Blogging About The Montreal Canadiens and Canadiens Hockey

Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to their first win in three games at home which breaks the two game losing streak. This has been a year of opportunities for Halak and he’s not taking them lightly. Last nights shut out was the sixth of his career and the second of the season as the Canadiens won by a score of 2-0.

Benoit Pouliot scored late in the first period with a snipe over the glove of Vokoun and Brian Gionta concreted the win with an empty netter at the end of the third. That’s Pouliot’s fourth goal in 8 games for the Habs this season making him a pretty good return for Guillaume Latendresse. A lot of people had Pouliot overrated as a guy who would never really meet his potential but I think he’s doing a pretty damn good job.

Three stars: 3. Benoit Pouliot 2. Tomas Vokoun 1. Jaroslav Halak

Game Highlights

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This season has been less than ideal for the Canadiens who have lost two straight to both Buffalo and Washington, but they’ll be looking to turn things around as they play the Florida Panthers, the only team that the Montreal Canadiens have an all-time losing record against.

If history is any indication then this will be another low scoring game between these two teams, albeit the last game saw 9 goals score in a 5-4 win for the Habs on new years eve.

The starting goaltender could go either way but Jaroslav Halak has the best record of the two young goaltenders going 3-0 in his career against Florida. His goals against average of 3.25 and .907 career save percentage versus Florida will tell you how his games in net have gone.

Matt D’Agostini has been promoted to the first line and will be playing with Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri in tonights game. I can’t see him playing the first line the entire game but if he brings his game he may just do it.

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It’s safe to say that Andrei Markov is the biggest impact player on this team. Since his return the Canadiens have lost just one game and he’s averaging just over a point per game with 3 goals and 8 assists in 8 games. Three of those assists came in last nights 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers.

Goals in the win came from Hal Gill, Mike Cammalleri, Tomas Plekanec, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Benoit Pouliot.

Halak managed 32 of 36 saves for an .888 save percentage.

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The Canadiens look to extend their winning streak to a season high, five games, as they head to Ottawa to face the Senators.

The Senators are without Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza as both are out with injury, but with guys like Mike Fisher and Chris Neil in the lineup we shouldn’t take them easily.

It’s hard not to think that Jaroslav Halak will get his fifth straight start as he already has the first four wins in this seven game road trip. Halak is a career 3-3 against the Sens including one earlier this year where he allow just one goal in 46 shots.

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As we’ve seen in the past games between these two teams are generally close, and tonight was no exception with the Montreal Canadiens winning in overtime with a score of 3-2.

Goals came from Scott Gomez, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn with the OT winner. Andrei Markov had two assists while Mike Cammalleri added one assist of his own.

Jaroslav Halak had yet another outstanding outing stopping 47 of 49 shots to give him a .959 save percentage. This records Halak’s 4th win in a row and gives the Canadiens the 2 points that they needed to spring ahead of both the Atlanta Thrashers and New York Rangers who both have 40 points.

With the assist tonight, Andrei Markov has 6 points in the 5 games that he has played this season. Just imagine if he didn’t get injured…The sky is the limit.

Three Stars: 3. Mike Komisarek 2. Andrei Kostitsyn 1. Jaroslav Halak

Game Highlights

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Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. The time where the best under-20 hockey players in the world in the top division come together and battle it out for a week and a half to find out which hockey nation has the best young talent. Canada is going for their sixth straight championship but it won’t be easy.

Last year it was P.K. Subban who represented the Canadiens on Team Canada but this year there are no Canadiens on Team Canada. We do have some prospects on other teams however, so let’s take a look at them. First off let’s look at what teams are in which group.

Group A: Canada, Slovakia, USA, Latvia, and Switzerland*
Group B: Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland, and Austria*

* Switzerland and Austria are the teams promoted after winning Division A last year.

In total, the Montreal Canadiens have four prospects representing three different countries in the top division with Finland containing the biggest representation so let’s start with them!

