Quoting yourself lol, yeah they looked pretty good last night, only if they didn't shoot so many shots right at Vokoun and make him look so good.
Quoting myself in all my glowing accuracy.
They outplayed Florida like mad and, as predicted, cannot score goals to save their own skins. You're right though, they must really dislike their logo, hitting it so often.
It showed his abilility to roof the puck in such a tight area.
Scroll back a few, I believe I mention Kovy's inability to shoot lower than the cross bar - it's all dependent on how close to the net he is, the angle is always the same :P
Kovalev blame the coach in the media after the game... AGAIN!!! I can't believe what i've heard, get rid of this fat mouth, as soon as they find a taker, rumors are coming out of Calgary... just hoping it can be true...
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Kovalev blame the coach in the media after the game... AGAIN!!! I can't believe what i've heard, get rid of this fat mouth, as soon as they find a taker, rumors are coming out of Calgary... just hoping it can be true...
bahaha, really? Any links?
I love Kovy, I hope he stays.
Currently it is Hamrlik, not because I think he's bad, but because I think he's not worth his inflated salary. Kovalev is probably my biggest love/hate Hab. The guy has a magnetic stick and can carry the puck around almost anyone in the league, but he can't aim below the crossbar....even from the edge of the crease...
I don't really hate any players, but Bouillion, Dandenault, Murray and (until he was cut, ahhhh) Lapierre we can do without. I only mention Lapierre cause it was sweet relief to see him sent to the AHL.
Ryder can be quite annoying at times too because of foolish mistakes on the ice, not to mention his yearly arbitration visits.
Well maybe he should have used this in the shootout, instead of a deke along the ice, he shoulda went roof daddy on Vokoun.
London 2005
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Well maybe he should have used this in the shootout, instead of a deke along the ice, he shoulda went roof daddy on Vokoun.
Maybe, he put in a solid effort last night. I'm thinking Kovalev's stick must have broken on the way in on the shootout cause he left the puck on the ice.
Here's what's left to say: "That's the best 60 minutes we've played, but the last two minutes killed us," Kovalev said.
"I think in those situations, maybe we should have taken a timeout. You know they're gonna put everybody out there. We just weren't ready for that. Maybe we should have taken a timeout," he said.
Le beau Alex, bien assis au banc alors que son équipe écoulait la pénalité qui a conduit au but égalisateur des Panthers, a indiqué après le match que son coach aurait dû « à ses yeux » réclamer un temps d’arrêt pour mieux préparer les troupes à affronter les deux dernières minutes qui s’annonçaient difficiles.
« On savait qu’ils (les Panthers) retireraient leur gardien. Nous aurions donc dû, selon moi, profiter d’un des arrêts de jeu pour réclamer un temps d’arrêt afin de reprendre notre souffle et mieux nous préparer. Car on semblait vraiment désorganisés lors de ce désavantage », a plaidé l’attaquant russe.
Here's what's left to say: "That's the best 60 minutes we've played, but the last two minutes killed us," Kovalev said.
"I think in those situations, maybe we should have taken a timeout. You know they're gonna put everybody out there. We just weren't ready for that. Maybe we should have taken a timeout," he said.
Le beau Alex, bien assis au banc alors que son équipe écoulait la pénalité qui a conduit au but égalisateur des Panthers, a indiqué après le match que son coach aurait dû « à ses yeux » réclamer un temps d’arrêt pour mieux préparer les troupes à affronter les deux dernières minutes qui s’annonçaient difficiles.
« On savait qu’ils (les Panthers) retireraient leur gardien. Nous aurions donc dû, selon moi, profiter d’un des arrêts de jeu pour réclamer un temps d’arrêt afin de reprendre notre souffle et mieux nous préparer. Car on semblait vraiment désorganisés lors de ce désavantage », a plaidé l’attaquant russe.
"Here's what's left to say: "That's the best 60 minutes we've played, but the last two minutes killed us," Kovalev said.
