Mike Boone's Online Eeee-mail

Let's not judge Bob Gainey on the basis of Janne Niinimaa or Sergei Samsonov.

And let's not compare him to Frank Selke or Sam Pollock.

The team Gainey took over had gone 30-35-8-9 in 2002-'03.

The Canadiens haven't been that bad since.

Nor will they be that bad in Bob Gainey's last season – unless Pierre Gauthier REALLY screws things up over the last 22 games of the regular-season schedule.

Unlikely, but it could happen.

The Canadiens' freshly-minted GM was director of pro scouting when the team signed Samsonov.

• Mike Farber's take

• Renaud Lavoie

Starting the second half with an onside kick.

That's just the kind of coaching decision Jacques Martin would make.

No barber poles.

More to the point, no finishers.

Mike Cammalleri and Benoit Pouliot were sorely missed.

Still in sixth place, but no breathing room.

The Bruins broke a 10-game losing streak and moved within three points, with three games in hand.

And a fourth shutout on home ice despite 36 shots on Tuukka Rask

The kids are alright.

"Who dat?" will be the rallying cry of Saints fans during the Super Bowl tomorrow night.

This afternoon, at the Bell Centre, Canadiens fans were wondering "Who dey?"

Three emergency call-ups from Hamilton – Ryan White, Brock Trotter and David Desharnais – formed the best fourth line the Canadiens have had this season.

I know: That isn't saying much.

But suffice it to say the youngsters did a lot more skating and hitting than we'd seen from Georges Laraque in two years.

Did anyone see this coming?

That's why they play the games.

What are the Canadiens going to do with Jaro Halak?

Forty-five saves through regulation and OT.

Another three in the shootout.

The Bratislava Beetroot is singlehandedly keeping the Canadiens in playoff contention.

He's not elegant.

His technique won't be taught at goaltender school any time soon.

But Jaro stops pucks.

And wins games.

Without him, the Canadiens would be ...

Well, it just doesn't bear thinking about.

Two HUGE points

Plekanec: Save

Krejci: Leg save!

Gomez: Save

Ryder: Save

Gionta: Backhand shelf!

Savard: Save!

Truncated edition.

I have to keep my powder dry for the Puckcast that we'll be recording this morning.

So just a few bullet points to get discussion going:

Who expected that W?

Brian Burke just blew up his team.

And the response from the seventh floor of the Belll Centre is ...

Jeez, kind of quiet in here, eh?

The Canadiens season just suffered a lower-body injury.

Losing Andrei Markov in the opening game was devastating.

The Andrei Kostitsyn injury hurt.

But if Mike Cammalleri is gone for a while .... well, could the timing be any worse?

This is a kick to the goolies on your honeymoon night.

We won't know the extent of the damage until tomorrow – if then.

But it looks bad.

Knees are just not supposed to bend that way.

(And Don Cherry is not supposed to recite poetry to a national TV audience on Hockey Day in Canada, but them's the breaks.)

That Mike Cammalleri injury looked brutal.

As did Andrei Markov's defence in OT.

Mike Fisher shifted into overdrive and cashed a backhand that ended a pretty good hockey game.

Bring Samuel L. Jackson in to run practice.

(Jarred Friedman never sleeps)

Bob Gainey, cleverly disguised as Martin Sheen and accompanied by the Canadiens' full amateur and pro scouting staff, is summoned to the Crisis Room of the Bell Centre, where vice-president of PR Donald Beauchamp, cleverly disguised as Allison Janney, is attempting to explain the team's suckitude to the media.

Fight of the Year!

Mark Fistric vs. Eric Nystrom

Here's your hat, what's your hurry?

Guest analyst Jimmy Ruffin puts the latest debacle in perspective.

What becomes of us broken-hearted Canadiens fans?

Can we ride this roller-coaster through the end of the season without sustaining serious psychological damage?

Jaroslav Spacek had the right approach:

He got sick BEFORE the game.

(Shout-out to Jarred Friedman for the video)

Tough call on whether the floundering Canadiens were worse against the Panthers or the Lightning.

Discuss ... and oh, you will.

Karl Marx would have loved the game:

The Triumph of the Proletariat.

The Florida Panthers slapped on their hard hats, laced up their steel-toed boots, grabbed their lunch pails and went to work on your Montreal Canadiens.

And when the proles punched out after a job well done, the Panthers had clawed their way into the top eight and the petit bourgeois found themselves out of a playoff spot.

Dropped out of the playoffs.

A very bad time to blow a third-period lead for the first time this season.

Outshot.

Outhustled.

Outworked.

Two games do not a season make – especially a season that's been as screwy as this one.

But the Canadiens looked great last night, and the sun is shining in Montreal.

Pittsburgh-Philadelpia then Jets-Colts then Vikes-Saints.

Life is good!

