EDIT can be found at bottom

I suppose last night's Canadiens game was so frustrating to watch because we've seen so many like it over the last few years. The Canadiens had no business walking away with a point last night, but Carey Price deserved a win. You can play it down all you like, but Carey was outstanding in this game. I know PM made him sound a lot better than he is (as he tends to do) but honestly do any of you remember the last time you saw a goalie you thought was as good as Price is. I could talk about his composure and cool until I'm blue in the face, truth is I don't think I, nor Pierre McGuire need to convince you that this kid is the real deal.

In the original piece I submitted to hockeybuzz, which eventually landed me a full time gig writing in this spot, I wrote the following regarding the Habs last game of the '06-07 season vs. the Leafs: "Trying not to die will get you killed". It was pretty obvious the Canadiens were so worried about dumping a winning steak in the toilet against a team like Atlanta, that they played not to lose. They were lucky they didn't get blown out of the water in the first period. One friend put it best to me after the game: "I was there, luckily I didn't have to pay for my ticket...honestly I would've felt sick about it."

I wouldn't say the Canadiens didn't work hard, it's just when you play a game tentatively it's seemingly impossible to establish the chemistry and flow you need to win. The powerplay players thought the powerplays were going to take care of themselves...how else do you explain not scoring on two 5 on 3 opportunities?

On that note, was anyone in the province of Quebec surprised to see Ryder glued to the bench after he had 6 miles of fresh ice in front of him, on a third period PP, to walk in and unleash one. Classically he held onto the puck too long, brought it directly to two feet from a defender and unleashed into his shinpads like a peewee player with his head down...I thought I heard an angry dad in the stands screaming: "Pick your head up Michael, it's dangerous out there". Note to Michael Ryder: In a one-goal game, when you are on the PP, make the simple play...oh and if you're a shooter, do what you do best, and shoot the damn puck, especially if you are in position to score!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?

The problems in his buddy Guillaume's game have been obvious since the beginning of the season. I joked with another friend last night that perhaps the only reason he hasn't been sent to Hamilton is because he would fail there too, and then we'd have a real fiasco on our hands. Seriously you'd have to be doing a lot of things wrong to be playing worse than Ryder at this point. It's like Aebischer one-upping Theodore last season...Truly disgusting to watch.

Maybe, and this is just some postulation here...maybe Andrei Kostitsyn should be put in the lineup...you know...as a regular? Maybe he might gain some confidence if he was playing as a regular? Maybe if he was playing on a line Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins? That would just be too easy!

And poor, poor Josh Gorges. He got booed off the ice last night, deservedly so. I'm sure he expected no less after practically booting the game in the second period. Doesn't mean you shouldn't feel bad for him. It's difficult to see a guy who goes from playing 18 minutes per game for a successful San Jose team get thrown in the pressbox for 10 games, knowing that when he finally does see ice-time he'll be expected to play flawlessly, moreover needs to in order to stay in. If that wouldn't make you nervous perhaps you should be playing for the Montreal Canadiens. In any case, he made a bonehead play, as did Andrei Markov seconds before that...only difference...Andrei Markov is not Josh Gorges. It didn’t have as much bearing on the outcome as you would think, cause as I said a-top this blog, the Canadiens didn't even deserve a point, let alone two!

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I'd say there were four positives to this game:

1. Carey Price
2. Kyle Chipchura
3. Alex Kovalev
4. The Canadiens started battling back realizing they better pick up the intensity level if they hope to be up for games later on in the week. I think they played hard enough in the last half of the game to inspire enough confidence that a different team would be coming out Thursday night.

Aside from that, this one should be remembered and forgotten. Remember that playing tentatively almost guarantees losing. Forget about how poorly you played and come back strong for the next one.

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I’ll be on the hockeybuzz talkcast today at 4:45pm. Call in if you like and speak to myself, Eklund, or former Ms. New Jersey, and hockey aficionado Julie Robenhymer. I’m sure we’ll discuss the upcoming Flyers-Canadiens game.

Actually, I'll be co-hosting the hockeybuzz talkcast today at 4:00pm as Ek takes his kids trick or treating. Jules and I have a great show lined up...be sure to tune in. You can listen to the talkcast live by clicking on the right hand side of the hockeybuzz homepage...and hitting the play now button at 4:00pm once the show has started. Also the shows are all archived and you can always listen to them by clicking the down tab, scrolling through, and hitting listen now.

Enjoy! Also I'm sure Jules will put a preview of today's show up at some point, so stay tuned...

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» New Habs Blog> M.R. d'Awe