Kicking kittens: Habs 2, Rags 6000

The seething anger over yesterday's epic fail just got dealt a new one. After actually taking advantage of the Ranger's shitfest and jumping up 2-0 before the 1st period ended, we were all amazed that there was actually a team that managed to look worse than the Habs.

Of course this went a complete 180 from the second period on as the Rangers stomped on our heads and pissed on our rotting corpses for 6 brutally unanswered goals including one weaksauce shortie. (At least yesterday's was a killer shot...)

It was an epic failure of grandiose proportions. One I have not seen since Patrick Roy told his boss he's fucking out of here.

But I'm taking a deep breath.

I made some chocolate chip cornmeal muffins, and they're delicious.


Also my mind is blown at the trade rumor on RDS with Dallas: MARTY TURCO for Jaro. Excuse me while I try not to get excited about this, as it's just a rumor. (No, I'm not being sarcastic... I love the guy!) Though after watching these past two games, I'd say Turco and Robidas for Jaro and maybe Dagger. We need defence..........

And someone needs to lock Slippy into the trunk of a car previously occupied by Breezer. Dump it on Mars or something.

Habs 2, Panthers 0: It was entirely possible...

Wake me up when something interesting happens...

...to win a game whilst sucking so much.

You know those types of games where the Habs score first and then don't score for the rest of the game? Kind of like that one in Tampa Bay? You know the feeling of those, right? Always on the edge of your seat, worried all those missed chances will come back to bite them eventually? You get worried every time a fart knocks over a player that maybe some overzealous ref will call a zillion penalties to make it interesting for the other team.

Yea, this game didn't have that scary sensation at all. Well, maybe everytime Jaro looked behind him even though the puck was far away from him. About the only thing I felt about this game was boring, boring, boring. And pity for how terrible the Panther's looked.

Habs played great defensively though. They kept everything outside, they DIDN'T screen their goalie... Hell even the Panther's knew they were outside, resulting to desperation shots coming from below the goal line to hit the sides of the net which produced chuckles from themselves. I don't know where the 38 shots against came from as I only remembered maybe 10? I think 15 was a stretch. Offensively, Habs continue to suck a big one and Vokoun wasn't even playing well tonight either (bobbled pucks left and right). Pleky looks out of gas. Dagger is still useless. Defense either shot into a crowd or shot way wide. Rinse. Repeat. But I never really felt like the Panthers would score, even when Hal Gill was called for playing defence, and pretty much just waited for the empty netter (thank you, Gionta).

Oh, Poo scored again. I think Benoit Brunet exploded.

Watching the Sens fail miserably against the Capitals on TSN was more entertaining than this crap. But thank you, Dutchy, for calling the Habs the "grandaddy of hockey" in your on-the-fly news. (Also found proof of Ovechkin using an illegal stick...bet you someone is dying to call it during a playoff game!)

Of course the Jaro vs Price crap returns. Goaltending is such a non-issue it's ANNOYINGLY AGGRAVATING that you people keep harping on it. Hey you know who had an enormous amount of shutouts too? Brian Boucher. Just saying.

If I pray nicely will God make sure the Devils come in Saturday tired and wasted from their game the night before? Oh right, I don't believe in God...and the Devils are evil. Sorry, Habs. You're on your own with that one.

In other news, I just found out someone is making an Eddie the Eagle movie!

Poop 4, Crap 5: Get vaccinated

Only the Habs can make a Kovalchuk-less Thrashers look like Stanley Cup contenders. And if the D weren't snorting coke on the bench between shifts maybe, just maybe, THAT SAME FUCKING LONE THRASHERS JUST WALKING IN FOR A FREE GOAL WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED FOUR TIMES!

