Wilde Horses

  • Vanek. He was around the puck a lot. Had some chances and now he could be on the line where he has the best chance to succeed. Wrong wing though but let's see if he can adapt with Desharnais and Pacioretty.
  • Galchenyuk is ready for more responsibility. The coaches are arresting his progress at this point. Powerplay time for sure. Overtime shifts for sure. Soon centre position.
  • Habs worked a lot on the powerplay at practice. Bouillon looked particularly good on the second wave. Something the second minute has missed so much, reporters have asked, if maybe a forward would be good on the point. Bouillon should get another shot on the PP. Even though who should really be there is Beaulieu (Don't get me started on that again.)
  • The training and medical staff on this team. I admire and am thankful for the caution they take. Bournival still not playing and remaining cautious on his concussion is excellent work. Caution on Price so that this doesn't happen again and keep nagging him is excellent work too. Never hear of an error from this staff. Never see it. Other teams Philly with Schenn, Pens with Crosby, Lightning with Bishop and many more don't hold a candle to the Habs smarts in taking care of players.

 

Wilde Goats

  • On the first goal, Tinordi and only Tinordi. Sh** happens.
  • On the second goal, Tinordi with some goat help from Gionta. This was not bad luck for Tinordi but bad defending. You can't back up until you're 10 feet in front of your goalie. That is where bad things happen.
  • On the third goal, good things from Vanek and his line and then a complete flub on a shot that has to be stopped. Five hole on Budaj and game over. Budaj has really failed in his bid to plug the Price injury problem. A save percentage of 858 since he became number one says it all.
     
  • Not sure of the wisdom of not using Francis Bouillon since February 8 and then putting him with your top defenceman. Since when do 1 and 6 get paired? Sorry. I don't get that. If he wasn't good enough to play one minute for a month, then why is he good for 20 straight away?
  • Therrien got Thomas Vanek off a defensive line in the third. The problem isn't the talent level of his mates Plekanec and Gionta. The problem is they start most shifts in the defensive zone where Vanek doesn't score obviously. And the other problem is Plekanec plays against the best line. Vanek looks at the other team's best right winger as a Hab and wonders what the hell... where's the 3rd line winger I am used to? He said it himself: "Yeah I am a defensive specialist. That's why I'm here." Delivering zingers already is Vanek. Yeah he's signing here. For sure. Oh by the way, you know who the goat is on this one. Therrien is just awful at making stars feel like stars. See: Penguins. Dan Bylsma seems to have the ability to treat stars like stars and still have them play a 200 foot game. You don't have to "keep a guy in line and let him know who has the power" to make him play 200 feet. Bylsma shows you can do both. Therrien mixed it up for the third period and had Vanek on the top line so let's hope that is a real change he is ready to make for Saturday after saying Tuesday morning he wanted to be patient with the trio to a see if they would mesh.
  • This weather. I have had enough. What a winter!

 

Wilde Cards

  • JJ Daigneault was on TSN 690 a month back and said they wanted PK Subban to be a quarterback and that now he was a running back. I've watched the instincts taken out of PK for a year now. This is gonna hurt Habs fans but he's not as good as a defenseman as he was. He's suddenly a safe dump it in guy. I don't like this QB vs RB nonsense. He is instinctively a running back because he is talented enough to be a running back. Markov is a QB because those are his instincts. Why are they trying to change him? What was Bobby Orr? He went end to end all night. I was a young boy. I marvelled at it. He was a running back and when he skated end to end it was glorious. This coaching staff would have told Orr to dump it in.
     
  • Rene Bourque finally got the hook. Well deserved. But what to do? Bourque came here as a back to back scorer of 27 goals. The fear of another concussion has ruined this player. He won't ever recover unless he can lose that fear and lead with the shoulder again. I doubt he will be able to. I wouldn't. He will lead with the stick and keep his head on a swivel and wait for each gigantic pay cheque every two weeks. He doesn't get paid if he retires or says he is scared. He only gets paid when he plays or gets injured again and can't play. It makes me sad. I always wonder how much has actually shared. Whether Bourque has said he fears another concussion or if the Habs have asked him. I doubt it. This ends only two ways: he gets Marc Savard's problem or he gets bought out. It does not end with him getting his game back. That's my call.