We salute you, Tom Kostopoulos

May the annoying fans of the Whalercanes treat you well, but somehow I doubt they will as they're probably already bitching about "another 3rd or 4th liner to go with the rest of them instead of someone Eric Staal can play with". They will need to learn the ways of TKO: the man of heart, the man of steel, the man who could throw punches and never win a fight, the man who memorized the Chuck Norris facts book, the man who reminded us how fragile Mike Van Ryn really is, the man who stood up and gave us a win in the Flyers series in OT before the Flyers started whining about things, the man who actually went down fighting Kurt Sauer after he brained AK46 while Laraque just asked nicely, and yes, the man I tried sending to the All-Star Game.

And while you always hover around the net despite your hands of clay, no one could ever deny your effort. You will be missed on the PK, my friend. Sure Travis Touchdown Moen is probably a defnite upgrade from you, but there's no denying the fact you were well loved here and I know we all wish you the very best. Enjoy that Southern cooking!

So long Greek Lightning. I wonder if there are still piece of Gorges' stick that he and Price sacrificed to help Gorges score a goal left around their arena...

His moment of glory, though he had many, but even Bob Cole described Tom the Bomb perfectly.

The Bob and Video Replay: Habs 2, Islanders 3 (OT)

Oh there is so much material The Bob can work with here. Stuff like offensive zone lacks finishing and poor positioning to gobble rebounds before the other team does. Defensive zone consists of being a statue and then staring at Price as he frantically attempts to save their arses. Either way, when Kovalev is stuck home sick (and it must have been bad because Kovy would play if he were just a torso) it's very noticeable!

Hockey players aren't allowed flu shots
- One powerplay goal by Pleky.
- They really should know not to give powerplays to the Islanders because uh...Streit is on that side of the rink.
- When Okposo is walking in on your goalie you might want to try and stop him?
- Apparently the Habs won lots more faceoffs than the Islanders? Could have fooled me.
- It's not really a bad team, it's just the Islanders have nothing else to play for but themselves. And to annoy the piss out of everyone that's looking for points. Can't you guys just roll over for ONE night, you know, especially at this time of year? TA-VA-RES!
- But hey, at least it wasn't the beat down they gave Brodeur last Saturday. Though it could have been if not for Price being money.
- Though, it's the Islanders and Komisarek ducked away from a hit and lost the puck in the defensive zone. Dude!
- AK46 was having a pretty bad night. But that weaksauce highsticking penalty was called after three un-called infractions, including two goalie interferences, on the Islanders. Bravo refs!
- It's Yann Danis, guys. Stop shooting right at him.
- I wish Schneider would extend his stick to at least make it look like he's trying to hold the blue line while on the powerplay.
- Kostopoulos is clutch. Sometimes.
- Though he might want that OT goal back, after nearly 40 shots coming in every which way Price was the man.
- Dandenault gave him a big pat on the back when he got to the bench.
- I think Lever has a book of notes by now. Time to call a real practice.

Conclusion: Are you fucking kidding me? The Devils roar into town and Brodeur is looking for that one more win to equal Roy's reconds. FUCK! Get the whip out, Bob. And by Saint Patrick save us...

I've no idea what the standings look like now:
- Ottawa, Bruins. Guess how that turned out? Sputza got himself two goals though. Wonder if his stick was "legal". Wonder if Julien was tempted to check.
- Huseeeeeeeelius. A name I keep mistaking for Helium. Well he gave the Pens 1 point for a shootout loss, but I'm more shocked Mason didn't get another shutout.
- Gomez, Callahan, Betts... It's the New York Detectives. Preds suck.
- Well, Ovie likes us so he's always willing to help by not giving the Flyers points.
- I think Vokoun is still in shock from Malkin's goal, but I don't know who I prefer winning and losing in a Florida/Buffalo game...
- DALLAS! I didn't think you could do it, but thank you for not giving Carolina any points. No overtime, nothing! Woo! And hey, Begin scored too! Knew we could count on him.
- The standings make me bitter!

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.

Tailor made: Habs 3, Caps 4 (SO)

Here we have two teams that are similar, only one is flying with confidence, the other is taking baby steps to return to form. The fact one point was obtained despite a good solid effort in which they truly deserved the two points is exactly what The Bob ordered. Though without Kovalev to save your arse in a shootout, I'm thinking Carbo should have picked the natural goal scorers instead of the defensive hard working guys. You know, they wear the 67 and 36 and 21 and 46... But that's his choice so he'll have to live with it.

My dad's random fact of the evening: Schneider means "tailor"
- Happy to be back? Why thank you Bob! It's nice to see a solid veteran on the top line that doesn't Breezer his way through a game. One assist, solid ass-saving defense, blocking shots... Makes Chelios proud to see his stolen number is being put to good use. (No offense to Henry).
- It was the 6 000th game for the Habs since 1909. (Included games for the NHA).
- The lineup is weird without Kovy...
- Sergei too... (Gonna pay attention to Friday's game against the Marlies and see how he is).
- Stewart is a gem.
- Ovechkin is so much fun to watch. Giving Price credit for the crazy catch early on in the game. Flying over for a weird goal. Then near the end of overtime, absolutely steaming mad when Pleky stole the puck from him.
- Ha... well, he's a defensive forward but the Canadiens news recaps called Chipper a defenseman when he tried to cover for Hammer's super error on Ovie on the crazy goal.
- Speaking of Price, told you there was nothing to worry about. That last goal would have been a miracle save if he had gotten it, and it was really close to being a high stick.
- Powerplay was 3-for-4, while 5-on-5 was back to fanning and shooting wide, but they had good chances either way. PK was good, as the Caps were 1-for-3.
- Holy Markov might have turned over the puck a la Vodkov during the weaker powerplay, but he picked up 3 assists on the others!
- And no goal(s) for Mike Green.
- TK IS WEARING KOVY'S A!!!
- But good work for TK. He fell and still held on to the puck in the neutral zone while the Caps where gunning for offense. Too bad he's got hands of clay...
- Work on faceoffs ok please thanks. Fruit Punch once again takes the highest percentage on the team at 63% (5-8). Lowest was Pleky at 47% (8-17).
- My only annoyance was that Ovie tried twice to take Price's head off with the puck. Meanie!
- I hope Kovy was watching.

