Yes, the Islanders played to a tough shootout victory last night and they looked it. Habs played to a quiet shootout victory the night before that and had a good rest between and looked it. But what can you say. When in a slump, hope the Thrashers and Islanders come in to bring the suck. It worked.
Over the course of the past few games the shots against got lower and lower, which is great, because the forwards had the puck more and the defence was forcing everything wide. Tonight they added a new tool to the shed: goalie protection. Shots rarely got to Jaro tonight, and those that did were seen all the way. They also kept people from walking out in front too much (but when they did they were either neutralized or just shot wide from fatigue).
It's nice to see the defence be aware for once. No more kicking pucks in your own net by a stunned and annoyed goalie. Reason for this? Positioning. Movement. If you're standing still unaware at how your foot is angled towards the net, you will be burned. If you're running about overwhelmed you will plotz. And with Jaro's problematic rebounds, it's good to see the awareness of the defence when the puck actually came to him and bounced out to the slot that they would whack it out of harms way. The active stick, it works.
Yea it was another quiet night, and Jaro probably grabbed a beer.
But... "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." (Emerson). So yea, the Habs took the foot off the gas in the 3rd, and Jaro showed us just how much he sucks at playing the puck to break his own shutout bid while on the powerplay, and gave the Islanders a shmidgin of energy. Nothing like a good ol' error to remind us just how easy the tides can turn in a hockey game. Hey ya gotta keep it interesting, right?
That or I guess they really did have a beer in the room before coming out.
W00T!
- Sorry Biron, you're not Billy Smith.
- Uh huh... With two uneventful games for our goalie, it didn't take long for the Price bashers to come out and spew their bile. Funny how they were quiet when he was stealing games while making the 40 shot saves earlier. That goes double for the Gazette's Hickey...
- Cammy's PP goal using his Bret Hull knee shot! IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZER!
- Bergeron collected some gold and change tonight. He's still a little weird when he's being forechecked though.
- Chipper came to his aid when Jackson punched Bergeron while defending, only somehow ended up fighting Thompson.
- Tavares should learn those slick OHL moves really don't work in the NHL too well. But I'm happy he's not a Leaf or we'd never hear the end of it. They'd probably ruin him anyway.
- Streit stays out for the entire Islanders powerplay. No wonder his ice time is so high.
- Metro's back! Metro's back! And he's still awesome! And got the first star!
- Patches scored a la Kovy Spin from the slot.
- I never noticed that Dagger is kind of tall...
- If Gomez keeps scoring, his parents won't leave.
- Keep this type of play up when the Rags come in Saturday and then I'll be absolutely impressed.
7 comments:
They played well and it could've been even higher. More posts. I liked what I saw tonight, even though it was the Islanders. I don't care, I still liked what I saw. And what a shot Bergeron has. He's going to help in a big way.
See, it's good because last year they always mailed it in when these teams came to play. But this year and right now they were in need of someone to beat on. Collecting points from these type of teams help in the long run.
Plekanec continues to impress me. And I have to say I'm still a little nervous every time Bergeron touches the puck (except when he's firing it to the back of the net of course...)
I wouldn't call myself a Price basher--he really is good, but I just can't get over the fact that the Habs seem to play better in front of Jaro than Price.
I dunno. I do think they could be a great tandem.
Really happy for Patches. And MaxNotPatches actually did something too. And Metro's baaaaaaabck! Huzzah! Now if we could just train the French Marshmallow to throw a hit.... D:
And Grrreg has a point about MAG. I'm a little nervous about how he'll be able to do when he isn't given quite so much space....
Habsfan1993 - Funny, I thought the Habs played better in front of Price than Jaro... At least that was what it looked like to me last year.... Oh well....
That IS odd, EP. It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess. In any case, I'm definitely not a Price hater. Want him to do well, but he makes me nervous.
I find the Habs play lazy and extra pedestrian when Price is in nets, actually...
Post a Comment