"I think in those situations, maybe we should have taken a timeout. You know they're gonna put everybody out there. We just weren't ready for that. Maybe we should have taken a timeout," he said."
This is what he said? A timeout would have been a great idea, I don't see the problem with his statement. I also don't speak or understand most french so that is lost on me too.
This is what he said? A timeout would have been a great idea, I don't see the problem with his statement. I also don't speak or understand most french so that is lost on me too.
Yeah players should be open to rip into coaches and the fans, just as along as they don't rip into there team mates.
London 2005
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Yeah players should be open to rip into coaches and the fans, just as along as they don't rip into there team mates.
Well there isn't much of a problem (or there shouldn't be) in saying 'We should have taken a timeout'.
Unless there's something I'm missing, than the Montreal media is back to work.
Good job Kovalev, stating the obvious then getting run out of town for it
This is what he said? A timeout would have been a great idea, I don't see the problem with his statement. I also don't speak or understand most french so that is lost on me too.
Right or not, it's always bad to criticize a coach decision in the medias, he should learn to shut the fuck up, it's bad for the whole team, plus i don't remember any kind of stoppage after the Komisarek penalty, you can't just wave your hand while the play goes to call a timeout. Anyway get rid of him, he's a cancer, he loves himself so much. As a veteran he should take his courage and go talk to the coach, instead of crying in the media, he was probably frustrated that it wasn't him on the ice in the end... poor crybaby... no need for that kind of guy in a hockey team. The rumor sending him to Calgary for Tanguay is just too great to be true, it won't happen, but it would be great if Bob Gainey could find a taker. Chance are bigger now since he has a good start on the ice, but he's no fit for this team. He did it to Julien, now he's doing it to Carbonneau.
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Well there isn't much of a problem (or there shouldn't be) in saying 'We should have taken a timeout'.
Unless there's something I'm missing, than the Montreal media is back to work.
Good job Kovalev, stating the obvious then getting run out of town for it
It's great routing for Canadian teams, McCabe getting the Larry Murphy treatment in T.O and Kovalev talking to Russian news papers and now peeps pissed about a harmless comment.
London 2005
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Right or not, it's always bad to criticize a coach decision in the medias, he should learn to shut the fuck up, it's bad for the whole team, plus i don't remember any kind of stoppage after the Komisarek penalty, you can't just wave your hand while the play goes to call a timeout. Anyway get rid of him, he's a cancer, he loves himself so much. As a veteran he should take his courage and go talk to the coach, instead of crying in the media, he was probably frustrated that it wasn't him on the ice in the end... poor crybaby... no need for that kind of guy in a hockey team. The rumor sending him to Calgary for Tanguay is just too great to be true, it won't happen, but it would be great if Bob Gainey could find a taker. Chance are bigger now since he has a good start on the ice, but he's no fit for this team. He did it to Julien, now he's doing it to Carbonneau.
Well I'll disagree. He should be on the first line. They never pair him with Koivu, and just constantly shuffle his linemates - no wonder he can't produce (that and his ceiling shots, of course).
I don't think Tanguay is that great anyway, so I sure hope it isn't true.
The 'protect the lead' style of play the Habs love to adopt with 10 minutes left in the 3rd rarely works regardless. Ribeiro would have found a way to stop the play
It's great routing for Canadian teams, McCabe getting the Larry Murphy treatment in T.O and Kovalev talking to Russian news papers and now peeps pissed about a harmless comment.
Yeah, would be great if every player would start to rip off their coach in the medias. What a great team spirit it would make. Team is the word, keep it in the locker room or in the coach office, don't cry in the medias, i bet that Kovalev wouldn't have said anything if he'd have been on the ice in the end, he's just thinking for himself.
About McCabe... hmmm who cares about the Leafs problems anyway?
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Yeah, would be great if every player would start to rip off their coach in the medias. What a great team spirit it would make. Team is the word, keep it in the locker room or in the coach office, don't cry in the medias, i bet that Kovalev wouldn't have said anything if he'd have been on the ice in the end, he's just thinking for himself.
