Lightning

As befits the team's hottest player, Scott Gomez offered the most succinct analysis of your seemingly-playoff-bound Montreal Canadiens:

"We're starting to look like the team we should have been all year."

And they're still missing two important players: sniper Mike Cammalleri and power-play specialist Marc-André Bergeron.

Despite their absence, the Canadiens are playing like the team Professor Gainey may have envisaged when he started stitching components together last summer.

Gomez and Gionta aren't as young as they were when they broke in with New Jersey. But energized by the addition of Benoit Pouliot, the former Devils are playing their best hockey of the season.

And they picked a good time to peak.

And crucial, as it drops Tampa Bay seven points back and makes their three in hand less threatening.

Guest analyst Jimmy Ruffin puts the latest debacle in perspective.

What becomes of us broken-hearted Canadiens fans?

Can we ride this roller-coaster through the end of the season without sustaining serious psychological damage?

Jaroslav Spacek had the right approach:

He got sick BEFORE the game.

(Shout-out to Jarred Friedman for the video)

Tough call on whether the floundering Canadiens were worse against the Panthers or the Lightning.

Discuss ... and oh, you will.

Have the Canadiens played 40 better minutes this season than the first two periods in Tampa?

Have they played a lousier 20 than the third?

What a team!

The two guys RDS thinks belong on Team Canada couldn't score on Carey Price.

The guy named to Team Czech Republic beat Mike Smith in OT to win it.

An excellent game in which I think we saw the lineup that, barring injury, will carry this team for the rest of the season.

Tomas Plekanec in OT.

10 points on the trip.

Plan the parade.

Gee, we should rename this web site Steve Kerley Inside/Out.

Our most prolific correspondent offers this scouting report on tonight's opponent:

Montreal fans love to talk about the tradition of passing the torch from one generation of stars to the next.  Don’t look now, but that is already happening in Tampa.  Twenty-nine year old, Vinny Lecavalier, has already been eclipsed by 2nd year budding superstar, Steven Stamkos.

It’s a toss up as to whether or not Tampa Bay will make the playoffs this year.  There are still a lot of gaps in the line-up.  Regardless, some major building blocks are falling into place which will be the foundation for a very good team for years to come.

This year’s annual road trip to Florida takes on special meaning as both games will be four pointers.  Just another sign of how parity has changed the face of the game for our Montreal Canadiens.

I made a promise when the season began: No panic until 20 games were in the book.

Then, and only then, would we be able to accurately gauge the success or faiulure of Dr. Gainey's off-season science experiment.

So let's hold off for another week, during which the Canadiens are at home to the Flames and then travel to Phoenix and Nashville.

Factoring in an 8 p.m. start in the home of country music, the Canadiens will have completed 20 games by next Saturday at 10:30.

Then, at 10:31, we can start panicking.

The Canadiens are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings. They are three points ahead of Atlanta, which has four games in hand.

The Canadiens began the night a point ahead of Tampa Bay. By virtue of their win, the Lightning vaulted into seventh place.

If the playoffs began now, Tampa Bay and the Islanders would be in, the Canadiens and Boston out.

But it's too early to panic, right?

Right.

The Ls are piling up

Have the Canadiens ever made a better sixth-round draft choice?

Andrei Markov was spectacular last night: 29:21 of ice time, including 11:22 on the power play.

Five shots on goal, plus three that went wide and six that were blocked.

He was on the ice for four goals – including both of Tampa Bay's, but it was that kind of crazy game.

Markov was part of a defensive effort that held Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis to one shot each.

He is the Canadiens best and most valuable player, the steadiest and starriest member of what is otherwise a mediocre defence corps.

If it weren't for Andrei Markov, your Montreal Canadiens might be in the John Tavares Derby with the Lightning and a few other bottom-dwellers.

Instead, they're in eighth place after a W that should have been a lot easier.

Never in doubt, right?

Total domination.

A 2-0 lead squandered.

OT.

Captain wins it on the Canadiens' 36th shot. 

If you're an optimist, a Stanley Cup half full kind of person, you point to the first period.

