One step away. Habs Isles preview.

Hopefully we will won't talk like Sylvester Stallone when this is all done.

Well after a year of injuries, goaltending controversies, trades and GM changes, the Canadiens can actually lock up a playoff spot tonight with a win against the New York Islanders and a New York Rangers loss. Coincidence that we need two New York teams to be defeated. Where's King Kong when you need him? All bets point to Jaro Halak being in net for the Habs tonight and all bets point to the Isles being a lose dangerous team with nothing to lose. The Canadiens will need to stop relying on Halak's sheer brilliance of late and create scoring chances from their top two lines, as fun as it was to see Ryan O'Byrne actually score goal. I am very excited for what this next month will bring if the Canadiens can clinch a spot, so of course fat has it that I will be out of the Contient for the next two weeks. Let's just say this, the Novotel Warsaw hotel better have a friggin' business center.

Enjoy the game, let's lock it up tonight.

Peace True Believers,

E

The Return of the Russian!!!

Something tells me there will be more of this in Andrei Markov's future. Ovi however, looks like he's had a bit too much Stoli.

And he should get some jeans with not as many holes next time. He looks like he got in a Monkey fight with team mate Alex Semin. I know I've posted this video before, but one more time couldn't hurt.

What a relief, that after all the bad penalties the Canadiens took, and the one Powerplay we had where we almost got scored on Twice shorthanded, we come out with a win and Andrei Markov was a force, scoring two Powerplay goals. Let's hope he has a more comfortable night than Georges Laraque, who because of the lack of room at the hotel, had to share a room with Equipment Manager Pierre Gervais and the ENTIRE group of Canadiens Media. Hope Georges doesn't sleep fight.

Tonight on the tube: Two NHL games: Great Central Division between the Wings and Hawks, while the Blues and Canucks tee up in last years Conference Quarter Finals re-match. Full day of Football, including my Chargers taking on the Bengalsm in what will be an emotional game. Finally to round out your viewing pleasure, Team Canada's first World Junior Exhibition game versus Sweden, tonight at 8 pm on TSN.

Enjoy the holiday.

Peace,

E

Game Eleven Islanders 2 Canadiens3 OT: FAB FOUR WINNING STREAK

UGLY!

Uglier than Kathleen Turner as Sue Collini on Californication, uglier than Bruce Villanch in a bikini, uglier than... well you catch my drift.

Two points is two points, I will never deny that. For the first time, the Canadiens did not have to rely on the Smurfs for offense, as Jaroslav Spacek scored his first as a Canadien, Travis Moen kept up his amazing gritty yet offensively dynamic play and Roman Hamrlik tried his best to compensate for the early season loss of Andrei Markov by scoring his third of the season after Tomas Plekanec made an INSANE move to get into the Isles zone, much like the Great Jewtalian's heroic rush on Saturday night.

There were still a lot of negatives however.

The Canadiens took more than one "Too Many Men" penalties, which is just unacceptable. The Game would not have gone to overtime had the Isles not had 7 power plays to work with.

Andrei Kostitsyn is starting to really try my patience as a fan. One of my faithful readers Boomer came up with perfect nickname for the Tit brothers. Boomer decided to call them "Tinman and Scarecrow" as much like the legendary Wizard of Oz characters, one of them needs a heart while the other needs a friggin' brain. I'm sure you could guess which one is which.

I should not complain that much though, as we have won 4 straight and finally regained our winning record. I do ask one thing, Montreal Canadiens. When we take on the Penguins Thursday night, I think it would be smart to let Carey Price play. He always works hard against Sid the Kid and company and a win against the Beasts of the East could give him some huge confidence.

Peace true believers,

E

Game Preview #11 Islanders vs. Canadiens

Groundhog day for Montreal, that of course is a reference to the Bill Murray film where he relives the same day over and over again. Seems a little odd that the Habs entertain the Islanders at the Bell Centre for the second time in a week? But this is the same league that moved a Saturday game in Vancouver to 4 P.M. local time against the worst team in the league, so go figure.

These are not the Canadiens of two weeks ago, they seem determined and the first line has turned into one of the most exciting Canadiens trios in recent memory. Who remembers the Special K Line in the 2004 playoffs? (Zednik-Koivu-Kovalev). Why did they call it the Special K line? Maybe it was because it had two players whose names started with K and then a retarded Slovakian who never kept two hands on his stick...

But hey, Zednik is putting up respectable numbers, 6 points in 10 games this year. With Yarsolavl Lokomotiv...

