Habs 3, Islanders 2 (OT): Oh dramatics

It doesn't surprise me one bit that the Islanders brought this to OT. After all, they're one of the only teams in the NHL that chips away at 60 minutes until they can chip no more. Tonight's overtime hero was the Czech Connection of Hammer converting on the most amazing pass I've seen SuperPleky do: saucer pass over a sprawling defenceman and Bob's your uncle, game's over before I can watch Castle. Thank you Habs!

However, Coach, I'm not a fan of the "win you're in" thing. It's weak and annoying. And if Price plays Pittsburgh after getting the shaft when you tossed the schedule out the window, better hope he's not rusty. But good on Price: to avoid the media bugging him with stupid questions, he ditched his goalie gear after practice and went back out on the ice to have some solo fun with a net by shooting pucks. Martin should play him on the point. He was a defenceman when he was little...

Oh and Castle's Halloween episode, if it were supposed to be one, was awesome. Go Habs.

Team Mugging!

W00T!
- If you're angry about the blown call that even Streit thought was a high stick, the Islanders would have been tied anyway had the massive ref fail of the evening not rob them of a goal earlier with the quick whistle when Jaro juggled the puck and lost it to an Islanders' stick.
- Metro! Riddled with flu, pale as a ghost, looked like he was ready to vomit all game, left his heart on the ice and gave it his all. Slickest move from the sickest man around for the first goal to Spacek, who reminded me just how much he scared me when he was a Buffaslug. Looked like the Metro of old who was tearing up Sweden.
- Jaro had an up and down game. Defence had an up and down game. C'est la vie. I still close my eyes and pray when he wanders from the net and the defence takes their sweet time to collect a pass if/when he decides to make one.
- Gio vs Sutton was hilarious. Dude, you got knocked over by an Oompa Loompa.
- Gio is still my runner up for the C. Though I'd gladly hand it over to Cammy or Chipper.
- Chipper's line was awesome tonight. Yea, even you Guimauve.
- HMCS Treant was a bit slower than usual getting off the ice tonight. Inadvertently caused two too many mens penalties.
- As seen on Twitter: (@jamesaduncan) Halak: "Defense, you sold me short and they scored..." Defense: "We do that every now and again." Price: "Told you!"
- Pricey needs a hair cut. At least it's not as bad as Brendan Witt.
- RDS highlight of the night: They actually referred to the Ducks as "Les Canards D'Anaheim". I am still in shock over it.
- Is DiPietro still alive...? And how many more 1st overalls does it take to make a team...? Share!

Habs 5, Islanders 1: A New York warm up

Yes, the Islanders played to a tough shootout victory last night and they looked it. Habs played to a quiet shootout victory the night before that and had a good rest between and looked it. But what can you say. When in a slump, hope the Thrashers and Islanders come in to bring the suck. It worked.

Over the course of the past few games the shots against got lower and lower, which is great, because the forwards had the puck more and the defence was forcing everything wide. Tonight they added a new tool to the shed: goalie protection. Shots rarely got to Jaro tonight, and those that did were seen all the way. They also kept people from walking out in front too much (but when they did they were either neutralized or just shot wide from fatigue).

It's nice to see the defence be aware for once. No more kicking pucks in your own net by a stunned and annoyed goalie. Reason for this? Positioning. Movement. If you're standing still unaware at how your foot is angled towards the net, you will be burned. If you're running about overwhelmed you will plotz. And with Jaro's problematic rebounds, it's good to see the awareness of the defence when the puck actually came to him and bounced out to the slot that they would whack it out of harms way. The active stick, it works.

Yea it was another quiet night, and Jaro probably grabbed a beer.

But... "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." (Emerson). So yea, the Habs took the foot off the gas in the 3rd, and Jaro showed us just how much he sucks at playing the puck to break his own shutout bid while on the powerplay, and gave the Islanders a shmidgin of energy. Nothing like a good ol' error to remind us just how easy the tides can turn in a hockey game. Hey ya gotta keep it interesting, right?

That or I guess they really did have a beer in the room before coming out.

