Cool, Calm & Crash The Net - The 3 C's To Success

I saw this interview with Chris Higgins where he was questioned about his personal slump. His answer was simple.

"I work hard on every shift and will keep doing so. At times like this it just seems like the pucks are bouncing the wrong way and nothing is going in the net. You start questioning your self too much and hold on to your stick too tight. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, and just go with my instinct more instead of triple analyzing every move. As soon as one puck goes the flood gates will open. I'm a second half of the season guy. I'll bounce back...you'll see"

This quote was encouraging in more ways than one. For one it reflects a clear calm state of mind, where the player knows his talents and understands the way the game goes. He's not looking for or worrying about major changes and neither is he panicking about the lack of production and falling in to a self destructive cycle (I believe Perezhogin would be familiar with that one).

Furthermore, this frame of mind seems to be reflected through out the majority of the locker room, and (based on how they have handled the situation so far) the management. Of course some people have to ask the questions "what if" and "will we have to". However, for the large part, the motto seems to be: "Keep working hard, try to relax and just put the puck on the net". I couldn’t think of a better and healthier frame of mind for a team when trying to get out of a major slump. Whether this is enough or not is up to you to speculate and Bob to decide.

On another note, as January is coming to an end, the end of the season begins to enter the radar screens. I don’t think I am the only one when I say I’ll feel a lot better if we can breach the 50 mark by Sunday night. Some wins and some help from the rest of the league, and I believe 49 is attainable.

More tests To Come

Ok new strategy...retire a jersey every game because it seems to do the trick with respect to the everlasting struggle to motivate the team.

In all seriousness however, part of the motivation, in my humble opinion, cam from the new game play. There was a clearly different transition play, and a new simpler game plan for the offensive zone.

You can never go wrong when you have defensemen skating with the puck instead of trying to make short or long passes through a barrage of white jersey. It also never hurts to have someone in front of the net (finally we're back to that one) and just hooting the puck. The objective is not to score but throw the puck at the net. This leads to rebounds, garbage goals, and in the long run a collapsed defensive core leaving room for our blue liners and Russians do skate I'm to a better position

The new game play yielded results, not in goals (immediately), but rather in scoring chances, momentum and in setting the tone for the game. It took a snowball effect from there leading to our third convincing win in our last four.

We're not close to being out of the woods however. We need a winning stretch, and this weekend with 3 games in 4 nights...errr....afternoons its a good chance to convince the fans and them selves that the ugliness are behind us. After the loss in TO, I would sleep much better at night if we got four or more points out of six.

There ar two player from last night's game who deserve my "homage" for last night's win. Aebeicher looked to be setting us up for another pounding after letting in a goal on the first shot, however came right back without loosing focus and played a stellar game. If that save on Spezza doesn't make it in to the top 10 saves of the year I would be more than surprised.

The second star of the game last night was Kovalev. I don't know what happened to him, but he has been playing with such a fire in his belly. Sure he didn't score and missed a practically empty net right before the Souray goal on the PP, but he was the one responsible for setting the tone. At a time when our captain is less visible on the ice than the forum ghosts them selves, Kovalev is emerging as our leader by example. He had a few moves and a few rushes following the Ottawa goal, it turned things right around it got his line pumped up, and it took off from there.

Samsonov and Johnson who started great in their first shift than, had a few bad ones following the Ottawa goal. They seemed to feed off of the second line and IMO dominated most of the game. Than the 4th line, who also started slow, dominated the ice during their shifts for the large part of the game. In times of desperation and low confidence, a team needs a leader to step up and start this snow ball effect. Other players have done this through out the season, but lately it has been Kovelv’s honour, and that can only be positive.

Who Is Bob On The Phone With?

Yesterday we spoke about the coaching staff and the GM's office with respect to their approach to dealing with recurring adverse issues / downfalls of our team. As responsible managers, they have patiently worked down the list of ideas ranging from minor tweaks to major shake-ups. Where we are on the list is no secret since Carbonneau has attempted to regenerate the teams with first a demotion of one or two players, than shifting all the lines, then benching players and here we are.

