Maybe I’m being being a little bit over-dramatic, but tonight may just be the biggest game of Carey Price’s young career. At least so far.

Price will be in goal as the Canadiens host the Carolina Hurricanes. Based on how he performs – or rather the end result of the game, regardless of his performance – this may be the last time he sees the ice as the starting goaltender for the Canadiens in the 2009-10 season.

It’s clear as day that the Canadiens have decided to go with Jaroslav Halak as their number one goaltender heading into the playoffs, and I believe that most Habs fans have accepted this as a fact, despite some fairly heated Price vs. Halak debates from earlier in the season. So with only six games remaining in the regular season, and with a first round playoff series that will be an uphill battle no matter who the face, the Canadiens will look to solidify their goaltending and douse any potential ”controversies” so that who ever is in goal can get into playoff mode.

But let’s talk hypothetical for a moment. What if Carey Price has another stellar performance tonight and actually manages to get a victory for the Habs? What if Jacques Martin decides to play Price against one of this weekend’s back-to-back games versus either the Flyers on Friday, or the Sabres on Saturday? What if Price has another stellar outing? What if Jaroslav Halak is cold in his next couple of starts, and Price is suddenly the go-to guy?

Judging on how this season has gone through 76 games, the odds of all these things happening are next to nothing. Nevertheless, it’s something to think about, and it’s something that I’m sure Jacques Martin had on his brain while making the decision to start Price tonight. Because win or lose, the Canadiens played fairly well this past weekend. Win or lose, Halak had nearly four days rest, and will go another two at least without any game action. And Price is angry and looking for retribution after what happened against the Sabres.

Could the Canadiens be looking to change things up with only a few games remaining in the regular season? Could they be looking to have both their goaltenders at their best heading into the playoffs? Or is this really Price’s last predetermined go as the starting goaltender before the reigns are officially handed to Halak (for now)?

When most of us thought the goaltending queries had been answered, I look above and see 6 or 7 question marks.

———————————
THE CAROLINA HURRICANES

Believe it or not, it’s been since mid-December since the Habs last faces off against the Hurricanes. The game, played in Carolina, ended up in a 5-1 dusting of the then last place Canes. Glen Metropolit scored 2 goals, both Kostitsyns got on the board and Andre Markov scored in one of his first games back. Moreover, both Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec got on the board with 3 assists each.

The game was indicative of how both the Canadiens AND Hurricanes seasons had been going up to that point. While the Habs had been up and done all year, when somewhat healthy, they could be dominant. As for the Canes, their season was already seemingly done.

But things change.

Only three months later, the Hurricanes have climbed a whopping 4 spots in the standings and stand are 9 points out of the playoffs. They won’t make it, but considering where they were and how they’ve managed to climb back, especially AFTER selling some pieces of their roster at the deadline, it’s an incredible feat.

As for the Canadiens, they are once again healthy, but they are struggling. While their six game win streak from a couple of weeks ago have given them the comfort of a 6-2-2 record in their last ten, every single one of those four losses have come over the course of the last five games. They have struggles, given up or just nearly given up leads and have seemingly reverted to their old ways, after being the hottest team in the league through the first few weeks of March.

Now they are fresh, lucky enough to have three days off in the stretch run of the season, and their line-up nearly completely intact.

Tonight, there are no excuses if they lose. They simply need to win, and as Scott Gomez put it, tonight needs to be played as if it’s the Canadiens final game of the season, and their playoff lives depend on whether or not they win. They need to play these final six games with a sense of urgency.

But it won’t be easy, no matter what you think of the Canes. In what seems to have become a trend among goaltenders who play against the Habs, Cam Ward is 9-3-2 lifetime against the Canadiens, and will look to make it an even 10 tonight after missing 18 games with an upper body injury over the last couple of months.

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NEWS AND NOTES

- As most of you know by know, doctors have diagnosed Glen Metropolit with a separated left shoulder, and he is slated to miss a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks. Metro is determined to return long before that, but the truth is that he’s likely played his last game as a Montreal Canadien. Jacques Martin has confirmed that he will NOT play another game during the regular season, but will seek a second opinion this week.

- The Montreal Canadiens have signed Cornell Big Red defenseman Brendon Nash to a two year contract starting in the 2010-11 season. The 23 year old defenseman is 6’3” 206lbs and led his team in scoring by a defenseman with 19 points in 33 games. He participated in the Canadiens development camp last year.

- Finally, after randomly being shifted to the 4th line for Monday’s practice, Benoit Pouliot is back with his normal linemates in Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez, and will likely play tonight. Most of the line-up, other than Glen Metropolit’s replacement, is likely to stay intact.

The puck drops at 7PM tonight, and the game is on both RDS and TSN. If the Habs come out swinging early and often, this one should be a fairly easy victory. Then again, the Habs don’t exactly have a history of making things easy on themselves.

