Habs Take Care Of Business....Sort Of-Laffs 4, Habs 3 (OT)

The Montreal Canadiens punched their ticket to the post season by picking up a single point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. With the point, the Habs will either finish 7th or 8th in the East depending on the outcome of the Rangers/Flyers game tomorrow. Brian Gionta, Andrei Markov and Marc Andre Bergeron scored the Canadiens goals. Markov ended the night with 3 points, while Scott Gomez had a pair of assists. Jaroslav Halak had an off night, giving up a pair of goals that I would consider weak. He ended the night with 24 saves, while J.S. Giguere made 34 saves for the Laffs. The Canadiens hit 3 crossbars and a goal post or this one might have gone the other way. The Canadiens power play went 1 for 5 on the night, while the Laffs failed to score on their only chance with the man advantage. The Canadiens played without Sergei Kostitsyn who saw his spot taken by Darche. The CBC tandem of Bob Cole and Greg Millen were extremely pro Laffs, with Cole confused about pretty much everything about the game tonight. Some other observations:

>Ryan O'Byrne appears to be still paying for his rough game the other night, as he dressed but saw only 1:46 of ice time. His spot was taken by Bergeron who to his credit played a good game.

>With Bit Tits struggling badly all night, Martin made a move late in the 3rd to replace him with Darche. Seemed to work, as that line had some great chances in the 3rd.

>The Gomez, Gionta and Pouliot line was pretty good all night. They created a ton of chances and hit a couple of posts. Gomez was a monster on faceoffs, winning 58% of them including a number of key ones on the power play.

It would have been nice to get a win, but who cares the Montreal Canadiens are playoff bound! Looks like it will either be the Caps, Devils or the Sabres in round 1. All three provide stiff competition, but I think both can be beat if the Canadiens (and their goaltending) are at the top of their game. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game tonight goes to Andrei Markov. When the chips were down he had a huge night. Consideration also given to Gomez and Gionta. Not sure when the next game will be, but I can't wait.