In which EP makes an important discovery

Apparently I can't easily actively follow four teams at once. Really.

It started off okay with the Petes and the Caps on the radio and TV at 7.

Then the Habs and the Voltigeurs came on at 7:30.

Then I lost my mind because I didn't just turn off the Caps and the Petes. I kept switching back in-between periods.

Yeah.

At one point someone walked in and asked me the score. My response? "Habs up 1-0, Caps up 4-1 on a goal by Pie (danm, now I want the pie you can eat), Voltigeurs failing epically (well, no, not epically. They know now to fail epically for real but this isn't pretty either), Petes only down a goal now as opposed to two, Niagara losing...... wait... one sec.... hang on.... damnit, load you stupid OHL site! Okay! They are losing... 1-0... no.. 2-0... no, 2-1".

ANYWAY.

All this is to say... Don't ask for any great insights into the games.

Let's deal with these teams in order of least faily-ness.

Caps win 5-2 

I think I hate the Sens almost as much as I hate the Leafs. Thus, seeing the Caps score 5 goals (and I did see most of them) was beautiful. Pie had two nice goals, Ovie finally scored on his third or whatever breakaway. Leclaire decided to put on a clinic on how to play your angles. Thanks Leclaire. I appreciate the demonstration actually.

Habs win 2-0

Of course right when I write up the generic writeup they switch it up a bit. They didn't get outshot, they didn't spend hours in the penalty box, they didn't blow the lead.... They weren't playing inspiring and exciting hockey either though. Whatever. Poo scored in the first period and the boys hung on to the lead until Gio put the puck into the empty net. Okay, Poo, so you're an upgrade over the French Marshmallow. So maybe... just maybe... we need to consider a new name for you. Maybe. Anyone got any ideas on what we should be dubbing Poo now?

IceDogs win 4-2


YAY!

Petes lose 6-3 

Booooo. It wasn't pretty..... losing 6-3 at home makes it even uglier. D: I actually missed most of the third period because the radio died. The feed was fine but the radio died. Wonderful.

Voltigeurs lose 5-1 

Well... at least they weren't at home? By the end the Drummondville guys were like "Where's Jake Allen?". Ouch..................... at least Dumont scored? And was sitting in the box for the go ahead goal............. GUH.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS

*takes a breath*

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS!

Okay. Sorry. One sec. Still calming down. Hang on.....

OLEEEEE! Wait. Wrong team.

Okay.... in that case........

HOLY HOCKEY GODS, DO YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE I WAS TO OVIE? And Pie? And like... the rest of the Caps?!!!!!! LIKE SERIOUSLY? (I just wrote LAICH instead of LIKE. No jokes).

I'm kidding you not, look at my amazing seats courtesy of @nursebobbi1 and her hubby (THANK YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU!).

Yes, that is ICE LEVEL. Excuse me while I go squeal with delight. One row back from the boards. I actually had no idea where my seats would be until I walked into the building. I was like "WUT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (Was too excited to edit the photos so you'll have to live with dark pictures).

Can we dub this the Caps Group Hug of Wiiiin? CAN WE? CAN WE?

Okay. The game.. it wasn't the prettiest Caps' game in the world, but the point is that they won! Do know how pleased that makes me? VERY. VERY. VERY. VERY PLEASED.

The only slight blemish - and I mean VERY slight - is that the wrong Alex scored two of the Caps four goals. To be fair to A2, he had very pretty Ovie-cool goals. Especially his game tying goal with .6 seconds left in the second period. SO YAAAAAAY A2!

My only pic of A2.

FLASH had the go ahead goal. No pics of Flash. Because... well.... I dunno...I was kinda looking at Ovie...

And... Greener had an assist on...freaking Gleason's SHORTHANDED goal.

BUT!

He made it up by scoring game winner! Set up very nicely by DC's resident Cutie-PIE.

GREENER. We can't be mad at you when you won the game. I mean.. it's not like Guy Boucher is your coach. Hahaha.....

PIEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So yeah.

Random notes:

• Those flipping Leafs continue to mess with me even when I'm in a totally different city, minding my own business. Jiri Tlusty had the first goal for the Whalercanes. You know.... The guy the Leafs traded to the Whalercanes last week or the week before. STUPID LEAFS. I HATE YOU. 
• I'm simultaneously amused and slightly annoyed that the Caps think it's cool to show highlights of their guys scoring on my Priceberg on their big screen. If it wasn't Ovie's supposed "goal of the year"(that one against King Hank in the playoffs was waaaaaaay better) against Pricey last year, it was Pie scoring the shootout winner in November (fine, so it was a nice goal). My poor Pricey D: 
• Hi Ward! When did you come back? Happy you're all un-injured and all, but it would've been nice if you had let Ovie score a goal, yes?
• Yes, I kinda waved to TK D: He looks so awful in a Whalercanes jersey...............
• Okay so there were these twerpy people in front of us. I won't go on about them but at one point their left their alcoholic drinks on the boards during the game. They provided a perfect example of why you don't leave your drinks on the boards during a game. Whalercane comes up to the boards. Cap smashes said Whalercane into the boards. Alcoholic drinks go spilling everywhere. EP dies of laughter. 
• Brind'Amour looks a lot worse close up. I kid you not. Oh and... Pikanen, I'm ashamed to admit, looks pretty good. Minus the Whalercanes jersey, of course. 
• Oh and yes.... If Ovie wasn't going to score, the least he could do was smash a Whalercane right? I mean, in a way that would keep him from being suspended of course.... Well, he smashed a Whalercane alright. Into the boards. Right in front of me. Eee! Almost as good as a goal :D 
• Pics are here. 

To sum it up....

Saw the Hope Diamond. Saw one of the original planes flown by the Wright brothers. Saw Ovie. Trip = success.

Uhoh.......

So it's not secret that I'll be in DC in a little bit. And it's certainly no secret that my whole DC trip has been planned around a Caps game. So with all this excitement surrounding my trip to DC, it's kinda natural that I've been all about the Caps recently.....

So.....Basically my night went like this......

• FEHR! Didn't he score on us last time? Damnit.... 
• OOOOVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE oh wait...... I mean.... Oh crap. DAMN YOU OVIE. YOU EPIC JERK. 
• HEAD PIGEON! YAAAAAAAY!
• TURTLE-PLEKY!!!!!! WHOOOOOOO! 
• MAB! Wait.. .Looked like MOEN!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
• Are we going to win this?!
• No. We're not going to win it. Eric Freaking Fehr again. 
• Shoootouuuut!
• Pie scores the winner! I hate Pie. For now. We'll make up before I head off to DC. Don't worry. Pie is too adorable to hate. But really... DAMN YOU PIE. 
• Oh and Ovie sucks in shootouts. Let's not go to shootouts when I'm in DC, k? 
• I'll take the point even though I really think we could have had two. YES WE. You really think I would abandon my Habs so easily? 

Okay, shootouts aren't the Hammies thing

Or maybe they just need to learn how not to blow two one goal leads in the third period. Barring that, at least don't blow a 2-0 lead in the shootout. SHEESH.

Because I'm still in a fantastic mood tonight, we'll just deal with all the lovely positives of this game:

• The boys are STILL unbeaten in regulation time. They've picked up a point in every game so far. Now they just need some of that awesome win it in OT thing. Like the Habs. They've picked up 5 of 6 points in this whole Texas roadtrip thing. 
• Their PK was solid (or the Aeros PP sucked. Didnt' sound like it sucked though). 
• Eric Neilson was sitting out tonight's game and he joined Flandersdude as the colour-commentator dude. Despite being boring to listen to (and not the cool type of boring like Steve was), he had some interesting things to say. Like, did you know that the Hammies call Cedric Desjardins "Teddy"? TEDDY? Where did THAT come from? Maybe "Ced" is too easy? 
• We all know that hockey players like to add "y" to names in a totally uncreative attempt to make it into a nickname. I heard Neilson say "Whitey" "Maxy", "Bellesie" and "Pie-sie" (White, Maxwell, Belle and Pyatt) tonight. 
• The Hammies say "Thank you for Pyatt, Mr. Sather". Pyatt is so awesome. 
• Weber had a goaaaaal! He's been a little absent in the scoring department lately. 

Okay.. I have to mention some negatives. I can't help myself.

• Glumac, where are you? I'm missing you and you're scoring abilities. 
• Do.Not.Blow.Two.One-goal. Leads. 
• Don't blow a freaking 2-0 lead in the shootout. DO NOT. 
• My goalies are having a competition to see who can create the scariest rebound without it actually resulting in a goal. 
• Myeh to Maxwell's shootout attempt that was stopped right on the damn line. 
• And double myeh to Gillies almost tripping on his way to scoring on Teddy. Teddy was probably all like "this guy is SO going to land on his face... wait, WTF? AGH." 
• Also.. .Texas... They have issues. Against the Baby Stars, it was the ice that was all screwy... tonight it was the glass. It came out, they fixed it and five minutes later, it came out again. Guh?

ANYWAY....

OOOOOOOOOOVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE! He was on my TV tonight. The Caps are NEVER on my TV. But tonight they were. Taking on those semi-yucky Flyers too. Ovie had two goals ('bout time) including a pretty sweet one while the Caps were down 0-2. Pie and A2 also had sweet goals. Mike Richards tried to make me like him by getting a sweet assist on Hartnell's goal but it didn't work. We're not getting along right now, Mike. Anyway... Jose had a great game tonight. He got little help from his teammates for a lot of the night (apart from the fact that they scored goals) and faced a Price-esque 43 shots tonight.

