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Most Valuable Canadien ... and the C on the jersey is next.

The two goals were nice.

They put an exclamation mark on Andrei Markov's return to the lineup.

Michel Bergeron says Markov is worth a two goal swing: one more goal per game for the Canadiens, one fewer against.

What's important, though – and what I hope we'll see through the balance of this road trip – is the ripple effect of having the team's best player back in the lineup.

Markov makes the D better.

Tomas Plekanec feeds Roman Hamrlik for the winner

Jacques Martin could have gloated after his best coaching night and his team's best effort of the season.

Granted, the Islanders are a bad team and they were playing their second game in as many nights.

But still ...

This was total domination. And it owed a lot to the coach's tinkering.

Martin shuffled three of his lines. And it workjed.

He started Jaro Halak. And it worked.

Once again, his system kept an opponent to fewer than 25 shots on goal.

But Martin graciously shifted credit to his players ... and one in particular: Glen Metropolit.

So who's in nets against the Rangers?

Jacques Martin – a coach whose every move paid off in the Canadiens' first rout of the season – wasn't saying.

"I'll sleep on it," Martin said. "And then I'll have a bright idea."

Steve Kerley, aka 24 Cups, checks in wth his latest comprehensive scouting report:

When I was a young boy, my grandmother used to take me downtown to the flagship Eaton's store at College and Yonge in Toronto.  I would marvel at the number of floors, the high ceilings, and the vast amounts of marble.  At the end of our visit, she would take me downstairs to the discount level in the basement where all the ‘real’ people shopped. 

Fast forward to 2009 and you will find that the New York Islanders are one of the dwellers of  the NHL’s basement brigade.   They have been there for quite a long time and they don’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. 

This is the video, dubbed into French, that opened RDS's postgame L'Antichambre last night.

It's a rousing speech by Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday. But just as I I can't imagine Bob Gainey running up and down a Manhattan sidewalk bellowing "Attica!", I don't see him pumping up his team this way on any given Saturday, Tuesday or Thursday.

The Gainey style is quieter, less demonstrative. His approach to coaching, like his approach to life, is cerebral. Cue up the Dalai Lama video.

And with the clock ticking down on a wacky season for your Montreal Canadiens, the Gainey Way seems to be working.

Norman Flynn said something interesting on L'Antichambre:

"There's not one player on this team who can look Bob Gainey in the eye and say 'You didn't give me a chance'."

Gainey fired his friend, Flynn added, because his friend wasn't getting enough out of the team.

Gainey believes in the players.

And the Canadiens are finally beginning to justify their GM/coach's faith.

Woo-hoo!

Let's trash downtown Montreal!!

OK, maybe we'll wait for a while.

But after an easy 5-1 stomping of the Islanders and the Rangers' 4-2 loss in Carolina, the Canadiens can breathe a little easier.

Until Saturday. 

Bob Gainey was sombre during his postgame remarks, as befits a general manager/coach who had just watched an overtime loss to the worst team in the National Hockey League.

Gainey sounded saddest when he talked about the Bell Centre crowd's reaction to the Canadiens' lacklustre play during the second period.

"I hear the fans a bit," Gainey said. "I think our team is trying."

That's the disconcerting aspect of last night's embarrassment.

None of the Canadiens mailed it in last night. They were trying. But they weren't succeeding against a team that has the inside track in the John Tavares Derby.

And today they have to prepare for a team that, barring a Pollockian trade, will not get a sniff of Tavares.

Alex Kovalev missed morning skate because he's under the weather (which is sunny and cold today in Montreal) and stayed home.

He's been declared an unhealthy scratch for tonight's game against the New York Islanders, putting Matt D'Agostini and Max Pacioretty on Tomas Plekanec's wings.

Carey Price starts in goal. Patrice Brisebois is a healthy scratch, meaning he must wait another game to play his 1,000th in the NHL.

AUDIO: • Gainey English & French  • Higgins  • Pacioretty  • Gorges, on Streit, etc. 

(And thanks to Team 990's Andie Bennett for Bob en anglais.)

