HockeyVOX

Hey everyone, it’s been a while I know. Lots has happened with our Habs since my last post. You have all surely caught up with the ups and downs, not to mention the media completely blowing things out of proportion. Today’s post won’t cover the past. In fact, this will be short and sweet. With Schneider’s return, tonight will be a return to form for les Canadiens. My prediction for tonight’s game: 5-1 for the Habs with Kovy showing them how it’s done. Look out for a possible PP goal from a fresh Webber.

Hey everyone, Johnny here. It’s been a while since DX’s last update as he has been away… He will be updating us with his commentary soon enough though, so stay tuned.

As a thanks to all our readers, HockeyVox Habs Corner has drafted a commemorative desktop wallpaper for the Montreal Canadiens 100th year Celebration. Click on the thumbnail to download it: 

Please note that the wallpaper is for widescreen monitors. For resizing requests, please leave a comment below and we will try our best to accommodate you.

Thanks again and come back soon for more Habs updates!

Good day to all,

Well, the Habs played 2 games over the weekend and what a difference between those 2 games!

First, we will look at the Friday game (if we can call that a game from our Habs), where they went up, or down, against the Capitals in Washington:

The game started of OK with both teams getting some chances, but nothing much to get excited about. Francis Bouillon committed a turnover in the middle of the frame, which turned out to be costly as the Caps found the back of the net. In the 2^nd, the Canadiens pressed for about 10 minutes, but without success and that really hurt them as in the 3^rd period, Washington got 2 more goals, one from Ovechkin of course, and made the final score 3-0 in favour of the Caps. Our good friend Jose Theodore, who could not stop a beach ball, managed to get the shutout, but in fairness, he did not have to be at the top of his game as Montreal turned in one of their worst efforts of the season, if not the worst. All in all, it was a stinker of a game and let’s hope we don’t see our team play like this during the rest of the season.

Now onto Saturday night’s game at the Bell Centre against the Buffalo Sabres:

In this game again, turnovers cost 2 goals to the Habs, both scored by Thomas Vanek. But thankfully for the Habs, Andrei Kostitsyn took matters into his own hands and scored one and set up another as the Habs tallied 3 goals in the 2^nd period to take a 3-2 lead into the third. On the other hand, Andrei’s brother, Sergei, did not have a good game taking 3 unnecessary penalties, one in each period with the first one costing us a goal! I don’t know what is wrong with him, but a few games in the press box might be in store for him. At least the Habs managed to hold onto the lead even though they could not capitalize on a full 2 minutes 5-on-3. Two things have been hurting the Habs this year, the ineffectiveness of the power play and too many turnovers. Fix that and the Habs will be OK for the rest of the season!

Tonight, the Atlanta Thrashers visit the Canadiens in a must-win for the Habs as they cannot drop any points to the lowly Thrashers. This is a perfect time for the Canadiens to make the power play better and for some players like Higgins, Plekanec, Kovalev and Co. to get back to normal and start scoring!!!!

Here is a prediction for tonight: Habs 5, Thrashers 1; yes, Cage aux Sports should get ready to give away some chicken wings!

Enjoy the game!!!!

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Good afternoon,

Just a quick update; Theodore will be facing his old team as he is scheduled to start tomorrow in D.C.

Also, has anyone noticed that the Canadiens and all 4 lines play better without Guillaume Latendresse in the line-up? Just an observation!!!!

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Habs fans good morning!

Well, I was right! The Canadiens came out and played some inspired hockey yesterday, the kind we got to know during the second half of last year. They showed speed, intensity and determination and took it to the defending Stanley Cup Champs in their own building!

They played a good game, with not many turnovers, which has not been the case lately and finally got some breaks with lucky goals. But, when you play well, luck will be on your side most of the time. They got goals from Lapierre (2 in 2 games), Plekanec (Finally) and Higgins, who had not scored or done much since his hat trick versus the Sens a couple weeks ago. All in all, it was a great effort from all the players. Too bad Johan Franzen broke Carey Price’s shutout with about 6 minutes left with a highlight reel

Goal, with Ryan O’Byrne, giving him the puck and then getting undressed twice before Franzen put the puck in the net. But, let’s not talk bad about O’Byrne again, as I think he played one of his best games so far! He is a young player and all this that he is going through will just help him get better.

On to Washington tomorrow to face the Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin who is coming off a hat-trick performance. Will our good friend Theodore be in nets? And Saturday, it is back at home at the Phone Booth to face the Sabres who just cooled off the Bruins!

Enjoy the weekend and the games!

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Hello Canadiens Fans!

I am sorry not to have written here the past week or so, but I’ve been very busy!

Since my last blog the Habs have played 4 games going 1-1-2, losing in Carolina 2-1 in a couple of minutes, beating the Sens in Ottawa 3-2 in a shootout and losing 2 straight shootouts against our hated Bruins (3-2) and the lowly Islanders (4-3) with the help of an own goal from Ryan O’Byrne!

The Habs have not been playing their best hockey, but still have a decent record. If this were another year, there would not be too many people panicking, but since this is THE year for the Habs, any loss they have is the end of the world. They certainly have not been playing their best hockey and far from it, but they will eventually turn it around and people will relax a bit… ‘till the next “slump”.

