l.moustakas

Weber should have gotten called for that. Don't think the player had the puck. Having said that, why is Cooke trying to fight with Weber. Too worried about fighting someone his own size?

Thought it was a decent period. Price bailed them out a couple times, but overall their transition game is solid and they are working hard along the boards.

I think MacLean fancies himself poet and philosopher sometimes. As for LeBrun and his ESPN colleague Scott Burnside, I have always much appreciated their work, but I have somewhat lost some of my respect for them considering their reaction to this situation.

Bettman is being far too arrogant. He has managed to tick off the city of Montreal, Parliament, Air Canada and Molson in a matter of not even seven days. Good business...

In fairness, I think insightful articles, comments, discussions (like we have here) can only help further the cause of modifying this culture of acceptable violence. I have spent the better part of the week debating with those who found the Chara hit to be nothing more than a 'hockey play' and if my words can sway a mind ever so slightly, good. I suspect many here have done the same. I realize we are all here because we are passionate Habs fans, but I will also venture a guess that we love the sport of Hockey just as much. We are concerned about the well-being of our favourite sport, an integral part of Canadian culture and something I hope my (future) kids will be able to play. We must continue to intelligently express our discontent with a culture that has allowed Pacioretty to get damn-near killed, Don Sanderson to die in a hockey fight, the game to lose its best player to a concussion.

In the midst of all of this, there was also a game. Here is the recap : http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2414. Obviously, there are also some thoughts on the hit at the end.

Also, have to wonder how Chara's evident dislike of Pacioretty factored into that hit.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I watch plenty of other networks and NESN are the biggest homers in the league. It borders on the ridiculous. They go about calling Montreal a bunch of divers (never mind that diver-in-chief Lapierre is not here anymore) but never seem particularly upset by the behaviour of past and present Bruins such a Kyle McLaren, Joe Thornton (I've always found him rather dirty) or Zdeno Chara.

I saw Dr. Mulder checking Pacioretty's pulse and, frankly, chills went up my spine. It quickly stopped being an enthralling game and became a matter of a person's well-being. Never mind how this impacts the team and its chances down the road, the quality of life and career of an individual could be in serious jeopardy. How disheartening. As for the hit, I don't know what Chara was thinking on the play, but you would figure that a Norris-trophy winning defencemen should be aware enough to recognize the following three facts: 1) There is only 15 seconds left 2) Pacioretty doesn't have the puck 3) He is hitting in an especially dangerous area (player benches) With that in mind, it's awfully hard to not conclude that Chara was hitting to hurt.

This isn't necessarily game-related, but thought it might make for nice pre-game conversing. In Mark Houle's piece (http://habsworld.net/article.php?id=2408), he mentions that a knock against David Desharnais is his skating. And, in fact, that is something that I have read in a few other pieces. Frankly, that confuses me a bit. Perhaps I would not be much of a scout, but DD strikes me as having above-average skating and speed, especially in straight lines. I am not saying he is the next Martin St. Louis, but his skill in that area seems adequate. So, my question is, am I missing something?

I feel that, for too long, the issue of a scoring winger has been an either/or debate. For example, when Penner rumours were flying around, many suggested sending AK the other way. How about, instead, we keep the mercurial Kostitsyn and add another scorer as well. It doesn't have to be an amazing talent, just someone who can pot 50-60 points a year. In fact, I see the Montreal Canadiens becoming a team of "second lines" if you will, much like the Sabres were in their Briere/Drury days. You don't necessarily overwhelm your opponents with starpower, but rather by depth and balance. As fans, we all crave superstars like Lecavalier, but given the cap era and its restraints, that is not an evident thing to acquire. P.S TCC, I know that, in the above post, you are not necessarily suggesting that AK46 be shipped out. I'm just ranting.

Add Ottawa to that. Went to a game here (Ott) in October, and it certainly did not feel like a road game. Very much a 50-50 crowd.

Well, as Habs I/O twitter feed put it last night... the Habs basically play home games in about 5-6 other arenas around the league, don't they?

Fair enough. Having it brought up every other day does not make for good discussion. And, Brobin, if AK hit the post, of course it was Gomez's fault. I mean, like, obviously.

