Peter Puck

As JMMR says we can still finish 6th. I posted this yesterday in another thread but since it has arisen here I'll repost: Well I still think we have a small chance of catching the Flyers. It is true that their magic number versus us is 1. But: If we win both of ours and they lose all 3 of theirs in regulation we finish 6th. How likely is this to happen? The Flyers have 3 games left: Rangers, Devils, and the Islanders. The latter 2 are road games. Rght now they have a chance to catch the Rangers so that first game is important to both teams. If the Flyers lose in regulation to the Rangers, then the in their next game in NJ, the Devils have a chance to clinch 5th by beating them in regulation. I'd expect that to happen. Meanwhile we have to beat Buffalo at home, I think we will (which would clinch a playoff spot for us and does nothing for Buffalo who will finish 4th for sure). If the above does transpire then on the last day of the season, we play the Devils at home and they are already assured of 5th. We could beat them. The final brick in this wall is that same day the Flyers play the Islanders in NY. I'd expect the Flyers to win and clinch 6th but they could lose. Summary: We have a slight chance to catch the Flyers.

Sergei got another 4 assists tonight in a 6-5 overtime win. He assisted on the overtime winner which was scored during a delayed penalty call when he drew a penalty late in the first overtime period. He also seems to be killing penalties.

Bullis will play on the 2nd line again: It appears the Montreal Canadiens will still use Chris Higgins, Michael Ryder and Saku Koivu on the top line, with Alex Kovalev, Mike Ribeiro and Jan Bulis on the second line against Buffalo on Saturday. "They'll be together Saturday night," GM/head coach Gainey said. "As long as they keep playing well, they'll be together." - Montreal Gazette

Big game. Probably we'll need a point to clich a playoff spot. Hopefully a win will keep our slim chances of finishing 6th alive. I think 3 goals will be enough to win this game. Go-Habs-Go!!!

Well I still think we have a small chance of catching the Flyers. It is true that their magic number versus us is 1. But: If we win both of ours and they lose all 3 of theirs in regulation we finish 6th. How likely is this to happen? The Flyers have 3 games left: Rangers, Devils, and the Islanders. The latter 2 are road games. Rght now they have a chance to catch the Rangers so that first game is important to both teams. If the Flyers lose in regulation to the Rangers, then the in their next game in NJ, the Devils have a chance to clinch 5th by beating them in regulation. I'd expect that to happen. Meanwhile we have to beat Buffalo at home, I think we will (which would clinch a playoff spot for us and does nothing for Buffalo who will finish 4th for sure). If the above does transpire then on the last day of the season, we play the Devils at home and they are already assured of 5th. We could beat them. The final brick in this wall is that same day the Flyers play the Islanders in NY. I'd expect the Flyers to win and clinch 6th but they could lose. Summary: We have a slight chance to catch the Flyers.

Well now everyone is hoping I (or Tommy9) win. Go Habs Go!!! 90 Dutch Habs Fan 92 kaos 93 Brett38 95 Peter Puck 95+ Simonus 96 les glorieux 96 ndmartinxyz 96 shortcat1 97 Rooster 97 VaughHabFan 98 JeanLucPilon 98 xXx..CK..xXx 99 Bullis the Habbie 100 redondo 101 Macaskill 102 DANFALCAO 104 bookworm (and the stanley cup and theodore gets his first conn smythe) 110 ch nl 164 Shortcat1 (well, actually Fozzy) Tommy9 made 2 predictions: 101 and 94 Bullis the Habbie made a 2nd prediction of 103 Pierre the Great predicted 90-100

Well we're not in the playoffs yet. Also we do still have a chance to finish 6th by catching Philladelphia. Still 7th (or 8th) looks most likely. But, as I said in another thread, I expect the league will want to emphasize the obstruction crack down and this will lead to many penalties in the first round series. Thus I would like to avoid the Senators who have a top 5 PP and a top 5 PK. So I voted for Carolina.

Don't be too cocky. You're not in yet. If Vancouer wins Saturday, etc it will come down to goal differential. Right now Colorado has a GD of +31 and Vancouver's is only +2. I don't really think Vancouver can get their's any higher than say +10. So Colorado needs to keep their's at +11 or better. With three games left you might want to not use Theodore for more than 2 of those games just to be safe. Congratulations!!! Enjoy the playoffs.

