Habs snap losing skid. Not bad for a bunch of cockroaches

Just a quick recap, as the family flu bug may be finding a way past my impregnable immune system.

It certainly was a night of firsts, milestones and surprises as the Montreal Canadiens snapped a three-game losing streak, with a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins.

Montreal came out the gate early with a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes, but the Bruins were not about to make it easy for the hometown heroes as they were looking to snap thier own two-game losing skid.

Tim Thomas saw a lot of rubber, making 37 saves, and much like Carey Price yesterday had two goals take bad bounces off his own defenceman. Price was solid, as usual, and made 34 stops.

In between periods, fans watching on CBC were subject to the other HNIC loudmouth, Mike Milbury, who during the second intermission, said that the Canadiens were a bunch of cockraches. His comments were likely directed at his disatisfaction with the play of P.K. Subban and Maxim Lapierre, and not at the team as a whole. Someone needs to 1) shut Milbury’s yap and 2) remind him that this is 2010, and not 1974.

The commentrary of Milbury and also PJ Stock rose the ire of Hab fan and friend Richard McAdam, who wrote this “open letter” to the CBC on his FaceBook account and blog. An excerpt is shown below, and I should mention that Ricahrd wrote this based on the first intermission remarks and not Milbury’s cockroach remark.

“These are two men that have often railed against what they call the “pansification” of hockey, yet when a player makes a big hockey play, they condemn him for not doing something illegal that is penalized by a major penalty.

They thus picked up on the long-running theme of another CBC commentator, Don Cherry, in proclaiming that Subban does not have any respect for his fellow players, and needs to earn the respect of not only his opponents but his own teammates. “

The whole issue stemmed from Lapierre’s typical chirping of opponents and the after results of this huge blowup hit by Subban on the Bruins’ Brad Marchand.

The hit is perfectly clean, but I do agree that the elbow he threw after was uncalled for. Of course, Milbury jumps on the Don Cherry train and puts his own spin on it.

Back to the play, where during the second period Thomas was back on track to the form he has been showing all season. You just knew that the Bruins were going to score in support of their netminder’s play, and they eventually did, putting them within one.

At the same time, tensions were building on the ice and you knew that eventually a pair of players would square off. Travis Moen vs Milan Lucic????? Mark Recchi vs Lapierre???

Nope,,,,, Mike Cammalleri vs David Krejci

It was Cammalleri’s first NHL fight, and went with his first penalty shot, in the first period, that opened the scoring. Alas, he missed the assis to earn the Gordie How hat trick. The battle gave the momentum swing back to the Habs, as Max Pacioretty and Scott Gomez set up captain Brian Gionta fwaht would be the winning goal.

Pacioretty has earlier scored his first goal of the season, getting an assist from Gomez, who now has four assists in his last two games. As I mentioned yesterday, the placing of Pacioretty with the two veterans has certainly put a spring in their step. But, it is also just two games. A real test awaits as the Canadiens close out the month with a string of road games.

SCORING SUMMARY

A Milestone night: For the Bruins, and former Habs forward Michael Ryder, who played in his 500th career game.

Bruins response from Stanley Cup of Chowder