At the moment I loathe the city of Montreal. In fact right now I'm considering running for President of the United States just so I can send the 101st Airborne into Canada and take it over. I figure they've got cops who ride horses, we've got tanks and planes, it should go smoothly. Why am I anti-Montreal right now? Because the Montreal Canadians are on the verge of delivering a Stomach Punch Game (all credit to Mr. Bill Simmons for the phrase) to the 2007/2008 New York Rangers. Right now there are just over 8 minutes left in a 5-4 game with the Rangers in front. At one time the Rangers had a 5-0 lead and the game wasn't even that close. The Rangers were scoring at will, Montreal had to pull their goaltender just a little over half way through the first period. Montreal fans were booing their team, the refs, the entire country of the United States. Rangers' rookie center Brandon Dubinsky had even managed the Gordie Howe Hat Trick (1 Goal, 1 Assist, 1 Fight). I figured the game was well in hand, I was even contemplating putting on the Knicks' game...then it all changed.

Goals by fan favorite Michael Ryder, big hits by the Habs sandpaper guys and all of a sudden the Rangers were running around like - well I want to say like they were on ice but they're suppsoed to be good on ice, but I think you get my point. They've started taking dumb penalties, appearing a step slower than the Canadians, and giving the puck away. More than the game, at this point, the fans are starting to get on my nerves. Everytime a Montreal player gets touched they roar that a penalty should be called. And when it isn't (because there was no penalty to be called) ....GRRRRR....5-5.....damn Alex Kovelev, whether he's with the Rangers or against them he constantly kills the Rangers, I believe he's the only Russian hockey player not to date Anna Kournikova.

Anyway, back to Montreal fans for a second, and if you're a Montreal fan please understand that I mean this with all the respect in the world, but the only fans who annoy me more are Eagles/Flyers and Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots fans. The difference is that the Montreal fan is irritating in that they have a combination of Yankee fan entitlement combined with the "no one respects us" theme, which I guess is par for the course if you live in Canada and you're playing against a team from the States. I'm sure up there it is a playoff type atmosphere, and that's very cool. Just irritating when you are watching your team fall apart to them. Mind you, if the Rangers win this game, all will be forgiven.

What won't be forgiven is that the Rangers have seemed to get away from any sort of physical play. Between now and the trade deadline it is imperative that the Rangers get themselves a physical presence who can go out on the ice, without putting his own net in danger, and lay out a hit or two to swing the momentum back in favor of the Rangers at times like these.

In a big picture type of view, the second half of this game has been as good as it gets (unless you are a fan of the Rangers). The action has been nonstop, there have been big hits, lots of shots, and very few whistles. And now we've even got a shoot out.

Shanahan - MISS
Markov - MISS
Drury - MISS
Koviu - GOAL - and someone needs to hand Lundqvist his jock because he got faked out of it
Jagr - MISS

6-5 Montreal and the annoying "Ole Ole" song starts blaring - ugh I hate Montreal right now. And I hate soccer for making that song popular. And I hate Tobey Maguire for being such a bad Spider Man - but that's getting off topic.

I will call it now, either the Rangers will shake things up or this game will start a tailspin with Lundqvist giving up some soft goals as questions about his confidence creep up while at the same time I fully expect this win to propel Montreal for the rest of the season. Oh well, it could be worse, I could have been born an Islander fan.