Puke
- RDS wonderstats of the night: Jaro and Price have the same save percentage except for the fact that Jaro has more goals against. This stat is brought to you by our shit crap defence.
- Games like this are why Price got the Molson Cup for this month. Only good goalie in the NHL who has no team to help him, shoulders all the garbage, keeps his head up and soldiers on. Vokoun would have called them all out by now. Oh wait, he did. (And it helped for one game, then the Panthers went back to sucking).
- Welcome to the NHL Mathieu Carle. Now don't catch whatever Bergeron has. Oh, nevermind.
- Bergeron, you're fired.
- Price doesn't trust his defence. I don't trust his defence. Why am I scared shitless whenever Peverley walks over the blue line?
- Don't think too hard on taking a shot on net, Pavelec will save it. We're the Men Who Stare at Pucks.
- And when the puck looks like it's fluttering like a butterfly... Yea, you're not convincing me you're trying to score here.
- Price probably aged 20 years during this game.
- The Habs played like the Thrashers from two weeks ago...while the Thrashers played like the Habs from two weeks ago.
- Stop me if you've heard this one before: Little on the side of the net gets a goal off his skate whilst unaccosted, Kubina standing by the side of the net for what seemed like five hours simply slides it in on the powerplay, Colby Douchebag dances right in while everyone is mesmerized by Afinogenov and scores...
- Don't even get me started on all the other point blank range goals he saved, including the one off his head.
- And then he got overwhelmed. Thrashers were just swarming around his net, while the Habs were being lovely pylons. Every time they were in the zone it was a scoring opportunity. Completely opposite to the very protected Pavelec.
- Only one he was at fault on was that bizarro knuckleball one from the blue line. Then again, Cammy made no effort to even try to block it despite standing with the guy for a minute. What was that about playing better in front of Price, Cammy?
- Wow to the Pleky goal.
- Can someone not named Pacioretty hit someone?
- Lapierre was playing? Could have fooled me.
- People with the name Plekanec, Gionta, and Cammalleri may have a drink. The rest of you get tap water. Goalie gets two drinks.
- Power play goes where?
- Of all the shots on net, Price's from 190 feet away actually made it more and looked more dangerous than whatever they were shooting from the blue line.
- Andrei, I'm not convinced you're angry enough.
- Lightly tapping a puck towards the boards does not clear the zone.
- Benoit Brunet needs a slap across the head with a large, heavy, preferably metallic mallet.
- If Martin plays Jaro in Boston Thursday, he better put Price on the first line.

If I were coach, I'd force them to wear this tomorrow.

Question 1: Are the players playing scared because Martin goes on his swearing tirades in practice, or are they all just secretly injured like Gill was for 3 weeks?

Question 2: Nothing is going for Andrei, even when he's hit and revenge hits, has the puck, and shoots on net. So what do you do now?

Question 3: Is it possible to have brain damage and not realize it?

Habs 5, Leafs 4 (SO): What the fuck are you doing?!

See? There are enough crappy teams to chew on to stay at .500 for the year. But a combination of shitty defense and Jaro's small twitchy legs/crappy laterals, and this went to the most lumpsided shootout ever (in our favor, thankfully) when it should have been 4-2 in regulation.

I was supposed to be having dinner and a movie with the family tonight, but that failed. Instead we went to Cheaters to eat, and by the time we were done, we were found stuck in the deadzone of movie land. That, and none of us were really in the mood to go wait around and see a 9:45 movie. Cheaters had the game on though, with sound. Seriously guys? Did you play like crap yesterday because you were saving yourselves for tonight? Not that it was any better tonight...

It's a win, but I say MEH!
- I thought they buried Toskala under the Ricoh Center...
- Metro had the best goal of the year: Off Toskala's head.
- Jaro is made of rubber.
- If you win a faceoff, get the puck!
- Where the fuck is our powerplay? That 5-on-3 of failure on the worst PK in the League was a travesty.
- And the two powerlay goals last night were enough to make us worry. Tonight was just as worrisome...
- A stat you do not want to know: Ponikarovsky has more career points (25) against the Habs than any other team.
- Jaro! Squeeze in your fucking arms!
- Hammer's goal was hilarious: Gomez saw him standing by the net and just banked it off him. He didn't even know he scored. For once, being a pylon in the RIGHT end of the rink works!
- Ron Wilson's face goes from normal, to pink, to red as the game wears on.
- Yea, shootout. Toskala sucks, and Stempniak/Kaberle have no idea what they're doing out there. Thank goodness.
- Gomez and Cammy used the exact same move.
- My brother: We can score when no one is in our way.
- Next up is the Thrashers, again. Best start shooting, 'cause if it's Pavelec again...well, let's just say he made over 50 saves this afternoon against the Sens (who were also shooting like they had a disease) and he nearly shut them out...

