MONTREAL, QC. — Last night at the Bell Center, for the second time this season, Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens shutout the Toronto Maple Leafs, this time by the score of 3-0. Back on November 20, the score had been 2-0, and the season series is now even with both teams having won two games a piece.
On behalf of the entire AllHabs.net team, I’d first of all like to thank everyone who came to McLean’s Pub last night for the Montreal Habs TweetUp. The turnout was great with once again, Habs fans coming from as far as Quebec City, Massachusetts and Philadelphia. Food, alcohol, prizes, games, a shutout against the Leafs and great peeps was a great recipe for success. RSVP now for the next event!
Back to the game, although the first period was high in shots (15-11 in favor of the Habs), both teams were scoreless going into the intermission and the period itself was highlighted by a fight involving none other then P.K. Subban with only seven seconds remaining in the period.
The play prior to this had ended with both Subban and Joffrey Lupul pushing and shoving at each other following the whistle. On the next play, Lupul hit Subban in the Canadiens end, Subban shoved Lupul and it took nothing more for the fight to begin. Let the controversy begin.
Lupul turned towards Subban, dropped his gloves and reached for his helmet in an attempt to pull it off. Here’s where Lupul made his mistake, as he did this, he skated towards Subban. What Subban did next is what anybody would do if they saw an opponent coming at them without any gloves and both fists high, he started swinging.
The fight itself was pretty even (hockeyfights.com has 46% of voters giving the fight to Subban, with 38% calling it a draw), but Lupul wasn’t too excited about the fact that Subban got a jump on him, and expressed this through the media following the game.
“I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt this time, but eventually he’s going to stop getting the benefit of the doubt from guys around the league,” Lupul said. “I don’t have a problem with him, the way he plays or anything. “I think he’s a good young, exciting player but his name keeps coming up in the media over and over again and I’m telling you eventually guys are going to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
“He’s got a lot to learn.”
P.K., P.K., P.K., what are we going to do with you…
The Montreal Canadiens went on to win this game 3-0, with Price getting his sixth shutout of the season. Benoit Pouliot, Brian Gionta and David Desharnais netted the goals, but all the talk after the game seemed to once again be surrounding P.K. Subban. I guess Mike Richards would describe this as, “Subban once again disrespecting the game and its veterans.”
Subban had the following to say to the media when asked about this.
“If I’d have knocked him out when he was trying to get his helmet off, that’s one thing, but I didn’t hit him,” said Subban. “It was fine. There was no animosity at all.”
It’s all baloney as my grandmother would say. The kid should not even have to answer to this type of question. As many questioned the fact he was according to them, “not fighting enough,” now that he does, they need to find another way to bring him down, so now he’s not “fighting properly enough.” Again, baloney I tell you.
In my opinion, Lupul didn’t think Subban would fight him, after all, Lupul is up to date with what the media has to say about Subban right? He said it himself. So Lupul thought Subban would shy away. He got careless, cocky, and got a little more then he thought he was going to have to handle.
In your face Lupul! You lost the fight (arguably), and your team lost the game (Can’t deny that one now).
As the perception grows that everything Subban does or says is never right, it was funny to see fans of the Montreal Canadiens having fun with this on twitter today as the #BlameSubban hashtag came back to life. Here’s a list of some funny ones I came across:
- what really hit the pentagon #blamesubban – @crosseyed_mofo
- Watching the Olympics special on CTV, can’t help but #blamesubban for Melissa Hollingsworth missing the podium. – @mtlhypocrites
- CTV just showed the Olympic torch snafu at the opening ceremonies again. I still #blamesubban – @heymynameiswill
- My girl’s off to Chile tonite for 1 month, she wont be with me for Valentines Day…Must be P.K. Subban’s fault #BlameSubban #Habs – @mcuya
- Bruins lose two straight games to Detroit #blamesubban – @ericforest
- Tomorrow’s Monday #blamesubban – @JMtomei
- Just got quoted on HFBoards. I, of course, #blamesubban for this. – @CrimsonSkorpion
- I #blamesubban for the fact that it’s two degrees out in Toronto and all the snow has turned into giant puddles and your feet get wet…. – @bailsebeth
- My iPhone won’t play Flash. #blamesubban – @iafite1787
- remember when iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad supposively won the election? #blamesubban – @sluuby
And my favorite from friend of AllHabs.net Arpon Basu:
- I just paid $10 for a can of maple syrup even though I live in the maple syrup capital of the world. What’s up with that? I #blamesubban – @ArponBasu
Tomorrow is Monday, so when you get to work, or school, or wherever tomorrow takes you, and you realize just how much you miss the weekend, do the easy thing, BLAME SUBBAN.
Notes:
- David Desharnais (1-1) and Roman Hamrlik (0-2) had two points each.
- Max Pacioretty left the game with a shoulder injury. The seriousness of the injury is currently unknown.
- The Habs play their next game at home Tuesday (Feb 15) as they host the Buffalo Sabres.
(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)