We keep eking out these games, but tell me, are any of you truley happy with this? Cudos to Carbs for benching Lanten. and Sergi…they both need it badly…Sergi needs to find his game and his head again, and Laten. can stay out…big lummox brings nothing to the game that we need.
Kovy still not looking like he’s interested in hockey right now…Tanguay playing like a scared little girl….Pleks is trying but I think it’s eveident he needs Kovy.
Good points last night….I like Lang (or anyone who’s gonna throw pucks at the net) on the PP blueline…seems like he’s the only one willing to shoot, so keep him there. Kostitsyn wants to play better and win…3 pts and 2 the night before….atta boy Andrei. And thank you Guy, finally got Higgins the hell away from Koivu, as soon as you did, 2 pts from our captain…..just wanna say also guys, remember the 8-1-1 start? And remember how Koivu and Tanguay were tearing it up in this stretch? All before Higgy came back and got injected onto this line like a smartly placed computer virus…just saying.
All in all, still not a good win. When the last placed team in the league comes back from a 3rd period 3 goal deficet, its not good…without Price right now, most of these slim victories would have went the other way.
Still need a wheelman on the PP desparately…letting Streit goes still sickens me. But guys, Brisbois is NOT it.
And I like that big George was in the lineup…but I think he needs to add another element to his game…crushing bodies on the boards. Boogard has played somewhat the same role in Min as George plays here, but now he’s added hitting…HARD… into his game…makes it hard for Lemaire to bench him now. Adds another facet to the game that other teams will be weary about…everytime you touch the puck along the boards, wondering if 250lbs of meat will be slamming into you….causes mistakes and turnovers…come on George, wanna see you in every game.

Good insight, and thanks for the feedback. And I guess we’ll find out soon enough whether or not Carbonneau knows how to turn this team around as the season is moving along quickly, or so it seems.

As to the idea that the Habs are turning the corner, I’m not sure I agree that they’re in the process of doing so just yet. I, for one, witnessed a number of incidents in last night’s game which left me wanting to curse at the television. The chronically dismal powerplay, the persisting reluctance to shoot the puck when given a grand opportunity to do so, the blown 3-0 lead in the third and the subsequent 1-goal victory against a subpar team that followed, etc. But perhaps my newly created ‘inner pessimist is simply getting the best of me’ right now and I’m looking for negatives. Perhaps not. Either way, my Habs glass is still in need of a refill. Watching and waiting…

On a more general note, NHL hockey has quite evidently become a full blown metrosexual sport and it sickens me. It’s getting (or has gotten to) the point where the players will soon lose their pads and replace them with little velcro flags which opposing players can pull off in place of a good, solid check, which is often grounds for penalization these days. Whatever happened to this sport? And (a great deal of) its fans for that matter? I recall talking to some Sharks fans friends during the Oilers’ run two years ago and they were persisting on the idea that the Oilers were a dirty team which took dirty shots and made dirty plays at every opportunity. Meanwhile, the play that they were referring to was clearly ‘hockey’ in its purest sense as far as I wa concerned. Honestly, did the NHL need to be shaped into an absurd form of wholesome family entertainment in order to be successful? Of course it did. And if things continue as they are, it will eventually become populated by figure skaters who couldn’t quite pull off a quadruple jump as well as their colleagues. (No offense to figure skaters, but this is hockey.)

Definitely a meltdown last night, but at least it was entertaining to watch. I can tell you I don’t miss the days when a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd meant turning off the TV and finding something else to do. It is tougher when it is your team blowing the lead, but I bet everyone here was on the edge of their seat.

It was nice to see Kostitsyn get it going. If he can get rockin’ and Kovalev and Koivu get back to form the Habs should be able to get back to the top of the Eastern conference where they belong.

ESPN highlights: “Maxim Laperierre finding Steve Bejohn.” Cooky.

P.S Guys….this is why I like coming to this site, you guys all watch and disect each game the way I do. We can be unhappy over a win and happy over a loss depending on how our boys played. You all have a great deal of hockey knowledge and its a pleasure sharing thought and comments with you all. Keep it up. )

Whhoooohoooo! that’s what I’m talking about. Great speed and determination out there, nothing pretty, (except that begin play) just hammer the puck on net and finish checks. And as good as that game was, just imagine if we had all our lines firing.