Two losses to Atlanta.

Two losses to Tampa Bay.

A loss tonight to the Islanders.

Playoff-ready hockey team?

Hmmmmmmmm 

In contemplating about what befell young Ryan O'Byrne at the Bell Centre last night, it might be useful to consider the wisdom of Jimmy Breslin:

"If you don't think life will knock you on your ass," the great New York newspaper columnist once observed, "then you don't understand the basic  Irishness of life."

So are they the Celtic Cursed Canadiens? They had 26 shots, another 22 misses and the Islanders blocked 25. That's 73 chances to make something good happen.

Another game.

Another shootout – third in a row, eighth in 20 games this season.

Another loss.

And a new whipping boy for the Bell Centre faithful, a player with a two-syllable name that can be chanted in the cheap seats:

"O-BYRNE! O-BYRNE! O-BYRNE!"

Guy Carbonneau was sourly philosophical.

Hockey is an unfair sports sometimes," the coach said. "Sometimes you play like s--- and you win. Sometimes you play great and you lose, like we did tonight."

Carbonneau emphasized that the shootout loss could not be pinned on poor Ryan O'Byrne. The game was lost, he said, on the Canadiens' popgun power play (1-for-7) and penalty kill, which yielded two goals in five disadvantages.

To his credit, O'Byrne was in the room answering questions.

Audio:

• Guy Carbonneau

• Ryan O'Byrne

• Saku Koivu

• Christopher Higgins

• Josh Gorges 

Maybe, as Joël Bouchard suggested on RDS, the stars are in alignment for your Montreal Canadiens.

They spend half the night in the Minnesota penalty box and still manage to beat one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

Then, against oe of the worst teams in the league, the Canadiens four goals in seven and a half minutes, staging a comeback reminiscent of The Game against the Rangers.

As was the case last February, the fifth goal – in this case, the winner – was scored by Alex Kovalev. He didn't slide on his back this time.

Kovy, Kovy, Kovy. Is he a beauty or what?

How many times does the first star of the game score twice, pick up two assists – and give the puck away SEVEN times.

Canadid, as always, in his post-game remarks, Kovalev said other teams would "destroy" the Canadiens if they played as badly as they did for 40 minutes ast night.

Luc Gelinas to Tomas Plekanec: Did Guy Carbonneau say something special after the second period?

Pleks: Yeah, you don't want to hear that.

What is it with games against New York Teams?

After 40 minutes, the Canadiens trailed 4-1 and were dead in the water.

After 60 minutes, they had another W.

Four unanswered goals in the third period. A 16-4 advantage in shots.

Tomas Plekanec had two, followed by Christopher Higgins and Alex Kovalev with the winner (his second of the game).

He had only one assist on the scoresheet, but the work Saku Koivu did on the typing goal was superhuman. 

A must-read blog today is Part 1 of James Mirtle's analysis of the NHL's salary structure:

In 2005-06, the average player 25 and under made $865,000, while players aged 30 and over made an average of $2.07-million.

This coming season, based on contracts already signed, the average player 25 and under will make $1.64-million, nearly doubling the figure of three years earlier. Players aged 30 and up will still get more green than they did in 2005-06, but with an average of $2.82-million, it's only a 36 per cent boost.

Canadiens 25 and under, and their 2008-'09 salaries(the numbers posted earlier today were cap hits; on the instructions of Pat Hickey, I used NHLPA salary figures for this update):

Andrei Kostitsyn, $3.25 million

Christopher Higgins, $1.9 million

Tomas Plekanec, $1.8 million

Josh Gorges, $1 million

Kyle Chipchura, $860,000

Carey Price, $850,000

Guillaume Latendresse, $850,000 

Ryan O'Byrne, $700,000

Jaroslav Halak, $750,000

Maxim Lapierre, $575,000

Sergei Kostitsyn, $550,00 

You might as well include Mike Komisarek, even though he's 26: $1.9 million 

The average salary of the young Canadiens – again, including Komisarek – is $1.25 million, a tad under the league average.

