It's game day for the Leafs so that can only mean one thing: it's time for 5 Questions. Once again the lads from Four Habs Fans were kind enough to oblige. So far they are 0-1 in predicting Habs wins so I hope that after tonight's loss that they don't start considering themselves bad luck.
1. So according to Habs Inside/Out (which recovered from the shutdown you reported yesterday) Carey Price is getting the start because Cristobal Huet can't win in Toronto. Considering the recent history of the Habs losing far more often than not in the Centre of the Universe, why will Price do any better?
Panger76: The Franchise Saviour™ has ice in his veins. He could be playing in T.O. or on the oceans of lava on Mercury and he wouldn't break a sweat.
HF10: Price will do better because the hockey gods can't keep giving the Leafs every cheap bounce, deflection, and fluke goal possible. [Ed.'s Note: Kind of balances out the otherwordly goaltending that has had a history of stealing undeserved points for the Habs.] That, and he's a big, technically sound, absolutely unflappable goalie the Leafs have only seen for one preseason game.
HF33: Because even if Price were somehow obliged to strip down and to his shivering testes and play naked for the entire duration of the game, his 94-year old hippopotamus' pulse would remain as is.
2. The Hall of Fame inductions were on Monday night. Five years after Koivu retires will he be receiving a similar honour?
Panger76: He might, but he shouldn't. He might because of his international play, beating cancer, and the fact that he is almost universally adored, not just in Montreal and Finland, but across the hockey landscape. But I am a HHOF snob and so I think that only the absolute greatest players should make the Hall (unlike, say, Mike Gartner or Dino Ciccarelli). Saks is great, but not one of the greatest.
Of course if he was Swedish and was the captain of the Leafs he'd be a shoo-in even if he doesn't qualify as an all-time great. [Ed.'s Note: Bitterness took that sentence past it's logical end after 'shoo-in'.]
HF10: If friggin' Bernie Federko and Clarke Gillies are in then there's no earthly reason Koivu shouldn't be. Hall of Fame or not, I will lead the pitchfork and torch wielding mob to the Bell Centre to demand his number goes to the rafters as one of Montreal's all time best, stats and Cups be damned.
HF33: Just one little itsy bitsy Cup would make that question so much easier to answer.
3. What about Michael Ryder?
Panger76: Check the side of a milk cartoon. All his vitals are there – date of birth, date gone missing, etc.
HF10: Who?
HF33: Never heard of him. [Ed.'s Note: I guess I should have called him the skanky Newfie.]
4. You tried praying at The First Baptist church to get a win over the sens. It failed after teasing you for so long. Are you going to try a different branch in the Judeo-Christian family tree or will you be making a visit to your local mosque or coven to try to get a win in Toronto?
Panger76: You don't want to know who I'd worship to get a win over the Leafs. [Ed.'s Note: Considering the moral situation in Montreal and the 24 Stanley Cups I would guess that he means Satan. Judging by the lack of Cups since 1993 he's stopped listening.]
HF10: It's time to go Old Testament, angry vengeful God and pray for the destruction of our enemies ... game or no game. We're going Walls of Jericho on the ACC but we'll wait for the Bruins to be the visitors... two birds, one stone.
HF33: It wouldn't help because I don't think God has been watching the Leafs since 1967. [Ed.'s Note: While the Leafs continue to be His team He works in mysterious ways. I can only assume that much like Jesus, we have to go a period of suffering before ascending to hockey heaven (multiple Stanley Cups).]
5. Prediction for the game?
Panger76: Mtl 4, T.O. 2
HF10: The Leafs learn what the rest of the league is quickly finding out: Price is going to make their lives miserable for a long, long time.
HF33: I will find new reasons to impale Darcy Tucker. [Ed.'s Note: That dovetails nicely with my prediction of a Darcy Tucker game-winning goal.]