Hitting new lows....

The Fed may be shooting for history in a few days but the Habs are making some headlines of their own.

Except they will be making some headlines tomorrow in the really negative type way.

Think back to when Federer lost in the second round to Gilles Simon in Toronto (and remember that he got a bye into that round).

Yeah. That type of way.

I'm sitting here floored by this 5-1 loss. I can't believe it..... I mean....It's one thing to reach a new low while giving it a good effort but.... where the hell was the effort? I'm getting really sick of saying that the Habs couldn't show more effort. There's absolutely nothing positive whatsoever to take away from this. Zip.

Maybe I'm just tired and hungry and very cranky right now but I saw I an extremely dysfuntional team tonight. Communication seemed to be nonexistant, they took bad penalties at bad times, they couldn't keep the stupid puck in the Panther's zone, they couldn't keep the puck out of their own zone, they couldn't play well defensively, their offense couldn't generate a whole lot, their powerplay only worked once while their penalty killing unit let in two goals straight goals. And Price wasn't particularly wonderful either. These last few games have made Halak look like Steve Mason in comparision. Well... okay that's going a bit far but.... still.... Like I said, I'm cranky right now. And I've just learned that my sister ate the rest of my dinner... so I'm very upset now.

It's official people: WE SUCK BIG TIME RIGHT NOW. There. I said it. Like I keep saying, I can accept five hard fought losses in a row. I'll take losing to Boston or even Toronto in a closely fought tough loss five times a row. I won't like it although I'll take it. But I will not sit here and take these type of losses. And I hope to the hockey gods that Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau come up with way to turn this around. Although right now in my present state, I'm thinking that this is going to take something drastic to change things around right now. This was supposed to be the game that they showed up and played well and look what happened. What's it going to take to win a game in a decent fashion?

Oh and because I really feel like rubbing the salt into the wound right now:

• Boston is now 16 points ahead since they just lost in OT to the Devils. The Devils had a 2-0 lead on them before they caught up. Yes, the same Devils that trounced us last week. And it's the Bruins who have routinely kicked our butts this year.
• The Islanders beat the Thrashers 5-4 after taking a 4-0 lead. Yes, I said the Islanders (who beat us last time. Remember that one?) beat the same Thrashers that we couldn't beat.
• The Carolina Hurricanes that we can't beat for no real reason just beat the Tampa Bay Lightning who we can't really beat either.
• And the Dallas Stars who we haven't lost to yet are about 7 seconds away from taking out the Red Wings who we did manage to beat 4-2.
• The Sens who we have beaten are tied with the Blues who we did eke out a win against after the second period. [crap, make that 3-1 for the Sens in the end]
• And the hated Leafs who we have beat twice and lost embarassingly to once are beating the Avalanche who we haven't played yet. [Guess who won 7-4.... Oh yeah the Leafs]

Do we actually have a winning record against anyone? Oh yeah, we had one against the Panthers... Still technically do....Right.....

Bring on the musical lineup again!

Just when I was beginning to think "Hey, Carbo hasn't moved around his lines" he goes and does just that. Granted, I was waiting for this to happen since Koivu and Higgins have come back. But I'm slightly puzzled as to why he's sitting out Pacioretty and O'Byrne tonight. I thought O'Byrne was one of the better player against Tampa Bay actually. And Pacioretty has been good with Kovalev.....Oh well. Brisebois is taking over from O'Byrne and Begin is back....I hadn't noticed that he was out before.... Oh well.... Hope they're up to it. I'm still waiting for the day when Plekanec takes a stint in the press box. Lineup should be:

A. Kostitsyn - Lang - Kovalev
Higgins - Koivu - D'Agostini
Latendresse - Lapierre - Kostopoulos
Begin - Plekanec - S. Kostitsyn

Brisebois is with Boullion.

And Price is in nets because... well, we just can't have Halak, right?

*sighs*

And yes, the Fed won last night. Straight sets. I didn't see the match - decided against it in the end - but from what I saw later and from what I heard, Roddick did really well. This is great for Roddick and if Davydenko goes the way of the dodo and the Frenchmen start to overachieve some more then Roddick can maybe make a bid for the no. 5 spot. He can do it! Bring on Rafa in the finals, I say! Well, actually... it would be nicer if it was Verdasco because he'll wilt completely but he has no chance of beating Rafa tonight...

