Habs 6, Vanek 1: Free Buffalo Wings

PK is back! And his skate had it out for him in the first period. But once that was fixed, you could see just how good this team is with him. And an assist in his first game back thank you very much.

Other than PK, today's game was billed (locally) as Grigorenko VS. Galchenyuk! The two players Habs could have drafted but only could have one! How will this look? How will they perfom? Who will get more points? Build up, controversy!

...and Grigorenko may as well have not been playing.

As for Galchenyuk? He OWNED.

Ryan Miller discovered 2 Gallys are better than 1

Steve Ott is still a douche
- The "New Look Sabres" were supposed to be scary. Or that's what I was TOLD because of that shitstorm in Boston.
- I can say, as a fan of the Blackhawks, that John Scott is fucking useless. You will learn to understand this, one day. Just like how the Rangers did.
- Do you like Rene Bourque now? When he's not drawing penalties, he's crashing the net. Two goals!
- You see the difference with PK. He's our only D capable of matching the speed of say Cody Hodgson running full steam on a breakaway as Kaberle does his best impersonation of a wet noodle.
- THE KIDS! Highlight reel stuff. With a little help from Ehrhoff.
- First time Ryan Miller was pulled in a game against the Habs.
- First time since like 2008 (or 2009) the Habs scored this many goals on them. Maybe Lalime was in nets.
- HEY THERRIEN! IS LARS ELLER PLAYING INTENSE ENOUGH FOR YOU?! All it takes is a little bit of ice time, and a flying chance.
- DD did things right today! TWO GOALS. But those penalties negating powerplays........
- We had 3-on-3 hockey. And it was awesome.
- It would have been awesomer if Pleky, who literally walked up to Enroth, would have scored instead of shoving the puck into him...
- Funny how PK hits 6'8" John Scott, and Scott throws a punch at PK, gets a penatly while Cube (all 5'8" of him) comes to PK defence (PK stopped him).
- My biggest problem was Diaz's inability to stay calm and hold the blueline. That was like a vintage Hamrlik fuckup....
- Prusty vs Ott. Ott tried to get Gallagher to fight him first. Still a fuckwit.
- Ott went after Gallagher with a minute left in the game too...
- Lindy Ruff's face turned many shades of red.
- My nemesis Cody Hodgson didn't score for once!

Perfect for SuperBowl Weekend: Free Wings! Would have been cool if there was say A TRIPLE LOW FIVE celebrating this awesomeness....

Habs 4, Sabres 3 (SO): What? Shootout win?

LOL Buffalo

I'm going to miss Hal Gill very very much. Especially with that CaKa pairing appearing more often than not. Thankfully the penalty kill looks OK! We saw what PK learned from big Hal while breaking up a 3-on-1 and blocking shots on the penalty kill.

Againt it didn't start out right. You can't even say the Sabres played yesterday because they were barely playing that game in Philly (hence the 7-2 smack down). Outshot horribly throught the game? Hey no problem. Price made saves even with his head (and broke his mask...had to bring out the backup). How did the Sabres scores? Simple. CaKa sucks. Also no one covered the point on the first goal. And why Ennis was just left so fucking wide open at the hash marks I'll never know...

But check this:
- Kaberle scored a backdoor goal after the first unit spent the entire 2 minutes controlling the zone on the powerplay. Insane.
- Gomez scored on the powerplay! With Andrei parked in front.
- Campoli scored after Ryan White did his job wonderfully and Ryan Miller forgot how to play goal. Hopefully this raises Campoli's value from a 7th round pick to maybe a 6th?
- Price was a rock.
- Derek Roy almost carried the puck in his hand all the way back to the blueline and they ignored it...
- Pacioretty scored in the shootout.
- Desharnais finished it.
- Poor Andrei...he was next in the shootout. But it still wouldn't count for his 100th goal.

They also managed to get out of fucking Buffalo without an injury!

Double-Down!

With the Habs kicking the hapless Sabres down in Buffalo, the Bulldogs came to town to play on some real ice for a change. Of course it was the BingoSens again, this time backstopped by Gigantor the Goalie. And with the Bulldogs outshooting Bingo 16 to 1 in the first, if not for that large frame in their net, this game would have been over in 5 minutes.

