Conference Finals- Game 2 Recap: No Goals Again

Another 3-0 shutout and Montreal is now down 2 games to Philadelphia.  The Canadiens came out the gate with a fury, outshooting the Flyers 16-6 at the first intermission.  The rest of the game followed a similar pattern with the Habs controlling the puck more, winning more faceoffs, getting more shots on goal and turning the puck over less.  Of course, all that doesn't mean shit if you don't score a goal.

Offence: Mike Cammalleri  led all forwards in TOI, logging 24:16.  Brian Gionta fired 8 shots at Michael Leighton after only getting 1 SOG in game one.  Leighton has made 58 straight saves during his shutouts in game 1 and game 2.  Montreal's forwards have to pick it up, especially guys like Thomas Plekanec, Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn.  None of these guys have scored a goal since round 1.

Defence: Roman Hamrlik led the defence again, playing almost 25 minutes and wasn't on the ice for a goal against.  Jacques Martin chose to leave Ryan O'Byrne out of the lineup again.  Eventhough O'Byrne would be the best defencemen to deal with Flyers forwards buzzing around Jaroslav Halak.

Goal: Halak let in three goals on 20 shots, the last one being extremely weak.  It didn't matter though, only the first one matters when your team gets shutout.

Quote: "You don't score, you don't win." -Scott Gomez

The lowlights:

Markov In For Game 1?

Will Andrei Markov return for game 1 on Sunday?

Markov was out for the entire Penguins series with an injured knee. He did take part in Montreal's morning workout at Mellon Arena on Wednesday. Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin has not committed to the return of his impact defensemen, but it seems Markov is committed to play again in these playoffs.

Would he be effective?

Hal Gill, who suffered a cut on his leg in game 5, hobbled around and took penalties because he couldn't do the things he normally does on the ice. Would Markov be able to lead the defence to another series win, or would he have to take a back seat to Josh Gorges and P.K. Subban who were outstanding against the Penguins?

The best case scenario would probably see Markov return and play limited minutes until he can show he can handle a larger workload. Having Markov at less than 100% playing on the last defence pairing would be better than having Marc-Andre Bergeron back there. Bergeron can always take a wing on the 4th line and still get his powerplay time.

One Hole Filled...

No matter who the new owners are, they're gonna need a coach. So before he starts on attracting players for next year, Bob Gainey has hired Jacques Martin as Montreal's 29th head coach.

So the best we can hope for is a team that racks up 100+ point seasons, like Martin's Senators did. And the worst we could get is a team that chokes repeatedly in the playoffs, like Martin's Senators did.

One appearance in the Eastern Conference final is the current peak of Martin's playoff performance, but Jacques can shuffle lines with the best of them during the regular season. His 517 wins put him 10th on the all-time list. Ask Mike Keenan (4th all-time) if that helps your job security after 1st round losses.

A lot can be said about Martin's defensive system and the lack of excitement it produces. Although Ottawa did fill nets, he has been criticized for being too safe and boring. To me, the style of play Martin employs is irrelevant as long as it wins games, and then wins the important games.

Jacques Martin coming on board does raise some other questions though:

1. Can he give the Canadiens an inside track on any free agents? Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, and Jay Bouwmeester have all played three or more seasons under Martin, and the Habs would love to land any one of them.
2. Who are the other coaches next year? Rollie Melanson is already gone, and Kirk Muller was Carbo's pick. Doug Jarvis is close with Gainey, so he may stick around. Don Lever will hopefully get an opportunity with an organization that places more importance on ability than language. Rumours have immediately started to swirl about the return of Mario Tremblay and Jacques Lemaire.
3. Does the hiring of a defensive coach mean that Gainey is about to drag the club through a rebuilding phase focused on Price and Markov? With the goaltending coach gone and a new defensive system, nobody will be affected more than Carey Price by the coaching changes. Markov will also benefit greatly from not having to do almost everything by himself to get the puck to the red line.