Some game notes:

• Fresh off their hard working game against the Rangers, Matt D'Agostini and Guillaume Latendresse will play on the second line with Tomas Plekanec.
• This of course means that Andrei Kostisyn will be demoted. To the fourth line. Personally I have not seen any indication of talent from him this year and believe it is time to ship him and his no-show of a brother out of town. But I mean hey, I guess he makes some nice dekes, and he doesn't get injured, because he runs away when people try to hit him... So I guess he's alright.
• Jaro Halak will get his fourth straight start tonight, I have no problems with that, my only concern is that Carey Price does not get rusty sitting on the bench, as one slow start will only fuel the flames to the already out of hand "Goalie Controversy" the Blood Thirsty Jackals have fabricated.

That's it for now, there are some other games of note tonight, as the Leafs look for their first win of the season yet again, this time visiting the Ducks in South Cali. The Hawks and Wild hook up tonight as Marty Havlat plays his former team for the first time, and the surprisingly hot Phoenix Coyotes take on the Rangers who are fresh from their lesson on goalscoring from the Great Jewtalian, Mike Cammalleri.

Enjoy your Monday evening,

E

DO YOU HAVE ANYMORE GUM? HABS 5 ISLES 1

KOVALEV IS BETTAH! HE MAKES ALL THE NICE MOVES AND HAS NICE HAIR!

NOOOO TANGUAY IS BETTAH! HE IS A PLAYMAKER WITH A ROCKET FOR A SHOT

OH REALLY FOOL!

STOP LOOKING AT ME BRISEBOIS!!!!!

Just thought I would do that. Considering much like William Madison, the Canadiens have gone back to basics and have redeemed themselves and deserve to make the Playoffs instead of Eirc..I mean the Panthers.

Did you see those guys jersey's?

Yeah they were weird lookin'...

Now we're in a great position and gaining on the other teams in the East aaaand the Rangers lost today and we are officially in 7th.

WHO RULES?

O'BYRNE RULES!

O'BYRNE RULES!

O'BYRNE RULES!

Even though he hasn't played in a month...

I truly believe that if we keep this up we can get to 4th place.

Hey Eastern Conference:

NOW YOU'RE ALL IN BIG BIG TROUBLE.

Peace True Believers,

E

A Lesson Learnt. Habs Isles Preview

I hope you good people understand what I'm referring to.

The Canadiens are very much like this unfortunate looking little boy.  Dunce hat and all.  Except instead of writing "I Will be Good" they are writing "I will beat the teams that are lower than me in the standings", "I will beat the teams that are lower that me in the standings".

The Habbies take on the New York Islanders tonight, and for the 13th flippin' time, I will promise you this will be no walk in the Richard Park (Oh it's funny because he plays for the Islanders.... Shuttup it's clever.)

The Canadiens have this awful habit of playing to their Opponents level.

Sure it's great when we beat the Red Wings, Sharks and Blackhawks. But it's unacceptable to lose to the Islanders, Thrashers and Lightning.  Especially when we are in an absolute logjam for the last 5 playoff spots.

I will break it down to you like this.

The Devils still have a six point lead for the Atlantic Divison but have been absolutely dreadful of late.   Something tells me if they can't stop the bleeding before the regular season is over, they might not last long in the Playoffs.  We just have to pray to the almighty god that the Canadiens don't have to play them.  The Flyers are #4 in the standings but have plenty of Goaltending issues as Marty Biron was pulled against the Friggin' Maple Leafs, only a week after John Stevens stated that "Biron would be their starter for the Playoffs".  Might want to rethink that statement Johnny Boy.  The Penguins and Hurricanes are #5 and #6 respectively and have been absolutely red hot.  Look for them to do some damage in the post season.  The Rangers have been decent at #7 and our boys in Red White and Blue have turned it around and at #8.  The Panthers are still hanging around at #9 and the Sabres might be done with a crippling loss to the Thrashers yesterday that put them 5 points out of a playoffs spot with six games left.

There is only a 5 point margin from #4 to #9.  So if the Canadiens keep up their winning ways, they could easily finish with home ice advantage. NOT SAYING IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. I am merely stating that it is a possibility.  Frankly, I do not care what place we finish in, as long as it is in a Playoff position and we are not playing the Devils.  If any team could lose to a club that has lost 6 straight, it would definitely be Les Boys.

So there you have it.

There is so much promise in these last six games and if we play well enough, we could finish strong and try to forget about the Bad Acid Trip that was this season.

So in the immortal words of Senile Raiders Owner Al Davis,

Just Win Baby

Peace True Believers,

E

CAREY PRICE WILL NOT PLAY TONIGHT BECAUSE OF THE FLU. LOOK FOR JARO HALAK TO FILL IN.

DURING THE GAME WE WILL ATTEMPT TO HAVE AN OPEN THREAD WHERE EVERYONE LEAVES THEIR THOUGHTS THROUGHOUT THE MATCH IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.  THIS IS A CHANCE TO VOICE YOUR OPINION ON THE CANADIENS. I WILL BE THERE.

YOU CAN BE AS VULGAR AS YOU LIKE. I'M NOT HERE TO CENSOR.