Peter Puck

Okay, I withdraw my snide comment. Quite happily. I will point out though that we are still not in a playoff race with the Devils. Maybe in a race for 6th but not for the playoffs.

Well I have to say I thought Simpson looked good against Washington but he was dreadful tonight against the Islanders. He did stand up for his teammates but he made a number of bad giveaways. Streit on the other hand looked very good tonight. He was good defensively and showed a lot of offensive creativity.

The only reason to evaluate Streit vs Hainsey now is to try to decide whether it was a mistake to send Hainsey down to Hamilton and keep Streit on the roster. The only point in doing this is to evaluate Gainey & Julien and there's very little point in evaluating Julien now. Also if you want to do this you have to compare Streit versus the performance Hainsey would have given if he remained a habs. It is a mistake to evaluate Streit versus Hainsey now. The question that needs to be answered is whether we should keep Streit and if so on the roster or in Hamilton. This has nothing to do with Hainsey. Maybe Streit has the talent develop into our 5th defenceman. (I'm not claiming he does). Should we dump him because Hainsey is a top 4 Dman in Columbus. Deciding what to do with Streit based on Hainsey's performance is a bit like evaluating all our defencemen versus Chelios or versus Desjardins. That is also what we had versus what we have now. I don't think we should dump, say Komisarek, because he will never be as good as Chelios.

Too many people evaluate Streit by considering Hainsey. This was the corect way to evaluate him during training camp when we had to decide which of them to put on the roster. But that decision was made and now Hainsey is no longer a habs. Possibly this was a mistake, possibly not, but now we need to evaluate Streit's play without regard to Hainsey. I think Streit has really improved over the the past 6 weeks although we haven't seen much of him. He did look good in the Olympics. He is a reasonable depth defenceman with some offensive potential. This is something we need right now. If we sign a top 4 Dman over the summer I don't expect to see much of Streit in Montreal next year, although he may blossom. If we don't sign another Dman then we should defnitely keep him as a 6th - 8th defenceman.

The second stat (+1 minor penalty vs opponents) is a much more useful stat. If the refs give offsetting penalties it doesn't affect the game much but it does increase the PIM/game stat. I'd say the main reason were 13th in PIM/game is that we don't take many fighting majors.

Rivet only have 5 shifts in the last half of the game tonight. After we got ahead 4-1 Gainey seems to have rested him.

Here is an article about Sergei. Two interesting points: 1. Kostitsyn meets with a tutor in London at least once a week to help him with social interaction, including skills native Londoners take for granted, like placing an order at Tim Hortons. "We hear Sergei is ahead of his brother (Andrei) in English right now and his brother played in (Hamilton) last year," Knights assistant GM Jim McKellar said. "He's a good teammate and one of the most popular guys in the dressing room. The guys actively seek him out to do things, which really helps 2. Sergei likes the Detroit Red Wings dressing room but says the Habs is nicer.

No it was into his midsection.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the wonderful suggestions. Keep them pouring in. They are very much appreicated. Peter Puck

Absolutely we have been having difficulty scoring all year. I'm hoping we make a concerted effort to get Briere.

Yes this is certainly true. This is one of the biggest changes since Gainey took over from Julien. We are blocking many more shots and taking away the other team's chances. Last night the Rangers shots on net by period were 5-9-12. But I believe 7 of the thrid period shots came in the first 2 minutes during their 2 man advantage. Huet played very well but the Rangers only had a few good chances in the whole game. Even during the 2 man advantage our PK did a great job of protecting him.

Well, a month ago I suggested his future was as a first line player so I am going to stick with my postition. I don't think he will be mainly a goal scorer but Higgins' speed and digging ability make him the perfect winger for someone who can finish. I am not sure whether Ryder is that player though.

I'm predicting the Habs win 4-2. They usually play very well at home after a pre-game ceremony and tonight's should be be especially emotional and moving. I expect them to be very motivated. Go-Habs-Go!!

