It's time to start playing some playoff Hockey!

 The habs play the panthers tonight and Tampa on Saturday. So there is no better way to improve their road record and show they can battle with any team in the league by winning both games. That being said, Tampa will be a great test for the habs. Guy Boucher has that team very well prepared and with Lecavalier back on the right path they are a very dangerous team with a lot of offensive weapons.
          I predict that the habs will allow a lot of shots and score important goals on the powerplay. Yesterday morning they worked hard on their power play strategies and their transition game. The media made a big story out of Coach Martin raising his voice at practice, but come on is that really a big story to report, what NHL coach doesn't raise his voice in practice one time or another. They complain when Martin doesn't show emotion, and now they complain when he does! No matter what, the Montreal media will never be happy.
           Now for the idea of putting Plekanec at the point on the powerplay, I think that is a good idea. Plekanec has good vision and is a good passer, with those weapons and Wisniewski's slap shot that might work well, but we're going to have to give Pleky some time to adjust. I know exactly why Coach Martin is trying Plekanec on the point and the reason is because he wants to give Powerplay ice time to Desharnais without taking too much away from Gomez. Because he needs Gomez to get back on track, so he is giving him all the tools to do so. And honestly Gomez is going nowhere and they are not going to buy out his contract, so might as well give him what he needs to get back his game from last spring, because who ever understands a bit about hockey knows he was an important factor in the habs success in last year's playoffs.
           Coach Martin announced that Price will be in nets tonight; look for Price to have a solid night without making outstanding saves. And also look from where shots will come, I will tell right now not a lot of them will come from the slot, and Price won’t allow too many rebounds and when he does the defence in front of him will get rid of them. The canadiens will focus on the counter attack and take advantage of their Powerplay chances, two things that they worked on in practice yesterday and important factors in their success last spring.
          All that said tonight is against the panthers, but Saturday is the real test. In that game you might see Price making outstanding saves because you have guys like Stamkos, St-Louis, Gange, Purcell and Lecavalier. Plus Coach Boucher knows the canadiens well being their farm coach last year and having coached a lot of players on the habs roster right now. But I believe those players will have a good game. Players like Desharnais, Pacioretty and Subban will want to show their old coach how much they have progressed.
           But before looking at Tampa, they will have be disciplined and focus on Florida tonight. Because if they look ahead they might let this one pass them by, and these 2 points tonight are important ones because the race to the playoffs is heating up and teams are already starting to play playoff hockey and the habs need to start preparing themselves and do the same!