THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY TAKE 38

It was oddly subdued in the rink tonight, even before Jason Arnott opened the scoring midway through the game. I thought the mood would be festive, and perhaps it would have been had Thomas Plekanec beaten Jaroslav Halak early in the first, but one gets the feeling that reality has set in for the vast majority of Canadiens fans - that it's going to take a minor miracle to reach the playoffs. And after a thin Slovak kid did his thing three years ago, asking for another one of those miracles is just being too greedy. Especially in the year of Tebow.

THE GOOD

• The Canadiens PK Unit was perfect (4 for 4). Come to think of it, that's where the St. Louis Blues might go shopping at the trade deadline. Because other than their power play the Blues look to be championship calibre.
• Josh Gorges was best Montreal player. Nothing against Gorges but that's not saying much on this night.
• PK Subban shift in the second period when he laid out Barret Jackman with his best body check of the season, followed moments later by a key shot block.
• Mathieu Darche shift in the third when he sprawled to block a shot in his own end then forced a turnover deep in St. Louis territory. All that work but no shot on goal.
• The tributes pouring in all day for "The Professor" Ron Caron, culminating in a moment of silence prior to the game involving the two teams Caron worked so hard for.
• Halak fans who waited through the final 20 minutes to pay tribute to their man. And the Blues forcing their #2 goaltender (at the moment) to take a post game bow even before the three stars were announced.

THE BAD

• Plekanec's inability to beat Halak on that shorthanded breakaway in the first three minutes. Turning point of the game. Credit Halak with a terrific save but of all the people in the Bell Centre nobody should know better than Plekanec that you cannot beat Halak low along the ice. Typical of the kind of season Plekanec is having.
• PK Subban allowing 4th liner Ryan Reaves to blow by him leading to the winning goal by Arnott. Reaves, in picking up his first point of the season, looked like Mason Raymond.
• Alexei Emelin. Terrible give away led to final goal of the night by Chris Stewart. Truth is the game was over long before that. First rough night in over a month for the Russian rookie.
• Hal Gill. Beaten badly by Stewart to the outside then set up to block a shot by David Backes only to fully screen Carey Price who was easily beaten on the stick side to make it 2 - 0. Gill played under 12:00 and was -2. If I'm a contending team looking for some veteran help on the blue line but especially to help kill penalties I'd surrender a low draft choice to get Gill. Way before I pay any price for Chris Campoli.
• The Plekanec - Gionta - Cammalleri trio. Again. Combined to go -6.
• Mike Cammalleri. Just when it seemed he had turned a corner. Late in the second period Cammalleri was set up alone in the high slot and fired the puck...wide. 
• Gionta re-injuring his shoulder or collarbone or elbow or arm or whatever it is they merely refer to as an "upper body" injury. 
• Bell Centre music. Was that a set list from the lamest ipod in Montreal? Just awful.
• Blue Jays tribute. Nice touch by organist Dorothy Bibeau to play "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" as the scoreboard showed a bunch of guys sitting in a lodge wearing Habs jerseys. Those guys were Ricky Romero, Brett Lawrie, Casey Janssen & J.P. Arencibia who were in town as part of the Toronto Blue Jays winter caravan. If you're going to show them on the scoreboard at least put their names up there. Reaction in the rink was like the sound of one hand clapping.
• No birthday gift from the Habs to TSN 990's Sean Campbell. Presumably Campbell celebrated elsewhere.
• Finding out at game time that Pat Hickey was on the injured list following a car accident. Get well Pat.

THE UGLY

• The boos. They began late in the second period after Cammalleri missed the net on that scoring chance and continued through a good chunk of the third with Cammalleri again being the main target, or so it seemed.
• Montreal power play. The NHL's worst power play (and that includes Thomas Kaberle & Campoli) went 0 -3 with one single shot on goal. Season percentage is 12.8, only team in the league under 13%. Maybe Kaberle will turn it around Thursday in Boston.