Game Two: Flyers vs. Habs

HAPPY GAME DAY. IT'S FINALLY ARRIVED.

Sheesh. Finally. Preview later. Until then, enjoy this GOAL OF THE YEAR:

Okay. That was about as awesome as you'll ever see. Now, for something a little bit different:

 Not-Quite-Gameday-Game-Updates

#Habs Max Pacioretty pic.twitter.com/t7ziTMB1Wi
— Dave Stubbs (@Dave_Stubbs) October 8, 2013

A few notes:

- After staying in Montreal to deal with what was called a "personal situation", Brian Gionta has arrived in Calgary, and will play tomorrow night.
- No word out yet on Max Pacioretty's status, he is with team and did practice this morning at the Saddledome (see picture above).
-Non-Habs related news, Tim Thomas! He starts tonight for the Panthers as they take on the Flyers. Good luck Tim! Looking forward this season to hearing more of those crazy, crazy thoughts that bounce around your head.

AND ... in the meantime in case you missed it, Johnathan Quick:

News 'n' Notes:

- Lars Eller has been named the League's 2nd star of the week (behind Alex Ovechkin). Not really a shocker, as Eller's first two games this season were pretty much spectacular. Two goals, three assists, a 90% shooting percentage,  a +10, 66.7% fenwick, +15, 61.5% corsi. He's skyrocketed himself right to the very top of the Habs red line depth chart, supplanting Thomas Plekanec as the team's #1 center. Way to go Lars!

Monday Notes:  

Happy Monday?? Yeah. It's the lamest day of the year. The first Monday after the start of the regular season, making getting out of bed is extra un-fun.

Oh well. It could be worse. You could be Pete Laviolette, coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, who was unceremoniously ashcanned by Philly this morning because Paul Holgrem doesn't know what the heck he's doing. Holgrem blows the Flyers budget this summer luring a high profile centre that they really didn't need - certainly not as much as they needed a qualified defensemen. Or perhaps a goaltender. Oh yeah. They had one of those in Sergei Bobrovsky, whom as you'll recall, Holgrem shipped out of town for three lower draft picks. The Jackets said thank-you-very-much, and Bobrovsky went on to claim the Venzina Trophy.

So take heart Pete, you were on a ship that was headed to the bottom of the swamp better known as the Philadelphia Flyers.

Speaking of bad Monday mornings, I wonder how Zach Borosian is feeling right about now after doing this last night:

About Last Night ... 

So, just how resounding was the Habs win last night? Check this out:

- Corsi (overall): Canadiens 75, Flyers 48
- Fenwick (overall): Canadiens 51, Flyers 36

- Corsi (5v5): Canadiens 45,  Flyers 25
- Fenwick (5v5): Canadiens 31, Flyers 16 (!!)

Pretty much total dominance. Yeah, it was the Flyers are a lousy shooting team who aren't going anywhere except near the bottom of the Conference, but if the Habs continue to dominate puck control and shot quality the way they have the first two games, they're going to be a very difficult team to beat over an 82 game schedule.

Habs Line:

Corsi:
Gallagher +13
Moen +12
Eller +12
Galchenyuk +9>
...
Briere -3 (sigh)
Desharnais -3 (sigh)

Fenwick:
Gallagher +11
Eller +10
Moen +9
Galchenyuk +7
...
Briere -1
Deharnais -1

The usual suspects, both good and bad. Plekanec line put up some decent numbers, but the big glaring deficiency were both Briere and Desharnais. Their first two games have been AWFUL.

>As always, this doesn't presuppose injuries, or that we're just 120 minutes into the regular season. Still, the first two games have been pretty impressive.

And oh yeah. Lars Eller for the Hart. 

FINAL SCORE HABS 4, FLYERS 1

Third Period:

- Should we be shocked that it's Eller who finally puts the Habs up 2-0?

- Danny Briere. Another silly penalty as a result of his inability to keep pace with the play.

- And it's (guess who?) Eller to the PK rescue, working like a devil in the Flyers zone, eventually drawing a Flyers penalty for holding. Brilliant.

- Flyers nabbed for rare faceoff violation penalty, and Habs go to 5-on-3.

- Did Subban fire that puck through the mesh? Wow. He did. 21,000 including yours truly thought that went in.

- There's number three for sure. It all started by a massive drive from Subban that Emery couldn't control, Gallagher finishing it off. Habs in full control.

- At what point do we finally refer to the Habs' number 3 line as its number 1?

- No idea how Price could have seen those high hard shots from the line, much less stop them.

- Bouillon out of position for Flyers rebound, Lecavilier (it figures) and it's 3-1.

- Same linesman (Derek Nansen)who tossed Pkekanec out of the circle for no reason blows an offside call. Not cool.

