I can't let this blog go to waste.
Day in day out I log on hoping to find something enjoyable, hoping to learn something even.
Nothing.
Therrien this and Gionta that and boo-hoo this and Carey that.
DC has chased me out of hibernation - no longer can I allow our reader to suffer. Mom, you've suffered enough. (I know, DC's mom doesn't read her own son's blog).
So here I am. Here I am. Some of you may recognize here my obscure reference to a more than average UB40 song. Good for you, that was not an easy one.
So my triumphant return to blogging finds me contemplating the fate of your 6-2 Habs. Now normally when you put 6-2 and Habs in the same sentence you would expect that sentence to read, Coyotes trounce Habs 6-2.
Not this Gally-laden bunch.
Not this merry group of
sans-triple-low-five soldiers.
These boys can play.
This weekend is indicative of what this team can do and must do to win. Make the listless teams pay the price for taking a night off - grind a tight-checking game out and hang on for the win. Oh, yes, and we'll take horrendous refereeing too for that matter. All part of this mosaic of win. That's for you, Charlie Sheen.
The Saturday Sabre game was some of the most relaxing hockey imaginable. One team on, the other off and a couple of funks out the door. The Sabres handed David Desharnais and Lars Eller the right dose of time and space to allow the two Habs to skate out of hockey's dog house. Curiously, Eller's 3-point night was rewarded with a demotion to the 4th line the next game.
6-1 wins don't need much dissecting. One team does everything right, the other watches a team do everything right. Helplessly.
Special mention to the rookies. Find me an 18-year old who can produce the kind of pass Galchenyuk delivered on the Eller goal and I'll tell you to ease up on that crazy cereal. (yup, PK and I both have some rust to shake off). Gallagher is turning into a more than compelling story. His skill is being dwarfed by his enthusiasm over his plight - and that's saying a lot. We're watching two boys grow up together under an impossible spotlight and THRIVE. This is not your Montreal of old. It's like the 2 kids are comforted by each other's presence on the same team, on the same line, on the same path.
2-1 wins are more characteristic of a team's ability to do many difficult things right. The right approach to defence, to 5 on 5 hockey and to the Buddhism. (that's what I'm told Therrien has asked the team to buy into - a team concept replete with the Buddha. Just like Buddha himself, the fans are all smiles).
Carey Price stands back quietly through this all and has ample time to ask himself, when was the last time being this good was this easy. He made 30 stops last night which usually makes for a hard day's work. And it must have been, but it wasn't obvious to us and that denotes a system where everything is in its right place. Including Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn being not in Montreal.
There was a football game last night. Beyonce beyonced. The Ravens were ravenous and the lights took a breather for 34 minutes. The Niners flubbed 4 attempts at goal after having decided that affording Baltimore a 22-point lead was enticing enough to realize that this was the FUCKING SUPER BOWL. You got what you deserved, Harbaugh.
Thanks to DC for holding the fort and entertaining mum..wait...