Spidey, I echo the others' comments about your pre-game posts.  We have come to take them for granted, but for you it's a self-imposed responsibility, and we thank you for it!

Go Habs!  Go Brad Gushue!

http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/hockey/canadiensstory.html?id=71b70c0e-12cd-42a0-8e39-977f2e9a418d

 

Kovalev rues Habs' missed chance

 

You didn't have to tell Alex Kovalev that the Canadiens squandered an opportunity when they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday night.

"We've been playing better since a few games before the Olympic break, but last night wasn't one of our good games," Kovalev said after the Canadiens' practice at the Bell Centre yesterday.

"We didn't get a very good start and we started falling back into some bad habits," Kovalev said. "One of the good things we've been doing is getting the puck out of our zone and moving it forward. We had trouble doing that last night.

"For example, there was one time when we were on the power play and they came with two guys on a very aggressive forecheck and we couldn't get the puck out."

Kovalev hopes he and his teammates will look at the loss to Tampa Bay as a reminder of what can go wrong when the team strays from the game plan. After a successful post-Olympic road trip, he said it's time for the Canadiens to take advantage of a schedule that sees the Canadiens play 12 of their 18 remaining games at the Bell Centre.

"It's good to be playing at home after nearly a month away," Kovalev said.

The Canadiens marked their return home by shutting out the New York Rangers 1-0 Saturday and have home games tomorrow night against Carolina (7:30 p.m., RDS, CJAD Radio-800) and Saturday against Pittsburgh before travelling to Washington and Long Island next Monday and Tuesday.

Tomorrow's game figures to be the toughest test for the Canadiens until they finish the season, with six of their last seven games against teams currently ahead of them in the standings. Carolina, which has the best record in the Eastern Conference, has a 3-0 record against the Canadiens this season and has outscored Montreal 20-8.

Tomorrow night marks the last regular-season chance for the Canadiens to boost their confidence against the team they might face in the first round of the playoffs.

The last time the teams met, Carolina came into the Bell Centre on Jan. 31 and went home with an 8-2 win.

When asked if the embarrassing result could serve as a motivating factor against the Hurricanes, Kovalev replied: "It won't matter at all. We don't worry about the past. Every game is different and we're a better team than we were then.

"Thursday's game is important because Carolina is the best team in the (Eastern) Conference and it will give us a chance to see where we are, see how much we've improved."

There were two absentees from practice yesterday.

Defenceman Andrei Markov continues to rest and receive treatment for the back spasms that sidelined him midway through the Rangers' game. His absence was felt both on defence and on the power play in the loss to the Lightning and coach Bob Gainey is hoping he'll be ready to play tomorrow.

Mike Ribeiro, who scored the Canadiens' only goal Tuesday, skipped practice because of sore ribs, but he's expecting to play tomorrow.

Notes: The Canadiens held their 24th annual blood drive yesterday on behalf of Hema-Quebec. ...

A funeral service for Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion will be held tomorrow afternoon in Marietta, Ga. Geoffrion died Saturday morning, a little more than 12 hours before the Canadiens retired his No. 5 in a tearful ceremony at the Bell Centre.

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006


Canadiens' Steve Begin, honorary spokesperson for the team's 24th annual blood drive, chats with donor Emilie Frenette.

ray wrote:

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 Wow the canes have had their way with us, outscoring us 20 - 8 in three games.  Come on boys we need this one especially with some weaker teams coming in the next few games.  A few teams ahead of us lost last night and there giving us a chance to climb up.  This where we need to take charge of the situation and get a killer instinct and bury these teams behind us, especially the Leafs.  I'm tried of living in Leaf land and hearing how these guys are gonna make the playoffs and go further from there.  Put them out of their misery, please!  Go Habs Go!

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To me the telling stat is the Who's HOT/Who's Not stat. In our who's Hot we have one player while Carolina has about 7. Our Who's Not category consists of 1/4 of the team. Come on boys!! We are in a playoff battle. If you guys cannot get it into gear now, we simply do not deserve to make the playoffs. At least the leafs look like they want to be there.

Markov is still out with back spasms and Ribs will play despite his injury to his, um, well ... his ribs.

What's up with Ribs? How will it affect the lines? Anyone know?

AB Habman wrote:

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 With us being so thin with offense from our centermen, the Ribs injury could actually hurt us. The guy has been chipping in here and there but hopefully will play the same way as the previous 15-20 games.
 If Markov is healthy, that will help alot especially our PP. Still think that Gainey has to divide up the PP into two units.
 This will be a tough game for us. But as per usual, if our goalie is solid, we have a chance.

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Just to be a pain in the neck, I thought I'd check out how much Ribeiro has been chipping in. (as well as other centres)

The results are that, yes, our centres are not contributing much. Given Ribeiro's minor use value outside of offense, losing him for a game seems like no big deal.

Kudos to Plekanec, who is not getting much PP time but still managing to produce something. But he's as cold as anyone lately.

Past 20 games:
Koivu, 3 goals, 8 assists, 11 points (but no goals in at least a dozen games)
Plekanec, 4 goals, 7 assists 11 points
Ribeiro, 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points
Bonk, 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points

And these are games we are mostly winning. And I should add that we've scored a decent amount of goals in the last 20 games.

It's hard not to think that the system Gainey is using doesn't hurt the centres' production in particular. Because every single one of these guys has produced less over this time span than at any other point in the season (except maybe Pleks, who had another very dry spell). Even Ribeiro. It's as if the centre is doing double defensive duty.

King David The Slayer Of Goliath.

Tonight.

Sheesh, not a single post during the intermission! 

How about a few tidbits for us poor souls who don't get RDS????????

Figaro wrote:

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The first period, I listend to on French radio - took less than 30 minutes to play it seemed. First whistle was after 8 minutes. There were some missed calls (high stick and hook that shoulda went against Carolina). Action end to end and even shots.

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One zip Carolina on a pure garbage goal. Pretty tough for Abby to stop it when he gets bowled over and has 3 bodies on top of him. I tell you, NHL Goalies m,ay as well put "RUN ME OVER" on the front of their jerseys to make it official

 

I never look at stats in a situation like that, however, when you have a team who can't score, then yeah, its pretty much over.  Can the boys get it together in the 3rd and get some offense going, its terrible, missing shots from the slot.....what do they get paid for anyways, just to show up.

There in the top because they score goals......i don't understand why the boys can't....got to love the defensive style Gainey and Carbo brings...but can we get someone to tell them how to shoot at the net and put a few in...

Well Dandenault gets things started at least.
But Koivu just missed another opportunity in the slot. Man, he must gripping his stick pretty tight....that's 15 games without a goal?

The Hurricanes win 5-1