- Bournival with a sloppy turnover at centre leads to good Flyers chance. The kid won't endear himself to the coaches' heart with more plays like that.

- Bourque hits the goal scoring sheet as icing is applied to tonight's victorious cake.

- Excellent effort by the Habs tonight, they really turned the defensive boat in the right direction after sinking badly Tuesday night. Price was very solid. Eller and his line were again the best on the ice. Briere didn't have much, Desharnais yet again was invisible. Worrying sign for the Habs is just how much they're relaying on the EGG line, who have scored 11 of the Habs 16 offensive points so far. This is supposedly a team with three scoring lines, but right now only one is producing, another is treading water (Plekanec) and the third is pretty much a zero (Desharnais).

Habs now hit the road for a very though western road swing which has been very unkind to this franchise for many, many years. It'll be a stiff, early test to this team's season.

Second Period:

- First period 5-on-5,11-6 Fenwick, 12-9 Corsi both in Habs advantage. That's pretty decent.

- Diaz gets another penalty, "forcing" Therrien to use Subban on the PK, which he executes pretty much perfectly. Why isn't Therrien adjusting beyond what's absolutely necessary?

- That Subban PP cannon shot can only generate three results. A miss, a massive rebound or a goal. Nearly impossible to save and secure.

- If the Flyers come back in this one, Habs may look back at this point of the game as opportunity lost.

- So not getting the way goaltending interference is caled anymore. If you're pushed into the crease and into the netminder, that's a violation? 

- Sans the muffed hold on a routine shot in the first that arguably ought to have been a Flyers goal, Price has quietly registered a very solid game. Rebounds have been kept to a bare minimum.

- 3 shifts in the first, 1 lousy 27 second shift in the second period so far for Bournival. Why bother even calling him up?

- Briere had clear passing lane leading a rush to Desharnais, threw the puck at his feet. These two are oil and water while playing together.

- Love the way the Habs stalwarts on defense aren't afraid to crash the zone to keep the puck and possession alive. Habs have one of the most mobile defenses in the League and they aren't afraid to leverage their advantages.

- So many quality chances for Monteal offense this period, so many near misses. You just know this is gonna bite this on the team's butt. Waiting for that shoe to drop.

- Habs defense has made considerable strides since Tuesday night, but it's the offense that's failed to deliver tonight. The PP continues to struggle.

- Late period PP just a mess. No flow, no possession, one shot on Emery, but little else.

- Bouillon on the man advantage, this must stop. Nearly surrenders a break (again) because of poor judgement and positioning.

- Habs had plenty of chances in that second, Emery giving up a few juicy rebounds, but nothing buried. One of these games the Habs can easily lose even though they've controlled most of the pace, especially in the defensive zone. Habs fans be nervous.

First Period:

- Ray Emery gets the start for Phily.

- The injury bugs has left Therrien with  little option but to shift Prust from the 4th to the 1st line. Wonder if this also means he'll get some PP time.

- Flyers PK unit all went puck chasing to one side of the rink leaving Markov completely unmarked and a clear path in on Emery. Hits the post. 

- Eller line keeps making things happen. Draws a penalty, Habs brief 5-on-3.

- Markov's buzzing. Don't for a second believe he doesn't know he stunk up the joint on Tuesday night. Some pride on the line here.

- Habs really crashing Emery, who's not giving up much, rebound-wise.

- Therrien, just say no to Bouillion on the PP, please??

- Winning faceoffs and driving the net are strategies that invariably pay off. Bourque feeds the puck in front, Gionta drives it home. Flyers thin defense having loads of issues protecting its crease.

- Lecavalier gets the predictable boos on the Philly man advantage. Price with two excellent stops.

- Subban got PK time. That actually happened.

- Briere with a lazy hook, made even worse since he does it whle on Habs PP. And so it goes ...

- Would love to know if Plekanec is the most tossed centre in the NHL. The Flyers then win the faceoff and seemingly score after Price fails to secure a wrist shot. Luckily waved off by the official.

- Not sure if Moen is the solution to the Desharnais/Briere early season drought-in-the making, but he seems to be the guy Therrien is hoping will spark some offense.

- Pretty solid period, Eller looks excellent as usual, good to see Gionta get a goal this early in the year. Deshairnas and Briere mildly less invisible, which isn't saying much. Prust didn't get 3 minutes in the frame, and was getting subbed out by Moen last 5 minutes, which is ... odd? Wonder if something has happened.

Oh yeah, Bournival got a couple of shifts, looked alright. No gaffes, which means mission accomplished. Hoping Therrien will give him more opportunity in the 2nd.

