Oh Wonderful... Habs 0, Thrashers 2

I had a rather lovely evening with some friends celebrating a birthday at the Bond Bar and Grill (and Tapas). It's a James Bond themed bar that plays Bond movies on constant rotation, has old Bond posters everywhere, plays crappy music (you'd think they'd play Bond themes instead), and names their fancy drinks after Bond things. Mine was the Holly Goodhead, solely because I didn't feel like asking someone for the Pussy Galore...

And then I came home.

I knew the Habs lost 2-0 because my friend checked the scores on his iPhone every now and then. But wow. Unreal:
My brother was in the living room watching the news recap shaking his head and told me "they had like a zillion penalties". They had the emotion, but had zero finish. Or like I told my friend after we huddled around the iPhone, "Habs can't buy a goal these days".

So, bowling doesn't work. Bag skating doesn't work. Benching Breezer on his 1000th game doesn't work. (Or locking him in a trunk). Being a jumpy steely eyed angry coach doesn't work. Carey Price on the ball doesn't work. What for the love of Beliveau will work?


I always thought Carbo looked a bit like Daniel Craig Bond's French Canadian hockey playing long lost twin brother.

A few more like this and we can start singing TA-VA-RES!

Looking at that annoyingly close 10th place:
- Calgary you bastiches! Losing 6-1 to the Hurricanes does not help us! Oh, they just had to play Kipper's backup for this game. This is the reason why Kipper plays every game. McElhinney is 0-7-1 in his whole NHL career so far.
- Phoenix, you're not helping either. A 5-1 loss to Buffalo. Merci! *sad*
- Stars 3, Ducks 2. Well, at least the Stars won't be pissed off when the Habs roll into town Sunday... instead they're just getting warmed up.
- My condolences for Mrs. Hockey, who passed away today at 76.

Bulldogs report!
Mwahahaha! The Bulldogs shut out the Marlies 2-0. Sergei got the 3rd star! He set up Maxwell on the first goal of the game which came in the 3rd period. Ced turned away 26 shots (Pogge only faced 15). When Russel hit the empty net with 6 seconds left, Marc Denis was doing the Bulldogs Cheer in celebration, yes while in full gear.

Even better news? Mike Glumac is back from injury, early.

Goalie in need of hugs, I'm offering to provide

I salut you Kelly Hrudey as the voice of reason. He, of course, understands what it's like. As a goalie, there is nothing more disheartening than to look up and see that unfold in front of you, and the emotion and weight it puts on your shoulders is a burden few can truly bear. Even though I play meaningless shinny ball hockey I fall victim of the "why me" nights when I see the guys unable to do anything while I'm getting scored on more times than not. (I personally live for the moments when I get to rob someone. I like poke checking. It's great fun, but it's not fun being scored on). Right now, no one understands what the kid is going through except for his backup, Halak, and his goalie coach, Rollie. Right now it's up to Rollie to help him through this. Right now, I'd suggest he makes everyone else play nets in practice while Price and Halak flip pucks at them until they see what it's like.

I also believe I was looking at a different game, when the CBC play-by-play commentators kept saying Price was deep in his net when he was STANDING on the fucking red line.

Another salut to Komisaurus for looking like he wanted to absolutely punch the guy interviewing him after the first period when he was asked what's up with Price. Though he didn't, and took the diplomatic route. If that were Gilmour, he might have said something else regardless of it being live...

As for the game, the Habs played like shit. Understandable, maybe, since they played yesterday and were facing a Leafs team recently chewed up and spit out by their GM. But when the Habs play like shit and Price is struggling to the point of tears, it's not going to end well. I also salut the young buck for actually facing the press in the locker room even though I thought he was about to bust out crying. Can he steal games for the team? Yes, he could. First period shots were largely in favor of the Leafs to about a game's worth by the second period when the Canadiens only managed 2. And the only ones helping him are the only ones showing up: Koivu, Sergei, Patches, and Lapierre, Hammer and Rhino for defence. That's two veterans and four kids.

It would also help to win crucial faceoffs in your home zone with only a minute left. I'm just saying, you know. Goalies can't win faceoffs.

I think my only highlight of the night was seeing Lapierre's entire line in the penalty box. It was kind of funny.

