Musings on Round 2 So Far

The series shifts to Philadelphia for tonight's showdown at the Wachovia Center. A lot has been made of what the media has deemed a "sucker punch" delivered to the head of Flyers' defenceman Kimmo Timonen after he taunted several Habs following the game-clinching goal to make it 4-2 on Saturday. Kostopoulos was repentant yesterday despite getting the vote of confidence from coach Carbonneau who said Timonen "deserved it."

I don't see anything wrong with it and I think calling it a sucker punch is a bit extreme. It's so funny to hear the Flyers complain about something like this. Watching the coverage on American networks yesterday, coach Carbonneau was made to look like a smiling villain. Nationally in Canada, response varied but was generally slanted towards the Flyers. Even though they're the last Canadian team in the playoffs, the national media is incredibly quick to jump on the Canadiens.

A lot has been made of the CBC's alleged anti-habs bias, with Don Cherry making his usual colourful remarks. That doesn't bother me at all. Cherry is not without his redeeming qualities but all told, it doesn't bother me not to have him cheering for my team. This guy cheers for the biggest jokes on skates in the Toronto Maple Leafs and is a huge Bruins fan. Why the heck would he jump on the Habs bandwagon? Anyone who thinks there's no place for visors in hockey should have their views taken with a grain of salt.

As far as bad blood goes, I think all this verbal jousting favours the Habs. If the Flyers should back up their team slogan for the 2008 playoffs and look for "vengeance now" it would favour the Habs who are a faster team. The amount of obstruction and interference that went uncalled in game 2 was appalling. It wouldn't surprise me to see the officials take control of the game and put the NHL's top two power plays of the regular season on display.

I expect a high scoring and entertaining game. The horseshoe Marty Biron had up his ass for game 2 will likely be less of a factor. Carey Price will find his game. Someone will probably get hurt.

The "Hub" of Hockey

I had an interesting weekend. After the game at the Bell Centre on Thursday night I was informed that I'd be shipping off to Boston for game 6. My friend and colleague James Murphy of fasthockey.com is a native of Beantown and he offered me a place to stay so it was on. We left Montreal in the early afternoon of a gorgeous Friday afternoon from the Bell Centre where 5 000 rabid fight fans were waiting for the weigh-in prior to Saturday night's UFC 83.

The first part of the trip was slowed by traffic on the Champlain Bridge, which Murph speculated could be the result of inconsolable Habs fans jumping off of it. Very funny. We continued on to the border crossing and decided to pop into the Duty Free store to pick up some beers. Upon leaving the store and opening the trunk of his car, we realized the bellhop hadn't deposited Murph's suitcase into the trunk. After much intense debate, we decided to double back to Montreal and leave first thing Saturday morning.

Problem was, we had reached the point of no return, so while we waited in line to get into the States and then in another to return to the Great White North I was on the phone with radio station 1510 the Zone in Boston talking a little hockey and predicting a Boston victory in game 6 to force a game 7 in Montreal. I literally left Canada, entered the United States and then returned to Canada during the course of a telephone interview. Not what I would call a particularly promising start to the trip.

The next day we left as scheduled and after a few hours we arrived in Boston. Beautiful day but not much time to enjoy it. Murph hosts the fast hockey radio show on Saturday afternoons at 2 and we went straight from the car to the studio, located right on a gorgeous waterfront in the middle of a marina. The show was great, I had a chance to meet former NHLer Ian Moran who was co-hosting along with NHL.com's Bob Snow and Brian Malone and hang out with those guys in studio for a great two-hour show that was a lot of fun to do.

After the show, it was straight to Murph's place in Dedham, a suburb if Boston to get freshened up and then we headed to the Garden for a quick bite (the buffet there is free, dangerous where members of the media are concerned).

The game was quite an experience. You've surely read all about it and saw it for yourself. The bottom line for me is that the Canadiens best players aren't playing their best.

