Dayenu! Habs 4 Booins 5 (OT)

How thankful must we be to God, the All-Present, for all the good He did for us.

Had He brought us out from Boston and not executed judgment against the Bruins,
DAYENU!
Had He executed judgment against the Bruins and not done justice to the likes of Lucic,
DAYENU!
Had He done justice to Lucic, and not slain our power play with Schneider and Weber,
DAYENU!
Had He slain our power play with Schneider and Weber and not given us an awakened 2nd line,
DAYENU!
Had He given us an awakened 2nd line and not divided the defensemen for D'Agostini,
DAYENU!
Had He divided the defensemen for D'Agostini and not given him two goals,
DAYENU!
Had He given D'Agostini two goals and not drowned a fantastic Price behind a horrible defense,
DAYENU!
Had He drowned a fantastic Price behind a horrible defense and not helped through a fiesty 40 minutes of back and forth play,
DAYENU!
Had He helped through a fiesty 40 minutes and not fed Kovy the puck,
DAYENU!
Had He fed Kovy the puck and not have Dandy take a delay of game when ahead,
DAYENU!
Had He have Dandy take a delay of game when ahead and not brought us to overtime,
DAYENU!
Had He brought us to overtime, and not given us the point we needed,
DAYENU!
Had He given us the point and not brought us into the playoffs,
DAYENU!
Had He brought us into the playoffs and not have to face such adversity this whole season,
DAYENU!

How much more so do we have to be thankful for the manifold and unbounded blessings of the All-Present God:

That he brought us out of Boston,
And executed judgment against the Bruins,
And did justice to Lucic,
And did not slay our power play with Schneider and Weber,
And gave us an awakened 2nd line,
And divided the defense for D'Agostini,
And gave him two goals,
And drowned a fantastic Price behind a horrible defense (fix it Bob),
And helped us through 40 fiesty minutes of back and forth play,
And fed Kovy the puck,
And gave Dandy a delay of game,
And brought us into overtime,
And gave us the point we needed,
And brought us to the playoffs
where the accumulation of hard work in the face of adversity finally pays off.

DA DAYENU! DA DAYENU! DA DAYENU! DAYENU DAYENU!

It's Habs Passover, and we're skating to the first round baby!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a tap dance: Habs 4, Blackhawks 1

I refuse to use any snarky "Blackhawk Down" pun!

So apparently The Bob said NO to the Barber Pole because it not only buzzed with the TVs but buzzed his players eyes. One player particularily buzzed by them was the Priceberg, who couldn't tell between a defenseman and a forward in them. The numbers are a bit hard to read, actually... And though I love the Barber Pole, the Habs instead came out in the CA ones. Unfortunately, retro sweater night was not complimented by awesome retro styled goalie pads tonight. Guess they're worn out already. (Apparently their lifespan isn't very long). NEVERTHELESS: Ohhhh what a win!

Hey, you look farmiliar...
- The CristoWall made his return to Montreal. Was it irony that he was the Habs netminder when Chicago rolled into town last season (defeated in overtime, I remember a very angry Lalime). And while there was concern about which Huet would appear, well, apparently the Crystal-Wall showed up.
- He was cheered, not booed! But he got jeered. Huet probably happy this is the only city capable of jeering his name with the correct pronounciation.
- The Hawks are a fast young team, they've got about 6 players in the high +/- range and many goals and points sco--GOAL. Kovy gets a weaksauce turnover and it's 1-0 with only 25 second knocked off the clock.
- Price was playing "follow the bouncy puck". Said he and Rollie were working on leg work and puck tracking. The results? A++++!
- So the Habs started the season with Andrei Kostitsyn getting his head smashed into the glass. And now we're ending the season with Sergei Kostitsyn getting his head smashed into the glass. Only this time they're on the same line so big brother immediately ran in there and went after the guy. Obviously like last time there was no boarding penalty, and Andrei gets a 5, 2, and 10. So mom and pop Kostitsyn came all this way to watch their baby get injured and their big boy sit in the box for half the game.
- Which was a shame because when he was finally out of the box, he was slowly showing the moves he picked up by Kovy as the game went on. Pity...
- Patrick Kane didn't get much time to play with old buddy Sergei, either. Have to wait for next year...
- Price knocked old buddy Jonathan Toews into best buddy Gorges, and got a make-up penalty though.
- I like Huet's new helmet.
- Gui! with the pop fly goal. He circled the net just in case he needed to hit it in again. I have no idea what the hell Lapierre was doing to him after he scored though. That was...weird.
- Markov is funny when he scores.
- Higgins feels the wind of a Schneider Play. Probably feels like when he was 10 watching Schneider win the Cup.
- I'm loving this edition of Coach Bob.
- Tanguay getting many break away chances but not getting anything. Koivu was explaining to him how to score on Huet while on the bench later.
- Not a good night for the refs... Two no calls on a Kovy trip, and a pretty bad slash on our Masterton Trophy nominee Breezer.
- Habs won 40 faceoffs to the Hawks 24! I'M IN SHOCK!!!
- Markov MVP, I love the way he can get back in time to neutralize a breakaway without taking a penalty.
- Hammer, not so much. And he got injured on top of that...
- PK was solid. Even had some shorthanded work. PP was 50%.
- The Hawks hadn't scored in 6 periods. Brutal schedule for them, they gotta dash home to play the suddenly hot for the playoffs Blues.
- Joel Quenneville was one unhappy man.
- I can never tell if Bob is happy or unhappy. I think I saw a smile and some twinkle in his eye during the Press Conference though!
- Win = Price throws his stick to the crowd.
- Apparently Sergei was noted as being OK after the game, laughing and talking Russian with other players. So apparently he got the english knocked out of him. But damn, those Kostitsyns are built tough eh?

