Habs For Breakfast - April 1, 2008

News of the injuries to Koivu, Streit, Komisarek, Bouillon and Latendresse continue to cloud the picture, but there seems to be a sliver lining.

Strange set of circumstances for tonight's game - beat the Senators, and the Habs increase their chances of making them their first round opponant. I know it's April Fools, but this is trick or treat Halloween stuff.

Either way, tonight will be revealing!

Some coaches go grey over this stuff, but don't expect Carbo to look like Claude Julien anytime soon. Some times it's just best to laugh rather than cry.

Captain K Has Battled Back From far Worse - Gazette

"If you really want to know what Saku Koivu is all about, don't look beyond this: he stopped a shot with his foot early in Friday's win in Buffalo and fell awkwardly to the ice. He struggled to his feet in obvious pain, staggered and almost fell again. Yet incredibly, he remained in the game long enough to assist on the overtime goal by Christopher Higgins. Little guy. Huge heart." - Red Fisher

Carbonneau Lay Down the Law To Media - Gazette

"Carbonneau has faced a media mob almost daily to dissect his team for the benefit of fans whose appetite has no limit.The suffocating attention is a byproduct of today's multimedia universe, conventional print and electronic outlets elbowing for dressing-room real estate with all-sports channels and stations, bloggers and specialty media - in English, French, Russian and other tongues, given the United Nations that is the Canadiens." - Dave Stubbs

Habs Depth Will Get A Test In Playoffs - Gazette

"They have been able to survive injuries to second-line players and the short-term loss of players like Roman Hamrlik, but this loss will go a long way toward convincing all the Koivu bashers of his value." - Pat Hickey

Koivu Injury A Bad Break For Habs - Gazette

"We're all different," winger Steve Bégin said. "I tolerate pain, while some others don't. It's going to be a challenge. The closer it is to the big toe, the longer it takes and the more pain you've got." Bégin has played through two broken feet - once while in Hamilton during the lockout season and again last year, when he missed only a handful of games. He has added extra padding in his skates. So it can be done." - Herb Zurkowsky

Anyone Else Nervous? - Habs Inside Out

"There is no fiddler on the roof of the Bell Centre (there would be if they could book Itzhak Perlman and charge $300 a ticket). But if I were a rich man, I wouldn't bet my stock portfolio on a deep playoff run without the Captain." - Mike Boone

Something's Amiss In Ottawa - Globe Sports

"Moments later, there was Spezza standing, as he does every day, in front of his locker to answer virtually the same questions over and over and over again. Only this time there was a twist. Instead of being asked, "What's gone wrong?" he was asked his opinion on the current muttering in the capital city that the Senators' end-of-season woes are all because of a "lack of effort." - Roy McGregor

Turbulance - The H Does Not Stand For Habs

"If the regular season is a crucible that fires and hardens a bunch of hockey players into a team that can compete for the Stanley Cup, fate has just turned up the heat on the Canadiens. This is the last in a series of tests the team must pass before it knows it has what it takes to win." - J.T.

Tops In The East Passes Us By - Lions In Winter

"Cheating nonsense aside, I think I would be quite pleased with a loss to Ottawa tonight. After all, if you think of the season as the real game as I do, then letting Ottawa win this battle in the war would be the sensible thing to do. Ottawa are the one team we could really make a case for trying to avoid. Beating them tonight would put them precariously close to a Habs match up. Keeping in mind, that Ottawa might like that themselves, I wouldn't be surprised at all either if Ottawa bring less to the table tonight." - Tobalev

Almost Good News On The Habs Hurting Front - Dennis Kane's Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

"When Koivu got the stick in the eye a couple of years ago against Carolina, the team went poof, like air going out of a balloon. But Montreal’s much better now, much deeper, more talented, and much more-rounded, and so although it would hurt to lose him, the boys can still get the job done. But let’s just hope it’s just badly bruised."

Carboneau protège ses blessés - RDS

"Le Canadien est véritablement en mode séries éliminatoires. À micros fermés, Guy Carbonneau a exhorté la presse, lundi, de ne plus importuner les joueurs blessés afin de leur soutirer des informations privilégiées."

Le Canadien n'a pas perdu son punch - RDS

"La perte de Saku Koivu enlève un vétéran mais pas de la vitesse. D'autres joueurs ont émergé durant la saison dont les frères Kostitsyn. Mikhail Grabovski a aussi bien fait depuis son retour. On peut l'utiliser partout sauf en désavantage numérique." - Norman Flynn

Sergei Kostitsyn va jouer au centre - La Presse

"L'entraîneur Guy Carbonneau veut tenter l'expérience parce qu'il a été insatisfait du rendement de Mikhail Grabovski dans le match de samedi à Toronto. Lundi, Grabovski formait un trio avec Maxim Lapierre et Guillaume Latendresse, qui était de retour sur la glace avec ses coéquipiers." - Robert Laflamme

Streit se sent mieux, Latendresse optimiste - La Presse

"Je me sens beaucoup mieux que samedi, a avoué Streit. À ce moment-là, je craignais le pire. Mais j'ai fait de grands progrès dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche et j'en suis très content." - Streit

"Il faut rester disciplinés": Kovalev - Le Journal

"On a écopé d'un trop grand nombre de pénalités récemment et les joueurs se sont blessés en cherchant à bloquer des rondelles pendant que l'adversaire jouait en supériorité numérique." - Kovalev

"Saku va tout faire pour ne pas rater de matchs dans les series": Steve Begin - Le Journal

"Ça va sûrement le ronger à l'intérieur d'être tenu à l'écart du jeu. Le bon côté à sa blessure, c'est qu'il va pouvoir se reposer cette semaine, ce qui n'est pas une mauvaise chose en fin de saison." - Begin
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