The question however is where the list heads now. Any other GM would have started dumping players long ago. Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau's reluctance to approach the problem on a more practical level without overzealously jumping the gun not only speaks volumes of their strong and patient characters, but instils confidence in the fans that the team will not be having a yard sale every time we hit a slump.

The fact of the matter is however is even our unwavering duo on top should be reaching the limits of their patience. In recent days, our top two lines have been singled out several times in interviews with respect to their lack of performance 5 on 5. Undoubtedly Carbonneau believes that fixing this problem over any other will yield the most return, and right now I would tend to agree. The lack of confidence on the team can simply be fixed by winning games, and scoring 5 on 5 will do exactly that.

Bringing in a new player via trade must be fast approaching on the list of possible cures, but Bob never makes a trade on a dime. We knew he takes his time and has the fore-sight to prepare for a trade far ahead of time in order to get the best "Bang for the Buck".

So the question begs it’s self to be asked: Who has Bob been talking with on the phone this past little while? What I wouldn't give to see his long distance bill!

Oh Jerry...

Quote from yesterday’s MN update:

“At this point anything I say is speculation and only time will tell which team will com out of the gates to begin this home run stretch to the final 8. I sure hope ours is the team that races for 4th…not 8th.”

Well now we know…and unfortunately it was nt a favourable answer.

There isn’t much to be said really, since we have been discussing the same things for months now. At this point I would ask the MN historian to post the story about Jerry, since that seems to summarise well enough what the problem is.

Now all I can tell you is facts and probabilities. For one reason or another we have a serious problem with motivation; this is no secret. I urge all of you to take your heart medicines, because this will make for a tough stretch. Is all hope lost? Not even close. This bad stretch could be a few games or three months. All we do know is that momentum shifts on a dime in the new NHL and this team has the proven contents for a wining formula.

The same problems have been persisting with the team for a while and one wonders when they will be fixed. It is fairly easy to loose faith in the players/management and begin pointing fingers when the same problem has cursed us since about November, and is yet to be dealt with on a long term basis.

Once again I cannot tell you where we are headed, but I can tell you what I know. Neither the coaching staff, nor the GM is a fool. They know what they are doing, and are considered amongst the elite of the league (imagine if we were stuck with Fergussen :shock:). What ever issues we’ve been having have not been ignored, and it is ridiculous to assume that the staff has been unaware of it, or have not been trying to fix it.

I know they see the problem, and I know they have been trying to fix it. It is not fixed yet, but it will be. When one thing doesn’t work you go to the next one, and eventually something will click like an Ace of hearts completing a Royal Flush. We’re luck (unlike many of our competition) that we are working on this from a good spot (4^th place) and not playing catch-up hockey from 10-12^th place. This gives us more flexibility and time to fix things properly for the playoffs.

All I can do in the meanwhile is have faith in my team that I have given my loyalty to, cheer them on till my lungs ache of fire, and hope they can figure things in time for this year’s playoffs.

It Begins...Again

Here we go again…the last stretch. Let us hope and pray that we have more favourable results this time, than we did following the last break.

We worked very hard to end on a good note, and I sure hope this will carry over to tonight’s game.

At this point anything I say is speculation and only time will tell which team will com out of the gates to begin this home run stretch to the final 8. I sure hope ours is the team that races for 4^th…not 8^th.

Good Finish Before the Break

MN is down to 60, and this is the best case scenario we could have hoped for following the major slump.

The refs seemed blinded by the Montreal beauties that they missed two high sticks and two goalie interferences (not two goalie interferences because there was no interference on the “incient” which lead to the second goal IMO). Furthermore Briere’s goal was clearly deflected in with his skate. On the replay it looks tight but one can see that it was his skate that did it from the goal camera. Also if he really did use his stick, why would he move his skate all the way across and back…in a motion that strangely resembles pushing a puck in a certain direction?

Lindy Ruff’s tactician must have come over from Italy following the World Cup, because in each game we have played there has been several high calibre dives that even fooled me during real time, only to be exposed as the cheap actions of a limp bastard. I would like to hope that someone from head office sees these blatant unsportsmanlike behaviour and fines then suspends them after a second incident. Unfortunately I know this doesn’t happen, because I’ve seen players like Briere and Iginla dive with the grace of Alexandre Despatits (is that how you spell his name?), on more than one occasion and not get suspended.

