January 22 - Boston Bruins

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The Habs may be playing below-par at home in Montreal this season but that doesn’t seem to matter against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens followed up a successful 3-1 road trip with yet another loss at home on Saturday as they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-0, dropping them to .500 at the Bell Centre with an 8-8-5 home record – the lowest amount of home wins in the National Hockey League.

The Bruins, on the other hand, have been on quite a streak, going 3-0-1 in their last four games. They’ve been beaten by Montreal in their last 8 meetings though, including 5 games this season, 2 of them in Montreal. There is no telling where this lopsided dominance comes from but it is very apparent as Montreal has outscored Boston 24-8 in their 5 clashes this season, including 8-1 in first period goals.

The Eastern Conference is a tight race and the Canadiens have dropped to 6^th place, 3 points ahead of 7^th place Boston. A win for Montreal and a few necessary losses for Philly, Pittsburgh and New Jersey could put us back in fourth – a loss sets a dangerous tone in this second half of the season.

Sidney Crosby Placed on IR

The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially placed Sidney Crosby on injured reserve, allowing them to add an extra forward to their lines while the young superstar is out. Crosby will be re-examined on Tuesday but the initial diagnosis of a high ankle sprain will likely stand, keeping Sid the Kid out of the lineup for at least a month.

Crosby will also miss the All-Star weekend in Atlanta after receiving a record number of votes during the fan balloting.

Tanguay Waives NTC?

TSN is reporting that Alex Tanguay has officially waived his no-trade clause with the Calgary Flames, opening up trade possibilities with several teams, Montreal included. Rumours have been circulating of a deal potentially involving Michael Ryder or Saku Koivu but Calgary GM Darryl Sutter has been seen all over North America lately, attending games and fanning the gossip flames.

To be fair, the CBC is reporting that the clause has not been waived, so obviously nothing has been confirmed. More on this as the news leaks!

Pittsburgh 2 - Montreal 0

Playing at the Bell Centre isn’t one of the Habs’ strong points and, while they played a solid game against the Penguins on Saturday, Montreal came up short in a 2-0 loss.

Jeff Taffe scored a nice goal over the shoulder of Christobal Huet early in the first period and that goal would stand as the game winner and Danny Sabourin made 31 saves for his second shutout of the year. Huet played a very strong game, keeping his Canadiens in there until Malkin landed an empty netter as the Habs tried to score a tying goal.

Montreal’s home woes continue as they take solid position as the worst home team in the league.

January 19 - Pittsburgh Penguins

The Canadiens will host the red hot Penguins tomorrow night at the Bell Centre but Pittsburgh will be missing one key element: Sidney Crosby. The young superstar suffered a high ankle sprain and will not be playing in Montreal.  The Habs will look to take advantage of that loss and the Pens’ Friday night shutout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Pittsburgh is still on a very impressive 8-1-1 run but the Habs have also lost only one game in regulation in their last ten and they defeated the Penguins 4-3 in a shootout the last time they met. I would expect that Huet will get the start for Montreal but, with Crosby out, there may be a chance that Halak will make an appearance.

Sidney Crosby Injured, Out Indefinitely

Sidney Crosby took a mean spill into the boards during the first period of Pittsburgh 3-0 loss to Tampa Bay tonight and suffered a high ankle sprain as a result. Crosby left the ice in visible pain once he was able to stand and, while team doctors will re-evaluate him on Saturday, Sid the Kid is likely to be out for at least a month.

While this means I won’t get to see Sidney play against the Habs tomorrow night, the Canadiens won’t be complaining, tactfully speaking. On the other hand this may keep Crosby from the All-Star Game and he certainly deserves to be there.

Our best wishes to Cole Harbour’s pride and joy - heal up Sid!

Montreal 3 - Atlanta 2 (SO)

The Canadiens came on strong from the first puck drop tonight but the high-flying Atlanta Thrashers have been strong at home and are leading their division for the first time this season. The Thrashers poured on equal pressure and it paid off with Marian Hossa throwing a pass through the crease that went off of the arm of Christobal Huet and in to put Atlanta up 1-0. The period continued with strong pressure and outstanding goaltending from both teams and there were no more goals.