Enjoy the game!

Prax
www.thecheckingline.com
www.twitter.com/thecheckingline

First of all, I’d like to wish my readers a Merry Christmas. I may post a holiday blog tomorrow, but if not, you guys have made these few months TCL has been open fun for blogging and participating in some good thread discussions, and I hope we can make it even better in 2010.

A new site design is looming, and we’re constantly on the lookout for new bloggers and adding new features, so we hope we can help a lot of you kill some more time in 2010!

But before we get to 2010, the Canadiens still have 5 more games on the road to close out the year. It starts tonight in Carolina, against a team that has seemed to have the Canadiens number over the years, whether they were good or bad.

At the moment, they seem to be at their worst. They are by far the worst team in the league in terms of points, sitting dead last with 24 points in 36 games, a 9-21-6 record­. They haven’t even won 10 games yet! For those keeping count, that’s a ridiculously bad 25% win percentage! They’re been scored on 42 times more than they’ve scored themselves (the worst team in the league in both GA and GF per game, and by a lot), and while their PK and PP aren’t dead last, they aren’t much better.

Things aren’t looking very good for the team that made the conference finals in last year’s playoffs, and the team that won the cup but a few years ago, and it’s hard to say why exactly. Sure, the team is getting a little older, but guys like Ward, Cole, Staal, and even Ruutu and Whitney shouldn’t be any worse than they’ve ever been, and they have some good young players such as Brandon Sutter, and an overall hard working, hard-nosed team (Rod Brind’Amour still have literally the hardest nose in the league) that really shouldn’t be this bad.

One could say the odds of this team beating the Canadiens tonight are slim to none, with the Habs coming off 2 wins stolen by a hot goaltender, and a group of skaters that knows how to score goals.

But the Canes have one thing on their side tonight, and that’s history.

——————–
DAY OF DOOM

 There are many ghosts that haunt the Canadiens, and there are many records this organization is proud to hold. But the one record that stands out amongst all these accomplishments, the one ghost that haunts the Canadiens that seems to stand out amongst the rest… amongst all the jerseys retired, all the players in the hall of fame, all the stanley cup banners and all the old forum ghosts… there is one fact that stands out.

The Montreal Canadiens have not won a game on December 23rd since 1945.

Since the Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins on December 23rd, 1945, the Habs have played 19 games, all on the road. 11 of them were losses, and in 8 games they managed ties. At home, they were a little better, winning in 1970, but since the eighties they usually play most of their holiday games on the road, thanks to the Cirque du Soleil.

And while Marc-André Bergeron will tell you that ”we’re due”, and Mike Cammalleri will tell you that he isn’t supersticious, this really isn’t a record you can brush off to the side. It’s the Canes best chance at winning, and something that will probably make a lot of Habs fan cringe.

Nevertheless, Glen Metropolit is right when he says that “You can’t be thinking about those things” going into a must-win game. Scary holiday records aside, the odds are in the Canadiens favor tonight.

——————–
THREE QUESTIONS

 Some questions for tonight’s game:

1. Who do you start tonight? Halak or Price?
Halak is the main reason behind the Canadiens success on this road trip, but he’s faced 90 shots in 2 games and is probably dead-tired. Also, you can’t let Price get cold at this point. Another solid performance might add to Halak’s trade value, but if he faulters due to exhaustion, that doesn’t help anyone.

2. How will Benoit Pouliot fare in his first game as a Hab?
We’ve been waiting over a month for Pouliot’s first game. I’m sure he understands the stakes and the opportunity to make a good first impression on the coach and the fans, and to show Bob Gainey that he was right in trading for him. If I were Pouliot I would be excited and anxious to play.

3. How will Scott Gomez play next to Pouliot?
Lots of heat on Gomez right now, who hasn’t been playing well at all since Gionta was injured. He’s the latest center with a revolving door of wingers, after Plekanec’s linemates were stabilized about a month ago, but that’s no excuse for a player who makes the most money on the team. Still, tonight he gets a young forward looking to make an impact on his line. Will Gomez finally pull out of his funk?

Some interesting storylines going into tonight’s game…

Paul Mara and Brian Gionta were sent home early the other day. Mara took a shot off his wrist on Monday and while he will be examined today, apparently it doesn’t look good. Gionta suffered a setback in his recovery from his broken foot, and won’t be able to skate until the weekend. Roman Hamrlik won’t play tonight either, which pushes Bergeron back to defense, who’s good to go after a scare monday when his back hit the post after scoring the overtime winner. He’ll obviously be good to go.

No word on the starting goalie as implied above, and the morning skate was cancelled, so that info will be available later in the day.

——————–
STATS

 *Note: Injured players are ommitted from stat leaders.