D'Agostini took over Lang's spot on the powerplay with his right-handed shot. Kostopoulos made a diving goal. Markov broke the 40 point barrier, now leading the team. But 5-on-5, the loss of Lang is really showing, as it is in the faceoffs that Pleky isn't winning. His loss to a freak injury is hurting this team more than people think.

Oddly enough, Price's percentage hasn't really changed from last year and the Habs are still 4th. But people gotta start scoring or they won't stay there for long.

I saw worse today, actually
- Talk about a team playing like shit, just watched the Blackhawks get absolutely owned by the Canucks. Leaving Huet out to the birds in the first period where he gave up 3 goals, and then Khabibulin to give up 4. When your best chance is during a shorthanded breakaway and no one is capable of connecting a pass or actually shooting to the net, I seriously wouldn't put that loss on the goalies.
- Another team who played yesterday called the Buffalo Sabres lost in a shootout to Ottawa, though Ottawa blew a 2-0 lead. Miller got absolutely owned on the shootout by Sharkko Ruutu. Same move he tried on Price.
- I thought Fernandez was injured? Doesn't matter, Pooh Bears lost after blowing their own lead to the Flyers.
- Ducks beat Flames 2-1. Will they be angry on Monday, or will the Habs be angrier?
- Detroit beat the Oilers 8-3. Hope that's the same Oilers Habs meet on Wednesday... They could use a barnburner. My brother wonders how Drouin-Deslauriers' name fits on his sweater.
- All these weird new rules of not allowing defensemen to play some actual defense like battles in front of the net or calling borderline interference is really skewing scores. Games with 4 or more goals appear to be the norm and shootouts seem on the rise this year... The new NHL is weird.

Yup: Turnovers 1, Panthers 5

I'm not even going to look at the forum/gazette comments because I'm sure they're all the same predictable slag of incompetence I hear after every loss. I'm betting there's a call for the head of Carbo or Gainey and a trade of the entire team for something shiny. Seriously, I'm sick of hearing "but Price gave up 5 goals" when what the hell do you want him to do when he's playing man alone as both defense and goalie? What about the pylons standing around in front of him watching the puck go by or handing the puck to every opposing player for a glorious scoring opportunity? At least tonight none of the guys put the puck in their own net. They just assisted instead. And what about the forwards unable to cash in where the other guys are perfectly able to cash in no matter what? Turnovers. Sloppy blueline. No finish. That's what lost the game. Not Price. (It sounds like the 2nd round playoffs eh)? If the guys were able to finish, he'd have 5 assist tonight. He gave them every opportunity to do something, considering his defensemen were unable to make a good outlet pass so he took it upon himself to do it while the Panthers were changing. He made every save he could until the Panthers broke down the door kicking, but you could have Brodeur in nets for all anyone cares and they still would have scored with the wide open ice full of options. He even made a save with a guy holding his head, to no whistle of goalie interference. And when you play defense and block a shot, BLOCK THE SHOT! Don't let it rebound out to some guy with a wide open net because you've stood there blocking the shot but also screened your goalie so he has no idea it's gone off to Bouwmeester. If he doesn't see the puck, he won't stop it.

I think his angry whipping of the puck in the 3rd period after saving the 5th turnover in the course of a minute said it all. And if he weren't in nets it would have been 5-0 Panthers in the first ten minutes of play.

Maybe the score would be more than 1 if he could play forward too. He's got a mean wrist shot.

This team is lucky they have him. How about giving him some wins?

The sad thing is the game started off really good and then all those missed opportunities just bit them in the arse. Will the Habs sweep anyone this season?

One thing to note, Sergei must have been going crazy watching his perfect setups go to waste... But with Begin tipping pucks wide or Plekanec back to his working zombie ways, there's nothing he's going to accomplish there. And never scratch Patches again, please. Kovy was seriously missing him. (Or at least put Sergei with him as no one else will pass him the puck while he's waiting there in position in front of the net). Then again, it's the magical mystery lineups. I'm sure we'll see something new on Saturday when the Kings roll into town. At least the boys will be back home.

Looking at the schedule, it's going to be a long hard month coming up, folks. Send all good mojo to the boys in the CH.

