The Canadiens get a hard worked victory

The Canadiens started their 7 game home stand last night(Longest home-stand in Canadiens History) with a 3-2 win over the Sabers.Thomas Vanek scored a goal in the first period to give the Sabers a 1-0 lead,until Andrei Kostisyn tied it at 1 apeace in the Second.5 minutes after Kostisyn tied the game,Thomas Vanek scored again to give the Sabers another 1 goal lead.But before the period was over Begin and Markov traded goals to give the Canadiens a 3-2 lead. "Saku made a great play to get the puck to me and I just kept my stick on the ice," said Markov. ''The win was huge for us."We've been up and down. We're still looking for our game and I think we can still play better.""Our attitude was better from the start," said Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau.

Vanek put the puck between his own legs and lifted it past Carey Price on a nifty move at 13:31 of the first period.This particular play was the Highlight of the Night on TSN's sportcenter."It was a great play by (Jaroslav) Spacek to keep the puck in," said Vanek. "I was going to go off, but when I saw that, I stayed in front and the puck came to me."I knew that if I just turned and shot, Price was pretty solid and I had to put him off because I was in so tight, so I put it between my legs and shot it and it worked out."Even Though that was a very nice goal the Canadiens picked up the 2 points and the Sabers picked up 0 points in last night's game.

The Canadiens next game will be on Tuesday at the Bell-Center against the Thrashers at 7:30 Pm E.T on TSN,and RDS



Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Game Preview: Buffalo Sabers At Montreal Canadiens

After the Buffalo Sabres were in a long 6 game slump, they responded with back to back wins.The Sabres will look to continue this winning streak tonight in Montreal.Both Buffalo (11-8-3) and Montreal (12-6-4) got off to great starts in October but have not been consistent and now are trying to end November on a wining note.The Canadiens will look to respond from last night's lose to the Capitals with a win tonight.

The Sabers also played a game last night,it was against the Penguins they won that game 4-3."They're a great team and we know they have the firepower, but we stayed within our system and it paid off for us," Gaustad said. "We didn't run around and we stayed within ourselves. When we do that we're a strong team and a hard team to play against."

Carey Price will start in goal for the Canadiens and Ryan Miller will start in goal for the Sabers in Tonights game.

The Sabers are just 3 points behind the 5th place Canadiens.The puck Drop for tonights game will be at 7:08Pm E.T on CBC-M,RDS, and MSG-B.

written By Andrew Di Pardo

Canadiens could not find the back of the net against former teammate Jose Theodore

Jose Theodore who played 10 seasons with the Canadiens made save after save to lead to a 3-0 Capitals win."I knew in the first period I was seeing the puck well," said Theodore, who has 26 career shutouts. "Even if I didn't see a lot of shots early, I knew I would need a good shot to beat me." "The saves he made over a period of five minutes in the second period were pretty dazzling," Boudreau said.Theodore's second game against Montreal was a lot better than his first game. He allowed 8 goals in a loss to the Canadiens on Oct. 21, 2006, when he played with Colorado.

"Before the game, Theodore didn't talk. He just concentrated on (the) game," Ovechkin said. "Today, he played well and deserved it. He deserved it."Alex Ovechkin, Tomas Fleischmann and David Steckel scored for the Capitals to lead to yet another win at home their 9-0-1 at home this season.

Halak played a solid game for the Canadiens but the offense wasn't converting."That's where I'm embarrassed," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We come up with that kind of game, and that kind of effort and I'm really sad for Halak."Montreal Coach Guy Carbonneau thinks that some saves that Theodore made were flukes."He was lucky at some times," Carbonneau said. "He made the saves when he had to. We didn't really test him."


The Canadiens next game will be tonight against the Sabers at the Bell Center at 7:00Pm E.T on CBC Montreal,RDS,and MSG Buffalo.

Written By Andrew Dipardo

Canadiens outwork the Stanley Cup Champions

The Montreal Canadiens were putting pressure on Ty Conklin right from the opening faceoff and when the Wings had a chance to score Carey Price stopped them cold.Price made 32 saves, and Maxim Lapierre, Tomas Plekanec and Christopher Higgins all scored goals in the second period."We didn't forecheck,'' Plekanec said."We stayed in the neutral zone and tried to make them make turnovers and we did a great job."Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau told his team to be very patient with the puck.''Detroit's a team that likes to control the puck,'' Carbonneau said. ''Just tried to play as tough as we can in the neutral zone and make them dump it in.''Johan Franzen scored in the third for Detroit, and Ty Conklin stopped 22 shots in the lose.


