Do the Montreal Canadiens really need to beat the Leafs at losing? The Habs dropped their home opener 3-2 last night. I turned off my tv after watching the team allow an end to end rush that resulted in a goal being deflected off of a Hab skitter by Carey Price to give the Avs a 2-1 lead.
It was nice to see Hamrlik and Plekanec pot goals, but this team is going nowhere if this is the Jacques Martin game plan. When you’re a small fast team you have to draw penalties. You can only do that if you carry the puck.
There’s no forecheck and the opposing team ends up spending far too much time with the puck in your end. That’s not a recipe for sipping from Lord Stanley’s cup. Right now this team needs to pick it up a few notches, and the coaches need to find a system that fits the lot of players that Bob Gainey has given them to work with.
The Ottawa Senators had the game of their short season, literally beating Tampa Bay 7-1. When Vinny Lecavalier gets over 5 minutes of Power Play time and gets a goose egg for the evening you’re doing a good job. Chris Neil collected 21 penalty minutes for the night and Milan Michalek put on a show potting 2 short handed goals and one on the PP. Kudos to Ottawa today!
In other NHL scores; Washington capped SJ 4-1; Detroit flew by LA 5-2; Hawks 3-1 over Nashville; and Phoenix edged St.Louis 3-2.
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