Halak/Jekyll and Aebsicher/Hyde...

Ever read that tauting psychopathic novel that goes by the quaint name of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Robert Stevenson?
Yeah, that Stevenson, the guy who supposedly was a schizophrene and exalted his horror into this book.

My essay due Monday on "duality" (a very vast and symbolic subject) in the book, inspired me to present to you this short but very helpful blog post, summarizing Jaroslav Halak and David Aebischer's season.

Gotta go write it now!

--BBR

Digging deep into the Montreal Canadiens team...

Read at your own risk, it took me 2 hours to get all this frustration out...

2006-2007 record: 42-34-6, 4th in Northeast, 10th in Eastern Conference.
Missed the playoffs by one point.

A. Contract situations
(Players with number figures are under contract)

FORWARDS
F Saku Koivu, $4,750,000
F Alex Kovalev, $4,500,000
F Sergei Samsonov, $3,525,000
F Steve Begin, $1,225,000
F Guillaume Latendresse, $850,000
F Garth Murray, $625,000
F Maxim Lapierre, $563,000
F Andrei Kostitsyn, $612,000
F Mikhail Grabovski, $700,000
F Kyle Chipchura, $984,000

UFA
F Radek Bonk
F Mike Johnson
F Aaron Downey

RFA
F Michael Ryder
F Chris Higgins
F Alexander Perezhogin
F Tomas Plekanec
F Duncan Milroy

DEFENCE
D Francis Bouillon, $1,875,000
D Mathieu Dandenault, $1,750,000
D Mark Streit, $600,000

UFA
D Janne Niinimaa
D Sheldon Souray
D Andrei Markov

RFA
D Mike Komisarek
D Josh Gorges

GOALIES
G Cristobal Huet, $2,750,000
G Jaroslav Halak, $500,000

UFA
G David Aebischer

RFA
G Michael Leighton

B. The changes that may come

-It remains to be seen how Bob Gainey will cope with checking forwards Mike Johnson and Radek Bonk, both will be unrestricted on July 1st.
Mike Johnson made $1.9 million last season, he had a very solid season and was a great pickup by Bob Gainey and ridiculously cheap (4th round pick.)
Radek Bonk was a total bust on certain standards, the Canadiens acquired him and Cristobal Huet from the Kings hoping he would provide that much needed size and offence.
Bonk made a huge amount of money and was not at all worth the money he put in his wallet last season, after a dreadful first season with Montreal, Bonk seemed rejuvenated this season and played some of the best defensive hockey I've ever seen in my life, unless him and Johnson takes paycuts, Bob Gainey won't pay nearly $4.5 million again for them both.

It's known Gainey would like to retain them both, but, if Souray is signed and his salary is commanding, he may be forced to part with either Bonk or Johnson or even both.
Johnson would probably have a bigger role on another team and it's anyone's guess for Radek Bonk.

-Aaron Downey was a horrible enforcer for the Canadiens, he was totally useless and was a waste of cap space and jersey fabric.
The Canadiens acquired goaltender Phillipe Sauve from the Bruins' minor league club in Providence as part of a loan deal for Aaron Downey.
Sauve was acquired because of injuries to Yann Danis and the call up of Jaroslav Halak by the Canadiens, just a depth deal...
He will not be back next season and he'll be lucky to get an NHL job elsewhere.

-Michael Ryder had an up and down season, and thanks to Andrew Raycroft, he managed to score 30 goals yet again.
That won't be forgotten by his agent when it comes time to talk turkey with Bob Gainey.
Ryder is an RFA and a very good forward.
He is very inconsistent however, and it would be nice if he scored on a consistent basis, and not in short periods of time.
He made $2,2 million last season and he'll get around the same thing next season, he doesn't deserve a raise, but, if Ryder feels he does, Gainey will bite and sign him anyway.

