Feelin' Good: Road Trip, Season saved! Habs 3, 'Nucks 2

I'm really not sure who or what the "Holker Family" is, except that it is obviously a cult

Ladies and Gentlemen, I find it tough to talk at a time like this.The emotions, they overwhelm me. A win! In Vancouver! I don't think I can deal with the emotional impact of at all. Man, I'm tired.  But it's a good kind of tired.

Let's step back a minute here. Just yesterday, let's face it, the season was in the tank. Well, at least for those of us on the reactionary side of the ledger. The Habs looked like they could never win a game again. Worse, they looked disinterested in doing so. Nothing gets a Habs fan angrier than a lack of effort or interest. And boy we were angry yesterday.

But then came the first ten minutes of hockey last night. Ten glorious minutes that showed you what the Habs could do if they showed interest. They skated like maniacs. They beat the Canucks to every single loose puck. They seemed to win battles. They made nice passes. They made the Canucks, offensive powerhouse they are, look slow and lost. The ten minutes produced 14 shots, 2 goals, and my heart in my mouth the whole time. I almost couldn't believe it was happening. There's CHicken sending a gorgeous 100-foot pass to DDD who does a masterful job corralling at and going in all alone on Lu to calmly beat him five-hole. There's the Habs buzzing the 'Nucks zone, PK finding a loose puck and firing, Gio getting creamed in the crease while finding the rebound and burying it. It was 2-0, and it easily could have been 4-0 or 5-0 if not for Lu who was spectacular. It was glorious. It got us Feelin' Good.

Cue the System.

Habs get outshot 38-11 the rest of the way and need Carey to bail them out on numerous occasions. But I'm Feelin' Good this morning, so we'll abstain from complaining about anything like the System. We'll abstain from complaining about anything. You know, like the FUCKING REFEREEING THAT IS GETTING EMBARRASSING ALREADY. A couple of ridiculous "hooking" (i.e. a Hab touching a Canuck with his stick and the Canuck falling down) calls against us, two or three non-calls of tackling. Literally, tackling. A bucketful of other non-calls. Refs who seemed to want to put there own little stamp on what was an excellent hockey game without their stupid interference. But I'm Feelin' Good, so I won't complain about anything like that.

Let's let our inner TMS loose to hit some bullets as to what has us Feelin' Good this morning:

• Andrei "Big Tits" Kostitsyn, ladies and gentlemen! Not only did he score for the first time since the last time the Habs won in Vancouver, he was all over the ice, making plays, even threw his body around a couple of times. Maybe it had something to do with his new centre, Lars Eller. They looked like they actually had CHemistry. Tits was so good, CHokula put him out there in the last 2 minutes to protect the lead! Can you fucking believe that?
• TFS redeeming himself from the 7-goal disaster the last time he played in front of his friends and family;
• PFK. Played an excellent game at both ends of the ice. Had an end to end rush on the PP that made us swoon. Swoon!
• Hal Gill diving to get his giant frame to a puck to get an icing call at a key time late in the game;
• Meth;
• The PK. Technically, it allowed both goals, but really, we managed to kill a ton of PP time against the best PP in the league, including a 5-on-3 that straddled the second intermission;
• The Mexican. Sure, he completely missed a wide open net and was still frustrating as hell at certain points, but at least he looked interested for a change. It got him his 500th career assist. Maybe there's hope;
• CHokula's line juggling. Credit where credit is due. At least for this one game, it worked. Already mentioned Eller-Tits. MOEmaN looked rejuvenated as a non-top 6 forward. Jeff Halpern didn't embarass himself playing with PleXXXe. Now let's never speak of the fact we spoke well of JM again.

And since this is sort of TMS, we won't let you go without the long-form highlights after a win. They'll have you Feelin' Good.