Montreal Canadiens Blog

With two straight losses, the question as to be answered, “Is their a problem?”. No stupid! Just kidding, your not stupid, but seriously, their is no problem for the Habs, nor is their any problems with Carey Price. We’ve had some bad breaks in the last couple of games, and some questionable goals that Price should have saved, but he’s come back from these bad losses before. He won’t take those losses lying down and expect a big comeback from this team tonight.

Although Carbonneau did not explicitly state who would be in the net tonight, I wouldn’t expect it to be anyone other than Price. He brought them this far with some stellar games, it would be just plain crazy for Carbonneau to sit him now. We’ve played the type of game that we like to play, we just need to continue to get pucks in deep and forecheck hard.

Mike Knuble will be back in the lineup for Philadelphia Wednesday night after missing the last five games with a partially torn hamstring. Hopefully the shake up in lines will throw the Flyers off their game and provide us with the chances we need to take this one heading home.

The importance of a win for the Habs tonight is immense. It would be ideal to head back to Montreal with the momentum, and then possibly close out the series by beating them at Home ice. The Last thing I want is for this series to go to seven, frankly, I don’t think that my heart can take it.

Update 2:51pm
Carbonneau has determined who will be starting in tonights game, and the goalies know who it will be, but the rest of the team does not. Brisebois will be back in the lineup tonight bumping O’Byrne from his spot, and Sergei Kostitsyn will be a gametime decision with an undisclosed injury. If Kostitsyn does not play we’ll see Ryder take his spot.

Update 6:30pm
Jaroslav Halak gets the nod tonight! I’m pretty sure everyone is suprised, but I have always had faith in Halak and can’t wait to see him play.

Playoff Series: Philadelphia Leads 2-1

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Tonight is the third game of the second round in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Montreal Canadiens look to rebound from Saturday’s 4-2 loss. Martin Biron will be a big factor in how well the Habs play as the posts can help a goalie go only so far.

Guillaume Latendresse will be in the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch the last couple of games, which means that Dandenault will be out. This will allow the third line to be a little different with what looks to be a Streit, Lapierre, Latendresse combination.

Brisebois will once again be out of the lineup with Ryan O’Byrne playing in his place with Roman Hamrlik.

Playoff Series: Tied 1-1

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Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 1-0

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Tonight the Flyers and Canadiens will kick of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in true form, as Montreal plays at home where they dominated the Bruins in game seven last Saturday. Look for this series to be no easier then the first even though Montreal has won all four meetings this season.

Look for Briere to really making an impact as he has been really host in the post-season leading the playoffs in goals and points. Our powerplay should be a lot better this series as Philadelphia hasn’t played enought games against us to be used to our powerplay yet, but don’t expect to see it be a domination all series. The Canadiens Penalty Kill has been one of the best in the playoffs thus far which will be very important against this skilled Flyers lineup.

The key in tonights game is for Montreal to come out swinging, and by swinging I mean working as hard as possible. Philadelphia played their last game against Washington on Tuesday night so that haven’t had a whole lot of rest between games. If we can out work them from the get go we’ll have a good shot at taking the first game of the series, which is very imoprtant in my opinion, especially at home.

This should be a good game and real testament to how hard both teams have worked up to this point. We need to make sure we don’t underestimate them as we did in the first round against Boston and this should be a series won in six games by the Habs.

Injuries

Mike Knuble was injured in Game 7 after falling awkwardly into the boards from a hit by Mike Green of Washington. He won’t play in tonights game but hopes to be back sometime in the series. Grabovski is still listed as Day-to-Day with the flu, but I’m not sure how accurate that actually is.

Changes

The two lines of the Montreal Canadiens are still shaken up with Kovalev playing with Koivu on the top line, and the Kostitsyn brothers playing on the second line with Plekanec centering.

Playoff Series: Tied 0-0

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Game 7 is here, and just like everyone else, I’m scared out of my trees. As much as I believe in my Canadiens, I can’t help but have doubts after the way they have been playing the last few games. The Habs need to get their shit together and play like they want it, not play like they deserve it. Koivu’s return sparked some offense in this team, now we can only hope that that continues into tonight.

Expect to see a similar lineup as last game, with Koivu on the second line with Chris Higgins and Sergei Kostitsyn. Hopefully we can get our Powerplay together, and score some points.

I honestly believe that this is not a breakdown by the Habs, I think the Bruins have just figured out our style of play, and realized that rougher game can slow that play down. If the Habs make it out of this series with a win, I expect to see them back to their old selves in the second round. At that time Koivu should be back to his old self.

The Canadiens need to play on the edge, but not hazardous. They’ve played this role before and have excelled like no other. Once they find that happy median during this game, it’ll be smooth sailing. Going up early will be very important to the Canadiens, so we can only hope for a couple of early goals. These one goal leads are what is killing them, we tend to play the trap too much at that point which we can’t be doing.

It’s all or nothing…I Believe!

Injuries

Changes

Playoff Series: Tied 3-3

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We’re in Boston tonight for game 6, with Montreal looking to send the Bruins to the gold course, with them moving on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It might be a little easy as Saku Koivu, and Francis Bouillon are both returning to the lineup.

The Bruins will be coming into this game flying high after a dominating win on Thursday night seeing them score five goals compared to the Canadiens one. This Bruins team has shot down our powerplay, and keeping us to only 2 power play goals out of 25 power play chances.

Mark Streit will be a game time decision, but don’t expect him to play if he’s unsure now that Koivu and Bouillon are back. We need to jump out of the gates and score and early goal to let the Bruins know we aren’t playing games anymore. I think that second line of Higging, Koivu, and Kostitsyn is going to produce.

Injuries

Mark Streit is a game time decision, but will most likely not be in the lineup.

Changes

Both Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon will both be in the lineup tonight.

Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 3-2

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Injuries

Coming Soon

Changes

Coming Soon

Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 3-1

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So here we are, game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoff Quarter Finals, most people believed that we would be going in with a 3-0 series lead, and this would end it for the Boston, but that just isn’t the case. I predicted Montreal in 5, so this comes as no surprise, but just like everyone else, it saddened me to see them lose like they did. Without any heart.

The last couple of games reminded me of last season, with our top players underperforming, leaving our third and fourth line guys to pick of the slack, but unfortunately, that just isn’t their job. We’re in Boston for our second game in a row, and the Habs look to rebound from a loss that easily could have been avoided. The Canadiens didn’t practice yesterday, instead they had a team meeting with coach Guy Carbonneau which I’m assuming was regarding their play. One thing about your habs is that they’re never down and out, they’ll have some bad games, then go on a stretch of solid performances.

Injuries

Koivu still isn’t capable of playing, but Bouillon had a full skate and is feeling much better, but will still be a game time decision. Patrice Bergeron for the Bruins will not be in game 4, as he still hasn’t been cleared to play by his neurologist.

Changes

Montreal is making some changes in the lineup, Michael Ryder will be out, putting Mark Streit one offense. Which means none other than Ryan O’Byrne will be in the lineup tonight. Stewart did practice with the team, but Carbonneau decided not to use him in tonights game.

Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 2-1

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After a near miss last night the Habs will be looking to come on strong as the third game of this series heads to Boston. Last nights game was questionable at best, and frankly the only decent reffing was done in the overtime period. This was the case for both teams as the refs seemed to be making it up to the other team all night long for stupid penalties, and quick whistles.

Tonight will be a good indication of how the Habs bounce back from horrible play, as Boston will be looking to steal a win at home, before returning to Montreal for the game on Tuesday. In my opinion Carbo needs to put in O’Byrne and possibly Stewart, because they are guaranteed to play a more physical game which is something we missed last night.

Look for Thomas to be back in nets tonight after a stellar performance last night keeping the Bruins in this game at various moments last night, and of course Price is in nets for the Habs who has been solid since he’s taken over the starter position from Huet.

I think the Habs know that every team has a bad game every now and then, and last night was definitely the Canadiens. They just need to pick themselves back up, and come into Boston tonight with new life.

Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 2-0

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Yikes, is it game two already? How time flies when your owning your opponent! Let’s hope this game goes as well as the first one. The lineups are pretty much the same on the Habs end, with a slight line switch up on the Bruins end. Savard moves up the second line and Murray moves down to the second line, giving that line a nice touch of scoring, as well as Lucic their to dominate the boards.

The Habs are coming into this game winning 12 straight against Boston, and with no end in sight, the possiblity of a sweep is very good. Even missing their Captain, Saku Koivu, the Habs have such strong confidence in their play, that they just naturally dominate in both ends of the ice. Speaking of Koivu, he still hasn’t skated since breaking a bone in his foot after blocking a shot, which most likely means he’s very doubtful for an appearance in this series.

Bouillon seems to be recovering nicely, and should return to the lineup sooner than later. He’s skating again, with little to no pain in his ankle.

I will assume that most, if not all, of you watched the last game against Boston, in which the Habs went scoreless on a 5-3 powerplay in the third period. Let’s just chalk this up to nervousness, as the Habs PP, is going to need to dominate in the later rounds, especially when the possiblity of facing a team like Pittsburgh is strong.

It looks like both Kessel and Wideman are out of the lineup tonight with Sobotka and Alberts replacing them. The Habs are going to have to watch out for the second line of Lucic, Savard, and Murray because I can guarantee it’s going to cause us some problems.

Playoff Series: Montreal Leads 1-0

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