Stephen Tyler is not here to judge the Habs on their past two performances. There will be no flirtacious comments from the aged Monkey man to Brian Gionta or Jaroslav Spacek. Aside from a few hurt feelings on Jaroslav’s part – it is for the better.
A clear assessment indicates what pure Canadiens’ fans realized in last year’s play – offs. The ‘ C ‘ on both the Habs ‘ crest and on Brian Gionta’s sweater stands for ‘ character ‘. Nothing less.
Capitals
Once the ice thawed from Carey Price’s pads following his equipment’s overnight stay in the undercarriage of a bus / igloo , Montreal’s All – Star goaltender demonstrated why he was selected as such. Price closed the door firmly on the sometime high octane and equally overrated Washington squad.
The Caps jumped to an early 2 -0 lead and it appeared that Carey was as cold as his equipment. Not the case as the men from Obama Country quickly discovered. Brian Gionta , la Capitaine , displayed his leadership skills ‘ au bout ‘ and placed the entire team on his back. Not bad for a 5 ‘ 6″ player. Perhaps Gionta witnessed the blue color emanating from Carey ‘s appendages and believed that he had a fellow Smurf playing alongside him. Gionta passed , skated and shot with inspiration. The type of leadership that Saku Koivu would have accomplished if he were not felled with injuries, bad line – mates and poor management. Brian’s performance made the ‘ Rocket ‘ cease his game in heaven and applaud with pride.
Gionta played 23 : 06 minutes , had seven shots on goal and finished the game +2. He outplayed Alexander Ovechkin in both the game and shoot – out.
Gimme a Smurf any day…
Panthers
Employ naked cheerleaders , allow photos to be taken and stored in Iphones , give anyone attending the Habs – Panthers game free passes from the upcoming Mayan catastrophes and then invite everyone to Schwartz’s for free smoke meat.
A Montreal – Florida match will still be boring.
The Habs normally lose these games. Is it because a team like the suntanned cats play the same type of ‘ hairy screwy ‘ hockey that allows the Leafs’ Ron Wilson to be able to download an infinite amount of movies on his Maple Leaf P. C. ? Maybe it is out of jealousy as the Montreal players are in envy of their Southern counterparts. After all , the Panthers play hockey and head to the beach while the Hab players are thrown to the journalistic wolves . Now , that’s a real ‘ beach ‘ .
Captain Smurf netted his third goal in two nights ( four if you include the shoot – out winner ) and it proved to be the winner once more. The ‘ Rocket ‘ will have to subscribe to cable if this continues so he can follow his diminutive ‘offspring ‘ on a regular basis and be able to play heavenly hockey.
Alex Auld was asked to push aside his spiderwebs from his mask and play in his sixth game of the season. The Habs’ back – up was the reason that the Panthers did not skate away with a point as Auld stopped 35 shots – 15 in the third as he notched his fourth win of the season. Auld was named third star behind Tomas Plekanec’ s top billing and P.K. Subban ‘ second star. The fans , being responsible for the three star choices , made the right ones on this evening as Plekanec, Subban and Auld were the reason for the win.
Gionta is one goal away from his 200th NHL marker and at the rate he is going – he will finish the season in the neighborhood of 215. Auld was solid as he is now 4 – 2 with a 2. 17 g.a.a and a .927 save percentage. He does need more work to salvage Price’s energy and to be ready if anything does happen to Price. Maybe Auld can finally unpack his suitcase after an eight city tour. The Habs with Price and Auld have a solid two goalie tandem.
Stay tuned for the ‘ Kovalchuk Dream ‘….
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