Here we go again...



Go get your own history, 'Turds



Didn't we just see this movie?

I hated Groundhog Day. Didn't find it funny at all. Hopefully this rerun will be just as good as last Saturday night when we plopped our butts down to watch the Habs and Sens square off at the Bell Centre. Or at the very least end with the same result, a win for the good guys. 

Tonight's tilt goes down at the Scotiabank place in beautiful Kanata. Ok, so Kanata isn't really that beautiful. It's more serviceable than anything... kind of like Scotiabank Place. I've seen a number of games at that rink (only when the Habs are the visitors, of course) and every time I leave I promise myself that I won't be back. It's too difficult to get to, too much traffic, and I have to remember to bring along a good book for the walk to the rink from the parking lot. But the Habs are playing, so I'll willingly suffer.

It's another of those round, one-concourse cookie-cutter rinks that reflect the boring, bureaucratic personality of the community that it serves. The Palace in Auburn Hills is another one of those; a nondescript round building surrounded by a nondescript parking lot in the middle of a nondescript nowhere.

Scotiabank Place is also under served by what has to be the worst score clock and videoboards in the entire league. Honestly, I'd have a much better view of the replays if I were to stay at home and watch it on TV. And for a lot less money, too. And don't even get me started about the Sens hanging Stanley Cup banners for the accomplishments of the original Ottawa Senators, a successful, though long-defunct franchise that ended it's days known as the Eagles, strung up and left swinging in the wind from an old, knotty tree limb somewhere in St. Louis.

But they still have AK27, who for some reason I still like even though he has the distinct ability to play lazy, yet get payed a lot to do it.

They also have Daniel Alfredsson, who woke up from his slumber last night in Buffalo to smoke the Sabres with a hat trick, including an empty-netter, to notch his 1000th point in the NHL. Great... NOW we have to play him. And speaking of milestones, Kovy sits at 991 career points. That of course means that even though he's only got one point on the season (an assist) he'll pot 5 and assist on 4 more tonight to join his buddy Alfie in the K club.

The Habs will be looking to awake from their own slumber, having sleepwalked through Thursday night's game against the Devils. At least they should be well-rested for tonight. Puck drops at 7pm.


2010-2011 Regular Season, Game 7: Montreal at Ottawa

FIRST PERIOD:

• I'm predicting another one-gaol victory. Not sure who'll get the 2 points, though
• Brian Elliott's got a .888 Save%. Hopefully the Habs can lower that tonight by a few notches
• Kovy, skating backwards, misses a rub-out check along the boards. I guess that's whe he wasn't a defenseman
• Lots of hitting so far by Ottawa
• AK46 takes advantage of a loose puck in the slot... great wrist shot! 1-0 Habs!
• In a scramble, Ottawa forgets that they're playing hockey instead of soccer and blatantly kicks the puck into the net. No goal

The needed to do what they had to in that period, especially considering their terrible performance in their last game against New Jersey. Habs outshoot Ottawa 10-4, and lead 1-0.

SECOND PERIOD:

• You just know that Ottawa's going to come out charging after such a flat first period. They must've been read the riot act between periods
• Lovely. Chris Neil throws an elbow at Lapierre, then looks back to make sure that the referee didn't see it.
• Can the Habs find a way to keep the opposition from taking liberties with them?
• Moen robbed on a shorthanded 2-on-1, and tempers flare around the Ottawa goal
• I like that Subban seems to be making more conservative, wise decisions with the puck tonight
• Man, I LOVE hearing the ole's in the other team's rink!
• My new pet peeve this season: odd-man rushes that don't genereate a shot, never mind a scoring chance. Wasted opportunities by trying to be too fancy
• That's a money off of Pouliot's back! Powerplay just expired, Georges shot from the point off the end boards, tap in for Benny. 2-0 Habs!
• He's playing like a beast this year. AK46 sneaks in off the wing to cahs a short rebound. His 2nd of the game... 3-0 Habs! 

A chippy period, but the Habs manage to put a couple of short ones behind Elliott to move their lead to 3-0. Shots that period: Montreal with 17 (27) and Ottawa with 12 (16).

THIRD PERIOD:

• The dog keeps staring at me. I wonder what she wants?
• Uh-oh! One of our best penalty-killers in the box... Gill sits for 2 minutes
• Nice to see the Habs pushing instead of sitting back on the lead
• Subban and Georges have played solid games tonight
• Ottawa's been laying on some pressure over the last few minutes, but to no avail
• Lots of ole's and na-na hey-hey's. Sounds like a HUGE contingent of Hab fans at the game
• Stymied, the Senaturds look to goon it up with a minute left in the period. I'd like to see coaches get fined more often for this.



Benoit Pouliot celebrates his first goal of the regular season. Photo courtesy Habs Inside/Out



Sweet. Carey Price gets the shutout (his last one, almost two years ago, was also against the Sens), Andrei Kostitsyn pots two, and Benoit Pouliot gets the third. The young guns lead the way as the Habs play a great road game to beat the Sens 3-0. Shots in the 3rd were 7 for Montreal (34 total) and just 3 for Ottawa (19 total).

It's great to see AK46 coutinuing to play like his hair is on fire. I know, bad analogy considering his (lack of) hairline, but two more goals tonight and another all around great effort can't solely be chalked up to a contract year, can it? And if it can, sign him for another year. Then another. And another.

It looked to me like PK Subban was being targeted by the Sens tonight, including an unwarranted pile-on twards the end of the game. In fact, he's been in the sights of a number of teams so far this season as they try to take the rookie off of his game. And for the most part, he's handled it well, and good on him for it. It's all part of his maturation process as he becomes comfortable and learns to play defense in the NHL. He continues to learn to judiciously pick his spots to display his offensive talents, and it's becoming apparent that if he continues to show that he can take on even more responsability that he could very well be in the running for rookie of the year.

Man, I hope that I haven't just jinxed the guy.

And for the record, winning by more than one goal rocks. I don't know if my nerves (of the sanity of my dog) could have taken another close one.
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