JeanLucPilon, xXx..CK..xXx and Bullis the Habbie drop by the wayside. As of the time of this posting we have 91 points and 3 games to go. 90 Dutch Habs Fan 92 kaos 93 Brett38 95 Peter Puck 95+ Simonus 96 les glorieux 96 ndmartinxyz 96 shortcat1 97 Rooster 97 VaughHabFan 98 JeanLucPilon 98 xXx..CK..xXx 99 Bullis the Habbie 100 redondo 101 Macaskill 102 DANFALCAO 104 bookworm (and the stanley cup and theodore gets his first conn smythe) 110 ch nl 164 Shortcat1 (well, actually Fozzy) Tommy9 made 2 predictions: 101 and 94 Bullis the Habbie made a 2nd prediction of 103 Pierre the Great predicted 90-100

I really hope we don't have to play the senators in the first round (especially if Hasek comes back). I think that the league will want everyone to know that they are sticking to their guns regarding penalties during the playoffs. Thus I predict that there will be a whole lot of penalties called during the first round series. Since the Sens are top 5 in both PP and PK, I'd rather play someone else in teh first round.

Okay you asked for it. Here they are: Paul Mara 73.7 minutes Pavel Kubina 49.2 Willie Mitchell 45.0 Danny Markov 34.5 Filip Kuba 33.7 Andrei Zyuzin 24.5 Eric Brewer 24.2 Ed Jovanovski 16.9 Remember though this is a defensive stat. We really want an offensive defenceman as a UFA. Comparing this stat for our current defencemen was intended to give an objective measure of one important aspect of their play.

Now that the OHL playoffs have started, Sergei Kostitsyn is on fire. He is third in league scoring with 7 goals and 11 assists in 8 games (and 22 PIM). 5 of his 7 goals have been even strength so its not just due to his being on the high powered London powerplay. His goals include an overtime goal and another game winner.

I took a look at the giveaways by our defencemen. Here is the result. I give the player and the average number of minutes between giveaways for this season. Rivet 26.6 minutes Simpson 25.7 Dandy 25.2 Streit 24.1 Bouliion 20.6 Markov 19.3 Souray 19.2 Komisarek 16.8 Here is the same stat for some of the league's top defencemen: Niedermayer 45.5 minutes Lidstrom 36.5 Hatcher 31.5 Schneider 26.8 Rafalski 21.3 Pronger 20.3

If Bonk isn't ready for the next game, I won't be surprised to see Lapierre or Simpson palying instead of Sundstrom. Sundstrom didn't contribute anything last night. Maybe Gainey will give him another chance but I think he has played himself off the team.

He must be wrong. Atlanta is 38-32-7 with 5 games to go. If they lose and then win out their string they will finish at 42-33-7 for 91 points. If we lose our final 4 games we will finish 41-32-9, also for 91 points. Since the first tiebreaker is wins they would be ahead of us. Under this senario, TB's win tonight would put them ahead of us as well and we would finish 9th (or worse). Also no matter what Atlanta does, Toronto could win their final 5 games to end up with a record of 42-32-8 for 92 points which would put them ahead of us if we lose our final 4 games.

Definitely Higgins. Goal scoring isn't everything. Higgins has played very well all year. Its only been in the last couple of months that he's been put into an offensive role. Also he is still an import cog on our penalty kill. Ryder was given ice time right from game 1 last year. Higgins was getting less than 10 minutes per game early this season. Ryder has an excellent shot and is a great sniper. Higgins is a complete player. He will be a star. Some people have said here that Ryder carried us into the playoffs in his rookie year. Where do you think we would be in the playoff race right now without Higgins goals (and defensive play) over the past 10 games?