I love how tenacious the Dogs play. It's what Jacques Martin wants the Habs to do, only seen with young legs on D. If Bingo ever crossed the blueline, they were kept way outside, they were always covered, shots were blocked or tipped wide, or players were forced off angle to shoot wide. And the Dogs would be constantly picking their pockets and quickly heading the other way to attack. I think I like the set up Randy&Randy have them doing more than Boucher, actually...

And Ryan White finally got a goal! It was glorious. A rush down the ice with Maxwell, and he buries the rebound over Lehner.

Carle's long knuckler from the blue line opened the scoring, and Weber pulled the Dogs ahead with an absolute rocket (did the Byfuglien victory one-leg up hands in the air for his adoring fans thing).

Engqvist, who was fantastic defensively in his role, got the first empty netter to seal it. Desharnais doubled that with a second empty netter, shorthanded. Pacioretty and Palushaj were just absolutely everywhere. If not for Gigantor...well, Patches had 6 shots on net and they were good ones. Palushaj had 2 assists and got first star honours for his hard work. And Conboy! He such a treat.

Here's Desharnais empty netter goal, which extends his point streak to I don't know what now.

---

Habs continued contributing to the Sabres aches and pains. Thanks to Price and the Third Line (coined the PhD Line) of Darche-Halpern-Pouliot taking care of the scoring. Seriously, this is how Pouliot needs to play. NOT floating around, but relentless, shooting the puck, forechecking/backchecking, making SMART plays not just passing to no one. Pleky's flu hit him real hard in warmup so he was out, which was a big loss but others picked up the slack, and Halpern was great shorthanded in his role. And the Habs won!

Two goals by Pouliot will now be known as a Double-Down.

So...now the big thing is what will happened in Buffalo, where they haven`t won a home game yet this whole season. Perhaps Lindy needs to find the heart of a champion like Ray Lewis in that hilarious old spice ad.

A 2-1 score and 40 years ago...

Forty years ago the Sabres came into this world, blinking into the poor lighting of their old crappy arena. And probably the only things people really remember is ice fog and the death of a poor little bat by a high stick. The Aud may be gone now but someone managed to take some nifty abandoned pictures before that happened.

Forty years ago the Habs, wearing their road reds, were visitors and beat the Sabres wearing home whites 3-0.

The Pens called the Sabres after the game and apologized for forgetting to tell them that if they want to celebrate an anniversary, don't call the Habs. Party poopers.

Two of the most chillax goalies in the League and probably two of the only goalies in the League continuously hung out to dry by their teammates.

We all know how Buffalo plays. Lindy Ruff and Jacques Martin makes strange bedfellows. Both are system strong coaches, except Lindy screams a lot while Martin swears under his breath and doodles notes on his notepad all game. Both teams came off a rather annoying loss the game before, except the Sabres didn't score a single goal while getting outshot 35-24 by the shorthanded Devils. In fact, it was hard to tell which goalie was angrier after the result of their last game. Price entered this game as the only goalie in the League to face the most shots in 3 games. One thing's for sure, in spite of crap ice, the Habs came out way more determined than a supposed "angry" Sabres team.

- Ryan Miller is Ryan Miller. Carey Price is Carey Price. It's like "Hey, I made THIS save!" "Oh really, well I made THIS save!"
- After the penalty fest on Wednesday, nice to see the boys play more disciplined. Also the refs in this game decided they weren't going to call every little twitch or twat for once, probably keeping in spirit of the 40 years celebration.
- Who pops the cherry on the powerplay? JOSH GORGES! Complete with sound effect.
- Also on that note, El Jorje scoring means there really is a God. No sticks needed to be sacrificed either.
- For once a defenceman kicked the puck into the net NOT covered by Carey Price.
- Still can't make any saves while being glomped by 3 guys though. Seriously, why you do this to him... Why won't you let him have a shutout?
- Andrei Kostitsyn or bull in a china shop? If the Sabres set up a brick wall at their blue line he'd break through that too.
- Only thing, Andrei, dear... Kovy would have totally picked that far corner while having a tea and biscuit.
- I was upset that Rhino was benched for Picard, yet it turned out ok. Honestly I think he might have had that epiphany. With Eller drawing everyone's attention, he actually had the presence of mind to continue on the puck for the opening goal. And he only got caught once or twice, but there was no harm done.
- PK is special. He screws up, yet he fights hard to cover for his errors. This is why I love this kid.
- Yea, the ref that fucked up that too many men call after Miller left for the bench, I'm thinking you're in trouble.
- Of course after that travesty on Wednesday, we were happy to see some officiating in our favor for once... And to see Derek Roy pissed off is always lovely.
- Not cool sending out the truculence with 4 seconds left, Lindy...

