Koivu could possibly make his return against the Predators

The Canadiens have good news for tonight's home game against Nashville,that good news is Koivu is ready to play.With Koivu's return it will had more offensive to the Canadiens(who have won 4 of their last five game)."When the team is winning, it's a lot easier to ease into your return to the lineup," Koivu told the Canadiens' official website. "At this point of my career, I've had enough injuries in my day to know that rushing things is never a good idea.It's not really a question of discomfort or strength at this point," said Koivu. "When you start skating again after a few weeks of being inactive, there is always an adaptation period. I'll be back once I'm at 100 per cent and I'll be ready."Koivu was having a good start to the season archiving 22 points in 28 games before his injury against the Lightning.

The Canadiens coming off a 3-1 defeat –only their second in 12 games Tuesday at Boston, and will face Nashvilletonight at the Bell Centre. The Predators are coming off a 2-0 shutout victory Tuesday at Toronto.If Koivu does not make his return tonight he will defenetly make his return over the weekend.The puck drop for the Game between the Predators and the Canadiens will be at 7:38 on RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Canadiens win streak comes to an end against the Bruins

Zdeno Chara scored 2 poweerplay goals to give the Bruins the lead at 2-1 the final would later be 3-1 with David Krejci late period goal.The Bruins have won their 3rd straight game against the Canadiens this season.But remember what happened last season the Canadiens had won 10 straight regular season games against the Bruins going into the playoffs and what happened?The Series went to seven games even though the Canadiens went up two games to none going into game 3,but eventually the Bruins tied the series at 3-3.The Canadiens won game seven 5-2.My point is that you can't go by regular season stats.It's like what happened to the Devils a few seasons ago, they finished in eighth but the won the Stanley cup.

Every time I watch the Canadiens against the Bruins it's always like a playoff game,especially when the fans are into the game."But when the crowd gets into it like that and the teams play with that much energy, it felt like the playoffs last year," the Bruins goalie said Tuesday night after stopping 34 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Canadiens. "It was one of the funnest games I've played this year." Their was a play earlier in the game when A.Kostitsyn hit Aron Ward from behind,it didn't look like a dirty hit but to some people it was."I'm going to let the league look into that," Julien said. "I guess the big thing with me is it's not the first time this guy has done that. I don't like to see that happening over and over from the same guys."A. Kostitsyn got a 5 minute major penalty for the hit."I don't get the five minutes," Thomas said. "I saw the replay and I didn't think it was a penalty." The Canadiens have won the past four out of six games played.The Canadiens next game will be on Thursday against the Predators.Saku Koivu is expected to make his return in Thurday nights game.


Written By Andrew Di Pardo

S.Kostitsyn's late goal leads to a 5-4 Canadiens victory.

Going into last nights game the Cnadiens had won 3 in a row and were 12 points behind the Confrence leader.(The Boston Bruins)I don't think the Cnadiens focus going into last nights game against the Capitals was on the Bruins,I think it was more on defeating the Capitals for the first time this season.The game was tied at 4 apiece before S.Kostitsyn scored with just 21.2 seconds remaning in the Third period."The defenceman just couldn't see the puck," S.Kostitsyn told TSN.ca. "I saw it in his legs. I just took a shot. I didn't see where I was shooting."Some Capitals fans will say it was a fluke and some will say Johson should have stopped the shot. In this case it was the Capitals defenses falt for not seeing the puck.

With the Canadiens win Montreal Coach Guy Carbonneau will be the Assistant Coach of the Eastern Confrence All-Star team. It can be either a good or bad thing for Carbonneau,because the question is did he want to take the All-Star break off or did he want to coach."I was going to go to Florida, lie on a beach and enjoy it," said Carbonneau in disappointment. "I told (general manager) Bob Gainey, too bad I don't have a bonus for the all-star game."The Bruins coach Claude Juliens will be the head coach of the Eastern All-Star team.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

P.S Mats Sundin scored his first goal of the season,but the Canucks still lost the game to the Sharks by the score of 4-2.