We still have a very good chance to catch New Jersey. We are two points behind and we play them in the last game of the season. If we can win that game in regulation all we need to do is get more points than them in the intervening 3 games we each play. Also I think we have the easist schedule between us, NJ and TB. We play 2 against the Sabres (home and away), who have been very average since the Olympics, 1 against the Bruins (in Boston) who have been horrible lately and 1 against NJ (at home). NJ has the toughest schedule. They play the Hurricanes(away), then 2 home games against the Flyers and then us in Montreal. TB play the Thrashers tonight, then they get the Hurricanes twice! (away and home) and finish at home versus the Caps. TB does have the advantage of 3 home games but they are 2 points behind us and 4 points behind NJ. The Thrashers are pretty much out of it as far as catching us. They need to win their final 5 games and hope we only take 2 points in our final 4. Note that this means that contrary to the current title of this thread ("Magic Number is 2") our magic number versus TB is 3. (It is 2 versus the Leafs).

Dutch Habs Fan is eliminated. 91 points; 4 games left. 90 Dutch Habs Fan 92 kaos 93 Brett38 95 Peter Puck 95+ Simonus 96 les glorieux 96 ndmartinxyz 96 shortcat1 97 Rooster 97 VaughHabFan 98 JeanLucPilon 98 xXx..CK..xXx 99 Bullis the Habbie 100 redondo 101 Macaskill 102 DANFALCAO 104 bookworm (and the stanley cup and theodore gets his first conn smythe) 110 ch nl 164 Shortcat1 (well, actually Fozzy) Tommy9 made 2 predictions: 101 and 94 Bullis the Habbie made a 2nd prediction of 103 Pierre the Great predicted 90-100

1. I knew the reffing was going to be bad. I have always thought Koharski was a terible ref - ever since the "Have another donut" incident. I haven't seen Pollack ref much but he was the one who made the horrible calls in (one of) the game(s) we lost to the leafs in overtime before Christmas. I expect this sounds a bit like sour grapes but I was cringing as soon as I heard the announcers name the refs for tonight. I should have complained before the game started and improved my Nostradamus reputation. 2. I don't like the Ottawa announcers, they are obviously biased especially the play-by-play guy. That said, I think they have been doing an okay job tonight. Not very good but not as wrteched as usual. They also called the game last Thursday and were so much worse than tonight.

Okay 2 more terrible calls 1 by Pollack against the Sens and a horrible one by Koharski. Ryder gets interferred with on a scoring chance and knocked down. He falls and bumps Emery on the way down and he gets the penalty.

I hate complaining about the refs but Koharski is just terrible. He has blown 4 penalty calls tonight.

Well I for one do believe you JMMR. Of course, it is easier to ride on someone else's coattails. :king:

If Bonk is a (healthy) scratch, and with Begin injured I guess this means Zednik, Bullis and Sundstrom will all play (and Simpson will be the 3rd scratch). Or maybe we will play 7 defencemen? Go Habs Go. If we win this game we will have split the season series. If we win in regulation both teams will have gone 4-3-1.

Huet is not going to make many incredible saves nor appear to steal any games. His strength, as many have noted in this thread, is his positioning and especially his rebound control (which comes partly from good positioning). When he is in net, the opponents don't get very many second shots at all and also have trouble retrieving the puck after a shot. This really simplifies the work our defence has to do and keeps the scoring chances down. It also means you won't often see Huet making a spectular save. Nevertheless it is extremely important as in general a lot of goals come on rebounds. This makes me feel much better about Huet next year and in the succeeding years. A goaltender like Theodore who relies a lot on his reflexes is going to run hot and cold. Of course, Huet's confidence is sky high right now but his style of play means he is much less likely to go into a slump, and also less likely to get red hot. I expect he will continue to have a GAA in the range 2.3 to 2.5 for the next few years. While it is great to have a goalie get hot for you during the playoffs, I am very happy having a solid and consistent tender for the playoffs and the next few years.

Okay 89 points and 5 games to go. 90 Dutch Habs Fan 92 kaos 93 Brett38 95 Peter Puck 95+ Simonus 96 les glorieux 96 ndmartinxyz 96 shortcat1 97 Rooster 97 VaughHabFan 98 JeanLucPilon 98 xXx..CK..xXx 99 Bullis the Habbie 100 redondo 101 Macaskill 102 DANFALCAO 104 bookworm (and the stanley cup and theodore gets his first conn smythe) 110 ch nl 164 Shortcat1 (well, actually Fozzy) Tommy9 made 2 predictions: 101 and 94 Bullis the Habbie made a 2nd prediction of 103 Pierre the Great predicted 90-100