Disappointment thy name is shootout - Habs 3 Sabres 4 (SO)

It's a bum way to end a good game but yet again the Habs turn complacent and passive in the 3rd period and it bites them in the arse. Still Carey Price guaranteed them a point in games they deserved and in games they didn't before his first injury, and since that 2-0 loss in Atlanta (where he only allowed 1) they haven't lost in regulation with him in nets.

Lady luck stayed home?
- First period, Habs were everywhere. They hit anything that moved and shot the puck with fire. And Miller couldn't handle many of the weird bounces, but luck left it's clover at the door and nothing bounced in. Of course, a sneaky tip-in on the end of a lame penalty powerplay gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead...
- As with most goals against for Price, if they're not absolute flukes, it's him staring at 4 red sweaters blocking his view, like the second one after a fanned clear attempt right in the slot. C'mon guys, get to it!
- With his lunchpail and hard hat, Master Higgins wakes them up with an awesome goal. I love the Ninja Line.
- Revenge thy name is Koivu-Kovalev-Tanguay. Capitalizing on the powerplay and the puck bounced off Kovy each time. A sneaky tip-in of his own was just gravy.
- Sergei did some lovely plays tonight, covering for defensive errors, missed a check but managed to get just a piece of the guy to create a turnover, some great aggressive forechecking especially in the 3rd, and came flying in on the left-wing but again no one was following. Poor guy. Hopefully once his brother is healthy, they can have some finish on that line. Still, I love his intensity and really missed it when he was away in Hamilton.
- I love the way Kovy skates like a shark out hunting when he's forechecking. Though I think he could have neutralized that player who passed the puck which lead to the 3rd Sabres sneaky tip in goal after the team couldn't exit the zone again.
- Huuuuuuuge stops by Price, including the Save of the Game with a Sabres player sitting on him.
- I guess the adrenaline got to Fruit Punch's brain because he usually doesn't hit people like that boarding penalty. Though, it's Kaleta so I don't know if you can maybe call it justice? I've seen players get suspended for less, I've seen players not get suspended for worse. But Kaleta didn't get injured either, so...
- Markov is the team MVP.
- Hammer was absolutely out of it tonight.
- Breezer goes back in the trunk...and the car goes off somewhere, I don't care where...
- Dagger didn't have a good game tonight, but gotta give Bob credit. He gave him his chances.
- I order you all to work on faceoffs.
- That said, the refs were being morons on the faceoffs. Drop the fucking puck and shut up please? What the hell were they doing?
- Benoit Brunet: stfu.
- Dandy is totally justifying his contract and totally showing why he's a good asset. Also shows why he's a better forward than defenseman, though I'd rather have him on D than Breezer. If Bob does that, he could always shove Stewie on the Ninja Line.
- Overtime was yakety-sax hockey.
- The shootout was rather lame on the part of the Habs shooters. And with Price being outstanding and Miller being lucky and wonky, they just couldn't get the puck off the ice. The sweet spot on Miller in a shootout is usually over the right shoulder. Pleky got it, but hit the post. Story of our lives eh? But with March being playoff hockey time, maybe the league should just ban shootouts in the final stretch...
- The whole team waited for Price to come to the bench when the shootout was over. Kovy gave him a big pat on the head.
- One thing I also noticed was Bob waits for his team to go first before leaving the rink. Even after those losses.
- Bob knows about the importance of playing a complete 20 minutes in the third. He's addressed this in his Press Conference. Once the Bob addresses something it gets fixed, that's for sure.

Conclusion: perhaps the 1 point gained tonight will serve as a reminder for how terribly important it is to play a solid 3rd period. Lead protection is the key to a playoff series, and any passive complacency leads to the death of a season. Still, I'm confident the guys can make it. This game was intense, the refs were morons, and it was probably the best Saturday night game the guy's have had since the beginning of the season.

Bulldogs and others to report!
- Despite a 2-1 OT loss to the top Manitoba Moose, the Dogs have clinched a playoff spot. They play the Moose again today.
- The Montreal Juniors (STUPID NAME) completely owned the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 7-0 in a pivotal game 5 for their first playoff series. (And this is all without Angelo Esposito who injured his knee and was done for the season). The Juniors have a chance to put it all away at 4pm today. Oh...and I like that Jeremy Gouchie kid.