Who else:
- Yay Turks! Stars beat the Red Wings 4-2. Stop being shocked but that's the 4th loss in a row for the Wings, and they've given up 19 goals. It's also Turks' first regular season win at the Joe. Now he's 1-8-2 in that building.
- Islanders won 5-4 against Atlanta. It was 4-0 Islanders from the first period, the rest of the scoring came in the 3rd.
- Devils beat Bahston 4-3 in OT. Whatevs.
- Ottawa beat the Blues 3-1. I guess that's cool.
- It's currently 4-3 Toronto against Colorado. Is Raycroft in nets?
- TGIF tomorrow.

Is it really only Tuesday? Habs 3, Dolts 5

I feel like a whole week has gone by in only two days of doing absolutely nothing at work. And though I should probably feel happy to have survived the layoffs that went around my studio recently as I know people who weren't so lucky (though I'm sorry to say some were pretty much on their last legs either way), at the moment I'm too bored and tired to really care. When a project nears the end, we begin the tedious task of making the games fit on various phones of every imaginable size because the cellphone makers of the world enjoy making screen sizes with jar sizes every which way they like. (If you're wondering what I'm talking about, I work at EA Mobile where I make the art for games on cellphones). And I have a tendency to work a lot faster than I probably should, so now I spend my days waiting for people to tell me what they need fixing, and thus I doodle heads in my notepad while listening to Doctor Who audio tapes because I've already gotten sick of my music rotation. Until I get a new project, of course.

Where am I going with this?

Oh right. I was too tired to watch this game. I came home when the Bolts scored the first goal over my radio. I settled a bit in my room and noticed the Habs scored 2. Fifty minutes later and the first period was finally over... (At least it felt like fifty minutes). Then I went to help a bit with the supper and then I went to eat the supper. After that I pretty much just wanted to pass out. Then my brother comes home from school and asks me what happened with the game, to which I replied "I don't know". So together we checked the score online while he tells me how this morning he was playing NHL09, Habs vs Bolts in Tampa Bay and the scored ended 5-3 for the Bolts. My brother then laughed as his video game became reality, and I went back to my Doctor Who.

Maybe he should stop playing that game...

Oh well. I noticed that all the Canadian teams lost in unison tonight. We stand on guard for rights and liberty and a wonky day of hockey. At least we weren't Edmonton... Oh my word 10-3? Against Buffalo?! ...Wait, what?!

Cap 2, Habs 1: I didn't see it

Didn't get to see tonight's game because I was setting up my new apartment for some painting tomorrow. I was at the gas station filling my tank when the Kovalanguay line buzzed Varlamov's net and could do nothing more than freak him out by hitting the goal post twice. Got home in time to see AK46 battle a neutral zone trap all by himself in an attempt at breaking forward so that Halak could leave for an extra attacker. Too little, too late! But it's the bad decisions that are just killing the team. Like why would anyone slapshot a shot while right in front of the net instead of tap it in. Again, Breezer was the only one who could score, and I'm torn with forgiving him for his own bad decisions on defense to praise him or to just continue chewing him out for those bad decisions on defense. Hmm... what to do...

Ben Maxwell has joined the crew though. He's a pretty impressive rookie from what I've seen of him in camp and with the Bulldogs. I wasn't expecting much from his first actual NHL game so maybe the next one will earn him some points, but the little I caught at the start of the game before I went off to my apartment... well, he was aggressively covering his man like mad!

I'd like to see Greg Stewart up here though.

The major bummer though is the clinic is filling up. Koivu, Higgins, Dandy, Price... Komisaurus is coming back soon though. Thankfully these are happening NOW instead of a week before April. Nevertheless, it's still a downer. Get healthy soon, boys! And give Price some flu shots! Or at least some chicken soup. That's a guaranteed cure-all.

For dessert...
I just caught a bit of the Oilers-Canucks game. First shot on goal and it's a goal for the Oilers. The Sandman doth look shakey. I hear Luongo isn't doing very good with that injury of his either... And there were two fights already. Upon seeing Stortini in the box for his fighting major, my brother said "Where'd they find this guy, frozen in the ice?" Grog pass puck!

And Roloson skates funny.

Priceberg dead ahead! Habs 1 Whalicanes 2 a powerplay goal and 48 shots against

Able to carry a team, a bunch of polar bears, maybe some lost penguins and a few seals all on his back and act like it's no big deal.

