Carey Price won his second straight start since taking over as Montreal's top goalie, and Tomas Plekanec had three power-play goals for his first hat trick in the Canadiens' 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Plekanec added an assist, Mark Streit had a goal and two assists, and Alex Kovalev had four assists for Montreal. The Canadiens moved ahead of idle Ottawa into first place in the Northeast Division with their sixth win in eight games.
Montreal has scored 11 goals in its last two games since being shut out by Columbus last Saturday, and its top-ranked power-play unit roughed up the Sabres by going 3-for-3.
The Canadiens, one point behind Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey heading into their game with the Devils on Saturday, have now connected five times over the past two games with the man advantage to raise their power-play efficiency rating to over 25 percent.
A noteworthy moment occured in a fight, as Guillaume Latendresse dropped the mitts with Nolan Pratt and dropped him with a straight jab to the chops.
The Canadiens played one of the most complete games we've seen of them so far this season, dominating the Sabres in pretty much every aspect of the game.
The banged-up Sabres front line was helped by the return of wingers Drew Stafford and Maxim Afinogenov. Stafford returned after missing 10 games because of an ankle injury, while Afinogenov missed the past 26 games because of a groin tear.
Still, their offense struggled after scoring eight times in a win against Nashville on Wednesday. The defense struggled as well, as Ryan Miller allowed 6 goals and saved 27 shots.
The Devils, who lead the Habs for the Eastern lead by a single point, are reeling from a home-ice shutout to the Capitals and newly acquired goalie Cristobal Huet. New Jersey suffered its first regulation loss in 10 games Friday.
The Devils, who own a one-point lead over Pittsburgh in the Atlantic, have followed a five-game win streak with back-to-back losses (0-1-1). They hadn't lost in regulation since a 2-1 defeat to Anaheim on Feb. 8.
New Jersey has won four straight at Montreal since a 3-2 loss on March 20, 2004.
The Habs and Devils have 2 games played (both in Jersey) and 2 remaining (in Montreal) on the season series. The Devils shutout Montreal 4-0 on November 30th, but the Habs played a stellar game led by Bryan Smolinski's 2 goals to come back and defeat a sluggish Devils team 4-3 on Jan. 24th. Huet was between the pipes for that win.
Brodeur, a Montreal native, is 9-1-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average in his last 10 starts against his hometown team. He had won nine in a row versus the Canadiens before the Jan. 24 loss.
The Habs are 0-5 vs. Quebecois goalies this season, having been shutout on 3 separate occasions.
Puck drop goes at 7:08.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Habs Visit Bernier, Sabres @ HSBC
The Montreal Canadiens will look to halt a red-hot Sabres offence tonight as they visit Buffalo at HSBC Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:38.
The Canadiens defeated the Thrashers on deadline day, putting a halt to a mini two-game losing skid. With the win, however, the Habs improved themselves to 34-21-9, and have won 5 of their last 7.
Chris Higgins, whose name was running rampid throughout deadline week, responded to not being traded on Tuesday night by cashing in on 2 goals and adding a helper to lead Montreal to the 5-1 rout. The Habs scored 4 third period goals in the effort, and newly appointed #1 goaltender Carey Price was stellar manning the pipes, stopping 26 of 27 shots thrown his way.
Price has become the go-to guy in Montreal after the Canadiens traded away G Cristobal Huet to Washington for Anaheim's 2nd round pick in 2009. Huet will be getting his first career start as a Capital tonight as the Caps visit New Jersey, a team which Huet has had very little success against in his career, going 1-6-0 in 7 career games vs. NJ.
The Sabres (31-24-9) have won three straight against Montreal, outscoring the Canadiens 11-3. Montreal had won the first two regular season meetings, but have since dropped 3 straight to trail the season-series by 1 game.
Steve Bernier is coming off an absolutely spectacular debut with Buffalo on Wednesday night. Bernier played his first game with his new team on Wednesday, scoring on his first two shots and adding an assist in an 8-4 home win over Nashville. Bernier was acquired by the Sabres from the Sharks along with a 1st round draft pick in exchange for two-time All-Star defensemen Brian Campbell and a 7th round draft pick. Campbell debuted with the Sharks Wednesday as well, tallying an assist.
Bernier's fifth career multi-goal game ended a career-worst 12-game goal-scoring drought. Bernier's impressive debut gives him 15 goals in 2007-08, matching the career high he set last season with the Sharks.
Buffalo find themselves tied with Philadelphia with 71 points through 64 games, but the Flyers own the 8th and final playoff as of now with 32 wins, one more than Buffalo.
The Canadiens are 5th in the East with 77 points, and trail division-leading Ottawa by a single point. The Devils lead the East with 80 points. Montreal and New Jersey play tonight, while Ottawa sits idle.
