Pre-Season Game Thread | Toronto vs. Montreal | 9/24/05

[Spider-Man NL]

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=4372

MONTREAL - Welcome to the new NHL. The Canadiens may have beaten the Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre, but the penalty box stole the spotlight once again as the growing pains from league’s obstruction crackdown continued.

In what has certainly been the trend so far this preseason, the bench in both penalty boxes did not get the chance to get cold. Referees Dave Jackson and Chris Rooney doled out a total of 22 combined penalties on a night when all five goals came with the man-advantage. The game included 22 power-plays while the league average in 2003-04 was only nine.

That proved to be great news for a Habs’ power-play that continues to be red-hot as wellas a major reason why the team sits at 3-1 so far this preseason. The Canadiens, who came into Saturday night’s action with the league’s second-best power-play, were 3-for-12 to bring their preseason average to 26.3 percent.

With the rash of penalties called on Saturday, Julien reiterated the growing need to possibly have a third power-play unit in place in time for the regular season.

“We are going to have to do something before we really wear out our top guys with all of the power-plays we’re now seeing,” said Julien. “If this trend continues and you apply that to an 82-game schedule, that extra unit is really going to come in handy, unless of course the players adapt their game to the new rules and spend less time in the box.”

The Canadiens didn’t wait long to capitalize on the NHL’s revamped rule book by scoring on a two-man advantage less than three minutes into the game. Defenseman Sheldon Souray blasted a point-shot past Ed Belfour with Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu collecting assists on the play for their first points of the preseason.

With the power-play likely poised to play a major role in 2005-06, Julien did a little homework and decided to play Kovalev at the point on the power-play. The Russian all-star was a mainstay at the point with the man advantage during his time in Pittsburgh where he put up the highest numbers of his career including a personal-best 95-point campaign in 2000-01.

After the Leafs jumped ahead 2-1 on goals from Tomas Kaberle and Alexei Ponikarovsky, the Habs power-play struck again. Richard Zednik gathered his own rebound before firing the puck past Belfour for his first goal of the preseason with Koivu and Radek Bonk picking up the assists.

Then with less than a minute to go in the second period the suddenly-smoldering Tomas Plekanec fired a shot from the point through traffic to put the Habs up 3-2. The 22-year-old Czech winger now leads the team with three goals to go with five points in three games.

In a sign that the regular season is not far off, Jose Theodore played the entire game and was not terribly busy but looked sharp in turning away 20-of-22 Toronto shots.

That was not the case for 23-year-old Jean-Francois Racine who took over from Ed Belfour at the 10-minute mark of the second period.

Racine was given a rude awakening with his two first stops coming on a Plekanec breakaway that he managed to keep out of the net and then a shot from Zednik from point-blank range. Drafted 90th overall at the 2000 draft, Racine also made a terrific glove save on Radek Bonk on his way to stopping 20-of-21 shots.

“I was a huge Canadiens fan growing up and when I heard that I was maybe going to get the chance to play here at the Bell Centre, I could hardly wait,” said Racine who hails from nearby St-Hyacinthe. “I had seen a game at the Forum only once when I was just a kid and then one more time at the Molson Centre. And let me tell you it’s a whole lot different when you’re out on the ice.”

Racine certainly has his work cut for him as he tries to earn a spot in a crowded Maple Leaf’s goaltending picture that includes not only Belfour, but also likely back-up Mikael Tellqvist and Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

“I try not to think about where I’m going to end up,” said Racine, who played in front of friends and family for the first time at the NHL level. “As a kid from Quebec growing up obsessed with Patrick Roy and then to get the chance I got tonight is something I will never forget.”

Speaking of fighting for a spot in the lineup, Marcel Hossa rewarded Claude Julien for putting him in the lineup for the fourth straight game by assisting on Plekanec’s game-winner. Hossa remains the Canadiens preseason co-leader with six points in four games along with Bonk. Hossa who like Racine was also drafted in 2000 continues to be among the biggest surprises at this year’s training camp, as he attempts to crack the Habs’ lineup for good after amassing 19 points in 59 career NHL games from 2001-02 to 2003-04.

While the parade to the penalty box drew most of the attention on this night, Julien did once again single-out the strides being made by his promising group of young forwards.

“What more can you say about our young guys so far during the training camp,” added Julien. “Hossa looked solid again tonight and Plekanec seems to be getting stronger every game. They know the spots are available and the battle for those positions is far from over. That’s the kind of competition you want at a camp and I think we’ll be a stronger team in the long run as a result.”

