SB Nation - Jaroslav Halak

Khabibulin Done?

Derek Zona — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:48:42 -0000

Message boards and blogs devoted to the Edmonton Oilers are ablaze with talk that Nikolai Khabibulin could be done for the year as he has surgery to repair a herniated disc. Having suffered through the same injury, if he's had to go the surgical route, it's severe. At this point, a surgery like this brings into question Khabibulin's ability to continue his career in the NHL. If that's the case, Steve Tambellini has caught an amazing break in the world of cap management. Of course, the injury leaves him with a significant hole in the lineup as Khabibulin was brought in specifically to be a big-game goaltender and a playoff workhorse. For a team like the Oilers, battling along in 10th place, Tambellini has two options:

a. Find an affordable goaltending option to split time with Jeff Deslauriers and hope that superior defense saves the season.

b. Let Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk split the work for the rest of the season and see if either one is a long-term solution.

Given the continuing state of the goaltending market, Tambellini shouldn't have to do anything major to land a serviceable goalie to help out the rest of the way. This is exactly why I think that Tambellini and his shadow management group will choose:

c. Go after a big name goalie and try to hit a home run.

Enter Tomas Vokoun. This weekend, Chris Botta reported that Randy Sexton is actively shopping Vokoun to anyone that will have him in what can only be a salary dump. He also falls into the light-thinking trap of reporting that Vokoun "...has the 2010-11 season left on his contract at a hefty $6.3 million..." even though his cap hit is $5.7 million. While the $6.3 million may matter to a somewhat cash-strapped team like Florida, the cap hit matters most to teams that fly close to the cap ceiling. Teams such as...the Edmonton Oilers.

If Khabibulin down and out for good, Edmonton will get cap relief to the tune of $3.75 million per season. The one way out of the ridiculous Over-35 Contract that the Oilers gave Khabibulin is contained in Article 50, Section 50.5 (PDF Warning) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement - AKA the Mike Rathje Section.

The Oilers have an over-abundance of small, skilled forwards that may be attractive to a Southeast team, especially a kid like Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano's speed has been dazzling scouts, personnel people, coaches and fans, but his game hasn't quite come together. He would be a perfect candidate to move to Florida as the central piece of a Vokoun deal. Edmonton would need to clear an additional $2 million in cap space to get Vokoun under the cap, space that can be provided by Ethan Moreau.

Would a trade of Ethan Moreau and Andrew Cogliano for Tomas Vokoun be so far-fetched? In this case, I don't think so. Tambellini gets to blame the "unforeseen injury" to Khabibulin and gets to move Cogliano without criticism from most quarters. Florida gets to clear a huge salary from the books and gets a promising young center in Cogliano and only has one season of Ethan Moreau at $2 million.

As far as the optics go, Vokoun looks like a coup for the Oilers management team, as he's a world-class goaltender (a real one, not like the crumbling wall was purported to be) on a team that is "pushing hard for a playoff spot". Vokoun also falls into the whale category that the crew of the Pequod has been hunting for the last two-and-a-half years.

I know, I know - Vokoun seems like an unbelievable option. Martin Biron, Jaroslav Halak, Ty Conklin - they all make much more sense. Ask yourself this - over the last two years, what has the Oilers management team been, if not unbelievable?

Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Montreal Canadiens

Rafal Ladysz — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:11:50 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

11 days ago: Buffalo Sabres right winger Patrick Kaleta, left, and Montreal Canadiens defenseman Paul Mara trade blows late in the third period of the NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Buffalo won 6-2. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

Browse more photos »

Scoring by committee and extraordinary goaltending create lengthy postseason runs. In essence, the Buffalo Sabres are playing playoff hockey currently or at least preparing for it. Beginning and ending with Ryan Miller, they have been backstopped by his 18 wins, four shutouts, a .939 save percentage and 1.83 goals against average. I'm honestly running out of positive things to say about the 29-year-old.

In the last three games, Steve Montador, Clarke MacArthur and Patrick Kaleta have each registered a game-winning goal. Darcy Regier wanted to build this squad from within giving them time to bond and grow together. We're beginning to see why. They have 11 different players with at least one game-deciding tally and Kaleta was the latest showing perhaps the finest display of his career in New York. When someone is down in terms of their level, a teammate has stepped up to the table.

Montreal surely has this match circled on their schedule after the Sabres demolished them 6-2 kicking off December on a high note. Less than ten minutes in, Buffalo put three quickly by Jaroslav Halak en route to a completely one-sided affair.

Five thoughts on each team below.

Carey Price will be dressed barring any last minute setbacks. He has two wins in five starts but can be the x-factor matching the Oct.1 Montreal victory where the Canadiens were outshot 35-17. His last performance in Atlanta was sparkling as he made a few breathtaking saves in a losing cause. They were outshot 34-19 by the Thrashers. More on that in a minute. Update: Halak is the starter looking to redeem himself.
Mike Grier's anticipated return to the line-up is occurring today. While this is good news, Grier has experienced a loss in the family and may not be as focused as he usually would be which is understandable. Lindy Ruff said he hopes to bring him ten to 12 minutes in ice time.
I spoke about the Canadiens getting outplayed by the Thrashers and it's a trait they haven't been able to avoid. Of the 33 games Montreal has completed, their opponent has registered more shots in 19 of them and they have only done so 12 times. In the last three matches, they have been outshot 121-66. ~~Price~~ Halak is going to have his work cut out for him tonight.
Catching fire, Derek Roy is becoming a point per game performer registering three goals and five assists in eight contests. His career statistics versus the Canadiens are re-assuring and Roy looks to keep it that way.
The hot stick in Montreal belongs to Andrei Kostitsyn who has four goals and five points in a four-game stretch. A talented stick-handler, the Belarussian packs a wicked shot and the Sabres would we wise to take away any space from a forward who has been flying since the middle of November.
Kaleta and Paul Mara have a bit of history dating back well over a year ago. It started with a check that injured the defenseman while he was representing the New York Rangers and the two have had it in for each other since. Mara is questionable for tonight but if he plays, expect quick fireworks.
Chris Butler and Nathan Gerbe are day-to-day both nursing lower body injuries. Marc-Andre Bergeron experienced a face laceration in Atlanta after being hit in the face by the puck. If he sits, that would be a massive loss for Montreal as he's provided necessary scoring from the back line.
Buffalo is allowing 2.17 goals against per game trailing New Jersey and Chicago barely. However, the Sabres are ahead of just Carolina and Tampa Bay in goals for in the Eastern Conference and could stand to use a little extra support.
Andrei Markov is meeting with doctors today to evaluate his status and could return at some point this week. Originally, he was expected to be out until February due to severed tendons in his right leg but has quickly recovered with intense work. One of the game's best defensemen, Markov will help the Canadiens in every way imaginable.
Tim Connolly has been quiet since a four-point evening in Philadelphia. The hip pain he's living with could have everything to do with it after last year's surgery. Connolly seems to be fine for the most part but you have to wonder if the busy schedule will take it's toll on him.