Game Preview:Capitals at Canadiens

The Canadiens will look for their 4th straight victory tonight as they will host the Capitals tonight.The Canadiens have lost the first 2 meetings against the Capitals.The first meeting was a 3-0 win for the Caps,The second game was a closer match the final was 2-1 for the Caps."We need to play a better game against the Capitals if we want to win."Montreal Caoch Guy Carbonneau told the media.The puck drop will be at 7:08Pm E.T on CBC-M and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

THE LEAFS FORWARD GRABOVSKI GETS THREE-GAME SUSPENSION FOR ABUSE OF OFFICIAL

The NHL has suspended Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski three games for abuse of an official.This happened last night in Montreal when the Canadiens were leading 6-2 in the third period(Which would later be the final score)."I expected to be suspended for shoving Cherrey while trying to get at Kostitsyn, who was also fighting off officials to try and fight me."Graboski told the media in Russian(He had problems speaking in English to the media).Even though Cherrey was pulling Graboski back he still wanted to fight Kostitsyn.The Media is saying Graboski did the peace sigh to the Canadien crowed due to frustration over not being able to fight Kostitsyn. Grabovski said that he wouldn't mind challenging Kostitsyn to a fight where there are no Ref.s in sight. "I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys," Grabovski said. "I don't know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we'll go in the street and every minute of every day I'll wait for him and we'll fight."
Graboski will miss the leafs next 3 games.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Canadiens blow out the Leafs once again

Last night in Montreal the Canadiens had no problem scoring goals as they blew-out the Leafs by the score of 6-2. Earlier this season the Canadiens played 2 games in Toronto the first game was on Oct. 11 Montreal won that game 6-1 and the second game was on Nov. 8 and the Leafs got the win 6-3."I think our team remembered that loss in Toronto,'' added Carbonneau. "Now, everything is going good for us."The game last night was nothing like that lose in Toronto,as the Canadiens blew-out the Leafs by the score of 6-2.Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse scored in the first period and Alex Kovalev, Andrei Kostitsyn scored in the second period and Max Pacioretty added the only goal for the Canadiens in the third period.Tomas Kaberle and Matt Stajan scored for Toronto last night in the lose.

The Cnadiens scored 5 times on 21 shots on Vesa Toskala, who was later replaced by Curtis Joseph to start the third period."I didn't really like the way the game was officiated," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "We were on the receiving end in some scrums where we had guys getting thrown in the box for 10 minutes.And it actually it was three of our better hockey players who had to spend a lot of time for not really doing anything."Former Canadien Mikhail Grabovski, was booed each time he touched the puck. Grabovski was later ejected from the game fot pushing the Ref. and kicking ice at the Ref.When he was ejected from the Game he gave the Canadiens fans a piece sighn.(You can see what Grabovski did right below)

When asked if the incidents with Grabovski will resume when the teams meet again on Feb. 7 in Montreal, Kostitsyn said "yes."''It was like an old Canadiens-Quebec Nordiques game, too,'' said Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau after his team downed the slumping Leafs 6-2 on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves in the victory.The Canadiens next game will be on Saturday against the Capitals.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Canadiens will host the Leafs tonight

The Canadiens will go back home hoping that they will get their 3rd straight win as they will take on the Leafs tonight.Both the leafs and the Canadiens split the first 2 meetings.The Canadiens won the first game 6-1.The Leafs won the second game 6-3.The latest defeat for the Leafs was on Tuesday as they lost 4-2 a home loss to Florida."I was not very happy with the effort," Wilson said. "We had zero energy at all from any veteran players, to show up and lead the way. It was a quiet room before the game, it was quiet on the bench.We've got to find a way to get a little bit more passion or energy when we play a team like that."Not much bad news besides the injurys for the Canadiens as they will seek their 3rd straight win coming from a 6-3 win in New York.

The puck drop for this game will be at 7:38Pm E.T on SNET-O And RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Other NHL news:Mats Sundin made his Canucks debut last night against the Oilers.

Mats Sundin was ready to play but he was a bit rusty in the game,but to the Canucks fans this is just the beginning.Mats Sundins Canucks came out with the 4-2 victory but Sundin did not get a point on the board as Steve Bernier and his linemates stole the show."Physically, I felt better than I was hoping. It's good to get that first game out of the way," said Sundin after the game at Rexall Place, which improved the Canucks' record to 22-15-5 and dropped the Oilers to 19-17-3.This game was Sundins first NHL game in 9 months. Sundin finished the game with 15 minutes of ice time over 24 shifts, no goals, no assists, no shots on net, one hit and nine for 18 on face-offs.He admitted his shot failed him."It's timing, where you come in and shoot, you jam yourself a little bit. And when you're trying to make a pass (it goes) over a stick," he said.Sundin will hope to go to the playoffs this year and compet for the Stanley Cup.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Lang's 3RD period Hat-Trick lifts the Canadiens by the Rangers by the score of 6-3

Robert Lang started the third period with no points but that would change as he put the puck in the net on the power-play to make the score be 4-2.He would add another later in the period to make it 5-3,and with under a minute to play he scored on the empty net for the Hat-Trick."You have to kind of challenge yourself that way. No, I'm just kidding," Lang said with a laugh.The Canadiens' power play is the fourth-worst in the NHL. It had finally connected on 2 out of the 4 power-plays last night.Which was kida surprising because the Habs were facing the number 1 PK team (New York Rangers)in the league."It's been kind of a hit and miss, more miss the last four or five games," Lang said.

