Poor Len Canayen here, with a report on Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens -- first in the Atlantic Division, first in the Eastern Conference, and first overall in the National Hockey League.Yes, the Habs have made an excellent start on the road to the Stanley Cup -- their best since 1960. 25 games played, 18 wins, only 4 (four) losses in regulation time, and 3 losses in overtime/shootouts -- total 39 points. There are two reasons for this success: superior goaltending and lots of scoring.
The difference between the team's offence this year and last has been that of night and day. In the 2014-15 season the Habs won a lot of one-goal games, only because Carey Price generally allowed about 2 goals per game, and the defence corps usually managed to pot a couple, with the forwards lucky to find the back of the net once. So far this year, the Habs' goals-for-and-against record is +32 -- they've scored 32 more goals than they've allowed -- and everyone is contributing, even such unlikely types as Dale "the Machine" Weiss and Devante Smith-Pelly.
As for goaltending, Carey Price has been his usual magnificent self... he's been able to play. Something happened to him during the warm-up when the Canadiens were in Edmonton just over a month ago, and he missed over a week's worth of games. The new backup goalie, Mike Condon, proved more than equal to the task. In fact, his goals against average was even better than Price's for awhile there.
Carey Price came back for a couple of games against the NY Islanders on Nov. 22nd and 23rd, winning both, but had to leave the game on the 25th against the NY Rangers after the second period. Condon finished that game (counts as a win for Price) and has played well in two games against the Jersey Devils this weekend (3-2 shootout win, 2-3 overtime loss).
Now the bad news. Carey Price apparently re-injured himself, or aggravated the October injury, not having been allowed enough time to heal properly. The team says only that it's a "lower-body injury", which could mean anywhere from groin to ankle. Whatever it is, they're not going to hurry Price back between the pipes this time. He will be out for six (6) weeks, during which time the Habs will have to get along without him.
That means the pressure on Mike Condon is going to be intense... INNN-TENSE! In his last two games, you could see that he has been learning from Carey Price, trying to stay calm and quiet in the net, learning to handle the puck to help out the defence when they're shorthanded. But can he keep it up until mid-January?
And what happens when they have to play back-to-back games? The usual strategy is to let the No. 1 goalie play one game and put the backup goalie in for the other. The backup is little Dustin Tokarski, who had the position last year but was relegated to the AHL farm team. IMHO, Tokarski would have trouble stopping a taxi on rue Ste-Catherine, so that's a problem, but I have a solution!
Here it is, the latest in a long string of brilliant ideas which I pass on to Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien gratis. [Your advice is worth every penny! Ed.] I suggest someone teach the Habs' "star defenceman", P.K. Subban, how to actually play defence. They're paying him 9 million beaver-bucks a year because of his prowess on offence, which is fine if you've got a Carey Price to bail him out when he gets caught deep in the opponents' zone or coughs up the puck at his own blueline. But when you have a more mortal, it's time for to make helping the goalie Job No. 1. Selah.
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