Habs Jambalaya - Covering the Montreal Canadiens and the Hamilton Bulldogs

It's Over

2011-04-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Montreal's season came to a close Wednesday. After dominating the overtime period, Nathan Horton ended the Canadiens hope of a 25th Stanley Cup.

Horton scored his second overtime goal of the postseason on Wednesday night, waiting until 5:43 of the extra period in Game 7 to give Boston a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and help the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Horton, along with Tim Thomas and Carey Price, were dynamite for their clubs. Its sad to see the amazing season of Carey Price come to a close.

Carey Price is not a vezina nominee, but Thomas is. Many feel Price was snubbed of that award. He had a great season.

It was an up and down season. They will be ready for another playoff run next season.

Remember to follow @Sykoshockeybuzz and @Jscareshabs for more Habs off-season updates.

We hope you enjoyed 2010-2011.

GO HABS GO!!

-___- ... This better be a joke.

2011-04-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Game 4 left me emotionally tramatized. Game 5: even more so. About 7 1/2 periods played in the two games combined. Just talking about these two games makes me want to vomit. Tim Thomas stole the show in both games. I had my hands in the air ready to celebrate the 2OT win tonight, until Thomas' sprawling save forced my arms to drop and lay limply by my side as I contemplated some things that I could punch to vent my frustration. The Habs are now hanging by a thread, forced to win two in a row. That's all for now folks, follow me twitter @JScaresHabs,Like us on Facebook @The Hockey House. It a new website. Syko is also involved. More Info is on our Facebook page.

Game 3 MTL 2 BOS 4

2011-04-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead, 2 of which, softies. Unlike the Carey Price we've seen in recent games, but I guess that is just effects of being human. Price's opposite. Tim Thomas, also let in quite a softy to cut the lead to 3-1. Montreal would later rally to score again making it 3-2. This score was consistent untill the final 3 minutes, where the Habs applied very heavy pressure. Kostitsyn and Cammaleri both had quality chances, and Scott Gomez had prime oppourtunity to tie the game right on the doorstep, but failed to connect with the centering pass. Boston would score on the empty net with under 30 seconds. Montreal leads series 2-1.

Game 2: MTL 3 BOS 1 (WIN 2/16!!)

2011-04-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

Zdeno Chara was hospitalized friday night due to dehydration, he participated in warmups but was unable to make an appearance in tonights game. Chara's absence obviously beneficial towards the Habs. Without the leadership of their top D-man, Boston scambled early on while the Canadiens capitilized twice in the first 140 seconds. (Cammaleri, Darche) If Montreal wants to continue thier success against Boston, they will need to continue thier to to fly out of the gates and apply heavey pressure very early, like they've been doing. But again the biggest success/ developing story has been, Carey Price. Price continued his playoff dominace while facing the Bruins tonight with another beauty of a game. You can tell just by watching him, that he is prepared for anything the Bruins offence will throw his way. The series now goes to the buzzing atmospere in Montreal. Boston has dropped all three meetings with the Habs at the Bell Centre this year so a sweep might be a possibility. Now all we can do is wait for Monday night. Until then... GOHABSGO! The link to the highlights didn't really work last time do just go to nhl.com and check em' out. One last thing! Follow me on Twitter @JScaresHabs ! I'm serious. Do it.

Game 1: MON 2 BOS 0 (WIN #1!)

2011-04-14T20:07:00.001-07:00

Gionta scored both of the goals in a great team game by Habs. The Defence did well keeping traffic away from the front of the net. Habs didn't let their emotions dictate thier game and showed great dicipline. But the biggest succeses of the first game of the playoffs was Carey Price's magnificent performance. If he plays the way he played every game, the Habs will sweep every team they face, and Price will havw a Vezina, Conn Smyth and a Stanley Cup ring. GOHABSGO here are the highlights: http://video.canadiens.nhl.com/videoceter/console?hl=true

Updates and Analysis After every Habs Playoff Game!

2011-04-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Starting Thursday I will reviewing and analizing each Montreal Canadiens Playoff game. If you didn't know already, The Habs will be facing off with their bitter rivals, the Boston Bruins. So far this season we've seen a fight-filled, 14 goal game in february, a speedy youngster being rammed into a metal post and a 7-0 blowout that all Habs fans would like to forget. The outcome of this series will be hard to predict, but no doubt, it will be entertaining. Some questions arise with the Habs going into the playoffs, like: Can Price live up to Halak's god-like performance last year? Will Cammalleri continue his playoff heroics from last year or will someone else step up and lead the Canadiens to a first round win? All of these questions will be answered when the Habs square off for Game 1 on thursday. For updates, follow mw on Twitter! @JScaresHabs

The Habs Are In The Playoffs!! Now What?

