Voici un petit jeu facile et rapide je vais vous posez cinq questions sur le hockey et je donnerais les réponses demain !
1 - Dans quel ville avait lieu la partie des étoiles de 1999 ?
2 - Quel joueur détient le record pour le plus de points en séries dans la même année ?
3 - Quel joueur a terminé le plus souvent en tête des marqueurs du Canadien ?
4 - Quel gardien a été repêché par l'Avalanche en première ronde en 1995 ?
5 - Lequel de ces trois joueurs n'est pas Québécois ?
A) Scott Mellanby B) Jimmy Waite C) Dave Gagner
Voici les questions du précédent questionnaire et les réponses :
1 - Quel numéro portait Mike Modano ?
Réponse : Numéro 9
2 - Quel joueur détient le record pour le plus de points en prolongation en carrière ?
Réponse : Mario Lemieux (19 : 9 buts et 10 passes)
3 - Combien de coupes Stanley a remportées Yvan Cournoyer ?
Réponse : 10 (2e LNH)
4 - Quel est le record pour le plus de passes par un gardien de but en une saison ?
Réponse : 14 (Grant Fuhr 83-84)
5 - Les Penguins ont retiré le numéro 21 en l'honneur de quel Québécois décédé en 1970 ?
Réponse : Michel Brière
Bonjour, j'aime écrire des poèmes sur tout et rien et je suis un fan de hockey et surtout du Canadiens de Montréal ! Au plaisir ! N'oublier pas de regarder ma section en bas de Mes Sonneries !
dimanche 27 avril 2014
Canadiens vs Bruins : «Un gros défi» - Bergeron
Source : Tvasports.ca
Patrice Bergeron, qui a habilement préparé le but crucial marqué
par Zdeno Chara en toute fin de deuxième période, samedi, ne cachait pas
son soulagement après la rencontre.
Les joueurs des Bruins ne voulaient surtout pas revivre le scénario de l’an dernier au premier tour, lorsqu’ils avaient dû disputer un toujours risqué septième match face aux Maple Leafs, après avoir pris les devants 3 à 1 dans la série.
À voir et à lire également
«C’est toujours plaisant de jouer contre le Canadien dans les séries, a poursuivi Bergeron. C’est toujours un gros défi de les affronter. Il y a une longue histoire entre ces deux clubs. Le Canadien a très bien joué contre le Lightning et tu veux toujours affronter les meilleurs dans les séries.»
L’as attaquant défensif prédit un excellent duel entre Tuukka Rask et Carey Price.
«Tuukka nous donne toujours une chance de gagner, a souligné Bergeron. Pour ce qui est de Price, j’ai eu la chance de faire équipe avec lui aux Jeux de Sotchi. Il a très bien gardé le filet et sa tenue constitue l’une des principales raisons pourquoi le Canada a remporté l’or. Il a beaucoup de caractère.»
Il avait bien vu Chara
Sur le but de Chara, marqué à 4 contre 3, Bergeron a gagné la mise en jeu face à Pavel Datsyuk et il a refilé le disque parfaitement à Chara quelques instants plus tard.
«Reilly Smith avait attiré un défenseur vers lui et cela a créé de l’espace pour que j’effectue la passe vers Chara. Oui, j’avais bien vu où était placé Zdeno. Il a pu effectuer un bon tir pour battre Jonas Gustavsson», a expliqué Bergeron.
«C’est toujours un gros but lorsqu’on en inscrit un dans les derniers instants d’une période. Ça nous a redonné l’élan nécessaire pour amorcer la troisième du bon pied, élan qu’on avait perdu durant une dizaine de minutes en deuxième période.»
Bergeron a souligné que les Bruins ont su éviter de tomber dans le piège et de se mettre à jouer à la manière des Red Wings.
«C’est une équipe qui mise sur de rapides patineurs et il fallait bien exécuter notre système de jeu pour les empêcher d’utiliser leur vitesse, a-t-il dit. C’est en jouant de façon serrée que nous gagnons nos matchs.»
Les joueurs des Bruins ne voulaient surtout pas revivre le scénario de l’an dernier au premier tour, lorsqu’ils avaient dû disputer un toujours risqué septième match face aux Maple Leafs, après avoir pris les devants 3 à 1 dans la série.
À voir et à lire également
- «Me voilà de retour» - Eller
- «Du hockey plus excitant» - Gorges
- Price veut la coupe, rien d'autre
- Êtes-vous prêts pour les Bruins?
«C’est toujours plaisant de jouer contre le Canadien dans les séries, a poursuivi Bergeron. C’est toujours un gros défi de les affronter. Il y a une longue histoire entre ces deux clubs. Le Canadien a très bien joué contre le Lightning et tu veux toujours affronter les meilleurs dans les séries.»
L’as attaquant défensif prédit un excellent duel entre Tuukka Rask et Carey Price.
«Tuukka nous donne toujours une chance de gagner, a souligné Bergeron. Pour ce qui est de Price, j’ai eu la chance de faire équipe avec lui aux Jeux de Sotchi. Il a très bien gardé le filet et sa tenue constitue l’une des principales raisons pourquoi le Canada a remporté l’or. Il a beaucoup de caractère.»
Il avait bien vu Chara
Sur le but de Chara, marqué à 4 contre 3, Bergeron a gagné la mise en jeu face à Pavel Datsyuk et il a refilé le disque parfaitement à Chara quelques instants plus tard.
«Reilly Smith avait attiré un défenseur vers lui et cela a créé de l’espace pour que j’effectue la passe vers Chara. Oui, j’avais bien vu où était placé Zdeno. Il a pu effectuer un bon tir pour battre Jonas Gustavsson», a expliqué Bergeron.
«C’est toujours un gros but lorsqu’on en inscrit un dans les derniers instants d’une période. Ça nous a redonné l’élan nécessaire pour amorcer la troisième du bon pied, élan qu’on avait perdu durant une dizaine de minutes en deuxième période.»
Bergeron a souligné que les Bruins ont su éviter de tomber dans le piège et de se mettre à jouer à la manière des Red Wings.
«C’est une équipe qui mise sur de rapides patineurs et il fallait bien exécuter notre système de jeu pour les empêcher d’utiliser leur vitesse, a-t-il dit. C’est en jouant de façon serrée que nous gagnons nos matchs.»
MacKinnon's OT goal lifts Avalanche to 4-3 win over Wild; take 3-2 lead in series
Source : Faceoff.com
Sometimes, it's hard for the Colorado Avalanche to remember that Nathan MacKinnon is just 18 years old and only a rookie.
Because he keeps coming through in big moments.
The speedy MacKinnon scored 3:27 into overtime after P.A. Parenteau tied the game late in regulation, helping the Avalanche rally for a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night and a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.
"The kid's special," Parenteau said. "I know it's cliche to say, but it's pretty impressive to see. ... This is the kid we want on our side."
MacKinnon is having quite the series, with two goals and eight assists.
Surprised at the poise of his No. 1 pick?
"We knew when we drafted him what kind of player we were drafting," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said as the series switches back to Minnesota for Game 6 on Monday. "He had a solid game."
A memorable one, too. After all, it's not every day a rookie scores an OT winner in the playoffs.
MacKinnon corralled the puck and poked it past Darcy Kuemper's glove with two defenders near him. Soon after, MacKinnon was mobbed by teammates.
He deflected the credit, though, saying it should go to Paul Stastny or Gabriel Landeskog for their roles on the play.
"Paulie forced the puck down in their end, Landy got it on the half-wall and I was screaming for it,"
MacKinnon said. "Definitely a good play by him."
MacKinnon's time in the spotlight was made possible by Parenteau, who scored with 1:14 left after Roy pulled goaltender Semyon Varlamov with 2:22 remaining. The strategy worked out again, just like in Game 1.
There may have been some controversy on Parenteau's tying goal, though, with Stastny possibly being offsides on the play.
At least, that was the Wild's take.
"They missed the call and we paid for it," Minnesota defenceman Ryan Suter said. "No excuses. We have to play better in overtime. We've got to get more pressure on the kid (MacKinnon) when he comes to the net."
Wild coach Mike Yeo is hoping the breaks equal out.
"I would say we're due for, I don't want to say luck, but for stuff to go our way a little bit," Yeo said.
"I'm not going to dwell on what happened in the game."