As I said above, Finland is playing two Montreal Canadiens in Petteri Simila, a goaltender for Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League, and Joonas Nattinen, the 6′2″ center from the Espoo Blues of SM-liiga.

Petteri Simila hasn’t exactly had his best season, but considering it’s his first season playing in North America, a slow start is acceptable. He’s played 11 games with Niagara recording 1 win , 4 losses and 3 ties with an .891 save percentage and a 4.14 goals against average. Simila will be wearing jersey #28.

Joonas Nattinen is a big two-way center with very good vision and sees the game very well. Hockey’s Future has his ranked 9th among all Montreal Canadiens prospects. Nattinen is a guy you’ll see on an energy line in the NHL but I’m not sure where we’ll see in in the WJHC. He’ll be sporting jersey #29.

Moving onto Russia we have Maxim Trunev. Trunev has been an elusive prospect for the Habs as it’s unsure if he’ll ever come over the North America but his talent is unquestioned. Trunev is currently playing for the Cherepovets Severstal of the KHL and has recording 2 goals and 1 assist in 21 games. Just remember when those numbers don’t seem high, he’s only 19! This right-handed right winger will be in the #11 jersey.

Our last representative, playing for Team USA, is Danny Kristo. Kristo was drafted in the second round, 56th overall by the Canadiens and currently plays for the University of North Dakota. In 18 games this season Kristo has 6 goals and 10 assists along with 6 penalty minutes. This will be Kristo’s second straight WJHC. Last year he recorded 1 goal in 6 games with a +2 defensive rating and was mainly used as a third-liner but expect a bigger role from the tiny winger this year. Kristo will be dawning the #8 jersey this year.

Well, that’s it! WJCH action begins today, don’t miss any of it!

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My Christmas wish is for Montreal to beat the Leafs in regulation, something that has seemed to allude them thus far this season. In the previous three meetings between these two teams the Canadiens have won twice and the Leafs once.

A starting goaltender has not been announced but it’s hard to believe that Jacques Martin will not go with the hot hand in Jaroslav Halak who has won his last three games with some excellent numbers. Price does however tend to do very well against Toronto but we’ll have to see.

Tomas Plekanec will look to continue his stellar play notching 9 points in his last 3 games! Plekanec now ranks 2nd in the league with 36 assists and 6th in the league with 43 points. He’ll expect a pretty big raise I’m thinking.

Live Streaming Links for Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs
- http://www.justin.tv/shlimebox/old

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I would like to wish all of the YourHabs.com readers and their families a very happy and safe holiday season! I want to thank each and every one of you for another great year in Canadiens hockey and we will continue to provide you with the latest Montreal Canadien news after the holiday.

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Now that is how you need to be playing against the last place team in the league, not barely win in overtime as the Canadiens did the last time these two teams met. Goals from Glen Metropolit, Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei Kostitsyn and Andrei Markov lead to a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in last nights game.

Halak had his third straight outstanding performance stopping 46 of the 47 shots that he faced giving him a .978 save percentage. Halak’s value is rising quicker then ever these days, but does anyone want to see him traded? I don’t really think that we could get a better goalie tandem right now.

Benoit Pouliot played his first game as a Canadien last night amassing 13 minutes of ice time with no points and 2 shots on goal.

Three Stars: 3. Glen Metropolit 2. Jaroslav Halak 1. Tomas Plekanec

Game Highlights

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The Montreal Canadiens hope to extend their two game winning streak when they face the ailing Carolina Hurricanes who are currently last place in the entire league and don’t even have double digit wins.

Jaroslav Halak will get his third straight start after two excellent performances. Halak has only faced the Hurricanes twice in his career recording a loss in one and was pulled in the other. He also has a career .879 save percentage against them.

Benoit Pouliot will make his Canadiens’ debut tonight and will most likely play on a line with Scott Gomez and Sergei Kostitsyn whom, along with his brother Andrei, have been named to the Belarus Olympic team.

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