3P 00:00:
Huge faceoff win by Pleks.
3P Canadiens timeout:
Gotta talk over this faceoff.
3P Break:
Every game is the game of the year. What a season!
3P 4:22:
KOVY!
UN-FREAKIN'_REAL!
5-5
3P 5:38:
This will be quite the PP.
3P 8:00:
Can't blog. Can't keep up with the pace.
3P 12:40:
I'm hallucinating here. Acid flashbacks ... to 1976
3P 13:08:
Are you kidding me?
RYDER!!!!!!!!!
5-4
3P 13:17:
A miracle!
Lundqvist flubs a Kovalev shot.
5-3
3P Break:
The comeback ain't happening. Rangers are too good, too fast and too smart.
3P 16:00:
Gomez great on the PK. He was all over Markov and Kovalev.
3P 16:52:
Michael Ryder is on fire. And Canadiens finally get a PP.
3P 19:13:
Bad Moon Risin' indeed.
3P 19:38:
getting ugly. They're booing icing calls.
3P 20:00:
I'll just be happy with no injuries.
Between periods:
Hey, I love a good soccer riot as much as the next guy. But the refs are not the reason your Montreal Canadiens are down 5-2 and have been outshot 26-16. And with all due respect to our beloved Komisaurus, he has to get a grip out there ... Anyone seen the Pleks line tonight?
2P 00:00:
Kovalev, Koivu and Ryder. TThe crowd is ready to kill the refs.
2P 2:20:
Special on Ritalin betweeen periods.
2P Clean-up break:
Is this what a Rangers sweep looks like? The ice is covered with rolled-up Go Habs Go signs. Good thing it's not Stick Night.
2P 2:36:
A first this season: the ice littered with poster giveaways after Komisarek is sent back to the box for high-sticking.
2P 5:00:
Avery suckers Komisarek into a penalty.
2P Break:
Crazy game or what? If Canadiens get one more the third period will be a beaut.
2P 7:08:
Rangers timeout. The place has come alive.
2P 7:08:
ABORT RYDER TRADE! ABORT RYDER TRADE!!!
2P 9:00:
More energy from Canadiens, but Rangers are keeping everything to the outside.
2P Break:
"Hello, Bob. About the Ryder trade ..."
2P 11:32:
Just after boos began, a classic Michael Ryder goal.
5-1
Here comes the rally.
2P 13:00:
Canadiens have 12 shots in 27 minutes. And nothing close to a goal.
2P 14:57:
That's TEN unanswered goals in less than 60 minutes of playing time
2P 16:00:
I'm grasping at straws: Huet has looked sharp.
2P 17:16:
Chris Higgins takes an O-zone penalty. Four minutes for high-sticking. What a mess this is turning into.
2P 18:20:
The game in a nutshell: Chris Higgins flailing away in the crease as the puck bounces away harmlessly
2P 20:00:
Cell phone conversation: "Bob! Abort Huet trade! Repeat: Abort Huet trade!"
Between periods:
Canadiens 12-5 on faceoffs. Woo-hoo! ... Koivu, Sergei, Komisarek and Markov were on for both even-strength goals ... I can't figure out why Canadiens amtch up so badly with these guys. Rangers weem to work harder, win most of the puck battles and clear their zone with greater effficiency.
1P 00:40:
Callahan goes for ann elbow on Kovalev.
1P 2:00:
At least Bégin came to play. He laid out Michal Rozsival. And Komisarek picked a fight with Dubinsky. Down 3-0, Flyers hockey: Gotta love it.
1P 3:06:
Wow! Canadiens hacked to death on the lip of the crease ... and Kovy goes off.
1P Break:
Shots are 11-3. This is just brutal. Can't pinpoint what's wrong. Everything, I guess. Hope Gainey hasn't traded Huet.
1P 6:04:
HU-ET ... only because it would be merciful
1P 6:17:
And now an NY PP.
1P 7:30:
Rangers just freewheeling in the Canadiens' end. Total control ... in all three zones
1P Break:
Everyone's pretty much in shock here. Rangers are winning the puck battles. Shots are 9-2. Worst first period in a while.
1P 11:10:
Not a great goal. Dubinsky on a stoppable wrister,
Then at 10:56, Avery ... who gives it to the crowd.