About the mini controversy concerning the roof policy.....

I think that's really unfair of them not to close the roof before Serena played Kuznetsova. How much hotter can it get within the half hour or so their first set took? Surely they at least a feeling that they would need to close it when the players got on court? The conditions are completely different once you close that roof - and it was obvious that it was helping Serena. I'm not saying this because I'm biased against Serena. I would have said the same thing if it had been the other way around. When doing something like closing the roof can have such a drastic affect on the outcome of the match it should be done before the match. Not in the middle. They really need to come up with a more definite policy about this heat stuff. There were a lot of players who had to play through some tough weather and they had to tough it out. That's not fair.

Halfway there people!

Yup. It's the halfway mark - more or less - and I apparently have nothing better to do than to give random thoughts about the random teams in the Eastern Conference. Go me! Note i said the word "random".

Atlantic division - the closest division in the east so far because no one's taken the lead and run away with it. Yet. I'm betting on Philly finishing on top.

Philadelphia
The good news: Mike Richards has been solid for the team in the first half. Jeff Carter is taking a swat at being the top goal scorer of the year.
The bad news: Goaltending. Biron has been less than amazing after pretty much single-handedly knocking Montreal out of the playoffs last spring. Niittymaki hasn't exactly stepped up as the league's best goaltender either.
The great news if you're a Habs fan but really bad if you're a Flyers fan: It looks like Briere is about to be paid millions of dollars to play just a handful of games this season. Good news if you're looking to make a lot of money and not do a heck of a lot - and great if you're one of those people who doesn't want to see his face for a long time - but definitely bad news if you're the Flyers' GM.

Pittsburgh
Good but definitely not wonderful news: Well, umm... they still have a chance to turn around their season?
The really bad bit: A very disappointing start to the season following their Stanley Cup finals run. They have struggled time and time again to find their rhythm - in particular, less than stellar performances from Sidney Crosby, Miroslav Satan and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (who did sit out a number of games due to injuries) and at times Evgeni Malkin. The top players haven't been producing and it's hurting the rest of the team. They're missing players like Ryan Malone and Hossa more than they care to admit.
Intriguing bit: Do you think Hossa predicted the Pens implosion? Everyone was pegging the Pens at having a fairly easy run to the playoffs in the offseason, but Hossa ditched them and said he wanted to play with a team that had a chance at winning the cup (read: Pens don't have a chance). At the time of his signing, it looked like Hossa was just being opportunistic. But now....? Well, I'm not saying the Wings are going to win it but I highly doubt it's going to be the Pens either...

New Jersey
Good news: They can survive without star goaltender Martin Brodeur, thank you very much. Yay for them!
The intriguing bit: What will happen to backup goalie Scott Clemmensen when Brodeur gets back? Will they go back to using Brodeur who hasn't played almost all season and will most likely take a while to get his rhythm back or will they continue to use Clemmensen? Also, the Devils have been quite an offensive type team without Brodeur. Will they ditch all this once he comes back?

NY Islanders
The good: I'm not sure what's good about the Islanders. They're sitting at the bottom of the league right now.
Really good if you're the Islanders: At this rate they'll be getting John Tavares. Poor Tavares.
The bad: Well, they're bottom of the league? Oh wait... maybe that's good. See above.

NY Rangers
Good: uh... I'm sure there's some good here. I don't watch the Rangers so I'm totally out of the loop on these guys but sitting near the top of the league during the first half of the season is pretty good.
Bad: The reason why they were sitting at the top was because they got off to a good start and played a lot more games than the rest of the people in the league. Where they will end up at the end of the season remains to be seen. Also, goalie Henrik Lundqvist hasn't exactly been top of the league a lot of the time.

Northeast - despite having Toronto (and now Ottawa) in it, this division is still the best in the east, in my very biased opinion. In my unbiased opinion, I still think this division is very good thanks to two teams. I mean, c'mon, how are we supposed to have the best division when two and a half teams play terribly?

