Yes of course having a Vincent Lecavalier on the team would be great! Vinny would be the big scoring centre from Quebec that the Habs have needed since Jean Beliveau. Vinny would solidify the number one centre position for the next ten years, and the Canadiens would have their impact player they have been searching for. But what about the back end?

The Canadiens have showed that even with players like Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek and Roman Hamrlik that they still need someone else to complete their four man scheme. Josh Gorges and Francis Bouillon are good, especially Gorges who has an impressive +18 this year, and Bouillon never ducks away from the rough play, unfortunately they are both small. Patrice Brisebois is playing well again this year, but is showing signs of fatigue as he is looked upon to be the number four guy.

The solution could be prying Pronger away from the Ducks. With Pronger’s size, mean streak and toughness, to go along with his defensive and offensive skill, he might be just what the Habs need. Think of playing the Boston Bruins or the Philadelphia Flyers in the play-offs this year. Both of those teams are big and like to pound the corners, and with Komisarek being the only one who really pounds back with any consistency, the Habs are lacking back-end size and toughness.

And what about at the forward position? Even with all the injuries the Canadiens have had this year they have still managed to score goals, so scoring doesn’t seem to be the problem. An aging Steve Begin is doing what he can to play a tough and hitting game but can’t do it every night. Tom Kostopoulos is doing what he can to defend players but seems to be more of a punching bag. Guillaume Latendresse is concentrating on scoring or passing and not finishing his checks.

Could the solution be getting Neil out of the Sens line-up? Think of Georges Laraque back in the line-up playing beside Neil. The Bruins and Flyers would have a hard time with the likes of Komisarek, Pronger, Laraque and Neil. The forwards for the Habs would be able to run free and play the way they can without worrying of retribution from the other teams. Carey Price would be a little less worried about peolpe crashing his net as he would know that there would finally be some pay back.

As I mentioned before, Lecavalier would definitely be great, but if it is impossible to get him, then Pronger and Neil would be a solution to some of the problems that the Habs have. The Canadiens would definitely be tougher team, and would surely be harder to push around.

Last year in the play-offs the Habs out hit the Bruins, but where so tired after that series that the Flyers were able to push them around, if the Canadiens acquired Neil and Pronger, that would be different, especially with Laraque in the line-up.

Hopefully Bob Gainey will make the right decision and help the Habs fill in the holes they have.

The only remaining player on the team that has yet to be sent to the Hamilton Bulldogs formation is Kyle Chipchura. The chipper is being kept s a precaution as the Habs still have some light groin injuries to a couple of their players, but Chipchura should be sent down soon enough.

With all the young talent that has impressed not only the Montreal Canadiens orgainzation, but many other teams as well as both French and English media, it’s a wonder that they were all sent down to Hamilton.

Names like Max Pacioretti, Ben Maxwell, Matt D’agostini,  and soon Kyle Chipchura are all Bulldogs for now. But all these players impressed hard in the pre-season and look to be 90% NHL ready. Are the Habs saying that Mathieu Dandenault is better than all of those players? Dandenault was riding the bench for much of the season last year.

Carey Price having lost 21 pounds this off-season looks NHL ready this year. He played really well and made some spectacular saves during all of his games.

Jaroslav Halak has a tweaked hip but with the demotion of Marc Denis to Hamilton, the Habs believe that Halak will be ready to back up Price for the start of the season. Halak also played well during his pre-season games.

The only acquisition that the Habs made in the off-season that didn’t play one pre-season game is Georges Laraque who is still nursing a groin pull. Scott Livingston ( Canadiens strength and conditioning coach) believes that big Georges should be ready be day one of the regular season.

This year is seemingly the year for the Habs as most of the team is either a restricted or un-restricted free agent at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Christopher Higgins, Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Alex Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec, Sergei Kostitsyn, Robert Lang, Steve Begin, Tom Kostopoulos, Mike Komisarek, Francis Bouillon, Patrice Brisebois, and so on are all RFA’s or UFA’s at seasons end.

So it would seem that it’s now or never for the Habs. Or is it?

There has been some speculation as to the 4.5 million of Saku Koivu and where it will end up. Most seem to beleive that Koivu will either be traded or leave at the end of his contract. Would that mean that Plekanec would then become the number 1 centre of the team and the money would go to re-signing him along with someone else?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in need of some defence-men, could the Habs trade some to them along with Higgins and a prospect for Jordan Staal?

