Habs 1, Bruins 2: Two minutes for falling asleep

I really wish the media would stop hyping a Habs-Bruins game as Fight Night.

Besides, so long as Adam McQuaid declines the invite from Brandon Prust after a scrum in front of the net, there won't be much of a fight night.

However, other than the first two minutes of the 3rd period where Pleky, Markov, Emelin and about the laziest example of backchecking I have ever seen courtesy of Rene Bourque all collectively shit the bed, there's not much to really be overly critical of. Well, and Desharnais being crap on faceoffs. And missing, somehow, a goal that even Rask thought went in. Seriously how the fuck do you miss point-blank through the goalie's legs RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE NET?

Oh and Pleky's breakaway to...whatever that was.

If I had a dollar for ever squandered opportunity...
- I could have bought the Coyotes by the 2nd period.
- Eller shot Price in the balls in warmup. Price was not happy. But he plays better when he's pissed off.
- Can we please stop with the Molson Cup ceremony? It's such a awkward thing...and totally not "team concept".
- Weird stat of the night: The takeaway/giveaway thingy favoured the Habs.
- For you SIZE people: Habs outhit the Bruins. I think Cube delivered the better non-Emelin hit too.
- Personally, Galchenyuk doesn't need to be as protected as MT thinks he should be. You can literally watch him adapt to a situation right in front of your eyes. And his battle backcheck with Lucic was rather epic.
- PK SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON AND DID THE JOEL THINGY. Bet MT will put an end to this one quickly. Also, has a point in every game he's been in so far.
- First to jump into PK's arms in celebration: One very happy Markov.Obviously it was in spite. I could see the Hate, PJ Stock.

I knew he would do this.

- Gallagher is just fearless.
- I'd say Armstrong is useless, and then he ran over Gregory Campbell and I instantly loved him. Then I went back to thinking how I miss Tom Kostopoulos, who had better hands.
- Did we magically get hybrid no-touch icing? The ref blew the whistle before any player touched it, and two Habs were pretty damn close to winning the battle.
- Lars Eller needs more ice time with actual players. When even the L'Antichumps see this you know it needs to happen. But it'll take a quick swing to the ankle's of David Desharnais to get him on that line... (No I'm not going to do it).
- Bright side: Neither Spooner nor Hamilton scored their first goal ever.
- Not Very Bright Side: I pity those of you who had McGuire. The McSplooge over Hamilton must have filled the screen.

Clearly Habs marketing staff not part of the "team concept"

Can't say this was disappointing, other than the fact they lost. And when they both play actual hockey, not UFC, they really aren't that far apart from each other. All it took was two sleepy shifts by the guys who were arguably the Habs best players since the start of the season for the game to turn. But they didn't shrink away after it. They regrouped and tried to get the game back. Sometimes you drive to the net and the puck goes in (like Krejci). And sometimes you drive to the net only to lose the puck in your feet.

To Buffalo.

Habs 3, Bruins 4 (SO): A point well earned

Despite some masochistic idea to pair Kraperle (sic) with Crampoli (sic) and thus making Benoit Pouliot look like fucking Mario Lemieux, to get a point in this game was a wonderful feat for this team. Down 3-1 and clawed back to a shootout. Yea, that's right. CHEER FOR THIS LOSER POINT YOU DROOGS. Why? Because holy crap... Tim Thomas would be a 3rd string back up behind this team.

Also Bruins have no idea how to hit anyone cleanly, take a hit, nor react to a hit without a scissor clamp on the hitter's legs or looking at the ref. Pretty sure Emelin exposed Thornton for the whiny bitch that he is. Also head snap? Didn't you call out the Canucks for doing that? All he was missing was the fainting hanky.

Enjoy your 10 game suspension, Marchand you clipping rat. (Assuming Jacobs hasn't paid off Shanaban fully, yet).

You know who's awesome? Ryan White. Welcome home. (Question: is it not automatic to get a misconduct if your jersey flies off during a fight? No clue why McQuaid didn't get one. Oh wait, he's a Bruin. Never mind).

