Neech

Still not very lazy of you. Too bad O'Byrne isn't in the lineup, we could use his size against the Ducks.

Yeah but a disallowed goal is way bigger blown call than a bad penalty.

Onward young Bulldog!

Yeah, this is the situation. We can look at the other teams and say 'who's going to beat us? None of these guys are real contenders.' But every other team is saying the same thing. If we have success, it will be on the back of great goal-tending.

I agree. I hope this incident hasn't caused deep wounds (it doesn't look like it), and that Grabovski stays with us and plays well in his next opportunities. He gave us a dangerous fourth line with Ryder and Streit a few games ago.

I don't mind him injecting his own personality or culture into his mask. I'm not a fan of the country singers, but they're honestly not as bad as some people here think. I agree with the poster who said some native west coast artwork could look pretty cool if done tastefully, much better than a dude in a cowboy hat.

Just like the rest of this roadtrip we didn't bring our A game. Luckily, Halak played great. He had no chance on either goal, and he made several big saves. The only minus was that I noticed him making a few bad decisions with the puck, like chipping it along the boards when a defender was wide open behind him, but that probably happened because this is his first start with us. None of our lines were really great or glaringly bad, but we managed to capitalize on our chances. I was happy to see Lats score, and that was a great feed from lil Kosty. Ryder had a few good chances in the first half of the game. I'd say the best player on the ice for us was Hamrlik, he was getting it done. Tomorrow will be an interesting test.

Yeah, it's one thing to be benched when you've produced. But he's had a grand total of maybe three games in the NHL in which he was a force, the other times he was just weak and easily knocked off the puck. I wonder what was Gainey's mindset is coming out the meeting they had.

Or rile them up.

Yeah, and 'measuring sticks' are overrated. This a single game, we could play well and win it or play poorly and get blown out, same goes for the Ducks. We were not up to the task at the time we played Detroit, but if we played them in February we might have beat them. Playing a team a few times in a season provides some sort of measuring stick, like we've beaten New Jersey twice, a feat impossible for past Habs teams. But a single game doesn't prove much.

rds story He was frustrated for not playing (one whole game, although I agree that it was a bad decision after his best game in the NHL a few nights before). He's met Gainey and Carbonneau, who has decided not to discipline him as of yet, but he won't be in the line-up Saturday. The team seems to trying to downplay it, although they all acknowledge that it was an error on his part.

I remember him and Latendresse being alright together. Neither is very fast, which is a drawback, but Chips plays smart enough to make up for that.

Yeah, the goal this year was to make the playoffs. Even if we bow out in the first round, I'll be a bit disappointed, but not too much (unless it happens in a really crappy way, or against Boston).

Yeah, that's pretty much it, there's no proof on either side. And what do you want with my wrong?

We definitely have a team that could turn it up in the playoffs; Kovalev, Koivu, and Hammer have been known to be clutch, and most importantly, Price. I expect good things from Komi, Higgins, Plex, at least one of the Kosty's (I have this feeling that Sergei's the one who might be able to come through, he's got that fire in his belly). But most of our team is young, and haven't gotten past the second round at the latest. So I have hopes for the postseason, but not high expectations.

Yeah, it's good to hear he wasn't getting benched after his best game in the NHL. Him on our fourth line with Ryder and Streit, as surprised as I was at this strange combination, gave us scary scoring depth.

I think he was anyway. I sure as hell doubt he could have netted one million more per season on the open market, maybe after this season but not last summer. We gave him the upper end of what he could have earned (or what we could have signed him for) just like we do for all our players. Gainey never gets a steal, except with RFAs, who are ridiculously underpaid.4

I agree. Kovy has been great, and is probably among the top ten league candidates for the award. But he's not the winner, and not in the top three. Right now, with Washington on the outside of the playoffs, I say it goes to Malkin. He's been getting two PPG since Crosby went down, and took them to near the conference lead after the reigning MVP left the line-up. Ovechkin is the next closest choice. He's ridiculously important to his team, but if they don't make the playoffs then he'll be less likely to get it. I guess Iginla would be the third choice.

And his sunburn proves that how?

He was certainly lower on the radar than Rafalski and Timmonen.

People overpay for veterans, Markov was entering his first year as a UFA. Maybe there would have been a bidding war for him, but I honestly think he was flying more or less under the radar.

Good move by Carbo and good game by Price. We'll get a chance to see Jaro on the weekend.

Yeah, that wasn't our greatest effort, but we came through when it counted. That was one hell of a third period. And Holy Sheet, the lil Teets - Higgins goal was one of the highlights of the year! Similar to that one CH hooked up with Ryder for in Florida, except done at full speed without an inch to spare in the dying minutes of the third. Wow, we have a talented team. Our top two lines were our best this game, as it should be. Smolinski once again proved himself incapable of contributing. Our D was decent, and despite getting outshot badly I think the scoring chances were pretty even. The Kosty's were skilled and quick, Lapierre was stirring it up (those penalties were more bad luck than bad play), Koivu was crafty. And Kovy, what a man. Who was the last PPG player we had in Montreal? Phoenix became a bunch of frustrated, slashing betches in the third. Yeah, I was missing Pierre tonight. He's my preferred of the two.

Grabs does not deserve to be sidelined, he played his best game in the NHL on Monday.

There's definitely room for improvement offensively, he's been making better decisions lately but there was a long stretch where you'd often see him just teeing off whenever he could instead of working it to the main threats of our powerplay. But he's still an above average powerplay pointman, most teams would like to have him at that spot. And while he's a below average defenseman in his own zone due to his lack of physicality, he's an above average defensive forward, with the aforementioned offensive upside. A good guy to have on your fourth line.