Habs kneel down to the Bruins

source: Habs Inside/Out

Big Brother:

Please someone tell me the Habs were wearing black and gold tonight.

This game review is going to be hard to do without swearing.It was simply ugly. To quote Shaquille O’Neil: “It was Horrawful. It’s horror and awful put together.” While Price was shaky on two goals, he’s hardly to blame. I argued in Rocket’s last article that the Ottawa shutout was a team effort. This 6-1 game was a team gift. Would you believe me if I told you the Bruins had only 3 shots more on Price than Ottawa did two days ago? It didn’t look like it! Nobody played a full game.

Let’s try to find some positive. Andrei Kostitsyn actually played a solid game with Thomas Plekanec. Both worked most of the game, just not hard enough. Kovalev looked a step behind all game long. I am usually a fan of “L’Artiste” but tonight, he looked like a Picasso. And while Lapierre and Dandenault gave everything they had, it clearly wasn’t enough. They did too many costly mistakes. But I feel for those two guys. They have to play PK every shift. Can you imagine what these two could do if there was a third player on that line to help them out?

For the first two periods the L.A. Kola line (Lang, Kostitsyn, Latendresse) was the best one on the ice. Sergei was more involved, Latendresse still impressed me (although I didn’t see his penalty) and Lang played a solid game. It’s the only line that didn’t give an even strength goal. They applied a good forecheck and kept the pressure on the Bruins defense. At least until Kovalev was switched for Kostitsyn. I heard a mention that Kovalev has some knee or leg (let’s call it lower body) injury. It might be a good idea to leave him out of the lineup until he heals to have him back at full strength. Kovalev at half speed isn’t good enough this year. Every single team makes sure he receives special attention.

The Captain worked hard as he usually does but he’ll need his linemates to help. I didn’t see Tanguay all game except for a soft shot that looked so weak Manny Fernandez felt he had to give it back to Saku Koivu. Higgins didn’t do much better and was mostly invisible.

Gorges and Bouillon looked bad most of the night. Komisarek and Markov weren’t close to their usual standards. Hamerlik slept through Lucic goal. O’Byrne was the only defensemen I didn’t find out of place all game long. I still think Brisebois deserve to play Saturday. But based on the last couple of games, I’d send Francis Bouillon in the stands. I’d have Begin play too but I’ll let you guess who I would scratch. (hint: read article below)

Now let’s give some credit to Boston (man that was painful to write). They wanted that game more. They battled and fought for the puck. Stephane Yelle was solid on the PK and managed to score twice. Lucic is becoming a real rivalry player who shines in games like tonight. Hell, even Ryder didn’t look bad defensively. Not that the Habs tried to make him look too bad.

I’ll stop the review right now as I have been able to go that long without going “PG-13” or worst. Now I’ll leave a question to ponder until Saturday. Since the workload of the weekend will probably be divided between Halak and Price, would you put Halak in the net against Philadelphia Saturday or would you keep him for Sunday’s game against St-Louis, giving a chance for Price to redeem himself for tonight’s game and the playoffs?

We could use a heayweight

Can someone please show Laraque the way to the stands? He doesn’t belong on the ice. Not on that team. He is painfully slow, can’t create any type of offense, isn’t a good defensive player and doesn’t want to fight.

Actually, Georges of the Jungle actually received three fighting majors this season. The first one was against Shawn Thornton who actually went right for Laraque, knowing full well he would have to pay for what he did to Steve Begin. In hindsight, maybe Shawn could have skated right next to Big G all day long without having to drop the gloves. But instead, Thornton faced the music and did his best hanging to Laraque, trying not to get hurt too badly.

Then there was this farce in Phoenix. After Kurt Sauer injured our most talented left winger, Tom Kostopoulos had to drop the gloves to avenge his teammate. Then the toughest fighter in the league dropped his gloves and danced with Todd Fedoruk, a guy he owned 5 times already in his career. Again, Fedoruk tried not to die.

And then, the funniest thing happened. In Long Island he faced somebody even bigger than him. Mitch Fritz is 6’8” and on this fight, Big G barely tried not to get hit. He probably didn’t want to mess up his good looks.

This year the Montreal Canadiens were involved in 10 fights. Laraque got three. Didn’t we sign him to make sure guys like Kostopoulos, Lapierre and Begin could do their job without fear? Now Begin fear for his job, Kostopoulos had to drop the gloves twice and Lapierre had to fight too. Add to that the two fights Bouillon was involved in, another fight from Latendresse (???) and tonight’s episode with Komisarek and you have to wonder… WHY did we sign Laraque?

I am not questioning Bob Gainey’s move. I’m wondering about Laraque’s motivation to play. I’m wondering about his “code”. After the Phoenix game, he explained his decision not to fight Kurt Sauer by saying that he would have probably been suspended. Here’s some news for you Georges: NOT having you in the lineup would be an improvement. Begin, Kostopoulos, Dandenault are fighting tooth and nails for their job. You don’t want to? Get your towering frame in the press box. Go have a little talk with Michel Bergeron. You are probably the only male in Montreal who could learn from him anyway.

I would love to have Georges Laraque in the Montreal lineup. If he was ready to drop the gloves to protect his linemates fast enough that Bouillon doesn’t have to do it for him. If he was ready to drop the gloves to change the pace of a game where his whole team looked asleep. If he was ready to drop the gloves to shut up Lucic. NOT if he is ready to fight only a list of 17 players he handpicked before the start of the season. People “in his weight class”. Right now “Big Georges” is only a big #*%?$ waste of ice time. Ice time that could be used by Begin. And I’m pretty sure he’d drop the gloves to protect his teammates.

RDS is even reporting that Komisarek might have injured his hand in the fight. It’s funny because in a conference call last summer, Georges said he was brought in so that a guy like Komisarek wouldn’t have to drop the gloves. “He is too important on the ice to have him in the penalty box for five”. How about on the injury list for a week?

Real game review to come later on.

image taken from www.sportsocracy.org