Habs 3, Devils 5: Take a pass

Don Cherry just bitched about a guy who makes 6.5 million dollars and how it's inexcusable for him to allow a guy walk around him and score...and I thought he was talking about Mike Cammalleri. (It was Phaneuf).

OK so immediate dividends, the team looked energetic. They had more movement, and more intensity. They showed more attack. They got another powerplay goal. Problem was they lost track of things. They need to be more aware of their surroundings. Elias' goal, usually the penalty kill box cuts that pass off but he blew in by everyone back door. Clarkson has 11 goals already, most of them on breakaways, came in from behind the D on a linechange and took advantage of Campoli to hid the puck for a perfect shot. Zubrus absolutely flew through two defencemen who looked like they didn't notice he was there until it was too late. Major killer tho was when Campoli decided to skate it out instead of chipping it out and fell on his ass causing a 3-on-fucking-0... Well yea, Price can work miracles but come on! That's just cruel.

So they got secondary scoring and a powerplay goal, but the first line... AK46 finds himself stuck on yet another line trying to get something going when he was doing just fine. We saw the AK46 moves that we haven't seen in years. The puck through the legs dipsy-doodle to the net highlight reel stuff. And yea, I'll say Cammy started off good...but man... I don't want to see the puck roll slowly off his stick and then watch him saunter off to the bench. I don't want to see him with a wide open net backdoor only to launch the puck into the netting. And I'm not going to put down Plekanec because the man only does EVERYTHING. This team needs Cammy to get his head out of his ass, pull out a box of pucks after practice, and start shooting. It's what he did when he first came here and couldn't score. It's what he needs to do now. And for once in your life win a fucking puck battle.

Eller: "It looked like the same old shit in the 3rd period." Gold. His line was great tonight. He almost got them within one but I don't even know how he missed. But he got them a goal already. His line was trying to get them more. For DD's line? Something was up with Cole (I'm told he's playing ill). He went to the room a few times and was dinged for a few penalties (two of which were bullshit players running into him). Patches was gone for a long time after he and Clarkson collided, which is worrisome. That screwed up a lot, and put more emphasis on the need for Pleky's line to get something going. And though Campoli's screw up pretty much killed the game, he did score a great goal during a very strong shift by the fourth line.

They had a meeting after the game, understandingly, and kept the media out for a long time. As Cunney said, he's got a frustrated group of players that know it wasn't enough to win. And as Gorges said they let him down, they let the fans down, and they let each other down. Now they head off on a pretty long road trip. Let's hope they use this time together well and can start playing better together.

Habs 4, Sens 3: L'Antichambre's worst nightmare

Quote of the night, and a summary of the game:
@lawyergirl77 That's right! BigTits is back and doing dirty things to/with his Pleky once again!!

Unless you're blind (or just one of those bitter haters), Andrei Kostitsyn has been flying since the start of the season. Is it because he no longer needs to keep an eye on Sergei while balancing his own family life? (I think not many people realize he's a married man--well I think they're married but eh no one really gets married in this province anyway--and a young father of an adorable little blond girl). Is it because the new leadership core in the room have helped him deal with the annoying media? One thing we know for sure, he's healthy. And secondly, his linemates are just as hungry as he is, maybe more, and he's definitely feeding off it.

Carbo once said when he hits, he hurts.

His speed and size make many salivate. His hands and knack for scoring the most mind boggling type of goals stand true to his draft position. This is a guy no one really wanted to take a chance on because of his epilepsy, and yet the Habs felt sufficient medication from the doctors could help him with this. People have coined him as someone who doesn't care about what happens, and I'm sorry but that couldn't be further from the truth. Just because a guy keeps his emotions to himself doesn't mean he doesn't care. And when he does get angry, it usually results in a retaliation penalty, BUT I DIGRESS! He won't do the flashy goal scorer moves every times he pots one. His trademark is both hands in the air in a semi-gorilla fashion or feet and arms in the air because someone has knocked him on his ass trying to stop him from scoring (and ultimately failing).

And what is this?! Like Gorges finally discovering that he can in fact hit the net and maybe even score a goal if he actually aims, the Belamullet has discovered actual defensive play! Backchecking more. Shot blocking. Working hard for a takeaway. And fully integrating himself in the transition play that is so important in the speed game these guys need to play in order to dominate the way they need to.

It's unfortunate but the highlight of his goal doesn't work (even the CBC replay edition cuts it short). Instead, I'll post the most awesome rush he created for Pleky's goal which totally describes his play right now.

I can hear the moans and groans from the local press as they're forced to interview him post-game. They can't stand it when he gets the first star. (RDS even lost interest in talking with him and turned to Darche for more of a scoop).

Another interesting thing happened tonight. The Habs outshot the Sens 40 to 19. So, exactly who played an away game yesterday? Sens only managed 2 shots in the 3rd and I don't even know what the 2nd shot looked like. Of course, Ruutu being stupid had plenty to do with that...

I thought I was going to miss this game. Turns out that even a Brazilian restaurant in the skeezy section of Pierrefonds turned it's 20 TVs to the game when it started. And apparently the guy behind me was a Sens fan... Ugh...I ate too much meat and now I'm drinking kaopectate. (No, it's not the fault of the restaurant, more my stomach being problematic for a few days). Meat on a sword coming to your table constantly is like a little piece of heaven hidden in the pits of hell.

My brother's 25th birthday, wearing the Expos shirt I got him. That meat was so good...