About McCabe... hmmm who cares about the Leafs problems anyway?
I don't think what he said was that bad, but you're right - they shouldn't talk to the media.
edit - half of the crap they were reporting 'from Russia' last year was complete BS anyway, so you can't still hold that against him
Well I'll disagree. He should be on the first line. They never pair him with Koivu, and just constantly shuffle his linemates - no wonder he can't produce (that and his ceiling shots, of course).
I don't think Tanguay is that great anyway, so I sure hope it isn't true.
The 'protect the lead' style of play the Habs love to adopt with 10 minutes left in the 3rd rarely works regardless. Ribeiro would have found a way to stop the play
Tanguay is better than Kovalev, as i said would be way too nice to be true:
Tanguay
03-04 25g 54a 79p
05-06 29g 49a 78p
06-07 22g 59a 81p
Kovalev
03-04 14g 31a 45p
05-06 23g 42a 65p
06-07 18g 29a 47 p
Carbo is bad, Kovalev (overrated) should be gone, the season will be long...
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
At least the goaltending is great, we don't have that as an issue, the top 3 dman are good enough, but offense is so bad, and the team as a team also looks bad, nothing seem to gel, let's hope they'll find something to rally around, cause it doesn't look like a team. Right now it looks like a continuity of last year post december 23rd team, nothing changed, Carbo can't find lines that works (works = scoring goals), team keeps taking stupid costly penalty, maybe we should trade for McCabe... hehe.
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Tanguay - paired with Sakic then later Iginla
03-04 25g 54a 79p
05-06 29g 49a 78p
06-07 22g 59a 81p
Kovalev - paired with rookies and third liners....
03-04 14g 31a 45p
05-06 23g 42a 65p
06-07 18g 29a 47 p
Tanguay paired with the best cause he deserved it, Kovalev played with rookies cause he deserved it. Julien AND Carbo tried to match him with Koivu, it doesn't work, or HE doesn't work, might be a better fit.
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
At least the goaltending is great, we don't have that as an issue, the top 3 dman are good enough, but offense is so bad, and the team as a team also looks bad, nothing seem to gel, let's hope they'll find something to rally around, cause it doesn't look like a team. Right now it looks like a continuity of last year post december 23rd team, nothing changed, Carbo can't find lines that works (works = scoring goals), team keeps taking stupid costly penalty, maybe we should trade for McCabe... hehe.
Agreed. They look exactly like last year's second half. Even in the first have, considering most of the goals then were pp goals. The whole team put in a hard working effort last night even if throwing it on net didn't work..
Hahaha, trade for McCabe and we'll solve our goal scoring drought.
Tanguay paired with the best cause he deserved it, Kovalev played with rookies cause he deserved it. Julien AND Carbo tried to match him with Koivu, it doesn't work, or HE doesn't work, might be a better fit.
When did they put him with Koivu? One or two games in preseason match-ups??
When did they put him with Koivu? One or two games in preseason match-ups??
They did it, at least a dozens times including in the playoffs (only year they made the playoffs with Kovy i think), it never worked, plus you don't hear Koivu or Kovalev talking about how they'd like to play together, or how their chemistry is great together. When Briere signed with Philly, he immediatly talked about playing with Gagné, you never hear that from Kovalev and Koivu. Plus the lack of other good forward means that the coach (whoever he is) needs to spread his talent around, Kovalev is the key to the second line, Koivu the key to the first line. Koivu is doing it well, Kovalev is having more problems to gel with teammates, i think they've tried everyone with him.
Anyway my point is, get rid of him if there's any takers, otherwise we'll have to deal with him, at least he's doing fine on the ice right now.
