Paging The Montreal Canadiens...Anyone There...-Bolts 3, Habs 0

In a complete reversal of this past weekends back to back contests, the Montreal Canadiens came up with another terrible effort in a 3-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 24 hours after getting outworked by the Florida Panthers, it was much of the same in this one. Carey Price got the call in net and was hung out to dry on all 3 goals. The first 2 were awful giveaways and the final goal was a horrible penalty by Brian Gionta after getting steamrolled by Steve Downie. Price ended the night with 27 saves, while Antero Niittmaki stopped 33 shots, but most of those were from the perimeter. It's amazing how a team can go from playing near perfect back to back contests just a few days ago to getting dominated by a pair of teams they should beat. The loss moved the Bolts to within a point of the Canadiens and made the already airtight Eastern conference even tighter (no I will not make a "tight" joke). The Habs power play went 0 for 3, while the Lightning scored once in 3 chances. In the first real effect of having Laraque at home taking up a roster spot, the Habs played a man short as Spacek left in warmup with the flu (no word on if it was the 40 oz variety). Some other thoughts:

>Another terrible defensive effort by the whole team. Gorges gave up the puck on the first 2 goals, but he certainly wasn't alone. Markov again had an off night, the same day as word came out him and Price had a "confrontation" in the dressing room following the Blues game. Gotta love the Montreal media.

>Both "top" lines were basically silent tonight. Pouliot had probably his worst game as a Hab and the others on the top lines weren't much better.

>In one of the bright spots, a 2nd period scrum led to Gomez flipping on Hedman and O'Byrne getting in another tilt. Nice to see some emotion when you are getting outplayed. Didn't add much of a spark though.

Why does this team do this to me. They get my hopes up after playing a pair of gems, then follow it up with 2 garbage efforts. I can handle losses, but losing while getting outworked is not acceptable, especially when you are in the middle of a playoff race. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game tonight goes to Glen Metropolit. One of the few who battled hard all night. Consideration also given to O'Byrne and Darche. The Canadiens have a few days to regroup before hitting the ice again Saturday afternoon against the Sens.