Mirtle's piece begins with a quote from the NHL's smartest general manager:

"In the old system, we had more ways to control the salaries," Says Ken Holland. "Now we have to make decisions on where we want to spend, and salaries are jumping younger and quicker."

(Photo from Entrepreneur.com)

Pass the Gravol.

Having tumbled from first to fifth in the Eastern Conference Thursday night, Canadiens shot up to second by beating the Islanders. How long they remain in that lofty perch will  depend on what happens this afternoon in Carolina, where Ottawa plays the Hurricanes.

Fasten your seat belts, Habs fans, because it's going to be a bumpy ride for the next three weeks. And it's entirely possible that the team's playoff seeding will come down to that Saturday night dance with the Leafs, who pretty much waltzed themselves out of any chance at the postseason by losing last night.

Canadiens won't be marketing a DVD of last night's game. It wasn't exactly a replay of New Year's Eve 1975 or The Comeback against the Rangers.

Playing with an injury-ravaged lineup, the Islanders did what they could to slow the game down and succeeded in turning the first 27 minutes into a snoozefest.

The game opened up, to a degree, after Roman Hamrlik's power-play goal. But it wasn't a classic, and the laborious win left some faithful a tad anxious about the difficulty Canadiens had in beating a clearly inferior team. 

Don't worry. Be happy.

By playing hermetic hockey, almost any team in the NHL can frustrate any other team. Canadiens were patient, disciplined (two minor penalties) and they ground out a win over a team they were supposed to beat.

So go the St. Patrick's parade and enjoy second place – at least for a few hours. 

Canadiens' Tom Kostopoulos trips in front of Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, as Sean Bergenheim (left) and Rob Davidson look on, during the second period Saturday night. Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

Lineups | AP Preview | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Gazette Preview | Islanders Preview | Boone | Carbo Press Conference | Higgins Kovalev Halak

From The Gazette's Pat Hickey:

Perfection is becoming Jaroslav Halak’s middle name.

Halak stopped all 30 shots he faced last night as the Canadiens stumbled their way to a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders. It was the third shutout of Halak’s career.

The 22-year-old Slovak also improved his record this season to 2-0 and he’s a perfect 8-0 when he starts at the Bell Centre.

Not bad for a back-up goaltender.

The Canadiens' number-two-but-trying-harder is 8-0 career at the Bell Centre, where fans appreciate his skill and his easily chantable family name.

Jaroslav Halak has started 18 games in the NHL. He has three shutouts.

In his two starts this season, Halak is 2-0 with a GAA of 1.00 and a save percentage of .971.

"Hopefully, every time I play here I'll keep the streak alive," said Halak, undefeated in the 514 area code.

He will be 23 in May.

Figure this team is set in goal for a while?

And speaking of emerging young talent, how about my man Josh Gorges. And afterthought in training camp – as was Halak – Gorges has emerged as a rock on the blueline: 20 minutes tonight, plus-1, two blocked shots, numerous heady plays to protect what was, for most of the game, a slim lead.

"Guy has been showing a lot of faith in all the D-men back there," Gorges said. "Any one of us can play in any situation."

Gorges said this was the best he's felt in his career.

"When I get out there, I feel confident, I feel good about my game. My energy, my conditioning ... I feel good and I'm having a lot of fun right now."

Gorges said Canadiens avoided a let-up and played a "solid two-way game" against an injury-wracked team that is falling out of playoff contention.

"We had to play a patient game," said Alex Kovalev. "It was pretty much like a road game. We had to wait for opportunities, we know we're going to have them, and play good defensive hockey."

Christopher Higgins played an excellent road game on home ice. Higgins enjoyed playing with Sergei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski.

"They have a lot of skill," he said. "They don't dump it in too much, they like to make plays in the neutral zone. So if you drive in the middle or drive the outside with speed, they'll be able to find you."

This is what Guy Carbonneau gets the big bucks for.

With a chance to move within a point of the reeling Ottawa Senators, the Canadiens coach will decide today which of his goaltenders will face the Rangers and who will play on his fourth line.

Tough call.

