Montreal in Technicolor

Can't say that i'm unhappy that my last blog flew out the window. For those who live under a rock, the surprising Montreal Canadiens of 2009-2010 have eliminated the reigning President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals of Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Ovechkin in dramatic fashion, taking 7 games to send the Caps packing. This would have been an admirable feat in and of itself, but they followed this up with a seven game win over the defending chamption Pittsburgh Penguins of Sid the Kid and Geno Malkin.

So who can blame us for wanting the holy grail?

The Habs did this by playing a disciplined TEAM game, a team game that required everyone buying into a system that was pretty much unanimously declared suicidal throughout parts of the season. They blocked a bajillion shots, thanks to Hal Gill and Josh Gorges notably, had an excellent PK, and were incredibly opportunistic and put away the majority of their scoring chances. Michael Cammalleri came in as advertised, a big time scorer who comes up big in HUGE situations, Brian Gionta is the smallest forward to fight for space in the crease and Gomez has a sixth sense for seeing openings. The only downside to all of this euphoria is the need to have some more complementary scoring. This means you Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot. The third line has been so steady, so consistent and so important to the success of this team, and that 2nd rounder spent on Dominic Moore was a much better investment than the one spent in the Alex Tanguay deal (08 1st and 09 2nd).

Jaroslav Halak has pushed himself into a likely nomination for a Conn Smythe if he continues the play that has turned his team from a minnow to a shark, even against the flyers.

There i said it, I think we can take the Flyers. Sure, we'll be challenged physically and mentally, and our crease will be crashed. This is an entirely different beast than the one that we tamed in both the Pittsburgh and Washington series. However, people that are scared of Philly need to remember what we've accomplished: WE ELIMINATED THE TWO BEST TEAMS, NOT THROUGH LUCK BUT THROUGH TEAM COMMITMENT TO HARD WORK AND AN EXCELLENT GOALTENDER.

I will break down the advantages of each team:

Forwards: I would give Philly the slight advantage if only because their forwards are bigger, have slightly more depth and they go to the net. However, the Habs have their own excellent small forwards who have been playing big. Gionta and Gomez know what it takes to win, and they are not the type to shy away from physical contact. The physical advantage would probably wear us down, but where it will be a concern will be in front of Jaro Halak.

Defense: Im preparing myself for criticism here, but i would give the habs the advantage. Our D may be lacking at this point in time, but we've contained some of the best players in the game in the past 14 games. Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Staal, Semin, Backstrom, Mike Green, Kris Letang and Gonchar. Im pretty sure we can handle Richards, Briere, Gagne and JVR equally as they are very good players, but nowhere near the caliber of the ones we stopped. As well, our forwards may be a workman sort of group, but they have played a shot blocking, tight, smart defensive game which could be a difference maker against Philly if we can continue to shut down all the shooting lanes. As for the Flyers D, look at the ice times for Pronger, Carle, Timonen and Coburn. They're almost all over 30 minutes a GAME. For Pronger and Timonen, that's way too much and they will burn out eventually. Pronger burnt out is still a threat, but going around him with speed is possible and the Bruins were able to exploit that.

Goaltending: Not much needs to be said other than Halak wins it here easily.

Special Teams: The stats are even here, if we can get Markov back we could tilt the scales to our advantage, same for them with Carter.

Momentum: They're coming in with some, but let us not forget that we eliminated two teams that are CONTENDERS. We had some rest, but not enough to get rusty. We can take this team to the brink as I would imagine they are physically and emotionally tired.

Jacques Martin and Bob Gainey, i would like to apologize. You didnt build a flashy, 1st in the east team like we asked, you built us a contender that made it to the final four. THANK YOU, and go habs go!