Plan the Parade: Habs 3 - Carolina 2 OT

Superman wears Saku Koivu pyjamas.
-HF10

The Captain was fantastic.

The goaltender was scintillating.

The power play clicked.

Streit was fabulous.

The PK Subban was inpenetrable.

The Habs won.

Dammit, the Habs won!

So much to rejoice over in this win. It was a great game to watch. It featured saves than span the unbelievable to unfathomable ends of the spectrum.

The Koivu line fulfilled expectations. They played loose. They created chances. They skated hard through the middle and basically set the offensive tempo. Higgins and Ryder were not quite as revved as Saku on this night, but they could have had a couple of goals each last night. That's encouraging.

Grabovski seemed a bit overwhelmed in this, his NHL debut. That line was powered by a Kovalev who's deft moves are still there to a)drive opposing defenders crazy b)make Christmas come early for opposing defenders. Whatever the case, in his sleek stick handling attempts, he continues to dazzle. Remember this: The Dance à 10 Line (thanks LG77!) with its two youngsters can ONLY GET BETTER.

Plekanec had a beautiful game last night. He was excellent on the back check. He caused several turnovers in which he was able to retrieve the puck and create a threat the other way. He needs to find some chemistry with Latendresse though; the two rarely connected for anything tangibly interesting.

Of course Saku was the player of the game, but give full marks to Huet who turned in a very convincing performance and Streit who showed so much last night that he will make it very hard for Carbonneau to use him as the revolving door poster boy he has been in the past. If last night was any indication, Streit will not move from the blue line.

You have to like what the boys did last night. They beat the Canes in their home opener, they did it in Carolina, territory that has been more hostile to the Habs than a Rutgers Women's Basketball Alumni reunion would to Don Imus.

The power play created nice chances near the crease and the team made better use of its wingers with the Souray factor having been subtracted from the equation. Markov's cross-ice pass to the slot on Koivu's first goal was such a convincing display of awareness.

The defence pairings worked well together. Brisebois was surprisingly good and you can bet the house that most fans are leaving the jury out on him for now. Sure he coughed up the puck up the middle, more than once, but on the whole he didn't play like the second coming of Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot. MC Hamrlik's debut was a bit of a bust, and that kind of sucks because he made $ 67 o73.17 last night. Just thought you should know.

The Leafs. They're next in line.