Oct 15 Je Suis 0-1 At the Bell Centre

The Montreal Canadiens held their home opener tonight after a 5 game road trip that saw them go 2-3 in that span. I’m not too sure which will get more media coverage; lacklustre, habitual 2^nd period breakdowns, or Andrei Kostitsyn’s self introduction prior to the game.

The Canadiens played with passion, energy and showed the cohesiveness that coach Jacques Martin had been looking for since his western road swing, but only did so in the first period where they dominated in shots (11-6) and the score (1-0). The goal, on the power-play, was scored by Roman Hamrlik on a sweet pass from the “I’m back” Tomas Plekanec. Kostitsyn also got a helper, I’ll get to him later.

The wheels seemed to fall off in the 2^nd period where the reverse was the case and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Habs in almost every puck battle and profited in 2 goalsthat deflected of Canadien players for the 2-1 lead.

What is it with the Montreal Canadiens and the second period? They are out-scored 9-5 including tonight’s 3-2 loss to the Avs.

While Montreal tried to make a game of it, coming out harder in the third, perhaps in an effort to avoid another Martin-esque bag skate tomorrow morning, they went 0-for on the power-play but caught a break when Plekanec scored while the rest of the Avalanche were complaining about the puck hitting the protective netting. Karma was instant as Colorado would again go ahead and getting Ryan O’Reilly his first NHL goal with just over 6 minutes left.

The Canadiens made a valiant effort to try and tie it up, even getting some nail-biting chances in the dying moments with Carey Price, who played well tonight despite the loss, on the bench, But it was all for naught and the Canadiens let their home opener slip away from them against a team that on paper, is supposed to be inferior and was on their 3^rd road game in 4 nights.

I’ve been saying since the season’s start that I liked the work ethic of Gionta, Cammalleri and Gomez, but that the team would need secondary scoring to really succeed. Tonight, in the home opener in front of yet another sold out crowd, the “Wee Three” were held off the scoreboard entirely. Hamrlik and Plekanec got the goals and Pleks added an assist as did Max Pacioretty and Andrei Kostitsyn assisted on both Habs goals.

Having said all that, I still think that the season is way too young to decide that this is the same team we will be seeing 30 games in. I’m still not sure what to make of the new-look Habs, so I’ll reserve all judgement until they at least name a captain and the “new car smell” has faded.

Now, on to Andrei Kostitsyn.

When each and every team member passed the microphone to one another and named themselves preceded by a corny, yet entertaining “je suis”, Kostitsyn flagrantly stared into the camera and muttered two words: Andrei Kostitsyn.

Now, I’m not saying that he should drop everything, take some lessons and speak French, or else… but would it really have killed him to play along? Pretend that he wanted to be part of this team? Was he perhaps, sending a message to his expatriated brother, Sergei? What, after an utterly useless start to the season, was he thinking? That this would endear him even more to the fans? He had to know the potential repercussions, right?

Then again, I assume he figured he’d bring it on the ice and that would win him a stay of figurative execution. Well, with 2 assists, he tripled his points total for the season and contributed to both goals. I guess he’s ok until next game.

Still missing in action as far as I’m concerned: Guillaume Latendresse, Maxim Lapierre, Kyle Chipchura, Matt D’Agostini and Andrei Markov.

Only one has a legitimate excuse to have not given it his all.

Tags: Andrei Kostitsyn \ Carey price \ Colorado Avalanche \ habs \ hockey game review \ Jacques Martin \ Je suis \ Max Pacioretty \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Roman Hamrlik \ Tomas Plekanec