Habs 4, Panthers 1: Gally Squared

As perfect a game can be against a Florida team playing it's 3rd game in 4 nights. But I will repost that we've seen the Habs come out flying against a tired team only to shit the bed in the final 40 minutes and lose in a shootout, so I will take this victory for all it's worth!

Still. After watching Desharnais flop all over the place like he suddenly forgot how to play hockey against actual competition for now the 2nd game in a row, I hope HCMT lives up to his need to reward-sit players and for the love of god reinsert Lars Eller please! He didn't even win more than TWO faceoffs all night! Or is he still stuck on his L'Antichumps chair with a direct line to the mouthbreathers making sure le gars de chez nous is forever safe...

We still want PK!
- People may have forgotten what the powerplay looks like when Markov is on it. Even more so, I think they've forgotten what it looks like when Markov is on it with PK.
- Just like I think they've forgotten that Diaz is a sneaky point getter, not to mention a power play specialist.
- Remember when that line of Kovy-Pleky-AK46 was like the best in the League then sucked the year after? I'm getting deja vu with Cole-DD-Patches.... (Which is why I think DD needs a sit down. All about accountability).
- Carey Price has a tender groin? Or was it a goaltender groin? Because really, the guy is ridiculous.
- Kovalev looks like the opposite of the guy who had a goal and 2 assists in their first game of the season. Actually he helped out on Pleky's goal. For old times sake.
- Ryan White doesn't own a copy of the Georges Laraque Code Book. You throw a stupid hit on Josh Gorges, you get pounded. And he doesn't care if your name is Tomas Fleischmann.
- We clearly needed the extra power play/penalty kill work.
- Also that epic kill of White's misconduct, plus an extra interference penalty to Markov for an extended 5-on-3 needs to be bronzed and placed in the lobby.
- Galchy's tip was the thing Habs fans dreamed of...
- Gallagher gets his first assist on it too. And dished out a handful of hits
- Emelin wears a cage to contain himself.
- WHOberdeau?
- Really I'm just happy they finally scored goals. And scored goals on Scott Clemmensen.

New line: Prust-Galchy-Gallagher. Keep this please.

I'd like to personally thank the Florida Panthers for this extra practice game. Because I'm sure our asses are going to be kicked in Washington, who are still winless at 0-2. Then again...

Gui gives us wings! Habs 5, Slowers 2

D'AGOSTINI! D'AGOSTINI! D'AGOSTINI!

Tomorrow is my last day of work/Christmas party and then I'm off for 2 weeks of painting and decorating. Habs have two more games before their own Christmas break. So how's about a good old skilled ass kicking of the Flyers? Oh how happy I was dragging my tired self to my car at Namur only to turn on the radio and here THREE-ONE CANADIENS as I drove to the gas station for some much-needed window washer fluid. It capped off my rather boring day on a high, that's for sure.

