Montreal 5 New York Islanders 1 (Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum)
posted by Rocket
AllHabs.blogspot.com
The Montreal Canadiens seem to be coming together and gaining momentum just in time. They are winning games that they are supposed to win. The team’s playoff prospects now seem good.
All is right again in Montreal. Thank you Bob Gainey.
When he was fired, Guy Carbonneau had the worst winning record in the Eastern conference since the All-Star break. The Canadiens were in disarray. They were fragile team with shaky confidence and were in a free fall down the standings.
Now the Habs have defined roles and are working together. For the first time all season, they are starting to play to their potential.
With their win tonight, the Canadiens moved up the standings, ahead of the New York Rangers into 7th place.
Much can still change. The standings are tight. Six points separate six teams who are currently fourth through tenth. The Habs will need to continue their improved play.
The win in Long Island was a team effort. The Islanders come out strong with an aggressive forecheck and played well in the first. Then the Isles ran into penalty trouble and the Canadiens power-play went to work.
Saku Koivu started the play with a face-off win, and after two nice passes by Andrei Markov and Alex Kovalev, Koivu finished the play in front of the net with a power-play goal.
There were themes that would be repeated throughout the game by the Canadiens: staying disciplined and making their opponents pay when they went to the penalty box; winning important faceoffs; and getting traffic to the net.
Once again Koivu’s line dominated with Saku getting a goal and an assist, Tanguay scoring and Kovalev with three assists. This line now has 12 of the last 21 goals for the Habs.
But this was a team effort. Five different Canadiens scored, with three goals coming from defensemen. The Habs scored three times on the power-play and didn’t allow any short-handed goals.
Glen Metropolit had a rare fight. Even more rare, Tom Kostopoulos had a penalty shot. Mike Komisarek scored for the first time since the third game of the season.
As the game wore on, the Canadiens play did become a little more ragged. Passes were sloppy and players passed up shots trying to make fancy plays. But they didn’t fall back and the Habs pressured the Islanders right til the end of the game.
Jaroslav Halak had a very quiet night. He made a couple of tough stops in the first and again in the third but otherwise most shots were handled easily. Halak did give up a weak goal, a shot beyond the circle by Tambellini that beat him over the shoulder.
There were lots of red jerseys in the Nassau Coliseum crowd tonight. At least 12 busloads of Habs fans left the arena very happy knowing that their team was one step closer to the playoffs.
Pre-game
Starting lineup: Lapierre, Kostopoulos, Latendresse, Komisarek, Markov
Jaroslav Halak and Yann Danis started in goal.
O’Byrne, Brisebois and D’Agostini were scratched from the line-up. Carey Price was ill with the flu. Sergei Kostitsyn was out with an upper body injury after being run into the boards by Chicago’s Aaron Johnson. Bouillon and Lang are on injured reserve.
Marc Denis was recalled from Hamilton to back-up Halak.
Dandenault played defense.
Lines:
Plekanec-Andrei Kostitsyn-Higgins
Koivu–Kovalev–Tanguay
Lapierre–Latendresse–Kostopoulos
Metropolit–Laraque-Stewart
Rocket’s three stars:
1. Saku Koivu
2. Alex Kovalev
3. Andrei Markov
(photo credit: Getty Images)