In honour of four members of my extended family getting their visas to visit us from St. Petersburg for a month.

After waiting two months for the Canadian embassy to say yes or no, the answer came this morning. They said yes, which means my wife’s two sons, a daughter-in-law, and little grandaughter are able to visit us from St. Petersburg, Russia for the month the of April.

I’ve never seen Luciena so excited. She’s been crying, her hands shook, and it took her more than half an hour to calm down even slightly after hearing the news. She’s still a mess.

This is great news, although my little house is going to be crowded and I won’t understand most of the chatter. But that’s fine. This is all about her seeing her family, and I’ll happily take the role of chauffeur and such, and just be part of the furniture.

I know this doesn’t have much to do with a Habs blog, except for the fact that one son, Denis, is a big Alexei Emelin fan from Emelin’s KHL days, and some of you may recall Denis sending a scouting report on our bruising defenceman before the beginning of the season.

It’s a huge day here. It’s been two months of waiting on pins and needles. And why the long wait, you ask? Because the Canadian government needs to be sure visitors from Russia and elsewhere don’t have something up their sleeve, like staying for good once they get here.

The Cold War is long over, but this is the way it is.

Sent to me from Deevo, here’s your Friday morning chuckle. A catchy little tune.

Sent from Danno, and I was watching this as it unfolded. Gord Miller, calling the Habs/Wings game for TSN, talking about a possible shutout for Carey Price, whereas the superstition gods took over and a goal was scored within seconds of this guy bringing up the subject. Naturally.

There are just some things that can’t be talked about, and possible shutouts are one of them.

From now on, Gord, please don’t mention it. In other words, shut the f**k up.

My wife Luciena is having three of her girlfriends from work come over this afternoon for tea.

She said that while they’re here, maybe I should go over to the neighbourhood pub and drink beer.

Now this is a wife.

A huge thank you to Darth for sending along some pictures and his thoughts on the Habs-Detroit game that he was at last night. As you can see from the pics (at the bottom), he sat behind the net and up a ways, and I think this is a great view. For myself, I like sitting behind the net. It’s a chance to see oncoming rushes, the play going the other way, and all that goes with the breakout, the defence setting up, and goalies getting ready.

I would also like to say at this time that if any of you are at a Habs game and would like to send pics and a few words like Darth has, please do so. I would really appreciate it and would always post what you send. I love the whole idea of it.

Here’s Darth. He apologizes for the quality of his pictures but I’m absolutely happy with what he sent:

“There were a lot of Detroit fans there last night. Way more than Bruins fans when we have a Montreal/Boston game.

Erik Cole. Wow. This guy is fast. TV does not do him justice. If you think he’s fast on tv, well – you’ve seen nothing. This guy flies down the ice. He’d be right at home with the greats we’ve had. I could easily see him with the 50s-70s Habs. It’s almost like he has rockets in his skates. He’s strong too and along with Pacioretty you can see what a big difference size makes. Cole has been an excellent addition to the team. If the whole team had his drive, we’d be top in the league every year and serious Cup contenders every year.

Seeing Emelin score was awesome! Glad I was there to see a historic moment. They really teased him during the break about it (his fellow players). The crowd roared when he scored. People love him here.

Gomez: I can tell you that one problem he has is inconsistency. This guy does not play a full 60 minutes. No way at all. He does show moments of actual talent but most of the time he disappears. There will be long stretches where you don’t even “see” him on the ice. But every once in a while he’ll suddenly show up and doing something great…then he’s gone again.

I’m not sure how it looked on TV but I can say Detroit looked very half-assed for the first half of the game. They can certainly move though. They’ve got some serious puck skills but last night they weren’t clicking until it was about 6-0. Then they seemed to really come alive. We slacked off a bit though. We should not have let those 2 goals in. The reason they did was because they let the game get away from them – they backed off too much. Everyone in the crowd got nervous. A lot of people were expecting Detroit to actually tie it which I think could have happened considering how much we slacked off.

