And You Thought You Had It Bad: Hawks at Habs preview

by SamFels on Mar 31, 2009 3:15 PM CDT in Game Threads Comment 303 comments

vs.

GAMETIME: 6:30 Central

OPPOSITION BLOG: Habs Eyes on The Prize, Four Habs Fans (absolutely hilarious)

When the Hawks biffed that game against Columbus a couple weeks ago, a few friends and I remarked, "Well, at least were not the Canadiens." In what was supposed to be a coronation on their 100th anniversary, the Canadiens have been an overturned clown car. On the times they've been sober enough to get on the ice, they've shown a distrubing lack of spark and fight. The power play, which was leaving scorched Earth behind it last season, has been a mess with the departure of Mark Streit and the disinterest of Alex Kovalev. Kovalev is an interesting study, and he offends almost all serious hockey fans (including one Matt McClure). Most experts will tell you that Kovalev is probably one of the five most talented guys in the league. He just doesn't botther to bring it half the time. When he bothers, the Canadiens are a different team. When he's not, they're a bunch of drunks wandering around the ice. Another problem is this team has 15 free agents this summer, and it wouldn't be wrong to ponder if some of these guys have started looking out for themselves instead of the cause. Captain Saku Koivu has spent most of the season in a mope.

The Habs come into this not exactly on fire. They're 2-3-3 in their last 8, and blew a third period lead to the Sabres last time out. Their goaltending has been a mess, with both Price and Halak showing brilliance at times, and buffoonery at others. I would imagine Price gets the start tonight. The Centre de Molson used to be considered a tough place to win, and still can be But you get the feeling if the Hawks jump out to a lead, the crowd will turn on these guys in a hurry, and the Canadiens haven't exactly resembled a team with a strong mentality unless chasing the Frenchie poon.

The Hawks should come out angry. Though again, I didn't think they were AWFUL on Sunday -- they came up against a team that played flawlessly -- they still got smacked pretty good. They've all talked after that about coming out with no fire, and you'd think they'd be aiming to turn that around in a hurry. Do so, and it's likely the Habs will shrink like a frozen pecker. Also, a win would hop the Hawks over the Flames, which is looking likely to be very important. Though the idea of Iginla breathing fire against you in the playoffs is scary, Luongo's scarier.

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Yes, Alex Kovalev does offend my hockey sensibilities. However, that does not mean he is to be taken lightly. He cannot be given any time or space.

Any word on line combinations tonight with Brouwer out? Obviously Eager is going to jump up, but it would be nice to see him skate with Pahlsson and VERSTEEG!, to give Kane a chance with 19 and 10. The The Kane/Pahlsson combination at even strength has not yielded anything.

On that same note, one thing that was heartening to see on Sunday was that even before the bukkakke party in the penalty box, Toews and Sharp were sent out as a PK unit. I understand not wanting to tax your top players, but to not have the team’s best faceoff man and one of its smartest and quickest forwards killing penalties at a time when the unit has been struggling was quite puzzling to me.

It would be very nice to see Cris put forth a solid effort tonight as well.

by McClure on Mar 31, 2009 1:39 PM CDT reply actions

PK

I saw that and thought optimistically. I would also like to see Pahlsson and Versteeg get the majority of other kills and leave it at that.
The other night, I swear Johnson, Hjalmersson, Fraser and Brouwer (give or take a slow rookie) were out getting scored on. That’s about 5 years on NHL experience on the PK. Bolland and Versteeg are one thing but that confounded my sensibilities.

by Gbubbs on Mar 31, 2009 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions

The best think...

for the Hawks would be to score the first goal. The Habs are really disorganized on all levels, and their fans are a bunch of assholes. I think this team has checked-out collectively, especially with Gainey at the helm of this Titanic. The Kostitsyn Brothers are a poor man’s Sedins, Price is average goalie deified because he plays in MTL, and most of the other guys are so old, on their off-days they watch The Price is Right, then play bingo at the local Moose Lodge.

Hopefully the anger of the Hawks wont translate into bad penalties.

Windy City Hockey

by The Admiral on Mar 31, 2009 1:52 PM CDT reply actions