The Canadiens play the Lightning tonight, and it is kind of hard to get overly excited about this game because, well….the Bolts are a joke, quite honestly. Not a funny one – a bad one.
Since their Cup win in 2004, Tampa have gone downhill faster than Rita McNeil on a skateboard. Upstart owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie came on scene this past summer with a know – it – all attitude and arrogance, and did everything stupid imaginable except sign Sean Avery. After overpaying for Ryan Malone, they kept up the endency by bankrolling a whole stew of NHL sloppy seconds. Adding Barry Melrose as coach, was a sure sign these cowboys were gunning with blanks. The whole scheme and spiel blew up out of the gate.
A third into their season, the Lightning are a train wreck, and Koules and Barrie are the new Wang and Milbury.
As the Canadiens prepare to face the club that beat its most recent opponant, the Flames, in 2004, you have to wonder how geared up the Habs could get for this cakewalk in the park?
Habs coach Guy Carbonneau preached caution, noting that any team with a pair of snipers such as Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, who both love visits to Montreal, should be considered dangerous.
Yes, le tricolore have faultered against weaker opponants this season, but come on Guy, you’re expecting the same offensive assault as everyone else, and have prepped the team for it too.
Oh, but wait, the Lightning also have Gary Roberts!
On a serious note, I have a friend of mine who was hit by lightning once. It happened last summer during a storm. He had his foot up on a baseboard heater, checking the scene outside. His other foot was over a nail in the floorboard. It was raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock when a bolt hit his roof, sending an electrical charge through all the metal in his house. It literally blew his socks off.
Something we don’t have to worry about Tampa doing tonight!
Want a prediction for this game? The Canadiens will score at least five. D’Agostini will notch another one, and Kovalev’s goalless streak will end.
I’m so confident the Habs will win, that I’ll tempt fate with the new EOTP tradition of posting a Habs girl after every win, by showing half of her before the puck even drops.
Oh yeah, and Rick Tocchet has his money on the Habs!