With that off my chest, looking at things in a very short sighted way, everything is great. We won two games in a row, our confidence (although not back all the way apparently) is regenerating, and the All-Star break can only help rest our tired troops.

In the long term however, our melt-down and giving the Sabres three un-answered goals shows that we still have a ways to go to become the cup contenders we would hope to be. With 30+ games remaining I’d like to think the coach has a lot of time to work on this prior to the post season. However I cannot help but get worried when I think back and realise that this issue…this mental and motivation issue we’re talking about has been our downfall since the beginning of the season, and with more than half of the season gone by we \are still no closer to resolving it than we are following the first game of the season.

This will be my last post till after the All-Star break. Enjoy your week everybody and I look forward to seeing Huet shut out the West, and Souray pot at least one in the game, and win the slap-shot competition.

Most Important Game of the Season?

Bad new is Buffalo won. Good news is that they had to go all the way to SO, so they are as tired as they could have gotten after that game last night. However Buffalo is a fast skating team with lots of endurance, so I don’t expect them to be significantly slower than we’re used to se them during the game (mainly the third period).

If we win tonight’s game we’ll be entering the Al-Star break with some positive things to think about, having won two games to break the losing streak, which consisted of two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference. However if we drop this, emotions and confidences will be as fragile as a few days ago, the All-Star break will be a long and sad lethargic wait.

Tonight’s game might have more significance than one initially gives it. It might very well determine how we start playing following the break and finish the rest of the season. We didn’t come out too good following the last break (holiday break) but can redeem our selves in the home stretch.

This is the stretch that will determine where we end up ion the standings, and will determine ho much momentum we will bring with us to the post season.

Here’s one HABS fan that sees tonight’s game as perhaps the most important one with respect to momentum.

They Have Superstars, We Have our Bonk

First off :clap: way to break the loosing streak. Luckily we've had Atlanta's number this year, and Huet was hotter than a Victoria secret model last night (ummm for the ladies …...he was hotter than a Chip and dale dancer I guess).

All this to say that last night they looked more like the HABS we know than they have since the holidays (except that other time we played Atlanta...maybe we should keep playing them!).

So what's the pattern here? Our reason for success? There are of course a myriad of variables which can affect the teams performance and I would be a fool to suggest otherwise, but Bonks line being intact and playing against the opposition's top line is a key element in our success.

With Bonk’s absence the team went on their biggest loosing streak. Our top line thus was matched against the opposition’s top line, which had adverse effects in the least and this shows in our top lines +/-.

Now that bonk is back in his role of shutting down the opposition’s fire power we are surely better equipped to get the W (remind me again how many points Crosby got against us compared to his avg/game? How about Ovechkin? Koslov & Hossa?).

This is music to my ears, since one game is hardly proof enough of ending our slump. Until I see a 0.7+ winning% in our last ten games, I'm not convinced. The only thing I have been convinced of is that Bonk does not get nearly enough points towards the Molson Cup as he deserves given his value to our teams success.

But being an experienced veteran he knows this and continues to be the quiet type who leads on the ice by his style of play.

Bonk is part of an elite group of players in NHL who specialise in shutting down the Sydney Crosby's to the point of reducing them to Aaron Downey offensive talents by allowing them to a hand full of shots from awkward and tight angles. Players of Bonk's stature are even more important today, given the overflow of fast, talented and almost superhuman skilled players who can cripple an opposition and win the game in 3-4 shifts.

Although players like Bonk cannot win Stanley Cups on their own, they are the type of players who you cannot win a cup without. We may not have our superstar, but at least we have our equivalent of the Patriot missile...a third line who can shoot the top lines down. If we had two Bonks to throw at Buffalo (one for Briere's line and one for Afinogenov’s), than I'm confident we'd have their # as well.

If this team has a chance to win the cup before the centennial, rest assures Bonk will be in that line up and will probably see the most ice time during the post season.

P.S. As HTL so eloquently put it, we have a new toy: http://magicnumber.createforum.net/viewforum.php?f=1

Give Them a New System

Two games left before the All-Star break, and two chances left to end on a good note (although the majority of the forum chooses to see it as two more dropped games).

