Montreal 5 Washington 6 OT (Verizon Center)
posted by Rocket
All Habs
“We came here for one (victory) and we got our one,” said Mike Cammalleri. “Now it’s time to go home and play. I liked our team, I think we did a lot of good things.”
It’s understandable why Cammalleri needed to say what he did and put on a brave face for the media. Unfortunately, some fans will echo the Pollyanna comments.
The NHL playoffs are not a time when a team can “settle for” anything including a series split when a stranglehold was within their grasp. One cannot let the opposition off the mat especially when they are the league’s top team and an offensive juggernaut.
Losing game two was not catastrophic for the Canadiens, but the way they lost was. It could be devastating to the psyche of the Habs and a major boost to Washington.
“It feels like we’ve put the pressure on them and got the momentum back,” Nicklas Backstrom said. “Even if we scored with just one minute left, it’s so important. We never gave up.”
With two minutes left in the second period, the Canadiens had a commanding 4-to-1 lead.
A 2-0 lead in the series going back to Montreal would have given the Canadiens a serious chance for the upset. Washington would have been subjected to intense media pressure and self doubt. Goaltending would also have been under scrutiny with Jose Theodore being pulled for the fourth time in his last seven playoff games.
Instead, the Capitals scored five goals on 15 shots in the final 22 minutes of the game for the overtime win. The series is now tied 1-1.
The bottom line is that the Capitals made adjustments and the Canadiens didn’t.
When speaking about the game plan, Coach Jacques Martin said, “We wanted to get shots on the net and spend more time in their zone.”
The first period mirrored game one with the Capitals dominating faceoffs while outshooting and outhitting the Habs, yet trailing them by one goal. By game’s end, Washington had taken a total of 75 shots — 37 shots on goal, 18 missed shots, and a remarkable 30 shots that were blocked by Habs’ players.
The corresponding number for Montreal was 42, hardly indicative of Martin’s desire to occupy the offensive zone.
Washington took a page out of the Buffalo Sabres scouting report which reads that “Jaroslav Halak is a big ice goaltender and struggles with traffic in front.” Mike Knuble was one Capitals player who heard the message and effectively screened Halak on Backstrom’s first two goals. But he wasn’t the only one.
Halak seemed unnerved as the Capitals screened and knocked him around late in the second period and throughout the third.
Prior to the playoffs, in a conference call with teams, the NHL indicated that referees had been instructed to be more aware of goaltender interference. While it was indeed the case for the first night of the playoffs, the standard has obviously been relaxed.
The officiating tonight was inconsistent and should be an embarrassment to the NHL for this time of year.
Lost in this disappointing defeat was an outstanding game by Andrei Kostitsyn with three goals and one assist. Kostitsyn and linemates Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec combined for nine points.
Team defense by Montreal was good. For the first two periods Halak was able to handle shots from the perimeter while his teammates cleared second chance opportunities. Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik blocked 12 shots combined.
The Habs should be concerned with the play of Halak. Certainly the contact rattled Halak, and should have been called, but at least two of the goals were stoppable. With the Capitals crowding in the crease, Halak’s size is an issue.
In addition, for the third time in recent weeks, Halak was unable to win the game with his team scoring three or more goals. Tonight the Canadiens scored four even strength goals, not an easy feat for this team.
Scott Gomez has played well in the first two games of the playoffs but made a rookie mistake tonight that cost his team when he decided to fight Tom Poti. It had been six years since Poti’s last fight and it came in the third period with the Canadiens up by two goals.
With both men in the penalty box for five minutes, the trade-off was an advantage for Washington. Gomez wasn’t available for a Habs’ power-play which was ineffective.
Caoch Martin must bear a significant portion of the responsibility for the loss. He chose not to play match-ups. His reasoning is that NHL players are all big boys and must learn to play through it. But Martin was schooled as Alex Ovechkin took advantage of the Canadiens’ fourth line for a goal.
Size and net presence of the Capital’s forwards was also a major factor tonight which only shone more light on Martin’s decision not to dress Ryan O’Byrne. His size and strength was needed in front of the net. Ovechkin was only too happy to see Marc-Andre Bergeron on the ice.
“My job is to score goals, but if I have a chance to hit somebody I’m going to hit him,” said Ovechkin. “It was good for me mentally. It was Bergeron on my first hit, and he’s not that strong of a guy, so it was good for me.”
Bergeron seemed to play tentatively as a result.
It should also be concerning to coach Martin that the Capitals have weapons that have not yet got on track. They are most notably Mike Green, Alexander Semin and the Washington power-play.
We knew that the Capitals would be better tonight. We assumed that Washington would drive to the net more aggressively. We suggested that coach Martin would need to make significant changes for game two.
It seems that all of the above wasn’t as clear to the coach. Now, the top team in the East has regained their confidence and their swagger.
