal has gained five of eight possible points in their past four.  And they’ve recovered much of their aplomb.  There’s enough time, enough constriction and enough skill to make a run for the eighth spot.  Certain teams have the potential to collapse and the Canadiens are the only team with Carey Price.  Expect something other than what naysayers are sharing.

No crises in the past few days off, either.

Montreal has a habit of matching the Red Wings but this team is in more disarray and lacks more skill than any other in recent Montreal history.  The team is in a formative frame.  Like preseason.

Gomez drives.  Left side.  No angle.  Lifter.  Bourque to the net.  Off his leg.  Legal.  In.

Take it.  And go.

Montreal 1, Detroit 0

Crowd reaction is reserved and the audio milling stays under the meniscus.  This rink and these fans have seen many blown 1-0 leads this season.

Delayed call.    Against Montréal.

See what I mean?

Wings enter.  Tripping.  Eller.  I shake my head.

Accidental.  Ian White fell over the stick on exiting.  Players must improve in stick management.  Coaches must use film to focus on that improvement.     These accidental stick penalties can be reduced.

Head-shaking is not good enough (I shake my head all the while)

Wing set up.  The Detroit power-star play-points rotate; a man-advantage to display proudly.  Movement and sync.  Reseau’s POV is from behind the goalie.  Intriguing.   Action seems faster.

Exit and re-entry.

Back to the traditional view.

Holmstrom swivels in front of Price.  Nobody hassles him.  And, back to the goalie, the Pitea, Sweden native slides legs and blocks the goalie’s point of view.  I don’t care who he is or who he plays for.  Take him out.

This isn’t table hockey.

Anti-fighting.  Pro-checking.  Pro Adams Division hockey.

Penalty ends with zero quality shots by Detroit.  Good Montréal coverage.

Red Wing rush. A step, feint and a save.  Carey Price.

Tonight I hate homerism a little less.  The team needs all of it.

Darche.  To the net.  Shoots.  Stopped.  Falls.  Back up. Around the net.

Shots are tied at five.

Montreal pressures.  Each man to his spot, each man committed to the page.  It looks like a short power-play.

Who cares if it’s CSKA.  Who cares if it’s the BC Lions or Paul Bunyan, if it’s real, infinite, imagined, recorded or virtual.  There is only one light.  One white.  One right.

That is Montréal’s.  The arctic lion’s mane.

More pressure. Kostitsyn and Eller.  Detroit is forced to watch.

The find Emelin.  He finds the net.

Howard doesn’t know where it is.  Even after the play, his imagination recreates a moment he missed.  Something he can’t see.

This is Emelin’s first NHL goal.  I like the timing.

Montreal 2, Detroit 0

Nine minutes to go in the first.

Emelin was warmly congratulated by teammates.  Carey Price wandered over from his net as well, during the break.  We’re shown Weber patting the 25 year-old Russian’s shoulder.  This is a welcome sign and another indicator of some positive goings-on behind the scenes.

Should we keep Cunneyworth? The question must be shelved til the summer.  But I like him more the more I find out.

Bertrand Raymond, the often-infuriating pro-Franco sports writer stated prior to the game that Patrick Roy and Pierre Gauthier don’t get along and suggested we shouldn’t expect to see both together in the same media guide anytime soon

Media guide is my own imagery.  Bertrand doesn’t engage in imagery.

And Raymond has been more balanced in his few appearances on RDS this season.

Six minutes.

Montreal’s habit of taking the best with the utmost seriousness has survived the personnel changes and angst.

Montréal’s home record is flashed on-screen.  Second-worst in the league.  Only Columbus is worse.  May as well rank Montreal last.  Columbus isn’t even worthy of AHL status.  Crony departments and a mien for the absurd.

Interim head coach Todd Richards is the latest coffee-spray decision.  Why be shocked?

American Hockey League prospect Andreas Engqvist is unexpectedly back in the lineup.  The bulky and bland centre is tabbed a defensive specialist and occupies a spot some thought was reserved for Leblanc.  Leblanc might be on a one-way contract, though, limiting the team’s ability to move up and down from the AHL.

Detroit is awarded a power-play.  Gill is guilty.

Habs’ penalty kill, healthy all season is looking even more crisp.  Even minus a key penalty-kill cog, Gill himself.

Late in the sequence, Jakub Kindl brings down Plekanec in the corner deep right.  Called.  And as the puck stays on Montréal sticks, Emelin advances to shoot alone.  Howard flares sidewinder pads and the puck stays out.

Tomas Plekanec.  Versatile.  Electric.  Persistent.

