The Canes, the spoilers again.

Last weekend, the Montreal Canadiens played two games in two nights.

The Habs won in overtime on a goal from Alex Kovalev against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday but were once again beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Since Carolina defeated Montreal in the playoffs to go on to the Stanley Cup championship, the Canadiens have hardly won a couple of games against the Hurricanes. Especially at the Bell centre. The streak is now almost becoming a farce.

But on the bright side, the Canadiens at least managed to extend Sunday's game against the Canes to overtime before losing. A single point, but each of those count at the end. The team is now enjoying a rest before a crucial four-game road trip starting next Saturday.

Montreal will play three games in four nights before 2008 is over.

First, in Pittsburgh, with a certain Sidney Crosby around. Then in the sunshine state to face both the Panthers and the Lightning in two consecutive nights on December 29th and 30th. The fourth game of the road trip for Montreal will end on January 2nd in New Jersey. Red hot goaltender Scott Clemmensen and the Devils will be the last challenge for Montreal before coming back home.

Despite playing two of the low ranked teams in the Eastern Conference, do not expect a full harvest of points out there dear Habs fans. If the team ever slips out of Pittsburgh with a vitory, Florida and New Jersey will not be easy on the Habs.

(for those of you curious about this ''Florida curse'', a search will show you that only a handfull of teams have managed to win two night in a row in Florida since the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning entered the NHL.)

As we can see, this four-game stint outside the Bell centre is full of challenges. Let's see how many points the team can harvest.