''I thought they played their system real well,'' Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom said. ''I think we saw their first play was right at the red line and they were backing off and not giving us any speed through the neutral zone. Once we got the puck in we lost a lot of 1-on-1 battles in the corners, couldn't sustain that pressure that we wanted to.''Lapierre scored the first goal of the game just 5:23 into the second period when his pass from behind the net deflected in off Lidstrom's skate.''You get the puck to the net and good things are going to happen,'' Conklin said. ''Bad things, in our case. Not a whole lot went well for us certainly at the other end.''Plekanec's power-play goal made the score become 2-0. ''It put us up 2-0 and created breathing room for us,'' Plekanec said.Higgins scored to make it be 3-0 off a weak bakehand that somehow passed Conklin.


''I'm a big believer in creating your own good bounces,'' Higgins said. ''We played our positions and were able to take advantage of them.''Later in the third period Franzen decked passed all the Canadiens defense to make it be 3-1 and break Price's shutout.''It's tough, but two points is more important,'' Price said.

The Canadiens next game will be on Friday against the Capitals.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Game Preview:Montreal Canadiens At Detroit Red Wings

Tomorrow the Montreal Canadiens will be going to Detroit to face the Red Wings in what possibly can be the 2009 Stanley Cup Final.Both The Canadiens and the Red Wings are coming off a loses. The Canadiens Lost Last night in a Shootout against the Islanders.The Red Wings are coming off a Lose in Overtime to the Canucks. The Canadiens defenceman Ryan O'Bern put the Puck in his own net on a delayed penalty Call in last nights shootout lose against the Islanders. "I feel bad, I apologized to everyone in the room,'' said O'Byrne, who didn't play for the remainder of the game. ''The fans are eager for victories and they had a right to react the way they did."I know it's tough because they expect a lot and we expect a lot out of ourselves as well,'' Gorges said. ''I know how it feels, I've put the puck into my net before. It's never intentional, it's a bad break, and nobody feels more sick to his stomach about it than Ryan does.

Sami Salo Scored in OT on a Slap Shot to defeat the Red Wings 3-2."I basically slept the last 96 hours before today, so it's a nice feeling to get the win," said Salo, whose point shot was tipped in by Daniel Sedin to tie it."I have to thank (Demitra) for that goal," said Salo, who also hit the post in the opening minutes. "I've had a few posts here lately.""We're rallying around each other," Sanford said. "There's adversity right now and we're finding a way to deal with it. We have each other's back out there and we're going to find a way to get through all this."

"We let one slip away," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Full marks to them. We gave up 24 shots on the road and very few opportunities and they were able to find a way to win. We took a penalty in overtime and they made a good play."

The game between the Canaiens and the Wings puck drop will be at 7:38pm E.T on TSN,RDS and the NHL(Net).

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

O'Byrne scores but on the wrong net

The Canadiens were up 3-2 when there was a delayed penalty call and Ryan O'Byrne put the puck in his own net.Bill Guerin scored in the shootout to give New York a 4-3 victory last night over the Montreal Canadiens.''I feel bad, I apologized to everyone in the room,'' said O'Byrne, who didn't play for the remainder of the game. ''The fans are eager for victories and they had a right to react the way they did.''Guerin got the credit for the own goal.Steve Begin, Josh Gorges and Maxim Lapierre scored for the Canadiens in the shootout lose.The Canadiens lost their second straight shootout but still got points in four of their last five games.Everyone on the Canadiens was quick to come to O'Byrne's defence after the game.

'I know it's tough because they expect a lot and we expect a lot out of ourselves as well,'' Gorges said. ''I know how it feels, I've put the puck into my net before. It's never intentional, it's a bad break, and nobody feels more sick to his stomach about it than Ryan does.

''I just thought to chant his name was tough because I know how he feels and he'd give anything to take it back.''

''We're going to try a lot more experiments because since the beginning of the season we've been leaving the same 10 players who are supposed to make the power play work, but it's not working,'' Carbonneau said. ''If we have to put the fourth line on the ice to change things up, that's where we're at right now.''

