The Montreal Canadiens rolled into Buffalo tied for 6th in the NHL standings after a dominant, but ultimately close, win against a disappointing Calgary Flames team.

The Flames have the makings of a good team, but not a great one. Last game Rittich in goal kept it from being a laugher and Tkachuk showed why he’s becoming one of the best players in the league. Without those two this game would have been a blow out of epic proportions.

Calgary clearly lacks in the coaching and defense department. I don’t know why D Hamilton had to be traded, but it wasn’t a good move. The Flames lack discipline in a big way as evidenced by a 10 minute stretch in the 2nd period where they took 4 penalties in a row (the first negating their own PP), the Habs scored on 2 of the PP’s and then Drouin put the game away less than a minute after the Flames 4th penalty. Just terrible discipline and the coaching staff should have to answer for the play of their team.

If the Flames don’t figure out soon that they need to adapt, and also give Tkachuk a bigger role, then they will be on the outside looking in for sure this spring.

Tonights game against Buffalo offered the Canadiens a chance to keep the dream alive but unfortunately they ended up losing in a somewhat lackluster effort compared to what we have seen already.

The Power Play looked alright from what I saw, but I had to leave before the 3rd period as my mother had fallen and broken her leg and I had to get over to her quick to help her up and get emergency services on the way.

So, I was unable to finish the game last night as I assisted EMS with getting my mother out of the house and then getting my niece and nephew set up to stay at my home for the night. My mother is their legal guardian.

With this I will say that I will try to keep up with blogs about the Habs but I have informed HockeyBuzz of the situation and they will work to find help keeping pace with the Canadiens news/blogs in the short term as we make up a massive part of this operation.

In losing to Buffalo the Habs looked like they took them a bit too lightly than they deserved. The Sabres have a quick young team as well and the Habs looked a bit disinterested at times and were being outshot and out chanced. A rarity for the club so far this season so I’m sure adjustments are on the way.

Niemi played well in the loss, but Domi really shone brightly with his 2 goals. Domi centering Drouin and Lehkonen looks to be a great offensive decision so far and hopefully they keep them together. With the Danault, Gallagher (who scared us with a shot of his hand that didn’t end up keeping him out of the game), and Tatar as the other scoring line option I would say the Habs look to be set up pretty well right now.

I will say though that I think Deslaurier and even Shaw might need a break to get Hudon and Scherbak their shots…

I know this is a bit of a patch work blog but it’s difficult to apply focus here when I have quite a full plate to work through suddenly. I appreciate all your support so far as the Habs blogger and hope to continue to write here, but I also respect the business aspect of the website and its need to keep rolling. Hopefully my situation trends the right way in the near future so I can continue this blog, but I trust whoever fills in when I can’t get things done will provide an entertaining opinion for you all.

Go Habs Go

Join the Discussion: » 58 Comments » Post New Comment

» Acquiring Laine Would Exceptional... But At What Cost?

» Is 29 Year Old Jake Gardiner The Only Option For MTL?

» Big Game Hunting

» Habs Give A Glimpse Of Great Things To Come In Bittersweet Finish

» Habs Ink World Jr Stars Poehling and Primeau to ELC Deals + PLAYOFFS?!?