-Christopher Higgins and Tomas Plekanec are the restricted free-agents that will likely get a huge pay raise for the upcoming season.
Higgings, arguably the team's best player for the first two months of the season before going down with an ankle injury, will probably net around $800,000 next season, that's a 127 thousand dollar raise from what he's making now.
Plekanec exploded in the second half and became the second line centre the Canadiens wanted him to be, maybe even more than many expected.
After a relatively mediocre rookie season, Plekanec was one of the many young forwards to blossom into young stars for Guy Carbonneau this season, he will likely make $650,000 -$700,000 next season, a hefty raise from his current league minimum $450,000 wage.
Alexander Perezhogin and Duncan Milroy won't have any considerable changes to their salary, they may get a little more, but not much, besides, both are slowly fading away and it is believed Perezhogin could return to play in Europe next season rather than get limited ice-time and put up 11 points in Montreal.
Milroy is the Hamilton Bulldogs' best scorer, and he finally got the call this season, but it was short-lived and he only spent a week with the Canadiens before being sent back down to Hamilton.
He is a long shot to make the club next season.

-Janne Niinimaa and David Aebischer weren't even mentioned by GM Bob Gainey at his press conference a few days ago, however, both had terrible seasons and don't figure to be in the Canadiens plans.
Aebischer, signed specifically to step up should Cristobal Huet get injured or play bad, did not show up like Montreal wanted and needed from him.
After a great start, it was all downward for Aebischer and eventually lost his spot to rookie breakout Jaroslav Halak.
Fans won't miss David Aebsicher, his iconsistent play won't find him a $1.9 million taker for next season, and probably not even a starting job like the Swiss-born goalie longs for.
Niinimaa made a good push for the last month of the season and Guy Carbonneau acknowledged that by playing him on the powerplay and in key situations.
Janne Niinimaa's career has endured a sharp decline ever since he had that devastating surgery that changed the complexion of his career.
Once considered a top defenseman with the Flyers, Oilers and Islanders, Niinimaa had two equally bad tenures with the Dallas Stars and most recently, the Montreal Canadiens.
The only way Niinimaa will be a Hab next season, is if he accepts to be the no.7 defenseman and get paid a fraction of his current salary ($2,500,000).
Ironically, he was the Canadiens' highest-paid defenceman in 2006-2007.

-Sheldon Souray and Andrei Markov are both key to the Canadiens, but it looks like Markov has been made a priority to be signed by GM Bob Gainey before he becomes an unrestricted free-agent.
Markov made $2 million last season and he will probably earn the double of that next year.
As for Souray, he may even get the triple of his current $2,4 million salary on the open market.

I don't think Josh Gorges is going to be Sheldon Souray.

He has said he would like to be back next season only if the price was "fair", and with him and Markov sharing the same agent, things can get sticky for Bob Gainey if he decides to keep them both.
If he does keep them both, there's no way one will make more than the other.
I think I explained this best to Sherry over at Scarlett Ice when she asked me if the Rivet trading was the first step to clear up money to sign Souray:

Trading away Rivet to clear up money was part of it, but, Rivet was also having a very ordinary season and it seemed as if he had worn out his decade tenure in Montreal.

The deal clears up about $2 million, but, with Souray breaking the record for powerplay goals, Michael Ryder (thanks to Raycroft) getting yet another 30 goal season and Sergei Samsonov's paycheck glaring unspectacularly in the pressbox, along with his measly 8 goals, it is actually more difficult for Bob Gainey to retain Souray.

Trading away Rivet was the first step, the second would be to dump either Samsonov or Kovalev, neither will be traded (Samsonov was put on waivers, and went unclaimed) because of the $8 million they represent on the salary cap level.

But Bob will buy out Samsonov and the cap hit will only be $1.2 million, freeing up a good amount, anything is a good amount when it comes to finding money to keep Souray and more importantly, Markov in the fold.

