Message to Bob Gainey: GET A GOON!

Following Saturday night's 7-4 massacre of the Boston Bruins on home ice, the Montreal Canadiens had plenty to be proud of, but their lack of a quality fighter to defend those star players is evident.

Games against the B's are always intense, leading to a few fights, notably Tom Kostopoulos dropping the mits twice, Andrei Kostitsyn learning a lesson a hard way to the hands of Mark Stuart, and Guillaume Latendresse taking a few swings at the monstrous Zdeno Chara.

Besides Kostitsyn's newfound fondness of dropping the gloves at an unexpected time (just kidding) and Kostopoulos getting slapped with a 1-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final minutes of the games, Latendresse showed Habs managment they need size and they need it now.

Taking on Chara is a big feat, someting your average player wouldn't dare image to attempt in his most twisted dreams, but when the antagonist attempts to concuss Alex Kovalev, who ducked out of the way near the end of the 3rd period along the right wing boads with Chara deliberately trying to make a sandwich out of his head and the glass, and you got a sophomore like Latendresse coming to his defence, it's sending a strong message to Mr Gainey up in his posh pressbox.

GET A GOON!

I'm not a big fan of what I call useless fighters, such as former duds like Aaron Downey and Garth Murray, but rather for the Habs picking up some muscle to defend their star players, in this case Kovalev.

Sure no one really wants to get a piece of Zdeno Chara, but in the end, when a guy like Jeremy Reich, who played a total of 4:10, is sent out onto the ice with a mission to knock down Carey Price, you need to have a goon there to show him who's boss.

GET A GOON!

Pick up Todd Fedoruk, who has just been waived by new co-GM's Brett Hull and Les Jackson in Dallas, to add some punch to the puzzle on what is poised (barring another December 23rd meltdown) to be a fine Canadiens campaign, and perhaps one for the ages.

On a side note, The "Big Bird", Larry Robinson, is getting his number retired tonight by the Habs en route to their centennial 2009 season...congratulations to him!

Until next time with your biased Montreal Canadiens post,

-BBeR

The new "AK" in town...

No it is not Alex Kovalev, the Canadiens have a new young stud in town and his name is Andrei Kostitsyn... (and please not that ridiculous spelling Kastitsyn, I know in Russian the "o" for us is pronounced like an "a"...Ovechkin in Russian is pronounced Aiviechkin, Kastitsyn, Kostitsyn, whatever...)

Kostitsyn, a former 10th overall Canadiens pick back in '03, is finally blossoming into the young superstar the club wants him to be.

He has 1 goal and 6 assists in 13 games so far with the Canadiens and has received ludicrous time on the powerplay and scoring lines.
In fact, he's been so good, Alex Kovalev is now the league's most expensive 4th liner...

When the Canadiens ever-famous second line made it clear it was not working and that Sergei Samsonov was not the force the club signed him to be, Bob Gainey recalled Andrei Kostitsyn from his minor-league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs.
The fans here in Montreal have been high on him ever since he was touted with the 10th overall pick, however things started to get questionable with the young Belarusian as he failed to impress with his callup and duty on the 2nd line with Alex Kovalev at centre and Alexander Perezhogin on the right wing.
He showed limited offensive instinct and was invisible without the puck.
He did however give those fans some hope with his speed and slick puckhandling skills.

That was not enough to keep him in Montreal and on the 2nd line.

After 2 games he was returned to the Hamilton Bulldogs and impatience grew with Kostitsyn.
In his first 14 NHL games he failed to show why he was a 1st-round pick by amassing 2 goals and 1 assist in his first 14 games while going -1.

It seemed as if he had been destined to become yet another Pavel Brendl.
Brendl was also highly touted and was selected in 1999, 4th overall, behind the Sedin twins and "he missed it!" Patrick Stefan.

In 4 days when he turns 26, Brendl is set to become one of the many European bust the great game of hockey has seen come and go. If you're interested, he's currently playing in the Swedish Elite League and is having the kind of season the Flyers, Rangers, Hurricanes and most recently, the Coyotes wanted out of him.
He's putting up the kind of numbers these teams wanted out of him, namely 57 points in 54 games with 34 goals.
He did not come close to that production in the NHL, accumulating just 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 78 career games...

Kostitsyn was labeled "Pavel Brendl" by many a few months ago but not anymore.

He's tearing it up and his numbers how it, very un-Brendl like; he scored his first goal against the Leafs on Saturday in a 3-2 shootout Habs win and even added the shootout winner in extras and still managed to be picked as a star by the RDS hockey crew...

He's finally flashing the speed and scoring he's showed in the minors with the Bulldogs...the way he's going, there's no telling what can stop him.

All we can do now is wait and see into the excellent player he'll surely become.

Up next for the Canadiens "to-fully-develop list" is Mikhail Grabovski, who's a potential "team-maker" for next season.



Ah, the enigma of European players: they're either (insert name here) or Pavel Brendl.

Drumroll...Three-way tie...damn!

Andrei Kostitsyn, the new "AK" in town, scored this nifty one which proved to be the winner, in the shootot as the Canadiens beat the rival Leafs 3-2 last night at the Bell Centre...

The Canadiens and Maple Leafs both faced off yesterday at the Bell Centre in Montreal with the teams both needing points to advance in the ever-toughening Eastern Conference standings.
Before the game, the Canadiens sat in 11th place with 76 points, 2 behind the 8th spot Islanders and 1 behind the 9th spot Leafs.

Now?

Now they sit in a sticky three-way tie with the Islanders, who lost big in Florida yesterday, and the Leafs.