Boston
Good: Sitting at the top of the league. Well, second now that San Jose won. But still. They barely squeaked into the playoffs last year and now they're top. Goalies Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez been key to this abrupt turn around as have players like Milan Lucic, Philip Kessel and Somethingrather Wheeler. And I guess Ryder has been too.
Will this translate into playoff success? (finally?): It should be interesting to see how the Bruins handle themselves in the playoffs which is a totally different beast. I'm personally hoping for some imploding but I think this team has what it takes to go all the way...where they will then lose in 6 games to Detroit or maybe even San Jose (I wish!).

Montreal (in my totally biased assessment)
The good: They're still fairly high up in the rankings. Rookies that have been called up have been good. Especially the earlier stint that D'Agostini has had here. Also, players like Lapierre and Kostopoulous have really stepped things up. Price has had stellar performances and has stolen the game for the Habs on more than one occasion.
The bad: INJURIES. And especially inconsistency that has kept the team from gaining valuable points. I won't get into whether Carbonnneau has done his job properly or not but as an entire team they have had issues this half of the season. Yes, expectations were high coming in here. Too high. But there were some games that a team should win but ends up losing because they can't play a full game of hockey. And this team has gone and lost those games. Also less than stellar performances on the powerplay and from players like Kovalev have hurt the team at times.
The bright spot: They can climb out of this right now and dominate the rest of their season. Will they catch Boston? Probably not. But they can close the gap if they focus on playing 60 full minutes of hockey.

Buffalo
Again not one of the teams I follow regularly but it seems that they've struggled quite a bit so far. Consistency from the players has been an issue at times. Oh and a complete lack of effort from Maxim Afinogenov has been a real downer.

Ottawa
The bad: Well, let's see... 11 straight years of making the playoffs could be going down the drain this year. The Sens are going through a major crisis right now and the over emphasis on the top line of Heatley/Alfredsson/Spezza has finally come crashing down on the team. Oh and goaltending has been another issue this year, though instead of it being the antics of the goalies, it's been the performance of the goalies that has been a problem.
The good: Maybe now Ottawa will do something about not relying 24/7 on "the big three" and get themselves some other good players. Or maybe they'll just grab Toskala when he either goes on the trade market or goes free agent when Toronto dumps him.

Toronto.
The good: Luke Schenn. The kid has been the closest thing to a god send for the Leafs. And winning six games in a row. And surprisingly Grabovski seems to be liking life in Toronto. Funny how all of Montreal's ex players do better when they join the Habs' major rivals...Must have something to do with a mutual dislike of the Habbies (don't tell me that Ryder and Grabovski left with smiles and hugs while promising to send a postcard every week).
What they think is good: Ron Wilson and Brian Burke. Never underestimate the power of the Leafs' management problems. Ever.
The bad: The fact that they are the Toronto Maple Leafs and they're run by a corporation that couldn't give a hoot over whether they actually win or not. Oh you mean with the actual team? Well, take a look for yourself. I'm placing bets on them missing another playoff run.

Southeast - and arguably the weakest division which is why the Caps have a runaway lead.

Washington
The good: They've solved their goalie issues and Ovechkin seems to have snapped out of his slump (can't blame him entirely if his grandfather's health was bad. Family first, yes?).
The bad: Earlier injuries and bad goaltending from their goalies have stalled the team. Semin's previous scoring outburst seems to have stalled.

Carolina
Bad: lack of depth has hurt the team who keeps getting injuries.
Good news is: Um... I guess Cam Ward has been doing some stuff lately. When he's there he's been good when he's not, well.... hehe... byebye Hurricanes!

Florida
Intriguing bit: Someone tell me how Anderson has a good save percentage and the team is still sitting in 18th place? The team obviously needs to learn how to score more goals. And no, the Panthers getting five goals against the Habs doesn't count because the Habs got five goals on Anderson as well.

Tampa Bay
The bad: The owners, the management, the coaches, and the team. And hyping up Stamkos as something way more than he is. That is unfair to anyone but especially to an 18 year kid. I feel extremely bad for Stamkos.
The good: Um... I'm not seeing one other than maybe they'll get themselves another top player.
Can someone tell me...How Mike Smith has two shutouts?!

Atlanta
Don't follow these guys at all but obviously something's very wrong here. Kovalchuk keeps threatening to break out at any time but someone should tell him that now would be a good time to do it.

