Author: Dose

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“The Carrier effect” is becoming stronger and stronger.

Alexandre Carrier is becoming increasingly appreciated in Montreal.

He does everything very well, and it’s hard to find negative points in his play since he arrived in the metropolis.

The Tricolore has won four of its five games with Carrier on the blue line.

Without him, the CH’s record was 12-16-3.

His presence in the defensive zone is highly valued, especially by the goalies.

Let’s just say that Jakub Dobes and Samuel Montembeault are quite happy to have him in front of them. The defenseman is very involved defensively, plays smartly in his own zone, and does not hesitate to block shots.

Even though he’s not the biggest, he plays as if he were taller and sturdier, and this seems to increasingly annoy the CH’s opponents.

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Earlier this evening, the Tricolore visited the Lightning in Tampa Bay and Carrier played well once again.

He played very well, in fact, as he recorded two assists in the Canadiens’ 5-2 victory.

We knew he was reliable defensively and intelligent as a player, with and without the puck.

But the Quebecer is proving to us that he is much more than just a simple mobile defenseman who is good in his own zone.

He knows how to support the offense as we saw today against the Lightning.

His two points against Tampa Bay bring his total to four points in five games in his new colors.

And we can sense that he is happier than ever in an environment like Montreal.

The Carrier effect is increasingly felt, and the defensive brigade is much more solid with the addition of the Quebecer to the lineup.

As Nicolas Cloutier says, all the defensemen seem to be in the right place now.

Indeed, Justin Barron was not at Carrier’s current level, and the Quebecer is stabilizing the defensive brigade very well.

Let’s see where the CH will finish in the standings, as currently, things are going rather well, especially since the return of Patrik Laine and the addition of Carrier.

In a nutshell

– Very interesting.

– It’s done, Sidney Crosby has surpassed Mario Lemieux for the career assist total.

– What a save.

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Connor Hellebuyck dominates all the NHL statistics among goaltenders.

When it comes time to determine who the best goalie in the NHL is, it varies from year to year, but a few names often come up.

Igor Shesterkin and Connor Hellebuyck are generally the most consistent each year, but for Shesterkin, it’s much harder for him.

This season, Hellebuyck is once again very dominant, as he has proven over the seasons.

He’s even a bit too dominant.

It’s quite rare to see this, but looking at the leaders for each statistic among goalies, the netminder for the Winnipeg Jets is at the top of each one.

And we’re not just talking about goals against average (2.06) and save percentage (92.8%).

He is also the NHL leader in wins (23), total saves (772), shutouts (4), and total minutes played (1744:18).

Aside from these simple statistics, Hellebuyck is also first in goals saved above expected with 24.9. His closest competitor is at 16.0 (Lukas Dostal).

Regarding Goalie Point Shares, it is an advanced statistic that estimates the number of points a goalie has contributed with his strong performance in net.

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A goalie will always dominate more than another, but rarely this much.

According to Big Head Hockey, Hellebuyck could be the first goalie in the last 40 years to win the Vezina Trophy unanimously.

Incredible, nonetheless. It makes you wonder if he could enter the top-5 of all time for goalies, especially if he accomplishes this feat.

The chances of seeing him win the Vezina are very high, and it would be his third in his career.

With this achievement, he would join Martin Brodeur as the only goalies since the 2000s to have won this honor three times.

I believe there is no doubt that Hellebuyck is one of the best goalies of modern times and can easily be considered in the top-10 of all time.

In Brief

– Finland won against the United States.

– What a shot by Cole Hutson.

– Still very dominant.

– Must read.

– The Laine effect is increasingly felt.

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Training on December 26: the NHL is investigating Peter DeBoer and the Stars

The Christmas break is quite significant in the National Hockey League.

Every season, all the teams and therefore all the players in the NHL take a break from games, training, and travel on December 24, 25, and 26 for Christmas.

So there is no action and no activity in the NHL during these three days, allowing players to spend Christmas with their families.

This break is thus a mandatory rule to be respected in the NHL as it is part of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which is the basic contract between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association.

Normally, all teams unequivocally adhere to this rule, but this year, we learned in recent days that Peter DeBoer, the head coach of the Dallas Stars, held an optional practice on December 26.

Indeed, DeBoer himself confirmed this during his press conference on December 27 after practice.

This naturally reached the ears of the NHL and the Players’ Association, which have opened an investigation into this “illegal” practice.

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DeBoer, who is an experienced head coach (17 seasons leading an NHL team), thus likely made a mistake.

He himself stated that if the NHL is investigating this optional practice on December 26, he probably made an error.

Even though it was just an optional practice, the rule is strict that no activities whatsoever can take place during the Christmas break (December 24-25-26).