Eastern clusterfuck:
- Marty, Marty, Marty! You failed me! Panthers put the smack down on the Stars 6-3. I is so very sad...
- Tough night for goalies named "Marty" as Carolina toys with the Devils 2-1. Been a while since Brodeur faced 48 shots eh?
- Pens takes the Rags 4-3 after trading goals all night. Stundqvist.
- Boston had an easy night with the Leafs despite Manny Fernandez being crap. Though you can say Pogge was crappier. And this was the guy who once upon a time was AHEAD of Price, folks. A 7-5 score though, I know Boston was looking for their swagger back but those goals against should bother them.
- Islanders were having a 2-0 deja vu but then lost to Philly in a shootout. Semi-tough night for that Marty. I gotta ask though, why did the Islanders send out Streit as the 3rd shooter...?
- The Sens really feeling that no-playoffs blues now that Atlanta drop kicked them 6-3. Hedberg is in nets again so I guess Lehtonen did get injured (again) in New York. Goalie made of string and glass...
- I'm currently trapped in bed with a migraine. I hate my life and my brain.

Screaming orange: Habs 4, Flyers 3 (OT)

Glen Metropolit, tossed in at the deep end, takes the opening faceoff, is there during the screw up that leads to the first goal against, takes a high sticking penalty of incidental contact, was robbed on a penalty box exit breakaway, and then jostled by his old teammate after a whistle in front of his old net. But as the game went on, he looked more and more comfortable with his new mates and did an exceptional job holding the Flyers in their own zone for what seemed like a good minute or two, until finally panic ensued and a blue line battle went offside. Good work Metro. He seems absolutely thrilled to no longer be wearing that day-glo orange. (I don't remember the old Flyers colour being so...bright). The first person to greet him at the dressing room door? A smiling giant Carey Price.

I celebrated with two delicious raspberry turnovers
- PYLONS! 0-1 at 28 seconds.
- HAMMER! 0-2 at 8 minutes. Good god it felt like one of those nights.
- And then over the course of 2 minutes the Habs scored 3 goals. Naturally I missed them all because the food came. So while my dad was complaining about the suckitude of my Habs, I got to interrupt him with "C'EST LE BUT!!!" three times and it felt lovely.
- I did get to see TK pull the moves and split the D like Kovy does regularily. Even Pierre Houde was like "What? Kostopoulos?"
- I don't know what rank the PK is but so far it's been abolutely amazing these past few games. Especially the 5-on-3. I hope they don't get complacent with the knowledge of how good it is and keep at it.
- RAR PENALTIES
- It ain't a game until you get one Breezer Play. Naturally it just had to be on Gagne. 3-3
- Patches is the big power forward all you annoying forum fans have been screaming for. Lookie, he picked up another assist tonight.
- Stewart is a beast.
- Higgins and Koivu had one mad cycle on a Flyers clearing attempt that would have made the highlight reel if Niittymaki hadn't made the save.
- Every time Halak plays the puck behin his net is duck for cover.
- Koivu kicked ass on the faceoffs when it really mattered. Won 5 in a row during the OT powerplay.
- What's better than a Breezer Play? Why of course, the Schneider Play! 4-3 and he Ovechkins himself into the glass.

Conclusion: Play like this against the Sharks tomorrow and you won't be so happy after 60 minutes. So does Price get the shaft and play behind a tired team going against a well rested Sharks? Probably, in the never ending saga of how he has absolutely no luck at all... *gives hugs*

Elsewhere on a cold, rainy, February...
- Pens beat the Hawks in a shootout 5-4. Huet was never really strong against the Pens, actually...
- Osgood actually has to make 30 saves for the Wings to beat the Kings 2-1. I find that one a little odd, but whatever.

Stuffy: Habs 2, Devilzzz 5

Unless the game is played at the Bell Center, Habs should just forfeit games against the Devils because no matter how intense they fly out of the gates or attempt to generate offense, the game ends up so clogged and stuffy that it's an absolute waste of energy. Never mind the fact they had to play them in a back-to-back game schedule.