Coach Carbo has tried all his "bad cop" tactics to try and shake this team out of its slump (after 13 games, perhaps we should refer to it as a crash). He has now returned to the old line-ups and gave a day off in an attempt to cuddle and embrace the team out of the "The Great Crash of January 07".

The team has had motivation problems since day one and there is more than an off chance that the downfall of this team has been the coaching staff's pre-occupation with trying to fix it. This issue would have been Carbo's #1 priority, say up until a month ago, but currently it may be harming the team.

Perhaps it is time to focus on other issues, such as the system. Not to say his system doesn't work! After all it did bring us within a stones throw away from the Conference top spot. But maybe the players don't play with the same passion as the beginning of the season, because they have lost faith in the system.

Maybe they are tired of knowing their actions are predictable to the “T” (there is no free flow in Carbo's system, except for a Russian rifle who's out of bullets when it counts). Maybe the defensemen are tired of getting crunched behind the net and in the corners by the fore-checkers in order to play the same transition play along the boards. Needless to say this “break-out/transition” play is better known by our opposition, who is always better synchronized at countering it, than our boys who end up taking a hard hit for nothing, than giving a turn-over in a perfect spot right below the blue-line.

I know it’s the players job and duty to buy in to the coaches system and play it with passion. However desperate times call for desperate measures and patience has far run out in the locker-room. Perhaps it would be beneficial for all parties if the coaching staff changed their preach from "work harder" to "work in order to beat the team". Giving them a different plan of attack might motivate a team who enters the skating rink with the same allure a POW would have stepping in front of a firing squad.

I say give them a new plan of attack, something to excite them and make them believe “Hey we can shut these guys down”, and they might be tempted to drop their "last cigarette" and work to win the game.

Trad em' All!!!!

OK I give in…this team is ruined, and we are in desperate need of some changes.

Let’s be honest…no cup contender team is going to drop 9/13 games with no goals in 4 games and come back to make a legit run at the cup. We may be able to make the playoffs because of our lucky beginning of the season, but we must think of the future. We’ve got no hope for this year, and it’s time we dished out he dead weight and make cap space to make some acquisitions this year.

First off ship Samsonov and Kovalev. These Turkeys have no heart, and play lazy every night. They are constant under achievers and get paid about 4M a year. Lapierre lately has been carrying this line, and our second line has been our worst in offence since the beginning of the year. Also Kovalev tends to take lazy penalties and is very selfish with the puck. I am positive they both have some value lef on the market, and I’ll take what ever I can. They may be good players but it’s not working here, so ship em’.

Second, what is Aebeicher doing here? Huet is our Number 1 goalie, and on a bad night can match Aebi’s good night. Trade him too, and I’m sure we can get some good stuff in return since there are a few teams out there looking for a goalie. Who will back up Huet you say? Danis is ready IMO and in two years anyways Price will be our new franchise goalie.

What is up with Perezhogin taking these lazy penalties every night? I say trade him! Throw him in with someone else (like Aebi) to sweeten the pot and we can get a a half decent second line center.

In Defense, what are we doing with Ninimaa? And Souray and Rivet (despite offensive power) are second in puck give-aways to Ryder (oh I’ll get to Ryder on the nest paragraph) So on the defensive end we ned a major overhaul. Souray wants a trade to get closer to his daughter anyway (even though his=s agent, the organization and even him self deny such rumours, we all know it’s true). Why do you think he worked so hard on his game? It was to merit a trade! So for Souray we can get someone who is defensively capable, and we can package Ninimaa and Rivet to a team who is in desperate need of defensemen and get someone who can score.

Why do we need someone who can score? Because Ryder cannot. The only think that monkey can do is loose the puck. Dropping him out of the team will increase our puck control by at least 20%.

I know this is unexpected on my part, but you guys know the information above is true! We have to go through these steps if we ever want to go for the cup in future years. But it doesn’t end here.

Although the coaching staff was praised earlier on in the year, the other teams have adjusted to our system, and we have not reciprocated. A coach needs to give new game plans when we’re down, not just say “wok harder”. Apparently Carbonneau, as a coach is not as capable as a player. So perhaps bringing him here was a mistake, because he is incapable of adjusting to this slump, and the losses keep on accumulating. Maybe it’s time we started looking at coaches?

