Habs Lost On Saturday, And Again Tonight. Flyers Lead Series 2-1

The Montreal Canadiens lost last Saturday to the Philadelphia Flyers, and once again tonight. The Habs are playing well enough to win, unfortunately for the Habs, Martin Biron is playing the best hockey of his life, and Carey Price seems out of it.

Saturday’s game had the Habs miss an open net on many occasions, as well as hit a few posts, and hit the cross-bar. Carey Price seems to be out of it, and his weak spot is glove side high. Price who stole a couple of games for the Habs in the previous series against the Boston Bruins, is seemingly having some difficulties against the Flyers. Price is out of position, or on his knees too early.

The Canadiens out shot the Flyers on Saturday, but missed the net on too many occasions. Over-all, the Habs out played the Flyers on Saturday, but missing the net, hitting the cross bar, combined with Biron making great saves, lead the Canadiens to lose. Carey Price let in some bad goals at in-opportune times during the game, especially when the Habs were only down by one goal in the third period.

After Saturday’s game, it was even more apparent that Mathieu Dandenault is not playing well, he hasn’t played decent since game no.5 against the Bruins and will need to be replaced. Patrice Brisebois who also hasn’t played well for a few games was replaced by Ryan O’Byrne for game no.2 on Saturday. The Habs should have their heads high as they played well, but couldn’t find the net enough, Price would have to be better for game three on Monday. There was some rough stuff in the third period, especially after Philly scored their fourth goal. Tom Kostopolous gave a punch to Kimmo Timonen after Timonen made a derogatory statement, and seemed to laugh at the Habs. After Saturday’s loss to Philly 4-2, the series was tied 1-1.

The Canadiens lost again on Monday, this time 3-2. Carey Price let in 3 goals on 12 shots after two periods, he was replaced by Jaroslav Halak to the start of the third period. There were no goals in the first period, but Price let three in during the second period. Price looked out of place again. Derian Hatcher opened the door for the Habs in the third period by getting a 5 minute major as well as a game misconduct. The Canadiens scored two goals during the 5 minute major, but that’s as many as they would get.

The scoring for the Habs went like this, Tomas Plekanec, from Guillaume Latendresse, and Sergei Kostitsyn, and lastly from Saku Koivu, assisted by Andrei Markov, and Chris Higgins. Halak made some nice stops to keep the game close after replacing Price.

The scoring for the Flyers went like this, Scottie Upshall, from Joffrey Lupul, then Mike Richards unassisted, and finally from R.J. Umberger, assisted by Jeff Carter, and Braydon Coburn. Martin Biron made 32 saves for the win.

The Canadiens once again out shot the Flyers 34-14, but lost anyway. The Habs with the exception of Carey Price, played decent again, but couldn’t solve Biron until the 5 minute major that Hatcher received. What else can the Habs possibly do? Well, first off they should give Halak a shot at starting game no.4, as Price seems to be out of his element. The Habs are playing decent but they are not scoring much, so they should start to grip their sticks a little less, and score. The Habs are playing well enough to win, they are out shooting the Flyers, and playing better than the Flyers are, but they aren’t scoring. A 5 on 3 for the Habs was wasted as they couldn’t score.

Carey Price, or Jaroslav Halak to start game no.4? Well, Price was screened for two of the goals, but could he be a little tired? Will coach Carbonneau start Halak next game to give Price a little break?

Guillaume Latendresse was inserted back into the line-up tonight replacing Mathieu Dandenault. He played well, but didn’t use his best attribute, his size, he should have hit more, but he played better than Dandenault has lately. Maxim Lapierre, could he be replaced by Michael Ryder, or Gregory Stewart on Wednesday?

The Canadiens only allowed 14 shots, but still lost, which means that the goalie didn’t play well, but the Habs took a long time to score goals as well, and didn’t score enough.

The Habs are playing well, they shouldn’t change their defensive strategy, but will have to find a way to disrupt Biron, ans score more often. They are doing a good job at limiting the Flyers’ chances, unfortunately, the chances that the Flyers get, go in the net. Either Price has to tell his defense-man to let him see the shot, and has to be better glove side high, or put Halak in and give him at least one game, then come back with Price.

The two teams meet again on Wednesday, the Flyers now have a 2-1 lead in the series, but the Habs could have won the two last games, but they didn’t capitalize on their chances, and Biron was better than Price. I don’t believe that the Habs have to change their game plan, but they will have to figure out a way to put a few pucks past Biron, who is good, but far from the best goalie in the league. Keep plucking away boys, the law of averages should come into effect soon.