2011-04-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

This Is What Montreal NEEDS to do.

With a 2-1 OT Win over last year's champs Chicago, the Montreal Candiens clinched a playoff berth!

But now what?

As of right now, they would be facing Boston. Oh Great, Zdeno Chara. Good Thing is Montreal has a 4-2 series lead over Boston this year. Montreal has a better history against Boston in the Playoffs.

Bad News is even though Carey Price is having a season to remember, so is Tim Thomas. Boston is a bigger team, with more offense. Thats a problem. Not to mention Gorges and Markov are done for the year, while Thomas Kaberle, Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk......... You get the point.

Milan Lucic has 9 points against Montreal this season. In fact, 4 players have more points in this series this year before Montreal's first, which is Gionta.

Thomas has not been a big factor, but with Montreal Losing 7-0 in the Last game, you never know who may be the star (3rd liner Gregory Campell had 2 goals that game.) Montreal have to handle their emotcions. They can't go after Chara, mostly because no one can match his size. Leave the payback for what happened To Pacs to scoring goals, not getting stupid pentalies.

But.. If Either New York or Buffalo get more points then the Habs in the last 2 games of the season, the Canadiens will face either The Caps or Flyers.

Lets hope not.

NHL, What the Hell?

2011-03-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

I'm sure your familiar with the hit that has had the hockey world up in arms. Of course I'm talking about the hit delivered by the Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara that sent Montreal Canadiens' forward Max Pacioretty to the hospital with a severe concussion and a fractured vertebrae.
To make matters worse, the NHL saw nothing wrong with the hit and did not punish Chara at all.

This decision sent the Habs fan base into a frenzy. Protest rallies have been planned to voice their displeasure with the NHL's decision. Habs fans are not the only groups unhappy with the NHL, sponsors such as Air Canada have threatened to withdraw their sponsorship.

But here are some of the things that bug me about this whole decision:

1. The NHL is focusing on head shots, and suspending players who delivers a check when the other player's head is targeted.That being said, If the force of Chara's elbow on Pacioretty's head caused his head to crash into the turnbuckle, then why is that not a head shot?

2. The puck was already in the opposite end when the hit was made, making it a completly unnecessary hit and an interference (which was called on the play). Chara said he just meant to rub him out, but when rubbing someone out all that is needed is to get in the opponents way, which Chara had no intention of doing.

3. The final beef I have, is Zdeno Chara. In his post-game interview he said nothing about being sorry about what happened nor did he show any sign of remorse. Another thing that theories are being formed around would be the fact that Chara said that he "will get him back". Chara said this after Pacioretty scored the winning goal in OT and gave Zdeno a small nudge afterward in a game in January.

The NHL had a chance to show that they do not condone these types of hits that cause serious injuries, and they blew it. Even just a 2 game suspension would have been acceptable just based on how unnecessary the hit was. I'm still pretty rattled about the whole thing and collecting all of my thoughts and writing them down is hard for me, especially with this topic, when there are so many perspectives and opinions regarding it.

My thoughts go out to Max and I hope that one day he can make a full and successful recovery.

Until next time.... Follow me on Twitter! @ JScaresHabs

Uh Oh....Should The Habs Have Made A Move?

2011-03-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

Pierre, You may have made Habs Nation pretty mad....

He's been busy in recent weeks reaching out to fill holes on defence because of season-ending knee surgery to Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges. Now it's reached the point where Paul Mara was a healthy scratch for Saturday's 4-3 win over Carolina after only two games. He was quiet on Deadline day. The only move he did was trade Defenceman Brett Fersterling to Atlanta for Depth goalie Drew MacIntyre. Some people said Montreal has enough goalies. Being a Huge Goalie Freak, I agree. Signing Alex Auld was a huge mistake, as Curtis Sanford belongs in the NHL.

Montreal needs a forward. Jason Arnott, JP Dumont, Dustin Penner and Stephen Weiss all seemed close to becoming Habs.

But what happened?

Only GM Pierre Gauthier knows for sure. Is he confident of the Canadiens, because most fans are not. They have struggled since the All-Star Break. They lost 4-0 in the Heritage Classic to Calgary.... They just can't seem to win. Price is not the problem. The forwards are. And of course the amount of Defence injuries does not help.

