How About Playing Some Defence? Thrashers 5, Habs 4

What a display of defensive zone coverage that was. The Canadiens battled back several times, only to give the lead right back and eventually lose to the Thrashers 5-4. Carey Price was actually pretty solid in net and had little chance on 4 out of the 5 Atlanta goals. The Habs trailed by a goal heading into the 3rd, but Brian Gionta quickly tied it only to give a goal right back less than 3 minutes later. Tomas Plekanec then tied it again but the lead was handed back 34 seconds later. Too many blown coverages, too many point blank chances. Gionta scored twice while Pleks and Mike Cammalleri had the other Habs goals. Price stopped 25 of 30 shots. A few so called fans gave him a mock cheer after making a save after goal #5....nothing like mocking your own players....stay classy idiots...stay classy. Ondrej Pavelec continued his strong play making 34 saves. The Canadiens played without veteran defender Hal Gill who is on the shelf with a foot injury. Matt Carle made his NHL regular season debut and looked lost. Of course that didn't stop Martin from playing him to the bitter end, even after whiffing the puck at the Atlanta line and taking a penalty leading to goal #4. Matt D'Agostini also sat out his 2nd straight game with a concussion. Some other thoughts:

>The big line was rolling tonight picking up 3 goals and many other chances. Cammi missed a golden chance at the end of the 2nd only to steal the puck and score anyway a few seconds later. He then tossed out a "nice pass" to Peverley who coughed the puck up after a scrum.

>The defence and forwards both were awful in their own zone. Again, too many times did 2 Canadiens chase 1 Thrasher into the corner and get beat on a pass to a wide open guy standing in front.

>Carle and Bergeron both looked pretty bad. Bergeron sat for most of the 3rd before returning to the ice for Atlanta goal #5. Carle fell several times and look very nervous, which is understandable (the nerves, not the falling). I just don't know why Martin continued to put him on the ice. Can Spacek, Mara, Gorges, and Hamrlik not handle rolling 4 d-men for a period?

>Metro, Moen and Stewart also saw limited action in the 3rd. Metro has a point a game and Moen 4 goals. Might want to spot them in in place of Chips and Pacs every now and again.

Losing to the short staffed Thrashers is a tough pill to swallow, especially after battling back all night. You need to take advantage of teams that have depleted lineups and without Kovachuk the Thrashers are depleted. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game goes tonight to Brian Gionta. The guy was all over the ice tonight, scoring goals and setting up teammates. He could have had 4 assists if guys could have finished. Honorable mentions go to Cammi and Pleks. Next up the evil Bruins in Boston.