posted by Kevin Mio at 12h30 EST on Nov 27


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We’re a quarter way through the 2008-09 season and the Canadiens have had their share of highs and lows through 21 games. But the team turned in one of its best performances of the season Wednesday night during a 3-1 win over the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings.

Most people had expected the Canadiens to struggles against the Wings, but a solid performance should serve to boost the team’s confidence as they move on to play the Washington Capitals on Friday before starting a seven-game homestand on Saturday.

PuckCasters Dave Stubbs, Mike Boone and Kevin Mio review the first quarter of the team's season and examine some of the surprises - both positive and negative - of the 2008-09 season so far. Mr. Hickey went to Washington – for Friday's game vs. the Capitals.

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twocents's picture
Submitted by twocents on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 23:09.
Great PuckCast. For the record, Koivu had only seven games last year where he took multiple minor penalties. In 6 games he had 2 minor penalties. In 1 game he took 3, 1 was a cross check. In the playoffs he never took more than 1 penalty in a game and in fact, had only 2 penalties in total for the postseason. It's not that I think he wasn't guilty of taking too many minors. He needed to improve and cut down on infractions and he has. But I am just saying... he never once took 4 penalties in a game.

Submitted by BigHabsFan on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 16:26.
I can't stand the shootout. It is completely irrational if you look at it from a pure sportsmans point of view (it is however, rational if you are in the nhl front office and you have to sell the game in Miami, etc.). Imagine if the NBA settled ties by having a three-point competition, or a game of Horse. It would be an embarrassment. And that's exactly what the shootout is. Think about how tight the playoff races are for the 7th and 8th spots. It generally comes down to a point or two. A teams shootout record can easily make the difference between not makng the playoffs and having playoff games in your home rink that will generate millions of dollars in revenue. It is baffling that the league has kept the shootout and not started giving 3 points for a regulation win.

Submitted by JF on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 14:48.
Great podcast. I'm really hoping the team has turned a corner. Last night's game capped a stretch of 3 or 4 in which they were doing a lot of things right that they had been doing wrong before. Defensively they're better; I actually think Gorges is better with Markov than Komisarek. They're taking a lot fewer penalties. The powerplay might be coming back to life. I think they have 4 goals in their last 21 attempts, and with Markov back on the left point they're able to be more creative. Plekanec has had 2 great games, and Kovalex did some good things both last night and against the Islanders. Hopefully with the confidence boost they'll get from their victory over the Stanley Cup champions, they'll start to look like the team we all thought they were at the beginning of the season.

nick's picture
Submitted by nick on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 13:22.
Hooooooooooooraaaaaaay for Podcasts! Keep'em coming guys, we love 'em!




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