Invincible

I can't decide whether to jump up and down or catch my breath

What is this feeling? This not knowing what to say, not believing my eyes as every sports station replays the highlights of a game I watched intently, not understanding as the other team hang their heads and apologize to their fans... having to repeat to myself, "Habs won. Second round of the playoffs."

It's unreal. It's almost like being in love.

I'm trying not to get too carried away, because bracing myself for whatever happened is part of what's making me so happy right now. The Capitals were an excellent opponent (most of the time... I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around Alexander Semin's complete lack of scoring). I worried until the very last second that my Habs would be defeated. It's not that I don't have faith in my team, but I felt I had to prepare myself for disappointment should it occur. No disappointment, though, only joy.

I'm going to try and keep my feet on the ground while my head is in the clouds, dreaming that Montreal will kick every ass in its path on its way to Cup #25. I'm not going to deify our players or trash-talk the Capitals. But I want to give our Habs their due.

Jaro is beyond words. He's always been solid and reliable, and lately has arguably been the best thing about this team, but that only begins to describe the last game. Farmers everywhere will have to thank him for what I'm assuming is a skyrocketing increase in chocolate milk sales.

Our defence is general was awesome. Gill did what he needed to do - haters can hate, but I think last night they had no choice but to cheer for him. Subban is going to be missed in Hamilton, but I'm glad he's been a part of this and doesn't seem fazed by the challenge of the NHL playoffs. Hamrlik played smart - Angry Sal is probably eating his hat.

The We Speak French line of Moore, Lapierre, and Pouliot would have had a great game even without scoring the game-winning goal. By the way, Dominic Moore, your "who's dis guy" status has been permanently removed.

This was a series in which our big-ticket players and our supporting acts carried the load equally (you know, whatever wasn't automatically picked up by life-saving goaltending).

On to the Penguins. We've got an insider - I'd call Hal Gill our "spy," but at his size, I just can't picture him being very stealthy.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to rewatch those highlights a few more times and pinch myself.

Yes. Really.

Habs beat the Capitals. Bring on the Penguins.

I can't believe it either. I'm a little too giddy to blog, but after the entire team played such a fantastic game and WON the series, I think the accomplishment speaks for itself. At least until we're able to collect ourselves.

I'm going to quote "I'm On A Boat" here, because I just can't help it: Shut the fuck up. This shit is REAL:

2010 EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
SERIES I		#4 vs. #8	Network
Friday, April 30		at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	CBC, RDS, VERSUS
Sunday, May 2		at Pittsburgh, 2:00 p.m.	NBC, CBC, RDS
Tuesday, May 4		at Montreal, 7:00 p.m.	CBC, RDS, VERSUS
Thursday, May 6		at Montreal, 7:00 p.m.	CBC, RDS, VERSUS
*Saturday, May 8		at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	CBC, RDS, VERSUS
*Monday, May 10		at Montreal, 7:00 p.m.	CBC, RDS, VERSUS
*Wednesday, May 12		at Pittsburgh, TBD	CBC, RDS, VERSUS

Seven is a lucky number. I'm a little superstitious.

This is it, kids. Game 7. What's there to say? Other than everything, of course...

I'm starting to believe more and more in this team, even more than I usually do (and that's quite a lot). I think the Habs can win it, and if they do, they'll just build momentum and keep going and as fans we'll just have to try and keep up. Like a lot of people, I've been daydreaming and getting a little carried away. But I believe in this team. No matter what happens, I believe in this team.

I'm pretty sure ~czechtacular is currently unavailable for real discussion, due to the Game 7 heartbreak that took place yesterday. I should have made her Coyotes cupcakes.

I'm sorry, Ilya

If there's anything we've learned from that game, though, it's that home-ice advantage doesn't always give the home team an edge. (Okay, yes, the fifth-place Detroit Red Wings, who are Cup Finals fixtures, beat the fourth-place Coyotes, so it's not excessively surprising, I know.)

Suddenly everyone believes in the Habs, both inside and outside the city. Crazy fans aren't the only ones who think the Canadiens can win it.

(Oh, and according to Twitter, Mike Cammalleri is reading The Art of War. That can't hurt, right?)

Washington. Wednesday. See you there.

(Note: I will not be at that game, but the Habs will.)