Conclusion: I was pretty sick when I came home. I had no appetite, I was on the verge of vomitting... So I curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and the game just cured whatever ailed me. Good thing too because I was too tired to make my miracle cure soup. Whatever. BIG SHINY WIN!

Also apparently tonights win permanently knocks the Sens and Leafs out of the playoffs. What?

Enemy at the gates!
- Actually the standings are bloody weird. Between 9th and 4th place, each team is separated by 1 fucking point.
- Why the win knocks the Sens out permanently is because they lost to the fucking Panthers, 5-2. Waka waka.
- Bruins beat the Bolts 3-1. Yawn... Though Chara tried to fight Artyuhin. And by "try" I mean smacked his helmet until the RT knocked Lurch over with the take down.
- DALLAS WINS! Against LA...
- Edmonton is sinking with an overworked Roloson. Beaten by the Ducks 5-3.
- The consolation prize for missing the playoffs isssssss... Playing in the World Series. Unless you're like Roloson and can't MOVE anymore.
- Only two Habs (well three, but I've no idea if you can count Andrew Loverock anymore) remain in the Memorial Cup drive. Olivier Fortier, who just signed a contract with the Habs, is pretty much set to play anyway considering Rimouski is hosting it (and boy are they stacked and ready). PK Subban's Bulls ran into a hot Loverock who seems to be outplaying them hard... Looks like they might have to take their series all the way.
- The Leafs signed Christian Hanson of the Fighting Irish to an entry level contract. Yes, he's the son of a Hanson brother. Leave it to Brian Burke to sign a Hanson. The real question is, did he bring his fucking toys with him?

Screaming orange: Habs 4, Flyers 3 (OT)

Glen Metropolit, tossed in at the deep end, takes the opening faceoff, is there during the screw up that leads to the first goal against, takes a high sticking penalty of incidental contact, was robbed on a penalty box exit breakaway, and then jostled by his old teammate after a whistle in front of his old net. But as the game went on, he looked more and more comfortable with his new mates and did an exceptional job holding the Flyers in their own zone for what seemed like a good minute or two, until finally panic ensued and a blue line battle went offside. Good work Metro. He seems absolutely thrilled to no longer be wearing that day-glo orange. (I don't remember the old Flyers colour being so...bright). The first person to greet him at the dressing room door? A smiling giant Carey Price.

I celebrated with two delicious raspberry turnovers
- PYLONS! 0-1 at 28 seconds.
- HAMMER! 0-2 at 8 minutes. Good god it felt like one of those nights.
- And then over the course of 2 minutes the Habs scored 3 goals. Naturally I missed them all because the food came. So while my dad was complaining about the suckitude of my Habs, I got to interrupt him with "C'EST LE BUT!!!" three times and it felt lovely.
- I did get to see TK pull the moves and split the D like Kovy does regularily. Even Pierre Houde was like "What? Kostopoulos?"
- I don't know what rank the PK is but so far it's been abolutely amazing these past few games. Especially the 5-on-3. I hope they don't get complacent with the knowledge of how good it is and keep at it.
- RAR PENALTIES
- It ain't a game until you get one Breezer Play. Naturally it just had to be on Gagne. 3-3
- Patches is the big power forward all you annoying forum fans have been screaming for. Lookie, he picked up another assist tonight.
- Stewart is a beast.
- Higgins and Koivu had one mad cycle on a Flyers clearing attempt that would have made the highlight reel if Niittymaki hadn't made the save.
- Every time Halak plays the puck behin his net is duck for cover.
- Koivu kicked ass on the faceoffs when it really mattered. Won 5 in a row during the OT powerplay.
- What's better than a Breezer Play? Why of course, the Schneider Play! 4-3 and he Ovechkins himself into the glass.

