Crosby Crushes The Canadiens' Winning Streak.

Sidney Crosby scored three goals on Wednesday evening against the Montreal Canadiens and helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win by the score of 6 to 1.

The Montreal Canadiens' winning streak has been stopped at four consecutive games and the overall team record stands at six wins and six losses after twelve games.

Jaroslav Halak was the starting goaltender for a fifth game in a row in this one but was pulled by head coach Jacques Martin during the third period. Carey Price allowed two goals in relief. We can expect Price's return as starting goaltender for the next game.

But the star of the show was Sidney Crosby who completed his hat trick during the second period of the game. The Penguins captain and his troops have an impressive 11-2 record this season.

(Picture: Sidney Crosby, Canadian Press.)

The ''Good Old Days'' Look.

Are you of those who liked the good old days? I remember those great looking bicycles we used to ride on all afternoon long when we were kids. Today, it seems that everyone is using the same mountain bike style.

If you are like me and prefer the good old days, then you should take a look at the selection of stylish bicycles available at www.cruiserstyle.com. And what are those bikes used to look like? Well, for example, this great looking pink beach cruiser, also an interesting selection of kids cruiser is available and they even have choppers! Of course, some accessories and some bike racks are always useful.

Some very interesting shapes and colors are available on cruiserstyle.com. And if you think that those bikes don't sell, make no mistake: they are selling tons of them!

Located in California, the service in the U.S. is handled through FedEx shipping. And of course, it makes a great gift for Christmas.

Montreal Canadiens: Four Wins In A Row With Halak.

The Montreal Canadiens ended their six-game home stand with four consecutive wins with a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Monday night.

The Islanders were a more difficult opponent this time. After being outclassed by the score of 5-1 last week, the Islanders forced an overtime period but ultimately lost the game when Roman Hamrlik scored the decisive goal during the overtime period. This was already the fourth overtime victory for the Canadiens this season.

But I want to keep the focus on goaltender Jaroslav Halak for a moment. Montreal Canadiens' head coach Jacques Martin decided to go with his hottest goaltender in order to win games lately. Martin did not force Carey Price in against the New York Rangers on Saturday like we all expected. Mike Cammalleri's hat trick performance won that game after the team went down by a two goal margin on two different occasions.

The Canadiens will play the defending champions Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. Will Jacques Martin send Jaroslav Halak in net once again or will he try to send Carey Price in action to extend the team's winning streak to five games?

(Picture: Roman Hamrlik, Canadian Press.)

Montreal Canadiens: A winning streak!

The Montreal Canadiens waited until the 9th game of the regular season to win a first game in regulation. A convincing 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

It is true that the best performance of the season came against one of the weakest team of the league but the way the team has been playing lately, any good news is welcome.

Scott Gomez, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Max Pacioretty, Mike Cammalleri and Maxim Lapierre scored for Montreal while only Josh Bailey beat Jaroslav Halak and avoided the shut out.

The Canadiens is currently on two wins in a row and will play the New York Rangers on Saturday evening. Who will be in net for the Canadiens on Saturday? Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price?

Head coach Jacques Martin has an important decision to take.

(Picture: Getty Images.)

Montreal Canadiens: Five Straight Losses, Calling Bergeron Up.

The Montreal Canadiens will try to stop their losing streak to five straight games tonight when they will host the Atlanta Trashers.

Acquired after Andrei Markov's injury, Marc-Andre Bergeron will play his first game with the Canadiens tonight.

Outside Ilya Kovalchuk's playing quality, the Trashers never represented a force in the NHL since their arrival. It is then a good occasion for the Habs to snap out of their losing streak tonight with a strong performance. The Canadiens did not give a full 60 minute effort this far this season and it would be a great time to start doing so.

As for Marc-Andre Bergeron, he will wear the ''bleu blanc rouge'' uniform for the first time of his career. A dream for any French-Canadian hockey player. He was impressed by the size of the Canadiens' dressing room and can't wait to contribute.

This season, Bergeron played three games in the AHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs and registered 6 assists. Shawn Belle was sent back to Hamilton.

Yesterday, head coach Jacques Martin talked about his expectations regarding Marc-Andre Bergeron. The Habs coach should use him on the man-advantage along with Jaroslav Spacek and will give him around 16-18 minutes of ice time.

(Picture: Marc-Andre Bergeron, RDS.)

Montreal Canadiens Season Opener: Will You Cheer or Will You Boo?

The Montreal Canadiens will open their home season at the Bell Centre after playing their first five games of the 2009-2010 season on the road.

The early season road trip brought so many discussion topics to the couch managers. Hell, the press still cares and debates about what will happen to Sergei Kostitsyn! The guy's in the AHL...move on guys!

So, despite losing to injury defense mens, Andrei Markov and Ryan O'Byrne, losing 7 to 1 to the Vancouver Canucks, despite losing their last three games of this road trip and finally despite being ranked the 29th penalty killing unit of the NHL, the Canadiens managed to win two of those five games, for four points in the standings. That's a tie with the 7th place in the Eastern Conference before tonight's games.

The regular season AND the finger pointing season is now started. Especially the second one.

After five games, the candidates for the ''I have so much fingers pointed at me right now!'' award would be: Carey Price for his Vancouver game, Andrei Kostitsyn because it's ''in'' to blame him, Hal Gill for his -3 and 11 PIM, Maxim Lapierre and Max Pacioretty for their absence.

I know I have not mentioned a couple of others, pick your own winners and go ahead, blame them.

For me, and for a few others, I see the glass half full. I did not expect a good start and I believe that the team will suffer a lot until the new year.

The team has four points, which were won by none other than Carey Price and the new players on the roster. In two of five games Price played well enough to steal the win while the Gionta-Gomez-Cammalleri trio gave a couple of options to head coach Jacques Martin. We still are waiting for Cammaleri's first goal of the season but his presence is positive on the ice. I still think the he will have a good season and score his 30 goals.

Winning a game is big for the Canadiens right now, and for a couple of months. Each win will reduce the amount of points the team will have to recover in the final rat race towards the playoffs.

And right now, the Canadiens will host the next six games. Will you cheer or will you boo?

You will be the sixth player on the ice for the next six games. Think before booing.

(Picture: Brian Gionta, AP.)

How About A $20,000 Kitchen Makeover Canada?

You have read correctly, Dr. Oetker Kitchen Makeover Contest, offers Canadian residents to register right now for a chance to win a $20,000 kitchen makeover!

All that is needed to do is to pick up your PIN from a specially marked package of Casa di Mama Pizza from Dr. Oetker and visit the contest site, register and enter your PIN. The contest ends on January 4th 2010 and is for Canadian residents only.

A couple of very interesting minor prizes are also up for grabs. Eight secondary winners will each pick up one of the following Whirlpool kitchen appliances. A fridge/freezer, an electric range, a dishwasher and a microwave only to name those. An additional 2,000 people will win either a Casa di Mama Pizza or a pizza cutter.

I can't stop thinking about what my kitchen would look like after a $20,000 makeover. My house would never look the same again with such an investment. Think about it: A brand new fridge, a brand new range and oven, a brand new coffee machine (oh yes...), a brand new table and new chairs! A total makeover.

I know you want to win too. Just get your PIN with your next Casa di Mama Pizza purchase and register on Dr. Oetker's contest site.

Anyone can register as many PINs as he wishes. Good luck and bon appetit!

Vancouver defeats Montreal 7-1: Price not to blame.

The Montreal Canadiens came back to the harsh reality of Western conference play as they lost a second game in two nights by the score of 7-1 to the Vancouver Canucks.

Incidently, Vancouver was looking for a first win this season and Roberto Luongo had a 4.50 GAA before the game. Two very good reasons explaining their solid outing.

The number of goals scored on goaltender Carey Price looks bad but he is not to blame on five of those seven goals. Three of those goals were scored on a breakaway.

The Canadiens' defense without Andrei Markov is not able to match any ''top line on a good night'' in the league and Price will continue to see a lot of shots and odd-man rushes in the coming months. The addition of defense men Paul Mara and Hal Gill by General Manager Bob Gainey is not helping either. Those two players really lack speed and will require at least half a season to get going.

The Montreal Canadiens could dramatically sink in the standings until the new year. A rat race to come back into the playoff hunt is a possible scenario awaiting the team for this 2009-2010 season.

Those of you that thinks that Carey Price will have another awful season should wait a little bit before saying: ''I told you!'' A new attitude is noted by the people surrouding the athlete while unlike last year, a major part of his family is now settled in Montreal, thousands of miles closer.

Head coach Jacques Martin was unhappy with his team and conducted a punitive practice session this morning.

(Picture: Canadian Press.)

Montreal Canadiens: First loss of the season.

The Montreal Canadiens were playing their third game of the season tonight as they were in western Canada to face the Calgary Flames.

The Canadiens has won their first two games of the season but it was in large part because of the fantastic play of the goaltender, Carey Price. For tonight's game, Jaroslav Halak was in net for the Habs.

The Flames dominated the play during the first period. Eric Nystrom opened the score for Calgary. but the Canadiens struck late into the period when Scott Gomez and Guillaume Latendresse beat Mikka Kiprusoff in a 32 second span.

Eric Nystrom tied the game up with his second goal of the game halfway into the second period. Then Jarome Iginla gave the lead to Calgary when he pounced on a rebound from the goal post on a shot from the blue line. Halak is still looking for this puck.

But the Canadiens tied the score at 3 before the end of the second period when Tomas Plekanec beat Kiprusoff with a wild back handed shot.

The Flames scored the winning goal early into the third period when Eric Nystrom completed his first career hat trick goal. Mikka Kiprusoff closed the door to any comeback with timely saves.

Final score: Calgary Flames 4 - Montreal Canadiens 3.

(Picture: Eric Nystrom and Jaroslav Halak, Canadian Press.)

Andrei Markov's injury: A big challenge for the Montreal Canadiens.

The first victory of the season for the Montreal Canadiens came with a huge price tag. The team's best defense men, Andrei Markov, was injured and will be sidelined for up to four months.

The incident came during the third goal of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens goaltender, Carey Price, went on the ice in an attempt to stop the puck and clipped Markov's left foot with the blade of his skate. The incident at first look seems to be minor but the injury that resulted is catastrophic for the team.

The challenge will be to play all this time without their best player. The Canadiens cannot replace a player like Andrei Markov. Canadiens' head coach Jacques Martin will have to find a solution to this problem. The Habs held a record of 6-19-2 without the russian player in the lineup.

The team could call up Yannick Weber, Matthieu Carle or P.K. Subban from the Hamilton Bulldogs to fill the spot.

(Picture: Andrei Markov, Getty Images.)

Canadiens opens the season with an overtime win.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Montreal Canadiens tonight as the 2009-2010 season kicks off tonight.

The intense rivalry between those two teams was re-ignited very early into this game as Georges Laraque and Colton Orr fought, followed by a meeting between Travis Moen and Jay Rosehill.

The Canadiens scored shortly after as Brian Gionta scored during a man-advantage with a shot that beat Vesa Toskala. This was Gionta's first goal as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Alex Ponikarovski tied the score for the Leafs before the end of the first period.

Montreal took the lead once again with the help of the checking line when Travis Moen scored with the help of Georges Laraque and Glen Metropolit. Once again, the Leafs tied the score when Matt Stajan tipped in a feed from his defense men on a man-advantage.

Stajan sent the Leafs ahead by 3-2 with his second goal of the game. The hot streak against the Canadiens continues for him as he seems to always keeps his best games for the Habs.

But despite being dominated in the play, the Canadiens tied the game when Glen Metropolit tipped a shot from Josh Georges during another man-advantage.

Josh Georges made the difference during th overtime period with an opportunistic goal. The Canadiens steal the season opener by the score of 4-3.

The best players on the Habs side were Glen Metropolit, Josh Georges, Brian Gionta, Mike Camallari and the goaltender, Carey Price who stopped 43 of the 46 shots he faced.

It is a disappointing start for the Leafs as they played a solid game overall. But this season is very young. For the fans, and for my own pleasure,it was great to see the coolest sport on earth in action once again.

(Picture: Josh Goeges and Carey Price, Canadian Press.)