Happy New Year? It was the night of the Bulldogs in New Jersey, as all of the latest callups (that dressed) made a positive mark on the game.

Hats off to Maxim Lapierre! His goals sure did the trick! You’d certainly say he’s a natural! (I’ve got plenty of these, and I missed grading Kostitsyn’s hat-trick game, so I’m using them all here).

Both the Habs and Bulldogs won one game this week. Fortunately for the Habs, they played in just one, but Hamilton wasn’t so lucky, losing two along the way.

Part 1 of this 2-part article posted earlier this week assessed Montreal’s defence situation, looking at what the issues are that need to be fixed and evaluating potential in-house options to fill these holes.

Being the storied franchise that the Montreal Canadiens organization is, its fans have naturally developed a tendency to hold their team to a higher standard.

The Habs split their 4 games this week but lost both games to a team that is quickly becoming a rival in Carolina.

This was a consistently exciting game for the full 64 minutes and 35 seconds. Both teams were flying all night, with a combined 80 shots hitting the goalies or the twine.