Having heavily outworked the Canadiens in two meetings, Buffalo is the favorite. Montreal does have two things going for them: a goaltender who can and probably will have to sneak out two points and a passionate fan base that will make themselves be heard. They'll need both from the opening face-off.

Price / Halak - The Stats - November 2009

Chris Boyle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:13:39 -0000

What a difference a month makes.

Thirty days ago the Canadiens were in the middle of a goaltending controversy. Jaroslav Halak's agent was NITWITTERING Carey Price's won/loss record, the fanbase had placed the bus in reverse and were attempting to leave a fresh set of treadmarks on Price's back and the Canadiens were plodding through their schedule at .500.

Outside of the Canadiens still flirting with the .500 mark, the attitude regarding the goaltending situation has changed dramatically. Since this article is a retrospective on November, it is heavily weighted towards Price. Halak's one start didn't offer enough of a sample to legitimately track his monthly progress. What began as an even split in October, turned into a clear separation as Price started 11 of 12 games in November, almost rendering the title of this article, and its point, moot for at least the time being. A solid performance by Halak in Ottawa suggest that the busy month of December may tell a different story.

Surprised by the turn this has taken, maybe you shouldn't be. This has been typical of the story that Price has written over the first two and a half seasons of his career. Somehow, instead of the fanbase observing the roller coaster ride from afar, recognizing that as the roller coaster descends, a peak exists for it to climb, they jump on the roller coaster eyes closed screaming for dear life on its mad descents only to extol the virtues of the ride when they disembark.

Should Price struggle in February again, it is likely that the fresh imagery that exists in everybody's minds right now will once again dissipate in a mad panic

Panic in Montreal is generally followed by the rewriting OR ignoring of history. Even with Price's strong November this controversy is not over, it will continue to bubble just below the surface. Should Price struggle in January, the detractors who are silent right now will re-emerge with the same arguments, their memories will once again be wiped clean. While the starting goaltender in Montreal is one of the most heavily scrutinized positions in sports, the easiest may be the backup goaltender in Montreal. The backup's flaws are always concealed under the their baseball caps, their past transgressions completely ignored. This will never change.

At Eyes On The Prize, we continue try to look past the surface level blame and analyze what is really going on. This month we will compare Price's performance in November to October and also look back and try to clarify the factors that contribute to a team based stat like a win / loss record and how it relates to Price and Halak.

One of the main arguments against Price in October was his inability to win games. With Halak sporting a 5-2 record and Price at 2-5, the most simplistic argument was "Price doesn't make the big saves when he needs to" and "Halak wins games". That argument ignored plenty of factors, most importantly that wins are a team based stat.

While perusing the internet I came across an interesting perspective at Brodeur is a Fraud. While trying to debunk the myth of Brodeur's career, he came up with an interesting statistic that he refers to as Win Threshold. It essentially projects out what a goaltender would have had to do to earn a point (.500) by including the teams performance in front of him. In a 3-1 victory, the assumption would be that to earn a point the goaltender would have to allow no more than 3 goals. Inversely, in a 3-1 loss the goaltender would need to have allowed no more than 1 goal.

We can calculate what I'll call the "win threshold" for the goalies on each team by taking (shots against - goals for) / shots against. This gives us the save percentage that would result in the team ending up with an equal number of goals for and goals against over the course of the season. If the goalie's save percentage is above that number, the team is likely to win more than the lose, while anything below the threshold means that the team should end up sub -.500 (or sub -.550 in the shootout era).

This simple statistic beautifully illustrates the career of Chris Osgood AND his playoff run that allowed the media to begin the "Chris Osgood is a Hall of Famer" nonsense.

In 2008-09, Detroit's win threshold was .873, which was the lowest in the league. The Islanders' win threshold was .928, which was not only the highest mark in the league but also the highest of any team since the lockout......Naturally, comparing win totals on goalies playing on the Islanders to goalies playing on the Red Wings is completely senseless.

Using this as a starting point, I compared how this statistic affected goalies on the same team. Was the Canadiens offense responsible for Halak's inflated win total, or was it his superior goaltending? What would Price have had to do to compensate for the woeful offense in front of him? Was it that Halak was receiving an easier ride?

(Let me preface this by stating that this is judging wins and wins alone. If a goaltender was fantastic and had a .960 SV%, but only needed to produce a .895 SV%, it is not devaluing his performance, only stating that his margin for error was very high. I also understand that early saves can keep a team in a period. Teams play to the score and loosen up when they are up big and that some goals are scored late in a game and alter the margin for the threshold. It is obvious that providing replacement value will never replicate the actual performance that history has provided. This theory is being used only to illustrate that wins are a team statistic and that they are heavily influenced by not only what you save, but what offense your team provides).

To put this in perspective, the league average in save percentage is .910.

In order for Price to gain the majority of his wins, he has had to offer above average goaltending.
His margin for error was slim and when he failed to balance on the high wire, he was open to criticism.
A .915 save percentage is currently good to place 20th in the league.

Halak on the other hand was allowed to navigate with a greater margin of error. He only needed to offer a save percentage of .865 to register his 5 victories. Vesa Toskala's save percentage on the season is .863. So any goaltender slightly more competent than Toskala MAY have registered a similar number of victories as Halak.

Both goaltenders would have had to provide Hall of Fame type performances to avoid the majority of their losses.

How would those statistics translate if you offered up average replacement value? If Jimmy Howard and his .910 SV% replaced Price and Halak, the Canadiens would be in deep trouble. The Canadiens would likely be in the hunt for Taylor Hall, not talking about the importance of their December schedule.

Looking at Price's losses below, it is unlikely that an average goaltender makes any impact on his losses, hell, it's unlikely that Roberto Luongo would have made much of a difference.