Y'know, a Flyers/Caps game would be an AWESOME Winter Classic matchup. Forget Penguins/Flyers, Penguins/Capitals, Bruins/Flyers or Capitals/Rangers. As Ovie would probably say, a Flyers/Capitals matchup would be "sick". It would be really sick.

ANNNNNNNNND

Pricey says that Jaro should play if the team is winning. Like Pricey really was going to say anything else....What else COULD he say? Still....

It's just dawned on me how epically awkward it must be between two goalies... there's the whole "he's here to take my job" kinda thing, y'know? it's kinda like:

Pricey: Everyone loves me!
Jaro: ... *pouts*
Media: PRICE = PATRICK ROY
Pricey: *flails under pressure*
Jaro: ....*scuttles into the net and wins the game* I win?
Media: HALAK FTW!
Jaro: Yay! Acknowledgement! *wins again*
Pricey: .....
Jaro: *wins another game* WHOO!
Media: GOALIE CONTROVERSY!!
Jaro:  I'm not trying to steal your job, Carey. Really.
Pricey: .....then suck so I can play!
Jaro: But I like to play too....
Pricey: *tosses a milkcrate at Jaro*
Jaro: *gets concussed*
Coach: Ummm... Guess Price is playing tonight.
Pricey: *wins a game* I WIN! YAY!
Media: PRICE = PATRICK ROY
Jaro: *pouts*

That was...... interesting

I can't say I loved that game. It was ugly. I'm not thrilled that we've potentially lost Metro and O'Byrne for.. .who know how long. Price was solid though which is good sign. The guys still don't play quite like a team yet but it's coming. And I mean, hey, it's only been two full games so I'm giving them time.

90% - time that the Sabres controlled the puck. Or at least it felt that way anyway.
35 - shots Pricey faced
26:18 - Spacek's total time on ice (most of anyone on both teams)
19 - penalties taken by the Habs and Sabres
17 - shots that Miller faced
3:24 - ice time for Stewie (the least of anyone)
2:42 - time of Gio's awesome OT goal
5 - SOG by Rivet and Hecht
2 - players lost to injury for the Habs
2- goals Moen now has
2 - days since we lost Markov
1 - the loan goal allowed by Price
1 - SOG by the Habs in the 3rd period
1.00 - Gio's batting average (yes, Gio batted the puck into the back of the net in OT)
.6 - the time it took for the Sabres to score on their first PP of the night

And the only numbers that matter in the end: 2-1 - the final score for the Habs.

Quote of the night: "Montreal Canadiens: Ruining home openers everywhere" - Number31

And the Caps...

Ovie scored with the first shot of the night and the Caps finished off the Leafs 6-4. A2, Laich and Morrison also had goals for the Caps. Pie feels all left out. The Caps made Komisarek and Beauchemin look pretty silly for most of the night. So awesome. And Ovie DUMPED Komisaurus on the ice. Smashysmashy

Around the league in 20 seconds (or more considering EVERYONE is playing):

• Peachhawks atoned for their S/O loss to the Panthers the other day and blanked aforementioned Panthers in Helsinki
• Wings almost atoned for their lost stupid loss to the Blues but then they... blew it again and lost. Way to go.
• Luu and the Canucks failed and got blanked by the AVS.
• Boston smashed the Canes. Apparently there was Whalercane blood everywhere.
• Flyers pretty much dumped the Devils
• Crysob ruined the Islanders home opener as the Stanley Cup champs won in.... shootouts... versus last year's dead last team. Oh and yes, Tavares had a goal.
• Clouston joins Wilson in trying to explain what happened to his team as the Sens lost 5-2 to the Rags.
• In games we don't care about: Thrashers, Columbus and Nashville beat the Bolts, Wild and Stars respectively
• Games still going on: Flames lead Oilers 2-1. Oilers had some crazy bagpipe stuff happening in their big opening thingy. Sharks decided to wake up and are beating the Dumb Ducks 4-0 so far. And that team in the desert is beating the Kings

Who invented timezones?!

Stand up so I can give you a kick! A few things that stand out to me about the Habs' schedule:

• There are 4 10:00 or later (10:30) and 2 9:00 and several 8:00 or 8:30 starting times this season.... including a western conference roadtrip pretty much right off the bat....
• Longest streak of home games will be after that initial roadtrip and will consist of 6 games
• They also have a 7 game roadtrip in December but they will all be at decent times
• They'll be in San Jose for a 10:30 start time on my birthday...Ugh.
• In a weird bit of symetry they will play the Leafs at the beginning and end of the season.
• Koivu won't be coming back here this year. They get to go to Duckland instead.
• no early January trips to Florida this year
• no Boston until November. Whoo!

And the Caps made things difficult for me by only having two home games in early December....

Whooo! Caps 3 Puffles 2

Wow. If this is what the rest of the series is going to be like then we're in for some exciting stuff here. And as long as we get the same result (a Caps win) I'll be happy. Ovie was great (Ovie goals are always great), Simmy was amazing, Pie and A2 had a solid game, I thought. And the Caps third (fourth?) line was rolling right along. On the other side, Mr. Puffy was great (sadly), Maf was stellar for most of the game. I thought Malkin was fairly quiet, but that could be more to do with the fact that I was subjected to highlights of Crosby doing something every two seconds. The problem was I had Blersus feed on RDS... which by the way, had Pierre Houde doing the announcing, which is such a welcome change from RDS's B team. Yay! Now if only I could shove a sock down Benoit Brunet's throat....

I need to find Simmy's brilliant save on Mr. Puffy. He completely robbed the Kid of a goal. That's probably the save of the series. Or the playoffs even.... EAT THAT CROSBY!

EDIT: Got it.



A couple of sticking points though...

• The Caps started off really shakey and the Pens took advantage early with a Puffle goal from Mr. Puffy.
• The Caps D was spotty at times
• Simmy needs to do something about those rebounds. If the D can't clear them, then expect the Puffles to take a huge advantage of those

Good start though =)

Oh and... rocking the red in a CAPS shirt actually worked this time! YEEEEEES!

And yes, I did spend most of the game coming up with random names for everyone...

So not liking Crosby makes me anti-Canadian, eh?

JT at the H Does NOT Stand for Habs brought up in an interesting topic the other day about our (least) favorite player. Apparently someone said that if she didn't cheer for the Penguins over the Capitals, she would be anti-Canadian. You heard it. Cheering for the Capitals over the Penguins makes you anti-Canadian. I've actually had similar if not quite so blatant statements from people myself, which always, without fail, puzzle me.

Let's be honest here. This series is between the Capitals vs. the Penguins. This is not a series between Russian and Canada. It's not even just about Crosby vs. Ovechkin, despite what the media tells you. It's the Washington Capitals vs the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two very talented teams in the National Hockey League who are based in the United States.

With most teams in the NHL comprising of players from many different nationalities, I find it hard to understand why people would associate a team like say, the Penguins as being Canadian? Sure they have a lot of Canadian players, but the team itself is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Capitals are considered "Russian" and yet they have more Canadians than Russians on their team. But I suppose because the Caps have a few high profile Russians, the entire team must be Russian and that's somehow a bad thing....Both teams however, are technically American.

Personally, I don't see why even defining the team as "American" or "Canadian" is needed in most cases anyway. The thing is, a player should be playing for the logo on the jersey (however ugly it is). They play for the team. In the NHL, that means they are not playing for their country and I'm not sure that most guys play for the city either. They play for the logo on the jersey. Nationality should have zero to do with it.

When I watch hockey, I watch it to see what the guys on the ice do. I want to see guys play with a lot of passion. I want to see guys who care. And I like exciting plays on most nights as a bonus. I dont' care what the guys do with their lives off the ice as long as it's legal. I don't pick my favorite players based solely on where they were born. That's ridiculous.

If I limited myself to only Canadian players, then I'd be stuck with people like Sidney Crosby, Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, Sean Avery and Martin Brodeur. Thanks but no thanks. I'm not saying that these guys aren't talented. I believe everyone I just named is capable of being talented at something (I wouldn't say that Avery is an extremely talented player. He's a talented pain though). But I can think that they're talented and still detest them.

Ovechkin meets my criteria for what I want to see in a player. He works hard, he cares and he's pretty exciting on most nights. I like him because of that. I don't like him solely because he's Russian. I don't care if he was from India or Australia. I don't like him because I don't like Crosby. All I care about is what he does on the ice. All I care about is what he brings to the game. And on most nights, I like what I see.

Crosby's seemingly lack of emotion in general, makes me snore. He doesn't make me interested in watching hockey. When I initially watched the Pens, I watched Malkin (until he disappeared). I watched Fleury. I didn't watch Crosby. Look, I feel bad for him. I think he's been manufactured and handled by various people beyond belief and that's resulted in this cardboard cut-out guy. I'm not going to say that he isn't talented or that he doesn't try hard. I think he's talented and he tries. But he doesn't interest me at all. I find him annoying now. I don't like his constant yapping and whining. I don't really like his new hobby of getting into cheap fights. I just do not like him.

I don't see how that makes me anti-Canadian if I don't like Crosby and would rather cheer for a team that interests me. If I said "I prefer Lidstrom to Avery" do you think many people would complain? I doubt it because we're talking multiple Norris winner vs major pain who got suspended for dissing his ex-girlfriend. But Lidstrom is from Sweden and Avery is indeed Canadian. If I said "I wouldn't cheer for the Leafs if they were the last Canadian team in the playoffs" would anybody care? No. They know I'm a diehard Habs fan and I would never cheer for the Leafs, even though the Leafs are a Canadian team.

