Conference Finals- Game 5 Preview: Staring Down Elimination... Again

Offence: Montreal needs to score goals... Montreal needs to score goals.  The Canadiens have have to use their speed advantage to get pucks in behind Philadelphia defence, just like they did so successfully in game 3.  It's also time for the skilled guys not named Brian Gionta or Mike Cammalleri to score.  Thomas Plekanec was the Habs leading scorer this season with 70 points, yet has just 4 assists in his last 12 games.  Plekanec, among others (Scott Gomez, Andrei Kostitsyn) have to do more.

Defence:  The defence has not played all that bad in game 4. Aside from P.K. Subban's misplay that led to Ville Leino's goal, Claude Giroux's goal may have been stopped by Josh Gorges had he not a skate problem.  Roman Hamrlik has been solid the whole series, and the defence in general has done a better job of allowing Jaroslav Halak to see the shots.

Goal: Halak has played well enough to win every game except game 1.  The only problem with Halak right now is that he can't score goals.

Lineup: Tom Pyatt didn't finish game 4 because of an upper-body injury.  If he can't go for game 5, Mathieu Darche or Sergei Kostitsyn will.

Conference Finals- Game 4 Recap: Shutout...Again

Montreal was shutout again by the Flyers 3-0 and go back to Philadelphia for game 5 facing elimination again.  The Canadiens had a solid first period when they outshot the Flyers 7-5, but couldn't apply any pressure in the final two periods. 

Offence: Montreal's forwards played a poor game in all areas, including faceoffs, where they lost 68% of the draws.  The Canadiens fired just 17 shots (only 1 in the second period) at Michael Leighton.  Mike Cammalleri got only 1 shot on goal, as Philadelphia were able to block 27 shots on the night.  Maxim Lapierre was the Habs most dangerous player, hitting the goalie 5 times in game 4.  Tom Pyatt missed the third period due to an undisclosed injury.  

Defence: The Flyers won the majority of the loose pucks against the Montreal defence and shutdown the breakout passes through the neutral zone that were so effective in game 3.  The Canadiens only managed to block 14 shots in game 4, again well below the standards set in the first two rounds.  Marc-Andre Bergeron actually had a decent night.  He wasn't on the ice for any of Philadelphia's goals, had 2 SOG, and made a nice play to foil the first empty netter attempt by the Flyers.

Goaltending: Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and was solid once again in goal, and again had no chance to win due to an anemic offence.  Jeff Carter was allowed to walk through the defence on two occasions and was stopped by Halak both times.  On the first goal, Claude Giroux was left one on one with Halak because of a Josh Gorges wardrobe malfunction.  Halak was then run into the net by Ville Leino on the second goal, and the third goal was an empty netter.

Conference Finals- Game 4 Preview: Keep Up The Energy

Offence: Game 3 saw Montreal's forwards using their speed to get through the neutral zone and making smarter passes to negate Philadelphia's counter attack.  They will need to continue to use the energy offered up by the Bell Centre crowd to keep outskating the Flyers on the forecheck in game 4.

Defence: The Canadiens never allowed Philadelphia's scorers to get anyhting going in game 3.  They were all over them as soon as they came over center ice and only allowed shots from the perimeter.  They targeted Daniel Briere and made him a non-factor in the game.  More of the same is the best approach for game 4.

Goal: Jaroslav Halak should be solid again if the Habs can continue give a clear view on the majority of the shots.  He didn't have his crease crowded by Flyer attackers or Montreal defenders in game 3 and it made all the difference.  The Canadiens need to give him his space to keep him playing effectively.

Lineup: Ryan O'Byrne played only 1:34 after taking a delay of game penalty on his first shift in game 3.  Jacques Martin may return him to the press box in favor of Mathieu Darche.  This would mean Marc-Andre Bergeron would take regular shift on defence again where he has racked up a -11 rating for the playoffs.

Conference Finals- Game 3 Recap: Goals!