I don't think his performance has been "out of nowhere". He has been playing extremely well all season and even last year. While he has been putting the puck in the net the last 10 days I think this is just due to an increase in confidence. Gainey put him on the first line before he started scoring because of his good play. While I am extremely happy to see him score I still think his strength is as a set up man. His strength along the boards is the best on the team.

I didn't see any arc at all. More like he used his stick like a pool cue. Maybe we're taking about different events?

This is a little late but I was Sergei play last Sunday in Kingston. He showed quite impressive stick handling skills and made some great passes. His finishing wasn't as good as he fumbled the puck or buried into the goaltenders chest each of the 3 or 4 times he was open in front of the net. He will benefit greatly from an increase in size and strength - he was fairly easily pushed off the puck a few times. He wasn't afraid to go into the corners though. What I mainly wanted to comment on was his ice time and conditioning. The Knights basically played a large part of the game and most of the last 30 minutes with 7 forwards and 4 defencemen. I was sitting behind the Knight's bench and judging from the players reactions this seems to be the norm. Kostitsyn was one of these 7 forwards. He probably played close to 30 minutes. The Knights top forward, Rob Shremp, played even more. I timed him playing 6 out of 8 minutes at one point in the third period. What I like about this is that Sergei seems to be developing great stamina. I am a little worried though that it may also encourage him not to play hard in the first half of the game.

I'm going to disagree with this. When Theo was on top of his game he was great but he relied very much on his reflexes. He made great saves but his play was very frenetic. He was often scrambling, and making unbelievable kick saves and stops with his glove. It was very exciting to see. Although Huet has made a few unbelieveable stops (mainly with his glove) his great play is a product of good positioning and great rebound control. He just makes everything look easy where Theo made everything look spectacular (as it often was). IMO this indicates that Theo will be a great goalie on a weak team while Huet will be a great goalie on a good team. This meakes me happier about dealing Theo since I think we will be a pretty good team for the next few years.

I couldn't get that link to work - it reported no such page. I was watching the game on TSN with my PVR. TSN had a very good view of the spear taken from overhead (camera attached to the clock maybe?). I replayed it a few times in slow motion. I certainly didn't see any 45 degree stick swing. As the teams were skating back to the benches Boyton clearly prepared his stick and when he passed Ribeiro he quickly and discretely gave Ribs a quick spear. Probably only moved his stick 8 or 10 inches but it was clearly premeditated and also clear he tried to conceal it from the refs. I don't know how powerful it was. Very probably Ribeiro over dramatised it but his first response was not to fall or anything like that - he immediately shoved/punched Boyton in the head - also not very hard. Only after they were separated a minute later did he grab his stomach. I didn't see him really playing up the injury. Okay, you can see part of this at the end of the clip posted by JeanLuc:

I thought I would take advantage of the tremendous experience and brain power available at HW. My wife got us tickets to see the two Habs/Leafs games on Thursday March 23rd and Saturday March 25th in Montreal. We are going to take my 12 year old nephew along. (His mother is a Leaf's fan so I have a moral responsibility to rescue him from a life of dissapointment.) I have a couple of questions. 1. What time does the Bell Centre start admitting fans. I want to take him around the Bell Centre before the game to take him to see the Canadiens Hall of Fame, to purchase some Habs memorabillia and to eat dinner. Does any have any favourite foods to eat inside? 2. Does anyone have some suggestions on some activities in Montreal to fill the time between the two games. Thanks in advance for any help.

Well that seems reasonable. 2 illegal sticks is probably just bad housekeeping but 3 illegal sticks really should be punished.

You big ninny Simonus. Leave my friend Jean-Luc alone. If I'm not mistaken the only other penalty is that when a 2nd player from the same team is found with an illegal stick in the same shootout the team loses one of their shots.

How stupid can you get!! The new rule requires the refs to measure every stick before it is used in a shootout.

I think Aebischer's going to be an RFA at the end of the season. Does anyone know for sure?

Exactly.

After seeing the Lightning play against us last week. I'm convinced they will trade for a goaltender. Maybe they would like Aebisher? I am quite happy to finish the season with Huet and Danis. I don't expect to win the cup this year but they are good enough to get us into the playoffs and won't cost us a series.