THE CHICOUTIMI POUTINE WERE BACK!

OK we can complain about the discrepancy in arbitrage in last night’s game, but it won’t hide the fact that we simply did not play a good game tomorrow. This is more than expected for a team who has been crushed, beat, bruised, charged, and creamed four times in seven nights. Fatigue kicked in, we were behind the play, we were hooking (oh yes we were and the refs were really easy on us in the third…we could have had half a dozen more calls against us). I would have like to face the Stanley Cup champions on a night where the team is well rested and could offer a better show.

So let us take a step back from this particular loss and check out our success over the road trip. Our goaltenders (both of them) showed abilities to come back, step in cold and makes saves, and maturity. Price’s performances following the mental breakdown in San Jose showed a level of maturity in this 21 year old that most men (don’t deny it) won’t develop over their life span. Halak proved that he is a very capable number two goaltender, and the team can count on him to make the big saves when it counts. I feel more confident now about our toddler goaltending duo than I have ever before, and I already felt great about them before.

In terms of the standings, we come out of the road trip in second place, one behind our next opponents, and two ahead of our closes Divisional rivals. We have control of the situation. If we keep winning, it puts pressure on the teams chasing us (mainly Ottawa and Boston) to try and make a move up the standings. Unless I’m mistaken, we had begun the road trip only one up on the Sens, which means we are a +1 through this week against out #1 rivals. Passing the Devils in the standings (in points) would mean nothing if we’re not ahead of Ottawa, sicne it would drop us down to a race for fourth through eight. We must remain focused at the task at hand, get back on the score board and earn some points on Tuesday, and focus on obtaining the same amount of, or more points than the Sens on a weekly basis.