Completely dominated.

The december 23rd drought continues for the Montreal Canadiens as they haven't won a game on this very date since 1945.

Yesterday, Mike Ribeiro and the Dallas Stars made sure that the Habs would not break this curse. Ribeiro scored a goal and added two assists in a 4-1 Dallas victory.

As they were playing a second game in two nights, the Canadiens were not a very difficult opponent for the Stars. Dallas controlled the play at will all game long. Down 4-0, Andrei Markov avoided the shutout with his 9th goal of the season.

The lenght of the drought is impressive. The Habs show a record of 0-10-8 on opposing rinks since 1945. To break such a bad sequence, the Canadiens will need a far better team than what they are putting on the ice since a few years already.

Bob Gainey must be kicking himself when he sees Mike Ribeiro perform like he was yesterday. Ribeiro was sent out of Montreal for Janne Niniimaa, a player who is not even playing in the NHL anymore. Nice going Bob...

Next up for Montreal: a date with Vincent Lecavalier and the Tampa Bay Lightning on thursday.

(Picture: Mike Ribeiro, Canadian Press.)