It was a fun-filled game for the most part.

Alex Kovalev came back into the lineup and played well partly on the 4th line and near the end of the game, on the 3rd.

Francis Bouillon dropped them...again, he did too against Atlanta a few games ago and got his *insert word here* kicked badly, against our favourite guy, come on, guess who?
He did alright against Darcy Tucker, landing him a few punches to the head and getting some back. The winner? Definitely Bouillon.
The two landed 5 minute majors to end the first period and returned in the second.

The 1st period was more or less end-to-end hockey, with both teams gaining momentum they forced each other on defence constantly, there was none of this "New Jersey Devils" crap.
The forecheck and body was on and there were shots on net.

Jaroslav Halak FINALLY gave the Canadiens some kind of goaltending, playing great, making key saves for the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge and keeping his head up all game long.
He also kept his head up when in the same period, Leafs captain Mats Sundin attempted a wraparound and the young Slovakian shut the door.
Sundin's reaction was one of the many let go by the referees last night, who did a pretty horrible job in this department.
He just lifted his stick under the chin of Halak and pushed his mask up, RIGHT NEXT TO THE DAMN OFFICIAL, Andrei Markov amazed of the no-call, yelled at the official during the play.
He made 37 saves including big ones on Kyle Wellwood and Darcy Tucker in the shootout.

"I thought he played really, really well, especially in the third period when Toronto came out strong," said coach Guy Carbonneau, who went with Halak after a bad outing by David Aebischer in a 6-3 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night. "They got the puck to the net with traffic, so he had to make some big saves."

Andrei Kostitsyn, who's finally showing his potential the Canadiens drafted him to be, scored the first Canadiens goal of his abbreviated season, slipping it through the legs of Andrew Raycroft and a helpful screen Hal Gill on a left-wing rush from the Belarusian youngster.

"Let's settle down and don't push him," said Canadiens captain Saku Koivu of Kostitsyn who also had a goal in regulation and in the shootout. "He's a young, very talented player working his way up to the NHL."

Darcy Tucker had a bad night and must've taken on at least 7 hits.
He did not seem like the offensive force he should be and for some reason, was never in front of the net! Probably because he was afraid of getting hit by Mike Komisarek, who had a solid game as well and laid down a few nice body checks too.

I don't know, but I'll always be there if he wants to play physical," said Bouillon of Tucker "That's the kind of game I like to play in - so intense and physical, but with good hockey at the same time."

Saku Koivu had a good game and got his 60th point of the season by putting his 19th goal of the season behind Raycroft, backhand style, in the 2nd period of play.
This is Koivu's 3rd 60-point season and hopefully, he will continue to do the same each game.

Nik Antropov really surprised me.
I know of alll the criticism the kid takes for not being good enough but hey, he can hit and skate! He doesn't have much of a shot, but I was surprised at him putting the body on that often, it's even more surprising he's a European! (no pun intended)

Pavel Kubina is still not worth the money he's getting from John Ferguson Jr.
His goal was a lucky bounce off Chris Higgins in the 3rd to tie the game at 2 and send it to extra frames. He should be a superstar, but, he's not, and he's a HUGE waste of $5 million a season.
Despite his injuries, he should be doing a lot better.

Too many Leafs fans in the Bell Centre uhhh, it was paining to hear them scream go Leafs go along with pissed Habs fans go Habs go to give go Laffs go!

Yanic Perreault played a good game, however, he's better than a 4th line centre.

Sheldon Souray had a few braincramps last night...and imagine, he's like -20 and he has 23 goals this year, what if he didn't have all those goals? -33? -40?
God...

Kyle Wellwood is a good player. I like him a lot and he's very dangerous, the most creative passer in the game today, he set up Kubina with a nice back pass to tie the game in the 3rd and scored himself the other Leafs goal to tie it up in the first, finishing a pretty passing play.

Andrew Raycroft played how the Leafs want him to play. Ok, he'll give up the occasional softie, but all-around, he kept his team in the game.

Mike Modano scored twice liked I predicted a few lost posts ago...he's now 1 goal away from becoming the all-time American-born top scorer and a pass to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Stephane Robidas was taken off on a stretcher after a cou-cou play by the seemingly over zealous Jordin Tootoo.

Eric Brewer pushed the Oilers' streak to 10 in a row, scoring 2:04 into overtime against his former team in a 3-2 Blues win. One more loss and the Edmonton Oilers will tie the franchise record of 11 losses in a row, set 13 years ago.

Mike Comrie honored his mother, who died of breat cancer when he was just 10 years old, and used a pink stick in honor of her in a 3-2 Senators win over the falling Flyers.

Martin Gerber got the start in net against Philadelphia and Dean McCammond and Wade Redden also helped out Comrie with pink sticks...

Brendan Morrison scored a shorthanded goal against the Wings to give them a 4-1 win in a crucial matchup in the West. Roberto Luongo made 32 saves.

Chad LaRose scored twice as he switched to center in a 7-2 mauling of the New Jersey Devils which put Carolina in the 7th spot and solidified its chances of an encore playoff run.

Dave Lewis was not pleased as the Bruins lost 7-0 in MSG, humiliating the coach and the players. Tim Thomas gave up 3 goals on 15 shots and Lewis put waiver claim Joey MacDonald in.

"Excuses are for losers," Lewis said. "We looked slow, weak, soft and
intimidated."

Updated standings
Playoff Push

Going to the Bulldogs-Cruch game at the Bell Centre today, boy, can't wait!