Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘habs’

All eyes will be on the NHL Entry Draft tonight. In addition to the new talent, the wheeling and dealing of draft picks will lead to interesting trade speculation.

Here’s hoping the Mats Sundin to Montreal rumours don’t come true. I know Gainey desperately wants an “impact forward”, but c’mon, we can do so much better than over-the-hill Toronto cast-offs.

It ended with a whimper rather than a bang. As he often does, the Gazette’s Aislin expressed it best:

Sad as it is, the Habs defied a lot of expectations this season, and I’m predicting even better things next year. Here’s a salute to the bleu-blanc-rouge. Thanks for a great year!

What is there to say about tonight’s loss that puts us down 3-1 against the Flyers other than… ouch.

I don’t want to lose faith in the Habs, but there’s very little hope of them recovering. I think the miracle bag of tricks is gone, and the season is close to being done.

I guess there’s always next season.

I hate the overtime shootout with every fiber of my being. I mention this fact now because I believe a monkey spinning a giant logo-covered carnival wheel is just as entertaining and has as much to do with an actual hockey game as a skills competition deciding a regular season winner.

That’s Greg Wyshynski over at the NHL Experts Blog, in a post about TSN’s famed results-predicting Maggie the Monkey.

For the record, Greg, I couldn’t agree more. Let’s get rid of the shootout during the regular season and go back to 60 minutes plus a 5-minute sudden death overtime. If both teams are still tied after all of that, they each deserve to walk away with a point. End of story.

Tonight’s Game 1 between the Habs and the Flyers featured:

67 shots on goal (34 by Montreal, 33 by Philly)
60 saves by the two goalies (30 each)
60 percent of faceoffs won by the Habs (71% success rate for Captain K)
48 seconds elapsed in overtime when the winning goal was scored
29 seconds left when the tying goal was scored
4 goals scored by Habs players whose last names start with KO
3 big scoring chances by Montreal that hit the goalpost
2 video-reviewed goals (both awarded, but narrowly)
2 brothers netting points
2 powerplay goals
1 short-handed goal
1 goal scored on our own net (Brisebois back in vintage form)
1 missed penalty shot

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Yes, it was a weird game. But at the end of the day, all that matters is the win column. 1-0 Habs after 1, so far, so good.

Philly beat Washington in overtime in tonight’s game 7 to win the first round and advance, ending the Caps’ Cinderella-like late season run in the process. The game was won on the powerplay after a controversial penalty call that really raises serious questions about the quality of the officiating in the playoffs in general. I feel like Ovechkin, the clear NHL MVP, deserved better… not to mention Semin, Green, Federov and – oh yeah – Cristobal Huet. But that’s hockey, and the Caps go home and the Flyers move on.

That means we’ll be taking on the Flyers in Round 2. As much as it would have been fun to see an Ovechkin-Crosby matchup, it’s probably good news for us that we will be taking on the Flyers, against whom we went 4-0 this season, instead of the Rangers. Despite our historic comeback win against the Rangers in February, they’re a tough team to beat. Besides, let the Pens deal with Avery’s Antics.

Of course, the Flyers won’t exactly be a cakewalk. They play a hard physical style of hockey, and the series with the Bruins should teach us exactly what a season sweep of a team is worth in the playoffs: not much. But I believe we can do it. I have faith in these guys.

With Calgary’s game 7 elimination tonight at the hands of the San Jose Sharks, Montreal is now the only remaining Canadian team in the playoffs. The eyes of the nation (including plenty of green eyes in Toronto) will now turn to Montreal to keep the dream alive of finally bringing the Stanley Cup home to Canada where it belongs, after 15 long years. No pressure, eh?

Go Habs Go!

It sounds like we won the Stanley Cup out there, with all the horns honking and people partying in the streets. But no, all we did was win round 1 to advance to round 2.

Not that it was easy, mind you. The Bruins battled back against all expectations and took us to a game 7 that was making even the faithful lose heart. Whatever anyone expected from tonight’s game, it wasn’t this.