Afternoon Updates:

- Not exactly hot off the wires at this point, but Max Pacioretty is out for tonight with that wrist injury. Which means that it's very likely Ryan White and Michael Bournival will get starts, the later his first ever regular season NHL game.

So with Patches out, I'm guessing Therrien will move Prust up to play alongside Desharnais and Briere, who were both ineffective Tuesday night against the Leafs.

Gameday Game Preview:

Mark Streit, who was pulled out of Swiss League obscurity by a defense-starved Habs team wayyyy back in 2005, returns to his NHL birthplace tonight as the once-good but now kinda crappy Philadelphia Flyers take on the WINLESS Canadiens.

'Course, nobody is going to give two figs about Streit, as all eyes will be focused on Vincient Lecavalier, who spurned Mark Bergevin's advances this summer and signed a grotesque contract with Philly. Given that Vinney had already made about twenty sixteen gazillion dollars while playing in Tampa, the conventional wisdom this summer was that Vinney was focused on picking a team that was championship contending. Heck, some of us thought that Vinney was pining to finally play in front of the home town folk. How silly we were!! Instead, Lecavalier went for the cash, and now he finds himself on a team that has relatively little hope of competing for anything in the foreseeable future.

So boo on Lecavalier. He'll certainly get plenty of those tonight courtesy the Bell Centre attendees.

SO ... tonight, Carey Price in the pipes, For the Flyers it's ... who knows? Mason? Emery? The dressing room attendant? When was the last time this organization had its netminding figured out? I think it was the Reagan Administration. Anyway, the Flyers are in rebuilding mode, and ought to be ripe for the picking. Anything less than a resounding Habs win tonight will be extremely disappointing.

PUCK DROPS at 7:15 or something like that. No fan-lead national anthem tonight as Charles Prévost-Linton returns behind the mic. Oh, well.

Game Forty-Two: Flyers vs. Habs

First Period:

- Bounces don't seem to going Habs way lately, do they? Beaulieu with a rookie mistake facing his goaltender on the rebound, not sure if Simmonds was trying to bank the puck it, but whatever works, I guess. 1-0.

- All eyes on Price to see how he responds to that unfortunate early goal.

- Hoo boy. Price fighting the puck, and it's 2-0. Bell Centre crowd stunned.

- Price's SP over his last 9 shots is .410. Uhhh ... kay.

- White fighting for every start, and now he gets tossed for the game. Prospects of post-season play now rapidly diminishing to near zero.

- Some of the fickle faithless now ribbing Price for routine saves. Getting ugly.

- Price handling that puck as though it were a grenade. Very nervous times.

- Habs playing very tentatively, being overly defensive, I suspect in reaction to that soft 2nd Flyers go. Philadelphia controlling the pace and the puck here.

- Beaulieu with one of his less memorable periods. Therrien may give him the powerplay yank sooner than Diaz' return, whenever that happens.

- This period strongly resembling last week's Habs/Sabres game, the Canadiens tonight playing Buffalo's role.

- Gallagher doing with Gallagher does best, being an unbearable pest around the opposition's net, and drawing penalties by overreacting defenders. Habs back on the powerplay.

- Subban with more sloppy Habs play. Fighting the puck is infectious.

- Price, dare we say, is settling down a bit. But will it hold?

- Doctor's orders, Pacioretty scores (see my pregame preview) off a pretty intentional redirect from Plekanec. Habs back in it.

- Flyers losing it here, march to the box continues.

- Habs got it going late in the period with those powerplays, but the Flyers were still easily the dominate team. Habs fortunate to come away down by just a goal.

Second Period:

- Given how one-sided this game has been, seems preposterous that this game is tied, but Habs specialty units bailing them out.

- And Josh Gorges immediately gives it back. Habs' defence inexcusably sloppy with the puck tonight. 3-2 Flyers.

- Pacioretty with two points so far. Early to say the corner's been turned, but we're hopeful.

- Flyers determined to give the Habs hope tonight taking series of stupid penalties. Can Habs PP do it one more time?

- Beaulieu is killing this powerplay. Michel, this must end.

- Oh my. How'd Bourque manage to not score on that picture perfect setup? With a fickle stick that shatters on the follow through. Should be 3-3.

- Not a softy but not unstoppable. Hartnell puts the Flyers back up two, and the city of Montreal gears up for the goaltending crisis.

- Bryzgalov gives up a ridiculous rebound, Galchenyuk makes it a one goal game. Difficulties keeping pace here.

- We could be looking at one of those 6-7, 8-7 type final scores. Heck, we're nearly there already.

- Habs just totally abandoning their zone. It's 5-3. Timeout needed.

- This is almost certainly the worst collective performance by the Habs defence this season. Worse than the 6-0 Leafs drubbing.