We had a link in our "Around the Web" section a couple days ago about the performance of various wingers when they played with either Gomez or Plekanec. Interesting stuff. In short, most everyone is worse off playing with Gomez. Here is the article : http://habsloyalist.blogspot.com/2011/02/gomez-effect.html Personally, until I see some consistent effort and smart plays from Gomez, I will stay on the bashing train, thank you very much. While he wasn't an offensive force last year either, I recall Gomez being quite good defensively and being a big part of the penalty kill. This year, I find I have nothing to hang my hat on. Thank goodness we are wrapping the week up with a Tampa Bay contest, which should be an entertaining affair. The Atlanta and Florida games are doing very little to combat my cold-medicine induced drowsiness.

It is interesting to note that all of the Habs' in season trades have involved defencemen. In fact, in four (Wisniewski, Festerling v1, Mara, Sopel) a blueliner came our way. Gives one a pretty good idea of how battered the backend has been this season, doesn't it?

I"m bored (both with the deadline and work). Here is a wild idea. Gomez (and perhaps a pick/prospect) to Nashville for Dumont and Legwand. The cap hits almost cancel out, but as Brian once pointed out, Gomez's real salary goes down significantly in the last two years of his deal. Anywho. If Pierre Gauthier reads our fabulous forum, he might send me thank you note for my wonderful idea.

I guess that, viewed from that perspective, it is pretty good return for Lapierre. Still, can't help but be a bit annoyed that the team is giving up assets for a player it could have re-signed for 'free'. Hindisght is 20/20, I know. And, the fact remains, it is a pretty good, cheap addition.

I am really tired of this. I don't even care about the whole Lupul issue. I'm tired of hearing about all the things Subban supposedly does 'wrong'. Never mind that when Chris Pronger, for example, steals a game-puck or something of the sort we just call it 'gamesmanship' (whatever that means) and move on. But when Subban does soemthing, anything really, he is being disrespectful. This is how backwards this league and its culture can be. Linus Omark was disrespectful in the shootout. Alexander Ovechkin's tainted visor was banned. Subban talks too much. Really? This is the shit we concern ourselves with. Here I was thinking that people got into hockey to have fun. Silly me. In reality, you must fall in line and not break the mould. And when you are playing, you best pay attention to not get decpaitated by Matt Cooke and others of ilk.

Really? Mariusz Czerkawski worked out so well.

General question to the board: Any thoughts on Campbell using his shoulder pad to pummel Pyatt last night? Hitting with a piece of equipment seemed a bit harsh (and gave him extra, very helpful reach)

Hmmmm... what could I possibly talk about in Around the Boards this week. I do not know... A few thoughts about the game (that are not meant as a particular response to any one post, especially since I have not sifted through everything yet) 1. Subban, Weber, Desharnais and Pacioretty, who are all pretty much rookies save for Patches, accounted for 5 goals and 9 points. Meanwhile, supposed offensive leaders like Pouliot, Gomez and Kostitsyn were held pointless and, frankly, produced little in the way of opportunities. It is highly disturbing when top attackers fail to contribute in such an important game, regardless of the score. Your best players have to be your best players and that was not the case last night for Montreal. 2. With a recent pounding versus Philly and the slugfest last night, it is becoming abundantly clear that Montreal needs to add a physical element to their game. On top of that, Subban can't be getting into near-fights all the time. Washington doesn't let Ovechkin drop them, we should we let Subban do the same? I don't want Laraque to come out of retirement, but a few more physical forwards could not hurt. Travis Moen is just not enough. 3. Being signed up with NHL Gamecenter, I am fortunate enough to get to see a fair bit of broadcasts from throughout the league. As such, I can safely say that NESN (the Bruins local broadcaster) have what is probably the biggest home bias in the league. It borders on ridiculous, really. Plus, they have Mike Mildbury at the intermission.

That goal was in slow mo....

I know, I went from disappointed after the first, to thrilled after the Canadiens tied it, to laughing my butt off when the goalies fought. All of that punctuated by various cheers and swears.

I guess you can say so. It was mighty short though. Thomas thought it was funny afterwards. I was laughing