The Stanley Cupcakes worked. Game 6 was brilliant and I'm bouncing off the walls. Too much sugar will do that to you. Years from now, we'll look back at this year as The Postseason Where Czechtacular And Rookie Got Fat. I'm so hyper right now that I'm picturing myself eating cupcakes for weeks to come, letting the pounds and calories accumulate as our team gets closer and closer to Cup #25.

I definitely need to ingest less sugar during games.

Nonetheless, a fantastic win. Jaroslav Halak has etched his name into the record books with 53 saves, being alternately solid and mind-blowingly good tonight. Mike Cammalleri scored two fantastic goals, and proved just how good he is overall. Josh Gorges left it all on the ice tonight - I'd be surprised if he had any energy left to drive out of the Bell Centre. Hal Gill stepped it up and proved he could be as much of an asset to his team on the ice as he is off it. Maxim Lapierre played a tremendous game, diving penalties and all. (Seriously? "Diving" is a penalty? What is this, soccer?) "Suddenly Subban" did extremely well in his first NHL playoff game. I'm quite sure the Bulldogs will be able to manage without him.

I was hoping the Canadiens would play well in this series, but I never expected this. They've been amazing. Anything beyond this would be icing on the cake.

Yes, I chose a cake analogy on purpose.

The greatest gift of all: Habs win Game 5!!!

Last year we thought about this (a little bit), but now it's confirmed: Pleks > Semin

I'm not going to lie. I danced a little after the Habs kept the Caps from scoring on any of their hundred power plays and won the game, without needing overtime to do so.

To be honest, there's one major reason why I wanted the Habs to win. Yes, they've had a pretty good season and they've been playing well enough to stick around just a little bit longer, and they're my favourite team, but I had an even better reason: today was my birthday. Really, it was!

I couldn't handle my team getting knocked out of the playoffs on my birthday. Last year, they were eliminated the day before my birthday. The year before that, Philly destroyed the Habs the day after my party. (Yes, hangover + major loss = no fun at all.) It would be just my luck to see my team out of the playoffs on the actual day of my birthday.

BUT THEY WON! And the team was quite solid overall... we saw some of the best we've seen lately out of Lapierre, Gill, and Moen, to name a few, and that's what I was really hoping to see.

All in all, a great Habs-Caps game and an Olympic celebration in downtown Montreal, it was a pretty good birthday.

Yes, don't worry, I took pictures at the parade. You'll see them.

It's not over....

...but it's now or never.

I don't know of any other less cataclysmic method of summarizing what tonight is supposed to mean to Habs' fans. Frankly, I'm almost all out of words, period. The same gaggle of enthusiasm that overpowered a whole city (and thensome) after Tomas Plekanec's overtime winner in Game One that prompted the creation of Stanley Cup commercial parodies of "What if Theodore was as good as Miller or Brodeur?" has been replaced with a cloud of devastation and disappointment, all signs pointing to the 3-1 deficit that now seems impossible to surmount.

eep! (habsinsideout.com)

Impossible because of the missed opportunities on one side and the capitalized opportunities on the other. Impossible because of the lack of consistency in officiating. Impossible because number 1 in the playoffs is facing number 16. Impossible because there were only 6 seconds left in that period.

But is it impossible to show them what we're made of, on their ice, just one more time?

Or two?

It's been done. We know it's been done. There are some elements of the last decade that haven't been complete aberrations (much to the contrary of what it may seem like now). We remember those, and we remember it was 3-1 then, too.

We'll see.

Jaroslav Halak gets the call. Habs' fans take their seats. Some get out their keyboards (shameless promotion: the live blog on The Checking Line that will take place throughout the game, featuring your comments and writers' insight. I might pop by for a bit myself) and all eyes will be on Game Five, underway at 7 tonight.

What's this game for?

Tomorrow the Canadiens will have a team meeting at the Bell Centre. They played pretty well tonight, but there are some things to work out. Hopefully those things will be addressed tomorrow.

I have no proof that Jacques Martin modeled for this illustration

Unfortunately, I don't think that coaching will be one of those things, but maybe it should be. Our team isn't perfect, but I think overall our players should be able to (at the very least) handle the Capitals better than they have on home ice. I think coaching is a big part of that. If you need a case study: Martin pulled Price with two and a half minutes left to go. In a lot of cases, pulling a goalie is a risky move. (And sometimes "risky" is just short for "what the hell are you thinking?") It rarely works for the Canadiens.  Even I know this. I can try and guess how many scoring chances the Caps usually get in two and a half minutes. So, somehow two empty-net goals surprise me less than Dominic Moore's goal did.