Price's threshold in his 11 losses is a SV% of 0.944 and a GAA of 1.69. Numbers that would place him above Ryan Miller as the number one goaltender in the league. Six of those starts would have required a .940+ SV% just to procure a shootout. If the team continues to struggle offensively to this capacity, then it is going to require Jose Theodore 2002 MVP type performances to drag them into the playoffs. With Price and Halak entering their RFA season, THAT is a scary and expensive thought.

You would think with Halak's lack of activity in November, that his stat line would remain unchanged, but with only an 8 game sample, one strong start against the Flames resulted in an 11 point improvement on his save percentage and lopping 1/5th of a goal off his goals against average. In October, Price statistically lagged behind in all the major categories, but with a strong month has lessened the paper gap between himself and Halak. I made the argument in October that Price had a higher ceiling, but was prone to wild swings of inconsistency and the 2009 season has proven that out so far.

Through two months, what has been proven, is that the Canadiens goaltending is in good hands. With the transition of turning over half the team, and the numerous injuries to key personnel, the fact the team came through November at .500 is miraculous. At this moment, Halak's consistency offers the perfect compliment to Price, but due to the idiotic actions of his agent (Halak, Halak it a lot?), it is clear that Halak is eyeing a starting assignment, and will not likely find that in Montreal. You may be reading "Price / Sanford: the numbers" by ~~March~~ December. (note: as I am writing this, Sportsnet has reported that Halak has been placed on the trading block).

The fact that I can even mention a 2002 Theodore-like season is based on the strong November showing by Price. Playing behind an injury ravaged defense that produced roughly the same amount of shots as the previous month, from roughly the same areas, Price's numbers improved across the board. Price also managed to avoid a major meltdown like the Vancouver game, as well as producing a couple of 40+ shot gems against the Bruins and Predators.

With Halak pushing Price for the starting job in October, by all accounts Price responded to the challenge with hard work, which resulted in plenty of positive signs over the last month. With hard work Price's confidence level soared and his return to a hybrid style has allowed his athleticism to re-surface, because of this, Price managed to produce some miraculous saves during November. His patience has also been on display, particularly in shootouts and breakaways where once again he is using his huge frame to his advantage and refusing to commit before the shooter. With his gap control improving, he has been extremely hard to beat in 1 on 1 situations. This is a huge improvement on the tentative approach he used in late 2008-09. Add in his aggressive puck handling and his tenacity in battling to track the puck and the hope in Montreal is that Price has begun turning the corner.

Price's save percentage's also improved in almost every category in November, with his biggest improvement coming in shorthanded situations where his save percentage improved by over .200. His woefully low special teams percentage in October masked the fact that he was producing an elite level even strength percentage. With an improvement to mediocre powerplay standards, Price's statistics all experienced a significant jump across the board.

The question remains, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Canadiens penalty kill improve in November because of Price, or did Price's numbers improve because of the penalty kill? Halak did not suffer the same special teams meltdown. Could that have had anything to do with the power of the opposition, or his own play?

With so many new faces and the loss of Markov, it is no surprise that the PK got off to a slow start. With the return of O'Byrne and Gill and the emergence of White and Pyatt, the October implosion by Price should be avoidable moving forward.

Interesting to note if Price had managed to produce an .878 powerplay SV% in October, his overall SV% would have improved from .889 to .920.

Price and Halak continue to get bombarded by shots and the Canadiens have once again regressed into becoming over reliant on goaltending to win hockey games. With the early season injury to the Canadiens best player (Markov in 2010, Koivu in 2002) and the continual 30+ shot barrages, this season is becoming eerily reminiscent of the 2002 season when Theodore needed to provide the difference every night.

With Price's numbers improving in November, the assumption would be that the Canadiens settled down and began to limit shots and scoring opportunities. The Canadiens actually surrendered an extra two shot attempts per game. Price still is averaging over a shot attempt against per minute on the ice, a trend that will either lead to a statistical regression or an MVP award.

In 8 of his 11 starts in November, Price faced 30+ shots, including a team record tying 53 saves against the Predators and a 42 save gem that was seconds short of his 1st shutout of the season. Only once in his 11 games did he have less than 50 shots directed at him. Price continued to excel on shots outside of 20+ feet as he only allowed 7 of 257 shots to beat him. His SV% below 20' feet drastically improved and is pushing towards the league average.

Price offered up plenty of spectacular saves in November, but also had some concentration lapses that resulted in some questionable goals, something that had been absent from his game in October (only 5 of 25 came in as questionable, with zero registering at fault). Although his statistics drastically improved over the month of November, with the Canadiens lack of scoring ability (25th in the NHL) and his unbelievably tough win threshold (see above), his margin for error was slim. This can be witnessed by his 0-4 record in the 4 games I credited a bad goal. In two of the games (Detroit and Atlanta) the margin of victory was one goal, the other two (Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh) were decided by two goals. As he matures, these goals should occur less frequently allowing him to become even more of a game changing player. He isn't yet ready to carry a team, but it seems the Canadiens have given him little to no choice in the matter presently.

Looking at the zones where Price has given up goals, his glove hand continues to be much maligned even though he has only been beaten high glove side 11 times through November (11/53). The reason for the questions lies in the amount of bad goals high glove side. Out of the 12 goals categorized as suspect or bad, 6 have been high glove side, making it much easier to understand AND defend the criticism.

Looking at his November chart also gives the impression that he is very vulnerable low stick side, but looking at the video below shows that a lot of those goals came as the result of cross ice passes in which Price was not able to square up and were the result of him in transition. A small concern for me through two months has been his vulnerability through the 5-hole, an area he has not been able to cover with his stick either in transition or static and squared up.

Goals deemed questionable or bad are marked in bold.