In the end, DeBoer stated that the young players on the team showed up for this optional practice as they are supposed to.

In short, let’s see what happens with this situation, as the NHL could very well decide to take action and fine the Dallas Stars or directly fine DeBoer.

This would not be the first time a team has been fined, as in 2015, the Philadelphia Flyers received a fine, and two years ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were fined $100,000 for traveling to St. Louis on December 26.

In Brief

– Phew.

– This will clearly be a nice three-way battle.

– Note for tonight’s game starting at 7:30 PM.

– CF Montréal will soon be back in action.

– Obviously.

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Two defeats in two days: the Rocket slips to 4th place in its division.

Yesterday afternoon, the Montreal Canadiens truly delivered an excellent hockey match, showcasing one of their best performances of the season.

The players of the CH gave their all for Jakub Dobes, and it showed throughout the match, as the Tricolore won 4 to 0 against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Laval Rocket, who were also in action yesterday afternoon.

It really seems that every time one of the two teams performs well and wins a big match, the other loses.

Indeed, Pascal Vincent’s team lost at home by a score of 5 to 2 against the Syracuse Crunch.

This was, in fact, a second home defeat at Place Bell in as many days against the Crunch, given that the Rocket lost 4 to 1 on Friday.

These are two consecutive defeats against a division rival that hurt the Rocket significantly, as Laval has now slipped to 4th place in their division, which is the North Division.

The Rocket was actually in 1st place in the division just before the Christmas break.

(Credit: TheAHL.com)

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In fact, in terms of points percentage, with the two losses in two days, the Rocket has slipped to 4th place, and would therefore have to play one more preliminary round against the 5th in the division to then access the playoff bracket.

This shows that Laval is in a very tight and difficult division, as all the teams are competitive, except for the Utica Comets.

Each losing streak can be very costly, and the Rocket is currently paying the price after having suffered two defeats.

This is even more painful considering that these two games were played at Place Bell and thus at home in front of the Rocket fans.

In short, Pascal Vincent will have to find a way to get his troops back on track as quickly as possible to keep them in the hunt for a top-3 finish in the division, and this, without Jakub Dobes for some time.

The Czech goalie was also praised and applauded yesterday at Place Bell during the game.

In Brief

– Today’s matches at the World Junior Championship.

– Wow.

– To be continued.

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Top-5: Matvei Michkov was benched for the entire third period.

There were 11 games yesterday in the National Hockey League, as 22 teams battled for important points in the standings.

Of course, we mainly remember Jakub Dobes’ shutout in his first game in the NHL, but there were also other highlights throughout the other games.

Here is a summary.

1. Matvei Michkov was benched for the entire third period

Yesterday, we were watching the matchup between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheim Ducks, as Cutter Gauthier faced the team that drafted him for the first time.

Gauthier was eagerly anticipating this game, unlike John Tortorella.

However, in the end, Cutter Gauthier did nothing special in 13:19 of ice time in a game won 3-1 by the Flyers.

So it was quite an ordinary game, until we realized that the Flyers’ star forward, Matvei Michkov, was benched for the entirety of the third period.

The young Russian has been experiencing very difficult moments lately, and yesterday, John Tortorella decided to punish him and try to shock him.

Tortorella noted that Michkov has had less energy for several weeks now, and therefore, he stated he wanted to give him more time to rest so he can regain his energy and intensity soon.

This remains to be seen, as Michkov has slowed down, while Macklin Celebrini is now at the top of the rookie scoring and goals leaderboard with 12 goals and 27 points.

The Calder trophy is slipping out of Michkov’s hands.

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2. The Rangers lose again

What is happening with the New York Rangers?

After losing eight of their last 11 games before the Christmas break, we expected the Rangers to come back strong yesterday, but in the end, it was the same outcome.

Indeed, the Rangers fell 6-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov had a great time in this game.

And in goal, stopping 42 of the 44 shots directed at him, Andrei Vasilevskiy was far better than his counterpart Igor Shesterkin, who was chased from the game after allowing five goals on 13 shots.

In short, things are really going poorly for the Rangers right now.

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3. Alex Ovechkin scores in his return to play

The number 8 of the Washington Capitals was finally back in action last night after missing 16 games.

In his absence, the Caps were simply sensational, as they remained at the top of the entire NHL.

And this doesn’t seem likely to change with Ovi’s return, as the Caps could be even better, as they proved last night by winning 5-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ovechkin scored a goal in his return to play, finishing the score in an empty net.

This is his 869th career goal. He is now just 26 goals away from Wayne Gretzky’s record.

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4. Impressive last-minute comeback by the Kraken

We witnessed quite an ending yesterday evening between the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken.

