Don't look now Habs fans, but your team has rocketed to a heckuva start

[Habsfan84]

Don't try to tell the board of directors here at MMQB Central that NHL fans don't love a shootout. Did you see the faces in the crowd during Saturday night's dramatic shootout at the OK Corral in Pittsburgh? Not a Penguin scored through eight rounds and yet the fans were riding on every shot as though the world depended on it as Dany Sabourin and Carey Price exchanged dramatic saves until Andrei Markov won it, giving the Canadiens a four-point weekend out of very difficult back-to-back road games.
Ten games into the season, the Canadiens are tied for third in the Eastern Conference and tied for fifth overall in the NHL with 14 points and they hold games in hand on a couple of the teams in front of them. They're getting outstanding goaltending from Cristobal Huet and Carey Price, they're playing strong defence, Markov and Alex Kovalev are playing up to their contracts, Kyle Chipchura has been a very solid addition and Tomas Plekanec appears to have taken another quantum leap.
The power play is still strong even without Sheldon Souray (five power-play goals against the Hurricanes in Carolina is getting it done) and the Habs are better defensively with Roman Hamrlik than they were with Souray. The Mathieu Dandenault-Mark Streit position switch is paying dividends and Guy Carbonneau has more or less settled down with his lines.

This is the part of the story where we feel obliged to interject an obligatory note of caution.
The Canadiens also started well last year before a midseason collapse cost them a playoff spot.
But that collapse was mostly a factor of the flu epidemic that ravaged the dressing room in January.
What you notice most about this edition of the Habs is that they are deep and solid. They might lack superstar scorers, but they are deep enough to park a couple of guys who should be playing in the pressbox every night, with more waiting in the wings in Hamilton.
It's a long, long season. Teams go up, down and sideways and at this point there isn't much to choose among the teams in the middle of the pack in either conference.
But these Canadiens are a reflection of their coach and general manager, Carbonneau and Bob Gainey: strong, determined and increasingly steady.
We'll see where it leads come April and beyond, if there is a beyond.
Right now, it's a heckuva start.
Popp goes the weasel: Since you asked, here's the problem with Jim Popp's decision to drive the biggest Hummer money can buy while trying (and failing) to look like the coolest dude on Crescent St.
First of all, anyone who buys a Hummer in this day and age is basically flipping the flying fickle finger of fate at the planet and, in a sense, at his own children.
We're in deep doo-doo here and the people who try to tell you otherwise probably think Dick Cheney is Santa Claus.
Beyond that, Popp's lifestyle choices tell you a whole lot about the man and what he is: immature and insecure. The way to win the respect of the players is to respect them, to respect yourself and to respect the world in which we live.
In Popp's case, that's three strikes and you're out.
Lies, rumours &&&& vicious innuendo: Now Patrice Bergeron knows how Valeri Kharlamov felt after his leg was broken by the cowardly Bobby Clarke. The Philadelphia Flyers have been getting away with this kind of thing for ages - Randy Jones is just the latest to take the intimidation thing way too far. ...
Did the NHLPA get it right with Paul Kelly? Only time will tell. The organization that was fleeced by Alan Eagleson and taken to the cleaners by Ted Saskin doesn't have a good record in the hiring department.
But I'm with Red Fisher on Chris Chelios: Every last one of Chelly's union buddies should be lining up to thank him. ...
It's a shame the Colorado Rockies lost all their momentum with that long layoff before yet another Worst Series. The way the Rockies play defence is something all kids should see, if only they could stay up that late. ...
We've said it before, but we'll say it again about Josh Beckett: When you've got a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. ...
Your MMQB is a practising agnostic, but we're saying prayers to our own private deity on behalf of Anthony Calvillo's wife, Alexia Kontolemos. And spare some good thoughts for Calvillo himself, who is showing what he is made of by doing the right thing at the right time and staying with his family.