Its been a while....worked a lot more on-air over the past week and didnt have much time to update my blog.....apologies. Busy week,,,,,on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I was on air from 11am to 3pm; not to mention 2 postgame shows during that period. Furtermore, I am working on a hockey project (will give you details in near future). And, when I wasn't involved with that, guess what I was doing??? yep, you guessed it,,,,,i bought a horse. Ok, not just me. Along with 42 other people I bought a 3yr old racehorse....she's beautiful. Her name is Sumwonlovesyou and she will race in Kentucky next week. If all goes well, I will visit her at Saratoga in August. Im starting to get hooked on horseracing....if I can ever witness her win a race, that will be truly something special.
Speaking of winning, thats something the NYR did earlier this evening. Credit to The Blueshirts, they dominated and were deserving of the win. As for the Canadiens.......they were awful. Before leaving for NY, rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak said he was too young to feel any pressure. Was he serious?
1st period: Less than 3 minutes in, Mtl is down 1 zip. For NY, 1 shot 1 goal. On the play, Janne Niinimaa was outskated by Petr Prucha down the right side and his shot from the right faceoff circle beat Halak. Janne Niinimaa, is a great team guy.....he has experience and he plays his heart out, BUT Carbonneau has to realize that Niinimaa's best just isn't good enough. It's mind boggling that Josh Gorges was the #5 d-man in San Jose, but can't crack the Habs Top 6. I would have Gorges in there,,,,weeks ago. No doubt it was Niinimaa's mistake, BUT I also think Halak could have done bettter on this one too. I know,,,,I know, people will say it was a good shot, BUT in the biggest game of the year, you have to stop that shot IMO.
Onto Period #2: Bouillon can't get the puck out of the zone....it's picked up by Shanahan who dishes it to Nylander, he feeds Jagr and its 2 nothing NYR. Kudos to Tom Renney for inserting Shanahan on that line and catching the Canadiens with Bouillon and Souray out there, instead of Markov and Komisarek. Great coaching. Tom Renney did real well and his team followed the gameplan perfectly. The Canadiens couldn't gain speed through the neutral zone and their inability to get pucks deep cost them. On the other hand, NY pressured the Mtl d-men and forced turnovers.......Mtl had a few chances to narrow the lead but Ryder couldn't lift the puck over Lundqvist and Koivu picked up the loose puck and missed. With only 94 seconds remaining in the frame, Marek Malik's point shot beat Halak short side. That one was clearly a shot Halak should have stopped....HOWEVER, I would also like to add that had it not been for Halak, it could have been at least 5-0 NYR after two.....It was that ugly.
3rd Period: Cristobal Huet starts the 3rd which was the right move for a couple of reasons. (1) sometimes goalie changes can a give a team a spark (2) Huet needed to shake off some rust (3) he might be needed on Saturday, either to start or come in at some point. Only guy to get the Canadiens on the board was Sheldon Souray, he scored his 26th goal of the season, it was a PP marker. Too little, too late. Rangers win 3-1.....the only good news is Toronto also lost in NY, 5-2 to the Islanders....
Next up, final game of the season for the Habs. Game #82; Montreal in Toronto. Huge game; 1 point for Mtl eliminates Toronto, but might not be enough because if the NY Islanders beat Philly and Jersey, then Ted Nolan's club would make the playoffs and Mtl and Toronto would not....unreal. So, what will happen? Who will start in goal? Guy Carbonneau faces a difficult decision. On one hand, Huet was stellar during the midway point of the season. On the other hand, Halak did the job down the stretch. Even though Huet wasn't tested much, my gut feeling tells me Guy Carbonneau may sense that Halak is nervous and he'll start Huet. As for the result, anything can happen. But, lets face it. The Montreal Canadiens are a ''Homer Team'' At the Bell Centre, they have won 9 straight, but on the road they have won only 2 times in their past 10 games. Thats not very re-assuring heading in to the ACC.
May the team that works harder and wants it more be compensated on Saturday nite. I'm off tomorrow.....talk to you soon. Ciao.
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Hello Tony...Therrien was always a good coach...Here a few cowards laughed at his english speaking skills and the jackets he wore...as for the rant on his players last year...the boss is not happy and he let it know...don't you wish Kovalev would have had Therrien as a coach!!!As for Crosby not playing enough....let the coach (a real expert) decide...stop listening to your buddy McGuire.
Ciao
Marco
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