They need size and skill. Arnott brings that..... But the Caps got him... The 6ft 5 Canadian would have helped alot. The Habs..... Not Sure what they were thinking not getting someone.

I know it may be too early to figure out if being silent was a good idea or not, but come playoff time, it may be too late..........

What Happened Northeast!?

2011-03-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Last night I was looking at the NHL standings, trying to figure out the possible outcomes for the Habs, but instead I realized how the teams in the Northeast had substantially less points (on average) than the rest of the divisions in the NHL. This sparked an investigation. So I dug up some stats from the year before the lockout (2003-2004). Here's what I found; *Stats from this year are dated for 5/3/2011* **Also the number given is an average of the team points in the division** ***One last thing, I started writing this before some of the games on the west coast were finished, so those teams point total may not be up to date to 5/3/2011, therefore affecting their divisions average***

Northeast|2010-2011(5/3/2011)-70.6(on pace)-88.8|2003-2004-97.4

Atlantic |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-72.6(on pace)-90.6|2003-2004-83.8

Southeast |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-71.4(on pace)-89.6|2003-2004-78.8

Central |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-74.8(on pace)-94|2003-2004-82.4

Pacific |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-76.8(on pace)-96.8|2003-2004-85.2

Northwest |2010-2011(5/3/2011)-70.8(on pace) -88.6|2003-2004-93.4

Okay, now that you've seen the facts, the only appropriate thing to do is: analyze them!
In the Western conference there are 4 points separating 5th from 11th. Five of the seven teams in this race are in the Central and Pacific. This accounts for the high averages in both of these divisions. Personally, I think the biggest stat from all of this is the decline in points average for the Northeast division (Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Buffalo and Toronto). In 2003 - 2004 This division was the most competitive division in the league. When the regular season was finished, 4 of the teams had clinched a playoff berth while Buffalo finished one spot away in 9th, 3 teams finished with over 100 points, and this was also the year the Maple leafs had more points than the Habs. Wait... What!?! Success and Leafs? Together? Impossible. I know, I was extremely shocked by that as well. But on the upside, the Habs and Leafs made it to the same point in the playoffs until they were both knocked out in the second round.

By now, you're probably wondering "What does this all have to do with the Habs?" This affects the Habs because with teams like Ottawa, Toronto and to a certain extent, Buffalo; all in the rebuilding phase, all Montreal has to do is compete with Boston, and they have a guaranteed playoff spot. 99% if not 100% of Habs fans would chose this option over competing with Boston, Ottawa and Toronto for a playoff spot, like it was in 2003-2004. Lets just hope that Ottawa and Buffalo stay out of the playoff picture to make way for the mighty force that is the Montreal Canandiens. As for Toronto, I honestly hope they find a way into the playoffs in the upcoming years, just to try to see a Habs vs. Leafs playoff series and seeing the Leafs getting stomped on by us.

For Updates on new posts follow me on twitter! @JScaresHabs

Scott Gomez: Is he worth it?

2011-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Scott Gomez: 7 goals, 24 assists in 62 games this year. Average numbers for an NHL player, but it would be expected that a player who makes 7.34 million a year would be far beyond these numbers. It would also be fair to expect that he wouldn't be minus-17 on the year. But holding back your teammates is absolutely unacceptable for a player being paid more than the Sedin twins. (6.1m/year) You may be asking yourself: "Wait, What? Scott Gomez makes more per year than the Sedin twins?" Yep. That frightful fact may have overshadowed what I mentioned before when I said that Scott Gomez was holding his teammates back, none the less, true. Here is some proof:

Recently, Andrei Kostitsyn was taken off of Gomez's line. Over the 10 games that the two of them were line mates, Kostitsyn was minus-8, On Feb. 9 their line was benched mid way through the third period for having a minus-4 record in the first two periods alone! Also the Belgian forward put up only two points In all ten games. In all the games prior, Kostitsyn has recorded a combined plus-12 record!

Since then, Kostitsyn has played three games without Scott Gomez as his centre. In the most recent game against the Panthers, Andrei had himself a 2 point, plus-3 game. During this 3 game stretch, Kostitsyn has recorded 5 points and has gone plus-2.

