Party On, Garth

Rookies have been a big story this year. Without any really big name youngsters, it's been rookie by committee in Montreal. The Habs dressed twelve forwards last night versus the Coyotes, and five were first-year players. Two of the lesser-used kids connected for the first goal when Garth Murray drew the second assist on Andrei Kostitsyn first NHL goal on his first NHL shot.

Indeed, the Habs received plenty of unexpected production with goals from Jan Bulis and even Niklaus Sundstrom. The last time Sunny scored a goal, I think Gretzky was his linemate in New York.

Gretzky and his coaching staff must be the most animated bunch in the league. The Great One shows more emotion behind the bench than he ever did as a player. Must be his workload, because he's got another case of the rants. To be fair, I think Cujo had a point about Sundstrom's goal. It looked like a high stick to me, although it was judged to be a goal after a five minute long review. The review was probably inconclusive.

Interesting: The Habs icetime leaders at forward and defense were Steve Begin and Sheldon Souray, respectively.

Red Fisher spells it 'Kostitsyn.' Bill Beacon of the CP is still using 'Kastsitsyn.' Just to make life difficult for the press, the Habs should use Cyrillic lettering for their Russian (and Belarusian) players.

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Once in a while, the ol' grump Don Cherry shows his soft side. Grapes is in Moncton today hosting a fundraising luncheon for Sebastien Savage.