Trades or no trades, speculation or not, Sundin or no Sundin. The Montreal Canadiens have far too many players that will play for their next contracts to be an average team this year. No matter what team individual players play for, when their contract are up at the end of the current season, the players always up their play in the hopes of securing that big money contract they all want. With that notion alone not counting the fact that the Habs won the Eastern Conference last year, should bring them back into the play-offs.

The addition of Laraque should help the Habs not only in the regular season, but in the play-offs as well, as the Habs were a little too small and being pushed around in the post season last year.

Carey Price with his weight loss should be even quicker than last year, and his conditioning will help him not to be tired in the post season.

Not to mention the fact that there are many young players nipping at the heels of some veteran players. Gregory Stewart could replace Begin next year. Pacioretti could replace Guillaume Latendresse. Maxwell could replace Maxim Lapierre, as could Kyle Chipchura. D’agostini could replace Kostopoulos. P.K. Subban, or Pavel Valentenko could replace Bouillon.

Basically, there are many players that could be replaced within the organization, which Habs fans haven’t seen in at least 18 years.

So is it now or never, or is it now or possibly soon? We will all see.

The Habs start the season Friday October 10, 2008 against the Buffalo Sabres, then Saturday October 11, 2008 against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lets all hope that the players playing for a contract next season coupled with the talent waiting to come up will push the Habs to at least the Conference finals, and possibly the Stanley Cup.

Good luck boys. May the Price be with you.

Mark Streit, he has some potential, but failed to show up for many games in the post season. Yes he had a couple of good games, but for the salary that he will demand next season, is it really worth it? Streit is a good puck mover, and has a good shot from the point, but he didn’t use it much, and had a hard time against the bigger teams he faced in the play-offs.

The power-play, what in the world happened? Well teams figured out that Andrei Markov always passes the puck to Alex Kovalev, and shut that lane off, then it was to Streit, and teams shut that lane off too, so the power-play was almost non existent.

Carey Price, well, unfortunately he showed that he is still a rookie, he did win his first play-off series, and made some spectacular saves, but also was rattled and let in some cheap goals. Price is only twenty years old, and will rebound from this, he gained valuable experience in the post season, and will have to work on his glove side high holes, although there are unconfirmed reports that he was a little injured as well. Look, you see in this kid that he has the potential to be great, this was a stepping stone, or a learning curve, so do be too hard on him.

Basically the team in the series against the Philadelphia Flyers, out played played the other team, they couldn’t finish. What the Habs needed and need for next season is for Guillaume Latendresse to play like the player he is supposed to be, or to get a player like Milan Lucic, and perhaps if, and only time will tell, if the Habs don’t have gritty decent size forwards in Hamilton, which they do, then they will have to acquire a few. Along with possibly inquiring about Jeff Carter, he would be a good centre for the Habs. The forwards that don’t hit, meaning the scorers, did their job, they got points, perhaps too little, too late in the game, but they did it anyways, you can’t fault them. The fourth line however, was atrocious, and will have to be much better next season.

All the Habs need is a good power forward, and a couple of good gritty players to help Tom Kostopolous, and Steve Begin in the hitting department, as more defense-men are coming up, and they know how to hit. This post season was not a let down as the Canadiens were fore-casted to not make the play-offs, so the team should sort of be happy, however next year is the centennial, and all the media in hockey will be in Montreal, if the Habs don’t want to look like chumps, then they will have to take what they hopefully learned and apply it next season.

They out-played the Flyers, but didn’t get any lucky bounces, but at least they were not dominated, something to look forward to. Let’s hope that Price has a great rebound year next year, and leads the Habs further in the post season.

Flash, and dash, that’s right, flash, and dash. The Canadiens showed through-out the regular season that they have skill, and great passing, and that they are a fast skating team, unfortunately, that rarely goes anywhere in the play-offs, unless a team has more than two players who can hit on a consistent basis. The problem is that when only an injured Mike Komisarek, and Francis Bouillon, and also a slightly injured Roman Hamrlik are doing most of your team’s hitting, you have a problem. When those players are not injured, they can put the hurt on, and make you feel like you got hit by a truck, even little Bouillon’s hits hurt, but when they are hurt, and doing 90% of the hitting, it means that the rest of your team has issuses.