Markov is the better defencemen, I'll say it again: Souray was -28 and his only asset was the shot from the blue-line, it was a valuable one, but his liability in his own end is overshadowed by his 19 powerplay dingers.

Markov, however, is a + on a -162 team and can play 30:00 minutes of sound defensive hockey and spectacular offensive.

On Saturday, I thought Souray would test the FA market, but it appears now that he'll consider staying with Montreal and signing before July 1st only if "the offer is fair".
"Fair" in this case, means around $6 million and if he is sentimental, $5 million.

But, since the Habs were eliminated, according to the hockey media: it makes it all easier to sign Souray, since they say (even though I don't agree) there will be HUGE changes to the roster and many UFA departures (Johnson, Bonk, Niinimaa, buyout of Sammy, possible trade of Kovalev, Bouillon) have probably forced Bob Gainey to re-think his team's situation and change the way the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge look.

And for that, he'll let a few walk and free up space and Souray will be in the Canadiens' price range.

That was a few days ago, and I thank Sherry for asking me that question, as it made me think long and hard on how it would be possible to sign Souray.

But, again, if Bob Gainey is intent on acquiring a free-agent forward like Briere, he may have to let go of Souray if he thinks a scoring forward is more important than his shot.
Briere, I would say, would be more important to this team than Sheldon Souray, and it looks as if Buffalo will keep Chris Drury and let Briere walk, a bad choice in my opinion.
Gainey may be reduced to making another tough choice and getting another migraine:

Do you want to keep Sheldon Souray and his 27 goals, or, get an elite centre like Daniel Briere who can score consistently and make the players around him better.

You make the call, I won't for Gainey.

Cristobal Huet will be the Canadiens' starting goaltender next season to Mitch Melnick's dissapointment, Halak will get a fair share of starts but the Canadiens will play Huet and probably let him go as his contract expires at the end of the season.

Why let him go?

Carey Price.

Or, sign Huet to a 1-year deal and make Price the starter for the 2009 Centennial season?

It's difficult to see Jaroslav Halak be the clear cut no. 1 man for the Canadiens ever, Carey Price is a couple seasons away and Huet is under contract for next season.

It'll be interesting to see how the goalie situation turns out, but, Gainey already hinted he's not worried about the goalies and that he still has confidence in his "Crystal Ball."

-Guy Carbonneau, I'm sorry to say, is not as great as everyone makes him to be.
He expects production from his players, while he doesn't work with them to improve their game, to "cultivate them" as Pierre McGuire would say.

Take Kovalev for example, I couldn't believe that he was benched for the final minute of play in
the most important game of the season!

Like, WHAT THE HELL?

Sure, he didn't play great, but I've really become tired of seeing Kovalev on the bench, he's better than that and I wish Carbo would see it differently.
But no, he has his stubborn view on Kovalev and Samsonov, and I'm starting to wonder if they're related to the fact that they're Russian.

Scratching Samsonov for the final stretch was a totally useless move.
The guy is having a horrible year, you don't enforce that or change anything by putting him the pressbox.

You play him, you play him and you hope he'll regain his confidence and get back into the game.
Enough already about this crap that you "focus" when you're scratched, you don't, you only sulk in despair and it makes even more distracted when you get back on the ice.

Samsonov will probably be bought out and we will bid him adieu.

He just didn't fit in here well Carbo, talk to the guy, see what his concerns are, don't got publicly out saying he's going to sit in the pressbox and never play for the Habs again, that's also another thing Carbonneau lacks: communication with his team and that's what probably cost him a chance to coach a playoff-bound team.

I'm starting to think Carbonneau was a bad choice by Bob Gainey and that he should get the whip soon, even if he is "from around here."
He was a good player, but now he's a coach...and that doesn't mean he'll be a good coach.
Man, just listening to Kirk Muller talks makes me feel like he's under Carbonneau's leash and that whatever he says, he's run it thru Carbonneau first.

I actually would like to see Kirk Muller be head coach of this team, I think he'd be better than Guy Carbonneau.