With less than five minutes left in the game, the Canucks were leading 4-1 at home and seemed to be on their way to a dominant victory.

But the Kraken had other plans, scoring three goals in four minutes.

Jaden Schwartz first scored with 4:45 remaining in the third period, and defenseman Vince Dunn added another a few minutes later, bringing the score to 4-3.

And then, 22 seconds later, Jaden Schwartz tied the game with 50 seconds remaining.

And in overtime, after a horrible pass from Tyler Myers, Vince Dunn broke away and secured the victory for the Kraken.

In short, what a crazy game the Canucks will regret letting slip away.

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5. Rod Brind’Amour becomes the fastest coach to reach 300 wins

By winning last night 5-2 against the New Jersey Devils, the Carolina Hurricanes allowed their head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, to record his 300th career victory as head coach.

And what’s fascinating is that Brind’Amour became the fastest coach in NHL history to reach this milestone.

He achieved it in 488 games.

Overtime

– Here are all the results from the previous day.

– Here are the top scorers from the previous day.

(Credit: NHLcom)

– On the agenda today: nine games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
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CMJ: Latvians have twice as many players in the QMJHL as Canada.

Last night, we were in for a big surprise at the WJC, as the Latvian team triumphed over the Canadian team.

The Latvian goalie, Linards Feldbergs, was on fire against Canada.

That said, we can’t just attribute this to a goalie miracle: the Latvians were the better team on the ice.

However, when we look at the composition of the Latvian team, we notice that the club relies on four players who play in the QMJHL. There’s Feldbergs (Sherbrooke), but there are also Eriks Mateiko (Saint John), Peteris Bulans (Chicoutimi), and Harijs Cjunskis (Sherbrooke).

And that’s particularly impressive when you consider that it was these guys who helped the Latvians win yesterday… but also when we notice that Canada has only two players from the QMJHL: Ethan Gauthier (Drummondville) and Mathieu Cataford (Rimouski).

This raises the question, even in Prince Edward Island, of whether the CEC may have dismissed the QMJHL too quickly.

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I’m well aware that it’s not that simple (it’s not like the Latvian players in the QMJHL could have represented Canada), but seeing these guys shine against a strong Canadian team is quite impressive.

Could guys like Caleb Desnoyers or Justin Poirier have helped the CEC yesterday? We’ll never know… but we clearly saw that QMJHL players can shine on the international stage. And that’s perhaps something the CEC leaders will need to consider in the future.

In a nutshell

– I love it.

– Jakub Dobes reminds of Ron Hextall and Billy Smith, according to Anthony Marcotte. [BPM Sports]

– The Dallas Stars might be in hot water. Holding a practice, even optional, on December 26 is forbidden.

– It was a surreal game.

– Good news for the Japanese player.

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« Congratulations Jakub »: Carey Price sends love to Jakub Dobes

In Montreal, the story of the day is Jakub Dobes. The young Canadiens goaltender, who made his NHL debut today, blanked the Panthers to start his career in brilliant fashion.

After seeing Cayden Primeau struggle in net for the Habs this season, it was refreshing to see a #1 goalie come through.

Obviously, this was an exciting performance from Dobes. One must be cautious before assuming he is the savior, but he looked like a guy who belonged in front of the net.

And while the team’s fans were showering the young goalie with love, there was another person who did the same (via his account X) earlier in the evening: Carey Price.

Congratulations Jakub. It makes me happy to see a moment like that. – Carey Price

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For the young man, it must be a pretty cool feeling to see one of the greats of the modern Habs era give him public love like this. In what must already be a dream day for him, this is another sweet treat on top of it all.

We know that Price has also had his share of great moments in front of the Canadiens’ net, and seeing him take the time to give a little pat on the back to a young guy in the organization is a nice gesture on his part.

We will now see if Dobes can build on his first start and prove that he deserves to stay in the NHL, but for now, he has the public’s love… and Carey Price’s. Hard to ask for more, right?

Overtime

It’s worth noting that this is the second time today that Price has shown love to a young goalie. Last night, he also praised Linards Feldbergs, who had Canada’s number at the WJC last night.

I love seeing that.

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-3 in 7 minutes: it’s tough for Justin Barron in Nashville

It’s been 10 days since the Canadiens sent Justin Barron to Nashville. In return, Montreal acquired Alexandre Carrier, a right-handed defenseman who was supposed to (ideally) solidify the Montreal defense core.

Because clearly, things weren’t working out for Barron in Montreal.

That said, while Carrier is making the fans happy in Montreal, it’s a whole different story in Nashville.

After spending 13 minutes on the ice in his first game in town, Barron was playing as the seventh defenseman for his team yesterday…

And in just seven minutes of ice time, he managed to end his work night at -3.

