Montreal 3 New Jersey 1 (Prudential Center)
Imagine for a minute a Canadiens’ game, where special teams weren’t a factor, goaltending didn’t have to be exceptional, and the team almost played a solid 60 minute game. Prior to tonight, you would be hard-pressed to provide an example. But the Habs played just that kind of game for their first regular season win in New Jersey on a Friday night since October 13, 1989.
At times, it wasn’t a pretty game to watch. Both teams started rather slowly and played a sloppy brand of hockey. The second period was a snooze-fest with the two teams combining for only 11 shots on goal. And in the third period, the Canadiens played very cautiously going into full lock-down mode.
The Habs’ power-play was shut-out once again and is now zero for its last 23 chances.
Coach Jacques Martin was busy mixing and matching his lines and shortening his bench. Four forwards, Matt D’Agostini, Mathieu Darche, Max Pacioretty, and Marc-Andre Bergeron, each had less than ten minutes of ice time. Darche made efficient use of his 9:49.
Against St. Louis, Darche often looked out of place and admitted that he wasn’t comfortable with the system. Tonight, Darche looked out of place because he was playing Bulldogs hockey, not the familiar Canadiens system. He forechecked aggressively, created turnovers, and drove to the net. For that he was rewarded with a goal and an assist.
While Scott Gomez heard the jeers of the New Jersey fans, Brian Gionta seemed to enjoy a silent respect. Gionta had a very good game with six shots, three takeaways and an assist.
The three goal scorers for the Canadiens tonight were Darche, Benoit Pouliot and Mike Cammalleri. All are new additions to the team suggesting that General Manager Bob Gainey deserves credit for moves that he has made.
New Jersey had a record of 21-3 when scoring first coming into tonight’s game. While the Canadiens allowed the first goal, Pouliot’s marker with just over three minutes left in the first period was an important confidence builder for the team. The Habs also benefited from playing a team’s whose passive system is similar and provides a good match-up.
Goaltending was competent but not a focus tonight. Martin Brodeur uncharacteristically gave up three goals to the Canadiens and looked awkward on several saves. Jaroslav Halak gave up far too many rebounds and was an adventure each time he played the puck but made key saves when necessary.
“I’m not sure we tested Halak too much,” Zach Parise said. “He made some good saves, but I still think we could have made it a little harder for him.”
The Canadiens defensive corps did an excellent job limiting quality scoring chances, particularly Josh Gorges, Jaroslav Halak, Roman Hamrlik, and Andrei Markov. Gorges had one of his better games of the year leading the team in hits and blocked shots with four each.
The Habs return home to play the Rangers on Saturday night.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Mathieu Darche
2. Jamie Langenbrunner
3. Brian Gionta
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
After recovering from the shock of actually winning a game in New Jersey, and looking pretty good in doing so, I found myself asking if it was the Canadiens playing a perfect road game, or the Devils taking this game for granted.
I guess, as usual, the answer lies somewhere in between the two extremes. The Canadiens deserve full credit for what they pulled off. They were the better team.
As you mentioned, it's also nice to win a game where the goaltending did not have to be spectacular, and the powerplay didn't have to deliver more than 2 goals.
It was great to see Darche rebound from a poor outing vs St. Louis on Wednesday, and it was just as nice to see Cammalleri and Gionta enjoy a strong road game.
We also have to praise our backup goaltender. We partly threw him under the bus in the previous meeting with the Devils. Although he was busier in that game than he was last night, we still made note of the weak goal he gave up to Travis Zajac. From that point forward he was perfect until Parise found the back of the net on a breakaway in overtime. Last night it was Parise who again beat Halak on a sneaky backhand through Halak's legs to open the scoring. "Not again" was my first thought, but Parise is a great scorer and Halak will not be the last of his victims. There were no weak goals for us to criticize last night, and Halak deserves credit for getting a desperately needed 2 points against a team that just about nobody thought the Canadiens would beat.
Last week I noticed a shifting in the English media towards a preference to Halak, to which we discussed at fair length. I'm sure we've all ready Hickey's column by now, and noted that he has also hopped on the Halak bandwagon. So now, Todd, Fisher and Hickey are endorsing Halak to play while he is the "hot" hand. It will be interesting to see if the building pressure from media and segments of fans will affects the Canadiens decisions at all.
Although this was a huge win for the team and hopefully a confidence builder, Mike Cammalleri's quote post-game was the most relevant of the night: "It will all be for naught if we don't follow it up tomorrow vs the Rangers". I paraphrased of course, but that was the gist of what he said. And he's right. The Canadiens need to make up for many recent performances that left much to be desired. They need to go on a prolonged winning streak, and put points in the bank…preferably in regulation time. Gaining ground on those in front of you is difficult when you rack up two points, but give your competitors 1 in return.
Tonight should be a night for the Canadiens to be at their fiesty best. After falling to sleep in New York last week, showing some character is just as important as the 2 points tonight.
There certainly seemed to be a difference in this game, a real team effort. That is such a contrast to most games where goaltending or special teams are required to steal a win.
In fact, some would say that Price had more to do win taking a point against St Louis than Halak did in this game. Pierre McGuire was of the opinion that Price stole a point against the Blues.
As for the Gazette contingent, Fisher and Hickey have always been in the Halak camp for reasons that have little to do with Price's goaltending. Fisher was fond of Huet and Hickey complains about Price's availability for post-game media scrums.
Unfortunately Jack Todd has moved to another planet. His column saying, that the Boston Globe was spot-on with its back page coverage of that nothing little tournament we know as the World Juniors, was bizarre.
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