Kings vs. Habs - Nostalgia Edition

Notes on the third:

-The difference between tonight and Tuesday night is the willingness to get hit. The Kings are no pussies, but they don't give you the feeling of inexorable punishment the Flyers do.

-Maybe it's too early to ask this, but is Doughty playing? Because the Habs kid defenceman seems a lot more visible than the Kings'.

-The word is out around the league: Shut down Plekanec and you shut down the Habs. Fortunately, AK46 is a lot harder to shut down.

-Eller reminds me of Beliveau in his stature and skating style. Bring on the 500 goals!

-Martin's tie tonight looks like paisley in a lava lamp.

-Nobody loves the first-star puck-toss like Andrei Kostitsyn.


Notes on the second:

-The passes are clicking tonight like dominoes. The tiles, not the pizza.

-Oh well. The PK couldn't shut people out forever. It's very kind of the Habs to give yet another call-up his first NHL goal, though. The NHL's offical Welcome Wagon.

-Kostitsyn's flying so high tonight, he's leaving a vapour trail. And Plekanec finishes off his hard work.

-God, sometimes Gomez reminds me so much of Kovalev. Everyone'll be speeding around, then he gets the puck and sloooooowwssss the pace right down.

-Pouliot couldn't hit the floor if he fell out of bed.

-Pleks and Special K should never have been separated. Pleks is the only one who speaks whatever language Kostitsyn mumbles in.

-Lars Eller!!! I've rarely seen a kid so happy to score his first with a team as he is. He's sitting there, half thinking "Yay me" and half "Thank you, Lord Jesus!"

-Love the Bell crowd sometimes. They're the only ones in the league who can taunt a French goalie in his mother tongue.

-Beautiful period. One more to make Price a bigger winner this year than he was all of last year.



Notes on the first:

-This is the night Gomez owns the game and wins first star. It's gotta happen sometime, right?

-Sigh. Will Pyatt ever score again? The question asked by impotent Pyatts the world over.

-Habs should take a lesson from the Kings: when in the opposing zone, shoot as often as you possibly can. Ten fancy passes rarely end up in the net.

-So much can be blown when the D can't hold the zone.

-Kostitsyn fired a plutonium bullet, but Subban supplied the powder.

-Pouliot's got his snow tires on tonight. Lots of traction.

-The whole team is skating differently than they did in Philly. Maybe yesterday's bag skate reminded the legs to move. Muscle memory is a great thing.

-The call on Plekanec should be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame as the worst elbowing penalty of all time.

-Cammalleri launched that puck like the space shuttle. The ones that are mechanically sound. On sunny days.

-And the period ends with a beginning-of-period prediction coming true. Although I expect they might take that goal away from Gomez and give it to Cammy.

-Great 20 minutes of hard skating and puck control. Now to stay alive for the next 40, unlike the nightmare in Philly.