Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals - The habs play Washington on Saturday night. After their courageous but losing battle against the Pittsburgh Penguins and after a successful week, the Montreal Canadiens are still hovering at .500.

The good news out of the Canadiens dressing room is that Andrei Markov is finally skating again and looking to comeback in action as of late December. The bad news? Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Jaroslav Spacek, Matt D’Agostini and now possible Andrei Kostitsyn and Max Pacioretty are out of the lineup. A grand total of $30 million dollars worth out to lunch.

The Washington Capitals are not going to take the Canadiens as lightly as they did the last time around. Look for the Capitals to come out strong and maintain momentum.

Can’t forget to mention the stellar play of Carey Price who has finally stolen some games and given his team a chance to stay in most of the games and even win. Good stuff Carey, you’re almost back on my good side…

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Nashville Predators - The Montreal Canadiens are in Nashville to face the Predators after their win against the Phoenix Coyotes. Montreal has a 9-10-0 record and they are putting up the play to prove it.

At the very least, they managed to shoe some sign of life on the power play going 2 for 2 against Phoenix. This is after scoring only once in 16 chances in the last 6 games. The defense played quasi well limiting the shots against to 20. That being said, the Canadiens only had 19 shots for.

There are no quick remedies for the Canadiens woes and they are definitely not going to come out of their slump anytime soon. The team is just not jiving and the countless turnovers game after game are not getting remedied. Although Andrei Markov will help, not even he will be enough to fix the countless gaping holes in the lineup. Anybody else wondering why Scott Gomez is paid that ridiculous salary? His earnings/turnover ratio is great!

At least they look forward to the struggling Nashville Predators. Nothing like the PReds to give you a two game winning streak!

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins - Thursday November 5th, the Canadiens are in Boston to face the Bruins. SO we know the habs have lost to the Bruins all season last year including the playoffs. Of course, the useless pre-season game they played isn’t an indicator but they lost to them as well. So what do the habs need to do to win against the Boston Bruins?

Well, for starters the Bruins injuries to key players in Marc Savard and Milan Lucic will definitely help. Although Mike Kom-on-are-u-seriousk isn’t in the lineup anymore, Milan Lucic would have found his next victim rather quickly. Boston is not the team it was last year and this said even without the injuries mentioned above.

What we quickly forget is that it wasn’t so long ago that the Montreal Canadiens were winning game after game against these scary Bruins. It was like the never ending dream for us habs fans when the Burins would be in town that we’d have two points in the bank. And yes, the tide has changed and I believe it will be soon enough before it changes again.

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Blackhawks - The Montreal Canadiens are in Chicago to face the Blackhawks on Friday after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 on Wednesday. The game should be used as a measuring stick for the Canadiens overall success as the Penguins are arguably the strongest team in the league.

The Canadiens stayed in the game for the first period and part of the second. But penalty after penalty and lost opportunities brought this one out of reach. The defense left Jaroslav Halak out to dry on many occasions and he was finally replaced by Carey Price in the third period. Price made some nice saves on the first couple of shots but managed to let in two goals on 14 shots.

It really showed where the Montreal Canadiens stand in the league. This doesn’t come as a surprise when you consider that 5 out of 6 victories came in overtime. This is the 2nd blowout loss by the habs who were simply not disciplined nor responsible in their own zone. They’ll have to do much better against another hot team in the Chicago Blackhawks.

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Islanders - The Canadiens are again hosting the Islanders in Montreal. As strange as the scheduling issue is, even more strange (and refreshing at the same time) is watching the Canadiens come from behind against the power house New York Rangers and win it 5-4 in  overtime. The Montreal Canadiens were down 3-1 but managed to find a way to win.

Michael Cammalleri is showing why we picked him up and after he promised that goals would start going in, he actually delivered. If the team can hold off opponents in their zone, they’ll have a chance to put more w’s in the Win column.

As fear sets in with the possibility that the Canadiens are going to take tonight’s game against the pitiful New York Islanders lightly, we have to keep in mind that they have just hit .500 for the season. They are ways off of making the playoffs if they keep playing like this, so they shouldn’t get too comfortable!

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. New York Rangers - The Montreal Canadiens host the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre and look to extend their 2 game winning streak following their 5-1 victory over the lowly New York Islanders.

Montreal dominated against the Islanders in shots and scoring chances. Marc-Andre Bergeron, the newest defenseman on the team looks like he might have stabilized the power play kind of like what Mathieu Schneider did last year upon his arrival. By no means did he replace Andrei Markov, but the Canadiens feel like somewhat of a different team.

