Game 2: That's more like it – Habs whip Leafs

i love how cherry rips on carbo for playing our top pp late in the game, yet he doesnt realize that our top 9 forwards could all be on the first pp unit! does he want us to play lapierre begin and dandy?

Here is what I believe to be the best observations from last nights game. 1) Gui! CAN perform when his line is up to their potential.. he is not a game breaker but if everyone on his line is on the same page then I have no doubt he can be an effective player. Id say 60 points is asking a lot from him, I can see him getting an even 25 goals 25 assists. Although his skills shined through last night with his great pass to a pinching Hamrlik and his goal was pretty as well. He may not be the fastest or best skater on the team, but when you're beside two of the best passers/speedsters/playmakers in the league, im not so sure you have to be. 2) O'Byrne... still not sold on this guy, Its starting to become more noticeable that the Habs do require a very strong fourth D-man. I'm not saying he didn't play well last night, I just see him getting lost in the shuffle with weber, valentenko and subban waiting for their chances. Hes slow and makes bad decisions. I see O'Byrne getting moved at the deadline and brisboise playing in hamilton. Replaced with hopefully an established defenseman in the nhl and yannick weber. Ps- Dandenault is probably one of the better skaters in the defense corp, impressed with his play last night. 3) Lang - excellent pick up, a lot of people i've spoken with have only noticed that hes slower than everyone else. lets keep in mind that yes, he is slower, but we have robert fucking lang playing our 3rd line, the guy managed 50 points on the shitcago blackhawks. He is patient, smart and strong. 4) Tanguay!!! see ya later career highs! i see him meshing very well with this team. a run and gun, speedy team is where this guy belongs. hes found his home in mtl. I love his leadership, you always see him talking with his teammates. He played very physical last night and made sure koivu didnt have to dig too deep and get hooking calls. which is always nice seeing as our PP could flourish to no end last night by staying disciplined. 5) Sergie - showing that he is not the lesser TIT brother any longer? 6) Andrei - grinding it out hard, anxiously waiting upon his first goal. very impressed with his play even if hes not crushing teams with kovy and pleks. Overall, this game proves our depth. With one of the best lines in the league in kovalev, pleks and AK46 not doing a whole lot, we can still win 6-1. Higgins will provide a tremendous amount of depth in his return and now we've got two really solid scoring lines, even three once we're all healthy. Predictions? Begin to be moved - gritty but not very effective at some points...and i was a huge begin supporter...but those penalties from game 1 were just ridiculous. Replace him with chips. Dandy is a solid player, unfortunately his price is simply too high for what hes going to provide. same goes for breezy ( not as solid as dandy). they will be swapped for weber and hopefully an established d-man. Lapierre - Love the guy, but swap him for Max-Pac. When Laraque comes into the line-up, we can sacrifice his grit for maxpac's skills. Uncle Jesse - Always been a fan, what else can you ask for for a 4th liner. im thinking this AK46-Pleks-Kovy Gui/Higgins-Koivu-Tanguay Gui/higgins-Lang-Sergie Max-Pac - Chipchura- Laraque Obviously max-pac doesnt deserve to be on the 4th line, but theres hardly anywhere for him to fit. if Higgins and Gui stumble at any point, he is an easy candidate to be swapped on either one of the first 3 lines and will prove to be more effective. defense - some names I feel would fit well in mtl are Philippe Boucher, Bieksa or Schneider. Personally, Id say Bieksa out of all of them, as Vancouver is stacked on defense and would probably be easy to get if they receive some scoring in return. heres how the D would look with any of those three Markov-Komi Hamrlik- Boucher/Schneider/Bieksa Gorges-Weber if you're still reading, then im surprised...but thanks for hearing me out haha.

I just loved hearing the Ole Ole Ole's in the crowd during the 3rd. Even when you heard the Leafs fans cheering, you could tell they were trying to cheer that much more to TRY and drown out the Habs fans. I tell ya, Nobody beats us Habs fans at cheering.

