Wilde Horses:
Jeff Petry - The biggest positive of the playoffs and he probably won't be a Habs player when the next season starts. That's a pity but one has to assume he will play the free agent market. When you're a GM, you hope your best defence along with Subban is back to build on the dream for next season. He's savvy at handling pressure. He joins the rush at the right time. He walks the line on the power play nicely. He's just a solid player. Will say it again: you have to play with some good to be great. Petry was wasted in Edmonton.
- Torrey Mitchell was skating like the wind in this one. No finish with his chances but he was a handful. Mitchell may be earning a long look at next season here. He loves it. It is a dream to be in Montreal for him and his Greenfield Park family.
- Brian Flynn only played because Desharnais has the flu and he was strong. He had a couple of clean looks that he could not convert which is a microcosm of the season.
- Plekanec was strong again. Just a solid player even on the bad nights.
Wilde Goats
- Sorry to Habs fans but it has to be said again: If Andrei Markov is not injured the rest of the contract is going to be an albatross around the neck of Marc Bergevin. Better hope he is injured because he's skating like he's in quicksand.
- I am not going to pick out individual forwards here but the most demoralizing aspect of the Habs in this series and the last is the club has no finish when it counts most. The excellent blogger Andrew Berkshire of Eyes on the Prize pointed out to me that the Habs were running around 9 percent in shooting percentage during the season but in the playoffs it has dropped to 2 percent. That's a cliff dive. It is either bad luck now or bad finishers now who got lucky before. Who can say really? Probably bad luck now as the regular season sample size is bigger. Doesn't matter really. The issue is important now and the club just can't finish.
- The power play is pretty much the worst I have ever seen. 1 for 26 for less than 4 percent. 4. Percent. With an extra man. That's 52 minutes about with one goal. That's a game. With one goal. Lordy! What's the issue. Unbelievable predictability. Back to Subban and shoot. Never anything inside of the perimeter down low. Just passed around the horn. Not anything regularly good going to come out of shots from outside. The Tampa work down low breaking down lanes and setting gaps was much more enjoyable to look at.
- The PK got schooled. Cooper must have seen something in game one because wow 4 power play goals on a usually good penalty kill. They created gaps and seems and then exploited them with east west passes that Price had zero chance on. Discipline now a key going forward because the stage is set for the Tampa PP to bury you.
Wilde Cards
- 7 straight wins in a season one team over another. Even the Sabres would have taken one from the Lightning. An AHL team is going to win 1 of 7. That the Habs who are an excellent team have lost 7 straight leaves me without theory as to why. If you think you can figure out how two teams who are both upper echelon but one can school the other that easily, then you are way smarter than I. I got nothing. Seriously, you might want to put this on a head coach but really that can't explain 7 straight. The two clubs are too close in calibre. I got nothing. You shouldn't have anything either. It is unexplainable. Only the hockey gods know the answer.
- The Habs have been a character team with character guys. They'll have to find their best selves now. They'll have to start with one game before they can win 4. They were down 2 to the Rangers too last year and turned that into a competitive series with only one goal difference in game 6 and that team didn't have Price. They'll have to start there - calling on positive character memories to gain strength because right now it is grim but things can happen: injuries, black board material, disrespect, phenomenal goaltending, sudden finish around the net. I have seen all sorts of bizarre and unpredictable. The odds are stacked against for sure but the game is still in play until it is not. This has to be a professional hockey player's mantra or he has no character. The one thing I have like from the Habs much more than their talent has always been their character. Either that plays out, or one team will have beaten another competitive team higher in the standings than them 9 straight times in a single season. And that my friends I have never once seen.
