1) I make a pretty detailed case on where the Canadiens currently stand and what will enable them to maintain their position.
Pierre Gauthier's at a crossroads, and he's one of two people that can save this team right now, before things get ugly. And even if they won't get ugly, why take the risk?
This is Gauthier's timeout opportunity in a game that's not yet out of reach.
2) To expand on that... Yes, obviously the Canadiens need some help on the blue line. But Travis Moen has played more than 11% of his games next to Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri. He's spent another 10% with Gomez and Gionta, and another 7% with Gomez and Kostitsyn.
That's more than 28% of Moen's ice-time at even strength spent with Gomez. None of his whopping three goals this season (two of them coming in back-to-backs with the Islanders in October) were assisted on by Gomez.
Blame Martin if you like, but this situation, born of Andrei Kostitsyn's pathetic performance and Lars Eller's unpreparedness to play in a top-6 capacity offers great insight on how desperately the Canadiens need help at forward.
It's no wonder the team's goal per game average is 24th best in the league. Sure some of it's due to Martin's system, but not that much of it.
3) Gomez is having the worst season of his career. Cammalleri (luck aside) is having the worst season of his career (though the book's not closed on him yet). And Brian Gionta's struggled to find consistency of any kind.
Andrei Kostitsyn's been worse than abysmal. Since scoring 10 points in his first 9 games, Kostitsyn's managed 19 over the latter 49. To break it down further, he has 3 goals in his last 34 games, and 0 in his last 11 (1 assist over that time). That's disgusting--especially when you consider how badly the team needed something from him, with Cammalleri missing from the last 12 games.
4) If Gauthier's the first person on the list of those with the most influence on the Canadiens post-season hopes, you've probably guessed by now that Carey Price is the second. I'm not sure there's an order, but if there is, it would likely be Price first, Gauthier second, so sorry for reversing it.
Price wasn't at his best last night in Edmonton, though he may not have had to be had his teammates found a way to capitalize on the numerous chances they created in the second half of the game.
Moving forward, with the team entrenched in a losing skid, with 75% of the regular blue liners on the sidelines, Price is forced to do something the Canadiens have helped him avoid for most of this season; flat-out steal games consistently.
Calgary will offer a war when these teams meet outdoors Sunday.
Vancouver owes the Habs a beating.
Two losses brings the Canadiens to 7 of their last 8 dropped in the standings. They can't afford that...not now!
And it's getting tougher and more strenuous for the kid who's well into the fifties in games played.
And if he's forced to steal games now, what kind of energy will he have for the team's toughest stretch (the final ten games of the season and the playoffs)?
5) A commenter named "John" on my CTV blog is unsympathetic to any player that gets hit in the face with a puck because he wasn't wearing a visor.
Would love to have this guy as a parent...
6) Wisniewski's visor (if he wore one...update: actually he does wear one) may not have protected against a rising wrist shot to the face,
as this picture clearly indicates.
7) It was a lot of fun catching up with former Hab Brian Savage on last night's pregame show for the Team 990.
I gotta kick about how he kept referring to the Canadiens as "us" and "we".
Fans who didn't get to hear the interview would be pleased to hear him say:
"Once you bleed red, you're always a Montreal Canadien. If someone asks me who's my favorite team, it's always the Montreal Canadiens. I had the best time of my career wearing the CH and I'll be a Hab for life."
8) Savage also noted in the interview (before the game) that the most difficult games in the National Hockey League are played against inferior opponents (at least on paper) with nothing to lose. Guess that explains three of four points dropped to the Oilers this year.
9) Cammalleri, Gill, Wisniewski, Mara...all in for the Heritage Classic? We'll find out soon enough, and if they are, it should make a world of difference against the Flames.
But one can't help but wonder if Cammalleri's pushing his return, just to participate in this one. He obviously can't play if he isn't cleared to, but it would seem he and the team could influence that situation with the doctors.
If Gill goes, do you think he'll be sufficiently healed from whatever was ailing him? I doubt it.
Ditto for Wisniewski; even if he can tough it out, that shot came with collateral damage.
Mara's coming into a new situation, even if it seems familiar. The Canadiens have to give him time to adjust, though they can't afford to spare any.
Can Spacek rejoin the team by the time they reach Vancouver?
10) This could be another one of those situations where the Canadiens shock everyone. Most expect them to lose out on this road-trip, and with a bad start, plenty are already jumping to "I told you so."
I'll be breaking it down further on
CTV's Sports Extra, with Brian Wilde and Marc-Antoine Godin. You can tune in tomorrow around 6:30pm on CTV Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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