Habs strike early and beat the Isles 4-1

The Habs came roaring out of the gate last night taking the lead just 56 seconds into the game. We took the listless Islanders by storm and once we got them down they had no chance of getting back up. Credit a strong start to the game for the Habs and some very solid goaltending from Cristobal Huet who stopped 44 of 45 shots on the night. The scoring for the Habs came from Begin(2), Higgins and Tomas Plekanec.

Quick Hits:

The Habs played a great road game. The way our team is built I think that we are a very good road team. Lately we have been scoring early and when we do that we're able to concentrate on the defensive side and shut down the opponent for the rest of the game. The team played physical enough, stood up to the oppositions tough guys when needed and never allowed the Islanders to gain any momentum. We did however start to slump a little in the third period but by that time the fate of the game was already sealed.

Solid performance from Huet. Huet was in the zone last night and came very close to recording the shutout. He has been a real hot-cold goalie lately but it seems that he is more often hot than not. Just when you think he's losing it a little bit he comes right back with a great performance to silence his critics. Huet knows he can't afford a few bad games in a row because we all know who is waiting in the wings (Price).

How about Hamrlik! Roman Hamrlik is proving to be a great defenceman for the Canadiens and we are very lucky to have him. 'The Hammer' never seems to make bad plays or decisions out there and he always plays a physical game. Keep an extra eye on him next game and you will see how solid of a player he really is. I think that it's safe to say that we are a much better team with him wearing the #44 instead of Sheldon Souray.

Ah oui Steve! It was nice to see grinder Steve Begin get a couple of goals last night. Stevey-B is known as a hard-nosed grinder but last night he showed us a little offensive flair with two top-corner snipes both coming at even strength. Those goals will be a nice confidence booster for #22 and we might see him shooting the puck a little more often now...

Game Hero's: Begin, Huet, Hamrlik, Higgins, Komisarek, Dandenault.

Game Zero's: Latendresse, Brisebois, Smolinski.

Three Stars:

1) Cristobal Huet

2) Steve Begin

3) Matthieu Dandenault