26. Rich Peverley feeds it in front and it deflects off Bryan Little by a moving Price beating him 5-hole. 10 ft.
27. Pass from behind the net to a wide open Peverley in the slot, snaps a shot by Price low-stick side. 14 ft
28. Point shot by Mark Popovic that knuckles by Carey Price beating him high glove side. 59 ft.
29. 5 on 4 PP. Cross crease feed to a wide-open Pavel Kubina who directs it pass Price into an empty net. 5 ft.
30. Kane cross crease pass to a wide open Colby Armstrong who beats Price low stick side. 8 ft.
31. 6 on 5. Point shot. Price makes the initial stop, Patrice Bergeron rebound beats Price low-stick side. 5 ft.
32. 5 on 4 PP. Scramble. Price makes 2 saves but cannot stop Ryan Malone as he beats him five-hole. 11 ft.
33. Price, big rebound and Alex Tanguay alone, chips it over Price beating him high glove side. 14 ft.
34. 2 on 1. Scramble. Wright beats Gorges to the puck and slides it into an empty net. 6 ft.
35. Price highsticked in the throat by Mara falls down leaving an open net. Robert Lang puts it top shelf. 15 ft.
36. Point shot wide deflects into an open net off Bissonnette's skate beating Price low glove side. 12 ft.
37. Price makes initial save, Steve Sullivan all alone finishes off his rebound beating Price 5-hole. 7 ft
38. 5 on 3 PP. Point shot stopped, Sullivan at the side of the net beats Price low stick side. 14 ft.
39. Odd man rush, cross ice feed to the slot. Brandon Sutter chips it over Price, high glove side. 14 ft.
40. 3 one 2, cross ice feed one timed by Jussi Jokinen beats Price low glove side. 32 ft.
41. Eric Fehr snaps a shot from the face-off dot beating Price high-glove side. 25 ft.
42. Morrison takes a pass in front and moves opposite to Price's momentum beating him low glove side. 6 ft.
43. 5 on 4 PP. Brad Stuart point shot handcuffs Price and trickles in. 55 ft.
44. 5 on 3 PP. Brian Rafalski point pass tipped home by Pavel Datsyuk at the side of the net. 12 ft.                         45. Nash behind the net finds Vermette who one-times it past Price beating him high blocker side. 11 ft.
46. 5 on 4 PP. Rick Nash centers it, Stralman cheating off the point beats Price low blocker side. 24 ft.
47. 5 on 4 PP. Antoine Vermette's shot stopped, rebound back to him, beats Price low blocker side. 20 ft.
48. Sidney Crosby snap shot from the top of the faceoff circle beating Price high glove side. 38 ft.
49. Bill Guerin from the corner. Price makes initial save, doesn't hold the post as he beats him 5-hole. 8 ft.
50. Crosby with a beautiful pass to a streaking Sergei Gonchar who beats Price 5-hole all alone. 8 ft.
51. Point shot deflected in front by Brooks Laich beats Price low blocker side. 18 ft.
52. Alex Ovechkin one timer from the top of the faceoff circle beats Price low blocker side. 38 ft.
53. 6 on 4 PP. Price stops a one-timer by Ovechkin, Fehr slides home the rebound beating Price 5-hole. 10 ft.

The November verdict: You have to be encouraged by the performance of Price and Halak through November and the improved penalty kill is a positive sign and a factor in Price's improved numbers. The volume of shots and scoring opportunities remain a major concern. In October I preached patience because of the integration of 10-12 players and the introduction of a new system. With injuries creating a revolving door of players it is likely that this team has still not properly gelled. The Canadiens have fallen into a pattern of struggling to produce offense and relying on Price and Halak to bail them out, and this is a dangerous game to play with developing goaltenders. They have been able to provide some fantastic results through November, but if this continues they will struggle to make the playoffs. To provide room for improvement moving forward, the goaltenders get a B+ for November.

To view the October Price / Halak analysis, click here.

Experiencing A Canadiens' Win In Ottawa's (Not So) Rival Rink

Robert L — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:52:53 -0000

It's was early Wednesday morning as I began this, a snowstorm between Ottawa and Montreal, a total whiteout, and it has kept me home from my real world job, which today would have seen me venture back up to the capital city, dropping off Oldtimers Hockey Challenge tickets from Orleans to Kanata.

Thank goodness for snow days, eh?

Well not really, as the weather has provided me with more snow to shovel than I want to deal with. Bur ironically, and coincidentally, today's weather has provided me an easy lead-in to story threads from the Habs game last night and my experiences seeing the Canadiens on the road for the first time in my life.

The Canadiens third straight victory, five days into the beginning of their second century, featured a storm of sorts, in that a barrage of shots were fielded by surprise starter Jaroslav Halak, the game's well deserved first star.

The whiteout alludes to Habs' forward Ryan White, called up from Hamilton earlier in the day, only to play four shifts last night, before somehow being declared ineligible for the game, something to do with the Canadiens failing to declare the callup with NHL sources.

With the Habs playing well of late, with back to back wins against the Bruins and Flyers no less, I was real anxious to experience seeing them in Ottawa, where a great multitude of Canadiens fans reside. I've watched Montreal at the ~~Civic Center~~ ~~Palladium~~ ~~Corel Center~~ Scotiabank Place before and seen their fans turn out in droves, but actually being there among them, as I've found out, is a whole other reality.

I won't suggest that the Habs' fans outnumber, or are louder than their Senators fan counterparts, but it is a pretty evenly split room. Together the two sides help bring up the ante and charge up the tempo. From the cheapseats, it's a lively atmosphere, to put it lightly.

Sitting next to a Sens' fan that looked like Ken Hitchcock after dropping 200 pounds, I got on his good side really early by mocking the Senators division title banners just before the drop of the puck. During the game, I further endeared myself to him, all in good fun of course, by pointing out the mass of empty seats in the building and noting everytime a Senators shot was blocked but still registered on the clock count.

His subtle shots directed back to me were almost whispered comments to his friend and they included calling out every Habs player fall as a dive, saying "We're totally dominating" about a dozen times, and suggesting goalie Jaroslav Halak looked nervous while completely stoning Ottawa all game long.

Among the Canadiens fans scattered in Section 323 were a group of Habs Inside Out loyalists along for a mini Habs Fan Summit. Dave Finn (Punkster) was seated next to me. A converted Leafs' fan, Dave is an asute observer of the game, and he spent the evening pointing out all kinds of subtle and interesting game notes to me. It was a pleasure spending time with him.

A few seats away were Chuck Lewis and his girl and Adam Mills (subdoxastic), who's been a commenter at EOTP for a long while now. Other HIOers within reach were Paul Dube (who did a fine job organizing the trip and bringing everyone together), Ian Cobb (who's done the same for two Montreal fan summits now), Dave (DD) Reid, Nate Boisvenue (Natrous) and his brother. Pretty much the entire group had a Sens fans seated next to them.

One good laugh I had was watching Ian, donning his now traditional 1945-46 classic home white jersey, attempting to convince the Senator fans next to him to come over to the Canadiens' side.

