Habs 8, Wild 1: Perfect Sunday

Todd Richards to his team after sucking this weekend

Back on track after a good day's rest. The Wild had done to them what the Habs had Thursday/Friday and were the victim of a real shitty schedule. Only they didn't have to travel, so they basically slept at the rink. Hockey would be more consistent if not for the stupid back-to-back bullshit. Habs have 9 games left and one back-to-back.

I bet Winnipeg was REALLY empty today.
- Thunder Bay too.
- I expected big things from Pouliot today but mostly thought he'd just end up getting the shaft for goalie inteference again. Nope! Ends with 3 assists and the 3rd star.
- You have NO idea how much I love Auld's mask.
- Ryan White. That is all.
- And that was charging by Stoner on Palushaj. Don't know why the League needs to make the rule any clearer. How about getting the refs to call it for a change?
- But who needs refs when you got Ryan White.
- As good as Andrei Markov is, he would never pull the moves PK pulls. I've seen him circle the offensize zone and walk the line like that many times. This time his centering pass went off a skate and in. Couldn't have happened to a better dude.
- And don't you DARE shake you head at PK ever again, Perry Pearn. Talk about a total square. Egads! Spunky creativity! It must be stopped!
- The smile Moen gave Gomez was priceless when he scored.
- One more goal for twenty, Andrei! Suck it haterz.
- Jose Theodore left early and Tomas Jagr wasn't even playing.
- Cammy was. The one legged wait 'til a sprawling Brent Burns slides by you pass to Wiz. Top shelf with a rocket. They were just having fun.
- I still didn't see the hand on the puck thing but whatever. At least it was Koivu.
- Pyatt scores with stereo! The Thunder Bay section cheers!
- I love Cal Clutterbuck but don't you DARE touch Gionta again!
- Too many game pucks needed for today but at the buzzer, PK tossed the one on the ice to crowd. They tossed him hats, he tosses pucks!
- And Moen did a mini triple low-five with him. They cut his tie later. (Bet it was Price with the scissors).

Last time the Habs scored eight goals Alex Auld played for the Bruins and chased him out of the net pretty quick. Good to be on the winning side eh Alex? Speaking of the Hated Bear Tribe of the East. Who's 1 point behind them? Da Habs.

Go Bulldogs!

Habs 3, Rangers 6: Out of touch...

Bravo Jacques Martin.

If there's one thing that really pisses me off with that coach is how he seems so out of tune with his players. Yesterday's game going to a draining, hard-fought overtime and then shootout while nearly facing 37 shots and playing Hamr for 30 minutes had all signals and signs pointing to switching up the lineup. Instead of giving Price the night off, he starts. Instead of watching Hamr's ice time, he plays over 23 minues which was second only to Wisniewski. Instead of noticing Cammalleri is playing terrible through two injuries, he also plays a ridiculous 20 minutes while the spunky Bulldogs barely scratch 10.

The BulldogHabs played their hearts out last night. And tonight they had nothing in the first left to give. It was another edition of "Good job last night Price, now walk on water for us again" except he just couldn't do it. (Don't get me started about the party in his crease, which seems only relevant in Lundqvist's case). All Martin did was end up fucking around with his save percentage.

Regardless of being down 5-1 at the start of the 2nd, the BulldogHabs realized they sucked donkey in the first and forgot their defence at the airport. Guts. Heart. Will. They made it respectable in spite of their coach not in tune with his players. You can crow about him being a possible candidate for the Jack Adams all you want, he seriously lacks common sense. Probably more impressive than their attempt to crawl back and not give up was their togetherness. Auld supporting Price like the awesome big brother he is, Weber kneeling with Picard after a high hit, and who can forget Ryan White swooping in to take PK's place when Sauer wanted to go with him for crashing Lundqvist (who's rather over-dramatic).

As they fly out to Minnesota miraculously still sitting pretty in 6th and having won the series against the Rangers, we can only hope Gill is well enough to play to break down that ice time. Also we can only pray Plekanec and Halpern aren't gone for very long...