So. If it's okay to prefer Lidstrom to Avery and if it's okay to not cheer for the Leafs under any circumstances, why the heck isn't it okay to cheer for the Ovechkin over Crosby? In case everyone missed it, the Cold War sort of ended a while ago.

Again, this isn't about Russia vs. Canada. This is about the Washington Capitals vs the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is about which team I prefer to watch. Nationality of the players notwithstanding.

Go Caps Go!

I will not be depressed!

You know what? I can't be depressed about the game tonight. The Habs did what I asked them to for most of tonight and I can't be mad at them. While the rest of the city and all those "fans" go off ranting and raving, I will continue to sit here and support my guys. They tried tonight. They gave it everything they had. It wasn't enough no, but this was a hell of a lot better than that no-show effort the other night. I can accept this loss.

I can also accept Weber's performance tonight. Man, he's showing everyone why I love him =)

That being said, I have a list of grievances to make.

1. "Fans". Stop crabbing about the team. The same people who are moaning about the team now are the same people who will be cheering them on when they win. Just stuff it.
   
2. Price bashing. Leave the guy alone. I'm not saying that because I honestly like the guy as a player. I'm saying because it's too easy to give the goalie all the credit and all the blame for the outcome of a game.
   
3. The media. Really. Tomorrow I'm coming up with a huge rant on this if I have time.
   
4. The Bruins fans who take so much delight in bashing us. It's ridiculous already. Man, you know, there are no words to describe how much I hate the fans of this team right now. I could forgive Boston as a team but not their fans. Ooh, I have a new idea for my rant tomorrow....Stay tuned....
   
5. Someone tell me why I keep paying too much money for food at 3 Brasseurs? Maybe I'm just that fussy about my food but sheesh....... (yeah, I forced some tweeps to come with me to watch the game again *g*)

Oh and the Rags got a taste of the real Washington Capitals. I love the little Russian brigade they've got in Washington. Semin just exploded tonight. I mean TWO GOALS and an assist tonight? Where have you been all this time, dude?! Ovie got an assist as did Fedorov. Nicklas also had a billion assists but he's not Russian (but he is awesome)....Laich and Poti got the two other goals. Very pleased with the Caps tonight. And yay for Simeon (Varlamov) on his shutout.

Right now I'm more ticked off with the fans and the media but I'll get to that another time.

Edit: OH AND HAMMIES WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! WHOO!

Day 4: A very late pre-game rant

First off... My Caps suck. They didn't bring any of the intensity and emotion that I saw in the first game. I was NOT pleased. King Henrik is starting to remind me of Biron the Sieve from last year versus the Habs...Lundqvist has already gotten into the Caps heads, I think, and it's frustrating them. Especially Ovie. He was not pleased at all. Not at all. Poor Ovie...

Second....Tim the Marshmallow now has a voodoo doll. Pictures will be up later when I find my camera. While you're awaiting Tiny Tim's appearance, take a look at Amanda's wonderfully ugly Chara voodoo doll. Isn't he great? Tiny Tim wished he could compete with that uglyness but he just can't.... I did however accidently rip his arm off at one point.... And I accidently eye-gouged him too.... Maybe his spleen will rupture now (more on that in a sec).

Third..... I'm waiting for the Wings to score another goal while listening to the Hammies.

Fourth.... HABS VERSUS BRUINS BABY! A few things...

1. I'm afraid for Komisarek
2. I realize that Hunwick's injury could be serious and I'm not making light of it - because I don't want to see anybody get seriously injured - but.... the way TSN was talking about it, you'd think that you could get a ruptured spleen by getting your eye poked by a Habs player....Unless Hunwick's spleen is in his eye then there is no way that he got that injury by Komisaurus whacking him in the eye.
3. Boullion could be in.
4. Turtle-Pleky and Dagger are out. Weber and Sergei are in (maybe now Andrei can do something good?)
5. I hope nobody dies tonight

*wails*

ROGER YOU STUPID IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU LOSE TO DJOKOVIC!!!!!!!!!!! *screams* stupid Roger... stupid... stupid... stupid.... stupid..... stupid......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news... I've a big problem. I don't know what hockey game to follow. None of them will be on TV but that's why the radio was invented. Even if it's via the internet and sucks. Here's my choices:

1. Caps/Sabres because the Caps rock and I want the Sabres to lose
   
2. Montreal Juniors/Drummondville somethingrathers because it's their playoffs
   
3. Hammies (Bulldogs)/.....Grand Rapids.....something.... because I love the Hammies and the Ned Flanders sounding guy who does their commentary
   

Any ideas?

AHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got a w-w-w-w-win.... What's that word again? Just kidding. The Habs stomped on the Thrashers tonight in a lovely manner if I do say so myself. Okay so I'll be honest and say that I was actually following three games tonight. Yeah, I had the Hammies on the radio and was furiously flipping between the Habs/Thrashers and the Caps/Leafs game. The stupidest moment came when I had changed the channel without realizing it and I saw Price on the ice and I was like "Who the heck is that? Oh.... really? Oh.... Oops....." Hmm.. insane AND stupid... hmm.... ANYWAY.....

Carey vs Kari

• didn't look too promising at the start. While the Habs got a really awesome goal from Tanguay (like Ovie awesome) the Thrashers responded pretty quickly afterwards. Still, it was only 1-1 going into the second.
• I prepared myself for another round of sloppy seconds but as it turned out, the only ones having a sloppy second was the Caps. I believe it was Metro who scored first but I was squealing over Ovie's goal so I kind of missed it.... I know... I know... I saw Kovalchuk (or some Thrasher dude) score and wasn't pleased. But then... what was this? The Habs exploded! It was like... 2-2... 3-2....4-2....5-2.....?!!!!!!!!!!!! It felt like three goals in a row all on the powerplay but I'm not sure if that's what it was. I was too busy running around like an idiot. I can't even tell you who scored. Felt like Kovalev and Koivu though. Maybe someone else scored? Maybe not. Tanguay maybeh? WHATEVER! When was the last time they even got a goal in the second period??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Third period! I missed someone scoring (Koivu?) because I was screaming at Semin being a twerp and not scoring on a freaking open net so..... I did see the Thrashers third goal.... No wait.... I missed it... I was screaming at Leafs... But whatever!!!!! I came back and watched the Habs continue to play. They failed to score that elusive 7th goal but I won't cry too much.

Random notes

• It may be "just the Thrashers" but crappy teams exist so better teams can get points out of them. Also there was so much that I liked from the Habs. For the most part they kept up the pressure and they played like the freaking cared. They cared!
• Exhibit A in players who cared: Kovy got knocked down. I think it was supposed to be a knee on knee collision with his someone which actually looked awfully like a Thrasher hooking... Whatever. Kovy goes down, gets back up, gets the puck and angrily shoots it at Kari Whoselastnameican'tspellrightnow. He hit the post. But it was funny to see him mad. Now if he could just stop hitting the post.....
  
• Exhibit B: Kovy later takes the puck and rips it at Kari. You'd think he was trying to take his head off or something.
• Their best guys played well - note: Breezer does not count as our best guy.
• Fine... so the Kostitsyn brothers an Pleky looked a little quiet but they weren't totally useless tonight.
• Did we actually outshoot the Thrashers? Or at the very least, get more shots on goal tonight than we had all of last week? I dunno.... it felt like we may just have gotten more shots on goal tonight....
• Pricey wasn't a sieve and in fact made some nice saves!
• Fine.. so it could have been worse if the Thrashers knew how to shoot in a straight line. We're focusing on the GOOD stuff tonight, got it? not MY fault if the Thrashers never learned how to shoot the puck properly.
  
• Oh and Zach Bogosian likes our penalty box. He was in it a lot.
  
• Gorges got whacked and was limping around and yet he still stayed on the ice while the Habs tried to kill of a powerplay. Yay for you Gorges! I think....
• Is it just me or is Tom Kostopoulos totally incapable of hitting anything smaller than a dump truck with the puck? He is perpetually missing the net by a huge margin.....He's evidently quite capable of hitting people with his fist but you don't score goals that way......
• Big lesson learned today: Don't assume that it's going to be an icing call when you go for the puck. Breezer, I'm looking at you. It's bad. Why? Well, one you just stand there and get the puck taken off of you. And two, you could end up like Dandeneault and end up with a broken arm. Although in Breezer's case... maybe that's not a bad idea..... Hmm..... Never mind then....
• Oh and.... Komisarek... dude... TSN just reshowed you "sticking up for Price"... and great gesture and everything... but umm... if you're going to flatten a guy for stomping on your goalie, please don't hit him while your goalie is UNDERNEATH the guy. It hurts the goalie. Points for sticking up for the goalie though. You should have been doing that all year long.
• And we're pretending that it's not a coincidence that poor Kristin went back to Philly and the Habs are back to winning again. I keep telling her to watch the Pens so they can start losing but she won't listen to me *g*

Are we safe yet? Not by a long country mile. But if there's one thing that i've learned with this team it's you live in the moment. Tomorrow they may lose 20-2. But tonight they won 6-3 and they looked like a team who cared and wanted to win. So enjoy it Habs fans and tell the media to go stuff it.

HAMMIES vs Rampage...Sounded awfully like it was the Hammies on the rampage tonight....

• I missed most of their game actually because the dad insisted on making phone calls and wanted the sound off buuuuuuuuuut.........
• I did hear two of Ben Maxwell's THREE goals. YES! That's how you come back after a guy in the previous game whacks you upside the head with your own helmet.....
  