The New York Rangers are coming off a strong start once again to their season. Having lost to the New Jersey Devils, they are looking to get right back to winning. The addition of Ales Kotalik, Vaclav Prospal and Marian Gaborik is paying didvidends and where did Michael Del Zotto come out of? The rookie is looking to have an exceptional year! Will the Canadiens be able to slow down the Rangers who are second overall in the NHL in goals?

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Atlanta Thrashers - The Montreal Canadiens host the hot Atlanta Thrashers after losing their fifth straight to bring their record to 2-5-0.

Montreal has been playing absolutely horribly. Their power play is non-existant and their penalty kill is among the worst in the league. As we start hearing the murmurs around the media to have Bob Gainey’s head, we need to just remember that this season could have gone really well or really bad. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s the latter.

Michael Cammalleri, among the leaders in the league last year, scored his first goal of the season on Saturday after 7 games. Montreal should have their own slogan “Montreal, where careers come to die!”.

I don’t see this team improving even if Andrei Markov is back in the line-up. They are simply bad, comparable almost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, ok well nobody is that bad!

I give this one easily to the Atlanta Thrashers who have just been jiving quite well at the beginning of the season.

Montreal Hockey - NHL Canadiens vs. Calgary Flames - On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadiens are in Calgary to battle with the flames. After their unimpressive win in Buffalo in overtime, the Canadiens will have to look into making some serious adjustments in their system and their play to ensure they get more shots on net and less on their own net.

Carey Price has been stellar in the first two games of the season and already stole 4 out of a possible 4 points for the habs. The Canadiens were outshot 35-17 in the Buffalo game and 11-1 in the third period alone. This may be signs to come without Andrei Markov in there although I felt Roman Hamrlik did a great job in his first game of the season.

The defense core did a great job to try and fill the gap Andrei Markov left, but it is evident there is still some work to do. Jacques Martin can’t be happy with these wins and knows he better get to work in solidifying his team’s play. As I look at the Eastern conference rivals and the way they play with their new versions of their teams, I can’t help but feel Montreal definitely has to get into the groove.

Montreal Hockey - So after a handful of pre-season games and a team we barely recognize, I feel a little confused. The defense on paper looks pretty solid but on the ice looks a little all over the place. I know what you’re saying “it’s pre-season”, well if anybody has their plate full it’s the Canadiens’ coaches with their pairings.

It doesn’t get any easier up front. I like what I see with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta and Mike Cammaleri really completes that line all too well. Will we become a one-line team? Andrei Kostitsyn is sleeping through camp among others and I am looking forward to him waking up and realizing he’s in Montreal hockey town!

Carey Price is doing what he does best, providing lots of useless doubt about his play. Will it be the Carey Price of last year or two years ago?  Or will he mix it up a little?

This is the first pre-season where I am looking down the road and not seeing the light. The team is definitely solid if lined up properly. They have to learn a new system, power play and penalty kill and all the other hoopla that comes with a new coach. I think it will take them a little time to get to the solid team they can be. How long are we ready to wait as fans?

Montreal Hockey - So we’re getting ready for the first ever game of the year, well unofficial game of the year. Pre-season starts for the Montreal Canadiens this Thursday against the Florida Panthers.

With Andrei Markov reportedly rejecting the captaincy, who will be the next Canadiens captain? I personally think a captain needs to have at least a dozen english words in his repertoire to be considered a captain. Of course, a Montreal Canadiens captain needs to have a dozen french words in his repertoire. I watched the first episode of L’Antichambre this week and let me tell you, we’re in for a fun year. They already analyzed the “Talent” to “French speaking” ratio of the players. Eh les Boys!!

Jacques Martin will be testing lots of line combinations as we’ve seen with Scott Gomez paired with Mike Cammaleri and Brian Gionta paired with Tomas Plekanec. He has also stated that once he finds his DUOS, the third party will be alternated regularly.

As for the Montreal defense what can we say other than it’s a little left sided. Will Ryan O’Byrne really make the team just because he is the only natural right back? I think the core defense has increased in size and experience and this will make Carey Price’s job that much easier. That doesn’t mean you can go out partying buddy!

Finally, as we wait in anticipation for the first Montreal hockey pre-season game, we get news that Guy Carbonneau will be visiting Hockey Night in Canada this year as an analyst. Good for you Carbo! Enjoy the broadcast as Leafs fans are alot more foregiving!