Habs 3, Islanders 6: Heads directly up your asses

You know all those plays that would have ended Sunday's game in favour of the Bruins had they managed to connect a few tap-in passes and picked the cornersor didn't ring off the symphony of posts? Well, the Islanders gave the Habs ample tape footage to illustrate this.

Turnovers, own goals, lost coverage...completely discombobulated chaotic defensive zone. It's like a pack of headless chickens running amok around their own net. And the cherry on top? DOUBLE screening their goalie while completely ignoring the man opened to the left waiting for them to perfectly block the shot to his stick. They got lucky against the Bruins, their luck ran out against the Islanders.

Puffing your chest out and saying "don't worry be happy we're still in first" only goes so far. If Therrien doesn't fix this sloppy play in their own zone they'll have to rely completely on luck and a difficult to perform powerplay. (Sure PK got that goal and all, but did you see what they did leading up to it? Putrid).

Can someone please explain to me how they manage so easily to screen and tip shots by their own goalie but seem absolutely incapable of doing it on the other end? Can you stop playing goalie and let the goalie play goalie? Case in point, after a terrible tip shot off Pacioretty's stick where Price makes the save on the changed trajectory, someone digs the puck out of the corner for Pacioretty to get out except he's stickless 'cause it broke, so the puck goes back to the point for a shot on net that's going right to Price's gut when....! Bouillon can't handle the guy heading for the net, and in his infinite wisdom of panic throws his stick out and perfectly tips the shot over Price into the net. Thanks for coming, Cube. Gold star.

By the way, Ryder? You suck. Go back to Dallas.

Of course we can explain what happened today in one simple term: SCOTT GOMEZ SCORE A GOAL. This, right after Mike Milbury defended the honour of the Montreal Canadiens to the troglodytes on Boston radio. Yes, World. You have officially tipped your axis.

Oh yea. Happy 20,000th goal Habs. I'm sure Gionta gives a damn about it now that he's in the history books without two points.

Habs 4, Pens 5 (SO): In dire times...

...we look at the bright side.

They scored 4 goals.

Unfortunately, "One More Beer" Budaj was in nets scaring the shit out of me every time the puck went near him. There's only so much dumb luck one can bank on.

They scored a powerplay goal.

Unfortunately, a complete full team brain fart had them give up a shorthanded goal to Dustin Jeffrey of all people. Blame PK all you want, what the fuck were the rest of the guys doing on the one side of the rink?

Wait, I was supposed to look at the bright side!

Uh...they got a point. McGuire said getting at least a loser point was important. For whatever that's worth.

Adorable and fluffy, but big assholes on the ice.

It's cold. And I don't like Toronto.

And not just in temperature either.

There's just something about Toronto that's cold and grey. Something that makes me hate it. There's an urban sprawl that knows no boundaries, perhaps because there aren't any really. The population spreads endlessly until it assimilates the next town and makes it a suburb by default. Where the owners of lovely townhouses awake in the morning to the sun rising over the oil storage tanks right across the way. In Quebec, we have laws about proximity between homes, unless they're attached. Here? Each house has a frighteningly dark alley maybe a foot wide separating one another: too small to store a garbage can, unsightfully big enough to be noticeable.

There's also an arrogance in the air. Not from the people, just from the city itself. It's condescending.

The city just doesn't have any buzz. And every time I come here, my happiest moments are when I leave.

I caught the highlights of the Habs in Hotlanta. (Me and Atlanta Airport are mortal enemies. I hate that place almost as much as I hate Toronto). Outshot badly again. Tossing 19 odd shots at Hedberg does not give you a win for fuck's sakes. Neither does taking a bazillion penalties again. Crazy Price saves (wow). AK46 coming out party. The defence's going away party. Colby Fucking Armstrong. Cammy not scoring on the road. A Metro PP goal. A usually perfect PK yielding finally in OT. But from what I see, without Price in goal, there is no loser point tonight. MAB needs to stay away from D and Spacek needs to suck it up, take a break, let Weber/Carle play in his spot for a bit, and heal. It would really be for the greater good...