• I did hear Marc Denis making a lot of really good saves
• I did hear someone getting the Hammies 4th and 6th goal
• I missed Pacioretty scoring. And I missed them announcing his two assists. Yeah, he's really sulking about being sent back.... NOOOT! I'm sulking for missing his goal though....
  
• I missed San Antonio's one goal. Not complaining.
• Nice way to come back from a loss the other night for the Hammies!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Caps vs Major Losers... I mean... Maple Leafs

• Who's the sucky one tonight? Eh? Eh?! CAPS!
• Ovie had a beautiful goal and then promptly didn't score......
• Leafs had two sucky goals and thought that they had won in regulation when.....
• Caps pulled Theodore, brought in Laich and guess who scored? Laich. Gerber food was angry and smot.... smot.... did I just type "smot".....? hmm... what is the pest tense of "smite" then? "Smited"? "Smitten"? I like "smot". Well, anyway, he poked the ref in his anger and got tossed out of the game after trying to hit him with the puck. Oopsies.
• Sadly, Cujo came in a ran the Caps out of town.
• Like seriously... the Caps need to do a lot better in the shootout... You'd think with all their talent they'd have at least one guy who could score on the shootout.... yeah right. Backstrom got stopped, whoever was next missed the damn net, and Ovie.... he needs to stop this whole shootout thing.... he's not good at it.....You'd think Mr. 50-goal-scorer could be good at this. But nopers. He's not good. YES I'M ANGRY AT YOU OVIE! LOSING TO THE DAMN LEAFS?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAH!
• Note: Apparently the Caps do score in the shootouts. Hmm.. I guess they save all of their bad stuff for me then.....

Me vs the Media

• Hey... SHUT THE HECK UP, OKAY? Great! Thanks! I don't give a damn if the Thrashers are supposed to be "an easy team". A win is a win at this time of year regardless of which teams are playing. Go stuff it.
  
• And really... RDS... don't stop showing Gainey's press thingy right when he was about to talk about Pricey.... that's just...... a pain.....and you guys blabbing on and on and on about nothing important afterwords is even more of a pain.
  
• James Duthie... Did I ever tell you how much you annoy me? Well, you are, so stuff it, please.
• TSN.... please stop being biased in the Leafs favor. It's a pain.
• Announcer dude on TSN. You're funny. I can't take you seriously for some reason. I dunno why. You're funny though. Even if you can't say people's names right....
• Dude on the NHL who was announcing when I saw the highlights of the Habs game... You don't like us, do you? My guys get the BEST goals ever and you're like "Kovalev with the puck..... he shoots........score.... *snores*". Seriously man........ AND THEN! Kovalchuk gets the puck, dumps Komisaurus, goes in on Pricey and Pricey stops him and you go? "LOOK AT THAT SHOT BY ILYA KOVALCHUK! THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A GOAL!"...Someone should really stuff a sock down your throat.... Oh! How about the sock puppet called Grabs? =)
  
• EVERYONE: Let's say it together now. On three. One. Two. Three. "Alexander AH-vechkin. AHvechkin." OHvechkin doesn't exist. He doesn't exist. So please stop saying that.Please. Please. Please.
  

Quote of the day: Announcer guy from TSN after Rollie the Goalie saved the puck with his face: "Roloson shakes off the cobwebs after taking a hit to his pumpkin". Well... his mask does have orange bits on it... =p

Hahahahhaa... am I hyped or what? I need to go relax now... Wings vs Oilers are on now.. .That should be a bit of a snoozer....

I blame this loss on.......Gary Bettman!

No, I didn't mean Kovalev or Guy Carbonneau or Price. I meant Gary Bettman because he was the turnip head that brought in the shootout. I hate shootouts. I disagree completely with the idea of the shootout. It's a cheap way to end a game that didn't need to see a winner tonight (and yes, I'd probably be saying the same thing if the Habs won. Once I got over jumping around like an idiot first that is).

Tonight the Habs extended Ovie and the Caps to shootouts. And when you consider just WHO is on this Caps team and consider just how BADLY the Habs have been playing, you have to say either the Caps didn't show tonight or the Habs played the first good game in a very long time. It was definitely the latter. Tonight, I felt the Habs were good enough for a win and if not a win, then at least a tie (which you can't have anymore!). They had so many chances to bury the puck but either they missed, hit the bar or Theodore stopped them. They played hard. They had three powerplay goals - say what? Surely my eyes deceived me! THREE goals on the powerplay? They didn't create too many turnovers. I can't think of too many oddman rushes for the Caps. The Habs looked like a team who bloody well cared. They wanted this win and they came very close to having it. After the first period they pretty much shut down Ovechkin and stopped some very close calls by Mike Green and just about every other Caps player. They could have - dare I say should have? - taken this game if not in regulation time, then in OT.

But because of Mr. Turnip head, the Caps will walk away with a win tonight.

Do they deserve it? Well....My whole point is I think both teams deserved to win tonight. The Caps could have easily won this one regulation or OT too. They battled just as hard as the Habs did. The Caps always battle hard. Well, every time I see them anyway so I can say those things. Ovechkin had a goal that you'll be seeing all over youtube in half an hour. Forgot who else scored but they weren't cheap goals. They worked for them.

I've never been so happy at a loss before and I think the Habs could be happy with themselves too. They do get to walk away with a point which is something they haven't been able to do lately. They raised their game and took it to Ovechkin. It's stupid that the game gets to be decided by one guy going in alone on the goalie when both teams put up a huge TEAM effort to make it 3-3 after 65 minutes of playing. Oh and get this: at the end of regulation time, the Habs and Caps both had 31 shots on goal. Yes, yes, my habbies, losers of 8 out of their 10 games in which they were outshot and outscored by a looong country mile, were tied with shots with Ovechkin and Co. Now that's a good sign, yes?

Now do it again. And come away with a win this time.

Random notes

• I still can't believe that they scored on the powerplay three times......
• And I'm totally shocked that they didn't score once while 5 on 5 or 4 on 4... there were SO many chances.....
  
• Price looks to be back. He was the focused and came up with some huge saves. Poor Halak.
• Kostopoulos got Kovy's "A".
  
• Oddly enough, I didn't miss Kovalev too much.... only when the game was over did I go "Man... he's really not there....." and then I got all sad.
  
• I still love Ovechkin. He's just so fun to watch. Gotta love guys who play with intensity and plenty of emotion. And just what the heck was he doing back on the ice after got hit by the puck when he decided to try to be a penguin and slide all over the place? Jeez... I want to kidnap him and force him to be a Hab. Please? Please? Please? I want Ovie!
• Ovie wasn't happen when Pleky stole the puck from him.... he really wanted to score. Poor Ovie! Wait a second.......
  
• Carbo really should have picked someone else to shoot in the shootouts. Pleky can't score to save his life in the shootouts, Lapierre shouldn't be as good as he is and Markov, by his own admission only has one move. Hello Carbo?! Put someone who in theory can score in the shootout!
  
• NEED TO WORK ON FACEOFFS! Winning faceoffs = leads to a goal. Losing faceoffs = leads to other team scoring. As Benoit Brunet likes to say "ce n'est pas complique!". I've always wanted to quote Benoit...
  
• The peeps who come up with the headlines at TSN are funny. The headline for this game was "The Misery Deepens". Evidently they weren't watching the game...... No one is miserable except for Ovie who only got one highlight reel goal tonight!

So much for being motivated: How NOT to play

I think Price is bad for Halak. And I think the Habs are allergic to playing bottom ranked teams. And I think I'm going to explode right now (which would probably make me the only one other than maybe Carbo who wants to go Jarrko Ruutu and bite someone).

The Habs simply didn't show up to the game tonight and Halak who despite all the criticism has been doing well, didn't look good tonight. It's hard to say just how much of an affect Price had on the whole game but look at it this way: Price is sitting at the benches for the first time since Dec 30. and Halak lets in two straight goals - whether they were his fault or not (I'm not blaming him too much on the second goal) they were still scored within a minute and whatever apart while he was in nets - in the first period and another one in the beginning of the third. He gets dumped for Price and the Habs get a powerplay. Within seconds Pacioretty scores and within another minute or so, the Habs have another goal. Granted it was a lucky goal that happened to bounce off the skate of Begin. But it was an attempt at a pass to Begin who could have maybe put it into the net. Point is, for a little it in the second period the Habs were trying like they weren't doing before. Was it because Price was in nets or was it because the Habs were playing like crap in the first period and they wanted to do something other than play dead? You tell me. Bottom line is, it didn't actually last and the third period went down the drain for the Habs and they lost 4-2. Cue the depressing music (I knew I got the soundtrack to "Defiance" for a reason!).

Oh, the one almost funny moment was a save that Price made when the puck bounces off his back and into the new pads that he was breaking in. For a moment nobody had any idea where the puck was. That should rank up there with...I think it was Sabourin who made this shootout save because the puck went up his shirt...

I really don't know what to say on this one (re: I want to forget about this one as soon as possible). They just have to stop not taking other teams seriously. It's killing them. The number of games that they've lost because they didn't show up to the game because they thought it would be easy are too numerous to list right now. It's pretty sad, really. I know the Habs can't win every game and I know that there will be tough losses. But I can't easily accept the Habs not showing up to the game and losing. I'll take five losses like the one in Boston over ones like tonight's. You may not be able to control what the other team does, but you can control what you do. You can control your attitude. You can control how much effort and emotion you put into a game. And for their sake, the Habs better put in a heck of a lot better effort tomorrow.

Oh and someone should tell Bettman that there should be a rule against teams in ugly jerseys and no fans winning.... The place was practically empty and I swear I heard more people cheering for the Habs than I did for the Thrashers. AND the Thrashers look about as good as Rafa did in Melbourne yesterday.... Normally I adore Rafa but this whole new look thing really stinks...

