Habs 3, Rangers 1: No puck for you

I guess the Habs are a good team. I mean for one, they didn't shit the bed like they normally do at MSG on the tail end of a back-to-back game.

Naturally you could just watch the game on fast-forward for the best effect. I don't have that fancy PVR stuff so I get to watch it in real-time. Sure, it was no classic. But it was a win, with two points, while the Leaf lost, and the Habs are--as of now--first in the conference.

Call it a boring road game. A neutral clogger. Call it "bad" all you want. The game actually got Torts to construct a full sentence in his post-game press conference so it couldn't have been THAT terrible.

I can honestly say I find the Rangers kind of boring. All they do is shot block you to death... It's like Jacques Martin hockey with a team you know could actually pot a few goals but won't 'cause their coach told them to shot block forever. Besides, I thought they were supposed to win the Stanley Cup.

Sometimes you have to win boring.
- Hey! Third game in a row Habs were the better faceoff team. Clearly the Russian meteor had an effect world-wide.
- I mean CLEARLY the Habs waited for their chances and gave little to the Rangers, which is why the Habs got only 17 shots while they gave up 25.
- Because clearly the Rangers didn't take advantage of Cole and DD shitting the bed after a delayed penalty where everyone but Price stopped playing.
- I guess it's ok that Cole and DD made up for the shits by helping create Pacioretty's first real goal of the year. And I could hear the Official Pacioretty Cheering section under the empty din of MSG.
- WHO LIKES ICING?
- I prefer my icing on cupcakes.
- Yesterday, Pleky got Cam Ward in the head. Tonight PK rocketed Lundqvist.
- Later, Pleky and PK combined into a goalie.
- Galchellerusty combined for the best 3-on-1 practice drill. Galchy get the goal and Eller asploded into a giant ball of laughter.
- Combined with trademark Torts facepalm.
- The Rangers were losing. Cue Rangers powerplay. Thankfully their powerplay was still worse than ours.
- Diaz decided to show us that Swiss military training with his Swiss precision on the long shot empty netter.

Random picture of Diaz and a mutant pineapple.

Wondering what tonight's media excuse will be... The refs were a non-factor. The Rangers showed up. The road-weary Habs walked in and grabbed two points off their potato field-like ice. Price proved all those bad games at MSG were either pre-renovations or just the general HABS FUCKING SUCKED EVERY BACK-TO-BACK THERE. Either way, it may just be for tonight but the Habs are first in the East.

Stick it on the fridge.

Habs 1, Rangers 4: We're almost there...

Toaster has the right idea.

This was so dull and boring that the only reason why it wasn't 7-1 or even 10-1 was because the Habs are just slightly better than the Leafs. And have a goalie. But a goalie can only do so much when his defence resembles a bunch of statues. WE'RE REALLY AWESOME AT STANDING AROUND.

I can take sucking and losing and all that but I cannot STAND watching pro-hockey players just stand around.

At least do the fucking YMCA dance or something?

Similarly, you're first shot in the 3rd period comes with 5 minutes left...and it was by Brad Staubitz.

The slim-because-it's-too-small-to-be-called-small victory is Bourque busting the shutout. This is, of course, after he flubbed plenty of golden opportunities earlier. And yea, scoring with 2 minutes left just doesn't really help. But hey, if you want to start signing the Olé song and you're NOT a Habs fan, well you're just asking to get scored on.

So olé.

Habs 4, Sens 1: Wake me up before you go go

You can watch the 1st and fast-forward to the 3rd because that 2nd period was brutal... I don't know what they were doing. Sleepwalking? Squandered a 5-minute boarding powerplay and a double-minor on a high stick... Frankly, maybe Clouston should play the Sens shorthanded the whole game if he wanted them to play better and the Habs to suck more.

Definitely the type of game that needed a extra shot of PK Subban...

And I bet Tony Marinaro will be doing happy cartwheels on the radio tomorrow now that Gomez hurt his back. Unfortunately what he will fail to realize is the powerplay went to poop BECAUSE Gomez couldn't play and PK's watching in the stands. But, never underestimate Pascal Leclaire's ability to be the suckiest goalie that ever forgot he's got arms to go with those legs.

Excuse yourself, Pascal.