Conclusion: Good solid effort as seen by all. As they gain more confidence, we'll see the speed coming back, because right now they're overly concerned with causing any errors. And tomorrow, another team that's like ours, and in a similar fuck as well. We say hello to Pittsburgh and see how their new coach can change them. For the record, I was absolutely flabbergasted that Therrien got a contract extension way too early, especially since watching his Pens was like watching his old Habs, only he didn't have the two top players in the league up here... My brother is also one who believes they reached those Cup finals because of who was on the ice, not who was behind the bench. Then again, other than those two players, he doesn't have much to work with. (Kind of like his old Habs).

At work I'm in project limbo, so I'm currently milling through some downtime. Using it to get my creative juices back, as they can get really stale when you do the kind of work I have to do (it's all part of the job). I've got a large "sheet" opened in my photoshop and I'm just making random heads. Here's my Kovyhead that I made this morning.

Elliooooooooott! Habs 5 Sens 4 (SO)

Trying to right this ship, at least in the backend...

I only managed to catch the game from the 3rd period onwards and then got the rest off Express as I was out for a lovely dinner amongst some rather annoying relatives of my mother (ie. my aunt and uncle) so my take on the game is rather thin... My dinner was good though, save for those annoying relatives. Grr...

You aren't helping that save percentage...
- Fan favourite and gritty, fearsome prospect Greg Stewart got to play tonight. He picked up an assist on D'Agostini's goal and did some excellent yeoman's work along the boards and generally annoyed the oppositioin in the checking line. As he grows I see him as our farm-grown Kostopoulos, except he wins more fights.
- Actually I can say all lines are clicking relatively well. Kovy's line is feeding off Patches (what a kid!), Lang and the brothers still going strong with AK46 becoming more and more that power forward Carbo was talking about, Lapierre's line still the same hardworking core.
- Defense is ok but I get queasy as I see Breezer paired with Cube...
- That piece of the wall Komo hit was padded right? God that could have been a broken arm in the making...
- Heater is a 50 goal scorer. He was ZombieHeater for the first part and rose from the dead in the 3rd, but Jaro needs to learn to deal with those kinds of play like Carey does. (See, Gorges is covering the other two well enough so all you need to do is take care of the shooter, but not while on your knees...at least not when you're shorter than Price).
- Bet he wants that second Heatley goal back.
- Could say the same for Elliott on Kostopoulos' goal.
- Markov is the General by how he controls the tempo of the game like a certain defensman of Habs yore, but sometimes I fear he thinks way too much when on the powerplay.
- ZOMG AK46 ninja scores: 5 goals, 5 games in a row
- Lang had two assists tonight: more points! Now he leads the team with points (36). So ya, fuck you Mats.
- Kovy in the John Tavares spot on the powerplay: bing!
- Bob Cole is pro-anything else when it comes to games that include the Habs. Sounded like we killed his dog whenever something good from the Habs happened, even wondering why the Habs fans that invaded were OleOleOle-ing in a one-goal game. (Memo to Cole: we Ole anytime). I mean this is the guy who actually said "The goalie stopped it! How come?!" when Price stopped Shane Doan on a sure goal earlier this year. RDS may get all giddy over Latendresse, but they give credit where it's due and are equally excited over any other team's brilliant play.
- Jaro in shootouts is usually more 50/50 than anything in that he just seems to hope they all miss, but good save on Alfie.
- Kovy is the magical beastie. Getting ready for the All Star Game eh?
- I think we should send Fruit Punch to the ASG next year for the skills competition alone. Who'd have thunk it! And it was a different move from the first one too. So that's 2 for 2.

In conclusion: I had chicken stuffed with goat cheese in an apple cranberry sauce, and it was good. This game was also good. Sens wanted a point, and they got one. Habs wanted two and a win, and they got one. Carey come and plaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...!



While I was eating:
- WOOT! Bruins lost to the Caps 2-1
- WOOT! Carolina lost to Buffalo 3-1
- WOOT! Tampa Bay lost to the Panthers 4-3
- WOOT! Price really wants to be in that All-Star Game and might just make it. Hey, I won't stop him. Doing so may depress him as he looked depressed about the idea of maybe missing it. A happy Price makes a happy Canadiens team!
- Um...Atlanta scored 7 goals to crush Nashville who only managed 2? Jaro best be ready if Price doesn't play Tuesday.
- Pens traded Sabu (along with some other things) for Garon. Now they have that ex-Habs goalie curse as a secret weapon for when we play them next. Crap!

Umm...? Habs 6 Panthers 5 (SO)

Carbo can't look. THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE WING!

Well, that was an episode of the Twilight Zone. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck happened. I do know that somehow the boys got through it with 2 points.

We should be glad for a win because this could very well be the 06-07 season:
- First game note: I hate 2pm games.
- The second period was apparently very good. It looked very good to me. I missed the whole first period because I was away putting together furniture. The third period would have been good except...
- I know Jaro is struggling right now. I know his teammates know he's struggling right now. They look very nervous in front of him. Right now my brother devised a formula for Jaro efficiency/team happiness: The distance of the puck from Jaro inadvertly describes how good he is/how happy team is.
- The Kostitsyns with Lang is a good pairing. I wish Benoit Brunet would shut the fuck up though. Sergei makes a few errors, but does a lot more good than Breezer on defense and he's not even a defenseman.
- Pacioretty has a natural attractions to head for the net. Wish more people would have that kind of magnetism.
- Kostopoulos finally gets a goal after some hard crease work and has a look on his face like he missed the train.
- Pacioretty says hello to Zed with a CRUSHING check. Love the kid. (Oh, and hello Zed!)
- Gui! is playing very solid hockey right now.
- If Kovy's posts would have been goals he'd be leading the league.
- Lang's ringer went in. It was loud, and it was good.
- Andrei also ringed one in that went in. I think every time Anderson heard the ping and cheer he just died a little inside.
- Chipchura for captain!
- Jaro prays to his posts every morning.
- Some guys in the crowd did the Carey Pose when Lang scored.
- The way Pleky juggles the puck he'd be an excellent basketball player.
- Young refs make weak calls but whatever. At least their mics worked.
- At least we get free wings.

In conclusion: Well take it from Begin, they know they're playing like crap half the time, they know they're making mistakes, and they'll settle down to watch and talk about it and build off it. At least they know what's going on. I'm still lost. At least Guy knows. Guy is smart. But with all the injuries and having an entire key line on the shelf, things could be worse but it's not. So three cheers for who's standing and three cheers for the Bulldogs. I just wished PK Subban were playing with the CH right now...