Habs take revenge on Panthers for Pens in SO

First off, let me say this: I hate afternoon games. Unless they're tennis or football, I hate games that take place in the afternoon. Believe it or not, I actually like to do things in the afternoon that don't involve sports and it just feels wrong to be sitting in front of the TV when it's still light out. Yes, I could choose not to watch the game at all but like I'm really going to go for that option....

Second, yes, I"m still griping about that 6-1 defeat that the Pens had. And YES I would have preferred if the Habs had won a different way but I'm getting to that point in a second.

In a nutshell here's how the game went: First half: Habs played well. Habs died. Second period: Habs lived. Third period: Habs died. OT: Habs half played well. SO: Markov lived. Panthers died.

Anyway, I actually liked how the Habs came out in the first half of the first period. They looked well, perky and awake. They had some quality shots on goal that were stopped by Anderson and just looked like it was only a matter of time before a goal went in. Well, time past and guess who scored not once but twice? Yeah, the Panthers.

I'm killing Crosby in my mind for not doing more damage to Brett McLean yesterday because he was the one who got the first goal. I mean c'mon, Sid. You get into your second NHL fight, take 19 minutes worth of penalties for that fight and you don't even injure the guy?! Thanks for nothing!!! Before anyone starts dissing me, I'm not really being that serious...

But anyway... Hadn't we seen this movie before? I'm sure Crosby would say so if he had seen that first period instead of trying to figure out just what the heck is happening to his team.

[mini rant]

I'm going to get this out right now. The team does NOT play well when Halak is in nets. I don't know if it's because they don't have the same confidence in him as they do when Price is in nets or what, but things were definitely shaky throughout the first period for Halak. Again. I wish I could defend him because I honestly feel bad for him and I know he's been very capable of stepping in for Price, but tonight - this afternoon, pardon - he wasn't as good again. The way I see it - and I'm not saying I'm right - but if a team doesn't have confidence in their goalie then they can't perform well up front because at the back of their minds is always going to be the thought "if I let the other guys get the puck and they go to the net, will there be a goal"? It also works the other way around I think too. If the goalie doesn't feel like his team can trust him to do his job then he won't do his best either. It's a circle that definitely sucks.

Someone at Habs Inside/Out wrote that for every flukey goal that Price lets in - and let's be honest, he lets in at least one a game - he always comes up with at least five or six very big saves. He knows he can make those saves and his team knows he can make those saves. They have confidence in him. Halak on the other hand, lets in one flukey or a soft goal and everyone else wonders if he will let in another one or two and cost them the game (never mind that the offense often doesn't work when Halak is in nets but that's related). I can't speak for what goes on in Halak's mind but I have to wonder just how much confidence he has in himself at some points in the game. Maybe it's just me but I could have sworn that there's been moments in the last two games where Halak looks downright lost at times. What Halak needs is 60 minutes of solid play and a solid win. He can play better than this. We've seen it. We know it. Everyone else should know it too.

[end of mini rant]

But enough about the goaltending. Back to the game.

In first break Carbo must have said something about not wanting to turn out a performance like the Pens did against the Panthers because the Habs exploded. Not the Crosby type of explode. The goal scoring type of explode (which is a lot better than the Crosby type of explode). 19 shots on goal provided 4 unanswered goals by Boullion, Andrei Kostsitsyn, Kostopoulos and Lang. Boullion's goal from the blue line was fantastic as it went right past Anderson's left hand. I think it may have taken a bounce off of one of the defenseman or else Anderson completely misjudged the puck. But I particularly loved Kostitsyn's goal 28 seconds later because it was a direct result of Anderson making a huge error. He came out - not behind the net, up front - of the net to clear the puck and promptly lost it to Lang, who passed it to Sergei who then passed it to his brother, who then scored on a half open net. Pure beauty. And the ickle Kostitsyn got an assist. Finally. Kostopoulous' goal looked like it might not have counted because he was right in front of Anderson and I think he might have knocked him over before he put the puck past him but it was counted. Being the biased person that I am, I won't complain that Kostopoulous should have been called for obstruction. And then Lang made things really nice by getting a breakaway and scoring on Anderson too.

