Montreal 5 Pittsburgh 3 (Bell Centre)
We have heard all season from critics and fans that the Canadiens don’t have enough talent to compete. The head coach seems to have bought into that theory. Jacques Martin believes that the team must be passive and that the Habs best formula for winning is with strong special teams and excellent goaltending.
The Canadiens didn’t get either today. Yet they dominated and beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
It was a different formula for success that included hard work, aggressive forechecking, and winning puck battles. It was led by Mathieu Darche, Brock Trotter, David Desharnais and Ryan White who have been trained to play a vastly different system with Hamilton. When they were on the ice, the Penguins were on their heels and played defense.
While trapped in their own zone, Pittsburgh took six minor penalties. The fourth line of Trotter, White and Desharnais drew four of them. White also scored a take-down of Bill Guerin when he was challenged. Trotter led the Canadiens with five shots on goal.
“All year in Hamilton we’ve been used to creating offence,” Trotter said. “It’s the same ice sheet here, so we just tried to do what we’re good at. We didn’t end up getting one tonight, but I think we created some momentum for the team.”
While the Bulldogs provided energy, it was the team’s core players like Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez who delivered the offense by combining for eight points. Plekanec played over 21 minutes,had a goal and two assists and was 60 per cent at the faceoff dot. Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek were a strong pairing on defense and each got an assist.
“The kids played well, but in the end when you look at the scoresheet the guys who got the production are the guys you count on daily,” coach Martin said. “Our top two lines responded well. They played against some top players and outplayed them.”
Rather than surrendering the neutral zone as has been the game plan for most of the season, the Canadiens pressured the Pittsburgh puck carriers creating turnovers. Then the Habs were able to use speed to expose a slow Pittsburgh defense. This allowed them to set up shop in the Pittsburgh zone to create scoring chances.
Employing this pressure system, a lineup with five AHL players was able to neutralize a team who were 11 points ahead of the Canadiens coming into this game and who had scored 31 more goals.
“We were getting up ice better, our forecheck was better,” Gionta said. “We weren’t sitting back waiting for them to come to us. If you sit back with those guys they’re going to pick you apart. I thought we did a good job of initiating the tempo of the game.”
Some will say that it is only one game. That’s true, but the same formula was effective against Vancouver last week and against Boston on the night of the Centennial game. It is the system that is working for the Bulldogs and one that matches the strengths of the Canadiens’ players, but not endorsed by their coach.
With the fourth line was deservedly grabbing the attention of the fans and broadcasters, let’s hope that it also provided a wake-up call to Max Lapierre. Lapierre had the least amount of ice-time with 8:46 and could be in danger of losing his spot in the line-up if he continues to be outplayed by the youngsters.
Montreal special teams were not a deciding factor as they have been in so many games. Penalty killers were only called on three times on one of the rare occasions when the opposition was assessed more minor penalties. While the Habs scored one power-play goal, they also gave up a short-handed goal to Pittsburgh.
It was only an ordinary effort for the goaltenders. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up four goals before he was pulled in favor of Brent Johnson. Jaroslav Halak made just 18 saves and gave up a soft goal to Guerin.
When asked about the contribution of Halak, Gionta said, “I don’t know if we didn’t rely on him, but I thought it was a better defensive effort. We didn’t give up too many chances. Especially against a talented team like that, that’s what we needed.”
Let’s hope that the effort and system continue on Sunday afternoon at the Bell Centre when the Canadiens host the Bruins.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Tom Plekanec
2. Brian Gionta
3. Brock Trotter
Special mention: Mathieu Darche, Scott Gomez, Roman Hamrlik
Material from wire services was used in this report.
(photo credit: AP)
A fun game to watch. Gorges continues to be strong, while Markov looked a little weak and clumsy at times. Gomez moves the puck up ice like no-one, but looking at his stats for the past few years, it's hard to see how he's worth so much money. Halak is our #1 goalie and has been since January. If Price can't accept that fact, and improve his game accordingly, we should trade him for a veteran #2. Kostitsyn looks great, can't wait for Andrei and Cammy to return. This team is much better than the team of 1 year ago. MUCH BETTER. Gainey was right, although not perfect. Let's hope Pouliot returns asap. All in all exciting and energetic hockey. Martin can use whatever "system" he wants, as long as we put the puck in the net more than the other team.
I wonder if Jacques Martin was ill after seeing the way his team played. Especially looking at the callups and the way they played so aggressively. More proof that when they get away from the coach's strategy and use their speed and aggression, good things happen.
I am still not convinced that this team will do much of anything, and the playoffs are still a 50-50 gamble. But one thing is certain, they need to take the blue print of last night's game and use it forever more. They were FUN to watch yesterday.
While we are full of praise for our boys, we also have to raise an eyebrow at a Penguins bunch who seemed mostly disinterested. One wonders if they simply weren't looking ahead to their matchup against the Capitals today on NBC.
As is usually the case, the great work that the Canadiens have done this week (sans Cammalleri) goes partially down the toilet if they cannot beat the Bruins again this afternoon. The law of averages will soon work out to the Bruins favor, and against ours. Eventually they will win a game, and eventually the Canadiens will lose one. Let's hope that's not tonight.
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