- If the Habs do lose tonight, a lot of the simplistic vile will be targeted at Price, but the real villain tonight was the Habs defense. Inexcusably sloppy and undisciplined.

- Disastrous period for the Canadiens - possibly the worst of the whole year. Price ought to be fuming because his team totally abandoned him for the wolves.

Third Period:

- Although I'm sure it was a mercy move, Price has been pulled for the second straight game. Pretty sure that's never happened in his life.

- Gonna be LOTTA talk about who starts Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, but Therrien's gotta go with Budaj, who's won one there earlier this season. Have Price start on Thursday against Tampa.

- Who knew Emelin was such a key part of this team's success? I think we're getting an idea now, because this team hasn't been the same since.

- Don't let the 3rd period stats fool you that the Habs responded to the 3 goal deficit. Flyers have been coasting this one home.

- And they score. Guess what. More sloppy defence begot by lazy turnover. 7-3.

- And here we thought Sunday morning was intolerable. The media is going to have a field day over this crushing home loss to an Eastern Conference bottom feeder. The city is about to melt down, and we're still technically in first place.

But there are many ugly issues emerging. Goaltending is officially a concern. So too is the porous defence which was, to be honest, simply horrible tonight. Clearly, very clearly, this team is missing Emelin's physical presence, but there are, unfortunately, no short-term solutions that readily come to mind. This is the team we have, there's no where else to go.

Therrien's post-game comments should be very interesting and telling.

Today's Events:

I'm a marathon runner by hobby. So what's happened today is particularly awful on a personal level. The world is a messed-up place.

We'll still be posting live tonight, but yeah ... this sucks.

Gameday Game Preview:

Okay, I've had a day or two to mope around. But we're SO done with that now. On to bigger and better things. Like the Flyers. They are, as usual, bigger. But they aren't better. Not this year, that's for sure.

It's sad, but I just can't get that hate on for Philadelphia any more. They're just so pathetic. Near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Flyers have been plagued by inconsistent play much of this year, especially in their own zone. The defense; a mess - 25th rated in the League, a ranking almost unheard of from a team that's long prided itself for keeping its own house in order.

Goaltending, a position that has hobbled the organization for well over two decades, is in total shambles. It is all but certain now that the enigmatic Ilya Bryzgalov's contract will be bought out at the end of the season. With only the 2nd-string quality Steve Mason on the roster, few if any first-string summer free agent options to choose from, and relatively little coming down the prospect pipe, Philadelphia's goaltending problem could be even worse in the years ahead.

The Flyers' specialty units are actually pretty good this year - arguably the best overall in the League.  They have the 3rd rated powerplay and 6th rated penalty kill. It's beyond odd man scenarios that the abyss is encountered. Their 5-on-5 F/A ratio is a horrid .75, which puts Philly barely ahead of the god-awful Calgary Flames.

That alone is why I think the Habs should have a relatively straightforward time handling the Flyers tonight. The Canadiens enter the game with the 4th rated F/A ratio of 1.3, which is wayyyyy ahead of Philadelphia. The more the game is played 5-on-5, the greater the advantage for the Habs.

Of course, it won't be a cakewalk. Winning never is in today's NHL. It remains critical that the Habs continue to win, to secure a high playoff seeding, and to create that critical winning momentum entering the post-season. Conversely, the Canadiens must also be wary of protecting key elements of their team, which means either significantly reducing, or resting players who've struggled with injuries. Brandon Prust and Rene Bourque are the two obvious candidates for rest or reduced time, but then you have to also consider other critical players who've had touchy short-term injuries. Thomas Plekanec had that groin injury that kept him out of the lineup for a game - there's no point in taking any significant chance of having him reaggravate that ailment.

Other issues of concern: Max Pacioretty has had a feast but mostly famine season. Right now he's starved for goal production, just 3 goals in his past 19 games (yeah, that's bad). So now's the time for Max to start turning the ship towards a more productive direction - we need him scoring in the post-season, because without him, advancing beyond the first round will be particularly difficult.

Carey Price. Oh, Carey. What to say? He's played well this season, he's had a few starts where he's been the key difference between victory and defeat. But lately, he's struggled - not so much with mechanics, but with a tendency of giving up soft goals at inopportune times, which is a pretty strong indicator that he's struggling with confidence. That shaky confidence display was none more glaringly obvious than the first 10 minutes of Saturday's game, where beach ball sized pucks would have probably still found the back of the net.

Michel Therrien, I think very wisely, gave Price a vote of reassurance this weekend, and aptly, will be starting him tonight, looking for a rebound performance. Price has a pretty solid history of playing well after bombing a start, and given the relative weakness of the opponent tonight, a strong performance could go a long way towards building up Carey's confidence levels.