I swear the two refs doing tonight's game had no clue how to handle the pressure.

So Patches scored. An angry Erik Cole scored. And Darche scored shorthanded while Habs were killing an accidental 4 minute high stick by Eller on a fanned shot. Apparently it was the first shorthanded goal they gave up this year. There's a lot to like about how the team played and hit and competed. Ending it in a shootout where no one could score, however, was a little aggravating. Pretty sure everyone will be salivating over Timmeh Thomas' BIG SAVE on PK's last shot of OT that was flubbled and going wide anyway.

Honestly I don't care about the fans cheering when Chara got hit in the face with the puck. It's not exactly without history... I mean can you really blame them? We're not exactly talking how the Bruins fans got up and cheered the clipping on Salo, or the hit on Miller... They still remember what happened, and how he got away with it, and how the fans of the Bruins acted and still act, and how the League basically ridiculed a kid nearly being paralyzed on the ice. Patches has moved on, and that's nice, he has to play and is a fantastic hockey player. However fans don't forget. And frankly a little more anger from Patches would do him a world of good on this team against them. But hey, a visor would have also prevented the puck from hitting Chara that high in the face... I call it Karma giving Chara a wink. Probably the best part of it all is Brad Marchand talking about classlessness. Cool story, bro.

Anyway, I liked the way Andrei and Gomez responded to the incidents at practice. Sure Andrei turned over the puck weakly. But he corrected himself, played hard, threw his body around well. And he nearly scored when his shot dribbled through Thomas only to get cleared by an alert defenceman. Not sure why Eller was benched for most of the game though. Match ups? Feeling? His penalty? He also threw a killer hit on Thornton.

Bonus: Don't have to see the fugly Bruins faces 'til next year. Small victories.

This rat is cute. Brad Marchand is not.

Habs 1, Bruins 2: Listless...and then!

We were on our way to absolute boredom with this. Which is hilarious considering the Bruins nightly quota is like 5 goals per game.

Fucking broken stupid Boston rink causes the puck to bounce out weird and no one else is paying attention at the little hockey player in front of an empty net. For a long while, looked like it was all the Bruins needed tonight. Habs had really nothing going for them. Well, the usual suspects were working: Eller's line, and as the night went on DD's line picked it up (I giggle every time DD takes on Chara, and he took him down with a shot to the gut to boot). After pissing off most of his fanbase, and probably most of his teammates, while back-peddling today on his comments yesterday, we were all paying close attention to Cammalleri just to see if he would indeed put his money where his mouth is. Two gifted rebounds found their way in front of him with wide open nets and he ignored both of them. Sigh.

As the game went on I gave up, and traded him for Bobby Ryan. Apparently someone else was thinking similar... (No, not Bobby Ryan).

Cammy disappeared from the bench in the third. Thought maybe Hal Gill gave him a concussion with an "errant" water bottle. But with Cammy gone, and PK being a pest, Habs kind of crept back in ever...so...slightly. They looked like they had more jump than the previous two periods. It turned sour when Gorges accidentally tipped a shot that was going wide in behind Price. He knew it, Price didn't look too happy. And with PK drawing the ire of the Bruins, took two out with him to the penalty box. Who else? Yannick Weber said he thought he was better than some of the guys that were playing and yes, people got annoyed with that comment. In reality, English is not his first language, and I think he meant he believes he could bring more than what he saw from the rafters. I mean, I was watching Chris Campoli and thinking the same thing. How is Campoli a better option than Weber?! At least if Weber turns over the puck you can just chalk it up to a young guy still learning his options. (Noticed Eller and Diaz are getting better at decisions in their own end, even though they still make errors. You live and die with your youth to make them better in the future). And besides, it's the Bruins. I swear Weber has scored 90% of his goals against the Bruins. And all of them are probably on Tim Thomas.

They had another real good chance shorthanded near the end of the game. A few more cases of holding onto the puck too long. PK came out of nowhere and launched it on net, surprising everyone and forcing a save. Bruins got nothing on their powerplays.