Total domination for 20 minutes. Canadiens outshot the Lightning 20-7, the home team went sonething like 15 minutes without a shot, Carey Price stopped Mark Recchi's penalty shot.

If you're a Cup-half-empty pessimist, you focus on the latter 40 minutes of the game.

Your Montreal Canadiens blew the lead, surrendered five unanaswered goals and failed to compete against a team that began the game 18 points behind them in the Eastern Conference standings.

Within the space of eight days, the Canadiens have lost to two non-playoff teams. The team with centennial Cup aspirations is in fifth place, one point ahead of Philadelphia.

Will the Canadiens be filling the Stanley Cup with champagne in June?

Hey, anything is possible.

Probable?

No.

A 2-1 lead becomes a 5-3 loss – to a team that had 18 fewerpoits than the Canadiens.

Mike Smith held Tampa bay in the game during a 20-shot first-period barrage.

Then the team that wanted it more took over. 

Among the blessings visited upon your Montreal Canadiens last season was a mass contagion of good health.

No important player was sidelined for any signficant amount of time.

Guy Carbonneau was able to keep everyone fresh by rolling four lines, and his team rolled to first overall in the Eastern Conference.

That was then.

This is now: In the course of an embarrassing loss to the worst team in the NHL, the Canadiens most consistent player in 2008-'09 sustained another foot injury.

Or maybe it's Saku Koivu's ankle. We'll find out today ... maybe, if the Canadiens deign to provide an injury update, which the Kremlin still hasn't done in the case of Christopher Higgins.

This much we know: Mathieu Dandenault has a broken arm.

Oh, we also know this: your Montreal Canadiens have an inordinate amount of difficulty winning games that should be easy.

Game lost to the 30th-place team in the NHL.

Captain Saku Koivu lost to injury.

Any glass-half-full fans out there?

Check the main site for very subdued room audio. 

A good night's sleep is the best thing to cure a raging case of playoff paranoia.

Too bad I didn't get one..

IThe tossing and turning was probably triggered by the beer I quaffed before turning in – ill-advised, perhaps, but necessary after watching Canadiens sopil the bed in Tampa.

And I fear it will be Jack Daniels after the Panthers game tonight.

If Canadiens lose to Florida, the team is officially in a crunch-time slump.

Canadiens' Alex Kovalev splits Lightning defencemen Paul Ranger (left) and Dan Boyle during the first period on Tuesday night.
REUTERS/Mike Carlson

Updated by The Gazette's Kevin Mio

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The Canadiens dropped their third straight game on Tuesday night with a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Eastern Conference’s worst team.

Vaclav Prospal scored a pair of goals for the Lightning, including the game winner 12 minutes into the third period.

Of their three consecutive losses, two have come against the worst teams in the East, including a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In between those two games was a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the East’s best team, the Ottawa Senators. The Canadiens have also lost four of their last five games overall.

Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet would probably like to have all three Lightning goals back as the French netminder didn’t look comfortable in net. His counterpart, Karri Ramo, had a much easier night as the Habs could muster only 21 shots.

Playing the last place team in the Eastern Conference, Canadiens lose a third straight game in regulation for the first time this season.

Vaclav Prospal's second of the game was the winner in a third period dominated by Tampa Bay.

Canadiens were outshot 36-21 and mounted no third-period offence until the dying seconds of the game.

On the way to game yesterday afternoon, I listened to Dany Dubé – my favourite hockey analyst, along with Pierre McGuire – on CKAC. His insights were borne out by the 6-3 game result.

The key to what I think we can safely call Canadiens' resurgence is three lines that can score. That kind of balance translated to four even-strength goals last night. And it deprives the opponent of a shutdown option – not that Tampa Bay has that in their repertoire.

Take a bow, Guy Carbonneau.

When the coach blew up three of his four lines after the Dallas debacle, I thought he'd lost it. Particularly loopy was seaprating Christopher Higgins from Saku Koivu.

Well, guess what?

Higgins is playing his best hockey of the season with a new centre, Maxim Lapierre. Higgins is the leader on the line, and he's brought Michael Ryder back from the brink of oblivion.