Here's to hoping Bob Gainey will somehow find this blog and read my blog post and make the right choice.

Canadiens lock up Price...

The Montreal Canadiens have signed former world junior star Carey Price to a three-year contract. As per club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Price will join the Canadiens AHL farm team in Hamilton today.
The Bulldogs have four games left in the regular season.
-TSN

No big surprise here, thankfully, he didn't pull a Jack Johnson.

And, oh, if you're wondrin' how much he'll be putting in his wallet, it's going to be around $650-750 thousand.

The plan is for Price to get some playing time down in Hamilton, likely so he can know what it's like since he'll almost certainly be playing there next year, and, to keep Jaroslav Halak on the Canadiens' roster.

Yann Danis has played well enough to salvage the no. 1 job with Halak up in Montreal.

Phillipe Sauve and Cedric Desjardins each backed up Yann Danis, but none received any significant playing time.

Sauve, a former Avalanche turned Flame traded to Phoenix, was acquired from the Boston Bruins in a "loan" deal, which sent enforcer Aaron Downey to the Bruins' minor league affiliate.

Carey Price's spectacular international play has Habs fans drooling, however, all you guys can forget about him being here next season or the season after (yup, you too Jacques Demers), he is expected to be the Canadiens starting goaltender come the 2009 Centennial Anniversary season of the Montreal Canadiens which will include plenty of interesting suprises: the all-star game, the draft, the world juniors, a Habs movie and likely Carey Price and our Russian friends Alexei Emelin and Pavel Valentenko.

The Habs are set for a bright future.

-There's also speculation that Bob Gainey will step down as GM of my dear Canadiens, there is no source to prove this, but it's going around on the airwaves...

7 teams fighting for 3 spots...

The Hurricanes and Islanders have fallen (make that) 4 points out of the final spot...7 teams are fighting for a playoff spot.

With the Canadiens, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Rangers and Lightning in action tonight, the playoff barely got clearer and it looks like we're gonna see it all go down to the wire folks!
The Canes are failing and their schedule isn't very easy till the end of the season...the Islanders won't go anywhere without Rick DiPietro...

• The Canadiens held on to beat the East-leading Buffalo Sabres, 4-3.

Michael Ryder, Radek Bonk, Maxim Lapierre and Saku Koivu all scored for the Canadiens and Jaroslav Halak, winning his 6th of his last 7 starts, made 22 saves.
The Sabres got to the Habs first, Daniel Briere became the first player since Pat LaFontaine to surpass the 90-point mark for the Sabres, scoring 9:20 into the first frame.

Michael Ryder responded with a trickle through-the-legs goal on backup goalie Ty Conklin, who got the start over the tired Ryan Miller and did not impress me at all as he allowed 4 goals on 19 shots.

Dainius Zubrus, who indicated he might be interested in coming back to Montreal as a free-agent this summer provided the Sabres with their 3rd goal and that was where the line was drawn for Lindy Ruff's club.

The game was nearly penalty free, with both teams getting only 2 powerplay opportunities and both going 0-fer with the extra man tonight...4 of the Canadiens 5 goals were assisted by defenceman (the lone attacker to get a helper tonight was Alex Kovalev, who was blanked for the second straight game after scoring two 2-goal games in a row against the Rangers and Capitals) namely Janne Niinimaa, only his 3rd point of the season, Andrei Markov, Francis Bouillon, who shot the puck that was tipped in by Michael Ryder in the first period, and Mark Streit (well, he is a d-man playing forward...)

The Canadiens have won 5 of their last 6 games and things are looking mighty good after tonight's win over the Sabres, the chemistry is very good, the team is focused, they know what's at stake...Jaroslav Halak made a few very good saves, but...Cristobal Huet is coming back in a few days and is the dream over for the young Slovakian netminder?