When his team trails, Roy has been rather liberal in pulling Varlamov all season long, preferring to send out an extra skater with plenty of time left on the clock. It worked in the series opener, as Stastny scored with 13.4 seconds remaining in regulation and then added the OT winner.
"We believe in ourselves more when we're down a goal," Landeskog said. "It's exciting to be a part of. It's not something we want to make a habit of doing."
Nick Holden and Cody McLeod also added goals for the Avalanche.
Kyle Brodziak, Zach Parise and Matt Moulson scored for the Wild. Two of Minnesota's goals came after a Colorado defenceman shattered their stick and had to play without one.
Parise tied the game at 2 early in the third when he glided down the left side and beat Varlamov with
a shot over his glove.
Nearly two minutes later, Brodziak gave the Wild the lead after defenceman Jan Hejda broke his stick and struggled to cover anyone.
McLeod had a short-handed goal at 8:04 of the second period, when he redirected a pass from Ryan O'Reilly past Kuemper.
The lead was short-lived as the Wild answered 1:13 later when Moulson tipped in a shot by Jared Spurgeon from the blue line. On the play, Maxime Talbot gave his stick to defenceman Andre Benoit after his broke and then Jamie McGinn passed his to Talbot, leaving McGinn without a stick.
The Avalanche may soon have leading scorer Matt Duchene back in the lineup as he skated with the team Saturday morning. Duchene has been sidelined since hurting his left knee when he ran into a teammate against San Jose on March 29.
Expect Duchene back for Game 6?
"We're going to take a serious look at it," Roy said.
NOTES: The Wild were without suspended LW Matt Cooke for a second game after his knee-on-knee hit knocked Avs D Tyson Barrie out for at least a month. ... The Avs are 1 for 18 on the power play. ... According to the Avs, MacKinnon (18 years, 237 days) is the second-youngest player in Stanley Cup playoff history to score an OT goal. Don Gallinger was 17 years, 339 days when he scored an OT winner for Boston in 1943.
samedi 26 avril 2014
Quiz hockey (5 question rapide)
Voici un petit jeu facile et rapide je vais vous posez cinq questions sur le hockey et je donnerais les réponses demain !
1 - Quel numéro portait Mike Modano ?
2 - Quel joueur détient le record pour le plus de points en prolongation en carrière ?
3 - Combien de coupes Stanley a remportées Yvan Cournoyer ?
4 - Quel est le record pour le plus de passes par un gardien de but en une saison ?
5 - Les Penguins ont retiré le numéro 21 en l'honneur de quel Québécois décédé en 1970 ?
Voici les questions du précédent questionnaire :
1 - Lors de quelle saison a-t-on instauré le système à deux arbitres pour tous les matchs ?
Réponse : 2000-2001 (En 99-00 chaque équipe avait 2 arbitres pour 50 parties)
2 - Avant la saison 2000-01, combien de coupes Stanley ont remportées les Maple Leafs ?
Réponse : 13
3 - Qui est l'ailier droit de l'équipe d'étoiles de tous les temps des Canadiens ?
Réponse : Maurice Richard
4 - À combien de pieds du banc doit être le gardien pour qu'on puisse le remplacer ?
Réponse : 5
5 - Quel défenseur québécois a accumulé le plus de points en une saison chez les Nordiques ?
Réponse : Steve Duchesne (82 pts en 92-93)
1 - Quel numéro portait Mike Modano ?
2 - Quel joueur détient le record pour le plus de points en prolongation en carrière ?
3 - Combien de coupes Stanley a remportées Yvan Cournoyer ?
4 - Quel est le record pour le plus de passes par un gardien de but en une saison ?
5 - Les Penguins ont retiré le numéro 21 en l'honneur de quel Québécois décédé en 1970 ?
Voici les questions du précédent questionnaire :
1 - Lors de quelle saison a-t-on instauré le système à deux arbitres pour tous les matchs ?
Réponse : 2000-2001 (En 99-00 chaque équipe avait 2 arbitres pour 50 parties)
2 - Avant la saison 2000-01, combien de coupes Stanley ont remportées les Maple Leafs ?
Réponse : 13
3 - Qui est l'ailier droit de l'équipe d'étoiles de tous les temps des Canadiens ?
Réponse : Maurice Richard
4 - À combien de pieds du banc doit être le gardien pour qu'on puisse le remplacer ?
Réponse : 5
5 - Quel défenseur québécois a accumulé le plus de points en une saison chez les Nordiques ?
Réponse : Steve Duchesne (82 pts en 92-93)
Canadiens : Alex Galchenyuk devra prendre son mal en patience
Source : toussurlehockey.com
Pat Hickey rapporte que les Canadiens de Montréal devront se priver des services du prometteur attaquant, Alex Galchenyuk, pour encore quelques semaines. Pour être plus précis, le chroniqueur note que le jeune patineur ne devrait pas renouer avec l’action d’ici la finale d’association. C’est donc dire que la saison de l’athlète de 20 ans pourrait être terminée si jamais le tricolore ne réussit pas à se qualifier pour cette ronde.
Rappelons que Galchenyuk se remet d’une blessure à un genou subie face aux Blackhawks de Chicago.
Alex Galchenyuk - (C) - MTL - [ 20 ans ]
| Saison | PJ | B | A | PTS | PTS/PJ | +/- | $ moy. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-2014 | 64 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 0.48 | -12 | 0,925$ M |
| 2012-2013 | 48 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 0.56 | 14 | 0,925$ M |
| 2011-2012 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,925$ M |
Bruins hope lesson learned from Leafs series serves them well against Red Wings
Source : faceoff.com
Milan Lucic wasn't 15 minutes removed from celebrating an emotional overtime victory when he recalled what happened to the Boston Bruins against the Toronto Maple Leafs a year ago.
"We were in this position last year, same thing, winning Game 4 in overtime in Toronto and we all know what happened after that," he said.
What looked like the Bruins coasting turned into a memorable series. Boston wound up advancing after the Leafs' even-more-memorable Game 7 collapse, but it's the lesson from letting it get that far that has the Bruins focused on trying to finish off the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
Boston took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Detroit following a 3-2 overtime victory Thursday night.
"We all know how hard it is to close out a series and we all know how desperate they're going to be heading into Saturday," Lucic said. "You don't want to do anything to give the other team life in a series."
In the 2013 Eastern Conference quarter-finals, the Leafs got life thanks to a stellar performance from James Reimer and goals by Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur. No doubt Detroit could do the same thing in Game 5 at TD Garden if goalie Jonas Gustavsson catches lightning in a bottle and the same young Detroit players who led the club into the playoffs find some kind of scoring touch.
Through four games, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and Riley Sheahan all have no points. Game 4 wasn't a shining moment for any of them.
"I didn't know if we had a lot of good players, especially our young guys," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "When I go through and look at 'em I don't go, 'He had a great game, he had a great game.' I don't do that at all. They were dressed."
Babcock conceded earlier in the day the playoffs are a difficult time of year and young players must "learn how to play" under this kind of pressure.
The Bruins are used to that. Even though Boston is getting contributions from young players like defencemen Dougie Hamilton and Torrey Krug and even forward Justin Florek, this core group has been through post-season wars and knows what to expect.
That includes now, being ahead in a series and able to remember how things fell apart against Toronto.
"You can't really describe it with words. You just go out there and use those experiences," centre David Krejci said. "It happens everything so fast out there. You've got to use what happened in the past and learn from it."
Lucic, who brought up the Leafs series unprompted following Thursday night's win, also pointed to blowing a series lead against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup final as something he and his teammates can't forget.
"We've learned a lot of hard lessons in the past, like Toronto, and fortunately we were able to get out of that one and move on," he said.
Brad Marchand knows from plenty of playoff experience that the Red Wings will be a desperate group Saturday afternoon. Detroit has captain Henrik Zetterberg back and nowhere to go but on to Game 6 or home for the off-season.
"We're going into Boston to win one game," Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall said. "That's got to be our mindset: Clean up the areas that we have to clean up and just go for it. We've got nothing to lose."
Pegged as favourites to come out of the Eastern Conference, the Bruins have everything to lose. They're in an advantageous spot now, one victory away from facing the Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic Division final and armed with the memory of last year.