Around the league in about 2 seconds

• Either the Penguins are completely under-achieving or else Cam Ward and the Hurricanes are seriously over-achieving tonight because thanks to a certain Eric Staal (gotta say, he's not my favorite of the Staal brothers *coughs*) the Hurricanes just won 2-1.
  
• Caps and Sens are tied but I'm not holding any hope on the Sens stopping Ovechkin an Co. Even if Ovechkin hasn't score yet.... someone else will score....Update: Ah... Guess I got proved wrong here. Sens got a goal on a late powerplay. As much as I hate the idea of a victory for the Sens, I'm glad that the Caps didn't get anymore points.... it's good for the Habs.
  
• Rangers won over Anaheim so they collect two points and put themselves up on the Habs by two points.....
  

OLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

[disclaimer: the following is the ramblings of an insane, tired, and extremely happy Habs fan. It may not make a heck of a lot of sense and it's probably filled with Sens bashing. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. And no, I'm not changing the title to "Olay". Pretend there's an accent on the Es]

What?

The football song is stuck in my head now.

This being the first ever time that I've gone to a hockey game - sad, I know. EP wants to thank her uncle for getting the tickets and putting up with sitting with all the Habs fan for the night - I was quite wrapped up in the atmosphere of the whole place - which was mainly Habs oriented - and so I kind of missed quite a bit the finer aspects of the game, therefore, I won't even attempt to break this one down properly. Go read the HABS papers or blogs for that. Buuuuut I can say that the atmosphere was really awesome. Gotta love us noisy Habs fans. We really know how to show the other team who's got the noisier fans *g* Even I - who really doesn't like to display a lot of emotion in crowds (which is technically the time to do it, right?) - was screaming and was tempted to sing even. It's a very catchy song you know. Oleee! Oleee-oh-leeee! Oooo leeeee!!!!!!!!!!

I can say one thing for sure about the actual game though: HOW THE HECK DID WE END UP GOING TO SHOOTOUTS AGAINST THEM??????!!!!! Oh god, I was screaming - which no one heard admits their own booing or cheering - when that goal came in..... I actually haven' got a clue who scored. I did have seats at the end where the Halak was for most of the night but I wasn't paying attention to who scored....Argh....That was.... ick...ick....ick... And it could have been less ick if the stupid Habs hadn't let a 3 on 1 rush happen for the Sens.

The downside to watching Halak all night was that I didn't get to see the Habbies scoring too well. BUUUUUT! I saw D'Agostini score and I'm happy for the guy that he got a goal (finally). Whoopieeeee! Oo and I did get a very clear view of Kostopoulos' goal....I'm totally not complaining that Elliot should have had that one.... I got a clear view of the puck sliding past that red line. Aaaaaaaaaand.... I got a clear view of Spezza and Alfredsson messing up completely in the shootouts which was really nice, but I wish I could have see Kovalev and Lapierre get their goals.

I had to keep sitting there going "Wow.... Halak is actually there..... I'm actually staring at the guy in real life as supposed to on a TV screen. And that's actually the back of Guy Carbonneau's head I've got a good view of....." It was really weird and really cool at the same time. I was prettying high up but I could easily see the bench. It would have been a downside to not being able to see Carbo go nuts in the third period but umm, I wasn't thinking about Carbo at all *g*

Okay look, I hate the idea that we had to go to shootouts against them. The Sens fans on the radio all acted like their team was great again. News flash people: yes, your team showed signs of brilliance (I said SIGNS) but evidently you all missed out on two things. 1) the Sens stank\ in the second period big time. You're lucky that the stupid Habs couldn't get more than 1 goal in on you! 2) the Habs did roll over and die in the third period, making your lives easier. Oh and to the people who think that the Habs fans should stop singing a "soccer song"... first off... it's a "football song" and second of all, what's the big deal if we sing it? It's catchy and easy to sing and we're just going to do it more if we know it bugs other people. You want us to chant "Sens Suck" next time? Oh wait, there were people saying that already tonight.....

So as you can see, I had fun. I'll take the Habs winning any way possible if it's in Ottawa and the place is packed with Habs fans. The Habs get two points, the Sens get to feel special for taking a point, the Habs didn't exactly implode entirely, it's all good... We know that when it matters, the Habs can pull the trigger and produce sixty minutes of brilliant playing. Now, someone just has to tell them that every game matters.... But like I said, two points is two points. Take 'em or give 'em to the Sens. And bring on a better effort against.... whoever is next! Atlanta? New Jersey? Forgot....it's almost 1 in the morning and my brain is shutting down!

Oh and... how come nobody told me that Stewart was getting a try tonight? I didn't know that he was playing until I saw him on the ice...... *dies* Oh well... Didn't he get an assist on D'Agostini's goal? Or at least bonus points for trying?

The gooooooooood -

• HABS FANS ROCK. Sorry to everyone who thinks we're obnoxious...
  
• HABS WON
• Live games are fun
  
• D'Agostini scored
  
• Kovalev didn't hit the posts too many times tonight
  
• Powerplay is still oddly alive despite some seriously stinking tonight... And no, I'm not getting into whether it should have been only 4-3 or not when Kovalev scored....
  

Baaaaaad

• The noise...my ears are still ringing and my head is killing me....
  
• people who drink waaay too much during the game.... yes, I'm looking at the Sens fans sitting next to me. Then again, I can forgive them. They needed to drink to keep their minds off of how icky their team is in general
• Habs dying in the third period.... YOU NEED TO PLAY SIXTY MINUTES PEOPLE! SIXTY! And I said I wanted a resounding win!!!! I'm sure Carbo will agree with me!
  
• Umm.... was that THREE goals in SEVEN shots you let in, Halak?! *sniffles* I don't blame you for that 3 on 1 rush thing but...but.... but..... *wails*
• POWERPLAY for the rest of the game.... *kicks it*
  

Notes on the mind of a rabid Habs fan

• Habs fans like to cheer "Go Habs Go!" before the Habs even come on the ice to warm up (you know it's going to be a looooong night when only a handful of people are in the stands and they're screaming "Go Habs Go" and there's still 30 mins till the players warm up even....)
  
• Habs fans like to cheer "Go Habs Go!" at random intervals of the game
  
• Habs fans like to cheer "Go Habs Go!" when the Habs are doing well
• Habs fans like to cheer "Go Habs Go!" when the Habs are stinking
  
• Habs fans like to sing "Ole!". A lot.
  
• Habs fans like to scream a lot. Yes, you annoying kiddies who were screaming behind me! I was ready to drop kick you onto the ice but I figured as long as you scream "Go HABS Go" and not "Go Sens Go", you deserved to make some noise. And also, I was told that dropping things on the ice could get me fined or booted out. Too bad. I could have hit Spezza with a beernut thing....
  
• They also like to chant "Sens Suck" (I refrained from that).
  
• Habs fans don't shut up. They sing and sing and sing until they're out in their cars. And even then they continue as they wait to get out of the parking lot which almost resembles the traffic in the parking lot at my local shopping center...
• You can't out-chant a Habs fan. Think you can get something going by saying "Go Sens Go?" Forget it. Habs fans will ALWAYS out chant you. They come back and shout at the top of their lungs to drown out any sound that resembles "Sens"
  
• Habs fans like to boo. A lot.
  
• Habs fans took special exception to the "Big Three" doing anything on the ice. Scoring, taking the puck, skating, breathing.... You name it and the Habs will boo 'em. Well... okay... maybe not the last two... or even three.... They haven't reached the "special" treatment class yet. You have to be Briere or Grabovski for that.
• Habs fans hate the refs. Unless the refs are giving the other team penalties.... No, Habs fans don't care if it's a real penalty or not.
• Habs fans are the best fans in the whole league ^___^

And because I like to: Around the league in 30 seconds... or more depending on how much you enjoyed the idea of Boston losing...

• Yes, Boston lost. Amazing, eh? Okay so it was to the Caps.... Why can't a bad team beat the Bruins so the Habbies can move up in the standings?! I thought that Boston would win but they didn't. Hahaha.... Savard's goal in just under two minutes of the second period wasn't enough as Green answered a minute later with his 12th goal of the year. Semin would later add the game winner in the middle of the third period. No, Semin didn't get into a fight....And no, Oveckin didn't score (hmm?!). Caps had 30 shots to the Bruins 24 so I guess it would have been a pity of the Caps lost....
  
• Carolina continues their downward spiral with a 3-1 loss to the Sabres. I continue to be surprised with how badly the Hurricanes are doing... I should get over it soon...
  
• Thrashers earned a resounding 7-2 over the Predators. Yes, I said the Thrashers. No, I can't believe it either...And apparently 7 different guys got the goals.... weird....
  
• Devils beat the Islanders 3-1..... Islanders losing is getting a little bit old now...
  
• Tampa Bay wastes 3-1 lead and lost to the Panthers 4-3.... Fun....
  
• Chicago slipped past St. Louis 2-1 in shootouts....okay?
• Dallas squeaked by the LA Kings in shootouts.... more shootouts?
  
• Ducks shot down Wild 3-0. Poor Wild!
  
• San Jose and Detroit are currently 4-4 going into the third period. Sharks had 2-1 lead on the Wings before a scoring palooza in the second period equaled things out.
  
• Some weirdos called the Montreal Canadiens beat out the Ottawa Senators in shootouts....*G* yes, I'm still gloating.... reality will hit soon enough so don't ruin my fun in the mean time.....
  

Ovechkin dumps Pens

Before I say anything about the game, I have a few things to say first.