(Credit: Screenshot/ESPN)

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And clearly, people are starting to get a bit tired of the young defenseman’s performances, as at practice today, Barron was a healthy scratch.

So we can think he will be left out on Monday. It didn’t take long.

Meanwhile, in Montreal, Carrier is exactly what the Canadiens hoped to get. Without being a spectacular player, he greatly stabilizes his team’s defense core, playing big minutes and being effective when he’s on the ice. And most importantly, he helps his team win games.

(Credit: Screenshot/ESPN)

I understand that the Preds wanted to get rid of Carrier’s contract ($3.75 million per year for this season and the next two), and the sample is still small. That being said, after only 10 days, I wonder if the Predators feel like they’ve been taken for a ride.

They bet on Barron’s potential, of course… but if they leave him out after just two games, that’s not a great vote of confidence.

We’ll see if things change, but for now, the Canadiens have no reason to regret their trade. For the Preds, it’s probably a different story.

In Brief

– Not bad, the kid.

– Oops.

– The loss for the Rocket.

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No, Cayden Primeau would never have won that match.

This afternoon, the big story with the Canadiens was Jakub Dobes. The goalie, making his NHL debut, had the heavy task of facing the Florida Panthers in his first appearance in the show.

With Cayden Primeau no longer in the organization’s good graces (and officially placed on waivers at 2 PM), the task of backing up Samuel Montembeault (at least in the short term) fell to Dobes.

And how did Dobes respond in his first test? With nothing less than a shutout, making 34 saves against the reigning champions.

Of course, we must be cautious before thinking he is already the savior. It was a very encouraging start for Dobes, but we shouldn’t fall into the Ryan Poehling syndrome either.

That said, for the occasion, let’s be positive: the young goalie looked like a confident guy in front of his net, something the Canadiens have not often obtained from their backup goalie this season.

At the very least, we can agree on one thing: Dobes has today won a game that Cayden Primeau would never have won. And that’s exactly what the team needs from its backup goalie.

However, even though Dobes is the story of the day, there are other aspects of the game that intrigued me. Here’s what I take away from this 4-0 victory over the Panthers:

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1. Dobes has proven to be a valuable acquisition, but what we notice is that the three guys who joined the Canadiens in December have all improved the team. Patrik Laine is scoring goals in abundance on the power play, Alexandre Carrier is the stabilizing presence the team’s blue line needed, and Dobes gives confidence to the guys in front of him.

This means that suddenly, the team is winning more and more games.

2. Jake Evans has now scored a goal in each of his last four games. Once again today, he hit the target with a beautiful goal.

He is having an exceptional season… and as he will become a free agent in a few months, he is playing like a guy who is going to land a nice lucrative contract.

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3. Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook really needed a game like today’s. Seeing the former score two goals and the latter get his first two assists of the season will do them good.

If they can build on that and have a strong finish to the season, CH wouldn’t say no.

4. By defeating the Panthers today, CH secured its fourth victory of the season against a team on track for the playoffs.

To be in the famous mix, that is something that will need to improve.

A victory that will do wonders for the team and demonstrates that this new version of the Canadiens can win games against top teams, even when Samuel Montembeault rests.

I look forward to seeing what it will yield tomorrow against the Lightning.

In a nutshell

– Jakub Dobes felt at home at the Bell Centre.

– Nice moment at Place Bell.

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Ignored by Team Canada, Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk enjoyed the loss against Latvia.

Canada could still have two or three teams and remain highly competitive on the international stage.

Of course, there will be omissions/cuts that will not sit well with many, and the non-selection of Carter Yakemchuk and Zayne Parekh is among them.

They actually sent a subtle message, which ultimately wasn’t very discreet.

Following yesterday’s infamous loss to Latvia, the two talented defensemen liked a Sportsnet post about the final result.

The news is increasingly spreading around the hockey world.

After Matthew Schaefer’s injury that will keep him out for the rest of the tournament, it’s Sawyer Mynio (19 years old) who was chosen over Parekh and Yakemchuk to fill Schaefer’s absence.

It all adds to the frustration, especially since Canada needs an offensive defenseman and these two players would have been a great addition.

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Another player who was overlooked by Team Canada, Beckett Sennecke, the 3rd overall pick in the last draft, has decided to make the club regret not selecting him.

Since being passed over, Sennecke has played three games and collected no less than 14 points.

Nearly five points per game, that’s incredible.

In my opinion, Sennecke should have been part of the team because he brings much more than just offensive production.

He is a big guy who doesn’t back down and could have definitely been a great help for Canada yesterday.

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the Canadian tournament.

In Brief

– Indeed.

– Good news for the Leafs.

– Worth reading.