Puck drops 7:40 EST at the very friendly confines of Bell Centre. We'll be there with live blogging updates.

About Saturday Night

Shaddup. Go away. Leave me alone. I don't wanna talk about it.

God, I hate the Leafs.

Has the Sun risen yet?

More later. I guess. Blah.

Game Thirty-Six: Habs vs. Flyers

First Period:

- Disppointed a bit that Budaj isn't playing tonight instead of Price, as I'll be live blogging tomorrow night from the Bell Centre, when alas, Budaj not Price, will probably start.

- Habs solid transition game out of the gate, Flyers with better puck control, good portion of the play so far in Canadiens' zone.

- Gallagher took heck of a slapper off the foot, went straight to the dressing room.

- Excellent no goal first pp for Habs.

- Picture perfect wrister by Emelin from the line through a screen, but the pretty part of that play was Pacioretty's blind behind the back feed. 1-0 Habs.

- After a slowish start, Habs got lots of mo from that first powerplay, and carried the rest of the period. So far so good.

Second Period:

- Brandon Prust just bailed out Travis Moen, who was manhandled by Simmons. Crowd at the bar here just went nuts after the Prust TKO.

- Since those fights Flyers have dominated puck possession and tempo, tying the game, and forcing the play deep in the Habs zone. Canadiens have been on their heels much of the period, and would probably be just as happy as anyone else to escape the frame with the game tied.

- Not to be, great bounce off the backboards right on to Gagne's tape gives Flyers the lead.

- Brandon Prust, who's played superb since returning from his injury ties the game. Excellent response by the Canadiens.

- And Desharnais seconds later! Wow. Remarkable turnaround here. Crowd at the bar goes crazy.

- Weird period, Flyers owned much of it but had huge letdown for all of one minute, where the Habs took full advantage. Outshot 11-4 in the second, it's a bit remarkable the Habs come out of that with a one goal lead.

Third Period:

- Eller (!!) drops the gloves with Giroux on the PK. I'll take that trade off every time.

- Price excellent so far in the third, getting great help by his defense who are providing him clear sight lanes.

- Flyers had at least 6 skaters on the ice for a good three seconds right in front of the officials. Somehow got away with it.

- Seven minutes left, Habs are impressively not playing to protect the lead. Flyers having great difficultly creating momentum.

- Nope. And once again it's the Emelin/Markov pairing on the ice for an opposition even strength goal. Game tied.

- Wow. How did Bouillon not touch that for an icing. Seconds later, Flyers take the lead. No way Bouillon should not have hustled to touch that puck. No way.

- Bah. Empty netter. The bar floods out. Flyers owned the third. A deserved loss.

Live Game Update

- Tonight we're blogging live from Station Des Sports on St. Catherine Ouest! Pictures included!

Trade Deadline Day

THIS JUST IN:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...

More later.

Game Fourteen: Flyers vs. Habs

ALEX GALCHENYUK WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OF OUR LIVES?

HAPPY FRIDAY!! It's a great day to be a Habs fan, ain't it? Going two-fer in Florida, a swing that has for years plagued the Habs losses and broken dreams of playoff hopes. Well no more, 'cause thanks to Carey Prince and Alex freakin' Galchenyuk, who simply willed that puck on Jose Theodore, the Candiens are off to their best season start in a longggggggg time.

So here we sit, some 27% through the season, a single point out of first place, nobody injured (knock on wood), four well balanced lines, a more-or-less balanced defense (we're still waiting for the Subban/Gorges reunion - coach Therrien are you listening?), and Carey Price playing out of his mind.

So life is good in HabsLand. AND IT'S FRIDAY. 

Meh. Let's ruin the day. Here's a clown from Western Siberia Winnipeg who's taken a five length lead for Father of the Year award, assuming the greatest fathers are drooling knuckle-headed psychopaths.

The talk is they're gonna keep this moron away from the hockey rink for the rest of the year. That's a joke. How about the rest of his life?

Oh well, at least this guy wasn't talking about how raping someone just ain't as easy now as it used to be. What to go Philadelphia. You keep up that class act, mkay?

Habs and Flyers game preview tomorrow. Ya'll behave tonight, mkay?

SATURDAY GAME DAY PREVIEW GOODNESS:

Am I the only one who no longer dreads Philadelphia? Am I alone about this? Because tonight, I'm really looking forward the Habs taking on the Flyers with first place on the line. Yup, that's right. Hard to believe. Whowouldathunk that the this far into the season, Les Boys would be competing for top spot? But then again, there's lots of crazy stuff happening - the New Jersey Devils? Weren't they supposed to finish somewhere near last place? What is up with that? Yeah, yeah .. Brodeur.

