Sort of a game preview: Habs v Lightning

Didn't we just see the Tampa Bay Lightning, like, last week?

Not that I'm complaining or anything, because they're one of the few teams in the East that I like, and they're in town after the Capitals, another team I like. (But those games are bookended by the Penguins and Rangers, who, uh, I don't change the channel when their coaches are on TV. That is my compliment to you, Pittsburgh and Manhattan.)

As you may know (or not, since I haven't written one of these in a while) I'm not very good at writing game previews, so I'll just highlight a few things to keep in mind:

As we learned during the last Habs-Bolts game on Hockey Night In Canada, Subban and Stamkos were teammates as kids, and they were so cute it almost makes me like kids.

It also might make people stop and think before they talk about Steven Stamkos as a machine who needs to score an Ovechtrick every week, and about PK Subban as if he's some kind of horrible human being.

During the last game we also found out about the Lightning's lucky dog, Chance. I'm going to repeat my suggestion that the Canadiens organization should hire one of my cats.

I submit this picture in lieu of a job interview.

Cardboard box not necessary. Juliet just likes sitting in it.

Warning: there is a slight chance one of these cats, like any cat, may attempt to stow away inside a hockey bag. Sound off in the comments if you'd like to guess which players are most likely to have a kitty hide inside their bag.

And the third thing we'll be paying attention to in this game should come as no surprise:

Not quite a photobomb there by Vinny

I've turned into a pretty good protégée, I'd say. I may not be able to break down every decision Guy Boucher makes, but I can see how well he runs his team.

If both Nigel Dawes and Aaron Palushaj are in the lineup tonight, I'll take a guess and say Palushaj scores first. He's scored both times the Bulldogs were at the Bell Centre, and they were great goals. No "Can he find the net?" questions here.

Go Habs Go!

Home opened!

There are a few things that jumped out at me during last night's home opener, and not just because my HD was crystal clear. Seriously, I don't know how much money goes into buying cameras for the Bell Centre, but it's worth every cent. This digital image nerd knows a thing or two about clear picture. The team was excited, the crowd was alive, and as a result, I was louder than ever watching the game from home. (After a goal by Tampa Bay, I screamed out "NOOOO!" which caused my mother to say "Oh, no!" and then the cat meowed, and it sounded like she said "no." True story.)

She's a Habs fan.

Yes, that was a bilingual "Nous sommes / We are" flag that the little flag kid skated around with. Who's going to speak louder, the francophones who don't want our team Americanized, the pro-bilingual people who'll be pleased, or the people wondering why they wrote the same thing twice?

Brian Gionta may have been criticized by some for his incorrect pronunciation of players' names and numbers, but he did a pretty good job. Except for the parts where he didn't, on purpose. He called #40 Maxim "Laperriere" as payback for not being taught to pronounce the word "vingt" properly. His slip-up in referring to Dustin Boyd as "Justin", however, is due to Boyd's resemblance to a young Justin Timberlake.

Gionta's nervousness was probably caused by the fact that he's accustomed to riling up crowds by scoring goals, not by speaking. After all, Michel Lacroix is the one paid to say people's names in an exciting manner.

No confirmation on whether the assistant captains were chosen solely because their jersey numbers are so close. If that's the case, I'd expect a mutiny from Gomez and Cammalleri. (For more on this, see HabsLaughs' take on Cammy and the captaincy.)

Joseph Kaiser was selected to sing the national anthems before the game because Charles Prévost-Linton did not brush his hair. Again. (Also because Kaiser might be a better singer.)

Kirk Muller drew bigger cheers from the crowd than any member of the crew or coaching staff. It might be because he won the Stanley Cup as a Hab, but it might also be because the entire city has a crush on him.

Bet you didn't notice Don Cherry

As for the game, there were some very bright points. Carey Price was in fine form as he has been lately. Which means that I'm about 20% less likely to want to slap Jack Todd after I read his next column. Andrei Kostitsyn looked rarin' to go before the game, and delivered. And, best of all, Dominic Moore and Guy Boucher's team won the game!!

...wait, what do you mean neither of those guys is on the Canadiens payroll anymore?

Oh. Right.

Oh now we're back again: Game Preview 3-9-10

Having completely missed the last two games due to a pressing need for a weekend vacation (also the fact that ESPN is not exactly one's RDS, now, is it) I'm feeling a little inadequate and at a loss of words to blog with right now. However:

The Canadiens had two big wins after their falling-apart episode on Thursday night, the most recent being a comeback shootout win against Anaheim on Sunday. That extra point shoved them back up into 7th spot in the East, and while tonight's opponent sits at 11th, all they need to catch up are four points, two of which they would love to get tonight.

Tomas Plekanec seems to be shaking things up again after a brief post-Olympic quiet spell (in which he said "nothing to see here folks, carry on" and snapped a shot past Jonas Hiller to cap the comeback). I'm just sitting here clutching my jersey waiting for an extension, which is apparently supposed to get done sometime "soon."

Not going to delve into the goalie situation, but the general feeling is the same: we shouldn't be worried about who's stopping what, just that the pucks stay on the right side of the red line. Now Tampa!

Bolts (not the animated movie about the dog, no)

• Steven Stamkos is ridiculous and so is his point-streak (29 PTS/16GP).
• Steve Downie is taking a more disciplined approach this season, so the tendency to depend on him as the wild child penalty-taker shouldn't be at play as much as it has been over the course of his career.
• The "homeslices" that I shouldn't need to name at this point (26, 4) are also on their usual point-scoring tears and the fact that this is a Bell Centre game should only add to their motivation.

Things I learned during tonight's game

Apparently Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier were NOT announced as part of the Team Canada roster today. Did you know? I would have had no idea if it weren't for Jacques Demers telling me every two seconds. Because Joel Bouchard didn't mention it, and neither did any of the other guys on RDS, and there was no mention of it on Info Sports. And it surely won't be in any French newspapers tomorrow.
It's a snub so disappointing that not even Tampa Bay's ice girls were able to dance with conviction, acting as if they were useless, overstyled human Barbie dolls with the most pointless job in the universe.

He's clearly an excellent dresser! His knit cardigan skills would be much more useful in international sports competition than Joe Thornton's lousy goal-scoring.

Vinny's exclusion from Team Canada was clearly a bigger story than the unfortunate exclusion of Montreal Canadien Mike Cammalleri, and obviously more important than the fact that this season's star Tomas Plekanec will be helping out Team Czech in a big way.

(He also helped the Habs a bit tonight, but his OT game-winner will be overlooked quickly as soon as someone thinks of another French guy who's not going to the Olympics.)

No love from RDS for the guys who actually play in this province, but I feel for Cammy and Hamrlik and Spacek, who probably would have made great additions to their national teams but them's the breaks I guess. They'll get two weeks off to train on their own, with less risk of injury. It's not much of a reward, I know.

As for the game itself, because yes, there was a game today, which St. Louis and Lecavalier apparently played in between tirades by angry journalists:
I'm very, very happy to have Brian Gionta back, and Matt D'Agostini's efforts merit a mention. He's been getting a lot of grief lately for not producing since his return from injury but he had some good shots on goal tonight, as did Benoit Pouliot.