Scoring by committee:
- Pleky has 25 points already.
- Though a minute in, passing the puck to Spezza right in front of your own net is probably not a good idea.
- Pleky, Gionta, Kostitsyn, and Cammy all have 9 goals even.
- Halpern and Pouliot have 6 goals and 9 assists even.
- Three Sens assisted on 3 of the 4 goals.
- Price says all he's doing is taking up oxygen out there. And giggling with Hal Gill.
- First intermission facepalm: Darren Pang with the Freudian slip of the year. (He apologized later for the oopsie).
- Though honestly to be fair, I find Pietrangelo's personality to be a block of wood compared to PK's...so screw that.
- Now I know why Picard looked so terrible with the Sens: Kuba and Phillips are absolute crap.
- Hal Gill had Carkner in one hand and Winchester in the other while everyone else was trying to punch with Neil.
- PK looked like he raided the wardrobe from the set of Newsies. Very sharp! But I'd rather see you in uniform, as would the many chanting "PK!PK!PK!" when the powerplay was sucking and the game was boring.
- If there was any truth to Bruce "Malkin to the Kings" Garrioch's bullshit story about Kovy maybe coming back to the Habs, HAHAHAHAHAno.
- Creepy McCreepers can shutup about Lars Eller being traded for Halak. I'm guessing he heard you because that was some mighty fine work to set up Gionta for Hamr's baseball bunt goal.
- For a moment, Maxim Lapierre thought he was Mario Lemieux. Then he woke up and hit the side of the net.
- Uh oh! Coach is cracking jokes while at the press conference! Time to make yourself a healthy scratch because we can't have this thing called "personality" get in the way of your speaking with the media, coach!

I didn't go to work today. While the weather wasn't so bad (it's still snowing) it took us an hour to get from St-John's blvd to Sources, which shouldn't even be a minute normally. Rediculous. I was trapped in the West Island. I mean, I like my job but not that much. Spending the morning with the puppy, then the afternoon sleeping/cleaning, and a Habs win at night. That was my day.

Pre-season: Where analyzing too much could seriously hurt your brain

Too much rain today. And while I spent most of my day nursing my inability to digest food properly, the remnants of tropical storm Nicole did little to up my mood.

Guess the moody weather hit our boys hard tonight. They looked out of it. In complete disarray. Then again, the lineup wasn't exactly what I'd call a proper roster. It was another one of those experimental combinations, where many of them made no sense. Regardless of the outcome of the game, standing on your soap box and crying about Alex Auld while proclaiming the Habs should pick up Martin Gerber on waivers totally negates your credibility of rational thought. In fact, excuse me while I laugh out loud. Literally.

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

Ok, back to the nitty gritty. Nothing has changed with the Sabres hemorrhaging style of play and Patrick Kaleta is still a dirty fucktard that deserves many Alex Ovechkin elbows to the head. (Tried to kill Subban and Lapierre, but missed, and Lapierre was so angry the trainers were afraid to see if he was ok). Tyler Myers is still tall and still picking up game stars because he's tall. Derek Roy is still a douche. At least they got their jersey right finally.

Lars Eller at center is a few years off by NHL standards. I'd prefer to have him on the wing with some veterans else it could hinder his development. In other words, if Pouliot continues pissing his chances away I'd rather see Eller with Gio and Gomez. Ryan White makes the team with Tom Pyatt. All night everyone was shitting on Andrei Kostitsyn, and while no one really had that good of a game tonight, he surely wasn't the worst. He can cradle that puck like a baby and backhand it like a nobody's business. Didn't help that he was stuck on an experimental line that made zero sense logically. Gotta say though, Alex Picard isn't looking as bad as I remember him when he played for the Sens. This may be a trap. And while I can't really say much about the special teams because of the lineup I can't really tell which system fits the team better. Perhaps they'll work once the team exits pre-season with the proper personnel, like Cammy and Pleky, or Moen and Gorges and Gill on the penalty kill. Alex Henry belongs with the Bulldogs no matter how much he tries. (Besides, we need him to protect the children from evil Abbotsford Heat players).

It's too bad our first glimpse of Captain Gionta was such an empty game. The good news? One more pre-season game left...

