With the memory of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Calgary Flames still fresh in their minds, Montreal took to the ice against the Vancouver Canucks last night in what seemed like a mismatch of epic proportions.
Prior to the game, the Canucks where first place in the league, had the best goals-for, the best goals-against, the No. 1 power play and the fourth overall penalty kill.
Add to that the fact that Montreal hadn't won in Vancouver since November 2000 and that they were on a three-game losing streak, and the outlook was bleak.
Despite the long odds against them and true to their form of showing up when you least expect them to, the Canadiens came out and played one of their best road games of the season.
Vancouver tends to win games with skill instead of brawn and, as such, Montreal actually stacks up pretty well against them.
With a fast paced, skilled-based game being employed by both teams, the match was extremely entertaining and a real glimpse of what true skilled hockey looks like. With very few stops in play and end-to-end action, the fans certainly got their money's worth!
Montreal got on the board first, when Benoit Pouliot sprung David Desharnais with a breakaway pass that he tucked five-hole on Roberto Luongo. Only 1:07 later, Brian Gionta potted the rebound off a P.K. Subban slapper for his 22nd of the season to make it 2-0.
The shots were 14-1 Montreal by the 10 minute mark of the first before Vancouver was able to mount any push back. After that, the tables were turned, with the Canucks firing 11 shots to Montreal's two over the final 10 minutes of the first and out-shooting the Habs 39-25 on the night.
Montreal got themselves into penalty trouble, handing the Canucks' first overall power play six man-advantages, including four in the third period, but were able to stop all but two.
Henrik Sedin got the Nucks on the board 3:27 into the second, before Andrei Kostitsyn fired his 14th of the season—the eventual game winner—past Luongo at 10:36 of the same period.
The Canucks made it a one-goal game early in the third, but Carey Price, who stopped 37 shots on the night, stood tall, turning aside shot after shot to secure the victory.
Final score: Habs 3 - Canucks 2
Habs' scorers: David Desharnais (6), Brian Gionta (22), Andrei Kostitsyn (14)
Canucks' scorers: Henrik Sedin (15), Mikael Samuelsson (17)
Three stars: 1. Carey Price, 2. Ryan Kesler, 3. Brian Gionta
Key Moment
With time running out and the Habs clinging to a one-goal lead, lead-footed Hal Gill got into a foot race for an icing call. Gill dove and used his long reach to touch the puck first, sending the faceoff back to the Canucks' zone with about 30 seconds to play.
Gill's diving play prevented the Canucks from pulling Roberto Luongo for the extra attacker and helped ensure the Montreal win.
Game Notes
1. Will the real Montreal Canadiens please stand up?
The Canadiens, clearly intent on reversing their recent fortunes, employed their most intense net-presence game of the season last night. They unfortunately didn't maintain this style for the entire game, but in the first period, Montreal looked more like the crease-crashing Flyers than the habitually perimeter-playing Canadiens.
From Andrei Kostitsyn to Travis Moen to Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty, it seemed like every line had players who were crashing the crease. The result was a flurry of goal-mouth scrambles and scoring chances by Montreal, with players falling all over Luongo.
As much as a physical presence has been lacking around the opposition's net for most of the season, the Canadiens showed last night that they actually do have players who can play that role.
Why they don't do so more often is a bit of a mystery to me, but they should take note from last night's game and try to consistently reproduce that style of play.
2. Four players, four huge games.
While Carey Price was the uncontested hero of the night, the entire team put in a solid effort, helping the Habs snap their three-game losing streak.
With a 2-0 lead in the game, Coach Martin decided to shorten his bench by essentially sitting the Desharnais line for the balance of the game. I'm not sure what the exact motivation was for this move but, with the other three lines firing on all cylinders, perhaps Martin wanted to go with the lines he felt could guarantee him the win.
The entire team played well, but a few players in particular stood out: Hal Gill, P.K. Subban, Roman Hamrlik and Tomas Plekanec.
All four players finished the night with more than 20 minutes of ice time, with Subban and Gill doing yeoman's work, clocking in at 26:17 and 25:53 respectively.
Gill, Subban and Hamrlik led the charge in boxing the Canucks out of the high slot, clearing the front of the net and getting rid of rebounds.