W00T!
- Sorry Biron, you're not Billy Smith.
- Uh huh... With two uneventful games for our goalie, it didn't take long for the Price bashers to come out and spew their bile. Funny how they were quiet when he was stealing games while making the 40 shot saves earlier. That goes double for the Gazette's Hickey...
- Cammy's PP goal using his Bret Hull knee shot! IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZER!
- Bergeron collected some gold and change tonight. He's still a little weird when he's being forechecked though.
- Chipper came to his aid when Jackson punched Bergeron while defending, only somehow ended up fighting Thompson.
- Tavares should learn those slick OHL moves really don't work in the NHL too well. But I'm happy he's not a Leaf or we'd never hear the end of it. They'd probably ruin him anyway.
- Streit stays out for the entire Islanders powerplay. No wonder his ice time is so high.
- Metro's back! Metro's back! And he's still awesome! And got the first star!
- Patches scored a la Kovy Spin from the slot.
- I never noticed that Dagger is kind of tall...
- If Gomez keeps scoring, his parents won't leave.
- Keep this type of play up when the Rags come in Saturday and then I'll be absolutely impressed.

The Bob and a Win: Habs 4, Oilers 3 (OT)

I found this picture best described my feelings towards some people...

You don't deserve this team. No I'm not talking about the players. I'm talking about you, the idiots in the Bell Centre who chanted for "Guy! Guy! Guy!" before the guys took the ice and during the difficult second period despite most of you city-wide armchair GMs calling for his head to roll since the beginning of the season. I'm talking about you, the idiots who BOOED Koivu when ever he had the puck even though he wasn't making errors. I'm talking about you, the idiots on RDS who dirtied this victory with a language issue because now there are FOUR coaches behind the Habs' bench who are anglophone. You who suddenly flinged more dirt on our brave captain and now commenting on how you need subtitles for his english. Do they have a problem with him because of his words on the radio? He didn't toss Carbo under the bus. He was very classy and picked his word carefully like he always does in sticky situations about why Carbo might have gotten cut. It's you who do these things and then wonder why players run away and have great success elsewhere or players refuse to sign here. I say SCREW YOU.

It's Purim, my Jewish name is Ester, and I enjoyed this game with fresh hamantaschens
- Jaro gets the February player of the month! Yay!
- Oh Tanguay, the invisible man. He stands alone in the slot and no one sees him until the red light is on.
- Outshot 23-9 by the second period, only two shots in that second period. But hey, one of those two shots was Metro's first goal as a Hab! Yay Metro! You get a cookie.
- Actually Metro was a beast tonight. He was everywhere. And probably has the best hands any fourth liner ever displayed on this team (except when Kovy was on the fourth line a few times). I would have given him the 3rd star tonight dammit.
- You guys would get more shots on net if you actually HIT the net.
- Stewie continues to make the crowd love him as he took down Stortini the caveman.
- Oi Souray... we love(d) you but crosschecking Tanguay in the face is NOT cool. I totally thought Koivu and you were gonna start fighting.
- More self goalie interference only this time they covered their own errors by getting the puck out of there. Not too successful with that 3rd goal though.
- Thank god there wasn't much meat on that Souray point shot that bounced of Pleky's leg and into the net. Do not want to see Pleky with a broken leg now ok...
- Roloson gets an Oscar.
- Captain Koivu, TWO GOALS. Suck it, bitches.
- And then the team clobbered him in the corner of the rink in victory.
- Demers on TSN looked like he was ready to cry when talking about the fate that befell dear Carbo. He was back to his old self on RDS though.
- I get giddy when I see Lever behind the bench.

Conclusion: Win 1 in the temporary Gainey era. I actually don't think any of the newly hired coaches this season got a win in their first game after replacing a fired individual... Either way, when the Bob speaks the boys listen. TWO HUGE POINTS WOO!

Eastern clusterfuck of doom:
- Fear the might of Steve Mason, Bruins, as he posts his 9th shutout on you. Also their fourth straight road loss. Thomas' mask broke in a collision and he had to use Manny's which is BAD for a goalie. That's like wearing someone elses underwear. Don't you guys have spares?
- Philly slapped the Sabres to keep them away from our points.
- Pens totally just walked into that shootout on Florida. Still had to leave them with one point eh...?
- Lots of overtime games tonight actually... Wings>Yotes, Sharks>Wild, Leafs>Islanders, Caps>Preds
- The world is apparently saved from the evil Jason Sputza and his illegal sticks. What? This wasn't a Stanley Cup Playoff turning point but a 2-1 regular season game between two teams dreaming of Tavares? Wilson is a tool.