"We're not taking anything for granted here," Lucic said. "We can talk about it all we want, but it's going to show in our play."
vendredi 25 avril 2014
Avalanche vs Wilds : Une attaque muselée
Source : Tvasports.ca
Pour un deuxième match de suite, le Wild du Minnesota a dominé l’Avalanche du Colorado, jeudi, pour créer l’égalité 2 à 2 dans la série.
Le Wild l’a emporté 2-1, mais n’eut été le brio du gardien Semyon Varlamov, le pointage aurait pu être encore plus élevé.
À voir et à lire également :
Patrick Roy avait demandé à son équipe de placer plus de rondelles au
filet, et il faut croire que le message n’a pas été compris. L’Avalanche
n’a dirigé que 12 lancers sur Darcy Kuemper dans toute la rencontre.
De son côté, le Wild s’est encore une fois buté à Varlamov en pleine
possession de ses moyens. Le gardien russe a repoussé 30 des 32
rondelles qui ont été lancées en sa direction.
Patrick Roy a retiré son gardien de but alors qu’il restait 2 min 30 s à faire au match mais n’a pu créer l’égalité.
Départ canon, encore
Le Wild a poursuivi là où il avait laissé lors du troisième match. La
troupe de Mike Yeo a complètement dominé le premier engagement,
dirigeant 14 lancers sur Semyon Varlamov contre seulement 3 par
l’Avalanche sur Darcy Kuemper. Colorado a semblé complètement
désorganisé et incapable de s’installer en territoire ennemi.
Contrairement au dernier match, le Wild a réussi à déjouer Semyon
Varlamov lors des 20 premières minutes de jeu. Après avoir récupéré une
rondelle en coin de patinoire, Zach Parise a servi une belle passe au
défenseur Jared Spurgeon qui appuyait l’attaque. Ce dernier a décoché un
tir sur réception qui est venu à bout du gardien russe de l’Avalanche.
Mikael Granlund a obtenu l’autre mention d’assistance.
Sens unique
Peu importe ce qui a été dit dans le vestiaire de l’Avalanche entre les
deux périodes, le résultat a été le même sur la patinoire lors du
second engagement.
À la mi-match, les hommes de Patrick Roy ne comptaient que cinq petits
lancers sur le filet de Kuemper, tandis que Varlamov avait fait face à
20 tirs.
À force de lancer, on finit par compter! Sur un avantage numérique,
Jason Pominville a tenté un tir qui a raté derrière le but. La rondelle a
toutefois heurté une barre métallique sur la baie vitrée et est revenue
directement devant le filet. Charlie Coyle n’a eu qu’à pousser le
disque derrière un Semyon Varlamov impuissant pour faire 2-0.
L’Avalanche a toutefois reçu ce dont elle avait besoin pour revenir
dans le match : un cadeau de Kuemper. Trente secondes après le but de
Coyle, Ryan O’Reilly a dirigé un tir faible vers le filet, de
l’extérieur de l’enclave, qui s’est frayé un chemin entre les jambières
du gardien du Wild. L’Avalanche marquait sur son septième tir dans le
match. Il n’en a pas dirigé d’autres de la période.
Le match no 5 de la série aura lieu samedi, au Pepsi Center de Denver.
Eulogy: Remembering the 2013-14 Tampa Bay Lightning
(Ed.
Note: As the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, we're bound to lose some
friends along the journey. We've asked for these losers, gone but not
forgotten, to be eulogized by the people who knew the teams best: The bloggers who hated them the most. Here is hockey writer Brian Palmer, who inexplicably requested the Tampa Bay Lightning. Again, this was not written by us. Also: This is a roast and you will be offended by it, so don't take it so seriously.)
Ten years ago during the halcyon days of the clutch and grab NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning captured the imagination of dozens of Central Floridians and convicted felons with a wild run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Led
by opportunistic super fan and advanced stats guru Hulk Hogan (A
player’s Hogan Rating is calculated by measuring the ratio of shots
directed at the net to leg drops, brother), the Bolts beat the Calgary Flames in 7 games to claim the only Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 22-year history.
“HoganClose rating is the number of Suburban Commando references in the third period of a one goal game”
The NHL responded by shutting the league down for an entire season, hoping the hockey world would be cool about it, and forget that a team from Florida (gross) ever won the Cup. The Lightning franchise has done its part, barely making a peep for the last decade, save for the occasional Len Barrie punch line or bad breakup with a franchise icon.
This
year’s edition of the Tampa Bay Lightning has proudly carried on this
tradition of anonymity. Swept in four easy games by the Montreal Canadiens,
Tampa earns the dishonor of being the first team eliminated from the
2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Max Pacioretty’s power play game-winning goal
with 43 seconds left was the final insult, allowing the Lightning to
embrace their destiny to be quickly forgotten by everyone.
“Who’d we beat in the first round PK?” “I’m not sure Carey. One great player, bad D, mediocre goalie; maybe the Capitals?”
It’s fitting that following a season in which Martin St. Louis, their captain, leading scorer in team history, Napoleon Complex awareness spokesman, and one of only two Lightning players you’ve heard of, demanded a trade, the Lightning will suffer the indignity of being eulogized here by an unknown hockey writer. Tampa just doesn’t inspire strong feelings. They’re hockey’s “meh team”, the Bran Stark storyline of the NHL. They’re just the team you see when your family takes a trip to Disney World during March Break.
But after much digging, I found four reasons to hate the Lightning:
They hate proper grammar: Writing “the Lightning are” just feels weird and wrong.
They ruin divisions: The awesome “Chuck Norris” Division of the 80’s was besmirched when Tampa joined Detroit, Toronto, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Chicago in 1993. Now they play in the Atlantic Division, when they’re clearly on the Gulf of Mexico.
They’re the Dawn Summers of the NHL.
“Things were great before you got here Tampa Bay. Now it’s only intermittently good with frustrating character development.”
Horrible owners: Somehow
the Southern parody that called Vincent Lecavalier the “Michael Jordan
of hockey” is only the third worst owner in team history. (Yakuza ties
and hiring Barry Melrose to coach in 2008 are tied for worst).
They erected a statute of Phil Esposito: Presumably for acquiring Chris Gratton. Twice.
“This statue has some great stories about the Bobby Orr statue in Boston.”
Now that your blood is boiling with hatred for the Florida team that sucks less often than the other one, let’s remember everyone that contributed to the latest Tampa failure.
General Manager Steve Yzerman
Stevie Y inexplicably didn’t include the moody Martin St. Louis on the initial roster for Canada’s Olympic team, despite being the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner and pleading desperately to be included. This led directly to the messiest divorce this side of Victor Newman (Blatant pandering to Tampa’s senior citizen population, which comprise 75% of the Lightning’s fan base).
“What Gary Bettman sees when he looks in the mirror.”
Apparently St. Louis' massive thighs hide a fragile soul,
because he immediately demanded a trade closer to his home in the Shire.
And because Yzerman skipped the Conflict Resolution class at GM school,
he had no choice but to deal the heart and soul of his franchise to the
Rangers. In return he got a pending UFA and couple of draft picks that
will become players just as Yzerman is becoming the President of Hockey
Operations for the Ottawa Senators.
(He grew up there! And the Lowe Act, recently passed by Canadian
Parliament, requires all Canadian NHL teams to be run by local boys in
order to bring about a culture change.)
What
brings this to a Mike Milbury level of stupid is that Yzerman weakened
his own team for ultimately little gain. St. Louis remains an elite
player and having him on Canada’s roster would have been easily
defendable. What’s more, Canada was so stacked that John Scott could
have been the 13th forward and they still would have won gold. Have fun explaining the lost playoff revenue to your owner, Stevie!
Head Coach Jon Cooper
Considering the best coach in Lightning history is John “Loose Cannon” Tortorella, the Brian Pillman of NHL bench bosses, Jon Cooper doesn’t really have a lot to live up to in Tampa. Yet after curiously trolling the Habs after going down 2-0 in the series, Montreal scored 11 seconds into Game 3 and never looked back.
As an encore, Cooper decided being down 3-0 was the perfect time to practice his comedy skills by pretending to be a reporter interviewing Steven Stamkos.
“The man Louis CK looks up to.”
They lost Game 4 too.Jon Cooper is going to be a great addition to Sportnet’s 2015 Trade Deadline coverage team.
Last Superstar In Town Steven Stamkos
Selfishly broke his leg and missed half the regular season.
