Halak against Kings

I think the last Habs game in LA Mathieu Garon made 70 saves.

It sure sucks being a Habs fan and living in Calgary. I am forced to watch two of most mind numbingly boring teams in history, the Oilers and the Flames. The Oilers just won in overtime 2 to 1 over the Bluejackets. Now Sportsnet is showing the Flames, they are playing at home against Nashville. This should be an intense game, it is 15 minutes into the first and the Flames have ZERO shots on net. The crowd is so quiet you can hear the players yelling to each other on the ice. I have had the misfortune to watch many games in the Western division and I am not impressed. None of the teams have any pizzaz or offensive creativity. The teams are all built around a great goalie and trying to win 1 to 0 games. When they do score it is invariably off the low cycle game, they do not have the talent to score off the rush like the Habs. I really think this Western division is over rated. Why does everyone think the Ducks are so great? The Ducks play the same boring style as every other team in this division. I think they are vulnerable to a team with speed and creativity.

on a completely different topic... i was just snooping around the NHL stats site and saw that we are actually TIED for the LEAD with Ottawa in Goals Per Game. http://www.nhl.com/nhlstats/app?fetchKey=20082ALLAAAAll&page=Stats&servi... so we now lead (or share the lead) in 2 categories: PP, and G/G, and are 3rd in terms of fewest Losses. yawn. :)

It doesn't matter if the Grabovski story is true or not. Why does french media always blow everything out of proportion?? For once, there was no contrevercies,players are happy as a team, and you go and report unsubstenciated story like this?? They are on the other coast, just let them be and let them deal with the issues themselves. It seems nowhere is far enough, when you want to get away from french media. French players on the other hand can do no wrong in this city...

Hey guys and gals,It is nice to see all this hype about Halak playing,but you have to remember who our #1 goldie is and we finally do have a #1goldie, sure hope that if Halak loses that you will be easy on him because he is a rookie,I hope he dosen't let in any easy goals, or look out of place ,or go down to early,because he will know about it from his fans on here,because that is how you treat Price.When he wins please find all the good points he has done and praise him for that.

grabs can kiss my ass. ride the fckin bus all the way back to hamilton and take a flight back to the mother land of where ever the skinny whiny baby is from. He is a rookie for one, not even that good on NHL level, did NOTHING at all for the habs this year or any other year. So what he had a good week in hamilton , that only bought him a ticket to atlanta where is was supposed to be going. After Ryder handles his benching with so much class this little piece of crap never deserves to wear the montreal jersey again. p.s. this rant only counts if the story is true , if not, grabs can still kiss my ass if he wants.

Great I get to see my second favorite goalie tomorrow. He will do just fine. Halak's got the cool calm that runs through the veins of all our goalies. He will do just fine. Last year he only lost when the D let him down, I watched every game. The D doesn't take nights off this year like they did last year. Everyone lets in the odd weak goal. He'll do just fine. If Kalak was in net on the final game last year, we would have made the playoffs. I'm positive of this. He'll do just fine. Go Habs Go

I have this funny feeling that we may be playing the leafs in the first round... that is we finish 1st and they 8th. don't ever underestimate the power of the Toronto NHL Syndicate.... --------- 1. WE ARE DEAD MEAT WITHOUT OUR OWN POLICING 1. Feb 19, 2008 - History was made. 2. Thank GOD we have Alex Kovalev.....at his PRIME 3. The BELL CENTRE should be rebuilt to sit 80,000 fans 4. We will win the CUP

I'm not sure if what is being reported on RDS.ca as noted by Fun Police and Jason M. about Grabovski intentionally missing the next flight (because he was benched again) is true or just the french media blowing another issue out of context. If Grabovski deliberately missed the flight then he's wrong. Forget for a minute that he may score more points than Dandenault, be faster than Smolinski or work harder than Latendresse. Forget the debate of whether Carbonneau should play him or not. All that doesn't matter. What matters is that Grabovski is young and has to pay his dues and wait for his turn. Look at players like Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. They played at least 2 years in the AHL before making the big show and being regulars. Earlier this season Grabovski did squat with the Habs and went down and rightly so. I saw Grabovski play with the Bulldogs before his recent call-up and he was on a tear. I do admire him having the fire and passion of wanting to play. I recall one of our famous legends whose number hangs from the hallowed rafters went nuts when he found out he might not be playing. Having said all that, if veterans like Ryder, Smolinski, Begin and even Brisebois can sit out in the press box without much noise despite being unhappy then a young player like Grabovski has to sit tight. Imagine Halak who hasn't play a regular season game yet or a player like Chipchura who is still down in Hamilton? Are they entitled to throw hissy fits as well? It appears that Gainey and Carbonneau will not discipline Grabovski as I'm sure they have dealt with the issue as they deem fit. However, if Grabovski pulls a suck again I'd have no problem sending him back to the AHL. And if he doesn't want to resign or would rather go back to Russia like Perezhogin so be it as Teacher has aptly noted.

