BCHabnut

It's funny how things can change in one season. It now looks like we have two solid lines, and they look nothing like they did last year. I don't know which one to call the first line. Although I would wager that it is the Koivu line. Just because of less costly giveaways. I love the way Dago plays. Even without the goals, he drives the net, protects the puck very well, and never gives up on the plays in the dirty spots. It's funny because my impression of him in the last two training camps was more of a high speed razzle dazzle player, but he plays a very strong on the puck north south style game. I wouldn't call him a power forward, but he's close. Our D scares me in the middle of the ice. if they can keep the play on the boards, they are fantastic, but in the middle of the ice, they are bloody scary. Keep the play near the boards you guys, quit giving me heart attacks. Regarding Markov's hit, I believe there was some unintentional knee on knee contact, and Marky pulled his knee away to avoid injury, and that's why his leg went up.

Gorges is our #4 D man. I have been very happy with his performance, and I think that he has eased some of our dependence on Komi. You guys are crazy talking about splitting up our four top D. Play Marky and Komi together, Hammer and Gorges together, or you can even split up Hammer and Gorges, but the top D line needs to be just that. We don't have a stud defensive centre and a shut down third line. We have three scoring lines and a fourth line. We rely on our defense to shut down the other team's top guns, and our top two defensemen. I don't think that splitting up our defense would make us any more competent against the other team.

I think Lats or Sergie on the Plek line would be good. They are both very physical, and would make a little room.

I hope some real all stars from the East make the first line. It kind of embarrassed me to see all the Habs beating out Chara, Ovechkin, Semin, Crosby, Malkin... Sorry

AKost looked great last night. It's too bad Weber couldn't be brought up and only played in the power play. Kinda like a Kicker in football.

That may be an accurate statement, but probably the margins are very close. I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but BC and Alberta are Habs crazy. When the Leafs and Habs are in town, the fans are 50% hometown, 50% leafs or habs.

I watched the Detroit game on Canadiens express this morning, and I was very impressed with O'Byrne's play . His second efforts were great, he never took himself out of position to cream someone. I was impressed with his play. Nice to see.

The good news after all of this is that the Habs have played 20 games. The last 10 were horrible (9 points in 10 games) and the boys are still in 5th in the conference. I am getting sick of waiting for them to snap out of it, but from what I have noticed, the last four games have been an improvement. There are a lot of missed open nets, and the Kovy line is still out of sync, but, I remember gettining mad like this when the team was in 10th or 11th place in the league. They will find their groove, and when they do, we are in good shape. As for O'Byrne, this gaffe is unfortunate, but should not be the thing that causes us to send him down. His poor play would be, but I would treat it like a bad game by a goalie. Let him have a chance to redeem himself. if he fails, send him down, send Dandy to D and bring up Chips, Max Pac, or D'ago.

That's gonna be a tough one for him to get over, but the bottom line is it's done. We don't have any D in the minors that are ready to come up, unless we can talk Emelin into getting out of his contract in Russia. O'Byrne will keep playing unless Dandy gets moved back to D and a forward is brought up.

I was born and raised in BC, and I should be a Nucks fan, but my dad and all his brothers would gather at our home to watch Guy, Gainey Dryden the big 3 destroy all comers. They were so passionate about the Habs, that I just grew up loving them. Everyone I knew ragged on me for being a Habs fan, and all they could do was brag about the Canucks. I ended up wanting the Canucks to lose, just out of spite. Pretty wierd, I know. I cheered against the home team. I don't hate them, I just feel satisfaction when they lose.

I'm still not sure why Lang hasn't been put with Kovy during all this slumping. With the exception of his stupid penalties, Lang has done quite well with the talent he has playing with him. I think Lang Kovy S. Kost would be a nice looking line.

Plek has been very sub par. I would try Lang, Kovy and SK on a line. Plek Higgins and AK, Tangs, Koivu and Lats. Man, when I type these guy's names out, I can't believe we aren't destroying everything in our wake!

Well it's too bad the outcome was the way it was, but I still think this was the best game the boys have played in a long time. Lang looked great. Too bad about the slashes. Sergie and Andre looked good too. Higgins and Plek were in my doghouse. O'Byrne looked solid until his mistake which caused the goal, then he pooped the bed. Kovy was meh. BGL was great. Very effective. No penalty. I have a feeling Julien and Carbo both warned their teams to behave. BGL made Lucic a non factor in this game until his freakin goal. O'Byrne needs his confidence back. I remember Komi taking himself out of the play to try the hit in the early days though. What is up with our defense for the last 10 years. They just fall back and let the other team in without a fight. It's like "Oh. you wanna come in here and set up and get some chances? Ya OK, Come on in buddy!"