Finally! Montreal broke Michael Leighton's series shutout bid when Mike Cammalleri banged home a P.K. Subban rebound. The Canadiens proceeded to fill Philadelphia's net with 4 more goals enroute to a 5-1 win in game 3. The home ice win reduces the Flyers series lead to 2-1.

Offence: Tom Pyatt and Dominic Moore each had a goal and an assist on a night where Montreal outshot Philadelphia 38-28. The Canadiens were finally able to get some traffic in front of Leighton and knock in some rebounds.

Defence: Roman Hamrlik once again logged the most ice time for the Habs defence. Hamrlik collected 2 assists and finished +4 in his 23:06 on the ice. P.K. Subban turned in 3 assists and was a +3 on the night. Subban's 3 points puts him second in rookie playoff scoring behind Ville Leino. Montreal also shutout the Philadelphia powerplay on 3 chances after only killing 60% of penalties in the first two games.

Goal: Jaroslav Halak was solid in net, although it wasn't a particularly tough night for him. The Canadiens did a much better job of allowing him to see the majority of the 26 shots he faced.

The highlights:

Conference Finals- Game 3 Preview: We Need Goals!

Offence: Michael Leighton has a .969 SV% and a 0.87 GAA in these playoffs, and 2 shutouts against Montreal.  The Canadiens forwards have to find a way to disrupt Leighton's stellar play and put some pucks by him.  In order to overcome the 2-0 series deficit, the Habs have to get in Philadelphia's crease, screen Leighton, and beat the Flyers defence to rebounds.

Defence: Montreal has to get back to what made the successful in the first two rounds, that is blocking shots.  The Canadiens have blocked 355 shots in this postseason, over 100 more than any other team.  But after frustrating Ovechkin and then Crosby, the Habs only got in the way of 35 shots through two games against Philadelphia.

Why isn't Ryan O'Byrne playing?  He played over 18 minutes a game towards the end of the first round, is a +1, and has 25 shot blocks.  And he could keep the Flyers forwards from feeling at home in Jaroslav Halak's crease.  Compare that to Marc-Andre Bergeron's -11, 1 goal and inability to play defence in general, and it seems like a no brainer.  Bergeron could be put on the 4th line and used on the PP where his shot would still garner attention from Flyer penalty killers.

Goal: Halak can't be blamed for any losses where the team in front of him fails to score a single goal, but one has to wonder if back to back losses and a couple weak goals are starting to wear on him.  Another concern is the ridiculous workload Halak has had.  After coming back from the Olympics where he started for Slovakia, he got the majority of starts down the stretch.  In the first two rounds of the playoffs he saw a load of shots from Washington and Pittsburgh.  That's a lot of work for a goalie who wasn't a regular starter until 3 months ago.

Quote: “We’ve got to do it, we can’t just sit around and talk about it.” -Travis Moen

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:

Hablinks

• The Ottawa Senators really wanted Mike Cammalleri but settled for Alexei Kovalev instead.
• HNIC feature on Brian Gionta.
• Habs and Hawks in Original Six cup final?
• NHLPA feature on Hal Gill.
• Waazzuup Halak!
• Kirk Muller is head coach material.
• A retrospective on Habs- Flyers history.
• Another Georges Laraque commercial. 

Conference Finals- Game 2 Preview: It's All About Net Presence

Key Matchup: Jaroslav Halak vs. Michael Leighton
Montreal has to find a way to give Halak a chance to see the shots.  In game 1, there was a Flyer parked in front of the net at every opportunity.  The Canadiens D has to make life miserable for any Philedelphia player who wants to stand at the top of the crease.  At the other end, Leighton has to get a little of what his team is giving.  The Habs don't have any typical power forwards (Benoit Pouliot looks like one, but refuses to play like one) but that hasn't stopped them from getting the majority of their goals from within 6 feet of the net in these playoffs.

Key Stats: 2 Wins
Halak has been pulled two times in these playoffs prior to last nights loss.  Each time he has responded with a win in the following game.  There is no evidence that Halak's confidence will suffer from getting the hook in game 1.

