Gotta disagree with barry33 here, as the stats don't tell the whole story. The D last night, as has all too often been the case, was abysmal. One example paints the picture well: On the first shot of the game (which became the first goal, of course) the shot defelected off Rivet's stick after he and Markov had let one of NJ's best scorers waltz in, 1 on 2, and fire one from low in the slot. Neither River nor Markov stepped up to take the guy on, they just both retreated and waited for someone else to do the dirty work. After jumping to a lead in the first 11 seconds, the momentum is gone and NJ and the hometown crowd are back in the game.

That was Rivet's first assist of the evening -- he went on to get another when a shot from the goal line deflected off his in-crease skate as he was directing his attention someplace else.

Stuff like this happens, of course, but if happens to our defencemen all too often. The third goal, on a shot from the slot, was acored by a player who was completely uncovered. The only thing our D did there was screen Theo on the shot.

The Habs D runs around like chickens with their heads cut off. And to make matters worse, they have the same negative effect on our offensive effort. Lousy passes, bad shots from the point, attempts to pinch in at the point that fail and lead to odd-man rushes toward our net -- these are the staple items of the Habs D-corps.

It doesn't matter if they hold the other team to 8 shots in the entire game. If they're all tap-ins at the crease, I'd be willing to bet that our lads are going down. And I'm not just talking about Jose Knee-A-dore...

Les Canadiens Sont La