Now THAT was a good game!

Habs 6 Rangers 2 and no, we didn't score on an empty net tonight (because there was no empty net!).

First period: Well, the Habs are off to a good start tonight. After the first period it's 3-0 for the Habbies. Despite doing badly on the two power-play chances, I can probably attribute the badness to the Rangers' good penalty killing and just concentrate on the goals that were scored anyway. I actually missed Andrei Kostitsyn's goal because I switched the channel for a second. When I came back a few seconds later everyone was celebrating. Oops. I did see the replay though and it was pretty. Andrei's even got the whole fall down like Crosby to score thing down.

I was pretty annoyed with myself for missing the goal but thankfully I did not have to wait that long before the next goal came along. Lapierre took the puck out of the Canadien's zone and had an-almost breakaway. His shot bounced off Lundqvist and Begin was there to put it into the whole empty half of the net that Lundqvist wasn't covering. I tried not to be too pleased just yet and instead bit my fingers are the Rangers woke up and starting shooting the puck at Price (you didn't really think that Halak would be in for this one, did you? Poor Halak).

Thankfully there was no scoring by the Rangers and instead it was back to other end of the net where the Habs registered a few more shots on goal before Tanguay scored. The poor guy looked more relieved than happy but oh well. I was happy so nyah. Obviously I won't be totally happy until we've won because we all know that even if you're leading 5-0 going into the third period you're not necessarily going to win *coughs*

Second: Apparently the second period decided to start before I had finished writing about the first. How mean is that?! Anywhoo, I was just about to whine about why we have Laraque on the team but instead I'll just say that we're currently 3 and a half minutes into the period and Lapierre has just scored. Laraque's pass to no one actually turned itself into a goal. Yay! Be back after the end of the second.

Later: Hmm, well, the Habs went to sleep slightly in the second period and the score is now 4-2 which isn't so comforting. The first Rangers goal came on a power-play and at first glance it looked like the guy's stick was high but oh well... As for their second goal, they should get full marks for it. They brought the puck out of their own end and just charged. The second period also saw a couple of fights which was not so cool from my point of view. It was just not a nice as the first. I want the Habs to wake up and get to scoring again. I sincerely hope that Carbo is giving them all a lecture on staying awake and alert in the third period. I do NOT want to read in the papers tomorrow that the Habs had a 4-0 lead on the Rangers and then promptly lost it. The Rangers made the mistake of not staying awake for the last period of hockey last time and I really hope that the Habs make use of that lesson (not to mention, the Habs could also look at that lovely game against the Thrashers the other day as an example of what not to do).

Third: Lang and Kovalev must have either listened to me by telepathic waves or else they listened to Carbo because Kovalev came close to scoring within the first minute - excuse me, it was actually within the first 49 seconds. He ended up passing the puck to Markov who set up Lang. So the good news was Lang got a goal within the first minute while the bad news is Kovalev is still goaless in quite a while now (while the really good news is that the Habs were now leading 5-2). The Habs had a pile of chances to score after that despite the fact that the Rangers tried to put the pressure on them. Apparently someone told that that it was entirely possible to score three goals in a minute against the Habs and they certainly tried. But it was the Habs who stayed awake and on top of things tonight. The Rangers didn't have the opportunity to pull Lundqvist and in fact D'Agostini capped off a good night by scoring on him within the last few seconds of the game. Oopsies. Poor Lundqvist.

Turning 99 never looked or felt better. Maybe it was that or maybe it was the old jerseys the Habs were sporting tonight (which looked pretty good), or maybe it was the video of Roger Doucette singing the national anthems (which I wasn't enamoured with but that's just me), but whatever the reason, the Habs came out and flattened thr Rangers. I have to admit that after seeing the almost smooshing of the Penguins the other nght, I thought that the Rangers would be a lot better and come out and explode. As it was, the only thing that exploded tonight was my dinner in the microwave. And the Habs of course. The Rangers probably spent too much of their energy smooshing the Penguins and had nothing left for the Habs. That being said, the Habs were really good tonight. Their goals were definitely not by chance. Although in all fairness, if the Rangers hadn't just left Lundqvist out to dry, the goalie would have probably not have had to face 39 shots throughout the night. I thought the Habs worked really well for three periods of hockey. Okay, so maybe the power-play was not so good again but at least they created a fair bit of chances this time around. Maybe I'm missing something here but passing the puck around like it's a hot potatoe during the power-play doesn't seem to me like a good idea. I understand what they're trying to set up a good shot, the winning shot, and that they want to hang on to the puck, but wouldn't it be a better idea just to shoot the puck at the goalie as much as possible? If the opposition hits it out then go get it and try again. But I'm nit-picking at this point, I think.

Komisarek's now 3 for 3 in his "coaching" duties. I still think he should just stay there permantley *g*