Well, much to my dismay, the Leafs continued their winning ways last night by beating the Washington Capitals 2-1. Surprise-surprise, this game didn't end in overtime. This was goalie Martin Gerber's first game with the Leafs & he came within 30-something seconds of registering a shutout against the highly favored hometown team. By trading away two of the team's top scorers at trade deadline day, i figured it would be smooth sailing towards the bottom of the standings from now on. But no! These stubborn Leafs think they still have a chance of making the playoffs (they don't!!) and have become one of the hardest working teams in the entire NHL. Too bad Habs fans can't say the same thing about their bunch of lousy underachievers!!
On the Habs' front, George Laraque's season with the blue-blanc-rouge appears to be over due to a chronic back problem. We'll see. But let's just say that Carbo & Boring Bob are probably not shedding any tears right now. Laraque is not only the team's top enforcer (who can't check, though), but also its top cry-baby. However, unlike Begin, they couldn't ship him out since his contract for a player in his position is way too high to attract any interest (and he's a liability whenver he steps onto the ice) and other teams know he'll start whining as soon as he doesn't get the playing time he feels he's owed. Halak is scheduled to be in the nets tonight after being out with the flu (that's the official reason....the real reason was that he was burnt out from facing 40-50 shots on a consistent basis). It was discovered that the team doctors actually told Alex Tanguay last week that he could return to the lineup. It's not known why Tanguay didn't want to play until likely this weekend's games. His arrival might finally bring a bit of punch to the team's anemic attack. Finally, the fans are finally starting to realize why their current messiah, Mathieu Schneider, has been tossed around pretty much to every team in the league over his long career. He's a tremendous defensive liability on the ice. He makes Sheldon Souray look like Doug Harvey at times.
After last night's games, the Habs now stand only 1 point from 8th place, and only 4 pts from being out of the playoffs picture. Once again, i'll repeat it:
THE HABS WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS !!!!!