The coolest part of being mixed in with the Ottawa fans was leaning over them three times as we'd all high five each other when the Habs scored. We would have had to a fourth time, but by then, all the Sens fans had left to beat the 417 rush home.

One treat of a fan was this guy a couple of rows down from me. Wearing a Marian Hossa jersey, he literally castigated Kovalev at every opportunity. He was in absolute angst each time Kovy hit the ice, yelling "Do something, lazy ass!" and a bunch other obscenities. Kovalev was roundly booed on the evening, a composite hounding from both sides as he floated through the game. I noted to Dave that most of the game, I wasn't even aware he was on the ice.

Overall, the sense I got from Senator supporters is that they are an inhibited bunch among the Habs throng. The "Ole, Ole" chant was omnipresent, from the busride in, to the corridors and throughout the game, and to the tunneling out post game back to the bus.

I was standing in a lineup between the second and third and overheard a snippet of conversation involving a guy with a Carey Price jersey and a man in unidentified colours.

"Who are you going for?" he was asked. "Nevermind," he wilted.

The guy in the Price jersey turned to him friend and they simultaneously nodded "Sens fan!"

One thing I found particularly lame, was when the Canadiens scored, the public address practically mumbled the details as if to neuter the cheering. It caught me off guard, it was so minor league. I was all pumped to scream my head off, and that monotone drone just threw me for a loop.

Late in the contest, when the attendance was announced at eighteen thousand and something, I had to cry "bullshit." The bozos next to me tried to get my ire by mockingly counting the empty seats. My retort was a simple "Wonder how empty this place looks when it's not the Habs playing?"

Scotiabank Place is indeed an old time hockey experience. The musical selections between drops of the puck keep on entertained and amused. For one stoppage we got 30 seconds of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop", and for the next we got some cheesy farfisa pump organ playing the "Charge" interlude. You can't help picture a Monty Python skit while listening.

As for the game itself, the Canadiens, backed by a standout performance from Halak, put in a pretty solid road game. The shot margin was high, especially after losing defenseman Jaroslav Spacek at the end of the first. From high up you could see that the Senators were firing from all angles but rarely piercing the perimeter.

The Canadiens made the most of their chances. Mike Cammalleri's goal was a beaut! On the two on one, Tomas Plekanec put a fake on the Sens defender that was a true marvel. The blueliner's stick was properly placed between Plekanec and his winger until a shot was faked and a slip pass made. As the Ottawa rearguard moved his stick to deflect, the pass went the other way. All the streaking Cammalleri had to do was redirect it into the open cage.

Sitting high offers a view in which you can truly appreciate the hardest working players and spot the floaters with ease. The most notable things I took in were how aware Roman Hamrlik is of his surroundings when not in possesion of the puck. You can really begin to understand why there are so few mistakes made from his corner when he does come in contact with the puck or opposing players.

On the Ottawa side, it's clear that Kovalev's teammates haven't a clue what he's about yet. He spent the night eluding any kind of close check, skating arcs and circles outside the perimeter of play. When oportunity arose, he'd streak towards the net from the far board, but linemates weren't looking for him. It gives the impression that he's floating, but that type of evasiveness has always been part of his game. He'd didn't accomplish very much on the night.

I never had much good to say about Jason Spezza and this game didn't change that. As the Senators fell behind, you'd think the team's most talented center would be leading the charge, but I caught Spezza waiting at the Habs blueline for a pass at least four times - in the third period alone.

Another noticable feature of the rink at Scotiabank Place was that the dasher boards are dead. The puck isn't given much bounce when fired off them, which tends to favor a Senators forecheck. The backs of Canadiens defensemen were constantly offered as targets to onrushing Sens forwards. Curiously, Halak rarely got back quick enough to stop the wraparound shoot ins Ottawa employment to break into the zone.

Much credit for the win went to first star Halak, but the work of the penalty killing unit was without fault on seven occasions. A player who is rapidly changing my opinion of him is Hal Gill, who was a tower of strength with a man down. Gill's long stick is always perfectly placed, and after he had broken up a good half dozen plays, the Senators forwards began working away from him as he had completely neutralized any cross ice passed from his side of the rink.

There was about five minutes to go in the game when fans started for the gate. I couldn't believe my eyes that people were hitting the exit in a one goal game. The moment the Kostitsyn goal was scored, it was as if the finger was removed from the hole in the dam and a deluge ensued. By the time of Scott Gomez' empty netter, the rink was half empty, nothing left but the Habs' faithful.

That final scene - about 9,000 Habs fans cheering in a rival rink - is my lasting image of this game. I'd head back to Ottawa and do this all over again in a nanosecond.

If anyone is thinking of heading to Ottawa for the December 28 game, there were all kinds of seats available. If you have a hunch of going, do so. I was seated at the 300 level near the blueline, and the sightlines for the whole rink are great.

Kudos to Paul Dube for organizing this fun get together. If you should ever take in a game in the capital, do as Paul did and get everyone together at Local Heroes on St. Laurent Blvd. From there, they have nightly round bus trips to Scotiabank and back for only five bucks.

Senators can't convert powerplays, lose 4-1 to Canadiens

PeterR — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:03:21 -0000

More photos » by Adrian Wyld - AP

6 days ago: Montreal Canadiens' Josh Gorges tries to clear Ottawa Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson away from the puck in front of Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak and defenceman Hal Gill during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Adrian Wyld)

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In another frustratingly effete effort, the Ottawa Senators made Jaroslav Halak look like an all-star and made their powerplay look like the feeblest in the league, walking out of the rink with a very disappointing 4-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens. After the loss, Montreal pulled even with Ottawa in the standings, a very tough-to-swallow fact despite the fact that the Sens still have two games on hand. Most disappointing was the Senators impotent powerplay, which went 0-for-7 on the night despite 13 shots--which hearkens back to the criticisms of Bryan Murray earlier this week, when he said the Senators lack the grit to drive to the front of the net, force rebounds, and score some dirty goals.

Although there have been calls for Mike 'Not Martin' Brodeur to see some action one of these days, little blame can be placed at the feet of Brian Elliott for the loss. The first goal came after a linesman accidentally (or was it?) kicked the puck around Chris Phillips and right to Tomas Plekanec, leading to a two-on-one that Anton Volchenkov misplayed; Elliott was square to the shooter (Plekanec), while Volchenkov left Mike Cammalleri wide open to tap in the cross-ice pass. And the second was a doubly-tipped powerplay goal (which, apparently, are possible).

