Harding_27

I feel pretty safe with the tandem of Price and Halak between the pipes from here on in to the playoffs! There will be alot of pressure on these 2 goalies to take this team and all the habs fans to the promise land. We all know that Carey is a cool customer from his performances in the world jrs and outstanding play with the bulldogs to capture the calder cup speak for itself! Lost a little bit in this ever since the huet trade when is Jaroslav Halak. He is a guy drafted in the 9th rd of 03 that has bounced between the Canadiens and Bulldogs the past 2 seasons and carried the load last year and almost got the habs in the playoffs when huet was out for the season! He wants to be a #1 goalie in the NHL and his numbers in the AHL don't lie!...He is also unbeatin at the bell centre in his first 7 starts in his young career....In those starts his numbers are pretty stingy. W L T GA GAA SA SV SV% SO 7 0 0 14 1.89 207 193 .932 2 Halak became the first goaltender since Bob Froese (Philadelphia: 1982-83) to win his first seven decisions at home...By the way these stats look so far it looks like Halak don't mind the pressure of playing in the bell centre!! GO HABS GO!!!! :hlogo:

I can't wait for puck drop!!!....The Habs are back and improved!! It will be interesting to see what the line of (46)Kostitsyn - (59)Grabovski - (27)Kovalev can do??....Lots of skill...they looked good in preseason but we will see tomorrow night...good chemistry but will they gel in the regular season?....its way to early to tell but will see! Also there is a one on one interview with Kovy on tsn.ca....he says he and Carbo are on the same page and he's heading into the season with a new attitude!....He says he likes his new linemates and the way they played in preseason and he hope that it carries over into the season!...This is good to hear for habs fans!....Probably a wake up call from Gainey the other day!....He might finally want to play afterwards? I predict a 4-2 Habs win!!!......Smolinski, Grabovski, Higgins, Markov.....Koivu with 2 assists! GO HABS GO :hlogo:

The habs should be very interested in David Perron!!.....Have anyone seen this guy play?.....He has scary potential.....He has a great shot and excellent hands.....Great two-way player!

Kovy and scoring- look, it's all a matter how how Kovy's used. Jagr was a scoring champ in Pitts, and then a scoring leader in NY but he was an average nobody with Washington. What changed? Did he lose his scoring touch, skill or ability with the Caps- of course not. In Pittsburgh and NY, the team is built around Jagr- Sather traded for Czech limemates just so Jagr would be comfortable. The job of those linemates is to set him up to score. He plays virtually the entire PP. He is the trigger man on 5 on 3. He is on the ice in empty net situations (In the Burgh, Jagr probably scored 20-30 point a year on empty net situations)- The Canadiens don't build their team around Kovy- they don't even build a line around Kovalev Basically, Kovy could easily be among the scoring leaders in NHL...anyone can see that he has the skill BUT, if you're not first line (which Kovy isn't); if you're going play 2nd power unit (which Kovy does) , if you're set up man for Souray on 5 on 3 (which Kovy is), if you sit the bench in empty net situations (where Kovy sits); if you're going to roll four lines and play Kovy 16-18 minutes a game (which is going to happen)- then it's hard to put up impressive numbers. It's nuts!!! People think if Kovy just hustled a little more, or played hard ALL the time, or whatever the criticism is- he could put up more many more points. Hardly! When you have Kovy's world class skill, his point total is only limited by his opportunities- of which- given the Habs style- Kovy has little opportunity to be a league leading scorer.

Kovalev- Koivu- Ryder Samsonov- Yashin- Smyth/Latendresse Higgins- Plekanec- Kostitsyn Begin- Chipchura- Lapiere Markov- Komisarek Souray- Bouillon Streit- Dandenault Huet Halak