Where was Maxim Lapierre? Lapierre played decent against the Boston Bruins, decent, but then almost disappeared in the Philadelphia Flyers series. Where did he go? For someone of good size to play hockey, what did he bring to the Habs, besides his speed, I’ve never seen someone hit the glass so much, it’s like he wanted it to seem like he hit someone, but was afraid that people were going to put a contract out on him. Lapierre has speed, and good size, so he should be good on the fore-check, unfortunately he prefered hitting the glass rather than a body. Lapierre had a marginal face-off rating, so what was wrong with putting in a Gregory Stewart, who showed that he can play the style required of a third, or fourth line player? Lapierre will have stiff competition next training camp, he might go back to the Hamilton Bulldogs for the second year in a row, this time he might not get called back!

Mathieu Dandenault, this player has to be bought out of the final year of his contract. Last season was abysmal as a defence-man, and this year he almost saw as much of the press box as he did the ice. Once again he was put in the press box due to the fact that he wasn’t doing much, as usual, to be replaced by Guillaume Latendresse. Hopefully the Habs will buy Dandenault’s contract out, and we won’t have to hear him not being happy.

What happened to Brian Smolinski? he was pretty good against the Bruins, and in the first game in the Philly series, then he also made a disappearing act. He is someone else that shouldn’t be back with the team next year, he’s a nice guy, but you know what they say about those. He did what he could, but it wasn’t enough, and he doesn’t have many seasons left in him to say he will do better next year. The Habs should thank him for what he brought but they won’t be re-signing him next season, his money could be put to other use.

Michael Ryder, who’s that? Oh yeah, he’s the guy who took his benching in the play-offs lightly, and was busy making paper airplanes in the press box instead of studying the other team. Well, he had a really bad year, and was un-noticable in the post season, now one could say, one bad season, but the previous three were good, and that he still has time to rebound. Yes he does, but the plane thing pretty much killed him in most people’s eyes in Montreal. His almost three million dollar salary could also go elsewhere, sorry Mike, but bye!

So far, we have Ryder making almost three million, Dandenault making 1.7, and Smolinski making 2 million, right there the Habs have 4.7 million that they could use for something else.

Guillaume Latendresse, this guy is still young, and the Habs brought him up too fast, he should have played a couple of years in Hamilton, and maybe he should play at least one year there. Latendresse could be a Milan Lucic, without the speed as Latendresse has none. Guillaume has the size, and the hands to be a power forward, but he doesn’t do what he needs to in order to have success, he can’t skate fast, so then he should either be in front of the net, or drive towards the net, and crash in the corners to make defense-men cringe when they see him. On him I wouldn’t give up just yet, with Ryder most likely gone, it could be Guillaume’s last chance on a top line in Montreal. The coaches have to tell him to drive hard to the net, and crash, or else he will either go back to Hamilton, or be traded. Latendresse has potential, being on the third, and fourth lines this year but still managed to score over 15 goals. If he is trained the right way, Latendresse could be a dominate power forward, but will he be? I think his last chance is coming, if he doesn’t pan out next season, he won’t like the out-come.

Tom Kostopolous, he deserves another stint with the Canadiens. He was out of gas after game two of the Philly series, can you blame him? Along with Steve Begin, and Saku Koivu, Kostopolous was the only forward delivering hits and making things happen during the Habs post season, hello, is there anyone else? Kostopolous I would sign for two years, he deserves it.

Saku Koivu, what do you say about someone small who plays big? Koivu did his job and more since coming in mid-way through the Bruins series, he scored, assisted and hit some people, basically he was trying to lead by example, which few followed, be it because of injury, or lack of effort, too bad, Koivu should go far in the play-offs as he has been with the team the longest, and has endured the media in all his years here.

More to come in part 2.

The scoring for the Habs went like this, Tomas Plekanec, from Josh Gorges, and Francis Bouillon, and Saku Koivu, from Mark Streit, and Francis Bouillon. Jaroslav Halak made 22 stops in the loss. For the Flyers, the scoring went like this, R.J Umberger, from Daniel Briere, then Scott Hartnell, from Vaclav Prospal, then Daniel Briere, from Mike Knuble, and Prospal, and finally R.J. Umberger, from Jeff Carter ( empty net ). Martin Biron made 36 saves for the win.

