Islanders Have Habs Number!

Habs points streak ends at 11 games; Gionta scores 20,000th goal in Canadiens history in 6-3 loss to Isles

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Not a great game all-around, Habs vs. Isles on the island.

The defense was sketchy; Price didn't have the bounce back game we had hoped he would; and the Islanders took full advantage. So let's give that mediocre team the kudos they deserve for doing what they needed to do to get the two points.

Get it together Carey. Your team, your fans... need you to be at your best. Isles beat Habs 6-3 on Long Island. AP

But nevertheless, the Canadiens lost the chance to get two points against a team that does not play well at home; a team that probably won't make the playoffs; a team starting an aging, past-his-prime goalie in Evgeni Nabokov.

Michael Ryder had three assists and Captain Brian Gionta scored the Canadiens' 20,000th goal in its history. But it still wasn't enough.

Defensively, the Canadiens have been making a lot more mistakes of late. And Carey Price is getting the shaft because of it.

You know I'm his biggest supporter. As a goalie myself, I understand what it's like to play between the pipes.

But hey! The team needs a big save once in awhile. Lately, Price just doesn't look comfortable in his crease. That's the reality, that's the truth. You can blame the defense all you want, but it's nice when your goalie saves their behinds sometimes... that's what goalies are for!!

And Price just isn't doing it right now. To be honest, he hasn't looked the same since he came back from the flu. Maybe he's not totally 100%. But the fact is, he looks shaky. Point finale!!

Michel Therrien was clearly frustrated in his postgame presser. He was positive in general, didn't throw anyone under the bus, but he did mention how Price probably would've liked the Islanders' fourth goal back.

That's the one that hurt. The Canadiens came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it up and needed a few saves to keep the momentum going. They didn't get it.

On twitter, Price's defenders were bashing anyone who even suggested Price was at fault for this game. My position was that the loss wasn't his fault per se, but just because the puck is deflected does not mean that automatically should be a goal. I've made plenty of saves off of deflections. So has he. Make some big saves when your team isn't playing its best. The Canadiens need that from time to time. Stand on your head!

When was the last time we said that? That Carey Price stood on his head to get the win for the HABS!? Seems like a long time...

Remember what Ben Bishop of the Ottawa Senators did to us last week? I'd like to see Carey Price do that for us sometime soon.

Hopefully he gets it together. Do we see Budaj or Price on Thursday against the 'Canes in Carolina?? I think Price needs to play through this... but he better get it together quick because it's still pretty tight in the Northeast division.

Hey did I tell you I'm on twitter? I have over 400 followers now: #habsfanleafland

Parity is the Message

Isles snap Montreal's winning ways at five, winning 4-3 in OT
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Parity.

You've heard of that word, right?

For the last few seasons it's been one of the catch phrases for the NHL. The league has parity.

Huh?

What that means is that any team, no matter their record, can come out and beat another team on any given night -- or afternoon for that matter.

The L.A. Kings are the poster boys for NHL parity. After all, they barely made the playoffs in 2012, got on a roll and walked away with the big trophy.

Carey Price makes a save, but couldn't hold off the storm in a 4-3 OT loss to the New York Islanders. AP

So let it be a lesson to your 2013 Montreal Canadiens, that no matter the score or the team they face, that if they let their guard down, they can be defeated.

And that's what happened in last night's OT loss to the Brooklyn Long Island New York Islanders 4-3.

Your 2013 Montreal Canadiens came out flying and took it to the Isles, at one point running up a 14-3 shot differential and 2-0 score.

Then like a shock from the paddles to a heart patient, a bad penalty by Lars Eller gave the Isles life near the end of the period. And when they scored on that powerplay to start the second period, you could almost see the Canadiens letting this one slip away, even when they went ahead 3-1 on Max Pacioretty's second goal of the game.

Yes, parity. Hey the Isles have some good players... Matt Moulson (love that guy) potted two and wunderkind John Tavares made a terrific play from his stomach in OT to set up the winning goal by Isles dman Thomas Hickey. And Evgeni Nabokov made some big saves when he had to.

But this really shouldn't have been close.

Success can sometimes breed complacency, and that's a dangerous thing in the NHL. A sense of urgency, keeping the pedal to the metal, blah blah blah -- your 2013 Montreal Canadiens must never let go no matter what's the score or how many wins they've won.

Things are getting very tight with the Senators, Bruins and Leafs all winning.

So only time will tell whether your 2013 Montreal Canadiens will take this one and turn it into a positive like they seemed to do with the drubbing they got from the Maple Leafs the other week and start a new winning streak. They'll have their chance to do so on Saturday night against a New York Rangers team who'll be looking for some revenge from the other night. Should be a good one.

PARITY! 

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Habs Make Leafs Look Like Cup Contenders

Embarrassing performance by Canadiens at home against Leafs leaves team looking for answers

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Wha happen?

Huh?

Err... is this the Mongolian bar-b-q!?

Last night's game in Montreal against the Leafs -- was it one big "wake up and find Bobby in the shower" type dream!?

No. Unfortunately not.

But was it reality? Not entirely...

The Habs were looking to bounce back after two disappointing losses this week and maybe get some revenge for their opening night loss against the Leafs; instead they laid one very large egg in front of their hometown supporters, losing 6-0, their worst home loss since 1996.

Embarrassing is one way of looking at it. But it isn't the time just yet to push the panic button.

The Habs came out flat and lost faceoffs, puck battles -- you name it. And the Leafs to their credit came out with a lot of speed and pounced on Montreal's errors right off the bat.

Are the Habs that bad!? No sir.

Are the Leafs that good. Definitely not.

