Habs-Avs 1/11/06

Thumbs Up:

Huet -- kept us in the game far longer than we deserved to be. Vive la France...

Zednik -- hustlled all night, backchecked to save a point-blank shot from the slot in 1st

Koivu -- nobody worked harder, but too bad he's got no one to work with

Dandenault -- took a criminally stupid penalty in 3rd, but was rock-solid the whole rest of the game. For the Habs to have any chance at playoffs, this guy has got to stand up and be counted, especially with big #44 out injured.

Bulis -- worked hard, clobbered Breeze-by even harder in 1st.

Claude Julien -- the play he diagrammed for the team after calling the time-out very nearly worked. The man knows his hockey.

Theo -- handled the door to the bench beautifully. No ingress-egress incidents, no too-many-men penalties, hair looked good.

Thumbs Down:

Streit -- both goals against happened within five feet of this clown, who was gazing at the moving puck and leaving Avs players completely unchecked right in front of the net. Giving this guy ice time rather than Komisarek makes no sense to me at all. I'd rather see rookie mistakes come from a rookie, who might at least learn from them.

Bonk -- plenty already said on the site about Bonker's inept play. This guy is a complete waste of food.

Kovalev -- had it on cruise control all night. Kovy must have no pride or he'd be scoring more than he has been. He's got too much talent not to be creating scoring chances and scoring himself regularly.

Ryder -- more talent in his pinky finger than half the players on the team, but once again didn't work to create scoring chances. This guy should be taking 5-8 shots on goal per night, but he waits for the chances to come to him. Would've been nice to see him bury that one at the end.

Ribeiro -- once again, a virutal non-entity last night. Playing like he's afraid of his shadow. Had a good scoring chance in 1st and dished it off rather than shoot from the high slot. Lack of confidence is showing and hurting.

Cube -- I like Bouillon. He's feisty and gives it his all every night. But his passing and point-work are just not NHL caliber. Too many passes a step behind players, too many shots from the point that are blocked. Last night was no worse than his usual, but it was weak enough to hurt us.

Souray -- How dare he get injured! Now we're really up a creek defensively. I hope BG sticks a couple defensemen in that shopping cart of his. We're going to need them...

Les Canadiens Sont La