Solid team win. For once, no passengers. Even Pouliot. And holy puck possession, Batman! You guys finally got the concept! And it was lovely seeing the goofy victory moves again.

The New Bulldogs!
Hey hey! The Bulldogs opened their season tonight! And they spanked the Amerks 5-2. It's weird though because Chuck Weber, ex-coach of the Cyclones, is now the Amerks coach. I'm sure he was proud when Wyman and Desharnais scored on his team. Rough time for Jacob Markstrom, Florida's prize goalie prospect (and WJC drama queen). I mean, CONBOY scored! Also Cunneyworth used to coach the Amerks.

What is this, Coach Swap?

Dogs didn't start off too good and found themselves down 2-0 early but then scored 5 unanswered goals. No one was a minus. Mayer held his ground. A couple of fights (typical Amerks/Dogs game). And they got their new coach his first win in his first regular season game.

Home Wreckers 2, Slugs 1 (OT): Team Canada second guessing their goalies yet?

The 2009-2010 Montreal Canadiens: Stunningly ruining home openers everywhere.

And while I know it's only been two games into the season, but you gotta wonder how Team Canada's Olympic Committee is thinking these days about their selection of goalies. Not that I care, because I'd rather have Pricey here and on vacation during the Olympics. But Bobby Lou did NOT look good at all the past two games they lost, and Fleury is well...Heartattack Fleury, Brodeur is OLD, Cam Ward is chewing on his new contract extension, and I wonder if Steve Mason would be allowed to play considering his history of "back problems" that Columbus don't want to risk him. I digress though. Back to the Habs!

That's 77 saves and counting.

We knew it would be tough because the Sabres have actual hockey players. This game was a bit like the first. Habs were stuck in their own zone, couldn't get set up, and when they did the Sabres kept everything to the outside. Then the Sabres caused all kinds of problems and Metro had to tickle one of them with his stick to do something. Never good to see one of your best PKers in the box. Shot, blocked in front, goal. Price shrugs.

Seems the rest of the period was spent trading penalties, and everyone wants to punch Kaleta. Patches nearly tips one in but is held back, Gorges misses a backdoor Markovian play by a few centimeters, AndreiK jumps to life but falls back asleep again, BGL checks someone and makes me smile. Then Rhino gets a penalty for coming to Gorges' aid after he gets dumped for protecting Price on a save. Super Pleky will not be denied in the effort category, and almost kills the whole penalty himself in the offensive zone. However, Rhino blocks a shot with his foot and is gone for the night. All of Habs Land pours a few more beers. And he was doing so well!!!

Pleks then slaps Gaustad around to protect his goalie. The Super Pleky is very, very protective of his goalies.

Deep into the second period, the Sabres suddenly decide to avenge Miller's injury last year by having two guys punch Gomez. Really? You need two guys to fight Gomez? HMCS Hal Gill and Gorgeous Gorges realize what's going on and cruise in with the gloves off. For some reason the Habs get an extra 2, while the Sabres get nothing for the "third man". Doesn't matter because soon after Derek Roy gets his panties in a bunch because Pleks brushed his arm as he skated by and we go 4-on-4.

We soon learn that our dear Glen Metropolit is injured upper body. More beer is poured.