Subban in particular has truly grown into the role of the No. 1 defenseman on this team. While he still has a lot to learn and will undoubtedly continue to get better each year, at 21 years of age, you have to be impressed with his incredible poise on the ice.
As for Plekanec, while a lot has been made lately about his lack of offensive production on the road, he continues to take care of things on the defensive side of the puck.
Plekanec was one of the main reasons why the Canucks' vaunted power play only managed two goals last night and, coupled with Travis Moen, he continues to be the Habs' best penalty killer.
3. The Habs owned the defensive slot.
Montreal did an excellent job of boxing out the Vancouver players for most of the night, especially on the power play, and this despite the excellent work by Ryan Kesler to constantly be in Price's face.
Try as they may, the extremely skilled Canucks weren't able to get to the high slot with the puck very often and, as such, the dangerous scoring chances from prime locations were kept to a minimum.
As much as Jacques Martin's system can stifle the offensive instincts of a team, its ability to keep opponents to the outside is truly its crown jewel.
Time and again last night, the Canucks had trouble getting to the front of the net, especially on the power play, where they went 2-for-6 and had no answer for Hal Gill lying down to cut the cross-crease pass.
The Canucks still did a great job of getting bodies in front of and all around Price, but his focus was as unwavering as his desire to win and his strong work, backed up by excellent defense, sealed the deal.
4. Lars Eller needs to play at center.
Eller hasn't exactly been ripping up the league in his inaugural season in Montreal, but he is still a tremendously skilled player, despite what many Habs’ fans are saying.
The thing is that Eller is a natural center and playmaker and for most of the season, he has been playing on the wing. In the few brief stints that we have seen from him at center, he has looked his best and more importantly, most comfortable.
Last night with Jacques Martin juggling his lines, Eller, who has played on the wing with Scott Gomez and Kostitsyn since the All-Star break, found himself centering Kostitsyn and Moen on the fourth line.
At first glance, that might seem like punishment, but with Eller up the middle, a bonafide goal-scorer (Kostitsyn) on his wing, the fourth line was one of the Habs' most effective. They used speed, skill and grit to produce the Habs' second goal—Kostitsyn's first in 12 games and first point in nine.
With Moen digging the puck out of the corners, Eller setting it up and Kostitsyn getting into shooting position, the trio complemented each other very well and helped bring balance to the Canadiens' lineup.
It is amazing how much more you notice Eller's skill and vision when he is playing at center as opposed to wing, so here's hoping Coach Martin leaves him there.
5. Price had his work cut out for him.
Price, like the rest of the team, hasn't played his best hockey of late.
So much so that in his last six games prior to last night, Price had let in 23 goals for an abysmal 3.83 GAA, with only one victory to show for it.
Needless to say, for the Habs to have any chance of defeating the first overall Canucks last night, Price needed to shine.
And shine he did.
While Price wasn't really tested early, the Canucks came to life over the back half of the first and took control in the second. Moreover, as they started to rack up the scoring chances, the Canucks' game plan took shape and its prime component was to crash and crowd Price's crease.
With an almost constant screen in front of him—from players like Kesler—and players crashing around him like waves against the rocks, Price somehow managed to stand his ground.
Fighting through traffic to see the puck, displaying excellent lateral movement and unbelievable puck-tracking abilities, Price was clearly in the zone. After two terrible past experiences in his home province, Price really wanted the win last night and you could see it in his play.
So as much as Quebec-born goalies seem to bring their A-games to the Bell Centre, Price certainly returned the favour to the Canucks last night and is the main reason for the victory.
Standings and Next Game
With the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins both winning last night, the Canadiens could not have picked a better time to halt their losing streak.
The win gives the Habs 71 points in the standings with a 32-22-7 record, good enough for sixth overall in the East. Ahead of Montreal are the Bruins with 75 points and one game in hand, the Penguins with 77 points and the Capitals with 74.
In the rear-view mirror are the Rangers with 68 points and one more game played, the Hurricanes with 65 and the Sabres and Thrashers with 60 each and three and one game in hand respectively.
Montreal, who were only able to salvage two out of a possible six points on this Western road trip, now return to the friendly climes of the Bell Centre for a Thursday night tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
--- Kamal is a freelance Habs writer, Senior Writer/Editor-in-Chief of HabsAddict.com, Montreal Canadiens Blogger on Hockeybuzz.com and Habs writer on TheFranchise.ca. Kamal is also a weekly contributor to the Sunday Shinny on The Team 990 (AM 990) every Sunday from 8 - 9 AM. Listen live at http://www.team990.com/
As I sit here sipping my third glass of wine and watching Sidney Crosby skate around the ice surface of GM Place, waving an oversized Canadian flag from a pole, I am reminded of how proud I am to be Canadian.
The emotion that surrounded Canada's dramatic overtime win today was palpable over the course of the weekend. Every person I talked to, every store I went into and everything I read was all pointing towards today's gold medal match and with Crosby's overtime heroics, I can say that I am as happy and relieved as any in this great country!
Tonight's game, unlike some of the other 2010 Olympic hockey games to date, lived up to all of the hype and provided one of the most entertaining spectacles of the last 50 years of hockey.
The game was close right from the start of the game as the crowd's intensity seemed to buoy both teams. Canada's Toews made it 1-0 at 12:50 of this first when he picked up the rebound off of a Mike Richards shot from in close, and roofed it from a tight angle.
The scoring continued in the second period as Corey Perry made it 2-0 for Canada by rifling a shot from the high slot past Miller at 7:13.
Despite being down by two, the U.S. wasn't ready to quit as they took the play Canada, in this back and forth game, with Ryan Kesler scoring at 12:44 to pull them to within one.
The score stayed at 2-1 for Canada with both teams having their chances through the rest of the second and most of the third.
The status quo disappeared, however, as Canada, leading by one, went into a defensive shell about half way through the third period. As soon as I saw them playing the 1-2-2 trapping style, I could feel the potential for disaster.
Have you ever been watching a hockey game when your team was leading by one and started to sit back too early? And when they did so, did you ever get that ominous foreboding feeling that the opposition would tie the game? Well Canada, unfortunately, fell into that classic trap.
The result of Canada's passive play was that with time winding down, Ryan Miller on the bench and the U.S. pressing for the tie, Parise's second effort tied the game with 25 seconds to play.
Picking up the rebound off of a Langenbrunner deflection in front, Parise whipped the puck past a falling Luongo to silence the rumbling crowd and send the game to overtime.
Now if you didn't know, overtime is a little different in international hockey than it is in the NHL. In international hockey, overtime is one twenty minute, four-on-four, sudden death period before going to a shootout to decide things. So for tonight's game, this meant a show case of some of the best hockey talent in the world, with a lot of extra skating room. Yummy.
Despite this delicious prospect, both teams were very tentative to start the overtime period. To a man, they looked more interested in avoiding a costly mistake rather than in pressing for the win. Things changed, however, about five minutes in as Canada started to relax and take the play to the U.S.
After a few nervous moments on both sides of the ice, Canada, led by Crosby, streaked down the ice. Crosby, carrying the puck over the offensive blue line, tried to split the U.S. defense and charge the net. Crosby was stopped and Miller deflected the puck into the corner.
Jerome Iginla picked up the puck in the corner and shuttled a soft, back door pass to Crosby who quickly fired the winner through Miller's five-hole. Miller, who had extended his stick in a poke-check attempt, was caught by surprise by Crosby's quick release.
Crosby threw off his gloves and helmet in celebration as the Canadian team players swarmed him in the U.S. zone to celebrate their golden win.
With that goal, Crosby says goodbye to the rapidly mounting criticism for his lack of production in this tournament, and says hello to joining Paul Henderson and Mario Lemieux in Canadian hockey history.
Final score: Canada 3 - USA 2 (OT)
Lost in the shadow of Canada's win is the fact that their gold medal gives Canada, as a nation, 14 gold medals in this Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Those 14 medals break the record for the most gold medals won by a host nation at the Olympics.
So congratulations Canada on your ice hockey gold, on your gold medal record and for hosting one of the most memorable Winter Olympics in Olympic history.
HabsAddict.com - Canadiens-Leafs: James Reimer, Toronto Shutout Habs 2-0 in Season Opener
