Montreal 4 Boston 5 OT (TD Banknorth Garden)
posted by Rocket
AllHabs.blogspot.com
What a game! It may have been one of the most entertaining games of the year and a gutsy effort by the Habs. It would have been better with a win but the Canadiens deserved at least one point.
After falling behind 3-1, the Habs battled back to take the lead in the second period with three unanswered goals. It was a penalty-filled period but also a good frame of hockey. Montreal out shot Boston 15-to-8.
Mathieu Schneider is a warrior and deserves a great deal of credit just for dressing for this game. Yet somehow Schneider exceeded expectations again by playing more than 21 minutes and scoring a goal from the point.
Afterwards Schneider said “I felt great out there tonight. I’m just gonna continue to play. There’s absolutely nothing that concerns me.”
Saku Koivu positioned himself near the crease all night and took a beating from the Bruins defensemen. Kovalev scored a goal and had six shots. Kovalev was double-shifted to help bring a spark to the Lapierre line.
The line of Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn and D’Agostini played very well. For Kostitsyn, it was one of his best games in quite some time. He had several scoring chances. Kostitsyn saved a goal by pulling the puck out of the crease. D’Agostini continued his energetic play from Tuesday’s game. D’Agostini had two goals on two shots.
Chris Higgins was a force all night especially in the third period. He was winning battles for the puck and did an excellent job penalty killing. Glen Metropolit had a strong game against his former team. Yannick Weber had a great game. In addition to playing very well on the power-play, he had scoring chances as a forward. He was even physical making a nice hit on Stephane Yelle (something that was absent from Streit’s game).
It was a quiet night for the Lapierre line. When Kovalev replaced Kostopoulos, the line had one dominant shift in the third period pressuring the Bruins for a scoring chance. Lapierre made a terrible play to turn the puck over at the blueline for the Bruins winning goal in overtime. It just wasn’t a smart decision. He could have easily chipped the puck out of the zone.
The Habs’ defense was much better in this game. Mike Komisarek had five hits and was punishing to Bruins who went to the front of the Canadiens net. Roman Hamrlik played over 27 minutes and had a solid game.
Mathieu Dandenault was used mostly at defense. He had an assist and led the the team in blocked shots but took a costly delay of game penalty. The Bruins scored the tying goal in the third on the ensuing power-play.
The Canadiens power-play was back in form with the additions of Weber and Schneider. The Habs were 3-for-7. Unfortunately the Bruins power-play also scored twice on four chances.
It was a chippy game with lots of scrums after the whistle. The refereeing was disgraceful. There were numerous missed calls such as Chara crosschecking Lapierre in the face and Chara pounding on Koivu in the slot. The linesman held Komisarek as Chara landed punches but both players only received two minutes.
Some penalty calls were bizarre. As lines were changing Ryan O’Byrne and Shaun Thornton bumped. Thornton dropped the gloves and grabbed O’Byrne. O’Byrne wanting to stay out of the box dropped to his knees. In the end O’Byrne got 14 minutes in penalties and Thornton received two.
Milan Lucic is a thug and a whiny baby. Apparently he can’t take a hit. After a solid bodycheck on Lucic by Komisarek, Thornton went after Mike and started to fight. Lucic jumped Komisarek and tackled him by the throat from behind. Luic should have been tossed out of the game but only received a ten minute misconduct.
With all of the cheap shots by the Bruins, some commentators suggested that Gainey should have included Laraque in the lineup. The Bruins are a fast team. Laraque & Brisebois are very slow. Also, if Laraque had played, who comes out of lineup? Gainey wanted an extra defenseman so Dandenault could be used on defense and Weber on the power-play. It was a smart decision by Gainey.
Carey Price was brilliant and made several spectacular saves. Price was definitely the better of the two goaltenders on this night.
The Canadiens have one game left against Pittsburgh on Saturday night at the Bell Centre. A Habs’ win and a Rangers loss in their final game would put the Canadiens in 7th place. Otherwise it will be a first round playoff matchup with the Bruins.
Pre-game
Starting lineup: Koivu, Tanguay, Kovalev, Dandenault, Hamrlik
Carey Price and Tim Thomas started in goal.
Stewart, Brisebois and Laraques were scratched from the line-up. Sergei Kostitsyn, and Markov were out with injuries. Bouillon and Lang are on injured reserve.
Yannick Weber was recalled from Hamilton and will play.
Schneider will play with his shoulder injury. Dandenault will start the game playing defense.
Lines:
Koivu-Kovalev-Tanguay
Plekanec-Andrei Kostitsyn-D’Agostini
Lapierre-Latendresse-Kostopoulos
Metropolit-Higgins-Dandenault
Rocket’s three stars:
1. Mark Recchi
2. Matt D’Agostini
3. Patrice Bergeron
(photo credit: CP)
Well they are in the playoffs. Stumbling into them, mind you, but in them nevertheless. A second life, anything can happen. Looks like a Boston death match is a distinct possibility. I think they can take the Bruins. The talent level is not that deep in Boston, they get by mostly on physical play and sticking to a system.
Fair enough to think the Habs can take the Bruins, but I don’t get the rest of your comment. The Bruins lead the league with 6 20-goal scorers and Chara’s at 19. By comparison the Habs have only half as much scoring depth.
Rocket, while I normally respect your posts, it is absolutely laughable to read your comments about Lucic. Coming from a fan of a team that hails Mike Komisarek as some sort of hero and includes Ryan O’byrne….well, it’s just funny. Those two players should absolutely be embarrassed by their actions. Apparently “turtle” is replacing “diving” as the favored Habs tactic.
