Wilde Horses
- Andrighetto continues to impress. He scores. He makes it difficult with his speed. He's ignited a dormant line. He's ignited a struggling centre in Galchenyuk. All good. Keeps playing like this, it will be hard to send him back to the IceCaps.
- Wasn't too long ago there was quite a lot of worry about Galchenyuk. Well, he got a winger in Andrighetto. He got a little puck luck going and now he suddenly has a fairly good seven goals instead of two. He's also ignited the top line a bit too when taking shifts with Plekanec in New Jersey. He's also getting more power play time and taking advantage with his second goal of the night. He's obviously into it too and wants this and cares. Just check out the celebration. He's a man intense and focused. Some might say he's a little too excited. Not me. He's scored four games in a row for the first time in his career. Funny how the Galchenyuk line is on fire while the Desharnais line takes a little break. Someone is always going for this team it seems.
- Max Pacioretty is getting his skating stride back. The strides are getting longer and deeper. He seems ready now to take defencemen wide on the rush. Only a week ago I wondered if he was going to start looking like his old self again or if the injury had changed him. Seeing the first signs of the old powerful Pacioretty. Let's mark the progression from here.
- Pateryn continues to play well. What a luxury to have a seventh man step in and feel no drop off when the guy he was replacing was in the four hole.
- A word on Tom Gilbert because no one else is saying it but Gilbert is quite an asset, having the ability to play on both sides. With Pateryn he slides to the left. With Beaulieu he slides to the right. That makes the coach very happy.
- Fleischmann with one hell of a move late third to undress his opponent wide and cut to the net with the shot. As my friend Eric Engels said, "This guy." That's hockey talk for “Wow.”
- The Beaulieu-Petry partnership with two minutes left. Beaulieu gets a perfect look but misses high wide. To the blue line it goes and the puck jumps over Petry's stick and Cammalleri has a step on him. Petry wheels him so easily that he is in front of Cammalleri when he dispossesses him without a chance and without a penalty. Wow. Keep them together. Let them blossom for a half decade together.
Wilde Goats
Fourteen wins and three losses in overtime inside their conference. No regulation losses against the east. They're on pace for 128 points this season. They're without Gallagher, Price, Mitchell, Semin and Emelin and they keep looking good. They let this one slip away but I think I am going to take a pass on the goats tonight.
Wilde Cards
- Emelin is not injured. They just like the way Pateryn is playing. They want Emelin to get his conditioning back and his legs, then he will return. It is not a changing of the guard.
- The Habs remain quiet on the condition of Carey Price. They are only saying week to week. Francois Gagnon of RDS and CTV is saying one month. The Habs say that Price has seen a doctor and they need more time to evaluate what he has. I think Francois has it right and what the Habs don't want to do is give the news until they are absolutely sure of no surprises. It is his right knee almost to a certainty. But again, this is not coming from the Habs who won't give more than lower body. This is all very frustrating to many but this is the world that they want us to live in so we do the best we can for those of you who want to know. My best guess is he has a meniscus tear and they're debating if he needs surgery. If he does, it's three to five weeks. Heard around the water cooler that it could be a ligament tear. I don't feel that is logical, as he puts too much weight on it for that. 90 times out of 100 you can put weight on it and play through a meniscus tear though it bothers, but you cannot play through a ligament tear. It's also rare to be able to put weight on a ligament tear. Those are just logic percentages I am working with here. The Habs say news will come mid-week.
