Written by Habsterix, AllHabs.net

PENTICTON, BC. — Here are a few thoughts on different topics surrounding the events of the week. Andrei Markov’s return, Tomas Kaberle a new daddy, Josh Gorges acts as a goalie, Carey’s new mask, Leafs and Bruins’ struggles, Saku’s 1000th NHL game and the famous “loser points”. Feel free to post your comments as they are always welcomed.

1- The Habs are 3-0-3 in their last six games and they have caught the Islanders in the Eastern Conference standings. While this frustrates many fans (yours truly included) wishing to take advantage of this injury-filled season to get a great draft pick, there isn’t much we can do about it but to cheer them on.

2- The much anticipated return of Andrei Markov made headlines. Randy Cunneyworth did a great job in putting Markov in situations to succeed by somewhat limiting his ice time. Even though he didn’t score, fans and players appreciated when Cunneyworth sent Markov in a shootout at the Bell Centre not once, but twice, giving the crowd a chance to get on its feet and salute his return.

3- Speaking of Markov, there are many around the team hinting that the Habs used the fact that he had a puck in the mouth to hide the true reason for giving the defenseman a break. Wild speculation was that his knee was swollen and the team didn’t want to say it. When management is acting like they have this season with the secrecy that we know, one can’t be surprised when rumours like this circulate.

4- Last on Markov, some feel like the Canadiens should ensure that he doesn’t participate in the IIHF World Championships while others think that it would be a good idea to let him play for his home country. Truthfully, there are good points being made on both sides of the fence on this topic.

5- Tomas Kaberle is out with an upper body injury, the team informed us. On March 14, the Canadiens had published that Kaberle was absent from practice to spend the day with his girlfriend Julia who was expecting their first child. The combination of the two news made its round on social media with people jokingly saying that Kaberle got hurt during delivery. Congratulations to the couple for the birth of baby Lukas!

6- Josh Gorges performance against the Senators on Friday night was simply amazing. He played over 26 minutes including more than 11 minutes short-handed, was a plus-1 with a team leading six hits and he was credited with 10 blocked shots! To put things in perspective, Senators’ goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 13 shots.

7- Back in January, if someone would have suggested that the Habs would be in a position to catch the Leafs in the standings in March, they would have been laughed at. Today, it’s a strong possibility.

8- I will go on record by saying that Carey Price’s new mask is by far my favourite of them all. I just love the chrome reflective look but in my opinion, they could (or should) have gone without the flames on it. Perhaps feathers instead, for his native aboriginal inheritance, might have been a better choice.

9- Back on Randy Cunneyworth for a second… He was put in a position to fail with the language issues and the team starting a grueling road trip at the time. Of course, he will be judged by his record as a coach but fans and players must respect the man. Each time, after sitting a player or calling him out publicly, he has given that player every chance thereafter to redeem himself. We saw it after he sent Lars Eller to the pressbox, after the P.K. Subban and Randy Ladouceur incident, and more recently after calling out Rene Bourque publicly. While players have pride and don’t like to be disciplined, they respect to be given the chance to make amends.

10- Since the story about Tim Thomas refusing to go to the White House with the rest of his team, the Bruins have a record of 10-14-1. In that stretch, they have scored 56 goals and have allowed 80. I’m sure that I’m not the only one enjoying every minute of seeing the Bruins’ struggles. Habs fans, Canucks fans and other NHL fans around the league love seeing Ottawa catching them and even passing them in the standings for a day. This is going to be a good race until the end.

11- Saku Koivu played his 1,000th regular-season NHL game on March 12th against the Colorado Avalanche. This milestone made some Habs’ fans storm social medias trying to force the Habs to retire his number 11. While Saku is the second longest serving captain in Habs’ history and he does have a love affair with the fans in Montreal, we only have to look at a few other names who’s jerseys aren’t retired to realize that it’s not high on the priority list. Guy Carbonneau and Jacques Lemaire are a couple of names that come to mind and while they have comparable careers to Saku, they’ve also won in Montreal.

12- Reading a bit everywhere on fan forums and social media that some fans don’t like the term “loser point”, when referring to the point given to teams who lose in overtime or in a shootout. The fact remains that they are loser points regardless if people like it or not. When the NHL, in their wisdom, decided that tie games were no longer fitting, the point given for a tie game should have been cancelled. In NHL history, teams never had an extra point for winning a game. There has always been two points for a win, so it now means that the loser gets a point, therefore the “loser point.” Having said that, it is doubtful that the NHL ever removes them for a monetary reason: more teams in playoffs’ races, the more interest and better tickets sales late in the season.

En français: Repassage en Famille