OK it was a busy day for me, as I made my trek to the Mecca of all things hockey, so this is a short recap.
When I got here, thee first thing on the agenda, upon arriving in Montreal, was to head up to a book signing by SI’s Michael Farber and Montreal Canadiens legend Yvan Cournoyer.
That was delayed as I noted the Quebec Remparts bus waiting outside the Sheraton Hotel. A small crowd had gathered and I noticed the cargo doors were opened, awaiting the team and maybe their coach, Patrick Roy!
With my No. 33 jersey hanging in my hotel room I raced back to retrieve it an a Sharpie, texted a friend of my discovery, only to return with the bus departed…Next time. We made our way to the Chapters, oh I mean Indigo, and met Mr. Farber and Cournoyer, who also was courteous enought to sign my 72-73 Habs Cup poster.
After stopping for coffee, and unloading my loot, it was off to Hurley’s to catch up with my friends from HabsInsideOut. The annual summit was underway, and so was the Habs and Buffalo Sabres.
Not sure who gets the actual credit for it (Mike Boone says it was the Gazette’s Dave Stubbs, but RDS had their own newspapers made up by post game), but nobody certainly saw the PhD line coming in 2010-11.
The trio of Mathieu Darche, Jeff Halpern and Benoit Pouliot factored in on all three goals, with Pouliot scoring two.
Carey Price had another outstanding night with 29 saves, 15 in the first period, and kept the rebounds and loose pucks under control. I wasn’t sure what that slide save attempt on the Mike Grier goal was about, but then again that whole sequence looked like a comedy of errors from the offensive zone and back.
Andrei Markov had some shaky moments, but is quickly coming to form.
The power play was shut down yet again and we also saw how important Tomas Plekanec, who missed the game with the flu, is to his team. With Plekanec out, Lars Eller centered Mike Cammalleri and Travis Moen, and stuggled on the faceoffs. Then again the whole team did at 44%.
The Sabres also out hit the Canadiens 21-16 and the Habs had eight giveaways against a last place team.
But as they say, two points is two points, is two points.
The Canadiens charter back to Montreal, where yours truly and the HIO contingent will witness the game first hand at the Bell Centre against the Ottawa Senators.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
Bulldogs beat Baby Sens in Montreal: Despite publically stating that he did not want to play for the Montreal Canadiens this season, Max Pacioretty found himself in the Bell Centre Friday as the Hamilton Bulldogs defeated the Binghamton Senators 5-2. The baby Sens were held to just a single shot in the first period by the Bulldogs, who got scoring from five different players, none of them named Pacioretty. 13,267 were on hand for the AHL contest. When did that many show up in Columbus for an NHL game? Boxscore