On to some finer points of the game...

Sens heroes: Mike Fisher-Milan Michalek-Daniel Alfredsson
The Senators' top line was dominant for much of the game. Fisher had the lone Senators goal early in the second period, and also had four hits and seven shots--second only to Alfredsson on the night, as the captain fired eight at Golden Jaro. Michalek had three shots, meaning that the three had 18 of Ottawa's 46 shots on the night. They also combined for four takeaways. Long story short, they brought it.

Sens zeroes: Alex Kovalev
Kovy did one good thing tonight: He injured Jaroslav Spacek with a shot late in the first period (Ed.: I'm joking, Kovalev didn't do anything good Tuesday night. And I hope Spacek is back in the lineup for next game, he's a well-respected person and a solid player). After that, he did little else: He floated either just inside the offensive or defensive ends, rarely venturing deep enough to contribute to the play, and didn't meaningfully contribute to the game in any way. Which you may say is characteristic of Kovalev, but most expected he'd at least bring some intensity to the team that let him walk for nothing. More unfortunate was that, since it was a one-goal game for most of the night, Kovalev could have made even just one play that would have had the chance to completely turn the tables, and he had plenty of powerplays to do it on. But he just didn't.

(Read plenty more... )

Sens killers: Jaroslav Halak, Sens' powerplay
Whether or not Halak was actually great isn't the point; he looked great. Look at the chart below (from CBSSports.com), which shows you where Ottawa had most of their shots from, and you'll notice one thing in particular: Little to no shots from the slot. The bulk of the shots are low-percentage ones from awkward angles at either side of the net. That has as much to do with the Senators' unwillingness or inability to get to that part of the ice and not have their shots blocked as it does the Canadiens' ability to clog up the area.

As for the Senators powerplay, it was just not pretty. I was actually surprised to see Ottawa had 13 shots on the powerplay, but they seemed unable to really get much going on it--unfortunate, because the PP had been clicking for quite a while leading up to this game. Ottawa was unable to get the puck off the perimeter and into the centre of the ice, where key scoring opportunities are truly generated. We complain about not getting powerplays some games, but when you can't score on them anyway, it's basically a moot point.

Credit goes to: Erik Karlsson, Chris Campoli
You've really got to handle it to Campoli after his scratching: He's taken it as a constructive criticism rather than a personal insult, and his play has improved as a result. And he's earned the trust of Cory Clouston, given 21:24 in ice time--the second-most on Ottawa after only Filip Kuba. You might think the PP opportunities had a lot to do with that, but more than 15 of those minutes were at even strength. He was -1 tonight, but he had a shot on net, three more fired toward the net, and looked like the player Murray was expecting when he traded a first-round draft pick for him last season.

Similarly, since being recalled from Binghamton, Karlsson has really looked strong. He had some strong poise in the first period, particularly of note being a confident play to use his glove to settle the puck and another to use his body to protect it--all in the defensive end. His confidence to play very high in the offensive zone can be nerve-wracking at times, but it hasn't yet cost him big time. But defensive play isn't what Ottawa needs from him, and that's not all he provided tonight: He had five shots on net, third best on the team, and played 21:12 on the night--fourth-highest on the team.

Big Hitter: Jesse Winchester
With Chris Neil and Shean Donovan out of the lineup, the supporting cast needs to step up and fill the void in the grit department. Although few seem willing to muck it up in front of the net, Winchester is stepping up his physical game. He had a team-high five hits in only 11:32 tonight, including a very impressive hit on Max Pacioretty behind the Canadiens' net. His line with Peter Regin and Chris Kelly was pretty strong in the first period, but didn't get a shot to generate momentum or dirty goals in the third--something Clouston might need to address, because I've noticed he's falling to the John Paddock-esque failing of consistently looking to the stars to provide all the offence, while making the players who are "on" to ride the pine.

Point: Blame the refs
The linesman gift-wrapped Montreal's first goal

Counterpoint: We can't blame the refs
The Senators had seven damn powerplays.

Endnote: It was definitely the kind of game the Senators need to shrug off, and they need to do so quickly; as bad as thePhiladelphia Flyers have been for the last couple months, they're still a good team. Ottawa can't play them lightly when they meet up on Thursday.

Game Preview: Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres

Rafal Ladysz — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:44:08 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

16 days ago: Buffalo Sabres left winger Thomas Vanek, of Austria, celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. Buffalo scored five goals in the third period to defeat Carolina 5-1. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

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Revenge is on the agenda tonight as the Buffalo Sabres look to win their fourth straight match and avenge a season opening overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Despite registering more than double the amount of shots as the Habs, 35-17, Montreal ~~earned~~ stole two points in the first meeting. Since then, it's been role reversals with the Sabres sitting one point out of the Division lead with three games in hand on the Boston Bruins and the Canadiens only five points ahead of the bottomed Toronto Maple Leafs.

Montreal has alternated wins and losses for the most part this season failing to reach any consistency. Defeat today spells four in a row in that category. In Buffalo's case, it's a fourth straight successful outing they seek in a stretch where they have connected superb offense (12 goals) with stellar goaltending/defense (three goals allowed). It'll be Ryan Miller and Jaroslav Halak backstopping their respective squads.

Five thoughts on each team below.

You name it, Ryan Miller's on top or close by. In reference to save percentage, goals against average and shutouts, the 29-year-old is setting the bar leading all netminders. His 15 wins are bested by Evgeni Nabokov and and Marc-Andre Fleury. Matt Stajan and Ron Wilson applauded his efforts in Monday's 3-0 result in Toronto.
As I said, Halak is in and he's actually won both career starts when facing Buffalo but was beaten six times in the process. Montreal's hopes rely heavily on him for the sake of a decent result because of injuries and the fact that the Sabres have their A-game going.
Henrik Tallinder notched his first goal in over a year three days ago creating a 2-0 lead and taking the life out of Toronto. Ready for another frightening fact? The last time the Swede scored twice in as many contests was May of 2006 during the playoffs. Go get em Henrik.
Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec have been the noticeable offensive producers. Besides them, nobody has 14 points although Brian Gionta likely would were he not hurt. They'll have to make their chances count because Buffalo usually out-shoots Montreal and Miller is seeing everything.
Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht are riding two-game point streaks. While they aren't large streaks by any means, it seems like a new person is stepping up daily to shoulder the load. Who will it be tonight?
Former Sabre blue-liner Jaroslav Spacek has struggled with nine points on the year. I guess someone forgot to tell Bob Gainey that last season's 45 points came in a contract year.
Energetic forward Tim Kennedy is still looking for that first goal at HSBC Arena. The local 23-year-old beat Martin Brodeur for goal No.1 and the other came in Toronto. With each coming against a historic goaltender or franchise, it would be worthy of breaking that funk through Montreal.
Good news for Andrei Markov who is expected to now return at some point in January rather than February. While it won't affect the outcome of this match, the sooner the Canadiens can activate their most valuable performer, the better.
Craig Rivet may return to the line-up tonight after missing two games confirming that he's healed up. The final decision will be on Lindy Ruff whether to allow him right in or wait given how well the defense has played recently.
I still can't believe Montreal pursued Scott Gomez and his ridiculous contract. This guy has 11 points to reward Gainey for $8 million dollars worth of salary. Chalk another stupid choice up to the general manager.

