Montreal 2 Vancouver 0 (Bell Centre)

by Rick Stephens, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC.– Going through the doors of the Bell Centre, my friend Steve said “I have a good feeling about this game.” I turned towards him looking for the grin of sarcasm, but it was apparent that he was serious.

It was a refreshing change from all the naysayers who had been busy speculating on just how bad the slaughter would be. It will be “a thumping” said one pundit.

Others tried hard to rationalize. “The Canadiens always rise to the level of the opponents,” they said. Following up with “Don’t they?” belied their confidence.

The Canadiens are a hard team to peg. On some nights, especially against teams like Vancouver, they are hard pressed to measure up on the talent checklist. Not unlike Washington and Pittsburgh, wouldn’t you say?

Like last Spring, the Canadiens pulled together and played for each other. The power of such team harmony is enormous. Don’t forget to thank former GM Bob Gainey for that in your daily prayers.

These guys like and care about each other. It can’t overcome a shortage of talent and inept coaching every night, but when challenged, you get an effort like was witnessed against the Canucks.

Now of course, all of the above is for not, if the Canadiens didn’t get superb goaltending. Carey Price was brilliant on Tuesday night.

The Habs veterans on defense played better but aren’t in the ballpark of the St. Louis Blues, who lead the league in fewest shots allowed. And without Ryan O’Byrne in the line-up, Josh Gorges and Jaroslav Spacek couldn’t budge Canucks from the front of the net. Alex Burrows pitched a tent in the goalmouth and wasn’t disturbed all game long.

So it was up to Price alone to fight through the screens, and freeze the puck, denying second-chance opportunities. Price made many of his 34 saves look easy, and slowed down the lethal Canucks attack. Time travel this game to last season and we might be talking about 60 Vancouver shots given a goaltender who liked to punt the puck back into the slot.

My seatmate, the former goaltender, agreed with me when I said that rebound control played a huge part in the victory. Another upgrade over last season is puckhandling by the netminder. On many occasions, Price was able to take the pressure off his defenseman and thwart the Vancouver forecheck by calmly playing the puck up to a forward.

Canadiens Coach Jacques Martin not-so-humbly took full credit for the win. He said “It was like a chess match because we matched lines a lot tonight.” His apologists, afraid to be ostracized from pressers, blindly parotted the coach’s message.

You’ll recall that it is the same Martin who is quick to point fingers at his players after a loss using his favorite phrase, that “they didn’t compete.”

Since the coach mentioned line matchups in a self-congratulatory way, let’s take a look at the final 2:30 of the third period. Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault pulled his goaltender in favour of a sixth attacker. So logically, the Canadiens should have their best defensive forwards on the ice, wouldn’t you agree?

Who are they? The ones who usually are on the ice for penalty-killing duty. Let’s say together: Tomas Plekanec, Travis Moen, Jeff Halpern, Brian Gionta and Tom Pyatt.

So who did the chess-master have on the ice to protect the lead and preserve the shutout for Price? For the majority of the time remaining, it was Benoit Pouliot, Max Lapierre and Mathieu Darche. During the game, their combined total of time playing shorthanded was 0:00.

In the last two and a half minutes, the Canadiens surrendered eight shots on goal. Brilliant coaching tactics? Not so much.  Thank goodness for Carey Price.

Oh, and by the way, you were right Steve!

Plus/Minus:

▲  Tomas Plekanec is Mr. Everything. He was the Canadiens best forward at both ends of the ice.

▲  Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek got the assignment of the Sedins and played well defensively. They each added a point.

▲  Lars Eller had a terrific first period. He was strong on his skates, protected the puck but didn’t have the linemates to finish. Oddly we didn’t see him much in the final two frames.

▲  Andrei Markov is starting to resemble the player we have come to expect. He played almost 25 minutes and scored his first goal of the season.

►  Scott Gomez had only one shot and still looks lost with Brian Gionta. However Gomez dominated on faceoffs at 75 per cent.

►  Mike Cammalleri was off the point ending that failed experiment. He had only one shot on goal. Cammalleri’s assist was a shot that was two feet wide that fortunately caromed right to Hamrlik.

▼  Max Lapierre did not take advantage of his undeserved opportunity on the second line. He was a turnover machine.

▼  The Canadiens power-play is pathetic managing only one shot on a four minute man advantage. The best way to punish Andrew Alberts for his stick/glove to the face of Mathieu Darche would have been to score.

▼  Referee Chris Lee did nothing to change his reputation as a Habs-hater. His holding call on Lapierre from half a rink away was horrible.

The Canadiens head to Boston for a matchup with the Bruins on Thursday. They return to Bell Centre to play Carolina on Saturday.

All Habs game stars:

1. Carey Price
2. Tomas Plekanec
3. Andrei Markov

Roster notes:

Ryan O’Byrne, Dustin Boyd and Alexandre Picard were healthy scratches.

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)