Conclusion: Play like this against the Sharks tomorrow and you won't be so happy after 60 minutes. So does Price get the shaft and play behind a tired team going against a well rested Sharks? Probably, in the never ending saga of how he has absolutely no luck at all... *gives hugs*

Elsewhere on a cold, rainy, February...
- Pens beat the Hawks in a shootout 5-4. Huet was never really strong against the Pens, actually...
- Osgood actually has to make 30 saves for the Wings to beat the Kings 2-1. I find that one a little odd, but whatever.

The Furniture Maker: Habs 5, Sens 3

Just my luck to miss a 3pm game only to find out it sounded like a wild one. I'll recap later when I watch Express but Ottawa had 47 shots and switched their goalies, Kovy had 3 points and got the first star... I hate 3pm games. I went to Ikea to buy my TV bench and went to my apartment to construct it. Well, half of it. (Actually I caught Pleky's opening goal on the radio. Woo powerplay!)

Kovy! Kovy! Kovy!
- Kovy says he feels like he just got traded here, like it's the start of something new.
- But seriously? I know he's good on the PK, but that was the best I've seen him do yet.
- Not to mention the powerplay. Or totally stealing away the puck in the O-zone for an unassisted lovely goal.
- SCHNEIDER! A point in each game since coming back. My brother on his goal: "Holy shit that was fast". Even Bob Cole was taken by it.
- Looks like the 1993 special, not only did Schneider rocket one in from the point, but Breezer totally faked and then sniped one in as well.
- Yet Breezer still managed to screw up once just enough to allow the Sens to score.
- Gorges took offense to seeing Chipper hit by an elbow. Yes, Gorges, the guy who like watching chick flicks. Got the take down.
- Uh...Sharkko Ruutu vs RoboDandy? Guess no one told him about the metal arm thing.
- Alfie playing with his broken face, protecting his head in the full fish bowl visor.
- I think Halak is used to 47 shots by now.
- Patches the Stapler. He just staples players to the boards. I love the kid!
- Why does Stewart rock? Because I think he's made of rock. He could crash head first into the boards and not even notice. He could get whacked in the face with a stick and not even blink. I wonder if that's his secret to success with all those fights in the AHL? He's also a smart kid. You won't bait him into getting into the box if he knows you're already well on your way in there.
- Woo penalties!

- Habs: 3 powerplay goals, Sens: 1 powerplay goal...and it's just HAD to be on Saku's at the end.
- Sixth straight win over Ottawa. It feels...good. Considering the Habs used to be Ottawa's favourite snack.
- Kovy was the first star and tossed his stick out to the crowd because he wanted to make someone else just as happy as he was.
- Carbo thinks everyone is going to ask for a few days off now.

It's funny, when Bob gave Kovy this rest, the entire media world went crazy about how they embarresed their star player and now he's probably going to ask for a trade, yada yada yada. Apparently Detroit just sent Osgood home for a break and somehow they're seen as geniuses.

Back with Sergei, some reporters were trying to get some news out of him under the watchful eye of...someone. They were met with plenty of "nah, not going to comment sorry" but when asked if he'd like to say anything to Canadiens fans or Bulldogs fans, he smiled and beamed "I love Canadiens fans and Bulldogs fans". Sergei! We love you too!

Twilight Zone!
- The Canucks played like crap and the Leafs still lost. Actually the Leafs should have won that one considering how terrible the Canucks were in that game... Sundin got the winner in a shootout, while everyone else booed and absolutely forgot Kyle Wellwood was also playing.
- Ryan Miller just got injured...
- Boston got shut out 2-0...by FLORIDA.
- New Jersey got shut out 4-0...BY THE ISLANDERS!
- The Minnesota Wild scored 5 goals to beat DETROIT! And it was still boring!
- Steve Mason gave up 5 goals and got beaten by the Ducks! Though, I wonder if he still has mono.
- Oh Biron you idiot... Penguins thank you for that 5-4 win.