The 4-on-4 goes to a penalty again as AndreiK falls for Tyler Myers' long legs. Doesn't matter because the Habs decide to play better shorthanded than at even-strength. Best chance comes when Miller bobbles the puck and play is whistled dead because the Habs might score. Lapierre gets attacked for his effort and Moen smiles at Kaleta. The next best chance is Cammy to Hammer back door, but they keep tipping it wide. I didn't realize Higgins was still playing.

Naturally what's a Sabres game without witnessing Derek Roy's lovely dives. Alexandre Despatie should start taking notes. Maybe he'd win more gold medals...

Since we're on a perpetual penalty kill, Habs defend by offending. Travis Touchdown crashes the net and scores, literally. Well technically he was crosschecked into it, but Lindy Ruff still whined about it.

Longest 5 minutes ever to end the second. Hammer spots Gui fresh off the bench who breaks out with a weak backhand. Miller Time saves.

CBC interviews Gomez, and brings up the vertically challenged question. Gomez: "Well, you know, we're working on our height... quarters under our beds and all that." CBC also gives Pacioretty 5 different pronounciations before getting it right.

The third period started off with AndreiK making Pleks and Patches' life miserable. You know who was good with Pleks and Patches last year? Kovy. Just saying. Best chance is when Gomez nearly does his signature tip-in on the fly but the puck never reaches him. Patches allows the whole team to change while forechecking the whole Sabres team for a good 30 seconds. AK and Patches nearly get a goal each but nothing is going their way. AndreiK seems to only appear in the 3rd, and I'm wondering if he's got the flu... It was Sergei who used to drive Kaleta nuts. Unfortunately he's too busy painting his toenails. Meanwhile Travis Touchdown gives him a sly smile and a nod.

Montador decides suddenly to piledrive Lapierre's head into the end boards. Thankfully Lapierre's head is pretty hard... Habs can't lose any more bodies. The bench never looked so roomy.

I think the shocker of the 3rd period was seeing HMCS Hal Gill down low, and Gui playing defence. And it actually worked!

Price proves the haters wrong and stones Pominville from point blank. We somehow got to overtime.

Gomez and Gionta: The Go Line. Gomez breaks out from the right circle, passes to Gionta. Gionta cruises in and drops the pass for Gomez while heading for the net. Gomez slaps it off the end boards and Gionta scores from behind the net, batting average 1.000, Habs Land explodes, Buffalo is stunned.


Overtime City. Again. Habs wanna party like it's 1993.

W00T!
- This win was brought to you by Carey Price.
- My brother thinks Hal Gill is a Treant.
- I love watching Gionta annoy players twice his size.
- Travis Touchdown: Two game, two goals. This is why he always wears his cup.
- Every time Spacek blocks a shot, Habs Land stops breathing.
- Sergei, get your ass to Hamilton NOW!
- Let's go Bulldogs! *clap clap clap clap clap clap*

Because it's a super Saturday!
- Leafs still suck. Even the Monster couldn't help. Capitals mantra is who needs defense when you've got offense.
- Whalercanes suck. And TK tried to fight Chara. We need an Operation Save Tom Kostopoulos!
- Sens suck. Rangers won their home opener, and Del Zotto got the first star. Leclaire was whining about the goal but dude was 2ft out of his crease. No love from there!
- Khabby just put all of Sam Gagner's efforts in vain by crapping the bed with 30 seconds left. But Gagner beat up a Flame and scored a goal. I wished he'd give Sergei a call and tell him to earn his life...
- Pens nearly lose to the Islanders, but win in a shootout. Tavares got his first goal.
- Detroit is defeated again by the Blues. No you can't trade for Halak...
- Chicago blanked Florida in Finland. Niemi was not going to be made a fool in his homeland.
- Brodeur looked horrible in his milestone game, and a 5-2 loss to the Flyers. Just saying.
- Thrashers might be moved to Winnipeg, rejoice and defeat the Bolts 6-3 in reaction to the news. Evander Kane made them look silly.
- The Yotes are currently up 6-3 over the Kings. ROBERT LANG SCORED! I miss him... Unfortunately all 500 fans of the team cheered.

