It was no contest tonight between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. No contest at all. In fact, it was almost like a Red-White scrimmage with the Red team coming out on top 6-2.
It could have been 10-2. Montreal had more chances to score than Casanova. And when you add the extra intigue of several donneybrooks and an obvious distaste of each other between Mikhail Grabovski and most of the Canadiens, you’ve got an old fashion Habs-Leafs war of days gone by. I almost expected John Ferguson and Eddy Shack to make an appearance and drop the gloves and ram each other with their heads.
The Habs are rolling. The Leafs aren’t.
Montreal, first and foremost, and received solid goaltending from Jaroslav Halak. And the scoring came from throughout the lineup. The brothers Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Maxim Lapierre, Max Pacioretty, and Alex Kovalev did the damage. And many others came close.
These are good times if you’re a Habs fan.
Mikhail Grabovski was a Hab, but he did the unthinkable a year ago. He felt he wasn’t getting enough ice time from Guy Carbonneau, and on a Habs west-coast swing, he bolted the club into the arms of his agent. Not long after, he was sent packing.
This year, when asked how many friends he still had on the Canadiens, he said none.
And he has no friends because he quit on them. And now he’s with a loser while his old teammates are making noises in the Eastern Conference. Several Montreal players wanted a piece of him tonight, as they have previously this year. And they probably will again in the future.
Bad feelings linger.
Game Notes:
Alex Kovalev came out of his funk when they gave him the ’C’ after Koivu went down.
Yannick Weber played his first game NHL game. He was placed up front instead of on defence, but I’m sure the young fellow wasn’t complaining.
Canadiens meet and greet the second-place Washington Capitals on Saturday night, and travel to Boston Tuesday. Two big games, four big points. That’s the plan.
ENEMY WATCH
Unfortunately, Boston beat Ottawa and Philadelphia beat Minnesota. That’s the bad news.
The good news is Atlanta won over New Jersey and Pittsburgh lost again, this time to Nashville. Looks like Malkin and Cindy Crosby aren’t enough in Pittsburgh.