As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

In this lockout-shortened season, weird things are going to happen. Last night was definitely weird. The Canadiens couldn't establish any flow or net presence and made Leafs starter James Reimer look like Ken Dryden. Or maybe his brother Dave. Whatever, Reimer didn't have to work that hard to get his shutout, even if he stopped 20 shots in the second frame alone. He might have been tested five times all night.

Then the weird stuff happened in the third. The game was out of reach and Prust et al tried to at least send some messages for the next time. But when Colton Orr ran viciously towards Tomas Plekanec's knee, or when Mikhail Grabovski apparently bit Max Pacioretty's forearm in a scrum, things downright turned from the surreal to the nasty. Grabovski is set to have an NHL hearing Sunday afternoon.

But I'll tell you something. That was a major mistake by the Leafs moving forward against the Habs. You know why? Because the classic rivalry between the Habs/Leafs just hasn't been as strong from Montreal's perspective for a long time now. That's why for the last 10-15 years the Leafs seem to better the Canadiens, no matter how bad the buds are. They just get up for these games much more than the Canadiens, like they do for the Bruins.

But next time might be different. Next time the Habs have something to fight for, to get up for, to play for...

And that's all what Habs nation has right now after a loss like last night. Next time...

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24CH -- Entertaining but a bit soff

Like pretty much all of Habs nation I've seen the first two episodes of the HBO 24/7 type series 24CH which gives us an insider's view of the Montreal Canadiens like never before. This would've never happened under Pierre Gauthier's watch, that's for sure.

And it is entertaining, though a bit on the superficial side. Unlike the HBO series, the show doesn't seem to build on any storylines except that the Canadiens as a franchise are moving forward from last year's disaster. Maybe it's still a bit early, or maybe it's because it's only focused on one team, whereas the HBO had two teams to play off of. For me as in the HBO series it's the locker room stuff that I really enjoy. And probably the most evocative image -- for me at least -- was that of a Molson Centre staffer removing a picture of Scott Gomez from a wall.

The French version on RDS is also just a bit different than it's English counterpart on TSN, so I recommend watching both. Obviously the language of the players is English, so there's more footage of the players shown in the English version. And the music is different. The French version's soundtrack really was pretty cheesy. Glad to see they toned that down in the second installment which unfortunately only ran for a half hour. Doesn't seem long enough. In any case, 24CH is worth watching if you're a diehard Habs fan but as a show it doesn't bring as much of that sports documentary feel that HBO does so well. Maybe it needs Liev Schreiber narrating.

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What'd I miss!? A lot, apparently...

GAMES NUMERO 4, 5 & 6 AND OTHER HABS STUFF

Wow! You go away for some fun in the sun for a few days and you can miss a lot in a lockout-shortened season.

For instance, I missed the Canadiens extending their winning streak to four before going down against the Senators in Ottawa in their first back to back of the season.

Buh-bye "triple low-five." The fans may like it, but you know what? The team lost a lot of games during the shelf-life of this celebration and it's time to leave it behind. 

It was universally stated by the media that the Canadiens lost the game in a four minute span in the second period where Ryan White took a bad unsportsmanlike penalty, put his team in the soup and the Sens scored three goals. It should be clearly noted that backup Peter Budaj was in nets for the Habs, while starter Craig Anderson was between the pipes for Ottawa. It's going to be that kind of year for Budaj but hopefully he can step it up when needed.

I missed a terrific performance by the two Gallys as they're now known, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher against New Jersey last Sunday. Then head coach Michel Therrien announced after game four the two would stay with the team!!!!

Wow that's big -- big for the two youngsters and the team. Totally a major departure from the way the Canadiens have treated young talent in the past. A big deal was made of how Galchenyuk is the first eighteen year old to make the team like since Mathieu Schneider or Petr Svoboda or something. Nice. Well youngest to make the team since Guillaume Latendresse. But that's not saying much.

Youngsters are making their presence around the league with players staying with their squads. More on this after their true impact reveals itself after more games played.

The New Jersey game was supposed to be the first big test for this team. Well, they passed. Beating Marty Brodeur is always a bonus for this team because he plays so well in Montreal.

Then the Habs continued their winning ways against the Winnipeg Jets. They even came from behind in the third period. This team has character! Good! And the powerplay led by Andrei Markov has kept rolling along.

What else? Well my last tweet before heading down south was about Max Pacioretty who had an emergency appendectomy and would be out for roughly 3-4 weeks. That was Saturday. Today he went through a full practice with the team. This guy is unbelievable. Let's hope that's all for him in regards to the injuries but man the guy's healing and perseverance is inspiring.

And speaking of today's practice no way he's going to get his b@#!s  cracked by his teammates you know who made his first full appearance on the ice with his mates: P.K. Subban. This one is going to take a post of its own tomorrow. But let's just say I'm happy he took the two-year deal and I know the team and more importantly, the head coach, is going to break him in to the TEAM concept the Habs have been preaching this year. And so far, it's been working. The Habs are 4-2 without him, but are a better squad with this exciting, young rearguard.

Probably this means Tomas Kaberle will be the one to ride the pine or visit the press box. We'll see how it shakes down tomorrow afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres -- who had a nice win of their own last night against the Bruins in Boston.

Listen. Michel Therrien was on RDS' "L'Antichambre" all of last year and so it's quite well known what he thinks of Subban's showboating and style. Don't break the personality, but some things could be toned down, especially in the room. So it should be no surprise to anyone that today he came down on the "triple low-five" between Subban and Price after Habs wins. I don't mind it. This team is going to be "...more humble," in Therrien's words.

More on the PK signing and all that jazz in my next post.
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PS: Alex Kovalev scored the game winner for the Panthers against the Jets.