Odd that it's the healthy scratched kid who puts his money where his mouth is.


MEANWHILE...
Cammalleri was actually pulled from the game and sent back to the hotel. Not like he was contributing to the game in any way, shape or form. If you didn't watch the game just look at his stat sheet. It was the only one that was blank right across the board. Not even a single turnover.

Probably should have just scratched him altogether.

Frankly I don't care if a guy was pulled mid-game for a trade. I've heard about this type of thing before. But because it's the HABS oh god forbid they work like the rest of the league! I mean, hey, who doesn't mind sending high-priced NHLers to the Minors all because you made a shitty contract or forcing a guy to go work in Europe because you screwed up. That's real class right there eh?


I wanted him to do like Weber: Work. Put the puck in the net. Show us you care for real and not say that you do. Actions speak louder than words, sometimes. Instead we got more floating.


Cammy was traded back to Calgary along with Ramo and a 5th, for Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland (Tri-City), and a 2nd round pick. ALSO: shed a shitload of salary. I have no idea how Calgary will stuff this all under the cap but that's their problem. And I think Jay Feaster is an idiot, but that's just me (hello Lightning). Also note: Cammy had limited no trade clause where he could veto about 7 teams, so when a GM perks up and says "I didn't know he was on the block, I would have traded for him!" I'll say that maybe that GM's team is on his no-go list. We pretty much all knew he wanted his old haunts first, and the rule is trade out of conference first if you can.


If you think they should have waited for the deadline, think again. The great Brian Burke is PRAISED for his school of thought with regards to trading long before the deadline. If it's the Habs, they get bashed. We're told on both sides the deal was being worked out for months now. Bourque's suspensions keep getting in the way (he'll be back Sunday). They're about the same age, but Bourque makes half what Cammy makes, and currently has more goals on a team just as shitty. I don't care about his playoff performance: you have to get there first. (And about that playoff performance, Cammy's sucked before coming here, too).


End of the day, Habs get young (prospect), cheaper, bigger, and get a coveted 2nd round pick.


When the Habs hosted the Flames at their first home game this season, Bourque tweeted "Can't wait for the game tonight at the Bell Center. Love playing in MTL." He scored 2 goals with the same amount of ice time Cammy was bitching about in a 4-1 win for the Flames. And I know how Bourque plays... which sometimes isn't much different from Benoit Pouliot. But let's face it, both guys needed out. Cammy's heart disappeared as well.


Oh and Troy Brouwer says hi.


Quotes on the trade:
"Interesting optics for CGY. They didn't think Cam was worth resigning at 6 mil after getting 39, but now he is worth 6 mil on pace for 18." (Brian Wilde, CTV.)

 "I wasn't concerned with what was going on with Michael at that time. I was too busy trying to stop the puck." (Carey Price after the game)


"On s'en sacre." (Mathieu Darche)

(EDIT) For your information:
And this is why the timing of the trade happened. I do believe a few freaking out "reporters" and snarky bloggers out there owe the Habs a little apology... 

Habs 2, Bruins 3: Show me something

Well, what. Looks like Cunney wants to see what his lines can actually do so he rolled them. Also I suspect he's managing their time to be more equal because there's a big travel back-to-back in the middle of the week. And the fourth line rewarded him with very strong shifts so there's no complaints. Who doesn't love seeing Blunden fly with reckless abandon? It's like he was finally realizing this coach isn't going to bench him for hitting someone. But, even though Pleky scored and made Chara look ridiculous, the usually suspects still aren't giving us that effort when it counts. And by that I mean Cammy's head-fake NO shot on the powerplay. Dude, what's wrong with you?! You make me sad.


I was hoping PK would throw up at center ice or lick all the Bruins water bottles before leaving but he only puked up the puck instead.

Unfortunately neither killing that 4 minute powerplay nor Carey Price standing on his head inspired anyone much until the last 5 minutes of the game.

One of these days, Carey Price will skewer a teammate on his goal stick. Though I'm wondering, if Habs put Hal Gill in nets, can Price legally cross the red line to try and score?