After two periods, the Canadiens had almost double the amount of shots that the Flyers had, but they still couldn’t beat Biron. The Habs were trying, but Biron seemed to see everything. Why didn’t Guillaume Latendresse stand in front of the net? Perhaps even Tom Kostopolous, or Steve Begin. Well, either they are too afraid, or they are being told otherwise. Hello, if Biron is seeing everything then blind him somehow, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.

Jaroslav Halak played well after two periods, especially on the Jeff Carter break-away. The defence played well also, as one could see from the shot total, but there was no finishing on great plays that the Habs made. It almost seems as though the Canadiens were shooting the puck directly at Biron, making him look better than he really is. After two periods, the Habs were behind 1-0.

In the third period, the Flyers were able to score another goal, for which the Habs replied scoring two quick ones to tie the game. Unfortunately for the Habs, two goals wasn’t enough to get them into overtime. Once again during the course of the game, the Habs out-played the Flyers only to get the short end of the stick. Again the Habs were able to keep the number of shots to a minimum for the Flyers, but when Philly got a chance they buried it.

So far in the series after four games the Habs have out-shot the Flyers, and have for the most part out-played them also, is Biron as good as he seems, no, he’s a good goalie, when he was available I wanted the Habs to acquire him, but he isn’t as good as he seems. The Canadiens seem to be shooting right at him, sure he is in the right position sometimes, but all the time? No goalie can boast that! In the play-offs the majority of the goals are garbage, which opens up the skilled shooters to score as everyone’s attention is on the guy in front of the net. For the Habs, they shoot, but from un-obstructed angles, so Biron sees everything, no one is in front of the net. I don’t know if they are being told something different, but it seems that no-one is willing to pay the price and stand in front of the net on a consistent basis, that’s what will disturb Biron enough to let in goals.

If the Canadiens want a chance to win game #5 in Montreal, they have to crash the net, and bother Biron, and like I said, with someone standing in front of the net, there will be a spot for someone to shoot from as a defense-man will try to move that person obstructing Biron’s view, I’m sure that the coaches have noticed that after four games?!

Maxime Lapierre should be replaced, the Habs have nothing left to lose, put in someone like Gregory Stewart, he’s grittier than Lapierre, and fresh, Plekanec is also not doing much, he should be replaced also, put in Mikhail Grabovski, sure Grabs isn’t the best face-off guy, but how many face-offs has Plekanec won lately? And why replace Ryan O’Byrne with Patrice Brisebois again, O’Byrne played well last game, and the Flyers only had 14 shots on goal, am I missing something? Brisebois isn’t playing better than O’Byrne, at least if O’Byrne makes a mistake, he’s a rookie, what excuses can be made for Brisebois when he makes mistakes?

The series now shifts back to Montreal on Saturday, hopefully the two day break will give the Habs enough time to figure out how they are going to win on home ice, and not lose the series 4-1 in Montreal. The Canadiens will most likely come back with Carey Price in nets, hoping that the break he had will have cleared the cobb webs out of his head. The Habs have to play the same way defensively, but have to break their funk of not being able to capitalize on their chances. If they can’t find a way to bother Biron, well then the Habs have to hope that Biron has a bad game, either way, the Habs can’t permit themselves to lose the series on home ice, the Habs shouldn’t even be in this predicament. Crash the net boys, bother Biron, get the Flyers into penalty trouble, and then score, wear the Flyers defence out, and get in front of Biron!

In the Western Conference you will see the Dallas Stars against the San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red-Wings against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stars, Sharks: Evegeni Nabokov against Marty Turco. Nabokov is the better goalie this year by far, but Turco has played really well, and didn’t play as many games during the regular season as Nabokov, one would have to think that Nabokov will get tired eventually. Nabokov has the edge as long as he doesn’t get tired. The Stars still don’t have Sergei Zubov, which could hurt them in this series. If the Stars hope to defeat the Sharks they will have to do the same thing as they did against the Anaheim Ducks, as the Sharks are also a physical team, however they might be a little bruised after their last series against the Calgary Flames. Technically the Sharks should win, but then again, everyone had the Ducks winning too, as the Stars had a bad end of the season, and look what happened.