2-0
1P 11:55:
First thump. Bégin on Marc Staal
1P Break:
Shots are 6-2 Rangers. Deceptive, because the game seems close.
1P 13:00:
Avery may, as the gallery keeps yelling, suck. But he can play hockey
1P 16:00:
Koivu is re-energized
1P 17:00:
Andrei K. electrifies this place.
18:00:
Bégin against Gomez.
1P 19:20:
Great first shift for Koivu line.
Forget Hossa:
Marcel, that is. He's rehabbing an injury in the AHL. The other scratches are Colton Orr and Peter Prucha
1P 20:00:
This is the time of the season when s--- gets serious. No predictions,, but I'm expecting a great game.
Odd line:
Jagr starts with Avery and Brandon Dubinsky
Think those things grow on trees:
Another hit to the plexiglass budget: a panel behind the Canadiens' net got cracked during the warmup.
Poster MikeL:
Is watching TSN and reports "Bob (McKenzie) and (Darren) Dreger made a point to say Gainey is by far the most active
Canadian Gm at the GM meetings. They said there is an offer on the
table that would send Ryder and and draft pick to Calgary for Tanguay.
They also went on to say Hossa and Sundin are high on Gainey's wants."
The Brothers Kostitsyn:
On RDS. Will someone get these boys to Harry Rosen?
Blowin' in the wind:
Five brass players from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra will play the anthems tonight. They sound awesome in an empty building.
The Touchables:
CKAC guys listed Canadiens who could be involved in a trade: Saku Koivu, Christopher Higgins, Michael Ryder, Cristobal Huet, Mark Streit, Josh Gorges, Ryan O'Byrne, Mathieu Dandenault, Maxim Lapierre. The rest of the roster is, in their sage opinion, either untouchable or untradeable.
One thug down:
Colton Orr has the flu, won't play tonight.
The next brother act?:
Canadiens have obtained – via a "loan" that probably will become a trade at season's end – Olivier Latendresse, Gui!'s older brother, from the Phoenix organization. Coyotes get Cory Urquhart in return. Latendresse, who turned 22 last week, is 5-10 and weighs 190. Two seasons ago he scored 41 goals for Val d'Or in the Q. Latendresse, per hockeysfuture.com, is "a solid skater and a good stickhandler. He has a great stride and skates with finesse. ... Latendresse doesn't take shifts off, he works very hard and is very reliable. He is a good two-way player who is positionally sound at both ends of the ice. He works hard down low and puts himself in position to create more scoring chances. On the opposite end of the ice, he attacks the rush and will break up an opposition cycle. He works hard at getting himself in between the net and the puck and will get physical."
Share the agony and ecstasy of Habs fandom and read live blogs from every game with Gazette columnist Mike Boone.
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I was there. The game went from a moment of "oh no not another 8 nothing game" to "maybe we can come back but I won't get my hopes up because every time I do they blow it" to "OH MY FREAKING GOD THEY ACTUALLY TIED IT" and "HOLY $#!^ THEY WON!". I personally was worried I wasted my money and just wanted my money's worth. Like I said in the game's post I was feverish. Really amazing, I I never thought to be part of habs history :)
I CANNOT believe I missed this!!!! When I saw they were down 5-2 at the end of the second, I decided to get a little "romantic" with my boyfriend. What the frickin hell!?!?!?!! Guess I learned my lesson... no nookie during Habs games, even if they are down and seem to be out!
Wow! I feel your pain ... so to speak. You missed the comeback ... so to speak. You just have to work on your scheduling. At my age, I can wrap everything up – foreplay through cigarette – during the time it takes to Zamboni the ice for a shootout (so to speak).
You can always depend on Mike to find the good ones!
Chris Aung-Thwin - Please file this reply from Mike away for next week's Bench Talk. It's already #1 on the highlight reel!
The Original 24 Cups
My only regret is that Bob Gainey was not there last night (I think he was still in Naples, Florida although I may be wrong) so that he could feel the full impact of the win last night. I've heard reports that he is VERY active in talks with other teams to bring us an impact player. Even Mats Sundin for crying out loud! Where would we play him?
