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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It looks like the Florida Panthers have traded the rights to Jay Bouwmeester to the Calgary Flames for Jordan Leopold and a third round pick…wtf?

Am I the only one who thinks that Florida got fucked in this deal? Honestly guys, Bouwmeester, believe it or not, is an excellent defenseman. Thinking about Bouwmeester and Phaneuf on the same line gives me hives.

Christ almighty people, fire whoever made that fucked up decision.

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January 29th @ 7:00pm EST

TSN(HD), RDS(HD), FS-F(HD)

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Injuries: Mathieu Dandenault (Broken Arm), George Laraque (Groin/DTD), Alex Tanguay

Injuries: Allen (Knee), Olesz (Groin)

NHL Preview: NHL.com
HFBoards GDT: HFBoards.com
Watch it online FREE: Atdhe.net (Flash), Adthe.net (WMP), HabsTV – French

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Wow, we really edged this one out. I’m actually surprised we didn’t lose this game, because we deserved to. We were up two goals at some points and just couldn’t shut down their scoring. We seem to be choosing horrible times to shutdown defensively, not that there is a good time. The final score in this game was 6-5 in a shootout with the winner coming from Andre Markov.

Let’s go through the goal scorers; Andrei Kostitsyn had two while Francis Bouillon, Tom Kostopoulos, and Robert Lang had regulation time markers for the Montreal Canadiens in this one.

Where to begin. Well our Power play was terribly once again and even seemed to ruin any sort of disposition that we had going, and even managed to give up a short handed goal in the third period.

Jaroslav Halak has proven to be inconstistant over the last couple of games, and tonight was no different. He seems to be giving away more rebounds each and every game which is something that he really needs to work on. Let’s hope Carey Price returns to the lineup sometime soon for the sake of my heart.

Related Links:
Habs edge Panthers in shootout – Canoe.ca
Markov lifts Habs with lone shootout goal – ESPN
Habs thwart Panthers in shootout – CBC
Montreal Won The Game. That’s The Best I Can Say – Dennis Kane
10 goal Shootout Ends with a SO Win – All Habs
Canadiens 6, Panthers 5, SO – Canadiens.NHL.com
Andrei Markov scores shootout winner as Montreal edges Florida 6-5 – NHL
Markov sends Habs past Panthers in shootout – The Sports Network
Markov Scores Shootout Winner As Canadiens Edge Panthers – TSN.ca
Markov gives Habs 6-5 shootout win – Yahoo!
Andrei Markov scores shootout winner as Montreal edges Florida 6-5 – The Hockey News

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January 4th @ 2:00pm EST

RDS(HD), FS-F

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Injuries: Mathieu Dandenault (Broken Arm), Chris Higgins (Injured Arm), Saku Koivu (Ankle/Foot), George Laraque (Groin/DTD), Alex Tanguay (Separated Shoulder), Carey Price (Lower-Body/DTD)

NHL Preview: NHL.com
HFBoards GDT: HFBoards.com
Watch it online: FREE

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It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what line you’re on, if you work hard and go after the puck you will do well, as Maxim Lapierre netted the first Hat Trick of his career including the game winning third Montreal Canadiens goal. This, just two nights after Andrei Kostitsyn had his first Hat Trick of his career.

This game was crap shoot from the beginning, and by that, I mean that we really didn’t start it off very well, and had some high and low points, but we eventually got some lucky bounces and strong play from key players in Tomas Plekanec, Alex Kovalev, and Maxim Lapierre giving us a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Besides Lapierre’s goal Plekanec had a break away short-handed goal, and Kovalev scored on the first Powerplay of the game.

Carey Price has gone 11 straight games without a regulation loss putting him on what we in the biz like to call, a hot streak. He finished the game stopping 21-23 shots while on the other end Anderson was pulled after letting in 4 goals on 20 shots.

The two goals tonight could have easily been avoided and were the result of two bad turnovers by the Habs. All in all, we’re on the right track and need to continue.

Three Stars: 3. David Booth 2. Tomas Plekanec 1. Maxim Lapierre

Related Links:
Habs grab NHL-best 3,000th regular-season win at Panthers’ expense – ESPN
Lapierre leads Canadiens past Panthers – Canoe.ca
Patient Lapierre’s hat trick leads Habs over Panthers – CBC.ca
All Habs… All smiles – AllHabs
Win #3000 – AllHabs
Another Night, Another Hero. This Time – Maxim Lapierre – Dennis-Kane
Canadiens 5, Panthers 2 – Canadiens.nhl.com
Lapierre scores three goals to lead Canadiens to 5-2 win over Panthers – NHL.com
Canadiens post 3,000th ice hockey victory in club’s storied history – AFP
‘Home’ crowd turns on Florida Panthers in loss to Canadiens – Miami Herald
Canadiens-Panthers: Maxim Lapierre Does the Trick as Habs Win 5-2 – BleacherReport
Lapierre Scores Three; Leads Canadiens to Win Over Panthers – TSN
Lapierre scores three goals to lead Canadiens – Yahoo!
Lapierre scores three goals to lead Canadiens to 5-2 win over Panthers – The Hockey News

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December 29th @ 7:30pm EST

RDS(HD)

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Injuries: Mathieu Dandenault (Broken Arm), Chris Higgins (Injured Arm), Saku Koivu (Ankle/Foot), George Laraque (Groin/DTD)

NHL Preview: NHL.com
HFBoards GDT: HFBoards.com
Watch it online: GoMeGo(Ustream) FREE

Carey Price is the expected starter in tonights game against the Florida Panthers, and on the other end, John Anderson.

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