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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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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Marc-Andre Bergeron scored with 1 minute and 45 seconds left in the third period tied the game up and his goal just 2 minutes and 23 seconds into OT concreted the win for the Montreal Canadiens. Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn also added a goal in the second to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Unfortunately it appears that Marc-Andre Bergeron may have been injured on his game winning goal by Johan Hedberg’s skate. We should know more very very soon.

Halak made 47 saves in a .940 save percentage performance for a second straight win. He made some great saves and really did a good job at bailing the defense out when they got caught.

Three Stars: 3. Nik Antropov 2. Tomas Plekanec 1. Marc-Andre Bergeron

Game Highlights

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If it wasn’t obvious how much of a difference that Andrei Markov makes to this team after last nights win then I don’t know what to tell you. His first game back, Andrei Markov notched two power play goals with a +2 defensive rating. Glen Metropolit also added a power play goal as the Montreal Canadiens broke their losing stream with a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders.

Halak made some incredible saves in this one and absolutely deserved the shutout. He must have denied Matt Moulson at least 7 times in this one, just ridiculous. He finished with a 40 save performance and his first shutout of the year.

I really hope that with the return of Markov that our luck will turn around because we really need it. After this goals I think the team in general got better just knowing he was on the ice because some nice passing lead to some nice goal chances.

Game Stars: 3. Marc-Andre Bergeron 2. Andrei Markov 1. Jaroslav Halak

Game Highlights

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The only thing that I can say about this game is WOW, Kostitsyn is on fire! This is exactly what I expect from A. Kost, what a backhand!

Unfortunately one goal was all the Canadiens could muster in this one as Backstrom was very solid last night.

Price didn’t have his best game but not much you can do when the puck just ends up on the enemies stick in the right spot.

Three Stars: 3. Andrei Kostitsyn 2. Nick Schultz 1. Mikko Koivu

Game Highlights

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Andrei Kostitsyn had his second two goal game in a row but it wasn’t enough to get a win over the Buffalo Sabres. Untimely penalties seem to be the trend in the last two losses which is something that the Canadiens are going to need to improve if they expect to make the playoffs.

Adding to Kostitsyn’s goal was a goal from Mike Cammalleri who went top shelf with a pass from Andrei Kostitsyn. The top line of Andrei Kostitsyn, Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec combined for 7 points on the night.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 of the 27 shots he faced giving him an .851 save percentage which is not good enough to beat a team like Buffalo.

Three Stars: 3. Jochen Hecht 2. Tyler Myers 1. Andrei Kostitsyn

Game Highlights

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It was a tough game but a goal by Kovalchuck early in overtime lead to just one point for the Canadiens.

Goals for the Canadiens came from Glen Metropolit and Andrei Kostitsyn who notched 2 including a Kovalev-esque one-timer which was an absolute bomb.

Price stopped 30 of the 34 shots that he faced finishing with an .882 save percentage. Watching the highlights after the game it would have been mighty hard for Pricey to have stopped many of those goals.

Three Stars: 3. Andrei Kostitsyn 2. Colby Armstrong 1. Ilya Kovalchuck

Game Highlights

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With both of our goalies, Halak and Price, playing so well it’s not a surprise that trade talks would be flaring up. Currently it’s being reported that Jaroslav Halak has been put on the trade block by the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for nothing less then a top-6 forward.

According to various reports, many teams have been keeping an eye on Halak, and why shouldn’t they? He’s an excellent backup goaltender. Which leads me to my next point. Can the Canadiens afford to lose him? Do the Canadiens believe that Curtis Sanford (8-4-2, .921 save percentage) or Cedrick Desjardins (7-4-1, .940 save percentage) are ready to pick up the lose ends?

Halak is an RFA at the end of the season so I’m sure the Canadiens are looking at what it’s going to cost to keep him, and what they can lose if they choose not to sign him and have him play out the season knowing he’s not going to be resigned.

The loss of Halak would be great in my opinion. Price is solid but has his bad games, just like Halak. Together they are an excellent tandem because when one struggles, the other is there to pick up the pieces. Leaving Price with Sanford or Desjardins may be the beginning of the end. I’m sure that Price feels, even just a little bit, of comfort knowing that Halak is there. Halak, a goalie who has already proven himself in this league.

A suggested trade involving Halak to the Detroit Red Wings could see Darren Helm making his way to Montreal, but at this point it’s just speculation. Another possibility that was mentioned at the beginning of the season was Halak + ??? for Patrick Sharp, which is not as feasible now that Plekanec is playing so well and I don’t believe that Gainey would part with him now.

Whatever happens, let’s hope it leads to someone or something that will make the difference.

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I am in absolute awe that Chris Lee is still reffing in this league. This is the National Hockey League right? Not the Peewee AAA team in Southeast Asia? He not only cost the Canadiens what could have been the game, but he made and missed really bad calls for both teams. If that game was played out without Chris Lee involved then who knows how it could have ended.

The 2 goals by the Montreal Canadiens came from Roman Hamrlik who had the absolute best goal celebration ever, and Matt D’Agostini who netted his second goal of the season on a nice snipe from the side of the left circle.

A bright side in this whole debacle is that both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin went pointless which can suggest something was done right by the defense.

On another night where the Canadiens were outshot 41 -- 21, Carey Price managed to make 38 saves for a .926 save percentage.

Cammalleri, Metropolit and Marc-Andre Bergeron all had assists on tonights goals.

Three Stars: 3. Pascal Dupuis 2. Carey Price 1. Sergei Gonchar

Game Highlights

* Watch for the bad whistle around 4:50

Controversial Whistle by Chris Lee

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All of these player movements are making my head spin.

Yannick Weber is the latest addition to player movements as he has been recalled from the Hamilton Bulldogs and will join the team tomorrow night as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins.

MONTREAL, QC – Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today that defenceman Yannick Weber has been recalled to Montreal from the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Weber, 21, has played in 22 games with the Bulldogs this season posting six points (one goal, five assists) and 22 penalty minutes. The 5-foot-11, 193-pound defenceman played in three games with the Canadiens earlier in the season but was held pointless. The native of Zurich, Switzerland was drafted by Montreal in the 3rd round, 73rd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Source: http://hamiltonbulldogs.com/article/canadiens-recall-yannick-weber-from-bulldogs

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