And it starts again. Seriously guys? Habs fans are using this "win" to diss Price, who played lights out last night against an actual bonafied contender team. So far, Jaro proved he's an adequate goalie to take some games in, but when he's actually busy his problems are glaring (laterals suck, puck handling, rebounds and problems at stopping play because of his rebounds). Don't get me started on the flags that are raised when he's playing against a contender team...

Also would it really kill you to play the kid at home against the "crappy" teams for once instead of on the road, where he's practically the only one playing? I'm starting to wonder what the hell Martin is thinking. I mean, he plays Bergeron on the PK and OT and Guimauve in the final minutes... He's off his fucking rocker.

Oh Wonderful... Habs 0, Thrashers 2

I had a rather lovely evening with some friends celebrating a birthday at the Bond Bar and Grill (and Tapas). It's a James Bond themed bar that plays Bond movies on constant rotation, has old Bond posters everywhere, plays crappy music (you'd think they'd play Bond themes instead), and names their fancy drinks after Bond things. Mine was the Holly Goodhead, solely because I didn't feel like asking someone for the Pussy Galore...

And then I came home.

I knew the Habs lost 2-0 because my friend checked the scores on his iPhone every now and then. But wow. Unreal:
My brother was in the living room watching the news recap shaking his head and told me "they had like a zillion penalties". They had the emotion, but had zero finish. Or like I told my friend after we huddled around the iPhone, "Habs can't buy a goal these days".

So, bowling doesn't work. Bag skating doesn't work. Benching Breezer on his 1000th game doesn't work. (Or locking him in a trunk). Being a jumpy steely eyed angry coach doesn't work. Carey Price on the ball doesn't work. What for the love of Beliveau will work?


I always thought Carbo looked a bit like Daniel Craig Bond's French Canadian hockey playing long lost twin brother.

A few more like this and we can start singing TA-VA-RES!

Looking at that annoyingly close 10th place:
- Calgary you bastiches! Losing 6-1 to the Hurricanes does not help us! Oh, they just had to play Kipper's backup for this game. This is the reason why Kipper plays every game. McElhinney is 0-7-1 in his whole NHL career so far.
- Phoenix, you're not helping either. A 5-1 loss to Buffalo. Merci! *sad*
- Stars 3, Ducks 2. Well, at least the Stars won't be pissed off when the Habs roll into town Sunday... instead they're just getting warmed up.
- My condolences for Mrs. Hockey, who passed away today at 76.

Bulldogs report!
Mwahahaha! The Bulldogs shut out the Marlies 2-0. Sergei got the 3rd star! He set up Maxwell on the first goal of the game which came in the 3rd period. Ced turned away 26 shots (Pogge only faced 15). When Russel hit the empty net with 6 seconds left, Marc Denis was doing the Bulldogs Cheer in celebration, yes while in full gear.

Even better news? Mike Glumac is back from injury, early.

Deja vu: Oilers 7 Turnovers 2

Mmm... Turnovers.

I want to punch Benoit Brunet.

