xXx..CK..xXx

We came away with a 1-1 record on the road against the number 1 seed. Enough about the Halak commentary, I've been watching the same games as all of you and he was not the one responsible for last game's loss. He COULD have had the last one but it was not a TERRIBLY horrific goal. The caps can shoot and some will go in. Take a look at the Phoenix and Detroit series. Both goalies have been getting lit up and yet you don't see the coaches going to their backups. That's not even to mention the Ottawa and Pittsburgh series where arguments could have been made after their respective losses. While Ottawa and Pittsburgh perhaps do not have the luxury of having as good of a backup goalie as we do, Phoenix and Detroit arguably do. Osgood is always shaky in the regular season but has won countless cups... and yet they're still going with Howard. Sometimes goalies get scored on without it being entirely their fault, it's something we'll have to learn to accept. All that being said, I have always been completely neutral on the topic of goaltending, in that I do not have a favourite either way between Price and Halak, but Halak has completely earned being the goalie we live and die during these playoffs. Even if we lose today, I do not necessarily see starting Price next game as a positive. Enough of this debate, it's truly getting old. As for Metropolit coming back, I agree with brobin in it being extremely good for the team. I just wish he would be playing center instead. He will certainly help out the powerplay though. Let's go boys!

This can't be true... It's the same for both teams... If the Montreal bench is closer to the caps net, then the caps bench is closer to the Montreal net at the same time. The only thing home ice changes is say, whether or not your right wing (just as an example) spends 2 periods further from the bench or not.

Very cool clip man, props.

All good points, but I do believe that they would hold true even had we lost tonight's game. Needless to say the importance of winning game two has now diminished since we won the first one. We fought very hard today and had we lost, I think we would have had even less jump in the next game as a consequence. We will not react the same way after a big win as we did in the regular season. We have a good core of veterans within the group who understand the importance of each game in a playoff series. A win next game is not out of the question but it will not be easy.

Not to be nit-picky, but the caps also had a positive record against the habs this season. Our 6-5 win came in a shootout so the caps were 2-1-1 against us as well. I prefer this matchup to one vs the devils. We are obviously the underdog this series, but I truly believe that we can pull it out. The caps are quite good on the road so home ice isn't as much of an advantage as it would have been against some other teams. That being said, if we pull out one of the first two games I like our chances. Also I do believe that Jacques Martin won't play a passive system this series like some of you have suggested. If our last game in February was any indicator, we'll play quite an aggressive style. I'm sure he realizes that playing passive vs them is simply suicide. I don't know if others have noticed, but he actually does adjust his system according to the opposition needless to say.

And what about all the points his system has won? I guess we don't remember the games where the habs "sit back" and win. We're on the verge of clinching a playoff spot while other teams, some of which play a run and gun game, are completely eliminated. Why complain about it? The Islanders played one of the better games I've seen THEM play in awhile. We didn't bring our "A" game, far from it, but the real difference maker in this game came in the shootout needless to say. The Isles were able to be loose while the Habs players knew they had to put the puck in the net. I expect our strongest game of the week to be Saturday against the Leafs.

I understand your mentality, but the habs will win tonight! 4-3 or 5-2 .

I think these two statements go hand in hand. When Cammy comes back, we all know which line SK would be returning to had he been on the first line. With Pyatt playing on the first line right now, there's little harm of a "screw up" in chemistry once Cammy returns. Not to mention Moore, SK and Moen have been playing well together.

Yeah, I was at the game. Pretty dominant performance. A couple of things I noted... -Pyatt looked confident out there - Trotter is a pure finisher and has good speed - Desjardins looked really good in the net - Sean Belle and PK Subban looked good on D... Subban makes some mistakes though... but I guess that goes hand in hand with his style.

I think what's being lost in context is that he does have a few more days to rest up by the time he actually plays with Russia. Practicing and playing are two seperate things. He can practice with the Russian team in order to understand the system they want to play with in the olympics, while limiting the contact he takes. The same can't be said for two hard fought playoff style games against the flyers. Russia's first game is tomorrow, whereas we played back to back games last Friday and Saturday. Who's to say Markov would not have played tomorrow had the habs had a game? While the olympics only occur once every four years and therefore do add that extra little incentive to get ready, I don't think it's the issue at all. In fact, I think there really is no issue here.