On a side note: Marian Hossa (a name we are all too familiar with these days) made his Pittsburgh Penguins debut last night and suffered an MCL injury. The team stated that he is expected to miss at least one week. Brad Richards, meanwhile, made his Stars debut last night as well, and figured in with 5 assists in a 7-4 win vs. Chicago.
The Canadiens defeated the Thrashers on deadline day, putting a halt to a mini two-game losing skid. With the win, however, the Habs improved themselves to 34-21-9, and have won 5 of their last 7.
Chris Higgins, whose name was running rampid throughout deadline week, responded to not being traded on Tuesday night by cashing in on 2 goals and adding a helper to lead Montreal to the 5-1 rout. The Habs scored 4 third period goals in the effort, and newly appointed #1 goaltender Carey Price was stellar manning the pipes, stopping 26 of 27 shots thrown his way.
Price has become the go-to guy in Montreal after the Canadiens traded away G Cristobal Huet to Washington for Anaheim's 2nd round pick in 2009. Huet will be getting his first career start as a Capital tonight as the Caps visit New Jersey, a team which Huet has had very little success against in his career, going 1-6-0 in 7 career games vs. NJ.
The Sabres (31-24-9) have won three straight against Montreal, outscoring the Canadiens 11-3. Montreal had won the first two regular season meetings, but have since dropped 3 straight to trail the season-series by 1 game.
Steve Bernier is coming off an absolutely spectacular debut with Buffalo on Wednesday night. Bernier played his first game with his new team on Wednesday, scoring on his first two shots and adding an assist in an 8-4 home win over Nashville. Bernier was acquired by the Sabres from the Sharks along with a 1st round draft pick in exchange for two-time All-Star defensemen Brian Campbell and a 7th round draft pick. Campbell debuted with the Sharks Wednesday as well, tallying an assist.
Bernier's fifth career multi-goal game ended a career-worst 12-game goal-scoring drought. Bernier's impressive debut gives him 15 goals in 2007-08, matching the career high he set last season with the Sharks.
Buffalo find themselves tied with Philadelphia with 71 points through 64 games, but the Flyers own the 8th and final playoff as of now with 32 wins, one more than Buffalo.
The Canadiens are 5th in the East with 77 points, and trail division-leading Ottawa by a single point. The Devils lead the East with 80 points. Montreal and New Jersey play tonight, while Ottawa sits idle.
On a side note: Marian Hossa (a name we are all too familiar with these days) made his Pittsburgh Penguins debut last night and suffered an MCL injury. The team stated that he is expected to miss at least one week. Brad Richards, meanwhile, made his Stars debut last night as well, and figured in with 5 assists in a 7-4 win vs. Chicago.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2 Sweet Ovechkin Pics
Hey guys...I was doing a bit of reasearch on where my visitiors to this site were coming from (thanks to StatCounter, the visitor counter you find in blue at right), and I found that a LOT (87) came from a different hockey ediotrial website, because they had linked my "Report: Habs Order Equpiment For Hossa" story on one of their articles.
I checked that article, and I was thrilled to find a feature story about Alex Ovechkin and his new girlfriend, and a nice pic of him being drunk. It's located under the Chris Simon "Welcome Back, Psychopath" story and just above the "Vanek Is A Prophet" story, which contains the link to my article. Enjoy! http://deadspin.com/359048/welcome-back-psychopath
p.s. I just found another link to a the Hossa story I posted on another site, I'm loving this. http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/21/a-fitting-hossa-rumor-for-montreal/
I checked that article, and I was thrilled to find a feature story about Alex Ovechkin and his new girlfriend, and a nice pic of him being drunk. It's located under the Chris Simon "Welcome Back, Psychopath" story and just above the "Vanek Is A Prophet" story, which contains the link to my article. Enjoy! http://deadspin.com/359048/welcome-back-psychopath
p.s. I just found another link to a the Hossa story I posted on another site, I'm loving this. http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/21/a-fitting-hossa-rumor-for-montreal/
CH is for CHemistry
CH is for Chemistry...we are not a team of one player, we are a team of many players...many players who seem to believe in each other. Chemistry, right now, seems to be our biggest asset, and it was kept at the deadline.
I sided with Bob Gainey at 3PM and I'm glad I can do it again tonight. I would have loved to get Hossa but if there is one GM in the league that we don't have to question its Gainey.
With Gainey you can be sure that he explored every avenue and thought about it long and hard, the man knows what he did and I think he did right. Look at the game tonight, the players were so happy to be with each other and the chemistry on the ice was evident. Give time to Grabs to get settled, expect Ryder to get back on the top line if this re-newed confidence grows, and Sergei will drop w/ Grabs and Latendresse (this is a line where #84 can actually do something with his size)...