If we’re looking at coaches, we also have to consider Kirk Muller and how much he really brings to the team. I mean, he’s just a pretty boy who shoots out “slogans” not a coach! If we are to win the cup one day we have to do a complete overhaul behind the bench.

As a final adjustment, there is one more person we have to consider. I know this will come out of left field, but bear with me. All these moves and decisions above are o obvious and so true, that we’re all wondering (or those of us who are realistic and not blinded by our foolish arrogance) why they have not been put in to motion? Who is responsible for doing such moves and making such decisions for the team. All fingers point to Bob Gainey. I know we all praised him earlier on in his contract, but obviously he is not a good GM and probably just got lucky in Dallas. Just something else to consider…

To summarise what is the end result? Get rid of: Samsonov, Kovalev, Aebicher, Perezhogin, Ninimaa, Souray, Rivet, Ryder, Carbonneau, Muller and finally Bob. This will lead to better draft choices, more cap-space to make acquisitions on the F/A market, more ice time for the young kids (bring them all up from Hamilton…they’re winning over there, so they’re bound to improve our record here), a better coaching staff, and a GM who is not afraid to make a move.

There we go fellow MNers, here is the solution to our problems.

P.S. OK I know it defeats the purpose if I say it, but if you’re still scratching your head after reading the update, I suggest you go to wikipedia and search the meaning of the word “satire”. I only say this because the average age in here is very young, and most readers already have trouble understanding sarcasm…let alone a satire…and I’m not interested in reading a bunch of useless comments

Don't Despair...Everything Will Work Out...Hopefully!

Wow...these are desperate times and nothing seems to work. The Canadiens’ recent record is all of a sudden emulating my record playing 2K7 online (in case you don't know what that is, it is a hockey game one can play on XBOX live against people from around thw world...although the community is mainly North American and North West Europe). The worse part is the kid in first right now is a Maple Leafs fan and that really boils my canoly. His gamer name is less than flattering towards the HABS, but unfortunately it describes our recent performances rather accurately.

In any case, getting back on track, I know things don't look good but keep you chin up everyone. Again I'm hearing and reading people writing off the season, or stating that we might be able to squeeze in to the playoffs but would be eliminated in the first round.

Just remember that this slump we’re going through is but a fraction of what we endured last year, and that it will take one stretch of games to turn things around and regain our 0.800 winning record.

Don't despair; everything will work out...hopefully.

As a final note, having gone through this long slump (rather than the team recovering sooner), it forces the staff and management to treat our issues in a more significant way (i.e. Pursue the acquisition of a scorer or playmaker...such as Forsberg...relax I'm just speculating). Had the slump been shorter and our big weaknesses not exposed, the weaknesses would have gone, intelligently and appropriately, ignored by this management who utilises a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

Better these issues are addressed and fixed now, than before it's too late...such as in the midst of a playoff series.

Word of the Day: Hypocrite

These are tough times for HABS fans...the team is in despair and it seems we haven't seen the spark that got us to 4th (even during games we won) since before the holiday break. Moral is low and the finger pointing has begun.

I've been browsing the Canadian's forum and the blame is being put on many facets: the coach, the coaching staff, the system, the Defenseman, the offence, the second line, the first line, a barrage of players, and in rare cases even the GM is being blamed.

Now I believe our problems are not as wide spread as the majority seems to believe, but that is just my humble opinion and every one is entitled to theirs. I am not going to write this morning to argue about the cure for our problems and how they can be fixed with a new transition game and some team moral to get the boys skating. Instead I will write this morning to disclose the meaning of a hypocrite:

hypocrite – a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold

I have realised that all the individuals who go out of their way to put the blame on one staff member or one player and call it ''case closed'' agree on at least one thing: We are toast and we might as well write off the season. Let me remind you quickly of a few things: 1) Hockey is a team sport 2) Slumps happen to all teams 3) Up until a month ago, the claims were that we were winning because we were acting and playing as a team and not as a sum of individuals 4) Also up until a month ago some of you were claiming the cup was as good as ours.

We ask for consistency from our boys day in and day out, yet some (or maybe even most) fans are so quick to teeter on their feelings about the team. If you are going to claim you are ''The biggest fan and have always been so", how about a little support when they're down? How about giving just a little bit to this organisation who has given us so so much.