A few observations about the first two games. Let me just preface by saying that I was happy if we came out of the 3 road games with 4 points. Modest expectations perhaps, but it's still early. From the first game I think the high points were our PK, Lang, and Price. Minuses were Gui!, Tanguay, and Begin, and the PP generally. From the 2nd game I think the pluses were Gui!, Tanguay, Saku, lil Tits, Jaro, and the PP generally. Minuses: Too few/too minor to mention. So Gui! and Tanguay go from zeros to heros in one night. My personal opinion about the latter was that he was nervous the first game as he said in the post-game interview, and I think generally the 11-13-84 trio was one that didn't practice much together in pre-season (if at all) due to the injuries. Tanguay's obviously a talented player; he won't have 4 points every game but if he averages that many over 4 games I don't think anyone will complain. As far a Gui! goes, I think he's made some improvements in his skating over the off-season and while he's good in close and that was a sweet pass to the Hammer for his goal, just before that goal he was open and had a shot on net that looked weak and at the beginning of the first game he seemed to turn over the puck every time he had it. I think if he's shown patience (probably the last word to describe a Hab fanatic) he'll be alright. He'll have some games where he looks like he doesn't belong in the first 3 lines, and there will be others where he's one of the three stars. Consistency will come with age/maturity. With regards to our defence, I still think we could have used a 4th defenseman more than a centerman, but the philosophy is to score a bunch, so be it. Hammer has looked the best in the first 2 games, Gorgeous has been quitely efficient, O'Byrne will get better and so will Komisaurus and Markie. Can't wait for Frankie the Bull to come back. It's going to be an interesting season, bring on the Flyers! Rgds, LGB

Well I was at the game tonight and boy did the boys look good. It was exciting to be there. Frankly though as happy as I am about the win, from a viewing perspective it was awful. I mean once the Habs got up 5-0 I may as well fell asleep. Us Habs fans were cheering, but you could clearly see that we took our foot off the gas so as not to embarrass them anymore. To me, and to my brother it was quite obvious. With the leaf fans embarrassed and upset and leaving it felt good for sure, but at that point the game was a sleeper. I would have enjoyed a closer game just for the excitement and singing and stuff. However I will not cry over the fact we blew them out haha! I had a great evening though starting with a fantastic dinner in the ACC Club the prime rib really was great! Then I got to see my boys punish the crap out of the leafs and finally we joked after the 2nd how great it was that so many leafs fans left and it became a Habs rink hehe. Great night, great job Habs!

This is not the same Laffs without Sundin and Tucker, who always play their best against us. Just wonder where will Higgins be playing now that the second line starts to develop some chemistry.

Being that Latendresse has soooo many critics,I say the nay sayers put up or shut up.I say he's good for 60 points and will put money's on it,what say you????

Will the Leafs be this year's Bruins for the Habs? And lets not forget what we did to the Bruin's last season.....

WOW! great game! Can you tell me why we'd bother watching HNIC? They think they have the #1 play-by-play man in Jim Hughson but the best is Chris Cuthbert who they let get away (except for Pierre Houde on RDS). Ron McLean should get his facts straight. He said 1979 Habs were the last team to win the Cup with an all-North American line-up. Not so. 1993 Habs is the right answer. Check it out! Also, I take offense to the DONALD Cherry's comments after the game. Rather than laud Montreal's dominant performance, he instead disses Carbonneau for playing his #1 PP unit late in the game. Well, it's early in the season and the PP needs practise. C'mon Grapes, give us a break. And as far as the Leafs remembering it, well they need to have long memories, like until 2012 at least. GO Habs Go!

Now that feels better. Halak was solid, so much for the naysayers on that call. Now Price will be fresh and hungry for Philly, just like we want him to be. Sergei was our best skater tonight, two nights in a row that he is our best forward, love this kid. The best line was clearly the Koivu line, great to see Tanguay break the ice in a big way and great to see him throw a few hits. Saku played a smart game and Lats' game should keep the bashers at bay for a day or two but, he is still terrible at holding onto the puck, even on a good night. I thought Andrei K. had a strong game too, went to the net well and was a physical presence at times. Hamrlik was the best D and Gorges played well again. Markov was off compared to the night before. Komasarek was hitting but still seemed a bit off too. Breezer should not be getting that much ice time. Time to give Chips a start, instead of Dandy or Begin. Oh, Monday is going to be intense. Can't wait

You know the game is over when the spokesmen repeatedly state that our 4th line players are out-skating and forechecking their 1st line.. and I lol'd at Antropov's celebration after his "goal"!

