It's fun to be a hockey fan... but not right now if you're a Montreal Canadiens fan.Last night's game has to leave most of us -- and the Habs' coaching staff -- scratching their heads.What can we do to get this team out of its current funk?Unfortunately even James Wisniewski's debut couldn't inspire the troops last night as they fell to the Lightning 4-1 in a game where the Canadiens had good early jump and a few near misses to end the first period in the lead, only to then thrown it all away off the bat in the second…

Two teams going in two very different directions met last night in a snowy D.C. Unfortunately, it's the Canadiens going the direction of the wastepile, falling 3-0 to a resurging Capitals team. They're now 1-5 with two more games left on this roadtrip. Looks like Mario Tremblay was correct when he said last week that if the Habs started this trip 0-2, it wouldn't turn out well for the team. Darn him for being so right!! This time. Can't really say the Habs played a poor game, but once again, avoidable mistakes cost them. The first period was relatively even,…

Well I think those following the Montreal Canadiens kind of sensed something was going to happen.With Markov a long ways away, P.K. Subban's confidence lagging, Josh Gorges ailing, Hamrlik and Spacek aging, and Hal Gill... well being Hal Gill, the Canadiens made a move today to shore up their defense by acquiring James Wisniewski from the Isles for a pair of draft picks. Wisniewski scored the other night against the Habs. He has a cannon for a shot and should prove to be quite valuable for the power play. He also scored against us earlier this year. Still quite young…

I said it once, and I'll say it again.I don't mind the Canadiens losing a game here or there, when they are soundly beaten by a good team.What I don't like is when the Habs find ways to lose and end up beating themselves... like what happened last night in their 4-1 loss against the New York Islanders in front of a snow-shellacked pitiful crowd who came out to see this one. Most of them Canadiens fans, mind you.So the Canadiens continue to stumble through their most difficult part of the season. Last year the team was flying high after…

Phew! The Habs needed that one.Big win last night. Good effort all around by the team. Kostitsyn maybe should play every other game, and then he'll score 40 goals.Habs carried the play and really this one shouldn't have been close. If not for the usual strong play by Cam Ward, and a few bad bounces and sloppy plays by the Canadiens' rearguards (esp Hamrlik), the Habs wouldn't have had to go down to the wire to collect a 3-2 win in Raleigh last night.Habs got goals from whom should be doing the scoring: Gomez and Kostitsyn. The Canadiens have won…

Sure, you can't win 'em all.And I have no problem with the Habs losing a game where they are soundly defeated.But last night's game left a bad taste in my mouth for a variety of reasons. This was the kind of game that makes me wonder "Why the hell do I waste my time watching this shit!?"The Habs beat themselves in this one and were never in the game. From the first shift where Spacek took a puck right off his knee, to Benoit Pouliot missing an open net, to Carey Price looking quite mortal, nothing went right for the…

Disappointing result for the Canadiens last night in Denver, falling 3-2 to the Avalanche in a game where the Habs had the lead twice, but ultimately couldn't hold back the enthusiastic... and speedy, Colorado offense.The skinny: Ultimately it was a dirty goal that did the Canadiens in late in the 2nd period... Price made a nice stand up save, but the puck hit him high in the chest, then popped out right into traffic and somehow pushed the puck back through the goaltenders's legs and into the net.Canadiens had some nice chances in the 3rd period but couldn't seem to…

Last night's 4-3 win by the Habs over the Bruins was important for a bunch of reasons: It stopped the Habs 3 game losing streak -- their longest of the season so far; It allowed the team to stay on top of their division and put some room between themselves and the Bruins, who are now 4 points back but with two games in hand; The Canadiens assumed the 2nd spot in the Eastern Conference, on divisional position, not points... but I'll take it; It was the last home game for 7 games, so it was important to head out…

A few more grabs from Saturday night's defeat at the hands of the Laffs... think you should be able to make me out better this time around.Here's Travis Moen taking Gunnarsson into the boards right in front of me and my buddy in the Habs jersey. I'm the one wearing the brown tuque.Unfortunately the resulting blow against the boards spilled my friend's wine and threw my camera onto the ground... and my Pension Plan Puppet... but everything ended up being fine.And here's a closer shot a few milliseconds after the above:Here's Shantanu and I watching the action from the corner.…

It's funny how things tend to repeat themselves. This time for the Habs, the result wasn't what they were looking for.The Canadiens traveled the Windsor corridor this weekend and came out with a goose egg points-wise in back to back games against the Red Wings and the Leafs.Really it was a story that repeated itself, starting with Friday night in Detroit where the Canadiens essentially lost the game in the first period, even if they were up by one before Lindstrom scored with 2 seconds left on the clock.Too many penalties meant the Habs were playing defense all period and…

HABS RIDE 3 GAME WIN STREAK INTO DETROIT FRIDAYThe Canadiens are now riding a 3 game winning streak -- also winners of 4 out of 5 -- thanks to a nice, but somewhat lacklustre 4-1 victory over Ottawa last night at the Bell Centre. I say lacklustre because in the 2nd period it was starting to look like "one of those games" where the Habs should have been up by 3 or 4 goals and instead were squandering opportunities that could (and usually) come back to haunt them.But on this night, the Senators showed why they are now one of…

What a way to forget about a bad game huh? Exactly what we and the team needed last night, with the Habs skating to a 5-1 victory over the newly hapless New Jersey Devils. The Devils!!!!Pocketing 3 out of a possible 4 points over the last two games... hard to find anything wrong with that. Even Scott Gomez scored.Our Montreal Canadiens seem to be quite resilient after a loss this year... which not only bodes well for the season, but for the playoffs as well (not losing 2 in a row in the playoffs is usually a very good thing).It…

Boy, is it ever true what goes around, comes around.If you believe in karma, then I definitely was asking for what happened last night.After I tore the Leafs a second one because of their terrible loss the night before, the Habs went out and did the EXACT SAME THING losing 4-3 in OT to the Oilers.With the game well in hand 3-1 with under 10 minutes to play in the game, the young Oilers seemed to gain a step on the Montreal defense as the period wore on and took advantage of some sloppy plays and poor decisions by the…

It's so true. The more things change, the more they stay the same.Witness last night at the Air Canada Centre.Leafs were up 3-1 with less than 13 minutes left in the 3rd after scoring a fluky goal when the puck hit a stantion behind the net and popped right out into the slot for Kulemin to put home. Our boy Komisarek actually got an assist on the play.But just over a minute later, our boy Komi was up to his usual poor decision-making, leaving Marty St. Louis completely alone in front of the net while his linemates botched up a…

Thankfully Movember has only a few hours left as many men reach for their razors to rid themselves of the horrors growing on their upper lips.Some men just aren't meant for facial hair; others do it with style, panache and ease.In sports, baseball seems to breed some good growth, probably because they have so much time on their hands.This year's winning S.F. Giants had quite a few on their roster, led by their closer, Brian Wilson -- who looked like he was wearing a fake beard because he dyed his jet black, giving him less of a Goose Gossage look…