CAR 5, FML 2

Hurricanes: more dangerous than rioting Habs fans!

Tonight was a great night to be a Carolina Hurricanes fan.

I mean, seriously, think about it. Here's one of the most important franchises in the NHL, ahead of the 'Canes in the standings, and away from a playoff spot by just one point. One little, tiny, minuscule point.

(And if I were any other blogger, right now I'd be making a joke about how "little" isn't a problem for this year's Habs.)

It's not just that the Habs played poorly, it's that the 'Canes played well. I think this was less of a "Why did we lose?" and more of a "What can we do to get Eric Staal on our team?" kind of game. Honestly. Near the end of the game Staal's eyebrows looked dangerously pale, and I tend to hate hockey players who don't have eyebrows. It was a pretty close call, but he burned Montreal pretty badly tonight.

Habs I/O proves that thing about a picture being worth 1000 words

This wasn't anyone's best game. I feel like this team has been working a lot on finesse, and skating little circles around the enemy (fancy Eric Staal-style?) but this wasn't the night for that sort of play, whether they were tight or a little clumsy. Tonight, the Habs had to be the perseverant, North American-style team we thought they would be once the roster was announced. It just wasn't there tonight.

Maybe we shouldn't be disappointed. This season's Habs are nothing if not surprising, and they can lose two games in a row just as easily as they can win them, and kick the Sabres' asses while having their own handed to them - twice - by the Hurricanes.

Maybe I should have let Kristin Chenoweth sing "Maybe This Time" to me a few more times. Maybe my friend shouldn't have prayed for Canada to win a gold medal at any cost, even the Canadiens missing the playoffs. (She admitted this to me about an hour ago. I had no idea.) Maybe it's because of the ice girls.

Yeah, it's definitely the ice girls and their half-shirts and their bad mojo. Lucky for us, there are no ice girls at the Bell Centre.

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.

And we're back! Game Preview 3-2-10

This is the situation I will hereby refer to as The Clump: the ugly, unwanted stress that comes with six teams jostling for three spots in the playoffs. The Canadiens currently have 64 points, and tonight's opposition, 65. Boston has a handful of Olympic returnees, as do the Habs.

Tonight's matchup question: which team has the bigger Olympic hangover?

As mentioned on the Team 990 this morning, a major issue for the Habs is the fact that they will seemingly never have games in hand from here on out, and any losing streak will mark their playoff chances pretty negatively. Basically, this is a less-than-agreeable time for a roadtrip, much less one to California after this game. Los Angeles is no longer a freebie with their remarkable season, and despite Anaheim's struggles, they have quite a bit of fight left in them. San Jose, uh, well. No need to elaborate. Yet the Habs seem to play better against teams with better positions in the standings, so they have the power to surprise as well.

Bruins and stuff

• David Krejci's wakeup call has been the Olympics, where he played brilliantly before the Czechs' elimination. He should be en route to continue that pace, barring a complete meltdown.


• Mark Recchi seems to be Mr. Clutch for the Bruins as of late, and there's the ex-Hab factor in here as well.


• Marc Savard. Usual pain-in-the-butt scoring qualities that I may have eluded to previously.


• Marco Sturm was the thorn in the Habs' side the last time the two teams faced off.