I thought it was a good game, myself. Fast, driven, battling, almost playoffs-y. We fans, both mad and neutral, have been witnessing a team missing a certain je ne sais quois. Maybe it's the mass amount of free agents coming up who are trying too hard, or that bizarro preseason/training camp squish that didn't allow them to work out on things, or the mass amount of brainfreeze eminating from the ice to their minds. Either way, I liked what I saw tonight, except for the excruciating amount of turnovers that really killed them, but hey now Carbo has a full video selection for them to reference. And the 3rd period pretty much collapsed defensively and offensively but hand it to the Canes for a few patented dives and a neutral zone trap. Still, I ain't in the camp of the pitchforks and torches calling for the a new set of coaches or the explosion of the entire team. IT'S FUCKING NOVEMBER PEOPLE! WE AREN'T TAMPA BAY!!! AND WE DON'T MAKE OUR DECISIONS AFTER EA SPORTS NHL09 SIMULATIONS!!! At least not yet, anyway. December/January...that's when I'd get pitchforky.

All in all, this was a tale of two teams going through some similar funk and coming off eerie similar wins of a 3-2 shootout against bottom-feeder teams. Coincidence! The game was tight thanks to our voodoo master, Price, who tried to help his buddy Gorges get a goal tonight by sacrificing his stick, splintering it to a billion pieces and scattering it around the rink. Well, I think the sacrifice only worked in his favor as he faced 48 shots and only allowed two unfortunates while down and out and totally left hanging by his panicking defense who couldn't clear it or by an unfortunate turnover by a surprised Sergei Kostitsyn (who wasn't expecting that pass at all) which allowed that dastardly Sergei Samsonov get his first goal of the year. Hey, even Sammy had to score one day. Sucks it was tonight, but I'll live with that.

BONUS HIGHLIGHT #1: Eric Staal, totally annoyed to hell, hands of clay in front of Price. No confidence, no dice!

Koivu, Lang, and Kovy practiced that powerplay this morning. It only worked once, so I'm guessing we're on our way to one powerplay goal per month. The rest collapsed to its usual hectic self. Keep working on it.

BONUS HIGHLIGHT #2: Plekanec won a face off against Brind'Amour! Steve Begin won the most faceoffs that night, 83% (5/6)! Crazy!

I like Ward's new helmet. Also Ward could have potted that empty netter but freaked out and didn't try. C'mon Wardo, be a man! Actually after Price's performance, I'm happy the boys didn't give up the empty net. That would have been insulting.

BONUS HIGHLIGHT #3: Carbo threw out an extra forward before pulling Price, so he had a lineup of 4 forwards and 1 defenseman. It kind of stuttered the Canes, but not enough. Still, it was crafty.

So now they're off to Ottawa, to face a team equally pissed off as ours. Yay! And another annoying Ruutu. Yay! I like Ottawa's Ruutu better though. I don't know much about Chicago's. And maybe we'll see Higgins wake up again before he gets a "lower body injury" and is sent to Hamilton for "conditioning" while his better clone Matt D'Agostini gets some time with the big club...

Bulldogs!
Good read on my favourite little centerman, David Desharnais, and his mad skills on the ice and in the kitchen.

What's with all the shootouts?
- Wild top a Fleury-less Penguinos squad in a shootout 2-1. Yawn... Again both goalies faced the exact same number of shots in regulation. Mikko scored unassisted, but it was actually a complete fluke.
- Oy... The Battle of Florida went to a shootout and the Panthers won it 4-3 (McCabe? Two goals? And not on his own net?). I thought Smith was better at shootouts? At least, he was back in Dallas... Shots faced: Smith with 36, Vokoun with 52! What is it with the sunbelt hockey teams?
- Roloson faced 39 shots while Leclaire only face 19, but the Oilers WIN 7-2?! Wish we had that accuracy...

Bound to happen after going 12-0: Bruins 6 Habs 1

Could have happened a bit nicer though but that's what happens with the Jekyll and Hyde of Hockey. Only bonus after Koivu being the only one to ninja score (sweet wrap around of fire, that man needs a contract extension) was Kovy's open-ice revenge-check and Lucic cutting his hand as he pounded Komisaurus' helmet. Ya, whatevs.

Lang and an empty net is just as painful as watching Higgins fan pucks. Post not want!

I have a message for our defense: pylons are usually orange.

Speaking of orange, the Flyers are in town Saturday. Sigh...