Oilers...even though they haven't given me a reason in the last two years. and flames. Iggy and phaneuf are the ultimate hockey players.

After watching the fight, I am not mad at Laraque any more. Lucic and Komi have hated each other for a year now. This was coming for a while, and they wanted each other. The thing we should be mad at is the fact that nobody takes of their helmets before a fight anymore. Here they are chucking them as fast as they can with freakin helmets on! That's why Komi quit throwing, and looked dominated at the end of the fight, and that's why he's out for who knows how many games. It's not because he fought, it's because people fight with their helmets on?? Message to Carbo: Play Laraque when Lucic line is on. Message to Laraque: DESTROY KESSEL, SAVARD, OR BERGERON WITH A CLEAN HIT, AND LUCIC WILL HAVE TO FIGHT YOU!

Ya but guys like Mcyntire, Boogard and other goons hammer the other teams star in order to force whichever enforcer is on the ice to fight him. This is a tactic a good goon will use to switch the momentum. He should crush Bergeron or Savard when Lucic is on the ice, and then he can destroy Lucic's big ugly nose.

Well, I for one am a little discouraged by Laraque's tough guy code and stuff. He submits sealed formal invitations to duke it out, and the jerk says no, so he skates away. He better pummel Lucic next game, suck up tjhe penalties and move on.

I agree with Habsfan on this one. If cube would not have grabbed him, BGL would have had to. But he would have been nailed to the cross for it. Cube steps in and all is right in the world. If it was Souray, we would have been in 4 minutes of penalties. George hung around there and there were no side fights, or anything like that. Plus cube wanted Rutuu. He was on him fast.

Dude, I watched the CBJ game on Centre Ice. Columbus lower bowl seats, pizza and beeer for like 55 bucks? That's outrageous man. I would be watching a lot of Columbus games for that price

Good point Mmpl. Did anyone notice how Carbo put BGL out every time after a goal? Just in case the other team wanted to get nasty. I forgive O'byrne tonight. I loved Gorges too. Great team effort. Great defense for the first time in a long time. Price was flawless. Habs own, Leafs lose and triple time pay for working the stat. All is right in my world.

Ya I never thought about that combination. There are so many that it's mind boggling. I freakin love it. Kovy and Lang have barely played together yet either, but when they did, I saw signs of the old chemistry.

He couldn't be worse than OB is right now, and he has a cannon. It would bring our PP up, but he could never be called a 4th d.

So holding your wrist is worse than laying on your back and writhing like a gut shot dog? Kicking and screaming and doing the floppy chicken for a full 20 or 30 seconds, then proceeding to smile on the bench, and play out the rest of the game?

It's definitely nice to be dabating about a guy who has .7 pts per game and his spot on the top 2 lines. What a great thing to have to talk about. I do have high expectations of Lats, as do others, and I think that is why they want to see him have more impact. I'm content to watch him play his game, exactly where he is and how he is playing as long as we are winning. But I would LOVE to see him dominate the forecheck and become hated by the other team for being a force.

I don't think the lines should be changed at all. Nor do I think that D'ago or anyone else should be called up. I completely agree that Sergie was affected by his brother's hit, and that if we should be getting on someone about their performance, it should be him. But I don't see the love affair with Lats. He's a pretty good player, who is working on his game. I have seen most of the other players on this team have a major impact on the outcome of the game with their individual efforts. These players were guys like Kosto and Begin last playoffs. Sergie and Andre. Lappierre. (If there was a language issue, I would be getting on his case, but I never have. He plays his role very well and brings energy to every game.) All I'm saying is that I have never seen this game changing impact from him. I see him as a top liner competing for a spot with guys like Lang(huge chemistry with Kovy), I know he's a centre, but lines can be juggled around for chemistry, and I can't see him playing with Lats. Both are too slow. Sergie (non issue as his recent performance is poor), and Higgins. Regarding 2nd assists, Plekanec had major impact on his line consistently, as does Higgins. As stated by an earlier poster, maybe those hits are makiing some room for Koivu and Tanguay. I'm sure they are. As for Lats...No man crush here...He's a pretty good player. That's it so far. I'm looking forward to retracting this post and eating some crow. Can't wait to see him as a force.