Never mind how many shots either team had. Never mind 95% of the Oilers shots were turnovers. Never mind the term "quality shots" in contrast to lightly flipping it at a goalie who's nearing 40 years old and only plays well once every 5 games. Never mind that whenever a Hab blocks a shot he inadvertently messes up Price's timing and fails to clear it or just turns it over. Never mind defensive zone structure and offensive zone structure seems to have been forgotten by everyone so that the on-ice result is total chaos. Never mind that Captain Koivu is graciously leading the charge...and no one is following him. Never mind the players only seem to shoot with any urgency while in practice, or with 5 minutes left in the game. Never mind how three times Price was interfered with by his own teammates. Never mind how the ref didn't whistle the play dead after Price took a hard shot off his head that broke his helmet straps. Never mind how his teammates stood and watched as he frantically tried to glove the puck while his floppy broken mask flopped around on his head. Never mind Carbo pulled these lines out of his ass. Never mind that Andrei Kostitsyn should be benched instead of his brother for his constant invisible play. Never mind every time Kovy passes the puck to the slot NO ONE IS THERE. Never mind how easy they give up the blueline while on the powerplay and don't feel the need to go back to get the puck quickly or stand and watch as another breakaway scores shorthanded. Never mind a goalie will never find his comfort zone if they keep playing like pylons. Never mind the weaksauce penalties, like Roloson's dive while 5 feet out of his crease while Patches jumped to try and deflect a puck, or the guy leaning back too much so that he falls badly into the boards while on a routine slide to the puck with Plekanec. Never mind no one can win any fucking faceoffs or take advantage of icing calls. Never mind the only goals came from Dandenault and Bouillon (happy career point, Bubbles). Never mind the only forwards playing like they mean it are Patches and Dagger.

I can't fucking stand Benoit Brunet.

As for the team, when you got bad luck, you got bad luck. No amount of team bonding or bowling will help. But a whip might work.

Home watch!
I got myself a cute little washer and dryer that's coming Sunday. I put some stick-on tiles in my washroom, just to accent over the countertop. I took off work today because they were supposed to come fix the floor by my front door...and no one showed up. Sigh...

Umm...? Habs 6 Panthers 5 (SO)

Carbo can't look. THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE WING!

Well, that was an episode of the Twilight Zone. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck happened. I do know that somehow the boys got through it with 2 points.

We should be glad for a win because this could very well be the 06-07 season:
- First game note: I hate 2pm games.
- The second period was apparently very good. It looked very good to me. I missed the whole first period because I was away putting together furniture. The third period would have been good except...
- I know Jaro is struggling right now. I know his teammates know he's struggling right now. They look very nervous in front of him. Right now my brother devised a formula for Jaro efficiency/team happiness: The distance of the puck from Jaro inadvertly describes how good he is/how happy team is.
- The Kostitsyns with Lang is a good pairing. I wish Benoit Brunet would shut the fuck up though. Sergei makes a few errors, but does a lot more good than Breezer on defense and he's not even a defenseman.
- Pacioretty has a natural attractions to head for the net. Wish more people would have that kind of magnetism.
- Kostopoulos finally gets a goal after some hard crease work and has a look on his face like he missed the train.
- Pacioretty says hello to Zed with a CRUSHING check. Love the kid. (Oh, and hello Zed!)
- Gui! is playing very solid hockey right now.
- If Kovy's posts would have been goals he'd be leading the league.
- Lang's ringer went in. It was loud, and it was good.
- Andrei also ringed one in that went in. I think every time Anderson heard the ping and cheer he just died a little inside.
- Chipchura for captain!
- Jaro prays to his posts every morning.
- Some guys in the crowd did the Carey Pose when Lang scored.
- The way Pleky juggles the puck he'd be an excellent basketball player.
- Young refs make weak calls but whatever. At least their mics worked.
- At least we get free wings.

In conclusion: Well take it from Begin, they know they're playing like crap half the time, they know they're making mistakes, and they'll settle down to watch and talk about it and build off it. At least they know what's going on. I'm still lost. At least Guy knows. Guy is smart. But with all the injuries and having an entire key line on the shelf, things could be worse but it's not. So three cheers for who's standing and three cheers for the Bulldogs. I just wished PK Subban were playing with the CH right now...

Blah blah blah: Flyer 2, Habs1

Awww... Ain't they cute?

The drama queens on the forums or I/O postings really are just that. Seriously, it wasn't that bad. Could have been better, but wasn't worse. Needed work on executions, and decision making is on the wrong side of a brain fart for the most part but the effort was there, the polish wasn't. However defense wasn't too bad tonight... Not great, but not terrible either. My brother agrees about cloning Hammer though. Halak regained control of his rebounds, only to let a few fly at bad moments but thankfully they didn't end up as goals this time. Still, faced as many as Price does regularily, and they weren't exactly of super quality. The ones that went in deserved it.