They look tentative and tender. Andrei Markov is a fractured shell of his regular season self. Tomas Plekanec scored a highlight-reel goal but was otherwise unremarkable as his postseason woes continue. Alex Kovalev was a minus 3 and made a weak attempt at clearing the puck that became the game winning goal.

The Habs defence, rock solid for most of the season, allowed 17 third period shots and as a shell-shocked Carey Price said after the game, "left a lot of open ice out there".

Game 7 goes Monday night. Habs fans aren't optimistic and with good reason. Even Saku Koivu's return couldn't inspire this team to hold three separate leads.

RDS is reporting that Patrice Bergeron could play in game 7.

I expect the Habs to win. This is Carbo's time to shine and if the game is properly officiated and he can get through to his players about protecting the lead, the Habs will face either New York or Philadelphia in a second round showdown.

Carey Price has been making a name for himself all year, he will be better than Tim Thomas when it matters most.

Lineup changes? I'll leave that one up to Carbo.

Go Habs Go. Daddy needs a second round series.

People rag on Habs fans a lot. Prove them wrong by staying on the bandwagon.

Political differences aside, The fans at the Bell Centre sing O Canada louder than any rink in the country.

Turnaround

Marc Savard has taken a lot of flak for his lack of playoff experience. Widely considered one of the best passers in the league, Savard made no mistake in converting a great feed from Dennis Wideman to pull the Bruins to within a game of the Canadiens in their best of seven series.

It marked the second straight game that Boston has outplayed the Habs and this time they got the win. Tim Thomas was brilliant in making several stops through the third period and overtime to give his team a chance. Carey Price sparkled at the other end of the ice and couldn't be faulted on either goal.

There are some causes for concern for Habs fans. Mike Komisarek is back, but still hasn't looked like the shutdown guy that was drawing comparisons to Scott Stevens during the regular season. Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon continue to recover from injuries suffered late in the season and their absence is becoming more evident. Mark Streit was brutal on the coverage of Bruins wrecking ball Milan Lucic on the first goal and it's becoming more and more obvious that he's more suited to playing forward when the going gets rough.

The Habs first line and power play were shut down big-time last night, due in part to Claude Julien having last change and also to the Canadiens inability to get pucks into the slot and high percentage shooting lanes when it counted. Adjustments need to be made.

Tomorrow night's game is HUGE, they say a playoff series doesn't really start until the home team loses a game. The Canadiens need to get this one started tomorrow night.

Playoff Fever

Here we are, post #100 of the year.

It's been the best year of my life. Having a front-row seat to the magical ride that's been the Canadiens regular season has been unbelievable. So many amazing moments. Watching a young team come of age and veterans feeding of the youth. A goaltender who has only just begun to etch his name into history.

Carey Price is the real deal. Talking to him after the game yesterday he once again had a great, albeit brief quote when asked about the possibility of winning the Eastern conference,

"They don't hang conference titles in this rink, they raise Stanley Cup banners. It'd be kinda nice to get it but everyone here knows what the ultimate prize is."

He knows. It's a total cliche, but the real season starts when the Bruins and Habs get down to business at the Bell Centre on Thursday. This team is playing unbelievable hockey right now. Losing their captain made them kick it up a notch. Chris Higgins has been dominant of late, getting his 26th and 27th goals of the year last night.

"It was an up and down year for me, a struggle to find consistency in my game. I feel I've played better in the last couple of weeks, when it mattered most and hopefully I can continue that in the playoffs."

Well said by one of the ambassadors of the this team, and the author of what I feel is one of the big turning points of the campaign with a monster goal off a lucky bounce in Florida back in December.

However as Mr. Price pointed out, the regular season is over.

The Boston Bruins closed out their regular season with a flat effort in a 3-0 loss to Buffalo. It's hard to believe they're a playoff team. It's also hard to believe they play the Canadiens against whom their struggles have been extremely well documented. They took one out of a possible 16 points against the Habs this year. Tim Thomas was lit up by Habs players all year long. Zdeno Chara was exposed by the Canadiens speed in every game.

