Canadiens-Sharks: Thank you Brian for being a lousy goaltender.

The impressive San Jose Sharks were in town tonight to face the Montreal Canadiens.

The story of the game is without any doubt both goaltenders involved in this game. Once again tonight, Jaroslav Halak was spectacular in front of the Habs net while Brian Boucher looked like an amateur during the first frame.

Despite San Jose's total domination in this game, the Canadiens scored all their goals during the first period. First, Andrei Markov beated Boucher with a powerful slap shot during a man advantage.

Only a couple of minutes later, a good rush by Maxim Lapierre forced Brian Boucher to kneel down, then Lapierre went around the net and fed Josh Gorges who only had to push the puck in the open net.

Still during the first period, Montreal's third goal came from the stick of Saku Koivu who pushed the puck in an empty cage. Boucher's lack of talent was obvious on this goal. He could not even slide to his right to challenge Koivu's shot. Instead, the ridiculous Boucher dove in the air in an attempt to make the save...

The Sharks scored two quick goals early into the second period. Joe Pavelski during a man advantage then Joe Thornton reduced Montreal's margin to a single goal only seconds later. The rest of the game was about Jaroslav Halak who stole the Sharks on numerous occasions. Halak stopped 44 of the 46 shots he faced while Brian Boucher only stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced.

The auxiliary goaltender for the Sharks is clearly not NHL material anymore. I even doubt that he is AHL material.

Tonight's game also marked the return of Claude Lemieux in Montreal. The courageous 43 year old man returned in action this season and seems to fit in the Sharks' lineup. Lemieux has won the Stanley Cup with three different teams and would be the very first player to win the Cup with four different clubs should the Sharks go all the way this season.

Final score: Montreal Canadiens 3 - San Jose Sharks 2.

(Picture: Jaroslav Halak, Getty Images.)

Third victory in a row for the Canadiens.

The Montreal Canadiens were in Philadelphia tonight to face the Flyers.

Jaroslav Halak was once again in front of Montreal's net and the new acquisition of the team, Glen Metropolit, was also in uniform.

The Flyers struck early in this one. During the first minute of the game, Jeoffrey Lupul opened the score taking advantage of the scrambling defense of the Canadiens. Mike Richards doubled the Flyers lead with a good shot that got past Halak. Things looked grim early on for the Canadiens in this one.

The Canadiens played a little better after the second Philadelphia goal. Tomas Plekanec took control of a loose puck in front of Philadelphia's net to score the first goal of the night for the Habs. Plekanec's 17th goal of the season was scored during a man advantage.

Only thirteen seconds later, Tom Kostopoulos scored on a lucky bounce. The puck just barely crossed the goal line but it was enough to tie up the game at two a piece.

Alex Kovalev gave a one goal lead to the Canadiens a couple of minutes later when his shot was mishandled by Antero Nittymaki.

Simon Gagné tied the game at three when he took the puck away from a defense men to skate alone with Jaroslav Halak. Gagné registered his 24th goal of the season. During the third period, nobody was able to score and the game went to overtime.

Matthieu Schneider scored his first goal since his return to Montreal during the overtime period when his precise wrist shot went past the Flyers netminder. Once again, the game-winner was scored during a man-advantage.

Final score: Montreal Canadiens 4 - Philadelphia Flyers 3 (overtime)

(Picture: Canadian Press.)

Steve Begin moved to Dallas.

The Montreal Canadiens completed a trade with the Dallas Stars today when they sent their forward Steve Begin in exchange of defense men Doug Janik.

Steve Begin has played in 389 NHL games scoring 46 goals and 38 assists for 84 points. As for the defense men, Doug Janik, in 159 NHL games he scored three goals and 13 assists for 16 points.

Doug Janick is certainly not the first choice of Bob Gainey in his quest for a defense men. But Steve Begin was scratched from the Canadiens lineup on many occasions this season and was unhappy about his role with the team.

Some more moves are expected from GM Bob Gainey until next week's trade deadline.

(Picture: Steve Begin.)

The Montreal Impact rolls on.

Eduardo Sebrango scored two goals and gave to the Montreal Impact a 2-0 victory over their Mexican opponents, the Santos Laguna, in the first leg of the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Champions League.