Avalanche, Red-Wings: As much as it pains me to say it, with the recent play of the almost extinct Dominik Hasek, Jose Theodore is the better goalie so far, Chris Osgood is a good goalie, unfortunately Theodore has been standing on his head in the play-offs, the edge to starting goalie goes to the Avalanche. Ian Laperriere, he has got a target on his back after smashing Niklas Lidstrom into cloud nine at the end of the season. The scorers for both teams are about even, the defence however goes to the Red-Wings. This series should go to the Red-Wings, but they didn’t impress too many people in their last series, are they too old? The Avalanche have some speed, but will it be enough to win? Colorado could upset.

In the Eastern Conference you will see the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers, and the Montreal Canadiens against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Penguins, Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, enough said. Lundqvist is superior to Ty Conklin, and Marc Andre Fleury, by far. Pittsburgh’s offence is better than the Rangers, but, Jaromir Jagr has come out of his shell, that could hurt the Pens. The Pens are all offence, and didn’t have much trouble sweeping the Ottawa Senators in their last series, but the Rangers are not the Sens. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, to shut down either the Sidney Crosby line, or the Evgeni Malkin line. But will the Pens be able to defend against the re-appearance of Jagr the great, Brendan Shanahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Martin Straka? Fleury, or Conklin will have their hands full in this series. The only factor that will not be one is Sean Avery, yes he can score some nice goals, which he just might, but his intimidation antics will not work in Pittsburgh with big George Laraque on the ice, Avery better hope that those two don’t meet, or else Avery can book his hospital room right now. Besides goal-tending which the Blue Shirts hold the advantage, the Pens have more explosive talent up front, question is, will they be able to explode on the Rangers, the Rangers aren’t the Sens. Keep the Pens in their own zone. I believe that the Rangers could win this one, if they are able to slow down the Pens, if not, the Pens take it.

Canadiens, Flyers: Where to start, well to keep it short, Carey Price is better than Martin Biron. The Flyers defence is slow, and Derian Hatcher has seen better days. These two teams were no.1, and no.2 in the regular season on the power-play, with the Habs being no.1. The Habs had a hard time against the Bruins on the p.p., but if they can manage to bring it back now that Saku Koivu is back then they will do well as the Flyers are an undisciplined team. Daniel Briere will be deaf when he leaves the Bell Centre, and may have to work on his confidence as well as the Montreal fans will let him have it big time. Montreal has the edge in coaching staff, and defence, as well as in between the pipes. With Mike Knuble, and Simon Gagne out, for sure the Habs have the edge in offence as well, question is, will Philly be able to contain it for seven games if necessary? Montreal should win this one, as the Flyers only impressed themselves by winning, but you never know, still the Habs should prevail if their power-play clicks, and they play their game, and don’t play the Flyers way, yes the Flyers have Steve Downie, but the Habs have Steve Begin, Tom Kostopoulos, Francis Bouillon, and Maxim Lapierre to a lesser extent. The Habs two best players in Alex Kovalev, and Carey Price, are better than the two best players of the Flyers in Mike Richards, and Daniel Briere. Should be a good one to watch.

The Scoring for the Habs went like this, Chris Higgins, from Saku Koivu, then Tomas Plekanec from Steve Begin, following that was Francis Bouillon, from Josh Gorges, and Sergei Kostitsyn, lastly Chris Higgins from Saku Koivu, and Sergei Kostitsyn. Carey Price made 31 saves in the loss.

The Bruins scoring was Phil Kessel, from Marc Savard, and Shane Hnidy, then Vladimir Sobotka, from Peter Shaefer, and Denis Wideman, next was Milan Lucic, from Arron Ward, and Marc Savard, then Phil Kessel, from Marco Sturm, and David Krejci, and lastly Marco Sturm, from David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara. Tim Thomas made 31 saves for the win.

When Saku Koivu won all his face-offs in the first period, and assisted on Chris Higgin’s goal, it seemed as though the Real Habs were back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Andrei Markov continues to struggle, one could see that Bouillon doesn’t have his timing back yet, and the effortless performance of the Habs was appalling. Yes they scored 4 goals, but the checking line had one, or two good shifts all game, and the other lines, well…. When the third period started, the Habs were pinned down in their own zone for a few minutes, result, a goal. The Canadiens are having so much trouble clearing their zone, and keeping it in the Bruins zone.

