Try and put yourself in their shoes: The coach, who insisted the Canadiens should be able to sweep this road trip, put on the pressure…

You get on that last airplane home, and as the flight attendants go through procedures you’ve been through a thousand times before, you close your eyes and reflect. A smile comes over your face, as you feel a sense of accomplishment, knowing you’ve done your job, and done it well. Then it finally sinks in, you’re going home, to your pillow, to your comforts, your others, and of course your arena, where 21,273 people are going to give you a rousing welcome—a verbal pat on the back. You know it’s time for bed, because by the time you wake up, the only thing that should be on your mind is the next opponent who will also be at your arena, waiting for you!

The Canadiens are 7-1-2 in their last ten games. They have eclipsed the New Jersey Devils, and moved into fourth place. They have stayed ahead of the Flyers who are red hot, going 8-1-1 in their last ten. They have more points than the second place/hottest team in the league—Pittsburgh Penguins, who have gone 9-0-1 in their last ten. Last night, they picked off a team that had just beaten Detroit 5-1.

For the first time all season, the Canadiens came back from a deficit after the first period, and won. It may not have been the most exciting game to watch, mainly cause both teams did a pretty good job in the neutral zone all night, but there were moments that made this win quite special.

Andrei Kostitsyn, has now officially scored the two nicest goals of Montreal’s season. The first one was against Washington, in that afternoon game, where he turned the defenseman inside out then popped it in off his off-wing, far-side—Messier-style, off one foot. The second one came last night, as he pulled the puck back to avoid a checker right before the blue line, then took his speed up a gear to slip through the stick, split the d, catch up to the puck to pull it backhand and over Lehtonen’s pad. What an essential goal to score, in a very close game.

Then the third period got underway, and just as you began to question Smolinski for not giving up the puck earlier, he skated over the line at the same time as Latendresse, feathered a puck to him, and Ryder beat Todd White to the net, giving Guillaume an open passing lane. The puck touched White’s stick, and floated off of Ryder’s, under the bar and in.

An early goal in the third to secure a lead was all the Canadiens needed. Cristobal Huet was solid all night. Unfortunate on the first goal, scored by Hossa on a pass towards Perrin, which hit Huet’s thumb-piece on his blocker, and deflected behind him. The goal came on a powerplay generated from what could easily be referred to as the worst call of the year. Bouillon went off for interfering with Kovalchuk who fell because he lost an edge. Until he fell, there was no indication a penalty would be called on the play, considering there was no penalty to be called. Anyways, bad calls happen, and sometimes they cost you goals. What I’ve learnt over years of playing and watching hockey is that most of the time when you get a really unlucky break, you tend get it back, whether it comes, or you force it to! Kostitsyn got it back, and no luck was involved. His goal was the motivating factor leading to Montreal’s next tally.

And then, it happened again; Huet went out to play a puck, and when he hesitated, Pascal Dupuis took care of an open net, and there it was: A tie game. Goalies may wear masks, but anyone could see the embarrassment on Huet’s face after he let in that bad goal, in the third period, again! Here the Canadiens were, finally in position to get the monkey off their back, and you could tell by his face, he felt like he just blew it. Ordinarily, a goalie might not be able to get over the frustration of something like that happening, in order to maintain focus on not letting it happen again. That was a major momentum swing, and the Thrashers could have parlayed it into a victory. Instead of getting down on himself, Huet got pissed.

The game went to overtime, and out came the saves. A huge 2 on 1 stop on Hossa, following him the whole way, trusting his defenseman was taking Kovalchuk out of scoring position, and standing tall on Hossa, who as a result, shot right into Huet’s pad. Then, with just a couple of minutes on the clock, Kovalchuk got his best chance of the game, a ripping one-timer from eight feet inside the blue line, and Huet absolutely robbed him with his glove. There it was, a bad goal was scored, and forgotten…huge saves were made, and it was time to conquer another demon—the shootout.

Kozlov had scored twice on the same move, past both Montreal netminders in previous games this year. Huet must’ve known he was going to switch it up this time, but he was ready for anything. He stayed a bit more back this time, forcing Kozlov to shoot, as the puck trickled off of Huet’s shoulder, careening off the glass.

Do you think Kostitsyn was confident enough to beat Lehtonen on Montreal’s first shot, after scoring such a beauty in the second? Of course he was, because he undressed Lehtonen, moving him to the right before turning back left, forcing Lehtonen to follow, as Kostitsyn casually slipped it through his legs.

The pressure shifts back towards Huet, as Hossa comes in on a very wide angle. Huet stays patient and pushes Hossa to try and deke him, and as he takes the bait, Huet knows he’s got him, and forces him out of scoring range…save number two!

Carbonneau puts the game on Saku Koivu’s stick, the captain, who has been under everyone’s critical thumb for the last couple of weeks. Here’s your opportunity to show why Montreal needs you. And there it is! Put Koivu in a situation where he has to be clutch, and he comes up with the win for you. Similar move to Kostitsyn, forehand, hesitation on the backhand, forehand right through Lehtonen.

The result:
- 3-1-0 on the road trip.
- A win, coming from behind
- Overcoming a terrible third period blunder, and winning regardless
- Keeping pace with the hottest teams in the league
- Moving into home-ice advantage
- Pride, in the accomplishment of reversing certain bad trends
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Crosby, Malkin, Conklin, and the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins await you at the Bell Centre. Give ‘em your best!
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I’ll be on the Buzzcast today, with Eklund and Julie Robenhymer as we discuss the latest rumors popping up about Montreal. We’ll also be going over some general Habs-talk and encourage all of you to come participate, and call in.

The number to call is 1-724-444-7444, then talkcast id. #49244…The show starts at three if I’m not mistaken, so tune in, cause it should be a good one. Also if you haven’t listened for a while, the way to access the show is by clicking the play button under Eklund’s blogspace on the homepage. It says ‘daily buzzcast’ with a play button next to it…hard to miss.

Have a great Friday everyone!!

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