Plus/Minus: Welcome to 2010 edition

Hugs have been exchanged, the Winter Classic has come and gone, and the champagne has finished flowing. The new year has officially begun, and I've got two weeks to plus and minus since I skipped last week, unannounced. So much for the new year's resolutions I told my mommy I'd make.
Over the last two weeks, the Canadiens have faced bitter rivals and teams that are also bitter rivals but maybe not as much as others. There have been wins, losses, heartbreaking injuries, and triumphant returns. Basically, 2010 is like every other one of the last 100 years so far.

PLUS

+ The biggest plus of the week (they're all equal but some are more equal than others) goes to Benoit Pouliot for proving his awesomeness, for his impressive first goal as a Hab, and for finding his place alongside Gionta and Gomez.
+ The Bulldogs have been doing very, very well lately.
+ Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, the Canadiens know that they can always recall Ryan White. (Too bad he was sent down as quickly as he was called up... hopefully we'll see him again soon if we need him.)
+ A brilliant New Year's Eve victory against Florida. Who knew that you don't need to be on your feet to win a game?
+ Alex Kovalev for his four-goal night last week.
+ The Jaroslav Halak we know and love: solid even in losses and capable of showing his worth when compared to the world's best.
+ You won't hear me say very much about Patrick Kane, but I love hearing stories about athletes who make an effort to reach out to their fans.

MINUS

- Most of Montreal is winter-white right now, except Alain Crete, who is orange. Is he trying to pretend he's on Jersey Shore or something?
- Dear Ryan Miller: you may think you're like invincible or something but you are not. The Habs will kick your ass someday. Someday soon. Get ready to look like... whoever your backup is.
- Okay, so as it turns out, the injury fairy has returned to our town. Poor Andrei Kostitsyn. This also doesn't bode well for Team Belarus at the Olympics.
- Former Hab violence: Mike Ribeiro seems to be out forever after an accidental hit to the face from Chris Higgins. This doesn't bode well for Team Portugal at the Olympics.

And now we've got to go back to coming up with entertaining stuff to write during this half-week-long drought. (Here's hoping for another game like last night's epic outing between the Flames and Canucks... I promise to try not to skip Plus/Minus next week, even though there'll only be two Habs games to talk about.