The Bruins showed once again that they want it more than the Habs do, are the Canadiens even thinking about this series, or perhaps in what hot sunny place they will be playing golf next week! Koivu played well, winning most of his face-offs, and having a couple of assists, not bad for someone who started skating three days ago. Bouillon was fine half way through the second period, but what can you expect from two players coming back from injuries? I think that they at least played well considering.

It was a nail biter all the way, every time the Canadiens scored, the Bruins replied not too long after, there was some good hits from both teams, and the goalies were excellent even with the score. I think that perhaps the Habs should look at themselves in the mirror on Sunday, and decide what they want to do after Monday, play golf, or play hockey. The momentum is squarely with the Bruins, and there is the possibility that Patrice Bergeron comes back for game 7 on Monday, like the Bruins needed more motivation.

Well it’s do or die for the Habs on Monday at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens have home ice advantage through-out the Eastern Conference play-offs, meaning all game seven’s well be at the Bell Centre, but if they don’t screw their heads on right, Tuesday will be clean out your lockers day, and Wednesday the team will be dissected by every media source there is, and let’s not forget the fans. There is no reason for a game 7 against the Bruins, yes, yes, the play-offs is another story, but the Habs should have been done with this series on Thursday, now they face elimination as well. Where is the no.1 team in the East? Well they had better show up on Monday, or they will replace the Ottawa Senators on the front page of all hockey magazines this month.

It’s good to see that the young kids are influencing the veterans of sort, out of the few remaining, the likes of Alex Kovalev, Sergei, and Andrei Kostitsyn, Roman Hamrlik, and Andrei Markov along with Saku Koivu have yet to do it. At least the team has assumed an identity of sorts, being called the buzz cut boys from various Montreal media outlets.

Perhaps this buzz cut thing will bring the team together more than they already were, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of fans get on the band wagon either. Montreal fans are nuts, they took over some Boston pubs, are they crazy? Yup. That is what the post season means in Montreal, fans are crazy enough to go to the opposing team’s town, and take it over, wow, now that’s a crazy fanatic about his team! Perhaps the Montreal fans aren’t crazy like the Europeans are when it comes to football ( soccer ), but they are nut’s about their team never the less.

A newspaper published last week, I believe it was the West Island Suburban, that when it comes to play-off time in Montreal, we all agree, it doesn’t matter if you are English, French, or whatever nationality, when the Habs are in the play-offs, that’s all that matters, and for the moment anyway, all differences are put aside. Every person on the radio, or newspapers, or t.v. say the same thing, that they have never seen so much support for the Habs, any street that one would walk down in any city in Montreal, all one sees is Habs flags everywhere, on cars, buildings, houses, pets have Habs shirts on, people are painting their cars, getting tattooed, and various other things to support their team.

Perhaps the reason that the Habs are so enthused about the play-offs as well as the fans, is do to the fact that every prognosticator said that the Habs would be lucky to finish in the 9, or 10 seed this year, being that they won their division, and the conference, to go along with having the no.1 power-play in the league ( which hasn’t shown up in the play-offs ), and scoring the most goals in the league ( which is not apparent yet ), has light the proverbial fire under every one, including the players.

Let’s hope that the remaining players also go the way of the team in terms of head shaving and play-off beard, and that it carries them further into the post season. GO HABS GO!

The scoring for the Canadiens went like this, Christopher Higgins, assisted by, Mark Streit, and Roman Hamrlik, then Brian Smolinski, from Steve Begin, and Ryan O’Byrne, and lastly from Smolinski, un-assisted. Carey Price made 27 saves for the win, but his best saves were late in the third period. The lone scorer for the Sabres was Ales Kotalik, from Derek Roy, and Jaroslav Spacek.

The Sabres are now officially out. This was a good game for the Habs, they played well, until Buffalo took advantage of a 5 on 3 and scored their only goal, after that, it was the Cary Price show, again showing the fans that Bob Gainey made the right move by placing him as no.1. The Habs played great for 40 minutes, and average for 20, but it was enough to beat the Sabres, and eliminate them from the play-off race. Things got a little bit chippy in the third, because the Sabres were annoyed at being eliminated, but the Canadiens fared well in that regard as well.