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
They did it, at least a dozens times including in the playoffs (only year they made the playoffs with Kovy i think), it never worked, plus you don't hear Koivu or Kovalev talking about how they'd like to play together, or how their chemistry is great together. When Briere signed with Philly, he immediatly talked about playing with Gagné, you never hear that from Kovalev and Koivu. Plus the lack of other good forward means that the coach (whoever he is) needs to spread his talent around, Kovalev is the key to the second line, Koivu the key to the first line. Koivu is doing it well, Kovalev is having more problems to gel with teammates, i think they've tried everyone with him.
Anyway my point is, get rid of him if there's any takers, otherwise we'll have to deal with him, at least he's doing fine on the ice right now.
This is true, they don't talk about playing together. They did show them practicing together yesterday :P
There isn't a whole lot of choices for pairings either.
I don't think he's going anywhere any time soon, whether by choice or not, so they're going to have to find a way to put the puck in the net somehow...
As the Canadiens prepare for an important divisional match-up in Ottawa on Thursday night, head coach Guy Carbonneau is under fire after veteran star Alexei Kovalev wondered out loud immediately following Tuesday's loss to Florida why a timeout wasn't called in the late stages to get the "right players" on the ice.
Well, maybe because there was no stoppage in play to call a timeout? Yeah, that might be a reasonable explanation.
For those who didn't see it, the Canadiens were dominating the Florida Panthers but still nursing a 1-0 lead when Mike Komisarek took a slashing penalty with 2:14 remaining in regulation time. The Canadiens didn't call time out at that point, nor would you necessarily expect them to in case they needed it for a crucial late-game faceoff.
Carbonneau had the penalty killers he wanted on the ice. The Canadiens iced it once, got a change of their penalty killers and as play continued without a whistle, iced it once again to get another change of the PK unit. Florida then pressed, the Canadiens had a few chances to clear but failed to do so and with 11 seconds left in regulation time, Nathan Horton scored the equalizer with Tomas Vokoun on the bench and Komisarek just having stepped out of the penalty box.
For all intents and purposes, it was a six-on-four goal.
But the key point here is that there was no a whistle to be heard or a stoppage in play from the time puck was dropped with 2:14 remaining to when Horton scored with 11 seconds left.
Carbonneau is a sophomore head coach in the NHL. And he no doubt made mistakes last season as a rookie bench boss and was widely criticized for them.
But he gets a free pass on this specific issue.
Alexei Kovalev? Sorry, no free pass there.
What was he thinking? Not much apparently.
Carbonneau could not have called a timeout if he wanted to. There was no opportunity. And for Kovalev to say that to the media in the post-game scrum, well, it's beyond comprehension.
Kovalev is a veteran player. He has played in Montreal long enough to know what creates a stir and what doesn't. And wondering out loud why a timeout wasn't called, questioning a coach with whom he has had some bad history, the only logical conclusion is that Kovalev was intentionally lighting a fuse on a powder keg that was already simmering because Carbonneau had the audacity to scratch two fourth-line players (Steve Begin and Guillaume Latendresse).
But here's the bizarre part. There are those close to the Canadiens who don't believe Kovalev intended any ill will towards Carbonneau, that it was just an off the cuff remark in the wake of a tough, tough loss.
The cynic in all of us has a tough time believing that, but sources suggest Kovalev did seek out Carbonneau Wednesday and apologize for creating a stir, saying it was wholly unintentional and not aimed to cast the coach in a bad light.
Certainly, for whatever issues Carbonneau and Kovalev had last season, this brouhaha seemingly came out of nowhere.
Kovalev has been a model citizen so far this season. He worked hard in training camp, was often one of the best players on the ice. He has been positive and encouraging with the Canadiens' young players and played hard and well in the regular season thus far. He had what should have been the game-winning goal in Tuesday's game against Florida.
For him to suggest Carbonneau erred by not calling a timeout or not having out the right players, well, it's just so far out of left field. It makes no sense. There is no logic.
So it fuels the notion there are still hard feelings between the veteran and the coach, but outside of this post-game remark, there has been no evidence this season to suggest there's a problem.
Weird.