Speaking of New Jersey, the road-weary Flyers are coming off a smarting defeat last night, blowing an early lead, and then flip flopping their way to yet another road loss. That's the thing about Philadelphia this year. They can't win on the road. Just two times in nine games. Not good.

I suppose in the Flyers own defense, they have been hit hard by injuries. Scott Hartnell is out indefinitely. Andrej Meszaros is out indefinitely. And now it appears that Kimmo Timonon might not be able to play tonight. That's a lot of important hurt on the Philadelphia blue line, while even healthy wasn't all that great to start with.

So there we have it. The injury-riddled, probably exhausted Philadelphia Flyers. My boots? Not shaking.

But fear not Flyers fans, THERE IS HOPE. Carey Price has been downed with the flu bug, and so Peter Budaj, whose play this season is making a few Habs faithful a little uncomfortable that we might not have capable backup, will get his chance for redemption after a pretty iffy start last week against the Sabres.

That said, the Flyers goaltending situation by contrast would accurately be described as a mess. Ilya Bryzgalov, he who posted a sparkling .666 SP last night against the Devils, has reportedly been benched. Problem is, the Flyers backup Michael Leighton is hurt. So Philadelphia is reaching way down deep in their system and have pulled up Brian Boucher, who hasn't played in a year. Assuming you get the start, good luck, Brian. You'll need it.

Something else to keep an eye out for tonight - Max Pacioretty, whose lack of goal production has now reached "concerning" status, will be grouped tonight with David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher. It's a shame to break up the steadily producing kid line, but Therrien seems to believe that Gallagher will do the messy work gaining and feeding the puck in hopes that Pacioretty will finally bury something to remove said monkey from back.

Puck drops at 7:15 or so EST. One more time - FOR FIRST PLACE. Enjoy!


First Period:

- Budaj looked like a nervous wreck during the anthem.

- The embellishment call on Prust was absurd. Officials simply keep miscalling these penalties.

- Habs are playing against a goaltender who's barely played the past three seasons. Just pelt the net guys, nothing fancy required.

- Well it's the plan in reverse, but Pacioretty with a nice feed to Gallagher who snaps a stoppable shot past Boucher. 1-zip.

- Bourque's work ethic continues to go beyond the pale, determined chase and check draws a hooking penalty. Habs head to PP.

- Boucher surrendering some juicy rebounds here.

- Subban/Markov on for the entire 2:00 PP. Unusual strategy, not entirely advisable.

- Budaj with a nice glove snag. It's been pretty quiet on his side of the ice so far.

- Cole wastes a stunningly beautiful feed by Galchenyuk.

- This Desharnais/Gallagher/Pacioretty line is giving the Flyers fits.

- Habs PP lacking any coherence.

- Domination. Flyers looked very tired. 2 shots for the whole period. If that trend were to continue, Budaj could sleepwalk to a shutout.


Second Period:

- Safe to say now Therrien is pleased with the line adjustments.

- In the span of about 14 seconds, Flyers doubled their shot total.

- Holy moly, the Desharnais line is an unstoppable force. Gallagher denied his 2nd goal of the night by Boucher's best save of the night.

- Game really settling in right now. Big offensive chances are an exception.

- That was quite an adventurous shift for Subban.

- Habs D goes soft on Philly rush, and Budaj totally overplayed that slot shot by Briere. Flyers suddenly back in the game. 2-1.

- Two delay of game penalties via clumsy clearances have Habs in trouble.

- Not to be outdone, Flyers send 6 on the ice, and are promptly called for it.

- Flyers got their act in gear the last 8 minutes of the 2nd, but it's still a Habs-controlled game right now. Flyers mostly a step behind, aided however, by a relatively sound start by Boucher. Montreal's game to lose.


Third Period:

- Habs successful year coming even though the team has struggled in the faceoff circle. 25-16 through 2 periods tonight, though.

- What a difference a year makes. 12 months ago I'd be a nervous wreck watching this team carry a one goal lead in the third. Right now I'm feeling calmly confident.

- Plekanec with a goal scorers goal there, aided by a flopping Boucher and a slag-footed Flyers defense. 7th for Pleks.

- Hard to believe the Habs are 13 minutes away from going to 9-4-1 while being ranked 30th in the League for 3rd period offense, but here we are. Guess that underscores the importance of a fast start to each winning game.

- Habs completely outworking Flyers right now. Winning virtually every chase.

- Gallagher got his bell rung early in the 3rd. Habs now reporting he won't be coming back tonight.

- And just for fun Pacioretty has gone to the room for treatment. That ain't good.

- Now seemingly used for defensive purposes, Eller now getting extra shifts.

- Oh wow. Great reach back save by Budaj. One of the best this year. Looking like a first stringer past couple of minutes.

