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NHL Playoff Observations: Habs on the Ropes

Just a few things that caught my eye:

  • Hey -- Brandon. Yah, you -- Prust. Shut. Yer. Trap. In the game and after, too. Would you like some cheese with that whine? Zebras have long memories, just like elephants. Besides, you just look like you're making excuses. Your penalties/bad attitude sucked all of the momentum out of your team. They were dominating before you lost your screws. Just reminding you.
  • Rip Van Winkle has woken up. The Habs will have a real hard time getting Steven Stamkos back to bed now.

  • The Habs have only come back once (in four tries) after losing the first two games of a series at home in the last 30 years. The last? 1987.
  • Chris Stewart is one tough hombre. I thought he'd separated -- or even dislocated -- his shoulder when he ploughed into the end boards on that rush. It hurt even looking at the pain on his face. But I'm not sure he even missed more than a couple shifts. Wow.
  • So ... Thomas Vanek likes Minnesota, but does Minnesota like Thomas Vanek? That minus-4 rating Sunday night hangs like an anchor.
  • Do NOT hang the Habs' loss on Carey Price. His stunningly undisciplined teammates gave the Bolts eight power plays. Eight! They converted on four. The Bolts were seriously overdue after only clicking twice on their previous 34 chances. You just don't give a powerful team like that a chance to get back on track.
  • Tough luck for Double-D. Dubnyk made the original save only to have it go airborne above the crease where the knob of his own stick redirected a trickler just over the goal line. Damn.
  • I rewound Patrick Kane's first-period goal several times, just to see the brilliance of all of its many parts. That one-eighty transition from backward to forward? He didn't lose any speed and maybe even gained some before he ripped the shot off his inside foot. And back across his body! Damn, that guy is good.
  • Hats off to Barry Trotz. He's found a way to help Alexander Ovechkin realize team play and offence can go together. The Caps will be hard to beat as long as he plays that game.