For the fifth game in a row, Maxime Lapierre’s line scored. But for the second straight game, it was the captain’s line that made the difference.
Actually I feel it’s somehow unfair to the rest of the team. The Habs played a very solid game, played close to 60 minutes and were a bit unlucky to even have to play two minutes of overtime.
Alex Kovalev scored the opening goal midway through the first period from a superb setup from Alex Tanguay. That powerplay goal gave the team a lot of confidence but the team was already in control of the game. The first period ended with the Habs leading 11-2 in shots on net. It was 24-8 after two periods and honestly, if it wasn’t for a solid performance from Karri Ramo, it could have been 3-0 or 4-0.
The Habs played another very solid 10 minutes. Guillaume Latendresse scored his 12th of the year with a wrap around after 5 minutes of play. And up to the midpoint in third period the Canadiens looked like they really controlled the game. And then a black puck ended up immobile on blue paint and none of the three red sweaters was able to put a stick on it to clear it out. Komisarek actually missed twice the puck.
And then Tampa Bay seemed to remember the taste of victory, which wasn’t there earlier, and they really opened up the play, skated harder and put some pressure on the Canadiens. They tied the game with 5 minutes to go on a deflected shot. I can’t blame Price. He had a fairly good game considering he was untested for forty minutes.
But in overtime, the main line took the game back. After seeing Tanguay and Kovalev putting pressure for over a minute in Tampa Bay territory, Saku Koivu took the ice and started a play with Thomas Plekanec and Andrei Markov that didn’t really pan out but Captain K was at the right place at the right time to pick up a loose puck and shot, twice, to get the winning goal.
I’ll leave the review at that, I’m sure Rocket will have a fantastic review of his own. But since I was at the game, I thought I’d leave you with some random thoughts about the Habs, the Medias and other unimportant matters.
To quote Homer Simpson “Mmmmmm. Overpriced hot dogs.”
It is unbelievable how many hot women wearing red-white-and-blue you can fit inside a single building.
What happened with the Plekanec line? They haven’t contributed in quite some time and despite getting multiple shots on net didn’t really seem like a threat all night (powerplay excluded)
It’s nice to see the players’ reaction to the winning goal.
Whatever Rocket says, Brisebois wasn’t playing that bad!
I am so unbelievably tired of the Montreal Media creating stories and controversy all over the Habs. I understand the “get the stories, sell copies, get ratings” mentality but this is getting ridiculous. Don’t they realize the fans were never the problem for getting free agents, THEY are! I thought about making a petition to ask the media to treat the team more respectfully and stop thinking they are “speaking for the fans”. Then I realize it wouldn’t work. And that I was lazy.
Right now the Canadiens are still in 8th place in Eastern Conference two points behind the Rangers, three behind Pittsburgh (with one game in hand over both team) and fours points behind Carolina (with two games in hand). There are fours clubs under the Canadiens in the standings that still aren’t eliminated. Here are the max amount of points they could get if they won all their games.
Ottawa: 92
Toronto: 91
Buffalo: 96
Florida: 97
Tomorrow, the only important game involves the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs. But on Saturday, everybody is playing. Rangers-Penguins, Carolina-New Jersey, Ottawa-Atlanta, Boston-Toronto and of course Montreal-Buffalo.
This weekend should prove most interesting for certain team playoffs hope.
I agree on all points regarding last night’s game.
It was such an important game to win, not only because of the 2 points, but because I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if they blew a 2-0 3rd period lead and lose to one of the league’s worst teams. It would have been ugly and Price would have been eaten alive for giving up 3 goals. The rest of the team would have gotten a pass for bombarding Ramo, who simply had an excellent game.
Hopefully Latendresse and Lapierre can be a dynamic duo for the next several years. They seem to be “getting it” now. And they are perfectly suited for a 3rd line.
I’m not sure what has happened to the Plekanec line. On his own, Plekanec is a good player. But now we’re starting to see that when he was with Kovalev, that line fumbled their way through games. Now he’s with the Kostitsyns (either one or the other) and they aren’t producing. Can we begin to wonder if Plekanec is really the issue and not Kovalev?
If you ever start a petition, count me in, I’ll sign it anytime!
It was a pretty good but nerve-racking game yesterday! Good job guys, you kept me on the edge of my seat ’til the last minute!
The last two free agents I recall turning down the Habs because they didn’t want to deal with the pressure of playing in Montreal were Pierre Turgeon and Martin LaPointe, both of whom deserve a place in the Hall of Shame of all time FREE AGENT BUSTS. Both signed contracts for around $6 million per season, as I recall, and MONTREAL OFFERED MORE.
Beware of what you wished for, that media pressure probably saved the team from flushing about $30 or $40 million down the toilet.
First off thanks everybody for reading and double thanks for replying.
Kyle: Let’s not imagine what would have happened if they blew up the lead. As for Latendresse and Lapierre, next year Lapierre will be the real 3rd line winger, he won this job. Which means at least one of Lang-Koivu-Pleck can leave. I’m betting on Chipchura on the fourth line. But depending on who is re-signed and who is added on the free agent market, it wouldn’t surprise me too much to see Lats on the second line. And yes, Kovy was always pointed as the problem by the media but even though he has some responsibility, I never bought that he was alone to have problems. It’s quite easy to look good centering a Kovalev who is doing miracles like last year. But Plek wasn’t able to convince me he’s great without Kovy.
Tatie: Cool. I’ve been thinking about that for such a long time. Since I heard Michel Bergeron say “The fans want a French superstar”. We don’t. Or at least I don’t… and I’m French! I want the cup. If you need to fill the team with Chinese players, please do so. And maybe it’s time the fans let the media know that what THEY want is not necessarily what WE want.
Rob: The problem with your argument is that we will never know why one player opted against signing here. The real reason, not the media “cue card” answer. But if they don’t want to sign here because they can’T handle the pressure, I don’T want them either. But why do we have to give them more reason NOT to sign? If the media wasn’t such a pain in the ass, maybe a couple of players would have signed. Or maybe it would just mean not having to give such bigger contracts. In any case, I’m still tired of the media thinking they know what I want. I’m tired of stories that are blown out of proportion. Remember the “bomb” than was supposed to shake the Habs and would have criminal repercussions? Yeah, that was the Kostitsyn brother being affiliated to the mob. That story died two days later when everyboy understood that it was all BS. And that’s just one example out of… oh… too many too count. Point is, I want to know what happens to my team, I want to know if they win, lose, play well, who they play againsts and so on. On ice stuff. But I guess they think covering hockey in Montreal wouldn’t sell copies all by itself…
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