Habitants de Sous-sol (Cellar Dwellers)

Yes, Carey you're supposed to stop the puck.

Last Place. Not exactly where you want to be at any point in the season, but that’s where the Montreal Canadiens find themselves. After posting a victory on Friday against Ottawa Montreal had won four straight and looked to be climbing the Northeast Division ladder. Two losses later and they’ve been leapfrogged by the Bruins (who they beat twice during that four game win streak) and are now the sole possessors of last place.

The most embarrassing of these two losses that has put Montreal where it is, has to be the 3-1 loss to Edmonton. Edmonton is having a fine season and is a skilled team at 9-3-2 (20 points). Montreal played Edmonton at home, allowed only 14 shots against and had six power play opportunities. Sounds like the recipe for a victory. Well that wasn’t the case. Edmonton scored three goals on only 14 shots. You might think that this paragraph is being redundant but that point needs to be stressed. a 4.67:1 shot to goal ratio will not win you games in professional hockey. Pee Wee hockey or Foosball maybe but not professional hockey. Then there is the pathetic power play output. The Canadiens had six opportunities and didn’t cash in on one of them. The six chances tied a season high for the Habs, who scored on two of those chances when they were a man up six times in a 4-2 win over Boston. Montreal has been atrocious on the power play this year with the 25th percentage at only 12.7 percent. When other teams make mistakes or you are given an opportunity like say a one man advantage, you need to be able to take advantage at a better rate.

The Habs were without Andrei Kostitsyn in the loss to Edmonton, after he injured himself in practice on Monday. He is currently listed day to day and the injury has not been disclosed.  Losing a guy who has scored one of the teams seven power play goals and is tied for the team lead in goals scored doesn’t exactly aid a team trying to turn around it’s offensive production.

Troubling as well is goalie Carey Price reverting to poor play. Consistency is something any NHL team needs between the pipes and Price has not been coming through in that area. After posting godly numbers during the Habs four game win streak Price looked outmatched in the back to back losses with save percentages of under 86 percent in both games. His save percentage his treading at the 90 percent mark (he currently sits at .902) and as has been reiterated in previous posts Price needs to play like the stellar 2010-11 version of himself and not the guy who was a part of the Canadiens atrocious 1-5-2 start.

Montreal’s next three games run the gambit of talent in the NHL. They play a fourth place team when they travel to Phoenix to take on the Coyotes. They then take on Nashville (16 points) on the road before returning home for a showdown with Northeast Divisional opponent Buffalo (18 points). The Bruins have begun to turn things around. Now it might seem sacrilegious for the Habs to do anything like Boston but the Canadiens need to follow suit or the rest of the division will continue to pull away from them and Montreal will be left somewhere that’s hard to translate to their demanding fans; Dernier endroit. (Last place)

-Phil

Which Carey Price is the real one? Are the Habs destined to stay in the basement? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter (@seeuinoctober).

The First Tenth- Northeast Division

The Habs Not Scoring and Ryan Miller Not Allowing Them To. Sounds Right.

Boston Bruins- 3-5-0 6 points

The highlight of this season so far for the Bruins came before the season really started. On opening night the Bruins raised their 2011 Stanley Cup Champions banner to the rafters of the TD Bank Garden (must be crowded up there with all the ones from that green team that used to play basketball). After the festivities the Bruins were then felled by the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1.

So far this season the Bruins still seem to be suffering from the championship hangover. Through eight games the B’s are 3-5 and that’s with six games coming at home where the Bruins dominated in the playoffs last season. Boston faithful shouldn’t be too worried as 90 percent of the season still remains but there have been some negative signs. The Bruins SRS is 0.24 which is 32 points lower than their final total last year.

I Hear Lots of Water Helps Hangovers. Not Sure About Stanley Cup Hangovers.

The offense has been less than improved. The power play which was so ineffective last season continues to struggle (12.5 percent) and only 2.3 goals per game.  Furthermore the loss of David Krejci hurt quite a bit and the Bruins are still waiting for him to return to form, despite his absence .On the bright side, young gun Tyler Seguin has continued from his flash of brilliance in the Cup run. Seguin leads the team in points, goals and assists.  You know all the important things.

The defense and goaltending have been fine for the Bruins. Tim Thomas hasn’t been at his playoff level, but how long can a 38 year old goalie play like a god? Thomas is still putting up solid numbers allowing only 2.16 goals per game and accumulating all three of the teams wins.

So at the 1/10^th mark the Bruins record may not look Cup champion caliber but the Bruins are still the defending champions and should continue to improve. The Bruins will start the next tenth with a home and away double feature with the Montreal Canadiens. Maybe some old rivalry can ignite some goals for the Black and Gold.

Buffalo Sabres 5-3-0 10 points

A lot of people coming into this season were inspired by the Sabres season last year and with the addition of new blood thought Buffalo would come out and stampede through the Northeast. (What we at SeeYouInOctober didn’t pick them to win the division? I am astounded). Anyway aside from backtracking on predictions the Sabres trail only Toronto at the top of the Northeast division. And the Sabres competition has been pretty solid as they have taken down Pittsburgh (14 points), Florida (10 points) and Los Angeles (11 points).

Buffalo has been unforgiving on defense allowing only 1.9 goals per game the major reason behind their 5-2 start. However a defense can play as well as possible but if the guy between the doesn’t stand on his head, or at least try to, it doesn’t matter. Luckily the Sabres have Ryan Miller. Before last night Miller had gone 4-2 on the season with a save percentage of .946. Millers career high save percentage is .929. We’ll see if he can continue at this level but if he even stays in the same area code the Sabres might be more competitive than the Bills this season. (And that actually means something this year).

The Sabres have a four game home stand to close out October and head into November including some give me games against Calgary and Columbus meaning the Sabres should still be floating atop the standings when they head to Ottawa on November 5^th.

Montreal Canadiens 1-5-2 4 points

What is French for not good at hockey? I think so far this year Montreal is probably finding out pretty regularly. The Canadiens have managed only one win, only the Blue Jackets have fewer wins. The Habs have a minus 8 goal differential and have lost six straight. Montreal may not remember this but putting the puck in the net is the most important part of hockey. They have done a putrid job of that this season putting in 18 goals this season. It’s not out of lack of trying. The Canadiens threw 41 shots at the net in a 2-1 loss to the Panthers on Monday. The Panthers managed 10 less with twice the goal output.

Goalkeeper Carey Price has been planted firmly on his feet this season. Unfortunately in hockey jargon that isn’t a compliment. Price has not pulled over his success from last year to this one, allowing 3.13 goals a game and saving less than 88 percent of the shots taken against him. It is the second lowest save percentage among goalies with seven or more starts.

Raise Your Hand If Your About To Lose Your Job.

The Canadiens have been equally horrible when teams make it easier for them with the 29^th worst power play output (9.4 percent) in the NHL. Montreal has had plenty of opportunities (32) which isis right around the league average (30), but they have not played around average. At this point that would be a welcome sight in Quebec.

Tha Canadiens have gotten some solid, albeit futile, efforts from the core of their team. Max Pacioretty , Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kositsyn and Tavis Moen all have five points and Yannick Weber has played well on defense with a team high plus/minus of +4. However these performances have been marred by the Canadiens poor play.

As the hotseat for coach Jacques Martin reaches inhuman levels, the Canadiens head into a difficult stretch for a team that has been difficult to watch (except for Bruins fans). The Canadiens have games against Philadelphia and Boston (twice) this week and then play four of five games on the road heading towards mid-November.