Montreal man-advantage.  The sickest of the units (I mean medicine not Vince) Desharnais unit starts.  The most effective alignment.  Kaberle and Subban on the blue.  Kaberle is a must-recover.

Subban is involved.  Whistle.  Elbow.  Selfish play.  One short, mild booing spray.  And Subban shakes his head.  He’s in the spotlight in recent games and has been mentioned in trade rumour.  Don’t expect such a foolish move.  He’s too young, too good and too reachable.  Montreal will employ smarter means to reach and teach their future all-star.

In the meantime, many will indulge in annoyance. And they should.  Keep it mild.

Four on four.

Most of it spent in the Montréal zone.  Datsyuk suddenly makes a move and Desharnais and another cleave, weave, burst out and it’s a race.

Desharnais.  With company.  Pauses.  Fakes.  And then a clever turn and backhand sees the puck slide between the pads.

Desharnais was turned on the drive and it’s hard to tell if the backhander was in part, an accident of unwanted movement.

Montréal 3, Detroit 0

Under two.

Nobody can afford to strut.

Kostitsyn.  Eller.  Low left.  Kostitsyn emerges.  Crosses.  The backhand.  Untouched. But off the mark.

Eller keeps.  The press.  One pass.  Shot.  Howard stops and seizes it for the draw.

Smiles in the crowd and hope in the patterns. Montreal’s coverage is heads-up and rush-rush.

A fourth goal.

Left side entry.  Shot.  Big rebound.  And an easy, yes easy, backhander into the net.  Plekanec.

Montréal 4, Detroit 0

Seven seconds and the puck nearly crosses the line again.

Standing ovation.

Period ends.  Habs aren’t overjoyed. They leave and Price’s demeanour reflects it all best. Nothing to see here.  More to come.  Get it done.  Just play hockey.

Agreed.

Montreal led o shots 12-6

First Intermission
Montreal 4, Detroit 0

This isn’t a case of a great team coming up flat against a sad-sack bunch.  It’s a case of a desperate, under-achieving group arriving well-prepared and self-contained and then committing to the program, to the pixels and to the play.

Denis Gauthier and Benoit Brunet are asked to play GM.  Denis says that we have to think with our heads.  Don’t let Subban go, he stresses.  He reminds us of the rash Patrick Roy trade.

Correct.

Brunet says that Subban has too much talent to let go at this point and that the team (and by extension, the fans) must be patient with his development.

Hear, hear.

He’s not the same problem as your Cadillac buddy from Richmond Hill.  An older toxin is much worse than youngling and brash bulldog braggadocio.

Second Period
Montreal 4, Detroit 0

I’d tell them to ignore the score.  Play it shift by shift and match the Red Wings.  Detroit is perfectly capable of coming back and winning this.

Gomez and Plekanec start.

Some back and forth, mild and on the perimeters.

Red Wings set up with Eller on the ice, Blunden up top.

Pass to the left point.  Kindl’s shot is gloved.  Held.

Replay of a Kindl and Kostitsyn collision sees both fall after arms up and off-balance jousting on entry. Puck escaped both.

Puck goes down.  Off the back glass.  Desharnais on his knees firs it again.  Another backboard puck.  Pacioretty reaches, pulls it out front.  And fires it in.

Yes, he says to himself.

It’s five nothing.

Montreal 5, Detroit 0

Maybe there is a balance to this part of the universe.

I said maybe.

Cole line.  Red Wings behind their net.

The Ole Ole chant.  Lasts about three waves.  I’m not singing along.

Speed picks up. Montreal initiates it.    Yes.  With a five nothing lead, Montréal is pushing.

Like it?

Plekanec.  Right side.  Taken down by Ericsson.  Easy call.

Montreal power.

Desharnais.

Cole.  Pacioretty.  Low and now all three under the end line.  To the left point.  Across.  To Desharnais.  Cole on the right hash now.  Detroit advances to challenge.  Unafraid, serious and savvy.  But a crease pass nearly sees Cole score.

Desharnais persists.  Has it on the low circle.  Waits.  Backs up.  Shoots.  And it’s in.

Detroit won’t respond with thuggery. They’re technicians.  And champions.  Yes, it’s been a while but they’re the best hockey has to offer on this side of the Atlantic.

Montreal 6, Detroit 0

Big leads with lots of time are intriguing. They are exercises in discipline and system.

I sense that Randy Cunneyworth will be more in his element in this situation than many other NHL coaches.

The team can grow from this.  But so much depends on the close-out.

Fourteen and a half.  Cunneyworth raises a hand to a man on the ice.

Gomez is hooked.  Uncalled.

