montreal canadiens hockey – habs blog RSS

Kovalev’s Team

  • Excuse the commercial for Warrior, but this is a pretty impressive video.

    Makes you wonder why Kovalev doesn’t score 50+ a year? Then you realize Hockey is a team sport and individual skill can only take you so far. Impressive nonetheless.

    Kovalev and his 21 goals and 44 points lead the Canadiens in both categories. Not to mention the +10 he’s posted. Leading by example you might say.

    Goal scoring is what they’ll need against Martin Brodeur and the Devils tonight. In particular, the first goal.

    The Canadiens have not won in NJ in nearly 6 years and only twice in over 14 years! Almost unbelievable.

    Coming off an impressive 8 goal outburst, the Canadiens can’t be any more confident to break the curse than they are right now.

Leave a Comment Leave a Comment
72 Comments
  1. #1 habsfan says:
    January 26, 2008 at 10:20 am

    any of you going to the game on feb 23? I am! Man the tickets were $100.00!But it’s on Gainey’s jersey night so no duh.

  2. #2 patrick says:
    January 26, 2008 at 10:58 am

    its a little obvious the capitals are not trading ovechkin, please give it up on that, only a fantasy.

    maybe we got a chance at hossa if atlanta can’t sign him, how about ryder, 1st round pick, gorges, it will probably take more though.

  3. #3 habman says:
    January 26, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    Any body here play hockey?….anybody here at least old enough to drink in the bar?…any body follow any hockey outside north America?…I hope they ban pro hockey at the olympics!!!…any steriod use out there in the NHL??..you bet!

  4. #4 habman says:
    January 26, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Whos the most important person in NHL or high levl hockey celeb you talk to..anybody?..me it was VIP lounge at the memorial cup..i got to drink and have dinner with Rodger Nielson(bless his soul),Frank Mahovlich,I got signed Pictures of Rocket Richard,ive have wine glasses we “saluted “with..do you know how much of an *** bobby clarke is?…HUMANS we all are!

    By the way..keep Frank aweay from your wives, hes one player and he looks like hes 45 years old..my ol lady just about wanted to sleep with this guy..hes very very class act!

  5. #5 Don Carnage says:
    January 26, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    49 habsfan
    Posted on January 26th, 2008 at 10:10 am. About ‘Kovalev’s Team’.

    Huet didn;t play well at all…3 goals on 13 shots! That’s unacceptable.

    You are aware that 2 of those 3 goals were on the PP right? And one of them was a 5 on 3 ..

  6. #6 Don Carnage says:
    January 26, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Oh and the most famous or as you say high level players I talked to are , Guy Lafleur and Wayne Gretsky, I have both the autographs of course … they both are super guys , very down to earth types.

  7. #7 habsofthefuture says:
    January 26, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    I am(Eklund) told that the Sabres are seriously in the running for Jokinen and that the other team in the running is the MONTREAL CANADIENS…The Flames have also been often linked, however Calgary may be turning to Sundin or Foppa according to a few people here in Atlanta.
    What do you guys think?Is It Possible or just B/S.It Would be a sweet pick.

  8. #8 habman says:
    January 26, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    Lafluer is my favorite player..i have an old 70′s hockey book with him as a rookie in it..he was to come to my town but poor weather stopped the plane !…id like to meet him…..Phanuef is a starter tonight…they couldnt pick Ribero?…two from Detriot and Two from Calgary…like Green isnt good enough?…who picks these players…alot of good guyz got snubbed!

    your lucky to have met the “guY” carnage…ive been “upped”…i hope to meet Beliveau one day…before he croaks…i mean before i croak,,hes timeless that dude..

  9. #9 habman says:
    January 26, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    Well..i least i got drunk with them..lol..

  10. #10 habsfan says:
    January 26, 2008 at 10:30 pm

    Man Marky did good in the 1st round of the skills competition…

  11. #11 habsfan says:
    January 26, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    55 Don Carnage
    Posted on January 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm. About ‘Kovalev’s Team’.

    49 habsfan
    Posted on January 26th, 2008 at 10:10 am. About ‘Kovalev’s Team’.