The thing is, none of that matters. It's a new season.

Two More Games

The playoffs are looming. It's the most wondeful time of the year and the Habs are working with home ice. Although the team has been more successful on the road than they have been at the Bell Centre, you know these guys are looking forward to the building rocking as the postseason gets underway.

Tonight's showdown with the Sabres is a chance for the Habs to deal their divisional rivals a knockout blow in their unlikely quest for the postseason. Derek Roy has being playing like a man on fire during his current 10 game point streak and is the key guy the Habs need to shutdown. Tomas Vanek is a funplayer to watch and has scored 33 goals this year, a huge drop from his 47 of last year which led to Kevin Lowe's infamous offer sheet. You could find a laundry list of reasons for the Sabres inconsistency this year. The fact is they don't look like a playoff team and even Teppo Numminen's return probably wouldn't change it.

There are car flags everywhere in this city. People are making a killing selling Canadiens merchandise as it seems every second window has a Kovalev jersey in it. A long playoff run would really get the city going as spring approaches. It would make the transition that much less difficult.

Fallout

In breaking my first major story this weekend I dealt with a lot of things. I dealt with angry fans calling me an outright liar, I dealt with uncertainty due to the teams refusal to discuss the captain's status. I lost my wallet, which was completely unrelated but nonetheless incredibly annoying.

I used to be a big fan of the Canadiens and a part of me still is. It makes me happy to see this team succeed. I've been watching them my whole life. Now that I'm a member of the media I have to switch it off. It gives me no pleasure to report that Saku Koivu, the heart and soul of the Montreal Canadiens, is out with a fracture in his foot. I received solid information and reported it. I regret including the information I was given about the term of the injury but I did.

If I could go back in time and do it again, I would have done the same thing without including the info about the 4-6 weeks.

Life goes on.

The Habs take on the Sens in Ottawa tonight. The Sens are sliding big time and still haven't confirmed their spot in the playoffs. With the start the Sens had to this year, it's hard to believe but nothing has worked. A season-long goaltending controversy that never fully went away. A coach fired as a result. Trade deadline deals that didn't pan out (or haven't as of yet).

The Habs need only one point from the Senators to clinch the division but it won't be easy. They head into the game and possibly into the playoffs, without Mike Komisarek, Koivu, Francis Bouillon and the statuses of Mark Streit and Guillaume Latendresse are far from certain.

The team needs to focus and guys like Mikhail Grabovski and Sergei Kostitsyn need to seize the opportunities they're being given. With Carey Price as the foundation, there's no telling where this team can go and when your captain has a heart the size of an MRI machine, you know he'll be there if it's humanly possible for him to do so.

The captain's in Montreal

The Habs road to the postseason could be a bit bumpier than expected as Saku Koivu sees Canadiens team doctors in Montreal. I have a reliable source who tells me that Saku was evaluated by doctors in Buffalo and the prognosis is a broken foot.

The team has stated that the results of X-rays in Buffalo were inconclusive but that often seems to be the case when things don't look good. They say he is being re-evaluated by team doctors in Montreal so as of yet the story remains unconfirmed but I'm giving it to you first.

We'll see when the team makes an official announcement but the mere fact that the captain is in Montreal while his teammates play their last game of the season at the ACC is a bad indication.


Again, the team has confirmed nothing except that Koivu is in Montreal but I have it on authority that the first prognosis is a broken foot.

Timeframe for recovery is completely up to speculation but this type of injury can take 4 to 6 weeks.

What this means is the Canadiens need even more of their young players to step it up and give then strong play down the middle. The ability of their youngsters to step into roles and raise the level of their game has been a huge factor in their success so far, so a new chapter begins tonight of the Canadiens storybook season.

This also means Alex Kovalev will likely wear the captain's "C" tonight. He had an inspired effort earlier this year in New York as captain.