Tony Marinaro made a good point on his show tonight: Sergei Kostitsyn had a +2 this game. The Canadiens scored 3 goals this game. Sergei played less than 9 minutes. Somehow that doesn't add up. If he's doing well, Martin should have thought about playing him a little more. Isn't that logical? A guy's playing well, so more play will boost his confidence and probably make him improve, and will probably benefit the team as a whole? No?

Dear angry fans: think of kittens

Jaroslav Spacek played very well in games 1 and 2. He missed tonight's game because, apparently, he was feeling sick. He seems to be missing a few games because of illness or flu-like symptoms. I'd really like to know more about this - either there's a more serious issue that the fans don't know about, or Spacek's immune system really is that weak, and something needs to be done about it.

Hopefully tomorrow's team meeting will help this team tighten up a little bit. I think they've got it in them. They can win another game, I know it. Maybe the Bell Centre wasn't quite the boost I thought it would be.

Game 4 preview: Guess who's back?

No, not Paul Mara's beard

Carey Price will be starting in goal tonight.
Wow, it feels like I haven't typed those words in years. Proof that our Jaro is worth the ink he gets, but maybe just not ready for so many consecutive playoff games. (But that shouldn't be surprising... if the playoffs were easy for a goalie, then New Jersey would have won more than one game out of four.)

Did I just accidentally insult three people in one paragraph? ...That's bad.

Anyway, I'm getting ready for some hockey and gourmet burgers, so here's the beef:
Price and the non-Skeletor mask in net. By the way, it's one of the biggest stories on NHL.com. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Ryan O'Byrne gets to put some skates on, and maybe bust some Caps.
Mathieu Darche is a scratch, but with about three minutes of play in Game 3, that won't be much of a change.
Jaroslav Spacek and Scott Gomez missed the morning skate... Spacek is either mildly injured or watched Glee and Lost last night and can't concentrate on anything else. Unconfirmed rumours that he and Gomez spent this morning on MSN, exchanging OMG's. (Too many abbreviations, I know. I'll stop. I have dignity. I'm not Gossip Girl.)
I'd be willing to bet money that Semyon Varlamov is going to be Boudreau's guy for a while, so the boo-birds will have to wait a bit longer for a 60-minute round of Theo booing.

In other league news:
The Selke Trophy, for best defensive forward (or something of that nature) will be awarded to either previous winner Pavel Datsyuk, previous nominee Ryan Kesler, or guy that might have been nominated before but I don't remember, Jordan Staal.
The Lady Byng Trophy, awarded to the player who best balances being a good hockey player and being a good guy, will be handed to either Pavel Datsyuk (he's like Jeremy Piven and Best Supporting Actor awards), Brad Richards, who is not the same guy as Brad Richardson, or Martin St. Louis, who will probably be the focus of RDS reporting tonight. (It's OK! I'm okay with that!)
My nemesis (one of them, as I have many) got to meet gentleman and scholar Dave Stubbs, and I have yet to meet him, so I'm pretty angry about that, but it's not like there's anything I can do about it.

The Bulldogs also have a playoff game tonight, so there isn't much left to say...
Go Bulldogs!
Go Habs Go!

It's Not Easy Tonight

A little mood music... but the video is terrible. Just so you know.

What's the opposite of home-ice advantage?

Whatever was fuelling the Habs in Washington might have been lost in transit. They just weren't as "on" tonight as they had been in the first two games, and the Capitals just kept pushing, so a final score of 5-1 wasn't surprising. For the first time in this series, the Canadiens looked like they were going to lose.

The game could have gone better. But this series is getting more and more violent as it goes on. I haven't screamed "GOALIE INTERFERENCE!" at my TV that many times in a very long time. The Caps aren't just trying to outscore the Habs, they're trying to mess them up mentally and physically. (Maybe because of the Habs' strong start?) That's probably not going to change. We'll be seeing a lot more penalties, won't we?

It's hard to believe that Scott Gomez apparently got one five minute penalty in his entire career, before Saturday. (Really? That dude played for the Rangers. Somehow only one major penalty is a little hard for me to believe) He's racked up fifteen penalty minutes in the last two games. At least the fight that led to his penalty got everyone good and angry, and we got a goal out of it.

Requisite goalie-related comment: It was a rough game, and Halak had to be pulled. It wasn't him. The team as a whole wasn't playing well; it wasn't necessarily the goaltending. That being said, Price was solid. I expected him to be a little rusty, but that was old-school Carey Price we saw tonight. Hot damn. Now if only this team can regroup, get aggressive, and throw it all back at the Capitals.