A large crowd was attending at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal for this one. In fact, 55 571 spectators were there yesterday to witness the greatest victory in the history of the Canadian franchise. The team now only needs a tie or a one goal loss during the second leg that is to be played in Mexico during the first week of March to advance to the semifinals.

A small team that was not supposed to be able to qualify itself into the tournament is now one small step away from the semifinals. This is the great story of the Montreal Impact that everyone is talking about in town today.

(Picture: Eduardo Sebrango, Canadian Press.)

Jaroslav Halak wins head coach's confidence.

For tomorrow's match against the Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens' head coach Guy Carbonneau chose Jaroslav Halak to be in net.

After the disastrous road trip that the team experienced only a week ago, goaltender Carey Price allowed a bundle of goals forcing Guy Carbonneau to use Jaroslav Halak in relief. Halak did very well in these conditions and even managed to steal a few points for the team by himself lately.

Some are already speculating about if Halak stole Price's No1 spot. Hold on just a second. We are talking about two very different classes of goaltenders here. Carey Price is without any doubt a great goalie able to perform on a regular basis while playing 75% of the games.

Jaroslav Halak will be at best a 42 games/season goalie. He tends to give a lot of rebounds, resulting in many 45+ shots games.

Halak can be of great help to the Canadiens in this stretch towards the playoffs without any doubt. Carbonneau is taking the right decision by playing his hot goaltender. But to ask if he stole Price's job is to stretch the issue a bit.

(Picture: Jaroslav Halak.)

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Scandal in Montreal.

This morning, Montreal's La Presse newspaper had a huge scoop about three players of the Montreal Canadiens.

According to La Presse, Sergei Kostitsyn, his brother Andrei Kostitsyn and defense men Roman Hamrlik made business with Pasquale Mangiola, a member of an international criminal organization who was busted a few weeks ago by the police.

As the news is still extremely fresh, we do not possess all the details on how, where, when and how much were these transactions. A lot more details will be clarified as time will pass.

As for the Montreal Canadiens organization itself, a press conference was sceduled today, giving the chance to the Canadiens to express their surprise and concerns. The General Manager, Bob Gainey, said that every time he hears something of this nature about his players he passes the information to the team's security department and more particularly Louis Laframboise. Gainey also said that the 18-22 generation faces different problems and situations and Gainey also confessed that he doesn't completely understand this generation.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau said that he was deceived and concerned. Carbonneau confessed that he maybe gave a little too much rope to his players with the result that some of them hung themselves with it. He also said that he will reel in the rope and keep it a lot tighter.

These reactions from the team GM and head coach are not surprising. The only thing surprising enough is the way that these yougsters won their bosses' confidence. A little more focus and more productive searches would've uncovered this story a lot earlier.

As for myself, I will not blame the young Kostitsyn brothers for bonding with criminals. I am blaming the organization. The team president Pierre Boivin, GM Bob Gainey and head coach Guy Carbonneau are to blame. Those three mens did not protect their young prospects from criminals and worse of all, did not have a clue! I call this incompetence.

We will follow this story as more will be uncovered.

(Picture: Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, Getty Images.)

Bob Gainey cleans house.

Montreal Canadiens' General Manager, Bob Gainey, decided today that enough was enough and sent Sergei Kostitsyn back to the AHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs while Alex Kovalev will be scratched for the next two games of the team.

After acquiring defensemen Mathieu Schneider earlier, Bob Gainey decided that his team needed a wake up call this week. The healthy scratch to the most talented player of the team will serve as an example for the other players.

As soon as the annoucement was made about Kovalev and Kostitsyn, rumors of trades involving Alex Kovalev emerged from everywhere. Many are in pure speculation when comes the time to predict Bob Gainey's next action. With the trade deadline under three weeks away, rumors will onyl intensify around the Habs.

Carey Price will start in net against the Washington Capitals tomorrow.

(Picture: Alex Kovalev, Canadian Press.)

Jaroslav Halak rewarded by Guy Carbonneau.

Montreal Canadiens' goaltender Jaroslav Halak will see action for a second game in a row tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.

After a brilliant 46 saves Friday night in Colorado good for a 4-2 victory, head coach Guy Carbonneau had no choice but to put Halak back in net for tonight's game. The points are too important for the head coach to take a chance with the struggling Carey Price.