Habs 0, Bruins 1: Idiots

So let's talk about that powerplay...

Remember last game I said how Pleky scoring on the point would only mean he'll remain there until I lose all my marbles? Well doing fuck all on a 4 minute powerplay wasn't enough of a sign, how about with a 6-on-4...and the point is Weber and *drumroll* Pleky.

Never mind this was PK Subban's 100th game.

Never mind LOADING up on Weber and PK would give you two awesome shots.

Never mind that PK absolutely LIVES for these moments.

Was it that long ago? No. It was only last fucking year that this happened:

SO WHY CAN'T YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR MORON COACH HEADS!!!?

As for the rest of you, when you follow Erik Cole put your fucking sticks on the fucking ice and be ready for rebounds. Unbelievable how slow their brains looked tonight.

- Great game by Emelin, who ran over anything that came near him.
- Great game by Cole, who was pissed off at the lack of offensive support he saw around him.
- Good game by Gomez save for his weakass backcheck on that one goal. (Delayed penalty for what I have no idea).
- Didn't stop L'Antichambre from opening with their new "Bash Gomez Intro" while comparing his game to...Crosby?!
- Price just sighs and goes about his job wondering if this team will ever be consistently trying to win.
- Cammy played like a wet noodle and shot the puck like one too. Fawn over Timmeh all you want, I could make those saves...
- I swear I saw Gio yawn, and then Chara yawned right after. That kind of game.
- There was a fight in the stands by the bench that had more emotion than these two teams did. I wonder if it was an angry fan trying to get at Martin for NOT PUTTING PK (or Cole for that matter) ON A 6-ON-4 TO MAYBE GET AN IMPORTANT POINT. Or maybe it was Dickie Moore.

Wake up, Habs. In your next game, Carolina actually plays good at home. Fuck around for 60 minutes and consistently play like this and you don't deserve to make the playoffs. (But I'll be happy to hear you take Grigorenko in the draft). I think the only bright side is Crosby's return and a zillion points in one game will cover up the Habs nicely.

I'm going to dive back into Skyward Sword now. After I happily devour a red velvet cupcake. Comfort food...

Pre-season Game 6: Way better than yesterday

Habs bring the scrubs and ice 6 NHLers (including Price) to the Bruins AHL squad and 11 NHLers and manage to be a handful. It was a skating marathon tonight. Probably their best game of the preseason without actually being on the real roster. Sadly a great game was ruing by blind zebras who apparently forgot big daddy Campbell isn't in charge any more. Their inconsistency is more aggravating than Spacek's brain farts. Well, almost....

- If this is how Price plays behind no defence for 60 minutes, I think we're all totally OK with that.
- Dear Hockey Gods, give Gallagher a bone please? And a goal. All those posts...
- Welcome to the Bell Center, Mr. Bournival! Looked quite solid out there, and no signs of a shoulder problem which he routinely slammed into a few Booins.
- Game could have used Pacioretty, who had the flu goddammit.
- Captain America had bite tonight. Was pissed with the refs antics in the faceoffs, ran full steam ahead on the puck, tossed Lucic into the boards quite heavily.
- Speaking of those boards, Tinordi loves them. To throw people into them.
- DeSimone: you're hired. And he's off to the Bulldogs camp for a contract he so very deserves.
- Spacek was better in his first game. Right now, the new leaner Spacek was crap. Lucky for him he was bailed by Price more than once. I kind of want him to take penalties just to get him off the ice.
- Regardless of his mistake on the Bruins goal, Gabby Dumont is a barrel of energy. Maybe he'll take White's place until he's ready to go?
- Or Blunden.
- EVEN WOYWITKA WAS PRETTY GOOD TONIGHT, SPACEK!
- Cammy wants 50 goals.
- Gallagher's up to 13 shots, placing him 2nd in the league. It doesn't count those that went off the post. (Pacioretty leads preseason with 15 in only 2 games).
- Jorje is in fine form, blocking shots.
- Diaz's shot will do better once he's used to playing here.