I just feel that this team made a loud statement last night, that they are not for sale and any perceived inadequacies are just that. Well okay, Hossa for Brisbois and Smolinski we'll take.
That being said, I think the 6th player was very significant last night. I wasn't there but apparently the Bell Centre was thunderous from the time Michael Ryder scored his first until Saku put out the lights in the shootout.
If the team keeps playing like this we'll rock 'em all the way to the cup. Shades of '93! How many overtime victories? Last night had team of destiny written all over it when you think that it has never happened before in franchise history. The forum ghosts were clearly in evidence last night!
So I've watched hockey ever since Le Gros Bill scored his 500th. Saw the 70s Habs. Saw the 5-2 comeback against the Bruins. This game was very reminiscent of that period. In the 70s, the opposing team needed to be ahead by at least 3 goals heading into the third to have a shot because the Habs OWNED the 3rd.
Despite seeing all of those great games by all of those great teams, I honestly cannot remember the Habs dominating THIS much in the third. It's like they were possessed. Wave after wave coming; D-Men pinching in at just the right time. You just knew they were coming back. I am SO glad we can play firewagon hockey again.
Somehow, I just know that Maurice has a smile on his face up there.
_____________________________________________________
Jesus Price: the Blocker, the Glove and the Holy Post
i know. it was something to behold! every man was battling like it was game 7 of the stanley cup finals. i wish i could have been in the building. as a die-hard habs fan, it must have been absolutely incredible.
It's the morning after and I'm still buzzing over this game. This will be the water-cooler talking point du jour, especially because everybody at the office knows I'm a Habs fan. It's almost as awesome watching and reading all the game recaps...I can't imagine what it must have felt like to be actually at the game and having stuck it out until the end. From the utter depths of despair that a 5-0 hole brings out, to the utter epiphany of coming all the way back to win. I probably scared a life or two out of my cats from celebrating along with the TV, and I'm sure there's still a few ears ringing from the Bell Centre faithful who attended. Simply awesome.
See you April 5th at the Bell Centre!
Ok since I have no life and whatnot I decided to check out how the game progressed thru the eyes of rags fans
It was no surprise how their jubilance quickly became "omygawdijusthrewupinmymouth!" but what was interesting was that some of them decided that this whole game was a sham, a conspiracy
"Hate saying this about the NHL, but with Bettman in charge, anything is possible. This game almost looked fixed.
No way are the Rangers 5 goals better than Montreal over the first half of the game. Rangers didn't necessarily deserve the 5-0 lead.
Montreal's d-bag fans won that game. I've never heard an arena erupt for a goal that cuts a lead to 5-1 the way that place did. That's part of the reason I say the game looked fixed."
That and some of them want to go to war with Quebec :LOL:
check out all the fun at:
http://community.msgnetwork.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/54210655/m/321106122/...
Great entertainment reading the Rangers thread, although, it sounds like hockey fans everywhere, blogging, high on their team when they're up, wanting to fire everyone when they choke (And the Rangers stepped on their weenie last night, thanks to some inspired play by our Habs and fantastic encouragement from the fans). The best we can do is put this one behind us, and build on it for the next game. Go Habs Go!!
Yeah, almost sounds like a certain Habs blog, doesn't it?
Great read. I especially liked the one guy who complained about the MTL crowd being too loud.
_____________________________________________________
Jesus Price: the Blocker, the Glove and the Holy Post
Habs extraordinary, fabulous come back, no one have missed on that game I hope,... historical !
The Ranger's coach was amazed that the fans had remain supportive of the Canadiens after the team had let in 5 goals against them at the game mid-point,.. I think it made the incredible happens..... and a blast it was... the Bell was the place to be last night.
Its not the first time that the fans make good thing happened,... Kovalev has always been adamant to say that the reason he signed with Montreal was because he was touched by the ovation the fans gaved him when he first put his skates on the ice at the Bell,... fans can make good things happens,.. they did with Kovalev then and did some more tonight with the Club itself.
Kovalev has help our team remaking history twice already and played a dominant role on both occasions,... his two goals tonight and his incredible performances that made our historical playoff come back possible four years ago.
Our come back tonight was spectacular and its conclusion by our captain in the shootout was perfection.... Koivu's goal was the play of the night on the NHL channel.