He's played great and all, but his last 3 starts (he's allowed 11 goals) are a worrisome indication...and you know what else? Everyone's making a HUGE deal out of Halak winning 5 in a row and not how the Canadiens have won 5 in a row.
You know? Hockey c'est un team sport.

He had a 1.33 GAA last week and was named the NHL's third star, he deserved it, he played awesome...and I shudder to think how it'd ruin his confidence if he was sent down.

Or maybe I'm exaggerating at the 11 goal stat and just sore that Cristobal Huet still isn't cleared to play...I really don't know how Gainey will go along with this.
Aebischer you ask? Screw 'im...

• Wow! The Leafs beat the Penguins

It's desperation time for Paul Maurice's squad now, the Leafs know that margin for error in their upcoming stretch is little to none.
After a sad 3-2 overtime loss to the Atlanta Thrashers, Paul Maurice promised his team would be ready for tonight's game.

They sure were: my NHL.com scoreboard read 4-1 Leafs at some point in the second period, and I was like: "Wow!".
Another "wow" goes to Tomas Kaberle, who scored his team's 3rd goal in the second period and flashed "clutch" by potting the game-winner in extra innings just as Bob Cole exploded.

A "wow" to the Penguins also, who rallied from a 3 goal deficit to tie the game and send it to overtime. Sidney Crosby gets a goal to further add to his scoring lead over the Sharks' Joe Thornton...just as all was said and done and Harry Neale put away his broadcasting equipment, Ryan Whitney ties the game with 4 seconds to go!

I think that deserves a "wow" too.

Andrew Raycroft made 32 saves and Leafs TV made a horrible choice for the 3 stars, putting in Pavel Kubina as the 3rd (he had only one assist on the Kaberle goal in overtime), simply ignoring Kyle Wellwood's 3 helpers.

Jocelyn Thibault was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 20 shots and that likely spells the end of the veteran goalie's attempt to win over Michel Therrien's heart and be the Pens' number one guy come playoff time. Marc-Andre Fleury relieved the latter about half-way through the game and made 16 saves.

• 
  
  THANK YOU OTTAWA!

And I'm saying those words after the Scotia bankers beat the Habs last night...and they repaid me nicely, but not entirely, by knocking the Islanders even further on their rear end.
Victor Kozlov and the revived Marc-Andre Bergeron scored the only 2 goals for the Isle, who lost for the second time in as many nights and in that span being outscored 11-6.
Mike Dunham simply isn't getting it done for the Islanders, so Ted Nolan goes to minor-league goalie Wade Dubielewicz and the result was astonishing.

I don't think the likes of Tom Poti, Brendan Witt, Chris Campoli, Bruno Gervais, Sean Hill and Marc-Andre Bergeron were there tonight.

They allowed 46 shots on goal and Dubielewicz did the best he could, pushing away 42 of those shots and keeping his team in the game as long as he could...you don't win games by allowing the double of your shots on goal and scoring only twice.

Mike Comrie scored twice, Christoph Schubert, the defenceman/forward put in his 8th and Dany Heatley is 2 goals away from yet another 50-goal season after scoring late in the 3rd to put the game entirely out of reach.

Dean McCammond scored his 14th and Martin Gerber got the start in goal.

• The Flyers can't upset this time..

The Flyers closed some mouths a few days ago by beating Peter Laviolette's awe-strucken Hurricanes team 5-1.
Tonight was a different story, well, it was the same story entering the game: A nothing to lose team trying to ruin a team's chances of making a run at Lord Stanley's Cup.
Final score: 6-4, not bad, the Rangers didn't exactly coast through this one.

Jaromir Jagr, the shadow of last season's version of himself, scored twice for Big Apple, Martin Straka, Tomas Pock, Ryan Callahan and Peter Prucha scored the others.
Jagr also added an assit, as well as Martin Straka (he had 2).