- That desperation save pretty much drained what remaining life was left in the Flyers engine.

- Horrible spear/slash by Giroux on Emelin goes uncalled. Emelin getting treatment. Rough game for some key Habs starters.

- Ouch. Now Armstrong takes a puck to the face via Diaz' clearance attempt. Habs need to get out of here quick.

- Rare goal call with the puck not going in the net. Can't remember last time I saw that. Another one for Bourque.

- Routine win for the Habs. They leapfrog ahead of Boston into first place. Two tough tests coming up against the 'Canes and Rangers.

Game Seventy-Six: Habs v Flyers

Not a whole lot of pre-game stuff to cover - looks like Weber is out for awhile following last night's strange injury, so St-Denis will get his chance to demonstrate his fill-in capabilities.

Budaj the start. Not much riding on the game, really. Playing in Philadelphia has long been a losing proposition - so a win tonight we be just for satisfaction.

First Period:

- Relatively good start for the Habs - they're playing pretty loose and relaxed, Budaj has benefited from pretty good zone protection limiting Philadelphia from shots mainly from 40+ feet. Flyers also looking a bit sluggish. So far, so good.

- Hmm okay. That works? Hartnell makes an appeal to the official and only then is Plekanec penalized for a high stick (that I couldn't see).

- Accordingly, Flyers score off the draw.

- Correction. Plekanec called for a slash. Now White enters the box. If the Philly powerplay is on, this game could be over pretty quickly.

- Another empty net chance missed by Bourque. Losing count on season total.

- Just announced and showed Chris Pronger in the stands, crowd gives him loud and emotional standing ovation.

- First could have been worse - Habs giving it the college try, but can't see how the undermatched Flyers don't start to pull and put this one away next period.

Second Period:

- That was a beautiful move by Plekanec, but an even sweeter pass by Eller to spring him free.

- Flyers defense getting a little complacent here, Cole sprung for a break, can't beat Bryzgalov.

- Habs completely disorganized and overwhelmed by Flyers top line, Emelin finally takes a trip.

- Plekanec's second break in Bryzgalov not nearly as pretty. Flyers REALLY sloppy and very lucky they're not behind on the scoreboard.

- Bah. Funny that. They score the other way, another point shot eludes Budaj, Campoli (why is he on the PK?) way too soft as two Flyer forwards were behind him and in front of Budaj creating a screen.

- Still don't think the Flyers have the netminder required to go far in the playoffs, but that's a very old story.

- Flyers for too many men.

- Maybe it's just an instinctual reaction, but I've noticed Markov lifting and tucking his leg when opposing players wind up in front of him to take a shot. It must be just a protective reaction, but it also worries me that maybe he's not 100% down there.

- Flyers put three across the line on the PK, yet Plekanec tries to carry the zone. No, no.

- Totally listless PP there.

- Erik Cole's impeccable work ethic draws a Flyers penalty. Let's see if this one is any better (surely can't be worse).

- Giroux making Bourque look ridiculous with that backcheck. Bourque just plain didn't fight, didn't try to protect the puck.

- And the answer is yes, it could be worse.

- That's what a good transition can do. Bourque took his sweet time getting off the ice for a change, and Bryzgalov fed the open wing springing Briere who beats Budaj top corner. All three Flyers goals scored on the powerplay.

- I know I sound like a broken record singling out Bourque for all of his sloppy mistakes and generally half-hearted efforts, but it's just so glaringly apparent, not to mention totally unacceptable, that I can't help it. The guy is a basketcase and an anchor on this team. Most clubs wouldn't put up with this nonsense. The leash must be short next year.

- Classy Philadelphia. That goal was scored well after the period buzzer sounded AND clearly waived off by the ref, but the sound guy still couldn't resist blowing that annoying goal horn. This is why I hate losing to this city and this team.

- Coaching switches gone very, very right. RDS just put up a graphic, the Blues have lost just 13 regulation games in the 62 games since Hitchcock took over. Wow.

Third Period:

- Subban with a silly roughing penalty, totally undisciplined.

- Habs PK box all out of wack tonight - one big reason why the Flyers have feasted with the man advantage.

- Can't fault Budaj thought. No bad goals surrendered, he's also made some pretty tough saves, especially so far in this third.

-Simmonds called for a trip but I think the Habs have thrown that away with retaliation.

- Oh I see why. Simmonds delivered a slash after he got called. White came in to settle matters. Hans ought to get a PP from this.

- Yup. Simmonds with the extra two for the slash.

- Now Bryzgolav with a trip and Habs get two man advantage. Let's see what they can do with a pretty big opportunity.

- Cunneyworth should call time to keep his best out there. Instead the Flyers call for time.

- Subban really making bad decisions on this two-maner.