Habs 4, Booins 1: Beauty and the Beast

He's a beautiful boy. He's our baby power forward. When I see him I see Mike McPhee with a hint of Brian Skrudland in OT during the playoffs.

I'm a little out of sorts right now. Fact is, it takes a lot to make me cry and I was in tears. And when they had him in the stretcher and Carey Price put his hand on his arm, I lost it. I bawled.

All this on the very day Todd Bertuzzi ended Steve Moore's career. We've come a long way to go nowhere, NHL. Just like my dog when he chases his tail. It's never ending.

We should be talking about Lars Eller, who together with linemates Andrei Kostitsyn and Travis Moen have something like 17 points in 6 games. They were all over the Bruins every time they touched the ice. They were intense, quick, they beat them will skill and toughness. Eller was responsible for the 2 even strength goals in the first period.

We should be talking about Brian Gionta. The little captain who could has now scored a goal in every game against the Bruins this year. His powerplay goal in the 2nd made it 3-0 and started planting seeds of doubt into the Bruins.

We should be talking about James Wisniewski, who added another powerplay goal to make it 4-0 and completely crush the spirit of the Bears. Sure the cage is still getting in the way but he's still a better defenceman with the cage on than Bergeron will ever be.

We should be talking about the dominating effort by the Habs, who played the way they always play against this team when they win instead of that gong show last game. We should be talking about Scott Gomez, who played like he saw the Stanley Cup waiting for him around the corner. We should be talking about Ryan White, who stood up for Subban and introduced his fists to Boychuk's face. We should be talking about Carey Price's 32nd win of the season and the Habs' 5th in a row. We should be talking about the strong defence, or how Brent Sopel hasn't been in a loss yet. We should be talking about Paul Mara.

Instead we're left talking about the ugly side of this sport. We're talking about an extra shove with 15 seconds remaining in the 2nd period that left Kevin Weekes thoroughly disgusted on NHLNetwork for how unnecessary it all was. This while Blob McKenzie gathers tweets from his colleagues to prove a point that he thinks it wasn't dirty. Funny that, 'cause I'm sure you could easily gather a collection of quotes on how various serial killers were "nice guys" too.

Carey Price said it best, that there's no excuse, they all know where they are on the rink. Especially a veteran like Chara. The man must be an idiot. And to come out (well he was hiding on the bus, but the Boston PR guys told him to come out) and basically blame the victim was as classless as can be. But don't worry, Chara. Damien Cox is blaming THE RINK! That's like running over a guy with your car then getting out to yell at the guy for hitting your windshield.

I'm sure Brad Marchand thought he was diving.

And there I was ready to credit the Bruins for keeping quiet in the 3rd and basically hoping it ends quickly when Lucic prodded Pouliot with 2 minutes left in the game and wanted to fight him while Horton smirked in Subban's face. (What an ugly fuck he is). You know what Bruins? Take you classless asses back to Beantown and drown in your chowdah. Even most of the Bruins fans were disgusted by Chara's actions tonight. They know. They've been through Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron. (Bergeron acted more captainly than the giant petulant child post-game with his comments so kudos to him).

While Pacioretty spends a night at the Montreal General with his parents by his side, I hope Chara goes home and hugs his children and Blob McKenzie calls his son to see how he's doing with his hockey career. Tonight, Pacioretty could have had his neck broken on that divider. Tonight, Pacioretty's career could have ended.

Habs 3, T(h)rashers 1, Price 40, The System 1

My what empty seats you have, Atlanta...

Sometimes I think it's sad there's more people who jump out of their seats to cheer when the visiting team scores. Then I remembered who the Habs were playing. So fuck it. Hope you like Winnipeg, Evander.

Perhaps the move will shut up guys like Anthony Stewart, who's ridiculous crosscheck on VETERAN OLD MAN HAMR after he shoveled the puck to the corner once the end-of-period whistle blew because he raged it was a slapshot at him. And they say PK is disrespectful? For one if Hamr COULD muscle a slapshot, he'd actually be a danger. The fact is your statement rings the bells of sour grapes as Hamr can't physically slap the puck enough to get any velocity on it.

Stewart's probably just angry Cage Face made him pay for it.