Halak's first start of the season. Looking forward to see how he looks!

according to rds, out of protest of being scratched, grabs skipped the flight from pheonix to l.a. and joined his teamates there this morning. he met with bob and carbo. no discipline is going to be handed out to grabs. you could see why he'd be frustrated when a person like dandy takes your place. grabs sits and a guy like lats who hasn't scored since who knows when consistently plays. in my opinion, grabs is further along the development line than lats. what does lats do exactly? then there's slowlinski.

Apparently Grabs was pissed that he didn't get dressed for the game and purposely missed his plane to LA after hearing he'd be benched again. Check RDS front page.

With the day off and coming off the win, I would've gone Price against LA, Halak against the Schmucks. If Halak soils the sheets, we're in tough to make it a .500 trip. If Price wins against LA, the Ducks game is gravy, no pressure on Halak. Second-guessing is so much fun.

I'm excited to see four players in particular: Jaroslav Halak for obvious reasons. Anze Kopitar for being one of the most exciting young players in the West. Raitis Ivanans because he's a former Hab and because he's a linebacker on skates. Jack Johnson because he's a highly-touted young D-man that I've never seen play. I'm sick of the current NHL schedule format, I wish I could see Western conference players more often.

Sweet...I liked watching this guy play last year, hopefully he does great like Carey did last night, scare the SH#T out of every other team with our awesome goaltending duo!!!! Go get 'em Halak!!!

Halak it like that

This decision is in accordance with my wishes. Ex nihilo nihil fit

... and all is right with the world. . . . ______________________________________ "All bow down before the Komisaurus Rex!"

About time! Come on Halak, knock 'em dead and make Carbo's job that much harder. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat

hey everybody ive been a follower of this site for the longest time but just recently signed up i must say habs fans rock. on a side note i live in miami does anybody if there is a local habs hotspot/sports bar in the miami area?

Terrific article by Michael Farber in Sports Illustrated on the Habs and, more specifically, Mike Komisarek. Ovechkin says he's one of the best in the league; another GM says he and Phaneuf are alone. Great read: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/michael_farber/03/04/canad... Sign him long term, Bob!

Good for Halak! It's about time he played for the big team. I hope he's got his A game ready, because LAK will not be a walk in the park; these guys just blanked Ottawa, their goaltender is hot, and they have Frolov. Not to mention, our D has not been inspiring lately. Kick a$$, Halak!

Woo! Best of luck to Halak! It's his chance to show everyone how good he really is. Looking forward to watching him play :D Should be an exciting game... but I'd be careful if I were the Habs... coming off a shut-out win against Ottawa (even if they are struggling), the Kings should have momentum. Never take a team for granted! Remember the early season games against ATLANTA? Go Habs!

The Habs will make the "Kings" look like Jester's tomorrow. And that is a FACT.

I saw Halak play in Toronto this year against the Marlies. He is a BIG goalie, covers a lot of the net. He can play, he is ready for the NHL. I look forward to seeing him play tomorrow. should be a fun game to watch. Good call on putting Halak in against the Kings, and seeing Carey against the Ducks. Halak has been sitting for awhile, wouldnt be good for him to play one of the best in the league(Ducks). If not the best.

If Ottawa keeps up the way they've been playing they might not even make the post season. That would be sweet not just because it eliminates a tough scoring line, not just because sans fans are getting obnoxious, and not just because it would mean the analysts would be preparing for a sans meltdown next year just like they expected the Habs to do this year. No, that would be sweet because it would cost Bryan Murray his job as coach/gm of Ottawa and I wouldn't have to listen to that lisp of his during interviews. Sufferin Succotash!!!