Michael Nylander added 2 assists and Sean Avery stayed out of the penalty box.
For the Flyers now...the 23rd overall pick by the 'Yotes back in '02, Ben Eager, scored his 5th and 6th goals of the season and Braydon Coburn, the young defenceman acquired from Atlanta for Alexei Zhitnik, scored only his 3rd and Ryan Potulny potted his 6th of the season. Simon Gagne was also on the scoresheet with 2 assists...
Martin Biron was pulled from the Flyers' goal after giving in to 5 Rangers' goal on 22 shots, Antero Niittymaki made 11 saves out of a possible 12.

The Ligtning still alive...

After beating out on the Canes 4-2 last night, the Lightning had an easy opponent in the Washington Capitals and the score proved it once again: 5-2 Lightning.

The league-leader in goals, Vincent Lecavalier, scored his 51st of the season while quebecois Martin St. Louis added his 43rd.

Lecavalier also added his 54th and 55th assists as he continues his career season...
Jason Ward, Dan Boyle and Ryan Craig scored the other 3 Tampa goals...Cory Sarich got his 14th and 15th assists.

The Lightning still hold a 2-point lead over the 8th place Canadiens and a one point lead over the Rangers...

Yawn...good night!

Oh, and on a side note, the Panthers are still winning and they have not lost hope yet...but, with barely 5 games to go for the season and a 4 point deficit, barring any *ouches wood* Habs losing streak, the Cats are probably out.

Kronwall's injury is more serious than expected, he'll miss 6-8 weeks of action and that possibly means the entire playoffs. HUGE blow for this Wings team, Kronwall is a fine puck-moving defenceman but I think Andreas Lilja can compensate for this loss.
This is the third major injury of Kronwall's 3 season career (knee surgery, broken leg...)
And he didn't strain his hip, he BROKE his sacrum, which is a "large triangular bone at the base of the back" (Hat tip to Wikipedia).
Yow! That's gotta hurt.

And here's something for you to sleep...or wake up on:

Crucial Week for Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens play three games against two teams below them in the standings. This kind of situation portrays the illusion that winning is going to be easy, but as most realize, the opposite proves true more times as not.

The Habs will play a home-and-home with the Boston Bruins starting Tuesday night at the Bell Centre and then Thursday night in Boston. The Canadiens then close out the week with a home game versus the Washington Capitals.

The Bruins hold a 3-2-0 edge over the Habs in five games this season, while Montreal has out-gunned the Caps on route to a 2-1-0 record. However, the Canadiens will need to do better than the combined 4-4-0 record against the two teams this week. In order to guarantee that they remain competitive for a playoff spot, the Habs will surely need to take at least five of six points this week.

While Washington is solely looking to pull off some upsets in attempt to hamper any opponents chances of a playoff spot, the Boston Bruins are still mathematically able to reach the post season and will surely see this week's two games against Montreal as a chance to bring themselves even.

One thing on the Bruins' side is that they have played fewer games than most of the teams they are trying to catch. If Boston were to win the two games they have in hand of the eighth place Carolina Hurricanes, they would only be three points back from the 'Canes with nine games remaining.

The Washington Capitals turned some heads Sunday afternoon when they smoked the playoff bound Tampa Bay Lightning 7-1. The Caps got a great showing from 23-year-old Alexander Semin and 22-year-old Tomas Fleischmann. Semin scored a natural hat-trick for his 35th, 36th, and 37th goals while Fleischmann picked up two goals and two assists. Meanwhile, goaltender Olaf Kolzig started his third straight after missing 13 games with a knee injury. The win was the 36-year-old's 21st of the season.

Boston, on the other hand, faced a similar fate to that of the Lightning when they dropped a 7-0 match to the Rangers in New York. It was a great watch for Rangers' fans, but Bruin's Coach Dave Lewis was absolutely applaud by what he witnessed. The fact that Boston is coming off such a lop-sided loss makes them a dangerous team to play right now since they'll surely be looking to redeem themselves against the Habs.