The 'Dogs did well tonight, too: Winnipeg, MB – Three Bulldogs players scored their first-career AHL goals as the Hamilton Bulldogs defeated the Manitoba Moose 5-3 at MTS Centre in front of a 6,442 crowd. With the win, the ‘Dogs opened their 2008-2009 season with back-to-back wins for the first time since the 2002-2003 season. The Bulldogs opened the scoring with two goals 34 seconds apart. David Desharnais received a pass from Mike Glumac before he backhanded the puck into the top of the net at 7:03 of the opening frame. Max Pacioretty added an assist on the goal, the first AHL point of his career. Ryan White made it 2-0 at 7:37 after he banged a Pavel Valentenko rebound past Manitoba starting goaltender Karl Goehring. The Moose cut Hamilton’s lead to one after Jason Krog beat Hamilton starting netminder Marc Denis at 10:18 of the first period. Michel Ouellet sent a pass to Krog, who snapped a shot over the left shoulder of Denis to make it a 2-1 game. 24 seconds into the second stanza, Yannick Weber scored his first AHL goal while on the power play. With Zach Fitzgerald in the penalty box with a double-minor for high-sticking, Weber collected the puck on the right point before he blasted a shot that sailed by Goehring. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 4-1 after a loose puck bounced off Manitoba defenceman Nolan Baumgartner and into the net. Brock Trotter was awarded the goal. Baumgartner redeemed himself when he scored a goal at 16:11 of the middle frame. Ouellet fed a pass to Baumgartner who hammered a one-timer shot that beat Denis to cut Hamilton’s advantage to 4-2. Pierre-Cedric Labrie pulled the Moose to within one goal at 2:21 of the final frame. Labrie blasted a bouncing puck from the top of the circle and over the blocker of Denis. Ben Maxwell restored the Bulldogs’ two-goal lead with his first AHL marker at 7:12 of the third stanza. Maxwell skated down the right side before centering the puck, which bounced off a Manitoba defender and into the back of the net to give the ‘Dogs a 5-3 lead. Between the pipes, Marc Denis turned aside 34 of the 37 shots he faced for the Bulldogs while Karl Goehring made 20 saves on 25 shots for the Moose in a losing effort. __________________________________

Cherry doesn't know about the Leafs Five Goal rule, which states: "It is considered undignified, and equivalent to a loss, to beat the Leafs by less than five goals." Unbeknownst to Cherry, it was actually a one goal game.

I'm sorry, which of you were talking about how bad Latendresse is?????????????????????????? Hahaha j/k.. Excellent win! Great powerplay... Beautiful to hear off of CJAD goal after goal. If it was as much fun watching it on tv as it was on the radio.. well that's a lot of fun!

today is my birthday i all i wanted was a win from our boys over the make me laffs! so my,cousin dennis,my dad, my freind ernie speiler and of course myself, we are all life long die hard habs fan out here in regina got together with some of our freids my are laffs fans,darren,glen,ernie pander and we were going back and forth all night ! when i said before the game started that we'd smoke them like a cheap cigar! lo and be hold we did! they were quiet all night and we were loud and proud and loving it1 and i got my birthday! the best gift i have recieved (any time) you can beat the make me laffs is speial!so my birthday is complete and i'm very happy! i thought sergei kostitsyn was deadly tonight! hamrlik was awesome! tanguay was sick! kovalev,koivu and halak were great! thanks, (god's team) thanks for a prefect birthday present!

today is my birthday i all i wanted was a win from our boys over the make me laffs! so my,cousin dennis,my dad, my freind ernie speiler and of course myself, we are all life long die hard habs fan out here in regina got together with some of our freids they are laffs fans,darren,glen,ernie pander and we were going back and forth all night ! when i said before the game started that we'd smoke them like a cheap cigar! lo and be hold we did! they were quiet all night and we were loud and proud and loving it1 and i got my birthday! the best gift i have recieved (any time) you can beat the make me laffs is speial!so my birthday is complete and i'm very happy! i thought sergei kostitsyn was deadly tonight! hamrlik was awesome! tanguay was sick! kovalev,koivu and halak were great! thanks (god's team) thanks for a prefect birthday present!

the NHL has got to do something about the sweaters, they go over the heads too much during fights and is sdo hard to get off...will lead to aSERIOUS injury soon already been 4 fights in Cal-Van game