They are still ahead of last year’s record after 20 games (1 more point), so have no fear Montreal fans, this team WILL get better.

Tonight, the Habs go into Detroit and they better be prepared or else they are going to get their you know what kicked! I believe that they will play a good game and will get back to their winning ways of last year very soon!

Enjoy the game and GO HABS GO!!!!

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Welcome back Habs Fans!

Well, the Habs played 2 games over the weekend and here some thoughts on both of those games!

Habs – Flyers on Saturday:

What can we say… The Habs came out flat once again and paid the price for it. Martin Biron always seems to be playing to another level when facing the Habs. He has been stinking up the joint this year, but against our beloved Canadiens, he was once again stellar in nets most notably stopping Robert Lang and getting some help from the post. The Flyers scored 2 beautiful goals, especially the first one by Scottie Upshall on a redirection of Mike Richards pass in front of the net. Alex Tanguay (who else) scored for the Bleu Blanc Rouge on a beautiful pass from Captain (a.k.a. Commandant) Saku Koivu, but it was too little, too late for Nos Habitants! As I had mentioned, the crowd was edgy and booed the Canadiens at many instances throughout the game, but what can you say… this is Montreal!!!! Jaroslav Halak played well and there was not much he could do on either of the goals. All in all, too many turnovers and when the Canadiens had chances, too many blocked shots from the Flyers. The only positive thing that came out of this game was the total annihilation by Georges Laraque on Gratton! I mean WOW, Big Georges landed punch after punch and taught him such a lesson that I had to rewind it on my PVR to watch that beating again. You would think that would have energized the Canadiens, but it did not do much as the Habs headed for their second straight loss.

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Habs – Blues on Sunday:

Sunday was redemption night (or shall we say evening as the game was played earlier) for our Habs! Again, the Habs came out and were dominated in the 1st period by the Blues who took a predictable 1-0 lead when again it was the opposition’s 4th line that scored. Carey Price kept the Habs in the game until in the 2nd, Andrei Kostitsyn tied the game with a great individual effort going from end to end and getting an early Christmas present from Manny Legace who got beat five-hole. The Habs to their credit, played better in this game and also had 2 posts in this game (Brisebois and Markov) as well as A. Kostitsyn’s shootout post. At least they were competing in this game and managed to tie the game with about 4 minutes left when Robert Lang, from his knees scored a great goal! Sometimes, the obvious ones don’t go in and the tougher ones do, and that is exactly what happened! The referees were calling everything during the game and when I saw that Lee was the referee, I said uh oh!, here we go again. I don’t know if it is because we only see this guy when the Canadiens play, but he always seems to want to be the center of attention. I believe I saw the other referee twice. Six times a power play got cancelled due to other penalties, yet both officials of course missed the most obvious call, a blatant high stick on Andrei Kostitsyn. That would have most likely changed the game as it would have been a 4-minute penalty due to the blood from AK-46’s lip. A scary incident that reminded us all of the accident Trent Mcleary suffered a few years back when Francis Bouillon got a slap shot straight to his throat. Thank God, all is well with Bouillon and nothing serious occurred. In the shooutout, Price was stellar and of course, Alex Kovalev’s shootout winner was a thing of beauty going backhand upstairs. The Habs never quit and this is what we have learned with them over the past couple of years. A much needed win to lift their spirits and of course all of Montreal’s spirits! Now, another busy week with games in Carolina, Ottawa and back home for the Bruins. Revenge is on the horizon.

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!

Well hello there hockey fans!

What a game last night! And I mean that in the most sarcastic way for our Habs! Where to start with this game? The horrible performance of the Habs? The ongoing turnovers of the Habs? The sarcastic singing of the Boston fans? The furious fight between Mike Komisarek and Milan Lucic? Carey Price staying in nets for all of the 6 goals?

Let’s just say that this was a game to forget and forget they will have to as they get right back in it tomorrow at the Bell Centre against the Flyers minus the fans latest target Briere as he is out with a lower body injury.

This was the kind of game that you know from the beginning everything will go wrong. From Dandenault and Komisarek coughing up the puck to Shawn Thornton of all people and walking in and beating Price through the five hole to Robert Lang’s wide open net post when the score was still 1-0 for the Bruins.

Turnovers just kept on happening for the Habs and by the time they knew what had happened, it was already 3-0! Then came the chants from the crowd mocking the Ole Ole Ole that is usually sung by Habs fans at the Bell Centre, as well as the Na na na na, goodbye! This was a slap to the face for us fans, but what can you expect from the fans of a team that had lost 12 straight regular season games and having being eliminated from the playoffs 3 times in a span of 8 years! To Bruins fans, this was their Stanley Cup and I expect that when the teams meet again soon, things will get back to normal and the Canadiens will return to their usual manners of beating up these Bruins both on and off the scoresheet.

The Habs have a busy weekend ahead as they face the Flyers tomorrow and the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. They better come out prepared, especially tomorrow at the Bell Centre as the crowd will be very edgy and will jump all over the Habs if things start to turn sour!

I will be back with more blog posts for the weekend games. ‘Till then, have a good weekend and enjoy the games!

Dimi “DX” (your Habs blogger),

The drive for 25!