Cristobal Huet was brilliant – and, on that late-game dash to the blueline, spectacular – against the Islanders. But back-to-back afternoon games for an older goaltender with an injury history ...

It's Carbo's call. And he may be influenced by recollection of what happened when Jaroslav Halak faced the Rangers in the dying days of last season.

Canadiens' Michael Ryder takes exception to Blake Comeau's hit-from-behind of Habs' Christopher Higgins. The latter escaped injury on a scary-looking play, and both Ryder and Comeau drew minor penalties for this exchange.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone

The Canadiens’ Super Bowl weekend is off to a super start, thanks to their reinvigorated life at the Bell Centre.

Goals by Tomas Plekanec, Mark Streit, Alex Kovalev and Mathieu Dandenault lifted the Habs to a 4-1 victory this afternoon over the New York Islanders in the first of the Canadiens’ two weekend home-ice matinées.

Goalie Cristobal Huet, playing his 11th consecutive game, made 29 saves to earn his 19th victory of the season, tying his career-best for wins. He iced it with a daring rush to his blue line in the game's final minute to foil an Islanders breakaway.

A tepid 6-7-4 at home in mid-December, the Habs are now a strong 5-1-1 at the Bell Centre in 2008. They’ll hope to make that 6-1-1 Sunday afternoon when the New York Rangers pay a 2 p.m. visit.

Canadiens excelled in all aspects of the game to win 4-1.

Great work by all four lines.

Cristobal Huet superb.

A huge W, and Super Bowl weekend is off to a super start.

Alex Kovalev got a leg up on the February Molson Cup by being named first star and talked about the team's high level of confidence.

"We put a lot of traffic in front of (Rick DiPietro)," Kovalev said. "We know how good he is when he sees the puck. On a few goals we scored today, he couldn't see the puck. It's definitely  harder for the goalie."

Kovalev was asked if he enjoyed the 3:12 he played on the Canadiens' PK.

"As long as I'm skating, as long as I'm on the ice I enjoy it," he said. "We do our best. The PK wasn't great through the first half of the season.

"Coach decided to use me once in a while. It looks like it works. I don't mind. The more he trusts me, the mmore he trusts all the players, the better we play."

In Kovy we trust.

Bring on the Rangers. 

They won't be sending the game DVD to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but a W is a W. But any time you can hold the home team to 18 shots _ only one in the first period – you've played a very solid hockey game.

What did we learn?

• Tomas Plekanec is the best two-way forward on the team: great 5-on-5, power play, PK. Number 14 is so much better than the number 35 who struggled to figure out his linemates, Boris and Natasha, last season. Now he and Alex Kovalev are like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (should Fred have passed to Ginger for the hat trick last night?). Add a rapidly emerging Belarussian and the Canadiens have one of the fastest, most highly-skilled and dangerous lines in the league. I can't remember who was prime minister the last time we saw three-way passing like this.

• Make it four-way passing when Andrei Markov is on with the Pleks line, snapping off tape-to-tape 40-footers. He's unreal – and Markov blocked six shots last night.

• If the team is patient and lets him learn from his mistakes – of which he's good for at least two in every game – Josh Gorges will become a very reliable defenceman.

• Cristobal Huet handles the puck the way I handle my finances. Next summer, he should join the Long Island gym where Mike Komisarek and Christopher Higgins work out with Rick DiPietro. The Islanders' goalie might be willing to conduct a tutorial.

• Speaking of goalies, Carey Price let in seven goals on 31 shots last night as Peoria dumped Hamilton 7-2. I'm starting to get a teensy bit concerned about our goaltender of the future.

• The Captain was very good last night. I think he'll get Higgins scoring again soon, and Sergei K. will help them both.

• Last night's defence pairings are the ones I'd go with for the rest of the season: Markov-Komisarek/Hamrlik-Streit/Bouillon-Gorges. Sorry, Breeze.

• Canadiens took one minor penalty – and scored on the PK. Gotta love that discipline.

• The power play went 0-for-2 but had some brilliant puck control and a few good chances.