Michael Ryder celebrates Alex Kovalev's first-period goal. Ryder would score two of his own tonight.
Christinne Muschi, Reuters

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Updated by Kevin Mio, links updated at 7:45 am on Friday.

The Canadiens made a simple New Year’s resolution: Win at
home. And for their first game at the Bell Centre in 2008, the Habs delivered with a 6-3 win over the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning thanks to a three-goal explosion during the third period. With the victory, Montreal improved its record on home ice to 7-7-4.

It was Tamp Bay's sixth straight loss and another third-period meltdown. 

Andrei Kostisyn scored his 10^th goal of the season eight minutes into the third period to give the Canadiens a 4-3 lead after the Habs squandered 2-0, 2-1 and 3-1 leads in the second period. Kyle Chipchura and Michael Ryder, with his second of the game, scored the other third-period goals for the Canadiens.

After twice blowing two goal leads, the Canadiens get three unanswered in the third period and rack up a rarity: a home-ice win.

6-3.

Third period goals by Andrei K, Kyle Chipchura and MICHAEL RYDER (two tonight!)

They're undefeated at the Bell Centre in 2008.

Facing an unaccustomed scrum of cameras and microphones in the winning room, Ryder modestly talked about "just hanging around, looking to find room" in front of the Tampa Bay net for the second-period laser that brifly made it 3-1.

"We all want (Ryder) to go well," said Alex Kovalev. "I'm happy to see him get his confidence back. Everybody's been in his shoes before, going a long time without a goal. Then you get the feeling and touch back."

Four of Canadiens' six goals – including all three in the third period – were scored at even-strngth.

"We can't wait for power plays," Kovalev said. "We have to work hard 5-on-5 and get our confidence.

"After the second period in the llockerroom everybody knew we didn't work in that period. They scored good goals, but we mostly gave them the goals. We knew if we played the third period like he first, we'd score goals." 

I don't know how many delusional out-patients living on the street in Montreal you'd have to poll before you found one who would have predicted the Canadiens' two wins in Florida.

After the Dallas debacle?

C'mon. Pull the other one – it's got bells on it.

Well, ring-a-ding and rack up two Ws. What does this portend for the second half of the season?

I'll attempt an answer – with this caveat:

Like many Montreal hockey fans, I tend toward snap judgements. Regular readers know that at various times since the beginning of the season, I've been ready to fire Guy Carbonneau, bench Cristobal Huet, trade Michael Ryder and erect a statue of Josh Gorges in front of the Bell  Centre.

So take this latest assessment with a fair-sized chunk of salt:

Canadiens are primed for a very good stretch run. 

Obvious deduction: Kyle Chipchura was the problem.

The hard-working rookie watched from the pressbox as his teammates played one of their better games of the season in Tampa Bay last night. Guy Carbonneau juggled three of his lines and no sooner had Canadiens fans stopped scratching their heads than the team had five goals, 10 names on the scoresheet and one of the more impressive Ws of the season.

Are the Canadiens that good, or do the Lightning really suck?

We'll find out tonight in Sunrise, where the Panthers await. Florida does not have its cross-state rival's firepower, but the Panthers have several attributes the Lightning lack – notably first-rate goaltending and Jacques Martin's stifling defensive system.

Canadiens passed a big test last night. Having played horribly in Dallas, the team need a bounce-back game to avoid ominous echoes of last season's post-Christmas collapse.

Canadiens' Maxim Lapierre (centre) celebrates his first-period goal with Christopher Higgins and Mathieu Dandenault.
Scott Audette, NHLI via Getty Images

Updated with links to The Gazette game story at 8:35 a.m. by Kevin Mio 

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Carbonneau Post-Game Audio (French only)

At noon-hour today, Guy Carbonneau’s curious, latest shuffle of his lines had Canadiens fans in a flap worthy of our gone-south Canada geese.

By 9 p.m., surely some of those fans were reconsidering the foresight – dare we say genius? – of the gone-south Canadiens head coach.