And video scout Jarred Friedman thinks this classic captures the mood ...

Mathieu Darche punched Max Pacioretty's ticket to Hamilton.

Against St. Louis on Wednesday, Max-Pac played 14:05 and veteran Darche 9:05.

In New Jersey, Pacioretty played 6:23 and my man from McGill 9:49. Darche scred a goal, added an assist and was named the game's first star.

Last night, Darche had another assist, added three hits and played 10:11. In his last game at the Bell Centre for a while, Max-Pac played 12:36 but didn't do much.

I'd still rate Pacioretty well ahead of Matt D'Agostini on the depth chart. But Max-Pac can be farmed out without waivers, which is not the case for D'Ags.

Pacioretty may not see it that way, but this is a positive move for his development.

He has size and some wheels, but Max-Pac's game is very raw.

Let's see what Guy Boucher can do with the kid.

Don't read this to understand what happened in the game.

Instead, listen to Jacques Martin.

I usually wouldn't recommend the kindly old coach's media briefings to anyone but the most desperate insomniacs. But Martin – who usually knows much bt says little – was in a voluble mood after watching his team play their best game of the year.

Martin said candid and interesting things to about his goaltenders, about Benoit Pouliot, about Mathieu Darche and about team toughness in the post-BGL era.

Martin was in a good mood, and why not?

The Canadiens swept two weekend games, a happy eventuality that would have been predicted by only the most delusional optimists .... and then only if their glasses were half full of tequila.

And Martin had outcoached two formidable rivals: a renowned strategist, Jacques Lemaire, and a celebrated loudmouth, John Tortorella.

And Canadiens were the kickers.

So many heroes

Especially the goaltender, who gave his teammates a chance to get rolling

Shout-out to Jarred Friedman for this compilation of John Tortorella's greatest hits.

Jacques Martin may have won his gamble.

We'll wait for the Rangers game at the Bell Centre before delivering an early verdict, but for now it looks like the coach has made the right decisions ... at a very critical time of the season.

Georges Laraque: Gone.

Matt D'Agostini: Five shifts, 2:37

Max Pacioretty: 10 shifts, 6:23

Martin got rid of his useless enforcer, shortened his bench and played the guys who he thought would give him the best chance to win – including Mathieu Darche, a 33-year-old journeyman playing for his fifth NHL team.

So far, so good.

Do it again against the Rangers and the bandwagon will get very crowded very fast.

Big night for Mathieu Darche and the other forwards who played regular shifts.

Big night for Josh Gorges.

And that Slovakian goaltender.

John Tortorella reacts to Dan Carcillo hammering Marian Gaborik.

The writer he takes on is Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

They bring their act to the Bell Centre tomorrow.

BGL talks!

And in contrast to the peevish interview he gave TSN this morning, when he called the Canadiens "classless", a kinder, gentler and more diplomatic Georges Laraque says he loves the Canadiens, loves Montreal, loves the fans and loves his teammates.

Gosh, he even loves the Montreal media.

The big guy did not address the degree to which he loves opponents he's making $1.5 million a year – with a no-movement clause – to fight.

BGL fought three times this season. He had two shots on goal, one of which went in. At that percentage, Mike Cammalleri would have 88 goals.

In fond tribute to a gentleman and vegan who brought a whole lotta love to the rink every night, we present this golden oldie by BBW.

As for his future, Laraque says he hopes to be back in hockey with another team next season.

In the short term, perhaps he'll spearhead a relief effort in Haiti under the banner of Bagarreurs sans frontières.

Laraque actually is involved in a project with the NHLPA (he was the Canadiens' player rep) and World Vision.

Bob Gainey had the Quote of the Day:

"I don't have a copy of George's code. I don't know what it is."

The general manager's code is you stand up for teammates ... which,  sadly, we did not see New York on Sunday night.

•  •  •

More happy news: Mike Cammalleri and Maxim Lapierre got into it at practice today.

Fans may recall Max in an altercation with Mike Komisarek at practice last season. BGL was the peacemaker.

I guess it's only opponents Lapierre won't fight.

Seems about right: Play one period, get one point.

Your Montreal Canadiens sleepwalked through 40 minutes, trying their darnedest to make the St. Louis Blues look like the San Jose Sharks.

Different saints, though, and the masquerade ended for the final 20 minutes and the first three minutes of overtime.

That's when the Canadiens played with the urgency that they should be displaying from the opening whistle, considering the perilous state of their playoff hopes.

The point – along with a loss by Florida – allowed the Canadiens to leapfrog over the Panthers into 11th place.

Glass half full view: The Canadiens are only five points behind fifth-place Ottawa.

Glass half empty: The night after the Senators looked great in beating mighty Chicago, the Canadiens were crap for two periods and lucky to salvage a point against the not-so-mighty Blues.

Too little, too late