Four of the last seven battles have gone to overtime so expect a tight match-up if history is any indication. By the way, Toronto shutout Montreal 3-0 the day after Buffalo did the same to the Maple Leafs. Is it our turn to be closed down completely or am I just superstitious?

Habs Finding Ways To Defy The Odds

Robert L — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:38:33 -0000

It's insane somewhat to consider all the things that simply do not add up in looking at the Canadiens 5-3 win over the Blue Jackets Tuesday night. Some things make sense, other's don't, and certain things are quite revealing.

For starters, I quoteth Mike Boone quoting CKAC's Dany Dube suggesting something along the lines of "44% of the Habs salary cap" being out of the lineup for this win.

What is making sense is that the players in the lineup are all working their tails off and it is starting to show consistent dividends. They have won more of late than they have lost, which is inspiring on its own. A hot Carey Price has had a reassuring, calming effect on the group. There is less panic evident and the Canadiens are finding themselves in games that they might otherwise not be. The work ethic and confidence have taken root.

What makes no sense at all, is that current roster filled with callups, spare parts and castaways is actually a .500 hockey team after 24 games. The Canadiens have already employed 34 different players this season, nearing last season's total of 37, and the shuffling back and forth between Hamilton and Montreal has been frenzied. Eight of those 34 have played in Hamilton this season. Kids such as Tom Pyatt and Ryan White have not looked out of place and Sergei Kostitsyn looked like his better self last night, in his return to Montreal.

What may be revealing, is that after losing both Gionta and then Gomez, the team and it's lines seem more settled than ever. Having earned seven of eight points this past week and the emergence of what looks to finally be a number one line in Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn seem to suggest that the team is pointed in the right direction.

Perhaps out all this insanity, the team is developing an identity. The leaders are those that should be leading. When that happens, support follows from unlikely sources.

Cammalleri heads the group, a sniper who rises from nowhere to pot timely markers. He looks like he's on target for a 40 goal season - a weapon the Canadiens haven't had in ages.

Plekanec especially, with 10 points in his last six games continues to be a revelation, as he's often pitted against other team's top pivots. A true test for his will come against the Penguins tonight.

Carey Price has been playing up to his promise once again, and that's the best news of all. He has started the last six games now, beginning with the 4-2 win in Phoenix on November 12. Since then, Price has posted four wins, a 53 save loss, a shootout loss to Detroit, allowed only 13 goals in 370 minutes of play (2.05 GAA) and stopped 198 of 213 shots (.929 SV%).

Price never verbally answered Allan Walsh, the agent for Jaroslav Halak, after he posted some unflattering stats about him on Twitter. The answer has come in his play.

Game 23 Preview: Jackets limp into Montreal to face the Habs

Mike MacLean — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:48:40 -0000

Boy do the Jackets need to bounce back. After getting thoroughly trounced in New York last night, they hopped on a plane for Montreal, where they will take on the Canadiens tonight. The Rangers were a team that struggled to score, and the Jackets managed to change that. The Habs are another team that struggles to score-lightning can't strike twice can it? I sure hope not. The Jackets absolutely need to win this one, if nothing more than to keep pace in the tough Central Division.

Mathieu Garon will get the start, returning to Montreal to face the team that drafted him. Expect Kris Russell to get the start tonight. Props to fellow twitterer (?) @seventyeight for this tweet she posted last night:

OKAY. When Russell plays: 10-4-2, 3.125 goals/game /// When he does not: 2-3-1, 5.8 goals/game. Quit making him your scapegoat.

The numbers don't lie- the team has played better with Russ in the lineup. I'd like to see him more often-his skills with the puck, while they haven't exactly led to him putting up major points, are a major boost. I don't want to see Commie out on the powerplay again tonight. I'm thinking Russ goes in for Methot, who looked just awful last night. To be fair though, the whole team looked like crap outside of Boller.

The Habs still possess the talent to break out of their funk at any time, so I am not going to use the low-scoring excuse here. The Jackets need to use their size and physicality advantage to dominate the boards and the down-low play. With Georges Laraque out of the lineup, this should be easy to do.

Fearless Prediction- I'm never going to predict a shutout again-that's a promise. I will however predict that Garon will have a strong game in his return to his home province.

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Habs Eyes On The Prize

Game Page: Blue Jackets vs Canadiens Coverage

TSN Preview: Blue Jackets vs Canadiens Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Blue Jackets were to arrive in Montreal early this morning after playing last night in New York. They are expected to start Mathieu Garon in goal and perhaps insert defenseman Kris Russell. The injury-riddled Canadiens are struggling to score. They entered yesterday's action ranked 27th in goals, averaging 2.30.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Michael Blunden
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Anton Stralman
Rostislav Klesla	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Mike Commodore

Mathieu Garon

Steve Mason

EXTRA: Marc Methot, Tom Sestito

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett

Montreal Canadiens

Michael Cammalleri	Scott Gomez	Glen Metropolit
Andrei Kostitsyn	Tomas Plekanec	Max Pacioretty
Travis Moen	Maxim Lapierre	Benoit Pouliot
Kyle Chipchura	Tom Pyatt	Ryan White

Jaroslav Spacek	Roman Hamrlik
Josh Gorges	Paul Mara
Marc-Andre Bergeron	Jay Leach

Carey Price

Jaroslav Halak

Habs vs Former Habs at the Quarter Point

Robert L — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:24 -0000

I haven't taken a look at this since the 10 game mark (October 27), but it seems that the former Habs players are now gaining a slight edge on their current counterparts.

