Phew

I think it's safe to say Chris Higgins timely goal off a lucky bounce is among the biggest goals this team has gotten all year. Tomas Vokoun was rock solid until that point and clearly rattled afterwards. Alex Kovalev's seeing-eye shot to win it was vintage Kovy, his 26th, the most he's ever scored in a Habs uniform.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk for a moment about Carey Price. The kid had the best game I've seen from him with a CH on his chest. He was blameless on the only goal he allowed and was cooler than Miles Davis for several third period power plays. He created space in front of his net by removing bodies himself. He cleared the puck out of the zone himself and looked like Rick DiPietro in the process during one PK. Yvon Pednault had it right when he spoke of Price "closing the door." on several Florida chances.

He didn't beat the Detroit Red Wings, but he did get his team a win when it seemed impossible. His confidence is contagious and when he's rolling people tend to win Gold Medals and Calder Cups.

Cristobal Huet is probably squirming and it will be interesting to see what Carbo does with the back-to-back games this weekend.

Loose Pucks: Trade rumours continue to swirl around the NHL and the Habs are believed to be
in the thick of the talks. It's absolute lunacy to suggest that there's any interest in Michael Ryder. I would be happy to get a 4th round pick for Ryder. One guy I'd like to see out there is Chris Gratton. He is strong on faceoffs and has a mean streak that's sorely lacking on this team. He's also more mobile than Bryan Slowinski.

Things certainly changed with the Higgins goal last night. All of a sudden the Habs are still contending when it looked like they may be in a total freefall at times last night.