Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Rangers Game Preview and Open Thread

We accept any and all excused to post photos of ultra-hot Canadian-girl-next-door Elisha Cuthbert. Finally, a reason to justify Sean Avery's existence.
At this point we've just about given up, so we're taking ignorance over enlightenment in this preview and ask this question: If we pretend we don't know they suck, will they stop sucking?
  • 7:30pm EST/ 5:30 MST at the Phone Booth;
  • Some team named the "Rangers", who apparently are from the state of New York, are in town;
  • I'm told that Montreal's hockey team is currently in the running for a playoff position in direct competition with these "Rangers", suggesting that the game may be a passionate affair;
  • Now I'm being told that the work "passionate" is used inappropriately in any sentence also containing the phrase "Montreal's Hockey Team";
  • several media outlets are reporting that a young 21-year old by the name of "Kerry Price" will be starting the match in from on Montreal's net this evening. He sounds like a nice guy - I hope Montreal fans don't expect too much from this guy, who is probably getting his first shot in the NHL at 21;
  • I heard that some guy named Patrick Brisebois just played his 1,000 NHL game; Unbelievable! He must be a superstar to have hung around that long;
  • Alex Tanguay got a cold from what I can only assume is his best friend Alex Kovalev, who will be playing tonight. I bet Alex feels bad about getting Alex sick, and so Alex will play doublely-hard to make up for the absence of Alex;
  • I'd make a joke about replacing coaches for the eight time in ten years, but instead I'm going to go cry in my green beer and long for the days of Al MacNeil.

Please enjoy St Patrick's Day by drinking until you can't feel the Habs pain anymore. And leave some comments - assuming the bar has free wireless.

41 comments:

mr. gillis said...

"If we pretend we don't know they suck, will they stop sucking?"

The thing is, I haven't watched hockey in so long, I dont know if they suck.

Does Chuck Norris play for the Rangers? If he is, Montreal's hockey team is screwed.

What does MST stand for? (serious question)

moeman said...

MST = http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/mountain-time/

HFF33 aka Panger said...

@gillis - it means I live in exile just north of the Red Mile.

Fuck I hate the Flames, especially when they are winning.

Anonymous said...

i am too afraid to watch this game...

Young HF29 said...

are we losing yet?

25 degrees and sunny in Austin. it's making me forget the suckage

well done on the photo Panger, i approve

Happy St Patrick's Day to all, especially Limerick Dude

Anonymous said...

If I knew the Habs were playing, I wouldn't have come home so early (nearly midnight here) and I would have stayed in the pub to dull the inevitable pain. Stupid work tomorrow. :(

Young HF29 said...

CJAD guys creaming themselves over Carey

kevincrumbs said...

Wow, we look sucktastic so far. PP sucks as usual. I'd actually like to see a stat of faceoffs won/loss to start a PP, as I think we always lose that faceoff and waste 15 seconds trying to regroup.

Also, Kovy is sucking again and wasting everybody's time by dangling the fuck out of the puck and doing nothing of actual significance with it.

lawyergirl77 said...

Actually, the PP looks terrible but we are sucking much MUCH less at 5-on-5.

It makes sense - BG is a better 5-on-5 coach and Carbo was a better powerplay coach.

moeman said...

Word Verif = excrasi

Beta169 said...

"I am going to pass the puck, even if you block the passing lane and give me a wide open shot. I WILL PASS BY GOD!!!!!!"

*sigh* are they really that afraid to shoot the puck?

Lee_D said...

Kovy you legend!

HabScot said...

Wonder what Komisarek's fine will be for that penalty box rampage?

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, got home from a ball hockey game (lost 13-0 but played our best game of the semester, lots of passion - we're like the anti-Habs), how are they doing? From Boone's blog it sounds like it's been up and down.

Kovy on the powerplay, how I've missed you.

Way to kill the momentum with a selfish penalty, Komi. I bet Avery was needling him about not having hit anything since Elisha. In more ways than one.

lawyergirl77 said...

SSHF - sucks about the game. I totally get being on a losing team like that. Only I was in nets so it fucking hurt to lose games like that.

Boone is right - very up and down. Not a terrible game for us, most of our PPs aside.

HabScot - are you at the game? Did you guys see the full rampage on tv? Dude was fucking losing his mind... Here's hoping it helps when he gets out. For what it's worth, it was a very soft call.

Anonymous said...

lg77 - Thanks, but whatever, it was fun.

Nice to hear (and see) that the Habs are pushing back. It's something that's been sorely lacking the past few months.

Where does Max come up with this stuff?! For a 3rd line centre at best, he's pretty good at imitating Mario fuckin' Lemieux (he's like 2 for 2 in shootouts or something?)


Fuck. I speak too soon.

Anonymous said...

Disappointing.

Anonymous said...

Shots are something like 15-1 for the Rangers this period.

They do know they can't score unless they take a shot, right?

Anonymous said...

I guess they do now.

Anonymous said...

Of course, as soon as I type that, we get our second shot, and second goal.

2 goals on 2 shots. Imagine how the stats would look if they took 7 shots a period!

Anonymous said...

It's a good night to get those extra points. Ottawa is beating Buffalo (badly, the shots are 36-9 for Ottawa), and Florida is losing.

Anonymous said...

Holy crap! I thought you were exaggerating... but the shots really ARE 36-9!

I don't think we've been THAT bad yet.

Anonymous said...

We didn't play horribly. Still nervous.

Now we have to get that point.

Anonymous said...

jesus fuck. you'd think The Franchise could stop one fucking shot in the shootout. Like maybe the last one. Fuck.