The Canadiens next game will be on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings At 7:30pm E.T on TSN and or RDS.

Written by Andrew Di Pardo

Bruins continue there winning ways

Tim Thomas remembered what happened last time they played in a shootout in Montreal, He made sure it didn't happen again last night. Tim Thomas stopped all 3 shootout attempts.Thomas stopped Alex Kovalev, Andrei Markov and Canadiens captain Saku Koivu on the final shot of the shootout.Blake Wheeler scored the loan goal in the Shootout for the Bruins."To come in here and get a win feels really good, especially in a shootout," Thomas said. "I've seen Saku score on that last shot and him being the one walking off the ice with his arms raised and all happy. I was happy to be the one with my arms raised and all happy."

Milan Lucic who won the fight with Mike Komisarek on November 13 that left the Canadiens defenceman with a shoulder injury that will make him at a minimum sit out for 1 month was a target of Georges Laraque all night."I told him that he's 220 pounds, he's a big guy," Laraque said. "I tried everything."Instead of fighting Lucic scored the tieing goal."It's fun if they're on you like that or they're not on you like that, this is a fun building to play in," said Lucic, who didn't want to talk about Laraque. "Our mindset is that we're going to take one game at a time, not looking too far ahead and not dwelling on what we did in the past. That mindset has helped us thus far."

Andrei Kostitsyn and Tom Kostopoulos scored for the Canadiens who are 11-5-.Montreal has scored only 17 goals in the past 9 games."It's just a matter of time," Habs coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We have too much talent to just keep scoring one goal or two goals a game." Back to the shootout Wheeler the first shooter of the Shootout apeared to lose controle of the puck and it sliped right through Carey Price to his left as he went to his right."He kind of did the no-move move," Price said. "He lost the puck and psyched me out and himself out."

The Canadens next game will be on Monday against the Islanders at 7:30Pm E.T on RDS.

Written BY Andrew Di Pardo

ROY'S BACK

Last night in Montreal the Canadiens retired ST.Patricks Number 33. It was a very emotional night for both the Canadiens and Patrick Roy. In front of a sellout Montreal crowd at the Bell Centre, Roy's Banner went up into the rafters with 14 other Montreal Canadiens legends last night. Roy was just 15th Montreal player to have his number retired.

Patrick Roy's Speech:

"Thank you for demanding that we play every game as though it were the last," said Roy. "I will remember more [of] those moments where we shook the Forum, where we shook Montreal."

"Your encouragement and applause goes straight to my heart as you honour me."

Roy, who won two Stanley Cups with the Canadiens and still holds or shares six team records, then joined current Montreal players Saku Koivu and Carey Price for the ceremonial raising of the banner.

"Of course, I will remember the day when I left a little too soon without saying goodbye as I would've liked,"

The night Roy speaks of was a regular-season game between the Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings at the fabled Forum on Dec. 2, 1995. Roy allowed nine goals to the Red Wings, but coach Mario Tremblay refused to pull him from the net.

When the furious goaltender finally left the game, he stormed directly to president Ronald Corey, stating he had played his last game for Montreal.

Roy was traded days later to Colorado, where he won two more Stanley Cups and a third Conn Smythe Trophy award as playoff MVP.

But all was forgiven on Saturday night, with the Montreal faithful giving Roy several standing ovations.

"As you welcome me today as you did on the first day my friends… tonight, I'm coming home," Roy concluded.

Other jerseys hanging from the rafters at the Bell Centre are:

Jacques Plante (No. 1)
Doug Harvey (2)
Jean Beliveau (4)
Bernie Geoffrion (5)
Howie Morenz (7)
Maurice Richard (9)
Guy Lafleur (10)
Yvan Cournoyer and Dickie Moore (12)
Henri Richard (16)
Serge Savard (18)
Larry Robinson (19)
Bob Gainey (23)
Ken Dryden (29)

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Quotes Said By Patrick Roy

(OTHER HOCKEY NEWS)Last night in Toronto Windal Clarks number 17 was retired by The Maple Leafs.