Montreal will have a familiar face back in the line-up this week. Center Radek Bonk makes his return after missing three games with the flu, the same bug that has been plaguing the Habs since Christmas. It is doubtful that Bonk will be 100 percent, but simply having his big-body presence back on the ice will surely be welcomed.

Rookie netminder is scheduled to make his ninth NHL start, and if Coach Guy Carbonneau's words are any indication, Halak will be the go-to goalie unless he fumbles the opportunity. David Aebischer will unhappily ride the pine for the time being as the Swiss goaltender hasn't played consistent hockey for most of the season.

If you're wondering when Cristobal Huet may make his return to the Habs' net, simply read Bleu, Blanc et Rouge's post below. Huet has been practicing with the team for about a week now and rumor has it that the France native could be back as early as next week.

They key for Montreal is to take it one game at a time. They should keep it in their minds that there are few games left to make up ground on the final playoff spots, but they have to respect each game as equally important as the next. The Habs can't afford to take a minute off or it could very well cost them important points.

Thus, The Canadiens need to approach each game, each period, and each minute as sudden death overtime. If they can do that, there will be no stopping them.

Enjoy the playoffs folks; they've been on for Montreal for quite some time now.

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!

Habs notes: Kovalev will hear "Vertigo" again tonight...

[...] that is...if the Canadiens do score tonight as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in another battle for the ages...

Alex Kovalev will indeed play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs as the Canadiens host T.O at the Bell Centre according to RDS.

Kovalev has been suffering from vertigo which has caused him to miss one week of action, but there's no telling how much longer it will plague him.

Kovalev did not fly to Pittsburgh on Thursday night and instead remained in Montreal, where he practiced hard and alone on the Bell Centre ice.

The Kommander has been in a funk all season and he will hopefully regain consistency and beging helping the Canadiens as they slowly fall out of playoff contention.

Rookie Jaroslav Halak, in spite of my willingness to give Michael Leighton a chance, will get the nod in goal as he hopes to put an end to the Canadiens' recent embarrassing goaltending situation.

Guy Carbonneau's response to a reporter of this decision was: "Do I really have a choice?"
Good answer Guy, it's not as if you have a choice, you're stuck with a bunch of no-shows for goalies, particularly David Aebsicher, blech.

• Because of the three-headed monster of David Aebischer, Jaroslav Halak and Michael Leighton, forced me to look this up...
  

As always, this is...

A city in mourning...Thrashers 6, Canadiens 2

CANADIENS 2, THRASHERS 6

I had posted an article saying how huge this game was for the Canadiens and how badly they needed to win this one.

Guess Guy Carbonneau didn't take out the Sharpie pen like I said and didn't scrawl out the standings on his board for each player to see where their so-called "team" has sunk.

In the first five minutes of the game, I had some hope, the forecheck was aggressive, we were causing turnovers like crazy from a somewhat inconsistent Thrashers defence.
Chris Higgins fired the puck 4 times on Kari Lehtonen in the first period alone.

Sound good so far? I hope this is the image you keep of the game...the first 5 minutes, and forget the rest.

The "rest" consists of Andrei Markov paying for teammates' lousy backchecking by taking a kind of chronic hooking penalty.
With Markov in the box, the Thrashers took control of the game from there.

Newly acquired Alexei Zhtinik, who's been a nice fit for Bob Hartley, faked a slap shot from the right point and threw the puck to teammate Ilja Kovalchuk, playing the high left point who blasted it towards rookie Jaroslav Halak.

Halak was in position to make a left pad save, however he misread the shot as it was coming towards the blocker side. By consequence, the puck hit off the inside of his left pad, bounced off the right, and trickled into the net to give Ilja Kovalchuk his 36th goal of the season, and the Thrashers a one goal lead.
This goal completely demoralized the Canadiens, as they continued for the next couple minutes playing boring, shoddy defensive and a limited offensive style.

