Canadiens avoid being swept by the Lightning, updates on the Ducks-Flames series, plus the latest on the Oilers and Canucks.
Max Pacioretty and Andrei Markov celebrate the latter’s goal against the Lightning.
MONTREAL GAZETTE/THE TAMPA TRIBUNE: The Montreal Canadiens avoided being swept from their best-of-seven series against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-2 victory in Game Four. The Habs chased goalie Ben Bishop from the net by taking a 3-0 lead in the second period, then followed up with goals by Jeff Petry and Brendan Gallagher 15 second apart on backup Andrei Vasilevskiy. As the series shifts back to Montreal for Game Five, the Lightning’s recent performance has raised eyebrows and accusations of complacency from the local media.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As in Game Three, the Canadiens outplayed the Lightning, only this time they finally solved Bishop, who looked shaky in this one. It was only on the power play that the Lightning had any advantage. The Habs have maintained their composure since their Game Two meltdown. I expect a more determined performance by the Lightning in Game Five. Dropping that game runs the risk of tilting momentum even further in favor of Montreal. The odds still heavily favor the Lightning, but the Habs’ situation is a little less dire than it was entering Game Four.
CALGARY SUN: Rugged Flames winger Lance Bouma (suspected hand injury) could return to the lineup for Game Four tonight against the Anaheim Ducks.
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau shuffled his lines yesterday in practice. Right wing Tomas Fleischmann replaced Kyle Palmieri on the third line while Jiri Sekac replaced Emerson Etem at left wing on the fourth line.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The return of Bouma will provide more physical depth up front for the Flames. It’ll be interesting to see how effective those tweaks to the Ducks’ checking lines will be if Boudreau goes with them tonight.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers’ interim coach Todd Nelson will be interviewed by new GM Peter Chiarelli this weekend for the full-time role.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: While it seems a tad absurd for Nelson to interview for the job he held for half a season, it’s understandable. Nelson wasn’t Chiarelli’s hiring. I doubt Nelson returns as the Oilers bench boss next season, but perhaps he gets an assistant coaching gig with the club.
THE PROVINCE: Jason Botchford believes the Vancouver Canucks miscast Linden Vey as an offensive forward this season. Botchford suggests Vey should be employed in a shutdown role to free up promising Bo Horvat for scoring.
Good for Jason Botchford but he’s wrong. Vey should be playing RW with Horvat both are in the same stages of their development. This being their rookie seasons. Vey lead the WHL in scoring his final season & was essentially a point per game player in the AHL. He is a young solid up & coming 2 way player that has been developed properly. 4 years of major junior & then 3 years in the minors before finally getting a cup of coffee in LA his final season there, 18 games. He has decent size & is more a set up guy than shooter so he may end up at C at some stage of his career later when the Sedin`s move on or retire. Generally if you dominate in major junior then the AHL the same usually transfers to the NHL.
Vey had 1 less point than Horvat this season in 7 more games. Both logged similar TOI, Horvat came off -8, Vey -3. Vey logged decent minutes on the Canucks PP as a point man. Vey has a bright future as a number 2 or 3 RW or C. He is just scratching the surface of his potential & will & should be playing ahead of Higgins & Hansen very soon. 1 more season I wager.
Sorry dominate is to strong a term. If you play well in major Jr. & then the minors, you will usually play reasonably well in the NHL. Your playing against your peers. There are exceptions due to size both big & small. If your to small those skills won’t often transfer from major Jr. or the minors where a ton of players are smaller & on the opposite side of the equation you can produce at those levels with a significant size advantage but if you can’t skate that size advantage gets neutralized at the NHL level making players at both ends of the equation ineffective in the NHL.
I have to disagree. The Habs situation is just as Dire as entering game 4. They lose they are out. Add on top of that the obviousness of Tampa Bay’s complacency in that game which I would think won’t happen two games in a roll the Habs better not let up. They need to continue to push the play and start driving that net a fair bit more than games 1-3 and stay disciplined. They need to keep the direness of the situation at the forefront and leave nothing on the ice.
It is not different than when the Sens were down 3-0 on Montreal. Ottawa will to survive was far greater than Montreal’s killer instinct. Now Tampa’s Killer instinct needs to kick in or it will go another game and simple survival instincts will decide it.
Be awesome if they comeback.