He harangues a man on the response rush which is slow and mostly used to buy time for a Detroit line change.

Desharnais line takes their place one player at a time.  Gomez has it at the Montreal blue and adroitly sends it back to keep it in Montreal possession.

Emelin is called for cross-checking Helm under the end-line.

A tweeter suggested that the Bell Centre’s lack of ovation for Emelin’s first goal was because he isn’t French. Leblanc got the standing O for his.

Ignore it.  All of it.

And Leblanc still bears investigation.  More as I ruminate.  And study Youtube interviews.  And highlights.  Something about his mother.  And Leblanc himself.  Something hidden.

First rush is rebuffed on the right side, a one-man effort and turnover.

Filppula on the right, four wait across the blue for his entry and then Detroit step over the line

Filppula runs it form the right hash. One shot.  Next it’s Kronwall and Hudler sharing the puck on the blue.  Always motion. Always thorough and searching

Detroit is Ezzard Charles.  Never stop watching them.  The round and scorecard mean nothing.

Chased out.  And back in.

Price wants his shutout.

Gets low.  Weird bounce off the bodies in front sees Diaz and Datsyuk and three other bodies.  Price covers it.  No animosity follows.  What clean, cool and mature hockey from both.

That’s how it’s played.

Another crowd in the crease.

Emelin, mouthguard out is, in position.  Puck is gloved and away and the players slow as the snow settles.

Draw.  Bertuzzi to the net.  Puck finds him.  Price is there.

Ten and forty-eight.

Shots are even.  Fourteen.

Ten and eleven after another stoppage.

Darche and opponent Drew Miller share a smile.

Gomez is in pause and peer mode.  A canny passer with vision and patience he finds first a defender for an outlet and then a long pass to the left side from mid-ice for an entry and shot by Bourque, streaking.  The angle is traditional and so is the save.

Eight and ten.

Blunden takes down a man to prevent a shot.  Legal shoulder to e back.

Seven and a half.

Detroit is met and matched on each entry.

At six-zero, we won’t see many penalties against Detroit.  Finally some Detroit frustration shows.  Mike Commodore, recently from the rakish Carolina system takes a run at a man and misses.  Kronwall gets a bit extra on the boards to precede.

Montreal causes a brief rise in Houde’s voice but the Wings are out.

Tenor changes as Zetterberg skates into the zone.  But the puck stays on the edges and a mild shot ends action.

I can’t help but reference the haunting video sent me by one Dennis Kane.  The beautiful late-sixties footage, restored and an NFB project is some of the most haunting and intriguing hockey footage I’ve seen.

In those days, Montreal could have skated to a 6-0 second period lead with little wonder around the six-team NHL.  Nary a ripple on that quaint, cold pond.

Five and a half.

Datsyuk.  Zetterberg.  A winger.  Three back to defend.

And the magic is moot.

Another stoppage.

Kaberle leads all defencemen in points since arriving on December 10th; with thirteen.  More time needed?

They discuss the Subban penalty.  Lots of egotism in this says Denis.  Especially considering the circumstances, adds Houde.  Something happened yesterday at practice.  A possible calling out by Cunneyworth.

Three and a half.

Darche and Blunden force it to the end boards.  To the point.  Kept in.  Sent across.  A risk.  Kaberle. It works. To Kostitsyn.  Shot.  Up and end-over end in the air.

Into the corner.  More control.

Detroit is in some trouble.  Conklin can’t control. Conklin, backup goalie (in for Howard and for how long now?), is waddling and out of the net and the failed capture under the end line spares him.  He’s back very casually.

Two minutes.

Long puck.  Conklin beats Plekanec to it on hi right circle and the crowd sits back.

Under the Montréal end line.  Abdelkader.  The least pleasant member of the Red Wings.  Knocks a man down.  Now behind the net.  Chases to the corner.  Conner on the hash, to Stuart on the left point.  Shot.  Wide.

Under one minute.

Detroit pushes the pace.  Datsyuk.  Chasing and in stride.  Looped to the point.  Turned over.

Montreal is playing as if they’ve been in second in the East all season.

Such small things.

Shades and snippets.

The period ends.

Detroit led 12-5 on shots.

Second Intermission
Montreal 6, Detroit 0

Playbook.

Third Period
Montreal 6, Detroit 0

Hudler is allowed to advance and launches one over Price’ right shoulder and under the crossbar.

Montreal 6, Detroit 1

Disappointing.

Desharnais.  Drives towards two, dropped to his knees.  Passes to his right.  And it’s out again.

Lines change.

Diaz and Gill under the blue. Line.