The Bolt Pose! Habs 2, Bolts 1 (SO)

I feel tired and sweaty from just watching that game, though maybe I'm hot because I've been sitting here in my sweater with my heater on, but you get the point. Crazy roller coaster of a game. For what looked like 60 minutes of speed skating around the rink, the BOLTS got one tip in goal from a crowd and the Habs got one on a first minute of the 3rd rush by Gui! and his buddies working the zone. And what better way to end an obvious goalie duel than with a shootout? Habs scored two in a row, Jussi Jokinen was the only one to beat Price. (Though what was with the fist pump? A bit much for a shootout goal. Then again, I'm so used to the guys not really reacting to it unless it's the game winner. Dude, you were the FIRST shooter. And the goal wasn't really anything special either).

Hell of a way to kick off 2009!
- Who knew Fruit Punch was such a sniper? After Kovy scores his trademark Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am shootout goal, Lapierre follows suit with nearly the same shot! And he almost had a few goals tonight. Good on the kid! He's got the taste for goals and looks like he wants more.
- Scare of the evening was when that truck of a Russian, Evgeny Artyukhin checked Tanguay into the glass and popped the glass pane off. Tanguay went off the ice and down the hall. JUST WHAT WE NEED! Another fucking shoulder injury... Maybe 13 wasn't so good for Tanguay after all.
- As Begin was sporting a nasty blackeye from yesterday, Kostopoulos took it on himself to take on the giant Russian that hurt Tanguay. Though the big man wouldn't take off his visor, so TK had nothing to punch at. Still, give the little guy props for trying.
- Power play was obviously not going to work with dump ins when you've got the two best young puck moving goalies on the ice. Mike Smith tossing those pucks right at Price, who tossed them back to his teammates. Repeat.
- Oh Vince, when did you become such a wanker... Whining at Komisaurus when he checked you. Whining at Komisaurus when you crosschecked him behind the play and as they dragged you to the penalty box...
- Heh, someone tried to fight Breezer for slidding into Smith while he was playing the puck. Not his fault Breezer just sucks. Come on, don't hit the old man!
- I was watching the Lightning feed off my computer and their announcers had the hots for Price. But I gotta say for the Sunshine State, they sure did impress me with their textbook dissection of a few good plays. Especially enjoyed the "how awesome are the Habs defensively on these odd man rushes" ones. If you get them together with RDS' Joel Bouchard, you could teach everyone hockey from the comfort of their homes.
- Kovy got a post. Hit it LOUD.
- D'Agostini almost scored but a bounce off Smith and then the post out was all it did. Danger Man!
- Maxwell gave some BOLTS stars fits with his shadowing.
- I noticed the BOLTS play like the Flyers now. Guess that's Tocchet's game. Wonder how long they'll last playing like that, though.
- Andrei Kostitsyn nearly ended the game with 3 seconds left. He's always leaving the best for last. But again, bounced off Smith's glove and then the crossbar out.
- Probably the greatest part of the game was the finish. Lecav VS Price, if he scored then Habs would have to hope Gui! scores to end it. Price stones Lecav, and does the Usain Bolt Pose right in Vince's face. Vince sulks off the ice, Habs rejoice.
- Carbo looked like he just won the playoffs. Wow was he a happy man! And good choices for the shootout. I bet Gui! would have scored too.

In conclusion: Habs rock. And the winner of the goalie duel: Price. Though Smith should be on the All Star list. Not his fault he's got a team of crap in front of him for most of the season. (Just give Denis a call, kid. He'll tell you ALL about it).

Train...say your prayers...take vitamins and believe in yourself

Bulldogs report!
Bulldogs have also ended 2008 with two game in the win. There was a come from behind shootout victory against the Rochester Americans. In that one, the BabyPanthers scored 3 in the first period and then it was all Bulldogs. Marc Denis got his confidence back as the game went on. Desharnais, Pacioretty, and Weber scored in regulation while Lehoux, Glumac, and Desharnais again took the shootout. Denis only allowed one goal in the shootout and was having fun the whole way. (AHL has a best of 5 thing for their shootout). Mike Brodeur (no relation) was phenomenal though. He had 40 saves on 43 shots! Panthers may like him one day...

And while the Habs were kicking the BOLTS in a Floridian shootout, the Dogs shutout the Baby Leafs 4-0! Pacioretty scored again! Chipper opened the scoring all by himself! Carle on the power play and Russell took the other goals. Jancevski assisted on every goal with an assist! (Too bad he's Dalla property, I like that guy). This was Denis' third shutout of the season.

News you may care about
- Boo! Leafs win. Actually Cujo's first win of the season. Against Atlanta. Ho hum. They took it 4-3 in regular overtime.
- SHOCK! Sens beat the Oilers 3-2. Though last time I saw the Oilers they looked like they had no idea how to skate. (Yet somehow won that game I saw with a shutout over the Canucks). So...make with that what you will.
- Boston pwns the Penguinos 5-2. Ya, keep voting Fleury guys so we can see his All Star coverage of angles and short-stopped laterals. Also noticed Therrien is losing more hair as the season progresses.
- Detroit warmed up for the Winter Classic (weather permitted) by a 4-0 smackdown on the Hawks.
- Meh, Flyers beat the Canuckleheads 3-2. They haven't lost to them in 20 years (not saying how many times they FACED each other in 20 years but whatever). Canucks had two backup goalies playing. Gagne got injured again...
- GAS WAS 69 CENTS! Now those fuckers raised it to 78. Bastiches!
- I'm almost done painting my new appartment. I'm so sick of painting...

Habs Rock Detroit! (Habs 3, Wings 1)

I had a terrible day at work today. My newish computer, the one they gave me in August while taking away my prefectly fine and not-so-slow computer, died on me while I was rebooting because it was acting slow. Apparently I may have lost all my stuff on it as well, which stinks. (Backup? On that pitiful amount of space they give us over the server? My PSDs run up to 50mb each!) Luckily I'm well ahead on the project, so it's no problem for my schedule, but I spent my entire day doing nothing while the IT guy went running around trying to figure out what to do and how to fix it. Actually, I took a nap (which helped me kill time and paid off later for my own hockey game). Eventually he gave me a temporary computer, which didn't allow me to install anything and didn't even have the right photoshop on it. Didn't matter anyway since I couldn't install our homebrew programs since I was locked out. Sigh...