“We just need to play our game,” Ovechkin said. “It doesn’t matter how they’re going to play, if we play our game and finish checks, shoot the puck, go to the net, we’re going to win. If we play the same way we played in the third period, we’re going to be successful.”
The series resumes in Montreal on Monday for game three.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Nicklas Backstrom
2. Andrei Kostitsyn
3. Alexander Ovechkin
Special mention: Jaroslav Spacek, Tomas Plekanec
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)
I know what you mean. Any team that can go head-to-head with the most effective offense in the league, even if they end up losing, it's a team to be feared.
The problem here is that the Habs had a 3 goal (!) lead over the Capitals and they couldn't protect that for 20 minutes. They totally blew it.
It's obvious that the Caps have found the weak spots in goaltending and defense; so coach Martin better make adjustments to counteract that… and I'm not talking about that defensive shell they were in at the start of the 3rd period.
They say the best defense is a good offense, and that was shown in the first 2 periods last night: with the Habs pushing forward and playing smart offensive hockey, the Caps spent most of the time in their own zone, trying to fend off the avalanche of Habs players coming in.
O'Byrne should be dressed for the next game,I think; Halak should stay in net and the Habs offense better keep the same kind of game that led them to a 4 – 1 lead. And this time, they shouldn't relax.
The officiating in this game was absolutely horrendous. The worst I can recall seeing in a game in a long time. Off the top of my head, the non-call on the Markov high stick at the end of the game – that would have handed us the game. Other calls (lack of) that may not have made any difference at all included Poti's goalie interference, no whistle on the Ovie goal, and the non-goal (Gionta) when the net left its moorings. I'm already in serious whiner territory so I won't mention any more.
Although I don't believe it was goalie interference on the first Backstrom goal, that probably didn't help Halak performance. Halak did not play well enough this game, and his recent record is not so stellar – however, he played extremely well in game one, and I don't think there is anything to be gained by making the switch at this point in the season, even if he were to lose game three (unless maybe he let in another six goals).
The real shame is until the Caps tied it in the third, the Habs had started to slip into to their old ways of four across the blue line – and Martins preferred style of play will get us killed against a team like the Caps. As soon as the Caps tied it and we were forced to play again, we started taking it to them, with Giontas non-goal, and then the BEAUTIFUL go ahead goal. Yet somehow the idiots on TSN think that this Habs team is built on defence.
The sad part is – there is no way we are getting rid of Martin if we win this series. What was he thinking with Darche on the power play???
Love the play of Gomez so far – but have to agree with Rocket – big mistake he made getting in that fight.
One thing with Jaro that Martin has to monitor is his fatigue factor. He was showing those signs in the last 3 regular season games and he showed it big time last night. He looked surprised on almost every shot which means his focus is waning, his glove is practically useless unless it's an easy "play stoppage" shot, he's getting deeper in his net, and the traffic is really getting to him… If he keeps getting pounded, and it's playoff hockey so he will, he'll be absolutely pooped.
And you know I love Darche as much as the next, but the Caps are really taking advantage of his skating problem…
Another thing is the Habs were leading 4-1. LEADING! And then they were leading 5-4! I don't know how much Boudreau will accept that. The question is how much will Martin prepare them. I have no problem with the four-man stack because the Caps hate that but they gotta balance it. Also the secret is pretty much out: No Gomez, easy to kill the powerplay.
Clearly Bettman has no interest in Montreal taking out Washington. The word has been passed down, the Habs must be stopped and that is why the Habs lost.
How can a player come in behind Halak, put his stick between his legs, haul him down and drag him right out of the net and not get called for goalie interference?
Montreal will not win this series, the refs will make sure of this with bad calls and non calls. It`s all about ratings folks, money.
I'm with Rocket 100% on this one – the Canadiens had no business blowing a 4-1 lead. Especially not in the playoffs and with a chance to really put the Capitals in a hole. That said, when the Habs took their 4-1 lead, I turned to my friend and said: "4 goals won't be enough".
To me the game turned on the Gomez fight, and the Darche turnover leading to the Capitals 2nd goal. It was inevitable from that point, at least to me.
This is the 2nd time this year that the Caps have come from a long way down to even up the game. While Halak looked awful on the Caps 5th and 6th goals, and was unable to deal with the crease crashing (nor were the refs) I feel as though stopping the Caps was not going to happen.
From this point forward, I hope O'Byrne gets back in the lineup somehow. I don't care if Darche takes a seat and MAB replaces him. Martin has got to get more size on the ice.
In my mind, if the Canadiens have any hope of winning this series, they need to win game 2. If they get behind in this series, it will be next to impossible to overcome.
They have a big heart and strong morale though, as we saw on the 1st period of today's game (Monday). I mean, many could have just quit after that Saturday dramatic loss.
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