The walking dead...
- For the love of all things good in this world and for my (our) sanity, will someone please get Breezer off the ice?
- Price was looking good. Made some insane saves. The second goal well, knocked over by a flying Devil and banked in by Bouillon isn't much against him. The fourth one knocked in by Sergei, which brings me to this...
- Why, with a 2-on-1, was Sergei the only one attempting to go back? Defense was where? Last I looked Sergei wasn't a defenseman.
- And yes, on the third one as RDS so nicely points out, D'Agostini fails to clear the zone, but what exactly was Komisaurus doing just standing there and avoiding the the puck as it flew towards him?
- The kids played alright though. D'Agostini combined with Pacioretty screening for a powerplay goal. Stewart was everywhere. The Lapierre line was creating mass chaos both to themselves and the Devilzzz.
- OMG GORGES SCORED A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *ahem* Sorry.
- During the game we were shown clips of old time hockey. The defensemen in those days used to just grab and haul you. I looked at this game, the Devils still play like that even though the rules have changed.
- I kind of liked it when the Canadiens looked like they just said "fuck it" and started giving the Devils a choking piece of their own medicine. Frustrated them some.
- Devils could put a plank of wook that moves in laterals and it wouldn't matter. Seriously? They make anyone look good. Which makes me wonder about Brodeur... Though they're a lot more lackadaisical when he's there. I guess it's like when Halak plays, and the defense needs to actually clog the net/whack sticks/look out for those rebounds...
- Koivu was back, but...he kept falling everywhere. I'm not entirely sure it was a good decision to play tonight. I was so afraid he would re-sprain something every time he toppled over. Got an assist though.
- A sluggish play with an empty net while on the powerplay is not a good effort boys. The outcome? You gave Elias his 20th.

Conclusion: You couldn't PAY me to see this team live without Brodeur. It's so dull and boring, I dozed off a few times. And though the Habs played fairly well, it was the usual bad luck, no one in front of the net for rebounds, or defensive brain farts/Breezer-like errors (from not just Breezer, but Hammer and Bouillon) that ended up bitting them in the arse. Plus any actual chance they did have, the Devils just choked them to the point of absolute nausea. But cheers for Carbo. The kids will make mistakes but he's not going to throw them under the bus because of it.

In other news:
- Price is double dipping in the ASG because Ersberg is injured so he'll take his place for the Sophomore Team. Was actually wondering why he wasn't there in the first place but there you go...
- Habs ain't the only ones just wanting to go on break... Boston's tied at 3 against the Leafs right now. The ISLANDERS chased out Giguere and won a game against the Ducks. Tampa Bay beat Buffalo 5-3. The Kings are winning against the Avs, and it's 1-0 so far for the Blues against Chicago. The other night the COYOTES beat the Red Wings 6-3! Obama has turned the world upside-down!!! WTF!
- Flyers could probably thank us for tiring out the Thrashers for their game tonight. Beat them 5-3. See, that's the real Lehtonen.

Oh my hats! Habs 5, Panthers 2, 3000th regular season win

Because zombies eat BRAINS, zombies can score

Holy shit what have they put in the Habs water these days? Fruit Punch gets a hat trick and we get free wings, and ZombiePleks has risen from his grave to not only score one of the sickest shorthanded breakaway goals I've seen this side of Jonathan Toews' WJC shootout goals, BUT ALSO PUNCHES A MAN FOR DIGGING ON PRICE! The little girl who could barely get an empty netter earlier this month jumps a man for messing with his goalie and punches him. Ends up with an unjustified 4 minutes roughing penalty (meh, old man ref) but still, this is usually the work of Komisaurus. Begin also had a pretty good fight. He got the worst of it (the dude was twice his height for crying out loud) but Begin jumping to punch the guy was quite a sight to behold. And then he did the take down. The home crowd sure got a show. Wait, this was Florida! The place was sold out thanks to the Habs fans either living there or on vacation (hell, if I didn't just buy my condo, I'd have totally gone for that trip). Another city, another Carey chant.

The question of the day: When was the last time Habs had consecutive hat-trick games? From two players, notching their first career hat tricks?

Memo to the Panthers: Get a bigger penalty box. It didn't fit four Habs at once!

Also it ain't over until we see a classic McCabe and boy was that classic on Fruit Punch's steal for his final goal on the empty net.

That said, Breezer is our McCabe. Thank god there are other people out there able to cover for his errors, but Carbo needs to get him off the powerplay... You can keep Kovy on the powerplay though 'cause that goal was pure math.

Conclusion: Tomorrow is Tampa Bay. Time for SuperPleky to get his revenge on Lecav for that unpenalized spearing.


In other news
- Jean Béliveau is said to be doing well after a drop in his blood pressure sent him to the hospital. Stay healthy, Monsieur! (Actually he was released from hospital already).
- WJC Team Canada beat Germany 5-1 and Subban did his Bobby Orr to give Evander Kane a goal.
- Here's a shock: DiPietro is injured again. Oy.
- Um, Sharks signed Claude Lemieux (yes, THAT Lemieux) to a two-way contract. He's currently in the AHL trying to make a comeback.

This is more like it: Sergei 2, Tanguay 1, Kovy 1, Sabres 3, Miller 46, grabs a drink after overtime

Numbers!

