Canadiens vs. Jackets - Preview

After a long week of waiting, the game is just hours away! The Columbus Blue Jackets are about to get dismantled by our Montreal Canadiens.

The Jackets are an interesting opponent. Lead by Rick Nash, a 24 year old playing in his SIXTH NHL season, Columbus has a bright future, but the future isn’t now. The organization has done a fantastic job at losing and for their efforts they have been rewarded with players such as Jakub Voracek, Nikita Filatov, Rick Nash, Steve Mason and their leading scorer, a rookie and Quebec native, Derick Brassard.

Rookie goaltender Steve Mason will attempt to outduel a goalie with much to prove, Jaroslav Halak. Mason has a solid future, having backstopped the Canadian World Junior team to the gold medal last year in the Czech Republic. Mason also cemented the MVP award of the tournament; much like a young kid named Carey Price did the year earlier. Where is Price now? Looks like he’s a Vezina contender just two seasons after graduating from the Junior Championships. Now by no means do I think Mason will have an immediate impact like our friend Price has, but look for big things from this kid in the future. Now that Leclaire is injured he has a shot a showing off his great talent.

It’s always fun to watch the only team never to make the playoffs play against a team with twenty-four cups. What I find fascinating about this matchup however is the many parallels that can be drawn between our current roster and theirs. The Blue Jackets remind me of our team a couple years back, when we began to see great promise, but were continually doubted by the media and critics. I believe that the Jackets will breakout in a big way next year and surprise a lot of gambling men. The pace of the game will be fast tonight, but the lack of experience on the home team’s side will chew them apart.

Finally! I repeat FINALLY! We will witness the lineup that many of us expected to see starting the season. It will be fun to watch, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. I think Halak will come out solid, but if he gets cracked early it will be a definite blow to his confidence. How much time left does he have in Montreal? This is another fascinating topic. We have an all-star starter and TWO, yes that’s right, TWO strong back up goalies. Marc Denis has put up a wall in Hamilton (7 wins, 1 Loss, 2 Shutouts, 1.84 GAA and 0.945 SV%) and will see time with an NHL team this season. I think Halak has more trade value, so if either of them go, it will be Jaro.

I have never been a fan of long breaks between games and this break has been absolutely moronic and ridiculous! We are SIX games behind the league leading New York Rangers. Now due to a lack of action the Canadiens will participate in 13 games in 23 nights. The NHL scheduling committee has set us up for injuries. I am also a believer that too much time practicing and watching other teams play leaves a team frozen. If it were any other team I’d probably say they’d come out flat, but we’re the Montreal Canadiens and we’re not any other team.

I have always loved Ken Hitchcock as a coach and I think he’s got a great challenge with the Jackets and has been doing a fabulous job. If Carbonneau wants to prove himself, tonight’s the night! He’s facing a titan in the realm of coaching, a coach who can coach a team to victory. Let’s see of Carbonneau can deal a knockout punch and silence his critics.

I hate making predictions. My friends usually ask me to make my Habs fan prediction and my TSN analyst prediction. So from now on I will do just that.

Habs Fan Prediction: 82-0. The Habs will score as many times as we have made the playoffs and the same goes for Columbus.

TSN Analyst Prediction: A big win 4-1. With Higgins scoring a beauty and Price taking a stab at the empty net.

dedicated to a friend and true competitor - MICHAEL DAVID MCCONNELL

Have a beer for your team.

Yours Truly,

 

The Optimist

POST YOUR PREDICTIONS