Sometimes I wonder who fixes games...
- Apparently tis a Centennial celebration tradition to have the Forum video taped anthem play every Thursday. I love it!
- D'Agostini, showing that you can start playing hockey at around 16, get drafted by the Habs in the 6th round, and make it to the NHL and score score score. Either that or he'd much rather be here than in steeltown.
- The Komisaurus returneth! And get's a point, throws the hits, cleans up the trash in front of Jaro. That hip check on Sbisa was classic.
- Oh my rebounds, Jaro! He was really fighting that puck tonight. I'm sure he has a horseshoe hidding in the back of his helmet.
- Gui!Gui!Gui!
- Speaking of Gui! he probably played his best game of the year. It was building since he came back from the pressbox, and showed in the Whalicanes game. If he can continue like this, at least for a bit more, I'd say he has finally found his game. Project completed? It's definitely getting there.
- Officials need to get out of the fucking way faster.
- Gaff of the night: Bouillon swatting a puck that was going high and wide anyway right into his own net.
- Asham broke the glass. Literally.
- CBC sucks. Who the hell gave Milbury a spot to do colour commentary on a Habs game?! Calling temporary captain Kovy a lazy bum who doesn't buy into the team plan? Fuck you! Right after he scored off a nice feed from Begin. Calling Habs lucky the Flyers didn't show up instead of mentioning how slow they skate and how easy it was for the offense to walk through them? Not mentioning how many times the Flyers shot high and wide? Should have put him on the 8-5 Bruins smackdown on the Leafs. In fact, I'd rather CBC just stay away from Habs games. Nice that it gives them national coverage, but if it's just an open forum to bash a team way better than anything these guys played on, then I'd rather they stay away. TSN could have taken it, instead of football.
- PJ Stock also stinks. Kovy won't use the words "me" or "I" when talking about a role he's playing with his linemates for his team.
- Thankfully RDS has Coach Demers, even if he is really really loud.
- KOVY! WINS! FACEOFFS! He had 2 for 2. What CAN'T he do?!
- TWO! TWO POWERPLAY GOALS. So, I'm guessing that's our quota for December. Sergei with his bullet, and Gui!
- Poor Pleky. Shoot the puck down the rink to the empty net and misses by an inch. As it went, fromt he other camera angle you can see the guys raising their arms to cheer for it to go in. Alas poor Pleky, he cannot buy a goal today.
- FARK injury addition: Andrei Kostitsyn in the leg after being sandwiched. Maybe that was why Sergei was getting snappy. Honestly, I wouldn't want to piss off Sergei. He seems like he's itching to punch someone in the face.
- Almost got too punch Hartnell, but I think it was just a roughing tango.
- At times it seemed like the Canadiens had to slow down to keep pace with the Flyers in order to cover them better. When that happened I felt like I was watching the game in bullet-time. Slow!
- Apparently every normal hit resulted in a gang up from the guys in orange. Even when you slip and collide with someone. Sorry, but frankly the Habs were way too focused to even care to wonder about it.
- Fruit Punch has developped forchecking.
- Hmm... Breezer was limping off the ice and down the hallway after the game. Could he be injured!? Maybe we can get more callups! Or bring Maxwell back. Plays better defense than our resident veteran.
- As traditions go, the Flyers seem to have a mantra for who can win more while playing the dirtiest. If the Habs had so many penalties against the Divers on Tuesday, what was going on with the uncalled mass of blatant penalties from the Flyers. Yes our powerplay sucks despite getting two goals tonight, and the Flyers are exceptionally good with potting shorties, but if you don't call these they'll just keep doing it. Put your foot down, be a man! The worst was the player that decided to glomp Pleky. Was it possible for a quadruple minor for too many men on the ice/holding/interference/hooking? Or did it baffle the minds of the officials so much that they just didn't know what to call it. I mean, it took Timonen to shove a stick into Tanguay's skate to force a call and even then it looked like they were hesitating. Sometimes it makes you wonder if there isn't anything shady going on... like, illegal betting maybe?

Other stuff:
- Why's Burke getting all huffy? Bruins paste two Leafs goalies 8-5. I'm guessing Burke will be shopping for some puckstoppers or maybe they'll see Pogge next year, but what do you expect when you got a career backup as your number 1 and an old dude behind him? Actually the Bears also pulled their goalie for blowing that 5 goal lead they had. So...Fernandez closes the door? This is the Twilight Zone!
- Dallas seems to be doing better without Avery, until they went to Columbus. Won it in a shootout 6-5 though, and guh Mickey Ribs scored the shootout winner...
- Heh, watching the ref send Crosby to the box for attempted roughing who in turn was arguing about it was kind of funny. But 6-3 Penguinos over the Thrashers. Yawn.
- Detroit 6! San Jose ZIP! Um... well I guess it's time for Nabby's yearly slump month.
- I don't give a damn about Sundin.

Habs 3, Cats 2 (SO), 1 Misconduct, 10 Spin-o-Ramas, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

I need to ask but are all exhibition games usually this crazy? Do fans always take them in like they're watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Championships? Against the Flordia Panthers? Wait, do I need to ask? I love this city.

If we like you, you will know
Gotta feel bad for Dandenault. He's an ok forward, has the speed, surprised me a few times with some puck-stealing ability and out-skating guys 10 years his junior...however, he's listed as a defenseman and hasn't really played a lick of defense, and when he does, he's rather...bad at it. All in all, when his reel shows up on the jumbotron, no one cheers. Then again, it didn't help him that much that last year, he was outspoken and whiny about not playing. I don't blame him though, he's a veteran with a few Cup rings and therefore kind of has the right to wonder why he's making that much cash to sit in the pressbox when he wants to play (unlike Grabs, who had maybe 20 games before going all petulant child). It's kind of mean though. I gave him some applause, but I felt like I was the only one. I though Kovy had the longest reel, but Price does. And the loudest applause too.