I bought myself a classic Doctor Who DVD to cheer myself up. Tomb of the Cybermen, all found and complete. I love Patrick Troughton. (Well, I loved Peter Davison more, but the 2nd Doc is so much fun). That sort of cheered me up.

But what really made my day was getting into my car and switching over the radio to CJAD later after hockey just in time to catch Super Pleky score on the powerplay! And the guys I played with said "oh it's probably 3-0 Detroit, with a goal by O'Byrne". Ha! Ye of little faith.

My prediction for this game was a 2-1 shootout victory, but I guess we can't measure teams via preseason eh? Actually, I figured since we've had so many shootouts, what's one more? Also Detroit looses more in overtime/shootout games. This is the 3rd regulation loss for Detroit EVER this season. And don't regard TSN's headline. Habs didn't steal this. They worked hard, they played hard, they played SMART and they played the Wings right into their own forecheck-less neutral zone variation trap. They also finally learned how to bounce pucks off defensemen for deflections into nets, which was how Fruit Punch opened the scoring by deflecting it off Lidstrom. ConkBlock was all over the place. But they didn't look tired. They looked like the usual hockey robots of Detroit. And hey, they said the Bruins would be tired when they beat the boys 6-1.

The downer was that Price lost out his shutout bid, but them's the brakes. O'Byrne, who rebounded after that terrible Monday with a good effort, pyloned up in the 3rd period after just handing it lightly to Franzen, who totally danced in and around him right up to a picture perfect shot. Needless to say, the kid was BENCHED for the rest of that one. Actually Carbo may want to keep him benched for every third period when we're trying to hold on to a suitable winning lead. Third period was shutdown defense time, where the boys had to deal with one and a half penalties at the start, and patiently awaited their opportunities. Oddly enough Habs outshot the Wings for the first two periods. Just the third combined the powerplays and defensive play, the shots tipped in Detroit's favor. (More +30 shots for Pricey)!

Casualties: Alex Tanguay from a 1st period hit by Brad Stuart. Said his neck was bugging him. Sounds like he got whiplashed. Kostopoulos took his spot on the Koivu/Higgins line. (Worked well enough for Master Higgins to get a goal)!

All in all, excellent effort. It was a step up from how they played against the Islanders, but with an better result. Wings have the number 1 powerplay, and didn't get anything on it. (Habs converted 1). Sergei is also back to hitting people with his gritty checks.

On my drive home, I smiled as I heard the Carey Chant and Go Habs Go pour out of my speakers. Habs fans are everywhere! We've invaded! To quote a certain tin man: "You will be like us!"

Now I've returned home! Habs 2 Bruins 3 (SO)

The final score has no meaning tonight, though it does to some fans, but not to me. The number is raised! Justice is served! The hero of my generation has returned home! And the torch? Oh it has been passed. What better way to honour Patrick Roy than to bring a game to overtime and stand on your head for a team struggling offensively (would help not to shoot at the goalie and to you know, pick those rebounds, but I digress). And despite the loss, the boys came out flying like it was a playoff game in November. Now just compliment your goalie with some goals please.

They got highlights:
- He came through the front door, walked down the hallways by the concessions, didn't pick up a pack of fries, shook hands with some lucky fans that were waiting around, and came through a door by the lower level bowl which lead to the players bench. A few words to Beliveau and a hug, and then there he was: Patrick Roy
- Like when Koivu returned from his battle with cancer, the crowd would not allow anyone to get a word in.
- Koivu, Halak, and Price aided him at pinning up the number and posing for the picture. Price looked like he didn't want to let go of Roy.
- The Bruins were not there for the ceremony...
- Tanguay and Breezer were like two chatty girls by the bench the entire time. They were loving it.
- Roy nearly crying as he looked up at his number slowly hoisting up to the ceiling. I'm going to try and snap a picture of it on Monday (and my seat is near his wall in the Ring of Honor too).
- The game! Carbo must have read my mind: it worked before during the playoffs, so why not all the time. Starts the 4th line against the Booins, get the energy going. Sergei looks like he's having fun with them, but it's too bad none of them seem capable of utilizing his beautiful passes. At least he tries to get goals too.
- The hits! They're everywhere! But they're mostly coming from red sweaters! And this is disturbing the Booins a bit, like it did in Game 1 and 7.
- The Priceberg holds the fort on a few key chances that would normally soar over most heads.
- Andrei Kostitsyn and his wristers.
- The shadow of Big Georges is long and strong and it was all over Lucic, completely messing with his game and his number 1 line. And that was the plan. Everyone knew he'd never fight Laraque anyway. And the one time Laraque wasn't on the ice with him was when he scored. Keep this in your notebook, Carbo.
- Big Georges' smile is both frightening and lovely.
- Koivu throwing the hits on Wideman, and also gets a roughing penalty on an after-whistle hugfest.
- How many times is Breezer going to fake a shot and think about making a move on the powerplay? One, two, three, four, five...
- Tom Kostopoulos rocks. No seriously. This is what it means when they say "work and it will pay off". Third star of the evening.
- Right now, I'd switch Stewart for Lapierre. If only Stewart could win faceoffs. (Might not have to, Begin seems to be doing fine with those).
- O'Byrne, you did some good, but you did bad as well. Hamilton is just over there... Hello Shawn Belle? Ring ring.
- I'll trade you one Higgins for a D'Agostini.
- I think Ryder freaks out everytime he thinks about scoring on Price. He's a non-factor at the moment.
- Ya the powerplay did indeed eat up it's quota. Perhaps it's time to put Big Georges in front of the net for screens and deflections. Could probably get a few garbage goals there. No one is capable of moving him once he's parked. (Hey, the NHL is BUILT around garbage goals now).
- Markov...it's overtime and there was no one around you, Tiny Tim was totally on his way down when you slowed to shoot, that would have gone in right over his head. But you just had to try and pass it to...no one. Merci!
- I don't even think Wheeler knew what the hell he was doing on that shootout move, but whatever.
- Hey Carbo, about those shootout choices... You may want to throw Tanguay out instead of Markov. Even AK46 might have been better than Kovy. Hell, throw out Kostopoulos! No on expects him to score, he probably would have done the job.