This gives us 4 complete attacking lines;
Kovy, Pleks, Andrei - This is our big line, it has been shut down recently, so we need secondary scoring.
Higs, Koivu, Ryder - On the PPlay tonight this line clicked and brought back visions of last season. If this line can start producing now, everyone would forget about the awkward start to the season and would give us the very much needed secondary scoring.
Sergei, Grabs, Lats - This would be our energy line, you have speed and grit w/ Sergei, size and decent finishing w/ Lats and Grabs is just a VERY complete player (I'm very happy we didn't let him go). Yes this line may get caught in transition coming out of the D-zone, and may sometimes get burned for the offensive-mindedness, but this line is meant to boost the guys on the bench as they see the youngsters getting into it.
Begin, Laps, Streit - This is our checking line, we know Begin CAN throw the body, and we know Lapierre CAN get feisty, and we know Streit is so versatile...this line can go up against 2nd or 3rd line opponents and play a good cycle deep, keep opponents off the scoreboard and get some ugly goals...if they don't perform we'll have the always hungry, Dandenault and Kostopoulos to bring in energy to the next game and Smolinski for.......... well he's useless, maybe they need a centreman in Hamilton
On defense we're fine as long as Brisebois stays "rayez de la formation" and everyone stays healthy. But Carbo...if you're reading this...say someone gets injured...play Streit or Dandenault on D before going to Breezer...PLEASE!!!
In nets...Price knows it, even though he won't say it, he is the number one man, this season, next season and for many more to come. And for the complainers...what did Huet do this season? He didn't steal one game all season, he may have even lost some for us. He may be a loss in the locker room but he isn't one on the ice. Price knows what he has to do and he is great under pressure, history shows us that, this is another level of pressure and I think he will handle it well. Most importantly, the guys in front of him have confidence in him, as they should, and that really does make all the difference.
This is our team going into the playoffs, I do believe that we are serious, I do believe that we are for real, however there is still one element missing, but don't kid yourself, that element IS NOT Marian Hossa.
K_cardi.
I sided with Bob Gainey at 3PM and I'm glad I can do it again tonight. I would have loved to get Hossa but if there is one GM in the league that we don't have to question its Gainey.
With Gainey you can be sure that he explored every avenue and thought about it long and hard, the man knows what he did and I think he did right. Look at the game tonight, the players were so happy to be with each other and the chemistry on the ice was evident. Give time to Grabs to get settled, expect Ryder to get back on the top line if this re-newed confidence grows, and Sergei will drop w/ Grabs and Latendresse (this is a line where #84 can actually do something with his size)...
This gives us 4 complete attacking lines;
Kovy, Pleks, Andrei - This is our big line, it has been shut down recently, so we need secondary scoring.
Higs, Koivu, Ryder - On the PPlay tonight this line clicked and brought back visions of last season. If this line can start producing now, everyone would forget about the awkward start to the season and would give us the very much needed secondary scoring.
Sergei, Grabs, Lats - This would be our energy line, you have speed and grit w/ Sergei, size and decent finishing w/ Lats and Grabs is just a VERY complete player (I'm very happy we didn't let him go). Yes this line may get caught in transition coming out of the D-zone, and may sometimes get burned for the offensive-mindedness, but this line is meant to boost the guys on the bench as they see the youngsters getting into it.
Begin, Laps, Streit - This is our checking line, we know Begin CAN throw the body, and we know Lapierre CAN get feisty, and we know Streit is so versatile...this line can go up against 2nd or 3rd line opponents and play a good cycle deep, keep opponents off the scoreboard and get some ugly goals...if they don't perform we'll have the always hungry, Dandenault and Kostopoulos to bring in energy to the next game and Smolinski for.......... well he's useless, maybe they need a centreman in Hamilton
On defense we're fine as long as Brisebois stays "rayez de la formation" and everyone stays healthy. But Carbo...if you're reading this...say someone gets injured...play Streit or Dandenault on D before going to Breezer...PLEASE!!!
In nets...Price knows it, even though he won't say it, he is the number one man, this season, next season and for many more to come. And for the complainers...what did Huet do this season? He didn't steal one game all season, he may have even lost some for us. He may be a loss in the locker room but he isn't one on the ice. Price knows what he has to do and he is great under pressure, history shows us that, this is another level of pressure and I think he will handle it well. Most importantly, the guys in front of him have confidence in him, as they should, and that really does make all the difference.
This is our team going into the playoffs, I do believe that we are serious, I do believe that we are for real, however there is still one element missing, but don't kid yourself, that element IS NOT Marian Hossa.
K_cardi.
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