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We also have 4-5 easily replaceable tough guys who can send that message. I really don't want to see Weber getting 5 and a game, but if Ott does, for the right reason, he just earned his salary.

So, as you may know, I got tix for tonight's game. Me at 11am : " Bah, I thought I would be more pumped for tonight's game." Me at 1:52pm : " HOLY FAWCKING COW, CAN'T WAIT FOR TONIGHT!!!! "

As usual, DON creates straw-men and knocks 'em down. I never said we were second rate. I said, and still say, we are second-tier contenders. And frankly, considering the injury to Letang, and Columbus's inexperience, we might be the Conference's best bet other than Washington. But compared to the Caps, we pretty clearly are second-tier, just as we are when we're compared to the Hawks and maybe a couple of other Western Conference teams.

With the playoffs set to start tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to hear some of your playoff wishes prior to puck drop. I'll start us off with 10 wishes even though I'm sure I could think of more. I'm going to try to remain positive as well rather than wishing something like "so and so to remain in the press box for the entire run". My list of wishes... 1) Carey Price to remain healthy 2) Our special teams to be strong 3) Dwight King to score at least one GWG 4) The Bruins and Leafs to get eliminated Round One, followed by the Sens getting eliminated by the Habs in Round Two. 5) Lehkonen to show signs and continue what he did in the playoffs last season in the SEL. Remember, he had the most points since Daniel Alfredsson for his team. Let's hope he finds that level. 6) Win all or almost all of our overtime games 7) Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Radulov. I'm looking for a top line of Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Radulov to be there for us and if it's not the top line, those are the three forwards I expect to be there for us as top line players production wise. Depth players can get us through a round by scoring a huge goal but I want those players to show up for 3 of the 4, if not all 4 rounds. 8) Anaheim in the final so I can attend a game these playoffs. I'd probably even attend all the way up north in San Jose. If not, I'd like to face and defeat a Canadian team in the final, with my preference being Edmonton. 9) I wish Weber a strong playoff so he can bounce back after last year's "game 7" perception of him. 10) Let's come back full circle and wish general health to the whole team, as well as all the lucky bounces in the world for our Habs this playoff season. There's a lot of hope, and rightly so but let's try not to get too high or too low at any point until it's all said and done. At the end of the playoffs, we can come take a look at how the team did and tick off how many of our wishes came true. Perhaps there will be a connection between the two.

Only one wish that matters, that I get to bring my son to Montreal in June to watch the cup parade along Ste. Catherine.

There is something about this Rangers team that just gets under my skin...and it isn't just Kreider... to be honest, i am not even looking forward to this series. I can't put my finger on it but its an "ugly" feeling. I hate the Bruins but i know why, With the Rangers i don;t have the same hatred as i do for the Bruins; its closer to how i feel about the leafs. its just weird. i'm rambling lol. Habs in six...

I would like to wish a GREAT playoffs to ALL you FINE Folks here at Habsworld and Most of all the (too) Long awaited 25th return of Lord Stanley's mug GO HABS! GO!!!!!

You're actually thinking more clearly than I was in that post...I was imagining revenge against anyone who injures Price, but it's obviously more important to DETER such an injury in the first place. Price already made a start with his head-bashing temper tantrum earlier this year. Molson, Bergevin, and Julien need to be reinforcing this by relentless lobbying of the NHL and the series refs to protect the goalies. The refs should basically be hearing nothing but constant tirades from the Habs about this, from start to finish. Coaches do not instruct players to injure opponents, but Julien should be absolutely clear that, if you get a chance to hit Kreider, you should do so as punishingly as possible. I'm talking about stuff like this: Finally, the entire team, but especially the D-corps, needs to commit with grim intensity to protecting Price. I wouldn't endorse the level of violence you describe, but absolutely, any liberties taken in the crease should be met with an immediate and punishing response. (This would include running Lundqvist very hard in response, if the refs sit on their fat duffs). The message has to be clear from the first few minutes of Game One. I don't mean running around stupidly, Bruins-style; nor that we should go out there looking for trouble. I just mean a remorseless determination to show that you CANNOT TAKE LIBERTIES with #31. Period. Once everyone understands that, then hey, may the best team win.

Reusch pre-game trivia http://thereuschblog.com/?p=44270

Oh hi New York, remember me? It's me Carey, the guy you injured in the playoffs. Well I've been a bit pissed about that since then

Sweet Jesus, why does it have to be doom and gloom? Sweet Jesus, why does it have to be doom and gloom?

Eeyore and Chicken Little were always quite concerned as well. Cheer up sir, we can worry about stuff like that in a few months and for now we should all just pull for this 2nd rate team to go deep!

Here we go again, history wont repeat itself in this game one! Tuesday Practice Lineup Pacioretty – Danault – Radulov Byron – Plekanec – Gallagher King – Shaw – Lehkonen Galchenyuk – Ott – Martinsen Flynn – McCarron – Mitchell Markov – Weber Benn – Petry Beaulieu – Nesterov Davidson ...and at least Galchenyuk isn't on the 5th line...yet.

2nd tier or 2nd rate, just semantics.