Habs 6, Pens 7 (OT): Go home, Habs. You're drunk.

The above photograph is a fine example of either team's zone from the blue line and in. Defence and goaltending were optional tonight. I guess the only bright side is it didn't go 11-10 like I thought it would?

I managed to catch the biggest spin doctor on the game tonight in Glenn Healy claiming how the Pens dodged a bullet in first dressing Vokoun but winning the game, despite giving up 6 goals. Which is what he gave up last time he played. So I'm guessing the Penguins are the old Capitals now.

Truth is if the fucking Habs gave a fuck in defending tonight, and NOT STANDING AROUND LETTING PENGUINS SKATE FREE UP THE FUCKING SLOT OR HAVING FREE REIGN BEHIND THE NET WHILE NOT IGNORING THE GUY WAITING FOR THE TAP IN OUT FRONT...I dunno maybe they would be the 7 instead of the 6.

Or maybe the fatigue is kicking in already. Considering Price is taking so many optionals off...

But the battle back was something to be proud of. Of course, if that wasn't Vokoun, there probably wouldn't be any battle back...

Either way, happy 300th game to Brandon Prust, who opened the goal fest. And happy welcome back to clutch goal-land PK, who scored to tie the game with 0.7 seconds left in the second period.

It's a small consolation prize they actually managed to get a point out of that. Too bad. Bring some defence next time. Oh that would be tomorrow.

Where were you when Georges Laraque scored?

401 Blue, row A, seat 13. The Herb Gardiner section.

That boom you heard was Georges Laraque Ovechkining the glass after a net scrum second's effort slammed the puck behind Marty Turco's beautiful golden pads. It was a goal of truth, justice, and all that stuff.

It was the battle of .500 teams, and it wasn't pretty. Never mind the fact the Stars suck bad and the Habs were off for four days. We all know how well they play after a break, Christmas vacation notwithstanding. Price hasn't played in like 10 days, and I don't know what these idiots do in practice that they had zero defensive structure until the mid-second. Usually you don't want to start off the game by giving up a few 2-on-1s or 3-on-1s or 4-on-2s... All while your goalie is trying to find his comfort zone and defence is standing around drooling. And to the mini-Halak fan club sitting in front of me? I don't know if you were watching warmup, but he wasn't going to stop any of that...

Toby Petersen did the craziest of fakeout passes, and Gorges fucked up covering the center anyway. Everyone and his dog thought he was going to pass. Instead, it was a wicked wrister. It was like he had a radar on his head because he was looking down the hallway when he scored.

The Stars are in a pretty bad winless slide. Combine that with the 4-day rest, it was the trap. Fortunately for the Habs, Turco sucks pretty bad. And the powerplay was 2-for-2! Even so, Hal Gill had to remind Devorski that it would be nice to call those penalties like that tripping penalty on Gorges that caused yet another odd man rush Price thankfully saved by a centimeter. He decided to wait until the 3rd period to get around to it, and ended up calling everyone on everything at once.

I do believe there's something behind you.

FOR GREAT JUSTICE
- Still outshot by significantly larger margin and outshot in every period (though tied the 2nd)...
- Do you know why Price plays the puck so much? BECAUSE HIS FUCKING DEFENCEMAN DON'T! And they don't know what to do with it when he does pass it to them. Basically his playing the puck is to eliminate or alleviate forchecking. However, he always finds himself surrounded by the other team before he finds his teammates. Nice of them to slap his pads after every error he saved or missed though.
- Also can someone please call goalie interference please? I've seen Metro called for weaker, but Price was run way too much for my liking...
- That other boom you heard was when old man Spacek sent Jamie Benn into orbit, leaving the kid wondering what planet he was on.
- No one sees Gionta, that's why he's so good at what he does. Two goals on the powerplay, right in front of the net, a one-timer and the quickest rebound goal ever, in his 500th game.
- I thought Laraque was going to take out the glass when he scored.
- Slippy did a barrel roll! My brother laughed.
- Crowd call of the night, from a guy who stood all game in the last row of the Blues my brother called the Assistant Coach, after he wasn't called for something behind the play: "Fuck you, Robidas!" Yup. Welcome home.
- So why exactly did you guys fire Dave Tippett? Considering where the Coyotes are compared to the Stars, I'm not quite sure...
- Manapult keeps scoring! And we're not the only one with terrible turnovers!
- The lady next to me was wearing a homemade Habs shirt...with Mickey Ribs' name on the back. Barf.
- Cammy decided against the spin-o-rama and it apparently worked better. Hey! Price finally got an assist!