Overall: Offense still in November-mode, but this time you can't really say that was a stolen point. They were playing hard through their funk and having some fun hitting things.

Questions with Patrick Roy sent in from viewers on RDS where one asked if he had the choice of any player in the league to build his team around who would it be, Roy picked Price. He would build from the net out, even if Crosby were available, and believes him to be an exceptional player. Then said Ovechkin might be available in the 2nd.

Bulldogs!
They were awesome tonight. They destroyed the Blues AHL team, the Peoria Rivermen, 7-4 scoring 5 goals in the 3rd period. Marc Denis faced 47 shots while Ben Bishop only faced 22. Greg Stewart opened the scoring, Ryan White got the second. Third Period Bonanza came courtesy of D'Agostini, Trotter, Chipchura, and White again with a shorthanded goal. Chipchura also got the empty net at 19:59. Seriously, Shawn Belle is currently a +14 (+4 tonight). Alex Henry would be good too, but he's gotta go through waivers...

Elsewheres...
- Moustaches everywhere! Wendel Clark is honored, but not retired. Hawks beat them in overtime 5-4.
- Morrow is gone on injury for most of the season dammit! But the Stars bring it to a shootout and lose 2-1 to the Ducks.
- This could suck? Luongo does something and pulls his groin on the first shot on goal five minutes into the game and is dragged off the ice. Even though the Canucks beat the Penguinos (still without Fleury) 3-1, the Captain was limping something awful later... Not a very high shooting game either, as each team got 18 shots on goal.
- Ottawa wins 4-1 against the Rangers because of Jarkko Ruutu being Jarkko Ruutu. And the Rangers kind of stink. It's way too quiet in that building without Habs fans...
- Islanders beat the Buffaslugs 4-2. Lalime isn't really known for consistency. But Habs better beat those fishsticks Monday or I'll be mighty unhappy. (And I'll be there too).

Habs call out for your support!

The Canadiens have 6 very deserving players on the All-Star ballots this year: Carey Price showing his determination to be the best, Mike Komisarek ready to be the only one who will probably actually PLAY defense at the game, Andrei Markov aiming to make it a 2nd time, Saku Koivu wanting to show off why we love him, Alex Kovalev ready to dazzle with his magic, and Alex "my career is back on track" Tanguay who just got himself the October Molson Cup. Habs fans everywhere, myself included, will be stuffing those ballots to ensure they all get in! I know, I know, the All-Star Game is dull and cheap, where no one hits and no one defends and the score makes Bettyman wishing it were like that all the time. But hey, at least if you get Komisaurus in, there's a guarantee someone's going down! Maybe an All-Star Brawl? God bless him.

But there's also a write-in option, and I'm vying to send in Tom Kostopoulos! Players like TK are important, and are generally overlooked. But TK has been making waves. There hasn't been a night on RDS where Demers and Co haven't raved about his wonderful work ethic, even when he had an off night. An All-Star Game full of Crosbys is BORING. Throw in a guy like TK, and you'll be in for a whole new exhibition.

Besides, if Mickey Ribs could make it.... *shudders*

--------

Coach Hitchcock presents new ideas to his team...

Finally, this long-ass week is coming to an end and FINALLY this whacked out schedule is bringing us some Habs games! Two, actually. First up, Les Boys wander into Columbus where Rick Nash, woah, and his company are awaiting to fire 3 rounds rapid. Halak will take this one. Been a while since we've seen him other than skating around with a big smile on his face and joining in on the victory pileups. We just hope the team doesn't come out dead like the last time they had a week off... which was two weeks ago. Seriously? Who made this schedule?!

Saturday night! Habs vs Leafs! Hockey Hall of Fame Wonder Weekend game! Price takes this one, seeing as the "comeback kids" will be hosting the "comeback men", and I'm sure he's expecting his usual 40 shots on goal as per quota with Habs/Leafs games. Keeps him sharp. Thanks, Toronto!

Extra bit o' news: Glad they saw what I saw. The Canadiens signed my favourite little centerman, David Desharnais, to a two-year two way contract. Never judge the undrafted little guy who tore through every league he's been in.

It's a trap! Habs 2, Wild 1

Leave it to the Canadiens to walk into Wild Country and put on a show. The trap and the constant stream of rather questionable penalties dragged Habs offense to the defensive, but the Tricolore snuffed 10 power plays granted to the Wild, including two and a half 5-on-3s. Also, it's the second time they won a game even though they gave up the first goal. Interesting!

Evening notes:
- Lemaire has quite the tan.
- Both Canadiens goals were scored from the blueline, with Cube netting his 2nd of the year and Markov getting his first after nearly decapitating Josh Harding with a rocket on an early 2nd period powerplay.
- Habs played through the trap and managed very well.
- Wild fans BOOED their team after not being able to get anything thanks to excellent PK units and Carey Price being the wall.
- History! Captain Saku and Captain (of the month) Mikko face off as the first pair of brother captains for their respective teams. I don't much understand the Wild's captaincy policy, but whatever.
- History! Habs played their 2 900th road game.
- Mom and Dad Koivu were in the crowd watching their sons.
- Saku's first penalty of the season was uh...holding his brother (a light tap on the stick, really).
- Hanson brother wearing a Chiefs sweater in the audience right beind Lemaire!

WOO!

- If Lemaire had pulled Harding at the end and Price had shot that a little bit to the right, he would have gotten a goal! Instead, he got icing.
- Pileup right at the end, involving the Koivu brothers with Mikko arguing with Markov (woah, he speaks) and Price trying to hold Mikko back.
- Both coaches invested in some antacids thanks to the refs. And Carbo on the 5th penalty of the 2nd period mouthing "fuck me..." right as the camera took a shot at him.
- The RDS intermission comment crew love Price and Kostopoulos.

In other news... Habs blueliner prospect, Pavel Valentenko, has apparently signed a 3-year contract out of the blue with the KHL's Moscow Dynamo. Apparently, he was given an indefinite leave to attend to some family matters back home (watch out Capitals, isn't that what Ovechkin is on?) which seems kind of sneaky, or suspicious. I'm wondering if the mob has any hold on the new hockey league like in the old days. Apparently on Tank's facebook he left a note saying he was sorry to leave and that he just wanted to be close with his family. If it's a personal thing, then I guess there's nothing you can do about it. It still hurts though, especially since he was working hard to join the Canadiens and knew the place of the depth chart and completely understood the waiting. Also his rather North American style might not do him a whole lot of good in the KHL. Another prospect over there named Alexei Yemelin plays the same way and finds himself constantly in the penalty box. He claims to be rather annoyed with it all and wants to come over here. Anyway, the downside of it is despite how good the Habs and the Russians have been to each other since the Summit Series, we might see less of these guys drafted in the coming years. Probably why Gainey is picking more and more from Minnesota eh?

