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HEAD COACH
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Alain Vigneault
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ROSTER
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C - Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Matt
Higgins, Trent McLeary, Sergei Zholtok. LW - Shayne Corson,
Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Andrei
Bashkirov, Dave Morissette, Patrick Poulin. RW - Mark Recchi,
Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund, Jason Dawe. D - Vladimir
Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Brett Clark,
Miloslav Guren, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Eric
Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine. G Jose Theodore, Jeff Hackett.
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INJURIES
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Vladimir Malakhov, d (back spasms, day-to-day);
Mark Recchi, rw (pneumonia, day-to-day); Brian Savage, rw
(strained groin, day-to-day); Scott Thornton, c (torn abdominal
wall muscle, approximately 2-3 weeks).
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TRANSACTIONS
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12/15 - acquired right winger Jason Dawe from the
New York Islanders. 12/19 - Theodore was assigned to the Baby
Habs for the day, along with Matt Higgins, Sergei Zholtok
and Alain Nasreddine.
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GAME RESULTS
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12/09 at Phoenix L 4-2
12/11 at Dallas L 3-2
12/12 Nashville T 2-2
12/14 Phoenix T 2-2
12/18 at Buffalo L 4-2
12/19 New Jersey T 1-1
12/21 Dallas T 2-2
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STANDINGS
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Northeast Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Toronto 32 19 11 2 40 105 90
Buffalo 28 17 6 5 39 83 51
Boston 30 15 9 6 36 82 61
Ottawa 29 14 12 3 31 86 73
Montreal 32 8 17 7 23 70 92
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TEAM NEWS
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by Jacques Robert, Montreal Correspondent
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"Believe in Victory"
"Be brave, you'll win." Those words were on a sign held by a 10-
year-old boy at the game in Montreal against New Jersey. That
child's analysis might just be right: the Habs haven't won in so
long that they don't know what victory feels like. And perhaps,
they had to face the devil's eye to start believing in themselves
and to know what they're really made of, and guess what? They're
not that bad!
They might not have defeated the Devils on December 19, but they
could have broken a curse: for once they scored in the third to
tie the game 1-1 in the 14th minute when Stevenson lifted a
short shot beyond Martin Brodeur. Although very encouraging,
this one-point game left the right-winger skeptical about the
future, "It's like kissing your sister. Those games are not
sufficient to catch up, we need to win."
Winless since Nov. 30, the Habs have made a habit of giving up
goals in the last minutes of a game. On Dec. 9 against Dallas,
they had managed to come back from a two-goal deficit to tie the
game in the second period. But, with 2:49 minutes remaining in
the third, Jamie Langenbrunner scored against Theodore, who has
not posted a win since Nov. 9. The Habs blew another lead
against Phoenix when Teppo Numminen scored with 1:53 in the third
as Montreal was leading 2-1. And let's not forget Buffalo's
Vaclav Varada's fluke goal late in the second period that threw
off the Habs for the remainder of the game which they lost 4-2.
It seems that the high the team (and the fans) gained from the
tie against New Jersey lasted only for about two periods against
Dallas on Dec. 21. After they took the lead 2-0 in the second,
the Habs were on their way to victory in the third, but as faith
would have it... Dallas scored at 13:54 of the second to take
control of the rest of the game with 16 shots on goal in the
second (Habs, 11) and 11 in the third (Habs, 6). Darryl Sydor
scored while Malakhov was blocking Hackett's view with 6:06 left
in the third. With this tie, the Stars, first overall at 19-5-6,
kept alive a nine-game unbeaten streak and the Habs posted their
fourth tie in five games.
It's no wonder that Dave King said, "The Habs are not a very
happy team." The chemistry is still good but it's disappointing
to post only two wins in 19 games. And also think about all of
the tied games (five of the last 10), including the last two
against New Jersey and Phoenix. It makes one think about the
necessity to impose a shootout if an overtime period is not
sufficient to determine a real winner.
At least two names come out of all this shining: Brunet and
Hackett. The first has been giving his all and scoring important
goals, and the second makes good saves to keep his team in a
game. Hackett made 41 saves out of 43 shots on goal against
Nashville while his teammates made 27 shots. The goalie seems
very hopeful. "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We
have a good team. When our injured players come back, we will be
playing at full speed. We've been playing well for the last two
week," said Hackett.
We will soon see if Hackett is right and if the Habs should take
the 10-year-old boy with his sign along for the long stretch of
road games. The team that is posting the worst road record might
just need that inspiration when it faces Ottawa, Toronto,
Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Colorado. The outcome could
decide if the Habs get a playoff spot or a good draft choice.
And please, Santa, no tie for Christmas...
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