1. I think I'm liking the Caps a bit more these days. Well, okay, not the Caps exactly. Just Ovechkin.... If Rafa wants to turn into a Federer clone then I'm going to need to find another guy that's got some emotion to watch.... And Ovechkin had plenty of emotion tonight *g*
   
2. Everyone's favorite guy was refereeing tonight. Oh yes, Chris Lee gets around a lot. And yes, he was absolutely pathetic again tonight, assessing penalties where there weren't any, stopping play when the wrong team touched the puck, etc.
3. I hate the announcers on whatever station I was watching. I think it was a channel from Pittsburgh and they were just driving me up the wall.... Oh RDS, why can't you show more of the Pens and/or Caps games? Why?!
   

Alright. The game. I thought the Penguins started off really well (quite honestly I'm getting tired of saying that I think my teams start the game off well and dont' finish well.... but I digress). They looked good up until Petr Sykora took a penalty for high sticking at 7:07 of the third period and then it went downhill. Up until that point the Pens were very much in the game. The first period was about equal with some nice chances but nothing really happening too much. Malkin got a powerplay goal at 5;45 with two Caps in the box - might I add that Brashear hadn't actually done anything to get a double minor for highsticking? the Penguin had gotten hit by his own player - but other than that goal, nothing happened. Yes, yes, it was a nice goal though. Yay for Malkin! If you thought that the Caps were taking that lying down then forget it. While I was off doing something else (what? This ain't the Habs playing the Caps) Kozlov scored for the Caps with Satan answering about 7 minutes later. Semin would also get a goal but I'm completely blanking on how he got it. So it was 2-2 going into the third period.

Things looked to be quite even going into the third but then the Pens began to drop like flies. Well, they were dropping before, but it was hurting them now. Scuderi went out after taking a puck to the face, Talbot went out with... I'm not sure... They lost Crosby for a bit after he took a lower body injury in the first period. He would come back only to leave again as he got tangled up along the boards in the third period. Kris Latang went out briefly after blocking a shot but he returned soon after. So no proper defense, no Crosby to get some moral going and it was byebye Pens.

The Caps took over when Sykora was sent off for high sticking off the faceoff, and Fleischmann put the puck in when Fleury couldn't control the rebound.... Up until that point it was 3-3 actually with Ovechkin finally getting a goal on his own rebound - might I add that he let out a yell of joy on finally getting a goal? (at least he didn't almost cry like Prospal did in the Habs/Lightning game) - and Whitney getting a superb goal when he hammered the puck from the blueline and past Theodore who had no clue what had just happened. Anyway, after the Fleishmann goal, Ovechkin would get credit for another one three minutes later when the puck went off... I think it was Whitney's skate and past Fleury. Schultz would be credited for the final goal which got put into an empty net all the way from the Pens' zone.

So it was a sad day for the Pens who should have been able to take more momentum from their win against the Flyers. For a lot of the third period they were just unable to get the puck to the other zone and the Caps were able to seize on Fleury's bad rebound control. There were a lot more chances to score from both teams. The Pens had a lot of high quality chances when they got the powerplay at the end of the game but it wasn't enough and it was much too late. Hopefully there's not any serious injuries on the Pens lineup and they can recover. I mean, I liked the effort. It was good but there wasn't too much to say for the last half of the third period. It wasn't good. Excellent effort from the Caps who have now ended their three game losing skid...

Unfortunately now the Habbies are going to really have to work to get back up there in the standings but we knew that.....*wails and kicks the stupid Bruins*

of injuries, Penguins + Rafa to turn into Roger

Long term injuries to be disclosed in the future

Yes, yes, Carbo and Co have decided to tell the media what's wrong with a player if they're expected to be out for a long period of time. That's.... nice... I guess.... Given that it's the middle of the season and it's not the playoffs, I really didn't get what the deal was with all the secrecy. I mean... I get it if it's the playoffs but when you're in the middle of the season and there's no real rush to get the guys back onto the ice until they're fully recovered anyway... what's the deal with the hush hush attitude? All it does is lead to lots of rumors which aren't true.

That being said....

Knowing what Price and everyone else have doesn't exactly help in speeding up the process of their return. Koivu has apparently done something bad to his ankle again and he won't be around for a little while longer. Carbo is now saying that Price may not be in the All Star thing at this point, which is pretty disappointing from a fan's point of view. Like we really want to watch Tim Thomas flopping around in the crease for 20 minutes.....? I don't think so.... Then again, I want to see how good the guy is without his great rescue team in front of him, so I guess I'll suffer through watching him.

Dandenault and Higgy were apparently on the ice today. But who ever said that you need your arms to skate....?

*sighs*

GET HEALTHY SOON YOU GUYS! I WANT YOU BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

ATP gets a new boss

I wasn't going to mention this because I mean... I personally don't find it that big of a deal worth mentioning. I'm still waiting for the day that NHL drops Gary Bettman and then I may consider bringing that up. But anyway, Adam Helfant was named the new executive chairman and president of the men's circuit the other day. What I find interesting about the guy is during his long and winding career (the guy is actually only 44 so I guess it cant be that long and winding) he also had a stint as an attorney for the NHL. And you said that hockey and tennis can't be combined somehow....

Yeah, that's all I have to say about him *g* Interesting eh? Didn't think so. No one ever said that I made any sense when I write.... Here's hoping his does a good job. And can I make suggestion for the guy? Move the Australian Open back a couple of weeks. 1) this gives the players more time to get ready for the big event and 2) because the players are getting back into the season slowly, it also allows for the fans to get more hyped up about the Grand Slam. I can't speak for the Australians but I personally am not ready for the Australian Open at this point...Nothing too much to be hyped about....

Say it isn't so! Rafa going normal?!

I guess I should have known that something was up when he appeared in that horrid shirt. I thought it was a weird one time thing that Nike messed up on. Well, I guess I was wrong. According to this little thing over here Mr. World No 1 is indeed making an attempt to be more uh.... normal. Aside from the changes he's supposedly making to his game - which include normalizing his forehand to some degree - his personal image is apparently undergoing a change. The main aim? Turning Rafa into a Rafa version of Roger. I kid you not. If the article is to be believed, Nadal will be attempting to "grow up" and behave less like the kid that he comes off as and more like.. well, Roger.

I don't know who's idea this is but I want to say this: DON'T DO IT. We love Rafa because he's Rafa. And we love Roger because he's Roger. If Rafa ends up acting - and looking - like Roger then that won't be any fun at all.

I think Nadal can attract way more people to the sport by being the way he is now. As much as I love Federer, I wouldn't be talking about this right now if it wasn't because of Nadal. What attracted me to the sport was watching Nadal. I loved that he just looked so different from everyone else on the court. His behavior too is way different. I don't doubt that everyone puts a lot of emotion into their game but with Nadal, you see it. You feel like you can empathize and sympathize with him more because he shows his emotions. When I first started watching the guy, I had no idea about tennis. Not a clue. But I watched him anyway because he was that interesting to watch. Federer, as amazingly good as he is, is harder to appreciate if you don't know a thing about tennis. You have to know what makes a good shot, a good play, and a good point, to appreciate just how amazing Federer is. With Nadal you know by the look on his face whether a play was good or bad. Nadal is special because he's Nadal. Not because he's Federer clone.

Please people, keep Nadal the way he is now. And please dump those stupid shirts. Roger looks a lot better in them than Rafa does. Sowwy....

Penguins and Capitals tonight!

While I would love to see this game, I'm still not sure if I'll be able to.... The TV wants a break from all the Habs stuff so it's showing something else tonight. And TSN is still clinging to the belief that it's viewers will see the Senators win a game. But that never stopped me from rambling about the Pens and the Caps, right? Right. Okay. So tonight's game should be fairly interesting. The Caps will be looking to not lose their 4th straight game tonight while the Penguins are looking to capitalize on their 4-2 smashing out of the Flyers and actually get some type of winning streak going again.

Random notes

• This is the second back to back game for both teams.
• While the media has been blowing this so-called issue between Malkin and Ovechkin, I think they should just be quiet. Malkin can (hopefully) fend for himself if indeed Ovechkin is on the warpath and wants to flatten him like a bug. Whatever little thing these two have going on - if indeed it's still going on like the media will have us believe - it's nothing like what Sergei and Grabovski have going on.
  
• Ovechkin hasn't scored in 11 days.
  
• As much as I like the Penguins, I wouldn't mind seeing Ovechkin finally get a goal tonight. And a nice goal too please. Not one of those stupid "oh whoops, it deflected off of me so I get the goal" type of goals that Semin and Fleischmann got against the Habs.
  
• Crosby hasn't scored in.... 4 days. Feels longer than that. I would much prefer to see Malkin getting a goal or two tonight. Well, heck, as long as ANY Penguin scores, I don't care who it is.
  
• And simply for entertainment value I want to see Crosby fight Semin. C'mon, you know you want to see that happen to!
  

Now that's a game and a half!

I had a feeling that this game had the potential to be a high scoring one. We all know what the Caps can do and we know too that the Habs have been on a scoring high as of late. And with one team not really having a very good goaltender and the other team relying on their backup (I'll just pretend that we all know that the latter is Halak) it was definitely looking like a high scoring game.

The final score was 5-4 for the Habs. Both teams had 35 shots on goal and almost had the exact same number of shots per period. The only difference is, while the Caps evened out their scoring over the entire game, the Habs exploded in the third period and got four of their five goals in it.