Habs are turning the tables!

Plus of the night: Seeing Jean Beliveau in the stands. I'm so happy that he's in better shape!
Minus of the night: Seeing empty seats in the stands. What kind of humanoid would spend that much money to go to a playoff game, in seats that so many people wish their asses could warm, and then just up and leave? If you care about a team enough to shell out for playoff tickets, you STAY. If you don't stay, just don't go at all.

Tomorrow: The nominees for the Selke Trophy are announced. The media speculates who'll be in nets for Game 4. Mike Knuble hopes he doesn't run into me, because no one messes with a Montreal goalie without some screaming from Rookie.

Thoughts on Game 2

Huzzah! My laptop has found some Wi-Fi. And it's a hell of a game. A few end-of-period notes.

Manicure, consider yourself ruined.

So, after the first period:
As usual, we love our #21 and our #46. (And even those who don't... well, right now they do. Seriously. Check your Facebook and your Twitter if you don't believe me.)
A few scrapes during these first 20 minutes. First, José Théodore's ego got a little bruised. It must suck to get pulled after less than 10 minutes of play, but I guess this just wasn't his night. He pulled a little fit of frustration, but it wasn't as bad as the heinous bitch-fit I saw from J-S Giguère last winter. Then, Roman Hamrlik defended his net just a little too well, but didn't seem to sustain a major head injury from it. I'm a little more worried about Markov, who took a puck to the leg (either his knee or his shin). He looked like he was in pain, and a lot of people think he's already injured (he's been playing a little bit less superhumanly).
Watch out Habs, the Caps are getting it together and Ovie is angry.

After the second:
Mike Cammalleri caused a couple of penalties, but then got one of his own. Karma?
Andrei Kostitsyn is credited with two goals but only scores one. The Caps are only credited with one goal but really scored two.
Oh, and by the way, readers wearing hats, please take them off and throw them for Andrei (the "Belarusian Bomber"). It should have been raining hats.
Varlamov's earning his keep and Halak is... do I even need to end this sentence? Fantastical. Now if only Hal Gill could defend our net and screen the other one.

After the third:
I can't believe all that happened in just 20 minutes. I need a nap, a Zantac and maybe some electrolytes. Can I get a hit of that Gatorade, Jaro?
Well, it took five periods, but Ovechkin got his goal. It was pretty dirty, but Ovie gets the job done.
Speaking of Ovie, he tried to get up in Gionta's business after a huge, confusion around Varlamov's net. But no one messes with Brian Gionta, so we saw the resurrection of Scott Gomez, New York Ranger. He struggled a little, took down Tom Poti and skated to his 5-minute penalty, squinting like Clint Eastwood. (I seriously never thought I'd compare Gomez to Eastwood. Like, ever. Appreciate it, Scotty.)
Um, a whole bunch of goals, a moment of Plekanec/Cammalleri happiness (yes, even the toughest of athletes will hug like BFFs), and the game tied up at 5-5.
Jaro was not a happy camper by the end of this period. Maybe I should ask someone else for Gatorade.

Okay, next comes overtime. Will my stomach stop making noise?

Overtime
Over as quickly as it began. Backstrom gets puck, puts it in net, posts a hat trick. No time to even bite a nail. I guess Backstrom cares about my manicure?
If the chances of seeing a hat trick are 1 in 18, does that mean that this game has exhausted all hat tricks for the remainder of the playoffs? Keep in mind I'm bad at math.

Star names you: 1. Backstrom 2. Andrei Kostitsyn, the Belarusian Bomber 3. Ovechkin

Game Preview: Habs v Caps, game 2

Photo yoinked from Mike Cammalleri's Twitter

photo prise du Twitter de Mike Cammalleri!

After game 1, Alexander Ovechkin apologized to Washington press for his lack of scoring:

"It's not about the Canadiens. It's all about me."

Sure, the NHL in general is about him, but our defence and Halak will prove him wrong tonight.

Game Won

(You'll have to pardon my publishing this a day after the fact, but in the immortal words of Liz Lemon, "My internet is weird.")

It's too bad they don't also make shirts that say "Tomas Jagr"

I think Habs fans from the Verizon Center to Montreal, all the way across the country and the ocean, are echoing Tomas Plekanec's two-handed fist pump.