I just can't agree with that type of mentality. On another note, I would have taken Kovalchuk in a heartbeat! It was obviously never going to happen with our cap situation though. I'll just continue to naively hope that there will be another chance this summer .

Have you always thought of Laraque as too nice? All throughout his NHL tenure? Before he came to Montreal, as a neutral viewer of his play, I had always found him to be an intimidating presence on the ice. It would be ridiculous to argue that his use has not been limited by Martin, but I do still believe he brings some intimidation into the game merely by stepping onto the ice. He seems to be even more effective versus western teams who don't see him as often and aren't able to adapt his large physique. Your post interested me enough to look up some stats on him to compare and contrast his fighting career with his short tenure thus far here in Montreal. George Laraque has played 12.6 NHL seasons. He has played in 695 games. He has fought a total 131 times. This averages out to 10.3 fights a season and roughly 54 games a year. He has fought in 18.85% of his games. Prior to Montreal, Laraque played 11 NHL seasons. He played 634 games He fought 117 times. This averages out to 10.63 fights a season and roughly 58 games a year. He fought in 18.44%of his games. With the Montreal Canadiens, he has played in 1.6 seasons. He has played 61 games. He has fought 13 times. This averages out to 8 fights a season and roughly 38 games a year. He fights in about 21% of his games. If anyone is questioning why we ever got him in the first place, that's fine. But if people are questioning his performance on the ice, well I'm pretty convinced that this is fairly similar to the player he has always been... Especially in the post lock out period. If anything can be taken out from this, it's simply whether or not we need him in our lineup. For Laraque to be an effective player (at least to keep the fans from whining), he needs to be an integral part of one's team. Also, he's getting older and has fought many times. Perhaps age is getting the better of his physical side. It's not so much the amount of fighting he does which is troublesome, it's the amount of games he is playing. I'm not sure how many of the games which he has missed have been due to being a healthy scratch but I'm almost certain most of the games he has missed have been due to some sort of lingering injury. As for the game last night, I think it's one we can put behind us. The effort was not there, but I still do believe we can turn it around. We have all mentioned various problems with the team, but I think the most significant one is one that has been mentioned a lot in general, but not in this specific game thread. It's depth. As long as we're healthy, we can compete, however a simple key like Andrei leaves due to injury, and no one else steps up. One prediction I'll make is that we'll win the next one against the Blues, however. Most definitely!

We'll pick it up in the second. I feel good things about this game. Gionta and Gomez will conquer Madden.

I'm not sure Gill would get sent to the press box before O'Byrne... especially come playoff time. O'Byrne started off the season much stronger than last and I'm not the hugesssssst of Gill fans but (though he has his positives)..... but do you really think so?

Hey Peter Puck, I just wanted to let you know that the third link you showed (for prior contests) is the same as the first. Anyway, my prediction for this season is 46-26-10 for 102 points. Second or fourth in the conference.

Interesting, I was supposed to go last Friday for the tournament but didn't. It seems everyone goes there!

I'm pretty sure you're talking about Jiri Fischer.

Really can't believe it. That's horrible.. It can really just happen any time eh? RIP

Tough between Tanguay and Higgins but I'll say Tanguay.

After 20 : 28 After 41 : 53 After 61 : 78 After 82 : 104 I was going to originally say 100, but doing it like this skewed my results .

Yes I watched the same game as all of you, but I have a lot of faith in the habs for game 7.... They will be ready.

I remember this thread and I've been thinking the exact same thing as of late. I want it to happen because of the prediction, but doubt it would be good enough for home ice. Although I have to say, I had a feeling we were going to lose to the blues in the shootout because we needed an even number to make 98 possible (had 89 before the blues game).

I thought it was about Latendresse at first... then as it was loading I was like, "no Carbonneau makes more sense". You guys shouldn't be so hard on the guy. He's a legend for the team, and I would have done the same. Do you not realize it's his son?

Agreed with brobin. It was a bad goal in the sense that it wasn't conventional, but it was definitely not Huet's fault. Horrible call on Kovalchuk though... too obvious that they were going to score on that one.

Wow I actually said the same thing earlier that shift when he was on with Sergs. Then when he was on that rush I said prove me wrong and I shut up shortly after.