Todd: Canadiens can't keep ditching second-period class

Maybe the Canadiens should persuade the league to let them skip the second period of home games and just pay two 30-minute halves, interrupted by a single 30-minute intermission?

If you have to skip a period, you’d rather see a team start well and end well, but these second-period gap-outs are a mystery. Against St. Louis Sunday night, it cost them. Half the fans were probably stuck at concessions when Dylan Holloway scored 26 seconds into the second period to tie it 2-2 — then 39 seconds later, Pavel Buchnevich was left all alone in front of Jakub Dobes and that was the ball game. The Canadiens would mount their usual stirring third-period comeback, but this time it wasn’t quite enough.

Dobes must have felt there was a trap door in front of the net, the way the Blues kept popping up in front of him. Critics were giving Dobes the gears afterward, but seriously — when you leave NHL players wide open in front, what do you expect? A chocolate-mint latte with extra whipped cream?

It would have been sweet had the Canadiens played another crisp, clean game like the one they played in Toronto Saturday night (except for that painful short-handed goal) but it wasn’t to be. Subtract the boo-boos and the fact that Jordan Binnington played like he actually wants to be on the Olympic team, and you have a pretty systematic Habs win.

It wasn’t to be. In the process, the Canadiens blew a chance to take over first place in the Atlantic Division with the Lightning, Penguins, Rangers and Oilers on tap this week. And so we repeat the mantra: young team, young team, young team.

But even for young teams, the day comes when they have to grow up.

Rough weekend for Toronto: The Maple Leafs are a puzzlement. After a couple of games when it looked like they were turning into the big, bad regular-season team they have been for the past decade, Saturday night they looked like a team that missed its wake-up call, slept in and couldn’t quite figure out why all these fans wearing blue-and-white jerseys were yelling at them.

If they keep this up, that nice Craig Berube is going to go the way of Sheldon Keefe, Mike Babcock, Randy Carlyle, Ron Wilson, Paul Maurice — you know the story. The Canadiens play well some nights and badly other nights, but you never see them act like they need to buy a give-a-damn.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Sceptres (not our favourite among the rather bizarre collection of monikers handed to PWHL teams by management) weren’t guilty of doing the Leafs sleepwalk at Place Bell Sunday, but they left town on the short end of a 3-1 score anyway.

That’s because the Montreal Victoire looked sharp. Kati Tabin has added some real flair to a lineup that already included Laura Stacey and Marie-Philip Poulin, the greatest player in the history of the women’s game.

The Victoire trails the Boston Fleet at the top of the standings, but they have a game in hand and Poulin. What more does a team need?

At what point did you realize you blew that draft pick, Trevor? Someone reminded us of the immortal Sergei Kostitsyn this weekend. Every time I hear the name, I’m reminded of the younger Kostitsyn brother’s most unforgettable moment, which came in the home opener of his rookie season.

Kostitsyn wasn’t even dressed for the game, but he did show up for the pre-game ceremonies, after which (our sources say) he left the building and went to watch the game in a bar.

Lies, rumours &&&& vicious innuendo: Lando Norris had better enjoy his F1 championship because Max Verstappen is going to take it back next year. The man is a great driver, no question. Pity he has the personality of a cylinder head. …

Speaking of great drivers, we’ll never figure out why Lewis Hamilton wanted to go to Ferrari in the first place — or why Ferrari wanted him. Now he can’t even get out of Q1. …

Comment of the week: “Every time Harrison Butker misses a field goal, a woman gets her PhD.” …

The NFL can produce more stultifying, mind-numbing “entertainment” than any other league on the planet. But now and then the NFL somehow produces a great one. Most seasons, it features Josh Allen and the Bills. Allen, Joe Burrow, the Bills and a snow game? Off the charts. …

There is only one kind of responsible gambling. It’s called “don’t gamble.” …

It would appear the Habs have found a good one in Alexandre Texier, who will be enshrined in the shootout highlight reels forever. We still want to do away with the shootout, but that one was worth the price of admission.

Heroes: Andrei Markov, Cole Caufield, Alexandre Texier, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, Kati Tabin, Hayley Scamurra, Laura Stacey, Summer McIntosh, Valérie Grenier, Lando Norris, Josh Allen &&&& last but not least, Jakub Dobes.

Zeros: Carter Hart, the Vegas Knights, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Harrison Butker, Gianni Infantino, FIFA, Wayne Gretzky, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

@jacktodd.bsky.social

jacktodd46@yahoo.com

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