Cup Champs Continue Hot Start

Discussion in FHF headquarters late last night:

HF29: Listen, HF4 and I were at ball hockey and missed the whole thing. Who saw it?

HF10: Mini-HF10 2.0 has the croup. I spent most of the night trying to get him to sleep. Oh, and since the free NHL Centre Ice preview is over and I don't have RDS, I couldn't have watched anyway. Panger?

Panger: You volunteered to do it earlier this week, so I didn't watch with my usual analytical goalie awareness. And I have depositions all day so I can't write anything now (random spelling mistake).

HF4: I'm busy. What are we going to do?

HF29: Okay, okay calm down. We'll just post a classic FHF ... no one is gonna know the difference.

Cup Champs Teach Pens a Lesson; Canadiens 6 Pens 1

With the World Series over and the Yankees returned to baseball's summit, the NHL season is starting to pick up steam, with the defending Cup champs already off to a roaring start. And why not? After all, they feature the most marketable and arguably best player in the league (some would plump for another, but they'd be wrong), a bevy of other high-scoring, MVP and Art Ross worthy talents, an all-world goalie and a third line shutdown player who is the envy of every other team in the league. Frankly, with the champs rolling like this, it wasn't going to be a good night for a rebuilt squad starting their back-up on the road.

Fresh off a four game winning streak that featured a come-from-behind win against the Goal-a-Game line Rangers and two wins over the Islanders and their hot-shot rookie goalscorer (mark my words, that Bossy kid can score although his skating needs work ... if the Isles keep that young core together and get a veteran final piece, I see them contending for Cups in the next 3-5 years), the Canadiens rolled home to face a Penguins squad that is in transition; Pittsburgh has made some wholesale changes over the summer, and while their offensive talent looks promising and their goaltending has potential, their defence lacks an all-star presence and might be an Achilles heel.

The Canadiens are not without their own minor troubles, as a manufactured goalie controversy looks to rear its head yet again. Look, we understand that people love Bunny Larocque, and yes, his numbers look superior to Dryden right now. Bunny is an ideal back-up who can win games and even get on a hot streak and carry the team when needed. But Dryden is a big, rangy, calm and cool goalie and the future of this franchise. Now that he has that silly law career notion out of his head, expect him to be manning the nets for Montreal for at least another decade. Bunny is a good little goalie, but his upside doesn't come close to matching Dryden.

Tonight the goalie issue was a moot point, as the defending champs got a hat-trick from Lafleur and one each from Cournoyer, Mondou and defenceman Bill Nyrop. Dryden stopped 17 Pens shots and was only beaten by Pittsburgh second-liner Jean Pronovost on a rare 5 on 3 man advantage. Based on their play tonight, the defending champs are still the ones to beat, with two Art Ross candidates in Lafleur and frequent linemate Lemaire, another potential big-time scorer riding shotgun on the wing in Shutt, wily veteran Cournoyer, and talented defenders like Robinson, Savard and Lapointe in front of Dryden. They will battle the Bruins and Flyers (and possibly the fast starting Sabres) for class of the Prince of Wales conference again.

As for the Penguins, a new coach and a big turnover in the dressing room won't immediately make fans forget a decade of playoff near misses and disappointments. No one really knows what to expect from this team, and they may need a third of the season to figure it out. Based on last night, they are clearly not up to the level of the defending champs, but few teams are. However, they are battling every night and fans seem to be warming up to them.

Next up for the Canadiens is a date with former Habs goalie Tony Esposito and the Blackhawks on Friday, followed by a meeting with the Leafs on Halloween night. No doubt the bombastic loudmouth at the head of the Leafs organization will have something to say (as usual).