Did Looch over react? Yes. Did Komisarek and O’byrne duck and cover like scared little girls? yes.
Habs had to get that point, Kynch. If that involves (and it did), “taking one for the team”, as Komisarek and O’Byrne did, so be it. They will get lots of opportunity to extract revenge by the look of it. Bruins are the most overrated team in the league, and they won’t get away with the bush league tactics in every game they way they did last night.
You come by to ambush this site (from behind in true Bruins style), maybe you can muster up the courage to let us know where to find you when the time comes to rub your face in it, when they get elimintated in the playoffs. Which they will.
They need to send those two Bohunks, Lucic and Chara back to the lab in Transylvania to have the mad doctor put brains in the creatures he built. He obviously overlooked that detail. Probably was drunk, since he didn’t even manage to line up Chara’s eyes properly. One is below the other, have you noticed that Kynch? Check the poster on your wall for a good laugh. The guy looks like a cross between the Ukrainian farmer’s wife and his biggest plough horse.
Thanks for all the comments.
Rob, Kynch & Krej have a terrific Bruins blog. They do a little more trashing talking over there but its to play to their readers. Both are knowledgeable hockey guys (even though its tainted by a serious man-crush on Milan Lucic). I visit their site often and leave comments. I'm sure that they would welcome yours. Tom is another articulate Bruins fan who often leaves well-reasoned comments.
Kynch, I don't mind a hard-hitting game but something short-circuits in Lucic's brain every time he plays the Canadiens. Be a man. Give a hit…take a hit. Lucic's flying chokehold takedown on Komisarek was outrageous. Komisarek's face looked like he had been attacked by a belt sander afterwards. He definitely deserved to be tossed.
O'Byrne was told not to take penalties, So ya, he did turtle after Thornton overreacted to the bump. And for that O'Byrne got 14 minutes? Ridiculous officiating!
Chara was gooning it up too. And really, with his size and reach advantage, does he need the officials to pin the Habs before he takes his shots?
There was a Habs play that I didn't like. Gorges crosschecking Bergeron from behind and knocking him into the net after the goal was bush league.
"Ambush this site"? I'm sorry, not sure how to forewarn you that I'm about to post something you will disagree with.
As far as being the most over rated team in the league…by who? And where should they be rated (this should be comical)? Funny, Canadiens finished first in the East last year and you all were spouting off like they were the greatest team to ever hit the ice. Boston does it this year, and they're "over rated". Pathetic.
Oh, and very intelligent comments about the two "bohunks". Now honestly tell me you wouldn't like both of them,especially Chara on your team. If the answer is no, you aren't being honest. While I can honestly say I'm thrilled to not have Komisarek on "my" team.
Rocket-I absolutely agree that Lucic loses his mind at the mere sight of Komisarek and he over reacted last night. I can understand it, to a point though. And honestly, last night was the best time for Looch to lose it. The game didn't really mean anything to Boston (other than obviously always wanting to beat a rival). Now, if Lucic goes postal in the playoffs, I'll be quite a bit harsher on him. Again, to be clear: I did NOT like his retaliation for that hit. He's better than that. He should leave the attacking from behind BS to Komisarek & Co.
Oh, and please stop blaming the officials. Komisarek, as usual, was ducking and hiding once he stirred the pot. I get it. He's an agitator, it's what he does. But frankly, he's damn near Sean Avery status in my book.
LOL, Chara may be “The Missing Link” to the Bruin success, but I wouldn’t want to see his misshapen mug in a Hab uniform under any circumstances. I’d take Sean Avery any day over Ze Dino Saur. At least Avery offers entertainment value, and Komisarek could thank the little runt personally, for warming up Elisha for him.
…I’m hoping the Habs finish 8th overall so they get the pleasure of making the Bear’s crap in the woods, rather than having the Rangers do it. Avery would so sucker those two Neanderthals into their standard stupidity you might as well set up their lockers in the penalty box now.
“Chara may be “The Missing Link” to the Bruin success, but I wouldn’t want to see his misshapen mug in a Hab uniform under any circumstances. I’d take Sean Avery any day over Ze Dino Saur.”-Rob
Wow….now I understand where you’re coming from. You aren’t actually a HOCKEY fan. Just a pom-pom waver.
Rocket deserves better readers.
Uuuuhh….I think it was you who came here with the “pom poms”, Kynch. Telling us we HAD TO want
Bigfoot the Abominable Slowman on our team or we weren’t “real” fans.
I’ve never liked Chara, and not only because of the way he looks. I distinctly recall him landing a sucker shot on Raitis Ivanans while Ivanans was being held by two linesmen. Broke his orbital bone and nearly cost Raitis his career, such as it was.
Outside of the cheapshot goonery, I watched Tomas Plekanec make a fool of him numerous times in regular season and playoffs in his own zone. Pleks would strip him of the puck and leave the lumbering ox flailing at thin air with that 8 foot 2×4 he calls a hockey stick.
ahaha your all ridiculous, hockey is a rough sport theres big hits, fights and always unnecessary hits and cheap shots that will happen after a whistle is blown or in retaliation to something, there always has been and there always will be. I’m from Boston and I think the best games are against the canadiens. The playoffs should be really intense considering last year the bruins were kind of in the same boat the canadiens are in now. If your really on here wasting your time hating on certain players it just shows immaturity on your part. Everyone who is in the NHL worked to get where they are now, if they didn’t they wouldn’t be playing.
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