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.

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.