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Monday 19 May 2014

Monday Mornings with Mitchy

The Bruins are done, and the Habs are clearly dealing with another animal.

The New York Rangers, for some reason, much like the Canadiens when they took on the Bruins, don't garner a lot of respect.

I'm not sure why heading into the series, fans thought it would be a cakewalk to the Stanley Cup Finals for Montreal.

The Rangers possess a balanced attack with a ton of speed. They have last year's Art Ross Trophy Winner. They have a former Rocket Richard Trophy Winner. They have a former Conn Smythe Trophy Winner. Their defense can go up against the very best. And their goaltender is a future Hall Famer... Sounds like a walk in the park to me.

The Habs seemed unprepared, not emotionally involved and were basically chasing the puck all
afternoon in their 7-2 game one loss.

I don't think that's how the whole series will be played. Actually, a wake up call like that early in the series might have been the best thing possible for the Canadiens. The Canadiens and Rangers played very tightly contested one-goal games during the regular season and that's the trend that should continue here... as long as Price is 100 per cent healthy and ready to go. If Peter Budaj has to take the crease, or Price is playing hurt, the Habs are in deep, deep trouble.
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It's hard to say Chris Kreider knocked Price out of the game intentionally. The circumstances leading up to the injury certainly help his cause in that regard. But if you ask anyone who has played the game at virtually any level, they'll tell you how easy it is to make that exact collision with the goalie look very accidental. And this guy has a track record. He's already ran into Marc Andre Fleury and Craig Anderson. Also accidental.

"I wasn't trying to run into him obviously but I felt like somehow I lost my footing...um, if you noticed a lot of times that happens to me, so I don't know," said Kreider post game.

Yes, we noticed.
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Finally, the biggest concern for the series aside from the health status of Carey Price, is the tandem on defense of Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin. This is something that could be straightened out, but they look awful in game one. The worst part of their game, the way they looked incredibly slow as the Rangers speedy forwards on both sides of the ice exploited them wide time and time again. If they don't start playing a little more on their toes early in game two, I think coach Michel Therrien will have to seriously consider breaking up what has been a solid defensive pairing for the first two rounds, because so far it looks as though they simply can't keep up.....
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The SLICK AWARDS!  

I'm going to haunt you forever: Ryan Mcdonagh
Inspirational Leader (repeat winner): Martin St Louis
Not So Soff Afterall: Henrik Lundqvist
Get in there kid: Alex Galchenyuck

Monday 12 May 2014

Monday Mornings with Mitchy

The NHL playoffs has degenerated to a school yard environment where anything goes a long as you can pull a fast one when the teachers and principal are looking the other way.

It's not just in the series between the Bruins and Habs, and a lot of the garbage occurring during the course of the games takes away from the great performances that we're witnessing. 

Shawn Thornton's childlike behavior should be an embarrassment to league and more specifically the logo of the Boston Bruins. Getting caught up in the moment is no excuse and spraying PK Subban with water is only acceptable if they're 12-year-old kids running around on a hot summer's day with super soakers. Certainly it has no place in a professional hockey game. 

And Thornton isn't the only guy acting like a clown. Milan Lucic's banging on the chest like a caveman or his flexing of the biceps like Arnold Schwarzenegger at the 1980 Mr Olympia is juvenile. 

Obviously this isn't the reason the Canadiens aren't winning. But rest assured, even though Subban told us post game on Saturday that this stuff doesn't serve as "bulletin board material," if Game Six in front of the Bell Centre fans isn't enough of a motivator, the antics of Thornton and Lucic will be talked about before the puck drops. 

"You back any animal into a corner and it's going to be desperate," said Carey Price.
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So why are the Canadiens no longer winning.

Well the answer is pretty simple. The Bruins have awoken and become the team that manhandled everyone in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. They can score in bunches and when momentum is on their side, they can come at you with many different looks and they're hard to stop. 

But the Canadiens have gotten some pitiful performances out of too many guys. 

Tomas Plekanec played his worse game since he claimed that he was "playing like a little girl," a few years back. 

Max Pacioretty's scoring slide is unacceptable, there's no defending it. If your job is to score and you can't get it done when games matter the most, you're going to be called out. 

David Desharnais, many people have said that when the games get difficult in the playoffs that he wouldn't be able to compete. He's currently proving those people right and might be single-handedly the one to blame for Pacioretty's slump.

Thomas Vanek has shifts where it looks like he's not even trying. Those back-check efforts are enough to have any coach pull out his hair. And we can see why there are so many question marks in regards to giving this guy a long term deal. 

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The Slick Awards:

Inspiring performer: Martin St Louis
Goaltending God: Henrik Lundqvist
Meathead: Shawn Thornton
Disappearance act: Max Pacioretty
Rally around me: PK Subban
Crazy Comeback: Aroldis Chapman



Monday 5 May 2014

Monday Morning with Mitchy

Mission accomplished?

Sure, before the series began the Canadiens would have been content with a split in Boston and the series coming back to Montreal. And they'll attempt to continue to spin that positive narrative.

But it could have been so much more.

The opportunity was there and the Habs didn't learn the valuable lesson from game one, that Boston is pretty, pretty, pretty good in the third period of hockey games.

If they didn't know it before, they know it now.

"Unless you play a full 60, you're not going to be able to do it," said PK Subban post game. "Is there positives, yeah we played better than last game but we didn't play a full 60."

There was one small lineup change made by coach Michel Therrien in game two. Michael Bournival came in for Travis Moen, and didn't provide much.

But the guy who's hampered out there right now is Brandon Prust. He's not right and he's hurting the team. I'm sure the decision to take him out of the lineup isn't an easy one to make. The guy is as hard nosed and as passionate as it gets. But great leaders sometimes have to make decisions that may not be popular. Until Prust can get the puck off the ice when taking a shot, he's got to watch from the press box.
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After a real rough start to the post season, LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick looks good. In fact, no goaltender looks like he's more locked in. The last time Quick's game was where it is now, is when they won the Stanley Cup. There's no reason to think they can't at least, get there again. But it would be some kind of showdown to see a rematch between the Hawks and Kings in the Conference finals.
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The New York Rangers have what it takes to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. But last night, the Penguins best players gave outstanding performances. Kristopher Letang looks like he's returned to top form, especially with the puck. And although Sidney Crosby didn't score, he was the best player on the ice.

The Rangers have home ice for the next pair of games. All they have to do is exploit the Penguins number one weakness. And we all know what that is...
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The Raptors were a good story. The team that nobody thought could... did. But they were in over their heads taking on a Brooklyn team that had way more experience.

In the offseason, Masai Ujiri has to acquire star power. They have some nice pieces but every contending team has three legit superstars. Rumblings of a player like Rajon Rondo had been put out their earlier this season, but I'm talking about a player even more impactful than that.
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The Slick Awards

Slickest hands: Patrick Kane
Public Enemy: PK Subban
Needs to give more: Max Pacioretty
Must watch: Jose Abreu