Patrick Roy number 33 retirement tonight in Montreal

Roy was drafted 51st overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens.He was a fan of the Canadiens rivals the Quebec Nordiques.Roys Grandmother was a Canadiens Fan,She passed away before her grandson Patrick Roy got drafted. Roy was called up from the Minor team (the Bisons)to play for the Canadiens. on February 23, 1985, he made his Canadiens debut when he replaced the Canadiens starting goaltender Doug Soetaert in the third period. He did not allow a single goal in the period.Patrick Roy was sent down to the Sherbrooke Canadiens to play a game because there starting goalie had equipment problems. He won the game and became the number 1 goaltender in the Playoffs and lead them to a Calder Cup.


In the Next Season Roy started playing with the Montreal Canadiens. He Played in 47 of the 82 Montreal Canadiens games. Roy became the Habs number 1 goalie for the playoffs. Patrick Roy made the Canadiens win there 23rd stanley Cup and Roy won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the Most Valuable Player. Roy was the youngest player to ever win the Conn Smythe Trophy. After the Cup victory in 1986 Roys got a nick name it was St.Patrick.Roy continued playing for the Habs.The Canadiens won the Adams Division in 1987-88 and in 1988-89, when they lost to the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup final. In 1990 he appeared in his first ever All-Star Game. In the 1991-1992 NHL Season the Canadiens won another adams divison trophy.


The Following season (1992-1993)the Canadiens lost their first two games to their rivals Quebec Nordiques "The Canadiens go home empty handed and the Nordiques have a 2-0 lead in the series." The CBC Sports comentator said. Game 3 went into overtime the Canadens prevailed with a win that put them right back in the series.The Canadiens won there next 7 games playoff games majority of them in overtime. The Canadiens on the way to the finals they defeated Nordiques,The Sabers and thhe Islanders before facing the Kings. The First game of the Stanley Cup Finals the Kings won 2-0. But the rest of the series was a different story the Canadiens won the next 4 games against the kings to capture there 24th Stanley Cup. Patrick Roy won 2 Stanley Cups on the Canadiens.


In 1995, Patrick Roy was playing the worst game of his hockey career and it was against the Red Wings. He was finally pulled after allowing 9 goals. He gave Montreal head coach Mario Tremblay a bad stare before he told president Ronald Corey "It's my last game in Montreal.""Despite allowing five goals on 17 shots in the first, Tremblay kept me in the net in order to humiliate me." Roy told the media after a 11-1 lose.Roy later got traded to Colorado.

When Roy Played his first ever game against his former cub the Canadiens Roy got the win and had the game puck in his hand, He wiped the Puck at Tremblay and just missed his head.Trembly just stood there with his arms crossed. Roy Later went on to win 2 more Stanley Cups in his Career in Colorado.

No matter what good or bad things happened Roy is still the best goalie of all time and one of Montreals best goalies of all time.Patrick Roy will get his number retired tonight at 6:00Pm on RDS and or CBC Montreal.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Senators lose 6 straight

The Montreal Canadiens had lost 5 of 7 games coming in to Scotiabank Place to take on the Senators. The Habs played a great game getting the puck on net for a total of 35 shots at Auld in the shootout victory. Following the Shootout win Montreal's head coach Guy Carbonneau picked up his 100th victory as the Canadiens head coach. In the shootout Andrei Markov and Alex Tanguay put the puck in the back of the net."It's a huge win for us, obviously," said Carbonneau, who'd called his players out after a dismal 2-1 loss Tuesday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes.He was asked if Thursday's effort was more to his liking, the coach replied: "By a mile.""Both teams were kind of struggling lately and everything was left on the ice," he said. "Both teams fought hard and played well defensively. I was just happy we were able to come back at the end."

Dany Heatley put The Senators up by a goal in the 1st period intil 2 minutes later Saku Koivu tied the game at 1-1. Nick Foligno gave the Senators a 1 goal again in the 3rd intil Andrei Markov tied the game at 2 apice.

This is the Result of the shootout:

Round 1 Alexei Kovalev misses shot.

Round 1 Jason Spezza scores on Carey Price
Ott 0-1
Round 2 Andrei Markov scores on Alex Auld

Round 2 Daniel Alfredsson misses shot.
Tied 1-1
Round 3 Saku Koivu misses shot.