Semin got the first goal of the night. I believe it was Mike Green who took a shot from the point and it somehow deflected off of Semin. So Green does al the work and the Alex gets the goal. Eh. The Caps victory celebration lasted all of a minute and twenty-seconds as the Caps didn't stay on top of Komisarek and Kostopoulos trying to clear the puck and the next thing you know guess who has the puck on a breakaway and puts it past Johnson? Pleky! I was just reading a thing about how the poor guy has had serious bad luck this year. He works so hard out there but has very little to show for it. Well, guess he saw the article and decided to finally get a goal. If I remember correctly, Plekanec's last goal was short handed too...Kind of cool if I've remembered right! Anyway, that was all for the first period. Habs had one chance at the powerplay which was blown completely and the Caps had two chances which failed miserably. During the first period I thought both goalies looked good - well save for both Johnson and Halak doing a little Toskala imitation at one point which could have allowed both teams to get goals on empty nets but they didnt thanks to good defense and good luck Hmm...

Second period was interesting. Caps took five penalties while the Habbies took two. No one scored on the powerplay and I was wondering if it was time to despair again. Maybe the Caps have a good penalty kill but I mean... for a while the Habs just looked awful on the PP. but the awfulness of the powerplay was NOTHING compared to what was too happen at 13:04. Someone has to tell Gainey or Carbo or anyone that it's time for Brisebois to go. He couldn't clear the puck and actually loses complete control of it right in front of Halak with Semin standing right there. Semin takes the puck, Halak moves down, Semin pops the puck over Halak. And it's 2-1 for the Caps. Oh and Semin tried to hug the glass behind the net after the goal - you know, where the guy flies face first into the glass. I've seen Ovechkin do that too. It really looks stupid. Anyway, it was a lovely goal for Semin but a real mess for Brisebois. Time to call it quits me thinks. That was it for the scoring although the Habs did have 13 shots on goal in that period which was the most in the game and was one more than the Caps had in that period.

Now. The third period was where things got interesting. There was a lot of talk after the Habs/Leafs game that the rivalry was in effect dead. One of the high points of the rivalry a long time ago was apparently both teams' desire - and ability! - to win the game. Whatever the cost. Judging by the way the Leafs' have been in the last... forty years... it's clear that at least until Brian Burke gets around to making some changes, the Leafs still have the inability to compete with the Habs when the Habs feel like competing. I missed out entirely on the Habs/Leafs rivalry (wasn't born *g*) but I think tonight's game showed a little bit of what things were like between the two teams.

The Habs entered the third period with a powerplay courtesy of the baby-faced Backstrom. The Habbies weren't looking too hot on the powerplay but Sloan decided to give them a nice gift in the form of a hooking penalty before Backstrom's had expired. So the Habs had a 5 on 3 advantage and within twenty odd seconds who gets the goal? Lang! I have to stop disliking the guy for no reason at all. That goal was nice - even if it apparently hit the guy's arm on the way into the net *coughs*. I thought he was just going to stand there and play hot potato with the puck for the rest of the powerplay but nooooo! He moves up towards Johnson and puts the puck around him. Look at the replay. It's hard to explain. But it was nice. Because Backstrom's penalty wasn't over it was still powerplay time for the Habbies. And they didn't entirely disappoint either. The one issue that seems to creep up with the Kostitsyn brother playing on the same line is that they had a tendency to pass only to each other. This a pain because there are other guys out there on the ice. But anyway, Sergei made an attempt on Johnson's left. On his way back to try to cover the crease, Johnson gets tripped up by his own player which leaves the net open which leaves Andrei to put Sergei's rebound in, which makes it 3-2. Nice!

Fleischmann made life not so nice when he put one past Halak who looked rather unprepared for that one. Well what can you do? Even the best goalies let in flukey goals *COUGHS* But this was really a bad time for that one. Order was momentarily restored about 15 seconds later however when Pleky struck again and scored after taking a pass from Pacioretty (and getting a mini breakaway). Johnson looked just like Halak did 15 seconds previously. Hehe. Well, Nylander almost dashed my hopes of winning this game in regulation time at 12:21 when Ovechkin's shot deflected off several people like a pinball machine and past Halak. At first glance it looks like a stupid easy goal that Halak should have got, but he really wasn't expecting that deflection. Stupid Nylander. I almost feel bad that Ovechkin didn't get the goal. Almost.

Anyway, with the seconds dying and it looking more and more like I would have to suffer through OT and maybe even shootouts, the defensemen get tangled up just inside their own zone with Sergei Kostitsyn who goes to the net, gets further tangled up with the defensemen and pulls an Ovechkin type of move and gets a fairly decent if not slightly weak shot on Johnson... And Johnson..... stares blankly as the puck slides past him. By this point Sergei's been tripped and he's celebrating the goal by lying on the ice. 5-4 Habbies. I should mention that the Habs did get an icing call against them with 12 seconds left to go and Ovechkin did hammer a shot at the net which went just wide... if that had gone in.... well, never mind that.... Can we say "Oh my god, I can't believe that Sergei's goal went in and we actually beat the Caps?" Good.

So.

The gooood

1. WIN. Especially a hard fought win like this one. It's good for the Habs.
   
2. I still think that the powerplay was good....I mean... considering that it worked at all is still amazing....
   
3. Plekanec scoring TWICE! Now why can't he do that more often?
4. No odd man rushes...
5. I think Halak had to come up with better saves than Johnson did... and he looked pretty good out there again minus a couple of shaky moments but c'mon, he's not freaking superman here...
6. 59 minutes and 39 seconds of playing time gets you a win
   
7. No fights with Semin!
   
8. Actually.... no fights at all!
   

The BAD

1. BRISEBOIS. I'm sorry, but that total give away to Semin was just plain awful. It's going to take a lot of work to erase that mess out of my mind. Can't we please find a better guy to play on defense? Make Weber learn how to play defense better so we can get him instead of Brisebois. I can't stand too many more of these horrendous displays of hockey...
2. everyone is still ruining Ovechkin's name... *sighs*
   

Question of the hour

1. How will the Habs do against the Bruins now? Surely we wont' lose 6-1 on Tuesday.......?

Question for the next hour

1. So much for vacation. Carbo was going to go to Florida for a mini break during the All Star thingy but since the Habbies beat the Caps in regulation time, the Habbies apparently have a better winning percentage which means Carbo's going to the All Star Game as assistant coach to... Erm.. Claude Julien. Do you think Carbo and Julien will get into a shouting match this time around? I'm guessing what happens on Tuesday may have some affect on that outcome....
   

Around the league in two minutes

• FILATOV GOT A HAT TRICK. A HAT TRICK! In his sixth NHL game. Mason was in nets again to help squash the Wild 4-2. Can you imagine where this team could be in a couple of years with Mason and Filatov on the team? Scary....Did I ever mention that I love watching Filatov play? *g*
  
• Leafs lose. Again. Surprised yet? Me neither. Flyers beat them this time. And people wonder how the Flyers got all their points... Why they beat teams like Atlanta and the Leafs on a regular basis that's how! Ooo! Yeah, it's sarcasm hour again.
  
• Sens get blanked. At home. To the Rangers. Surprise of the game? They called up a newbie to be the goalie. No it wasn' Schenn. Poor newbie did the best he could but the Rangers still beat them. Not the newbie's fault that his team got blanked.
  
• Florida won 8-4 against the Thrashers with a five goal scoring palooza in the third period.
  
• Nashville beat the Blackhawks 4-1. I guess the Blackhawks didnt really show up to the game...
  

Tonight's biggest challenge against the Capitals?

Getting Ovechkin's name right!!!!!!! I really hope that the Habs don't have to play the Caps too many more times because I'm going to go insane.... But on a different note that's more related to winning....

Pre-game rant

This is Halak's third time facing the Caps and I"m hoping that third time is the charm and they win. Obviously it takes something very special to blank the Ovechkin/Backstrom/Semin filled Caps and Steve Mason is just that good (I mean c'mon... SIX shutouts?) But I don't care if the Habs blank the Caps. They won't do it anyway. But I want a wiiiiin.

1. Obviously shutting down the offense is going to be key to winning tonight. No offense= no shots = no goals = no win, right? Right. I think the Habs were very close to winning or at least having a shot at grabbing a point in OT or shootouts last time, but a total lack of finish doomed them...
2. Which brings me to my second point. Remember people: YOU NEED TO PLAY SIXTY MINUTES!!!!!!!!!! Something which you didn't do against the Leafs.... it was still 59 minutes and thirty seconds. Yes, I'm still harping on that second goal....
3. Also, if the powerplay would be so kind as to work again tonight, we just may have a decent shot at winning. If I remember right, the Caps gave the Habbies something like eight powerplays last time which they completely failed to convert on. POWERPLAY NEEDS TO WORK.
4. Oh and definitely play a more disciplined game tonight than that mess against the Leafs. No giving the Alexes a chance to score on the powerplay.

Oh and don't forget:

1. Stay away from Semin as much as you possibly can. It's already painfully apparent that he won't have a career as a bongo player even if that's where he seems to be headed these days. There's no need to totally crush his not-so-secret ambitions.
   
2. And definitely stay away from the boards if you're anywhere near Ovechkin. Unless you want a concussion of course....Hey, maybe Sergei can get Ovechkin to knock out Grabovski for him? Actually I was more in favour of the idea of setting Jarkko Ruutu lose on him... but I digress....
   
3. And if it's Theodore in nets tonight... SCORE A PILE OF GOALS ON HIM! NO SHUTOUTS FOR THEODORE!

And you thought the Habs were creative losers, eh?