Of course after that I had to wonder if the Habs were going to go back to sleep on me in the third and they sort of did. Radek Dvorak scored a short handed goal when the Habs messed up on a line change but Andrei Kostsitsyn put things right again soon after by getting a drop dead gorgeous goal on Anderson. See the replay. But then things went downhill again and the Panthers took two more goals including one that Halak really couldn't have saved. He was half way in the net with Gorges sprawled out in front of him. He couldn't have moved at all and Dvorak put the puck past him.

The fans definitely were not happy with that and I really wasn't happy either. The team had that game in regulation time and they lost it. The TEAM lost it. Not Halak. The TEAM. Everyone was to blame. Dvorak should not have had that goal. Halak should have stopped that one on Cullimore and the whole team should have cleared the puck for that third one instead of letting Halak get peppered with shots.

I'm too tired to list all the chances the Habs had of taking the game in regulation time and in OT but in the end the game had to be settled by shootouts.

And what a mess that was. Tavares and Eberle made everyone today look downright awful.

Stillamn missed Halak completely as he lost control of the puck. Kovalev hit the post. Horton shot it right at Halak. Andrei Kostitsyn lost control of the puck as well, though at least his shot made it to the goalie. Frolik hit either hit Halak on the arm or he hit the post - I couldn't see properly - and Halak had no idea where the puck was (hint: if no one is booing, it's not in). And finally it was Markov who rescued the Habs with a backhand past Anderson...

I think everyone knew that they should have taken that game in regulation time. And I agree completely. I honestly can't wait till Price gets back because the situation right now is not very nice at all. I like Halak but this whole confidence lacking thing needs to change right now. I'm hoping that the Habs learned that they need to play 60 minutes of hockey to win. Not thirty minutes. Not Twenty minutes. SIXTY!

At the end of the day though, a win is still a win. Be happy about it and stop the griping.

The good:

1. they won
2. Halak got his first shootout win this season. 'bout time.
   
3. The second period was wonderful
4. Again the Kostopoulos/Lapierre/Latendresse line worked really hard out there. I'm liking this line a lot right now.
5. obviously the Kostitsyn brothers are capable of playing well together. I've heard that that's not always the case and sometimes they get too competitive with each other but today they were good together with Lang (*gasp* I liked Lang today!).
6. I think the Hammies are proving that they can be here. Would I like to see Koivu and co back? Yeah. But right now the energy that these guys are providing is positive and that's good.
   

The bad:

1. POWERPLAY. They do WORSE on the powerplay than when it's 5 on 5. I'm almost afraid when the other team takes a penalty.
   
2. sloppy playing in the first and third period
3. Halak being shaky again
   
4. everyone's shootout attempts but Markov's. We love you Markov!
5. the defense was just downright awful in the first period. I don't know what the deal is because it's not like they've lost any players right now. They're all healthy.
   

The intriguing:

1. The post saved both goalies a lot of grief today. Kovalev has gone back to his post hitting ways again (I could write a book on how frustrating this is right now) and Halak was spared an embarrassing OT defeat when some guy who's name again eludes me hit the post and the puck went zooming along the line behind him and out the other side.

The question of the hour:

1. WHY ISN'T YANNICK WEBER PLAYING?! YOU CALLED UP HIM UP AND HE'S STILL SITTING IN THE FREAKING PRESS BOX. HE COULD BE DOING SOMETHING A LOT MORE USEFUL IN HAMILTON (or here but you haven't given him a chance). BUT NO! HE'S WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME BY SITTING THERE DOING NOTHING. DO SOMETHING WITH HIM OR SEND HIM BACK.
   

IN OTHER NEWS!

Whoever said that Crosby's fight was borderline embarrassing....you ain't seen nothing. Which is why I present to you what's got to be the most hilarious and embarrassing "fight" from "the other Alex" of the Washington Capitals. At least you can't accuse Crosby of looking totally weird in front of a full crowd and on national television. He just went insane.



Nice gesture, I guess, but maaan........ that as just... hilarious.... which is not quite the effect I think he was going for....

The Saturday morning ramble.

It's Saturday morning and I have nothing to say right now. So I'm going to ramble about nothing.