WHAT THE STATS SAY:

The Habs have come a long way in their special teams. The fact they’re second in the league with their PP is remarkable, not to mention their 7th ranked PK. Almost as remarkable is how bad the Canes are all across the board, as we’ve mentioned. Tonight will be all about special teams once again.

Final prediction: Habs 5 – Canes 1
The curse has to be broken sometime, and no better time than tonight.

Enjoy the game and Happy Holidays!

Prax
www.thecheckingline.com
www.twitter.com/thecheckingline

Patrick Kane is the most talented offensive player. Duncan Keith could be the best Blackhawk player period. But the life blood of the team is Jonathan Toews, and it is no wonder the power play has gone south since he has been out. 

Toews gives the team another option down low because he can draw the defense and distribute the puck. He is also not afraid to get dirty in front of the net and can pot a rebound or two now and then. Lastly, the captain can win faceoffs against the opposition’s best. All in all Toews can’t be replaced. 

On Friday night in Colorado the Hawks played well enough for most of the time to win the game, as was the case in Phoenix. The Hawks did not put away the Av’s although they were badly outplaying them.  When the losing team stays within two goals they can come back and mount a challenge and that is what Colorado did. 

The Chicago power play is looking desperate. 

The second Colorado goal was a trifecta of mistakes. First a player can’t be allowed to skate 170 feet and then go wide and still be able to get a shot on goal. Dustin Byfuglien may have been tired but he can’t allow a shot to be taken even if he has to take a penalty. Antti Niemi was frozen back in his net and really needed to make that stop, he was tentative. Cam Barker was covering the slot area which is correct, except there wasn’t another Avalanche player pictured in the Hawk zone even after the puck went into the net.  Barker could have helped a tired Byfuglien seal off David Jones. 

Brian Campbell chasing a puck below the faceoff circle in the Av’s zone in a deadlocked contest while on a man advantage is a tell tale sign of some urgency. What isn’t very smart is when every other Hawk player is below the faceoff circles at the same time and the remaining defenseman pinches in and doesn’t control the puck. Duncan Keith makes mistakes too, and that is why the Av’s took the lead. 

The Hawks scorers are not looking like snipers of late as they continue to miss prime chances. In reality the Hawk sharp shooters are not in the elite category of NHL goal scorers to begin with. Their number one goal scorer, Marian Hossa was watching the Colorado contest in street clothes.  I keep dwelling on it but the Hawks have not replaced their leading scorer of lat year, Marty Havlat, until Hossa returns. 

It appeared the officiating on Friday night was circa 1990’s. 

As written about a few weeks ago, interference penalties appear to have gone the way of dial up internet. That’s fine with me as long as every referee is on the same page. 

On Friday night it went beyond anything seen this season and it was very similar to before the lockout. The refs swallowed their whistles for the entire third period. Once nothing was whistled in regulation time it was not surprising no infractions were called in OT. 

The problem with putting the whistles away is it takes a lot of guts to take them back out if something flagrant happens late in the game or in OT. Patrick Sharp was tackled on an obvious goal scoring opportunity with about 2:00 left in OT and there was no call. That makes a mockery of the game. 

Maybe the league is going to revamp their on ice decision making once again. The NHL rule book seldom changes but the interpretation of infraction is constantly switching gears ….like no other major sport. 

One last word about the OT loss, Niemi made some very good saves and was also solid in the shootout. The problem is still with his lack of rebound control and he won’t be a positive difference until he fixes that flaw. The Colorado first score was an example. By the way, after the first four shooters have gone the shootout is even more of a crap shoot…or a mockery of the game. Last time mockery will be used. It still makes little sense a game decided by the contrived shootout method is worth as many points as a regulation win. 

This week and beyond…. 

The Hawks come home to play four games in seven days.  That’s better than playing every other day for a week straight on the road, but it’s still a tough schedule. The main problem is there is no time to get good practices in as the off days have to be used primarily for rest and recovery. So if they get on a roll great and if not…. Well if the Hawks don’t capture at least six of the next eight points they will add more pressure for  the upcoming circus road trip. 

Then again it could be better to get out of town for an extended period as expectations for this team are out of whack. I can’t wait to hear the reaction if the first powerplay fails tonight. Fans have the right to voice their disapproval but remember this is a young team and there is no need to constantly add more pressure. 

This week the Hawks will play the Kings and Av’s who always give them problems, followed by the desperate Maple Leafs and the best team in the Western Conference the Sharks. It won’t be easy especially considering the injuries. Although Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager will be back sometime this week, if not by Monday, Dave Bolland could be out for awhile. 

From what I heard a few weeks ago Bolland’s back problem is sort of a mystery. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong as to require immediate surgery but in the same regard he was in a lot of pain. There was no mention of a possible back problem last year as the Hawks inked Bolland to a generous contract this summer. 

