Kukla's Korner Hockey
Habs blow lead, fall to Flyers
by The Upper Canadien on 11/22/10 at 09:38 PM ET
Comments (1)
That’s one the Canadiens will want to forget rather quickly. After a solid start, and two goals by Max Lapierre, Brian Boucher looked to be in for a short night. However, the Flyers had other ideas, and crashed and banged their way to a 3-2 comeback win in Philadelphia. That’s the first time this year the Canadiens have scored first and lost.
Carey Price was without question the best Hab on the ice, making 41 saves in the loss, some of them spectacular. Genuinely, it could have been 8-2 with someone else in net. The Canadiens power play continued to struggle, and Scott Gomez continued to be almost invisible.
Other observations? Claude Giroux is the real deal, and Chris Pronger is still a great defenceman. He’s still a complete jerk. But he’s also still a great defenceman.
No time to muse on the loss, however - the Habs have three more games between now and Saturday evening. Los Angeles, Atlanta and Buffalo are next in queue, with Alex Auld likely getting his second start in one of the Friday or Saturday night games.
Quick thoughts
Yanick Weber looks ok, but I don’t think he’s going to fix the power play…unless he’s part of a deal to acquire another top three defenceman. More than anything though, the Canadiens are still, too small. They need another big forward. At what point is Habs management going to admit that Lars Eller isn’t ready for the NHL and send him back to the AHL? He should not be on the Canadiens playing six or seven minutes a game right now, he should be playing regular minutes for Hamilton, building his skills. There’s no fault in admitting a mistake. And Eller going down does not mean the Halak trade was a complete wash. But let him develop, and bring in a big body who can play on the second or third line. Bill Guerin reiterated again on Saturday that he wants to play - is it not worth a shot?
Come on Pierre, you’ve cleared the room, now make the move. Add some size to this roster, and let’s see what they can really do against the big boys like Philly.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Carey+Price, Max+Lapierre,
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good read, good points. Don’t they have Hal Gill? Don’t watch the Habs enough to know if they’re just a smaller team or if it’s people playin’ small. Even small players who play big can make all the difference. Darren Helm is a lil tyke but he loves to hit even if they aren’t thundering, over time it’ll where you down.
Posted by HockeytownOverhaul on 11/22/10 at 11:29 PM ET