Although he kind of looks like circa 1984 Wayne Gretzky, he probably knows now that it’s easier to lead your team to victory when your teammates are Mark Messier and Jari Kurri and not something called an Ondrej Palat.
Goaltender Ben Bishop
Speaking of selfish injuries, Bishop picked a horrible time to hurt his elbow. Unless of course it was part of his master plan to show Vezina voters how bad Tampa’s defense actually is. Be sure to thank Anders Lindback in your speech too, Big Ben!
Formerly Relevant Ryan Callahan
Faster than you can say “David Clarkson”, pending UFA Ryan Callahan has gone from indispensable captain of the New York Rangers to pointless in 4 playoff games.
Sadly, the Oilers just lowered their July 1st contract offer to Callahan down to $52.5 million over 7 years.
Other Lightning Forwards
The 2013-14 Tampa Bay Defense Corps
Are Eric Brewer and Sami Salo really part of Tampa’s top six defensemen? Is Joe Reekie back there too? Only the most hardcore Lightning fans would be able to tell you for certain, but he’s working late tonight at Denny’s so you’ll just have to trust me that Brewer and Salo are totally defensemen on a playoff team in 2014. It’s amazing they didn’t lose this series in three games.
Victor Hedman’s there too, whose mention would make Lightning fans angry that the team passed on Matt Duchene with the second overall pick in 2009, if they had ever seen a Western Conference game and knew who Matt Duchene was.
Whether old and useless or young and useless, every Tampa defenseman came together to leave Lindback hung out to dry as much as possible. Apparently they didn’t realize that, much like the dancers at Chez Parée, you can make contact with the Montreal forwards.
Final Thoughts
This is the most anyone has ever thought about the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2013-14 edition of the squad will be quickly forgotten by the hockey world, as well it should be. Not good enough to be lamented, not horrible enough to be interesting, the 2013-14 Tampa Bay Lightning are the most Lightning team that ever Lightninged.
***
Brian Palmer (@the_real_palmer)
is a freelance hockey writer from London, Ontario. He holds an English
degree from the University of Western Ontario, which he parlayed into a
cushy Toronto marketing job after only 8 years of bouncing around.
Cursed by his father to be a Maple Leafs fan, he now takes pleasure in
the misfortunes of other NHL failures.
jeudi 24 avril 2014
Habs : Playoffs at the Bell Centre ‘like a normal game times 1,000,’ Prust says
Source : Faceoff.com
The denial first: Brandon Prust was not at the
Montreal poutine restaurant in the pre-dawn of Wednesday, a few hours
after the Canadiens had swept the Tampa Bay Lightning from the playoffs.
“Went for some dinner, had some cocktails,” a sleepy Prust said late in the afternoon on Wednesday, having barely stirred from bed the entire day.
I was with those guys earlier, but I’ve wasn’t at the poutine spot. I’ve cut that out of my diet, which was a good decision.”
Those guys would be David Desharnais and Douglas Murray and maybe a few others, teammates photographed at the restaurant counter closer to breakfast hour than dinnertime.
“And I had to come home and kiss MP before she went to work,” Prust added brightly of his girlfriend, Maripier Morin, further strengthening his alibi.
The Canadiens enjoyed the first of two days off following their resounding dispatch of their Eastern Conference quarter-final foe. Prust figures he’ll return to the Brossard training rink Thursday for a little treatment in the clinic and maybe a sauna or dip in the hot tub.
“The next couple of days are about recovering,” he said. “I haven’t gotten out of bed too much, except to grab some food and watch some TV. I’ve slept the day away. No plans. I doubt we’ll move far from the bed today.”
What Prust will be enjoying in the near future is the beating the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings will put on each other for at least two more games, with the winner next up for the Canadiens.
“We’re just watching those teams punish each other and hope that they continue to punish each other more,” he joked, or not. “The rest now will be great for a lot of guys who have bumps and bruises.
“Rest is a positive and it can be a negative — you kind of lose a little momentum and that game-feel if you’re not playing for many days. But it’s our job in the days ahead to make sure we’re really focused in practice.
“During series, practices are 20 minutes, just to get your legs moving. But in the upcoming days we’re going to need to be sharp every day at practice, making sure we’re ready and at tip-top game speed for puck-drop of the next round.
“It’s a huge positive that we get a great rest now. You hope in June that you’re looking back, saying those days off really helped us.
“It’s been a long season, plus exhibitions and training camp, and it’s taken a toll on everyone. (Tuesday) after the game, we were sitting in the dressing room all happy, but you could see the guys were exhausted. Not only do the playoffs take a physical toll, they take an emotional and mental toll, too. You saw a lot of exhausted bodies and exhausted faces (Tuesday) night.
“I’ve got to tell you this — taking our equipment off (Brendan) Gallagher says to me: ‘I wish this were like baseball, where we could just pop champagne and spray each other after every round!’ ”
Like Gallagher, Prust is a skating rainbow, bruise piled atop multi-hued bruise; he has been like this his entire playing career, at every level of the game.
“Went for some dinner, had some cocktails,” a sleepy Prust said late in the afternoon on Wednesday, having barely stirred from bed the entire day.
I was with those guys earlier, but I’ve wasn’t at the poutine spot. I’ve cut that out of my diet, which was a good decision.”
Those guys would be David Desharnais and Douglas Murray and maybe a few others, teammates photographed at the restaurant counter closer to breakfast hour than dinnertime.
“And I had to come home and kiss MP before she went to work,” Prust added brightly of his girlfriend, Maripier Morin, further strengthening his alibi.
The Canadiens enjoyed the first of two days off following their resounding dispatch of their Eastern Conference quarter-final foe. Prust figures he’ll return to the Brossard training rink Thursday for a little treatment in the clinic and maybe a sauna or dip in the hot tub.
“The next couple of days are about recovering,” he said. “I haven’t gotten out of bed too much, except to grab some food and watch some TV. I’ve slept the day away. No plans. I doubt we’ll move far from the bed today.”
What Prust will be enjoying in the near future is the beating the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings will put on each other for at least two more games, with the winner next up for the Canadiens.
“We’re just watching those teams punish each other and hope that they continue to punish each other more,” he joked, or not. “The rest now will be great for a lot of guys who have bumps and bruises.
“Rest is a positive and it can be a negative — you kind of lose a little momentum and that game-feel if you’re not playing for many days. But it’s our job in the days ahead to make sure we’re really focused in practice.
“During series, practices are 20 minutes, just to get your legs moving. But in the upcoming days we’re going to need to be sharp every day at practice, making sure we’re ready and at tip-top game speed for puck-drop of the next round.
“It’s a huge positive that we get a great rest now. You hope in June that you’re looking back, saying those days off really helped us.
“It’s been a long season, plus exhibitions and training camp, and it’s taken a toll on everyone. (Tuesday) after the game, we were sitting in the dressing room all happy, but you could see the guys were exhausted. Not only do the playoffs take a physical toll, they take an emotional and mental toll, too. You saw a lot of exhausted bodies and exhausted faces (Tuesday) night.
“I’ve got to tell you this — taking our equipment off (Brendan) Gallagher says to me: ‘I wish this were like baseball, where we could just pop champagne and spray each other after every round!’ ”
Like Gallagher, Prust is a skating rainbow, bruise piled atop multi-hued bruise; he has been like this his entire playing career, at every level of the game.
The 30-year-old missed 30 games this past regular season with a shoulder separation and rib issues, sitting the last 12 games of the schedule to prepare for the physical grind of the playoffs.
Like everyone else in the room, his body is held together by head athletic therapist Graham Rynbend, assistant Nick Addey-Jibb, strength and conditioning coach Pierre Allard and a therapy crew that grows during the playoffs. That team is “a blessing” to the players, in Prust’s view and that of every player.
On a line with fellow bulldog Gallagher and centre Tomas Plekanec, Prust had an assist and was plus-1 in the four-game series vs. Tampa, averaging 15:31 on ice.
“They’re very talented players,” he said of his linemates. “As usual, I just try to get the puck to them and clear some room for them.”
And Prust got plenty of dirt under his fingernails, as you’d expect, scrapping with Lightning defenceman Radko Gudas, picking up two minors, dishing out eight hits and blocking two shots.
The impressive sweep of the Lightning was the result of contributions across the board, he said, of everyone buying into and sticking to a game plan the entire series, even if there was the occasional, brief stumble.
As for the magic of the home rink?