Bolland has only played a few games thus far when he hasn’t looked bothered. It is very hard to tell on TV but in person it is really noticeable. He doesn’t stop, start and turn as quickly and overall is slower. 

A back injury for a hockey player can be very serious and they tend to linger.  

Unless there is an automatic fix indicated, surgery is the last resort. Your local orthopedic surgeon may not make a huge point of the fact most back operations leave the patient no better off than before the surgery. Also a good percentage of those having back surgery require another operation within five to seven years. 

If Bolland’s back condition could have been treated with rest and therapy it would seem the Hawks would have already implemented that process. Maybe Bolland will be able to come back without surgery and return to normal. If not…there are no promises made on back operations. Former Blackhawk winger Eric Daze comes to mind and hopefully Bolland doesn’t face the same fate. Not many hockey players return to their prior form after back surgery. 

Rumors, overstatements and poppycock… 

The three most desperate teams in the NHL are the Leafs, Thrashers and Hurricanes. The Blackhawks are a natural target when trying to create a trade story these days and the internet helps fuel the rumor process. 

Brian Burke has been very defensive since the summer in shielding his best player, Tomas Kaberle from trade rumors. There are a couple of reasons why in my opinion. 

First, Kaberle has a no trade clause and Burke needs to keep him happy and in the loop. Secondly and most important, Kaberle gives Burke his only real chance of replacing some of the draft picks he coughed up for Phil Kessel. He may trade his star before next season but it would have to be a perfect deal for Burke. 

I have not checked this for accuracy but it I was told the majority of Kessel’s goals have come against non- playoff teams. According to the story I heard that was a big reason why the Bruins didn’t re-sign him as well as his reluctance to go into high traffic areas. Now we will see how Kessel fares on a team which does not look playoff bound. 

The Thrashers are in a corner, they have one elite player and often a half empty arena.  If Ilya Kovalchuk chooses to not re-sign there they will have to start a rebuilding project. They have had injuries and need to choose a course.  If Kovalchuk loses interest in their chances for success he could opt to leave.  They are caught.  Atlanta has to either shuffle the deck to try to make the playoffs this season and draw some fans back, or start looking toward the draft and next year possibly without their star player. 

The Hurricanes are in a pickle as they have just re-signed their head coach to a multi year extension. They have had major injury concerns and are also bleeding red ink. Their attendance is not too good and they can’t afford to trade Eric  Staal as fans will lose more interest. 

The best long term plan for the Thrashers and Canes could be to re-build and not think about the playoffs for awhile. The problem which faces them and others is a longer range plan doesn’t equate into more ticket sales in the near future.

The Leafs have all the money in the world to spend and are only limited by the salary cap. Burke seems to have led with his chin in some ways, like Dale Tallon did after the lock out. The huge difference is although Tallon overpaid and picked the wrong free agents he never gave up draft picks.  Burke has pushed the time table up for the Leafs to make the playoffs to this year and so far that looks like a big mistake 

As far as trade gossip goes I’m not hearing anything worth writing about, but if Bolland is going to be out there could be a move made sooner than later. 

If the Kris Versteeg at center experiment works that could solve a lot of problems. I have my doubts. Versteeg has the offensive tools, but faceoffs and defensive coverage could stop him from being an NHL center. Patrick Sharp is much better at wing than center.  Although he plays there if asked, I have heard Sharp would rather stay a winger. Maybe the Hawks would have to make a trade to get a more offensive pivot if Bolland is out for a long time. 

Bryan Little of the Thrashers could fill a need and add some offense. He is signed only through this season and is a $900,000 salary cap hit. 

As far as Kaberle to the Hawks for Campbell or others I doubt it.  That possibility doesn’t work on many levels. An interesting video clip posted the other day on Kukla’s Korner talks how Kaberle is not on the market and the Hawks haven’t expressed an interest. 

The clip also references the topic written about here the other day concerning players backing off on hits.  htttp://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/hotstove_hockey_talk/   

Al’s Shots  

Fortunately Andrew Ladd only suffered a broken nose when kicked the other night. Too close…..Another inch or two and Ladd ‘s face could have been split wide open. 

The Hawks have not been able to sustain the swarming attack they had last year but they have been missing Adam Burish and Ben Eager. 

Eager could be back tonight and combined with Colin Fraser, who has been playing really well, could provide the Hawks with a lot of sustained energy. 

Even with injuries the Hawks have controlled most of the play in their games. This is illustrated by the fact they have allowed the least amount shots against in the NHL. 

The Hawks have allowed 22.7 shots against, 4.5 shots less than the next closest team. 

That is an amazing stat and also indicates an issue with the suspect goal tending.

The Hawks have given up the least amount of goals in the Western Conference but….. 

Neither Cristobal Huet nor Antti Niemi has a save percentage over .900, which isn’t great. 

It is time for one to take the net in three of the next four games and make a statement. 

blackhawkswin@comcast.net