Jean Beliveau is going to announce the lineups in the All Star thing. Shouldn't really be a surprise unless random people got a gazillion votes randomly in about five minutes. Crosby, Malkin, Kovalev should be the forwards with Komisarek and Markov getting in for defense and unless Fleury got a flurry of votes at the last second, it should be Price in nets.It's kind of fun. Obviously they should stop calling it the "All Star" thing because I truly believe that none of those forwards are the best in the East. Take a look at the Pens right now and honestly tell me that Crosby and Malkin deserve to be there. They don't. I would've actually liked to have seen Ovechkin in instead of Malkin or Crosby but hey, not my fault that his fans didn't vote 24/7 for him (like I was going to vote for him? C'mon...).

I'm not going to get into the whole debate on whether this thing is just an entire embarrassement to the whole league and the "real" fans or not. I feel that it's a kind of fun event and that they really ought to change the name of the thing. I think "The event in which the NHL lets fans vote for random people to participate in a game that really serves no purpose other than to promote the NHL itself" is a much more appropriate name.

Whatever it is, just let everyone enjoy it. I haven't heard any players gripe about not wanting to participate in it - I've heard mainly the opposite, actually. So what does it matter as long as everyone's enjoying themselves (and stays healthy!)?

Crosby explodes as Pens fall to Panthers. After seeing how the Pens showed what they could do in the playoffs, I never thought that they would come out and implode during this year. Yeah, I know the supposed "runners up curse" thing. Up until now I could have defended the Pens and talked about how expectations were maybe too high for them and they were definitely a different team than they were last year. But honestly, I'm not about to defend the 6-1 mauling that they suffered against the Panthers today. I didn't see a single minute of the game because... well, no one cares about the Pens here and the only games I get to see are the Habs and maybe the odd late night game that features... well, whoever happens to be playing in the West. But the scoring and penalty summary, I think says something about what happened today.

First off, when I checked the score after the first period it was 2-0 for the Panthers. Kind of acceptable until I noticed that it they got those goals on five shots. FIVE SHOTS? The Pens, for the records, had twice the amount of shots and nothing to show for their efforts. The second period seems to have been a mess too as four goals were scored (three by the Panthers) and 13 penalties were dished out.

Like the title says, it was explosion time for the usually self contained Crosby. With the Pens down 4-1, Crosby went well, for lack of a better word, berserk and got into only his second NHL fight with Brett McLean off the faceoff. The Pens captain earned himself 19 minutes worth of penalties for that one - 10 for misconduct, 5 for fighting and two each for unsportmanlike conduct and instigating a fight. Apparently the refs thought that Crosby randomly attack McLean out of the blue. The Pens captain later said that he asked McLean to go and the latter said yes, but apparently didn't take him seriously. I can't blame McLean that much. I mean, it's Crosby, not Milan Lucic for crying out loud. For the records, McLean said he missed Crosby's "invitation". Whatever. The point is: Crosby went insane.



Florida further embarrassed the Pens by adding one more goal early in the third period.

Want to know the really embarrassing bit though? The Pens outshot the Panthers 30 to 24. So that's basically one in every four shots on goal went into the back of the Pens' net (it was actually worse than that).

Fleury got dumped after a pathetic first period for Sabourin who didn't do any better and allowed a further three goals on twelve shots. He was promptly yanked for Fleury again in the third, who obviously didn't do a lot better this time around. For the records, both goalies allowed 3 goals in 12 shots. Still think Halak was awful in Newark last night? Watch the replays of this game. Panthers made mince meat out of both Pens goalies.

I think it's time for another Penguin meeting.... in a language that everyone can understand...

Sabres down Bruins

At last! Someone beat the Bruins! Finally! And at home too. Yay....I don't want to be the Bruins next opponent though...That would be the Wild, right? Oh man, they're doomed....

Senators are going to take on the Leafs tonight. I almost want to see that.... Almost.... I will be watching Canada vs Russia though. Much more important. You know... if they keep up these wonderful displays of hockey then the next time they play each other they could be battling it for last play in the division, the conference and the league. Then again, I think the Islanders/Thrashers/Tampa Bay might actually beat them out for bottom of the league... too bad...

Later: Sens fall 3-1. Toskala gets rewarded by Toronto press with first star. Proof that the host team's press shouldn't be dishing out the stars.