This is not last year's team. They know they're in eighth place and it'll be a long way to the top if they wanna rock and roll, but clearly they're up for the challenge. Plekanec's overblown comments about José Theodore are proof of that, in a way. Our Habs were confident. Our coach was confident. (Words I wasn't expecting to type so soon after the end of season we just saw.) It's exactly that, confidence, that's going to get us through this series. The Capitals have the satisfaction of knowing they're the best team in the league. Alexander Ovechkin is generally fearless. Throughout the season we've seen him score goals and deliver hits (and just generally be Ovechkin) without thinking twice about it.

I think the team did what it had to do. Game 1 = won.

By the way, I think the nickname "Mean Mike Green" might stick around. He's become a pesky sort of defenceman. But at least he didn't bust anyone's head open tonight.

As for the rest of the playoffs:
Ottawa was really hungry in the first game of Pens v Sens, so an upset win wasn't entirely surprising. Or maybe Mike Fisher's teammates really want him to have the Stanley Cup at his wedding this summer. They can put the cupcakes in it! ("Stanley Cupcakes." You saw it here first. Unless you googled it like I just did.)
Colorado beat San Jose? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa? I fell asleep halfway through a then-scoreless game 1, and will probably miss all of tonight's West Coast action because of crazy early work tomorrow.
The Flyers beat the Devils... and they *are* playing against Brodeur. Whoa.
On Wednesday, Concordia hosted a free screening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Plus, that night's Scrubs rerun featured Dr. Cox's love of the Red Wings. I figured the Coyotes just wouldn't have the juju to win a game on that particular night, but they did. Phoenix rising!
Much ado about punching when the Bruins played the Sabres... is anyone surprised?
Thanks to the Green Men, Vancouver beat Los Angeles. Go Green Men!

On beating the Capitals

Every now and then, a team will play a game that says a lot about them as a team, and as a franchise.

Last night's 6-5 OT win against the Washington Capitals was that kind of game.

The Canadiens proved that there's a lot to be proud of. Our prospect development might be seeing a turnaround, as Tom Pyatt and David Desharnais recorded their first NHL points. Our small forwards (that ever-popular joke material) played big. Even Scott Gomez got in on the game. You know it's a special night when Gomez scores a goal. The team proved that when they really get things going, they can overcome pretty much any challenge.

It was also the proof, once and for all, that some idiots will never be happy with this team. They didn't seem to notice that the Canadiens ended the Capitals' 14-game winning streak, a feat that not even the reigning Stanley Cup champions were able to accomplish. I'm not even sure these people even know the Habs won. Hell, some of them (I won't name names, but they're people who should know better) couldn't even stop player-hating long enough to acknowledge that their home team won. Two points, hello? Isn't that a good thing? They couldn't even set aside the so-called "goalie controversy" long enough to realize that Jaroslav Halak might need some rest, and that it's maybe not a good idea to have him start every game before our Philadelphia aller-retour, tire himself out, then jump on a plane to Vancouver, be Slovakia's go-to guy for the Olympics, and come back and play some more. Even if this was the case, there'd be more bellyaching no matter where the Canadiens wind up in the standings come season's end.

People like this are exactly the reason why we haven't won the Stanley Cup in over a decade. There, I said it. You know what else I'm going to say? Congratulations, Habs, on an exciting win despite a slew of injuries and a really tough opponent.

Washington @ Montreal 2-10-10

This is a shirt I wanted, but will have to hold off on buying, at least for tonight. The good thing is that it can apply to more than one Tomas, and that I can deal with.
Since I had a pre-game responsibility of another nature all day and missed out on the game preview, I come to you now with a live blog. Quick bullet points before puck-drop:

• Carey Price finally gets some ice time in goal, facing Michal Neuvirth, who has 4 wins in his last 4 starts. Washington's got a ridiculous win-streak going if you haven't heard about it by now (14). Also the same number of points separating them from the 2nd place Devils last I checked.


• Alexander Semin has five game-winning goals, and he and his buddy Tomas Fleischmann (see shirt design) were a lethal double-team last time they faced the Habs, which I missed, which is good, as both of them happen to be part of my extracurricular Enjoyable Hockey Players and I'm not allowed to enjoy them in such a context.


• Mike Green is back after nearly decapitating Kladno native Michael Frolik, so you can bet I'll be one of the ones looking on pretty skeptically.