Montreal scored early and often tonight in Tampa, five different players finding the net behind two goaltenders, in rolling to a 5-2 victory over the Lightning. We’ll never know whether the result was because the Canadiens were rested, not having played since Sunday, or because the Lightning were weary, having played Wednesday night.

No matter what, the Canadiens improved to 18-13-6 overall in this fourth of a six-game road trip, while avoiding their third straight loss. The Habs are an outstanding 12-6-2 away from the Bell Centre.

A late goal by Jan Hlavac – who is so firmly ensconced in his coach's doghouse that it's gone condo – makes the 5-2 final score vaguely respectable.

But this was a superb performance by your Montreal Canadiens. Ten players figured in the scoresheet, all of Guy Carbonneau's new lines were productive and the defence – keyed by Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek – was airtight for most of the game.

League-leading scorer Vincent Lecavalier got bupkis. Donuts for Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis as well.

And when they don't score ...

Can Canadiens make it two-for-Florida?

Tune in tomorrow. 

The Gazette's Pat Hickey reports that the Canadiens' lineup for the Lightning in Tampa Bay looks like this:

Koivu centring Latendresse and Sergei Kostitsyn
Plekanec between Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn
Lapierre centring Higgins and Ryder
Kostopoulos between Streit and Dandenault

Kyle Chipchura is the healthy scratch.

When will the bleeding stop?

As is my habit, I listened to phone-in radio on the drive home after the game.

I have to change my habits. Stop listening to radio. Stop going to Bell Centre games. Find something less stressful than being a Canadiens fan – like yoga or peacekeeping duty in Afghanistan.

If the phone lines are a valid indicator, the faithful are rapidly losing faith are not happy – which is understandable, because the team looks like it should schedule its next home game at Lourdes.

Links updated Wednesday at 5:40 a.m. ET

Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier celebrates his second-period goal.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

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It seems the ailing Canadiens have developed an immunity even to the National Hockey League's most effective guaranteed-win medicine.

The Tampa Bay Lightning came to Montreal last night for their second game in as many nights, having been pounded 6-1 in Toronto by the Maple Leafs, and as the NHL’s worst road team, having won just twice away from home. The Canadiens had won six of their past eight games against the Lightning, including two in a row in their usually friendly home rink.

Finally last night, a Canadiens win on Bell Centre ice, right?

Well, no.

A shootout goal by Brad Richards, far and away the game's best player, and three saves – glove, pad and pad – by goalie Marc Denis on Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn and Saku Koivu lifted the Lightning to a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens.

The Canadiens are within one of their record for consecutive home-ice losses ... but at least the latest one wasn't an embarrassment.

After Marc Denis, who had not won a game this season, made a brilliant leg save on Saku Koivu to complete his shootout shutout,  there was stunned silence in the Bell Centre, rather than the raucous boos that have rained down on the team after recent losses.

Canadiens came back from a 2-1 third-period deficit and salvaged a point against Tampa Bay. 

"We battled back," said Saku Koivu. "We've talked a lot about playing 60 minutes and not having letdowns. We can't take a period off."

Like the second. If the stat sheet is to be believed, the Canadiens had 13 giveaways in the middle period, 22 after 40 minutes – to two for Tampa Bay. Lightning scored their second goal off a blooper reel giveaway by Ryan O'Byrne, who played two minutes of the thhird period and was benched for the OT.

The Canadiens didn't quit. Tomas Plekaanec tied the game at 2 with four and a hlf minutes left, and the Canadiens had the best of the OT.

"We have to take the third period, memorize it and play like that for 60 minutes," said Alex Kovalev.

The coach thinks Canadiens "have to find a way to turn chances into goals."

Maybe Thursday in Philadelphia. And then, with that record for home-ice futility looming, Toronto is here on Saturday. 

Tampa Bay Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier "is the best player in the league," his coach, John Tortorella, said before Monday's 6-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I don't care what anybody else talks about. And I say that, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody else.

"I just see that as a coach, I can put him in any situation and feel comfortable - offensively and defensively. And how's he handled himself in the room and matured there – I just think puts him above and beyond."