Then it was enough.
Things went from bad to worse as the Canadiens just couldn't clear the puck out of their zone, giving the Thrashers glorious chances on which Halak was superb.
Then as you guessed it, exactly two minutes after the first goal, they would pay for this...the unreliable delinquent, Sergei Samsonov didn't help his cause by picking the puck up, skating through centre ice just before he hit the Canadiens blue line giving the puck to Eric Belanger who fired a pass to the front of the goal where Jonathan Sim was all alone! With no one there to stop him, Sim simply tapped the puck through the legs of the exasperated Jaroslav Halak.

2-0 Thrashers and I had enough.

I turned off the television screen and decided to go play hockey myself, during the outdoor game, one of my buddies picked his cell and called to ask the score.

"Please" I was asking myself, "Please God, let them score a goal, " since God is the only thing that can save Montreal now.

My friend shut his phone off and looked me in the eye, I could see it coming.

"It's 6-0 Thrashers", he said.

Those words were like a dagger to the throat, I started yelling like a mad man.
What else could I do? There was no hope for a comeback, not even a small chance.

What did I care? I forgot about the game and played the wonderful game of hockey which was not so wonderful for 23 individuals now dropping even lower in the standings.

And to make my night even more miserable, the Rangers beat the Islanders 2-1 to move up ahead of us in the Standings.

My dad called me and told me Sergei Samsonov was benched the entire 3rd period.
He finished the night at -3 with 1 shot on goal. What a waste of $3.5 million out of George Gillett's pocket.

And to add insult to injury, Francis Bouillon decided to drop 'em against Keith Tkachuk...

God...please, save this team, obviously nobody on this Earth can.

Referees are no longer human...but robots.

With the Canadiens on the powerplay versus the Bruins tonight, in the first period, the Bruins dump the puck and it ends up a few feet in front of Canadiens' rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak, in the high slot, with speedy but always dangerous Patrice Bergeron heading towards him at full flight, Halak picks up the puck with his catching glove instinctivly, he knows that he cannot freeze that far out of his crease however, Patrice Bergeron is applying pressure on Halak and he has no choice and freezes the puck right in front of the blue ice.

Immediately I'm thinking, even though I didn't think it was going to happen: "That's kinda close, too close, delay of game?"
I was dead right, Gord Dwyer picks up his arm and calls a delay of game penalty on Jaroslav Halak. A fuming Guy Carbonneau can be seen standing on the bench with rage as he yelled on, Sheldon Souray discussed incessibly aggresively with Dwyer to no avail while I scream towards my television screen "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"; the young netminder had just recorded his first two penalty minutes of his NHL career.
And this idea of delay of game came from a random thought of mine during the game.

But in a situation like this, Halak has no choice and he is probably allowed to freeze the puck, after all, he was only a few feet from his crease under pressure by Patrice Bergeron who even made contact with the Slovak netminder by slashing his glove.

Incredible, just incredible.

A robot would call it a penalty, such as EA Sports' NHL franchise or SEGA's 2K series where penalties are called once you press the "hook" button or check someone violently against the boards. A computer is reffing the game, however, referees are acting like robots by calling the penalty not for the infraction, and to quote Stephen Walkam "for the intention".
I'm sure Jaroslav Halak had the intention of giving the puck away with Bergeron in front of him and by doing so he delayed the game.

You know what, to be frank, it's a load of crap.

At least Halak got the better part of the period, stoning the Bruins 16 times notably on a breakaway late in the period against Shean Donovan, in which he made a spectacular eagle save and earlier on a slapper from the high slot by newly-acquired Dennis Wideman.

"Whatever" is all I can say when someone asks me what I think of a ref.

And here's the justification (may be wrong quote...)

Rule 31, i of the NHL Rule Book
If a goalkeeper participates in the play in any manner when he is beyond
the center red line, a minor penalty shall be imposed upon him.

Last time I checked, the slot, is not the "center red line".

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.