Habs Well Rested for Game in T.O.

The Montreal Canadiens took a three hour nap last night in Ottawa while Cristobal Huet bravely faced the Senators all by himself. He fared alright, making 37 saves including some beauties. Unfortunately he produced very little offense as Huet lost 3-0.

You know something's screwy when the winning goaltender in a 3-0 game isn't even a consideration for one of the three stars.

"It shouldn't count," Hasek said of his fifth shutout this season and the 68th of his career.

The Habs looked like they were suffering from a collective bout with mononucleosis. The scary thing is they looked the same early on in the game against the Flyers two nights ago. Only after a couple of lucky breaks did they wake up and skate, so they could take advantage of Howie Morenz's spiritual possession of Jan Bulis for the evening. It's like their default setting is, "Lethargic and depressed because losing is a foregone conclusion. Skating makes my groin hurt anyway."

Despite the pathetic effort, Gainey was ready with excuses after the game:

"They had a power play for five or six minutes that disrupted what we were trying to accomplish," Gainey said. "In the second period, we were in the box five times for everything from clipping toe nails to whatever else they wanted to call."

Every cliché-flinging hockey junkie knows you have to keep moving your feet if you want to avoid taking penalties and/or draw penalties yourself. Judging from their interest level in the game, I would not have been surprised if I saw one or two Habs actually clipping their toenails on the bench.

Now for the showdown in Toronto. Perhaps the team took last night off to rest up for the game against the Leafs. Theo will probably get the start, if only due to Huet being fatigued after facing 67 shots in two nights. Theo has not done well against the Leafs this year (or any year, for that matter). Maybe Gainey should have thrown Theo to the wolves in Ottawa and saved Huet for the important game tomorrow night. Win or lose, the Habs better show up with a gonzo effort after that shameful display in Ottawa.