It will be interesting to see how GM Bob Gainey handles this one. He could look at it, shrug and write it off as a misunderstanding. Or he could think this is aggravation he and his team do not need, that the Canadiens are a rising young team doing some very good things and they don't need Cirque de Kovalev/Carbonneau. If so, Gainey could start laying a rail for Kovy.
If I were him, I would talk to Kovalev, try to discern where this all came from and as long as Gainey isn't convinced this was an intentional low blow, just put the gifted Russian on double-secret probation and the NEXT TIME he so much as rolls his eyes in Carbo's direction, pick up the phone and call Mike Keenan/Darryl Sutter in Calgary and eliminate the problem once and for all.
As for Carbonneau's critics, they might want to wait for him to actually make a mistake before blaming him for one.
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers"
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Comments
Quoting myself in all my glowing accuracy.
They outplayed Florida like mad and, as predicted, cannot score goals to save their own skins. You're right though, they must really dislike their logo, hitting it so often.
Kovalev's goal was a beaut, though.
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Scroll back a few, I believe I mention Kovy's inability to shoot lower than the cross bar - it's all dependent on how close to the net he is, the angle is always the same :P
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
bahaha, really? Any links?
I love Kovy, I hope he stays.
Well maybe he should have used this in the shootout, instead of a deke along the ice, he shoulda went roof daddy on Vokoun.
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Maybe, he put in a solid effort last night. I'm thinking Kovalev's stick must have broken on the way in on the shootout cause he left the puck on the ice.
Would be better for you to find the complete post game interview, but here are some links, most in french:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=2a077310-6d9a-46bf-ab71-4f85e1e0516e&k=6565
Here's what's left to say: "That's the best 60 minutes we've played, but the last two minutes killed us," Kovalev said.
"I think in those situations, maybe we should have taken a timeout. You know they're gonna put everybody out there. We just weren't ready for that. Maybe we should have taken a timeout," he said.
La Presse
http://blogues.cyberpresse.ca/gagnon/?p=70312461
Kovalev rides again
Mais il y a pire.
Il y a les commentaires d’Alex Kovalev.
Le beau Alex, bien assis au banc alors que son équipe écoulait la pénalité qui a conduit au but égalisateur des Panthers, a indiqué après le match que son coach aurait dû « à ses yeux » réclamer un temps d’arrêt pour mieux préparer les troupes à affronter les deux dernières minutes qui s’annonçaient difficiles.
« On savait qu’ils (les Panthers) retireraient leur gardien. Nous aurions donc dû, selon moi, profiter d’un des arrêts de jeu pour réclamer un temps d’arrêt afin de reprendre notre souffle et mieux nous préparer. Car on semblait vraiment désorganisés lors de ce désavantage », a plaidé l’attaquant russe.
Journal de Montreal
http://www.canoe.com/sports/nouvelles/archives/2007/10/20071017-061702.html
RDS
http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/238673.html
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This is what he said? A timeout would have been a great idea, I don't see the problem with his statement. I also don't speak or understand most french so that is lost on me too.
Yeah players should be open to rip into coaches and the fans, just as along as they don't rip into there team mates.
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Well there isn't much of a problem (or there shouldn't be) in saying 'We should have taken a timeout'.
Unless there's something I'm missing, than the Montreal media is back to work.
Good job Kovalev, stating the obvious then getting run out of town for it
Right or not, it's always bad to criticize a coach decision in the medias, he should learn to shut the fuck up, it's bad for the whole team, plus i don't remember any kind of stoppage after the Komisarek penalty, you can't just wave your hand while the play goes to call a timeout. Anyway get rid of him, he's a cancer, he loves himself so much. As a veteran he should take his courage and go talk to the coach, instead of crying in the media, he was probably frustrated that it wasn't him on the ice in the end... poor crybaby... no need for that kind of guy in a hockey team. The rumor sending him to Calgary for Tanguay is just too great to be true, it won't happen, but it would be great if Bob Gainey could find a taker. Chance are bigger now since he has a good start on the ice, but he's no fit for this team. He did it to Julien, now he's doing it to Carbonneau.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It's great routing for Canadian teams, McCabe getting the Larry Murphy treatment in T.O and Kovalev talking to Russian news papers and now peeps pissed about a harmless comment.