I'm happy I finally got to see Marty Turco live and in shiny-golden padded glory. Yes he stinks pretty bad right now, but I still love him. Only saw one Marty Poke Check. No spin.

Habs still need work, but thank god they won... This could have been as shitty as last year's Ducks game after they had the week off. Doubly important because Toskala shut out the Flyers (bwah?) and Ottawa finally gave up to give Brodeur a second start who then shut out the Rangers (not surprised). We finally see 50 points and a carbon copy record as Ottawa. Freaky. And crappy that they're coming to visit Saturday.

Leggo my Leggo: A 5-1 loss, leaving your goalie man alone and a crosscheck to the kisser

You know, every time Pierre Houde says the refs tolerated something on the Bruins end and then calls a penalty on the Canadiens end right after, I die a little inside. The fact that Leggo was so absolutely nervous calling the penalty on Lucic after he tried decapitating Lapierre makes me wonder who's got his kids captive until the series is over. You'd think a guy with so much supposed experience could make the call properly and get the numbers right instead of fumbling like an 8 year old at his first public speaking attempt at school. And when a goal is waved off because a Bruins defenseman pushes Higgins into Thomas, while the goal is allowed when Bergeron clips Price as he's trying to maneuver, well... it just makes you wonder where were these refs when Huet was bowled over by a Flyer pushing a Dman into him and out of the net last year with the Capitals. Same with why does it take 5 minutes to blow the whistle when Price has it in his glove, while it's an automatic whistle on the other end.

But tonight, people, I'm shocked! Shocked!!! Benoit Brunet actual gave supportive argument instead of craptastic, mean and misguided criticism! He praised Kovy who was totally all alone most of the game. And when Halak was brought in to get Price out of that defensive mess he was hanging alone in, he actually supported the kid for all his effort and openly expressed wanting his return on Monday. Didn't fault him for anything, considering all the quality chances. (Jaro saw 5 shots). A few months ago, he'd have kicked the kid's dog and pissed on his favourite toy. Whether it's Price or Halak really doesn't matter now, if Markov isn't back Monday, and the defense is a continuous stream of suck like tonight...

It's a little sad only half the team showed up at various times. What happend to the penalty kill that was pretty good? It collapsed on it's feet and fanned on clearing pucks out, though did manage to neutralize Chara...but by doing so forgot about everyone else. Kovalev was playing. But like Price, was one man against a team. Twice he managed to make his own way to the net. A few times he managed to defend better than the defencemen. And again, he scored a goal only Kovy can score. Where would this team be without him? Well, it would be shutout... Where's the rest of the scorers? Pushed to the outside with no one ready to get anything in front of the net or bouncing pucks off legs or missing by a mile. Yes the Bruins are doing way better defensively than the Habs, but there are a few pairings that stink on D and just end up dodging bullets when Higgins can't hit the side of a barn.

There also appears to be some bizarre forcefield in front of the Bruins net when Thomas never sees a puck but just somehow it ends up in him. (Like in the opening frame, Sergei got a sure goal chance when the one timer somehow ended in Thomas' gear. Even Thomas was looking in his net for it). Then again, it pays to be as wide as your net. And people called Price fat?

Gotta say though, the Swiss Mister 2.0... I'm really starting to love the kid. He played both ways tonight, and went back on D permanently when Bouillon's brief return ended with an injury. (Probably shouldn't have come back, as that same type of injury sidelined Briere for the nearly the entire season). The kid had two hits and they were both on Lucic. Unfortunately his awesome shot seems to have lost it's awesome accuracy, but he'll get used to it eventually.

After all this, we'll see if Lucic gets suspended. If not, whatever. I'm tired of watching the Referee Parade. All I ask is a win Monday. Win one for me please? Hugs!