Stay calm and Carey on…..even if Mr. Price is not playing

What the hell is wrong with you people? They lose one game and you are in a total effin panic. People saying the series is over. Philippe Falardeau – Philippe Falardeau for God’s sake! – saying Rangers in five, with or without Carey Price. Get a grip.

You need to talk to the What Me Worry Kid. Cos you know what Carey ‘Alfred E. Neuman’ Price would say. ‘Just chill out man’. It’s just one game.

Yeah it was a blow-out but so what? You lose 3-2 in overtime or 7-2, it don’t make an inch of difference. You lost one game. All good teams bounce back from this kind of loss. Chicago has done it in these playoffs. Have you seen what L.A. has done? They stared down a 3-zip start to a series and roared back to win.

And we’ve dealt with adversity too. You may recall that Boston series. It just ended. The Good Guys were down 3-2. They’d just played a plain awful game five in Boston. They came out flat. They looked like they were playing the Islanders on a Thursday night in November. And a lot of you panicked then too.

And guess what? The Habs came back and played what I’m calling their best game of the past decade in game six. And just to further refresh your memory, the Canadiens then went into that hostile rink in Beantown for game seven and taught the Bruins a lesson. Our pal Milan is still in therapy trying to work through that loss.

So please, to cop a line from a great Aislin cartoon, can everyone take a Valium. It’s 1-0 for the Rangers. The series is just starting. Yeah they’re way faster than the Bruins. Yes Therrien has to adjust his game. And I think he will. Maybe you get Galchenyuk tonight and, if not tonight, then Thursday. Hopefully you kick Bourque’s butt straight into the press box and bring in either Moen or, even better, Ryan White.

I believe Price will be playing but if he’s not, suck it up. Your not the first team to lose your starting goalie. The Ducks went through about 17 goalies. Sh– happens. Price has a just okay game in the first game of the Tampa series and the Habs still found a way to win.

So stop freaking out. It’s a nice day. Go out and enjoy yourself. And get ready for a very different Habs come 8 tonight.

Habs in seven. And yes I called it Habs in seven over the Bruins. I’m way better at this predicting stuff than Louis Morissette.

Believe.

P.S. I filed this and one minute later saw the news that Price is out for the series. I stick with everything I wrote. Suck it up. Show character. Or go home.

And when in doubt, watch this 1971 playoff highlight reel.

It smells positively Cup-like

I agree with my pal and favourite philosophy prof Daniel Weinstock. Ca sent la Coupe. Re-sign Michel Therrien for ten more years. Lock up the great Rene Bourque for the rest of his career (he actually did a good imitation of a professional hockey player last night). Great job by the fans at the Bell Centre who turned those sarcastic (Bronx) cheers for Daniel Briere into real cheers (not jeers). I’m setting up my deck chair on Ste. Catherine St. this morning, prepping for the parade to follow the usual route.

Ah the fickle Habs fans. Philippe Falardeau was at the game Saturday night – that embarrassing 5-zip shellacking courtesy of the Washington Capitals – and the noted Quebec filmmaker – who just wrapped work on his first American film, The Good Lie, with Reese Witherspoon – said he’d never seen anything like it.

When Briere let loose the infamous fourth Habs shot of the night about half way through the game, Falardeau said people were standing cheering (jeering) wildly…in contempt. 72 hours later, Montreal wins 3-0 against a not-very-good Carolina Hurricanes team and all of a sudden the city is in a Cup frenzy.

So maybe we should all just calm down. And remember that Les (Petits) Boys are headed to Beantown Thursday to meet the Bruins. In other words, Les Glorieux are a couple of goals away from the Stanley Cup Final.