Bleacher Report - Articles by Philip Houghton

Montreal Canadiens: Is Bob Gainey Clairvoyant?

Philip Houghton — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:42:13 -0400

Bob Gainey took a lot of heat from Montreal Canadiens fans when he sent Huet packing.

I was one of the critics.

I thought for sure Carey Price was too young and inexperienced to carry the Habs to the playoffs.

I was wrong. I owe Bob Gainey an apology.

How did he know?

What is it that Bob Gainey has that he is able to predict who to trade and whom not to?

He pulled the same wizardry when he was with the Dallas Stars. Yet, we still doubted him when he made his move with Huet.

Price has stepped up to the plate and delivered. He proved that he is the No. 1 go-to-guy.

I think this journey in the playoffs will prepare him for a long career with the Habs. If he can pull his experience from the junior gold medal game, he will do just fine.

I know anything can happen in the playoffs. However, I believe that this could be a boring series.

Montreal should sweep the Bruins in four.

However, I feel that the Bruins will take game three extending the series to a five game final.

It all depends which goalie shows up. Some nights Thomas is brilliant. Others, well, not so good.

The team to watch out for is the Washington Capitols. They will be the dark horse of the playoffs.

Who will win the Stanley Cup?

I'm really not sure. I'm sure Bob Gainey has already looked into his crystal ball.

We should ask him.

Habs Tame Panthers

Philip Houghton — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:02:30 -0500

The Montreal Canadiens continued their Florida tour, taming the Panthers 5-1 on Friday, after zapping the Lightning 5-2 the previous night.

Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun had a dismal performance, as the Habs scored on their first three shots of the game.

Guillaume Latendresse scored at 1:42 in the first period, followed by Michael Ryder at 4:50, and just 13 seconds later Christopher Higgins netted his 16th of the season.

Jacques Martin had seen enough, and replaced Vokoun with Craig Anderson for the remainder of the first period. Vokoun returned to start the second period. He gave the puck away to Mark Streit who passed to Tom Kostopoulos. He banked it home for the 4-0 lead.

Anderson started the third period.

Cristobal Huet had another stellar performance, stopping all but one of forty shots. Florida's Olli Jokinen scored at 10:21 in the third, allowing the Panthers to evade their first shutout of the season.

The Canadiens end their road trip in New York by facing the Rangers Sunday night.

IIHF World Juniors: Steve Mason Delivers in Game Two

Philip Houghton — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:52:12 -0500

Steve Mason got the nod from Canadian coach Craig Hartsburg to start Game Two against Slovakia at the IIHF World Juniors, and the goalie delivered.

Canada's 2-0 win kept Canada's 20-game winning steak alive.

Mason wasn't as busy as Jonathan Bernier was in yesterday's 3-0 win over the Czech Republic, stopping only 22 shots compared to Bernier's 44.

Canada jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Kyle Turris goal on a two-man advantage power play early in the second period. Turris also added another power play score in the third period, earning distinction as Player of the Game for Team Canada.

The margin would have been wider if Julias Hudacek hadn't stopped 32 shots for Solvakia. Hudacek was named Slovakia's Player of the Game for his effort.

Officiating was a problem, as it took the flow out of the game. Simple checks were whistled, eliminating five-on-five play. A number of other questionable calls slowed the pace.

Canada has a day off Friday before facing Sweden on Saturday at 2 PM EST.

The Truth About 20,000: Kobe Bryant Youngest, Not Quickest

Philip Houghton — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:44:30 -0500

Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA player to reach the 20,000-point mark last week.

But is it all smoke and mirrors? Does youngest mean quickest?

Not necessarily.

20,000 points sounds amazing. That's because it is. Let's face it though: If you're a real stats fan, you have to look at the whole picture.

When you consider the total number of games it took Kobe to reach the plateau, it takes some of the punch out of the amazement.

I'm not taking anything away from Bryant—he's a great basketball player. But it took him 811 games to hit 20,000. Wilt Chamberlain, by comparison, did it in 499 games.

Now THAT's amazing.

Michael Jordan, for his part, pulled the feat in 620 contests. And if you break it down in terms of points per game, Kobe falls even further behind.

Wilt hit 40.1 PPG; Jordan hit 32.3. Kobe? 24.7.

20,000 doesn't sound quite so good now, does it?

I'm afraid the only thing this milestone really means is that Bryant's head will swell a little larger than it already is.