Canada vs. Russia Part 250 pre-game rant

The Canadians fended off one rival, now it's time to face another. I actually have very little to "rant" about today so I'll just leave a few notes.

Russia

Pros: Offense. Physical style of play.
Cons: Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending....Where's the under 20 version of Evgeni Nabakov when you need him?
Can win if: stay out of the penalty box. Take advantage of the defensive lapses by Canada. Take advantage of their own strong offense.

Canada

Pros: Offense, particularly on powerplay. Also, Dustin Tokarski has shown that when things get tough he doesn't roll over and die. Good news.
Cons: Defensive play has to be better. 5 on 5 has to be better.
Can win if: they shut down the Russian offense. Generate good 5 on 5 offense too. And don't get knocked around by the big Russians. Filatov is only a danger when he attempts to score. He's not going to knock too many people around, I don't think *g*

I think Canada can do this. Especially if Russia's goaltenders are as shaky as they've been over the tournament. I'm thinking that Russia will get the first goal tonight and it will take a bit of time for Canada to settle into the game. They will win though.

Sweden edges past Slovakia 5-3 to make finals

That score is completely misleading in terms of how Slovakia did. Up until the third period they were leading Sweden 2-1 and it was a series of three goals in a row that put Sweden past them. Slovakia had an amazing run here and I hope that unless they're playing Canada, they end up with a metal because they deserve one. By the way, that fifth goal was on an empty net. The Slovaks gambled a lot by taking out Janus quite a bit, including at the 4 minute mark. That gamble paid off with a goal but the second (or third?) time didn't pay off and the Swedes got a goal. Janus was simply put brilliant throughout the tournament. He's definitely a big reason why this team made it this far. In the end, the Swedes showed why they were the favorites, but man oh man, it wasn't easy for them at all. Great job Slovakia. You have a lot to be proud of.

3000th win + a hat trick = YAY!

Apparently it's the week of the hat trick. Just three days after Andrei Kostitsyn got his first hat trick against the Pens, it would seem that he had the rest of the team wanting to get one too.

I actually liked how the Habs started out the first period. They seemed like a team who wasn't about to slack off like we all feared. They seemed like a team who had enjoyed a little bit of the overly nice Floridian weather. Well, they had me screaming when a stupid pass in the Panther's zone lead to a goal by.... wait... his name is coming to me... give me a sec.... Frolik who got the pass from Mclean who was the one who took the puck in the first place. In all fairness - not that I like to be fair or anything - it was a nice goal. Mclean looked as though he was going to rip the puck when instead he passed it to Frolik who was pretty much alone in front of Price and bingo. Goal. Was this a sign of things to come, I couldn't help but wonder. Don't forget, I'm the eternal pessimist. Anyway, my mood wasn't exactly improved when the Habs got a lucky goal off the skate of one of the Panther's guys. Oh and it was 5-3 for the Habs so of course that wouldn't have been very cool if they hadn't got a goal. Right? Right. So it was a weird goal that had everyone wondering just who had scored it. Was it Tanguay who seemed to get the pass from Kovalev? Was it Lang who looked perky as ever when the puck goes into the net? Turned out later it went to Kovalev. Whatever. A goal is a goal. Yahoo! But still.. the Panthers were playing like a team who desperately wanted a win while the Habs were playing more and more like a team who would like a win but wasn't quite ready to battle it out for it.

With a break after the first period, I was hoping that the Habs would realize that the Panthers wanted this win badly and that they would wake up and get working. Well.. Within 37 seconds Komisarek was set off for holding and the Panthers were enjoying a power play. Guess they didn't get my brain signal. Actually I won't have anyone saying that the Habs are no good on the power play. They were excellent on the powerplay this time around. It's just almost too bad that it wasn't their own powerplay. But this was better. Plakanec chased down the puck as it sailed into the Panhers' zone and promptly whipped it over Anderson's head. 2-1 for the Habs. Now, the Habs decided to make their lives incredibly hard as Sergei Kostitsyn made the stupidest passing attempt in the world in front of Price which gave the puck to Booth who scored. If I was screaming before, I was murdering the desk now by pounding it. This was stupid. Two completely preventable goals given away because of stupid passing. YUCK! Another stupid thing about the second period was the rash of penalties. There were five for the Habs and four for the Panthers. The Habs actually ended up playing three on five for a while due to some stupid plays from Plekanec and Komisarek. Begin was already in the penalty box for fighting. They should build those things bigger 'cause the three of them looked really squashed in there. Anyway, all this happened but there was no more scoring from the Panthers. Obviously not for a lack of trying. When the penalties finally stopped, Lapierre managed to get a goal in on Anderson with four minutes to go in the second. It was kind of a stupid goal from Florida's point of view actually. Lapierre went to the right, Anderson follows him. Anderson thinks he's going to around the other way and pass the puck to someone up front, Anderson sprawls across the ice, Lapierre goes around to the left, sees a whole open net because Anderson is playing dead, so he puts the puck over him and scores. Oops.