“My God, it’s like a normal game at the Bell Centre times 1,000,” Prust said. “It’s like the Bell Centre on steroids. Standing out there for the national anthem, being on the ice here in Montreal, was probably one of the most incredible moments and feelings I’ve ever experienced as a hockey player.
“What happens at the Bell Centre during the playoffs can’t be matched anywhere else in the world.”
Prust will enjoy more of it than he did last season, when the Canadiens were shown the door by Ottawa in a five-game quarter-final. He played Games 1 and 2 in Montreal, but didn’t suit up for the Game 5 finale in Montreal after suffering a separated rib in Game 4 that he pressed back into his rib cage in an arena corridor.
The next day, I reached Prust at a home-furnishing store in Brossard as he waited for his beloved to finish shopping for patio chairs.
“I remember the mental anguish of that being worse than the pain from a separated rib,” he joked.
Overhearing that during our Wednesday chat, and knowing that Prust had just told me, “I’m healthy now, touch wood, everything’s healed up, I’m not playing through anything,” Morin spoke aloud of the couple’s plans for the days leading to Round 2.
“I’m planning to bring him to IKEA this week,” she said triumphantly in the background.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen, that’s just wishful thinking on her part,” Prust replied, laughing.
There is that IKEA ball pit, I suggested, the giant kiddies cube filled with thousands of multicoloured balls.
“Yeah, you’ll find me passed out in there,” Prust said.
It was then that the pleasure of some well-deserved R&R became a deadly serious business.
Bruins-Red Wings : Une bataille en règle pour le droit d’affronter le Canadien
Source : ledevoir.com
Même quand les Red Wings de Detroit ont volé le match no 1 aux Bruins à Boston, le défenseur Brian Lashoff et ses coéquipiers s’attendaient à ce que leur série soit longue et chaudement disputée. « Nous savions que ça n’allait pas être facile », dit-il.
Ça n’a pas été trop compliqué pour le Canadien de Montréal, qui a balayé le Lightning de Tampa Bay dans l’autre série de la section Atlantique de la Ligue nationale de hockey. Tandis que le Tricolore se reposera, les Bruins et les Wings pourraient bien se livrer une épuisante bataille pour obtenirr le droit de l’affronter au prochain tour.
« Je pense que pouvoir se reposer est bien, mais au bout du compte, nous devons nous occuper de la tâche à accomplir, indique Lashoff. Je ne crois pas que quelqu’un ici se soucie des autres séries. Nous en avons plein les mains présentement. Si on doit jouer sept matchs, nous sommes prêts. »
Les Bruins mènent la série 2-1 et le quatrième match sera disputé jeudi au Joe Louis Arena. Après leur victoire de 3-0 mardi, les champions en titre dans l’Est se demandent si cette série ne s’annonce pas longue et ardue.
« Pendant les matchs, on ne dose pas nos efforts, dit l’ailier des Bruins Jerome Iginla. Vous ne pensez pas à la longueur de la série, vous donnez tout ce que vous avez à chaque présence. L’intensité est élevée et les matchs sont plus difficiles qu’en saison régulière, c’est sûr. »
Les Red Wings, reconnus davantage pour leur jeu en finesse, savaient bien qu’ils allaient devoir affronter une équipe très robuste. L’entraîneur-chef des Bruins, Claude Julien, a d’ailleurs indiqué que son équipe ne s’excusera pas de pratiquer ce style.
« Chaque fois que vous atteignez les séries, vous devez vous attendre à gagner chaque pouce. Chaque match est une bataille, surtout contre cette équipe, déclare Lashoff. Nous avons amorcé la série de belle façon et je crois que nous devons maintenant répondre et faire de cette série une série intéressante. »
Les Wings n’ont marqué que deux buts en trois rencontres et leur entraîneur, Mike Babcock, croit que son équipe doit pénétrer davantage le centre de la zone des Bruins afin de se créer plus d’occasions de marquer. C’est assurément plus facile à dire qu’à faire face à des joueurs de la trempe de Patrice Bergeron et Zdeno Chara, mais Babcock ne veut pas s’en servir comme excuse.
« Ce que j’ai demandé à tout le monde au sein de l’équipe, c’est : est-ce que les Bruins font quoi que ce soit pour vous empêcher de jouer votre match ? Si c’est le cas, je leur ai dit de trouver une solution. Soyons davantage impliqués », mentionne-t-il.
De son côté, Julien ne pense pas que l’écart entre ses Bruins et les Wings soit aussi grand que certains experts le croient. Et il se rétrécira au fur et à mesure que la série progressera.
Il pourrait devenir minime si le capitaine des Wings, Henrik Zetterberg, est en mesure de revenir au jeu, lui qui a raté deux mois en raison d’une blessure au dos aggravée aux Jeux de Sotchi. Il s’est entraîné avec ses coéquipiers mercredi, mais Babcock a dit qu’il ne faisait que remplacer Pavel Datsyuk, absent pour être au côté de sa conjointe qui a donné naissance à une fille.
Mais même si sa présence dans le prochain match semble peu probable, Zetterberg n’a pas voulu se prononcer. « La bonne chose est que la décision ne me revient pas. Je dois obtenir le feu vert des médecins. Je dois subir toute une batterie de tests. »
mercredi 23 avril 2014
Habs sweep away Bolts, advance to second round
Source : faceoff.com
A festival was being held outside in the rain, the only one of its kind in Canada, and only as it could be held in Montreal. Fans were squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder and beer-to-beer, 90 minutes before the first puck dropped on Tuesday, some tempting the fickle hockey gods by waving their brooms in a distinct sweeping motion along the street.
It continued inside the Bell Centre, where Ginette Reno burnished a growing legend with her second straight command performance of O Canada. She shook Daniel Brière’s hand as she left the ice, and
Brière, naturally, scored his first goal of the playoffs minutes later.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were there, too, but only as invited guests, extras in the crowd of red. And like a reasonable party guest, the Lightning left at the end of the night, at the end of a 4-3 loss.
Montreal is the only Canadian team in the playoffs this spring and it is the first team to book passage to the second round. The Canadiens now have the luxury of watching the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings beat on each other before facing the survivor in the next round.
“In my wildest dreams, I was not expecting to win this series in four,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “But I was confident as a coach … that we were going to win that series.”
Goaltending was a pillar upon which that confidence rested. Tampa Bay’s regular starter resumed skating on Tuesday morning with the hope of returning from an elbow injury in time for Game 5. But the only problem for Ben Bishop was also the most obvious: Game 4.
Anders Lindback was pulled in the second period after allowing a second goal from just inside the faceoff circle. Kristers Gudlevskis, the team’s third-string goaltender, went in facing a two-goal deficit and an overwhelmed defence.
The Canadiens were out-shooting the Lightning 6-3 nine minutes into the first period and just kept sprinting. Montreal was up 12-3 when Lars Eller scored to build a 2-0 lead, and was up 29-13 heading into the third period. The noise grew, as if to form another barrier.
There were flickers of resistance. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was true to his word and returned after suffering an apparent concussion in Game 3 — “I tried to shake it off,” he told the Tampa Bay Times — and sparked a brief uprising in the second period.
He shoved Canadiens defenceman Alexei Emelin in the chest, then delivered a right cross to his chin. This was notable for two reasons. First, it was Emelin’s knee that hit Stamkos in the back of the head in Game 3. And second, Stamkos somehow went off for hooking, without any further mention of the punch.
Ondrej Palat scored to cut Montreal’s lead, only to have Brendan Gallagher score the goal to chase Lindback from the net. All the Canadiens had to do was kill off the third period, and they were through.
It seemed all but assured. Stamkos snapped his stick on a clear attempt in the slot down 3-1 in the second period, shaking his head as he skated back to the bench. The party was set to carry into the late evening hours in the streets of downtown Montreal.
Except the Lightning struck twice in the first 10 minutes of the third. First, it was Victor Hedman, the big defenceman, banking a shot off Canadiens goaltender Carey Price from an awkward spot behind the net.
Three minutes later, Tyler Johnson scored to tie the game and reduce the wall of noise to isolated bursts of frustration.
“I said that, if we were going to go down, we were going to go down swinging,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “And I thought we went down swinging. I think there were 21,000 people who were a little nervous in that third period.”
The roar returned with 42.6 seconds left, as loud as it had been all night. Max Pacioretty banged a rebound into the net, with the power-play goal standing as the winner.
