The Beat Goes On

Montreal and Tampa played game three of their series tonight.

Neither team started very well, but especially the Habs with all of them having hands of stone.

I don’t think that Parenteau or De la Rose are playing well enough to play as much as they are. When they aren’t going offside, they’re giving the puck away and creating opportunities for the Bolts. Of course, Markov continues to play poorly.

The officiating is poor again tonight. They gave Tampa a power play on a very weak play. When Gallagher was high-sticked however, in a manner that left a nasty mark on the bridge of his nose, even though it occurred right in front of the referee, there was no call.

Yet again the ref blew a play dead because he lost sight of the puck by being out of position.

I don’t know what it is this year but this is the third time I’ve seen this happen. Offhand, I don’t ever remember a playoff season where I saw it more than once.

Early in the third, Adam Sustr had his stick around Dale Weise on one side and his arm around him on the other but there’s no holding penalty. After Weise went down, Sustr threw up his arms in a pantomime to declare that he was clean.

Montreal needs to do a few things to improve their chances of winning. Despite dominating play for long stretches — in the second, Tampa didn’t get their first shot on net until about 18 minutes in — they had problems getting pucks on net. Either they hit a body or they go wide. They’re both too predictable and too slow with their releases, allowing Tampa to block almost everything that isn’t shot wide.

Of course, they need better luck as well with two posts hit.

Stamkos just took a tripping penalty, early in the third. For some reason, although the Bolts didn’t ever get control of the puck, they whistled the play dead just as Price made it to the bench. I have no clue why.

On a Tampa power play, based on a fairly weak penalty to Pacioretty, the Habs just had clean 2-1 breakaway. While it’s fair that the players were tired, they played like they didn’t know what to do. This should have resulted in a tie game. Why were they so tired? Well, it was a long power play and they had missed two opportunities to clear the puck, first when they won the draw but immediately gave it away, and then when they intercepted a pass, they gave it right back, making for a really long shift.

Gallagher just tied the game. Boyle hooked and then tackled him but too late to keep the puck out of the net. Offhand, Gallagher and Desharnais are probably playing the best tonight, along with Petry on defence.

Moments after the goal, Tampa had a spectacular chance to take the lead again with an uncovered Boyle given the puck in the slot. Price made the save then the puck slowly dribbled down his body, pausing for a moment atop his pad and then down onto the ice. For some reason, the ref didn’t blow the play dead. He couldn’t see the puck from where he was but he let Boyle charge in to dig at it. These guys are really inconsistent.

Desharnais just spent an entire shift being held by Namestnikov, most of it being pinned on the ice as the play went on around them. How is this not a penalty? Especially when Pacioretty got called for touching a player, or for that matter, when Bishop dove in the first to draw a penalty? Even the announcer likened it to being a rodeo down there the way Namestnikov was riding him. Of course, he still considered it good hockey.

With around two minutes left, Weise was tripped as he raced in on the right wing. He didn’t go down instantly however so there was no call.

Tampa just scored with less than a second left on the clock. Sigh. What a disorganised mess the Montreal play was for the last thirty odd seconds. There were probably four or five botched actions in that time that kept the chances coming for Tampa during this time.

Healy is blathering about Tampa not quitting. It’s true, they didn’t but there’s no reason why they would. What he should be talking about is how Montreal did quit. With 43 seconds left, Mitchell took the puck behind his own net and failed to clear it, giving it to the defenceman at the left point. After somehow managing to get the puck out over the blue line, three skaters, including the now tripped Mitchell, immediatley headed off, even though the puck only went a few feet past centre ice. This allowed a three-man rush by Tampa which didn’t go anywhere but as Pacioretty took the puck in the corner, he wheeled and feebly backhanded it off a Tampa skate. Again, the Habs got the puck back and Petry whipped it around the boards and out to centre ice. Again, it was right on Garrison’s stick, who flipped it back into Montreal territory.

Despite never having control of the puck, three Montreal skaters are on the forward side of the centre ice zone and another is changing. So a single Hab is left to defend against Stamkos and Palat. The puck gets deflected wide of the net however, and bounces back onto Plekanec’s stick at the top of the circle and he skates out to centre ice. Pacioretty skates from where he was open to where he is covered and then Plekanec passes to him. Gallagher meanwhile is open and cruising up the middle of the ice. Palat takes the puck back and into the zone. Four Habs are now in their own zone but nobody is covering anybody. Hedman is able to walk in with the puck while Johnson sets up in the crease. An easy pass and an easy goal… with a single second left on the clock. Give Hedman a biscuit for making a good rush, outwaiting the wretched, falling Markov and making a perfect pass onto Johnson’s stick. Give Johnson one for calmly closing the deal, putting it between Price’s legs rather than off his pad, which many players would have done.

Therriault looks livid. At least, he looks florid as he struggles to maintain a mask. The Habs team for those last seconds reminded me of the Maple Leafs in the way they couldn’t do really mundane tasks, like clear a puck past centre and get at least one player change done correctly.

Funny but earlier in the game, the announcers were talking about all the shot blocking that Tampa was doing. Then one of them asked how many actual blocked shots there were, and the answer was 18 at the time. They paused because that’s not a particularly high number and then commented that it felt like more. What they had missed was that probably half of the ‘blocks’ that they made weren’t on shots but were on passes and clearing attempts. They interrupted the path of the puck constantly throughout the game but a limited number were of shots on net.

So the series is now 3-0 in Tampa Bay’s favour. Bishop has won his last ten games against Montreal. I believe that they are undefeated against Montreal this season. If they can bury them tomorrow, that will make for some cold-blooded revenge after last season’s sweep by the Habs. Apparently, this is the third playoff series between the two teams and the two prior were both won in four straight (Tampa won the first on their Stanley Cup run in 2004. I remember watching them play and wondering at how good both teams were at fundamentals compared to the Leafs. Some things never change).