This is more like it: Sergei 2, Tanguay 1, Kovy 1, Sabres 3, Miller 46, grabs a drink after overtime

Numbers!

I heard a rumor it was December, but outside, it feels like February. I'm guessing the ice at the Bell Centre is nice considering how FUCKING COLD it is and has been lately. Yesterday, I was out at a my company Christmas party. Yesterday, it felt like it was 50 below. And as I'm never drunk, I felt every little bit of it. Today was no better, though thankfully not as windy. So after an early supper, I turned on the fake stove-like electric heater, surrounded myself with fuzzy pillows, and buried myself under a fuzzy blanket, ready for the first of this back-to-back weekend game home stint before the holidays. And I really appreciate Habs/Sabres games. They're good battles of actual hockey with little douchebaggery that usually spoils one's evening. Though I gotta say, if not for Miller, this contest would have probably been a non-overtime cakewalk...

My laptop usually doubles as a heater
- Happy 30th for Markov! Yesterday was happy 38 for Lang!
- One signature of a Habs/Sabres game is how the teams take turns dominating each other in each other's zone.
- And as Miller was providing his team with his usual solid self, Halak was juggling. He did get better as the game went on, but there is never a dull moment when he's in nets. Despite that, he's now 2-0 against the Buffaslugs in his career.
- Laraque is The Rock. Try and hit him, and you bounce off. Try and hook him, and you'd need a meat hook. And that smile! It is both lovely and frightening...
- Peters was a total ragdoll in that fight, but Laraque never really punched him. Despite that, Peters left with a blackeye. Should count himself lucky!
- Argh Breezer the Screen gave the Buffaslugs their first goal. Either take the man or do like Hammer and poke the puck. Don't back up and back up and back up until Jaro can't see past you...
- The rocket that Sergei launched is something I've watched him practice every time I was able to catch the warmup skate. And 90% of the time it goes in, at the exact same spot, in an area that's liable to deflect somewhere ever better.
- Sergei also tried a few of his brother's moves, including that signature split the D and crash the net, as well as the warp around.
- Temporary Captain Kovy's work should be taped and mailed and shoved down Milbury's throat. Our guys get no respect.
- Lang and Tanguay are now with the same number of goals and assists and points! That's 10G, 14A, 24pts. So, screw you Mats and thanks for your service all those years Ryder.
- Maxwell played very well, shadowing his man again and creating havoc. Would have scored too if he wasn't off balance.
- D'Agostini is dangerous. My dad has started watching hockey since he was called up and stuck. My dad is now Dag's number 1 fan.
- Actually, these 6th round picks of the Habs are just incredible players.
- Super Pleky wasn't having a good night...
- Begin hit 3 people in a row and was looking for more. Clean hits too! Totalled up to 7 hits. No stupid penalties on him tonight.
- Miller was upset that Big Georges Laraque blocked his view on Tanguay's goal and claimed it was interfence when he just skated by him. Their goalie interference is even captured in a photo, as you can cleary see Ellis elbowing Halak in the head...
- But hey, there were questionable penalties all around... The difference was, when Kovy gets called for phantoms, he sits in the box plotting his revenge.
- McArthur says the Habs have a great powerplay. I guess he didn't see the games prior to having Sergei on the point. But thanks for the compliment anyway!
- I swear Kovy never leaves the ice. I'm sure he didn't leave during overtime.
- And of course, Temporary Captain Kovy, the overtime powerplay hero with 24 seconds left.

Conclusion: An excellent battle had by all.

Decking the halls with my fists of fury
- Penguinos looked awful in that blue sweater. And worse is it's hard to tell who's who when they play the Leafs. Their game was going on over at CBC at the same time and I guess the blue against white and blue confuses them too as they lost 7-3. Toronto launches it's usually 40 shots. Fleury lets in 5 goals and Sabourin gives them 2, Crosby tries to start a fight, the rest of the team checked out early for Christmas I guess... But that's ok, they'll keep text voting their players in for the All-Star game despite the fact that 3 of them haven't played the 20 games minimum for this year.
- Seems every time someone threatens to blow up the Senators, they win a game. A 5-4 OT win against Dallas. I guess the only way for them to win is to constantly threaten them with a trade to Phoenix.
- Bergeron knocked himself out again in Boston's 4-2 victory over those droogs we're playing tomorrow.
- When Hartnell isn't kneeing Andrei Kostitsyn, he's getting a hat trick for the Flyers in their Screamin' Orange old styled sweaters. Wait, what, Hartnell?! That or the Capitals just really aren't good on defence. Lots of games ending with scores of 7 goals too...