Down at the Opry: Carey Price, center stage. Flu be gone, 40 saves, first star. Didn't seem too pissed he lost a shutout bid. That's win number 29!

Hammer Horror special: Coach Ramsay looks like he belongs on Mummies Alive. And what's up with the 5-man forecheck?

EA Sports mispronunciation: Pacioretty IS the power forward this team's been looking for. And he's a REAL power forward. Not those "goons" they call power forwards, or that pillowy soft Penner... Two strides and he's down the ice already. That backhand usually works too.

BOOM: Yes they were outhit and outshot, but did you see any effective hits like the sequence where White went to hit on the forecheck that setup Mara for a perfect open-ice hit which turned over the puck and set up Desharnais for a scoring chance that was negated by the Thrashers taking a penalty on him? It's more about what you do with it that counts more than the stats.

Remember which side you're on: Momentary lapse on Sopel's part to suicide pass the puck that led to Antropov's goal.

You suck: Always a special place reserved for the officials right here. Especially the official who pushed Desharnais over. We know who you're rooting for. Also hey O'Halloran? WHAT IS INTERFERENCE?!

Too many men: Only a problem in hockey.

Trust: Joined at the hip, Gomez totally knew Gio would get that weaksauce clearing pass of his for the empty netter.

I see someone's got a funny bone: The match up was Eller vs Maxwell. Hi, I'm the guy who stole your job. You mad bro?

Backhand to the empty net.
The Captain delivers.
Two points in the bank.
Off to Florida they go.

Habs 3, Rags 2: I am Kostitsyn, hear me roar

Didn't know Ron Hextall played for the Rangers. But I digress.

I think I need to talk about Andrei Kostitsyn...

People say he doesn't care, or doesn't show that he cares. This is so wrong you have no idea. You know why you don't see it? Because you're not looking. All you hear is the misguided hate by the media poured onto the airwaves at this guy by bitter local media types who are pissed he was drafted instead of whatever local dude that may or may not have turned out as well as they have. Say something enough and people will start believing it. You watch, but your vision is clouded by the "facts" drummed into your head. You don't see a guy trying hard. You don't see him hitting and backchecking even though his game is 100% offense. Kostitsyn isn't here to play defence, and if Jacques Martin wants a team built entirely with Tom Kostopouloses well he's not going to get many wins... In a game not long ago, Andrei was parked at the net, ready for a tip in and the puck skipped over his stick into the corner missing a wide open cage. On the replay you can clearly see Andrei glower towards the puck, swearing as he tries to quickly retrieve it. He's frustrated big time that the pucks aren't going in. Simple sneaky plays of him pouncing on rebounds are just going wide. Missing instead of scoring. And for a guy who just wants to score goals, it's really pissing him off. (Ironic that if JMart wanted a Kostitsyn with a complete two-way game, he should have given Sergei more credit).

Tonight's game winning goal was vintage Kostitsyn. And I only hope it's one of many more to come now that he's THE designated shooter on a line with two guys who will do everything they can to make room for him. And maybe people can stop trying to trade him to Columbus for Jacub Voracek.

My nerdiness exposed

Absorption and magnification?! Just what are you insinuating?

So my hopes in seeing a coureur de bois type hero with a magic canoe and exploding poutine ultimately becomes the bastard child of Iron Man, Cobra Commander, and Deadpool. The artist in me loathes these generic cookie-cutter heroes and their stolen awkward poses don't make it any better...

Either way, there is only one Guardian for the Canadiens and his name is Carey Price.

Habs 3, Panthers 2 (OT): Happy WizNewYear

If you squint you can maybe make out Wisniewski smacking in a rebound in OT (his second of the game) to give the Habs their 2nd win on this disastrous roadtrip. RDS was so shocked that they lost the feed. Happy New Year to you too.

Should Auld's acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should Auld's acquaintance be forgot,
And Auld lang sigh!

For Auld lang syne, my dear,
For Auld lang syne.
We'll take the Cup o' hockey yet,
For Auld lang syne.

Team Canada probably would have been better off using Auld tonight as well.

(Note: I'll get to Lapierre later...)