Taberquack? Ducks rain on an already rainy day

Dunno, I found this somewhere. It makes me laugh every time.

Well that was a cross between CURSE OF THE FRANCO-GOALIE and a skanky game and a good game (for the wrong reasons). Actually, ya, I don't know what to make of it. First loss in regulation since the beginning of the year isn't too bad. However, Price has been sick in bed puking up everything for 3 days. What's the excuse for the rest of the team who were actually practicing all week?

The Good: J.S Giguere stops 47 of 51 shots. What? He's not on our team? Ya, that's the Curse of the Franco-Goalie, and probably why the Habs try to get them all before they go to other teams. Well, to the team's credit, most shots launched his way were rather superfluous teases, but he did make a few steals. Should have been the first star though. Corey Perry? Whatevs. Wait. I'm supposed to be talking Habs, not Quacks.

Josh Gorges has become the love of my life. This has been building since he started playing more last year. Even if his picking up the puck in the crease after Price pooped it to prevent it from going goal lead to a penalty shot, no problem. The Priceberg is so big, he freaked out the Duck to completely miss. Saku Koivu gets another goal! That's #4 in four games now, and I'm freaking out. Tanguay pots two because he did what more people on the team should do: sneak in and send those rebounds to the bank. The other love of my life, Tom Kostopoulos gets Flukey Goal of the Game award. I really have no idea how that went in, honestly, but it did, and it put the team ahead by one at the start of the 2nd period.

The Bad: Well, he wasn't necessarily bad, but he didn't look too hot out there, even in warmup. Halak let in 4 of 12 shots and got switched with Price midway 2nd perioid. What got the better of him were his rebounds that he just couldn't contain, or no defense help, or decided going down was better instead of staying up.

Offense should take notes. Stop shooting directly at the goalie and pick the waterbottle to aim for. Tanguay seems to be doing that, seems to be working. I don't know if I should put the Defense in this category though, because the shotblockers were excellent.

The Ugly: Actually, I'll put Defense here. Hello? What have you learned all week? I don't know who's errors were worse defensively, forwards doing the turnovers and not getting back faster or Breezer's. If Rhino was sitting in the pressbox eating cookies with Dandy, maybe it was a good lesson for him. "See, watch Breezer down there, that's what we want to avoid doing." Also, Markov, stop falling down please.

I'll put the refs in here too. I seriously believe the Ducks' game plan consisted of "how many times can we cross-check Kovalev and get away with it". And yea, tripping penalty usually goes to the guy who trips a player, not the one who gets tripped. Just making that clear.

Closing Notes: I'm leaning from not-minding to actually actively campaigning for Bob Gainey's suggestion to generate more offense by making it illegal for players to "sweep" with their bodies on the ground as they attempt to block shots. Habs did not sweep, blocked lots of shots. Ducks did sweep way too much, or went completely horizontal in front of Giguere, blocked and annoyed the piss out of me. If anything, Habs proved you can block shots without kissing the ice.

Anyway, my friend had fun tonight. He took my brother's ticket, as I was bugging him about seeing a game in hockey-crazed Montreal. (Only previous exposure to live hockey was Boston/Providence). Says the Bell Center is awsome and he was very impressed with how explosive the Canadiens could be. How they would be quiet, cycling the puck and then suddenly speed down to the net and attack. Too bad they didn't win it, though. Oh well, at least the Ducks didn't get an empty netter at the end, so the boys saved some face.

Next up: Hartford Whalers, er...Carolina Hurricanes.

A 4-1 Win but...Man Down! Sergei says "My gang will get you"

I wasn't very impressed by the Coyotes. And this was before the headshot to Andrei Kostitsyn.

Gretzky may have been the Great One in his days, but as a coach, his result is awful. In fact they look worse than Toronto. Sure Gretzky might say the right things to his group or to the press, but the way they play together just looks like no one is taking charge. They look lost most of the time, with only a few flashes on individual efforts or absolutely chaotic PK plays.

The Canadiens meanwhile, are a band of brothers. And I'm not just talking about Sergei and Andrei. It's a bonded team, where even those who just arrived look like they've been here together for years. Practice pictures that are posted for us to see are always full of players smiling, having fun, joking around, and generally just being happy, and it shows in their game. It was like that last year, even when facing elimination from the playoffs, they never looked any different. So whatever Carbo and the rest of the staff are doing, keep it up. A week of practice is on the planner after Monday's game, which gives the lines more time to gel. This is, after-all, only the 5th game of the season.

Trade helmets: Gorges and Price

Though it was a rather strange dirty goal assisted by Rhino's foot and Price's stick, what's up with Doan always able to score at least once on his cousin?

Hopefully Andrei will be back soon. Clean or not, it was a headshot and he landed face first on the ice after kissing the glass. Yotes just made enemies, not only with Sergei or the rest of the team, but the entire city.

Tonight was also my mother's first time at a live hockey game, taking my brother's place since he was studying. She really enjoyed it, though wasn't so sure about all the fighting but in the end just accepted it since she didn't really like the Coyotes either.

Meanwhile...
- When I came home my brother was watching HNIC and it was 2-0 Flames. Suddenly the Oilers beat them with 3 goals.
- Crosby finally uses the Leafs like we do, and gets himself his first goal of the year.
- Rangers finally LOSE, but it goes to a 5-4 score against the Red Wings?
- The Stars are looking kind of shitty recently... I'm kind of disappointed.
- Hmm as I write this, the score is tied between the Flyers and the Sharks at 4 a piece. I don't know what's worse, the Flyers getting 4 goals or that it take the Sharks more than 4 to try and beat them.
- Chicago fired Savard and still loses. Ya, methinks your coach was far from the problem, but whatever. Any monkey will do? Of course, I don't think you can expect an immediate solution, especially from somehow who just had a DUI trial.

Habs 5, Orange Crushed 3

I normally do play-by-play chat on a few forums with fellow fans, so here's a recap to a rollercoaster of an evening.

