Round 1, Game #4 ~ Montreal Canadiens @ New York Rangers. Tuesday, April 18th, 2017.

[Clues]

 

Coming off a pair of wins that have lifted them to a 2-1 first-round series lead over the New York Rangers, the Canadiens will have to be at the top of their game again on Tuesday night for Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Claude Julien's troops will obviously want to offer up the same type of performance they produced in Game 3 on Sunday night when they were nearly perfect in a 3-1 victory.

Artturi Lehkonen and Shea Weber both scored power play goals, and Alexander Radulov capped the scoring in the third period to put the game out of reach. The Russian sniper did so with a highlight-reel, one-handed marker. He also collected an assist in the win. The Canadiens' defensemen were solid all night long, limiting the Blueshirts to just 21 shots on goal. Only Brady Skjei managed to beat Carey Price when his one-timer from the point deflected off of Paul Byron late in the final frame. At that point, the Rangers had already pulled Henrik Lundqvist for an extra attacker.

The Canadiens will certainly want to continue their good work on special teams after blanking the Rangers in 10 opportunities with the man advantage since the start of the series.

The Canadiens were given the day off from practice on Monday. Only the players that didn't suit up on Sunday skated at MSG. 

We'll have to wait until Tuesday's morning skate to find out if Julien will make any lineup changes for the next installment of the series.

https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/pregame-the-canadiens-look-to-push-the-rangers-to-the-brink-of-elimination/c-288895936

 

 

[PuckPundit]

Nice work, Clues . Hope you're baking tonight.

IMHO, this is THE most critical game of this series. It's a momentum shifter.

If Habs win, the series is DONE because no way Rangers win 4 straight in a row. 

If Habs lose, the series is reset and Rangers get a new lease of life coming back from the dead. It'll drag the series to 7 games. 

Most importantly, I think the team plays better on the road than at home. Pressure is always on the home team. Rangers ain't the only team with poor home record 

I believe Rangers will play their best and dirtiest hockey in this game. It's their ONE and only chance to stay alive. This will be the game they try to take out Carey Price without inhibitions.  This is the game which will make or break the Rangers' playoffs.

All I ask is no stupid penalties from the Habs.

Let the hockey gods decide which team gets the lucky bounces. 

[kinot-2]

Good job, Clues, thanks  . Got a good feeling about this game.

[kinot-2]

Lines at practice this morning:

Pacioretty - Danault - Radulov
Byron - Plekanec - Gallagher
Lehkonen - Galchenyuk - Shaw
King - Ott - Mitchell

Markov - Weber
Benn - Petry
Beaulieu - Davidson

Price starting
Montoya

[kinot-2]

Tonite's refs: Francis Charron (#6) Steve Kozari (#40)

[maas_art]

Looks good.

I am cautiously optimistic for tonight.  

[kinot-2]

59 minutes ago, maas_art said:

Looks good.

I am cautiously optimistic for tonight.  

Not me,,,, I'm full-blown optimistic.

 

[Clues]

1 hour ago, PuckPundit said:

Nice work, Clues . Hope you're baking tonight.

IMHO, this is THE most critical game of this series. It's a momentum shifter.

If Habs win, the series is DONE because no way Rangers win 4 straight in a row. 

If Habs lose, the series is reset and Rangers get a new lease of life coming back from the dead. It'll drag the series to 7 games. 

Most importantly, I think the team plays better on the road than at home. Pressure is always on the home team. Rangers ain't the only team with poor home record 

I believe Rangers will play their best and dirtiest hockey in this game. It's their ONE and only chance to stay alive. This will be the game they try to take out Carey Price without inhibitions.  This is the game which will make or break the Rangers' playoffs.

All I ask is no stupid penalties from the Habs.

Let the hockey gods decide which team gets the lucky bounces. 

I agree with everything you wrote.

And thanks! Yes, there will be baking done today!

 

[Clues]

1 hour ago, kinot-2 said:

Good job, Clues, thanks  . Got a good feeling about this game.

Thanks, kinot! It's been awhile since I've put this much effort in to a GDT. And now I remember why. It took forever. I'm not sure what happened to the second picture, though. The pictures were much clearer before I uploaded. Oh well. I have a good feeling too!

[kinot-2]

Apparently, the papers in NY are coming down on Krieder for not going to the net. 

[maas_art]

5 minutes ago, kinot-2 said:

Apparently, the papers in NY are coming down on Krieder for not going to the net. 

That is definitely a concern for tonight.  Weber, Benn and Davidson are going to have to be very vigilant tonight - not just about Kreider but any other rags that try to crease-crash.  Ive read a couple of articles suggesting they expect it tonight (and that the habs coaching staff is already prepared for it) since nothing else has worked for the rangers.

interestingly, the one time i saw Kreider get close to price this series, carey smacked him in the head with his blocker.

[habs_93]

4 minutes ago, maas_art said:

That is definitely a concern for tonight.  Weber, Benn and Davidson are going to have to be very vigilant tonight - not just about Kreider but any other rags that try to crease-crash.  Ive read a couple of articles suggesting they expect it tonight (and that the habs coaching staff is already prepared for it) since nothing else has worked for the rangers.

interestingly, the one time i saw Kreider get close to price this series, carey smacked him in the head with his blocker.

