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"To you from flailing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high."
Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Tuuka Rask, Mathieu Darche
Darche scores Montreal's third goal

What happened to the Boston Bruins? Last season, they dominated the Eastern Conference thanks to hard work, sheer determination and great coaching. This year, the parts are the same but nothing's working. After winning the Vezina Trophy, Tim Thomas lost the number-one spot to Tuuka Rask while defenseman Zdeno Chara – winner of last season's Norris Trophy - is a mere shadow of himself. The Bruins' collective problems were even more evident against the Montreal Canadiens – another struggling team – on Tuesday.


Despite scoring the first goal of the game – gift-wrapped by Montreal's Carey Price – the Bruins looked slow and tentative, particularly against the Canadiens' grinders who scored three of Montreal's four goals.

With two players returning from injury, some returning from the Olympics and others who were simply resting during the Olympic break, the Habs looked disconnected and desynchronized for most of the opening 40 minutes. Andrei Kostitsyn – who hadn't played in two months - looked the most rusty of the bunch, missing two open nets that he could easily put away when on his game. Thankfully, the grinders had come to play and gave fits to the Bruins' defense who couldn't deal with the forecheck of Montreal's two bottom-lines.


Glen Metropolit scored the visitors first goal early in the third period by re-directing Tom Pyatt's pass in the slot behind Tukka Rask. Five minutes later, Maxim Lapierre gave the lead to Montreal after Rask gave a poor rebound on Travis Moen's harmless shot. Finally, AHL-veteran Mathieu Darche scored his third of the season once again by going the net and cashing in on Metropolit's shot rebound.

Down two goals, Claude Julien decided to remove his goaltender with two minutes to go while the game was still in play. Rask hadn't even gotten to bench when Benoit Pouliot intercepted Derek Morris' predictable pass and proceeded to score the empty-netter thus ensuring Montreal's victory.

There's not much to say about this game since it's basically the team that sucked less who won. It will be a much different story tonight when the Canadiens visit the San Jose Sharks. The good news is that after giving a soft goal, Carey Price was solid for the rest of game but I'm still uneasy watching him when there's a shot coming in from the blueline.

My 3 Stars:
3. Carey Price
2. Tom Pyatt
1. Glen Metropolit

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Be Back After The Olympics

February 23rd 2010 03:39
Hey all, I know things have been pretty quiet here but real life has been hectic for me. I wanted to update this site more often since January but now it looks like it'll have to wait until the Olympics are over... So, see ya then...
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Site Update

December 25th 2009 07:08
Hey all, I know I've been pretty much absent from this site the past couple of months but don't fret, I'm trying to find a format that will go easier on my schedule. Due to the Olympics this year, the schedule is pretty compressed and instead of having two-three games a week as it was the norm the past couple seasons, now we have to deal with four - sometimes five - games a week and I can't write a recap for each and every single one of them without running over games (posting recaps from a game after two other games have already been played). So, this is just a heads up to say that I'm still here and should be back to full throttle by New Year's.

Happy Holidays!!!!
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Montreal Canadiens, Habs, New York Islanders
Habs celebrate a goal

After stealing two games at the beginning of the season, the Montreal Canadiens embarked on a road trip to the West coast where they lost three in a row including a shameful display in Vancouver where the Canucks won 7-1 after losing their three previous games. The Canadiens came back to Montreal only to lose close-fought games against the surprising Colorado Avalanche and the Ottawa Senators. They finally ended their five-game losing streak with a shootout win against the Atlanta Thrashers. Finally, on Thursday, the team that kept losing games due to a lack of scoring finally exploded offensively when the New York Islanders came to town.

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Game 3 Review: Canadiens Fall To Flames

October 11th 2009 03:24
After stealing their first two games of the season thanks to superb goaltending, the Montreal Canadiens were brought back to Earth on the West coast where their best performance of the young season ended with a bitter 4-3 loss against the Calgary Flames. Both teams were looking to go 3-0 in this game and Jaroslav Halak was given the start for the Canadiens in order to rest Carey Price for the Habs' next game against Vancouver.