Tweet of the night: @AndrewBerkshire If Thornton bitched any more he'd be on Sex and the City.

Preseason is almost over, folks. And we'll finally see some actual roster players... More cuts today, including Brock Trotter who was playing. Hoping Jodoin will stamp out his evil turnovers. Unfortunately he's on waivers so DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM, YOU MANITOBA-PLAYER ACCUMULATING WINNIPEG JETS! Hisss...

Leave the gun, take the Campoli
The Godfather might be a bit down on his second unit powerplay peoples. Diaz needs more AHL time, Yemelin wasn't brought over here to run it, Spacek just plain sucks, Weber can't run it alone, and all our forwards are the type that excel better down low (because SERGEI was the Kostitsyn that quarterbacked powerplays you numbskull). So Habs went out and got Chris Campoli. Basically he's the new Wiz, only cheaper. And not for 6 years.

So long as he doesn't really come here to play defence, it's fine. Though I'm hoping Ladouceur can teach him a few things...

Pre-season Game 5: Golf

The first time RDS finally shows the pre-season game in Halifax (from what I remember anyway) and...it's delayed because some PGA Golf tournament snorefest went into overtime. Basically we missed Gomez's goal. Yes, it's true! And on a breakaway! Incredible, I know! I mean he actually DIDN'T pass it to himself and finally shot the puck!

Of course when they finally switched back, the game turned to shit. Hey whatever. It gave Benoit Brunet something to crap about. Much like some, he didn't get the memo of back-to-back-to-back-to-back games with a defense of mostly 19-year-olds.

- Palushaj's hard work finally got him a goal. Dude must be exhausted though. I'm thinking he gets the game off tomorrow. He deserves it.
- Some nice plays by Morgan Ellis in his first game. Looks like he'll be a serviceable when he grows up.
- Archambault dove to block a shot from Chara. No fear in our boys, unlike what certain radio hosts believe.
- Favourite RDS remark of the night: Alain Crete "Did you see any improvement in Benoit Pouliot tonight?" Denis Gauthier "Did you see Benoit Pouliot tonight?"
- If the Habs were the Carolina Hurricanes of last year, Gallagher would be our Jeff Skinner and would probably start the season on the team.
- Speaking of Gallagher, he hit like 10 posts and continued his strong play. Basically, like a dog with a bone. Knock him into the boards while pushing him off one of his rushes? Pfft no problem. Gets right back up and tries to score again.
- Habs in general hit like 20 posts. How you doing, Khudobin?
- Not exactly Budaj's best effort but considering who was playing in front of him, who can blame him?
- Hilarious how it seemed every time Marchand touched the puck he was booed. In Halifax.
- Speaking of the hometown troll, you know when Hal Gill can outrun you it raises some eyebrows.
- Felt like the Bruins cheering section consisted of a few friends and family members of the players. Or disgruntled Patriots fans. (Hello Buffalo Bills).
- Yea that Kostitsyn on the point experiment? WRONG KOSTITSYN! Sergei was the powerplay quarterback. Andrei's strength is from the middle to down low!

Tomorrow is more Booins. And it'll be the debut for Michaël Bournival, who was cleared to play after a knee injury had him miss a large chunk of pre-season. It'll also be the first time Patches faces the Bruins since Chara nearly killed him.

By the way, I gotta laugh at Pouliot wearing #67 considering. May that number burn into your fucking soul, you lunkhead shaved gorilla of a captain.

Bite me

I made the mistake today in turning on the radio once more.

I thought they'd have gotten over it by now, but judging from my Twitter retweets of various sources who just happen to follow various journalists from all teams, it seems the Boston media still haven't removed their heads from the salty sea dip and still reference the Habs for everything, completely forgetting it's the CANUCKS not the CANADIENS that they're playing here.