I heard a rumor it was December, but outside, it feels like February. I'm guessing the ice at the Bell Centre is nice considering how FUCKING COLD it is and has been lately. Yesterday, I was out at a my company Christmas party. Yesterday, it felt like it was 50 below. And as I'm never drunk, I felt every little bit of it. Today was no better, though thankfully not as windy. So after an early supper, I turned on the fake stove-like electric heater, surrounded myself with fuzzy pillows, and buried myself under a fuzzy blanket, ready for the first of this back-to-back weekend game home stint before the holidays. And I really appreciate Habs/Sabres games. They're good battles of actual hockey with little douchebaggery that usually spoils one's evening. Though I gotta say, if not for Miller, this contest would have probably been a non-overtime cakewalk...

My laptop usually doubles as a heater
- Happy 30th for Markov! Yesterday was happy 38 for Lang!
- One signature of a Habs/Sabres game is how the teams take turns dominating each other in each other's zone.
- And as Miller was providing his team with his usual solid self, Halak was juggling. He did get better as the game went on, but there is never a dull moment when he's in nets. Despite that, he's now 2-0 against the Buffaslugs in his career.
- Laraque is The Rock. Try and hit him, and you bounce off. Try and hook him, and you'd need a meat hook. And that smile! It is both lovely and frightening...
- Peters was a total ragdoll in that fight, but Laraque never really punched him. Despite that, Peters left with a blackeye. Should count himself lucky!
- Argh Breezer the Screen gave the Buffaslugs their first goal. Either take the man or do like Hammer and poke the puck. Don't back up and back up and back up until Jaro can't see past you...
- The rocket that Sergei launched is something I've watched him practice every time I was able to catch the warmup skate. And 90% of the time it goes in, at the exact same spot, in an area that's liable to deflect somewhere ever better.
- Sergei also tried a few of his brother's moves, including that signature split the D and crash the net, as well as the warp around.
- Temporary Captain Kovy's work should be taped and mailed and shoved down Milbury's throat. Our guys get no respect.
- Lang and Tanguay are now with the same number of goals and assists and points! That's 10G, 14A, 24pts. So, screw you Mats and thanks for your service all those years Ryder.
- Maxwell played very well, shadowing his man again and creating havoc. Would have scored too if he wasn't off balance.
- D'Agostini is dangerous. My dad has started watching hockey since he was called up and stuck. My dad is now Dag's number 1 fan.
- Actually, these 6th round picks of the Habs are just incredible players.
- Super Pleky wasn't having a good night...
- Begin hit 3 people in a row and was looking for more. Clean hits too! Totalled up to 7 hits. No stupid penalties on him tonight.
- Miller was upset that Big Georges Laraque blocked his view on Tanguay's goal and claimed it was interfence when he just skated by him. Their goalie interference is even captured in a photo, as you can cleary see Ellis elbowing Halak in the head...
- But hey, there were questionable penalties all around... The difference was, when Kovy gets called for phantoms, he sits in the box plotting his revenge.
- McArthur says the Habs have a great powerplay. I guess he didn't see the games prior to having Sergei on the point. But thanks for the compliment anyway!
- I swear Kovy never leaves the ice. I'm sure he didn't leave during overtime.
- And of course, Temporary Captain Kovy, the overtime powerplay hero with 24 seconds left.

Conclusion: An excellent battle had by all.

Decking the halls with my fists of fury
- Penguinos looked awful in that blue sweater. And worse is it's hard to tell who's who when they play the Leafs. Their game was going on over at CBC at the same time and I guess the blue against white and blue confuses them too as they lost 7-3. Toronto launches it's usually 40 shots. Fleury lets in 5 goals and Sabourin gives them 2, Crosby tries to start a fight, the rest of the team checked out early for Christmas I guess... But that's ok, they'll keep text voting their players in for the All-Star game despite the fact that 3 of them haven't played the 20 games minimum for this year.
- Seems every time someone threatens to blow up the Senators, they win a game. A 5-4 OT win against Dallas. I guess the only way for them to win is to constantly threaten them with a trade to Phoenix.
- Bergeron knocked himself out again in Boston's 4-2 victory over those droogs we're playing tomorrow.
- When Hartnell isn't kneeing Andrei Kostitsyn, he's getting a hat trick for the Flyers in their Screamin' Orange old styled sweaters. Wait, what, Hartnell?! That or the Capitals just really aren't good on defence. Lots of games ending with scores of 7 goals too...