Any player who thinks it's wise to play around with Carey Price's health should have it demonstrated to him in unambiguous fashion that such activity is deleterious to his future ability to play hockey. Enough is enough of this garbage.

[maas_art]

14 minutes ago, habs_93 said:

Any player who thinks it's wise to play around with Carey Price's health should have it demonstrated to him in unambiguous fashion that such activity is deleterious to his future ability to play hockey. Enough is enough of this garbage.

Absolutely agree.  Im hopeful that AV wont sink to that level (of telling his players to target price) but wouldnt be surprised if one or two players take it upon themselves to try. 

[southernhabfan]

Great job Clues..again. And will have to tell Rick..that we/I am a prophet when I said PK and the boys have a 3-0 lead the other night. Well it came true last night after midnight my time. So....

[vegasrick]

3 hours ago, PuckPundit said:

IMHO, this is THE most critical game of this series. It's a momentum shifter.

If Habs win, the series is DONE because no way Rangers win 4 straight in a row. 

If Habs lose, the series is reset and Rangers get a new lease of life coming back from the dead. It'll drag the series to 7 games. 

....am I watching the same series as you?  The one I watched was where the Rangers won the first game 2-0.  They don't have to win four in a row any more.  

Besides, being down three games in a best-of-seven is no longer an insurmountable deficit in the NHL.  Those comebacks have happened enough times to show that any playoff team can turn a series around.  

[vegasrick]

56 minutes ago, southernhabfan said:

Great job Clues..again. And will have to tell Rick..that we/I am a prophet when I said PK and the boys have a 3-0 lead the other night. Well it came true last night after midnight my time. So....

....so keep going.  What's going to happen tonight?  Tell us now.  NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!

[kinot-2]

Julien told Plekanec to let his 2-way game flourish: "Don't be afraid to create some offence because I've seen you do that."
 

[habs1952]

[kinot-2]

24 minutes ago, habs1952 said:

Well,,,,, duh!

 

[H_T_L]

5 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

Tonite's refs: Francis Charron (#6) Steve Kozari (#40)

Just great. Kozari called a brutal game last night. Where do they dig these guys up from?

[HabsAlways]

Gah, I'm so nervous about tonight's outcome ... given the NY articles, I expect them to target price.   I expect them to play more desperate as falling 3-1 almost seals the deal (sub 10% of teams have done it) ... I expect them to goon it up, so even if we do win I fear we lose a critical piece for the next round ...

[maas_art]

2 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

Julien told Plekanec to let his 2-way game flourish: "Don't be afraid to create some offence because I've seen you do that."
 

Amazing how Pleks has flourished under Julien!  Julien was the guy who brought him into the league i think too? Maybe even coached him in the AHL?

 

45 minutes ago, HabsAlways said:

Gah, I'm so nervous about tonight's outcome ... given the NY articles, I expect them to target price.   I expect them to play more desperate as falling 3-1 almost seals the deal (sub 10% of teams have done it) ... I expect them to goon it up, so even if we do win I fear we lose a critical piece for the next round ...

Im a little worried but honestly i dont think its going to be that bad.  

The one thing about running a team's goalie is that you always run the risk of having it happen to you. This series would already (effectively) be over if it wasnt for Lundqvist.  I just cant see them (the rags) being that stupid. I can, however, see someone like Kreider "accidentally, on purpose" to quote Prust, fall into price if we give him even the slightest window.  When he dumped price the last time he blamed it on Emelin's trip.  It was totally avoidable had he not wanted to hit price, but you can argue that if we are a little more careful where we dump players as we keep them away from Price, we should be in better shape.

[vegasrick]

We should have just sent the message to Kreider in Game 1.

[HabsAlways]

12 minutes ago, maas_art said:

Amazing how Pleks has flourished under Julien!  Julien was the guy who brought him into the league i think too? Maybe even coached him in the AHL?

 

Im a little worried but honestly i dont think its going to be that bad.  

The one thing about running a team's goalie is that you always run the risk of having it happen to you. This series would already (effectively) be over if it wasnt for Lundqvist.  I just cant see them (the rags) being that stupid. I can, however, see someone like Kreider "accidentally, on purpose" to quote Prust, fall into price if we give him even the slightest window.  When he dumped price the last time he blamed it on Emelin's trip.  It was totally avoidable had he not wanted to hit price, but you can argue that if we are a little more careful where we dump players as we keep them away from Price, we should be in better shape.

It's not just Price I'm worried about ... but goonery in general ... and some key piece (Radulov for instance) being injured "accidently on purpose"

 

[vegasrick]

Everybody's worried about the same thing -- one of our key players being injured by the goonery of the Rags.  Probably because we all know they could get away with it.  And also, probably because Bettman would be "extraordinarily comfortable" with it.  

So now we get to find out.....will this be just another intense hockey game, or will this one be the one where the Habs are targeted to exit the playoffs early?