Great win. Latendresse might as well send his resume to Tim Hortons.

So what’s gonna become of Kovalev….any ideas anyone?
5,6 games with no goals is a slump….15 or 16 is dead in the water..thats 20% of the season.
3 options, the way I see it…..1) just let him stay there, taking up a spot, and keep concentrating on the rest of the team…2) maybe, if anyone is interested, would Gainey use him as trade bait? or 3) if you’re gonna keep trying to get him to come around, give him back Andrei…get Higgins away from him…Koivu looks renewed and seems to be flourishing since Higgins left the line..throw him up in the box with Latendresse…any other ideas ?

But kudos the rest of the boys…they seem to be rallying around the stagnet Kovalev and doin it themselves. 2 years ago the whole team died with Kovy…seems like this year they took the reins and said”we’ll be playing, scoring, and winning without ya Kovy, when you’re ready, why don’t ya join us”…so thumbs up for the recent benchings by Guy, thums up to D’Agostni…if this guy gets sent back down, Habs mngmt are retarded…and thums up to Price who’s winning games for us and keeping us in the ones where we dont wanna skate. Kovy buddy, better get goin soon, cuz as much as Hab-nation loves ya, the monster can also turn on you just as quick. Let’s go Habs !!!

Kovalev is a tough call, I agree that he’s best when he’s got some speed with him so why not throw him with Kostitsyn, and Plex it’s not like he could be doing worse. Last year he did so well is because I think he saw himself as a leader for the younger guys on the bench and his line, but now he doesn’t seem to have that leadership quality this year which hurts his hustle and drive. I think it’s too early to talk about trading him, I think he needs to sit for a while to get his bearings.

I’m sorry, I just can’t defend Higgins anymore, the guy looks completely lost out there, if he’s not falling down, he’s losing the puck. I’d love to see chippchura (spelling??) take his place.

I think for the most part that Kovy is just playing lazy. He’s not skating MOST of the time, and since the rest of the team started skating and working hard this last 3 games or so, it REALLY stands out that Kovy is not.
The guy can stick handle in a phone booth, but is anyone noticing what I have been…..he gets the puck, maneuvers inside the blue line, and then just glides….he slows down dramatically and yet still tries to stick handle around opposing players. If he just kept skating hard while making all those moves, he’d get more chances, be harder to control. Really all he’s doing by slowing to a glide is letting the opposition get back and play defense. Now instead of dealing with maybe 2 guys, the whole team is back there. Keep skating Kovy…go hard…remember the 2 beauts against Bos(I think) in the playoffs last year… Kovy was skating full stride on them both.

Very true Joseph. Confidence is a very funny and apparently fleeting thing. The other day when Kovalev had the puck on the side board with the goalie pulled, and threw it at the net, I can remember thinking immediately: “finally.” I wonder how things might have turned out in the days since if that puck hadn’t gone in off of Lang’s stick. Its all conjecture at this point, but your example of Boston is a good one considering at first they were winning all of their games by close margins and recently have been blowing teams out. When you have skill, and also have the confidence that you will score and win, you have a very scary combo at the NHL level. I would never admit that Savard, Lucic and Kessel have more cobined skill than our top forwards, but they keep winning and we keep scratching our heads. I’m excited for tomorrow (its kinda pathetic since its only been two days off) hopefully we can pull out another win to keep the consecutive points run going.

A solid game tonight by the home team. A good break in the first and solid goaltending by Jaroslav Halak allowed the Habs weather Calgary’s early attack. From that point on Montreal had great speed and solid neutral zone play which allowed them to take advantage of the Cowtown defenders. A perfect example of this was Matt D’Agostini’s goal. The kid is playing some extremely confident hockey these days which is great to see. Kovy had two assists tonight, and while the gods are still ignoring his prayers (see Markov’s goal), he is doing the kind of work that will soon bringhi out of his slump. Looks like both Latendresse and O’Byrne will see some ice time unless the injuries to Dandenault and Higgins turn out to be bumps or bruises. 2 points in the bank.