RYAN O'BYRNE will dress tonight in place of Patrice Brisebois as the Habs head into Tampa Bay for their first post All-Star Game matchup.
The Habs (27-13-6) have a very tough February schedule ahead of them with many of their games on the road. Matchups like these vs. the lower teams in the league are now more critical than ever, and the Habs will have a few of these key games upcoming this week. They visit Florida Thursday, then head home to host L.A. Saturday before hosting the red-hot Bruins Sunday.
Along with my brother and a load of friends (14 in total), I will be invading Ottawa to catch the Habs taking on the Senators at Scotia Bank Place.
Montreal (26-11-6) find themselves 4th in the Eastern Conference, 12 points behind Division leading Boston. They have been hot of late, winning 8 of their last 10 including last night's 3-2 home-ice win vs. the Nashville Predators. The seeding is a little surprising when comparing them to Boston, but it doesn't compare to the stunning position Ottawa finds themselves in midway through the season.
The Senators are 13th in the Conference, and they have 2 less points than even the lowly Lightning.
Ottawa has 15 wins through 42 games (15-21-6). As shocking as that is, this might be more-so: The Senators, last year's highest scoring team, is this year's lowest with 101 goals for. Detroit leads that category with 165.
Not many would have predicted the Sens to be lower than Toronto in the Division, but indeed they are. They find themselves 4 points back of their provincial rivals, but to their credit, they do have 2 games in hand.
Look for us on the CBC coverage tomorrow, as I should be holding a sign for PJ Stock, who has personally promised to try to get me on the Hockey Night in Canada highlight reel.
Any ideas of what I should write on a sign would be appreciated!
The feud between fellow Belarussians has taken another twist.
Mikhail Grabovski, as many of you should remember, was a Montreal Canadien for a while not that long ago. He tried to make his way into the lineup a few times, but was never really able to nail a spot down.
The emergence of Sergei Kostitsyn as a ready-made NHLer all but stamped Grabovski ticket out of town. On July 3rd, 2008, the Montreal Canadiens traded Mikhail Grabovski to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Greg Pateryn and a 2nd round selection in 2010.
Grabovski was then asked whether he had any friends left in Montreal. He was very quick and abrupt to answer "NO."
On November 8th, 2008, the two clubs met for the second time this season. Sergei Kostitsyn felt the need to remind Grabovski that he stole his spot, and he took a charging penalty that seemed to really spark the fire.
Then, yesterday, Mikhail Grabovski went in search for revenge in front of his former hometown crowd. Unfrotunately for him, the referee seemed to win whatever of a fight there was.
As seen above, Grabovski abused an official, and was suspended for three games today by the NHL.
But it didn't end there.
Last night, before boarding his team bus, Grabovski had this to say to a reporter:
"I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys," Grabovski said. "I don't know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we'll go in the street and every minute of every day I'll wait for him and we'll fight."
It's uncertain why these two have such bad blood, but Kostitsyn gave his reasons.
"He talks too much in the Russian papers about me and my brother," Kostitsyn said of his elder brother and teammate Andrei.
But Grabovski insists his problem only involves Sergei.
"He's not smart, because the older Kostitsyn, Andrei, he never fights with me and he never will fight because he plays hockey, he plays the game," he said. "I think it's stupid."
We'll see these two teams hit the ice next on Feb. 7 in Montreal. It's almost certain they'll cross paths once again. The question is whether or not the refs will stay out of it and let them square up.
The Montreal Canadiens wound up winning the game by a score of 6-2. Sergei Kostitsyn was one of six different Canadiens' goalscorers.
Sorry for the prolonged absence - I had myself a very busy albeit fun holiday season and didn't have much time to update the blog.
But, the holidays are over, and HHT is back!
The Habs have done well since our last post, imrpoving to 22-10-6. Their next test is Wednesday night in NY to face the Rangers, before returning home Thursday to host the Maple Leafs.
Hahahha...this will never get old, will it?
