Rack Em' Up

Another typical Habs/Flyers game: full of goals, fast-paced and chippy hockey. For the third game in a row, the Habs managed to pull through with a win. Not too long ago, we were getting clobbered 6-2, 7-2. I'm telling you, when you've got solid goaltending and productive special teams, wins are hard to miss.

Glen Metropolit, Gainey's latest pickup, sure didn't raise my eyebrows. However, for a 4th line center at 34 years old, I'd say we may have gotten our money's worth out of this guy. While he may not have had the best start with us, he's at least a step up on Chipchura. Plus he's not a UFA at the end of the season which is a fad on the team. He's also a must-needed right hand centerman.

Once again Mathieu Schneider, who's showing us just how much one man can help a team's powerplay, did his job. Mark down 5 points (3G, 2A all on the powerplay) in 5 games. I'd take that from a 39 year old. Heck if he keeps this up, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back next year!

What can I say about Plekanec and Halak? They are the two hottest players on team right now. Plekanec is now 7-5-12 in his last 7 games while Halak has averaged 37 saves in his last 6 starts. I'm not going to repeat myself, so I'll conclude by saying that whatever these two are doing, I highly suggest they don't change it. Kovalev has also been playing well. 11 points in 10 games ain't too shabby. As the trade deadline quickly approaches, Kovy's name will surely come up in trade-talks. TSN is saying that Columbus and Edmonton have shown interest in him. Whether it's true or just trade-talk, you're all welcome to waste x amount of hours of your life watching TSN's TRADECENTRE '09 next Wednesday (yes, all capitals, it's that important).

Breezer was at his best tonight. He, of course assisted on Gagné's game-tying goal. He also pulled a couple needless icings because of those center-ice passes of his. Just a reminder to everyone, he is 3 games away from reaching 1000. Thus CONFIRMING his never coming back after this season. Komisarek is another guy who's getting on my nerves (Breezer's always been on my nerves, Komisarek's still working on it). For whatever reason, he's having so much trouble controlling the puck along the boards which is leading to needless penalties on his part and odd-man rushes for the other team. This is a hole he better dig himself out of, fast.

Basically, another confidence booster for Montreal, which will hopefully turn routine by the time we reach the playoffs. Tanguay's comeback is something I have been looking forward to for the past 3 weeks. Don't be surprised to see minor trades here and there between now and the deadline. Don't expect it to be minutes before it though, Gainey's too smart to buy into that nonsense. Sharks are in town tomorrow night.

Photos: Yahoo! Sports