1st Period
- The Habs came out sleepwalking, almost like they were skating with cement blocks. Once again, Carey Price was left out on his own while his defense flatfooted and his offense couldn't get onside.
- There were about 26 faceoffs, half of them icing...
- Four penalties on each side, including a 5-on-3 for the Flyers.
- Downie looked rather subdued. Probably floating on painkillers.
- Komisaurus left his calling card on Cote. They proceed to go after him the rest of the night. (Hey, I told him to Big Bird their ass, guess he heard).
- Kovaleve: 1 post
- Shots 8-14 in favor of the Flyers. Price says he ain't afraid of no Phantoms.

2nd Period
- Andrei Kostitsyn hits a man, gets the puck, shoots from near the blue line, and scores. Goal number 1 for the game and for the older brother this season!
- Carter takes advantage of a sleeping Markov and Komisaurus and sneaks one by Price.
- Lang takes a hooking penalty, Richards hits a fast one from afar by Price. Never saw it coming.
- Lapierre and Downie start hugging, but I think Downie's knee is buging him 'cause they don't do much...
- Price throws another in the bin for the Save of the Year as he robs an open net with his glove. It rivals Nabby's in that 4OT playoff game against the Stars. In other words, it was amazing! (If this were TSN, we'd all be deaf by McGuire).
- Habs continue sleeping with weak passes. Someone needs to tell them that Price can only do so much...
- Lang: 1 post
- Shots are 18-23 Flyers. Tussle at the end that doesn't go anywhere.

3rd Period
- Right at the start, Kovalev remembers he's the star of the show, dangles the Flyers and feeds Hammer a goal. (Goal number 2 for the usually stay-at-home defenseman!) It's tied and the fans have gone quiet.
- Almost immediately, Gui! gets hit in the face (ignored by the refs) and then parks himself infront of Biron where Komisaurus slaps one over his head. Now 3-2 Habs and the fans have just died.
- Penalty for Sergei almost right after, Kostopoulos shows me why he rocks on the PK.
- Kostopoulos almost scores but is knocked off before it connects
- Knuble is a knob, flubs all his shots and passes.
- It's like a whole new team came out to play in the 3rd so either Carbo threatened them with a trade to Toronto or tickets to Celine Dion, or Price said he was gonna switch with Denis for the year.
- 4-on-4 hockey and Lang score a lovely one. Now 4-2 and the fans are zombies.
- Price gets stuck after making a save with a rebound that lands right in front of Gagné, who beats Gorges to it, and it's 4-3, fans live again.
- Kovalev checks the new kid, and Italian defenceman. I've actually fallen for this kid. He's good! (And it's hard to impress me when you play for the Flyers). His name is Luca Sbisa and he's 18 years old. Keep that name in mind...
- Is Biron really the same height as Price? He looks smaller in nets...
- With the Flyers net empty, Habs force in on the attack. Bégin shoots first, misses, gets the puck back, is checked from behind so he spins and dumps it in the net without looking. It's 5-3 and the fans have been crushed.
- The game ends and Hartnell leaves a calling card on Kostopoulos (or Gui!, I couldn't tell since they were next to each other). Take a loss like a man and go to your bench! It's players like him that make me hate the Flyers because they do have some good players, but these constant douches always ruin it. Gui! also tackled Lupul (who was suddenly dancing with him) under his weight, just to hold him down so he won't do anything.

Bonus: No one got hurt. Markov blocked a shot by that Sbisa kid right on the hand though, so we HOPE nothing is broken... Komisaurus got hit in the nose with Markov's stick during an interference call.

Stars of the evening: 1 Andrei Kostitsyn, 2 Jeff Carter, 3 Carey Price.
Total shots: 27-32 Flyers!

Free wings at Cage aux Sports! Good comeback, boys. That third period reminded me why I love you. Just don't do that first/second ever again. (Ya, right).

And on a "kill your day" note...
Ranger's 2007 first round pick, Alexei Cherepanov has died of a heart attack after colliding with his teammate, Jaromir Jagr, while on a line change. It's a complete tragedy. He was only 19 years old. The Rangers won their game tonight against the Devils in his memory with a final score of 4-1. My deepest condolences to his family and friends, to Jagr (who was very close to the young man) and the Rangers.

"You can join my line anytime," says Lang to Sergei and TK

Well, no he didn't say that. But he could have.

The first game of the 100th season just ended in a 2-1 shootout victory by the Buffaslugs (or Buffabolts as my brother calls them...Seriously, get that old sweater back please). The 3rd line with Sergei Kostitsyn and Tom Kostopoulos winging Robert Lang was the best of the evening from that terrible first period onward. Langer pots goal numero uno for the Habs and for his career as a Hab and nets himself the 3rd star of the night, so...ya, too bad for you Mats! Many chances in a 4-on-4 overtime in favor of Les Boys, but second star of the evening Ryan Miiiiiiiiiiller (as I'm sure Jeanneret was yelling his face off) was sharp. Also, when I see Kovy check someone off the puck during a PK and create a scoring chance, I just smile. Overall not a bad game despite the team working off the rust, Koivu looking totally out of whack, and the officials being idiots for the most part (especially on that Gui! penalty right when Markov scored...ROBBED by a ref for a player falling by himself). However, Carey Price gets the first star of the evening and rightfully so after being shot at 36 times and only letting in one goal. Nice to know there is no problem there. (Not that I ever thought there would be a problem there). I'll forgive Komisaurus for falling and ultimately causing that one goal. Just don't do it tomorrow buddy. *wink*

And speaking of tomorrow, good ol' Jaro is supposed to be playing. Bring your party hat, kid. Leafs usually pelt 40 or more towards our goal. And god knows how hyper they're going to be after beating the Wings on their banner-raising night. Hey, for the record, I never doubt any team. Even the Leafs. (I'm actually hoping they squeak into the playoffs just so we can maybe see a rinkindled proper Habs-Leafs rivalry. So long as we come out of it on top, of course).

Remember folks, this could have been worse.
Just ask Joey Mac. (Actually why is Joey Mac in nets instead of DP? Hip problems again?) Coach Gordon's debut was spoiled by King Spoiler himself, Martin Brodeur. Well, no it wasn't that bad, 2-1 Devils. Streit got a point for an assist. Actually tonight I was missing you on that powerplay, my fine Swiss friend... (Calling Lieutenant Weber, I expect you to be up here in December. Be ready.)