Round 3 Jarkko Ruutu misses shot.
Tied 1-1
Round 4 Alex Tanguay scores on Alex Auld

Round 4 Antoine Vermette misses shot.
Mon 2-1

"Vermette missed his shot so I was going in and the goalie makes about 70 or 75 per cent of the saves, I'm not sure of the exact stats on penalty shots, so you have to sometimes take chances. On my backhand, if he opens his five-hole, I can shoot it there, and if he doesn't, I can always take it back to my forehand and try to get it over his pad. Fortunately for us, the puck found its way through his pads."Alex Auld told TSN.

The Canadiens next game will be on saturday against Boston with a specail event will take place Patrick Roy's number 33 will be retired.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Game Preview:Montreal Canadiens A.t Ottawa Senators

The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators were the NHL's highest-scoring team last season. This seasons it's been a different story as the goals have been hard to come by for both the Canadiens and the Senators.The Canadiens shut-out the Sens in there last 2 meeting and will look for there 3rd straight shut-out tomorrow night in Ottawa. With the Panthers victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, the Senators went down to dead last in the Eastern Conference."It's never nice seeing your team in last place or out of the playoffs even," winger Dany Heatley told TSN. "But at the same time we're not that many points out of a playoff spot and there are a lot of games left to be played."To make matters worse the Senators forwards Mike Fisher and Chris Neil are out of the line up for 2 weeks."We know that we have to get playing and get some points," Sens head coach Craig Hartsburgh said following practice Wednesday. "As much as it is about the standings, it's about playing the game and playing a good 60 minutes every night."

The puck drop for this game will be at 7:40 pm E.T on RDS and SNET-E.


Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Habs fall to Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes fired enough shots at Carey Price in the game to eventually get 2 goal through the Montreal goaltender in the 3rd period.Sergei Samsonov and Ray Whitney scored one and a half minutes apart in the 3rd period to make the Canes take a 2 goal lead. Carolina put a season-high 48 shots on net in its 2-1 victory over the Canadiens last night."We came out with the attitude that we were going to shoot some pucks and crash the net a little bit more," Samsonov said. "We really made an effort to try to put the puck on net from any position, and I think that kind of created the forecheck."As for the Canadiens goalie Carey Price he played a exelent game saving 46 of 48 shots he faced.


"That's a team that shoots everything," Price said. "Whenever they get the puck in a good shooting position, they're going to be letting it go to the net."Robert Lang scored for the Canadiens, who ended a power-play drought last night.The Canadiens lost for the third time in four games last night."The whole game was about who was going to take a gamble," Montreal forward Alex Kovalev said. "I think every time we saw (the) opportunity to be on the safe side, we took a gamble, and it cost us. We really (need to) focus on and concentrate on the little details, which is not to worry about points or if you're going to score a goal. For now, we need to win a couple of games 1-0 or 2-1.

The Canadiens next game will be tomorrow night in Ottawa against the struggling Senators on RDS and or SNET-E at 7:30 PM E.T.

Written by Andrew Di Pardo

Habs snap losing drought in Shootout against the St-Louis Blues

The Montreal Canadiens avoided a 3rd straight loss tonight after being behind by a single goal with 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd period. Andrei Kostitsyn and Robert Lang scored in regulation for the Canadiens and Alex Kovalev scored in the Shootout. Carey Price made 24 saves in the shootout victory. Steve Regier scored twice for the Blues, and Legace also stopped 24 shots. The Canadiens were 0-for-10 on the power play and have scored twice on their last 36 chances. St. Louis was 1-for-9 with the man advantage.


Kostitsyn's backhand that squirted through Legace's pads tied the game at 1 with 1:55 remaining after an outlet pass from Price.He got a goal and a assist tonight to give the Canadiens a chance to win. Just 2 minutes into the 3rd Steve Regier scored his second goal of the game to give St-Louis a 2-1 lead. Robert Lang tied the game at 2 a piece with just under 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd.The Canadiens later went on to win the game 3-2 in the shootout.

This was the Result of the Shootout:

Round 1 Saku Koivu misses shot.

Round 1 Brad Boyes misses shot.
Tied 0-0
Round 2 Andrei Kostitsyn misses shot.

Round 2 David Perron misses shot.
Tied 0-0
Round 3 Alexei Kovalev scores on Manny Legace

Round 3 Keith Tkachuk misses shot.
Mon 1-0

The Canadiens next game is in Caroina on Tuesday on TSN and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo