Take the money off the board: Halak and D'Agostini lead Blues over Canadiens

How much money do you think Jaroslav Halak and Matt D'Agostini put up on the team board as incentive for the boys to come up with a win tonight?

Enough, I'd say.

In fact, I'd guess it was enough to fund a pretty good night tonight. Or Saturday. (In case coach is reading.)

Or maybe the Blues just decided to listen to their coaches, execute the game plan, believe in one another and rally around a desire to rise above the injuries to the roster, not let down the beloved home fans, and make every effort to play 60 minutes and bring home an important two points in an effort to jump-start a miracle run to the playoffs.

But, yeah, it was probably the money on the board put up by Dago and Stop Sign.

Bullet points? Bullet points:

• Jaroslav Halak might think it's October. If that's the case, don't say anything, assholes. A popular theory about Halak's dropoff in the winter months was that he had a break up with his girlfriend and had gone into the doldrums. I call bullshit on that theory based only on this text exchange I had this week:

Just saw Halak's girlfriend. She's super hot.

"I don't care if I suck at my job" hot or just regular hot?

Just regular hot.

• Matt D'Agostini had a goal and an assist tonight and was named third star of the game. Good for him, because there has to be no better feeling than sticking it to the team that traded you, especially when the guy they traded you for is still a minor leaguer. In other words, they'd gladly trade you today for a guy just like you in 2013. Now, do us all a favor and go Halak and trick yourself into thinking it's October again, Dago. Hitting 20 goals would be even more redemption.
• How do you score a goal and an assist against your old team and only make the third star? Have Andy McDonald on your team and have him tally a goal and two assists. As Brad Lee and I discussed tonight in the seats, I don't know what to make of McDonald. I don't think he's good enough to be the the first line center for a serious playoff team, but he'd be an incredible second line center for a dangerous playoff team. Imagine if the Blues were getting his production as a second line guy and there was a clear-cut first liner leading the way.
• David Backes has seemed to be a bit in the background ever since The Trade and Chris Stewart has out-Backesed him. Tonight he seemed determined to if not out-Stewart the new guy, he'd at least out-Oshie T.J. Oshie. he was hitting, shooting, skating and busting his ass in all three zones tonight. he deserved better than just the one goal, but his plus-3 is a nice stat to point to concerning his effort.
• T.J. Oshie? Not so much tonight, Osh. The shortie put-away goal was nice, but I mean it as a complement when I describe one of his games as "same old Oshie." Tonight was not the same old Oshie.
• Patrik Berglund is another guy who deserved better than his one point tonight because he worked his ass off and used that big body and long stride to his advantage all night. I've been pretty brutal to the IceBerg all year, but the building blocks are there. Let's hope he doesn't regress from this late season improvement like he did after his nice freshman year. If he can springboard off of this year he might have a season we've all been waiting for in 2011.

I think I've rambled enough for tonight. Halak was awesome and he and D'Agostini got their first taste of revenge on their old team. Now it's time to get Stewart ramped up to go apeshit on Detroit on Saturday. He's got four two-goal games already in his 12 games as a Blue. How about we break through that and get the hat trick on Saturday, Goddamn? I promise to chuck my new hat on the ice for you.