Gonna Hurt More Before It Gets Better

Hockey is a funny game sometimes.

It's amazing how a team can look so good one night, only to look pathetic the next.

Just ask Leaf fans about that...

Andrei Kostitsyn misses last night against Caps' Holtby. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf, The Gazette.

But lately, Habs fans could only wish such a fate, because the team has looked pathetic in its last 3 outings with last night's latest blanking at home to the Washington Capitals 2-0.

It's very simple. No matter how good your team is, if you don't score, you're not going to win.

And the Habs have now been shutout 3 games in a row -- something I've never seen. The last time this happened was in 1949. The team "record" is 4 in a row, dating back to 1928!!

This is one record I hope remains intact.

Poor Carey Price. As a goalie, I can sympathize. It's tough when your team is in a scoring funk because whatever you do, you feel like you're still going to lose. The Habs had their chances last night but ultimately continued a bad trend by taking too many penalties, especially in the 1st period. It just killed any momentum they created.

They showed much more effort and desperation than the listless edition that showed up in Boston the other night, but unfortunately the result was the same.

It's sad the team was booed off the ice, but that's Montreal for you. You get the love but you also get the scorn -- when deserved. We have to show our displeasure somehow, and that's the way it works. We don't just laugh it off like Leaf fans...

Now, the team is in 6th place by the thinnest of margins, having won more games than the Rangers, each with 87 points. New York beat Boston 1-0 last night and are potentially playing their best hockey of the year. Buffalo is sniffing right behind with 85 points. Luckily, 9th place Carolina is 7 points back, so making the playoffs doesn't appear to be in jeopardy, me hopes.

Instead of enjoying their usual eggy-weggies on a cold but sunny Montreal Sunday, coach Jacques Martin has the team practicing today in Brossard.

The only bright side to last night? The fact that my brother didn't shell out hundreds of dollars to go see the game like originally planned. We were both in town visiting our mother and were thinking about seeing the game. As they say, a good "non call."

Habs look to break out of their funk Sunday at home against Atlanta. No excuses now...