As a Penguins fan, I'm dying right now. Since the beginning of the new year the Penguins have been threatening to break out and soar to the top of their division where everyone thought that they would be long before now. I mean, after all a lot of the core members of last year's team are still around and they really do have some of the most talented players in the league on their team (comes from being horrid for a pile of years in a row which allowed them to grab a lot of good players in the drafts). Unfortunately, the Penguins have decided to do the exact opposite of what everyone expected of them. Yes, people, the Penguins have LOST AGAIN today! Looking at it just from this year - however short it may be so far - it's been awful. The Pens couldn't capitalize on a sub par offensive display by the Habbies (well, minus a very hot Andrei Kostitsyn who got himself a nice hat trick in that game*g*) and instead posted a sub par powerplay which did nothing at all to get the puck past a very good Price (sorry, Pens). They followed that up by getting rolled over by the Bruins in back to back games. They didn't show up against the Panthers at all. They did manage a win against the Thrashers, but um... it's the Thrashers, yes? And Kovalchuk was beating up on Malkin big time which was just plain sad. Somewhere in there the Pens also got blanked by the Rangers. Oh and the Pens were felled stupidly by the Predators who outshot them and crawled back into the game with FIVE unanswered goals.

And what happened today? THEY LOST AGAIN! To the injury plagued Avalanche... AvalancheS... the guys from Colorado. The good news - if there was any - was that we've finally got something from Crosby and Malkin who have been dead on the scoring department. The bad news is that the team didn't produce enough effort to keep them in the game. Getting one goal a period is okay only if the other team is scoring less. Sadly, the Avs got one goal in the first period, three in the second and one more in the third. Whahoo... so much for the Avs stinking big time without a pile of players.... Sabourin and Fleury have been taking turns getting the starting job and getting yanked half way through... this is getting really sad... I think the Pens should trade Staal for a defenseman who can actually do something. Staal's not doing a heck of a lot and I think it's partly because he hasn't had the opportunity to play with decent players enough.

Tennis Talk

MURRAY WON. It was 6-4, 6-2. Like you expected anything else once Rafa and Roger flamed out? At least Roddick almost hung in their for the first set. I actually liked how Roddick did at first but then... of course we all knew that Murray was just going to come up with some better shots than Roddick was and Murray was going to be able to move around the court better than Roddick too. Have no fear, we've only got.... Four or so months before Roland Garros rolls aroun and then someone we want to win will win for sure... maybe... hopefully? *wails* Boo.....

Random info day again!

First off, I have to ask: Can one be "hockey-ed out"? Because I was bored stiff last night despite the fact that there were three different games to watch. Okay, so they just so happened to be the three most boring games on last night. I had the option of seeing if the Pens would put up their most embarrassing game to date by losing to Atlanta or if they would actually win one (they won), the Leafs losing to the Panthers (they did indeed lose) or the Sens try to find a way to win against the Sabres (they didn't). But anyway.... because I'm procrastinating on making lunch... a roundup of how yesterday went:

1. Pens finally stop their horrid losing streak with a resounding 3-1 win over.... the worst team in the league. Yay. Kovalchuk got the Thrasher's only goal in-between taking swipes at Malkin. What is it with Russian players trying to kill Malkin? I mean, maybe I can see Ovechkin doing it, but Kovalchuk? Weird. Didn't matter. Pens won. Not that I'm celebrating much. It's the Thrashers for crying out loud....
2. Sens lose. Again. This is getting old now...
   
3. Leafs lose. Again. Biggest surprise: they got two goals in!

And finally, it was the night of some interesting goalie stuff:

1. Wild are on a streak! Despite the silly name and the horrendous jersey colours, the Minnesota Wild appear to be back on track this month after a terrible December. Niklas Backstrom recorded his second straight shutout last night as the Wild beat the... wait for it... Boston Bruins. In Boston. Yay! It was the second straight loss for the Bruins who couldn't put the puck into a pile of empty nets against Miller and the Sabres earlier in the week.
2. Jose Theodore apparently was stellar for the Caps as they hung in and beat the Flyers in shootouts. After 65 minutes of play, the score was only 1-1 thanks to goals from Backstrom (no, he's not related to the Wild's goalie) and Coburn. Kolzov was the only one to score in the shootouts (*coughs neither Alex scored coughs*) but it was enough to see off the pesky Flyers. Too bad Ovechkin didn't score but oh well... as long as the Flyers lose.
   
3. Another former Habbies goalie, Huet, also had a good night as the Blackhawks stomped on the Coyotes 6-0. To quote headcoach Wayne Gretzky about the game "[the Blackhawks] are a pretty good team, first of all. They play hard and thank God we're done with them." As a random side note: the Blackhawks have outscored the Coyotes 20-4 in their matchups this season. Oopsies.
   
4. Unfortunately Steve Mason lost the battle of the goalies with Ty Conklin as the Red Wings recorded three goals in the third period to shutout the Columbus Blue Jackets. When does Filatov get to play full time with the Blue Jackets?!
   
5. And finally.... Evgeni Nabokov was pulled for the first time this season as the Flames burned the Sharks 5-2 in Calgary last night. Guess it was the night of the top teams losing.

And the biggest news of last night? The Sens' Jarkko Ruutu decided to made a serious bid for "the most annoying antics of the season" award in the game against the Sabres. Of course, he would have had to have done something really whacko to top Sean Avery. So what does he do? He bit Sabres forward Andrew Peters on the hand so hard that he apparently went through Peter's glove and broke the skin. I guess the designers of the gloves never foresaw that one happening..... Peters made a huge production of it before leaving the ice to be bandaged up. Um, forgive me if I"m not dishing out loads of sympathy here. If I were Peters, I would go to the doctors and ask for a rabies vaccine. Just in case.

Enough of that now. I have a rant to go on actually.

Can we please stop treating Halak like this, please?

I'm incredibly annoyed with how Halak is treated in the media right now. Today's paper had the headline "Carbo throws Halak a lifeline" or something along those lines. Look, I know the guy has not played well in the last two games but I have to say this: the whole mess in New Jersey was definitely not entirely. I don't believe that if Price had been in nets the Habs would have won playing like that. Maybe the score would only have been 2-1 or 3-1 but they still would have lost giving up all those breakaways and oddman rushes. I've already stated that I think the team feels more comfortable when Price is playing and they do not do as well when it's Halak which only makes everything else worse.

The thing is, Halak can be good. We know it (or at least we should). He knows it. And I think the whole team knows it too. Right now the last thing the media should be doing is treating him like he's a terrible goalie who can't save the puck if his life depended on it.

No, his numbers do not look good right now - he's 6-6-1 - but let's just think about a couple of those games, yes?

Halak was in nets in that game against the still Mason-less Blue Jackets which should never have gone to shootouts. Halak was in nets when the Habs played the Flyers for the second time this season. They lost 2-1. I think I remember saying that the entire game was pathetic from both teams. Nobody was playing well that night. Halak was also in nets when the Habs went AWOL in that shutout loss to the AHL-Filled-Washington-Capitals. Another display of crappy playing from the entire team there. Halak was in nets when the Habs got completely embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning - a game in which absolutely no offense was produced whatsoever and the Habs let St. Louis and Lacavalier steal the show at home. Halak was in nets for the loss to the Washington Capitals in which I thought he was very good but the Habs fell down in the last few minutes and got burned. Could have happened to anyone in nets. And Halak was also in nets for one of the many debacles against the Carolina Hurricanes in which I think the Habs really need to sit down and wonder what it is about the Hurricanes that makes them play like crap.

Now Halak was also in nets for that 6-1 rout of the Maple Leafs (which is more than I can say for a certain other guy when the Habs fell 6-3 to the same Leafs), that 3-1 win over the Panthers at home for the first time in I dunno how long, that 4-1 blasting of the Calgary Flames, that big 5-2 win over the Flyers and that OT win on the Sabres.

Am I the only one who notices that when the Habs have something prove - they wanted to show that they could beat the Panthers at home, Tanguay wanted that win against the Flames badly, no one wanted to go down 4 games in a row by losing the hated Flyers, and they battled hard for that win against the Sabres - they win, no matter who is in nets? I could go on and on about some of the stinkers that Price has put up this season but I won't. When the Habs want a win they win. They look past who's in nets and they freaking find a way to win.

The media does not say "Price lets Panthers come back into the game" or similar type of things when it's Price in nets and he does terribly. They find excuses and blame the entire team for the loss. When it's Halak and they lose it's all Halak's fault. NOT FAIR. I'm not saying he's wonderful and none of it is his fault. He needs to take his share of the blame for the losses when he's in nets. Oh and his share doesn't mean 90% of it.

Does Halak need to prove that he can rebound from tough games and play like we know he can? Yes. But does the team also need to come out and support him (read: stop playing lame defense like they've been doing the last two games)? YES. Right now everyone needs to step up and support each other and find a way to win tonight. They're good enough to beat the Rangers but they need to work as a team to do it.

Rant over. Time to talk tennis.

I have yet to see a full match this season but hey, it's only Doha right now and it's just the beginning of the season. Still, I will try to see a full match soon. Again, I missed Nadal rolling over whoever it was that he took on today. I also missed Murray and most of Federer's matches but I did catch the end of Federer's match. He didn't look quite as good as yesterday and even though Seppi did well - okay, okay, even though Seppi had spurts of goodness amid lots of bad playing - I think Federer could have done a lot better than the 6-3 6-3 result. But I digress. It's still better than poor Nole did in Brisbane. I refuse to read too much into this whole thing so far because it's pointless and silly. But on the other hand, I can't help but feel that Federer would benefit slightly by giving a strong performance here in Doha. If only to prove that he's not dead or dying anytime soon.