And by “this”, of course, I mean a 5-0 blowout shutout, to much singing and cheering, of the Bruins – who suddenly looked much like the hapless team we played all season, and not like the team who game within a shade of one of the biggest upsets in hockey history.

And I got to witness it from the reds of the Bell Centre. Great view!

Now… onto round 2. Go Habs Go!

Update: For the record, I think that the rioting was not only disgraceful, but completely idiotic. WTF??? I mean, it’s only round 1. At least wait until we win the cup. Sheesh!

The only thing worse than being a loser is being a quitter.

The Habs completely quit tonight – on each other, on their team, on their coach and on their fans. They gave up. Therefore, they choked. Andrei Markov’s exasperated shrug on the powerplay late in the third said it all. In case that message wasn’t received, Carey Price’s refusal to even try to save the fifth goal drove the point home.

The Bruins won because they refused to quit. And now, instead of going to the golf course, they get to go home, down 3-2 in the series but holding all the momentum cards.

How does an offense that was #1 in the NHL all season collapse so miserably? How does the league’s top powerplay fall apart so spectacularly? How does a team that went 8-0 against the Bruins in the regular season let a playoff series that ought to have been a blowout get to game 6?

The Canadiens are going to be doing a lot of soul-searching between now and Saturday. Let’s hope that includes a lesson in perseverence. I still believe that this team has it in them. Let’s hope they start believing that about themselves. Because, as the saying goes, quitters never win, and winners never quit.

• Does anyone really still believe that Mugabe will go quietly? Didn’t think so.
• Here we go again: The construction on St-Laurent launches full steam ahead into round 2… as though round 1 wasn’t a strong enough demonstration of the city’s incompetence.
• Duh alert: Allophones have a harder time getting jobs than Francophones do in Quebec. Really? Is the sky blue, too?
• You know it’s hockey fever when… even the police cars are flying Habs flags. Too bad our idiot mayor doesn’t give the same fan-dom rights to the firefighters.
• The Habs decimated the Bruins on Thursday, but just barely eked out a win last night. 2-0 is 2-0 and we’ll take it, surely. But we’re going to have to step it up quite a bit tonight. Go Habs Go!
• Hockey fever on the road: Boston is being invaded by supporters of the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge. Should be an interesting mix in the stands tonight at the TD Banknorth Centre. Then again, the Bruins fans deserve it for inadequately supporting their team. As of Friday when I last checked, there were still tickets available for tonight’s game on the Bruins’ official website. Shameful.
• Did someone forget to tell it that it’s spring? After teasing us with gorgeous balmy weather, it’s been overcast, chilly, rainy and even threatening snow this weekend. Come back, sunshine!
• Good friends… good crepes… goodbyes. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

The Habs closed the 2007-08 regular season tonight in a highly appropriate fashion: With a 3-1 win over the hapless Leafs, putting us in first place in the conference, with a chance to stay there if the Pens lose tomorrow, and guaranteeing our first-round match-up against the Bruins, against whom we were 8-0 this season.

With the division title, the possible conference title, the #1 offensive record in the NHL, it’s safe to say that the Canadiens have not only exceeded expectations this season, they’ve knocked everyone’s socks off.

One year ago, the picture was very different. The Habs were fighting for a playoff spot, and needed to beat the Leafs in the final game of the season in order to clinch a spot. The Leafs came back to win that game and the Habs went home dejected. What a difference a year makes!

Now as we head into the post-season, it’s a whole new game where once again, anything can happen. Will our unbeaten streak against the Bruins translate into a first-round win, or will the Bruins fight back? Will Carey Price continue his stellar play, or will his inexperience do him in? Will injuries plague us, or will we get our healthy team back together for a real run? Could this be the Habs’ year to make a real run at the Cup?

Whatever happens in the weeks ahead, here’s a salute to the Canadiens for making the fans and the city proud. Go Habs Go!