    Huet didn;t play well at all…3 goals on 13 shots! That’s unacceptable.

    You are aware that 2 of those 3 goals were on the PP right? And one of them was a 5 on 3 …

    That is true.

  12. #12 habsfan says:
    January 27, 2008 at 10:55 am

    43 Ben
    Posted on January 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am. About ‘Bring on Boston’.

    WE’ll I much rather Hamerlik over Souray, specially that now we can count on the rest of the team to score in powerplay. Just imagine all the Turn Overs in our zone if you had Sheldon and Brisbois together. Holly s… lol we’d be in big trouble.
    LOL

  13. #13 patrick says:
    January 27, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    there’s a rumour that the Canes want to move eric cole, that’s the type of player the Habs should go get

  14. #14 Xtrahabsfan says:
    January 27, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    Wow patrick,now thats news…And even if Cole did a Samsonov if traded to the Habs atleast we would never have to play against he and his Hab killing ways! I’d trade for Cole in a heart beat as long as his health was good”neck?”…Cole for Ryder and Smoke.

  15. #15 habs mojo says:
    January 28, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Anyone know what the compensation is for the All Star game..

  16. #16 STUO11 says:
    January 28, 2008 at 10:06 am

    and Bob Gainey is probably going to get someone from the west.Tanguay,Marleau etc.

  17. #17 Donnie says:
    January 28, 2008 at 11:27 am

    Well fellow habs faithful. We got the second half starting on Tues. Home and home with Wash. to start things off. Kind of worried…we all know what happened after the break last year…..think this year will be different though. They seem a happier team, and a team that has found its way. never thought they could do this without Ryder though….without Koivu really, also. Kovy’s line gotta keep it up…Kostitsyn is looking fabulous. Huet has gotta be just as stelar this whole half (including 3rd periods).
    All in all I think we look great…a total breakdown can’t happen 2 years in a row…can it? Come on bloggers….assure me, lol
    I really wanna cheer for my team in the playoffs again….at least 2nd round would put a rain cloud over the whole season…don’t ya think.
    Good to see Koivu got a couple of points the last game played…all he’s gotta do is keep it up…history with Koivu and longer point streaks isn’t very good, but we’ll see.
    Keep it strong team….keep having fun….keep scoring like you’re doing….Komaserek, keep hittin everything that moves….Kovy’s line, keep scoring and thrilling us with some high flying hockey and great stick-handling….Begin, stay outta the box…..Ryder, lets start scoring like you can again….and lets catch those Sens, and at least have a crack at a higher seeding than 4th. GO HABS GO !!!

  18. #18 Jaker1 says:
    January 28, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    Hope Gainey does not give away any of the future for a rental player. I would sooner see him wait until the summer and get a player without giving anything up. I think they will make the playoffs but I really do not believe they are ready to challenge for the cup. I am a fan but I am also a realist.

  19. #19 Donnie says:
    January 28, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    Totally agree Jaker. Still quite a few elements missing for a bonafide Cup run. Kovy is finally playing hockey, along with Kostitsyn and Plekanec….but Higgins, Ryder, Koivu has busted….this was the main line the last 2 years, and while waiting for Kovy to start putting up numbers, I don’t think anyone could guess that this line would totally break down in the process. So, only 1 dependable scoring line is one hinderance.
    Gotta find a way to combat a strong forecheck. Any games this year where the Habs have been outplayed and beaten, the opposition has forechecked hard, consistenly. Our boys don’t like the pressure, and can’t seem to get that first outlay pass to get offensive going. A Cup winner has gotta have a way out of their zone no matter what.
    Third, is to play strong defensive hockey WITHOUT taking penalties. Weather ya like him or not, Begin is famous for this. Putting the team down for 2 minutes at different times in the game because some of our defensive forwards can’t defend without goin to the box. And with all the 1 goals games we’re playing this year, a penalty at a crucial time could mean many playoff losses.
    A tough guy isn’t crucial, but it would help. Someone on the bench, a presense that would let the opposing players know that if you mess with our producers there’s gonna be consequences (kinda like Bougaard or Laraque). Komisarek is argueably the best knuckle chucker on the team now, but we can’t keep using him because he’s getting way too valuable with his hitting, shot blocking and strong defensive hockey. Besides that, he’s not a player that puts fear into opposing players for his scraping abilities.
    Last but definetly not least is our man between the pipes. Huet could possibly do it….any goalie can really get hot down the stretch into the playoffs and take their team all the way….however, I don’t think he’s proven this yet. He’s playing great in net right now and has been for a while, but poor decsions when handling the puck out of his net, and weak 3rd period performances are gonna hold us back. Yopur goalie is stellar, and has to be the backbone of a Cup run (like a Brodeur, Giguere, or Roy).
    Saying all of this, anything could happen…look at 93…we weren’t a marvelous team then by any stretch, but everything connected and fell into place just at the right time to take home the silverware. I bet alot of bookies lost their shirts on that one. We’re playing good hockey, racking up the points…just gotta have a strong 2nd half now also. Realistically though, we don’t have a Cup runner here, but we got the makins’…stay strong, parts that are working gotta keep geling, and parts that aren’t working gotta start geling. All in all…we do look better now than we have in years, and high hopes are starting to sneak back in to the minds of all of us Habs faithful. GO HABS GO !!!