“It’s the first step along the way,” Canadiens forward Brian Gionta said. “We’ve got to regroup now and wait for our next opponent.”
And for the 21,273 who had filled the red seats from ice level to the rafters, it meant that the party that began in the rain was not going to be called off by a little bit of lightning.
Canadien - Vestiaire - Bourque, Brière et la santé psychologique de Pacioretty
Source : Yahoo.ca
Max Pacioretty ne manque jamais de nous faire sursauter
avec son franc-parler et il en a fourni une autre preuve après la
victoire de 4-3 du Canadien, mardi, dans le quatrième et dernier match
de la série contre le Lightning de Tampa Bay.
C'est que l'auteur de 39 buts pour le Tricolore cette saison a attendu à la dernière minute du quatrième match avant de finalement voir une rondelle partir de la lame de son bâton et aboutir derrière la ligne rouge. Un but qui envoyait le Lightning en vacances.
Ce but complétait aussi une autre soirée équilibrée pour l'attaque montréalaise. Chacun des quatre trios a en effet produit un but, grâce aux réussites de Daniel Brière, Lars Eller et Brendan Gallagher.
« De voir les autres produire, c'était la seule chose qui me gardait sain d'esprit pendant ma léthargie, a lancé Pacioretty. C'est fou de parler d'une léthargie après trois matchs sans but, mais on s'attend à ce qu'on marque avec le temps d'utilisation qu'on a. Je me serais senti très mal si les autres ne s'étaient pas levés et qu'on n'avait pas gagné les trois matchs. »
Un trio incandescent
Si les quatre trios ont participé à la fête, celui d'Eller, Rene Bourque et Brian Gionta s'est particulièrement démarqué.
Même s'il n'a pas marqué, Bourque a dirigé sept tirs au filet et menaçait constamment le territoire adverse. Cette unité a tiré 14 fois sur les gardiens adverses, à un point tel qu'elle semblait bourdonner à chacune de ses présences. Bourque conclut sa série de 4 matchs avec 3 buts et 22 tirs.
« J'étais en bonne position, et Gio et Lars ont été forts », a humblement dit Bourque, en train de faire oublier une saison... justement à oublier! Ses 9 buts en 63 matchs semblent être loin derrière.
Eller en est un autre qui chasse le souvenir d'une deuxième moitié de saison pénible.
« Je n'étais pas content de mes longues léthargies en saison, il y avait trop de hauts et de bas à mon goût. Mais on est en séries, donc ça importe peu maintenant. Tout ce qui compte, c'est ce qui s'en vient. »
Avec ce balayage, le Canadien aura donc droit à une bonne semaine de repos avant de poursuivre son chemin. La pause arrive-t-elle au pire moment pour ce trio?
« C'est évident! Lars, même avant les séries, dans les trois dernières semaines, jouait du bon hockey, a estimé Michel Therrien. Bourque, en revenant dans la formation (après avoir été laissé de côté cinq matchs de suite), c'est la même chose. Avec Gionta, ils forment un excellent trio, menaçant et bon dans les deux sens. »
mardi 22 avril 2014
Les questions à Phil #quiz #hockey
Voici un petit jeu facile et rapide je vais vous posez cinq questions sur le hockey et je donnerais les réponses demain !
1 - Lors de quelle saison a-t-on instauré le système à deux arbitres pour tous les matchs ?
2 - Avant la saison 2000-01, combien de coupes Stanley ont remportées les Maple Leafs ?
3 - Qui est l'ailier droit de l'équipe d'étoiles de tous les temps des Canadiens
4 - À combien de pieds du banc doit être le gardien pour qu'on puisse le remplacer ?
5 - Quel défenseur québécois a accumulé le plus de points en une saison chez les Nordiques ?
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Habs : Habs’ behavioural economics, ‘nudge theory’ is paying off
Source : Theglobeandmail.com
Coaching in the Stanley Cup playoffs is often likened to a chess
match, and it’s true – the postseason is about deploying one’s pieces
strategically.
However, there may be a better comparison for what the Montreal Canadiens’ Michel Therrien has done to the Tampa Bay Lightning: behavioural economics’ “nudge theory.”
No defensive plan can limit all of the offensive options on a hockey rink, not when NHL-calibre players are involved. But it’s possible to “nudge” a team into choosing the options against which you are best positioned to defend.
That is what the Habs have done, and it has worked well enough to stake Montreal to its first 3-0 series lead since – deep breath, everyone – 1993, the last time a Stanley Cup parade was held on Rue Sainte-Catherine.
By moving his defencemen up the ice and employing an aggressive fore-check, Therrien’s obvious aim is to prevent the Lightning forwards from building up speed in the neutral zone. Trap is an ugly word in hockey, but it applies here.
“We’ve been trying to clog it up and not let them come up with speed,” said Rene Bourque, who has emerged from his season-long offensive torpor to score three goals in the past two games.
There are well-established tactics to foil that plan – most notably skating up the boards and chipping pucks back to the middle to an onrushing teammate – and the Lightning have made those adjustments and several more besides. But only to middling effect.
And sometimes the Habs are just lucky. On Sunday, Tampa sniper Steven Stamkos was whistled for an extremely tight offside call, denying him a breakaway.
Stamkos, incidentally, told reporters “I feel pretty good,” and that he expects to play in Tuesday’s Game 4. The 24-year-old got up woozily Sunday after sliding into the path of defenceman Alexei Emelin, whose knee accidentally clipped Stamkos’s head. Though he scored a pair of goals in Game 1 of the series, the league’s deadliest goal-scorer has been largely contained since then.
“I think the biggest key to our success so far has been our forwards: how hard they work, the pressure they put on the puck all over the ice. Not just on the fore-check deep in their end, but at the bluelines, coming back, back-pressuring. When they do that … it allows us as defencemen to hold our gaps,” said Josh Gorges.
“We’ve been good at adjusting on the fly to different things and playing to our strengths without letting them play to their strengths,” added centre Lars Eller, who has four points in the series and has been one of the Habs’ most effective players.
In herding the Lightning into the middle of the ice, collapsing to take away the slot in the defensive zone, making subtle changes to breakout plays and relying heavily on their top four defencemen – P.K. Subban (who’s been brilliant), Andrei Markov, Emelin and Gorges are each averaging more than 24 minutes per game – the Habs are managing to hold onto the puck more than they did.
After finishing the season as the sixth-worst puck-possession team in the regular season, Montreal is now near the top of the rankings in the playoffs (beware the small sample size). They have racked up 56.2 per cent of the shots and shot attempts at five-on-five while the games are close (a measure known as Fenwick), and, per extraskater.com, have a .962 save percentage in those situations.
Apparently it helps to have Carey Price in net.
But those numbers are the result of the game plan, and of the Habs’ depth – 11 of the team’s 12 regular forwards have points in the series.
Eventually, the Lightning players and coaches will solve the Montreal defensive game-plan long enough to win a game or two – they have, after all, scored seven goals in the series. It’s in the Habs’ interest to not let them hang around, which is its own kind of pressure.
“We’ve only played three games, but so far so good,” Eller said. “Now we’ve just got to keep riding that wave.”
However, there may be a better comparison for what the Montreal Canadiens’ Michel Therrien has done to the Tampa Bay Lightning: behavioural economics’ “nudge theory.”
No defensive plan can limit all of the offensive options on a hockey rink, not when NHL-calibre players are involved. But it’s possible to “nudge” a team into choosing the options against which you are best positioned to defend.
That is what the Habs have done, and it has worked well enough to stake Montreal to its first 3-0 series lead since – deep breath, everyone – 1993, the last time a Stanley Cup parade was held on Rue Sainte-Catherine.
By moving his defencemen up the ice and employing an aggressive fore-check, Therrien’s obvious aim is to prevent the Lightning forwards from building up speed in the neutral zone. Trap is an ugly word in hockey, but it applies here.
“We’ve been trying to clog it up and not let them come up with speed,” said Rene Bourque, who has emerged from his season-long offensive torpor to score three goals in the past two games.
There are well-established tactics to foil that plan – most notably skating up the boards and chipping pucks back to the middle to an onrushing teammate – and the Lightning have made those adjustments and several more besides. But only to middling effect.
And sometimes the Habs are just lucky. On Sunday, Tampa sniper Steven Stamkos was whistled for an extremely tight offside call, denying him a breakaway.