PK has got some amazing talent. Seeing him go up the ice is incredible Dennis. But does he ever need discipline. This is why Robinson would help. He is going to be a big superstar one day and I hope it’s in Montreal. If he can reign in his stupid moments we’ll see one of the most amazing d-men in hockey.”

I think it’s safe to say that there wasn’t a Habs fan on the planet who expected a 7-2 thrashing of the league-leading Detroit Red Wings.

We hoped for a win, of course, because that’s what we do. But a lopsided, dominant performance by a struggling team trying to claw back into things, over a team sitting pretty up in the clouds? What a surprise. What a nice freaking, beautiful surprise.

To me it shows character. It shows that the Canadiens, embarrassed on too many nights of this year, just might be sick and tired of the ridicule, the analyzing, and the 1000 word essays about how far a once-great team has fallen.

I’ll bet they’ve had enough, and tonight at the Bell Centre, they played like it. It was all business, almost from start to finish, beginning with Carey Price between the pipes, and every man in front of him. And they were so dominant, in fact, that although they led 4-0 after the first period, it could very well have been 5 or 6 goals.

This was a night that gives us hope. It’s just too bad that the All-Star break is going to give pause to the all-important momentum the team seems to be building upon, but at least it becomes a pleasant break for a bunch of guys who’ve been experiencing a gradual tightening of the noose.

Montreal had a 6-0 lead by the time the second period had wound down, with Wings starting goalie Jimmy Howard chased from his net after the first, and with the Habs’ first two shots beating Ty Conkin. Overall, although Detroit managed two goals before Erik Cole scored his team’s seventh, the Canadiens were in control throughout, and as Crowbar sang, “Oh, what a feeling, what a rush.”

Hab scorers on this big night included Rene Bourque, Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty, Cole, David Desharnais with two, and Alexei Emelin, who notched his first NHL goal and made my heart soar like an eagle as he celebrated and smiled as his happy teammates shared his joy and handed him hearty congratulations.

Lastly, PK Subban will be discussed plenty in these next few days by just about everyone, and I only want to mention it now and be done with it. PK sat for the entire second period after giving up a puck in a weak clearing attempt, and then executing a silly elbow to a head that forfeited his team’s power play, both of which secured him his lengthy stay on the bench.

PK finding himself in the doghouse for this is not a big deal. He’ll learn from it, it’s good coaching, and it’s probably not the last time our young buck will screw up. It’s all part of the process as he moves up the ladder to stardom.

What a great night for the Canadiens and fans. It’s a big two points, and after hearing on TSN that San Jose Sharks were 12 points out at this stage last year and came back to not only secure a spot but also go all the way to the western finals, it shows that things aren’t impossible for the Habs, who now sit at 8 points from their target.

They can do. They just have to keep playing like they did tonight.

Random Notes:

Shots on goal – Detroit 28, Habs 25

Scott Gomez assisted on the Habs first goal, scored by Rene Bourque.

Now we wait until next Tuesday, January 31, when the Buffalo Sabres come to town.

As you’re well aware, the Canadiens host the Detroit Red Wings tonight at the Bell Centre, and of course a home team win is a must. It’s sort of stating the obvious, don’t you think?

And just so you’re clear what we’re up against, the NHL power rankings for week 17 are out, and Detroit sits in first place, with the mention that they’ve won 7 in a row, and Montreal is way down at 26th, with the mention that PK got in a spat with Randy Ladouceur at practice.

So yes, a Habs’ win would be such a beautiful thing. And yes, I hate power rankings. (Unless we’re way up in the penthouse, like Detroit).

Here’s a page you might like to see, sent over from Darth. It’s a fine page, they ask the question did Gomez Score?, and they give the answer.

Yes, that ever elusive goal. The big goal. Where is it? Will it be the game-winner tonight against Detroit?

Can he get two?

It’s sort of like a player who has 49 goals and is going for 50.  Can he do it? Okay, it’s not like that.

Here’s the last big one – Feb. 5th, 2011. It’s also on the above link but this gives you the opportunity to see it twice.