Then we have the callers. I can understand the Montreal Bruins fans calling and listening to a Montreal sports station, but what the hell are the guys in Boston doing emailing every moment? Though one caller from Montreal got me rolling my eyes so much I was going dizzy. This Bruins fan said through what sounded like 4 teeth and a pack of cigarettes while curled up on her lawn chair in front of her trailer that Habs fans can't stop talking about it 'cause we're all apparently jealous. Sadly Randy Tieman's brain isn't quick enough for the proper retort, so he just agreed with her. I would like to point out that no, it's not jealously. Don't mix jealous with absolute disdain for that piece of turd franchise you cheer for, lady. This same lady then casually called the Pacioretty incident a "little hit". Here's the definition of "disdain" just in case she skipped all of her schooling.

dis·dain /disˈdān/
Noun: The feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect; contempt.

And we were all laughing at Lapierre offering his finger to Bergeron to snack on. Apparently humour is lost among most Bruins fans. They only know anger.

No mention of the Bobby Clarke special on Kevin Bieksa's leg from Rich Peverley, who only took a month to mold into a complete asshole as per club policy. Or Tyler Seguin squirting the Canucks with his water bottle. Or hey, remember who should have been suspended only to score the game winning goal in Game 7 of the last series? (Actually it was the only goal). Maybe they forgot about Nathan Horton since he's been absolutely invisible lately. (Which is business as usual). Come headshots and cheapshot and middle fingers! It's all class!

In case you're wondering WHY Montreal Habs fans are actually watching these games, paying attention to the series, and talking about things here in Montreal, it's simple! This is a hockey town. We bleed for our team, but this is a real hockey town. We'll watch it because it's hockey. And a couple of homeboys are playing for those who care. All we hope is that evil doesn't win...

My interest in this series is at "meh" level. It's between the self-entitled pricks (also known as the Boston Bruins) and the arrogant asshats (also known as the Vancouver Canucks). But heaven help us if the Bruins touch Lord Stanley. Their douchiness may melt that wonderful trophy.

Game 5 - Habs 1, Bruins 2 (2OT): Out of gas edition

Gas is at 134/litre so good luck refilling the tank.

My lasting vision of Hamrlik is as always facing the wrong way. I don't know if it's the brain juices gone flat or what: if he's the guy clearing your crease, good luck with that.

Sucks for Price. He did everything human and inhumanly possible to carry his team to a win. Meanwhile when they're not turning over the puck or playing the equivalent of a B-movie defensively, his teammates were launching wet socks at Thomas. Low. Couldn't get the puck off the ice. Could barely skate on that sloppy mess they called a rink. And the allergy to wide open nets has spread to everyone.

Most dangerous line was Eller with Halpern and Darche. They were the ones who scored the only goal. They dug in, they were on the puck before the Bruins, they were the beacon of hope. I think Eller has grown 5 year in 5 games.

As predictions go, fuhgeddaboudit. Predictions forgot to discount Gomez going back to sucking or the team forgetting how to play defense. Predictions depended on this team being as good as they should be but suddenly falling out of breath. Predictions stated back when Markov re-injured his knee and Gorges being shutdown for surgery that we should enjoy 15th place.

I'm cool with them losing so long as they try. I know most fans will froth the old "STANLEY CUP OR BUST!" spiel. They tried tonight. They tried real hard. It wasn't a blowout like their previous tries in years when this team crawled into the playoffs on one leg. It was everything we could ask for from them and with a bit more healthy players or younger legs in the back, it wouldn't be so difficult to watch. A heart attack every night. Having no Markov, Gorges or Patches is catching up with them. (And if Karma wasn't such a bitch, Chara would have more than dehydration to worry about). It's all a great experience for the kids and a weeding out of the old vets in a way. And now they have a game left to tie it and bring it to lucky number 7.

Pens lost 8-2 today with the Bolts facing elimination and looked really horrible in their loss.
Rangers got shutout and went home. Lundqvist still deserved a Vezina finalist over Luongo.
Niemi just got pulled early in the first as the Kings scored 3 on 5 shots while facing elimination.
Puppies, rainbows and kittens. PK Subban played over 40 minutes. Only players with more ice time were the goalies.