Hockey Weekend!

"Drop the space helmet for a cow, Doctor, and look! The Habs won!"

Well, I'm all hockeyed out. Saturday was my final ticket in my Victory Pack where the Habs beat the Sabres 3-2. (Which means I get another pair of free tickets, so one more game for me)! And Sunday I checked out the Hamilton Bulldogs, who unfortunately lost to the Baby-Sens 5-3 (though 4 of those goals were on the powerplay). Off to point-form impressions!

Saturday
- Boo me once, fine. But boo me later, PISS OFF! Really, guys. Stop booing O'Byrne. Give the kid a break. I was one of the many fans with actual brains to try and drown out the boos with cheers. He wasn't even playing that night anyway.
- Teams scored off defensive errors. Higgins did the first which led to a nifty through-the-legs mind trick via Vanek.
- Fruit Punch finally doesn't shoot at the net during a 2-on-1 and instead waits, then passes to Begin and BINGO it's in. At least he's learning.
- Two of Sergei's penalties were extremely suspect. Especially the first one. Just his luck to get picked on for the phantom hooking/slashing call.
- First time I ever saw a hooking penalty shared by both teams. Creative interpretation.
- Mmm Andrei Kostitsyn gobbling his own rebounds and dunking cookies.
- Kovy can stickhandle his way into my heart all night. He was driving the Sabres up the wall.
- Kovy was also giving them fits with this year's clinic on how to forecheck and annoy the piss out of them.
- Kovy doesn't dump pucks on line changes and people should know this already. So when he's holding the zone for 2 minutes, get your ass into position 'cause you're making him look bad when he swings the puck to the blue line and no one is there.
- Dandy on defense got bored and went all Bobby Orr. Too bad he didn't score. But it was still fun to watch.
- Anyone else on the Sabres that score other than Vanek? Nope.
- Though that Spacek guy was one fast bugger. Habs had his number though.
- Rivet? Boo! Gorges? YAY!
- I feel sorry for Lalime sometimes.
- We had powerplays?
- The Captain and Markov dancing for goals again.
- Thank god there was no shootout. And people, quit running into Price!

Sunday
- Weber is scary with that shot. I think players blocking it cross their heart and pray their armor holds, while goalies just duck and hope he misses. Two goals tonight! And the Swiss flag was raised proudly by a few fans.
- Pacioretty goes to the net! Why can't we do that? What a smart kid though. I think he's been watching Kovy's DVD. What stickhandling! And a beautiful shorthanded goal. Straight off a face off and he's down the ice, dodging everyone for a driveby backhander.
- Baby-Sens learn to dive early.
- Baby-Sens appear to live and breathe off the powerplay.
- Baby-Sens still play better than the regular Sens. What's up with that?
- Chipchura as captain is like a burgeoning Brendan Morrow. He's got the power, and the bite, and ain't afraid to tell anyone he's not happy with them. He'll also drop the gloves, and almost did tonight when someone hit him from behind after the whistle.
- Holy shit Shawn Belle is fast. Also has a scary shot.
- Erm Cody Bass trying to get Yannick Weber to fight after a clean hit? Excuse me while I scratch my head on that one. "Roughing" penalty for both, looked more like 2 minutes for hugging.
- Desharnais is so tiny it's too cute, but he plays like a monster.
- The more fights Stewart wins, the more people don't want to fight him. And Flynn was right there next to him too.
- Not much Denis could do on half those powerplay goals except hope someone on defense is watching the guy hiding behind him.
- Wished the Habs would get fans on the ice for contest shots...

In conclusions: Woo! I'm one satisfied customer with this weekend.