One big penalty: Habs 2, Whalicanes 3, Refs 11

Everyone should know by now that when playing the Whalicanes, you basically have to play a no-contact type of hockey because every touch is embellished to grandiose proportions. It's why I take every penalty given to the Habs tonight with a grain of salt. Particularily the hookings, slashings, and trippings. The ever popular two minutes for collison returned tonight. And while I honestly don't care how true the penalties were, the fact that no one got called for giving Tanguay a bear hug for 30 seconds (and he played right through it while the Whalicane tried to make it look like he was the one being held), or for roughing D'Agostini who had every right to keep slaping that puck that Ward had no idea where it was, or the stick-around-the-waste type hookings, well... I'd say the refs went home with a satisfying bonus.

But let's look at the good things. Kovalev's shorthanded goal was a big FU to the game. It was a true statement because without the powerplays keeping the puck mostly around Halak, Ward would have let more through. It was a duel of which goalie could provide the best example of bad rebound control, and I'd say Wardo won that one. He was not sharp at all, and it basically came down to having his defense fill his net because they seemed to be aware of this problem and figured 3 goalies were better than 1.

Ben Maxwell was absolutely wonderful even if his impact hasn't hit the scoresheet like Dag did. He was on shadow duty and did it wonderfully, he was setting up in the offensive end and became an important factor in the 3rd as the majority of guys on the team just couldn't move anymore from being on the constant PK.

Unfortunately this crappy momentum was probably a contributing factor as to why Tanguay was having a bad day. At least he wasn't alone. Breezer must be the only player out there capable of making the same exact error four times in a row and CONTINUE to try again resulting in the same error. He may have been the only offense for a few games, but even I cringe at the sight of what he did in the backend.

And yes, and word to the wise other teams! If you don't want the Habs to score on a penalty shot, then don't give one to Gui!Gui!Gui!, though by all means, do it. Thought I'd just warn you. He's now 2/2 with those and I wonder why he is rarely put out in shootouts... When it's just him vs the goalie and no defenseman is shoving a stick down his shorts to stop him, he usually scores. Also puts a smile to my face when players tried knocking him around by the boards. They tried, but bounced off him. In the end he still had the puck.

Nevertheless, this game was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I'm just happy Gui! and Kovy scored (and both played a hell of a game, though Kovy's been playing great games for a while except no one notices it unless he gets a goal on his sheet instead of a zillion assists). And just looking at this team suffer without Koivu... Imagine if Kovy were gone too? I shudder to think of that day and only hope Gainey brings him back. He's a workhorse and frankly no one can replace him. All he wants for Christmas is a few goals, less teams doing the instant triangle on him, and linemates that can finish his setups. I'm still dreaming of a Kovy-Koivu/Lang-Kovy line!

Most entertaining game thus far? Habs 5 Thrashers 4

Well technically it was 6-4 because Tanguay's goal SHOULD HAVE COUNTED as it was Hedberg interfering with Lapierre (see scissor legs). But hey, if you gotta cheat, at least win it.

Defense gives me a heart attack sometimes
- Ok maybe just Breezer. Pop in trunk, dunk in river, thank you!
- No seriously. Price has to keep bailing him out. Thank god we have a goalie capable of shooting pucks himself. And stickhandling too. You'd think that would inspire people by going "hey, he can stickhandle with a fucking paddle stick and oven mits so what's wrong with me?"
- Another very elusive powerplay goal by Markov. Keep it simple, eat those rebounds, and good things will happen.
- Matt D'Agostiniiiiiiiiii! NHL goal number 1 in NHL game number 3!
- Kovy and Lang together are having a blast both on ice and on the bench. Just a couple of old boys.
- Maguire hanging around between the benches, you can hear Halak say "no way that didn't even cross the line" on Hainsey's second, but they allowed it anyway despite watching it hover right on top of it.
- Hey coach, we're missing a man and that gave Hainsey his first.
- Game was in control until... well I don't know what happened. People went to sleep?
- Must. Win. More. Faceoffs!
- Really like Kovalchuk. He would be lovely on a line with a player like Kovy feeding him pucks. Too bad he would be very expensive.
- I think I'm tired of refs not calling blatant crosschecks from behind but always calling our borderline penalties. Apparently when people run into you and happen to hook up your stick on them you go to the box and watch the other score (in that case it was Kostopoulos, our top PKer, with an obvious target on his forehead).
- Super Pleky being super!
- Andrei Kostitsyn trying to get his brother out of the pressbox. Look at him fly, Sergei~!
- Coach Komo is now 2-0!

Conclusion: Fast, battle type game! Ya the third period pissed me off but they fought back and showed who's boss without a shootout. Defense needs to lockdown more in the 3rd though. They allowed way too many quality chances then compared to earlier in the game. I do believe Kovalchuk will have the Senators for lunch tomorrow though. I'm really sorry, but I think we pissed him off a lot more than that 3rd period pissed us off.