Now before I begin to receive angry PM's and arguments about semantics, keep in mind that I am not referring to the informed fan who would criticise the team's decisions or actions (after all as a fan this is our right). I am referring to the "Epsilon" who talks for the sake of talking, cheers for the sake of cheering, and takes credit where no credit is due while claiming to be the most knowledgeable and die hard fan on the planet. I am referring to the likes who wear paper bags over their head to a game (yes they were there on Saturday in Ottawa with HABS jerseys) and turn around a month later claiming they never gave up on the HABS.

To end this morning’s vent, I've noticed that many have given up hope for tonight. Well call me naive or say love is blind, because I truly believe we got a decent shot. Perhaps the odds are not in our favour, but we're going to want to bounce back after that humiliation, and we notoriously play our best against the top teams. Heck even if we're 100 to 1 underdogs, I choose to believe on any given night we can take any given team because that's what makes me happy and proud.

Shameful Display in Ottawa: On the Ice and on the Screen

I can imagine what a bitter bunch HABSnation might be this morning, and I can’t blame them. However, as we usually try and do here, let us focus on the positives of the situation, and therefore I can’t think of a better way to start today’s update than by announcing that the Toronto Maple Leafs are third top last in the NL standings. This is rendered even more entertaining following Newfie_Gurl29’s scouting report, that there are still people convinced that the Leafs will make the playoffs.

Now that you have a smile on your face, I’ll ask you to look to the right (if you’re reading this on the blog) and enjoy HTL’s MLF quote of the day…There you go! Now that we are in a better mood, and not thinking about yesterday’s game, let us look at the greater picture.

What is a team’s objective in the NHL in any given year? Unless you are the Philadelphia Flyers, it is to win the Stanley Cup. How does one win the cup? This happens in two steps:1) Make the playoffs & 2) Win four rounds of seven game series.

Until the second week of April, a team remains in step 1. In a bid to make the top eight, a team will also try and fight for position to have home ice advantage during the series. Are you with me so far? Of course you are, because you know ll this. Than why am I typing it all out? Because it is easy to loose sight of our main objectives/bigger picture and to dwell on detailed nuances.

The issues we’re having resonate from the same problem we have had since the beginning of the year. Perhaps the MN Historian can dig up the appropriate update where we had another mini slump, and we ended up breaking down the teams problems on a morning update. Our findings were that the majority of our major on ice problems are related to the lack of mental preparation. For those of you who may be rolling your eyes at this, don’t kid your selves. If you were watching yesterday’s game from the beginning, we were ready, we were playing great and getting the better chances….until Ottawa scored their first. Whenever we get scored on we always stop playing until a momentum shifter happens (this has been a trend since the beginning – an issue related to lack of mental preparation). Unfortunately the Ottawa Senators were really hungry for a win, and never slowed down. Our troops just gave up more, and more with each goal being potted.

So let us summarise what I am trying to convey here. I’m not saying life is grand and everything is going great, and Lord Stanley’s Cup is as good as ours…far from it. But what I am saying is that things are not as bad as they seem…not even close. The fix for our problems (compared to what other teams in the NHL have to endure) are relatively straightforward. And with the likes of Bob Gainey at the top, you can bet your derrier that these issues are being addressed as we speak. Coupled with the fact that we are trying to fix these issues from 4^th place, and not playing catch-up from 10^th place, I can sleep much better at night.

I know today’s update is getting really long, but there is one more thing I have to point out, and that is my disgust with the Ottawa Senators’ organisation. What kind of low life, ignorant, heartless, disgusting moron decided to play that animation between the 1^st and 2^nd period?!?!?! :cens: :rant: (for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, they showed an animation of a ship in the water with two characters on it... a person with a HABS jersey, and the Senators’ mascot…and the Senators’ mascot pushes the character with the HABS jersey in to the water, who gets washed/drifted away) This was met with vicious boos by most fans in the arena, but I highly doubt that was any condolence to the Gainey family. Shame on who ever decided to put that up!

