Sir_Boagalott

I'm happy that Arber is back!! Arber's time in Laval was also great for Mailloux. What was Logan's +/- before Arber went down? -11 or -12, and its now -5. Logan playing with Arber certainly helped him improve. I'm definitely still hoping they bring up Mailloux this year to see how he does even if it is just for a few games. It is also good that Barron was sent down because he needs to improve defensively. I'm sure the peanut gallery will incensed by this but Barron also needs to learn to stop exposing his back to the other teams forwards.

Exactly!! They had a much better chance of making the playoffs this year than most people thought - especially when you consider that Dach and Newhook are out. I'm not 100% convinced they are out of the playoffs. I'm hoping the 10 game stretch from game 42 to 51 they go 7-2-1 in and gain on numerous of the bubble teams that are slightly ahead of them. Slaf keeps coming on strong and it seems like Goal Caufield is back. Andy and Armia have been playing well - and maybe Armia doesn't end up injured this year - wouldn't that be something. RHP is back and he had a bad start but with luck he can start the year again and repeat some of his play from last year. I've wanted Roy called up for a quite a while and now that he is he could be a key factor as well. Roy has 1 goal in 3 games but can he pull off 3 in 7? Their next stretch of 10 from game 52 to 61 also looks like they could have an advantageous record to gain ground in the standings. In their next 17 games they have a bunch of 4 point games. They play Pens & Caps twice, NYI & Sabers once. They also play the Sens twice. All of the next 17 games could be huge with the Habs still in the playoff picture.

I'm not a fan of either of those rules. If a team scores a SHG the penalty should keep going. It's not like a team will purposely take penalties so they can score SHG on a PK. i.e. think of the 80's Oilers and the rule change for 5 on 5 when a fight takes place because they were way too good at 4 on 4. There is no logical reason to change the SHG rule because being shorthanded does not create an advantage. The 3 points for a Win might sound good, but there are situations that make is illogical. ex: in 1 of the last Worlds or Olympics there was a scenario where 3 points for a win made no sense. I forget what the exact records were but it was obvious that 1 team was unfairly ranked higher than they should have been due to that rule. I believe it was Suis that was ranked higher than Canada.

I'm wondering if the Habs faithful will warmly welcome Drouin back or will he be Boo-in for the night?

I didn't see much of the game but I'm definitely unhappy with a Loss. Apparently, it is long over due for the Habs players to contact their NHLPA union rep(s) and complain about the NHL scheduling back to back games. In reality, the back to back game shouldn't have mattered for this one considering where SJ is in the standings. When I check TSN's site it is incredibly rare that I see a team with a Strk column that says a # over 10 especially when it is with an L. The Habs should have handed SJ their 13th loss in a row.

Sure, the Flyers played good and hit the post a bunch but Primeau played incredibly well and I think the Habs should have stolen 2 points. I have no idea why Barron laid down and slid on Tippets goal. I believe he would have been in the way of the shot if he was upright. D’oh, Harris with a terrible penalty and a failed PK. Without those 2 issues it could have been a 2-0 game. Flyers had a close 1 but I was convinced it didn’t go in. Great play by Savard at Habs goal line flattening the Flyer and good on him for protecting the downed Flyer from a point shot too. I thought for sure Yolenen would keep the SO going. It looks like they need to start practicing 3 on 3 again. I said this last that they need to be good at 3 on 3. They have a ton of close 1 goal games that go into OT. Plus, the Run of 21 almost didn't happen because of a whack of OT loses. It is smart to be purposely good at it.

I figured Harris was getting close to having to go through waivers but I didn't realize he's already passed that which is too bad because he could benefit from some time in the AHL. Interesting, I've never heard that rule before. I don't recall ever seeing a team pull their goalie in OT before but that would be why. My rational was the NYR have numerous talented scorers so I didn't think the Habs would do well in a SO against them so might as well pull the Goalie and try to win in the last 11 secs. If a team doesn't get an extra point when they get an open netter scored on them in OT then it wouldn't have been worth the risk.

Monty played excellent but I was somewhat expecting Primeau to play. At 1 point they seemed be doing baptism by fire and purposely giving Primeau hard games. Let him get peppered by teams with some serious snipers and for the most part he has responded better than anticipated. Plus, if Primeau had played and gave a similar performance it would increase his trade value. On the 1 goal it looked like Monty was caught with his pants down and I wasnt sure what had happened. The replay showed it was tipped with a high stick not quite high enough to disallow it. It was understandable he had no chance on that 1.

Wow, great penalty drawn by Slaf with 11 secs left in OT. I hope Marty pulls Monty for this faceoff.

Struble was looking dangerous offensively and damn good thing he noticed Truba coming right before he tried to take his head off. Great small lil play by Slaf in NYR zone when he got up against their net just to get his body in the way of the dman that was chasing after the Habs player with the puck. D'oh, I was hoping this wouldn't go to OT. I often question Marty's choices for 3 on 3 and in SO's.

Yep, and that was a great penalty by NYR hooking Yolenen at the Habs goal line. lol I hoping the Habs would capitalize on that opportunity. After that blown PP things changed and it turns out the Habs almost needed to score on that gift chance. I somewhat assumed that the NYR would score on Suzuki's penalty. Thank god they didnt but the Habs still need another goal or 2 to win this game.

I keep noticing Slaf doing all sorts of small lil things that can often go unnoticed but they are super important lil things. He is definitely developing even when he is not putting up points. Nice, Monahan scores. Habs are 5-0-2 when he does. Even better: Armia!!!