Stamkos, incidentally, told reporters “I feel pretty good,” and that he expects to play in Tuesday’s Game 4. The 24-year-old got up woozily Sunday after sliding into the path of defenceman Alexei Emelin, whose knee accidentally clipped Stamkos’s head. Though he scored a pair of goals in Game 1 of the series, the league’s deadliest goal-scorer has been largely contained since then.
“I think the biggest key to our success so far has been our forwards: how hard they work, the pressure they put on the puck all over the ice. Not just on the fore-check deep in their end, but at the bluelines, coming back, back-pressuring. When they do that … it allows us as defencemen to hold our gaps,” said Josh Gorges.
“We’ve been good at adjusting on the fly to different things and playing to our strengths without letting them play to their strengths,” added centre Lars Eller, who has four points in the series and has been one of the Habs’ most effective players.
In herding the Lightning into the middle of the ice, collapsing to take away the slot in the defensive zone, making subtle changes to breakout plays and relying heavily on their top four defencemen – P.K. Subban (who’s been brilliant), Andrei Markov, Emelin and Gorges are each averaging more than 24 minutes per game – the Habs are managing to hold onto the puck more than they did.
After finishing the season as the sixth-worst puck-possession team in the regular season, Montreal is now near the top of the rankings in the playoffs (beware the small sample size). They have racked up 56.2 per cent of the shots and shot attempts at five-on-five while the games are close (a measure known as Fenwick), and, per extraskater.com, have a .962 save percentage in those situations.
Apparently it helps to have Carey Price in net.
But those numbers are the result of the game plan, and of the Habs’ depth – 11 of the team’s 12 regular forwards have points in the series.
Eventually, the Lightning players and coaches will solve the Montreal defensive game-plan long enough to win a game or two – they have, after all, scored seven goals in the series. It’s in the Habs’ interest to not let them hang around, which is its own kind of pressure.
“We’ve only played three games, but so far so good,” Eller said. “Now we’ve just got to keep riding that wave.”
Canadiens : «J'ai toujours cru en la stabilité» - Therrien
Source : Tvasports.ca
Jon Cooper l’avait prédit. Il répétait qu’on plaçait trop les réflecteurs en direction des grandes vedettes des deux équipes avant le début de la série. Pour l’entraîneur en chef du Lightning, la victoire se dicterait par la contribution des acteurs secondaires.
À voir et à lire également :
- Réinvitée à la demande de Bourque
- Bishop a de la pression
- Battre le Canadien : une mission possible
- «Le Lightning jouera pour sa survie» - Gorges
Lars Eller et Rene Bourque ont choisi le meilleur moment pour rebondir, Dale Weise a marqué le but gagnant lors du premier match en prolongation, 11 des 12 attaquants du CH ont déjà amassé un point ou plus et seulement trois joueurs au sein de l’équipe n’ont toujours pas de point.
En avance 3 à 0 dans cette série, le Tricolore a grandement profité de sa profondeur à l’attaque et à la ligne bleue.
«Nous avons la même intensité qu’en saison et nous n’avons pas changé notre mentalité, mais nous profitons maintenant de la contribution de nos quatre trios, a dit Eller qui a déjà amassé quatre points (1 but, 3 aides) en trois matchs. Nous savions que la profondeur serait très importante en séries.»
«C’est un bon sentiment quand tout le monde contribue aux succès de l’équipe, a poursuivi le Danois. C’est tellement crucial, nous ne misons pas seulement sur un trio pour transporter l’équipe. Nous devrons poursuivre sur la même vague, il n’y a que trois matchs de jouer.»
La bonne recette
Au cours de l’hiver, Michel Therrien a fait comme les 29 autres entraîneurs en chef dans la LNH. Il a souvent jonglé avec ses trios dans l’espoir de trouver les bonnes combinaisons. À la lumière des trois premiers matchs contre le Lightning, il semble enfin avoir assemblé les bonnes pièces du casse-tête.
«Vous allez être surpris, mais je crois en la stabilité, a affirmé Therrien. Mais, tu as besoin de résultats pour garder les mêmes combinaisons et tu dois éviter les blessures.
«En séries, tu cherches aussi à exploiter tes joueurs dans leurs forces et tu veux éviter leurs faiblesses. Quand tu regardes les résultats après trois matchs, j’aime la contribution de tout le monde.»
Il y a un autre signe de cet équilibre chez le Tricolore. En trois matchs, le gros trio de David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty et Thomas Vanek n’a marqué qu’un seul but à cinq contre cinq. Pacioretty, le meilleur marqueur de l’équipe avec 39 buts, n’a toujours pas touché la cible.
«Quand j’ai croisé Pacioretty sur la glace ce matin, je lui ai dit que j’étais très content de son jeu, a précisé Therrien. Il travaille tellement fort dans les deux sens de la glace, pour moi, c’est primordial.»
«C’est vrai que nous n’avons pas marqué des tonnes de buts, mais nous générons plusieurs chances de marquer, a renchéri Vanek. Ce que j’aime de notre équipe, c’est que nous ne misons pas seulement sur un ou deux gars, les buts proviennent d’un peu partout.»
lundi 21 avril 2014
Habs : CANADIENS DEFEAT LIGHTNING TO TAKE 3-0 SERIES LEAD
Source : Tsn.ca
It looked like it would be easy when Rene Bourque scored for the Montreal Canadiens only 11 seconds into the game.
But the Canadiens needed a third-period goal from Tomas Plekanec and some fine saves from Carey Price to down the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Sunday night and take a choke hold on their NHL Eastern Conference playoff series.
The victory gave Montreal a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven set with a chance to sweep the Bolts on home ice in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
"We've seen many scenarios in the playoffs and we have to have the same approach for the next game as we had for the last three," said Montreal defenceman P.K. Subban, who had a pair of assists in a standout performance. "They're a good team.
"They had a lot of opportunities to score. They fought their way back into the game. They put pucks on the net and came hard to the end. We know they'll fight until the final buzzer, so we have to be ready next game."
Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal while Ondrej Palat, back after missing a game with an injury, and defenceman Matthew Carle replied for Tampa Bay.
Montreal outshot the Lightning 31-29, but there were nervy moments and a disputed, disallowed goal as the visitors pushed back in the second and third frames.
"We were determined, we played with passion, I thought we responded unreal," said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. "It's tough to walk into that locker-room and look those guys in the eye.
"Clearly, that was the best game we've played in this series. I though they deserved a better fate. Ultimately, it's a loss and that's what hurts the most."
The Canadiens have a chance to avenge their only previous playoff meeting with the Lightning, who swept them in 2004 before going on to win the Stanley Cup.
After winning the first two games in Tampa, Fla., the Canadiens returned to a rousing welcome from their fans and a spectacular pre-game show. The crowd of 21,273 was still roaring after joining old-time Quebec pop singer Ginette Reno in the Canadian anthem when Subban bounced a pass up the middle of the ice and Bourque collected it behind the Lightning defence.
The unexpected scoring hero put his third of the series past Anders Lindback at the 11-second mark -- and the noise got even louder.
"I didn't really know who (Reno) was, but by the reaction I knew it was somebody popular," said Bourque. "She did a great job getting the fans fired up.
"We didn't plan it at all. It was a lucky bounce."
Lindback made up for it with some strong saves as the Lightning cancelled the Canadiens' early emotion by killing off a four-minute high-sticking call on rearguard Mike Barberio.
Palat tied it 8:39 into the second frame as he buried the ricochet of a Steven Stamkos shot off Mike Weaver's skate on the Bolts' first power play.
Then the Lightning poured it on, and looked like they had the go-ahead goal, only to see Subban bat a flying puck out of the air behind Price. Seconds later, Ryan Callahan put the puck in at 15:38 only to see it waived off due to what was ruled as incidental contact on Price by Alex Killorn.
The Bolts felt the goal was good.
"I was (angry) then and I'm (angry) now," said Cooper. "That's just my opinion. I'll let the court of public opinion take care of the rest."
Of course, the Canadiens thought the officials got the call right.
"It was a pass across, it got deflected in the air," said Price. "Subban batted it out of the air and it wound up kind of a scramble.
"I tried to come back across the net and tripped over their guy, who was right in the middle of the crease. At that point, I didn't know what was going on."