Toronto 2011 night 2
Hamilton 2011
London 2013
Well I'll disagree. He should be on the first line. They never pair him with Koivu, and just constantly shuffle his linemates - no wonder he can't produce (that and his ceiling shots, of course).
I don't think Tanguay is that great anyway, so I sure hope it isn't true.
The 'protect the lead' style of play the Habs love to adopt with 10 minutes left in the 3rd rarely works regardless. Ribeiro would have found a way to stop the play
Yeah, would be great if every player would start to rip off their coach in the medias. What a great team spirit it would make. Team is the word, keep it in the locker room or in the coach office, don't cry in the medias, i bet that Kovalev wouldn't have said anything if he'd have been on the ice in the end, he's just thinking for himself.
About McCabe... hmmm who cares about the Leafs problems anyway?
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I don't think what he said was that bad, but you're right - they shouldn't talk to the media.
edit - half of the crap they were reporting 'from Russia' last year was complete BS anyway, so you can't still hold that against him
Tanguay is better than Kovalev, as i said would be way too nice to be true:
Tanguay
03-04 25g 54a 79p
05-06 29g 49a 78p
06-07 22g 59a 81p
Kovalev
03-04 14g 31a 45p
05-06 23g 42a 65p
06-07 18g 29a 47 p
Carbo is bad, Kovalev (overrated) should be gone, the season will be long...
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
We're agreed on something...
03-04 25g 54a 79p
05-06 29g 49a 78p
06-07 22g 59a 81p
Kovalev - paired with rookies and third liners....
03-04 14g 31a 45p
05-06 23g 42a 65p
06-07 18g 29a 47 p
At least the goaltending is great, we don't have that as an issue, the top 3 dman are good enough, but offense is so bad, and the team as a team also looks bad, nothing seem to gel, let's hope they'll find something to rally around, cause it doesn't look like a team. Right now it looks like a continuity of last year post december 23rd team, nothing changed, Carbo can't find lines that works (works = scoring goals), team keeps taking stupid costly penalty, maybe we should trade for McCabe... hehe.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Tanguay paired with the best cause he deserved it, Kovalev played with rookies cause he deserved it. Julien AND Carbo tried to match him with Koivu, it doesn't work, or HE doesn't work, might be a better fit.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Agreed. They look exactly like last year's second half. Even in the first have, considering most of the goals then were pp goals. The whole team put in a hard working effort last night even if throwing it on net didn't work..
Hahaha, trade for McCabe and we'll solve our goal scoring drought.
When did they put him with Koivu? One or two games in preseason match-ups??
They did it, at least a dozens times including in the playoffs (only year they made the playoffs with Kovy i think), it never worked, plus you don't hear Koivu or Kovalev talking about how they'd like to play together, or how their chemistry is great together. When Briere signed with Philly, he immediatly talked about playing with Gagné, you never hear that from Kovalev and Koivu. Plus the lack of other good forward means that the coach (whoever he is) needs to spread his talent around, Kovalev is the key to the second line, Koivu the key to the first line. Koivu is doing it well, Kovalev is having more problems to gel with teammates, i think they've tried everyone with him.
Anyway my point is, get rid of him if there's any takers, otherwise we'll have to deal with him, at least he's doing fine on the ice right now.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This is true, they don't talk about playing together. They did show them practicing together yesterday :P
There isn't a whole lot of choices for pairings either.
I don't think he's going anywhere any time soon, whether by choice or not, so they're going to have to find a way to put the puck in the net somehow...
i just had a feeling florida would score and sure enough, with 10.2 seconds to go they score, lol
Gainey's probably got his ban stick ready though...
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/mckenzie/
10/17/2007
The feeding frenzy is in full swing in Montreal.
