Habs 0, Sharks 1.5: I have pie edition

My saving grace is that I have pumpkin pie. I win.

- Someone please save us from Desharnais.
- Bell Center needs to fix it's fucking glass.
- Stop saying Price needs to stay in his net. You love it when he doesn't and the Habs get the puck out of the zone quicker. He's a huge key to that transition.
- Zone entry works how?
- Felt like Habs were on the penalty kill all game.
- Joe Thornton left his friend in his pocket, thank god.
- If Eller's line played all game, things might have been less annoying.
- Travis Moen needs someone to put the fucking visor on for him. That was VERY close to his eye.
- Logan Couture has giant front teeth. He might be part rodent.
- I'm very annoyed at Diaz. I'm very annoyed at Diaz on the penalty kill.
- In games like these you must UNLEASH THE PERNELL KARL! Let him take the puck coast to coast! Let him create! And damn the consequences!
- Quote of the night:

David Deharnais couldn't finish a sandwich #habs #sharks
— Clay Bates (@baters) October 27, 2013

Positives schmositives. Moral victories still signify no two points.

Habs 3, Sharks 1: Jump the shark!

Saturday 2pm and the snow starts to fall. This ain't San Jose. Team Teal walks in with their Gold Medal line and a pickle on defense. Half the Habs are asleep except for Eller's line. Niemi felt so bad he left his net wide open a few times, but nothing doing. End of the first period and it's tied 1-1. Shots were 10-4 for the Sharks. No problem, guys. Carey Price is here.

But getting pinned in the backend was an issue, especially with the olde Wonder Twins inability to clear the zone cleanly. They missed PK's creativity. Price was working overtime to make up for his missing breakout passes.

Through 25 minutes, Eller's line was the only one capable of getting to Niemi and shooting on net. At 7:11, Picard registers the first Habs shot on net. This is after killing Pleky's hooking penalty. Finally, Plekanec out-muscles McGinn in a Datsyukian manner and makes it 2-1. Maybe McGinn will blog about it later.

By the way, Dan Boyle was on the ice for 20 minutes already. He would end the night playing a total of 30 minutes. Basically he played half the game. And here I thought we were burning out OUR guys. Is this why he was shooting pucks in his own net in the playoffs?

Quote of the night by Joe Thornton at the second intermission: "If we keep them under 5, I think we'll be good." Guess he missed the first period.

Third period was the only time Habs outshot the Sharks (by two whole shots). Joe Thornton looses his helmet and doesn't want to mess with the hair to properly stop the Hamr Train from rolling in on Niemi. All I could think of while watching Hamr on a breakaway was that this game officially jumped the shark.

Same crowd reaction too!

Cammy punts in the double rebound with Doug Murray totally back on a beach somewhere. One phantom holding call later and Lars Eller is twitching in the box, giving the stink-eye to the ref. Niemi was never in his net to begin with and goes for the extra attacker. Price stones Heatley. Annoying (and booing) Dany Heatley is fun.

Empty net alert! Cammy misses. Price tries but some Shark leaps to glove his shot off to the side. No fair, no fun. Habs win! No triple low fives makes us all very sad. Someone needs to fix this!

And memo to Kelly Hrudey: Both PK and Weber are the future of the Habs D. Actually that's the future powerplay unit right there. So I beg to differ that Weber is the guy who sits. Why do you think Picard was hired? Picard could easily be switch for Carle. Not to mention the older guys should be given a night off here and there. Like Spacek. (Notice who was always hemmed in the D-zone? Hamr/Spacek pair. Lucky it was kept to the outside for the most part).

Survival Playoffs 2010: The San Jose Sharks

As it remained 2-0 for the Sharks in Game 4, a nervous Blackhawks crowd clutched their brooms nervously watching their team get outshot, outworked, and outplayed in the first period. It's the Slow Start Trap: lull your opponent into a false sense of security, then kick them in the groin and steal their lunch money.

Habs could take a cue from that. All it took was one lucky break goal, by a guy who never really scores from totally outside his position. Basically, picture Josh Gorges cutting across the middle below the hash marks and just shovelling the puck towards the net hoping someone will bounce it in only to see it squeak in just enough to blow the roof off. Then Bolland makes Jumbo Joe eat his words. Big Buff steals their lunch money. Versteeg kicks them in the shins afterwards for good measure.

Game. For the love of god, man, let Duncan Keith go to the doctor instead of interviewing him so he could get those teeth out of his throat and stop gurgling on his own blood.

And after fighting through all that adversity, the Sharks basically delayed the inevitable. Close but no cigar isn't even a factor considering their big names not named Marleau refused to get down and dirty with Niemi who wouldn't even be a name if he were behind any regular defence. If the Flyers go on to the finals, he and Leighton could trade enermously bouncy rebounds.

While most hockey fans were hoping they'd at least make a series out of it, I'm sure there were plenty who were just waiting for the Hawks to put them out of their misery. Perhaps the Sharks need a bigger boat? At least Dan Boyle didn't put it in his own net a third time to permanently piss off Nabokov.