Time To Put Our Money Where the Pundits' Mouths Are - Sens Game Preview and Open Thread

Some quick bullet points about the game, then it's rant time!

• 7:30 PM start, Bell Centre. The game is on Sportsnet East. Sportsnet Ontario has the Leafs-Panthers. Oooooh, that's a good game;
• Cover charge goes to SLC at Five for Smiting, our interwebs BFF (non-Habs division), and Sherry at Scarlett Ice, who gives the Sens a 1-2 blogger punch any NHL team would kill to have;
• Despite all the greatness talk, Habs have lost 2 of their last 3. Sens are 3-7 in their last 10;
• Kovy scored his 24th Sunday, surpassing his Habs season-best 23;
• Habs PP back to best in the league;
• Swiss Pastry (tm SLC) most likely goes for the Sens, and is 7-1 with a 2.26 GAA lifetime against the Habs, including 3-0 this year;
• Heater and The Captain are still on the shelf.

OK here we go. Time to put up or shut up boys. Well, maybe that's a bad saying because you really haven't talked all that much. But everyone else has.

Everyone and his mother seems to have annointed the Habs the new great power from the East. Barry Melrose picks them to go the Cup Finals. Yeah, yeah, I know it's Barry Melrose, but still. Pierre McGuire loves the Habs too, this morning calling them the "most talented team in the East," and he's totally hot for DOOM. TSN has them ranked #2 in their NHL Power Rankings.

With the near-collapse of the Sens, inuries taking their toll, fans calling for the coach's head, closed-door meetings, their playoff-tested goalie a total head case, etc, etc, everyone has the Habs passing them this week when we play them twice. I say, time for a reality check.

Really, are we that good? Do we deserve to be placed as an elite team? The last 30 minutes of the Rangers game puts serious doubt in my mind. As HF10 so brilliantly wrote yesterday, "Plan the Parade ... no wait, the Sky is Falling." The Habs seem completely unable to shake that Jekyll and Hyde crap we've seen all year. Those 30 minutes were embarassing. Kovy reverting to the Enigma, D standing around like pylons, forwards checking the crowd for hot babes instead of skating. I was there; the fans could feel it happening. 21,273 people knew what the pundits won't seem to acknowledge - Hyde won't go away.

Sure, we're three points out of first in the East. We're also six points out of 8th. We've been lucky like a leprechaun diving into a wishing well with a horesehoe up his ass in avoiding any serious injuries. HueT is bound to get tired (and may have been on Sunday). The lack of regular production from anyone but the Kovy line should be a red flag. Carbo's love affair with Breezer is inexplicable. Carbo in general still has me worried.

Point is, all is not hunky dory. Those of us watching the Habs day in day out who aren't paid by the team or a local media outlet sucking up to the team have some sense of reality. As regular commentor Fear the Collapse always says, well, fear the collapse.

Here's your chance to prove me wrong boys. Elite team or middle of the pack? You decide. You have the power. McGuire says so.