Less than three minutes later, the teams were each down a man when Subban picked up the puck, skated through the defence and around the net to set up Gallagher for his second goal of the series at 18:10.
"I just tried to create space," said Subban, who had a team-high 28:03 of ice time. "I took a penalty earlier in the period and I felt good when I came back on the ice and the guys had killed it off.
"Larry (Lars Eller) made a great play behind the net to move it to open ice. I tried to draw the forechecker to me and see what happened. I went behind the net. Gally did a great job to get himself open. It makes it easy for me to get it to him."
Plekanec scored what would be the game-winner when he threaded a shot through from the right circle 5:43 into the third period.
But Carle made it close with a point shot that looked to deflect off a body in front at 11:36.
The Canadiens held off a late charge to put the win away.
The lightning got a scare at 16:09 of the second when Stamkos fell after jostling with Brandon Prust and got hit in the head by Alexei Emelin's knee. But the Bolts' scoring star was able to return for the third period and picked up his second assist of the night on Carle's goal.
Cooper made four lineup changes, bringing in forwards Palat, Tom Pyatt and B.J. Crombeen and defenceman Barberio and scratching Sami Salo, Michael Kostka, Richard Panik and
Nikita Kucherov. Salo reportedly has an upper body injury.
Montreal made no changes.
Notes: The Canadiens called up a taxi squad from AHL Hamilton, including goalies Dustin Tokarski and Devan Dubnyk, defencemen Nathan Beaulieu, Davis Drewiske and Greg Pateryn and forwards Sven Andrighetto, Mike Blundin, Gabriel Dumont, Louis Leblanc and Christian Thomas. . . Bourque's goal was not a team record for fastest to start a game. Bo Gainey scored seven seconds into a playoff game in 1977.
Canadiens : «C'est un gros atout pour notre équipe» - Therrien, sur Bourque
Source : 985sports.ca
Rene Bourque a certainement joué l'un de ses meilleurs matchs depuis qu'il s'est amené à Montréal en janvier 2012 dans l'échange qui a envoyé Michael Cammalleri aux Flames de Calgary.
En plus de marquer son troisième but des séries avec seulement 11 secondes d’écoulées au match, Rene Bourque a obtenu plusieurs autres belles occasions de déjouer le gardien Anders Lindback comme en témoigne ses six lancers au but. Il est d’ailleurs le joueur du Canadien qui a obtenu le plus de tirs au but durant le match no 3.
L’attaquant de 6’2’’ a également donné trois mises en échec en un peu plus de 13 minutes de temps de glace (13 :12). La troisième étoile du match semblait avoir des ailes tant il était partout sur la patinoire.
«Ce n’est pas une surprise, a dit son entraîneur Michel Therrien au sujet du jeu de son attaquant de 32 ans. Il joue du hockey inspiré et ce n’est pas seulement depuis le début des séries, je l’ai déjà dit, il joue bien depuis qu’il est de retour dans la formation. Il joue du hockey engagé et inspiré. C’est un gros atout pour notre équipe.»
«J'ai maintenant confiance avec la rondelle, mon trio fait du bon travail pour me remettre la rondelle avec vitesse. La défensive me permet d'obtenir des occasions à l'offensive», a indiqué Rene Bourque qui espère que son succès puisse se poursuivre.
«Mais l'important, c'est que l'équipe gagne», a-t-il ajouté.
Une victoire importante
D’ailleurs, Therrien était très heureux de la façon dont son équipe a entamé le match.
«On est très content d’avoir marqué très tôt dans le match. Nous étions prêts. J’ai beaucoup aimé la façon dont nous avons joué en première période. Nous avons obtenu plusieurs belles occasions de marquer. (Le gardien Anders) Lindback a été solide, il a gardé son équipe dans le match. On savait qu'on affronterait une équipe qui allait jouer avec beaucoup d'énergie (du désespoir) pour ne pas se retrouver 0-3 dans la série. C’est une grosse victoire qu’on est allé chercher.»
Subban épate encore la galerie
En fin de deuxième période, alors que le Lightning jouait vraiment très bien et que le Canadien peinait à sortir de sa zone, P.K. Subban a profité que les deux équipes jouaient à quatre contre quatre pour se porter à l'offensive en possession de la rondelle.
Après avoir contourné l'arrière du filet adverse, il a bien repéré Brendan Gallagher qui a marqué son deuxième des séries pour redonner une avance d'un but au Canadien.
«Ça s'est fait tellement vite que je n'ai pas eu le temps d'être inquiet, a blagué Michel Therrien quand un journaliste lui a demandé si la montée de Subban représentait un jeu à haut risque. C'était une bonne décision, a ajouté Therrien plus sérieux. Quand le jeu est bien exécuté... il n'a pas passé la rondelle entre trois paires de patins. Ça, c'aurait été à haut risque. La ligne de passe était ouverte et il a pris la bonne décision.»
«Il joue du hockey inspiré, sa concentration est là, il est solide en défensive. En séries, il doit être fiable défensivement et c'est ce qu'il fait actuellement. On apprécie son jeu», a ajouté Therrien au sujet de son défenseur qui a récolté deux autres mentions d'aide pour porter son total à quatre depuis le début de la série.
«Je voulais me racheter après avoir pris une mauvaise punition en deuxième, a confié P.K. Subban. Larry (Lars Eller) a fait un super jeu derrière notre filet. J'ai essayé d'attirer les défenseurs sur moi. Il y a une raison pourquoi Gally (Brendan Gallagher) a été chois la première étoile du match, il a fait beaucoup de belles choses. Il a été super bon pour se démarquer, ce qui m'a aidé à le repérer. C'était un gros but.»
vendredi 18 avril 2014
Canadiens : Brière fait honneur à sa réputation en séries
Source : 985sports.ca
Daniel Brière était peut-être le joueur le plus confortable sur la patinoire. Disputant son 109e match éliminatoire en carrière, mais son premier dans l'uniforme du Canadien de Montréal, Brière a amorcé la prolongation frais et dispos et sentant que quelque chose de bien allait se produire.
La chose la moins surprenante à se produire a été de voir Brière préparer le jeu qui a mené au but gagnant de Dale Weise.
Ce 110e point en séries de Brière a aussi couronné une excellente soirée en tous points de vue.
«J'ai obtenu plusieurs chances, a dit Brière. J'ai vraiment aimé le jeu de notre trio. Quand nous nous sommes parlé avant la rencontre, nous nous sommes dit que nous voulions apporter de l'énergie à notre équipe. Personnellement, j'ai trouvé que j'avais beaucoup d'explosion et que j'aurais pu marquer un but ou deux avant la prolongation.»
Brière a obtenu quelques-unes des meilleures occasions de marquer de l'équipe, même si son rôle, en compagnie de Weise et de Michaël Bournival, n'était pas spécifiquement celui de créer des occasions offensives. Mais c'est exactement ce qu'il a fait sur la séquence menant au but gagnant, profitant d'une défensive du Lightning désorganisée pour alimenter Weise.
«C'est une belle récompense pour eux, parce qu'ils ont joué un fort match, a déclaré l'entraîneur-chef Michel Therrien. Ils ont mérité de marquer ce but gagnant.»
En raison de sa solide tenue tout au long de la soirée, Brière aurait probablement mérité de terminer la rencontre avec plus qu'un point au compteur. Mais pour Weise, ce point le comble amplement.
«J'ai trouvé qu'il avait été sensationnel (mercredi) soir, a dit Weise de son coéquipier. J'ai grandi en regardant jouer ce gars-là. Il élève toujours sont jeu d'un cran en séries et on l'a encore vu (mercredi) soir.»
Brière avait aidé les Flyers de Philadelphie à éliminer le Canadien au printemps 2010, amassant trois points dans les deux premiers matchs. Il avait mené tous les joueurs du circuit avec 30 points en 23 rencontres. Même si son temps de jeu n'est plus celui d'un joueur de premier trio, le Canadien espère de continuer de bénéficier de ses prouesses en séries, comme il l'a fait mercredi.
«Il a joué un tas de gros matchs en séries, a louangé le capitaine Brian Gionta. Ça n'a pas été différent mercredi soir.»
Brière n'a pas voulu donner trop d'importance à cette mention d'assistance, même si elle s'est avérée d'une importance primordiale.
«C'est juste un match, il ne faut pas trop s'en faire avec ça. C'est une grosse victoire et une sensation incroyable cependant.»
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