Don Cherry didn't like seeing the #1 power play late in a blowout game? Teams shouldn't let their players take stupid goon penalties late in the game (crosschecking Komisarek in the back). Montreal can respond with Laraque... or by unleashing its sick power play unto their sorry butts. BTW, where was Hollweig tonight?... Suspended for taking too many stupid goon penalties. CC. leafsnation.com leafsruletheworld.com doncherry.com cbc.ca

Have to give credit to the Leafs who kept on hustling until the end. I was actually a bit miffed as the Habs D started to look a bit slow and sloppy after it was 5-0. Hamrlik was very solid. He had a sweet goal and pulled off a sweet spin o rama move later on. I'm hoping we see increased offensive numbers from him this season as he's capable of it. Tanguay was far from "soft" as he crashed the net (scoring a goal that way) and made some good body checks including one when Koivu circled around the net outskating his man, spinning and making that sick pass to Latendresse for the sixth goal. Lats himself made some big hits. S. Kosts second goal was a beauty, glad to see him shooting more. Halak was pretty good but the Leafs did hit some posts. The pp seems a lot more varied instead of the last two years of pass it to Kovy or pass it to Souray/Streit. I don't know which habs' player was responsible for crushing Blake against the boards but it was right in front of the camera as we got a nice slow mo shot of Blake's face being pasted against the glass just before going to commercial...RDS rules! It'll be interesting to see how the Habs do against a much better team both offensively and defensively. I think the D could use a bit of work and I really wanted them to score on Cujo but other than that it was a wonderful game to watch.

looks like this year's leafs are gonna be last year's boston to us.

Good game, but the opposition wasn't anything like we're going to see in Philly. I want Higgins and Laraque out there as quickly as possible. Dandenault can still fly - he looked surprisingly good.

Good show! The domination you would expect, even more. But the real test will be passed on Monday against the Flyers. The Flyers kicked our buts no so long ago. remember? I'm sure the guys remeber. It will be interesting to see what team shows up in Phillie. A win over there would be a real confidence booster. As for crunching the poor Leafs, it's nothing to get complacent about.

it's the leafs.. anyone can score on this lame team haha! jk, I don't want to disrespect them.. But we killed them! yes it is one game, but.. WE KILLED THEM haha amazing game, nice passing, great positioning, solid D, impeccable goaltending, chemistry development and young guys stepping up! I hope the season continues to develop in this manner. I think the 4th line really gave everyone a boost in momentum during the first period with great forechecking and I love how both Lang and Tanguay are making their respective places with the Habs! Hammer is playing flawlessly, our captain is sending some key passes and Kovalev is happy! Sergei is stepping up and showing that he can be just as good as his older bro, no complaints on Lats he made a nice pass and and "okay" goal. There were a few mistakes by our habs, but overall they were overshadowed by the rest of their performance. I was hoping that the Habs can dish out a few more goals in the third, but it's not the first time you see them sit on their lead.. probably cuz they were running out of fuel.. Don Cherry knows *** about hockey, his post-game comments on Carbo's decision to play the powerplay line in the dying minutes of the third. We have 2-3 great opportunities by our first line to up our lead! wow I wrote quite a bit.. kinda new to this I just registered earlier today haha :)

When the habs skate, nobody is going to beat us. Boy are we fast! And I really like Lang, real smooth. I know our #1 line will stay intact, but I would really like to see Kovalev and Lang together. They can really make the moves. If we could just get a #4 D man, we could be serious contenders. I hope Gainey doesn't trade Halak, but Denis is no longer an NHL calibre goalie, and if Halak is traded and Price gets hurt, habs are finished.

Good to see

Random Thoughts about tonight's game from the Hockey News Canadiens Blog. Dominating Habs thrash the Hapless Leafs http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/18569-Canadiens-Blog-Dominating-Ha... T.C. tc.denault@habsworld.net

Oh my God. I have rarely seen a team put on a clinic like that Habs did tonight. It didn't matter who was on the ice, we were just plain better. In pretty much every way possible. Kudos to Cujo. He played well. Let's remember that this was Toronto. And Toronto sucks... more than they normally do. Let's see if we can do the same against Philly. Still... oooooh i got CHILLS watching that game. As I texted my friend in TO during the second period "Jesus H. Christ we are GOOD this year."