The prospects still in camp can rest easily and enjoy the remainder of their weekend with the next round of cuts not being scheduled until Monday. Next up for the Canadiens is a showdown with the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre before leaving for Moncton, N.B. for another date with Boston.

NOTES: Claude Julien’s lines on Saturday night consisted of: Kovalev-Koivu- Zednik, Sundstrom-Bonk-Hossa, Alexander Perezhogin-Chris Higgins-Plekanec, Raitis Ivanans-Kyle Chipchura-Jonathan Ferland… On the blueline: Souray-Mathieu Dandenault, Ron Hainsey-Mike Komisarek, and Jean-Philippe Cote-Mark Streit… The Canadiens outshot the Leafs by a 38-22 margin… The attendance on the night was a preseason-high 19,608, up from 18,323 versus Tampa Bay on Tuesday… Canadiens fans were already in midseason form. Just ask Eric Lindros, who Quebecers have clearly not forgiven for having shunned the Nordiques after being drafted first overall in 1991. Whenever No. 88 touched the puck, he was greeted by a chorus of boos from the crowd… Missing in action for the fourth straight game was RW Michael Ryder who continues to get daily treatments on his injured right ankle. On a positive note, Ryder was seen having a much easier time making his way up the stairs to the press box. That progress aside, the 2004 rookie-of-the-year runner up reiterated that there remains no precise timetable for his return to action… Komisarek made his preseason debut after missing the team’s first three games while recovering from the flu… The Canadiens Alumni’s annual meeting was held his weekend with such Habs’ legends as Elmer Lach, Henri Richard, Jean-Guy Talbot, Yvan Cournoyer, Mark Napier, Dollard St-Laurent, Marcel Bonin, Guy Lapointe and Marc Tardif in attendance… While the most noticeable absentee for the visitors was captain Mats Sundin, the Leafs lineup did include all three of their big-name off-season acquisitions with Eric Lindros, Jeff O’Neill and Jason Allison all suiting up for Toronto. The game was Allison’s first appearance of not only the preseason, but his first action in over three years due to a lingering concussion problem… O’Neill left the game midway through the first period and did not return after being struck in the back of the neck by a Kaberle slapshot.

Tomas Plekanec (left) was named the game's first star, with good reason. He scored the game-winner and logged 20:46 of ice time, tops among all forwards.

[simonus]

you know... gainey is looking pretty smart right now not diving headfirst into the free-agent forward market....

I feel sick even citing this on HW, but Ecklund was mentioning that the habs are trying to put together a trade package....

[BTH]

Eklund's wrong. No trades.

Gainey did a great job. He brought in Bonk, Kovalev, Dandenault and a lot of depth players like Aitken, Paul, Ivanans and Vandermeer.

He also drafted better than any other team, this year. We have Streit and Halak under contract and Huet will be here soon. Behind Theodore it was him who brought us a golatending future. He signed Halak to his first NHL contract, brought in Danis the current back-up and traded for Huet the sidelined back-up.

The price was Mathieu Garon (who we no longer need with Price) Josef Balej (ah well, but Kovy is better than he'll ever be) Juneau (retired), Quintal (retired) Ward (retired), Dackell, Perreault, Brisebois and Langdon.

We are a much better team since Bob Gainey came along.

[bombTHEice]

Jason Ward was signed as an UFA by the Rangers, he didn't retire.

[BTH]

Either way he'll never be heard from again:lol:

[bombTHEice]

Originally posted by Bulis_the_Habbie

Either way he'll never be heard from again:lol:

Yea, that's (maybe) true ...

[Howie_Morenz]

Streit to me did not have a good game falling down two times and geting rubbed out on the boards. I wish Montreal was tougher on the "D" then Streit would have a much easier time on the ice.

I think we have to try and get one tough defenseman to help out. Does not have to be fast, just smart and TOUGH. Maybe Gainey is looking at trading for a D?

My 2 cents

It was a fun game to watch as the Habs are really gifted offensively as they buzzed around Torontos net all night.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Originally posted by ap79

Plekanec really raised his stock tonight. I'm starting to love this kid more and more. Very effective and dangerous on the PK, can control the play on the PP. That guy deserves to stay up.

When the pre-season started I thought Plekanec was the odd man out for sure. Now I have to agree with you. This guy is awesome he deserves a spot big time.

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Hainsey:

I hardly noticed him at all. Maybe that's a good thing.

Hossa/Higgins/Perezhogin/Plekanec:

How can we get rid of one of these guys? I think all four of them would be second line material on 80% of the teams.

