Monday, December 18, 2006

Buffalo vahsus Montreal! Teh ultimate matchup!!!1!11 ONE!

I'm pre typing this because I know I'll forget this baby and well, I'm actually pretty excited about this game. Buffalo is a good team and to be in the same division... Well it kinda sucks yet you shut up because you are privileged to even play with these kids! Here's the Montreal lowdown (and some things we should look out for from our Sabres):

Random Jordi Thoughts:
- The matchup is, ultimately, the #1 team in the conference versus the #2 team. Montreal has the 2nd most amount of points, though only one ahead of Atlanta. And can you say 5th in the league? Say it!
- Huet is in the nets, right off his red hot win over the Pens. Expect him to bail our asses if our D slips. He still leads the league in the save percentage though he will have to salvage his GAA since that Bruins game.
- Thanks to our great win over the Pens where we got a couple of goals on the powerplay, we are now #1 on the powerplay - not to mention Souray gave us a little boost. Another notable mention is our second ranked Penalty Kill. However I must warn you, they will repeat these statistics about... thirty times during the game.
- Kids to look out for: Koivu, like always - but more importantly Chris Higgins who missed about 18 games because of his injury. He was placed on the fourth line last game but eventually got his old spot back for hustling damn well. Another notable is Maxim Lapierre to see if he can keep his A game or just crash and burn. And because I can't mention any post without Sammy is: "will Sammy have another 19 game goal drought?"
Oh and what about Latendresse? What's happenin' to him?
- F-- Vertigo I want the old goal song back.
- Apparently Buffalo has a .909 probability of winning the game if they score the first goal or lead by one. Guys, we're going to have to work hard for this one.

The news are going crazy!
- Our powerplay is the greatest!
"Sometimes we were shooting for no purpose," he (Souray) said. "The difference now is we're moving the puck more and making the right decisions." - Um maybe too much on the ES but you can't complain.
- Gainey & co continue to mourn:
The hockey community, and all who admire Gainey, are now the guys beside him. He needs them; they, in their empathy, will play for him through prayer and support.
- 3. Some more press attention for the Canadiens: When Buffalo got off to its hot start, there wasn't much bandwidth left over for the Habs. But now, very quietly, the team has managed to post the second best record overall in the Eastern Conference (though courtesy of playoff seeding, they're actually idling in fourth place) while giving up fewer goals than any other team in the East with the exception of New Jersey. If the team can pull off the rumored deal for Sergei Federov, then watch out.
Damn straight. No one takes the Habs seriously still. They've been middle floaters but they've always been above. And when we beat the Leafs in standing, we did nothing but just widen the gap. However at the same time no one believes that the Habs are much of a force to be reckoned with. Maybe it's because we lose to games against Philly. However at the same time we mow down Atlanta and Minnesota with great enthusiasm. So look forward to us, you know, possibly getting a little recognition.
- Johnson's a good kid.

Blogs of sorts:
Montreal - A Theory of Ice, Habs Inside/Out, Eyes on the Prize, habsblog, Sisu Hockey (this one isn't as updated and I don't know why)
Buffaslugs (that's it! I managed to slot it in!) - Bleeding Blue & Gold, BfloBlog, Sabre Rattling, Dispatches from the Aud

Okay sorry if this looks more like a post that should stay with my blog. It's just that I post more about Montreal here. And I know I have no life.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's weird- i'm starting to see some positive (non-montreal) media attention break our way these days and it's kind of creeping me out! i got so used to making excuses- no, really, they are good, they've just got some emotional problems...- and now i don't have to anymore!

i think early in the season the habs were undervalued for a couple of reasons. first was the habit of losing to really bad teams. even though they'd then turn around and beat a really good team in the next game, it still made them look sort of flukey and unreliable. the other thing is that nothing gets attention like a streak of some sort (winning or losing) and they haven't had either. they kept doing this WLWWLWLWWWLWL thing, which given that a lot of the losses were in overtime still adds up in terms of points, but it's looks neither spectacularly good nor spectacularly bad. it's the kind of record that makes you go "huh. how 'bout that?", rather than "wow!".

i'm going to go sacrifice a tangerine to the gods of hockey and ask that they grant us a 4th consecutive win tonight.

Jordi said...

I just hope that the hype doesn't overtake the team - we're still a far cry from the second coming of christ. However self assurance is a great thing.

The WLWL routine gave me headaches. The funny thing was that I was more scared of a losing streak more than anything. It really does show more of us as bottom dwellers and fairly inconsistent. But amazingly, we're quite consistent in keeping in the race.

Damn that tangerine wont do you any good. You need something more solid, like a lamb.

CapsChick said...

Okay, someone please explain to me why they're showing the St. Louis/Pittsburgh game on Versus when this one is on. I'd much rather watch the Habs/Sabs game (although technically I won't be watching either, I'll be at the Caps game tonight, but it's the principle of the thing).

I'll be watching the scoreboard at the game and silently rooting for the Habs in my head...sorry, Heather B.!

Heather B. said...

Rebecca: Whatever! No one loves a winner, I know. (If you can't tell, I'm saying that with affection and joking intentions. Promise!)

Others: Most Sabres fans aren't underestimating you. We're a little concerned about you actually. I would like to avoid you in the playoffs if possible. Even though we've beat you repeatedly (had to work that in, ya know), you've played us close every time and you're one of the few teams that can really skate with us. Scary!

I'll be at the game! Woo-hoo!

Anonymous said...

trust me, i've been around enough sheep sacrifices to know that i can't get away with it here. i just don't have the facilities. really, they bleed like you wouldn't believe.

hopefully the gods of hockey have low standards...

Anonymous said...

Goog game.

Anonymous said...

How did Huet stop 42 of 44 and not be one of the three stars??

Jordi said...

Man I thought Huet got a star and I log on to find out he didn't. Stars are overrated. Period.

Cristowall + Higgins + everything else = WIN!

And e: THAT WAS A FUCKING AWESOME TANGERINE! DO IT AGAIN!

Margee said...

I know, Shan, that's kind of crazy. I saw that and definitely paused.