And now, ladies and gentlemen, a tap dance: Habs 4, Blackhawks 1

I refuse to use any snarky "Blackhawk Down" pun!

So apparently The Bob said NO to the Barber Pole because it not only buzzed with the TVs but buzzed his players eyes. One player particularily buzzed by them was the Priceberg, who couldn't tell between a defenseman and a forward in them. The numbers are a bit hard to read, actually... And though I love the Barber Pole, the Habs instead came out in the CA ones. Unfortunately, retro sweater night was not complimented by awesome retro styled goalie pads tonight. Guess they're worn out already. (Apparently their lifespan isn't very long). NEVERTHELESS: Ohhhh what a win!

Hey, you look farmiliar...
- The CristoWall made his return to Montreal. Was it irony that he was the Habs netminder when Chicago rolled into town last season (defeated in overtime, I remember a very angry Lalime). And while there was concern about which Huet would appear, well, apparently the Crystal-Wall showed up.
- He was cheered, not booed! But he got jeered. Huet probably happy this is the only city capable of jeering his name with the correct pronounciation.
- The Hawks are a fast young team, they've got about 6 players in the high +/- range and many goals and points sco--GOAL. Kovy gets a weaksauce turnover and it's 1-0 with only 25 second knocked off the clock.
- Price was playing "follow the bouncy puck". Said he and Rollie were working on leg work and puck tracking. The results? A++++!
- So the Habs started the season with Andrei Kostitsyn getting his head smashed into the glass. And now we're ending the season with Sergei Kostitsyn getting his head smashed into the glass. Only this time they're on the same line so big brother immediately ran in there and went after the guy. Obviously like last time there was no boarding penalty, and Andrei gets a 5, 2, and 10. So mom and pop Kostitsyn came all this way to watch their baby get injured and their big boy sit in the box for half the game.
- Which was a shame because when he was finally out of the box, he was slowly showing the moves he picked up by Kovy as the game went on. Pity...
- Patrick Kane didn't get much time to play with old buddy Sergei, either. Have to wait for next year...
- Price knocked old buddy Jonathan Toews into best buddy Gorges, and got a make-up penalty though.
- I like Huet's new helmet.
- Gui! with the pop fly goal. He circled the net just in case he needed to hit it in again. I have no idea what the hell Lapierre was doing to him after he scored though. That was...weird.
- Markov is funny when he scores.
- Higgins feels the wind of a Schneider Play. Probably feels like when he was 10 watching Schneider win the Cup.
- I'm loving this edition of Coach Bob.
- Tanguay getting many break away chances but not getting anything. Koivu was explaining to him how to score on Huet while on the bench later.
- Not a good night for the refs... Two no calls on a Kovy trip, and a pretty bad slash on our Masterton Trophy nominee Breezer.
- Habs won 40 faceoffs to the Hawks 24! I'M IN SHOCK!!!
- Markov MVP, I love the way he can get back in time to neutralize a breakaway without taking a penalty.
- Hammer, not so much. And he got injured on top of that...
- PK was solid. Even had some shorthanded work. PP was 50%.
- The Hawks hadn't scored in 6 periods. Brutal schedule for them, they gotta dash home to play the suddenly hot for the playoffs Blues.
- Joel Quenneville was one unhappy man.
- I can never tell if Bob is happy or unhappy. I think I saw a smile and some twinkle in his eye during the Press Conference though!
- Win = Price throws his stick to the crowd.
- Apparently Sergei was noted as being OK after the game, laughing and talking Russian with other players. So apparently he got the english knocked out of him. But damn, those Kostitsyns are built tough eh?

Conclusion: I was pretty sick when I came home. I had no appetite, I was on the verge of vomitting... So I curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and the game just cured whatever ailed me. Good thing too because I was too tired to make my miracle cure soup. Whatever. BIG SHINY WIN!

Also apparently tonights win permanently knocks the Sens and Leafs out of the playoffs. What?

Enemy at the gates!
- Actually the standings are bloody weird. Between 9th and 4th place, each team is separated by 1 fucking point.
- Why the win knocks the Sens out permanently is because they lost to the fucking Panthers, 5-2. Waka waka.
- Bruins beat the Bolts 3-1. Yawn... Though Chara tried to fight Artyuhin. And by "try" I mean smacked his helmet until the RT knocked Lurch over with the take down.
- DALLAS WINS! Against LA...
- Edmonton is sinking with an overworked Roloson. Beaten by the Ducks 5-3.
- The consolation prize for missing the playoffs isssssss... Playing in the World Series. Unless you're like Roloson and can't MOVE anymore.
- Only two Habs (well three, but I've no idea if you can count Andrew Loverock anymore) remain in the Memorial Cup drive. Olivier Fortier, who just signed a contract with the Habs, is pretty much set to play anyway considering Rimouski is hosting it (and boy are they stacked and ready). PK Subban's Bulls ran into a hot Loverock who seems to be outplaying them hard... Looks like they might have to take their series all the way.
- The Leafs signed Christian Hanson of the Fighting Irish to an entry level contract. Yes, he's the son of a Hanson brother. Leave it to Brian Burke to sign a Hanson. The real question is, did he bring his fucking toys with him?

Got no luck this year: Habs 1 Bruins 3

Help? Please? Not in response to the game actually. I thought the team played fairly well considering the tough times/semi-slump going around and who was rolling into the Phone Booth this afternoon. But help us because Robert Lang is most likely out for the rest of the season and probably just witnessed his career over as an errant skate apparently sliced his Achilles tendon. To lose Lang like this is a terrible blow to the team as there's absolutely no one who could replace him... And we, the fans, were hoping regardless of his age that he'd want to be resigned for next season. Now this doesn't look like it'll happen, unless he makes a miraculous recovery like Chipchura did for a similar injury (of course Chipper is over 10 years his junior) or the injury itself is not as severe as it sounds. Nevertheless, send us a center capable of replacing him! But my hopes are minimal as there doesn't seem to be one like him out there!

Droping like flies...again...
- Injury number 2: Gui! is apparently now down with a shoulder injury. FUCK! Basically he joins his brother with that (who just went down with a shoulder injury as well).
- Almost an injury: scary went Dagger was slammed into the boards by Chara by a borderline hit from behind. Thankfully he came back.
- The game could have easily gone either way, but the injuries in the 3rd didn't help the Habs.
- Those throwback barber pole sweaters are AWESOME.
- Price is pretty much back into his usual 2GAA.
- With the loss of key men, the rest will really need to step up.
- I'm waiting for the day when Thomas is out waving to the crowd as the first star and all those horseshoes fall out of his ass like that casino ad on TV.
- Ryder still hasn't scored a goal in the Bell Center since last March...
- Patches got long legs. It's pretty easy to trip him because of them. He'll give us lots of powerplays too.
- Alex Henry, first shift, checked a man and then had to fight him.
- I hoping Kovy steps up more. I mean yesterday the ref made a quick whistle for no reason right when he was about to do something (I call it the OMG KOVY HAS THE PUCK whistle). Today it was two rather borderline penalties, with the second having the ref totally miss the fact he was punched in the head... But yea, I guess benching him could anger him enough to tell him to put his ass in high gear.
- Like the other goals against, the error with the empty net gapping wide was probably the most disappointing moment of an otherwise good game. (Minus the injuries). Bad decisions were what really lost the game.
- Fans exploding everywhere for the wrong reasons piss me off, by the way.

So if I'm Bob Gainey and I can't trade for a new center, who gets the callup? Chipper isn't exactly Robert Lang, though he's good for the PK like Lang...maybe Yannick Lehoux? But what a letdown. Awesome Plan B, gets the Molson Cup, and now could probably be finished forever... I'm so disappointed. I liked Robert Lang...

I Can Has A Hockey Game

Awww... Isn't that precious? Give it a hockey stick.

The Florida Panthers are in town. A team that oddly enough plays it's best hockey when in Montreal for some reason despite being stationed in an area that can't keep ice. Is it the ex-Hab goalie factor? Who knows.

Anyway, Halak will be in nets since Les Boys don't play for another week and Carbo likes his goalies froosh. Sergei Kostitsyn will take big brother Andrei's spot on the Kovy-TurtlePleks line. Master Higgins should be back and will take Sergei's spot on the Lang line. Bowling Ball Bouillon should be back too! That means Breezer gets benched? We only hope so. I mean he hasn't been terrible, but he hasn't be anything special either. Same ol' Breezer. And you know what that means... No idea what the 4th line will look like, as Laraque is a rock when he's got the puck while Bégin still has that incredible ability to take stupid penalties at the most inappropriate moment. Still, his energy might be needed. Guess it's a surprise!

Good news on Andrei's condition, though. It has been reported that he's feeling much better, and hasn't had any headaches so thankfully it doesn't look like a serious concussion. He won't be playing tomorrow though, since Carbo doesn't want to risk further injury to him. That's ok. They got about a week off anyway before their next game when the Ducks quack into town.

Centennial Jersey Night #1! And Halak has some vintage-looking pads to match (not real 10-ton vintage pads though, just new ones styled like old ones). It's also the magnetic calendar night, and goddamn I wish I was there. I wanted one of those... (Still can't find any pocket skeds either. Guess I'll try emailing the Habs website).