Halak stops avalanche!

I always thought that their name should have been "AvalancheS" with the s. It should better. If you can have "Leafs" than you should be able to have "Avalanches".

Anyway.... I've said repeatedly this year that Halak has been good in nets while more often than not, the team in front of him stunk majorly and that's why they lost. Tonight, Halak was great in nets, his team stunk majorly in front of him... and guess what? They won. Let me say that again because it just sounds so strange. THE HABS WON DARNIT! Win... you know..... As per the Habs dictionary that doesn't actually exist: "A win is when the Habs end up with a score that is higher than that of their opponents."

This was by far was ugliest win I've ever seen the Habs eke out but there is no way in hell I'm going to complain. Actually, technically I didn't "see" most of the game. I listened to it on the radio. It's a lot less painful to follow when you can't see the billions of breakaways and turnovers. I did catch the third period on TV though. ANYWAY..... At the end of the long day and even longer game, a win is a win. And I'm going to put the credit all on Halak who faced a whopping 48 shots and stopped all but two of them. The Habs were dead as a door nail for all of the second period and for about 18 minutes of the third period getting out about a billion to nothing but Halak kept their lead until about 13 something in the third period. By this point I was screaming because the Habs had a two goal lead going into the second period and despite everyone but Halak stinking majorly, it was only 2-1 at 13:00 in the third period. I can't say that I was surprised that the Avs tied it but I so hoping that Halak would have stopped that. Technically he had it and but then he didn't have it and then it waltz across the line before the rest of the party showed up and crashed the net. While I was planning how to take this potential loss, the Habs decided to wake up and try. My hope was restored when Andrei Kostitsyn scored in a nice manner ('bout bloody time!).And then I collapsed in a relieved heap when Kostopoulos ended the Avs hope of a win despite the fact that they had a powerplay and had pulled Budaj, when he cleared the puck and it so kindly bounced into the net. Even Carbo was bouncing up and down.

Like I said, it was ugly. The Avs outshot the Habs 48 to 23. If the Avs had been slightly more talented or Halak had been about half as good then we would have seen yet another hard loss. As it is, I'm hoping that the Habs can use this win to restore some of their confidence, work out those issues from the second and third period and come back and beat the Canucks at some ungodly hour here in Montreal. But focusing on tonight.... They needed that win. I needed that win. Heck, my rabbit needed that win. Now do something with it people!

*hugs Halak* Tonight, you're my hero!

Random notes because I'm procrastinating on going to sleep

• Man, am I happy that there was no horror show tonight... can you imagine the headlines?? "Habs get macheted by Avs", "Habs hit with another round of bad luck on 13th," "another day, another loss", "Habs can't stop Avalanche", "Avalanche buries Habs", my tired brain could go on and on.
• Offense needs to stop being dead as the spider that's sitting on my desk for some weird reason. It's beyond pathetic already. You can't score goals if you're just standing there, looking about as interested as the crowd in the stands were (yes, that's a jab at yet another arena filled with quiet people).
  
• Defense needs to wake up. I don't think there was anything about taking vacations while still on the ice in their contracts...
• Someone should teach the Habs how to clear the puck from their own end.
  
• And tell them that it wasn't "let's set a new record for icing calls" night.
  
• What the heck was the deal with Darcy Tucker getting all mad at Carbo for? I reserve the right to mad at Carbo. After Bob Gainey. And the players of course. Get in line, dude.
  
• Someone should tell the Habs that if for no other reason, please win to stop everyone else from gloating about it. I'm sick of everyone gloating at our obvious pain and suffering. It's getting seriously embarrassing now. C'mon and put up some good wins.
  
• Someone should give Halak a medal. Oh wait... If he keeps this up then he may just be getting one in 2010 if Team Canada stinks again........
• Are we at stage eight of grief yet?
• I wonder how Price was feeling last night.....
  

To sleep I go with the knowledge that for one day only, my Habs life is good. Enjoy it while you can, people!