Pens – Habs Game 6 Notes + Live Blog Details!

After a short break (at least for me) from live blogging this past week, the crew has been re-assembled for another outing tonight right here on TCL! Join myself, Steven Hindle from Hockeybuzz and Kamal Panesar from Habs Addict as we welcome a host of panelists and readers to cover tonight’s game between the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre!

Just set your reminders in the box below, and make sure to be here starting at 6:30PM for all the pre-game coverage! The puck will drop just past 7, and we’ll be with you every step of the way!

TCL Presents: Pens – Habs Game 6 *Live Blog*!

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PRE-GAME NOTES

For a detailed recap of all the injury news to come out of this past weekend, click here.

Andrei Markov and Paul Mara skated in full equipment today, before the rest of the team, but Jacques Martin ruled out a possible return from either defenseman in tonight’s game.

Both Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek will be game-time decisions. Spacek skated with the rest of the team this morning, alongside his normal defense partner Roman Hamrlik, while Gill was on the ice after his teammates, skating briefly. J-Mart suggested that if both Gill and Spacek would be healthy enough to play in tonight’s game, the Canadiens COULD carry 7 defensemen.

As for the forwards, the lines at practice were as follows:

Darche – Gomez – Gionta
Cammalleri – Plekanec – A. Kostitsyn
Pouliot – Moore – Lapierre
Moen – Metropolit – Pyatt

On defense, Josh Gorges was paired with PK Subban, Marc-Andre Bergeron with Ryan O’Byrne, and, as mentioned about, Spacek with Hamrlik.

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5 KEYS FOR TONIGHT’S GAME

1 – The top offensive players need to score.
The Canadiens have FINALLY gotten contributions out of guys like Pyatt and Lapierre lately, but if they stand any chance at winning, guys like Cammalleri and Plekanec are going to have to break lose and bury the puck. Cammalleri scored a lucky (albeit hard working) goal late in Saturday Night’s game, but the Canadiens will need him to be at his best tonight if they expect to win.

2 – Continue doing what you’re doing with Crosby.
He’s playing like a wounded animal, and the Canadiens need to smell blood and finish the job tonight. Don’t let him gain any momentum, let him continue using his stick for everything but scoring, and eventually he will pay for it. Let CBC show all the graphics they want when it comes to how many shifts it’s been since he scored, simply put, don’t let him score at all.

3 – Take what you’ve been doing to Crosby, and apply it to Malkin.
The sleeping giant is tossing and turning, his slumber is nearing its end. Evgeni Malkin has been far from an effective player in this series, putting up only a goal and 2 assists through 5 games, with a -1 rating, but he’s been flirting with a breakout ever since this thing got started. Malkin scored the game winning goal in game 3, and assisted on the goal in game 5 that basically ended it for the Canadiens on the powerplay. He has 21 shots in the series, and that’s only going to go up tonight.

4- Jaroslav Halak has to be better than Marc-André Fleury
You can’t blame Jaroslav Halak for any of the losses in this series, but truth be told, he hasn’t been nearly as good as the goaltender that stole the series from the Washington Capitals in the last round. And while Semyon Varlamov was arguably better in that series than Marc-André Fleury has been in the last 5 games, Fleury has really stepped up his game since game 3, posting a 2-1-0 record in the last three games, with a 1.35 GAA, a .947 SVP and a shutout among his stats. In each of those games, the shots against fleury have consistently increased, culminating to a 32 save performance on Saturday. Do the Canadiens need to allow the Penguins to get more shots on Jaroslav Halak in order to win the game? Like I said, Halak should be no means be blamed for any poor performance or loss in these playoffs, and hasn’t let in more than two games since the five he let in in game 1, but it’s hard to say if he’s stolen a game for the Habs against the Penguins. If the Canadiens are to win tonight, he will need to do exactly that.

5 – Stick to the game plan.
This one will be easier said than done if Spacek and/or Gill are unable to go tonight, but the ”stick to your game plan” strategy is what’s gotten the Canadiens this far, and if they want to get any further, they’re going to have to continue getting in the way of the opposition’s shots, get an early lead and shut things down the rest of the way. Can they accomplish that, or will tonight be just another sloppy outing?

Will tonight be a cause for cautious celebration, or will it be a time for mourning the 2009-10 season of the Montreal Canadiens? Will we be back here tomorrow doing a post-mortem, or will the Canadiens’ Cinderella run live to see another day?

We can only find out by waiting for tonight’s game.

Don’t forget about our live blog, and enjoy the game!

Prax
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