As the Canadiens stepped onto the Saddledome's ice, many observators expected a blowout for the Flames considering the way the Canadiens had played in their two previous games. Surprisingly, the Habs held their ground for most of the period, going as far as winning the opening twenty minutes by the score of 2-1. Fourth-liner Eric Nystrom opened the score for the Flames after poor coverage by Montreal's fourth line (Kyle Chipchura in particular) in the defensive zone. Then, the Habs scored twice in the span of 30 seconds at the end of the period to take the lead. Scott Gomez grabbed his first of the season off of a nice pass by Mike Cammalleri and Guillaume Latendresse finished a great forechecking play by the third line to score the visitors second of the game


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Brian Gionta, Montreal Canadiens, Habs
Gionta celebrating his game-winning goal

For the second time in as many games, the Montreal Canadiens escaped with an overtime win against division rivals. After Josh Gorges against the Leafs on Thursday, it was Brian Gionta who scored the winning goal against the Sabres on Saturday.

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Montreal Canadiens, Habs, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toskala
Canadiens win first game on the road

After a seemingly endless summer, NHL hockey is finally back. In the case of the Montreal Canadiens, the new season is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean with a new coach, new team, new approach. But Montreal weren't the only team to change direction during the summer. Down the 401, the Toronto Maple Leafs also went through some changes, getting bigger and tougher on the back-end by signing ex-Canadien Mike Komisarek and ex-Duck François Beauchemin.

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NHL Pre-Season: Canadiens Top Senators 2-1

September 19th 2009 15:10
It's a new era in Montreal as the Canadiens enter their second century of existence. With this new beginning comes several changes in the organization. Gone are veterans Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev, Mike Komisarek, Chris Higgins and a slew of other players who had come to call Montreal their home. Gone is head coach Guy Carbonneau and most of the coaching staff from the big club all the way to the Habs' farm team in Hamilton. And gone is owner George Gillett who sold the team to the Molson family.

After a disastrous season, the slate has been swiped clean. Experienced coach Jacques Martin was brought in to give some direction to a club which had the ill-advised habit of signing rookie coaches since the mid-90s. Seven new players were acquired to replace the ten departing UFAs. Among them, veterans Bian Gionta, Scott Gomez and Hall Gill are counted on to bring some leadership to the squad while Mike Cammalleri brings the star-power that will (hopefully) help Habs fans forget Kovalev


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Summer Update

August 31st 2009 17:32
Hello all, I've pretty much ignored this blog this summer due to my shock and inability to cope with all the changes that happened in the Montreal Canadiens organization. All the free agents have gone to other pastures, and although a deep cleansing was required in that toxic locker room, it is still hard for me to move on and embrace the new players. Training camp is just around the corner so I'll be back soon. Right now, I'm writing a piece on all of player departures, especially Koivu and Kovalev. It might take awhile for me to finish it, so expect to see it in a week or two.
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Montreal Canadiens, Habs, Mike Cammalleri, Jaroslav Spacek, Brian Gionta, Hal Gill
Canadiens' newest signings clockwise: Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek
Despite taking on Scott Gomez's huge contract the day before July 1st, Bob Gainey still add a considerable amount of cap space to make one or two splashes in the free agency period.

The Montreal Canadiens GM started the day by signing veteran defensemen Jaroslav
Jaroslav Spacek, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Habs
Spacek to a three-year, $11.5 million deal. A puck-moving defenseman, the 35-year-old had 45 points (eight goals, 37 assists) with the Buffalo Sabres last season. His acquisition brings a much needed outlet for the Canadiens' transition game. Apart from Andrei Markov, Montreal defensemen able to make a decent outlet pass are few and far between. Spacek also provides a solution for the Habs' second wave of the powerplay. Here again, the Canadiens were weak except when forcing Markov to take a double-shift. Although he's old, Spacek averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time in each of the past two seasons. His size might be an issue. Indeed, at 5'11'' and barely over 200 pounds, his presence doesn't really bring much intimidation on a team that lacked toughness last year which brings us to Hal Gill's signing


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