The second period opened with Atlanta forcing the Canadiens onto their heels a bit before Andrei Kostitsyn made a beautiful move to circumvent two Atlanta defensemen and puck a backhander over the shoulder of Kari Lhetonen, tying the game 1-1. The second period ended with the same ferocious pressure but Huet and Lhetonen kept the game scoreless going into the third period.

Michael Ryder put the Canadiens up 2-1 6:03 into the period, chipping a puck into the Atlanta net after a long series of perfect passes from his teammates. Atlanta poured it on and were finally rewarded midway through the period when Eric Perrin capitalized on a puckhandling error by Huet, throwing the puck into an empty net to tie the game again, 2-2. With the impending overtime, both teams were creating great chances but neither were able to capitalize.

The 4-on-4 overtime opened at a great pace with the Thrashers dominating early and Christobal Huet making up for his earlier mistake with several great saves. Kari Lehtonen was on top of his game at the other hand and the overtime made way for a shootout.

Now, we all know that the Canadiens in general and Huet in particular aren’t posting admirable numbers after regulation and especially in a shootout (2-5 as a team this season). Slava Kozlov shot first for Atlanta and Huet shut the door, making way for Montreal’s first shooter: Andrei Kostitsyn. Andrei performed his second beautiful deke of the night and put the puck through the legs of Lehtonen. Huet followed with another big save on Hossa and Koivu sealed things for the Habs with a second shootout goal, leading the Canadiens to a rare shootout win.

GAME NOTES: Despite the glaring third period error, Huet was very sharp and kept the Canadiens in the game on more then one occasion. Montreal has officially retaken 4th place in the Eastern Conference with this win.

Alex Tanguay For Michael Ryder?

Rumours are flying that the Montreal Canadiens are looking at Alex Tanguay of the Calgary Flames in exchange for Michael Ryder as the Habs look to strengthen their team and the Flames look to cut down their salaries to free up room to sign superstars like Pheneuf. Ryder has obviously been an underacheiver this season and, while I love having a talented Newfoundlander on the team, it may be the best move for everyone concerned.

Have an opinion on this proposed trade? Leave a comment!

January 17 - Atlanta Thrashers

After spending much of the first half of the season in the basement of the Southeast Division, the Atlanta Thrashers suddenly find themselves on top with a tenuous hold over Carolina. They’ve got renewed energy and have won their last two games.

The Canadiens took two points over the Islanders on Tuesday to cut Ottawa’s lead in the Northeast Division to eight points with their loss to Washington. Tuesday’s game, while officially a win, saw the Habs playing below their ability save for Christobal Huet who stopped all but one shot and made a few beauty saves to keep Montreal in the lead.

Atlanta has won its last two meetings with Montreal and the Canadiens will be looking to continue their point-getting ways (6-2-2 in the last 10 games) by breaking that streak. The Habs are hot on the road - let’s hope that works to their advantage!

It hasn’t been 100% confirmed as far as I can tell but I expect Huet to get the start tonight; Halak’s shot at starting will likely have to wait. This game sets us up for a very hot Pittsburgh team on Saturday; the Pens are 9-0-1 in their last ten.

Montreal 3 - New York 1

The Habs came into Uniondale having lost its first regulation game in a long while to the Rangers and they were out for blood. Or they should have been.

The first period was pretty low energy from both teams but the Habs held the edge and Thomas Plekanec gave Montreal a 1-0 lead on a wrist shot over the shoulder of DiPietro in the Islanders net. The Islanders were badly outshot in the first period, not managing one shot for the last 15 minutes of the period.

New York came on with a little more strength in the second period but Christobal Huet shut the door when necessary, keeping the game scoreless. Thomas Plekanec netted his second goal of the game while the Islanders were on a powerplay looking to even the score, throwing another wrist shot on a great fake move.

The Islanders continued their mediocre pressure and did finally manage a goal when New York’s Park managed to stuff a rebound past Huet. That’s as far as the Islanders would get though as Alex Kovalev scored a late empty netter to seal the deal for the Habs.

GAME NOTES: Carey Price let in 7 goals on 31 shots in Hamilton on Tuesday, continuing his very shaky run.

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