Hey look who is in town, Les Habitants! So all the Hab fans in southern ontario will be flooding down to watch their beloved Canadiens at the HSBC. Montreal has played quite well of late and is contending for the top spot in the Northeast, which early in the season you would have though it was Ottawa's to lose. Now with their collapse in '08, Montreal has steadily picked up ground. Though they are only 5-5 in their last 10, compared to Buffalo's 6-3-1, so actually its the Sabres picking up 3 points on the Habs in the last 10 games. If it weren't for being a total disaster in the shootout, the Sabres and Habs might be tied right now. They are only 3 wins apart. Though the vision of the Sabres is of a not so good team. The Sabres are 9 points out of first. How many shootout losses do they have? 9! I think its time to revisit the what if the tie still existed scenario to see where the Sabres would stand.

Looking at things Montreal is very good on the Road, standing at 19-9-4 away from Bell Centre. They are a good scoring team, being 4th in the NHL in goals. They give up a decent amount and now with Carey Price as the starter, they are hinging on a rookie for their playoff hopes. So you have an important division matchup, a rookie in net. A good home team against a good road team and of course you got Big Bear. Who must be thrilled to be playing the Habs so many times a year now.

Who does what?

Well it starts with Alex Kovalev, who is known for being lazy, but still racks up the points and this year is no different. First in goals, First in points and first in +/-. So he obviously not lazy in his own zone this year. But plenty of other weapons, like Thomas Plekanec, Markov, who took over for Souray, and my favorite Hab, Saku Koivu. Is there anyway Darcy can make him a Sabre? But the Habs are also filled with talented young kids, like Higgins, Ryder, Latendresse and Kostitsyn. The real weapon of the Canadiens is their power play. Don't go in the box against Montreal or they will kill you. Carey Price is young and the next big thing, but his numbers are only decent a .911 sv% and 2.76 GAA.

Outlook

Well it should be a tight game, a fun game and what hockey should be about. The crowd should be good with all the Hab fans mixed in. Big Bear probably knows his family and friends are watching so he'll play big again, can't go hide on the West Coast anymore Bernier. You're playing in Hockey Country now. Ruff may keep the same lineup, but he's gotta pull out MacArthur for Stafford. I don't care if Peters plays or not. But they have to get Stafford back up and running for the stretch run. I don't know why, but I see a shootout in this one. We'll see starting at 7:30 at HSBC.