CFN – Tonight the Montreal Canadiens season will most likely end. The gritty and pesky Ottawa Sens have simply played better as a team. The hockey gods smile down on teams like that. They may not always win the cup;but it’s a factor that should never be underestimated.
Yelling at each other the way PK Subban and Max Pacioretty did…well… in an age where everyone has a smartphone and HD TV it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
Marc Bergevin will also have probably have learned that his handing out of insane contracts like the one he issued to David Desharnais probably isn’t the brightest thing to do.
Looking at this squad those with more than 3 year deals seemed to have performed the worst.
Montreal fans should be happy though. 2012/13 was a good season. The team reversed direction and the future is brighter this year than next.
The adage about size showed big time and the overall of Montreal’s defense was extremely clear and probably the biggest reason for the team’s late season slide and playoff performance.
Size does count in the NHL and while there is room for small players they have to be fast and tough and use their speed to draw penalties.
Tonight’s game though is one last chance for certain players to show what they can do. There’s no pressure. They are expected to lose; but Peter Budaj can steal a game, something Carey Price didn’t do during the series. There still are a lot of talented players on the team and anything can happen in a single game. I’d like to see Montreal stay alive one more game and it would show a lot of character.
Habs to watch tonight? Brendan Gallagher has to rebound. He’s being keyed on by Ottawa and needs to hit the back of the net. If he scores early the Habs win.
Tomas Plekanec has been a man in this series. He has 3 points in 4 games and needs to shoot more tonight and make some magic happen.
PK Subban has to….well be PK Subban and Alex Galchenyuk has to be turned loose as well and maybe, just maybe, be used as a centre.
The Habs that have failed this series have been David Deharnais who has taken a single shot the whole series, Travis Moen, Josh Gorges who also has a long term contract with Montreal, Max Pacioretty who allegedly is playing hurt, Raphael Diaz who has been dreadful, and of course Andrei Markov who has never really been a playoff kinda guy.
Thanks for a great year guys. One more game would be nice. Show some pride of the colours and make it happen! Pride is never a bad thing in sports.
What do you think Hab fans? You can post your comments below.
ummm…if “the future is brighter this year than next”, that means that things are getting worse, not better, Jaime.
I am not sure whether the Habs or the Jays have disappointed me so quickly after building my hopes up. Certainly the Habs turned their fortunes around and good on Bergevin for doing that (I still say they got jobbed on the Cammalleri deal but Bourque has been quite productive). And good on the m from going worst to nearly first. But whereas I was afraid of the Leafs, I certainly thought that the series with the overmatched Sens would go maybe five.
Sadly, I might yet be right. 🙁