Price had circled this date a long time ago as he would've played for the first time in his home province, British Columbia. Asked about it he muttered: ''It sucks, but I don't deserve it.''

You are right about that Carey, you don't deserve it...

The Canadiens will try to win a second game in a row tonight.

(Picture: Jaroslav Halak, Getty Images.)

One, two, three, four, the Canadiens hit the floor.

The Edmonton Oilers struck four times during the first period and won their game over the Montreal Canadiens at the Rexall Place by the score of 7-2.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau decided to have a bowling session in Edmonton prior to their game in hope to change the daily routine. The results did not meet the expectations as the team literally threw a ''gutter ball'' in yesterday's evening hockey game.

The Canadiens seems to be unable to recover as they have now lost 9 of their last 11 games. Carey Price is having serious problems in net while the rest of the team struggles in front of him. Once again, Price was beaten by his opponent, Dwayne Roloson who was spectacular in front of the Oilers net.

Yesterday the number seven was not a lucky number for Montreal. Seven goals were allowed while being 0 for 7 on the man advantage.

The team now travels to Colorado to face the Avalanche on Friday.

(Picture: Carey Price, Canadian Press.)

Canadian performance of the week: John Kucera.

During the last weekend, and for the first time in Canadian history, John Kucera has won the gold medal at the downhill event of the 2009 World Championships presented in Val d'Isere, France.

Kucera completed his event with a time of 2:07.01 and it was good enough for a gold medal at this prestigious competition. This is his first important victory in career because his only victory on the world cup circuit came in 2006 at Lake Louise where he had won the Super-G event.

With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics around the corner, this great result will push the rest of the Canadian team members to keep their best shape and be in the race for this important competition.

Congratulations John and good luck for the rest of this 2009 season!

(Picture: John Kucera, Canadian Press.)

Montreal Canadiens: Ryan Miller and Vesa Toskala beat Carey Price.

The Montreal Canadiens lost their last two games this week. First to the Buffalo Sabres by the score of 3-2 and again tonight, facing the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2.

There has been a strong link between those two losses: Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price got clearly beat by the opposing net minder. The sophomore goaltender is handing gifts to the left, to the right, and upstairs lately.

Once again, I will state a reality clearly. The goaltending level in the NHL has been declining for a couple of years already. Many basic mistakes are made around with many NHL goaltenders. The use of the goaltender's stick to cut passes and plays around the net is almost extinct in the NHL. The elite number of goalies in the NHL that really covers all of those aspects does not stand on more than one hand.

But back towards Carey Price again, his ''coolness'' in net is now really a problem. Many easy saves end up in goals for this reason. That ''coolness'' turns up in laziness sooner or later. Also, not many reflex saves are made by Price.

And when was the last time you saw Carey ''flash the leather'' on an opponent? Oh sorry, he's too cool for that...

The Canadiens will now go to the west coast to play a series of games on the road. The Flames, the Oilers, the Avalanche, the Canucks, the Capitals and the Penguins will host. This trip will definitely be a strong indicator of the direction the Montreal Canadiens will go in the Eastern conference standings.

(Picture: Carey Price, Getty Images.)

6th Super Bowl title for the Steelers.

Despite a great comeback from the Arizona Cardinals late in the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to score the winning touchdown late to win Super Bowl XLIII.

Ben Roethlisberger passed to Santonio Holmes for the win.

The Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII and is now the first NFL franchise to win six Super Bowls.

In the fourth quarter, the Steelers' ten point lead vanished when Cards' wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald scored two touchdowns from QB Kurt Warner to push the Cards ahead by three points with just over two minutes to play.

Just like that, the big ''steel curtain'' saw the swift Larry Fitzgerald slip away from their grasp and steal the game. The Cards really did the impossible to win this game but unfortunatly fell short.

The Steelers kept their focus and orchestrated a great drive to finish in the end zone with Santonio Holmes catching a Ben Roethlisberger pass for the win.

Final score: Pittsburgh Steelers 27 - Arizona Cardinals 23.

I really enjoyed the game very much. The game was a lot more disputed than what the experts expected. The Cards gave a good run.

(Picture, Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes, Getty Images.)