I am not trying to say that Scott Gomez is completely useless, but a common and rather acceptable theory, Gomez's playing style has low compatibility with Martin's defensive 'dump and chase' coaching style. He could prosper more with a different team/coach, That being said, Any GM would crazy to acquire his extremely excessive contract through trade. So if the Montreal Canadiens' franchise somehow stumbled upon this "article" and say "Well what do we do with him" (I know/pray to the gods that would never be said by anyone in the organization.) My opinion would to wait out the remaining 2 and a bit seasons left in his contract and let him walk as a free agent or resign him for maximum 3 -3.5 million/year.

to read more Check out this: http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110226/mtl_habshub_habit_freed_110226/20110226/?hub=MontrealSports

Habs Making A Move?

2011-02-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

Hearing The Habs May Be making a deal tonight...Klesa from the Blue Jackets and Phillips from Ottawa come to mind......

Habs/Bruins Game Febuary 9th

2011-02-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Best Game Ever? Well I wouldn't know..... I MISSED IT!!!!!!
Anyways, here are some highlights from the game: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20102011,2,808&fr=false

The Price fight was.......so/so. It was awesome to see goalies fight, but they are friends so they wouldnt want to hurt each other.

Thoughts?

Is Carey Price The Early Season MVP?

2010-11-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Carey Price is Having A Stellar year.

2009-2010: 41 Games played, 13 wins, 0 shutouts. 2010-2011: 20 Games Played, 12 wins, 4 shutouts.

Carey Price Seems like a Rejuvenated Starting Goalie. This is the way he was expected to play when Jaroslav Halak was traded to St.Louis. In a recent article i wrote for Habs Jambalaya, i said that Carey should perform the way he did before the 08-09 All-Star Game. Many People booed him in the pre-season and wanted him out of town. So Far, he has played the most games, which has translated into the most wins as of November 22nd and tied for most Shutouts, with 4 tieing another reborn NHLer, Tim Thomas.

Price has a 2.05 GAA, 4th in the league, and .932 SP, tied for third in the league. Those numbers have generated interest for another possible All-Star game appearance. All Habs fans remember that after the last time he played, he couldn't stop a single puck. Not Something fans want him to repeat. Alex Auld has played only 1 game, resulting in a win. 21 games into the season and Price has played all but one game? Is Jaques Martin Over playing Price? That I cannot answer. He is playing outstanding with many highlight real saves. It seems like no pucks can get past him. His defence isn't as good as it could be, with Andrei Markov pretty much out for the season. The pressure is on the D to do a better job clearing the front of the net, a little traffic is to be expected but some of the goals were just a sea of people around the blue paint.

His puck handling has gotten tiny bit better in my opinion than it was in October, he's still been very mistake prone which is obviously unacceptable but he looks to have a bit more authority a lot of the time and is making quicker decisions. I'm not sure what's behind the puck handling slump but he needs to get back to where he was because this D needs all the help it can get. Ive Noticed that he holds his glove hand higher then he has done in the past, which gives the shooters less room.

Last seasons struggles were inspiration, along with the constant boos from the Canadiens faithful, to make him play the way he is now.

Is He The Early Season MVP? Only Time Will Tell.

Sad News

2010-11-19T15:58:00.001-08:00

I Have Sad News To Report. :(

Former Habs, Leafs And Devils Coach Pat Burns Has died today. It was confirmed by The Devils and the NHL. He Died From A Lengthy battle with Cancer. Over fourteen seasons between 1988 and 2004, he achieved a record of 501-350-161-14 in 1019 games. He Was 58. Many People Said He Belonged in the Hall. HE will be there one day. One Day Soon.

Rest In Peace, Patty.

Price Gets A Shutout as Habs Beat Sens 3-0

2010-10-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period
10:54	MTL	Andrei Kostitsyn (3) Wrist Shot - Assists: T. Plekanec (4) & P. Subban (3)
2nd Period
13:42	MTL	Benoit Pouliot (1) Backhand - Assists: J. Gorges (3) & S. Gomez (2)
18:37	MTL	Andrei Kostitsyn (4) Wrist Shot - Assists: M. Cammalleri (2) & J. Spacek (2)
3rd Period
NONE

PENALTY SUMMARY

1st Period
16:11	OTT	Jesse Winchester : Hi-sticking - 2 min
17:12	MTL	Tomas Plekanec : Tripping - 2 min
2nd Period
04:11	MTL	Roman Hamrlik : Holding the stick - 2 min
05:26	OTT	Mike Fisher : Roughing - 2 min
05:26	MTL	Travis Moen : Roughing - 2 min
11:38	OTT	Matt Carkner : Interference - 2 min
11:38	MTL	Jeff Halpern : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
11:38	OTT	Jarkko Ruutu : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
3rd Period
03:02	MTL	Hal Gill : Interference - 2 min
06:09	OTT	Chris Campoli : Cross checking - 2 min
19:40	OTT	Nick Foligno : Roughing - 2 min
19:40	OTT	Matt Carkner : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
19:40	OTT	Chris Neil : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min