• Bryan Smolinski is a smart veteran who will give Guy Carbonneau quality minutes through the second half of the season.

• I liked the fourth line last night. But who sits when Steve Bégin returns?

• Garth Snow would never give him up, but I'd trade for Trent Hunter in a Long Island minute.

• Thursday will be fun. Atlanta smoked the Wings 5-1 in Detroit as Marian Hossa got a hat trick, Keri Lehtonen made 46 saves and the Thrashers overtook Carolina for the Southeast Division lead.

• Sergei Samsonov, playing on a line with Erik Cole and Rod Brind'Amour, had a goal and two assists last night.

From The Gazette's Pat Hickey in Uniondale:

Patrice Brisebois gave his best effort to stay in the Canadiens lineup, but the veteran defenceman faced up to reality after yesterday's morning skate.

"I can't go," said Brisebois, who has been hobbling since he was struck in the foot by a shot from Marcel Hossa during the third period of Saturday's loss to the New York Rangers.

Updated Wednesday 6 a.m. with new links

Canadiens' Tomas Plekanec heads up ice on a 2-on-1 break with defenceman Andrei Markov. Plekanec scored on the rush.
Mike Stobe NHLI via Getty Images

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone's Blog | Carbo Post-Game (French only)

One state, two games in four nights – and two very different efforts. Different results, too.

The Canadiens rebounded from Saturday’s dismal 4-1 loss in Manhattan against the New York Rangers with a considerably stronger performance tonight, defeating the New York Islanders 3-1 in Uniondale.

Centreman Tomas Plekanec scored two of Montreal’s goals, his 15th and 16th of the season, one coming at even strength, the second shorthanded. Alex Kovalev iced it with his 20th, an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet stopped 17 of the 18 shots sent his way, losing his shutout midway through the third period. Montreal managed 21 on Rick DiPietro and one more into his vacated net.

A goal by Richard Park turned the third period into a nailbiter until Alex Kovalev scored his 20th, an empty-netter that made it 3-1 and capped the Canadiens' 15th road win of the season.

Not a bad night fo the second line that is really the first line: Tomas Plekanec two goals, Kovy a goal and an assist – not to ention a long, heroic shift agaist six Islanders' skaters during the final minute.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -  "You can look at it two different ways," Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said during yesterday's day off, the Canadiens' 4-1 Saturday meltdown against the New York Rangers fresh in his mind. "You have time to regroup and regain the focus but, after a poor game like (the one in New York), you'd like to get an opportunity right away tomorrow to bounce back."

After picking up at least a point in each of their seven previous games (5-0-2), the Canadiens hit a Montreal-sized pothole at Madison Square Garden. So the Habs will try to put Saturday behind them and are making a win Tuesday night against the Islanders a priority.

Canadiens' Steve Bégin is congratulated by linemate Mathieu Dandenault after having scored his second goal of tonight's game.
Ray Stubblebine, Reuters

Click here to view a photo gallery from tonight's game.

Lineups | Preview | Hickey Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone's Blog

Maybe the change of scenery helped the Canadiens.

After a seemingly interminable stretch of seeing the same uniforms, the Habs found Uniondale, N.Y., to their liking tonight, beating the New York Islanders 4-1 on the strength of a two-goal performance by – wait for it – Steve Bégin.

The Canadiens improved their record to 12-6-3, while the Islanders dropped to 11-7-0.

Habs goalie Cristobal Huet, who made 44 saves, lost his bid for a shutout with 3:50 left in the game when he was beaten by Mike Comrie.

The ice was still wet at 56 seconds when the Canadiens got on the board, Bégin fed from behind the net by Mathieu Dandenault, who had done some good work to come up with the puck.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey reports from today's Canadiens practice that Cristobal Huet will get the start in goal tomorrow night on Long Island against the New York Islanders.

Tom Kostopoulos, back from an automatic one-game suspension for having been tagged with an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of Saturday's 7-4 win over the Boston Bruins, is expected to play "a larger role," according to head coach Guy Carbonneau.

All hands were on deck for today's practice.