Dueling Goaltenders
The game's 1st and 1st star should have been a tie between Price and Vokoun. I realize the Cats have come off a long week of meaningless games, bounced from Alberta to PEI, and Vokoun entered with a 5.93GAA but he was a wall. Then again, the kids didn't really give him too many troublesome shots. One would hope a 15-year veteran could stop those, however he robbed Kovy and Kostitsyn plenty. On Price's side, well, the team has spent most of the week figuring who's going to be his back up, so he only got to play 2 periods in Detroit (and was fantastic). Sunday, defense took a walk and the forwards fell asleep, leaving a rusty goalie looking for his comfort zone and mostly all alone. Thankfully a dangerous 5-on-3 penalty kill went without incident. The first goal allowed took a weird bounce off his pad and over his glove (the laws of physics were extremely out of whack on that one) and the second was after making a flurry of close-ranged saves with no one helping to clear it out. But then it was good old Price, growing back to form, poking and proding Panthers blocking his view, generally pissing them off, and stoning Nathan Horton on a penalty shot. These two goalies made the game: Vokoun trying to rebound from a bad game, and Price trying to regain his regular season form. The evidence are in the shots, which remained equal after every period. The game ended in a shootout, with Price taking the prize.

The best official is the one you don't notice
I've heard this from people who have experience in refereeing hockey games, but those guys out Sunday night were either the biggest douchebags ever, or one of the Habs must have run over their puppy. Questionable calls from a guy leaning into Kovy's stick is interpreted as "holding" by Kovalev, to O'Byrne trying to avoid a collision on an abandoned bodycheck after realizing his teammate was going to do it became "charging", to letting the mid-3rd and overtime go to the crapper until it came down to one Panthers player practically shoving his stick down Beauregard's shorts to make a hesitant call. (I'll give them the 2nd and early 3rd as fair calls, even Fruit Punch's fight). Markov? Hooking and unsportsmanlike misconduct for bitching at the ref? Markov doesn't even SPEAK, and the hooking was his stick on the ice making a pokecheck and the tired Cat not being able to skate properly (I'll get to that). How about tripping Price twice who was trying to get up and go back to his net after making a cross-crease save and gets an armfull of Panthers? Thought I was watching the women's hockey game in Salt Lake City for a minute. It's not much of a big deal because it's an exhibition game, but it was troublesome as to how many trippings, slashings, and holdings one can ignore before someone gets injured while every minuscule motion is called on the other team. (And lets not forget who's on the roster here, 4 juniors and a stew of Bulldogs). A man sitting in the row below me yelled "This is the fucking NHL! Let them play already!" When a ref dictates the play, it's not a game anymore.

Maxim Lapierre's best punch is, according to him, "fruit punch"
Ok, he had a fight. Are people happy now? I think he did ok in it. Looked more like a wrestling match with Fruit Punch tugging the guy's sweater over, old school style. Bouillon's was weird. He did a clean check (and the guy didn't even fall down) and then another guy twice his height chased him down a minute later. What's with O'Byrne and Panthers, too?

Legs don't bend that way
These Panthers started out strong, but their fatigue got the better of them when one skater going for the puck suddenly found his left skate going one way while his right skate went the other as he crashed into the boards, hard. Price gave the ref his stick after the guy managed to drag himself to the bench. Moments later two more Panthers nearly did the same (plus the fumbled play around Markov that looked like "hooking"). I think the NHL needs to rethink their preseason schedule next year. Too many people are getting hurt, it seems...

Paging Serge Savard
P.K. Subban did about 5 Spin-o-ramas with one nearly going to the net. Markov tried some too that didn't work too well. The kids are rubbing off on the vets. But Subban won more fans tonight with his superman save, puck possesion puck moving skills, and afterburners. And Weber further solidifying his Stret 2.0 status. This could be the powerplay of 2010.

All in all, crazy game. (And another free pair of tickets for me)! The corporate Reds looked a bit empty, but we normals in the Greys and Blues were packed and cheering. The FUCKING wave went around the bowl 3 times, and we all shouted for CAREY! CAREY! CAREY! Seriously, including the shootout, that's about 40 saves there, a little less for Vokoun. Guys were robbed that star. Kovalev got the shootout win because he wanted to go home and see himself on some TV show. Ahhh...we love him.