Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. You're telling me that the Habs, those same Habs that barely stumbled ass backwards into the playoffs have already knocked out the top seeded Washington Capitals and are now deadlocked 2-2 in a second round series with the defending champ Penguins?????
Obviously I've watched every second of each Habs playoff game so far, but I still can't believe what the Habs have already accomplished and what we've got going here. After a season of relative mediocrity, the Canadiens have all of a sudden emerged as a giant killer and moderately legitimate threat in the 2010 playoffs.
Let me bring you up to speed on how we got here:
-Carey who?: Jaroslav Halak has posted a playoff best .934 save percentage so far and at times has carried the entire team on his back. He has been absolutely exceptional. Should the Habs find a way to continue this magical playoff run, he would be a lock for the Conn Smythe. That good.
-Calamari anyone? Mike Cammalleri is back in a big way! He struggled mightily after returning from injury with nine games left in the regular season and posting 0 goals during that time. HOWEVER, Camaleri has already scored 8 goals this postseason and is one of the big reasons the Habs have been able to come this far.
-The Big Gill: I'll be honest, I've been ripping Gill all season long and wanting no part of him on the team. I found him to be slow, ineffective and soft for his size. BUT, he has been playing fantastic hockey since the start of the playoffs and I now see his true value and why Bob Gainey signed him in the off season. Without Gill, especially since Markov went down, the Habs definately do not make it this far.
D-FENSE: Maybe Jacques Martin really is a defensive specialist/genius after all. The Habs have been playing an airtight, rope-a-dope ish style defensive game and have managed to completely stifle the 2 best players in the world in Ovechkin and Crosby. He knows what's up, and despite being badly out shot in many games so far, the system is working.
Thanks Bob: It looks like Bob Gainey actually knew what he was doing. So many were up in arms this past off season, watching the Habs part ways with cherished names like Koivu, Kovalev, Komisarek and Higgins. But Bob knew what he was doing in signing proven cup champion veterans like Gomez, Gionta, Moen and Gill. Without them, we do not get this far. Also FYI... Koivu missed the playoffs, Kovalev posted a 49 points this year and then went down to a season ending knee injury, Komisarek missed most of the season with an injury, and Higgins posted a paltry 14 points with the Rangers who also missed the playoffs.
E for effort: Throughout the regular season I saw the Habs as a team with not much grit or real desire to win tough hockey games. However, this playoff the Canadiens have been playing hard and really look committed to the team and doing whatever it takes to win. Sometimes it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Game 5 of this second round series with the Penguins goes this Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Stay tuned and GO HABS GO!
Well, here we go again. The Habs take the ice tonight on the brink of elimination against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Canadiens are in familiar territory after they won three straight with their backs against the wall to beat Washington in round 1, however this time around it feels a little different. Is Halak playing well? Yes. Are we shutting down the oppositions top players? Yes. Is the team committed to winning? Yes. So what's different this time around might you ask? Well, the big difference is that now the Habs have to try and continue to win without arguably their two top defencemen in Andrei Markov and Hal Gill. As if the challenge of beating the cup champs wasn't enough right? Now the Habs are going to have to try and pull off the improbable upset without Gill, Markov and Jaroslav Spacek. 
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