- Pretty much a disaster for Markov/Subban team there. Neither really took command of the situation, and Subban's shooting was atrocious. Even more than usual. Opportunity blown.

- Just can't beat Bryzgolav. Still don't think he'll get the Flyers far in the playoffs.

- I think this has been Budaj's best start of the year. He's deserving more than the L headed his way.

- Flyers fans with mock Ole cheers at the Habs' expense. I really truly dislike Philadelphia and thief fans. Really do.

- Cherry on top, White blows coverage, and Read tips a nice cross-crease pass in.

- Never had a chance. Not this year's team against the Flyers. So it's just a loss. Can't lose sleep over this. Drive for 29 still alive.

Game Nine: Flyers v. Habs

It's never a dull day in Habs land, is it? Pearn gets fired an hour before game time. A strange, strange move which I'll write more about during the intermission. Meantime, Price is back in net to face the feared Flyers. Will fortunes change starting tonight?

First Period:

- An early power play and lo and behold, two defense at the point! Makes you wonder if Pearn was behind that futile strategy?

- Speaking of futile, not much to show for that two minutes. One weak shot reached target, and now Philadelphia goes to the man advantage.

- Flyers hit two posts during their PP. Habs very lucky to escape unscathed.

- How Pacioretty is out there playing with a torn up wrist is beyond me. The reports (totally incorrect?) I'd read is 90% ligament tear. How can he even hold a stick?

- Very, very cautious start by Habs defense, almost playing not to lose. Inevitably the Flyers take advantage courtesy some sloppy back checking, and score the game's first. Molson Arena dead silent.

- If Pacioretty can't shoot a puck he has no business playing tonight.

- Habs simply lacking energy. Getting beat to the puck, getting out hit, getting out muscled. Fans are booing and we've not even finished the first. This is bad, bad, bad.

- The way everything is going, Price will have to be superhuman tonight if the Habs are to have a ghost of a chance.

- Hah. Habs score! On the PP! With two seconds on the clock. The game makes no sense. Totally did not deserve to come out of that period tied.

- Now, about the Pearn firing. About an hour ago, Gauthier gave a short Q&A in which he said the dismissal was part of an attempt by management to "think outside the box", which one could interpret as a decision was made to do something that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Pearn, by all accounts, was a very competent assistant. His record certainly backs that up - the Habs have had one of the League's better power plays since he began in 2009. In 15 straight years, he's never been behind the bench of a team that's missed the playoffs. This pretty much speaks for itself.

And yet, he's gone. Maybe PG is trying to send out a message that the season isn't what he was hoping for, and that no one's job is safe.

If matters become even worse, in so much as the loses piling up, if Pearn is next, who might be the next a go? A key player, or another coach further up the ladder?

Second Period:

- A spirited start for Habs offense, that late goal clearly gave the team a huge boost. Philly (smartly) calls a time out in a quest to take the momentum out of Montreal's sails.

- If Eller converted more of his close chances, he might be leading the League in scoring.

- Wow. Flyers hit another post. Are the luck gods favoring the Habs tonight?

- Aside from all these posts, Price doing everything he can (and needs to) keeping his team in the game.

- Mad scramble and Kostitsyn scores! Flyers looked very chaotic (Hab-like) in collapsing around their net.

- How was Jagr not called for hauling down Cole in front of the Flyers net?

- With torn wrist Pacioretty scores! Amazing. Habs have not lead by two since Winnipeg.

- Price looking as solid as any start this season #Maybeitwasthepinkpads

- How the heck did Eller miss that wide open net courtesy Cole's beauty pass?

- Bad strategies never die. Plekanec still playing the point, Darche fruitlessly on the ice.

- Maybe it was the pink pads? Price frustrating the Flyers jamming the crease.

Third Period:

- Habs holding their own well so far.

- Crazy. Pacioretty, he of the gimpy wrist, scores another. Much courtesy the Flyers defense which has seemingly gone on vacation from the second period forward, but we'll take it.

- Flyers very frustrated, starting to get really rough. Habs would be wise to play safe and not get trolled by the trolls.

- Pretty boring period. Safe to say nobody in the stands minds one bit.

- Flyers just standing around. Cammi with icing on the cake (and great efforts by Cole).

- Halfway through the first if you had bet me the Habs would be up by four with three minutes left in the third, I would have placed the wife and kid on the lot. Good thing I'm not a gambling man.

- And there you have it. Canadiens pick up their first home win on October 26th. All is well again. Matin can breath a sigh of relief. Start planning the parade.

- Oh I nearly forgot. Bruins in less than 24 hours. In Boston. Gulp.

- Grats to Price for finally picking up his 100th NHL win, one of the youngest ever to do so.