Injuries:
Canadiens: D Andrei Markov (knee), D Paul Mara (shoulder)
Flyers: G Brian Boucher (knee), C Jeff Carter (foot), G Ray Emery (hip), RW Ian Laperriere (conncussion)

Notable:
Andrei Markov will not play in this series against Philadelphia.  Jeff Carter could see action for the Flyers though, and that would be bad news for a Montreal team that had a tough time containing Philadelphia's forwards in game 1.

Quote:
"They didn't have the same net presence as the Bruins, I could see over some of the guys." - Michael Leighton

Conference Finals- Game 1 Recap: Scorched!

For the first time in these playoffs the Canadiens did not show up to play and received an absolute routing at the hands of Philadelphia. Both teams were coming off of tremendous game 7 wins , but Montreal looked to take a break while the Flyers leveraged their momentum into a 6-0 win.

Offence: Montreal's snipers were stymied by the Flyers. Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta were both limited to a single shot.

Defence: P.K. Subban once again led the Habs defence in ice time but finished a -3 and chose some bad times to jump into the play and attack.

Goal: Jaroslav Halak only stopped 10 of 14 shots before being yanked in favor of Carey Price, who then allowed 2 more goals on the 11 shots he faced.

If you feel like it, the check out the lowlights below.

Round 3- Game 1 Preview: Who's Got Richards?

Key matchup: Mike Richards vs. Anybody

Will the Canadiens be able to match up anybody effectively against Mike Richards? During the Boston series Richards contained Marc Savard, took out David Krejci, and frustrated Zdeno Chara.  If Montreal can find someone to keep Richards busy, will Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne or Claude Giroux bust loose?

Key Stats:  1.55 GAA, .943 SV%

Michael Leighton hasn't had anyhere close to the workload that Jaroslav Halak has, but his average numbers are actually better when compared with Halak's 2.42 GAA and .930 SV%.

Injuries:

Canadiens: D Andrei Markov (knee), D Paul Mara (shoulder)

Flyers: G Brian Boucher (knee), C Jeff Carter (foot), G Ray Emery (hip), RW Ian Laperriere (conncussion)

Notable:

Bob Gainey's plan to put together a team that knows how to win in the playoffs could become even more apparent in this series.  The Habs have a combined 5 cup rings on their roster (Scott Gomez (2), Brian Gionta, Travis Moen, Hal Gill) compared to only Chris Pronger's ring for the Flyers.

Quote:
"In your face, ugly and obnoxious" – Gill on the Flyers.

Round 2- Game 7: Who's Next?

Montreal earned a birth in the Eastern Conference finals set to begin on Sunday against the winner of Friday's Flyers-Bruins game. The No. 8-seeded Canadiens have taken down the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in Game 7 of Round 1, and now the defending Stanley Cup champions in Round 2.

Offence: Brian Gionta scored 2 powerplay goals on 6 shots and led all Habs forwards with 21:56 in ice time.
Defence: P.K. Subban played 23:01, assisted on Gionta's first goal, and finished +1 playing against Crosby all night.
Goal: Halak made 37 saves including 18 in the 3rd period. He leads all playoff goalies with a .933 save percentage. Halak is a big reason the Canadiens are the first No. 8 seed to reach the Eastern finals since the current format was adopted in 1994.

In case you missed the game, or just want to experience the glory again, check out the highlights below.

Round 2- Game 7: Pens Have Lost These Before

Game 7 goes tonight in Pittsburgh and one can look back to 1996 for inspiration.

In the 1996 playoffs, the Penguins were coming off a dominating 5-game series win over the Rangers, while the Panthers had just completed an unlikely upset of the top-seeded Flyers. How did Florida win their game 7? John Vanbiesbrouck made 39 saves in a 3-1 win. Does any of that sound familiar?

A 39 save performance by Halak is probably our best shot at a similar upset.