As the Canadiens prepare for an important divisional match-up in Ottawa on Thursday night, head coach Guy Carbonneau is under fire after veteran star Alexei Kovalev wondered out loud immediately following Tuesday's loss to Florida why a timeout wasn't called in the late stages to get the "right players" on the ice.
Well, maybe because there was no stoppage in play to call a timeout? Yeah, that might be a reasonable explanation.
For those who didn't see it, the Canadiens were dominating the Florida Panthers but still nursing a 1-0 lead when Mike Komisarek took a slashing penalty with 2:14 remaining in regulation time. The Canadiens didn't call time out at that point, nor would you necessarily expect them to in case they needed it for a crucial late-game faceoff.
Carbonneau had the penalty killers he wanted on the ice. The Canadiens iced it once, got a change of their penalty killers and as play continued without a whistle, iced it once again to get another change of the PK unit. Florida then pressed, the Canadiens had a few chances to clear but failed to do so and with 11 seconds left in regulation time, Nathan Horton scored the equalizer with Tomas Vokoun on the bench and Komisarek just having stepped out of the penalty box.
For all intents and purposes, it was a six-on-four goal.
But the key point here is that there was no a whistle to be heard or a stoppage in play from the time puck was dropped with 2:14 remaining to when Horton scored with 11 seconds left.
Carbonneau is a sophomore head coach in the NHL. And he no doubt made mistakes last season as a rookie bench boss and was widely criticized for them.
But he gets a free pass on this specific issue.
Alexei Kovalev? Sorry, no free pass there.
What was he thinking? Not much apparently.
Carbonneau could not have called a timeout if he wanted to. There was no opportunity. And for Kovalev to say that to the media in the post-game scrum, well, it's beyond comprehension.
Kovalev is a veteran player. He has played in Montreal long enough to know what creates a stir and what doesn't. And wondering out loud why a timeout wasn't called, questioning a coach with whom he has had some bad history, the only logical conclusion is that Kovalev was intentionally lighting a fuse on a powder keg that was already simmering because Carbonneau had the audacity to scratch two fourth-line players (Steve Begin and Guillaume Latendresse).
But here's the bizarre part. There are those close to the Canadiens who don't believe Kovalev intended any ill will towards Carbonneau, that it was just an off the cuff remark in the wake of a tough, tough loss.
The cynic in all of us has a tough time believing that, but sources suggest Kovalev did seek out Carbonneau Wednesday and apologize for creating a stir, saying it was wholly unintentional and not aimed to cast the coach in a bad light.
Certainly, for whatever issues Carbonneau and Kovalev had last season, this brouhaha seemingly came out of nowhere.
Kovalev has been a model citizen so far this season. He worked hard in training camp, was often one of the best players on the ice. He has been positive and encouraging with the Canadiens' young players and played hard and well in the regular season thus far. He had what should have been the game-winning goal in Tuesday's game against Florida.
For him to suggest Carbonneau erred by not calling a timeout or not having out the right players, well, it's just so far out of left field. It makes no sense. There is no logic.
So it fuels the notion there are still hard feelings between the veteran and the coach, but outside of this post-game remark, there has been no evidence this season to suggest there's a problem.
Weird.
It will be interesting to see how GM Bob Gainey handles this one. He could look at it, shrug and write it off as a misunderstanding. Or he could think this is aggravation he and his team do not need, that the Canadiens are a rising young team doing some very good things and they don't need Cirque de Kovalev/Carbonneau. If so, Gainey could start laying a rail for Kovy.
If I were him, I would talk to Kovalev, try to discern where this all came from and as long as Gainey isn't convinced this was an intentional low blow, just put the gifted Russian on double-secret probation and the NEXT TIME he so much as rolls his eyes in Carbo's direction, pick up the phone and call Mike Keenan/Darryl Sutter in Calgary and eliminate the problem once and for all.
As for Carbonneau's critics, they might want to wait for him to actually make a mistake before blaming him for one.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau