2minutes4roughing- What's Up With the Habs?

The Montreal Canadiens have started the season with a 1-3-1 start and the whole city reacts like we're going through some kind of epidemic, that the world is going to end.  I would like to say that everyone should calm down about the poor start to the season, we're 5 games in.  The Canadiens don't make the playoffs by playing 5 games, it's over the course of an 82 game season.  The Boston Bruins have a 2-4-0 start to their season, and I'm sure they'll still make the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup.  Everyone relax a little.

Now that that's out of the way let's talk about last night's game.  The Habs lost their third game in a row last night, which is obviously disappointing.  But there are many positives to take from last night's game.  The Buffalo Sabres only beat the Canadiens 3-1, and they had an empty netter so it's viewed more as a 2-1 victory for the Sabres.  When Raphael Diaz scored the first goal of the game, and the first goal of his NHL career, for the Habs 2:08 into the second period, the Canadiens had already registered a total of 18 shots.  18 shots in 22 minutes is crazy, and the Canadiens kept on driving hard to the net and ended up putting 41 shots on goal.  The only problem is that only one went in of those 41 shots.  It goes without say that Ryan Miller definitely showed up with his "A" game and earned the first star of the game.  Although Miller-time definitely stole the show, the Canadiens can at least look at this game positively and think to themselves that if they play like that next game they'll probably score five, and Carey Price will almost never let in more than two goals in a game like this where he received 23 shots on net.
Although the Habs did play a good game overall last night, it definitely wasn't perfect.  With 6 seconds left in the second period Josh Gorges ices the puck when there is no pressure on him.  The play comes back to the Canadiens zone and Thomas Vanek was able to score before the 6 seconds in the period were up, making it a 2-1 game at this point, and that was the real backbreaker for the Canadiens.  Little mistakes like this can't happen, and the Canadiens have been making them a lot.  Icing the puck when it's not necessary is a mistake the Canadiens can't afford to do.  Defensive zone face-offs never lead to good things, especially when tired players are on the ice.  The Canadiens biggest problem this season though is the lack of production on the power play.  They went 0-5 last night, and have only scored 2 goals on the power play at this point of this season.  That is not good enough to win hockey games.  They need to at least score 1 goal, ideally 2, on the power play in a game like last night.  They need to capitalize on their chances to win.

The solution?  Signing Brian McCabe.
Next stop:  The Consol Energy Center to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins