WE HAVE TO WAIT THREE MORE DAYS?!?!?!?!?

Way to screw with us National Hockey League.

Anyway the predictions have just been coming in lately and most of them are pretty optimistic.

Canadiens in 6, Canadiens in 7, even a Boston in 7 series is an accomplishment from the Canadiens, who were Hockey's Osbourne Family this year, complete with Kovy in the role of Ozzy screaming "SA-A-A-A-AKU!!!!"

I know people want to hear predictions for all the other series, but it doesn't really concern me so I'm not going to do it.

For the Canadiens however, I think THREE factors need to be in place for us to pull an upset.

#1:  Goaltending.  Even though Carey Price has lost his last two starts, he has been absolutely brilliant, making huge saves and looking confident.  Tim Thomas has been one of the biggest success stories from this year, look for him to be hungry to prove he can win a Playoff Series and be a legitimate Star goalie, if Carey Price can keep up making the big saves the Canadiens could have an edge.

 

#2: Power Play.  We saw how big of an impact Mathieu Schneider makes on this team, as his bazooka shot has almost single handily brought us out from the cellar in Power Play efficiency, if only he was that good defensively...(Let's never talk about that Power Play against the Penguins ever again)  We need Schneider to keep it up and hopefully QB Andrei Markov can come back for the first game of the Playoffs and who knows? Maybe we can win a game.

#3:  Secondary Scoring.  The NHL Default line has hit a snag lately, mainly because of the lack of Andrei Markov in their Super Line of Tanguay-Koivu-Kovalev-Schneider-Markov, but look for them to put up the numbers once Thursday rolls around, as all three forwards are known to be proven Playoff performers.  Maxim Lapierre and Guillame Latendresse are ripping shit up on the third line and even Big Georgie Boy Laraque looked good on Saturday.  The problem is the second line.  Thomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn have been cold as nitroglycerin lately and MUST put points up and revert to their 2007-2008 forms.  Without a legitimate threat on the second line, we're screwed brother...

Enjoy the next three days of unbearable anticipation.

Peace True Believers,

E