I think if the Flyers had come out full steam guns ablaze like Boston did on Thursday, well it would have been 6-1 Flyers. It's only November, so calling for Carbo's head or Gainey's head (wtf?) is super premature. I saw good things, and bad things, I still think some Bulldogs could bring in some life. Pleky's line needs to work on their setup and positioning. The powerplay could use someone with accuracy, and though Streit was honestly a better forward than defenseman, his powerplay specialty was built on accuracy and good thinking. Right now, I think Markov doesn't think well enough to handle it and the shots heading to the goal are just "shoot maybe it'll bounce in" types rather than actually vying for a goal. Perhaps we'll see Weber soon, as he's following his hero's lead as a powerplay specialist. Perhaps even D'Agostini could bring in some offensive punch. I'm still dreaming (or drooling) over the possibility of a Chips/Lapierre/Kostopoulos line, or Chips on the 3rd and Desharnais centering the 4th with TK and Lapierre as his wingers. The possiblities are there. Like last year, I think Bob waited for December/January to do some shuffling.

Sucks the presentation of our medal wining provincial athletes couldn't inspire a harder drive for a win. I mean, the whole arena from the benches to the rafters was at full volume as Chantal Petitclerc came out. She could probably beat both teams with only ONE of her hands. Anyhoo, with that, tomorrow's another day. To the Blues~!

If you were flipping channels...
- Vancouver 4, Toronto 2. What no shutout? Tsk! The first goal scored was by Wellwood. Haha~!
- Backup of the backup Clemmenson gets the Caps in a shootout. Devils win 6-5. Parise is the only one to bank it during the skills contest.
- Another shootout, Rangers 3 and Boston 2 with Drury as the only one to get it in past Thomas. Ryder's only call on the sheet? A 3rd period tripping penalty. Told ya last year wasn't all that suspicious...
- Buffaslugs lose 5-4 to the Penguinos. And no you can't blame it on Lalime this time 'cause Miller was in nets. Shots were equal around 24 a piece as well.
- Oh my... Sens pepper Joey Mac with 40 shots and still lose to the Islanders 3-2. Hey Sputza got a goal though. Looks like they tried a Third Period Bonanza, only to come out short.
- Currently 2-1 Dallas against Phoenix...
- THE BULLDOGS get a win though with 2 goals by D'Agostini, 3 assists by Lehoux, and a goal a piece for Chips and Maxwell. Patches, Aubin, and Wyman get an assist as well for a 4-3 win over the Rochester Americans. Shots were 31-17 Hamilton!

Also congratulations are in order for the Alouettes. That was a great comeback (of sorts) after 3 weeks of not playing. Larry Taylor made two awesome runs that left a bunch of Eskimos throwing their hands in the air with a "wtf" expression. The Als are going to the Grey Cup! First time they've gone when Montreal hosted it since 1979...

Bound to happen after going 12-0: Bruins 6 Habs 1

Could have happened a bit nicer though but that's what happens with the Jekyll and Hyde of Hockey. Only bonus after Koivu being the only one to ninja score (sweet wrap around of fire, that man needs a contract extension) was Kovy's open-ice revenge-check and Lucic cutting his hand as he pounded Komisaurus' helmet. Ya, whatevs.

Lang and an empty net is just as painful as watching Higgins fan pucks. Post not want!

I have a message for our defense: pylons are usually orange.

Speaking of orange, the Flyers are in town Saturday. Sigh...

"We played like dogs" Habs 3, Leafs 6

Should be Carbo's paperwork after tonight.

I'm tired of refs bailing players. I'm tired of seeing teams play for "who can draw more penalties" over "who can play hockey". I'm also tired of seeing our supposed best defenseman stare at a puck and let it go by him instead of keeping it in the offensive zone. And Grabs, you face Sergei next time and he'll wipe that smile off your face. Nice of him to jab Price in jock with his stick there. Three out of five calls for Leafs running their tally on goalie interfence, in a row, that my brother was wondering what the coach told them to do. Crash the net or crash the netminder?