The Habs looked a lot better in the third period and showed in only two minutes and forty seconds in as Lapierre gets another goal past Anderson who really should have had that one. The puck seemed to slide right passed him. I dunno if he thought that the defenseman was going to get it or what but he missed it. At this point Anderson got pulled for Vokoun. The end of the period was a little not so nice. The Habs took a penalty for delay of the game with 30 seconds left to go. By this point Florida had already pulled Vokoun and had the man advantage. Things didn't go their way at all however, when the Lapierre stole the puck back at the Panther's blue line - I guess the Habs had tried to clear it before - and put it away in the empty net. HAT TRICK! There was a lot of Habs fans there actually so hats did get thrown. I'm still waiting for the day when Halak will throw his hat.

So.

The Good:

• The hat trick was nice.
• Price was good again.
  
• I liked how the Habs bounced back from a sloppy second period and really took more control in the third. They had the same number of shots in the first and third periods as well as the same number of penalties, and yet, the third looked a lot better in some ways. Even when they were up 4-2, they didn't pull the same stunt as when they were in Pittsburgh where they just rolled over and let Price do all the work.
  

The Bad:

• The slew of penalties in the second period.
• Those two stupid passes that lead directly to Florida goals.
  
• The powerplay wasn't looking too hot tonight. Don't try and tell me that 5 on 3 goal was pretty. It wasn't. It was still nice though *g*
  
• Where did D'Agostini go? I haven't seen him do a heck of a lot in the last couple of games. Dont' die now!
  
• ... on second thought, that whole Tanguay/Lang/D'Agostini line could have been a little more impressive....

The interesting:

• Plekanec going crazy and attempting to beat the heck out of Radek Dvorak for some reason. I honestly didn't get what Dvorak did to deserve that other than maybe he tried too hard to get the puck off of Price - which failed miserably, in case you want to know. I dunno. That was just insane.

And finally, some things to consider:

• Why Maxwell is still on the roster when Chipchura is healthy and can play? I'm still trying to figure this one out. Maybe I'm missing something here but I haven't seen Maxwell make too much of an impact here.
  
• Brisebois wasn't looking very good tonight. Again. Either reduce the guy's ice time or give O'Byrne another shot. As long as Price stays in the net, he can't score on himself, right? Right.
  

Now let's see if the Habs can put up a similar, if not better, game against the Tampa Bay Los....Lighting.

IN OTHER NEWS

Team Canada had a little bit of a problem tonight, winning only 5-1. I'm sure most people looked at this matchup with the often relegated Germany as another walk over. Well, the Canadians didn't play a very clean game, taking a total of NINE penalties. The offense seemed to have trouble getting going from the little bit I saw but it obviously wasn't dead and from I could see the German goalie was miles ahead of the poor guys that Kazakhstan has. First off, Grubauer was not pulled at all which says something right there. And second, he stopped 44 of the 49 shots that he faced. That's better than the 12 of 13 shots that Pickard stopped. I'm not dissing Pickard at all. He's here because he's good. But hats should definitely go off to the German goalie tonight. I think this bit of adversity is good for them. The result was really never in danger. They've gotten more of a work out than they have had in all the official bits of the tournament. This should help them against the U.S.A. as long as they learn not to take so many stupid penalties - what are you, the Habs?!

Oh and if you saw Evander Kane's goal... you hopefully saw all the work that PK Subban did in getting the puck to the net and getting a really good shot on the goalie which allowed Kane to get the goal. I'm very happy that Montreal signed him *G*