I have to prop the Montreal Canadiens. I face wash those who deserve it, and I accentuate the positives of those who have earned the praise.
The Habs were obiterated in Buffalo Thursday night, and less than 24 hours later, their collective squad rose up and pounded the piss out of the Boston Bruins on the night of their Centennial inside the Bell Centre. Coulda been the prescence of Belliveau,lach, Bouchard, Roy, Dryden, Mahovlich, Lafleur, Shutt, Gainey, Naslund, Nilan, Robinson and Lapointe. Coulda been their team pride. Coulda been the fact that Laraque and Gill drew back into the lineup for the habs. Could have been a convergence of all things that powred the Habs over the Bruins. Tim Thomas and his teammates played listlessly. They found themselves in a 5-0 hole because they refused to tighten the gap on Mike Cammaleri, whose trick buried the B's.
The Bruins loss aided the Buffalo Sabres in that Buffalo maintains a one point lead on Boston for the Northeast divsion lead. Both teams play tonight. a Buffalo win over the Rangers, and a Phil Kessel-driven leafs win in Boston will create breathing room for Buffalo atop the division. Kessel would love to show his former team a thing or two about his character tonight. You gotta believe that Kessel has had tonight's game circled in red Sharpie for months now. he misied the early portion of the season due to surgey and the subsequent rehab. Tonight, he finally gets the chance to show Claude Julien, Chiarelli, and his former mates that he's a premier player in the NHL. There were times when Kessel was criticized and chastised for his unwillingness to buy in to the Julien Trap that restricted Kessel's playmaking and finishing abilities.
Sabre fans should hope that Kessel goes postal tonight and he lights up Team USA backup goalie, Thomas---errrr, Tuuka Rask like a Christmas tree.
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Poor Patty Lalime. The Buffalo back-up made 42 saves for the Portland Pirates in a 3-2 shootout loss against Providence last night.
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26-13-25 are locked, loaded and ready for battle.
The line is a combined +9 since Lindy Ruff first played them together last Thursady night at home vs. Carolina. Smart move by a smart head coach.
In the span of a week, Vanek has found his way to the plus side of the ledger, and it hasn'tcome from a lack of trying. HDTV has turned his game around vis a vis busting his ass in all three zones. He's been just as impressive in the D zone than he has been in the attack zone. thats consistency. He's presently a +1, which is light years better than they -4 he was a week ago. He has 8/10. Vanek has been more responsible with the puck and he's moving his feet with purpose when he's away from the puck. Grier has two goals and two assists in his past five games. Grier will no doubt be on the ice a lot against his former BU bro, Chris Drury tonight. Timmy Kennedy has been hotter than a pistol while playing with Vanek and Grier. His 2 goals and 2 assists have been born out of his hard work and his no-fear attitude in the high risk, dirty areas on the ice.
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