-Gainey must be looking for a trade. We can't just give one of them away.

-The penelties were annoying but they all seemed obvious to me. I don't think it's the refs fault, it's the players. Play by the rules and you won't get a penalty.

-Hot damn are the Habs fast. Dandenault looks like he has rockets in his skates.

I think the Habs are going to be better than we even think they are. Can't wait for the next game.

:ghg:

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Hossa/Higgins/Perezhogin/Plekanec:

How can we get rid of one of these guys? I think all four of them would be second line material on 80% of the teams.

You have to keep them all 4. You need the depth. There will be INjuries/cold streaks etc etc. The one that performs bad you put on a lower line our out of the line-up. It's great to have finally a good bunch of hockeyplayers. Julien is blessed he can make choices now, between good players. Lets keep it that way. And if they cant deal with that, the players should have looked for other jobs. Or try harder! We need competition to improve!!!!

[BTH]

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too.

[PB]

Originally posted by TheAussiePosse

Originally posted by PB

Big hits are more difficult to execute successfully with the new rules, not only those hits have to be cleaner than ever but the target is freer than ever to avoid them.

Its harder than before to intimidate with your strenght like it happen last tonight when Lindros got a penalty after taking Ferland hard to the ice in reaction to the solidly executed body check he just received from him.

With that in mind I consider that it would be viable for the CH to keep all is young talents with the team yet keep Begin and Vandermeer to alternate with the youngs on the fourth line when necessary.

ZKK

RRD

BB Hossa

HPP

res: Begin, Vandermeer

[sorry, I disagree.

You take Begin out over Dagenais?

Also, what about Sundstrom?]

Base on the tactical approch that offense is your best defense and that all 4 youngs should be kept,.....someone would have to give its place,...that someone could be Sundstrom....since Bulis, Bonk, Higgins and Plecanek could performed PK duty.

Begin and Vandermeer would still be with the team,..being the 13th and 14th forward in the line-up....alternating with the young guys on the 4th line, depending on the situation.

[shortcat1]

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Hainsey:

I hardly noticed him at all. Maybe that's a good thing.

:ghg:

What I saw of him, I thought he did ok. Mind you, I'm not as qualified as the coaching staff so I'm likely not seeing the small things that they look for.

I never saw him make a bad pass, in fact the ones I noticed were good. His zone clearings were always good. As to clearing the crease or checking on the board, I don't know because the play moved so quickly that it was hard at times for me to keep an eye who was doing what.

[shortcat1]

Originally posted by Bulis_the_Habbie

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too.

On the contrary, I appreciate the fact that often the Francophone announcers actually seem to make an effort to pronounce correctly the names of the players. It seems that the Anglophones just automatically anglicise the names and aren't concerned about that kind of stuff.

One of the best ridiculous anglicisations of a name of a foreign language is that of Yvon Cournoyer. I remember some guys calling him Yvonne Corn wire. What a joke! It's like a superiority that didn't give a heck about respecting someone's name from some other culture.

And that's my 2 cents.

[gohabsgo252006]

I thought it was a pretty solid game all around. The defence could certainly be a bit better in their own end and much stronger in front of the net.

I'm getting very excited though to see the entire team play together. We've had 4 exhibition games now, and in each one, we're basically missing one of the top two lines and 2 of the top four defenceman. The team is shaping up very solid, hopefully all of theyoung guys can keep it up.

Dandenault is going to have a great year thisyear, he is by far the fastest guy on the team and he seems to have a great knack for knowing when to jump into the play. Very underrated as the number six on a stacked Detroit team for years. He could be the number 2 D-man on this team.

[BTH]

Originally posted by shortcat1

Originally posted by Bulis_the_Habbie

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too.

On the contrary, I appreciate the fact that often the Francophone announcers actually seem to make an effort to pronounce correctly the names of the players. It seems that the Anglophones just automatically anglicise the names and aren't concerned about that kind of stuff.

One of the best ridiculous anglicisations of a name of a foreign language is that of Yvon Cournoyer. I remember some guys calling him Yvonne Corn wire. What a joke! It's like a superiority that didn't give a heck about respecting someone's name from some other culture.

And that's my 2 cents.

I hate LeMioo! Learn to pronounce it right! And Broderr is a little better.

My all-time favourite/least-favourite is Milan Hedge Duck!

[Colin]

Originally posted by Bulis_the_Habbie

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too.

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that actually might be the correct pronunciation of his name in Russian. I remember hearing something like that a while back and I was shocked that the RDS team had done their homework like that.

