JERRY JERRY JERRY!

We got over confident…as feared by many, and confirmed by the bunch of floaters last night. We got over confident, and now we face dropping to sixth with another loss to the re-energized Senators on Saturday, when we play them in Ottawa. A team pushing for first lost to a team barely out of last place. We could have put them out early, with Toskala looking shaky, but we got fancy. I hate to say it but the outcome of the game was deserved by both teams.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good stuff. MN dropped two more points, and we’re still in 4th on NL standings as well as point standings. With a win on Saturday we can get within one point of the Sens once again, and instil some fear into them with two consecutive “W”s.

You can bet your mortgage that the HABS loss last night to the Leafs was as embarrassing to us, as the 8-0 loss was to the Leafs. All logic would state that we will be playing one heck of a game on Saturday. Unfortunately this is the same logic that would have had last night’s game as a no brainer win for the HABS.

Life goes on, the season goes on and we will bounce back like we always do. Only two questions remain:

1) How quickly will we bounce back? Right away or after a couple of losses?
2) When is Koivu booked for the public hanging?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not jumping on the “trade Koivu” band-wagon. However following his embarrassing play on the blue line last night with 30 seconds left, I’m worried what the media and fans will do to him. In case you missed it, or turned off your TV, or simply erased all memories of last night’s game, let me refresh your memory on what happened:

With a little over 30 second left, we have our goalie on the bench already with Koivu as the extra attacker with Kovalev’s line. The Leaf’s are gifted the puck once again and try to clear the zone. Markov intercepts it right outside of the blue line and patiently waits for everyone to clear the zone. Here is where the magic happens.

As everyone is expecting Markov to pass the puck to Komisarek behind him, Markov notices a huge gap along the blue line with 3 red jersey lined up and only two white ones in front of them (but at a distance). So as the smart play maker as he is, Markov makes a cross ice pass to the guy on the other side of the blue line, thus catching the three white jerseys going the opposite way on the opposite side of the ice off foot. Smart play, that should lead to an odd man rush with a good 5-6 second before more white jerseys arrive, which should lead to a a few good scoring chances.

The problem is the guy on the other side of the ice…#11. There is 21 thousand plus people in the stands watching the puck like hungry vulchers. Two benches have their eyes glued to the play with elevated heart rates, and 9 people on the ice playing at 110% trying to win/tie the game. The only one not watching is Koivu. He wasn’t looking up ice, trying to communicate with someone…nothing. As far as I could see, he had his back completely to the play and the puck, and turned around when he saw the puck hit the boards he was gliding towards.

As a Captain, as a player, as a veteran player, as the sixth player on the ice this is simply and utterly unacceptable. I’m upset, disappointed and disgusted with Koivu for that play (which incidentally leads to the 4th TO goal). However I’ll forgive him because I appreciate his contribution to the team over the decade. I’m not going to begin scrutinising him, and judging his whole career based on one play. The loss is far from his fault, and the game was not lost on that one play. But try explaining that to the blood thirsty bunch that look for reasons to hang him out there to dry. Unfortunately he’s not helping him self by being a lazy floater. He works hard more often than many others on the team, but as the Captain he has to work hard ALL the time. That is all I expect from him, and he clearly failed that last night.