At the quarter season point, it is still too soon to draw much of a conclusion, especially considering how unstable the Canadiens' lineup is these days

Most of the players on both sides have kept up their early season pace going, with exceptions being Tanguay, Lang and Koivu, who have picked it up for the former Habs and Marc-Andre Bergeron, who now leads all Canadiens' D in scoring. Tailing off somewhat, are the Bruins' Michael Ryder and Steve Begin.

Most notable among these statistics may just be the save percentages - added to this list for the first time here. I chose to include them for obvious reasons, that being the Canadiens duos numbers as compared to the former netminders now tending goal for stronger clubs.

The Habs much maligned duo of Halak and Price take a beating a little too often, but as it appears here, they could just as well be the team's saving grace.

*Players below are ranking by points and not in comparison.

Jaroslav Halak 8-5-3-0 2.62-9.04 / Jose Theodore 13-5-3-4 3.24-8.83 (Capitals)

Carey Price 13-5-8-0 2.99-9.06 / Cristobal Huet 15-9-4-1 2.25-9.02 (Blackhawks)

Marc-Andre Bergeron 14-3-4-7 / 21-4-7-11 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 20-4-2-6 / 19-0-8-8 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Jaroslav Spacek 21-1-5-6 / 19-2-5-7 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Paul Mara 21-0-6-6 / 15-2-4-6 Ron Hainsey (Thrashers)

Josh Gorges 11-1-1-2 / 6-0-2-2 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Hal Gill 14-1-0-1 / 16-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Totals - Defense　

Habs: Total GP: 101 / Goals: 10 /Assists: 18 / Points: 28

Former Habs: Total GP: 96 / Goals: 8 / Assists: 26 / Points: 34

Tomas Plekanec 21-4-15-19 / 20-6-10-16 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Mike Cammalleri 21-8-8-16 / 19-3-9-12 Mikhail Grabovski (Maple Leafs)

Brian Gionta 19-8-5-13 / 18-4-8-12 Alex Tanguay (Lightning)

Scott Gomez 21-2-9-11 / 20-5-6-11 Robert Lang (Coyotes)

Glen Metropolit 15-4-6-10 / 18-4-6-10 Alex Kovalev (Senators)

Travis Moen 21-4-3-7 / 20-2-7-9 Steve Begin (Bruins)

Andrei Kostitsyn 21-2-4-6 / 15-2-6-8 Saku Koivu (Ducks)

Maxim Lapierre 21-1-4-5 / 20-4-3-7 Michael Ryder (Bruins)

Max Pacioretty 21-2-2-4 / 20-2-5-7 Sergei Samsonov (Hurricanes)

Guillaume Latendresse 21-2-1-3 / 14-3-2-5 Arron Asham (Flyers)

Georges Laraque 8-0-1-1 / 20-2-3-5 Christopher Higgins (Rangers)

Matt D'Agostini 11-1-0-1 / 20-1-0-1 Tom Kostopoulos (Hurricanes)

Totals - Forwards　

Habs: Total GP: 221 / Goals: 38 /Assists: 58 / Points: 96

Former Habs: Total GP: 224 / Goals: 38 / Assists: 64 / Points: 102

Totals - Team

Habs: Total GP: 322 / Goals: 48 /Assists: 76 / Points: 124

Former Habs: Total GP: 320 / Goals: 46 / Assists: 90 / Points: 136

Incidentally, I'm not much of a video gamer when it comes to such things as NHL 2010 or EA Sports and stuff. (I used to joke that X-Box sounded like a former girlfriend!) A reader of this site has been looking into aligning the teams above against one another for a series of games. That sounded like an interesting offer, and I took him up on it. Once the results come forth, you'll read about it here.

Price Still Isn’t Right For Canadiens Goalie

Cory Lavalette — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:13:30 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

about 1 month ago: Nashville Predators center Steve Sullivan (26) puts the puck between the pads of Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) for a goal in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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A year ago tomorrow, I wrote a piece on the overhyping of Montreal goaltender Carey Price, an article that was criticized by a lot of Habs Nation — though some agreed with me — during what was supposed to be the franchise's glorious centennial celebration.

With the Hurricanes and Canadiens set to face off tonight at the Bell Centre, the hype around Price has died down — and so have the expectations for the former first-round pick. The battle for the No. 1 spot in net in Montreal is not as clear-cut as once perceived, with the Montreal fan base lining up in two camps for Price and Jaroslav Halak.

Habs Eyes On The Prize have been breaking down the two goalies head-to-head, while Halak's agent is even getting in on the argument (more on this later). A year ago, such talk was blasphemy. Today? Common fodder for the fans of Le Club de Hockey.

Price continues to show flashes of brilliance — his 55-save effort in a 2-0 loss to Nashville comes to mind — but over the past year the 22-year-old goalie has also been, at times, inconsistent, flustered and frustrated. There is no denying Price's talent. His combination of size, reflexes and compete-level are the attributes All-Star goalies are made of. But — like I said this time last year — it would be tough for any player to live up to such expectations, to thrive in the shadows cast by all-time greats Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy.

That pressure has clearly weighed on Price, whether you point to his pedestrian numbers (4-8, 3.09 goals-against average, .904 save percentage this season, 23-16-10, 2.83, .905 last year), or incidents like his salute to jeering Montreal fans last April.

The latest dust-up came when Halak's agent, Allan Walsh, joined in on the Price bashing. Following a 3-1 loss to the Lightning, Walsh tweeted:

"Interesting stat of the night.... #Habs' Price is 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Hmm."

Price will likely be between the pipes for Montreal tonight, looking for his first win at home in five tries this season. Last season, Price was much better at home (13-4-7, 2.40, .918) than on the road (10-12-3, 3.21, .895). This year? He's 4-4 on the road with a 2.87 goals-against average and .920 save percentage, compared to 0-4 with a 3.54 GAA and .853 save percentage in front of the Montreal fans.

At this time a year ago, Canadiens fans were firmly behind their franchise goalie — now they're on the cusp of eating him alive. Not all hope is lost for Price in Montreal. He's still just 22 and has a lot of hockey in front of him, and Canes fans can relate to the growing pains a goaltending phenom can go through.

But the lights burn bright for hockey in Montreal — much, much brighter than they do in Raleigh or any other U.S. city. Habs Nation just has to hope they haven't overcooked their former savior.