Well one thing I predicted, Price faced 41 shots (Toskala face 20) and it was a miracle he managed to keep that many out considering the deadwood for defense he had tonight and the mass traffic sitting in his face. Passes flubbed! Shots fanned! A zillion powerplays to kill! We're rusty after 5 days off, and missing Hammer on defense is a bad thing. Breezer does 2 rights and 5 wrongs in under 5 seconds. O'Byrne needs some retooling with the Bulldogs. I'm not sure what's worse, his skating or his brainfarts. Higgins tries too hard and ends up missing completely or miss-playing completely. Kovy can hold puck possesion but there's only so long he can hold it if his linemates aren't getting in to position. But these guys are on a team that shouldn't be out hussled by the Leafs.

I think the dark clouds moved in when Kostopoulos was thrown out for his hit on Van Ryn. Frankly Van Ryn made his life miserable for himself. Junior NHLers do that, not 10 year veterans. He saw TK coming in a straight line, ready and lining him up for his check. The puck follows the boards to his feet and instead of playing it around the net, he bends over and takes the hit up the ass. Bravo idiot, see you in hospital. And Don Cherry can crow all he wants. Just put in no-touch icing already and maybe I can get the Belleville Bulls on TV? I'd rather watch the OHL if the NHL is going to continue down it's path to being the LameHL.

No more days off for the Habs. That includes Sunday, probably. (Carbo looked angry enough to make them work tomorrow). Get cracking! Otherwise I'm expecting to see a few Bulldogs soon. I mean you Chips and D'agostini. Maybe we can also trade a defenseman prospect to Dallas and take Jancevski...

Speaking of the Bulldogs: At least they beat the Baby-Leafs. Captain Chips with 2 goals, oddly enough he got the first and the last goal of the game. Patches with 2 assists. D'agostini, Stewart, and Glumac get 1 a piece. Dogs win 5-2!

Habs 3, BJs 4 (SO)

Yea, I only watched the 2nd period while eating smoked meat at Abbie's and I can say it was the same boring Hitchcock Trap as usual even though the Habs shot 35 times at the net (or should I say, directly at the netminder) and the refs decided breathing was a penalty. Halak let off bad giant rebounds and wasn't too sharp tonight. Also needs work on lateral movements, awareness, and his angles were slightly off. Came up strong in overtime though, but was completely hung out to dry during the shootout. Mike Commodore is a douchebag and should get a little suspension for his elbowing headshot to AK46. Of course the league doesn't care yet, so he won't get anything. Highlight of the night: Halak pulled for the extra man, that extra man was Sergei Kostitsyn, and he scores with like 45 seconds left in the game. And Price cheering behind the bench.

That's it.

Rick Nash was pretty quiet. Umberger wasn't.

I can't believe this was only our 11th game...

Because the BJs bore me more than the Wild, I spent my evening listening to the Bulldogs lose instead. The game ended with an empty netter by the Houston Aeros, 3-1. Apparently the ice deteriorated so badly in the 3rd that it was coming off in chunks. And c'est le but, Yanick Lehoux! If Weber keeps working though, his shot will kill goalies. Almost took the Aeros netminders arm off with that booming slapshot.

Chips is their new captain! Congratulations Chipper!

Next: The Leafs for the Hockey Hall of Fame Game.

Taberquack? Ducks rain on an already rainy day

Dunno, I found this somewhere. It makes me laugh every time.

Well that was a cross between CURSE OF THE FRANCO-GOALIE and a skanky game and a good game (for the wrong reasons). Actually, ya, I don't know what to make of it. First loss in regulation since the beginning of the year isn't too bad. However, Price has been sick in bed puking up everything for 3 days. What's the excuse for the rest of the team who were actually practicing all week?

The Good: J.S Giguere stops 47 of 51 shots. What? He's not on our team? Ya, that's the Curse of the Franco-Goalie, and probably why the Habs try to get them all before they go to other teams. Well, to the team's credit, most shots launched his way were rather superfluous teases, but he did make a few steals. Should have been the first star though. Corey Perry? Whatevs. Wait. I'm supposed to be talking Habs, not Quacks.