  20. #20 Xtrahabsfan says:
    January 29, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Sean Avery has hit a roadblock in N.Y. I propose a swap for Ryder,great move for both players and teams?

  21. #21 patrick says:
    January 29, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    eh, he’d be fun to see in a Hab uniform, but Carolina’s supposed to be desperate to make a deal, let’s get Cole (for Ryder and change).

  22. #22 Habfreak says:
    January 30, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    Let’s get cole for ryder and avery for cole!

« Older Comments
Leave a Comment
ShoutBox
Last Message 8 hours, 50 minutes ago
2 guests are online.
  • goalie : Didn't get to see the game at all but it's great to see Pacs get a hat trick and fpor Cole to be + 3. When was the last time this team won three games in a row? Great victory -looks like they're giving 100% effort!
  • Senet1 : 4-2 win habs
  • Senet1 : Gomez scores, Yea!!!
  • goalie : As I said yesterday it will be interesting to see what our lame ass GM gets for players he ships out. Bourque is good and he'll help us but I still think we could have gotten more for him and for Halak when he was traded.
  • Avatar37 : round those picks occur (probably 3rd).
  • Avatar37 : An interesting article. If we slip to the 5th or 7th draft pick, a very interesting case could be made for drafting Galchenyuk. If we wind up with the second or third pick, I'm not sure who I'd draft, because clearly Yakupov is going to be drafted first overall. Our second round pick also becomes interesting, I know I'd take Vasilevski if he were still available. It will also be interesting to see if we can turn some of our veteran players (Moen, Gill, Campoli) into draft picks, and what
  • Avatar37 : «link»
  • Avatar37 : That is why PG should have waited on trading Cammalleri. Right now, there is a high demand for a top 6 forward, we could have gotten much more than Bourque in return. That isn't a knock against Bourque, but a knock against a knee-jerk reaction trade that didn't maximize our return on a top asset.
  • Avatar37 : «link»
  • Avatar37 : chips fall where they may. After all, the only difference between finishing 17th and 29th is how good a pick you get in the draft.
  • Avatar37 : We currently sit in 26th place in the league. We are 15 points ahead of Columbus, it's safe to bet at this point they will place last. We are, however, only 4 points ahead of Edmonton so it's still wide open as to who is going to finish second last. I still think that it's time to sit the veterans, play the youth, let them get experience, and regroup for next year. I'm not suggesting deliberately tanking like the Penguins, but give all our young players lots of playing time and let the c
  • Avatar37 : goalie - If it were not for the play of Cammalleri, we would never have made it out of round 1. Cammalleri played as big a part, if not bigger, than Halak did. Sure, Halak played well, but remember the team collapsed in front of him, making his job much easier. We had lots of blocked shots and the ones that got through were typically from the outside.
  • Senet1 : Goalie you are absolutely right, of course the one thing we had the two previous years that won the games that we are losing this year was our power play. If you look at say 10 games that we should have won had we had a similar power play, again we would not be having these conversations. When your PP goes from first to last in the league that is a lot of goals.How many games have we lost this year by one goal. Again poor management who did not prepare for Markov's possible absence.
  • goalie : I'll put it another way.... we need more players who are willing to get their noses dirty.
  • goalie : Two years ago when our goaltending stole series adn our players suddenly scored the coaches / GM believed that that was our true team . Well time has proven that was not. Though I was very glad to see the Habs knock off some very good teams we were very fortunate. And fortunate that spring was spelled HALAK!