Over in New York, the Rags won...again. Stop it. It's not funny anymore. They beat Chicago 4-2 and RDS showed a clip of Huet cursing the skies as the puck ran right through him. It looked oddly familiar. (His new mask looks kind of cool though).

Actually, seems it wasn't the night for former Habs goalies. Capitals lost 7-4 against Atlanta, and Theo was pulled in the 2nd period in his regular season debut. For the record, he gave up 4 of those. Florida losts 6-4 against the Hurricanes, where Vokoun only made 18 saves.

And it could have been even worse, folks
Former goalie Clint Malarchuk shot himself in the chin "by accident", but an investigation in the matter calls it suspicious. They aren't really buying that gun going off by itself thing and think instead of shooting rabbits, he was trying to kill himself after arguing with the wife and drinking while taking his meds. I'll just leave it at that, the guy has been through enough already. Instead of remembering him bleeding to near-death on the ice, I'll remember him from that Good Friday Brawl between the Nordiques and the Habs where he danced a bit with Sevigny. Those were the days...

And That Was Boring...

I've heard that Jacques Lemaire coaches teams to a boring, solid T but I never saw it live. Now I have, and I concure. Maybe it's a tactic to bore the piss out of your opponents?

Anyway, final preseason game sets a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, where Koivu's bigger little brother Mikko got a small cheer from the crowd as the announcer mentioned him in the opening lineup. Gaborik played nicely too, despite Risebrough saying they're not going to sign him an extension eventhough he wants to stay there. Huh? What? Can we take him, then? Trade?

As the team goes on vacation without him, Carey Price wonders how well they'd play with Denis in nets
Of the Habs that managed to stay awake were (thankfully) Carey Price, who was rather spectacular and if he had fallen for the sleep-trap, it would have been 5-0 Wild in the first period. Rolling his eyes after making a flurry of point-blank close ranged saves after once again saving his defense's ass...well, that really said it all about the game. Maxim Lapierre, Tom Kostopoulos, and Steve Begin were the only offense with life. The powerplay stank about as bad as the metro (it smelt like skunk from Snowdown to Namur) and all the other lines just cycled the puck around for 3 hours. It got so bad that by the mid-third period the entire crowd yelled "SHOOT!!!" which they did, ever so lightly, right at Backstrom for an easy save. Begin also had a fight with some guy who came after him once the game was over. Dunno what that was all about... I know Begin checked someone, and it was rather clean. He got elbowed earlier too, which he already returned with a small tussle and a cross-check, but was that the reason?

There are fans who suck, and fans who suck more.
I also told some kids behind me to stop booing 'cause they were driving me up the fucking wall. Glad that isn't my normal seat... (I was stuck under the kid's zone.) And people who leave losing games at the last 5 minutes of play, you all suck!

Habs 5, Sens lose, I get a free game

Best preseason game ever? And I thought listening to Les Boys beat the Wings with a shootout and a greenhorn in nets was exciting! Of course it's extra special for me because this was my first live game ever. I have never seen the Canadiens play except on tv. I can't really count that Old Timers game either. All I remember about that: it's was boring, I saw Lafleur, it was in the Forum. Of course I've been inside the Bell Center, when it was called the Molson Center. Had my graduation on the ice. Saw the Tragically Hip and the Rheostatics play live. For a hockey game? Let's just say you don't know live hockey games until you've gone to the Bell Center.

How do we start off? Warm up skate, the crowd's cheering, the music is rocking. Start of the game, a full house is signing the anthem loud and proud. (Suck on that, Bloc). Then the boys warmup in the first, and proceed to slaughter the competition with a 5-0 shutout. As mentioned before, I have my tickets in the Grey section, which is actually a bit higher than the banners. I'm literally in the rafters. However the view is just phenomenal. Here I was thinking I'd need a radio to understand what was going on, or would need altitude pills. But no, players are a good visible size and I can ever see their numbers and almost read their names. Even though it's a preseason game, the whole place was electric. To Montreal, every game counts.

Here are some of my impressions of tonight's performance:
- Halak really needs to work on his puck handling... Oh my god, it got to the point where every time he wandered out I was cringing, hoping nothing bad would happen. (Usually missed the pucks anyway). Other than that, looked better in nets, didn't go down too early in the butterfly this time, though the few shots he faced were mostly pretty easy to save anyway.
- Desharnais won a lot of faceoffs from what I could see. (63% according to the stats, highest on the Canadiens side, who are usually pretty bad at faceoffs anyway). I like this little guy! He buzzes round, gets to the net, gets into the play. And he's 5'5".
- D'agostini, equally impressed, NHL ready and will probably get called up more.
- Pacioretty was also impressive. Will definitely need to be seriously considered next year should his AHL experience go well.
- Weber is Streit 2.0
- Stewart almost had another fight in the same place he pummeled McCabe. He was good too. If he's not on the team by opening night, definitly one of the first to come up, should definitely be on the roster permanently next year (unless something happens).
- Kovy was playing but look strained, hopefully he can work that minor injury out. But he still pulled the moves! Denfensive ones too!
- Alex Henry doesn't really play, he just fights. Would be happy in Philly.
- P.K Subban played a pretty good game until he got into a big fight (and whoever was the loser that started a fight with Subban, congratulations, you just got OWNED by an OHLer), and then was off the rest of the night. It was weird, but I saw he knew it. He looked pretty frustrated with himself everytime he gave the puck away. But he's young, he'll only benefit from the experience.
- Tom Kostopoulos rocks.
- O'Byrne was good tonight too. More diciplined. No penalties from what I can remember.
- Josh Gorges is great! Wow. Seriously, thank you Rivet!
- The Kostitsyns were on fire, Plekanec too.
- I will continue to call Spezza "Sputza". Reverse midos touch on this guy. It's an observation that has continued from last year's playoffs and IIHF games.
- Heatley was also playing, but I didn't really notice.
- SENS SUCK 5~~~O~~~ (That's what the guys behind me were yelling).

There's a new goal song too. No more U2 "Vertigo". I don't like Simple Plan, but hey, at least it's a Montreal band so the stupid press can shut up about it. Thank god it's not Arcade Fire (zzzzzzzzzz). I couldn't really hear the lyrics, just the music, but it's apparently specially written for the team. It works well with everyone screaming. Very rocking .

And the new scoreboard is lovely.