The Funny Farm

On To The Next Round

^{Fryday, 28 Goodenuf 2008}

Montreal Canadiens 5, Boston 0. Even though my good friend Aislin seems to think that they've gotten a little too beat up in the process, I found quite a bit of hope in last night's game:

- Alexei Kovalev is a very talented hockey player, but quite often it seems as though he has motivational issues. And when he gets frustrated (as he was in the middle games of the series), sometimes he tries too hard to make things happen, ends up staying out on the ice too long, and then causes an odd man rush opportunity for the opponents because he's too tired to get back on defense quick enough. Or gets a dumb penalty due to having to resort to other means to stop his opponents when they blow by him.

This behavior came to a screeching halt when Saku Koivu returned to the ice. Besides getting back one of the best faceoff players in the game and a rock steady center who has no problem wearing the 'C' and playing on the fourth line if need be, Koivu seems to me to have provided just enough inspiration to keep Kovalev focused on the job at hand and more in control of his frustrations.

- Carey Price was absolutely unbelievable last night. As a former goaler, sometimes you notice a few things, and I noticed that he handled an awful lot of quick, up close chances last night. Someone parked just outside the crease, getting a quick pass in on the tape, and then taking one (or more) quick shots on the net. Those were among the toughest challenges I faced when I donned the pads*. And Price just shut them all down.

I was also remembering the draft last year - I was with a friend from Toronto in a shop on Queen Street when we heard Montreal take Carey with the number six pick of the draft. And everybody in the place stopped what they were doing, and we all looked at each other as if to say (and some of us said it anyway) WTF?!?. Shows what we know - and also shows us why we're not making draft day decisions for the Habs. Gainey and the rest of the staff involved in that decision deserve some big-time props for it.

- The Habs, even though they are still engaging in too much illegal shenanigans (slashes primarily, but that trip of Chara should have given Boston a potentially game-changing five-on-three power play), look to me to be trying to cut most of that crap out. I saw Koivu drag a couple of players away from after-the-whistle confrontations that might have cost them penalty minutes, and I saw them trying to make clean checks instead of going for the cheap shot.

I must say that I definitely noticed a marked difference between last night's game and the game five 5-1 loss the last time the two teams were at the Bell Centre. The game six 5-4 loss in Boston was one of the best playoff games I've seen this year, and let me hold hope that game five was the anomaly in the set.

Tonight's game between the Philadelphia Flyers (Eastern conference seed 6) and the Washington Capitals (Eastern conference seed 3) will determine the matchups in the East in the next round - Philly wins and they play Montreal (Eastern conference seed 1) - and the New York Rangers (Eastern conference seed 5) play the Pittsburgh Penguins (Eastern conference seed 2), but if Washington wins then the Habs play the Rangers and the Penguins play the Caps. Pittsburgh took out the Ottawa Senators (Eastern conference seed 7), and New York defeated the New Jersey Devils (Eastern conference seed 4) in their opening series.

In the Western Conference, the final game of the first round takes place after the Philadephia - Washington game, when the San Jose Sharks (Western conference seed 2) host the Calgary Flames (Western conference seed 7) in the seventh game of their series. The Detroit Red Wings (Western conference seed 1), the Dallas Stars (Western conference seed 5) , and the Colorado Avalanche (Western conference seed 6) have all made it to the second round, having defeated the Nashville Predators (Western conference seed 8), the Anahiem Ducks (Western conference seed 4), and the Minnesota Wild (Western conference seed 3) respectively. So, if San Jose wins, they play Dallas, while Detroit plays Colorado. If Calgary wins, they play the Wings, and Dallas plays Colorado (and Detroit would be the only higher-seeded team to win their opening series in the Western Conference).

Stay tuned, fellow campers. There's a bit of a ride ahead. I have managed to catch whatever's going around these days, so I wouldn't expect too much in the way of bloggy goodness on these pages in the next little while. So, take it easy, and keep your stick on the ice!

* - although the first Montreal goal, where Boston goalie Tim Thomas got caught waaaaay out of position while trying to move across the crease, brought back quite a few uncomfortable memories too...

Posted by (: Tom :) at April 22, 2008 05:03 PM