Plus/Minus is not on a road trip

...but it did move to Monday this week due to an 8 p.m. Sunday game. I could be in a better mood so let's get right to it, because there are tons of Pluses to cheer me up.

PLUS

+ Chris Pronger is hurt! Huzzah!
+ This is almost a plus for both PK Subban and Mike Cammalleri, who on Wednesday and Thursday respectively had two-thirds of a Gordie Howe hat trick. I have two things to say about that. The first is that the first-ever recorded Gordie Howe hat trick (before it had a name) took place on December 26th, 1917, so you can tell people that on Sunday, and you'll sound so smart because you know the anniversary of something that happened in the NHL's first year. The second is that I have yet to see a complete Gordie Howe hat trick. That needs to change.
+ Max Pacioretty made me smile. He got called up at just the right time, but a lot of people were asking a lot of questions, and most of them still haven't forgiven him for (apparently) demanding top-six minutes (if that's what you think he did). I think a lot of the talking has stopped.
+ Dustin Boyd is going through some kind of AHL renaissance. Four goals in what, three games?
+ The commercial where a little boy gets an Ovechkin jersey for Christmas gets me every time. It's so damn cute. And I don't usually get all googly over commercials. Here's a slightly longer version of the same video:

+ LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick posted an incredible 51-save shutout against the Detroit Red Wings. And yes, Detroit was playing well. He just didn't let any pucks in.

+ Vancouver's Green Men were at it again, in full force against the Maple Leafs on Saturday. First they hurled a giant box's worth of Eggos at the penalty box, and then they showed Mike Komisarek that he was on Santa's naughty list along with the rest of his teammates.

MINUS

In bad taste, apparently

- Everyone's new enemy seems to be late-period goals. Maybe the Habs should hire someone to stand at the end of the bench and whisper "Don't let them score a goal!" to the players hitting the ice for the last two minutes of a period.
- Can someone explain to me why the Montreal Canadiens aren't able to put a puck in an open net? It's an open net! They're the Montreal Canadiens!
- Those of you who are worried about PK Subban's performance seem to be blowing the situation a little out of proportion. We're talking "Kanye West stole Taylor Swift's microphone" kind of horrified. (Yes, I made a year-old pop culture reference that didn't even make any sense. Deal with it.)
- So let me get this straight: the Avalanche beat the Habs yesterday, and RDS didn't even bother showing Matt Duchene do the bangity-bang dance? That's like losing twice.


I can't think of a better way to end this post than to wish my favourite Canadien a happy birthday: Blow out those candles, Andrei Markov. I'd say "get well soon" but I want him to take as much time to recover as he needs to, and then some.