WEBER GETS ANOTHER SHOT

It’s time to see what Jaro Spacek, Paul Mara and Hal Gill can bring to the table.
Not to mention Yannick Weber.
You remember Spacek, Mara and Gill, three of the seven players brought in during the off-season during Bob Gainey’s extreme makeover of his hockey team?  Lots of size, lots of experience, lots of money.  Three [...]

WINNING STREAK SNAPPED AT ONE

When the Montreal Canadiens initially released their February practice schedule, they had ice time pencilled in at their facility in Brossard for noon today.
Maybe they should use it.
Then again, why bother.  Nothing seems to be working for this Habs‘ team that fell 4-2 in Vancouver last night, in a game the featured more of the [...]

SAY IT AIN’T SO, ALEX

Say it ain’t so, Alex.  Say it ain’t so.
We need to hear it from your lips, and we need you to mean it.  We need to hear you tell us that your recent struggles have nothing to do with the fact that you had to trade in the Captain’s “C” you were wearing while Saku [...]

LOSING SKID SNAPPED AT FOUR

This one didn’t score any points for artistic merit.  But it did score two points where it counted the most, for the Montreal Canadiens: in the “win” column, as the Habs snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings yesterday afternoon at the Bell Centre.  
This one got real ugly [...]

HABS PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF

With the glow of a magnificent All-Star weekend long faded, the Montreal Canadiens kicked off the unofficial second-half start to the season with a 5-3 loss to the Lightning in Tampa, with the Habs showing the same tendencies they exhibited during back-to-back losses heading into the All-Star break:
Shoddy goaltending, sloppy play in front of their [...]

EARLY EXIT FOR HALAK IN ATLANTA

It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Jaroslav Halak.
After taking the team through a very respectable 6-2 run while Carey Price was out nursing an ankle injury, Halak made his 9th consecutive start last night in Atlanta against the Thrashers.
By the time the game was 30:58 seconds old, Halak was on his way to [...]

CRUNCH TIME LOOMING FOR HABS’ BRASS

With no less than 17 forwards on the ice at practice today (18, if you count Mathieu Dandenault), it’s clear that decision-making time is looming for both head coach Guy Carbonneau and General Manager Bob Gainey, on a number of levels.
The numbers swelled today at the team’s facility in Brossard as a result of the [...]

PREDS THROW SCARE INTO HABS

Mike Komisarek has a vivid memory.
He can recall, in a game on Dec. 1, 2007, at the Bell Centre, how the Canadiens blew a pair of three-goal leads en-route to a 5-4 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators.  It was something that was on his mind as the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead into the [...]

TRADE WINDS BLOW THROUGH BOSTON

 
The Montreal Canadiens could have used Vincent Lecavalier last night.
But, alas, while Lecavalier and his Tampa team mates were warming up for their west-coast game against the Sharks (which the Sharks won, 7-1) the Canadiens fell 3-1 to the Bruins in Boston.
The trade winds that have been swirling in Montreal in recent days swept through [...]

HABS BAIL OUT HALAK

It’s not too often you can win a hockey game when your netminder gives up a goal every six shots.
But that’s exactly what happened at the Bell Centre this afternoon, as the Canadiens blew a pair of two-goal leads to salvage a 6-5 shootout victory over the Florida Panthers.
The goaltender in question:  Jaroslav Halak.  Head [...]