First period notes:

• Holy quick start, Batman. Gomez allows Tom Pyatt to get his first NHL point. Penalty upcoming, though.
• This game is happening faster than I can type it. 1-1, Brooks Laich with the goal from the infamous two extracurriculars.
• I've lost track of which Hamiltonians are here and which aren't.
• First time I actually see the "C" on Ovechkin. I feel like there should have been more fanfare around that.
• Maxwell to the box for hooking. The only thing fun about that is his caption which says "Benjamin."
• I just realized the ridiculous amount of hockey I have to follow tonight.
• Gionta and Pleks shorthanded 2 on 1 ruined by my favourite Kladno-killer.
• Hope Tom Pyatt can provide some energy in this game (not that it's currently lacking.)
• RT (yes, in a blog) @All_Habs: Bell Centre seats seem to filled, but sounds like game is in Atlanta.
• Semin in the box. Capitalizing on the Capitals? ...We'll never know. Gionta goes off with a penalty of his own.
• ....Josh? Yikes.
• The place seems to have gone completely dead. Kudos goes to the Capitals for their response to that injury. End 1st.

(Intermission: all I seemed to notice was the "Krispy Kernels" ad behind Jacques Demers' head.)

Second period notes:

• PYATTTTTTTTTT!! First point and now first goal in the NHL. Assists to O'Byrne and Gomez.
• ...And Washington's use of the classic tic-tac-toe ensures their ridiculously-quick response to THAT.
• Desharnais' turn. Soon, please? Or I'll need more wine.
• Maybe Pleks' line could stop being offside sometime soon?
• Since when is Ovie anti-McGill?
• Goalie change, just as my mother (the one who keeps reminding us Jose Theodore exists) comes downstairs. Coincidence? I think not. Also nice timing for the fans to wake up in this game.
• Habs to the powerplay! It's about time. Don't ruin it now.
• First half looks like a powerfail. Second half has some nice passes but no finish.
• "OMG. omg. OMG! omg. (pause) whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" - the most coherent translatable reaction to the Pyatt line's barrage, all stopped by Theodore.
• Brendan Morrison to the box on that play. Hopefully less of a powerfail will result...
• Pleks hits the side of the net, aaaaaaaaaand DESHARNAIS' 1ST NHL POINT. Unless Toronto decides otherwise.
• Not so. Glen Metropolit does indeed record his 12th goal of the year. How long before the Caps respond to this one?
• Sergei Kostitsyn and Maxim Lapierre team up and give the Caps more of a challenge. 4-2 Habs. Good on them!
• HALA--err. The Price is Right!
• Kinda wish the Habs would save their best for every team, not just the throne-holders of the league.
• Well. That goal was a ball-buster. Everybody into the net?....Waved off. Wow.
• Ryan O'Byrne was rude and will have a two-minute time-out.
• Pleks looked like he wanted to have a little rest on Ovie's shoulder listening to that explanation.
• PING.
• Update on Gorges via Twitter (might also have been from the TV but my parents have been conversing loudly as part of their own liveblog): RT @All_Habs: Gorges with scalp laceration, lost fair amount of blood but will be ok.
• PLEKS! Sweet pass from Sergei and ladies and gentlemen, we have chicken wings! End 2nd.

Third period notes:

• 13 seconds. And 3 seconds after that, it's 5-3 on Mike Green (him again)'s 14th of the year. Numerical irony there if you can spot it.
• "There goes Pyatt's GWG," - Rookie. Good point, sadly made :(
• PING.
• Sergei K has been silently kickass this game. Right there, he was loudly kickass.
• "Potty?" - my brother on Washington's #3. I haven't been paying attention to see if RDS still calls him that.
• "MAKE SOME NOISE!" Yeah. Maybe something other than chanting poor Theo's name. (I was a fan, okay)
• ...damnit. On second thought, maybe you can resume that taunting.
• Uh oh. 5-4. And now RDS is all over O'Byrne.
• Boyd Gordon sounds like a cheesy superhero name from one of those shows you'd find on Teletoon Retro.
• Ovechkin. Go away.
• Youppi sitting where he does in the third period irritates me. If you know me well this isn't the first time you've read this. (To quote Christian Bale, the words "it's fucking distracting!" come to mind)
• Another powerplay (or powerfail?) ... answered by one Hal Gill.
• I reinterate the point I made three bullet points ago.
• My mom just said a bad word. In French.
• Fleischmann, how dare you even try.
• My dad just said a bad word. In French. (But seriously, was that really a non-call? Poor Gionta.)
• .......
• From a score that was 5-2, RDS shouldn't be tipping their hat to the Habs getting a point. They also gave one away.

Overtime (...) notes:

• My dad's "affection" for Ovechkin can be resumed in the word "hotdog."
• Someone be my hero. Someone whose jersey isn't dominantly white. Please.
• The Halakisms are on their way back in the fans' vocabulary already. Where's the justice in that? I don't see any.
• !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY HERO WAS MY HEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. (My poor dog has run for the hills.)
• I can't formulate any other comment, other than my joy at my post picture being ironically relevant. So I leave it up to you. Habs win! 6-5 in OT!

Confusion

Tonight at 7, the Habs play Washington.
Tonight at 8, Canada's juniors play the young Americans for the gold medal in the World Junior Championship.

What's a girl to do?

Watch the Canadiens or watch the Canadians?

Switch to the juniors after an hour of Markov vs. Ovie?
Split my time and change channels like I have some sort of complusion?
Watch the junior game on RDS at 9:30 and risk hearing every name but "Cormier" mispronounced?
... Tape the juniors and watch an English-language feed as soon as the Habs-Caps game is over?

In any case, I'll have to hurry up and get my Team Canada gear on over my CH T-shirt as quickly as I can.

Update: The Habs had some good moments but obviously Fleischmann and Semin had to go and remind us that we like them. Whatever. We'll smash Florida.
Go Canada!

Plus Minus: Seeing Red

So this week we played the Hurricanes, the Capitals, and the Red Wings. That's enough red jerseys to seriously freak out Senator McCarthy. (You know, if he was alive and it was still the 1950s and stuff.) What went our way? What went wrong?

PLUS

Why, yes, Ryan, winning DOES feel really good

+ 2 It feels pretty good to beat the Caps on their home turf. I mean ice. An extra plus for the guys on the ice in the last two minutes of that game for killing a 6-on-4 power play.

+ 4 Maxim Lapierre, Andrei Kostitsyn, and Max Pacioretty for breaking out of their funk (not the George Clinton kind) and playing what might have been their best week of the season (Lapierre's penalty in Washington notwithstanding). The fourth plus goes to Kirk Muller for knowing that Lapierre could win that shootout for us.

+ Is it getting repetitive that Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri are regular fixtures in the Plus column? Lately they've been the best we've got, and I guess I'll just have to keep mentioning them until someone surpasses their current level of awesomeness.


MINUS

I happen to like David Steckel, so I sort of felt bad for him here... but not that bad

- It sucks enough that we lost Brian Gionta. Then we found out he's out indefinitely because of a broken bone in his foot. Then we saw footage from his press conference and the man we call GG was walking around with the help of forearm crutches and looking just a little bit more helpless than we can handle.

- We lost Gomez, too? Get out your 100th anniversary umbrellas, because when it rains on les Canadiens, it pours.

- I tend to be picky about which sportscasters I like, and this week Joel Bouchard did himself no favours by interviewing Tom Kostopoulos exclusively in English. Come on, dude. When he wore the bleu-blanc-rouge, TK always tried his best to speak at least a little bit of French when being interviewed by French media. Sure, it's clearly not his first language, but he speaks French at least as well as some reporters speak English, so he gets an A for effort.

- Oh, Georges Laraque. I want to be happy that you're back, honestly, I really do, but it's hard when you don't put your brute force to good use and instead give the other team a six-minute power play, and then find yourself being called to a disciplinary hearing. It's your job to hurt other guys, but maybe not that badly. If Niklas Kronwall was a puppy would you still say that you hit him by accident?


Okay, so we've got another encounter with Ovechkin and the Caps next Saturday (dammit I think I'm going to miss part of it) but not before we play Ovie's best friend Sidney Crosby. Maybe if we can get our revenge on Cros for that hat trick, the Caps will give us another win.
What? That's not how it works?
I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I get my wish.

Caps got busted!

We didn't quite see enough of this... and I hope my saying that didn't totally jinx us for November 28th.

So, a team weakened by injuries that's been doing okay played a team weakened by injuries that is the Washington Capitals.

Oh, and also Scott Gomez disappeared at some point in the third period, and if this is another injury I'm going to scream, even though without Brian Gionta he's kind of like a sandwich without meat. (He's bread... and don't get me wrong, bread is awesome, but fans cannot live on bread alone.)

A few highlights:

• Even though he's just back from injury, Ryan O'Byrne looks like he's back on track, and played pretty well, especially considering that the last time he played his linemate, Marc-Andre Bergeron, wasn't even a Hab yet.
• Georges Laraque's first game in, oh, centuries saw him getting into fisticuffs with John Erskine, and how.
• Alexander Ovechkin appeared to almost be playing it safe; it only makes sense since he came back from injury this week, but Ovie is not one to play it safe.
• Our second line. That seems to be one of the constants on our team: a second line that produces when they play well. Mike Green's attempted punch to Tomas Plekanec's head, I think, proved that. However, I sincerely hope that Green doesn't try that again, for his own good.
• Birthday boy Max Pacioretty is definitely continuing his return to form (despite that unfortunate miss). His skill and speed are going to be very useful if the injury fairy keeps kidnapping his teammates. (By the way, Max shares his birthday with Super Dave Osborne and a Beastie Boy. 
• Tom Pyatt's first-period breakaway and almost-goal*. I would have loved to see that puck go in, but I say that about every breakaway that doesn't light that lamp.
• We did, however, draw a few penalties that shouldn't have happened. I don't quite understand what happened with Gorges pushing David Steckel, causing a domino effect and toppling Carey Price, so let's not go into that. I would have thought that Guillaume Latendresse wouldn't try to stupidly hook someone two games after very nearly getting benched, but I'm the first person to admit that Latendresse (presumably) knows a whole lot more about hockey than I do. Maxim Lapierre's penalty at the end of the third could have ended badly, but instead caused nothing more than an impromptu Canadiens garage sale with sticks and helmets falling all over the place during the PK.

Now while a wicked 21st birthday for Patches and a postgame celebration are in order, let's hope that this postgame high and traveling back home don't tire our Habs out too much because the Red Wings might be desperate tomorrow. At least we'll have home ice advantage and the announcing talents of Michel Lacroix, who doesn't sound like my laptop when he speaks. (They couldn't find a better orator in all of Washington, D.C., capital of the United States? Seriously?)

*Almost-Goal: abbreviated "ALG," a term that is not yet officially in NHL lexicon, whose success rate lies somewhere between a regular shot on goal and a goal. It's almost a goal. For further examples, see Christopher Higgins near the end of last season.

Now's a good? bad? time as any...Game Preview 11-20-09

Let's not dwell on the basics. You don't really need to look up the standings to know where Washington is and where the Canadiens are. If you have a general knowledge of hockey or, at the very least, been watching since the start of the season, you're groaning at the prospect of this game. I, for one, cringe at the fact that it's on a Friday. While it's been awhile since we've had one of those, I remember being fourteen and skipping Friday kickboxing classes only to watch my dear Habs come up repeatedly with, at best, an ECHL-calibre showing. The Habs are long past those days and coming off a win on Tuesday, sure, but there was more intensity in last night's Battle of the Basement Teams of the East*. Ladies and gentlemen, can you tell I'm not very optimistic? At the same time, the 'Yotes may not be as powerful as the Caps, but despite Phoenix's still-impressive record, Montreal were the ones who yanked a "W" that night, and the same might be in store for this matchup.




But then, there is this guy.


Capital Offense (and defense, and goalies)

• I don't even think I need to say it, but Alexander Ovechkin.
  
• Tomas Fleischmann. You roll your eyes because you knew that I of all people would be the one to put him this high in this category. Here's one figure that doesn't lie: out of his 21 shots, 7 are goals. For the math-unconscious that's a 33% shooting percentage, best in the entire NHL.
  
• I may not be a fan of his days with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan but there's no questioning Mathieu Perreault's abilities. The former Q-league MVP is looking to make the most of the injury problems currently hounding the Caps.
  
• Looking to make his NHL debut is John Carlson. The ex-London Knight blueliner is sound in his own zone (+14 in 17 games in the AHL) and also boasts ten points.
  
• The question remains in net, where it could be one of two 21-year olds. Semyon Varlamov is most famous for bringing Washington to the Eastern Final, while little Czech Michal Neuvirth, a recent call-up, is also a recent Calder Cup winner.

To my understanding of the Capitals' current woes, there won't be a Semin, Jurcina, Laing, Gordon, Knuble or Morrisonn tonight. The Habs are looking to prove themselves despite their own injuries, and this is a good opportunity as any to do so.

*for those that missed it: the hell-match between Toronto and Carolina last night.