Not What I Was Hoping For.

I woke up this morning later than usual. For me, 9 AM is a good hour to wake up on a weekend. I am a morning person and I love being lazy on weekend mornings, doing nothing except watching stupid YouTube videos and reading about the Habs.

Anyways, back to today. Today I received a phone call at 11:45 from my cousin; I rolled myself out of bed and answered the phone with more of a growl then a "hello"
Anyways.... back to what I wanted to say.

So I was doing my usual Habs reading when I say something that scared me: KOMISAREK OUT MINIMUN 3 WEEKS WITH LOWER BACK INJURY.

Mikey (As I like to call him) is having a career year with leading the league in blocked shots and hits. He brings an irreplaceable playfulness to the locker room.
This will be the first major player that we have lost this year due to injury. It will be exciting to see how O’Byrne will step us his game and try to fill that physical role.

On a more important note. Who will be asked to take over the 8th spot of defense? Will Brisebois play? Dandenault? Or will Streit be moved back to defense?

Personally I would like to rather Streit be moved back to defense, however what would that match ups be. With Komisarek, he was perfect for Markov. Markov is a fast offensive Defenseman who loved to join the rush. But who on our lineup can play that Strong defensive role? The quick answer would be O’Byrne, but I would be scared to place him there because he is still a rookie and is sometimes out of position. Streit? He isn’t a strong enough backwards skater and is sometimes afraid to use his body. Brisebois? Please, don’t even get me started. It is because of this that I feel that Dandenault will get the call.

Check back later for updates.
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Guillaume Latendresse will also miss the game with neck spasms. Ouch... Anyways, expect Bryan Smolinski and Steve Bégin (YES!!!) back in the lineup. Also expect Streit to play defense. I still would rather dandenault play. But then again, we aren't keepingf him so whats the point. I guess Streit is better in the long run.

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For the fun of if, try and come up with your own line combinations. Try to think of each players styles and who they would play best with.

M-V-P!

First Of All...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=meFICJYORvA

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It's really been a luxury to Canadiens fans to see AK-27 strut his stuff every night this season. I didn't jump on his bandwagon this season, I liked him last season and the season before and even when he did nothing in his first 12 games here. I just always liked him. My friends, my father judged him by his offensive output. I just liked the moves he makes with such ease. Last year he showed up only on some night, but i accepted it.

This season. Without Kovy, we'd be nowhere and that's a given. Not only has he taken the entire team on his shoulders and taken them up a mountain to first place, but he has also jump-started the careers of Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec. Every night, even on an off night, there is some move that makes you jump.

What sticks out for me this season so far in terms of highlights, after Kostitsyn's three goals; I think of when he hurt his thumb, and on the next shift, as if proving to everyone that he's okay, he pulled out these dekes, and this pass a-la-Bure, kicking it and passing it back. Then i think of when he lost his glove against the Bruins, had the puck, picked up his glove while maintain control of the puck. Anyway I'm not going through all my memories of this memorable season, what Iwanted to get at was my favorite Kovalev move. The Backwards spin. I think he used that move for the first time last season in an Overtime against the Sabres. I think. and it was sick. He does it every now and then, and its actually one of the best moves in his arsenal. Last night was picture perfect. On Chara, scores. As weak as it was, WOW! Ditto on the second goal. Weak but WOW!

I still think that if Washington makes the playoffs, Ovechkin, or Malkin, but Kovy has to be in the MVP race. He has to be.

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Lines were rolling again last night, our rejuvenated Captain is delivering, and I think its a matter of time before Higgins and Ryder get their 45343rd chance to reunite with Saku. Kostopolous dropped the gloves finally, I've been getting frustrated, when we've been losing lately I've wanted to see someone drop the gloves, just for the sake of dropping them. Against Ottawa or something, it was nice to see TK defend my boy Andrei.

Grabovski is too small. He actually just gets bounced around. He needs to put on thirty pounds or so, so he doesn't go flying every time he gets touched.

I love Lapierre. Missed him the last few games.