Josh Gorges has become the love of my life. This has been building since he started playing more last year. Even if his picking up the puck in the crease after Price pooped it to prevent it from going goal lead to a penalty shot, no problem. The Priceberg is so big, he freaked out the Duck to completely miss. Saku Koivu gets another goal! That's #4 in four games now, and I'm freaking out. Tanguay pots two because he did what more people on the team should do: sneak in and send those rebounds to the bank. The other love of my life, Tom Kostopoulos gets Flukey Goal of the Game award. I really have no idea how that went in, honestly, but it did, and it put the team ahead by one at the start of the 2nd period.

The Bad: Well, he wasn't necessarily bad, but he didn't look too hot out there, even in warmup. Halak let in 4 of 12 shots and got switched with Price midway 2nd perioid. What got the better of him were his rebounds that he just couldn't contain, or no defense help, or decided going down was better instead of staying up.

Offense should take notes. Stop shooting directly at the goalie and pick the waterbottle to aim for. Tanguay seems to be doing that, seems to be working. I don't know if I should put the Defense in this category though, because the shotblockers were excellent.

The Ugly: Actually, I'll put Defense here. Hello? What have you learned all week? I don't know who's errors were worse defensively, forwards doing the turnovers and not getting back faster or Breezer's. If Rhino was sitting in the pressbox eating cookies with Dandy, maybe it was a good lesson for him. "See, watch Breezer down there, that's what we want to avoid doing." Also, Markov, stop falling down please.

I'll put the refs in here too. I seriously believe the Ducks' game plan consisted of "how many times can we cross-check Kovalev and get away with it". And yea, tripping penalty usually goes to the guy who trips a player, not the one who gets tripped. Just making that clear.

Closing Notes: I'm leaning from not-minding to actually actively campaigning for Bob Gainey's suggestion to generate more offense by making it illegal for players to "sweep" with their bodies on the ground as they attempt to block shots. Habs did not sweep, blocked lots of shots. Ducks did sweep way too much, or went completely horizontal in front of Giguere, blocked and annoyed the piss out of me. If anything, Habs proved you can block shots without kissing the ice.

Anyway, my friend had fun tonight. He took my brother's ticket, as I was bugging him about seeing a game in hockey-crazed Montreal. (Only previous exposure to live hockey was Boston/Providence). Says the Bell Center is awsome and he was very impressed with how explosive the Canadiens could be. How they would be quiet, cycling the puck and then suddenly speed down to the net and attack. Too bad they didn't win it, though. Oh well, at least the Ducks didn't get an empty netter at the end, so the boys saved some face.

Next up: Hartford Whalers, er...Carolina Hurricanes.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one...

It's cold, pouring rain, and generally miserable today as Montreal gets slammed by two systems coming up from the States. Anaheim and Carolina are up this week, and both systems came from the West and South. Anyway, I'm about to get ready to go meet my friend, who's phone never works, so I'll have to meet him outside like I initially suggested instead of inside where it's warm and dry. Yippee...

Tonights menu: Anaheim (Not-So-Mighty) Ducks. Fresh off a few road victories practically handed to them by even more skankier teams, so I don't know what to make of them.

Lineup dance MASTER HIGGINS IS IN! But they'll ease him in slowly. He joins Laraque and Fruit Punch on line #4 while Bégin joins Kostopoulos and Lang on line #3. Gonna bust some skulls and score some goals? That's what those lines tell me anyway. Hammer and Gorges become the odd-couple on defense #2, while Bouillon gets BreezerGeezer on #3 even though we all know Gorges and Bouillon are better together. But, I guess that's ok. The Human Bowling Ball can make up for Breezers errors and lack of hitting things.

Scratch and sniff O'Byrne has a confidence problem thanks to the many errors he made in the past few games so he gets the cheap seats. However, he's still learning and it's all part of the growing pains for an NHL defender. Dandy joins him for milk and cookies.

CBC actually cares? Koivu's home is open to the public on CBC tonight before the game. Yes, they're actually televising our Saturday game instead of the Battle of Ontario between crappy-Leafs and crappy-Senators, AND pregame show Inside Hockey will take a look at Captain K's home and family life away from the rink. Um...I think I want to tape this.