I don't know what made me happier - the comeback win or the role Ryder played in it. Congrats to the Big Newf!
By now you have probably heard that this was the first time in the long history of the Canadiens that they have come back from a 5 goal deficit (I was shocked when I heard that, but then again, the old teams were so good they rarely fell behind that far). The best we had managed before was to come back from a 4 goal deficit.
You have probably also heard that this was the first time the Rangers, in their long history, have ever blown a 5 goal lead. They have previously blown 4 goal leads before.
What you may NOT have heard, and what I find particularly amusing, is that the last time Montreal came back from 4 goals down was also the last time the Rangers blew a 4 goal lead. Back in 94, the Rangers blew a 4 goal lead to, of all teams, Montreal.
Oh, and that game was played in Montreal, just like this one.
Gotta love it.
ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' PHENOMINAL.
So... what did I miss? ;)
.
.
.
.
______________________________________
"All bow down before the Komisaurus Rex!"
went to a movie tonight, did I miss anything?
Haha... eh, somewhat of a good game. No big deal. :)
I can't believe the character exhibited tonight, especially Michael Ryder who has been trashed all season long and has no obligation to lay it on the line, yet there he was giving it 110%. I hope that's a lesson to Carbonneau. Things may not always be as they seem. I know Ryder is an easygoing personality and it probably landed him in the pressbox due to a perceived lack of intensity. What lies beneath all that is what counts so think twice before you hang this guy out to dry like a diry sock. Same thing to Gainey, forget about that bag of pucks you were going to pick up. Any GM would want Ryder now. I would just remove that forsale sign from the door.
Lost in all of this....
Four...count them...4 wins in a row.
Somebody said this before, but i gotta repeat it.
Ole.
Dude
O Fricking Lay
I was at the Bell Centre tonight and this has to be one of the best Habs experiences I've had since the '93 Cup parade. I'll be fine if Gainey doesn't make a trade, but one thing's for sure: chemistry counts.
Fantastic! Bring on the Pens!
You lucky son of a gun!
As amazing a comeback as I've ever seen in my 48 Hab-loving years! Seems like I'm not the only one who "smelt" a comeback after the second Ryder goal. Wonder if Tanguay could ever pull off something like that???
Methinks not!
That's why they say some of the best trades ever made are those that don't
get done!
Gone on you Michael ... and Kovy ... and Saks ... and Komisaurus ... a
truly all out TEAM effort.
Thanks for the memories 2NIGHT!
Pistol
Any UFA who has doubts about coming to Montreal should watch a tape of tonight's game. How do you feel now, Shanny!?
Sergei-Koivu-Ryder
Andrei-Pleks-Kovalev
Higgins-Lapierre-Latendresse
Streit-Begin-Kostopolaus
Markov-Komi
Hammerlik-O'byrne
Boullion-Gorges
Lineup to the cup
Didnt you love the Ryder, Lapierre, Streit line? Electric.
NO, ryder is a player that waits around the crease to wither quickly tap in rebounds, or take a quick 1 timer. He is not a defensive forward and should never asked to be. Koivu is a playmaker and will find the open man, Sergei is a brilliant hockey player that can read the play, shoot the puck and make a quick persition pass. The perfect combination.
Higgins is a strong forward who can lay out hits and use his body to controll the puck, Simmilar to latendresse. Lapierre is a pesky forward that can relase the puck quickly but also plays the power forward role at times. Higgins and lapierre are shutdown forwards and latendresse can learn how to do that. These three play sim,milar roles and it makes sense for them to play together.
I would rather trade streit, bring in smolinski and move begin to left wing.
What a game. What a feeling to be a Habs fan at this moment. We have tons of talent and character. I'm so glad I didn't stop watching this game.
Komisarek did his job by taking on Dubinsky. This has to be Begin's best game of the year, by far. And what can you say about Ryder - he came up big against Toronto last year and sparked our comeback tonight. The blueline was strong, including Markov, OB and Gorges. Kovy again was our savior. Even the Captain chipped in with the beautiful shoot-out goal. The only "weak" link I saw tonight was Dandy.
The crowd was amazing, cheering even face-off wins. It was like the Habs were about to close a play-off series.
This is a great moment in our season as we inch closer to the play-offs.
GO HABS GO!
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