Alex Kovalev,Guillaume Latendresse and Andrei Markov also scored for the Canadiens.The Canadiens golie Jaroslav Halak made 36 saves in the victory."I gave up some bad goals over there, but I'm not the first guy who did that and I'm not the last one," Halak said. "I knew I could play better. I was happy with my performance."Michal Rozsival,Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan scored the Rangers goals.Rangers golie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 19 shots in the lose."As a team we played really well, but you can't expect to win when I let in five goals," said Lundqvist, who has done that four times in his last 11 outings.

The Canadiens next game will be tonight in Montreal against the Leafs at 7:30pm E.T on Sent-O and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Markov leads the way past the Panthers in the shootout

I think the Canadiens played a hard fought game throughout the entire game.The Canadiens were hitting, shooting and having an alright game.The game went all the way to a shootout.But before the overtime ended Peltonen of the Panthers had a breakaway and the puck flew off the inside of the post.Andrei Markov scored the lone goal in the shootout to lift the Canadiens past the Florida Panthers by the score of 6-5.Anderson allowed five goals on 45 shots, but stopped 10 of 11 in the third period.Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves, but allowed three goals on 11 shots in the third."We were a little too relaxed," Markov said. ''We need to play 60 minutes and stay focused on the game, if we don't that's what will happen." In my opinion I think the Canadiens GM Bob Gainy should trade Jaroslav Halak to a team that needs a goalie. Halak can't handle the pressure in Montreal so far in his career.

After 1 period of play the Canadiens were down 2-0, but that would change in a hurry at the start of the Second period.Francis Bouillon, Andrei Kostitsyn, Tom Kostopoulos and Robert Lang scored the 4 unanswered goals in the second as Montreal took a 4-2 lead.Early in the third Florida made it 4-3. A few minutes after that Andrei Kostitsyn scored his second of the game to make it 5-3.The Panthers would eventually force this game to go to a shootout where later Markov would score the game winner.''Our top line is on the shelf, there are five or six guys that would be part of our club who are out, but despite that we're playing really well,'' Carbonneau said. ''Tonight was an off night defensively, but we've played extremely well over the last month while we've had these injuries." The Canadiens next game will be on Wednesday against the Rangers in New York.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

All-Star news:THE VOTES ARE IN

The votes are in today for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game that will take place in Montreal.4 Montreal Canadien players were voted into the roster for Ex.Carey Price,Alex Kovalev,Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek.Montreal forward Alex Kovalev will be playing on the same line as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Eastern Conference players for the All-Star game came from just two teams.The Western Conference starters will also come from just two teams.Those teams are the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks.The NHl All-Star game will be in 3 weeks.

These are the All the starters for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game:

The Eastern Confrence:

G-Carey Price-Montreal
G-Marc-Andre Fleury-Pittsburgh
D-Andrei Markov-Montreal
D-Mike Komisarek-Montreal
F-Sidney Crosby-Pittsburgh
F-Evgeni Malkin-Pittsburgh
F-Alex Kovalev-Montreal


The Western Confrence:

G-Jean-Sebastien Giguere-Ducks
D-Scott Niedermayer-Ducks
D-Brian Campbell-Ducks
F-Ryan Getzlaf-Chicago
F-Jonathan Toews-Chicago
F-Patrick Kane-Chicago

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Devils cruise by the Canadiens with a 4-1 victory

Brent Sutter was very confident his team would bounce back from a disappointing loss against Dallas on New Year's Eve.And love and be hold that's what happened."I just had a good feeling," Sutter said. "I trust that group inside the room. I had good vibes coming to the rink today that we were going to play a really good game. We had a tremendous effort from our goaltender right out."Scott Clemmensen made 33 saves and Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist.Brian Gionta and John Madden also scored for the Devils.

Max Pacioretty scored in his NHL debut for Montreal last night, which had won three straight going into last nights game."I'm glad to get the first one out of the way," Pacioretty said. "I know I have to play a lot better to stick around here. I think I'll be able to play better now that I got the first one out of the way. I wasn't handling the puck too well. Maybe it was the nerves."The Canadiens have a long list of injury's for Ex. Carey Price, Alex Tanguay, Christopher Higgins, Saku Koivu, Georges Laraque and Mathieu Dandenault.They all should return by the end of January.The Canadiens next game will be on a sunday afternoon at 2:00 Pm E.T on RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Happy New Year 2009

New year is the time to wish the very best for yourself. (for E.X Goodluck, Peace, Joy, and Hope, Happiness) Have a wonderful new year.

From Andrew Di Pardo