  • goalie : The wrst mistake management could possibly make I believe is to say, we played well some games and we believe the team can play to that level more often in the future. This team CANNOT adnb DOES NOT play to a high enough level. Please do not kid yourself mamngement. hat is partially why we're in the lace we are.
  • goalie : Senet is correct when he says that if we had more games with a better efort this year we'd likely be in the playoffs. It has been very inconsistent effort but much more than that. We lack big, tough playing and finishing. Never mind fighting for a moment. We did not compete for the pucks nor along the boards nor in front of both nets enough this year. Thus we are in 29th. If the coaching staff doesn't see that then they shouldn't be there.
  • Senet1 : Surely Molson is not going to keep him as the GM?
  • Senet1 : when he knows he will be fired at the end of the season. Nothing really makes since in this whole process.
  • Senet1 : I am not sue why PG has not been fired by now. They could be waiting for another GM to come available at season end, but why would you not set up a committee to manage the team in the short run until a new GM can be named. There is no since in chaning coaches because whoever the GM is he will want to name his own coach. Gainey and a committe of other executives can manage the team through to the trading deadline and onward. What motivation does PG have to making any worthwhile trades when he is
  • Senet1 : I am too mch of a competitor to want my team to tank to. However, If these players played like they ae cabable of playing all year we would not be having this discussion right now, we woud be talking about the playoffs and who we would rather meet in the first round.
  • rocky : Exactly, and Senet nails it when he says we have not had an elite top 5 in the nhl player since lafleur.
  • goalie : I too want the Habs to get the best possible draft this June. We all need SOME hope!
  • rocky : He is persona non grata in habville, and a ghost in every sense of the term.
  • goalie : It remains a miracle how we have heard from our mighty GM twice since Christmas - the trades involving Spacek and Cammy and those comments were extremely brief. PG just does not cut it in my world. Part of a GMs job is to go public from time to time. PG never does that in fact he's a ghost GM!
  • rocky : Its true, there is no honor in that. These guys have only known the ethic of giving it all to win every night. I do not want them to "tank", and they will never do that anyway. I do want them to lose though, as awful as it sounds.
  • goalie : Roicky as a good point. We all want the Habs to get a really good draft pick. However, players, coaches etc. also have a keen desire to compete and win. That's why they're playing at the pro level. Thus we can only hope that the team plays some good games and let the chips fall where they may. After the disasterous season we've had let's not lower ourselves adn get involved in any dscussions about 'tanking' games.
  • rocky : So long.
  • Senet1 : Good discussion rocky, I have to step out for an hour, but may be back later.
  • Senet1 : The only way this team comes back to a team with long term potential is to draft a game breaker. Even all the other bad teams have a Stamkos or a player like him. He have some good player so what we need is a Malkin that we can count on 80% of the time to win a game for us.
  • rocky : I mean winning will only do them harm that is.
  • rocky : It really hurts because my reflexes make me want to cheer like mad, but it will only hurt the team now.
  • Senet1 : Yes I have mixed feeling when watching the game. Last night I say here we go again. with our record of shoot losses I did not expect to win that one. Yet I wanted to win real bad?????
  • rocky : God, so horrible to sit and hope for losses, but here we are.
  • Senet1 : Our problem is we play one out of every 4 games good and therefore, we play well enough to stay on the borderline of a top five pick. If we win three or four in a row we could take ourselves right out of the running.

You must be a registered user to participate in this chat

Archives
Blogroll
RSS
montreal canadiens hockey – habs blog
Copyright © 2010 montreal canadiens hockey - habs blog