Anonymous said...

Fuck.

Price was way too low on all 3 shots.

And Kostitsyn is now... what, like 0/90 in shootouts?

Ah well. Getting better, and 9th and 10th lost.

Lee_D said...

He looked TERRIBLE on the Antropov goal. What about the last one? I didn't see the replay because I turned it off in disgust.

Anonymous said...

i fucking hate this team

Anonymous said...

Bring back Halak.

Anonymous said...

Yeesh. That was brutal. Kostitsyn's shot was horrible, and Price decided to not show up in the shootout at all.

Man, can't we win one frickin' game? I'm getting tired of rooting for the Sens.

kevincrumbs said...

Meh, there's no way you can blame Carey. I mean, without him there's no way we even make it to the shootout.

The bright side of being in sixth is that we would face the Capitals, who I'd much rather play than New Jersey or Philly. Part of me would love to play the fucking Bruins but part of me wants no part of that potential massacre.

lawyergirl77 said...

Kevincrumbs - unfortunately, we're in 7th.

Bring on Martin Brodeur and the Devils.

Fuck.

At least we only sucked for about 10 minutes of the 3rd period. An improvement.

Anonymous said...

kevincrumbs - The Price giveth and the Price taketh away (is that in the right order?). Good news is that there are no shootouts in the playoffs! (or the golf course, for that matter)

I think a series against the Bruins would end in a massive crushing... but either team has an equal chance of being on the receiving end. Washington wouldn't be too bad - their D is sketchier than ours, and Theo just needs a few softies to crack. Why the Caps signed him over Huet, I'll never know. New Jersey would be fucking scary.

lawyergirl77 said...

SSHF - I'm with you on wanting to play Washington. While no round with Ovie in it would be a gimmie, I think it would be an amazing playoff round... if only for the decibel levels that the Bell Centre will reach with the booing of Theodore.

Seriously - that really would be my preferred outcome in all of this. Not necessarily because I think we'd win, but because it would be an EPIC series.

Anonymous said...

Another philosophical question for you all: If we root for a team that sucks, does that mean we in fact suck? If we love losers, do we then become losers ourselves?

Bob Gainy post-game quote: "It was a good game for us....but it was hard because we never had the lead."

Well, Bobby, not having the lead at any point in a game would indicate a BAD game to most coaches/GMs/casual observers/aliens who don't understand the concept of competition. And, by the by, giving up 40+ shots (while being outshot 16-5 in the 3rd) IS NOT A FUCKING GOOD GAME!!! He sounds like Carbo, and at this point I hope he ends up like him. Absolutely doesn't get it.

The Habs this season are like Heroes. It started out promising, but quickly declined in quality. The participates seem to just phone it in week after week and the way the producers talk about it, you have to wonder if they're in touch with reality. Watching it now seem like a chore, and you know they'll be gone by April.

Beta169 said...

Jay Leno had a guy in a Habs jersey on tonight balancing a pitcher of green beer on top of a pint of green beer on his nose. It was the most entertaining thing I saw on television tonight from anyone wearing a Habs jersey.

Anonymous said...

That was a good game, and very exciting too. You can't seriously argue otherwise. Lapierre, Kovy and Markov all had great games. LaTendresse looked very good. Two teams fighting for their lives, and it ended in a draw.

We're still not firing on all cylinders, and kind of went flat again in the third, but this was a huge improvement compared to the nadir back in early Feb.

I'm very worried about Koivu. He is just getting muscled off the puck every time, losing face offs, and looking out of breath at the end of every shift. I hope he isn't sick again.

Anonymous said...

Has the sky fallen yet?

I mean, nobody here even tried to take a swipe at Brisebois! What's going on guys? Letting go already?

savardwalsh said...

BY'S I DONT EVEN CARE ANY MORE, BEEN DRINKIN SINCE NOON, IT'S ALL GOOD. HOCKEY'S SO MUCH MORE FUN WHEN YOU'RE TOO DRUNK TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON. TRY IT



SSSSSSSS'PADDY'S DAY WOOP

kevincrumbs said...

@Olivier: I think Breezer was the least of our worries tonight. I actually can't remember any massive fuckups by him.

@BG: Yeah, Koivu was pretty much invisible this game and him being so easily muscled off the puck lead to the Antropov goal. I'm worried about him too. I seriously wonder if he'll be back next year and this is coming from someone who quite likes Koivu.

I'm predicting a win against the Sens and then getting humiliated by the Leafs.

lawyergirl77 said...

kevincrumbs - Koivu is my favourite player on the Habs. (There you go - my dirty little secret.)

He sucked donkey balls last night.

And the night before.

There is only so much of "he's sick" or "he's playing hurt" that I can take. (see also the hockey player formerly known as the Komosaurus).

The only one of my faves who has not disappointed me yet - Lapierre (and Patches. Loved him in the exhibition games, was disappointed he didn't stay up)

sigh

kevincrumbs said...

@LG77: Don't even get me started on Komi! He flat out sucks this year and it makes me laugh/cry every time a lazy announcer for the other team talks about how good he is and how big of a contract he'll get this summer. Sadly, he probably will and BG will get crucified for not paying him $6 million a year.

I never would've thought I'd be saying this but Komi can walk this summer for all I care. He has never been the same physically and mentally since Lucic destroyed him.

Koivu is one of my favourites but even before this year Lapierre's my favourite. He's like a Begin will better skills. Let's hope to God he's never traded for some ageing "offensive" player.