SHOTS ON GOAL

	1st	2nd	3rd	T

MTL	10	17	7	34
OTT	4	12	3	19

SAVES

	Goalies	EV	PP	SH	Total	TOI
MTL	31 C. Price (W)	17 - 17	2 - 2	0 - 0	19 - 19	60:00
OTT	30 B. Elliott (L)	23 - 26	7 - 7	1 - 1	31 - 34	60:00

SKATER STATS

MTL	Pos	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	Shots	EV TOI	PP TOI	SH TOI	TOI
6 J. Spacek	D	0	1	1	2	0	1	14:15	1:25	1:27	17:07
11 S. Gomez	C	0	1	1	1	0	2	14:11	1:40	2:13	18:04
13 M. Cammalleri	L	0	1	1	2	0	5	13:31	3:42	0:00	17:13
14 T. Plekanec	C	0	1	1	2	2	0	12:28	3:46	1:26	17:40
15 J. Halpern	C	0	0	0	0	5	2	13:08	0:00	1:21	14:29
21 B. Gionta	R	0	0	0	1	0	2	13:39	1:28	2:06	17:13
26 J. Gorges	D	0	1	1	1	0	1	18:53	1:20	3:01	23:14
32 T. Moen	L	0	0	0	0	2	1	10:34	0:08	1:33	12:15
40 M. Lapierre	C	0	0	0	0	0	4	14:17	0:16	0:04	14:37
44 R. Hamrlik	D	0	0	0	1	2	2	14:04	4:06	0:44	18:54
45 A. Picard	D	0	0	0	1	0	2	16:51	0:00	0:16	17:07
46 A. Kostitsyn	L	2	0	2	2	0	3	14:14	3:42	0:00	17:56
52 M. Darche	L	0	0	0	0	0	0	7:15	0:00	0:00	7:15
57 B. Pouliot	L	1	0	1	1	0	2	13:49	1:36	0:00	15:25
75 H. Gill	D	0	0	0	0	2	0	18:34	0:20	2:13	21:07
76 P. Subban	D	0	1	1	1	0	4	16:51	3:41	2:19	22:51
81 L. Eller	C	0	0	0	0	0	0	8:04	0:00	0:00	8:04
94 T. Pyatt	C	0	0	0	0	0	3	12:13	0:00	1:17	13:30
OTT	Pos	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	Shots	EV TOI	PP TOI	SH TOI	TOI
4 C. Phillips	D	0	0	0	-2	0	1	16:27	0:16	3:36	20:19
9 M. Michalek	L	0	0	0	-1	0	2	14:48	2:58	1:59	19:45
11 D. Alfredsson	R	0	0	0	0	0	4	15:04	3:04	2:26	20:34
12 M. Fisher	C	0	0	0	-1	2	1	15:29	2:26	3:07	21:02
13 P. Regin	C	0	0	0	-1	0	0	11:21	1:53	0:00	13:14
14 C. Campoli	D	0	0	0	-1	2	1	17:19	1:44	1:05	20:08
15 Z. Smith	C	0	0	0	-1	0	0	8:32	0:00	0:20	8:52
18 J. Winchester	C	0	0	0	0	2	0	6:34	0:04	0:20	6:58
22 C. Kelly	C	0	0	0	-1	0	2	14:15	0:00	1:36	15:51
25 C. Neil	R	0	0	0	0	10	0	14:26	1:37	0:00	16:03
26 R. Shannon	R	0	0	0	-2	0	0	7:39	0:00	0:00	7:39
27 A. Kovalev	R	0	0	0	-1	0	0	12:28	1:53	0:00	14:21
36 D. Hale	D	0	0	0	-1	0	2	13:05	0:00	1:33	14:38
39 M. Carkner	D	0	0	0	-1	12	2	16:05	0:00	1:18	17:23
55 S. Gonchar	D	0	0	0	-1	0	1	17:41	3:16	3:20	24:17
65 E. Karlsson	D	0	0	0	-1	0	1	18:38	3:07	0:00	21:45
71 N. Foligno	L	0	0	0	0	2	2	15:06	2:42	0:00	17:48
73 J. Ruutu	L	0	0	0	0	5	0	11:54	0:00	1:04	12:58