Derlique

Yeah, I've heard Quebec City is Montreal on steroids in terms of culture.

Went up to Montreal Friday night for the weekend. Cool city with tons of culture. I knew that it was predominantly French speaking, but I had no idea that it was so...French. All the signs are in French, as are the ads, etc, etc. I think that's pretty damn awesome that they've been able to keep that identity. Pretty much everyone speaks English, too, so it was easy to get around. If you ever make the trip up, you gotta go to Schwartz's and get the smoke meat sandwich. It's close to pastrami, but it was just so tender and flavorful. I thought poutine was decent, but I honestly gotta give the edge to disco fries. Not really a fan of the cheese curds. As for the game. Bell Centre has an awesome location in downtown MTL. There are plenty of bars, restaurants and other shops around the arena. The outside of the arena is littered with statues and monuments of Canadiens greats. Pretty cool to go around and read up on all the history of that franchise. IIRC, it's the biggest arena in terms of capacity, but there is not a bad seat in the house. We sat in the nosebleeds and had a good view of the action. Canadiens fans were pretty awesome, btw. Maybe it's because they suck, but I was expecting much worse. I hate watching away games and hearing their fans bitch and moan about every little call. There was none of that. Not gonna comment on the game other than the fact that Nico was a two-way beast. Maybe it;s because he played in the Q, but Canadiens fans love him. Shout out to the PA announcer for making his name French-- "Ee-she-ay". There were a lot of Devils fans in my section and as a result, were a few audible "LGD" chants. While I normally think stuff like that is cool, there were two classless Devils fans a few rows in front of us. They were flipping off Canadiens fans in the section when Hall scored and were taking selfies with random Habs fans. They also kept cursing and doing the RSFS chant every other minute. I had to apologize on behalf of our fanbase and had a good laugh with the locales. Also, the Canadian anthem in half French, half English is the best anthem in sports. So cool

Successful trip to Montreal. Will give thoughts on the Bell Center later. Time for a 6 hr drive back!

Big win. Will be in attendance tomorrow!

Meh, Florida didn't gain any ground even tho they played an easy game and we played a hard one. Everyone would've signed up for 7 of 8 vs. the pens

If they're riding Kinkaid, why not just have him play today and split the weekend? Why do we have to wait to see who the starter is?

Both Florida and Philly will be 'dogs tonight and I'll bet you anything they'll both win.... *please work, jinx*

Scored really cheap tickets ($15 each to sit in 211). Was a late arriving crowd but it filled up by the end of the first. I'd say it was about 90% full, which is a little disappointing during a playoff push, but it certainly got loud. The sing-songing of Darling was pretty excellent. I agree with Tri in regards to Mueller. You could see a few times, especially in the offensive zone, where his handedness either handcuffed him or killed a chance to move the puck. He can't really move the puck, but his speed is able to make him effective. Good for him to play some meaningful games down the stretch. You never know if we'll need him in these last 6 games, or dare I say, playoffs. Hall and Palmieri were in beast mode last night. Some of Hall's passes are out of this world. With Mackinnon slowing down, I could really see him getting a Hart nom. Zacha has been awesome since he's been back. Three straight games with a point since coming back from injury and defensively he's very sound. Easy to forget he's only 20, but he can really turn into a good 2C if he has the consistency.

That's pretty cool but I don't want that locker room cancer poisoning Nico

Yeah, there isn't much the team can do other than move Kinkaid and get more of a 1B next year. The good news is that he is only a few months removed from carrying the team, so there's no way he's completely done. His mechanics and confidence just seem like they're off. It's a shame because he was pretty much the sole bright spot for a few of the dark years and he's such a likeable guy. Just gotta ride Kinkaid 8 of the 9 games (Schneider should get one of the two back to backs) and hope he finds his groove back in the offseason.

Meh, not much to say. Back to back "heavy" games against good teams will do this to you. You could tell they didn't have their legs and it was compounded by them not making good decisions with the puck. Starting Kinkaid was stupid as hell, though. Yeah, he's been on a roll, but I think he's been lucky almost as much as he's been good. There have been a few puck playing miscues that could've ended up in the net during this streak. Not to mention he's making saves that he doesn't even see. Not that any goals were his fault last night, but still an interesting decision. I think you have to start Schneider on Tuesday even if you do consider Kinkaid your "starter". 3 games in 4 nights is way too much, especially for a guy not used to carrying the load. Plus there's the whole thing that Schneider is the more talented goalie. I know the pk is great, but it's so obvious how much of that is due to the forwards. I haven't seen two dmen (Lovejoy and Greene) who have as much trouble clearing the damn puck. It's just been downright depressing to see Greene's decline; though it should be expected at 35. Shero has to find a way to get him on the third pair next year. Lovejoy has been decent all year, but the last few weeks have just proven that he isn't a top six guy anymore. He was great in the 7th dman role where he would play every few games. I doubt Mueller is *that* much better but at least he has wheels. Everyone knows how much I love Severson, but he and Moore have been garbage together recently. Might be time to go 6-45, 8-28, 2-12. If they come out flat on Tuesday, I'll be concerned, but it is crazy that they already achieved .500 on this trip. Hopefully Wood is ok, but it looked bad.

That Grabner goal in Vegas may be what gets us into the playoffs. A hot Grabner down the stretch makes this team scary af

Want no part of Carlson. His numbers are inflated from playing PP1 with Ovechkin and Backstrom. Vatanen and Severson are more than fine on the right side. Now if he was a LD, that's a different story. Re: Tavares, I think the idea would be to play him apart from Hall. Have two dominant lines that makes it impossible to choose who to match your top guys against: Hall-Hischier-Bratt Johansson-Tavares-Palmieri That top 6 is beautiful

So Philly is legit in trouble now. That's cool

Haha well, they got one win which is something. We'll see Haha well, they got one win which is something. We'll see

24 and change. A little too high for my taste but oh well

TOI last night: Hischier: 12:28 Hall: 13:46 Palmieri: 13:47 Nice to get some of the big guys a little rest.

So sorry for your loss.

Vegas has been winning a lot, but has not been playing great hockey lately. Fleury played two nights ago, faced 40 shots, had to fly cross country. Maybe they play their backup??

Heh, I've actually been more impressed with him lately. It is important to note he has been dragging Lovejoy around for awhile

How many good teams are there really in the NL? Cubs, Nats, Dodgers and? I like the Mets, Brewers and Cardinals more than them, but both of those teams have major ??? too

Phillies' rotation is going to be sneaky good, I think. Arietta, Nola is a very good 1-2 punch. Eickhoff and Velasquez are both decent starters as well. Then you have an improved lineup with Santana, a full year of Hoskins along with Herrera and Hernandez. Might be a sneaky wildcard contender

Devils did what they had to do. Annoyed that they took their foot off the gas the last five minutes, but at least there are a couple of lessons to be learned. I agree with Triumph that Schneider should get the next game. Kinkaid was pretty bad on two of the goals and got bailed out by the offense. I would've rather seen Schneider get this game to build confidence, but beggars cant be choosers.

Very jealous of the setup CR. Well done MB

Yes, it's a day early, but after an evening and morning/early afternoon of some needed bitching and complaining, it's a good time to turn the page. This is almost a must win with the looming road trip out West. Montreal is in tank mode with Weber, Price, Pacioretty and Mete hurt. LGD