Big team win. Everyone showed up and played their hearts out. I noticed a lot more second effort tonight than the last couple of games. They finally learned to respect their adversaries. Only trouble is Markov had at least two instances of ridiculously bad passes and wasn't terribly effective defensively a lot of the time. Has he had any points in this series? I think maybe one assist. PP not working also points to a Markov deficiency. I wonder if he is hurt.

Streit made up for his earlier horrors with the greatest two-deke goal of his career, and did not look like a wounded deer a la game 6.

Kovalev was "there" tonight.

Price was completely on top when he had to be.

No bad bounces to speak of (more often, the puck bounced fortuitously for the Habs)

Non-calls did not get us down. Then again, there were a couple more that could've been called against us but weren't.

Kostitsyn brothers look like they enjoy playing on the same line. Pleks is ready to be the go-to guy on line 2 and he won't miss Kovalev with these guys playing with confidence. Could be the best 2nd line center in the league (assuming Kovi, Koivu, Higgins stick together as line 1).

Komisarek was just a hair shy of Komisaurus. Let's see how an extra day's rest looks on him.

And for those who moaned about the lack of effort in Games 5 and 6, (and yeah, I did too) just remember how tough the schedule was in this series: 7 games over 12 days - and it was a physically punishing series. Lucky for us more of our guys didn't suffer the fate of Glen Murray tonight.

Lastly: playing Philly or NYR makes little difference when you consider Biron got a shut-out against the Caps, and that either team will give a huge effort with more offensive prowess than we have had to deal with thus far.

But the Habs can take either of those teams now. We should thank Julien's Bruins for holding our feet to the fire. That was our baptism. No small notch on the belt.

So go HABS go it is!