Frolov is pronounce Froliov, I think. Oh, and the accent on most Russian names in on the second syllable. FeDORiov. KoVAliev.

But I'm not 100% sure on all that.

[PB]

Originally posted by gohabsgo252006

I thought it was a pretty solid game all around. The defence could certainly be a bit better in their own end and much stronger in front of the net.

I'm getting very excited though to see the entire team play together. We've had 4 exhibition games now, and in each one, we're basically missing one of the top two lines and 2 of the top four defenceman. The team is shaping up very solid, hopefully all of theyoung guys can keep it up.

Dandenault is going to have a great year thisyear, he is by far the fastest guy on the team and he seems to have a great knack for knowing when to jump into the play. Very underrated as the number six on a stacked Detroit team for years. [[[He could be the number 2 D-man on this team.]]]

If this turn out to be the case it would be great as this would mean that the CH wouldnt need trading away any of their offensive asset to acheived that.

Souray, Dandeneault

Markov, Komisarek

Rivet, Bouillon

reserviste :

Hainsey

The CH's, as it evolve in the next 3 years might just be a.....

Great team to watch this year w playoff participation.

Cup contender type team next year.

Stanley Cup winner on the thirh year from now.

[ddawwidd]

Originally posted by Guy!

Originally posted by Bulis_the_Habbie

Originally posted by Prime Minister Koivu

Striet:

He seemed to be everywhere and anywhere out there. I don't mean that in a good way. The only thing I like about him is the way the RDS anouncers say his name! Frenchmen sporting perfect German accents....... It was something like Schhhhhtriiiiiiiiight. Made me laugh everytime.

Haha! I was laughing at that too! And Kovaliev too.

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that actually might be the correct pronunciation of his name in Russian. I remember hearing something like that a while back and I was shocked that the RDS team had done their homework like that.

Frolov is pronounce Froliov, I think. Oh, and the accent on most Russian names in on the second syllable. FeDORiov. KoVAliev.

But I'm not 100% sure on all that.

In Poland, we have a hell of a problem with Kovalev, because, to be honest, there are two ways to pronounce his name.

One is: KoVAliev (Guy is right, I suppose) or KoVAliov. Personally, I prefer the first version, but the staff at nhl.com.pl writes Kowaliow (which is read Kovaliov). I think, that if it was right, he should be written Kovalov in English, but I'm no expert in Russian. Anyway, RDS guys are reading it the best way they can, I think.

Oh and there comes another tough one: PierieZHOgin Thank god, Markov is an easy one

[BTH]

They're trying but it's annoying because I'm not used to it.

Kovaliov? Yuk. The anglicism sounds much better.

PierieZHOgin? Pierie as in Pee Ree? I'm pretty sure the zh is pronounced g (as in giraffe...in french) like in Zhitnik.

Peereejogeen

[habs#4,9,10,33]

great game from our habs last nite.The only thing that prevented us liting it up on the maple laughs were the power plays given to both teams every two minuts! Just when the habs started to gain momentum there goes the ****** whistle again with the refs arm up in air.It seems when the FLOW of the game gets going there is nobody in the NHL that will stop this team.(I get a tear in my eye just thinking about it) the 4th line wow can these kids play!! Nobody is leaving anywhere ,we must find room for them some way or another.

Zednik - Koivu - Kovalev

Perezhogin - Ribeiro - Ryder

Bulis - Bonk - Hossa

Higgins - Begin - Plekanec

GO HABS GO!!!!!!!

[Howie_Morenz]

Montreal played so tough they injured Lindros, Allison and Oneil. Ok so Kaberle took out Oneil. All three have minor injuries (hmmmmm... maybe they are still trying to catch their breath watching the fast habs forwards)

Had fun watching the Leaf channel tonight as the Heatly line got 11 points. Going to be tough for the Habs against the Sens this year.

[ddawwidd]

Pee-ree? not exactly

It would sound like Pirizhogin (similar to Lasse Pirjeta)

Pee-eh-ree-eh-zhogin would be more accurate

And I agree - "Kovaliov" is a disaster I prefer saying it Koh-vah-lee-ev.

[shortcat1]

Originally posted by Howie_Morenz

Had fun watching the Leaf channel tonight as the Heatly line got 11 points. Going to be tough for the Habs against the Sens this year.

If Heatley is able to get past the death of his friend, he'll make an awesome addition to Ottawa's line-up.

Being in Ottawa should make a huge difference. Different faces, different places, new and different memories. I really do believe that Ottawa won this one hands down.

[Edited on 2005/9/27 by shortcat1]