I agree with rotating them and any that are on ELC's I'd even be yo-yo-ing them up n down. i.e. Harris and Barron could both benefit from some high minutes in Laval. I believe it is unfair they have only sent Arber down when there are others that are more deserving of AHL time. They should be making the most of their waiver exemptions while they can and before they can't anymore. I sorta get the impression that Kovacevic could turn out to be a top 4. However, it is probably better to devalue him and not let him know/realize that he could be a legit top 4 guy. He'd be good to keep as a great low priced 3rd pair rhd.

D'oh, why in the world did Gally skate hard to the crease when Armia was in alone? With Gally standing in the crease there was 0 chance of Armia passing to him and scoring. Oh well, at least he made up for it a minute later. 1-0 Habs!!

I missed the game so I didn't know about the high stick. It definitely looks like he's bleeding from his nose and all over his bottom lips. It would be surprising that a high stick hit the edge of his nostril yet missed his nose. If all that was done by a high stick Lane must be tough. How many teeth did he lose? The Swed was much larger too and Lane didn't shy away at all and wanted more.

Thx for posting that link!! It is great to know that there is a limit to the amount BS that Lane will put up with. Poor Lane though, the stupid ref grabbing him and letting the Swede keep punching him until he had a bloody mouth.

There is what happened to Andy's knee that made him fall and then the fall itself which looked awkward. It thought the fall might have made his knee worse or even injured his ankle. It sorta looked like he might have rolled it. I'm concerned about if the Habs have learned anything from last year or not and if they are repeating the identical mistakes? i.e. Monahan and Gally playing injured last year because they wanted to. Was Andy medically cleared to play or is he playing because he can and/or wants to? Andy must be sore from that fall so should he really be playing or should he be given a forced week or so off to rest? Last year with numerous players I saw plays where I thought they were injured yet they continued to play. However, every instance of that with time proved that they were in fact injured but were still able to play when they should have been resting. I'd rather see a player be sat out for 1-2 weeks for precautionary reasons rather than continue with a minor issue until it becomes a serious injury and then be out 8-12+ weeks.

Earlier in the season I certainly noticed Matheson in numerous games where he was blocking the Habs goalie's view but failing to get his body in they way to block a shot. I swear I've even seen him be in the way of a shot but he turned and allowed the puck to go by him and into the Habs net. Oftentimes, they seem to be chronically bad with their sticks. ex: on the 1 goal it seemed like the 1 Habs player let the puck be passed down to the Sabers player down at the side of the net who passed across to the goal scorer. If the Habs player used his stick that pass might have been intercepted or deflected and the goal would have been prevented.

Wow, jeez, did Andy just break Levi's jaw with that shot that popped his helmet loose? He definitely felt that shot for sure.

Nice screen by Pezz, but was it goalie interference? I certainly hope not. He definitely made contact with Levi but was it really enough to call back the goal? Son of a, apparently it was. That totally sucks, Armia needed that goal.

I definitely like Strubles pass over to Harris and the ensuing 1 timer attempt was impressive. Its too bad Harris didnt score on that shot and I don't recall ever seeing him tee off like that before. Harris needs to try doing that more often because apparently he is good at it.

Ya, no doubt. When I heard the announcer mention Anderson I figured the Sabers had a player with the same name. I was in shock when I realized it was Josh. Considering the Habs luck with injuries I assumed he would be out for the rest of the season or several month at a minimum. In the last game it didn't take much for him to fall but the way he did definitely looked like it was a serious injury. The Habs need to keep riding Andy's recent upsurge in play. Hopefully, that keeps up but I wont be surprised if he is sore and his pace slows down for a bit.

I didnt see much of this game at all but I caught Harris' goal. I tend to think that he's more offensive than we realize. After all, he did get 2 goals in 1 game in his rookie season and in the last 30 years the last 3 rookie Habs dmen to do that were: Subban, Markov, and Schneider. I dont believe it's a fluke that Harris did that and it could be a omen of his scoring potential. I saw Andy's injury and it certainly looked serious and I'd definitely be surprised if he plays anytime soon. The Habs potential long shot at playoffs took a bad turn with that injury. Andy had been coming on fairly strong compared to his start of the season and even in games that he wasn't putting up points. Can another player possibly start producing again? ex: Moneyhands? Is Dvorak out as well? If Andy and Dvo are now out is there any chance that the Habs can do an emergency recall of Beck? I'm dying to see him come up but I'm uncertain if this creates an opportunity to do so.

I'm bummed Canada lost but I'd say they should have won that game. Honestly, I always dislike seeing the Czechs win because they usually seem to be the least deserving team when they do. ex: their 1st 2 goals were fairly weak and the winning goal with 11 secs left was a fluke. At 1 point in the 3rd the announcer said that 14 out of the last 17 shots were Canadas. Plus, like mentioned they missed the net a bunch. Canada dominated about 35 mins of the game and out chanced the crap out of them but failed to score.

I wondered that too and I forget which feed I saw it on but the 1 replay showed it pretty good that there was no intent to blow the whistle. The 1 replay shows that Monty saved the puck, and the linesman that was out by the blue line started skating in towards Monty to retrieve the puck. However, when Monty gave the puck to Kova the ref immediately stopped and went back to where he was. Apparently, the only people that were aware that the puck was still live was Monty and the refs. Kova was confused when Monty gave him the puck and the rest of the Habs had no clue either that the play was still live. I believe it was Corrado on TSN that gave an explanation as to why that goal happened. i.e. when Monty made the save, none of the Bolt players skated over to him, and when an opposing player challenges a goalie that just made a save is typically when the refs blow the whistle. When the other team isn't around the goalie they get to decide if they will play the puck or hold onto it to get the whistle. Well, Monty realized no whistle had blown so he decided to play the puck considering how Tampa skated off to do a line change.