MN the #1 Thread in Canadiens Forum: In Content & Now in Post Count

First on to business…the Sens are on a hot streak, and are hosting us at home. If we play the style of game we did against Philly, chances are we’re toast. If we bring our A game, we got this. So which team will it be Carb…the one who faced the Thrashers or the one who faced the Flyers? This inconsistency has to stop some day, but to be short sighted for a day, I just hope we pick up the W tonight, before going in to an even hotter Detroit.

I am looking forward to seeing the continued domination of the third line, and for the second line to pick up on those promising plays it had with their new Center on Thursday. Ryder seems to be out of his slump, which means the first line will bring their “A” game, thus giving us three lines to roll with, two awesome PP lines to throw at the opponents, and a PK unit that seems indomitable.

On a side note, congratulations to the MN thread in the Montreal Canadiens forum for having taken the #1 spot. I know of a few users in there who had their heart set on it since day one. Most of us didn’t think it would be possible, but they stuck with it, so :clap: to you guys.

Many thanks to the MN-executive who has been making the MN-blog a success. It has already come in hand on many occasions, and HTL’s Maple Leaf fan quote of the day…well can any of you think of a better way to start your day than by checking that out in the morning?

P.S. Remember to get your predictions in early people...today the time limit is 2:00P.M. Good luck to you all!

Kovalev: Damned If He Does, Damned If He Doesn’t!

Once again we played at our opposition’s level. As Jacques mentioned in between periods, Carbonneau and Muller were not that type of players, and are not the type of persons who show up on some nights and not on others. This team still has a way to go to establish our selves as a power house in the NHL. If we cannot play the same high tempo, solid defensive game we play every night regardless of opposition, fatigue or locker room antics, we cannot be a dominant force in the NHL.

With that said, notch two more for MN. Even though Aebi let in the weakest goal of, quite possible the season, we took it without it coming down to the wire, and that is good enough for me. It was good to see Ryder continue with his re-found rhythm, and Lapierre seemd to do OK on his debut with the second line.

Speaking of the second line…what about that guy…they call the Russian rifle…He has had his fair share of criticism this year, and continues to attract all sorts of negative on-ice publicity. We are quick to judge him when he has a negative impact on the team (nice clean pass to Gagne on the blue line during the HABS power play for an “almost” breakaway), but he doesn’t get nearly enough credit that he is due.

During the second period, Philly clearly dominated us from the start. In fact half way through there was a period of 4-5 minutes where we were just in our zone, resembling a penalty-kill…except with five skaters…they were pressing so hard we even iced the puck 2-3 times out of desperation and were lucky to come out of that without getting scored on. Kovalev is the man who changed the momentum of the game which led to the winning goals. It happened when he crashed the net with Lapierre. He saw Lapierre going to the net and deked to the inside, not to score (there was no angle left and Nittymaki was already on the ground) but by doing it he forced the defenseman to cross check him into his own goalie…Lapierre also got cross checked, and this lead to Nittymaki getting shaken up, the Philly bench getting riled up and distracted away from the dominance in the Canadiens zone, and the cherry on the top was the cross check on Lapierre being called. That was the turning point and this is why in my humble opinion, Kovalev is a key impact player in our line-up, even if he doesn’t contribute to the score-board.

We’re Not Out of the Slump Yet!

Grabovski is back to Hamilton and Garth Murray is in the line-up...what a shame. The only reason I can think of coach Carb doing this would be if he anticipates an enforcer in the opposition’s line-up. We are playing the Flyers tonight so this theory makes sense. I just hope that this is the case and Grabovski gets called up for when need be because he is just too talented to be replaced by Garth Murray.

On a second note with respect to the line-up, Lapierre is now the new flavour of the week to center the second line. I wonder how many centers coach will go through before considering that perhaps the problem is with Kovy and Sammy being on the same line.

I know we won a game on Tuesday, but that is not enough to break a slump such as ours. We need to win a few games in a row, including a series of wins against teams below us in the standings and an emotional win against a power house, thus establishing our dominance.

With that said we're playing the last place team in the Conference and if we do not win tonight, our fragile confidence we established Tuesday night will come crumbling down. So if there is one thing more pressing than some solid sleep time for Number 1 (oh how I miss the sweet sweet sensation of a deep uninterrupted sleep) it is a dominant win tonight.