Matt D’Agostini played decent replacing Michael Ryder, Ryder having an inured leg. D’Agostini was a little tense in the first period, but played well for the rest of the game. There is a possibility D’Agostini will play again on Saturday, and Gregory Stewart will most probably make his first start on Saturday when the Habs play their last game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

The Habs are now tied in points with the Penguins in points, but the Pens have one more win than the Habs, for the Canadiens to win the conference, they would have to win on Saturday, and hope that the Pens lose on Sunday. Still, if the Habs win on Saturday, it would force the Penguins to play hard, and with their full line-up to win on Sunday, which would make an even more exciting end of the season.

One more game for the Habs, the possibility of one more win, and the pressure would fall to the Penguins, even if the Habs don’t win on Saturday, it’s still an impressive season, with 102 points, rookie Carey Price playing in 40 games with a record of 23-12-3, and more. Let’s hope they win on Saturday and force the Pens to win on Sunday.

The goal scorers for the Habs were, Andrei Markov, unassisted, and Andrei Kostitsyn, from Mark Streit, and Tomas Plekanec, Saku Koivu scored a beautiful goal in the shoot-out to get the victory for the Habs. Carey Price stopped 33 of 35 shots he faced. The Bruins scorers were Marc Savard, from Zdeno Chara, and Dennis Wideman, and lastly, Petteri Nokelainen, from Mark Stuart, and Milan Lucic.

This was a game of mistakes for the most part from both teams, but both goalies made some amazing saves all night, it made for an interesting game never the less. Tim Thomas for the Bruins made some great saves that would have made the Canadiens win by at least a three goal margin. Steve Begin came back to the line-up tonight and hit a few Bruins, and got into a fight, so did Maxime Lapierre. The Habs have now defeated the Bruins 11 straight games, including last year, it wil be interesting to see if the two teams meet up in the play-offs.

The best line for the Habs was the Koivu line, all game they buzzed around the net, I guess it’s only fitting that Koivu was the one who won the game for them. The defence scrambled a little with the loss of Mike Komisarek, they couldn’t find a real rhythm until the third period.

The Canadiens now have 94 points, one more than the Pittsburgh Penguins to sit on top of the east, and are now 5 points up over Ottawa in their division. The Habs now have 6 games remaining, the next week looks like this, Monday against the Senators, Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Habs still need 3 wins out of their last six games to really solidify a good spot in the play-offs, let’s hope that the loss of Komisarek won’t prevent them from going at least .500 for the rest of the season.

Vincent Lecavalier, it has been widely rumoured by various media outlets that Vinny could ask for a trade out of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization before the next season, which would pretty much kill any hopes of bringing the Lightning back to glory any time soon as the owners traded forward Brad Richards and his 7.8 million dollar salary out of town to make space and re-sign Dan Boyle, which they already have, and to hopefully sign Vinny to a super long-term deal. If Lecavalier asks for a trade, I wonder if Montreal would put together an interesting package for him? Of course they would, don’t forget Saku Koivu’s contract is over after next season, so they would have that 4 million plus salary to work with, and he would instantly become the one around Montreal.

Olli Jokinen, with the impending play-offs to seemingly start without the Florida Panthers, and Jokinen still signed for two more years after this season, Jokinen becomes very interesting to some teams, like the Montreal Canadiens who need a big center to compete and win face-offs, and at a little more than 5 million a season, considering today’s salaries, Olli becomes a bargain, but with Jacques Martin’s job becoming more and more in danger as the Panthers might not make the play-offs, who will be the next general manager? Would the next gm be willing to deal Jokinen to the Habs?

Marian Hossa, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in a quandary at the end of the play-offs. The next season will see Sidney Crosby’s 8.5 million dollar salary kick in, and Ryan Malone will be a free agent, not to mention Evgeni Malkin will want some decent bucks, the most probable scenario is the Pens will not be able to sign Hossa as they have to sign too many of the players they want to keep in the organization, so for all intents and purposes, Hossa will most likely go to a team that was in the running for him before the Pens swooped in at the last second and stole him from the Montreal Canadiens, or the Ottawa Senators.

The Habs are going to have some free agents as well like, Brian Smolinski, Tommy Kostopulous, Steve Begin, Patrice Brisebois, to name a few. And after next season the likes of Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, will become free agents. So, the Canadiens are going to have to do their homework and decide who they want to keep, what they are going to bring up from the farm, and what free agents they will go after. Being that the best teams are always built from within, with a little help from good veterans, it will be interesting to see what happens in Montreal on draft day, and July1, free agent day.