Pre-season Bulldogs: Take it to the rock
Bulldogs started off their pre-season with a 3-0 smackdown on the BingySens. JT Wyman tipped in two and Palushaj popped in a tenacious effort to get the 3rd goal. But most impressive to Derek Wills? Alexander Avtsin! Even Brad "MAYDAY!MAYDAY!MAYDAY!" May was enamored with the spunky young Russian's skills. Avtsin is the youngest member on the team. If he were a North American player, he would have to be playing somewhere in the CHL. He dazzled the crowd all night with his moves. But he didn't just show off his puck skills, he also showed off his rugged side. I got a good feeling about this kid.

Habs 4, Yotes 2: Hava Nagila!

Tonight was our work dinner, celebrating the final checkmark on our latest Tetris game. Went went to Troika! Delicious Russian restaurant. Unfortunately we missed happy hour, so no vodka. And no, Markov wasn't there. I had the wild boar cooked "Russian style". Oh. my. god. My stomach... Good thing I took the longish way back to the metro 'cause wow I was full.

I got home when the first period was ending. My hamster, Pleky, gave me a scare because he was fast asleep in a ball under his fluffy igloo. He's usually up in the wheel or gnawing on the cage around that time. He was kind of worrying me so I lulled him awake and then the horror! One eye was all crusted close. I freaked and took him out to clean it, and when he went back in the cage he was still all lethargic. He couldn't be sick! And he went back into his hole while I gave him some celery to nibble.

False alarm though. He probably just tired himself out while I was gone.

Which was more than what I could say for this game. Boring!

I don't think I've ever seen a game where it's 10-11 shots by the END of the 2nd period. Is this why the Coyotes can't attract spectators? The place was so quiet the ref didn't even need to use his mic to call penalties.

Quietest most nerve-wracking night of Price's life
- And by quiet, I meant crowd wise... Mustering 3 shots in the first with 7 against is not going to cut it boys.
- Price is the king of bad luck weird goals. First he gets skewered in the neck by Mara (right between the chin guard and his neck protector) leaving the net wide open for good ol' Robert Lang. Then Biznasty kicks in a shot that was going wide. YES, HE KICKED IT. GOAL REVIEW IS TEH SUCK!
- Congratulations on Biznasty: your first NHL goal shouldn't have been allowed but whatever. And for that he got the first star? Bunch of homers...
- How frightening is our defence? Well, I'm terrified whenever another team is in our zone and Price is flipping pucks back and forth between that team and himself for a good minute or two.
- Only Yotes fans at this game were the refs.
- Hey look, we has a powerplay! And Cammy scores on the road!
- I picked a good name for my hamster. Plekanec was everywhere.
- Not only does Gorges keep running Price over, but someone punch fucking Upshall already?
- I love Glen Metropolit.
- Mara should do us all a favour and slash Benoit Brunet in the neck. What a douche.
- Family night! Price and his cousin, the Pyatt brothers.
- Leach has been a very good pickup. Chipchura, this might be your future, unfortunately...
- But Leach vs Biznasty? Not exactly what I was hoping to see...
- Spacek now fully injured. Shoot me now.
- MAB should really be a forward. Maybe Carbo was on to something?
- What the fuck is wrong with Lapierre?!
- Before Cammy set up Gio for the empty netter, I was so terrified with 6 Coyotes on the ice.
- First time Price (3-0) leaves Phoenix without Doan scoring on him. Meanwhile, Mueller is still trying... (See: shootout vs Team USA)
- Holy regulation win #2 on the year! First win vs the West!
- Price and Cammy at the end was the cutest thing I've seen all year. Minus my hamster.

Dear Team990,
if you insist on just looking at numbers without actually looking at their play, please stop thinking about Curtis Sanford. Good lord is he really not very good. And he keeps putting his defencemen in bad positions. I can say Marc Denis had amazing AHL netminding numbers but there was no way in hell he was going to play in the NHL (and when he did for 1 period, PING went the first shot). Also I believe that Hamilton newspaperman's "scouting report" on Sergei was absolute biased bollocks. Floater? If you consider reading the play and computing a plan "floating" then maybe. He scores timely goals or sets them up, he backchecks better than his brother, and with Guy Boucher encouraging him he's doing fine thank you very much.