Stoppage on a Montréal entry as the puck went out of play.

Faceoff to Price’s left.  I must have missed some aspect of the puck infraction.

Detroit controls.

Datsyuk controls.  Long shot.  Price fooled.  Doesn’t see it.  And it’s abounding and away from the net.

Kostitsyn.  Two back.  Blunden.  Two Detroiters reach and nearly fall as Blunden falls and nearly brings both down with him.

Subban is on.

Carries through the three zones.  Left corner. Dep. Keeps.  Crowd sees him and they murmur.

Why did he keep it?  Is that his statement?

It becomes a standstill.  Kaberle advances for a shot.  No.

Now Price is beaten.  Hudler.  Price isn’t happy, says Houde.

Under fourteen.

Montreal 6, Detroit 2

Clocks don’t win games.  I wonder who is watching.  The Wings are robust enough to believe they can win.  Some Habs will show who they are.

Cole is the same.  Driving.  No apologies.

Desharnais.  Rights die. To the net.  Stopped.

Houde asks Denis if he has Mike Commodore in his pool and cackles.  Of course, responds Denis, just like everyone else.  I smile.

Ericsson accidentally goes knee on knee in trying to push Cole down, arms high.  Cole, cutting and going low, falls over the leg and is ok.  Ericsson checks to make sure Cole is alright.

Montreal power-play.  Eleven and twenty.

Subban and certain others must be given every opportunity to mature.  Cammalleri got two full seasons.  And a bit.  What about Subban?  At 21 and with more upside than the skittish Cammalleri, Subban is a must-keep.  He can finish, shut down, pass and drive.  He only needs work on his shot.  As for the systems aspect of the game, sure he’s lacking.  But defencemen are best evaluated after six or even eight seasons in a league.  This will be his second full year.

Montreal doesn’t threaten but the control is there.  Montreal’s man-advantage is on the mend.

Plekanec finds a puck late in a shift and drives to the net, backhanded, enough speed to get in.  Save.  Denis notes that Plekanec’ stick was about to break and the shifty centre found a means to hold it low and shoot in a way that prevented breakage.

There will be no more soft goals.  Conklin is too experienced.

Under six.

The classic old backup won’t win any games for you.  But he won’t lose one, either.

The goodbye song should be reserved for the Nordiques.  And perhaps the Flyers and Leafs.

It fades after two fading choruses.

Now the Ole, Ole cheer.

Three and a half.

Desharnais.  Abdelkader.  Puck floops from both.  Abdelkader to the net. Puck doesn’t follow.  And now it’s out.  Commodore dump-drives it.

Habs are out with one long pass o Darche down the left.

Engqvist line.  His slow whaler strides are enough to put him in place and now he watches and waits for a puck to emerge from a four-man board battle.  It does and he turns, trot-celerates and then passes it to mid-ice.  Lines change.  And then a stoppage.

Cunneyworth is shown.  Looks as concerned as in the first.

Coaches aren’t thinking of storylines and hooks.  The whole game is a series of HB pencil marks; the details of ebb and flow and the cold, long skirmish that is a pro hockey game.

Buffalo is a team in chute-libre, says Houde.  Free fall.  Never heard the term before. The French version.
That number 27 is haunting. At times, Bourque even drops his shoulder and moves like Kovalev.  It’s more when he’s standing after a board battle.

Bourque chases a man down and gives support.  Hacking all the while.  Coverage is sound

Habs respond.

Cole scores.  Into the crease.

Desharnais bobble-heads Cole’s helmet on the bench.  Big smile from the centre.  The feeling is mutual.  And Cole’s head stays in the helmet.

Under one.

Montreal 7, Detroit 2

They close it out and Houde says this a good taste for the team and for its fans. No more games til the All-Star break is over.

The All-Star Break.  Gad.

Just give us regular season games.

Time ticks down.  Bourque follows Kronwall.  Wings exit.

Someone throws something on the ice. An octopus.

Siren goes.

The old eight-legged symbol. In the old days, eight wins were needed to win a Stanley Cup.  Two rounds.  Four teams.  Detroit fans took to tossing octopi on the ice. A slick sea symbol along the way.

Final Score
Montreal 7
Detroit 2

HDS Stars: David Desharnais, Rene Bourque, Alexei Emelin
RDS Stars: David Desharnais, Erik Cole, Tomas Plekanec

I can’t think of any winged seafaring beasts.  Other than the plesiosaur.

Swans and ducks don’t count.  They can’t be air-comfy.

Subban sat out the second period.

Related posts:

1. Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
2. Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres
3. Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
4. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
6. Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres