Plus/Minus gets ready for the Conference Final

Yes, ladies and gents, the dude who scored the OT goal that won a gold medal gets a little extra time off to polish it. Or, maybe, to pack up some boxes and learn to make his own sandwiches.
And yes, the team everyone questioned (even me a little bit, last summer, when prompted by Global's sports news for my expert analysis) is going to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1993. (So I guess I haven't missed much, because I vaguely remember the Habs winning the Cup while I decided between magenta and fuschia crayons. How times, and crayons, have changed.)

PLUS

Note: Tomas Plekanec is not celebrating National Hug A Giant Day

+ WE WON ROUND 2. Conference finals? Is this for real?
+ San Jose has seen one of their talented young forwards go from "Little Joe" to "The Big Pavelski." At one point, he was leading the league in playoff goals.
+ Until he got ourscored by our very own Mike Cammalleri.
+ Jaro.
+ Everyone who has made a T-shirt with the Halak stop sign on it. They're pretty awesome. I saw one in the window of Rock & Rebel in Cours Mont-Royal, so you can get it custom-printed on a T-shirt. So far it doesn't seem to be available on their website.
+ File this under "postseason praise for Kirk Muller."
+ Proof that the playoffs are more important than the regular season: Hal Gill, Maxim Lapierre, and Jacques Martin deserving more praise recently than fans gave them all season.
+ Scott Gomez continues to crack me up, the most recent example being this photobomb:

+ I'm going to sound so mean here, but I'm actually quite glad that this playoff series has caused some more Crosby-haters to come out of the woodwork. And I'm kind of happy that my team made him cry. (What? I promised full disclosure!)
+ That being said, Josh Gorges did a great job of staving off Crosby.

MINUS

Man discovers fire. City covers its face in shame.

- Matt Cooke. His jackassery needs no further explaining.
- Sami Salo might have busted a ball. I'm a girl and even I'm wincing at the thought of that.
- Our Habs getting injured. It sucks. I'm glad that things are starting to pick up.
- My friend Corina, who is probably not reading this because she got offended at my Crosby comments in Plus, is very glad that the Blackhawks beat the Canucks. But it sucks for Vancouver's players, who have been great so far, and it sucks for the Green Men.
- To the NHL Live host who still can't pronounce "Cammalleri".
- I hate scalpers in general, but the fact that there are already almost 200 postings on Craigslist for overpriced Round 3 tickets is ridiculous. (Even worse is that some of them are being sold by people who think this series is being played by the "Canadian" and the "Phillies")
- Finally, if you broke a window or stole something after Game 7, can you please reply in the comments telling me exactly what kind of idiot you are? I'm all for partying and stuff, but come on. Is this wartime or something? These morons have got to stop breaking windows for no reason. Thanks to them, Games 1 and 2 of the Philly series won't be broadcast at the Bell - which was something I've thought for ages would be a great idea, and I missed my chance because tickets sold out before I was sure I could make it there, and now you've maybe ruined my chances of seeing what it's like to fill a stadium without a single athlete in it.

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
The new Georges Laraque commercial. Filmed between dog walks and plugging his raw vegan restaurant on Off The Record.



No, I don't have an explanation for it. I've been trying to explain it since Wednesday and no dice.


We're going to have a stellar Round 3. I'm sure of it, even if I'm not sure that the people scalping their tickets have ever read a newspaper or watched a hockey game before.