Habs Douse Flames But Get Shocked By Lightning

The Montreal Canadiens played two games since our last recap here, so lets get to it.

Montreal pulled out a very impressive win vs. Calgary on a snowy Tuesday evening in Montreal...a VERY SNOWY evening.

The Habs dominated the Flames throughout the night, making the game more about speed and skill than size and strength. The Flames simply weren't able to keep up against a motivated Alex Tanguay and company.

The newly assembled big line of Robert Lang, Tanguay and Alex Kovalev was outstanding. Lang led the way with 2 goals and an assist, while Kovalev and Tanguay helped out with 2 helpers a piece.

Jaroslav Halak was brilliant in goal, turning aside 32 of 33 shots fired his way, beaten only by Dustin Boyd.

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Jaro got the call again last night vs. Tampa Bay as Carey Price continues to battle a cold/flu. However, the outcome was totally different vs. Tampa Bay, as the Canadiens became the team being outworked, outhustled and outscored.

In an embarassing effort, Montreal fell 3-1 to the Lightning, who were led by Quebec's own Martin St.Louis and Vinny Lecavalier.

St.Louis potted 2 goals, and Vinny added the other which wound up being the game winner. He also had an assist.

Halak stopped just 19 of 22 shots fired his way in this contest, and was weak on two goals.

At the other end, Ollie Kolzig got the job done for Tampa in rare fashion to notch his second win of the season. Kolzig was busy, stopping 31 shots...and he made a couple miraculous saves to keep the puck out of the net as well.

Matt D'Agostini, who scored vs. the Flames, failed to score vs. Tampa, putting an end to his four-game goal streak.

Montreal's powerplay continues to struggle, going a combined 1-for-9 in those 2 games. They went 1-for-6 vs. Tampa.

Montreal now preps to host Washington tomorrow night. Washington, who have been playing without 10 of their regulars for a few weeks now, are reportedly set to welcome back a few of them, notably Mike Green and Alex Semin, with the possibility of Sergei Fedorov as well.

Montreal looks as if they are switching roles with Washington. Already without Mike Komisarek, they can now add three names to the injured list thanks to their last two games. Injured vs. Calgary were Mathieu Dandenault (broken arm) and Chris Higgins (shoulder). Yesterday, Saku Koivu left in the 2nd period with a lower-body injury.