Right now the best part of my day is passing out on the sofa bed in my hotel room.

Goalie in need of hugs, I'm offering to provide

I salut you Kelly Hrudey as the voice of reason. He, of course, understands what it's like. As a goalie, there is nothing more disheartening than to look up and see that unfold in front of you, and the emotion and weight it puts on your shoulders is a burden few can truly bear. Even though I play meaningless shinny ball hockey I fall victim of the "why me" nights when I see the guys unable to do anything while I'm getting scored on more times than not. (I personally live for the moments when I get to rob someone. I like poke checking. It's great fun, but it's not fun being scored on). Right now, no one understands what the kid is going through except for his backup, Halak, and his goalie coach, Rollie. Right now it's up to Rollie to help him through this. Right now, I'd suggest he makes everyone else play nets in practice while Price and Halak flip pucks at them until they see what it's like.

I also believe I was looking at a different game, when the CBC play-by-play commentators kept saying Price was deep in his net when he was STANDING on the fucking red line.

Another salut to Komisaurus for looking like he wanted to absolutely punch the guy interviewing him after the first period when he was asked what's up with Price. Though he didn't, and took the diplomatic route. If that were Gilmour, he might have said something else regardless of it being live...

As for the game, the Habs played like shit. Understandable, maybe, since they played yesterday and were facing a Leafs team recently chewed up and spit out by their GM. But when the Habs play like shit and Price is struggling to the point of tears, it's not going to end well. I also salut the young buck for actually facing the press in the locker room even though I thought he was about to bust out crying. Can he steal games for the team? Yes, he could. First period shots were largely in favor of the Leafs to about a game's worth by the second period when the Canadiens only managed 2. And the only ones helping him are the only ones showing up: Koivu, Sergei, Patches, and Lapierre, Hammer and Rhino for defence. That's two veterans and four kids.

It would also help to win crucial faceoffs in your home zone with only a minute left. I'm just saying, you know. Goalies can't win faceoffs.

I think my only highlight of the night was seeing Lapierre's entire line in the penalty box. It was kind of funny.

D'Agostini took over Lang's spot on the powerplay with his right-handed shot. Kostopoulos made a diving goal. Markov broke the 40 point barrier, now leading the team. But 5-on-5, the loss of Lang is really showing, as it is in the faceoffs that Pleky isn't winning. His loss to a freak injury is hurting this team more than people think.

Oddly enough, Price's percentage hasn't really changed from last year and the Habs are still 4th. But people gotta start scoring or they won't stay there for long.

I saw worse today, actually
- Talk about a team playing like shit, just watched the Blackhawks get absolutely owned by the Canucks. Leaving Huet out to the birds in the first period where he gave up 3 goals, and then Khabibulin to give up 4. When your best chance is during a shorthanded breakaway and no one is capable of connecting a pass or actually shooting to the net, I seriously wouldn't put that loss on the goalies.
- Another team who played yesterday called the Buffalo Sabres lost in a shootout to Ottawa, though Ottawa blew a 2-0 lead. Miller got absolutely owned on the shootout by Sharkko Ruutu. Same move he tried on Price.
- I thought Fernandez was injured? Doesn't matter, Pooh Bears lost after blowing their own lead to the Flyers.
- Ducks beat Flames 2-1. Will they be angry on Monday, or will the Habs be angrier?
- Detroit beat the Oilers 8-3. Hope that's the same Oilers Habs meet on Wednesday... They could use a barnburner. My brother wonders how Drouin-Deslauriers' name fits on his sweater.
- All these weird new rules of not allowing defensemen to play some actual defense like battles in front of the net or calling borderline interference is really skewing scores. Games with 4 or more goals appear to be the norm and shootouts seem on the rise this year... The new NHL is weird.