Hope Komisarek isn't out for too long, but Streit can definitely get it done on D while he's gone. Ryan O'Bryne will get a nice increase in playing time, so we'll see how he responds to that. Gorgeous Gorges was the guy who got the extra playing time in the first period before Carbo re-adjusted things. He played just under 23 minutes, which was second on the team. Second game in a row that he was second in minutes to Markov. Thought that was interesting.

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See You at the Bell Tomorrow. It would be psycho if they do it, and I'm gonna go against my gut, and pick Les Habitants to pull through yet again, 4-1 over the Bruins tomorrow night.

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Quote Of The Week:

"I feel good. A little bored, but good."

-Richard Zednik, March 20

Going for 10 in a row

The Habs go for the 10th straight win against the Bruins Thursday night in Boston.It is the first game of a home and home series between the two teams

This season the Habs have outscored the Bruins 32-12 this season, including two occasions with 7 or more goals.

Carey Price Gets the call, after sitting out the last 2 games, and looks to get the team back on the winning side after a shootout loss to the St-Louis Blues. Price has faced the Bruins 3 times this season, obviously winning all 3 contests.

The Bruins are beginning to look like the Canadiens of recent years due to their inconsistency. One night they look as if they could be one of the most dominant teams in the East, and then the next night they get shutout and let in 8 goals.

This game will be interesting as it may be a potential playoff preview seeing as the Habs are currently matched up against the Bruins. More interesting though is how the losing team (cough! cough! the Bruins) recovers on Saturday night at the Bell Center .

We'll take it

The Canadiens tie the New Jersey Devils for the Eastern Conference lead after a 4-3 shootout loss to the St-Louis Blues on Tuesday. On paper, it was a game that the Habs should have won effortlessly, but came up short to a team that played like they had nothing to lose.


It was a game that the Blues took control of from the very start. Keith Tkachuk scored the opening goal on a 5-3 powerplay, 5 min into the game. Chris Higgins then scored his first goal in the last 10 games, and then Saku Koivu gave the Habs the lead 10 minutes into the second period. But the Habs held their only lead of the game for 47 seconds, after Andy McDonald caught Jaroslav Halak off guard. Brad Boyes gave the Blues the lead, until Mikhail Grabovski tied it up with 10 minutes left in the 3rd. Overtime solved nothing, and Saku Koivu missed a golden opportunity to give the Habs the lead in the shootout, and could not solve Manny Legace in the Shootout.

The game was Halak's first ever loss at the Bell Centre, and gave a performance he would surely like to have back. He made 25 saves in the loss and was caught off guard several times giving the Blues many great chances to score.

It was also possibly the worst game for the Pleckanec-Kovalev-A. Kostitsyn line all season, registering no point and generating very few scoring chances.

On the plus side, while the first line was not succeeding, the habs other lines really stepped up. The reunited line of Koivu-Higgins-Ryder played very well combining for 4 points, and Sergei Kostitsyn registered 2 assists, including one on the game tying goal by Mikhail Grabovski.

All in all, hats off to getting a point, but the Habs must play better down the stretch, especialy in the next 3 games.

The last "2 point game" of the season

The Canadiens face off against the St-Louis Blues Tuesday night, in what will be the final regular season game against a team not in the Northeast division.

Jaroslav Halak will get the start in goal after his shutout performance against the Islanders. He will in all likeliness face Manny Legace, who was one of the hottest goaltenders in the league, leading to the All-Star break.

The last time these two teams played each other was March 10th, 2007, where the Habs won the game 4-3. The Habs are 3-5-1 against Western conference teams this season, and are 1-2-1 against the Central Division.

The Blues currently sit 14th in the West and a loss will bring them ever so closer to being "officially" eliminated from playoff contention. The Habs must take advantage of this matchup as it will be their last meaningless game of the season. The rest of the schedule for the Habs this season contains 2 games against all 4 of their division rivals, each of them looking to either push for a playoff spot, or better secure their position. Toronto of course will in all likeliness try too hard to make a playoff push, but get stopped short and lose out on a good draft pick.