Rocket:

Winter arrived in Montreal today. When it’s all fallen and measured, the guy who stands in front of the chroma key said we will have 15-20 cms. of snow. Many Montrealers put in a full day and then broke out a shovel when they got home. Hard work!

So why wouldn’t Canadiens’ fans expect the same from their beloved hockey team?

Tonight, the Habs met expectations. It was a good effort, start to finish.

Robert Lang is quietly having a good season. Lang had 2 goals and a assist for his best game as a Hab. The only negative was his faceoff performance at 38%. Andrei Markov showed no ill effects from his puck in the face from last game. Markov with a goal and an assist took over the NHL scoring lead for defensemen. Matt D’Agostini got his 4th goal in his 4th game with a beautiful move on a breakaway. D’Ags had chances for a few more and was the spark on a much improved power play.

Tonight was also a good confidence booster for Jaroslav Halak. Jaro had stuggled his previous three starts. He was solid most of the night and showed a better glove hand. Halak had a little trouble corralling rebounds which led to some scrambly play but overall, it was a good game.

Alex Kovalev had flashes of dominance on special teams, and it looked like he had broken his goal-less streak, but the goal was credited to Markov. Alex Tanguay had 2 assists in facing his former team (and coach).

The Canadiens two top lines are really clicking right now. Tomas Plekanec works hard every night and he and Higgins had some chances early on. Unfortunately, Chris Higgins sustained an upper body injury and left the game after only 4 shifts. Mathieu Dandenault suffered a suspected arm injury and also left the game. Credit to Dandenault for staying at his post despite being in obvious pain.

Sergei Kostitsyn had a good return after a few games in the press box. He had solid shifts on both the 3rd and 4th lines and strong penalty-killing play.

Patrice Brisebois. Wow..could it get any worse? The official scorer was extremely kind in only assessing 4 giveaways. Truly, it was closer to 14.

A final word reserved for Rooney and Devorski. As you know, I rarely comment on the refereeing. How did they miss Giordano purposely dislodging his won net when Kovalev had a chance? And Markov’s penalty for tripping when he delivered a great hip check to Phaneuf was just silly. Clearly, they didn’t earn all 60 minutes of their pay tonight.

Snow, hard work, and a Canadiens win…not a bad start to winter! Now where are the plows?

Pre-game:

Contrary to earlier reports, Tomas Plekanec will be in the line-up. Sergei Kostitsyn is back. Laraque, Latendresse and O’Byrne will sit. Halak in goal.

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. Robert Lang
2. Andrei Markov
3. Matt D’Agostini

(photo credit: Canadian Press)